Tag: transformation prayer

How do we Fix Society

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June 5, 1962, was the beginning of our issues as a country. When we took God out of the public schools it seems to be a steady decline of morality within society. Since that time the issues within society have elevated and gotten to murderous numbers. Now with the recent shootings so many are going to the safe blame; let’s blame the guns or specifically the NRA. My husband has even been in a debate on Facebook with a woman because she feels that it’s all the NRA’s fault of these mass murders. Like or leave it I am about to express my own feelings on this matter, so please be forewarned it may step on your toes. Thankfully though we live in a country where I am free to express my opinion and have no fear of retribution, I answer to God above and that is my King.

The bottom line behind all evil is the fact that we have banned the one that can help with it. We took away the right to pray at the beginning of the day, we took out the pledge of allegiance, they have tried to take out In God We Trust, and the list goes on. Every year things get worse because of the fact that we are not allowed to discipline our children without fear of investigations, we aren’t allowed to pray out loud because that may offend someone. Mental health has become such a stigma that people are afraid to get help and instead let the issues in their head and heart send them to do the inevitable by taking others’ lives. I wrote a speech over a year ago about
Mental health and the fact that we can prevent these types of events if we just take the time to help each other, yet we still have this stigma over our heads. Every year it steadily gets more and more apparent that we are continually separating our wants from the will of God.

With each generation comes a different set of difficulties and stresses and until we can come together to end the stigma over the mental stability of our Nation there is no way out. Until we turn to God and let him back in to help teach us how to act and think, Satan will be running around having all kinds of fun in this world. I am starting to take a more vocal stand against the Stigma as getting help myself has set me free on so many levels.

So, if the NRA is to blame for the shootings; then let’s blame McDonalds for obesity, Marlboro for smoking, knives for stabbings, and the list can continue. If we make it illegal, then that isn’t going to help either since the last time I checked Meth was still illegal as was many other drugs, yet they run rampant on our streets and take many lives also. Should we blame the alcohol companies for drunk driving, domestic violence and child abuse that usually happens when someone is drunk? So, no set of laws is going to fix the problems that we are facing there is only the fact of letting God back in and to help people get over the stigma of getting help when they are having mental issues.

When are we going to realize that Romans 1:28 is coming to pass,

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.”

Romans 1:28-29

Wow if that doesn’t sound like the world today then I don’t know what does. So in my honest opinion if we want to fix what is wrong with our country if we truly want to make America great again; LET GOD BACK IN! Encourage each other if you notice they may have an issue to seek out help. Start lobbying to get mental health a natural part of our health plans, we get a yearly physical, what about a yearly mental health physical?

remain…

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WARNING: this post may be a trigger for some.

Please read only if prepared and with caution.

I always try to be as transparent as possible with you all. Any of you that know me closely know that this has been a difficult year in so many spiritual ways (totally nothing to do with a pandemic the world is experiencing might I add). The spiritual warfare is real and so is the transformation…though it does come with suffering. God has reminded me time and time again of THAT word He gave me for 2020…

R E M A I N.

We will suffer when we are being transformed, when we stand with Jesus, and yet we have no inkling of what real suffering even looks like– yet.
Our suffering fails in comparison to those around the world that risk their very life and life of loved ones just to worship Him, just to have His Word! So I do not ever want to compare my suffering to theirs.
But there is coming a time friend when we will experience great suffering for our love and devotion to Him. And THIS is what He is preparing us for!
So in an effort to keep that transparency with you in my struggle of being transformed, in the very breaking of my heart and soul for my loved ones that still do not choose to live for Him as if they truly LOVED HIM…here goes!

Yesterday was a very dark day for me. It seems when physical pain and our own sinfulness, coupled with loved ones living life as they always have, ends up leaving a gap in my mind for satan to waltz right on in.  I can spiral without even knowing I have begun the spiral, in literally no time at all.
The thoughts the enemy put in my mind were more vivid than I believe they ever have been…so real that God knew I needed more help, and help He sent at precisely the time satan was having me mentally blowing my brains out. (I told you it was vivid.) I was so blinded that I could only think of the ones that would be left behind.

BUT GOD had a huge prayer warrior, that obediently listens to Him, send me a sermon from the very same person HE used long ago when I sat in the hospital bed isolated after over a year of suicide attempts.

