God is doing amazing things!!!

I have to put my schedule up on my computer desktop just to keep up with all of these open doors and opportunities to witness to others.  I asked God to give me more to do and, after I took responsibility for beefing up my obedience and my closer walk with Him, He has been delivering on His promises to use me more and more!

My Calendar for 2015 is filling up.  If you want me to come and do spoken word or facilitate a workshop or something to do with speaking/coaching... let me know so I can put your event on my calendar!

I speak for free, so why not book me!!?  :)

I like to look at the cross as a plus sign. It took Christ's suffering to add us back to God. Greatest equation in all of existence. God + us = LIFE... no cross, no equation. :-) Thank you for what you did for us on the cross, Jesus!

Way-Maker with the Pen

I didn't think to post this yesterday because I was just maxing and relaxing. But I can't stress how grateful I am to the great Americans who came before us. Those who fought for freedom, both foreign and domestic, and lifted their voices over laws of injustice. People of all colors, shapes and sizes added their voices to the cry, their feet to the marches, their silence to the sit-ins and boycotts, their skin to be broken and bruised by the cruelty of men... even their lives given for the cause!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr... leader, freedom fighter, voice of reason, way-maker with the power of the pen, spoken word, and called out to stand for God's principles of equality and justice, love, compassion, and righteousness... we salute you!

Happy Birthday and God Bless!!!

My Response to a post on Michael Baisden's Facebook

Michael Baisden shared a post today that said, "the greatest sin a man can make is to believe that which does not have evidence." And of course this started a debate on belief in God vs. atheism. So I chimed in...

"Well, then that scraps the big bang theory. .. which cannot be proven. And also the theory that all life developed from single-celled organisms... which came from the big bang right? And these single-celled organisms just somehow "knew" (without brains) that they should start forming into creatures with arms, legs, and brains... and these brains just had to have logic and a sense of greater purpose because? The reason why we aren't all just animals eating grass and crapping on ourselves is because some single-celled organisms "decided" (without brains) that humans would be special and have "almost divine" thought.... yep I can see how all that is believable and can be proven...
Yup.

Try this. Faith is what separates us from a speck of dirt on the ground... The desire for justice is proof that we have been created by someone who is just. Love is proof that we are not just scientific. Compassion proves we are capable of being inspired by a feeling that we get (but cannot see). And ignorance is proof that we have something to lose.

I know God is real because He has been actively involved in my life and the lives of others I know since day one.

I'd rather believe we were created with purpose and see time and again that God has shown up and helped in my life... than believe some big bang left all of life to chance and that all of the various kinds of life, from humans to beetles, and all their different colors and shapes and even abilities... are just flukes of a nature... a nature created by chance..." from a big bang that came from what?

- Stephanie Josiah 1/20/2015

NEW YEAR 2015

Somebody needs to hear the truth. Yes, the New Year is a fresh start. But you'll be going into it with the old you. (That's just the nature of the beast) All the bad habits, issues, personal hang ups, insecurities, sorrows and secrets will be trailing behind you like New Year's streamers or like the tail of a kite.

Yes, the new year is a big blank page in a book of a fresh 365 days that you may... or may not be blessed to live all of and there are many goals and dreams that lie waiting for you to take on. But... I just want to remind you that there is a book full of life-giving pages that are already filled up. The words on those pages are sometimes black, red, or in italics... and there is so much to be gained. In this book is freedom from that kite tail of the same ol junk you've carried with you into each new year. In this book is strength for all that the new year will bring. In this book is opportunity to make the most out of yourself and to be used to bless others. So let me be very clear. Your new year may be a fresh new start with resolutions to finally master that major accomplishment or task... but you don't have to make fresh marks on the canvas without a manual.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel or fill your 365 page book up with a bunch of things you wanted and dreamed of... that's a lot of work to do solo. I personally don't want to go another year without my pages full of God's Word and a closer relationship with Him.

