The Unlikely Missionary

IF:Equip I think this captures the essence of why I continuously come back to God because I know, no matter what life brings, I get the privilege to walk with God forever, even beyond life in this world. Even when it seems like I am alone, God walks with me. That's priceless and precious to me. Where is your hope today? The Unlikely Missionary DHW

I feel like Peter walking on water. I’ve grabbed hold to the promises God has made me but halfway through the journey I let the logic of what I think I know and people have told me talk me out of who God has proven Himself to be and I begin to sink.  Matthew 14:22-33 I am pessimistic to my core. It’s an oxymoron to how I should be as a believer but I’ve been taught to view the glass as perpetually half empty. This can keep you expectations tempered but also strangle the life out of your dreams. Mind you I’m a dreamer. I know, it’s like how can that be? Because I know in my heart that God performs miracles everyday. I just often don’t believe they will come true for me. So I dream. When in my darkest nights I dream about the house God told me I’d have. Like Peter it energizes me and then I take the step out of the boat. I ride that high. Taking steps toward it. But then something happens that takes my eyes off of Christ (the wind) and I begin to sink. It can be crippling. But

Feel the Joy of the Season in this beautiful rendition from David Phelps. I've listened to it at least 5 times today already. Lol. God is good Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee, Op’ning to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day! All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays, Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea, Singing bird and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee. Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine. Mortals, join the happy chorus, Which the morning stars began; Father love is r

I have asked this question many times over the course of my 32 years of life. A s a Christian I know the pat answer of 1 Corinthians 13 but the question is what does that look like? Love is patient,  love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.   It does not dishonor others, 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 perseveres.   Love never fails. As a pastor's kid people often say they "love" you but that love can end up being a source of great heartache and pain. I've spoken before of being two people. The good "church approved" girl and the true me, who isn't that much different from the first mind you but definitely falls short of the standard that me church community would deem acceptable. Which brings me back to, "What does it  mean to be loved?". If

Have you ever just sat and observed people? I've been a very cautious person since I was a little girl. In my cautiousness I have learned to study people. I have often struggles when people put me on the spot because it takes me time to process things in order to come to the best answer or solution. God does this too. He observes us. He learns us. He knows us. And He doesn't act until we are ready because He knows the best path for our lives. We often get angry at God for not answering our prayers when we want Him to. Its not until God gives us His best that we realize that what we requested pales in comparison to what God's plan is. In this season of my life I have learned great humility and great strength. I never knew I was strong until I got evicted from my apartment at 6 months pregnant and decided to live and fight instead of lay down and give up. It was in this season that I had to evaluate my relationship with God. If I hadn't been forced to

The one disservice that I think many churches give to their young people is we don't teach them to trust God. That seems counter intuitive because churches preach about God's faithfulness all the time. We sing about it in songs. But we always add conditions to His faithfulness to us. Only if we work hard. Only if we are living right and paying our bills and not making any mistakes. Then we go out and work jobs that run us into the ground. We are scared about bosses and others taking our job. We worry about bills and lights to the point of lashing out at loved ones. We even worry ourselves sick or to death. If we are doing all of this what would we need God for? If we are driving the ship what do we need the captain for? And so We effectively work Him out of our life and then get mad at Him when our life veers off course. Thats not trusting God. Churches today teach young people to chase wealth. We teach that when we mess up we aren't redeemable and are castaways. We t

God is an AWESOME GOD! This song is sung by two of the most beautiful voices and its a testament to why the praises that we sing to the Lord are more beautiful to him than the songs that the angels sing. Be blessed by this beautiful heralding of the birth of our Saviors birth.   Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior's birth Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth Long lay the world in sin and error pining A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new glorious morn Fall on your knees Hear the angels' voices  This is the night when Christ was born Fall on your knees Fall on your knees Fall on your knees Fall on your knees Fall on your knees Oh holy night, Oh night divine The Unlikely Missionary DHW

Where is the love people of God? God gave us to two commandments ( Matthew 22:37-40 ) and neither one involves telling people what to do. American Christians are doing a bad job at loving because they are too busy being the morality police. News flash: That’s not our job! This may be an Unpopular opinion but we as Christians are in no way qualified to tell others (non-believers or believers) whether they are worthy of entrance into the kingdom of God.  I'm not saying that we can't determine right and wrong, good or bad. I'm saying that it is not our job to condemn people to hell, throw away people, or try to change the minds of people who don't believe as we do. So what is our job?  In Episode 5 I talk about what God has really call us to do. You can listen to this podcast in the player above or in Apple Podcasts , Stitcher  & Spotify . Please rate and subscribe. For more Unlikely Missionary follow me on Facebook at  Facebook.com/UnlikelyMissiona

