The Adventures of Darcey & Watson

“In a world that’s still trembling in the wake of the fall, our hearts are desperate for hope.
They’re hungry for freedom.
They’re longing for redemption.
And here’s the good news.
In Christ, we have all three.” – Tenth Avenue North

So, recently I’ve enjoyed listening to Tenth Avenue North a whole bunch. I love their heart to proclaim Christ through their music. Relating to me, and so many others because of how deep and real their songs are. For me, it’s been a healing time with the Lord, and He has used those songs to speak to me in countless ways.

Anyways, since I’m enjoying their music so much, I decided to dig a bit deeper into their music and read bios and watch videos and of course pre-order their newest CD. As I was watching their videos, one video blog stood out to me: God is Not an Elephant.

As I was listening to this and agreeing with what was being said about God forgetting our sins, as far as the east is from the west, I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad. My dad is in jail for something he did that hurt my family and left many emotional scars in our lives. Now, I have forgiven him 100%, and I love him because he is my dad. I’ve wanted to tell him this for a while, but haven’t had the opportunity until recently. I prayed over, and wrote him a letter, and in this letter I let him know just how God has been using this whole situation for good (just like Romans 8:28 says, “all things”). Now, I’m not going to go into detail about my dad, but I had to give you readers this background information so that you will know where I am coming from with what I will say next.

A quick summary of the video blog is that “God is not an elephant” meaning that He doesn’t live up to what the saying says “an elephant never forgets”. Because God forgets our sins. We are bought and paid for in Christ. His blood washes us white as snow. And the video said that since God forgives and forgets our sins, we should forgive and forget the sins of others towards us.

For a really long time I have wanted to let my dad know that I forgive him, and I want to show him in a practical way that God loves him. I know there are consequences for sin, and that we are supposed to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, but we are also not supposed to live by the world’s standards. Like one of my leaders said once “live so that even your Christian friends think you’re crazy” meaning, follow the Lord even if others don’t understand and think you’re stupid for doing so. Obedience and submission to the Lord is better than not.

That being said, I feel like the Lord wants me to let him into my life once he is out of prison. I totally understand everyone else’s feelings towards him, and how they don’t want him in their lives, but for me I don’t want to be an elephant. Now, of course I would wait until he came to me and asked for forgiveness, and more importantly had gone to the Lord and repented of this sin. However, once he does that I will welcome him with open arms (almost like the prodigal son type story, where I’m waiting for him to come out of brokenness and surrender, and then embrace him with open arms back into my life with a feast. Except, he isn’t my son, he’s my dad). Isn’t he a child of God and brother in the Lord? Why shouldn’t I treat him as such?

Sin is sin. Yes this was a pretty big sin, but still…a sin is a sin. God forgives and forgets, so I should too. He is my dad no matter what happens. He knows the Truth, but he messed up. It would be like if someone lied to me, and then asked for forgiveness, I would TOTALLY forgive them without a second of hesitation. How would it be true forgiveness though if I didn’t trust them after that? Wouldn’t that not be real forgiveness? Love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5).

I want to do this because I love my dad. I’ve already forgiven him, and I want him to know Christ like I do. To know the depth of Christ’s forgiveness and love for him. I’m praying for him everyday, and I really miss him. This past Father’s Day was hard. I’m also praying that he reads my letter that I sent to him, and that the Lord speaks to his heart through it.

I don’t want to live a life of fear of what “could” happen if I forgive him and in turn start a relationship with him, growing in the Lord as father and daughter. I can understand the fear that others have about me opening up too much of my life to him, especially if one day I have children, but I am trusting God to orchestrate it all. There is still healing to be done, but I serve a God that is without a doubt capable of mending this relationship and transforming my dad’s heart.

Just like in Hosea where he married a harlot. She was SO unfaithful to him, yet he loved her with the love of the Lord and never divorced her when times got hard. God used that as an example of how He loves us despite our failures and falling away at times. He’s always there to pick us up again and restore us unto Himself.

Think of how cool it would be if at the end of the day, my dad and I could once again be praising God together. My desire is that He will get all the glory from this whole situation, despite what happens. But I’m praying that one day… my dad and I will have a father/daughter relationship like it should have been. Together as heirs of the ONE and TRUE Living God.

Anyways, thank you for reading this blog post. This is where my heart is currently. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on the matter, and if  you have any amazing stories of how God mended relationships through true forgiveness in His Spirit.

Source: I Don’t Want to Be an Elephant

Last month I took a trip to Alabama. Why Alabama? Well, my birth-dad and his family lives there! Now, I had only ever seen my birth-dad, Danny, in the summer of 2011 when he came with my little brother and sister (Ethan and Elizabeth), Patricia his wife, one of my older sisters (Ashley) and my niece (Kylee). That visit went very well, read my blog posts titled “the start of a new chapter” and you will get a walk through of the day by day with them.

So I visited Alabama this time to meet with them and a lot of the rest of my family on his side. It went REALLY well! I love each of them in their own ways. All the quirks, and their accents, and how they interact with each other. I count them all as my family, and that’s saying something. I would totally go back, and I look forward to building these relationships with the family I never knew I had.

Some highlights of the trip:
– Playing catch with Ethan in the hot sun (he’s really good!)
– the pet squirrel, Bama, and playing with her (even if she attacked us)
– beating my dad in Guitar Hero and just spending time playing games with him
– meeting the family
– sight-seeing and seeing the beauty of Alabama
– off roading in my dad’s truck while me and Ashley were in the bed of the truck trying not to fall out
– the cats! (they had about 13 cats. 5 of them were full grown and the others were kittens)
– the laid-backness of Alabama
– the small town feel
– Spending time with Ethan, Elizabeth, Kylee, Ashley, Patricia, my dad, and my grandma and grandpa Lemieux

Over all it was a nice time, and if you’d like to hear more about the trip, I’d be happy to share them.

