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I wanted to share this with you.  I titled it:  A Beautiful Blessing.

About three years ago Grandpa was dying and I remember being home with him and the family as we all came together to take care of Grandpa and each other.  One day Aunt Marva and I were out in the front yard clipping the dry heads off of the zinnia flowers in the front flower bed of Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I love flowers so I wanted to go and plant the seeds in my yard to remember this bitter sweet time of Grandpa slowly fading away to go back home to be with Jesus.  I thought how wonderful it would be to have those flowers come up year after year to remind me of Grandpa.

I never got around to planting the zinnia seeds the following year because I had tucked the seeds away and forgot about them actually.  But later that year I found the seeds and decided that I was definitely going to plant them the following season, which was the spring of 2009.  My husband and I don’t know much about landscaping but we made a flower bed in our side yard and Mom came over to help me plant them.  I was so excited to begin to enjoy the blessings of the beautiful flowers.  A few weeks went by and only a few flowers came up, all at the bottom of the flower bed.  I realized then that our flower bed was not flat enough and that we should have built it up more because the seeds must have gotten washed away by the rain.  So I was only lucky enough to have a few flowers but I thought once they dry out I will clip the heads off and plant them again the next year, which would have been this last spring.  But that never happened because a big wind storm came through a ripped the few flowers I had completely out and away and I had nothing left of the sweet memory of the flowers to remind me of Grandpa, the only things that came up this year in that flower bed was a bunch of weeds.

Just a couple of weeks ago we lost Grandma and as we know people generally buy plants or flowers for the family to show their sympathy.  Tim, my husband, had asked that I please not come home from the funeral with any plants.  When Grandpa died I was fortunate enough to get a couple of plants from the funeral that I cherish and take special care of.  I love plants and have a ton of them in my house.  It looks like a jungle.  Tim told me to not come home with any plants because we actually don’t have any more room for them.  He also told his mom who wanted to get me a special plant, not to buy me a plant because we didn’t need anymore and that we didn’t have any room for another plant.  I was a little upset that he denied me a blessing of a plant from his mom.  Surely we could find room for one more plant.  I wanted to submit to Tim and honor what he asked me to do but I was very tempted to bring a plant home when Aunt Faye said that there were three small plants that didn’t have anyone’s name on them and I was welcome to them if I wanted.  I thought to myself, they are even small plants, surely I could take one home and Tim would understand.  But the still small voice said to me, “Do not disobey what your husband has asked you to do, respect him and submit to him.”  So I resisted and headed back home to Branson with no plants.

I had been gone from Branson for four days and to my surprise when I pulled up to my house I stopped to check my mail and looked up at my side yard and in that flower bed in the midst of all those weeds was a single little pink zinnia flower, Grandma’s favorite color.  I just looked at it and cried sweet tears and said thank you Lord.  The next day I went outside and pulled the weeds up and loved on that flower and just enjoyed it.  A couple days later there was another pink flower blooming from that single plant and then another one and another one.  God spoke to me and said, “thank you for submitting to your husband’s wishes to not bring home a plants as he asked you to.  I had something better in store for you.  Something that I knew would touch your heart deeply.”  And it did and still does as I see those flowers every day that I know God caused to bloom while I was gone saying bye to Grandma.  Now this year I will try again to clip the heads off and plant the seeds again next year and every year after that until I have a full field of zinnia flowers to remember both Grandma and Grandpa by.  What a beautiful blessing!

Love Love and more Love

Abby

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Lots of doors are opening up for me to speak in my community as I get closer and closer to my book release date which is Fall 2010.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

• July 4  11 am Assembly of God Church Ridgedale, Mo.   Intro to event on Healing and Becoming Whole through Stillness
• July 11 6 pm Assembly of God Church  Ridgedale, Mo.   Healing and Becoming Whole through Stillness
• July 15 6:30  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Single Ward  Springfield, Mo.  Spa Night…Focusing on Stillness and Relaxation
• July 22 6:30  Table Rock Freedom Center Branson West, Mo.  Sharing my testimony…How I healed through stillness
• TBA  YMCA—HUGE EVENT Hollister, Mo.  Blossoming Out of the Valley…..Music, Testimonies, Video, Stillness and Peace
• TBA  Anytime Fitness Branson, Mo.  Loving Yourself

If you are interested in having me come and speak at your church, organization, business, small group, etc then please feel free to contact me.  I am open to traveling as well.

Be Love & Give Love~

Abby Lewis

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“Blossoming Out of the Valley.”  A true story that will inspire you to climb out of the dark valley you are living in and into a relationship full of peace and stillness with God.

