Women of Valor
“Pick up your cross and follow me”
What kind of woman are we when we are faced with a battle? When the pressure builds and we’re no longer comfortable with our stance but have no where to grab onto except the Lord. Are we comforted by His peace knowing He is close? Do we have the ability to lean on His strength and might and not our own? So many believers struggle with this. We go to Bible college or spend time studying and memorizing scripture. Our words and what we preach sound theologically sound and convincing to others. The problem is, we’re really good talkers but fall as soon as we have to start walking.
Fear and frustration feel like the only things we can grasp on to when we’re pressed up against a wall. When we start to feel a little uncomfortable, we reach for anything at all that takes our focus off our failures and lack of trust and onto anything that makes us feel better in the moment.
But God calls us to a deeper walk with Him. One that you can’t just cover with your words, but one you get to experience wholly with your life.
“Pick up your cross and follow me”, means we are now not living for ourselves anymore, but for God. We are dying to our comforts and surrendering what we think we know, to an infinite father that knows far more than we ever could.
This is how you have peace in the midst of trials. This is how we take steps of faith forward. Actively pursing what the Lord wants for us and being willing to say yes in faith. We all have the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate our lives in this way.
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
When we go to war for the Lord, we reap the spoils of war. We may experience hardships, but we will always come out stronger and victoriously. We don’t need to be the strongest women to accomplish this. We just need a heart postured towards Him.
So how do we accomplish this? Again, most of us “think” we’re doing this already because we know how to talk ourselves out of it with scripture. But how do we get tossed into the battlefield, unexpectedly… and thrive for the Lord? How do we come out victoriously?
Seek Him. Wholly seek the Lord, with your heart, mind and soul.
Read His word daily. Study it.
Pray without ceasing.
Try it.
What if you obeyed the Lord and did something that was uncomfortable? It takes faith as tiny as a mustard seed to move a mountain. Your first ‘yes’ to Him, will be a stepping stone to a greater faith. Once you experience fully surrendering to Him, every time thereafter, gets a little bit easier. You start to experience freedom from your worries, freedom from self, freedom from fear! Isn’t that what we’re all fighting for in our own personal battles?
Recipe:
I have to admit, we ate a lot of good food this month. Our new town has so much to offer and we’ve been partaking in the local farmers market every Saturday. But one of my faves from this last month was Gabe’s banana bread in a sauce pan. I really think the sauce pan shape made the whole thing extra 🤌🏼 delicious. It was moist and that little crumble on top was the chef’s kiss. I love how Gabe is always thinking outside the box when he bakes.
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, or coconut oil… we used salted butter + it was great.
½ cup honey, or pure maple syrup
1 ¾ cups mashed ripe banana, about 3 ½ large or 5 medium bananas
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour, or regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour, unbleached flour is best.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Or use a sauce pan like we did! 😜
Melt the butter.
Add the honey and mashed banana to the bowl and whisk together.
Whisk in the eggs.
Add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla to the bowl. Whisk together.
Add the flour and mix.
Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Check on the banana bread after 35 minutes and loosely cover with foil as needed to prevent the top from over-browning.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling.
•The crumble topping: 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 brown sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbs butter. Place on top before you bake.
Enjoy!
Parenting this month: What I’m loving and what I’m working on…I’m working on being more present as a mama. I think that’s something that’s a constant for me. Because no matter how disciplined I get in that area, life and distractions creep in and tend to take over. But it’s a pull I want in my life, one I’m happy to have a conviction over. I see this so much with having a 16 year old and a 4 year old at once. You realize how quickly time goes and it’s a precious gift that shouldn’t be overlooked. And then also remembering there is grace there and to not be too hard myself, but just push myself to do better tomorrow. What I’m loving right now is being present with them 😜. Something that is so interesting about living in TN on our land is how much time we spend together as a family outside. We are always throwing on our boots and wandering around the land. Not screens, just exploring and being silly and having fun together, may it never be lost on us how special it is.
Marriage this month: What I’m loving and what I’m working on….Marriage is sweet right now. I’m gonna combine the two this month and just share something we worked on together. There were a few days that we were both feeling a little off. It was that time of the month for me, we got in a little funk and it threw everything off. We kept checking in with one another but couldn’t get realigned. So we stopped and prayed together and just continued over the next few days to stop and pray. What a difference that makes! Coming together, forgetting your irritations or how you feel and simply laying it before the Lord together and praying. It changed everything. It’s a reminder that praying together as a couple is powerful and it can drastically influence the temperature of our marriages.
Family update: What an amazing month. It’s kinda hard to put into words what our first month in Tennessee has felt like, but I’ll try. 🫶🏼 As I was driving the U-Haul away from Florida and all of our things being left behind, I got this rush of crazy emotion. It was the weird flood of sadness from things said that hurt, things that almost followed me around and dragged me down, all flooded in at the same time like a swirling over the U-Haul. The Lord was moving us forward and I didn’t want things from the past to follow us to our new home. Remember the new wine skins? So I prayed for a long time, over every person, over every stress or anxiety that was looming over. I prayed over words that were haunting me that I wasn’t able to let go of. I asked God for a fresh wind and to leave what was in the past, in Florida.
Wow. Talk about a breakthrough moment. I could feel the heavy burden being lifted off of me. I could feel a peace washing over Quinn and I in the U-Haul.
From the moment we arrived in TN and in our new home, we experienced such a deep peace. Even until this day. I’m so thankful for saying yes to something that know one understands. That’s how it works most times when we’re walking alongside the Lord, we are asked to do things that look odd or incorrect to the world, but we keep our eyes fixed on Him and nothing else matters.
Night one at the house was peace filled, but wild. We unpacked our U-Haul and all of our boxes in less than 12 hours. What a gift! Moving with nothing just feels SO light + freeing. This past month I’ve been slow rolling on gathering things for the house. Trying not to rush the process, but also we needed utensils so… ya know, gettin the necessities.
We are pleasantly surprised by all our little town has to offer. The bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, vintage and thrift shops are all incredible. Everyday we find a little bit more and fall in love a whole lot more.
We found a church that we’re feeling good about already. We’ll keep continue to pray that God shows us exactly where He wants us to be for that. The kids are signed up with a homeschool group that we’re really excited about. Gav is joining a chess club and Quinn is doing choir and Gabe is looking for a job. He’s got his eyes on a few spots he is loving.
Next month is focused on starting our garden and getting our chickens!
Praying for you all! 🫶🏼
