My mission is to awaken faith, nurture spiritual growth and empower individuals to know God intimately.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see! Oh how the wonderful words of this hymn can be the anthem for any person I know who has found the sweet grace of God in their lives.
Oh the loving grace of a God that is “pure” love! How can we even contain the joy that we feel when we think about His goodness. I know for me it is like what King David said “it is like fire shut up in my bones”. I have to let it out in my worship and my praise. The awesomeness of who God is we will never be able to wrap out infinite minds around. But what we can understand is like sweet honey from the honeycomb.
God loves our praise and He inhabits our worship. He deserves all that we can give. Won’t you give Him the fruit of your praise today? Won’t you stop where you are and worship Him with all that you have? Will you dance like King David danced?
2 Corinthians 12:9 “But He said to me; My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” NIV
The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa
Dear Sisters,
I love you for who you are today! You are strong and wise. You are beautiful and kind. You are resilient and focused. You are a giver and caring. You nurture, you love, and you live.
You are hurt and sad. You are lonely and broken. You are sick and depressed. You are weak and fragile. You need healing, you need love and you need rest.
No matter where you are or where you have been, I accept you. No matter how many mistakes you have made, I respect you. No matter what you face, I stand with you. I will lift you up when you fall. When you are weak I will prop you up with prayers of love. I may get busy with life but know that you are still a part of my heart.
Together we are strong. Together we can move mountains. Together we can accomplish dreams. Together we can change the world!
You are worthy of all the good that God has for you. You are special in His eyes. His heart longs for you. He desires to see you whole and prospering in the fullness of His love.
Please remember that you are not alone in this journey called life. I am your sister and I am with you!
With love. . .
The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa
The strangest thing happened this morning while writing my blog. I completed what I thought was a pretty good blog and hit “publish”, all seemed well until I went to view the post and only the title was there. Technical glitch or something else? I understand that the opposite of good is evil and we can’t remain naive to the fact that the adversary is lurking around to try to “halt” the mighty plans of the Lord. Unfortunately for him that is not an option. Whatever plans the Lord sets in motion will prevail!
The ones close to me know that my life today is nowhere near where I was over 2 years ago. I was stuck in a place of depression with little hope to make it through to the other side of sane much less a place of purpose and abundance. But you see the journey that the Lord placed me on was a divine intervention of my life. I truly have been transformed by the renewing of my mind.
It has taken an emotional toll on me to write about the place of desolation that I was in but God knew that was where I needed to be in order to be radically changed for His purpose in life.
I could have wasted away in my place of darkness, but instead God had plans far brighter than my most horrific days of depression. It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures: Jeremiah 29:11 ~ “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God has great plans for your life too. A radical change is waiting to take place in your life right in the middle of your struggles. Will you embrace it? Will you die in your place of desperation? Or will you decide to live out your true purpose and have an abundant life full of promise, healing, and restoration?
I am here to help you through your journey; to coach you, to help you find the resources that you need to catapult you to the next level, and to pray for you in the midst of your storms. Are you ready for your radical change today?
Join The Butterfly Journey Facebook page by clicking the “like” button and begin to live out your God-given plans!
The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa
If you have been so gracious as to read any of my blogs, you know by now that I am currently writing my first book – The Butterfly’s Journey. I just received my copyright papers today! The time has come! My deadline is set for October 2011. I am sending another copy to the editor tonight!
Over the course of one week a shift has begun to occur in my journey. I have been overly blessed to have connected to some amazing, encouraging, women who have been divinely connected to me. These ladies have already touched my heart and I pray that our journey together will be one of amazement in God.
I didn’t think I was ready for the shift yet, but I knew it would come soon. God has prepared me for such a time as this. Now the time has come for me to move out into the territory in faith of ministering to hurting women. I don’t take my mission and purpose lightly and I won’t move on anything until God tells me where to go, what to do, when to do it, and what to say when I get there.
This is such an awesome responsibility and I pray that I will accomplish all that God will set before me in an excellent way.
