Tag: #encouragement

Overcoming a Foreboding Spirit (during a Pandemic)

On By Team Carter FamilyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Do what, now?

I was recently telling a friend that I have this reoccurring thought, or string of thoughts based around fear. Saying them out loud sounded absolutely ridiculous. Yet that’s what this “what-if” scenario fear was —completely nonsensical and ridiculous. What was I afraid of ? “What if this happens?! What if THIS happens?!” “What would happen to my husband or family if this happened…” This friend told me, “That sounds like a tormenting spirit…like it’s tormenting you to be afraid of what is not true, or what will even happen to you.” When I asked her what she thought I should do, she spoke truth into my life that “Meditating on God’s Word, meditating on God’s truth…the truth WILL set you free!” Good word, friend!

“But no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged. Any accuser who takes you to court will be dismissed as a liar. This is what God’s servants can expect. I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best. God’s Decree.” -Isaiah 54:17- (MSG)

It wasn’t until later, when I was running at the gym that I was listening to a podcast and the speaker was mentioning about “the foreboding spirit of fear.” I didn’t know what “foreboding” meant. I had to go look it up! According to Dictionary.com, “foreboding” means: “fearful apprehension; a feeling that something bad will happen.”

Now I wasn’t necessarily saying these thoughts out loud over myself, but I felt gloomy thinking them. Kim Potter writes, “The goal of this spirit is to: make fear your guiding voice, steal your joy, remove your ability to live in joy and peace and prevent you from seeing a good future for you and your family.” Anyone ever dealt with this same thing? It put words to how I was feeling! You can read her thoughts entirely on this subject HERE.

So how did I get out of this gloomy funk? I kept digging into THE TRUTH about what God says of me, instead of listening to the lies that I thought were of me, but were far from the truth about me. They are just thoughts. I can take captive of my thoughts. I can repent for the things I have done, or the lies that I have believed. I can ask God to show me the truth about who I am. I can read His Word daily. I can be thankful. I can, I can, I CAN!

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” -Romans 12: 1-2 (MSG)

If you are like me and have dealt with these oppressive thoughts that are not your own, I would encourage you to pray, seek God, read His word daily, declare His truth over yourself, change some of your habits if He tells you to…and to know that He is FOR YOU. He is GOOD. He is A LOVING FATHER. He has YOUR BEST. He will never leave you. He has GOOD PLANS for you and YOUR FAMILY. THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Decree it! Love, Team Carter

” Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. -2 Corinthians 5:16-20- (MSG)

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” -Romans 8:26-28- (MSG)

“God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.” -Deuteronomy 31:8 – (MSG)

“None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” – Romans 8:38-39- (MSG)

“So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” -James 1:17-18- (MSG)

Holding Onto The Future Promises of Our Children To-Be

On By David CarterIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Back in 2013, I (Jen) was walking down our street; Avenida 5, in our neighborhood of Larapa, in Cusco, Peru. I can remember that it was sunny outside. I can remember that I was walking in the direction from our house, towards the shops and the main road. Our entire street was a steep decline, from the our house towards the main road. In Cusco, many of the “hills” seemed like mountains to walk up, especially when you are a beach native. I can remember dodging the holes and cracks in the sidewalk, stepping around trash and being careful where I planted my feet. I can also remember being newly pregnant, because the smell of empanadas and someone cooking lunch was overpowering. Then I felt like the small voice of the Holy Spirit say to me, “You will have sons.” “What?! Really? Ok. Wow.” God speaks on ordinary days. I can’t remember anything else out of the ordinary that happened that day, but I remember journaling those words. I hid those words for later.

avenida5
Avendia 5, Larapa, Cusco

We were so surprised in January 2014, when we found out Miriam was our first daughter! Now, don’t think for a minute that we were ever “disappointed” in her gender reveal. Years before, in 2010, David and I were newly engaged. God had spoken to both of us, through visions, prophetic words, through the gift of an art piece from a friend at Clemson DCF, and the general desire in our hearts for a daughter.  We just had no idea that God had saved all of those beautiful things for 2014! And He surprised us again in 2016 with Ellenor! He gave us not one, but TWO spectacular,  independent, beautiful daughters! That’s how good my God is…He gives out double portions when you ask!

unnamed
Prophetic Art by Paul Shotsberger (Clemson DCF – 2010)

So this pregnancy, we wanted to find out the baby’s gender, but also be surprised ourselves. At Ellenor’s gender reveal party, I let it slip to some of the guests early…hey, it’s really hard to not say “she” and “her” when you already know who that little person inside you is! So this time, we were sneaky.

