Your ONE Purpose

Today I am going to talk to you about purpose. But first, I need you to do something. Go ahead and let all of the pre-existing, run of the mill, Jeremiah 29:11thoughts and ideas about purpose fill a bucket in your mind. 

"Purpose is for the elite." "I know God has a purpose for me, I'm okay." ...eye rolls... ...sighs... Put is all in the bucket. Now, pick up that bucket, take it out back and dump it out! give it a good shake, make sure it's empty.

Is your bucket completely empty? Good! Now I need you to place that bucket somewhere safe, accessible, but safe. You need to be able to reach this bucket so you can fill it, but you need to be able to guard this bucket so nothing tainted and mundane is able to sneak in there again. 

Now, let's visit some scripture. We are going to jump through the first three chapters of the Bible, highlighting key points. So sit up, buckle up and lets get moving. :)

"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being... 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the middle of the garden to work it and take care of it." Then God created woman, when no suitable helper was found. - Genesis 2:7, 15-16, 20-23

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. - Genesis 1:1, 27-31

And now we fast forward to The Fall. 16 "To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 17 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you , 'You must not eat of it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." - Genesis 3:16-19

Whew! That was a lot!! Okay, now let us start chewing this up so we can absorb it and fully digest it! These excerpts are the words that God spoke to us. When God speaks things happen so it is good for us to pay attention and understand.

Let's work backwards through this scripture. The last portion of this is the curse God had to give as a result of sin entering this world.

*Death: up until this point, death hasn't even been mentioned. This may be a revelation for some of you, but life isn't the curse, death is.               Let that soak in.

Later in Bible God shortens our life span, because we are too evil to live too long. How sad is that? Imagine yourself in God's shoes. Do you have a child or children? Have you ever given them ONE rule? All they have to do, or not do, is ONE THING. Then they don't listen and you have to punish them. Then, when you're punishing them, they have a melt down. They start freaking out! Depending on the age of your child, this rebellion can last for a few minutes or a few days, or a few weeks, and so on. You have to continue to punish, limit and restrict them during that time. All the while, you're begging them, 'Listen, Please just listen to me and choose to come back and obey these rules and we can move on with our life.'
That's exactly what happened here. The initial punishment: Death. Later in scripture, because of our fit throwing and rebellion He has to shorten or lives to a fraction of the time because we're too wicked. Death is definitely a curse. Satan, the one who started all of this, is making the gift look like the curse. Go figure. {insert eye roll}

*Work to Survive: If this doesn't resonate with you then please, adopt all of us! This is the point where the Lord had to inform us that the consequences were going to affect us for a while. We now will toil [work hard] just to survive. Today, thousands of years later, we still have to work hard to make a dollar. The dollar isn't the goal, it's the food and shelter, and everything that the dollar buys. Our work, is not our purpose. Yes, God uses what we do, our gifts, our talents, our abilities, the people we're around and every little thing to glorify Him and show His love to us and to others. But working is not what we were created for.

*Desire Your Husband: Depending on what your marriage looks like, or what your intimate relationships have looked like, this can set on one extreme or the other, or maybe somewhere in the middle. The bottom line is that the entrance of sin created an opportunity for that to become a hurtful thing.

*Painful Birthing: Giving birth was not meant to be sorrowful and hurtful, but a joyous thing, a celebration. Thank you sin for making this one of the most excruciating pains ever. Luckily, in this day in age, when it comes to child birthing we have things that make this pain less or not there at all so it is once again only joy. This is applicable to birthing dreams, purposes... God things. There is pain in the birthing process. Sin wants you to give up and not push through. If you can get through that part, your pain is turned to joy! - Child rearing and dream rearing comes with difficulties, but you still push through! The celebrations that help carry us through the pain. The promises of joy and purpose, the promises of fruit that give us the gumption to keep going. Because, after all isn't "being fruitful the first blessing from God?

Let's go back to chapter one. In these verses of scripture we see God's first words to us, his sons and daughters. The ones who he created IN HIS IMAGE!

*Be fruitful

*Multiply, increase in numbers

*Fill the earth
These first three things should fill us with joy and excitement! Have you ever done something well and had someone ask you to do it again? Or maybe your children did something cute and you asked them to do it again. It's because what they did or what you did was good, it gave a gift of joy or love or something that was pleasing. We want more good in our life. We are proud when those we love do well and we want them to more and have more of that good. It's the same thing with God. He saw us as good, and he told us to go and do more good, go and create more good. That's exciting!

Let those words fill your bucket. Your purpose bucket, let those words fill it! You are good! Multiply and increase that good. Share that good. Do more of that good. I want more of you.