Chapter 1~The Day I Turned and Faced God

In 2002, I hit rock bottom. I was only 24 years old but I already suffered from extreme anxiety, control issues, depression, and numerous addictions. My marriage was falling apart, as were my relationships with my entire family. My thoughts and words were filled with negativity and lies and I had accumulated major credit card debt. As my problems piled up, they began to manifest themselves physically through severe neck and back pain and numbness down my left arm and on the left side of my face. I had no love for myself, no connection with God, no joy, and no peace or happiness. My entire life was in complete and utter chaos.

I remember the day when I finally reached the point where I literally thought I was losing my mind and was going to have to check myself into a psychiatric hospital. I needed to get away from the noise in my head, I needed to find peace. Feeling lost and hopeless and wanting to escape it all, I went outside to sit on my back deck.

Even though I had been raised in church, I had never felt any type of deep or meaningful connection with God. At that point in my life I didn’t even know who God really was. Yet as I sat on the deck looking up at the sky, I found myself calling out to Him. As I sat there feeling lost and hopeless I remember asking, “What God? What?” Seemingly out of nowhere, a ladybug flew down and landed on my arm. As I watched it moving around on my arm, I wondered why, at the lowest point in my life, did this ladybug want to hang out with me? What did it want from me? I looked at the little bug more deeply than I had ever studied anything. Drawn in by the black dots on its back, I wondered why they were there. I noticed the shape of the wings, their brilliant red color, and the tiny antennas. I observed its legs and noticed how they felt as it crawled around on my arm. I was completely enthralled by everything about this tiny little creature.

After what must have been 15 minutes of watching and being in awe of this little creation, I felt something come over me that I had never experienced before. I felt like something had jolted me, a tingling sensation that ran up and down my spine as a peace and calmness I had never felt before came over me. I looked around and wondered aloud, “What was that?” I thought to myself, “Wow! I haven’t been anxious for like 15 minutes!” I had no idea where the feeling of peace was coming from, but it certainly got my attention and I knew that I wanted more.

Over the years, God has given me clarity and a deeper understanding of exactly what happened in that moment. The moment the ladybug landed on my arm, the ladybug that only God could control, that was the moment I turned to face God. For that brief time, I forgot about all my problems and concerns as God’s love and power swept in and began a work in me. The feeling was so powerful that it left me wanting more and more. I couldn’t resist it.

It may seem strange that God would use a ladybug to speak to me, but at that point in my life I wanted nothing to do with Him. If I heard the word Jesus, I turned and walked away. Because of all the hypocritical and judgmental “Christians” I had dealt with in my life, I was completely against church and the name of Jesus. I had never experienced the true light of Christ, or anyone who truly walked the walk. I hadn’t seen His love fully lived out in anyone’s life, so I didn’t believe it actually existed. I didn’t have an accurate view of God’s true character. He understood that I was against the people who claimed to be His followers and He knew that I had allowed people to distort my view of who He really is. He knew that if someone approached talking about Jesus, offered me a Bible or religious tract, or invited me to church, I would shut them out. He knew exactly where I was and He was willing to meet me there and draw me into Himself with His creation, a tiny little ladybug. It may have seemed strange to someone else, but God knew what would speak to me, right where I was, and it worked. That day was the beginning of my journey back to a relationship with God.

Even though I had an amazing encounter with God that day on the back deck, my troubles didn’t disappear overnight. All the chaos in my spirit, mind, and body was still there, but as I turned to face God, He gave me the strength and wisdom I needed to keep climbing and moving forward on my journey to wholeness. I never received medical help or prescription drugs, never went to rehab or attended professional counseling. All I had to do was trust God to guide me every step of the way and He enabled me to blossom out of the dark valley I had been living in; and it all started with a ladybug, a moment of peace, and God. My journey of healing, growing, and transformation has been amazing and I know if He could do it for me, He will do it for you as well.

The inspiration to write this book came from my desire to help and encourage others to move forward in their journey to become healthy, whole individuals and live a life of peace and stillness. It is my hope that by sharing all that God has done to help me heal naturally from all the pain and suffering in my life, that you too will be inspired to climb out of your dark valley and into a relationship full of peace and stillness with God.

