Written by, Kim Johnson, Author of I Am My Sister (Women helping Women) @ immysister.org

Who goes into a storm intentionally? That’s crazy. Well call me crazy, because when my best friend got sick, I did just that. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines.  I thought initially that I would simply document her journey through video recordings. I figured when she recovered she could look back on her battle with cancer, sort of like a “remember when” thing.

I bathed her, shaved her hair off when it made no sense to hold on to the remaining strands, I read to her, I fed her and I prayed with her for a speedy recovery. We both knew she would beat cancer, but God decided He had a better place for her and took her home.

I’m telling you these things because I want you to know that sometimes we can’t sit on the sidelines when family, or friends or loved ones are going through something; even if we want to.  Now and again, we have to jump “smack dab” right in the middle of their storm and help them battle whatever they are going through. Just like the three friends of Job.

Now Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, didn’t get everything right, but they did get being there for their friend right; especially when Job was going through a rough time in his life. The book of Job, tells us that when Job’s friends “heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:11-13).

What I am saying Saints is, “we need each other, especially in the dark times of life.  While compassion should flow from us naturally it doesn’t hurt to make a plan about how best to show that compassion” (Stanley, p. 592).

Sister to Sister do you hear me? Are you willing to go into the storm with someone, simply to make their battle a little easier?

  Tribute to my dear friend: I miss you Michelle.  Would do it over and over again anytime.  It was my deepest pleasure to be there with you!!!.

References

Stanley, C. F. (2009). Life Principles Bible. La Habra: Thomas Nelson.

 

 

Written by Kim Johnson, Author of I Am My Sister (Women helping Women) @ immysister.org

Breathe…you got this! People may not know it, but I have always been a little shy and hesitant to put myself out there. Never wanted to sit in the front row in a classroom. I always sat in the last row at church. I never gave my opinion even if I had the correct answer. I feared if my answer was wrong I would be criticized. I did not like being noticed. For me, being noticed was scarier than life.

The thing about God is, He will throw you out there, whether you want to go or not. And He does it quite sneakily too. You get a job promotion, now you have to talk with employees. The employees are looking to you to lead them. You have to give training classes at work, presentations, confront people, accept awards, and defend people, whew! Now you’re a leader and pushed to the forefront. Well, at least that was one of my paths.

Even as I write this blog, God is pushing me out there. My thinking is, do I tell you, the reader, my greatest fears? Do I expose my inner thoughts to you? What will you readers think of me? Well, I have decided to trust God, be brave and believe in myself.

Sisters, in the bible it says for us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverb 3:5-6). What this means is, “If you want your life to be the very best it can be, you must put your faith in God, rejecting your own limited perspective and honoring Him in every area of your life. This is the heart of godly living, you submit to the Lord’s direction, knowing that He has the answer to your every need and is faithful to provide it (Stanley, C.).

So knowing Gods thoughts and that He has plans for you, how can you not believe in yourself.

Sister to Sister do you hear me? Take a deep breath and step on out there. Do what you were afraid to do; you got this!

References
New American Standard Bible. (2009). Proverbs 3:5-6. In C. Stanley, Life Principles Bible (p. 725). La Habra, Ca: Thomas Nelson.

 

Written by Kim Johnson, Author of I Am My Sister (Women helping Women) @ immysister.org

Worry use to be my middle name; I worried about everything. You name it, I worried about it. But I thank God that He is working on me and that He knows my deepest desire is to trust Him explicitly and totally (for sure, I am a work in progress).

For me, metaphorically, trust is like a bee sting. When you first get stung it hurts, but once you put the pain relief ointment on the sting, the pain goes away. Such as the case with anxiety and stress; when you put on the God ointment (which is trust), everything is all better. God works all of your problems out.

What I am talking about sisters is, putting on faith and trusting that God will take care of whatever it is that you are worried about. Sort of like tumbling. It’s a knowing that you know, that without a shadow of a doubt, God is going to catch you.

The thing is this sisters, we have to get to a place where we don’t worry about anything. One of my favorite Pastors, Joel Osteen, describes worry and trust in a way that I think explains reasons why we shouldn’t worry. He says, “Worry is a thief. It will rob you of your sleep at night. It will rob you of your joy and your creativity. It’s hard to make good decisions when you’re worried. If you allow it, worry can keep you from your destiny. The scripture says we can’t add one inch to our life by worrying. If we could, some of us would be 23 feet tall!

What you see as the biggest thing in your life, in one sense, is your God. When we worry, we’re making our problem our God. If you worry about your health night and day, and you can’t sleep —that’s all you talk about, all you think about —you’re making that sickness your God. Do yourself a favor. Take the worry off of the throne. Take the sickness off of the throne. Take the financial difficulty off of the throne and put God back up on the throne. Use that same energy to thank God that He’s still in control. Every time you’re tempted to worry, turn it around and thank Him that He’s taking care of that situation. Let the worry be a reminder to switch over into praise. Don’t let worry rob you anymore of the blessings God has in store for your future!” (Osteen, 2016).

Sister to Sister do you hear me? Are you worried about something? Give it to God, He’ll take care of it!

References
Osteen, J. (2016, June 10). If I Could Do One Thing Over. Retrieved from https://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Blog.aspx?blogid=11056

 

Written by Kim Johnson, the author of I Am My Sister (Women helping Women) @ immysister.org

As I look in the mirror and examine the scars left behind from breast cancer surgery, I see a beautiful woman staring back at me. A woman that finally realizes her own self-worth, and a woman ready to live life on her own terms.

Self-acceptance hasn’t always been easy for me, I mean, I have always thought that I was pretty but there were certain aspects of me that I didn’t like. If only I could hide this area, or cover this up, and drape and conceal this or that, I would look perfect. But no matter how I fixed those areas of me, I still didn’t accept me.

One day I had ah ha moment and realized that the part of me that needed to be fixed was the inside of me. I needed to stop judging me and being so hard on me.
Too often in life, circumstances and situations change our view of ourselves and we become our own worst critics. We dwell on the negative aspects of ourselves, thinking we can never change or do better. The fact of the matter is, we need to change our mindset about ourselves and get rid of that negative thinking.

My favorite Pastor Joel Osteen, whom you may hear me quoting quite often, described it best, he said, “Our minds are like computers. We can have the fastest most powerful computer but it won’t function well without the right software. We know how PC viruses contaminate a computer. Not because the PC is bad; but that someone reprogrammed the software.

Fortunately for us, God created us as a masterpiece. With the right software. To be victorious, confident, strong, creative, and able to do all things thru Christ. We were programmed to live a victorious, abundant, faith-filled life. We just have to get rid of the viruses in our software and tell ourselves what our Creator says about us. I am blessed. I am valuable and soon we will be back to our original software.”

Sisters, we have to learn to hit the delete button when negative thoughts come, and remember what the bible tells us, we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).”

Sister to Sister do you hear me? Are you loving you?

References
Osteen, J. (2014, June 21). Reprogramming Your Mind. Retrieved from http://anointedmessagesnotes.blogspot.com/2014/06/reprogramming-your-mind-joel-osteen.html