*Subdue the earth

*Rule
Have you ever left your kids alone and left one of them "in charge"? Or maybe you and your siblings were left alone and someone was left "in charge". My children aren't old enough to use them as an example so I'm using me. I am the oldest of three girls. One is only twenty-two months younger and the other is five years younger. So when we were home alone I was the one left in charge. I. was IN. CHARGE. {head nodding, lips pressed together, hands on hip, toe tapping.} Yup. There was a demeanor that came over me. My sisters couldn't do anything about it. I was the boss. end of story.

This is God giving that to you. Setting you in charge. Giving you permission. Go rule. God is telling you that what you have is good, He wants more of it, and that you have been given the authority to go out and make it happen. So no matter what he has gifted you with, let that demeanor, that confidence fill your purpose bucket. Go with authority and live it.

*I give you...EVERYTHING

He says I give you everything!! Do you understand that God spoke and it happened. God said, and so it was. While we may be tempted to just wonder on past these words, God is awakening our souls to receive them. Your purpose is the same that God gave to Adam, and created Eve to help him with; "The Lord God took the man and put him in the middle of the garden to work it and take care of it." (Gen.2:15) Your garden may be a variety of things. It may be on a stage in front of thousands of people, or it may not. It may be at home with your husband and your children. It may be in a school, a work place, a building. Wherever your garden is, your purpose is the same; work it and take care of it. Love it. Grow it. Let your garden glorify God. A garden full of weeds, brings no one glory, but a beautiful garden takes work and stewardship. The purpose of your garden is to praise God.

So imagine your garden. What does it look like now? Has it been grown with the tools of the curse, from a bucket of mediocre purpose? Or has it been grown with the tools that God gave us when He spoke His blessing over us? Multiply. Be fruitful. Rule.

In Ephesians 3:20 we are told that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you can ask think or imagine. Imagine your garden going abundantly! Imagine you, taking hold of your ONE purpose, to shine a light of love and praise on God. Take that purpose, your bucket of blessings, new understanding, and go to your garden. Then get to work, in the name of Jesus!

~Awaken us~
Brenna Stanford

An Overflow of Thankfulness and the Faith to Move Mountntains

"Overflow with thankfulness" , "faith" , these words Christians hear often. We hear them so much because we are in constant need to have an overflow of thankfulness. We have a constant need to have a faith that believes that God is working out great things, even though we can't see them.

Being thankful opens our hearts and spirits to receive from the Lord. Have you ever had a relationship with an unthankful person? It shuts you off from wanting to give to them, but it also shuts them off from accepting what you have to give. It works the same way with our relationship with the Lord. He is the perfect giver and He is so excited to give us abundantly more than all we can ask, think or imagine. But it is in our gratitude for the goodness that He has already done that we can imagine all the goodness that He still has to give! If the only thing you have to be thankful for is your salvation, then you have enough to praise Him for eternity!!

My father in law has been a pastor for 30 years, and he recently shared a story about an older man in his congregation. Everyday when my father in law would shake hands with that man he would ask him how he was doing. That man's response was consistent, "I'm drinking from the saucer!" One day my father in law asked him what he meant. His response showed how wonderful his understanding of the Lord is. He said, "God fills us until we run over, so I'm just drinking from the saucer!" We should all be drinking from the saucer.

And faith, oh sweet faith!! If you were to ask, most Christians would say that the opposite of faith is fear or doubt. But a very dear friend "spirit slapped" me one day. She asked me what the opposite of faith is and just like any Pharisee would say, I sarcastically and mockingly said doubt. She said no and I was taken back! What is the opposite of faith?! --> Having a plan. <-- 😳👊🏻 I know right?!

Here's the deal, God has THE plan so we don't need A plan. Yes, we prayerfully work to follow His lead. That's because His lead is ALWAYS deeper into His heart. ❤️ In that following, He makes a way that we never could have imagined!! So we keep our hands off, we stop trying to control what happens, and we thankfully take each and every step that God leads us in.

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭11:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

"Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth that you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." Colossians 2:7 NIV

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for reminders and little nuggets of confirmation that you give us along the way. You work ALL THINGS out for the good of those who love you. So let us not grow weary in trying to figure out the plan. Help us to take our hands off because you are more than able to exceed every plan we could think up! Help us to hunger and thirst for more of you! As we dive into your word, show us a new side of who you are. Show us a new way in which we need you! Awaken us to travel the journey deeper into your heart. Awaken us to become increasingly aware of your goodness and your provision! Let us dream big, abundant dreams, and believe you for exceeding them all! Let us remain thankful through the whole journey!!

- In Jesus holy name, amen!!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Young Living Member # 2645436

Oil for today: Envision

This essential oil blend was formulated to stimulate feelings of creativity and resourcefulness, encouraging renewed faith in the future and the strength necessary to achieve your dreams.

