Author: Allison Bramlett

We all have pits in our lives. Pits are even worse than ruts. The problem is not the pit but staying in it. We are responsible for seeking a way out. We may find ourselves thrown into some pits- some we jump into. But regardless of how you ended up in it, don’t let the pit get in you and make you “pitiful”. You can not make the pit your home and fulfill your purpose. Don’t believe the lie that you are suppose to live in the pit. We were never created to live in dark places. John 8:12, Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

We have all experienced the consequences of our choices both, good and bad. The Good News is Daddy God can work ALL things to your good. In Matthew 5 Jesus says, “you are the light of the world.” We don’t have the ability to solve our own problems, but Daddy God can, will and already has!

It is important to acknowledge the pit you may be facing, but always remember there is a bigger promise that will get you out and over.

I have even more great news! God makes choices too, and forgiveness is his favorite one! He forgives so quickly and so often that the Word says it’s His habit.

“If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.” Psalms 130:3-4

Surround yourself today with faith friends- those people that have come through for you, stood with you, forgiven you, cheered for you, supported you, seen the real you , and helped pull you out of your pits. Remember change is possible and it is a choice!

Let me tell you today that you are an influencer and culture changer, and it starts with changing your story. Don’t let shame write your story! Don’t let pit stops paralyze you on your way to the palace. Let me encourage you to read the story of Joseph, and take note of his attitude, how it adjusts in light of God’s promise. (Genesis 37-50 story of Joseph) Remember don’t get comfortable in the pit. Remember you are not alone- Ask Holy Spirit for wisdom to get out. Make a move!

For me, Forgiveness is the real F word. When I was a little girl, one Bible story that stuck with me is about Peter asking Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who has sinned against him. Jesus first replies with what would seem to be an absurd number of times — “seventy times seven” — and then He follows with a parable about forgiveness. Matthew 18:21-35.

I now know that forgiveness is a supernatural thing that is possible with the help of Holy Spirit. I have loved Jesus all my life, and Jeff for most of it. I was fourteen years old when I met him and knew that he would be my husband. He didn’t know yet. This was the beginning of an amazing God adventure that we are still sharing today. Two of the secrets making our journey possible is through God’s unconditional love and His gift of forgiveness. 

Here is the hard thing, we think, “what if someone does something that is unforgivable?” In the scripture above, it doesn’t list forgivable and unforgivable things. It just says Forgive. This is not a suggestion, it’s a command. The great thing is Daddy God never asks us to do anything that He has not equipped us to do. This scripture also says that we get to forgive over and over again. There is no caveat that says to forgive someone if they deserve it or even ask for it. Forgiveness is serious business.

My husband and I have lived through one of those experiences that gives us an opportunity to share our forgiveness story. For many years my husband struggled with sex addiction, and I struggled with forgiveness. Now, forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting, and it also doesn’t mean agreeing, but it does mean freedom. In the above scripture, it says to forgive over and over and over again. Until this happened in our marriage, I am not sure that I understood this command. As my mind would run wild, I would have to take those thoughts captive, apply the blood of Jesus, and filter them through God’s Word so that I could forgive. Every time you remember something and it causes an emotional reaction, you have to reapply forgiveness. Forgiveness has become my immediate response. I forgive before something needs to be forgiven, but I also “trust the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding and in all my ways acknowledge Him.” Once I realized that God never meant for me to trust people, it helped take the pressure off. I am supposed to trust Him with all my heart and love people. Now, while writing this it sounds easy, but it was hard getting the “hell” out of my head and the Word in my mouth. I chose to be intentional with my thoughts and my words. I realized Daddy God has forgiven me more times than I will ever have the opportunity to forgive Jeff, or anyone else. 

I remember thinking, “Lord how do you forgive and then forget?” He reminded me that I am to be like Jesus. I wondered, “Does Jesus remember hell?” Yes, I believe that He does, and even has the scars to prove it. Yet, His love for me made it worth it to Him. My love for God and others made my hell and the scars worth it. When I look at our scars, I see a future and not a past. Many years ago, Holy Spirit woke me up and showed me myself on a stage sharing with others how to fight for their family and not with their family. Forgiveness is part of the good fight of faith. 

