He's my Breathing Room

  God heard you.  God answered you. You're the God who sees me. Genesis 16. Three powerful phrases in this chapter.  Phrases I just want to write down and cherish. 

  In Genesis chapter 15, God says, "Don't be afraid Abram, I am your shield." For someone that battles with mental health, panic attacks, and anxiety disorder- this scripture meant so much.  I know He is my shield, I know I shouldn't fear- it's hard to tell my brain this at times, but I am so thankful He is someone I can call on when I just feel broken.. someone I can call on and scream for when I'm sad and heartbroken.  In verse 6, it goes on to say that Abram believed God. We just have to take a step of faith and believe- He is our shield! 

  ' Genesis 14 states,   " Blessed be Abram by The High God, C reator of Heaven and Earth.  And blessed be The High God   who handed your enemies over to you." This was a powerful message. He hands our enemies over to us. Do you know what that means? When someone wants to harm us- HE STEPS IN. When someone means evil for us- HE STEPS IN. When someone is against us- HE STEPS IN.   He will step in and hand them over to us! Just stay on the right path- the peaceful path- the uplifting path.

    Genesis 13: " So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.” In this chapter, God started telling Abram what land he was going to give him. Remember in the last chapter God was talking about His BLESSINGS to Abram? God told Abram in this chapter to walk through the country- the length and the breadth- He was GIVING it all to him (Abram.) And while reading this, it was like God was telling me- walk the length and breadth of what you want out of this life, Alyssa!  So that is the task from here on out... to walk and claim what I- my family- my children NEED. Will you walk with me? 

  Genesis 12 In this chapter, God starts out by asking Abraham to "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home...." Honestly, probably a request that broke Abraham's heart. Leaving all he had known.. his country... his family.  BUT here's the thing to remember about God asking you to do something outside of your comfort zone....... IT WAS TIED TO A BLESSING!! He said, "I'll make you a great nation, and bless you....." When God asks you to MOVE... to get UNCOMFORTABLE... He's got something GOOD in store!! TRUST it. 

  Genesis 11:4-5 (The Message)    Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”  God   came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built. And He was upset. Upon further reading on why God Almighty was upset concerning this- 1. He was upset because they were building it to be famous. Complete arrogance. Opposite of what the Lord asks from us.  2. God had asked them to scatter across the Earth and multiply- and they were dead set on being disobedient and building this tower to Heaven. God help us if we ever allow our arrogance and disobedience to keep us from the steps You have ordained for us. 

In this chapter, we read " This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood" and we know that the promises God made to Noah came true. Noah was obedient in building the Ark and listening to God's still small voice- and in that, God saved Noah and his family and fulfilled every promise he made to them. Obedience- it is so important.

Genesis 9 says, "You're here to bear fruit, reproduced, lavish life on the Earth, LIVE BOUNTIFULLY." The power in this one statement. All good things for us- in abundance! That's his goal. Live BOUNTIFULLY. The definition of BOUNTIFULLY is:  liberal in bestowing gifts, favors, or   bounties ; munificent; generous,  abundant; ample. God wants us to have a life FULL of favor- full of His generous love! This is speaking to me.  I live a life of fear and I'm trying my hardest to break those chains because I know he wants me to have a bountiful life full of all good things from Him!!!! Accept it today- I'm going to!

Genesis 8:20-21 (The Message)    Noah built an altar to  God . He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar.  God  smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done. Reading this hit me like a ton of bricks. He knows we have a bent toward evil from an early age. We are born into sin. It just is what it is. And he knows this and understands this! He gives GRACE.  I saw a great definition of "grace" yesterday while reading that called it "credit" and what an interesting thought. He gives us "credit" because he knows what we were born into and what we are fighting every day. Human nature. It's a battle every day to die out to the flesh and live in the Spirit.  He gives GRACE.

Chapter 7 of Genesis says "Noah did everything commanded him...." and we know by reading the precious Word that Noah was obedient and God spared his life (and his family's lives) when the flood waters came. Obedience. Such a beautiful gift we can give ourselves and our families! And look what blessings flowed for Noah when he listened- despite how crazy it sounded to be obedient (I mean, God was telling him to build a 450 feet long ship for a flood that would cover the entire Earth! That takes faith!) Let's cherish the gift of obedience today and the doors that it can open for us. <3

  Genesis 6 (The Message) states, " God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil - evil, evil, evil from morning to night.  God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart.  God said, "I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds - the works. I'm sorry I made them."  But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.  We read that God saw human evil was out of control. It broke his heart and he regretted ever making the human race. BUT. BUT. BUT. God saw Noah! "Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah." When all else fails- be different. Be kind, be generous, be giving, be loving, be compassionate.... be different. Be that person that stands out like Noah did!

Genesis 5:2-    When God created the human race......  He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race. He. Blessed. Us. I know going from Genesis 4 where we talked about disobedience and obedience and how obedience is the breeding ground for blessings may be confusing, but go with me here- He blessed us because we are alive, breathing, and get the privilege to live this amazingly beautiful life.  It's a blessing, no matter how we slice it. Obedience obviously follows His plan for our lives as opposed to following our urges, wants, and motives. And following His plan leads to His favor. He works things out for our good!  But being alive, breathing, and getting the opportunity to live out this life is a blessing in itself. He created us- and blessed us. He sure did. For awhile there, I was lost in the chains of depression and couldn't see the beauty of just being alive. And then I saw a picture the other day of a younger person's hand next ...

