Tuesday Tidbit
Oh, hello there, friend! It's been a hot minute since we've chatted!
I felt like it was time to pick back up our weekly emails, but they're going to be different than they were before, starting with them being sent on Tuesdays and renamed "Tuesday Tidbit" rather than "Happy Monday Mail."
One of the biggest changes is that they'll be much more brief and story-focused blog posts. I want to get back to sharing my personal stories with you, rather than pouring out long, educational reads. Those are super informative, but also time consuming for you and for me. Let's go with what's going to work best for both of us, k?
If you're looking for more education, there are some PHENOMENAL resources out there that I've shared with you in the past. Be sure to download the FREE LifeSteps app on your device and get their notifications. YL sends out GREAT emails and does a fantastic job on their social media outlets, website, YouTube channel, and Joseph Young's "The YL Drop." Click below to check it out!
This Week's Story: CopaibaI've always called this oil an unsung hero or "sleeper oil" because it seems so unassuming and gentle, that people don't recognize its power.
This is absolutely my go-to oil for joint health and well-being. It supports the body's natural response to inflammation, so I apply it above, behind, and around my knees, as well as on my hands, especially around my thumbs and up my middle finger, which in the past has seemed to get "stuck" in a "trigger finger" type of position.
This is also the oil I turn to in the spring and fall when all the things my sinuses and lungs aren't particularly fond of are in full bloom. I love to layer it over R.C. or Raven. My throat is just as fond of it as my sinuses and lungs, too! Add a drop or two of Copaiba Vitality (same oil, but labeled differently for internal use) into your favorite tea and enjoy its soothing benefits.
It's also nice to add into your nightly bedtime diffuser blend.
Be sure to log into your Life Steps app. They just so happened to have a write up on Copaiba that's fantastic!
Need to grab a bottle? Click below.
Need help reactivating your account? Let me know. I'm happy to help!
New Release:
Simplified Fall Collection
Thursday, September 1st
The pre-launch on this new release was CRAZY!!!!
Be sure to grab yours right away on Thursday!
Item #: 42032
Wholesale Price: $100
PV: 100
There you have it, friends . . . short & simple!Need a suggestion, recommendation, or help? Just want to reconnect? Please reach out!
Happy Oiling!
Andrea
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
May 2022: FORWARD
As I began to type the word “forward” God gave me for this month, it popped into my head how “May the Fourth Be with You” has become such a popular date for people to highlight. It’s a totally different reference, but . . . fourth . . . forth . . . forward . . . yep! Sounds about right! Isn’t it just like Jesus to use a pop culture reference to confirm a prophetic word?!
April was a month when the Lord encouraged us to “let go.” Some things were big, some little; some easy, some heartbreaking. I think it’s very fitting to have the word “forward” follow last month’s word.
What does it look like for you to move forward now that you’ve let go of the things the Lord asked you to let go of last month? We can’t stay stuck where we were – there must be forward movement.
Interestingly, this is also the Hebrew month, Iyar, which is known as a month of transition. I believe the Lord is transitioning people this month. As they position and align with Him and take steps forward, I believe many will only know the first step they’re to take, rather than see the full picture of the plan for what’s ahead. As that first step forward is taken, while it may feel risky, the next step will be revealed once you’ve said “yes” to taking that first step in faith. It’s an invitation to trust Him in the transition and it’s a time to make decisions you’ve been waiting on. Each step taken and decisions made are prophetic and tangible acts of moving forward into what the Lord has for you. I believe it’s very much connected with calling and destiny. What the Lord is moving you forward into is totally related to what you’ve been created and designed for since before the beginning of time. 
I heard “what was sown in tears will be reaped in joy.” It’s harvest time! (Psalm 126:5-6) The saying “April showers bring May flowers” has been spoken of by others and I couldn’t agree more. Some of those April showers flowed in the form of tears. The ground was watered with your tears and because you pressed in even harder into Him in those difficult places, rather than turning away from Him in anger, you have a beautiful harvest coming and you’re about to bloom.