Here is another scripture that stays with me, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” Ephesians 4:32. All these forgiveness verses became so clear to me. I was equipped with the power of God to forgive. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” Colossians 3:12-13. 

Forgiveness is not for the other person as much as it is for you to be free. I must receive personal forgiveness from Daddy God so that I can set another free of their failures. I believe that most of the ground the enemy gains in a believer’s life is because of unforgiveness. We were created for relationships and this is the only place forgiveness is really needed. People we love are going to hurt us, and we are going to hurt them. The question is how will we respond when we get hurt? I have already made my mind up that I am going to forgive. It is amazing to me that whatever we’ve done, and whatever our motivation was, God forgives us. And He wants and expects us to do the same.

This need for forgiveness and the lie of shame started long ago in a Garden. Adam and Eve were unashamed until sin entered their lives and intimacy was broken. This is what unforgiveness does in our lives. It breaks intimacy with Daddy God and others. For Jeff and I, we had to let the past hurts and offenses go so that we could gain the ability to love each other as we should. We have to deal with this issue of forgiveness to have real intimacy. Forgiveness is a purifying agent for our lives and relationships. We chose not to play the shame and blame game.

Let Go! I want to encourage you today to let go of the mirror you’ve been using to look behind you. Unforgiveness causes us to live in our past rather than in our present and prevents us from moving into a better future. You have to turn off the replay in your mind and let it all go. 

Choose Love! Forgiveness is a choice. Choose to love the person that has offended and hurt you. Then let your behavior and mouth reflect that choice. (It won’t be easy.) This doesn’t mean you have to have a relationship with them, but you have released forgiveness to them. Decide not to dwell on the past. 

Bless Them Out! My Dad has always told me you will never meet anyone Daddy God doesn’t want to bless. Yes, even those that have hurt you. Remember, hurting people will hurt people. In Luke 6:28, Jesus shows us how to bless out those who mistreat us. This is a powerful weapon in changing wrong thoughts and negative feelings. Prayer transforms hurt into hope and criticisms into compassion. Let me also say, if you refuse to pray for someone it shows that your are failing the forgiveness test. 

Do It Again! Do not bring hurt into your future. Settle in your mind and heart now that you will always forgive. 

Successful relationships are possible if we follow God’s lead in love and forgiveness. When you apply these it will change the atmosphere. I believe in being a thermostat and not a thermometer. Thermostats set the atmosphere and thermometers just read atmospheres. You are an atmosphere changer with God’s love. 

I am able to love my husband today because of this miraculous power of forgiveness, which is only available with help from Holy Spirit. We have been married for over twenty-five years and have two beautiful children, two amazing “in loves” (a son in law and a daughter in law), and two grandchildren, with a third on the way. I am so thankful that we chose God’s way instead of ours.  We chose to not let past, pain, pride, pettiness or people stop us from our God purpose. I am praying that you will choose love and forgiveness today. Let me know your story- It matters. Here is a simple prayer that I use and wanted to share. But when I was in the thick of it, I want you to know that sometimes all I could do is whisper the name of Jesus and that was enough.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving and forgiving me. Thank you for bringing me into a relationship with you through your Son, Jesus, and for showing me love and forgiveness in action. Help me! Holy Spirit, show me how to share the same forgiveness with others that you have shown me. Put your super on my natural.  Let others see You living in me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

I am so thankful for all that has happened in the last few months. Forgive me for my lack of blogging. I am so thankful that the Lord knows our beginning and end and also helps us in the messy middle. My family has grown so much over the last 2 years. I have gained the most wonderful son in love and daughter in love. I have a grandson, Robert, that we are crazy in love with too. I have learned that life is a highway and the only way to travel is in a vehicle called faith on a road called hope fueled by love. Use your gps- God’s positioning system! You have to choose to not drive looking back- jerk the rear view mirror off.