This book is not written as a step-by-step process on how to heal naturally. Though I will share the process that God took me through, some of the things mentioned may be things you are already applying in your life while others may be things you are not yet ready for. My desire is that you will find the things that stand out to you, speak directly to your heart, and apply those things to your life. I refer to these things as golden nuggets from God. These nuggets will be the things you apply on the next step in your journey. That is how God led me on my personal journey. Golden nuggets of wisdom would cross my path or tug at my heart. If I were thinking about a specific issue in my life God would send me a nugget to confirm the direction I was to move. As I learned to apply these nuggets of truth in my life, I would receive the blessings from them and move forward to another and then another. I learned that if I am watching and listening, God is always there leading and guiding.

I wouldn’t recommend for anyone to try applying everything in the book to his or her lives all at once, as it would probably be too overwhelming. Just start with what is speaking to your heart first, then as you feel led, move on to the next thing that stands out. Remember, it is a process, so be patient.

As you are reading, you may come across things you don’t agree with. That is OK. Just take the nuggets that speak to you and leave the rest. This is just the story of my journey and the path that God took me down. We are all at different places in our growth and our journey and your path will not be identical to mine. I share my healing journey with you in the hope that it will help you to blossom out of the dark valley you are living in.

Contact me to reserve your copy of Blossoming Out of the Valley.  Available Fall 2010

Be Love &  Give Love~

My healing CD, A Breath~In Stillness is on sale…Buy 1 Get 1 Free….till July 1st, 2010.  Check out my Healing CD Section for more details.

Be Love & Give Love

Make this choice today ~

Today choose to see the world, your circumstances, your spouse, your family, your friends, your co workers, your finances, your pain, your disease, your career, your entire life through the eyes of God.   If we could just wear God’s glasses for a day… how would things change, how would we change, how would our relationships change, how would our careers change, how would our attitudes change, how would our finances change, how would our entire existence change? Life would be overflowing with the love of God constantly if we would only choose to see as God sees .   I imagine that God see with a perfect 20/20 vision of love.

So what exactly is love?  If God is love and we are called to be imitators of God then lets define love from a biblical perspective.  In 1st Corinthians 13 it reads that love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud, love is not rude, love is not self seeking, love is not easily angered, love keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil, love rejoices with the truth, love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes, love always perseveres and love never fails.  Wow, pretty self explanatory.  So lets do a exercise that is truly convicting.  Again, if we are called to be imitators of God and God is love then you can place your name where love is and read it like this Abby is patient, Abby is kind, Abby does not envy, Abby does not boast and so on.  Go ahead and do this little exercise.  It is powerful when we begin to see life and everything in it as God sees it.

Make the choice today and everyday to see as God sees and choose to have the vision of love.  Be blessed, love unconditionally and enjoy the journey.

Be Love & Give Love~

Have you ever went on a goose chase trying to heal, meaning, you went from one therapist to another, one doctor to another, one professional to another, just to find out that you need this or that done or you need to take this and that pill and then those pills or procedures end up causing something else? As you continue down this path you realize that you aren’t any better off then when you started? You are actually worse off, hopeless, in financial troubles, stressed out, emotionally a mess, your relationships are suffering and life just seems to be falling apart all because you are trying to feel better. Let me ask you a question, did you ever stop to ask the all knowing God what your true pathway to healing was? Did you ever just stop for a moment to be still in the silence and find the peace of God and then make your decision to go to that doctor or professional or did you make your decisions with fear and pressure in your heart? Do you think God really wants you to go on a goose chase trying to find your pathway to healing? If you aren’t seeing results and if you don’t have true peace that can only come from God then I can bet that you probably aren’t on your true pathway to healing.

Now I am not suggesting that you stop everything that you are currently doing and just go another direction. What I am suggestion to you, is to be still with God, I mean truly be still with God and ask Him to reveal your true pathway to healing to you and then wait patiently for the answer. Stop making decisions based on your emotions. Make your decisions based on the peace of God. Just let go and let Him guide and direct you. Trust in Him! Maybe your pathway to healing is completely different then what you are thinking it is. God already knows what will bring you deep spiritually, emotionally and physically healing. You just need to be open to receive it from Him.

Be Love & Give Love~

“Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary.” Peter Minrad

“True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.” William Penn

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” Hermann Hess

“Through return to simple living Comes control of desires. In control of desires Stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.” Lao Tzu

“It is the stillness that will save and transform the world.” Eckhart Tolle

“The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.” Bruce Lee

“Uncontrolled, the hunger and thirst after God may become an obstacle, cutting off the soul from what it desires. If a man would travel far along the mystic road, he must learn to desire God intensely but in stillness, passively and yet with all his heart and mind and strength.” Aldous Huxley

“For those who wish to climb the mountain of spiritual awareness, the path is selfless work. For those who have attained the summit of union with the Lord, the path is stillness and peace.” Bhagavad Gita

“The sound of ‘gentle stillness’ after all the thunder and wind have passed will be the ultimate Word from God.” Jim Elliot

“Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is.” Amy Carmichael

“One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.” D.H. Lawrence

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

If you need help turning off the mind (the chattering monkeys) so you can actually enjoy the silence in the stillness, then my healing CD A Breath~In Stillness will help you with that.

