Welcome to Teaching by Faith

You aren't just a "MOM." You're a teacher, and you are a BUILDER. You're building little PEOPLE, who will become BIG people. You are molding characters, and you are arranging destinies. Most importantly, you are shaping LIVES. That's a MIGHTY work. That's a DIVINE work! You NEED the guidance and the HELP of the Holy Spirit to do it!

The very first ministry given to every mother is in her home. This is a heavenly assignment, and God chose YOU to do it! You were called to disciple your children and to model the teachings of Jesus to them first. Before they enter a classroom or the arms of another caregiver, they move from your womb to your room! Mothers are the first to hold the baby when he or she is born into the world. No matter how big they become, we continue to hold them in different positions.

In some moments we will hold their hands, and in others we may hold them in our arms. No matter how big they become, we will always hold our children in our hearts. No matter how challenging it may be, your labor is not in vain. Your love is absolutely necessary. Your time is required. You NEED the Holy Spirit to engraft you and equip you with all of the necessary tools. The posture of your heart MUST be pure in this work. I've learned that through many lessons in different seasons, and I am still learning! The lessons and difficult seasons I went through were what led me to give birth to this space.

In 2013, a drastic move from everything and everyone I knew changed my life completely. As a mother of two young boys at the time, I had no family or friends in the new space we moved to with their father. I was determined to connect with other moms and find the connection my heart needed. I prayed and asked God to lead me to Christian moms who had children around the same age. A search on Google pointed me to "moms in prayer." That connection led me to make friends with other moms in that season that changed my life forever. I began to write about it in a blog, "Confessions of a Praying Mom." Every hard moment, every triumph and even the mistakes became an online journal, and eventually an entire book that remained on my computer hard drive. I talked about editing it and releasing it...but I never did.

Years later, divorce, single motherhood, the loss of my mother, remarrying and giving birth to my first daughter brought me back to that sacred space. I began to lean into Jesus like never before to help me find the rhythm to my new life. With a new baby girl a nearly 10-year difference between her and my older children, and the uncomfortable adjustments of a newly blended family, there was so much Godly wisdom I desperately needed! Just one year prior to my daughter's birth, my earthly mother had gone on to be with God. I felt so lost without her reassuring voice and helping arms in that season. She was a woman who got things done, and gave me and her grandchildren so much support when she was here with me. I needed her, and for the first time in my life, she wasn't present during one of the most transformational moments of my life.

During that season, I began to seek God early in the mornings for the strength and the strategy my very full life demanded. I found that my answers were revealed during those quiet times with the Father. He would whisper strategies to me that I began to implement in my home and with my children. I began to share the vision God gave to me for our home with my husband and He worked alongside me to bring it to fruition. We were building something brand new, that neither one of us had grown up seeing, and it was a faith journey for our entire family. What seemed impossible began to shift into hope and my perspective slowly started to change. I moved from fear to faith and began to trust God in the process. I began to go back to those online journals and read what I'd shared in my original blog. The Lord led me to video my NEW journey and host an online devotion for mothers. That was such a beautiful and sacred moment as I began to share my hunger for God's wisdom in learning to build my home.

My family continued to grow, and I had another son, then a set of twins all within three years! Season after season of becoming pregnant and giving birth, and then repeating the process, I found myself overwhelmed as I started and stopped building that vision, again and again. Each time I came back stronger with more wisdom, but I carried guilt in my inability to remain committed and consistent to the work I knew God had given to me. I kept doubting my ability to build my home and all the things He'd planted in my heart to build, because of the enormous weight I felt my family was. I began to believe the lie that nobody understood how difficult it was to manage my small children, infant twins and teenagers. I became a victim to circumstances the enemy had disguised as hopeless. I began to disconnect from everyone as I went through one of the most difficult seasons of my life financially. It was a season that I will never forget. Our family was homeless, and after three full months of 8 of us living with family (while I was pregnant with the twins), I came to a place of complete surrender...or so I thought.

After the twins were born, I found it incredibly difficult to find that time to seek the Lord as I had learned to do in years passed. The days and nights bled together and I tried my best to raise teenagers and toddlers, while breastfeeding twins that struggled to maintain their weight around the clock. Nothing I'd been able to do before seemed to work, and yet, the Lord was still calling me to commune and fellowship with Him. I was so focused on what didn't seem to be working out, and what I wanted our life to look like, that I almost missed the beauty in that season of learning to love and enjoy those precious moments with my babies. They grew so quickly, even as we weathered storms and maneuvered what seemed to be endless tests. My husband and I faced testing in our marriage, in our finances and in our home. I know now that God was preparing us for a greater future, and teaching us to trust in Him!

God also taught me through that very difficult season of my life, that I needed "community." He reassured me that the level to which He had called me to minister to and help others didn't just happen inside of a church, and it didn't diminish or change just because I had a large family and financial difficulties. The demand was now even greater for me to share what He'd placed inside of me for others. I would see this even more as I pushed through that season and watched God move my family again to a brand new place. This time, my family moved in expectation that God would provide everything we needed, and He did just that! The one thing He spoke to me during that time of transition was that the vision He gave me would become "global." It didn't make sense then, but I now look at what I've continued to build and I can do nothing but smile and stand in awe! From my business to this birthing, God has been building it and building me all along! The greater revelation for me was that this great work He'd called me to do was never meant for me to do alone! Yes, we have the Holy Spirit, but God also gives us people! He gives us people who have wisdom we need, people we can grow together with, and people to disciple and teach! I'm sharing with you what God gave me so that you can receive it and share it with someone else! Without all the mothers God has led me to share with and speak to sharing with one another, this space cannot thrive and be what it was truly intended to be. It's purpose will be limited and pointless without you. And so...the tried by fire, "Teaching by Faith" has been torn down and REBUILT with a different name...same purpose, and greater impact.

This time, the heart of Teaching By Faith is the heart of God for the mothers who need to know HOW to conquer the ministry of motherhood WITH Him and by FAITH in Him and His Word.

This scripture describes the work of this vision. Jesus said:

"Yes, I am the vine; you are. the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15: 5 (NLT)

Apart from a direct and continual connection to Christ through prayer and a teachable spirit, we cannot successfully do this great work and produce the fruit He has called us to produce. By faith, I'm putting out a signal to every mother everywhere that God is very real! He didn't bless you with the beautiful gifts your children are for you to do it out of your own strength, and miss the blessing that comes from doing it with Him. The very real work that we must do is a KINGDOM work. It requires a KINGDOM MINDSET, and living by KINGDOM PRINCIPLES. You are here because God wants you to teach your children and build your home the KINGDOM way!

I pray that this will be the space where He meets you wherever you are in your journey of mothering. Most importantly, I pray that with all the tools, the resources, the wisdom He has given to me, you will get a fresh infilling of HIM. May He give you an abundance of what you need to reach and teach the FIRST nation He called us to train up and send out, our children. May you know that you are called to raise them, equip them and teach them...by FAITH.