If you are feeling generous and have the desire to help me optimize my Facebook page, please go to The Butterfly Journey page and click “like”, as this will help me get the most exposure and reach the women that I desperately desire to touch. On this page is where I will be holding online discussions, connecting with others, and posting upcoming events. I am going to also use it to give the progress of my book, unveiling the cover design, and choosing a select few to pre-read one of the first copies to add a review to the back cover.
I thank you in advance for your support!
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
I have been blogging for over 2 months now and I only had a few comments and one subscriber, but I that is not why I started blogging. I wanted to have another avenue to reach out to other women to share my life as I live it. It is my online journal of the lessons that God shows me everyday.
Perhaps you can relate to the fact that ever since I started blogging, posting, and tweeting, I have left little time to concentrate on my writing. I am presently in the middle of writing my first book. Because it is totally inspired by God I know that He has a fresh, relevant message that needs to reach the masses. I am just the vessel in which He chose to deliver it. But honestly I have been slacking back on the writing. Wasting time on worthless stuff. I know better than that.
Well on Saturday morning I woke up and as usual I checked all my social media sites to see what was going on. And to my surprise I had a comment on one of my recent posts. I was so excited that I accidentally called my mother at 7 o’clock in the morning (I know better than that). But I couldn’t contain myself. It was as if I had won the lottery or struck oil. The reason for my great joy is because I had touched one person with my message that day.
You may not understand my wild excitement, but you see, God has ordained me to encourage and inspire women to live out their purpose in Him. And to actually have one person touched by my blog meant the whole world to me. This is who I am, this is what I was put on this earth to do. And if I can help 1 or 1,000, my journey would not have been in vain. I will be able to have glorified my God! I may not have gotten it all right in life, but this one thing is burning on my spirit so deep that I must fulfill it before I die.
So needless to say I need to finish this book. I can’t spend countless hours just looking at what everybody else is doing. I need to be about my Father’s business! I need to be helping hurting women know their true worth. I need to be helping them discover their potential in God. I need to be there to pray with them and for them as they go through their storms. I need to be their sister-friend and encourage them in their dreams.
This is who I am! I am living out the purpose that God predestined for me to be in the world to help transform lives from ordinary to extraordinary in Him.
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
When I was suffering from depression and beginning my healing process with God; I had to ask myself some tough questions. Why did I end up that way? What were some of the things that I personally did that contributed to my situation?
It took all the emotional strength that I could muster up to ask those questions. I was frightened more by the thought of what the answers were. But I had to know, I couldn’t move forward in my healing without knowing the truth. I never wanted to travel to that place again.
As I saw myself in the mirror of God’s eyes it cut me as deep as a double-edged sword. The darkness that surrounded me was overwhelming. I didn’t even recognize myself. But in the writing of my book I now realize now raw those pains still are. Whenever I share my testimony, I get emotional about the imagery that God showed me of my life. It grieves my soul!
But still everyday, I look in that mirror of myself to see where I am now. I see the miraculous changes that only God could do. I see a woman full of life and purpose. I see the light of life surrounding me taking the place of the darkness that once followed and plagued me. I can’t forget that woman in the mirror, she is my sister, my friend, she is me. I will continue to advocate for her and pray for her and help her to find her place in life. It is not easy looking at yourself in the mirror; seeing your life as it really is.
But I wanted to endure that so that I can be real for other women who are going through their storms of life. I want to tell them the whole process; every detail is important to the healing process and growth. You can’t just give someone the beginning and the end and never share the middle of your story. It does them no good at all. Everyone wants to know that they are not the only one who has suffered, who has gone through bad things. They want to relate to some piece of your story so they know that you truly understand.
Once they see you on the other side they wonder if they too can be healed. That is why it is so important for me to share, to minister, to pray with and to love all the hurting women no matter what they face because I know that through it all God can redeem you. He can and He will turn your ashes into beauty if you allow Him to.
If only I could touch a 1,000 lives then I know my journey would not have been in vain.