My friend, ONLY a LOVING GOD, an ALL-KNOWING GOD can do exactly that and at exactly the perfect time!
THAT is the GOD I serve, THAT is the God I love with ALL my heart!

As I say at nearly every group meeting we have had since 2015, I would LOVE to tell you HE has healed me from ALL of this – depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, physical pain, rhumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia (that most people think is all in a person’s head anyway), degenerative disc disease all through my spine, etc. BUT He has not. What HE has chosen to do is to allow me to suffer in similar ways as others do so that I can truly understand, so that I can come alongside you and share His BEYOND AMAZING LOVE for us in that while we were still sinners HE LOVES US!!!

So I say all of THIS to say, it is crucial for us to have God-loving people within our lives at all times. It is crucial we do not leave a gap for satan to be able to walk into our lives. Our mind is one of satan’s most valuable places. Beware of that fact and be alert at all times! You better believe I was studying The Word of God and praying and the gap was still enough that the enemy could do his bidding within my mind.

But THANK GOD HE IS MORE POWERFUL AND ABLE TO DO FAR MORE!!! God has already beaten satan. We need only stand firm. And with the help of GOD Almighty, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit praying on our behalf at all times, as well as strengthening us and sustaining us, we will stand as we remain in HIM.

“Therefore put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

Ephesians 6:13 NLT

For more information regarding Anchored HOPE please contact us.

Karen’s story

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My story is one of trauma on top of trauma then of a redemption and transformation that has been changing my life as a butterfly. I grew up in and out of rough situations with drugs and alcohol at the center of it. Violence was such a normal part of my life that it didn’t seem weird at all. Just seemed to be normal.  It wasn’t till I was a teen that God was fully introduced into my life through my stepmom and dad when I went to live with them. Life changed, but my heart and mind didn’t. Something in me was crying out for love that couldn’t be filled of this earth. I certainly tried though and when it didn’t fulfill me, I would crash into a pit thinking I was worthless and unlovable. I tried to end it all several times and included cutting into the ritual.  Little did I know even then God was trying to get my attention to turn to Him yet I rebelled and searched the earth for something that was going to love me so that I felt whole. Part of my story was a 15-year marriage that sent me fully into the pit. I had rebelled against my parents who told me not to see this man or go with him because he was leading me away from the church. To me that meant it was more exciting and enticing, he was the “bad boy”.  I was like Eve enticed by the forbidden fruit. As it says,

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 11:3

After a time it became evident that he was the wrong choice but then I was too prideful to admit that my parents had been right so I stuck it out thinking he would change. 

“A man of violence entices his neighbor And leads him in a way that is not good.”

Proverbs 16:29

This man was abusive towards his children and I, yet by then I was brainwashed into thinking I couldn’t go out on my own. I had been cut off from my family and friends and felt as if there was nowhere to go. I then plundered into the pit deeper than I had ever been before. I prayed to die daily, prayed for my children to be taken care of by someone better. I felt guilty of all that I had put my kids through and wanted a better life for them. When my ex went to rehab that was the beginning of change, it was my opportunity to file for divorce and realize how deep he had ruined our family financially and mentally. We began the journey of change, yet my mental state continued to decline. With the loss of my grandparents plummeting me into that pit even further I was done. Here I was planning my graduation with my Associates degree, planning a wedding to my new husband, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I wanted to die. It was after a fight with my fiancé and my son that I reached the point that it was done. I couldn’t take anymore, and everyone was better off without me around. I physically took the knife and tried to cut myself to end it all. The knife wouldn’t cut my skin or puncture my skin at all. I nicked my finger to ensure that it was sharp, and it was, I went to plunge it into my heart and it wouldn’t go. I mean what was wrong with this picture. It was at that point, that God spoke to me. He wasn’t done with my life even though I was.

“For I know the plans I have for you… plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a hope and a future”.

Jeremiah 29:11

That moment I knew it was time to get back into church and rededicate it all to him. So to say that it’s because of him that I’m still here is a dreadful understatement. I’m only alive because God stopped it so to me my life ended and this is where He started. I started looking for support and a group that would understand the mental issues that I had, a friend found Anchored Hope and sent me the information and felt I needed to check them out. Everything I have from this point on was to Glorify him and begin to help others overcome the feelings of hopelessness. He does have plans for all of us, we just need to be still and listen. 

