Find Time To Flirt A Little!

Summertime always brings back memories of the pool and having the sunkisssed skin, and having those big blow ups to float around in the pool on. Back in the Summer of 1997, I met the most amazing hot sexy lifeguard with one glance my heart melted. I would rate it up there with watching the Top Gun volley ball scene. You know what I am talking about ladies! Those hot bodies  of Mavrick, Goose and Ice man on that hot summer day!   I had been  asked by my mom, but really with no other option but to do what she had asked to take my sister and some of our  friends to the pool. Of course, I was a little aggravated because like most women and girls I was not too excited to be having to put the dreaded bathing suit on. After, trying at least ten suits and checking myself out in the mirror nothing seemed to be looking like I wanted it too. Finally, I settled on the black one with the mesh at the top.

Jamie my little sister’s friend had a membership to this pool called Robindale. The neat thing was that she could have guest come for free.  So we loaded up my Saturn which looked more like a clown mobile due to all the pool bags, noodles and people situated inside.  Finally, we made the 15 minute drive to the pool and we all began to  unload fast and make our way in. 

I began to take a step into the pool floor and as I was walking down the stairs my eye’s met the lifeguard on duties eyes. I thought to myself look-- Oh girl look at that body. I must be staring at a body of a god. Then, could not believe I decided on the bathing suit I had chosen.  But before the girls settled on a seat where we would have our stuff.  I quickly went into strategic thinking mode,  I  was able  to convince everyone we should set our stuff on the right side of the pool because it looked like the sun was hitting over there better. Well, at least that is what they all thought, but I was setting  it up to where at some point he would have to speak to me, and well at the least notice me. Now the funny odd thing is that I did not want to date him at all, I just wanted to know in my mind that I still had it going on because at this point I was trying to instill confidence in myself. 

It did not take long at all. He started drumming up conversation with me and smiling and joking with me. He mentioned he would be off the stand in about 20 minutes. Hmmm I started thinking to myself about  5 minutes before he was to get off the stand,  I would like to become better friends with this guy. So I was able to get a boys vs girls game of keep away going, Brilliant plan might I ask because as soon as he got off he jumped in and joined in and happened to guard me.  Well, for those of you who know me well I love some good ole’ fashion competition. Turned out he was competitive by nature as well. We laughed giggled and had a blast! It was at that moment that I developed the best friendship of my life.

Now I am proud to announce I have been married to that hot sexy life guard for 11 years now. I am in love with him more today than the day  I promised to love him through the good and the bad.  He is still my best friend   Now don’t get me wrong like every marriage we have had seasons of not loving each other, thinking man this should get easier,even to the point of planning escape plans. Yet, despite the tough times we have both stayed the course and decieded that there is absolutely NO OTHER SPOUSE for us on the face of this earth.  You can mark it down  that I would never  ever be able to  love another human being  the way I love this man. 

 I have been thinking a lot over the past two weeks about my husband and how crazy our lives are with the girls schedules, and then I just got off the phone with one of my girlfriends who was telling me how she desperately needed a date night with her husband just could not figure out when to do it  because of the kids schedules.  I totally understood where she was coming from with busy schedules. I started thinking back to how busy I was when I meet Cort. I was going to school full time, working full time and dealing with everything a single mom has on her plate.  I thought to myself..... You know it is all about priorities. I have to make sure my life priorities are looking like this: GOD, CORT, and then the Girls. 

When Cort and I started to date we made a way found a way to see eachother.  Well, nothing is different now sure we have both walked through life and it has brought  us seasons of joy and hurts for us, but the same is still true. I love Cort, and  I want to be the women he loves and cherishes and enjoys coming home to. So to do that and be that for him I am going to have to purpose in my heart to campout on this for a moment. I am about to become very vulnerable and transparent because I feel as if others lives will be touch by me becoming a glass house.