I also see those May flowers reflecting God’s glory. Last week, God highlighted a portion of John 17:1 to me, “Father, the time has come. Unveil your glorious splendor of your Son so that I will magnify Your glory!” Fields of flowers are glorious in appearance. I believe they’re pictures of God’s glory all around us. His glory is breathtaking and as the glorious splendor of His Son is reflected in and through us, we magnify God’s glory, just like May’s beautiful flowers.God has also been continuing to speak to me about His light shining in and through us and how light dispels the darkness. Where light shines, darkness can’t be present. His glory is linked with light. Understanding and revelation are like light shining in areas of darkness where we’ve felt confused or lacked insight and knowledge. God has said to ask Him for wisdom, and He would give it to us (James 1:5). This is a month when God will pour out wisdom in the form of understanding and revelation, but He wants us to ask Him for it.
I believe this is an Isaiah 60 month – a month marked by His glory and His promises fulfilled, including long-awaited provision and healing. Don’t back down on this. You may have felt weary continuing to believe God for answered prayer in these areas but strengthen yourself in the Lord and stand firm on His promises! Do a study on Isaiah 60 and ask the Lord to give you wisdom, revelation, and understanding into it you’ve never had before. What is He personally speaking to you through it?
I hear Jesus resoundingly declaring over each of us, “The time has come! The time has come! The time has come!” This is the transition into our callings and destinies at a higher level than we’ve known before. We’ve allowed the refiner’s fire to consecrate and purify us. He’s made us ready over the last season. The time has come to see His covenant promises fulfilled and manifested in our lives. A friend said this to me recently and I believe it’s for all of us. . . . Remember your past prayers. Remember past prophetic words. Remember His promises to you. Bring each of them before Him and remind Him of those things. Contend for them. The time has come to see them come to pass!
Move FORWARD into all the Lord has for you! What is the first step He’s leading you to take? Listen . . . He’ll speak. Watch . . . He’ll give you direction. 
“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, TPT)
Want company on the journey ahead? Join us for our upcoming 6-week course! Need details? Reach out to us!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
FEELING PARALYZED?
God has been speaking to me over and over recently through the story of the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda. Reading the account in The Passion Translation has helped me to see and hear things I’d never noticed before.
You can find the story in John 5: 1-16. You’ll read how Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts and while there, He went to an area in the city near the Sheep Gate, which is where the sacrificial animals were brought into the temple. The note on this verse makes an observation that “the sick gathered there like bruised, wounded sheep, needing healing” (note, vs.2). I was struck by the recognition that hundreds were lying under the covered porches . . . “all of them waiting for their healing” (vs. 3). The Lord pierced my heart when I read that because I sensed His longing for ALL to be well – then and now. So many are still waiting on God for healing – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually . . .
The man at the pool had been waiting for 38 years. Time after time, he had tried to scramble into the pool when the angel stirred the waters, hoping to be the first in and be healed, yet he was unable to get healed from the source he had relied on for so long.
When Jesus saw him, His first question to the man was, “Do you truly long to be well?” (v. 6b) That may seem like an odd question to ask, but this man had created an identity as “the paralyzed man” and to be able to walk again meant letting go of who he was known as and who he identified himself as being. Life and his approach to it would look very different and feel unfamiliar if he were able to walk again. That was likely a little scary. Did he prefer to remain as he was, or was he willing to let go of how he saw himself? The man never answered Jesus’ direct question. Instead, he made excuses and blamed others for getting there first, “stealing” the healing he was longing for himself, yet he didn’t recognize the Healer who stood before him. How often do we do that ourselves? We blame others when we don’t get what we feel should be ours, we make excuses why we can’t obtain it, and we may even miss the solution being right before us.
Interestingly, in turn, Jesus didn’t respond to what the man said, neither did He pray for him to be healed. Jesus simply said, “Stand up! Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!” (v.8) The man had to act in obedience and do what he hadn’t been able to do in 38 years.
In picking up his mat, he also had to break the Jewish Sabbath law that he had lived by all his life and choose to literally step into the new covenant Jesus was making available to him. The law he lived under couldn’t heal, but Jesus was the fulfillment of the law (Matt. 5:17) and healing was found in Him.
The man never questioned Jesus’ command to him. He acted immediately and when he took that step – I think more out of obedience than faith, he was healed, no longer paralyzed but taking steps forward into his destiny. The man didn’t even know Jesus’ name, let alone that He was the Messiah. Yet, he experienced the fullness of Jesus in that encounter – His love, miraculous healing, and also His passionate pursuit of the man’s total freedom in every way, as we’ll soon see.