For more information regarding Anchored HOPE please contact us.

Returning to Normal…

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We are just beginning to hear news of when, how things are going to re-open after the COVID-19 quarantine, social distancing time period that seems to have impacted everything from toilet paper, the economy, the hospitals, to all around the world.

COVID-19 has changed life as we once knew it…no more going to the store whenever we want for just anything. No more going to work unless you are considered “essential”. No more running to get ice cream whenever we have a hankering for it. No going to the movies. No sporting events, small or large. No gathering together to worship God at church. No social gatherings over 10 people. Our lives have forever changed!

But in all the praying I have been doing during this time, one thing I have prayed through ALL of this, it’s that our lives would NEVER “return to normal”!

What? You might be asking why? Why would anyone not want to “return to normal”?

Because I pray this has been a time of reflection for each of us. A time to reflect and recognize who truly is in control of not only our lives, our country, but our entire world. A time for each of us to choose to take advantage of this and “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 – a much needed pause…and God has definitely got our attention!

Let’s just think for a minute, what if we haven’t taken this time seriously…what might our lives, our world look like after COVID-19? I would imagine there will be even more hate, crime, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and disasters upon disasters. We are living in the end times my friend, whether you choose to acknowledge it and believe it or not.

On the other hand let’s say we have taken this time seriously…and we have drawn near to God and He, as He promised, has drawn near to us – in James 4:8…

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your heart, you double-minded.”

James 4:8 NKJV

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your heart, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

James 4:8 NLT

But we can’t just take the pieces of the Bible we like or agree with. We must take the Bible as a whole, all of it as The Inspired Word of God. So let’s take a look at that next sentence. If it’s one thing we have heard well over a thousand times the past 2 or 3 months it is:

“WASH YOUR HANDS!”

CDC, News, Media, Doctors, Stores, Parents, etc.!

Both translations tell us to wash our hands! They also go on to clearly state we are “sinners“…and that is something we each must choose to acknowledge and identify within ourselves before we can recognize our need for a Savior! But it doesn’t stop with just that…it goes on to tell us to also “purify your heart”. And none of us can do that apart from God! For He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to pay for our sins! It is up to each one of us to accept this free gift of eternal life!

So no, I don’t want to just “return to normal”! Oh God Almighty how I am praying we are made new, restored, revived! Father God don’t let us just return to normal!!! Oh that this all might not be in vain!!! I don’t want to just be ok! I want us to have truly repented of our sins! Oh Father that we would turn from our wicked ways and turn to YOU like we never have before!!! I want us to have recognized our desperate need for a Savior! The ONLY ONE WORTHY, JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR! Oh Lord may YOU then hear us from heaven and forgive our sins and restore our land. Father we desperately need YOU — ALWAYS — not just now!!! Oh God we are so very sorry for turning away from YOU, personally, as families, as churches, schools, cities, countries, all. Lord You aren’t finished with America yet! May she return to You, the Only Wise King!

In JESUS’ name, amen

For more information regarding Anchored HOPE please contact us.

this TRUTH will set you free!

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The TRUTH will set you free! I’m sure you’ve heard this all throughout your life…or at least I have. Yet there is soooo much more to this than you could ever begin to imagine!

You see when I was in the beginning stages of trying to get well after my last hospitalization in 2002 for all the suicide attempts and ending the ECTs that weren’t working anyway, God took me in a direction, a direction I never knew would actually circle back around at this time in life. A time when my everyday life has proved doctors wrong time and time again, in spite of the chronic pain and health problems I endure. A time when I’ve been obedient to His calling to share my horrific experience, embarrassing story among not just anyone, but among other Christians, here God brings me back to where He took me well over 15 years ago! Ok…enough thinking back, are you ready for me to get on with the story? Okay, okay…but I am just beyond words! I’m just so completely overwhelmed at His amazing goodness, His amazing grace, His love and joy unspeakable…and all in spite of me and my efforts to end it all, to refuse to trust Him, to choose, even today, everything except Him!

Hold on friend – here we go!