The ultrasound tech in my OB’s office was very careful and changed up her wording of “he” and “she” during the scan. She told us to “not read into what she was saying, because she would do baby’s downstairs parts last.” We closed our eyes and she didn’t say anything. When she printed off the ultrasound pictures, she held back the ones that revealed the gender. Then, only Mrs. Beverly, the ultrasound technician, knew what we were having! She gave David the “secret envelope” and my good friend, Jen, met us in the parking lot to pass off the envelope. Then Jen Helmer was entrusted with the job to tell the Harris Teeter balloon guy to fill up the box we gave her with pink or blue balloons, depending on the contents of the envelope. Jen was gone for a few hours, she came back to our house and dropped off the box. We took the box over to my parent’s house and had dinner with them, my brothers and my future sister-in-law. After dinner, we FaceTimed David’s parents and did a Facebook Live video so that our other family members and friends could be a part of the action. Then, Team Carter, ripped into the box and were so surprised when BLUE balloons came out! WE ARE HAVING A BOY! It was such a surprise to not even know beforehand, but everyone, including our girls, are so excited about having a little boy in the house!

My mind went back to that day in Peru when God spoke to me in the quiet. I’m so glad that I can go back and read those words. It was a “future promise” to me and I had just stuck it in a box and put it away on a shelf and forgotten all about it. Until He reminded me that He really does deliver on what He promises. God doesn’t promise you something and take it back. He doesn’t taunt you with the desires of your heart and then snatch it away, leaving you feeling cheated and gullible. (*Sidenote: this is how I feel every time Ellenor offers me one of her Goldfish crackers and then she snatches it away right before I get to eat it out of her hand. She finds it hilarious. I am cheated out of tasty Goldfish.) But that is not Father God’s heart. He loves to give us gifts; gifts that are so unique to each of us, as individuals, because that’s how He created us to be.

It’s like that song, “Yes and Amen,” by Housefires:

“Father of kindness / You have poured out of grace / You brought me out of darkness

 You have filled me with peace / Giver of mercy / You’re my help in time of need / Lord I can’t help but sing

Faithful, you are / Faithful, forever, you will be / Faithful, you are / All your promises are Yes and Amen / All your promises are Yes and Amen //…”

We are so thankful for this gift, of our son, who we are naming, Grady David Carter! Grady, is an old, family name from David’s side of the family. David, after his Daddy and his dad. His name means “noble, beloved.” He is going to be full of joy, a gentle warrior, and the perfect addition to Team Carter! We can’t wait to meet you, Grady!!

Grady Baby
This is the profile pic of Grady

 

#weloveelberton

On By David CarterIn TestimoniesLeave a comment
image Us, Kevan, Sarah, Reese (yes, he’s 90!) and Eric
image Photos courtesy of Eric Lovin

Elberton, Georgia that is. We journeyed to see our good friend, Eric, (who was our neighbor when we lived in Cusco) in his hometown. We had been praying that God would give us an opportunity to be bold and step out in faith and in that same week, Eric presented the idea of us coming down to love on his city. So the three of us traveled, expecting David to lead some worship and that God would show up.

When we arrived, Eric (with the help of some awesome friends) had acquired an unused store-front to stage nightly worship and prayer over the city. A prophetic team of his friends from Maryland came down to join in the fun. (Kevan,Sarah and Reese–you guys are awesome!) The point was simply to invite people to encounter God’s love and presence. And encounter people He did!

A woman was reminded of God’s love for her and her daughter. A man was healed of back pain. A woman was healed of cataracts. Another man gained a deeper revelation of God’s love and he got up and led spontaneous worship for the first time–and later he and his son played worship music together in their house and then later he prayed for someone in his music store. People were encouraged at WalMart. A woman who had ALS and hadn’t been able to speak in years, said her husband’s name. Another woman was healed of arthritis (she saw the swelling leave her hand). Eric’s mom was healed of a migraine. Others received encouragement just being a part of something new.

The point is this can happen anywhere. God can use anyone, anywhere! In Elberton, in Charleston, in Rock Hill…everywhere! God wants us to made more aware of his love and presence. Once we know who we are — beloved sons and daughters; children of God, equipped to walk in power and authority by the Holy Spirit, then we can love others around us. God wants us to know who we are. He wants families to be reconciled. He wants to us to love our neighbors. He wants us to move from glory to glory all because He loves us. We owe people an encounter with the one who loves us. Be encouraged!

A very big thank you to Eric’s amazing parents, Ed and Annette—and y’all,they are amazing people! We really enjoyed their generous hospitality, their yummy food and their stories 🙂 (nothing too embarrassing Eric). If you find yourself in the Elberton area, you really must go visit them! And to Eric, for his invitation to come and the encouragement he showed us on how to love his hometown so well! We are inspired and encouraged from this weekend!

#spiritledexp #seekandyouwillfind #carpettime