How much would my life and your life change if we took Jesus at His Word? That is something He asked me to do almost five years ago.

I’m an avid journaler. Matter of fact, when we would move, it was my responsibility to carry my huge totes full of journals into the car that way I KNEW they were with me. My journals are full of passages where I would cry out to God writing out my heartfelt thoughts. And when I was done, I would draw a line and underneath it write: BUT GOD!

Next, I would write the truth of His Word: God is faithful. He is not man who would lie. His words cannot return void without accomplishing what He desires and prosper where He sends it. God’s thoughts and ways are higher than the heavens. If God is for me, who can be against me? His sheep know and hear His voice and follow Him. Etc.

Lastly, I would write out His promises and eventually, I would be refreshed, armed, and ready for battle again even if my situation hadn’t yet changed. The warrior in me would rise up, rise again, and rise above in His strength!

Back in 2016 I had a crazy idea pop in my head to begin typing my journal passages onto Google Docs. I thought it was a waste of valuable time to be honest, so I dismissed it. A week or so later, I had the same idea and again dismissed it. This happened over several months and I finally thought to ask the Lord if this was Him and to my surprise, it was! I soon discovered that by retyping my journal passages, it not only helped me remember what God had shared with me previously, but it made it easy for me to search and find particular words, highlight, and add comments.

Well, on one particular day in July 2021, I was watching The Chosen with my family and I distinctly heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me, “Take Me at My Word.” The very next day, I had been praying and interceding and was just exhausted in the fight. I was so battle weary and just cried to Abba. While journaling my thoughts and prayers, He gave me comfort, but also an assignment. The Lord told me to go back and make a new document of His promises, and then highlight and comment on each one, backing them up with Scripture, which was the Truth to stand on no matter what I saw in the flesh.

My new document recorded every promise He spoke to me from August 2020 until present (May 2025). When I began this assignment, I admit it was a difficult task because at the time I felt like God was forsaking us, forsaking me, even though I knew His Word said He doesn’t forsake us. I felt like He had favorites, even though I knew His Word said He didn’t. I knew His name was Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who Provides, and Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who Heals, but I was doubting it for my family. I was doubting it for me. I knew we lived in a fallen world, but I couldn’t understand why God was allowing us to suffer so much.

And really, what I feared the most was that I was not hearing Him correctly. My reasoning was, if God cannot lie and must keep His promises and His words cannot return void, and I wasn’t seeing His promises come to pass, then I would have to assume it was me who was wrong. And it didn’t stop there. If I wasn’t hearing Him correctly, then why keep journaling? Why keep praying? If I didn’t have a rhema word I believed I could stand on, then why would I partner with it and intercede to bring it to pass? This fear created doubt and a slippery slope to maneuver, indeed!

At the time, I was hurting and I was angry, yet I obeyed even though I knew there would be journal passages where I wrote down His promises for a particular timeframe and hadn’t seen it happen yet. I knew there would be passages that I would end up questioning God or me and was afraid of the end result. But I also knew He was a good, good Father. And if the Lord told me to do something, the only answer was, “yes,” even if I didn’t feel like it. And so I continued.

There were many times I cried and prayed for God to give me wisdom or insight into why some promises didn’t materialize. And the Lord in His faithfulness brought me up higher to see from His perspective. There were times He would have me go back and reread EXACTLY what He said and not what I interpreted. Oh did that make a difference!! There were times I tearfully rejoiced and times I tearfully repented for my wrong attitude and understanding. I sometimes “missed” several promises either by interpreting them incorrectly or by focusing elsewhere instead of on my Father who was providing exactly what He said.

As I continued over the last five years, I learned so much and grew so much closer to the Lord. I matured spiritually as well and when reflecting on the promises that had not yet come to pass, it didn’t affect me in a defeated way like I thought it would. Instead, hope would rise as I highlighted the promise and I began joyfully typing the Scripture to back it up with great expectation because I learned not to hold God to a single day on earth. Instead, I remembered that if He said it, then it was done, no matter how many days I would see pass by.

Here are some of my favorite Scriptures that ministered to me and continue to do so:

Isaiah 55:11 – So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:8-9 – ‘“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.’

Numbers 23:19 – ‘“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?’

Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Isaiah 41:10 – ‘Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’’

Deut 31:8 – And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.

Psalm 18:29 & 2 Samuel 22:30 – In your strength I can crush an army; with my God, I can scale any wall.

Psalm 91:4-7 – He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

Rev 3:7-8 – What He opens, no one can close; and what He closes, no one can open: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed My word and did not deny Me.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 -“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

2 Peter 3:8 – But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 

Romans 4:18 – Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him…

Matthew 11:28-30 – ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”’

Isaiah 40:31 – ‘But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.’

1 Peter 5:10 – And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Jeremiah 1:5 – I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as My prophet to the nations.

Hebrews 10:23 – I hold firmly to the hope I professed because I can trust God to do what He promised.

This assignment has been life changing and I am still adding to this document today as I type this. I know without a doubt, there is a divine moment in time that His promises will intersect in My life because it is already written in my book of life. My only job is to partner with it and pray as the Holy Spirit leads me to bring it to pass. My only part is to seek God and do what He’s asking me to do in the “waiting.”

Finally, through the ups and downs, victories and defeats,  joys and sorrows, I’ve learned that this journey has been one of the most beautiful, precious, intimate times I get to have on this side of heaven. And how can I ever want to be anywhere else?