Friends and Ministry

This past week was a fun week as well as an inspiring week. I had two guests in town. One, a girl I have been friends with for 9 years and the other a girl that came a stranger and left a friend. I love the way God connects people. Having these girls here was so much fun.

We Shopped,we toured the city,we shopped some more, we ate, and just had tons of fun with a lot of late nights and early mornings. One of things I enjoyed most about this week was that we just smiled and talked to people everywhere we went. This may seem like a normal thing to most of you but not in the "Big Apple". People around here walk fast with their heads down and their Ipods playing; never really engaging in what is going on around them. It always amazes me the reactions you get from giving someone a smile or saying hi, how are you. Some people smile back while others look at you like your crazy. Either way, I know that it brightens their day and leaves them wondering what is different about us.

On Thursday we went and shared the love of Jesus with the people in Columbus circle. It was an amazing night of spreading the Love of Jesus to people who thought they were just at the mall to go shopping. We prayed with 6 people in all and were able to tell several more that God loves them and has a plan for their life. We also smiled and greeted lots of people saying hi and asking how they were. A lot of people left that mall having their lives forever changed by God!! WOOHOO!!

The team that went to Columbus Circle

Don't Mess With Me!! HaHa!!

4 months into Broken Ministries

It was 6 months ago that God birthed Broken Ministries in my heart. I never imagined that the vision that He gave me December 6, 2009 would land me living in NYC 2 months later and embarking on the adventure of being a missionary to NYC and pioneering a ministry from the ground up. It has been a journey with lots of twists and turns, but a journey that has forever changed my life. God has brought me to new levels of freedom and used me in ways I wouldn't have imagined.

In the last 4 months, I have participated in 8 planned street evangelism events, prayed with numerous people that I have come in contact with in my everyday coming and goings, spoke life and guidance to several people that just needed a little encouragement, gave my testimony at a Woman's home and ministered healing and hope to 6 of the women, wrote my testimony to be published in a book, and began writing a 31 day devotional!! WOW!!! God is awesome!! None of this would be possible without him!!

For those of you that are not sure what Broken Ministries is, it is an Isaiah 61 ministry. It is

-A place for the broken, bruised, and hopeless
-A place for the abandoned, abused, and rejected
-A place for healing and restoration
-A birthing place for dreams and purpose
-A growing place for greatness
-A launching place for Destiny

While I do not have a "place" yet; I am hitting the streets on NYC meeting these people and taking the healing, restoration, and hope to them everywhere I go!!

Everywhere You Go

Ministry is everywhere we go. It is in every store, restaurant, and venue that we visit. It is in every subway and on every street corner. I love the times that I get together with a group of people and we hit the streets of NYC with the sole purpose of evangelizing and ministering to people but I love it even more when we are just hanging out and still evangelizing and ministering.

It seems that everywhere I go I see people that are hurting and desperately looking for a way to cope with their present circumstance. Some try to cover it with drugs or alcohol while other try to mask it with materialism or promiscuity. There are a million ways that people try to fill the pain and void in their lives while all the while the answer is found in Jesus.

I want to tell you about the ministry opportunities that I encountered while just hanging out with my friends Aaron and Johanna. While walking to the Subway we met two guys named Cherog and Jaime. They were really nice guys and we ended up talking to them for about 30 minutes. We prayed for both of them, right there on the street corner, before we went our separate ways. We prayed for Jaime's dad to be healed from Alzheimers and for Cherog's life to be blessed.

We went to Port Jefferson a few weeks ago and while we were there, we asked a man to take our picture of us in this cool old time looking phone booth. He did it gladly but stated that he had bad eyesight. We of course took this opportunity to tell him about Jesus and to pray for his eyesight to be healed. I love how we were given opportunities to minister right where we were, right in our everyday worlds. Remember, wherever you go there is hurting people that need to hear about the love of Jesus.

The Cross

For the past week, every time I get in God's presence I see Jesus on the cross. I can't seem to escape it and I can't say that I really want to. He is looking at me with eyes of compassion. The most compassionate eyes I have ever seen. I can't even began to describe them to you, other than to say that I can't stop gazing into them. He is looking at me and saying, "right now I see all the injustice, pain, hurt, abuse, and sin that is happening in the world and I love my people so much that I am on this cross suffering for their freedom; suffering so that they don't have to be bound by the things of this world any longer. With every whipping and stripe that I bore I saw my children hurting and suffering. I love them so much, that I took the crucifixion so that their suffering could stop and they could have full access to my father's love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, healing, and blessings.