I have not always been great at respecting my Cort. If truth be known, I probably fail at it more times than any other women would and should.  Sure I thought I respected him, but my definition of respect and his definition did not always see eye to eye, and still don't always see eye to eye. Instead of “submitting” to his idea I tend to let him know his was wrong and mine was right. By either giving him those "Go to H- E- DOUBLE  L eyes, or just out flat yelling and getting angry, and letting him know how he did not love me.   Don’t judge me!!! You know you have done it also.  I spent years praying for God to resurrect his love for me and take back the words I said that caused him hurt, and bring down the walls that were put up to protect him. See ladies, the one thing I did not realize is that  praying to change him and not truly focusing in on trying to change me still kept my tongue and my words for bringing the healing for him and I.   Instead of using my words to build Cort up, I did the exact opposite. I am so grateful to say that my husband is truly a godly man because despite the hurt I caused him he stuck and stayed. I am humbled by that kind of sacrifice and loyalty he has for me. 

Lately, I am learning that it is not Cort that needed the changing it is me. Years of hurt that we both had to walk through from choices that others brought into our lives and some of our own doing.  I am learning that the heartbeat of my family is me. Oddly enough, when I push through and try to bring positivity into the house our family functions better.  I have had to come with the grips that I will mess up I am not perfect, I had to give myself permission that I will screw up and God will put back the pieces. All I have to do is begin to get my priorities back in order, and well at least give it a try even if I totally mess it up! 

 I have started asking God why is it that we women have to be the ones that keep everyone going and happy, and it hit me today when  I was praying on my armor with the girls, and putting on my sassy breast plate of righteousness this morning.  I felt this in my spirit… “You are the heart of this family, Cort is the head.”   Driving back I started thinking about that the heart of this family, and not the head. I started talking it out. Praise God! That people looking in my car probably thought I was on the speaker phone, or else they would have looked for the nearest "funny farm" to sign me up for.  I know I am not the head of this family I mean why I would think that I am.  I started realizing that over the past 5 years I had mentally put myself in the mindset of making sure I provided and everything that needed to work out I would make it happen no matter what the cost, I began to recall the things I thought in my mind and how I stopped being the person who pumped life into my family with my words, and had become the source that sucked the life out of our family by letting the stress effect me. See Cort's shoulders are a lot tougher and can hold a lot more than mine ever will.  The heart is the vital organ that keeps the blood flowing. We as women keep the blood flowing.  Kailee told me this past Saturday, "Mommy when you were yelling Go girl! You can do it! It made her proud and want to score more goals. She ended up scoring 7 goals."  That is just one example of pumping the blood into the family!   

As women our jobs whether we are working or staying at home should be creating a safe haven for our families to be in. Our homes are those safe havens. You better believe I took time this morning to pray through this house and ask God to create a safe haven and help me to be the heart that functions well and not put my family in cardiac arrest.  It is our jobs to be the one to breathe life into our kids and pump them up with joy and encouragement just like it is for us to do that for our marriages.

I want to challenge all of us for the next couple of months to start being the heart beat of our marriages and begin to pumping NEW LIFE  into them  by bring some FRESH  love. So over the next couple of months start flirting with your man. I use to think it was Cort’s job to be romantic and flirt with me. Don’t get me wrong I married Romeo himself,  but when you show your man that he is still your Knight and your Romeo you are sending him the message of you are loyal to him and him alone.

 Here are a couple of ways/suggestions that when our schedules are full with kids and life how you can begin to flirt with your man.  

1.    1.     Send him a “visual Invitation” Maybe it is a picture of the shower,  your car, or your bedroom, it could even be the restaurant your family  is going to tonight.  Just simple send the picture and text him. You + Me = Tonight

2.     2.   Catch him off guard and share with him a desire a dream even the word we ladies tend to never say: A FANTASY.   You could start it off like.......If money was not an option, I would take you to Jamaica and kiss you under the waterfalls and wrap my body  up in your arm...........  Who knows what kind of laughs and giggles and dreams you will come up together with.

3.       3. If your husband comes home after it is late, maybe simple have a note on the door he enters saying. “You are my hero! Thanks for working” 

4.     4.   Another fun and easy thing to do is make a coupon book that they can redeem even if you are with the kids.

A.      Massaging your feet 

B.      You watch the football game and I will make your favorite: ________________

C.      You + Me watching a movie you pic

No matter what girls! Do not let the enemy tell you that you have no time to date your husband because that is a LIE.  We are creative human beings, and think back to when you first met your man. You flirted with that hot man that you now call your husband. So why on earth would you not flirt with him and “date” him that way now.  I know for some of you this might be hard. But girls get in touch with that "wild spontaneous side"  :) LOL Just remember that your husband is worth finding time for.