What if what I want in 2015 is a new house, a new car, and an improved husband... but what I NEED is a better soul? A kinder heart? A more forgiving spirit? A disciplined life?
I'm not bashing new year's resolutions or the excitement of going into a new year. If anything I'm emphasizing what/who makes it more exciting. You see, the same God of 2014 will be asking for a deeper relationship with us in 2015. So let's not wipe the slate entirely clean (forgetting what He has done for us) and let's not waste our life's ink writing another year of life according to our own way and in our own strength.

I've failed in many ways this year. If I have been truly better in any way at all, it has been in living closer to God and asking Him for His Word... finally my pages have more substance.

So, for all my friends seeking a better self in the new year. Seek Christ, read His word, and pray intentional prayers to beef up your relationship with Him... Listen and pay attention for answers... Spend time in the "seeming silence" of those moments together with Him... and as you draw closer to God you won't believe, as you enter 2016, all that He brought you through and how you grew in 2015. It may just be the best 365 pages or canvases you ever painted, because if there is anything good or meaningful or of worth... we gotta get the paint from Him

I love you all!

Happy New Year from all of us Josiahs!
♡♡♡♡
#ScrapTheSelfHelp
#GodHasAManual
#BiblePrayerAndDiscipline
#HashtagsAreCyberWafflesYUM

Christmas Eve ~ facebook post

I'm so grateful for a God who shows compassion. In the morning after of a night where I'm honest enough to share my struggles... transparent enough to admit the difficulty of this season, He shows me He was listening.
I'm happy I shared where I was at last night and I'm sorry to anyone whose joy was in jeopardy simply because I admitted to grieving every once in a while. But joy does come in the ...morning and even in the mourning.
I just have a different kind of joy some folks will never understand. And joy doesn't stop us from missing the ones we love dearly. So be encouraged, those of you who need encouragement and not correction... as if missing someone was like being the Grinch. LOL.
***
Anyway, I got my Christmas wish this morning. I dreamt about my son. He was still three years old and I was holding him in my arms. I could even smell the sweet fragrance of his hair again!
***
I thank God for hearing my cry and giving me this gift to rest in and I also thank Him for those of you who are strong enough to be my friends even when the most joyous times are bittersweet.

I'm sure on that very first Christmas, there were times when even Mary contemplated the sacrifice to come. I've read the Christmas story and there were infants that were killed, orders from King Herod, to prevent Jesus from living. I can imagine the cries of all those mothers. Christmas isn't perfect, guys, so it's okay if your Christmas isn't. The point is that Christ IS!

And though my dream this morning was as perfect as can be... God loving us no matter what, past our hurts and pain, past the ugliness of our sin and shame... that is the best gift of all.

UPCOMING EVENTS - SPRING 2015

A Special Thank You to Everyone who Participated in Rock Your RED (Ishypoo Day)

Spirit of Thankfulness (THANKSGIVING 2014)

Teaching our kids the act of remembering what all we have to be thankful for thus far. God has brought us through and blessed us with many miracles. To forget our family legacy of faith and God's presence would be like a crime! So we had the kids do thankfulness turkeys. And a very cool idea was put on my heart to write on stones and stack them up in a jar of thankfulness. (Joshua chapters 3-4). This is something we will now do every year as a family tradition. Your family is welcome to join us. All you need is ribbon, stones, a sharpie, and a jar with a lid. We put cotton balls on the bottom so the kids don't break the glass.

