Joy Junkie

Ok, I must admit it, I am a JOY JUNKIE!!!!  I can't get enough of it and I am not interested in a cure! 

This is one addiction that I intend to indulge in deeper and deeper =)  I have found myself lately repeating that,  "I am so excited I can hardly contain myself"!    I just LOVE to love JESUS!!!  He has planted a desire deep in my heart to share the message of healing, restoration and JOY =)  He has taken my past and I do not have to carry the burden of it anymore.  He has touched it in a way only He can to make it usable.  I can remember and share the events without taking on the hurt that was there for so long.  He healed my past and He is BLESSING MY FUTURE!!!  I can see in my spirit that there are others out there that are in the place I was in for so many years, and He is using me to deliver the TRUTH that there is FREEDOM from that bondage!  He did not create His children to live in the bondage of fear and rejection.  He came to SET US FREE!!!!! 

He takes our hurt and replaces it with His Love, he takes our rejection and replaces it with His Acceptance, He takes our fear and replaces it with His Comfort.  He takes everything the enemy tries to steal and He fills us with JOY!  JOY!  JOY!  JOY!!!  Our JOY blocks the plan of the enemy! 

But wait...THERE'S MORE!!  hahaha  There is always more with Daddy God =) 

He doesn't just fill us with joy enough to get by...oh no, that is not how our Daddy God operates!  He fills us to overflow so that we can spill out onto those around us!  We are blessed to be a blessing!!! 

So receive your JOY today, allow God the Father to fill you!  Someone is in need of your overflow!!!!

Joy Talking

Ok I have to admit to you that when that title popped into my mind I instantly started singing The Bee Gee's "Jive Talkin'"!!!!  hahahaha  I actually sang it for a minute before allowing my thought to settle on this blog!

Ok I'm back on task now!  18:21 says, The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Life or death; Blessing or curse.  Anytime our lives start to go south just stop and pay attention to the words that are coming out of our mouths.  It is very important to get a hold of our mouths because we will wear what we say!  Our words are the acts of our beliefs!  We will speak what we believe. 

I have chosen to be filled with joy so I speak of joy and all it's benefits!  I lived too many years speaking curses over myself and my family.  I refuse to go back there again!  I claim the JOY that is freely offered by my Daddy God, for me AND my family!!!  I am blessed, I am healed, I have all my needs met....these are the fruits that I desire to eat of! 

I am not perfect (your shocked, I know!), and the enemy still gets to me at times, but I quickly remember where he took me and I do not care to walk that ever again!!!  I know what I have with Daddy God and I will protect it with all that I have.  I want to be a walking billboard of God's goodness =)

So speak The Word that is freedom and joy!  It is a matter of life and death!

Graduation Eve

 

Well, Here I sit on the eve of Hunter's High School Graduation Day!  I have looked through all my photos and watched all the videos of my sweet baby boy.  This day came so fast!  I can remember people telling me over the years to enjoy each moment because they would go fast and they were RIGHT!  I can say that I have enjoyed every moment and my heart is so full.  Max and I have loved him from the moment we found out he existed.  We have prayed for him.  We have spoken over him.  We have assisted him when needed and allowed him to grow even when my heart wanted so bad to keep him little.  I learned early on that he was not just a possession but a gift from the very Hand of God The Father!  We were called to be his parents.  We were given this time with him to pour love into him, introducing him to his Creator and guide him to make wise choices.  I know we have fallen short at times but God's GRACE has covered it all and so here we are now witnessing this amazing human being that has my smile and his Daddy's eyes enter into adulthood.  His faith touches me and his heart inspires me.  He has made me a better person.  He loves Jesus and he walks in His favor.  So tomorrow his Dad and I, along with our family, will watch with pride as he walks across that stage and into the next phase of his life.  I will have my tissue to catch my JOY TEARS!  I will have my Max to hold my hand as our hearts overflow in the LOVE of our Heavenly Father Who has blessed us with SO MUCH!


Video I made for Hunter!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=2069642105327

The Call

I have had people ask me, "what do you do?'  I tell them.  Then they ask, "how did you get involved in that ministry?"  So I thought I would just share our story of how we found ourselves at Watersprings Ranch!

