You Are Life

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:10

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I just wanted to take a minute and share these amazing photos taken with my best friend in the whole wide world! Shonda and I are obsessed with the ministry/clothing line/song...called You Are Life. Founded by Taylor Madu (who we are also obsessed with) this amazing ministry literally screams the amazing restoration and redemption of Jesus Christ. Jesus is life guys and He has given it to us freely. Seriously when I wear this shirt I am reminded that I'm not just here but that I am revived by the resurrection power of my savior and that no matter what I go through or what hardships I face I am alive because Jesus lives in me. I highly reccomend that each and everyone of you visit taylormadu.com to get more information on this amazing minstry, read her testimony (it will levae you on your knees) and check oput the amazing merchandise that Shonda and I are rocking in these pictures! Join the You Are Life movement why? Because it's a Jesus movement and there's nothing better to be apart of!  Thanks so much to Shonda's cousin Orien Henry for taking this awesome pictures!! Oh and another thing, Black is beautiful, White is beautiful, biracial is beautiful, EVERY ethnicity is beautiful. Life is beautiful. Just thought I should add that in there. - Love Sofia.

Outfit Details:
Me: Shirt- You Are Life white v-neck
      Skirt- Forever 21
      Shoes: Converse
Shonda: Shirt: You Are Life black and gold
            Skirt: Forever 21
            Shoes: Target
            Hat: Forever 21

Trusting Him in Emptiness.

I have to be honest, I feel like I need to be ministered to more than I need to minister in this particular moment. I feel like I've been so poured out that my cup of offering is empty. I think we all have these different times in our lives when life seems to constantly be against us. Everyday it's something different and by the end of the week we find ourselves with all of these things stacked against us. Times like this leave me in a place of brokenness. Having a mandate to be in full time ministry is hard but I think learning to trust God to fill you up when your empty is harder. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me." -Psalm 22:14  Trusting God to come in and bring restoration through His power and love when we feel like this cry of David is hard. Actually it's more than hard, it can seem unbearable sometimes. As I continue reading through this scripture though I see that David continues to praise God and declare His goodness over the nations. David stays in this posture of worship even when He is under so much torment that he feels as if his heart has melted away. He then comes to the revelation of "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."- Psalm 23:5.  How do we go from "I am poured out like water," to "my cup overflows." I don't have the answer to this and it's hard to discern what it might be while you're in the thick of things, but I do know that David never stopped worshiping. Even while he was in the middle of physical and spiritual affliction beyond belief he continued to worship. And somehow out of that sacrificial worship David went from being poured out like water, and crushed down, to overflowing with anointing. He came to this mighty revelation that God has purposed things in His life that the enemy can not stop. I'm hearing God say that He wants me to trust Him with EVERYTHING I have. He wants me to trust Him with all of my life, with all of my heart, with all of my things. He wants me to lay it all down at His feet and walk even if I don't know where I'm walking. It's times like this in life where your faith is really tested and where you really have to say "Okay Jesus I can't see but I know you can." I really just wanted to come from a place of vulnerability with you guys today. Life isn't perfect and it's most definitely not easy. I think we become ineffective in ministry if we are only willing to share the good things with people.We have to be willing to share the hard parts of life, and show people that we don't have everything together. Sometimes when people ask you how you're doing you need to be truthful and say how you're really feeling. That's what I'm doing now. I just want to minister today to the heart that is hurting because I know what it's like to have a hurting heart. A word of encouragement is this "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." - 2 Timothy 1:12. I have entrusted Jesus with my life, my heart, and with the people that enter into it, and I know that He is able to guard it ALL. I know that my Redeemer lives, even if I don't feel like it. And I know that Satan is defeated and that my head is anointed with oil. The Holy Spirit has the power and I will continue to say "Jesus I trust you." even when I am pressed in on every side. Praying for restoration and victory for your guys lives!- Sofia

The Power in Worshiping Alone.