The crazy thing? The Jewish leaders didn’t rejoice over the miracle of this man’s healing but focused instead on the man breaking the Sabbath law. They were so steeped in religion, they couldn’t rejoice over the freedom that had been gained through relationship. Unfortunately, we still see that in churches and Christian circles today. When Jesus doesn’t fit within religious confines, many find it offensive.As the story continues, Jesus found the man a second time. In this encounter, Jesus affirmed the man’s healing, then told him to “Walk away from your sin so that nothing worse will happen to you” (v.14) Jesus’ words to the man left me confused. What sin had the man committed?
As I spent time in God’s presence asking Him about it, I asked if the man’s sin had been not living life and engaging with his destiny and calling even though paralyzed? Maybe it was that he hadn’t “walked” forward, despite his physical limitations, but instead wasted his life in self-pity? Maybe Jesus was telling him to act and take steps forward in his life because if he didn’t, he would remain “paralyzed” and would end up in an even worse state of hopelessness that would steal life from him in even greater measure. If the man continued to believe he was useless, powerless, too many years had been wasted, and he was too old to make a difference now, he would remain just as paralyzed as he had been when he couldn’t walk and that would be a sin. How often do we do and think similarly?
I believe Jesus was telling the man that he still had life to live and purpose to embrace. He was to walk forward, leave the past behind, and not allow what he had known previously in his life to keep him paralyzed from moving into all that still lay ahead of him. If he wasn’t willing to do that, he would continue sinning by remaining paralyzed by his past mindset and perspective of his life.
The story doesn’t record how the man discovered Jesus’ identity, but he went back to the Jewish leaders and told them who had healed him. It ignited the Jewish leaders’ persecution of Jesus – all because of what Jesus did on the Sabbath and how it broke their religious laws (v. 16).
So many of us remain in a paralyzed state each day. We allow mindsets, beliefs we have about ourselves and perceived limitations, as well as any number of accepted obstacles to prevent us from taking steps forward into our destinies and callings. We don’t engage in the things God is telling us to do because we don’t believe we’re able, worthy, or young or old enough to accomplish the dreams God has placed in our hearts. We’re afraid we’ll stumble and fall, so we stay put, never venturing to stand up, pick up our mats, and walk.
I believe many have been paralyzed for a long time – even decades. God is able to make you walk. He’s inviting you to stand up and take the first step into all He has waiting for you. Your future doesn’t have to look like your past or your present.
Will you stand up? Will you let go of the identity you’ve embraced as your own and be willing to walk forward in the truth of who you’ve been created to be? Will you allow God to redeem “wasted” time and make something beautiful out of your testimony?
If your answer is yes, paralysis ends now.
If we can pray for you on your healing journey, please reach out to us!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
Abide.
Live, dwell, wait . . .
In our fast-paced society, the idea of abiding, especially when it comes to waiting, is so contrary to everyday life. Waiting rubs against the grain of our impatience.
God never forces us to do anything. It’s always our choice in how to respond to His invitation. We were created with free will, able to make our own decisions, and it’s always been the desire of His heart of love toward us that we would choose Him.
When you read Song of Songs, especially in The Passion Translation, you can’t miss the love He has for us, along with His protection and tender loving care that gives us the space we need for the heart work He longs to do within us as He draws us near in so many unexpected ways and makes us ready to bring heaven to earth in new and greater ways.
At the start of this year, I sensed the Shepherd-King speaking to the longings of our hearts saying, “The one I love calls to me: Arise, my dearest. Hurry, my darling. COME AWAY WITH ME! I have come as you have asked to draw you to my heart and lead you out. For now is the time, my beautiful one.” (Song of Songs 2:10, TPT)
The month has changed, but His invitation to remain, to abide with Him, and not rush out of the intimacy of shared heart space, is what’s before us now. He invited us to “Come.” His invitation now is to STAY – abide, don’t rush out of this time with Him. It’s a new month, but that doesn’t mean He’s asked you to move on to the next thing yet.
Take the time to dwell with Him, enjoying His nearness, the sound of His voice, and His loving embrace enveloping you. Within His arms, He’s loving you to healing and He’s making you ready to arise in the fullness of your destiny.