In 2006 I was directing a preschool out of our church and Max was managing a local grocery store.  Hunter was in Jr. High.  When Hunter was about 4 years old Max and I decided to try to have another baby.  I had some health issues that prevented me from getting pregnant so we tried fertility drugs.  We went through a couple of rounds without success.  I always knew that we would have more kids but I was very frustrated with my body and it's refusal to cooperate!  We just continued on with life enjoying Hunter along the way but still longing for more children.  Max and I had talked off and on about adoption but we couldn't afford all the cost.  We tried to do foster care but we were unable to do that either.  So, in 2006 a friend of mine from out of town called me to tell me she knew of a woman who was pregnant and not able to keep the baby.  She wanted to find a family for her unborn child.  I immediately said YES!  Max said NO!  After a LOT of prayer We agreed to move forward with bringing this baby into our family.  We planned and prepared for the addition to our family.  We prayed for our baby and for the mother who was carrying her.  During a VBS at our church my friend had to deliver the heartbreaking news to me that the mother of "our" child had aborted the baby!  I do not even have words to describe what I was feeling.  I felt like someone had punched me in the gut!!!  I found an empty room, sat in the floor and just cried. 

Very soon after that (within the week), someone told me about Watersprings Ranch.  We knew very little about the Ranch.  We knew some of the kids because they had attended our church over the years.  I told Max that I thought this was a ministry that we were being called into.  He did NOT agree!  After a LOT of prayer we visited the Ranch.  As we drove onto the property there was a peace that came over me and I knew that God had called us here and He would speak to Max.  He did changed Max's heart and by July 2006 we had given away almost ALL of our belongings and moved to the Ranch with our boys!  We went from a family of 3 to a family of 11 overnight!!!  And we LOVED it!!!! 

So we live in a boy's home that houses up to 8 boys at a time.  Watersprings has 2 boys homes and 2 girls homes.  I am going to post a link to Watersprings Ranch at the end of this post and I encourage you to check it out!!!  It is an amazing ministry and we are so blessed to be a part of what God is doing here to break cycles of abuse and bringing these children into a relationship with Christ!!! 

So, that is the story of out journey to Watersprings Ranch =)  I am not allowed to post photos of the kids, but there are photos on the website. 

I have to add this about the events that occurred during our journey here:  I do NOT believe it was God's Will for that unborn baby, that He created, to be killed!  There are lessons to be learned, and there was growth because of what happened, but it was NOT God's plan!  I do not blame God for it, I thank Him for loving us through it =) 

Please visit the website and if you have any questions please feel free to send them to me!

http://watersprings.com/index.htm

My Latest Blessing

Welcome to my latest BLESSING!  I started this blog having no idea how it would affect my life.  It opened my world up to share myself and receive so much from others!  The messages and emails I get everyday are nothing less that inspiring.  After a couple of weeks I began to pray for God to increase my blog!  I wanted to reach out to MORE people and have a more appealing blog page.  As I prayed I knew that God was working on my behalf so I just trusted HIM.  HE NEVER DISAPPOINTS!!!!  A couple of weeks ago I received a message from a dear friend (who lives too far away!)  She designs blogs and said that The Lord had impressed on her heart to custom design a blog for ME!  THIS is how I can tell you, and KNOW that it is TRUTH, that Daddy God provides our EVERY need!  He knows the desires of the hearts of His children and He desires to fulfill every one!!!!  (as long as it is good for us and honors Him). 

 

I also have a book update.  I had sent in my adjustments last Friday and had not heard from the publisher.  I have been sending emails all week with no reply!  I was getting a little worried so I called today and found out that my design contact had a death in her family and has been out all week!  She will be back on Monday and things will pick back up.  Please say a prayer of comfort for Jenny =)

 

So after they make the corrections (can take 2-3 weeks), I can sign off and have it sent to print!!!  By the way, I am BELIEVING for it to be quicker than that!  I am getting so excited and so ready to share it with the world!  Daddy God has some pretty amazing opportunities on the way and I am preparing to step into every one of them. 

 

So, enjoy the new "Look" and stay as long as you like =)  If you have not joined the blog yet, well, what are you waiting for????!!!  hahahaha  I look forward to hearing from you.  Also, don't forget you can join up with me on facebook.  My page is under Teena Elrod and I also have a page under "Familiar Stranger".