New Book~ Early Origins: Collection of Poems

 

 

Newest book available on LULU.COM!  So excited about this one, her first poetry book published.  This book is a journey in poetry, from Stephanie Josiah’s early childhood experiences to some of those from her as a young adult. Creative writing at its most transparent, humorous, sick-minded, and raw. Featuring: Poetry, quotes, journal entries, random silly freestyles and so much more…

THE PRINCESS AND THE VOID

The Princess and the Void By: Stephanie Josiah I'll never forget the day Our Ariana realized her Little brother, Ishypoo, Wasn't coming back It was late morning Early winter light was Cascading down through Bedroom curtains Spotlighting the hallway With metallic starbeams As I walked that longest walk From bed to where he used to sleep Just passing by - at first Hardly looking into the empty room - until I caught her profile Sitting in the mix of silver-blue And shadow Our fast-paced, warrior Princess sat statue-still Such an unusual way to find her One arm on her lap Covering her legs Which spilled off the side Of the vacant bunkbed, feet hovering over the floor Her face turned toward the indent In the mattress; outlined with his toys Where her other hand was pressed And the air went out of me The vacuum, the void Focal point in the room Highlighted by a grieving four year old My proud, booming girl now Sunken-in-slouched pulled down by loss's gravity An entire secret universe in a room Space, radiant light, undeniable dark, an unseen pull Shapes hanging in suspended Chaos-ordered A galactic museum featuring a wooden bunkbed-frame Observed by a too-young girl Realizing a piece of our Masterpiece Gone. Missing. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Horrible enough to be a parent burying a child. But to be a kid, burying a sibling? Only the strongest children get to wear these battle scars. And only the toughest families know they'll need a God-powered strength to get through a lifetime of grieving. I dedicate this poem to my children, my friend Lauren and Mitchell's family. Love, Steph

Faces by: Stephanie Josiah 2014

Faces
Not just people
But the expressions
That we meet

Places
Not just spaces
Of where we traveled
On the street

The corridors of cyber land
circles of people huddled in
Pages or groups and followers
Live interaction's subtle end

I miss the silent roar of conversation
The buzz of small talk in the air
I miss the human to human face time
Where folks say pull up a chair

It hit us hard
An epidemic called social media
Google plus, facebook and Twitter
And dang that Wikipedia!

We used to congregate for small groups
We used to gather at folks' homes
Now the libraries and meeting places
Are modern day catacombs

There's no connection
For all the WiFi
Not enough computers on the land
To bring back the days of people listening
It flew away with more broadband

A family outing at Outback
They ordered from the waiter, Bill
Then buried their heads in their cellphones
Like family time's against their will

I miss the glory days of story telling
And sitting outside on the stairs
The children yelling, playing, dancing
Folks swaying in rocking chairs

I miss the oldtime toys and train sets
The days before the batteries
Were required, not included
In our children's diaries

I miss looseleaf the pen and paper
The brand new or old hardcover smell
But now we have no time to stop in peace
In our convenient cyber hell!

What does the church of today look like?
Before we read our Bible app
We make sure it doesn't conflict
With any other cyber crap

And we pass the hoards of sorrowed faces
Not even looking and that's fine
Because charity has been made easy
We can give our gift online

I'm not saying burn your laptop
Like any tool, it has its perks
But have we traded in what made us human
And become cyberholic jerks?

Whispers

 By: Stephanie Josiah 2014

Whatever happened to

our responsibility

our overall mission

not impossible, just unfulfilled

 

The corridors we navigate

littered with voices

will they echo forever

when our spirits shed these ears?

 

voices… whispers of other former

earth wanderers reach me

asking about my faith

and why I never shared it?

 

inquiries carried on puffed breezes

wanting to know why I was so loud

about Stephanie and quiet

about Jesus

 

wanting to know why I wasted

precious tick-tocking seconds

of hope-bringing time

to cut side-eye glances at

 

women on street corners, or sagging baggy jeans

or dirty wounded hands holding up signs that

read, “will work for food”

and I missed my chances to share

 

the only bread

I know

that won’t go stale

 

Is that how I worship on Sunday?

Do I swallow in the God-sized drink

of volume, rhythm, hands lifted in swaying

connection Jesus sessions

 

and miss the mark?

In those four walled holy jam sessions

I practiced my connection with God

but forgot His people whispering outside

From Galaxies to Genetics

(c) Stephanie Josiah 2014

I thank you, God, that when you set us on mission we don't go alone! You have been faithful to me all my life. When I wasn't faithful, when I wasn't pursuing, when I wasn't loving, or believing... You kept your hand over my life. You sheltered me from danger. I am alive today, in spite of my enemy... Even in spite of myself because of your goodness.

