God's love

I've been diving into the Word even more these last few months, and to be honest, I never realized just how much beauty, light, truth and love is poured into the Word! God loves His children so much that He has written an entire Letter to His children. I'm now wondering why more people aren't running straight for the Word? Why aren't people putting all of their time and energy into something that has been in front of them?
As I'm typing this, I realize just how beautiful and good God is at answering prayers! I remember a time when I asked God where I could find the answer to my anxiety; He gave me a gentle tug and reminded me that the answer was in front of me all along. Little did I know He was refering to His Word!
It's Jesus who is the answer. It's Him who died for you and me; He is the answer to all things.
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
How beautiful a verse that is! God is faithful, He is loving, He is good! I thank You God for setting me free and sending Jesus Christ here on earth so that I may be reconciled to you! It is my prayer that the people reading this blog will also turn to You Father. Let their hearts be softened unto You!
May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

don't be decieved!

There's so much I want to tell you in this blog that I honestly don't know where to start. I've learned so much because of what Jesus has done for me that I can't possibly fit it all into one blog post. So today I decided to write about how the Lord opened my eyes to deception. If there is anything about anxiety and fear that people need to understand it's this. Deception is the power of the enemy and by believing his deceptions we open ourselves up to so much hurt and panic. By being decieved we allow the enemy to fill ourselves with fear and feel distant from God. Excessive anxiety and fear is decieving and it's not from God!
I realize now just how much of the anxiety consumed my life; as I look back upon the days of my worrying and constant fears, I see just how unnecessary it all was. But my life was just dripping with panic that I couldn't see past the next fear ready to attack me ... Or was there really another fear ready to attack me?
One of the biggest ways anxiety continued to cripple me was by making me believe that I had to worry! Not only did this illusion of anxiety decieve me into worrying more, it decieved me into believing that without worrying something horrible was going to happen. I was living in one big illusion and I was completely oblivious until God opened my eyes.
I thank my Father God for whispering the word "illusion" to me; I can remember the day it happened too. I was sitting in prayer asking, pleading, with God to show me how to deal with my fears.
"You don't! There is nothing to deal with. It is an illusion..."
"Let me deal with your fears, give them to me and stop being decieved."
I was living in an illusion and the sooner I grasped that fact, the sooner I could be set free. I wanted to be set free from my fears so badly that I began to take matters into my own hands, but this is where I let the deception come in.
I believed the lie that I could deal with my fears and I believed the lie that I could stop something bad from happening by worrying. In a sense I was playing God. I was trying to control every litte thing in my life that I ended up writing God out of my life without even realizing it. The door to deceptiveness was opened wide because I had already been decieved by worrying and I'd been decieved into believing I could control my anxiety.
I can't even begin to tell you how much the enemy decieved me. I believed those lies for so long that eventually my life was drawing farther away from God. But because of His loving grace I was brought back to the truth.
Are you willing to stop believing the lies? Are you willing to hand over your fears to your Heavenly Father who can take care of those monsters in the closet?
Open up the Bible and see what God has to say about deciet; you can start with Genesis 3:1, Genesis 3:4-5, John 8:44
I encourage everyone to meditate on Psalm 27 and let these words fill your being. When you realize that God is for you and protecting you just as a father would his own child, then your life will be radically changed for the better!
The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
May God bless you all!
~Gretchen

The Truth will set you free!

"The you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
I am so excited to share with everyone how I was set free from anxiety and oppression through Jesus Christ and His Truth! I can't even begin to tell you how enlightening this experience has been for me so far; hence why I decided to start an entire blog about my journey. My prayer is that people will read this and realize just how amazing God really is and how much He wants all of His children to live a life full of love, compassion, greatness, and purpose. He wants all of His children to be set free with His Truth; the Truth He sent with His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!
I pray that you hear my story and realize just how much God has been at work; even at times when I thought He was not there. But God is faithful and He loves His children. We can all be a child of God if we seek Him with all our hearts. He longs to have a relationship with us all and He longs for His children to be set free. Will you let Him in? Are you ready to live a life full of love, compassion and purpose? I know I am!
To read more about my own story, head on over to the My Journey page. I hope that this story will reveal God's will to care, comfort and protect His children to you. Our God is an awesome God!
May God bless you all!
~Gretchen