My two cent’s of the day is: FLIRT WITH YOUR MAN, and Be Creative When you flirt with him you are making deposits in his love account and you will be creating a healthy relationship and pumping life back into the family and not only will you both reap the benefits BUT  your whole family will. 

I love you girls! Have a blast flirting! 

Tiffany 

Develop A Morning Routine for your Kids!

I have always tried to teach My Girls to Command Their Mornings! Chaise and Kailee told me this school year they want to do the "Chailee Morning Devotions".   So on mornings that they have something they want to share we share it.

The most important thing we can do as parents for our children's is teach them to Command Their Mornings. What I mean by that is we have to help them develop a routine.   We must lead by example even on those days we would rather just put the radio on and drive quietly! I can promise you with three girls our drive to school is not all butterflies and warm fuzzy. Don't get the wrong impression that our family is perfect.We had a  morning last week that  our car ride could have been a episode on the Jerry Springer Show:

This is how it went.....

Rielly started barking orders at us to get in the car because she was going to be late.  By the time I got all of them in the car I was looking for my Clear Mood just so I could drive the car.  Kailee and Rielly had been at each other all morning.  Chaise was acting like she was  St. Mary Claire and the perfect child which was making them all fume more. Finally, After I gave them a good old fashion yelling at and telling them I could not wait for them to ride the bus. I realized I had to get off the merry-go-round of craziness and get us back on track. Which you can imagine at this point was far from easy. So we went into the morning prayer.

Kailee prayed.  Then, Rielly prayed in a quiet voice. So Kailee got on to Rielly telling her a prayer is not worth praying if I can't hear it. So we had a battle between sisters. I played referee for a brief moment then we went back into praying.  Chaise wrapped it up!

The point of sharing that with you is letting you know. We all have those mornings when nothing goes right, we all fight, BUT the important thing is to teach them no matter what we get it done!

When you start praying as a family.  There will be things that try to prevent that prayer or routine from happening. Please know, when you try to put routines in places everything will happen to try not to let that occur. You have to push through and Ask Yourself these questions:  Do my kids hear my voice? How am I raising kids to seek Him First? If I am not willing to push through, why would they want to push through?

As for The Bethmann Family. Our girls know every morning we are going to do these 2 things no matter what happens!

1. Put the Armor of the Lord On
2.  When they walk out the door of my car. I roll it down and say, "Girls, make wise choices today!"

The other day when I picked Rielly up from school she said, " Momma, the principal asked me if you say Make wise choices to me every morning? "  Then she got a big grin on her face and said, "I told him every morning.  I hear it!"

While they might act like they are embarrassed.  You are letting them know you care about them enough to put a plan and daily routine in to place.

Our kids are in school all day. What impression are we leaving on our kids?  Maybe it is a quick! You're a Champion!

So my two cent's of the day is:  I want to encourage all of you to start from a very young age and develop your children into little Champions!  Let's give them those routines they can count on happening no matter what the drive to school ends up being.

The Storm is Out Ranked

One of my favorite things to do is to curl up on the sofa with a blanket when a Rain Storm comes blowing in. Yesterday, I got to spend time chatting with a precious friend of mind.  This is a lady who has biggest heart I have ever seen, loves deeper than anyone. I have the upmost respect for this lady because I watched her walk through a storm that would destroy most women.  However, she faced this storm head on.  God never promises us that when we go through storms we will not get a little wet, but he does promises us that we are more than a conquers and overcomers. 

  I must say one way that I feel the enemy attacks us women is in our self-confidence and we buy into the lie of we are not worthy.  Let’s be honest ladies, we are told through advertising that to be beautiful we have to be a size 2, have perfect little body and breast that would cover the centerfold of the play boy magazine, and always have our make up on.  So I am going to be transparent with you all right now.  Last September, I went through some major depression, I started gaining weight and got up to be what I call a tight 8, but the stores and clothes call a size 10. Don’t judge me! You know you have in some point of your life had the muffin top going on!  I began to lose my identity of who I was as a person, doubt my gifts, my calling, and if I was beautiful, and if that was not enough. Cort was going through his own struggle trying to find a job and that struggle continued for 10 months.  I had strapped on my back the weight of providing for my family which was an overwhelming feeling because I had moved our family out of what we knew as home.  