If you were not good, the whole world would be evil. If you weren't divine, the world would lack inspired thought. If you weren't creative, the world would be cookie cutout copies of monotony. If you weren't a healer and protector I wouldn't be here, my sons wouldn't have made it and my mother would have died ~ten years ago. If you weren't compassionate, the cries of the hurting would go unanswered. There would be no desire for justice in our hearts... No understanding that it is even a divine need. Beetles don't need such systems put in place... Yet you even outdo yourself in the complexity of ecosystems and mechanics. You show up because you are faithful... and show off because you are able to do exceedingly more than our minds could even fathom! You make a way through shut doors, and spring forth leaders from closed wombs, you do it all from galaxies to genetics and aren't too proud to let us think we've "discovered or invented" something.
Rainbows in the skies and swirls of color in creatures' eyes. Dreams, thoughts and visions... Cellular division... Beating hearts and rhythms of the earth all tapping out a ballad to your ears. You are so invested, so interested in us. Tiny as we are... Each hair counted, each pore on our skin known... From head to toe... What don't you know?

The whole earth couldn't contain all the loving thoughts you have for me and all the ways you've jumped to my rescue or lifted me from the ground! I couldn't sing a long enough song or pen a psalm that could capture how you've captured me. I am totally yours, I was yours when you made me. But you didn't force me, you wooed me! You sang me to sleep in your arms.
You are such a good and amazing Father, such a defender and lover of my soul! You even love me enough to not do everything for me. You offer me joy and give me tools to take it... You offer me peace, and gift me with your Word as I study and commit to time in closeness with you, you don't spoon feed me wisdom... You let my bumps and bruises remind me of my limits. You map out a road for me but get tickled when I go in circles because I tuned you out. You hate seeing me on the floor defeated, but you won't always drag me toward victory. You say, "get up, come to me, remember... You and I have been through hardships before... Today I'm not carrying you, today I'm going to show you that my Spirit is in you and you can walk in my Spirit, and you can run and dance in my Spirit... And you can fly over this pit!"

You already know how great you are, but you love it when I see it! You aren't too proud to let me be oblivious of your goodness. You care too much to let me miss you being everything you are.
You can't stop being amazing, you can't stop being loving! How many times did I say I was yours - not realizing just how powerful and transformational being yours is?
And you let me learn more of it every day!
‪#‎JustWow‬!

FRU!T

Fru!t
(c) "Stephy Jay" 2014

Because of DNA
Divine
Natural
Attachment

I catch myself spinning
in 3rd person...
One speck of glitter
On the celestial marble

Aware of how tiny
How bright and noticeable
I am
a golden apple

Dropped from your throne
Fruit of your tree
Connected to your nutritional tissue with every Word

The attachment is profound
With each of us
Both seen and unseen so very real
Woven with fibers of breath and light

I feel it deeper
However painful and unnatural for human tissue
Stretched upward
Still connected

To my fruit
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A Facebook post from FEB. 18TH, 2014

My brain hurts... I just finished the preface and first chapter of "Spiritual Leadership" and it was like seeing everything that ever troubled me in high def. The world is hurting for leaders who love passionately, live in transparency, and act according to the principles they claim to follow. How to better the leadership when the world is already overrun with mega-prosperity-but low spiritual imp...act churches and falsehoods oozing from within the staff/leadership teams... Would best begin by a true acknowledgement of who we are vs. Who God is. If we remove ourselves from the throne and realize we would have nothing if not for God... We would operate out of thankfulness to Him and glorify Him instead of trying to glorify ourselves...

My non-Christian friends aren't fooled, they know we have faults. It is our self-righteousness and masks that disgust them... Not our weaknesses. It is our love of self that prevents our ability to lead or be influential. In our imperfections we can still point upward and say... Follow me because I love you and any good in me and any love you feel from me and see in my actions is from what God has put in my heart.

