When I was 8 years old, I was officially diagnosed with anxiety and depression disorder. Eight. Years. Old. Just a little baby with a big, scary, adult issue. And so sometimes life is a little harder for me than the average person. Things seem scary when they shouldn’t be and change is terrifying and sometimes it feels like I’m walking around in the world without any skin on to protect me. I used to think that there was something wrong with me. But that’s just so silly, isn’t it? There isn’t anything ‘wrong’ with me… Just a bunch of things that are RIGHT with me!… Read more »

I’m not sure my anything really starts out being that… I have been a follower of Jesus for a long time, since I was 11. My husband is also a believer. As high school students we each felt called into foreign missions. But the doors for that never really opened. Fast forward to 2010 when we moved to Sealy. We joined a church where we really felt home, for the first time in our adult lives. Our church had a mission trip to Costa Rica, and my husband and I excitedly signed up. While we were in Costa Rica, we really felt God moving in… Read more »

In the spring, of our second year of marriage, my husband and I found out we were pregnant. Thrilled, as any couple would be, we anticipated our first appointment to hear the heartbeat of our unborn child. That appointment didn’t go as planned. Instead of a heartbeat we were told our child had died. Without a discussion the next day I was scheduled to remove the child from my body, as to not cause infection. I wasn’t given a chance to mourn. Fast-forward 2 years and still no child and another blow to our road to parenthood. My husband and I both discovered we needed… Read more »

I was thirty years old, and married for the second time. This time, I knew I had it right: God was in it. I had given birth to my beautiful daughter during my first marriage and now, years later, the longing had set in. I told my husband I wanted another baby. That went over similar to a lead balloon, we had three between us. But, being a strong willed female laden with the baby syndrome, I nagged, I prodded and finally he gave in…”it’s not a bad idea”. Well, okay! Here. we. go! One year later. No babies. Two years later. No babies. A… Read more »

A A great friendship was born and play dates were made and tears were shed and prayers were said but all was still shiny and new and well, comfortable. Until God stepped in. He wasn’t invited in the normal sense, he kind of barged in and demanded attention. Problem was I wasn’t interested. Heather and I met on BabyCenter.com a website for women who were trying to conceive or pregnant and offered a pre-facebook network to share questions and chat. Heather was just one of the online friends in a sea of others and we were assigned friends simply because we were pregnant and due… Read more »

It’s so refreshing and freeing to finally be able to share my story.. It’s been a long 3 years since we were first asked to step onto the crazy train of adoption. It was something that God had always put on my heart since I was a young girl, but now the thought of actually stepping up and answering the call to take in another person’s child, seemed so overwhelming. Our family was actually in Disneyland when we got the call from my sister that she knew of a mom who desperately wanted to put her baby girl up for adoption. Our 3 boys and… Read more »

When we forgo the American Dream, we put God first. When we put God first, we naturally surrender all other things in order to wholly serve and worship Him. Surrendering in our world suggests “giving up”. We worry about surrendering because of the things we might have to sacrifice in the process. Surrender implies sacrificing freedom, when in reality, surrender IS freedom. What are we afraid of? When we live our lives for ourselves, we are missing out on all that God has in store for us. Don’t default to fear, but instead default to the greatness of God*. 
*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship… Read more »

God, we’ll do anything. Beware of these words. Do not let them fall from your mouth that is currently beseeching God for any plan, any direction, anyTHING to make this swampy fog of life disappear unless you are ready. Somewhere over the rainbow of my early-30’s my tule fog started to swirl. Not much at first, but then thicker and more dense as I got older. Where I grew up we called this kind of fog hallelujah! because it meant a school delay. In California’s San Joaquin Valley this thick ground fog forms when moisture condenses overnight in the cool night air during fall, winter… Read more »

the cute fella is my hubby, Mark. He’s been battling cancer for awhile. Thought it was gone, but it came back. My surrender moment happened 3 hours before you posted this site. A CT scan for a first follow up after 14 months of chemo and radiation showed a new spot of likely cancer in his hip. Ok, I said bad words when doctor shared the news. So now more scans, more radiation, more unknowns. I don’t have space to tell you the 1000s of ways God has provided what we need when we need it. Neighbors mowing our yard, friends just hanging out with… Read more »