I had an interesting exchange on Facebook awhile ago which moved me to create this post. However, I hesitated to put this out. However, since them we have had Dr. Nasser and Michigan State, another Catholic church sandal and a Supreme Court Justice nominee that has been accused of Sexual Assault. So I have finally found the courage to post something that needs to be said from the Word of God. - There is a lot of discussion of rape culture in America especially when rapists are given three month sentences for their awful crimes. There is so much BS out there about how women can keep themselves from being raped as if we can steel trap our legs shut. And it particularly grieves me when supposed people of God speak these things out of their own mouths. But what does the Bible say? The story of Tamar   in the Bible is a perfect example of what happens when society ignores rape ( 2 Samuel 13 ). It has a high cost. King David, we all know King David, had an obscene amount of wi

Episode 4 of the Podcast is up now! If you are like me you have learned how to speak churchese. We have learned how to pretend and never go below the surface because if we go deeper we might be judged or rejected or shamed or ostracized. Meanwhile we are struggling - to get by, with addiction, deep trauma, suicide, you name it we struggle through it. Why? Because we are human. Our humanity doesn't stop because we follow Christ. We need to stop acting like bad stuff doesn’t touch us, like we don't struggle and make poor decisions because it absolutely does and we absolutely do. The good news is that we can go to God. He knows it sucks and wants to help, He is waiting for you to invite Him into the mess so that y’all can fix it together. We need to stop lying to God and ourselves. And also let our lives be a testimony to others so that they don't get disillusioned. God doesn't stop our struggles, God goes with us through our struggles and makes sure that we come out o

Music has a way of moving me more than anything else can. As I sat at my desk listening to this song the Holy Spirit guided me to share this with you. Feel the Holy Spirit in the words.   All I want to hear God tell me when my time on this earth comes to an end is - Damaris you ran the race, you kept the fight, My Child, Well Done! That's why I do what I do. ♮Take me home with you my lord  When my life is through  Take me home with peace my lord Let me rest with you  When I've fought the fight  And I've kept the faith  And my race on earth is won  All I ask is that you say well done♮  ♮Lord please let me hear you say well done ♮ Amen! The Unlikely Misionary DHW

Imagine hearing that your house is being robbed. You would probably go straight there to see what's going on. Next, imagine walking into your home and there is the robbery, in progress. I’m sure you would be in shock. Now imagine that it’s a friend or relative that is robbing you. You’d probably be feeling betrayed. Finally, imagine that they look up, see you and continue to rob you in your face. Now here comes the anger. This ladies and gentlemen is where we encounter Jesus in Mathew 21:12-14 . This is a story that most know well. Jesus goes into the temple, flies into a rage and throws some tables. It’s not that simple and the way we simplify it almost trivializes it significance in the Word (Everything in the Bible is significant or it wouldn't be there). Jesus "shook" them tables because he was being robbed; of reputation , of experience and of respect . REPUTATION : When we do the wrong thing in Jesus name we damage God’s reputation as a loving,

Anger gets a bad wrap because we often equate the things we do in anger with the feeling itself. Anger is a healthy emotion. Things happen. We get pissed. Now this is the point in the dialogue where the sinning part can take place. Our reaction to the anger is where we get ourselves in trouble. In the Bible, God got angry all the time. People usually talk about and preach about Jesus getting angry ( John 2:13-25 ) - I will talk about that more in my next post ( Jesus Shaking Tables ) - and Him not sinning but we love to forget that the children of Israel had a habit of pissing God off every chance they got. God is the very blueprint of how to be angry and sin not. Where you you think Jesus got it from? Like Father, Like Son. The Old Testament is basically this on a loop: God told the children of Israel to do something. They do the opposite. God gets mad (usually after several and I mean several warnings). Them doing what they did causes them to suffer the consequences of their ac

I started a podcast! We are 3 (three) episodes in. I talked about a Jonah moment over on Facebook and this was it. God had placed on my heart to start this podcast a year ago and I sat in the fish a whole year. But, I finally decided to be obedient and the fish spit me out and I'm so glad that I did. This has been a good ride so far. God is good. Episode 3 is up now. In this episode we talk about truth. In this crazy world we are in today the truth is in the eye of the beholder. We are living in our truth. But God is the same yesterday, today and forever and in God's economy there is one truth, THE truth. Jesus is the way, TRUTH, and the life.  Thanks for listening. The podcast is on all of these platforms. So please listen and rate. Anchor Apple Podcasts Breaker Google Podcasts Overcast Pocket Casts RadioPublic Spotify Stitcher Also, follow us on Facebook at  facebook.com/unlikelymissionary The Unlikely Missionary DHW