God blessed me with a pastor, mentor and friend that I never fully appreciated as much as I have these past few years, Rev. Don Winn. He never failed to come and visit me in the hospital during that long, drawn out year…though I turned him a way time and time again, though I repeatedly tried to take my own life. Bro. Don was always there, always pointing me back to God and His love and forgiveness. I am beyond grateful for people just like him that God has brought into my life, and at the most critical times in my life!

You see Bro. Don introduced me to Bill and Anabelle Gillham through Lifetime Guarantee which opened me up to the life changing truths that I had never fully grasped all my life, truths that I never grasped even though I was raised in the church — everyday those doors were open! Now, whether that is because of me, my stubbornness, God’s timing, I don’t know and at this point I’m just beyond thankful for God’s grace to finally get it to stick – in my heart… not just my head! I highly urge you to check out their ministry…and especially the book – it was the beginning of the transforming of amanda, and the journey is continuing on even now! Lifetime Guarantee

Bro. Don took us through The Life study Bill and Anabelle Gillham have, The Life DVD Series FREE on YouTube. I highly recommend this series, though it was just the beginning for this journey in my life, I pray you aren’t as stubborn as I. At HOPE I like to take on a more positive view of myself, determined, rather than stubborn!

Once finished with that study, I had many a talk with Bro. Don and all the therapy sessions with professionals in Nashville, both Christian and non-Christian, medications, etc. — yet that hopelessness still loomed over me. But my hunger for God was more alive every day, so I asked Bro. Don if there was a better Christian counseling I could go to, and he pointed me in the direction of Grace Life in Brentwood. I remember it was a most unusual and surreal environment…yet similar to every counseling office I had ever been in before. This is where I was introduced to something so amazing, life-changing…Transformation Prayer Ministry. This method of counseling took me to a place I never knew existed, a place where things I held deep within my heart, and in the recesses of my mind would come to the forefront, a place where God would reveal His truth about the things I had come to believe that were not true at all. I had no idea the potential this type of prayer could do in my life until God has brought this back around, now 15 years later!

When we listen to God, that still, small voice, we never know what we are in for until we obey! And last week was one of those occasions as I was cleaning up the countless emails, delete, delete, spam, trash, etc. But there was one, one God clearly, but ever so quietly said, ‘Open’. I hesitated for a few seconds then went back to it and opened it. A free seminar by the author and his son on the revisions they had made to the original counseling model, Transformation Prayer Ministry. I hit the link, sought out the nearest location to me, and wouldn’t ya know they had recently added a Bowling Green, Kentucky, seminar! So in obedience, I signed up!

I was nervous, jittery, and restless the closer it came time for me to go to this seminar. I even found every excuse in the book, in my mind, ultimately in my heart to not go. But in all of that, I continued to pray for God to help me do exactly what He had called me to do at this time in life…regardless of the doors it opened up from the unknown lies within my mind and the fear plaguing my entire being.

You see last year I went through Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. If you’ve never read this book, as every counselor, therapist I have ever had had instructed me to do since I was 13, I highly recommend you pick it up and read it, study it with a group and put the practices of this book into your every day life…but that’s a story for another day. I told my friend that I didn’t need to go through this as my boundaries were all good, but there again God spoke up and said “take it” so I did…thinking now with a new season in life with adult children and them beginning to get married, I’m sure I could learn some new boundaries! And toward the end of that study, that’s when it all opened up…worse than the mystery container in the refrigerator that has been pushed to the back far too many times– stinking, rotting, and oh so painful…but more than any of that – fear – yeah fear rose up in me at the very thought of there being something hidden deep within the recesses of my mind, my heart that needed yet to still be worked on, that needed still yet God’s truth applied – more than any band-aid has ever been needed…this was an outright cancerous growth that had to be dealt with once and for all!

Gosh! I got mad, irritated, and the suicidal thoughts returned out of nowhere! I hadn’t had any of those in soooooo long! But now, here, at this specific time, here they came…even more clearly and plaguing moment by moment than the past 15 years! I prayed asking God where in the world these were coming from, recognizing they were not of me, my sound mind I had come to learn and live by and now teach to others week after week, for over 3 years now! “Untruths that needed His truth applied,” God said. And then I remembered back to my time in counseling, the transforming prayers that had replaced the lies within my mind, with truths from God Himself! I was so afraid! I was afraid of whatever was in my past that still remained, that even after it all was said and done and I had come so far, yet still lingered within the recesses of my mind and held my heart hostage like no other! I prayed God would help me come to grips with it…that He would give me the courage to allow Him to do what only God can do! Weeks later, I finally gave up, I surrendered to God Almighty and said, “Ok – I’m ready Lord…let’s do this.”