Be Love & Give Love

~abby

How have the last 24 hours been for you?  Think about it…what were your thoughts like?  What words came out of your mouth?  What were your actions like?

If God is love…did your thoughts, actions and words reflect love?  If not, why?  Did you know that you came to earth with a very powerful thing…it is called your free will?  You have a choice!!  How beautiful is that??  You can choose to be angry and frustrated…OR…you can choose to take a moment before you fly off the handle and go and “Be Still” so you can refocus, recharge and reconnect to God and then go back calm, peaceful, and full of love.  Then you reflect the image of God.  Being tempted to lash out is not a sin but lashing out is a sin.  Being tempted to fear is not a sin but always worrying and fearing is a sin.  Treating others unkindly; judging them, gossiping behind some one’s back is a sin.  Sin keeps you from God…therefore you will not reflect God’s love.

You might be thinking I need help.

Would you let your child lash out in anger?  No, you would probably send them to “time out” to “be still” and then they could come back when they are calm and can be nicer.  Hmmm…..adults…do we need a time out???   So instead of doing, saying and thinking things that will only destroy you, your life, your health, your relationships and your family, choose to take a moment to be still.

God is for you…not against you.  Choose to be still and know that He is God.  Psalm 46:10.  It takes self control and God is the only one that can truly help you conquer your anger, anxiety, depression, control issues, lust, greed, addictions, negative thoughts and words, etc.…so don’t try to do it on your own.  You will fail, just like I did for so many years.  Choose daily to take moments, minutes, hours and even days if need be to be still.

When I need help I always choose to be still.  8 years ago I hit rock bottom and choosing to be still saved me. It is an amazing story.  I suffered from: extreme anxiety, depression, addictions, my marriage was falling apart, I had lost my relationship with my entire family, I had severe control issues, I found myself lying to myself and to others, I spoke and thought only negative words, I had intense neck and back pain, my left side of my face and left arm became numb, I had hidden anger boiling up inside me, I began hearing voices and hallucinating, I had intense nightmares, I had major credit card debt, I blamed everybody else for my problems, I had no love for myself, I had no connection with God, no joy, no peace, no happiness, my life was complete utter chaos.  The amazing thing is I healed completely naturally from all of this and it all started with me choosing to be still.  I never received professional help, rehab, counseling, medical help or any other sort of thing like this to heal.  I sought God in the stillness and climbed out of the mess I had dug myself into, but it was stillness that gave me the strengh, wisdom, clarity, power and direction to heal naturally.

I promise if you choose to be still your life will be tremendously blessed.

In the near future my healing book called “Blossoming Out of the Valley” will be ready and if you need help then I strongly encourage you to get it.  It truly will help you move forward in your healing journey.

Be Love & Give Love~

~abby

My first Healing Book called Blossoming Out of the Valley is almost complete.  I have listed the table of contents below to give you a better idea of what the book is about.  You can learn more about the book by visiting the healing book section of this website.

Table of Contents

Section 1~The day I turned and faced God
Section 2~Stillness with God
Section 3~My pathway to healing
Section 4~Surrendering and being teachable
Section 5~Acceptance
Section 6~Moving forward
Section 7~Filtering my life
Section 8~Bring awareness into my thoughts and words
Section 9~Making decisions based on my emotions
Section 10~Affirmations and Visualizations
Section 11~Laying the burdens down
Section 12~Balance and Simplicity
Section 13~Boundaries
Section 14~Priorities
Section 15~Be love and give love
Section 16~Gratitude
Section17~Treating others the way I wanted to be treated
Section 18~Taking off my mask
Section 19~Loving myself
Section 20~Taking care of my temple
Section 21~Movement vs. Exercise
Section 22~Eating life or death
Section 23~Food labels
Section 24~Antioxidants
Section 25~Other forms of healing I used
Section 26~Breathing
Section 27~Service and Giving
Section 28~Living in the moment
Section 29~Matching my passion with my paycheck
Section 30~My relationships now and then
Section 31~Other amazing things that have happened
Section 32~The science behind walking in peace
Section 33~A Breath In Stillness CD
Section 34~Added thoughts

Be love & Give love