Read your Bible!!

 

Why is this such a hard thing for me?  This and quiet time!  Every day I get up in intending to start my day this way.  So I am going to stop doing this and go do that.

I know for sure that a relationship with God is the best thing that you can do...why is it that I can't do it?  I am really good at learning about God from others.  I love listening to Joyce Meyer when I walk in the mornings.  I read bible study books.  But I know that there is huge rewards with time spent in the Word, being still and quiet just listening and journaling.

Happy Friday!  Hope y'all have a great Friday and weekend.  We have a group from FCA coming tomorrow along with Mike's boss so things will be a little crazy around here, so I will post as much as I can.  Then next Wednesday my Mom is coming, can't wait!!  Next Tuesday I officially turn the BIG 4-0!!

In His Grip (and His Word),
Jodi

This is how we do it...in the DR {entrepreneurs}

There are a lot of entrepreneurs in the DR.  If you define an entrepreneur as someone who works for themselves then this is what you will find.  As I watch this all unfold in my daily life I often think that this is the Dominican version of an infomercial.


The men and boys who wash your windshield when you stop at the traffic light.  


The ladies who sell you a cold bottle of water or a snack while you wait for the light to turn green.  


The ladies on the beach who want to braid your hair, give you a massage, or mani/pedi.


The beach vendors that want to sell you sunglasses, wood carvings, jewelry, blow up beach toys, or paintings.


The butcher whose shop is attached to the front of his house.  


The hairdresser who has a salon in front of her house.  


The phone charger salesman who walks up to your car while you wait at the light.  


The motorcycle taxi drivers that congregate in the neighborhoods to give someone a lift. 


The guy who takes off your windshield wipers and replaces them for you when you have no time to tell him to stop or take them back off because you don't even know if they are new or used and don't have time to reject them because the light is now green and then you pull over to argue with him that you don't need or want them or that they are too expensive and then just give up and pay him for them just to have them break the very next day.  

See what I mean in this video

After working in corporate America I know that my heart is made to be an entrepreneur.  I want to work for myself.  I understand the feeling of being in control of your own destiny.  For these people they will do whatever it takes to bring home money to feed their families.  It is survival.

In His Grip,

Jodi

I am back!!

So I flew to Atlanta last Wednesday night and got to spend time with friends eating and laughing and talking and crying and just having a blast!


5 of us went to Blue Ridge, GA and spent Friday night until Sunday afternoon in an amazing house on top of a mountain.  Here was our view......

It is important to sometimes get away, recharge your batteries, refill your teacup so you can be a better person.  Change of perspective is usually a good thing.  I do know as fun as it was, as much yummy Mexican food as I ate, as easy as it was to find anything I needed, and as good as it was to visit the familiar of my old life.  I love it here!  I came home to my dogs and they happily pranced over to tell me they missed me.  My kids faces when they got off the bus and the hugs were great.  My husband's hug as we dashed through the raindrops and busyness of the crowded airport was comforting.  I was home!  I missed this place, and that is a good thing.


In His Grip,
Jodi

Taking a few days off!!

OK y'all, I am going to be taking a few days off of the blog.  I head to GA tomorrow and I am celebrating with some lovely ladies in a cabin in Blue Ridge!  On Feb 21st I turn the BIG 4-0, so we are celebrating a little early.  This picture was last winter so I don't know that we will have snow this year, but looking forward to some "girl time"!!

So I will be back on Monday, so look out for some deep thoughts and rested soul when I return!!

Love y'all who read and thanks for the comments!!

In His Grip,

Jodi

OK, so the Pats lost the Super Bowl so we are a little bummed in our house.  But football season is over and there is a mere 2 weeks until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.  So I guess I get a 2 week vacation until the next sport :)


I read about the power of words this morning and I am immediately reminded of The Help and the power of 3 simple statements.  I am thankful for the reminder and will look to lift up vs. nit picking behavior that tears down a little soul.

Click Here for the iMom post from today "Whose Voice Do Your Children Hear?


Lord there are days where all I can find are the wrong things.  Thank you for pricking my heart and putting this article in front of me today.  Give me a heart to find the good in my children and to lift them up.  Create in me a loving attitude that finds the best in my children and everyone.  Amen

In His Grip,

Jodi

Love is life's motivator

If you have ever been to a wedding I am sure you are familair with 1 Corinthians 13.  I was reading through my Love Dare Day by Day Devotional and it asked me to read these verses but then to take part of them and add my name.  It makes it much more personal, more convicting, more real.  I often read The Message version of the Bible and I think in these particular verses it is a fresh look at  what we hear a lot.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

4 Jodi never gives up. Jodi cares more for others than for self. Jodi doesn't want what she doesn't have. Jodi doesn't strut, Jodi doesn't have a swelled head,5 Jodi doesn't force herself on others, Jodi isn't always "me first," Jodi doesn't fly off the handle, Jodi doesn't keep score of the sins of others,6 Jodi doesn't revel when others grovel, Jodi takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,7 Jodi puts up with anything, Jodi trusts God always, Jodi always looks for the best, Jodi never looks back, But Jodi keeps going to the end.