My husband and I have been married for 11 years. We have 1 child who is 6. I often talked to my husband about feeling a lack of emotional intimacy. I felt lonely in my marriage. We would talk about what we could do, do it for a week and it would end up back to the old ways. It got to a point where it had to be fixed. I noticed I was talking about it and now we were fighting about it every two weeks or so. This was too often for me. I would pray for our hearts and pray for God… Read more »

My Anything Story began back in 2008 when I went through my first miscarriage. I was heartbroken and my faith balanced between letting go or hanging on. I immediately wanted to get pregnant again and was successful at getting pregnant, just not staying pregnant. Heart broken again, my faith was tested. We decided to take a break and were surprised to received our miracle baby a few short years later. Feeling I was past the “curse” we tried for baby #2 and had 4 more miscarriages. Each one brought me to my knees. Each one made me question everything I knew and each one brought… Read more »

I felt a nudging from the Holy Spirit to start blogging, after leaving If:Gathering this year. I had surrendered all to God, but was still scared to share my journey for His glory. I was scared of judgement, embarrassment, shame, you name it…but I knew I could do ANYTHING, if it was for His glory! Please go to my blog for more of my story. lemonsandhoneyblog.com

My anything story… I said I could give God everything, put Him above all else, and love Him first and foremost… But in my heart, I knew He really came second. My husband and my children came first, and no matter how much I tried to understand or change my heart, I couldn’t fathom putting even God before them. Oh but the work He was doing in me! He took me on a journey, and I wouldn’t change ANY part of it now! The things/people that I held higher than I held God, were exactly what He used to get my attention. His plan was… Read more »

http://thehomeschoolingjourney.blogspot.com/2014/11/it-is-well.html

My anything story… I said I could give God everything, put Him above all else, and love Him first and foremost… But in my heart, I knew He really came second. My husband and my children came first, and no matter how much I tried to understand or change my heart, I couldn’t fathom putting even God before them. Oh but the work He was doing in me! He took me on a journey, and I wouldn’t change ANY part of it now! The things/people that I held higher than I held God, were exactly what He used to get my attention. His plan was… Read more »

I felt called into ministry the summer before my senior year of high school. I stood up at a summer youth camp when the speaker declared, “If you feel called into full-time ministry I want you to stand to your feet.” I was on my feet in 2 seconds flat….I responded so fast, not a second of hesitation. That following summer I went on an incredible missions trip to Papua New Guinea and then off to Bible College in the fall. During my time in college I was involved as a youth leader in a local church and spent a year involved in a Saturday… Read more »

Surrender Andrew Our youngest son, Andrew was living the life of a rebellious teen. He had just turned 19 and was living a life without God and completely for himself. He had recently admitted that he was smoking pot and dealing drugs. We felt we had to ask him to leave our home as we could not support his lifestyle. As parents we spent many hours talking about how to deal with him and praying. On October 20, 2013 God woke me up with a loud voice. He said, “I want you to quit doing that.” I had never heard him almost yell at me…. Read more »

It will be 3 years in August I had to surrender to God all my pain, confusion and anger. I had to surrender to not understanding Gods plan in this awful time. August 8th our son was born in Dallas, Texas. We got the call not even 24 hours after meeting his mom. They told us they had to induce labor and Palmer was on his way. We had no clothes, NO BABY STUFF and still working on raising our money for the adoption.That was the first surrendering moment of just racing to the car and trust God was going to take care of us…. Read more »

I don’t have a big Anything story. One where I’ve started a non-profit for orphans or worked tirelessly with the homeless. But I guess in a way that is my “Anything”. I wanted a big story. I do have a heart for orphans and the homeless and I was hoping that God would find a way to use me with them. But I think I wanted it in a selfish way too. I wanted someone to look at me and say “Look what she’s done” rather than “Look what God’s done”. Right before IF:Gathering 2014, I sensed God saying he wanted me to take my… Read more »

Sitting in my bedroom just a few short weeks ago, I felt God speak to me about sowing seed. My family and I are currently in the international adoption process to adopt a 5 year old little girl from Peru. She has Down Syndrome and a hole in her heart and we want her home as soon as possible. Raising the money to do so hasn’t been easy- we haven’t seen a lot of success with fundraisers and we have felt pretty alone in our decision to do this, regardless of cost. So when God began talking to me about sowing seed to pay for… Read more »