Now in the bible there is a story of a King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.  King Ahab told Jezebel that Elijah the prophet of God had killed all the false prophets. So like any women who feels her kingdom is under attack sent a message to Elijah saying. Excuse me, but you better get ready because I am coming to get you and by this time tomorrow you will be meeting your maker.

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life and headed for the wilderness and found a cave and decided to pray that life was too hard and it would be better for him to die.  He told the Lord. “I have had enough, Take my Life” Elijah  had his own pity party. If he had his own boom box I am sure he would be singing, Help by Lionel Richie because of the weight  he was feeling. I do not know about you, but I can totally relate to that because  I can honestly tell you there was a time of depression in my life when I  thought it would be better finical for my family if they could cash in on my life insurance policy. But let me stop there by saying the Lord reminded me.  I love you!  “Get  up and eat on my word”

God allowed for the next several months to allow me to gain my strength, to get my identity back in Him.  Through the STORM HE is LORD.  Christ alone is our Corner Stone through the Storm. It is through the STORMs that he begins to restore our plans, our confidence in ourselves. HE reminds us of what he says and what He has in our lives. 

Christ alone is who we can call on when the waves of life come crashing down on us.  He speaks to each one of us and says, “My daughter, I have been here the whole time why are you trying to run from this storm. I am on board so you can rest in knowing this small rain storm is so out ranked."

 Just like Elijah we might feel overwhelmed by the harsh words or actions of others and want to go run and hide in a cave, but the truth is ladies we have to rest and know that it is not that loud voice that tells us all the common lies we women buy into. But we have to get out of the Cave of Pity.  Elijah had to trust God and get out of the cave. We have to trust God and listen to His voice.  We have to train ourselves to listen to that whisper of truth. Instead of the screams of lies.  It is time to put our best high heels on and face our fears head on, start believing we are beautiful. It was not in the wind, not in the firer, or the earthquake, but God reminded Elijah in the Whisper.  Elijah knew without a doubt God was close.
  

I have been reminded of what the Lord has called me to be, I am to be a Poured out Vessel speaking with strength helping others, loving on others.  I know without a doubt there are things God wants to do through me. I have gone through a lot of Storms in my life, and I will probably face many more.

When Cort and I were first married we went through a storm that meteorologist would have to classify as a Tsunami of the century.   I am here to tell you with every fiber of my being that you can face and go through all life's storms. You can overcome self-consciousness, debt, your children running from God, or anything else this life has to throw at you.

God never left Elijah in the Cave. He was overwhelmed and needed a break, but he never left Elijah during his storm. God knows we are human and we need to have our pity parties and hang out in our caves and take  what we call at our house "me time". 

When my baby girl, Chaise starts to get overwhelmed which is easy to do when she has her daddy’s personality and Rielly, Kailee and I have the same type of loud outgoing personalities. I know the best thing to do for her is get her away from everyone. Chaise simply looks at me and says, “Mommy, I need me time.  God gives us that time alone whether we verbal ask for it or we subconsciously choose it.

This past year while I felt as if I was dying on the inside because I doubted what God was doing. God was giving me "me time".   All along God had everything worked out to the tee?  God will never forsake us. He never leaves us. He stands patiently, and when we decide to trust him through the storm no matter if we come out drenched in the rain. We stand there overwhelmed that is when he softly and gently begins to remind us of WHO we are. IT is in the STORMS. He says, " Peace Be Still. I got this. Trust me. We are going here.  No storm is too big."  He will begin to whisper over us, “You are beautifully and wonderful made, you were raised up for such a time as this.”

I am telling you when you get a hold of God and what he has to say you are through Him. You better mark it down you are attending the pep rally of the century. I have learned in the past 3 months that Jesus can throw a pep rally. He makes us strong.  He reminds us that He is actively involved in our lives.Trust me, I know life can become overwhelming at times, and those of you who know me well. I cry my fair share of tears, BUT know this no amount of debt, family situations, or any type of frustrations you are facing YOU  will overcome you when you Make Christ your focus and allow for him to OUT RANK your STORM you are facing.