8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.


Wow I have some work to do. My  prayer:  Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit, let His words be my words and remove anything that is of me and make me more like Him. Amen

In His Grip,
Jodi

So how much will it take to get you off the streets?

Last night I went on my first outreach to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the prostitutes of Juan Dolio.  I went with Erica Jude who heads up Women's Ministry with Score International.  She runs a home called the Lily House where former prostitutes can make money by learning how to sew, make jewelry, or do laundry.  Their kids come with them to the Lily House and are watched upstairs while they work downstairs.  On Thursday nights the ladies (there were 6 of us last night) hit the streets hoping to get a few minutes with these ladies, give them a tract (explaining the Gospel) and a contact number, in hopes that the girls will contact them for lunch, then maybe church, and most importantly that they know the TRUTH of the Gospel and it will set them free.

I met Erica at SCORE at 8:30 and we picked up a friend of hers from the church who loves to help, and then proceeded to pick up 3 other young ladies.  We drove through Juan Dolio, parked and got out.  3 of us went one way, the rest the other way.  It appeared to be a slow night.  They saw some ladies that they knew but they don't go into the bars or approach girls that are with a client.  They see the same girls most of the time, but there have been some new girls lately.  There are also a lot of men this time of year.  Europeans flock to the DR in Jan and Feb and it is also high tourist season in general.  After checking out the area near the beach in Juan Dolio we headed over near the Barcelo Hotel and found a woman sitting right on the edge of a nightclub that wasn't filled with people yet.

Erica and the other girls knew her.  They had talked to her before.  They talk to them as many times as it takes.  Some of the girls mention the tracts they have in their purses that they were given sometimes as long as 2 years ago.  Sometimes it takes a long time.  Sometimes they never get out from under the grip of this dark profession.  But they still try....and try.....and pray and hope that they if they hit rock bottom they will remember that they have a safe place to go for help.  I think her name was Lisa.  I am not sure how old she was, but she looked maybe mid 30 to late 30's.  She had on a short dress with a zipper and it was zipped low.  She had black high heels on.  She had short black hair and some sparkly eye shadow.  She looked beautiful when she smiled.  Glossy lips revealed beautiful white teeth and sparkly eyes.  The rest of the girls left and Erica and I stayed with her.  Erica asked if I wanted to share my testimony with her and I was afraid, I didn't know what to say, I told her I need to plan out what I wanted to say.  I should have just shared straight from my heart.  I should have just told her how I wasn't too proud of my past.  I had sex too young and before marriage.  I had regrets....many....but I knew the love of Christ and He loved me anyways even in my shame about my past.  When I accepted Christ about 10 years ago I couldn't imagine that God would love me and my past.  I was actually scared I would start crying (like I am now writing this) and wouldn't get out the words.  Erica would be translating so at least it would be in English.  Not many people know my true story, my past, my regrets...but I feel God calling me to share them because I can possibly minister to these ladies.  I am just not ready.  Maybe next time.

Erica handed her a tract and she ran her fingers over it as Erica spoke.  She fidgeted in her seat.  I could see she was uncomfortable.  She shook her head, and agreed with what Erica shared with her.  She knows the Gospel she has heard it before.  But she can't stop because she has debts.  I don't know if she has children, but I assume she does.  She may even have a husband, but probably not.  Her children may even be locked in her house alone as she sits here with us.  This breaks my heart.  What if the house caught fire and the kids couldn't get out?  I know with prostitution there is a whole cycle of damage that can occur.  I couldn't stop thinking this morning "How much is your debt?"  "What amount will it take for me to get you off the streets?"  I want to know because I just want to save her.  I know I can't but my heart breaks for these women.  There is a better way!  And just throwing money at them isn't the answer.  But it keeps them locked in shackles by the devil who wants their soul and I hate that!  So I can only pray for Lisa that she will have the faith that IF she leaves the streets the God WILL provide for her and it will all work out.  Lisa cried a few times while Erica talked to her.  I prayed while Erica talked that the Holy Spirit would prick her heart, that HIS love and light would blind the evil one.  I pray now that she will see that a life outside of prostitution and walking with the Lord is much more rewarding.  That she will trust HIM and stop worrying about her debts.  Although she won't be able to buy the lotions and perfumes and pretty shoes, she will be free of the shackles and out of danger and in the loving arms of a God who makes the impossible possible!

Whenever I hear this song I think of these women, I think of myself and I know that MY God is singing it to me!

In His Grip,
Jodi