New leadership begins first by returning to our first truth... God is God and we are not.
Nothing we do will be of any importance to the kingdom until we first master this!

At the click of a button the world can learn what it wants about God... But we are the face He chose and that face hasn't been so lovely, compassionate, welcoming, trustworthy, or been a blessing to others... Is it any wonder why the world is bleeding out for spiritual healing but hates the thought of going to church?

Not all leadership is corrupt... But with all eyes on us (despite the gospel of tolerance being king in the 21st century) we cannot afford to be dishonest! We are supposed to be representing the truth!

Soapbox...step down...

WHAT WILL YOU SAY?

I am a child of God, so I've come to tell you that depression is NOT our inheritance... Hopelessness is NOT our inheritance... Chaos and confusion are NOT your inheritance... Hostility and offense are NOT our inheritance...
JOY is, BELIEF, HOPE, PEACE AND WISDOM... GRACE toward others and ourselves are all our inheritance. The ability to stand up and be counted when someone is hurting... To show compassion, to stand for what is right, to call for correction and the ability to give wise counsel... To encourage... To speak words of life into dead places because He is in us... That is our inheritance.

What will you claim?

This BREAKING FREE study is growing me closer to the truth of who I am. God didn't make me to be junk... So why, in all my anxiety and fear... Depression and doubt... Have I owned titles that were not mine?

What title do you respond to?

If I hear a whisper in the wind that says I am to be called "worthless", "abandoned" or "unloved" haha! I'll laugh...

"You must have the wrong number!" I'll say...

What will you say?

IF I HAVE NOT LOVE...

I read that "If I have not love... I am nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate..." "If I come close to you with my mouth full of praises but I don't care for my neighbor my words and my actions are hollow." (Paraphrases)
I would be a clay soldier... Lifeless, not fit for battle. My emptiness, my incompleteness;the sole goal of my enemy; fulfilled. Redeemed and then bound again...
To find pure an...d righteous love and not LIVE it, is to spit on my inheritance.
Are we sitting on the fence still about what we are called to do?
We are called to love and if our actions don't show love... Who is our king? I am who I am in actions... Not just in words. He says He is "the I Am", (the ultimate example of living it) and all of His titles are backed by action.

He doesn't breathe it if He cannot bleed it.

#FoodForThought
#LiveWhatYouSayYouAre
#ChurchOfActs

Beth Moore... Breaking Free - my study update

Just finished Breaking Free, Week 5, day 3 and all I can say is just, "wow".
Everywhere I turn I keep hearing these words, "He is so faithful." In the study time today, "God is faithful." In unexpected conversations with people, "God is faithful."
And you know why I have needed to hear this over and over? From so many people, places, things, and even my own inner thoughts...

It is because a mothe...r who prays multiple times a day for the healing of her son, for the survival of her son... A woman who believes God for miracles and healing and has seen Him work several in her own lifetime... A woman like that gets attacked with feelings and thoughts like, "Well, God doesn't care huh? Where was he when...? Why did he let that happen to you when you love him so much? How could you possibly think he is still good and loving? Wouldn't a loving God move heaven and earth to heal your son?" A worldful of hurt and a headful of crappy, attacking thoughts. And I now have the tool to shut my adversary up.

My God is so faithful! To answer his questions: God cares for me (I know because He has scraped me up off the concrete every time an abuser stomped me down, protected me when I didn't even care to protect myself. Walked with me one night through a group of men that were taunting me; promising me a good time... Not one hair on my head harmed!) He is ALWAYS with me. He has allowed things to happen to me, but He didn't design those things. But countless times He stood around me and shielded me from so much worse! He is good and loving, even when I wasn't good and loving to Him. And my son is 100% healed... He would have been healed sooner but God gave him strength and joy to enjoy time here with us. Do you have the power to do that? You only destroy what He creates, taunt what He uplifts, warp what He establishes, and hate what He loves. I'm living proof that God is faithful. My whole life, a testimony to that. It is you who have not been for me... It is you who hates me... All my faults you hurl at me but you forget one thing... I've already been forgiven... And you and all you are about... Will soon be forgotten!