So I ask you today.  Are we going to let others try and take your self- confidence and destroy it?  So what if you put on a few pounds. There is a song we dance to on wii dance called Big Girls are Beautiful! Start speaking out who you are and where you are going! I am a Beautiful and by this time next month I am dropping weight, and getting my confidence back.

I once was told that you can take a moment and have a “Pity Party” however that Pity Party can only go on for 3 days then you have to get up, make a plan and put your big girl panties on.  Keep in mind that God is not surprised by any storm, negative words that others use against you.  

So my two cents of the day is. You can choose to buy into fear and keep your eyes on the storm, or know that when you are on Board with Jesus that storm is out RANKED!

Love y’all!

Tiffany   

Tiffany and Cort take on a Mount Everest

THE VALLEY OF DELIVERANCE

9 months ago my family set out on what we thought would be an easy journey for our family. We decided to move closer to home state so our kids would have grandparents around them. It was amazing how God worked out every detail out.  However, what Cort and I thought would be a walk in the park journey turned out to be a more like a hike to Mount Everest and through a valley of deliverance.  

Cort spent 8 months looking for a job, and had to subject himself to another bar exam. The good news is that I married a brilliant man who passed the TN bar on his first try! Neverless, being licensed as a practicing attorney in two states did not speed the job hunt up any faster.  While on top of that, moving back to our home state brought back open wounds of hurt that I had never dealt with.

And if that was not enough, our girls were facing trails at school and being “home sick” for Texas. To say our family was walking through a tough time would be an understatement to our family.  Instead of dwelling on all of the things we walked through. I want to rejoice that our GOD has brought us some deliverance just when we thought we could not go any further.

Well get ready because this proud DAUGHTER of the KING OF KINGS is about to give her ABBA FATHER some GLORY!  I want you to know these past two weeks have been a fresh breath of air to our family. Cort received a job offer and is in the middle of finalizing the offer. We placed a contract to build a  brand new home zoned for the High School Rielly wanted to attend.  I remember writing on my white board in my office. ENJOY THE JOURNEY back in  Dec. 2011. At that time, I wanted to do everything, but enjoy the journey. I wanted to escape into never never land more like it.   While, I can’t say that I enjoyed ever trail and want to jump up and do spirit hands. I know that this past year has been a year of being faithful even when things seem not to be going well. It is easy to praise God when things are good, but the true testing of our faith comes when we face times of sorrow and trials.  But I am here to testify that MY GOD IS FAITHFUL! We never went without a meal. We always paid our bills. HE BLESSED US when I was ungrateful and angry at him for bringing me back to TN.  Yet through it all GOD BLESSED US!

I truly am a daughter who is blessed more than she deserves. I am rich beyond measure. I have a husband who is full of integrity and loves me.  I watched Cort time and time again make lemonade out a situation most would just stand looking at the lemons in their hands.  Now don’t get me wrong, there were dark days of depression that Cort walked through. Yet he never gave up and kept pushing on. Cort showed our daughters and me what it meant to NEVER GIVE UP and pushed through a time that was mentally wearing on a man.  He taught his wife and girls with his actions a lesson I pray we never forget.  My girls know now that the BETHMANN’s never give up no matter what.

The bottom line is God brought me through a valley of deliverance,  I have a man who loves me, three beautiful girls who know who Jesus is. The rest of the blessings in our lives are just icing on the cake!

My two cents for you today is…. So never give up. Believe and keep on pushing, because GOD is faithful. Sometimes we need the valleys in our lives so HE can get us ready for the mountain HE is about to place us on.

Thank you Jesus for being Faithful when I did not deserve your grace, and thank you for a husband that never gives up! 

TAKE OUT THE TRASH

TAKE OUT THE TRASH

Taking out the trash isn't fun, and since the majority of my household is made up four females and one male. Cort normally gets task with that one chore that every person hates to do taking out the trash.  It is gross.  It smells.  It’s sticky, slimy, and just plain nasty.   Not only do you have to be reminded of what foods you devoured over the past week, but you feel as if you are going to be choked to death with the foul odor.   

