Christy Johnson's Blog, page 6

Broken on Purpose

My husband is a tosser. I’m a keeper. Only to hear John’s side, he might say I’m a borderline hoarder. It’s my parents fault. Mom and Dad grew up in the depression. We saved things. Dad’s garage had a ledge neatly lined with fifty Swisher Sweets cigar boxes we might need someday. And my mom—forget Tupperware. Leftovers were stored in margarine tubs.

Beingraised by parents who grew up in the depression branded me with frugality. I don’t think my dad ever bought anything new. Most everything...

When God Uses Women to Speak

A few months ago I attended Watershed, a training and equipping program for women to move in New Testament prophecy. Jan Bingaman, the leader, teaches and empowers women in order to prepare for the upcoming revival of love.

“New Testament prophecy is different than Old Testament,” explains Jan. “New Testament prophecy is for the purpose of edifying, encouraging and comforting. New Testament prophesy is to bring hope and life.”

“Any of you can prophesy,” says Jan. “1 Corinthians says we shou...

Lookin’ for Love

As I’m writing this on a Friday afternoon at 4:00, it’s almost officially the weekend, the time of the week that in my former love junkie days was meant for man hunting. When happy hour did not produce any attractive results, come dark-thirty, I was out in full force…at my favorite boot-scooting-honkey-tonk looking for love. But in my desperation, I never found what I wanted.

I found lots of Cowboy Cassanovas. They’re a dime a dozen. (In case you never noticed, the devil looks really hot in...

Rejoice When?

How can you protect yourself from the despair that often blindsides you when unexpected circumstances blow in like a hurricane?

One way is to decide in advance how you will respond.

Intentionally.

Deliberately.

No matter what.

Rejoice.

I know you’ve heard them. The rejoice-when-you-go-through-trials and count-it-all-joy sermons. Usually a hard-pill to swallow in the middle of issues.

But there is a way to make rejoicing such a habit that it becomes second nature. That your habit kicks in w...

From Captivity to Command

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My heart is burdened for friends who are going through tragedies, depression and divorce but it was a text from a dear friend with shocking news of a recent murder that had me crying out to God in prayer. At first, all I could manage to get out was, “Jesus… Jesus… Jesus… Jesus… Jesus.”

Friend, there is power in his name—the name above all names.

As much as I hurt for my precious friends and their families, the reality is that life is full of adversity. It’s unavoidable. We’ll all go through...

The Power of Forgiveness

I ran across this story written by Micah Leydorf the other day. It appeared in Single Parent Support Network’s compilation, Wingspan, RisingAbove the Challenges of Single Parenting.Sort of a Chicken Soup anthology of inspiring stories for single parents. Lots of amazing stories! You can check it out on Amazon.

I’m very humbled by what Micah’s wrote after she interviewed me as well as and the words spoken by a single mom who attended one of my classes. But it demonstrateshow off kilter we of...

Ripping the Mask off Manipulation

I spent most of my life looking for love, affirmation and identity from relationships. Because I was so desperate, I mean vulnerable—I was easy prey for manipulative men. After all…

every manipulator chooses an enabler as their dance partner.

After several toxic relationships and later an abusive marriage, I became so angry I hardly recognized myself. By the time God untangled me from the bitterness that held me in bondage, I found freedom I never knew.

I was no longer bitter, PLUS my ey...

From Vision to Victory

Recently Phyllis Jenkins with Powerful Journey asked me to be a contributor to her book, From Vision-2-Victory: 26 Successful Strategies to Take your Visions and Dreams to Victory.

She asked me to share one successful strategy that has helped me take a vision or dream from beginning to end. I’d encourage you to check out the rest of the strategies. Vision to Victory is available on Amazon.

Phyllis assigned me the letter “N”. Here’s what I wrote.

NETWORK

Networking with other women who are...

How to Deal with Rude People

Let’s face it. All of us have people in our life that get under our skin. They may belittle us, criticize us, intimidate us or just plain ole irritate us. Our natural reaction to these people is not always a godly reaction. Some of us speak before thinking and have a mess to clean up later.

But even for those of us who somehow manage to zip our lip, what plays out upstairs secluded in our own private security controlled central intelligence unitis often quite different that what comes out o...

Hilltop Mission Trip

A legion of roundtops covered in black tablecloths consumed the ballroom. My friends and I plopped our belongings down at a table in the back. The room squawked with the chatter of over 250 ministry leaders, speakers and authors.

It was August of 2015. I had recently been approved to become an alliance partner with the Women’s Non-Profit Alliance. Living Soul was now official.

The day before two of my gal pals Jenny Broughton and Lyn Smith had traveled with me toattend their annual conferen...