A.to.the.men!


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  PS~

 I've seen a lot of Christians fussing on FaceBook about how sad they are... How depressed they are... How lonely and messed up they are.
The truth is cool, I would never knock honesty. But I don't see many days of hope and joy being shown... if God is with you and you are lonely... Maybe speak with Him? Surround yourself with good company. If God is healer and restorer... Why not let Him get into the messiness and emptiness? What would you stand to lose if you woke up, opened the curtains and let in the light? Folks, I understand pain... I'm pressing toward thirty years old but have lived a hundred years or more in heartbreaking experiences... And I still refuse to curl up in a ball - now why is that?
Because God is faithful. When we believe it fully and believe Him fully... Our lives can't help but shine.

We were made to show the glory of God. If He is in us, but our lives are dark and hopeless... We should double-check on who is really in us. Don't claim anything that isn't His will for your life... Joy, peace, understanding, light, hope, grace, forgiveness...

I'm just saying, why would anyone want the God you have... If you won't even believe Him for daily joy. Unhappy Christianity... Yep, very attractive to the masses. Also, I'm pretty sure that's oxymoronic

My Territory

My Territory
By: Stephanie Josiah (c) 2014

I'm not renting space
This time and place was given
My territory, my responsibility
To develop and protect

I'm stretching my fingers and toes
To the four corners...
I will know the soil - capture the grit under my nails
Cultivate the grounds

Put down deep roots, dig wells
The generations after
Will dance among my olives and oaks
Swing on thick branches

Lace their shoes in swaying shade
And drink in the freckled sunlight
Their place in time made easier
because when fear would have made me move

I reached my hands up in the air
Planted my feet
Deep into the ground and
Made like a tree
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*you see, I can't afford to make believe when I say I am a child of God. I can't raise my hands and cry out and put in zero work... Build zero relationship. I will not teach my children the tame, man-made religion of religion for religious sake... Weighed down by rules He'd never stand for. Naivety as peace... Country clubbing as kingdom building... Fear as submission to confusion and chaos. I will not teach my children to silence the outcast or afflicted... To shame them or accuse them of bitterness when they have been abused or held captive.

I will teach my children about abundant life, spiritual borders... With no physical limitations. They will not sit because dancing is being too odd for God. They will not follow blindly. I'm claiming for them the lives they were meant to have here. They will be free indeed or I'll die trying. They will love harder than me, stand up for truth and justice stronger than me, speak more words straight from God's heart than I could even fathom... Because I won't make it difficult for them to believe in who they were made to be. I will not doubt their giftings, control how the Holy Spirit leads them or uses them... I will cherish their differences... Lift up their weaknesses and press behind them to step forward when shame or fear would make them retreat.

I will build them up because kingdom building is not about a building. It is about the people... It is about calling out people to freedom in Christ and holding those who dare claim leadership accountable for the sake of their own skin. To look in the mirror every day and say, "what can I do?" Before I send another person to the front lines?.. To look in my own backyard and feed the unfed before I brag of feeding nations I've never visited...

What am I doing as a mother of God's beloved children and a daughter of the King if love and liberty are not first falling words from my lips?

And I'm by no means bragging. I'll have to shake off my own dark thoughts, shame, and physical afflictions every day before I can even step into the first few hours of the day. I'll have to ask God to keep me in check because I am so passionate that words can cut without self-healing. I'll have to ignore every untrue word others will say of me because I make them uncomfortable and find satisfaction in God for friendship and light in dark and lonely seasons... But I will still stand. I will still instruct. I will still encourage you to live free. Because God is in me and "Greater is He that is in me..."

step up and claim your inheritance!