Thanks for reading! God is good, and I’m so blessed to have this relationship being built between me and my dad.

Source: The Adventure Continues in Alabama

This post will take a bit of a deeper, more personal look into what the Lord has been teaching me and showing me as of late. If I can find the words to express it. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.
Abba Father, the Comforter, the Creator of everything, my God, and my Savior. The past few months have been quite an interesting adventure, with the notorious highs and lows that are usually involved. However, something I never expected happened. As is often the case, the Lord has different plans than me, and if I’m patient enough to wait on Him and be content on where He takes me, then I will see that all the trials I go through were well worth it. Just like Romans 8:28 promises.
For those of you who know my past, you know it has been rather rough, yet through it all God has proved His overwhelming love for me time and time again. Without Him, I truly would be destroyed by the enemy, but in Christ, there is victory! That being said, I have had my share of struggles, and even though I know they are all lies of the enemy, for years I have entertained those lies until they became “truths” I believed in my heart. These lies have plagued my heart and my mind for many years, and even though I knew they were lies and I the Truth of God’s promises, it was really hard to let it all go and trust the Lord.
That being said, here is just one story of how God has been ridding my heart and mind of these lies: (note: I am not trying to brag through this story, I am only trying to share with you what God revealed to me.)
I have always had issues with my self image, thinking I am ugly, no one would ever think I’m pretty, and if they say so, then they only said that because they are trying to be nice. I would
read Psalm 139:14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” That whole chapter would bring me comfort for a short time, but I never truly believed it and tucked in my heart as Truth.
Now, God has been working on my heart ever so gently, and I have been gaining self confidence and am beginning to view myself the way He created me. He has given me friends who compliment me a lot (it’s really hard to accept compliments when you don’t believe they are true…). Then one day, after I got a little frustrated with a few of my friends for complimenting me so much, I was a little convicted and God told me to write apology letters to them, and to thank them for their encouragement. This was before a Tuesday night prayer meeting, and when I got home from that I was really tired (like most nights), so I got ready for bed.
As I was getting ready for bed I heard clearly “Alley, you’re beautiful”. God told me I was beautiful?! I guess I can’t argue with Him, so I said thanks and then went to bed. The next morning, however, He said it again. “Alley, you’re beautiful.” This time I believed it in my heart. God made me, if He says I’m beautiful, then I must be in His eyes, and His opinion is all that matters. That day I dressed up just for him.
This story is only one of the many that has been happening lately in my life. God has been restoring my heart, and my mind so much in the past few months that honestly, I’m not even close to the same person as I was before. I’m closer to the Lord in our ever growing and deepening relationship, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyways, thanks for reading this semi-different, more deep and personal newsletter. I’d love to hear your stories of God’s restoration in your lives! Just post them below in a comment, or send them to me in a message or email.

Source: God Restores and is Healing

Dear brothers and sisters,

Something has been tugging on my heart for a long while, and I feel that I should share it with you all. See, I believe and have a relationship with the one God who loves, heals, and delivers. Through my walk with Him, I have gone through valleys, and mountains, but in all of it I can see His faithfulness, and He has never once failed me. He is the only One on whom I can depend in any circumstance, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love the Lord.
The Lord has been with me through rain and shine, and has never left my side. Yes there have been times when I have been so focused on myself that I couldn’t feel Him with me, but in faith I pressed on and sure enough, once I refocused on Him, our relationship dove deeper than before. God is love…and because He is love, this means that He fits the description of what love is from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevered. Love never fails.” (NIV)
Now, you may be wondering, “what about that has been tugging on your heart?” Well, I’m glad you asked! For one, I may have discovered this life-changing (not to be cliché) relationship, but SO many others have rejected it. Now, I’m not writing this newsletter story to condemn any of you, or to make you feel guilty, but what would I be if I didn’t share this with you? It would be like eating your favorite dessert in front of you, and not offering you any of it. Or if you had cancer, and I had the cure, but was selfish and kept it for myself instead of helping you. That would be wrong wouldn’t it?
So what brought on this topic, at this time, after so many previous newsletters that I’ve written? Recently I have had the opportunity to share my faith with my friend back in Pennsylvania (I’ll name him Freddy) who was/is going through a rather difficult time. See, he is looking for love, for someone to be there for him, and since there seemed to be no one who fit that idea, he wanted to end hislife.ThiswasthefirsttimethatIhadeverbeenthrough something quite as life/death as this. But you see, God used me and another friend here at GFA to reach out to Freddy and because Freddy finally listened, he is still alive today. No, he didn’t accept the love of Jesus who is right there waiting for Freddy to open his heart to it, but I do believe that he is close.
Much like with Freddy, I want to share with anyone who will listen of the hope found in Jesus, and the love that He offers. Just looking back on my life and all that the Lord has brought me through, I honestly wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for Him stepping in and guiding me through the darkness. Instead of trying to convince you of this truth, dear friends and family, I encourage you to take a look back at your life. Look at what you have gone through, what are the things that the Lord has brought you through?
Anyway, I am praying for you all. I pray for those who do have a relationship with the Lord, that they will dare to dive deeper than ever before into His nature and His presence. Oh how we should study and get to know those that we love, and even more so the Lord who loves us even when we don’t deserve it. I also pray for those of you who do not know the Lord. That your hearts will one day be softened and your eyes opened to the glory that is God. Embrace His love, because it is so great, that He sacrificed EVERYTHING just to give you the opportunity to live and commune with Him.
Love, Alley Wessner

Source: Don’t Hesitate to Share Christ