A Beautiful Song is Being Sung, Go Dance!

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I came back and thanked you all for your grace? You all have walked with me through seasons and some of which were "dry" seasons when it comes to blogging. Well I told you then that instead of retreating during seasons that I would dive in and bear my heart. So here you go. :)

 I, being the human I am, failed. I continue to try to live on yesterday's mana. I let my mind wander to what others have and what I am lacking. I stopped noticing the things I am thankful for and stopped looking for the good in my life. I only noticed what wasn't.

This was the foothold I let Satan have. As soon as I gave him an inch, he tool a mile, and then another. He was making his way to my heart and consuming my mind.

I had burning tears sting my face, thinking; NO! This isn't it. This is NOT what I'm going to live in. I felt this when I was younger, misery {there's nothing more in this world, hopelessness}. I cannot live this again!

The interesting thing is that NOTHING in my life changed. There wasn't anything that happened that "ruined" my life. I was living in the same blessings that God had given me, but I was only seeing what wasn't. I chose to allow one negative thought to snowball into a mind consuming battle.

All the while God was there, my best friend, quietly reminding me that he has already won this war. This chaos in my mind, he already quieted it, but I have to choose where I am going to stand; in the chaos or in the peace.

At this the devil yelled! I chose God already. What I am living in is because of others. "They" made me this way, "they" did this! Oh, his yell roared! My rock was strong, but when their sand swirled, it effected my foundation. I should be mad!

And my friend, still quiet, full of peace, kept calling me. His voice so tender and sincere, carrying a melody that my heart longed to dance to. One that was familiar, yet new.

So, we danced. We danced to a song of humility. Because, while meekness can seem so humiliating in the definition we know, there is nothing more empowering. The ones around me, who see the very worst of me will either see a savior who loves like uno other, or a crazy woman.

Nothing about this journey makes sense. I am learning to be okay with that. My challenge, and maybe yours too, is to not try to plan and put together an entire puzzle with only one piece. My dance, the song He is singing over me, is to live each moment with new mana, enjoying all the qualities of that puzzle piece. I am to praise Him with a thankful heart, laying down all of my weakness as well as all of my dreams. My dance is to enjoy with full gladness everything I have and everything I lack, knowing that He is constantly singing over me.

Today, I pray that you find peace. May my weakness show off God's strength! Let Him strengthen you too!

Father, my best friend, thank you for singing such a beautiful song over me. I ask you to sing over everyone of your children. May they hear your song and respond with humility and joy to your love! You know right where they are and everything they are facing. May they hear your quiet whisper through the enemy's roar. In Jesus' name, Amen.

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Scripture:

• "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 3:23 NLT
• "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." John 1:8 NIV
• “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day." Exodus 16: 4 NIV (whole chapter here)
• "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV
• "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
• "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23 NIV
• "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 NIV
• "And after the fire came a gentle whisper....Then a voice said to him," 1Kings 19:12-13 (whole chapter here)
• "Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples." 1 Chronicles 16:8
• "Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul," Psalm 103

God's Ways are Higher than Ours. Where is He Leading You?

I want to ask you, what is the avenue that God is using or is trying to use in your life? If you would have told me 3 years ago that the ministry God was building through me was through a network marketing company I would have laughed in your face and wondered what type of drugs you were doing. I'm reminded of Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

I hope that you find encouragement in this. It is truly in obeying God in the little things that leads to the "big" things.

{I apologize for the abrupt ending. 😬 And all the moms said amen! 🙏🏻 Thank you for your grace!}

I wouldn't be able to share this testimony of God's plan if I wouldn't have first said yes.

My first yes was in 2009 when I said yes to coming home after a LONG summer, on one condition, I had to go to church. My next yes came just a month or two later when I said yes to Jesus. All he wanted was for me to let him love me. After that came many other yeses, all of which took my on a new adventure of some sort. 

While the introduction of Young Living in my life wasn't anything "miraculous", it was God's hand in it after. The freedom from sickness that he brought my family. The subtle pulling on my heart deeper into this company. Then the Spirit speaking to me saying, "If you trust me. I will use this to bless you." Now I get to pray for and with so many people! I get to stand in front of them, representing and glorifying Christ in all of it!

There has been opposition along the way. Satan does not want God's love to be extended to people. Through this ministry it is happening! It goes so far beyond me, but I get to play a piece in it. Here is a video showing the bigger ministry.

So today, I want to ask you, where is God pulling your heart? Are you following Him? Part of my purpose is to help others follow God and where He is leading them. If there's anything I can pray with you about and for, comment below or send me an email. This is a safe place for us to seek God and let Him awaken purpose and passion into our lives.

Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you that you have a purpose for each of us. We praise you because your ways are higher than ours and your thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We do not trust in our own understanding, but we stand firm in faith that you are leading us deeper into your heart. Make us aware of your presence in our moments today. Lead us through each one with fresh eyes for your purpose. In Jesus' name, Amen!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

The Song We Sing

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us                          You who fear him, trust in the Lord-
     but to your name be the glory,                        he is their help and shield.
     because of your love and faithfulness.
                                                               The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
Why do the nations say,                                     He will bless the house of Israel,
     'Where is their God?'                                     he will bless the house of Aaron,
Our God is in Heaven;                                    he will bless those who fear the Lord -
     he does whatever pleases him.                       small and great alike.
But their idols are silver and gold,
     made by the hands of men.                        May the Lord make you increase,
They have mouths, but cannot speak,                 both you and your children.
     eyes, but cannot see;                                  May you be blessed by the Lord,
they have ears, but cannot hear,                           the Maker of heaven and earth.
     noses, but cannot smell;
they have hands, but cannot feel,                  The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
  feet, but cannot walk;                                        but the earth he has given to man.
  nor can they utter a sound with their throats.    It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
Those who make them will be like them,               those who go down to silence;
     and so will all who trust them.                  it is we who extol the Lord,
                                                                           both now and forevermore.
O house of Israel, trust in the Lord -
     he is their help and shield.                         Praise the Lord."
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord -
     he is their help and shield.                         - Psalm 115 (NIV, 2005)

This Psalm, a song sang at the Passover meal to celebrate how God rescued His people. This song is meaningful and applicable to our lives today.

The first thing that is sung is that God's name will be glorified. This needs to be the heartbeat of our lives, the song that our lives sing. When you hear something like that, the heartbeat of your life, or the purpose for your life, what do you think of? So many of us jump to the big picture of our life, the sum of all of our moments. It is so easy to overlook the fact that the big picture of our life is the sum of our moments.

So if God being glorified is what the big picture of our lives needs to look like, it is also what our moments need to look like. Our moments need to sing God's glory.

Our challenge is to stay in the Word, so we can read and study and hear from the Lord and His instructions for us. Every day we are to wake up, praise Him, and ask the Spirit to fill our heart and mind.

Once we accept Jesus into our heart as savior, the Holy Spirit fills us and we are marked with Him. (Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,) So we aren't asking the Spirit to fill us because He left us. We are simply directing our mind and heart to acknowledge that everyday we need God. We are intentionally making ourselves aware of the Spirit and His presence in our life and our need for Him. This is how our moments will glorify God, when we are intentionally about listening for His guidance in our every moment.

The next portion of this song talks about the idols that others were worshiping. While in most areas today people aren't bowing down to a statue, people are bowing down to money, to status, to busyness, to mediocrity, and about a million other things. While I understand that it takes money to survive in this world, I want to help you understand that that does not mean that money is to be your first priority. The same goes for anything else you can fill in the blank with. We can spend a lot of time here and many blog posts here, but we aren't going to today. So I am leaving you with this, NO. THING. is to be in the first priority spot except for God, not your spouse, not your kids, not your job, not anything. That spot belongs ONLY to God. 

The answer for why, follows those verses, because God is our help and shield. God blesses us when we follow and obey Him. No matter who you are, the president or lowest of low, God blesses and loves you when you glorify Him.

>>>>>Side note here. We, humans, we are the ones who established a "rank" within ourselves. The only rank God gave was that we were to rule and reign over the earth. Our sin put everyone in these "brackets". So no matter who considers you what class, or how you even consider yourself, God is adamant in the Word about how He sees you; HIS CHILD. A child of the most high king. The one who created it all and the one in whom everything has its purpose. YOU BELONG TO HIM.

Challenge yourself to be aware of His presence and guidance and to let your moments, each one, bring glory to Him. I bet you will see some major blessings. If nothing else you will be more aware of the Spirit at work in your life, that alone is a blessing unlike any other! If you aren't sure how ask Him. After all, He is your daddy, your best friend, your number one supporter, He wants you to have all the goodness that you can!

Father, thank you for your love and faithfulness to us! Help us to sing your glory today in every moment! Show us just how you are with us. Lead us through each moment. May your Spirit equip us today! In Jesus' name, Amen!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

P.S. I am going to be including little nuggets of ways that I have been able to enhance my prayer life, or area of life that these blogs pertain to. Today, I want to share with you the heart fill, the spirit fill! God wired me so that emotions play a big role in how I tick. One thing I have learned is that our limbic system affects our emotions, unlike words. I have been using Frankincense essential oil during my prayer time, and throughout my day. It has helped to stabilize my emotions so that I am more focused on my time with the Spirit, and His presence in my moments.