The Shepherd-King has issued a command to the world around us, His Bride: “Promise me, O Jerusalem maidens, by the gentle gazelles and delicate deer, that you’ll not disturb my love until she is ready to arise.” (Song of Songs 3:5, TPT) So often, we want to rush the process, rush through the quiet, rush through the pushing into intimacy, and rush into action. In abiding, we WAIT. We LIVE in that space with Him. We STAY . . . and we don’t move on until we’re truly ready to arise.
Distractions, disruptions, chaos, very real responsibilities . . . they all seek to draw us away from where we need to be. Yet, He says, “Do not disturb my love! She has come. She is abiding. She is listening . . ."
SHE IS BEING MADE READY!!!
Growth happens in the depths of hiddenness as the seed dies, transforms, grows toward the light, and then produces a harvest that’s so much greater than what that single seed had once been (John 12:24).
Abide in those deep places with Him. He’s inviting you to remain His presence, connected heart to heart, loving and being loved. You’re being made into something so much greater than just your single-seed self. There’s so much more within you, my friend!
The thing that really struck me? He’s not commanding us to abide. It’s an invitation, not a “have to” that requires obedience. We choose what our response to His invitation will be - and we choose again and again every day, throughout each day.
My response to this conversation with Him was, “I surrender. I am not my own. Forgive me for choosing so many things over time spent abiding with You, not coming into Your presence as You’ve invited me to do. I will come and I will abide.”
World, do not disturb me until I’m ready to arise and when I do, look out!
What will your response be to His invitation to abide? Will you stay in this place of waiting, living, and dwelling until He’s declared you ready to arise? What will that time look like for you?
Need some help in figuring that out? Let’s chat and hear from Jesus together!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
Let go!
This is my favorite week of the year.
It’s a time for me to take extra time listening to the Lord and really focus in on hearing what He’s telling me about the year to come. I begin asking Him weeks prior to this, but this is when it becomes solidified in my spirit.
I ask Him for a one-word focus for the new year, but I also ask Him for a one-word focus for each month. I write them all down, then as the new month begins, I ask Him what He’s saying prophetically as it relates to that word. I’ve been in awe as I’ve listened to Him and watched those words be fulfilled, as well as be confirmed by other prophetic voices I greatly respect. It’s been an affirmation to my heart that I’m hearing from Him, and I treasure that.
So far, I have my 2022 word, as well as monthly words for January-May. The funny thing? I fought Him on the word for April because it was a two-word phrase instead of being a single word. I even rephrased it into a single word and was going to go with that – until God clearly let me know this was truly the “word” for that month by confirming it through others.
Here’s the thing…While it’s the word He’s given to me for April, I believe with all my heart it’s also a “now” word – one that needs to be put into effect as we move into the New Year.
“LET GO.” Friend, there are things God doesn’t want you to take into 2022. He’s been speaking to you about them in a variety of ways. These things that you’re fighting to hold onto aren’t going to serve you well as you move into the new year. God wants to do a new thing and old wineskins are going to burst if you try to fill them with His new wine.
It’s going to take trust. I see shifts in jobs and businesses, as well as in relationships. There are things you’re holding onto believing things will change for the better with them, but the better is different than what you’ve believed it to be.
I believe some are fighting to stay where they are – in location, life situations, ministries, and more. You’re hanging on when God is asking you to let go. That may or may not mean that the things you’ve been holding onto will no longer be part of your life. That’s a conversation for you to have with Jesus and be led by Him.
In letting go and trusting Him, I see so much blessing being poured out – financial, peace, health, and a settling into destiny like never before. It’s going to take letting go to move forward.
You can’t swim in the deep end if you don’t let go of the side of the pool.
A baby can’t walk, and eventually run, without first letting go of the hands and objects he or she has been holding onto to steady them.
So what if you fall when you let go? Fall forward! Then, stand up and take another step!
You can’t run weighted down by a heavy pack on your back.
LET GO!
It’s crucial for you to let go in order for you to walk in the fullness of what God has for you in 2022. Take these next couple of days and do business with God. Be real with Him. Wrestle with Him over the things you’re struggling with letting go of and ask Him to meet you in those places. He won’t disappoint you, my friend. He CAN be trusted. He loves you SO much!!!!
Happy New Year, friend! Our prayer is that you enter into 2022 lighter than ever, unhindered in running forward in your destiny and calling!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