Last night, I tried to semi help take the trash out by placing it outside the door.  Well, let’s just say that plan totally back fired on me when to my astonishment; this morning I found those 2 same bags of trash setting on the porch. By the grace of God, and I do say GRACE no dog decided to have a midnight snack at my expense because honestly that would be a whole other level of trash duty that I am not ready for.

In my head I was thinking, “Really, I am so not taking those two bags to the trash. I mean that is such a man’s job. I just took a shower, and I do not need to smell like sunrise baked nasty shrimp. Then, it hit me like a sack of potatoes.  I realized that we all need to do a little taking out the trash in our own life.  

Taking out the trash and yuck and muck of our life is never fun, yet it is so necessary for us to do this. One way for us to take out the trash in our own lives is remove the lethal language that we are surrounded by in our culture. Basically, I realized taking out the trash is a lot like taking out the things in our lives that do not help us to be a better person.   

Looking back over the past several years in my life I will acknowledge that I have some rough edges that the Lord has been very kind in removing in my life. I have seen some knocked off, and working on knocking off others. I want to leave each one of you with this thought… We all have some trash we need to get out of our lives. BUT remember… this…. “When God calls you, there’s only one person that can stop you from doing what God has called you to and what he wants you to do and that is YOU!”  If we are not willing to take out the trash in our lives then we will never see the full measure of what he has called us to become.

So figure out what trash needs to be taken out and get going! I know our trash guys picks up once a week, but OUR HEAVENLY FATHER will pick up the trash every minute of every hour. Praise GOD! I am totally thankful because there are days I feel I need a 24 hour 7 days a week trash pick-up services.

Love y’all

Tiffany

Don’t just Dream of being a Princess. Try on the Glass Slipper!

Don’t just Dream of being a Princess. Try on the Glass Slipper!

Well you heard me! Cinderella GET TO WORK!  Acting like a princess takes a little getting used to but it can be done. So pull out those glass slippers and get ready to try it on!

To become the Beautiful Princess we were all created to be we have to start thinking of ourselves as the Daughter of the King. We have to remind ourselves that we are blessed.  We have to think thoughts of  pageantry, gorgeous clothing, palaces, fantastic communication skills, kindness towards those around us, and an ability to charm, impress and greet people. I mean almost get into the mindset of “claim it until you make it… or better known as “Fake it til you Make it”.

Consider Princess Diana she did not go around treating people harshly acting like she was more superior to them.  She truly cared about people she came into contact with and put her best foot forward.  Now let’s consider our day. How did we show people that we came in contact with that we are Daughters of the Most High King?  Maybe we had a good day and did great, or maybe we failed miserable. No matter what the outcome was. Tomorrow is a fresh and new start!

Today, I got up and dove into my bible.  I needed to dive into the root of who I AM in Christ. Actually, I feel that some of you today just like me need to be reminded that we do not have to dream of being a Princess but that we truly are princess.

In fact, every woman walking on the face of the earth has a the ROYAL RIGHT to be the daughter of the Most High King.  I became a princess back on Feb. 29, 1997 @ 12:00 p.m.  I asked the Kings of Kings into my heart, by asking him to forgive me. The moment I did that tears of joys streamed down my face, I realized that even though my life was not a box of chocolates field with endless spa treatments. I could be as Cinderella was whistle the happy tune, even when her wicked step mother and step sisters order her around, because I was filled with the LOVE of the Most High King.  I had taken that glass slipper which in this case was believing and trusting in Jesus and placed it on my foot that night and became the princess I was born to be.  Below is a verse that I have to remind myself of often.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,(YES, That means ANYONE no matter what you have done or not done)  the new creation has come^] The old (TIFFANY)  has gone, the new is here!

It amazes me that I began exercising my Royal Heritage that night by humbling myself and admitting that I had screwed up big time. I tried the whole “dreaming of being a princess”, but it was not until I took that first step to say. Father, God I need you. I need you more than you know, and trying on that slipper believing it would fit me.

If you really want to act like a princess and stop dreaming of one you need to try that glass slipper on tonight!

Trust me your Cinderella Story will end Happy Ever After!

Love you girls!

Tiffany Bethmann

Getting your Inner Sass back

Finding your Inner Sass

I have heard all my life that I am Sassy, but recently I have  really been pondering  what it really means to find our Sass as women. The last past three months in my life have been truly filled with a inner struggle, anger, and frustration. I could go on for days about the last three months and the impact it has had on my life, but bottom line it came down to I could not find my Inner Sass. 