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
The darkness was intense. The eerie soundless space was unnerving. It was as if all living things had disappeared. I found myself drowning in a pit of sadness and loneliness for over 730 days of pure torment. This place of depression had stolen my life as I once knew it and there was nothing that I could do.
As unbearable as it was at the time, I wouldn’t change anything; because out of my pit of despair came life. When God delivered me from the shame and pain of the place I found myself in, I was different. I was not the same anymore.
He showed me that through this process, although painful, made me useful for His purpose. Once healed I am able to share my story with other hurting women and help them on their journey to wholeness. I found my “true” self.
Now I have hope and purpose! I have the understanding of who I really am and whose I am. I no longer have to conform to the people or situations around me that pull out all of my good for their own purposes. And leave me empty and useless to myself and God.
God I am grateful for losing my worldly self to find my “true” worthy self in you.
It is true it is a process and your journey might not look exactly like mine, but nonetheless it is a process for whatever you are going through. But you must: 1. embrace your journey, 2. self-discovery – understand your role in the mess of your life, 3. seek your worth from the one who made you (God), 4. repent and change by building a new relationship with God 5. understand and pursue your purpose.
Let’s find the real you today! Email me @ lisa@thebutterflyjourney.net
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
God is so gracious to us! When I found myself drowning in a pit of depression I never thought I would make it out. It was the worst time in my life. I had no one to turn to; no one reached out to me. It was just hopelessness and darkness. But God…
God was not only in the pit with me, but He lifted me up and out as a brand new “me”. He made me NEW!
It was a tough process, but like the caterpillar’s transformation process, it was necessary so that I could FLY. I am grateful for the entire experience, as it has made me a new person. I now have clarity about who I really am, my worth in God, and my purpose in life.
I no longer have to conform to the people or things around me to feel valued. I am free to be me and I will no longer seek the approval of “man”. I will be excellent in all that I do, but temporal praise is not my goal. I thrive now for a more eternal approval. I no longer worship the gifts, more than the Giver!
I am new again! I was broken in a million pieces and God put me back on the potter’s wheel and transformed my life. I am now a useful vessel for His purpose.
You know the joy that is expressed in the Bible; that unspeakable joy? That’s what I have with God. It is not conditioned to any circumstance or situation but it is there all the time. Even when the storms of life coming crashing down, it is there. Follow God, He will not lead you astray. He will replace your ashes for beauty and give you joy, unspeakable!
Embrace your life’s challenges and seek clarity in what God is trying to show you about yourself. It will renew your spirit. It will make you new again!
The Buttefly Journey – Lisa
To answer that question; Am I my sister’s keeper? Yes! Yes I am.
God did not create us to travel this road of life alone. He is the one who we truly need, but He made us to walk beside one another. He said in His word, “love thy neighbor as thyself”.
We need to be sensitive to each other’s needs and be available when we need each other. Being in tuned to the Holy Spirit will allow us to feel each other’s pain and be there as a listener, encourager, prayer partner, or just to give a hug.
Words are great and cards are wonderful but sometimes they don’t do the trick like a comforting person to come to see about how you are.
Life has us so busy sometimes that we fail to be there for the people who need us. We see them every Sunday in church, but do we really see people where they truly are. I remember going to church every Sunday and was clinically depressed to 2 whole years and no one seemed to notice.
As sad as it may seem, we go through all the motions that we think are expected of us, but yet we by-pass the small gestures that may just make somebody’s day.
I am no therapist but some of the posts that I read on FB are screaming I need help! Someone reach out to me! As most people I don’t get involved but tonight, I saw a message that touched my heart and God urged me to reach out. I didn’t know this person but she is somebody. I reached out to her with an invitation to call me and talk. She didn’t call but my prayer is that she felt the love that I extended to her.
Sometimes it is just about showing the love. No pulpit, no formal evangelism committee, no pomp or circumstance. Just pure unadulterated love!
What the world needs now is love sweet love! I am my sister’s keeper!
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