A year later…yeah remember our time is never God’s time! And He is such a Gentleman! He never forces us into anything we aren’t truly ready for! So He gave me a full year my friend before the journey back to it all!

He is still revealing piece by piece, day by day, lie with truth…and I’m sure He’ll continue to do so til the day I meet Him face to face…but I trust Him and with His help I will remain in His will as He continues to transform me ever so gently! Though I’m sure, like you, I wish He’d hurry up and get it over with…but then I have no idea what lies are to be dealt with — He knows…and guess what? HE knows exactly how much I can handle through His Helper and in just the perfect timing!

Friend, I pray you will Join Me on this journey! You see God doesn’t want this kept a secret! He wants this healing, this truth revealed, shared with every person that is held in bondage to their past, bondage to their pain, bondage to the lies they have come to believe and live by…as this is the only way they will ever begin to live in the hope of healing only He can bring!

Piece by piece, lie by lie, He will heal every one with His healing truth!

Heart-of-Stone

This
TRUTH
will
set
you
free!

More information will be coming soon as we begin to setup times for teaching and training Transformation Prayer!

For more information regarding Anchored HOPE please contact us.

amanda’s story…

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I was born and raised into a Christian home. If the church doors were open, we were there as a family. The life I grew up to know was filled with more legalism than Jesus, thereby leaving me completely alone and a failure after a mistake I made at 13 years old. I felt my only option was suicide.

But God obviously had other plans…

Fast forward 13 years – husband, three small children and I had been growing closer and closer to God. Yet my foundation was truly shaken like never before! The life I had been raised to believe and trust crumbled into lies, deceit, and disbelief. I couldn’t bear the pain that was going on within our family. The deception that had taken root unknowingly for years until I had seen it with my own eyes and I could bear it no more! I gave up the desire to live completely. I felt our children would be better off without me in their lives. After being hospitalized for nearly a year, therapy and medicines from too many suicide attempts to even count, electroconvulsive therapy – I finally came to the end of myself and was awakened to Jesus Christ! He alone gave me a new life, hope for the first time ever!

The road ahead was NOT easy, but I was no longer alone! I realized how desperately I needed, craved time with God! I purposed each day to read His Word, get to know Him, pray, sing praises to Him, listen to His music, surround myself with like-minded people. I posted Scriptures in my car, at work, on the refrigerator, at the window over the kitchen sink, and on the bathroom mirror. I became a sponge soaking in all He had for me to learn and understand! I finally had the Best Friend I had always dreamed of my entire life!

You too can have the most amazing friend because –

godlovesyou

The Bible is not a rule book that you have to obey to earn the love God has for you. The Bible is about God’s rescue mission! God created mankind to enjoy him. We think we don’t need God to enjoy life – so, we go our own way. But when we leave the God who is wise and perfect, light and love, and we are imperfect and not very wise, we sometimes choose hate and darkness. That is what defines our world because we think we can live without God. But God doesn’t leave us in that – He tries to rescue us from that! He made provision for our sinfulness, so He can be holy, just and yet a rescuer of those He loves – He sent His Son, Jesus!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

John 3:16-17 (emphasis added)

Through the resurrection God showed His power to deliver us from the wages of sin which is death. God hates sin! Yet He still loves us! It’s why He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins and open a door for us to have a relationship with Him! He wants you to know Him, so you can live life to the fullest now…not just for all eternity!

“But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

1 John 1:9

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

My friend, if you decide to take this step in your life, it will be the most important decision you will ever make! For each day He will reveal more of Himself to you, drawing you ever closer, still nearer to Him. Bask in His presence, His goodness, His love, and His mercy, for He is a good, good Father!

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

Restorative hope accepts the fact that it is through much tribulation that we pass through this life, embracing the fact that trials cannot destroy the hope He has given us! He promises to be with us every step of the way!

I made my decision over 20+ years ago and my life just continues to get better! I now have hope and joy! And I live each day with a renewed purpose! So can you…the choice is yours my friend.

For more information regarding Anchored HOPE please contact us.