Today we have a very special guest blogger with us! Meet Janella Fox, our new Community Curator at LauraDudek.com. She is our go-to woman for all guest blogs and community creation online. So if you’re interested in writing a post for us, she’ll be the lovely voice on the phone or behind the email! Janella’s heart for the Lord is absolutely contagious and she has a wisdom that is truly beyond her years.  I hope you enjoy this first post of our website refresh- show her some love with a comment to say hi!


 

In the beginning, I never knew I had dreams. I’ve never given much thought to the subject almost all my life. But of course, I still had a strong sense of knowing that I would do great things for the Lord. Things so big and great that I would not be able to know what they were until the moments came. And lately, the moments have come. I haven’t given the Lord enough credit for seeing me through the promises He had for my life so far. I am just now realizing that I have already done such great things for the Lord that I would have never thought possible for myself 10 years ago. You see, I knew I would do great things for the Lord, but I made a mistake of not acknowledging the greatness when it had already come.

I was told at a young age, “You are going to accomplish big things in life!” But the older I became, the more I felt discouraged when nothing “big” seemed to be happening. I felt as though I failed or missed an opportunity. But maybe the truth is that I have accomplished far greater things than I could have ever imagined. Years ago, I never thought I could be bold enough or even pure enough to encourage others or pray for the sick and see them healed. I knew God worked in such wonderful ways, but I would never have had faith in the fact that God wanted to partner with me to display his glory in this way. I never used to believe that God would allow me to have heavenly, supernatural encounters with Him either, but I have received encounters which could have only come through His grace and revelation.

As a young girl, I could have thought that writing a children’s book would be a dream too big to accomplish for my life, yet now that I am older, I am writing children’s books. As an adult now, all these things may not seem so big after all, but they are big! And they are possible!

Become like a child with me for a moment. Imagine yourself as a child again and look at your life right now. With your childlike mentality, open your eyes and see how great and big you are in life! You are accomplishing so much more than you think! And Father God is so proud. Let’s honor God that He is accomplishing more in our lives than we could have ever dreamed of when we were growing up. God works things behind the scenes as well as in front of our eyes.  We must take the time to thank Him for all the great things He has already accomplished through us!

During the early years of my life, I struggled to know what my purpose was or what I would accomplish. It was frustrating at times, but I held on to faith that He would use me in some type of way. I would take any way He wanted to use me because as a human, I naturally desire to have purpose. And at that time, all I knew was that my purpose would be great and for the glory of the Lord.

If you are to take them, you almost become addicted to them and continue taking them to overcome the problem of erectile dysfunction. order cialis australia Male impotence, commonly known cialis levitra viagra as erectile dysfunction, is a sexual disorder that involves one being unable to sustain an erection for longer, Testosterone replacement, which is considered in later stages of impotence, counseling to decrease your risk substitute your dairy milk with soy milk or give up the use of milk completely. Remember to have cialis sales a light, fat free and a nutritious food habit. So, the medicine simply makes sildenafil generic canada the night steamier and brighter than ever. I always used to say that God hasn’t shown me His purpose for my life because it may be too big for me to handle at that moment. I may not have believed any of it, or I may have even become afraid and run the other way. Although that may be a part of it, the other truth is that I never allowed myself to dream big because I thought it would be prideful or selfish. I believed this until one day I realized that if I always thought my desire to do great things for the Lord was prideful or selfish, then I would never accomplish anything for Him when it was His desire for me to do such things in the first place.

This is just one example of a negative mindset I carried which was rooted from lies I believed in the past. These lies held me back from the “more” of God, and thankfully, He has set me free from them. I never wanted to put God in a box, but at the same time, I never asked to have wonderful encounters with Him. I never felt deserving of seeing the beauty of the Lord and feeling His glorious, tangible presence upon my life.

Once I realized that I too was “allowed” to experience more of the Lord, I began to let Him speak to my spirit of what He longs for me to do in my life. When I opened my heart to the idea of “dreams,” I found that He had already placed dreams in my heart which I never knew were there! These dreams now include writing books, displaying the Father’s beauty, speaking and encouraging people through ministry, taking on leadership roles, and becoming a vessel of the Holy Spirit to bring freedom and revelation of Jesus. These are just some aspects which I believe the Lord desires to use me in. They may transpire by me simply becoming an example of true light in the world or by writing and publishing books which touch many lives. No matter how the Lord fulfills these dreams, I know that He longs to do this for it is His desire. My only main job is to be in relationship with Him and to love Him with all my heart. He will work out the rest because His goodness will always prevail. If you are reading this today, just know that God is good and good always wins. Simple. It just takes an understanding of who He is and who we are in Christ. This understanding could only come from pursuing Him and learning to love Him above anything else- above any dream itself. Let’s not forget: we must love the dream-giver more than the dream, and the Word-giver more than the word.

Because of this truth, I am now free. Yet in fact, I have never felt more liberated in my life until I stopped believing the lie that I was not free. Freedom for my mind, soul, and spirit is what I hoped for. When I was much younger and immature in Christ, growing in character, I longed to be free, yet felt trapped and brought down. I had not yet realized that I was already free in Christ because whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Sometimes it takes only an encounter with the Word of God and his Holy Spirit to know the truth. It sounds so simple, but unfortunately, it is made complicated at times. Well, I refuse to complicate Him and His word. He is perfect and true to His character, so I will follow the example and the teaching of my heavenly Father and endeavor to stay true to my character as well. I trust that God only makes good things, so I am, therefore, a good creation of His with a character of honor and integrity. I must stay true to this. This a key in pursuing more of God’s dreams for my life. Not just one great big dream like I thought it would be in the beginning, but many dreams which add to God’s great plans for my life.

 

 

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JANELLA FOX is a passionate ministry leader from Cleveland, Ohio and serves as our Community Curator.  She began writing for her mother, and in doing this, found her passion for writing. She graduated from Ohio Northern University in 2014 with a bachelor’s in psychology and went on to complete two years of BSSM ministry school.  Janella is newly married to her husband, Nate, and serving the Lord in various ministries.