Genesis 4:7 "... sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it.” Sin is lying in wait for you. It's out to get you. The important thing to remember here is we were born into sin. God Almighty knows this. He knows it's sitting there waiting for us. It knows we are weak to it- bent towards it. It's unfortunate, but it's our human nature. HOWEVER- God is telling us here- it's waiting for that weak moment. Sin is waiting to pounce on us.... YOU'VE GOT TO MASTER IT. To master something means to be dominant; to conquer; to overcome. We have to be dominant over sin. We have to conquer sin. We have to overcome sin- otherwise sin turns into more sin.  Just like in Genesis 4 when Cain's jealousy and anger turned to murder. Sin breeds more sin.  We've got to master it! 

  Day 2 of the  #recoverychallenge  is post a picture of something that inspires your recovery. These babies right here- my family- they’re it for me. Being healthier. Learning to cope with the difficulties of life in a healthy way for them is it for me. ❤️ I love them more than life itself- and I want to get better for them.  #alcoholic   #alcoholism   #sober   #sobrietyjourney   #mentalhealth   #mentalhealthawareness

Avoiding pain was my number one goal. And this isn’t to say I have this horrible life. But, I’m talking about the pain of my own mental health- and the pain of trying to escape autism at times, especially on the bad days. The pain of hypochondria. The pain of panic attacks. The pain of anxiety. The pain of the unknown that I crumbled under the weight of. The weight of screaming and some days, little peace. ❤️ I wanted an escape route so  #alcohol  became just that. At first it was drinking for fun, even alone. Then I realized how I could quiet those voices for a little bit- and began to do it all hours of the day. Alcoholics- addictions- you don’t wake up one day hoping to drink from 9am-9Pm. It’s a snowball effect. You just want to numb the pain of your mental health and demons for just a little bit… and then it just grows to numbing them all of the time. But we can heal- and we can find healthy ways to quiet those demons or honestly, face them head on. 💪🏻 Quieting those vo...

  Genesis 3:17-19 He told the Man: “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don’t eat from this tree,’ The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you’ll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you’ll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.” In this chapter, we read about the preciousness of obedience.  God asked Adam and Eve not to eat from one tree- and they listened to the serpent and disobeyed the one request from God Almighty. And after disobedience, God cursed the ground. Our obedience is directly tied to our life- and where it takes us. I'm not saying that every bad thing that happens to an individual is because of disobedience, ...

  22 days sober today. And it’s everything I could have hoped for- for myself and my family. ❤️ it hasn’t been easy in the slightest and I would be lying if I said every morning I woke up not wanting a drink. Anxiety for me is the worst in the mornings. So pushing through isn’t always simple. It’s a lot of distraction, distraction. Phone calls. Cleaning. Reading. But 22 days of healing and finding healthy routes!!! To say I’m proud is an understatement. I never knew the strength in the soul of mine til now. I still have a long road ahead- I haven’t had to face a few situations that truly brings my anxiety out, so this will be a difficult journey for me- but I will fight every second of every day to do this. Sobriety was the greatest gift I’ve ever given myself or my family. It’s worth it. I mean- look at that genuine, healthy smile!  #22dayssober   #sober   #sobrietyjourney   #alcoholism   #alcoholic   #mentalhealth   #mentalhealthawareness  ...

  Day 1 is: “what does recovery mean to you?” #Recovery  to me is the freedom to not be a slave to that next drink. I would legit drink a water to save up for the next drink so I wasn’t dehydrated. I didn’t drink water for health- I drank it to compensate for the next 4 beers I would drink. I would sit here, anxious, waiting to have the next drink. It used to be 5Pm. Then it slowly creeped to “eh, it’s 5Pm somewhere” and I popped a beer at 2pm. Then it was like, eh, day drinking. It’s summer, why not. And then it was noon. And then before long it was 9am. And I was perfectly okay with it. I remember telling someone, “I’m in survival mode. Don’t judge me.” But I soon realized I can’t live my entire life in survival mode- especially when survival mode was 6-12 beers a day. It was unhealthy and the control these thoughts had over me was sickening. I couldn’t wait for the next drink and the next drink and the next drink. I was a closet drinker- I would hide in the bathroom and chu...

  I know it isn’t April, but I saw this amazing Pin on  #pinterest  and was so inspired! So get ready for 10 days of opening up about life- where I was- where I am. ❤️ if this helps another person- or just continues to help my soul- this honesty- it’s worth it ❤️  #recovery   #alcoholism   #sobriety   #sobrietyjourney   #22dayssober

  3 weeks- ❤️🙏🏻 and I live by this mantra at times! Where once I just grabbed the bottle and didn’t think about it because I felt so overwhelmed and like I was drowning- now I say “get through the next 5 minutes….” And I may have to repeat it- but eventually, calm flows through me… and I can move on with my day! ❤️ it isn’t easy by any means, but a sweet friend told me “some days you take it second by second- and if you can overcome every second- they all add up… and here you’ve overcome the day.” 🙏🏻 Some might say- how is that even living? But it is fighting to live a better, healthier way… so it’s worth every bit of the struggle. ❤️ one day, I won’t have to take it second by second- but until then, I fight for my health, my mental health… every bit of it… every day. ❤️ 3 weeks sober. Let’s go! 🙏🏻  #sober   #sobriety   #sobrietyjourney   #secondbysecond   #mentalhealth   #mentalhealthawareness