Hi everyone! I hope you guys have had a good week so far. God has been moving in a very new way in my life. I'm finding that my faith has increased and that doubt is creeping out. I'm learning a lot about how to see past the natural things and into the supernatural. I'm amazed at how the word of God is transforming my house hold and restoring faith in my life. It's incredible. Something God has put in my spirit recently is worshiping alone. I love to worship. Lifting up the name of Jesus and encountering His presence is like nothing else in the world. It has become an essential part of life for me. I need it. As much as I love gathering together in a room of people to lift up Jesus I've found that worshiping Him alone is one of the sweetest, heart shaping experiences there is. Usually my worship time is unplanned. I'll start off just reading my bible and then I'll read a particular verse that hits me and I find my self face down on the floor crying out to God. Sometimes I'll just be playing certain worship music and I'll start singing along and find myself being filled with the Holy Spirit. There are other times when I'll say "I just want to worship God right now." and I'll go in a room by myself lock the door and find myself so saturated in the glory of God that I can't do anything else but say His name and cry out in adoration to Him. These experiences have changed my life and shaped me into the believer of Jesus that I am today. I long to be in the presence of God. It has become a serious hunger. Worshiping God when your alone is something that I believe all of us should do. The bible tells us a lot of things about worship, one of them is  "Worship opens doors to all His goodness." -Psalm 34:9 (MSG) Not only is God worthy of all our praise but when we worship Him things in our life begin to shift and the doors of His goodness open. Whether that goodness be encountering His presence, receiving a healing, prayers being answered, we can receive those things out of true and pure worship from the heart. Worship makes things happen! It is so much more than just singing that favorite song. The enemy can NOT stand in the midst of the praise of God. He has to flee. When the devil has run out of the room that's when you know some real worship is happening. "Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before Him in their worship. God is sheer being itself-Spirit. Those who worship Him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." John 4:23-24 (MSG).  First off your worship must engage your spirit in truthfulness. If your spirit is not being engaged (aka if the Holy Spirit isn't invited into your worship) then it isn't really truthful, it's just flesh. It's all about being your self in worship and not putting on a show. If you feel like you have to run, run! Shout, dance, cry, jump, or be still. As long as it is of the spirit and not of the flesh. That's why I believe that worshiping alone is such an amazing thing. You get away from everyone else, you have no distractions or urgency to feel like you have to impress someone or act up. It's just you and God and in those moments you learn about who He is, you become acquainted with His presence, and you truly become a worshiper who seeks God. When a hunger for worshiping God forms in your life you can worship Him anywhere at any time without reservation. Church, work, in the shower,  in the car, conferences, before you go to bed, with friends, strangers, with music, and without. When you're alone worshiping just you and God an intimacy is formed. It's kind of like if you're trying to deeply get to know someone, it can be hard to do that if you're constantly surrounded by other people and never have a chance to just sit down with that person and open up with them one on one. I so greatly and deeply encourage all of you reading this to not just stop at reading devotionals or a bible verse a day, but truly and deeply seek His presence. Have worship time with Him! Praise Him, sing to Him (It's okay if you can't sing neither can I but I will shout like I can for Jesus) tell God that you want to experience Him in a deeper way and that you're hungry for His presence. I promise you that He will hear you and wreck you with His awesome love. As followers of Christ we do not want to neglect the power of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural things that God wants us to experience. Let your heart, faith, and life be built up in the true worship of Jesus. In His presence restoration is found. God bless you guys! ~Love Sofia
p.s. Thank you to my sister Sarah for letting me have this awesome pic of you.

"worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power." -Revelation 4:10-11

Spiritual Shift

   Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone has had a great week so far. I know that I have. It was definitely a week filled with unexpected things. A few weeks ago I found out that Kim-Walker Smith was coming to a church conference in Orlando at a church that my family was very familiar with. My best friend and I had been wanting to see Jesus Culture in concert really badly so when I found out about the conference I knew that we had to go. I signed my mom, me, and my best friend up and got so excited. As the day approached things started coming up that I thought would prevent us from going, but when God is involved in a situation there's no stopping Him. The name of the conference was Unleashed and it was at New Destiny Christian Center. Paula White is the senior pastor of the church and she is incredible. I thought I knew what to expect at this conference, but what I got from it was so different than anything I could have dreamed.  I've been listening to Paula White preach since I was a little girl so I knew to expect some Holy Spirit fired up preaching, but I was not expecting the prophetic anointing that was released (I didn't even know to much about prophetic anointing until this night). I've listened to Kim Walker Smith's music a countless amount of times but to actually be present in her anointed voice was way different. What happened to me was a complete spiritual shift. Being in a room of hundreds of people worshiping is one thing. Being in a room full of people speaking in tongues, getting healed and prophesied over is a whole other thing. People were literally healed from sickness and bondage right in front of me, lives were changed right in front of me. You don't leave something like that and stay the same. The atmosphere was so incredible it's hard to explain with words. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. What makes me so excited is knowing that I have stepped into something so much deeper and bigger than myself. It's like God has breathed a breath of fresh air into my lungs and given me this whole new outlook and vision. Everything I know about God is about to get so much more intimate than it was before. Seeing the resurrection power of Jesus become activated in my life has caused such an enormous shift and I am so excited for this new journey of intimacy, sacrifice, abundance, and anointing to enter into my life. God has restored things back to me that I didn't even know needed restoring and I am so grateful to Him for bringing me, and two of my favorite people, to this awesome conference. I can't wait to continue in this amazing shift and share with you all about the new journey that I'm on. God is so great, and as I get deeper into His word and anointing I pray that I can be an even bigger blessing to people everywhere.

                                      Here's something I read in the bible today that really spoke to me. I  pray that it blesses you!

     Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck O captive Daughter of Zion.....How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"...The Lord will lay bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. ~ Isaiah 52:1-2, 7, 10

My amazing mother and soul sister before the conference. :)

Kim Walker Smith was AMAZING. Seeing her was a dream come true.

Jesus.

                                             

One of the amazing healing moments. Seriously such a beautiful and powerful thing. So blessed to have experienced. (no, healing miracles didn't just happen back in the bible days, it's alive and present now to)

Paula White and this amazing prophet preaching up a storm!! It was incredible.

              

Forgiveness

               I love when God reveals things to me, even if He does it in the midst of my weakest times. So what have I learned recently? Christians need forgiveness too. I have accepted Jesus into my heart. I have been forgiven and strive to live life not for myself but for Jesus. I study God's word, fellowship with other believers  and spend time with God. So why do I still need forgiveness. I shouldn't right? I've already been forgiven. I'm a Christian now so I should no longer do anything that causes forgiveness to be needed. Wrong. Being a follower of Christ does NOT make you perfect or in any less need of forgiveness than someone who isn't a believer. Sometimes this can be hard to accept. When we are truly in love with Christ and are following Him in our lives, failing and messing up can take a pretty big hit on us. We can become mad at ourselves and think things like "I can't believe I just did that, I knew it was sinful and wrong." Accepting Jesus into our hearts and becoming a Christian does not mean we are perfect, we are still going to fail, give into temptation, hurt others and so on.That is why it is so important to understand the depths of forgiveness. Jesus didn't say, "I'll forgive you once and that's it." He has forgiven everything we've done and everything we will do. All we have to do is ask. We are sinners. Messy, broken, and dirty people who no matter how much we serve God, deserve to worship Him or come face to face with Him in heaven. The good news out of all of this? We get to experience how wonderful God's grace is. The fact that He continually offers forgiveness throughout our whole lives is amazing. Don't ever think that because you are strong in your faith you don't deserve forgiveness when you mess up. Because no one deserves it, but God gives it anyways. I learned this lesson today and it's really opened my heart and mind to the depths of God's love. You're never to strong or far in your faith to learn more. So if you're struggling with somethings and find yourself failing and falling into your desires, don't beat up on yourself. Repent, accept the grace that is freely yours, and pray for God's help to give you the strength you need in order to forgive yourself. And here is a great bible verse for all of us to remember when we fail, sin, or do something wrong.