The past month my pastor spoke a series on your  identity in Christ.  I was reminded in one of his sermons of your Identify in Christ is everything to you in winning a battle. It was not until he said that the battle is won in the "high grounds" did I realize what the enemy was doing to me, and discovered what Cancer I allowed the enemy to plant into me and what I believed I was. The enemy was stealing my inner Sass one lie at a time. I was buying into those lies so fast. The only way I can put it is that even The Best Labor Day Sale does not see as many credit card slide and buys that were happening in my mind. The enemy was slowly selling me on every lie and I was starting to believe them. I was buying into what others thought of me, and my inner Sass that always bubbled out of me was slowly slipping away.

Most of us women wear multiple hats in our day to day walks. I personally wear employee, wife, taxi-cab driver, homework enforcer/tutor,  merry maids, and on occasion Chef.  With those hats come multiple challenges for us to face and overcome so that we can reach our full potential as women.  The big question we girls have to ask ourselves is how do we reach our full potential and get that Inner Sass shining through.

          I think we have to identify the challenges that are standing in the way of us reaching our full potential. It does not matter how many charts, to do list, and other new techniques and ideas we come up with to organized our day to day task. Unless we juggle all our task by using our  inner sass, we will never soar as the women we were created to be. So let’s dive in and figure out what we need in life to be happy and get that Sass back. 
  

1.                         We can not look back and waste time focusing on the losses in our lives or allow for the past to paralyze us. We must take each day and keep putting one foot in front of the other holding on to the only truth and only unchanging thing in our lives-- OUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST. 

2.                            We must believe in our abilities, talents and who we are in Christ. You might be saying. Tiffany, Why is it important to know our identity in Christ. Well I would answer that question by saying. "We  need to know who we are in Christ so that we  can have that Inner Sass. The more we agree with God about who we  are in Christ the more our behavior will reflect our God given identity."


 As women we must learn to see ourselves as God see us, and accept what God says about us. How many times do we say to our kids? It is MY OPINION that counts here. Well, in this situation it is God’s opinion that counts not ours or others. Keep in mind our Sass and our identity in Christ does not depend on what we have done or what we will do. Our true Sass is who we are in Christ.

For  three months I allowed a gentleman at work to paralyze me and rob me of my Sass by buying into what he said about me, and  living out of what he said I was and was not.  About 3 weeks ago, I started realizing that I had believed the lies of the enemy, and I was allowing someone to push me out and give up and steal my sass on me.  I have listed some of the verses I am using to get my Inner Sass back. I hope these will help some of my chicks out there to overcome and get that Sass back on. Basically, I take the “I am” part of the verse and change it to “Tiffany is” and pray it out loud.

• I am complete in Jesus Christ Colossians 2:10
• I am free from condemnation Romans 8:1
• I am a new creation because I am in Christ 2Corinthians 5:17
• I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved Colossians 3:12
• I am established, anointed, and sealed by God 2Corinthians 1:21
• I do not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind 2Timothy 1:7
• I am God's co-worker 2Corinthians 6:1
• I am seated in heavenly places with Christ Eph 2:6
• I have direct access to God Ephesians 2:18
• I am chosen to bear fruit John 15:16
• I am one of God's living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house 1 Peter 2:5
• I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I share His nature 2 Peter 1:4
• I can always know the presence of God because He never leaves me Hebrews 13:5
• God works in me to help me do the things He wants me to do Philippians 2:13
• I can ask God for wisdom and He will give me what I need James 1:5

To truly find our Inner Sass we need to know and believe who we are in Christ. Understanding our identity in Christ is crucial to our success and finding our Inner Sass.

The best way to renew your mind and experience transformation
is by knowing, thinking and speaking who we are in Christ

 Let’s challenge each other to Train ourselves to say the same things that God says in His word. Become who you are in Christ. God wants to do more in your life than you imagine.

So my two cents of the day is:  If we can stop playing mind games and buying into the junk and negative thoughts of others we truly can find our Inner Sass.

YOU GO GIRLS! Get that Sass On! J

-Tiffany Bethmann