I have all the answers to the world's problems and because you have full access to my father, you have all the answers too. Stop picking and choosing your gifts and accept them all. I died so that you could have access to my Father and eternal life. Rise up people of God and take ALL that I died for!! Full Access, full access. It is all yours. The kingdom of heaven is yours. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you so tap into all that it gives you!! Nothing missing, Nothing Broken!!"

Sharing the Love

Thursday night, a group of us hit the streets of Manhattan to tell people about Jesus. We had a head on love collision with the people at Columbus square mall. We began the evening by praying together and asking God for clues about who we were suppose to talk with and then wrote those clues on our treasure maps. We probably told about 20 people that Jesus loves them, God's not mad at them, and that He is in a good mood!! I saw a guy by the name of Ray walking on the third floor of the mall, and then I saw him again later downstairs. I told him we were treasure hunting and that there wasn't one clue about him on my map at all, but since this was the second time I had seen him, I knew it was God. I was able to talk to him about how amazing God’s love is. He said he knew that God has sent me because he needed to be reminded that God remembered him.
Many came that night to go shopping, get a cup of coffee, or just relax...THEY GOT JESUS!

Love

When I was in Masters Commission I had the honor of sharing my testimony all over the country and I LOVED doing it. I loved being able to share the story of a girl that was broken; a girl who had spent a long time searching for happiness, searching for a way to cope with the pain from the circumstances that life had thrown at her as well as the consequences for her actions during the coping process. I love to tell about the day that this 22 year old girl gave her life to God and was forever changed because of the love, grace, and mercy of her Daddy God. I love to tell about the freedom and restoration that took place in her life; about the joy, peace, and confidence that she now walks in 9 years later after allowing God to do a deep work in her heart.

Over the past few years I have told this story privately more times than I can count but It has been a long time since I have told this story publicly. Today I had the opportunity to share my testimony at a women's home. It was so much fun and the presence of God was there in a huge way. My friend Aaron preached and then I gave my testimony and then altar call. Aaron prayed for several girls to be healed from physical ailments; most of them were immediately healed. I prayed for about 5-6 girls. I was so honored that God would allow me to speak victory and encouragement into the lives of His precious daughters. WOW!! I prayed that they would not be ruled by a spirit of fear, that they would walk in victory knowing who their Daddy God was and that they would realize how much He loves them and cares about them.

When we stop to think about the fact that God loves us no matter what, right where we are, with all our bad moods and mess ups; like WOW!!! That is SOOOO HUGE!!
The revelation that comes when you grasp that concept is like no other. I just recently started to wrap my head around the fact that God loves me no matter what and I am telling you that it has rocked my world. I have always known and even preached about God loving you no matter what but for some reason I could never grasp it in my own life and was always striving to earn His love; striving to earn something I already have. That's the good news!! We don't have to perform for God's love!! He has already given it to us, we just have to accept it!!
WOW!!! JEEEESSSUUSSSS!!

I want to encourage you today to just take some time and let your Daddy God love on you and ask Him to give you and new and fresh revelation of His love!!

What has God been doing?

God is such a good and faithful God. He set me free from so many things when I gave my life over to him. One thing that I have continued to struggle with is insecurity, not feeling good enough and the opinion of man. I have always felt that everyone around me was more qualified, more talented, more equipped. I have always lived my life striving for the acceptance and approval of people, thinking that their acceptance would make me feel loved. This was never really the case. It was always a temporary love fulfillment. However, since I have been in NYC I have really been focusing on God's love for me and what he thinks of me. I have been trying to grasp the fact that God's love is never ending, never fading, and completely unconditional. I have been saying everyday "God, I receive your love". I began to really study what God says about me in His word and what He thinks about me. Last week I was completely set free. I am no longer insecure or ruled by the opinions of others. I am ruled by who and what God says I am. I love myself and the woman that God has created me to be. I will do whatever and go wherever God says. He has given me a a new confidence and boldness. It is one that comes from knowing who my Daddy is. One from a place of knowing that God loves me no matter what and that His love is constant and dependable. God is my heartbeat, He is the reason I live and have breath. He is really the reason that I am able to even write this to you. He is continually showing me new things and revealing Himself to me in a life changing way.

I am still loving NYC and the new adventure that it brings daily. God has provided so many ministry opportunities and allowed me the privilege of pouring life changing revelation into the lives of the people I meet daily. In 2 weeks I have the privilege of going to minister in a girl's home and I am so thrilled to see what God is going to do.

I am working for a company called Caralinn Cakes and I would like to encourage you to check out our blog at cara-thesweetlife.blogspot.com. You really need to read the most recent post Extreme Cake Over. Pray for this new and exciting way to minister to God's people.