"Lets talk about sex baby, lets talk about you and me..." One thing that never goes out of style is sex. From both a scientific and biblical standpoint sex is for procreation. Before in vitro the only way to get pregnant was doing the do. But outside of that it is for the joining of two people together because back in Genesis God said, "it is not good for man to be alone". However, in Christiandom we teach that sex is nasty, dirty, vile thing to be done in the dark because we have to and never discussed which is foolishness. And we do our young ppl a great disservice when we do so. That's why as a youth leader I did this study. We get the secular version of sex all day but young people especially those in church need to know the truth of God's vision for this wonderful act. They need to understand why God said sex was for marriage only. Not because He wants to cramp your style but because He wants to save you from a bunch of heartache. Sex is a beaut

I remember the day I learned forgiveness is for the forgiver. My dad had said something to me that had really hurt me and I held that hurt for a long time and it festered and built up until finally I was like, I’m gonna confront him about this.” So I wrote all my points down (because I’m a planner) and I called him and laid it all out and we left the call with what I thought was a mutual understanding but I hadn’t forgiven it. I thought I had. I convinced myself I had but God always knows how to test your so called growth. Any little thing my father did triggered me and brought me right back to that original hurt and all that pain would come flooding back. Then one day I hit my limit because my family just didn’t understand why I was so angry and I said dad knows why, I told him why and his face went blank and he looked at me and said when? Babay, I saw red! I said, that day that I called you and we talked for like 3 hrs. And he said, I don’t remember. In that moment I was so

I've been sitting with this post for a while because so many people have been using the Word of God to justify evil, using Romans 13 as a justification for killing people in the streets without impunity, taking babies from their mothers, deporting good, law abiding citizens. Before I begin to speak to some of the crazy I will say this. Yes, we need to be responsible citizens and follow the law of the land. And most of the time just living according to God's commandments (Love Him, Love your neighbor) you will do so. Yes, there are consequences for breaking those laws. However, not all laws are just and as a Christian our first obligation is what God has commanded us (Acts 5:29). The truth is God is love. He commands us to love our neighbor as our self. NONE of what is happening is loving or just or of God. You must ask yourself, would you want ANY of this happen to you. If the answer is no then you need make a serious adjustment. Romans 13: 1-3 says, "Be a good citi

In the American Church today, unfortunately, many are sowers of the flesh in the name of Jesus. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. We love to focus on the fact that God is a loving God, and that is ABSOLUTELY true. But love does not mean the absence of correction and punishment. I often am angered by people who put God in a bad light especially those who support the vile things that have been happening in this country as of late and justifying it with scripture. I don't need to be worried about those individuals because God's got this. However to those who inflict pain in the Name of God... I am very sorry because that is not the nature of God. God gives us a choice in everything we do. Our choices are our own and He stays out of it unless we invite Him in. However, when we use His Word

When there is no grace the consequences of your action can be utter destruction . We live in the time of grace. But... Shame is a powerful thing. And pride is what keeps you shackled by your shame. Hiding it behind closed doors even from God. It’s ironic really that we try to hide our shame from a all seeing, all knowing God. How much do we miss out on because of our pride? How much do we suffer alone? It brings me to the woman at the well. When Jesus told her all she had done she could have, in her pride, denied it. But she didn’t, she owned it and instead of condemnation she received living water, eternal life. How many of us have been told the truth about ourselves and vehemently denied it? How much have we missed out on because of it? How many opportunities have passed us by because our pride has caused us to hide our shame? God can’t fix, God can’t use, God can’t turn around that which you don’t give to him. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well it was because he k

Many people have many different ideas of Jesus but do you believe that he is the great I AM? The Messiah, the Savior? The ultimate sacrifice? He is all those things. What matter is, Do you believe that?  Confess. Believe. Be Saved. Be blessed! The Unlikely Missionary DHW Was he a poet turned Radical politician Trying to start a revolution A preacher on a mission Talkin bout fishing In a new kind of kingdom Or a small town wannabe tired Of carpentry Carving out a little fame John or Elijah, teacher, Messiah Or just someone trying to Make a name Could the one we know as Mary's son Be the long awaited Holy One So you're a cynic Oh, well I get it It's hard to trust what you Can't see You've been broken How can you hope in Or believe in a mystery Oh, you oughta know, gotta Know where you stand Who do you say that I am Who do you say that I am Two thousand years counting, The question's still mounting The answer's still A mus