 

Lastly, THANK YOU to my amazing and talented friend, Jhen =)  Your desire to BE LOVE has enriched my heart!  (I have a link to Jhen's Blogs:  From Here to Eternity and Stark Love Photography).  Visit her and prepare to be BLESSED!

 

 

Prayer, Power and Authority

These three words really say it all.  It is hard to use one without the others.  When we pray, we don't just ask God for stuff, we praise Him and command things, in HIS NAME!  By using our authority we are proving who God is!  You wouldn't call things out in His Name if you didn't expect Him to do it, would you?  I think a lot of times we get weak in prayer.  I know for me, there have been many times when I have allowed the enemy to sway me into thinking that there are things that God may not "want" to do, so I leave it alone. 

I'm going to tell you a story:  Several years ago, along with some of my coworkers, I went to a training class a couple of hours away.  The weather was really bad and it rained on us the whole trip.  As we got a few miles from our destination we came up on a really bad wreck.  All we could  tell was that it involved a small truck and a semi.  The little truck looked pretty bad and we could also tell that it had just happened because there were no emergency vehicles there yet, but we could see them coming.  There were people around the scene.  I was driving and I  turned to my friend and said pray for those people!  She immediately began to pray and we all joined in agreement with her. 

We went on to our training but I just could not get that off my mind.  My mother lives about 5 miles from where all this had occurred so I called her during one of our breaks and asked her if there was anything on the news about this wreck.  She said she had not heard about it but that she was working later that night and if she found out anything she would call me.  My mother is a nurse at a hospital.  My friends and I talked about it off and on but I just had a stirring in my spirit that would not let up!  I needed to know what happened to those people!

We finished up our day of training a drove back home.  Later that night my mother called me and said, "You are not going to believe this..."  The driver of that car was taken to the hospital and was MY MOMS PATIENT!!!  The emergency people and doctors said they could not understand how she made it out of that wreck as well off as she did!  There was also a child in the backseat that was perfectly fine!!!  As soon as I got off the phone I began to thank God!  He not only heard our prayers and answered them, He saw fit to make sure I KNEW He had taken care of them!  Because He is concerned about the matters of my heart.  I also got this vision in my spirit of Satan pulling on that lady (trying to take her), but because we claimed OUR AUTHORITY through prayer, she was saved!  It was like we said, "No, No, Satan, you will NOT get this one!"  NOT ON OUR WATCH!!!!!  He HAD to let her go because IN THE NAME OF JESUS WE CLAIMED HER!!! 

Many times I sense in my spirit to pray for someone and I go back to that day and that wreck.  I may be in town running errands and get a tug in my gut to drive by my son's school and just plead the blood over the school.  I will drive all around the outside of the school and just call for protection over the kids and teachers and workers.  There have been times that I feel impressed to pray specifically for "anyone who walks onto the property."  I KNOW that those prayers have stopped the plan of the enemy!  See, we don't have to wait for something to happen to pray.  We can actually pray and prevent things!  (Psalm 91)

By renewing our minds (ALL THE TIME), we become sensitive to the things that go on in the spirit realm and adjust ourselves accordingly.  This used to all sound way out there to me!  It not only is confirmed in
God's Word, but I have experienced it FIRST HAND and I have been convinced of it's reality! 

I know there are those who will say things like, what if it was God's Will for this or that to happen?  That is why renewing our minds is SO IMPORTANT!  When we know the nature of Daddy God and we know His Word, then we know how to pray!  John 10:10 tells us that it is the enemy (Satan) who comes to kill, steal, and destroy....to take us out!  But God comes to GIVE LIFE!  Give ABUNDANT life!  So I know that The Life Giver did not try to take the lady in that wreck!  It was the LIFE THIEF!  Satan!  And we have authority over that! 

Bad things happen; Satan wins a few small battles, but THE VICTORY is CHRIST!!!  It was not God's Will for me to be raped.  It IS His Will for me to live a life of VICTORY!  The enemy has won many small battles in my life but the Victory covers them all.  God took what the enemy did to me and bound him up for it!  That is how I am able to live a life of JOY, PEACE, FREEDOM, and LOVE!!!!!!  And that my friends is why am so passionate about this message of knowing Who we belong to!  I am a precious child of Daddy God and I will NOT be made to feel any less!