            For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:15-16

Sharing my Testimony.

Hey guys! So last night I got the amazing opportunity to share my testimony at a Women's night. It was so awesome! Getting to see God use me to glorify Him is the most rewarding feeling ever. I hope you all enjoy this video and can take something away from it!

            Why is my pain unending

    and my wound grievous and incurable?

You are to me like a deceptive brook,

    like a spring that fails. Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you

    that you may serve me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

    you will be my spokesman.

Let this people turn to you,

    but you must not turn to them.

I will make you a wall to this people,

    a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you

    but will not overcome you,

for I am with you

    to rescue and save you,”

                                                  declares the Lord.                      Jeremiah 15:18-20

Here's my testimony!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=565475863513328

Suicide Prevention Week

                                    Hey guys so it's suicide prevention week. Suicide is a serious thing and I don't think a lot of people realize that. There's a problem when people don't feel good enough to live. I think that as Christians it is our job to show people that their life matters and that they are so worth it to a point that this guy died for them over 2,000 years ago (Jesus). A friend of mine sent me this story they wrote based off of personal experience and a bible verse that encouraged her and gave her strength. 

           "The night that the cops came was the hardest. It was about 11:30 and I had just settled down to go to bed for the night when I heard the loud fast banging on the door. My heart began to race and I was scared, so I wrapped my blanket around myself tightly and squinted my eyes shut hard. I heard my step-dad get up and answer the door. About three minutes later he rushed to my room and pushed open my door."Give me your phone right now! If these men are telling me that happened, actually happened, we're going to have a serious talk," he said sternly and somewhat discombobulated. My hands shook when I reached to disconnect my phone from its charger, and I handed it to him not knowing what was going on. After another fifteen minutes, he came back into my room more calm and asked me to talk to the policeman in the living room. My palms were sweaty and my heart was racing, but I did as my step-father asked and I got out of bed and went out to the living room. There were two policemen standing near my fireplace, my mother was sitting on the couch with a red, tear stricken face, and my step-dad was standing off to the side looking down." Hi there," the taller policeman on the right said, "We've just got a few questions for you. To start, did you send any texts tonight that might have scared some people?" "I-I-I- don't know what you're talking about," I replied with a stutter. However, at that moment, I knew exactly what he was referring to.Just a few hours earlier I had dug my nails into my rib cage multiple times and I had sent the red marks on my skin to my best friend. She then asked me lots of questions, like if I had ever thought of cutting myself or committing suicide, and I answered yes to all of them. I put two and two together and realized that she had called the police and sent them to my house. Knowing that she was trying to help me, I told the police everything while my mother and step-dad listened and cried, they had no idea how much pain I had been going through. Once the police collected everything they needed to know, they left me with a phone number to call if I ever felt like I was going to hurt myself. They left, and my parents tried to talk to me but the only person I wanted was my best friend. I asked my parents if they could bring her over, and they did. Within another fifteen minutes, she was at my house. We hugged and cried for hours, and she explained to me how it was hard for her to call, but she was scared and didn't want me to die. To this day I am thankful for what my best friend did, because if she wouldn't have taken that drastic step to save me, I don't think I would be here."


                             I love God because he listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy. He listened so intently as I laid out my case before him. Death stared me in the face, hell was hard on my heels. Up against it, I didn't know which way to turn; then I called out to God for help: "Please God!" I cried out. "Save my life!" God is gracious- it is he who makes things right, our most compassionate God. God takes the side of the helpless; when I was at the end of my rope, He saved me.   Psalm 116:1-6



  Well good news. Actually glorious news. My friend is doing amazing, she is so much stronger. I've seen her grow drastically from that period in her life and that kind of growth can only come from The Lord. Remember to speak up. Like the friend did in this story. Be kind and watchful, you could be saving someones life. And don't forget you are so worth it. Your story is part of a even bigger story and God is the author. I hope you guys can find some encouragement in this. Share the message and pass on the love. 


                                                             Love,
                                                                 Sofia