Be blessed today and be aware of things going on around you.  Be aware of the things going on within you.  Pay attention to those "gut checks", when you feel deep in your gut that you need to be alert, and take action! 

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

Book News!

I am super excited!!!  I have been waiting for my book proofs to come and yesterday THEY CAME!! 
They had told me that the cover may have to have some adjustment so I could not hardly wait to see what it would look like.  It is a little different (more like I had originally wanted it).  I LOVE IT!  I cannot wait to share it with everyone!  I also had to read through the "inside text", which is my life, to make sure I was happy with the layout and design.  I am happy to say that I sent it back with only 3 adjustments!  After those adjustments are taken care of, it's DONE!!!  Wow, I have been on this journey for so long it feels a bit strange to think that it is coming to an end.  But as this phase ends I know that a much different phase is just beginning, and I am SO EXCITED!  The Lord has filled my heart with this love story and I am ready for it to be told!  I am ready to tell it! 

As I read through the "text" of my book yesterday I was reminded once again just how far Daddy God has grown me and I was (and still am) overwhelmed my His LOVE for ME!!!  Then I daydream about the future He is leading me into and my heart feels like it is on the verge of bursting =)  

So now I just wait..... but I have found so much joy in the waiting.  After I sent in my transcript and began talking with the publisher about the process of publishing, I knew there would be "wait" times.  I'm normally not a very good "waiter"!   Then, the publisher suggested I start this blog.  My first thought was, oh no!  I really had no idea what I was doing. But I dove in and just worked my way through!  I began to pray for God to show me how to increase my blog.  I knew He was working on my behalf and I just trusted that He would show me what to do. HE NEVER DISAPPOINTS!   He has sent me a helper (I will share more about this later).  I will say that, just like He always does, He has sent the perfect person to help me!  He never does anything halfway, but always wants the very best for His children =)    I also must say that it didn't take long at all for me to fall deep in love with the world of blog!  God has blessed me through the lives of those who have joined me on this journey. 

GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!  SO GOOD!!!!!  There is absolutely nothing He cannot do through a willing child!  He has given me BIG DREAMS!  I dream them on purpose!  I dream them almost like I am practicing them before they come to pass!  Oh, the things He has in store!!!  Hope, joy and excitement rise up on the inside of me and fuels my expectation for my future!  It's gonna be WILD; it's gonna be GREAT; it's gonna be FULL OF HIM!   (from the song; "Come away with Me" by Jesus Culture)  I listen to this song and just allow my Daddy God to minister to me =)


BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

The Stranger in Chruch

So today is Easter Sunday and the people I invited to come today came!  The house was packed out this morning so we were all sitting close =)  Service had started and we were all standing and worshiping when someone tapped me on my shoulder and asked if there were any open seats on our row (I was sitting on the outside).  I looked down the row and every seat was filled but I asked everyone to scrunch up so we made room for a young man who was by himself.  After a few minutes one of the ushers came and added a chair for the young man at the end of our row.  I felt drawn to him for some reason so I asked God to speak to my heart regarding this young man.  We finished singing and sat down for the sermon.  I knew the Lord was drawing my heart to this guy and my heart started to race.  I didn't know what I was supposed to do but I knew there was something.  (I did minister to him but I'm not going to post it for his privacy and because I didn't do it for any recognition).  I only post about this because I believe it encourages others when God moves people in His Name!  And because It was so exciting and I want to share ALL that God is doing in and through me!!! 

Our pastor went on to teach a life changing truth on POWER!  He talked about how we have the power and authority over fear, sin, sickness, satan, and our past!  We have the power to receive and become all that God has created us to be!!!  The number 1 on the list, fear, has always been a big one for me.  In fact, I am a work in progress in the area of fear.  I have to continually renew my mind with what God has to say about me!  (2 Timothy 1:7 and Hebrews 2:14-15).

Just as I heard Daddy God telling me to minister to the stranger sitting beside me today I had to speak to my fear.  I was afraid of saying something to him, would he think I was weird?  I just said to my fear, "You do not control me"! 

After the service I hugged the stranger that had become a part of my journey and told him to be blessed!  I trust that the Lord will complete the work He started.  I trust that God is moving and changing this young man.  I don't know if I will ever see him again but my life was very blessed today for the short time he was in it and my life will be forever changed by the POWER of sowing seed into the life of a stranger =)

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!