I look at how fast time has gone by and Father God has been so kind to me. I am looking toward the future full of excitement, filled with hope, with a download of faith, and more love than ever before. Remember today whatever area of your life there is a problem it is because there is great purpose. So if there is an attack on your family, job, marriage, children, finances, church, etc…. know that there is a great purpose. Get a prayer partner- shouting partner- because the enemy wants you wear you out so you will give up but through prayer you can catch your breath, get heaven’s vision, stand in faith, speak truth in love, and take back what the enemy has stolen. Romans 8:28 is true for you and me. So thankful for my shouting partners that have held my arms up in times where I felt weary and helped me press on to my purpose- surround yourself with people that are compassionate and not critical- that talk your purpose and not your problem- that always points toward Jesus. I am expecting joyful adventures, beautiful moments, awesome opportunities, unmerited favor, amazing people, double anointing, and growth in God things. To be led by Holy Spirit, peace to be my compass, compassion be my glasses, and to walk in my purpose- and do not let pain, past, people, pettiness, and pride stop us from our God Adventure! I am excited to see what all the Lord has planned!

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT)

It is a choice every single day to either rely on the naked eye or to trust the Father God and believe what we really can’t see. A life of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Issues, situations, trials, and tribulations will throw water in your face and make you wake up to the unseen, Faith. They are all crossroads of Faith. One of the first spiritual principles I ever learned was to not look at life through my naked eyes but to look through my spiritual eyes. The unseen things, the spiritual things, eternal things: wearing your faith glasses that always work through love. Galatians 5:6 says, “… the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” When we realize that the God of the universe created us for His good pleasure and that we were made in His image and given His Spirit; we realize we also have His vision.

We must first use this vision to see ourselves. We are children of the King. Royalty! We are ambassadors. Authority! You have unlimited potential and power. When you start looking at yourself through the mirror of the Word and realize that you are madly loved; it is a game changer. This allows you to let the Father God take your trash and make it a treasure. Father God is always better at saving than we are at sinning. He has you covered. We can’t earn it and we will never deserve it, but it is our gift of love that is given freely. You are destined for greatness so don’t let pain, past, present, people, and pride stop you from your God purpose. Put on your spiritual glasses of faith and see what the Father sees in you and others.

Knowing God’s purpose is more about a relationship than a job title, it is a life long journey of a beautiful love story. God focuses more on who you are becoming rather than all you are doing. Living by Faith is the game changing decision that you have to make. You have to always choose the Father’s side; the side of love and faith.

Our words that we speak and the conversations we have are powerful. A loving word from Father God can heal your past, secure your present, and give hope for your future. There is life and death in the power of the tongue. Recently in my quiet time the Holy Spirit started dealing with my on what are we really saying in conversations with ourself and others. I began to take an inventory of my thoughts and words. I knew immediately that it was time for a shift even in what conversations I listened to.  I was being dealt with on three C’s: Criticism, control, and comparison. Realizing that if I was being critical or a part of critical conversation then I was not being moved by compassion. Letting myself see the treasure in others and not the trash. We are called to be treasure hunters and not trash inspectors. (that line is something my daughter says often) I knew if I was dealing with control then there was no room for comfort. It was a form of manipulation and something that normally can’t be satisfied. The Word of God tells us to have self-control and we know that the Father God nor the devil makes us do anything that we don’t want to do. Then there was that word comparison. One that most women deal with. It starts from the first mirror glance every morning. We compare ourselves to the memory of our youth, to our family, friends, magazines and the list goes on- yet we are made in the image of God and when we begin to compare anything we lose our contentment and thankfulness. I would ask you today to think about the words that you speak. When someone walks away from a conversation with you do they leave criticized, controlled, and compared; or when someone walks away from a conversation with you do they leave feeling compassion, comfort, and contentment? Normally the people we are closest to we need to watch our conversations with. Let us not take each other for granted and let us be a 1 Corinthians 13 kinda of Love to others. Let us choose to be love in action.

my love! makes me smile

my girl

my guy in me in NYC

my babies and their loves!

What is Love? There are different types of love. There is phileo love which is brotherly and sisterly love. There is eros love which is a sexual love. Then there is AGAPE LOVE! This is a self-sacrificing and unconditional love. This is the type of love that the Father God has for His children and was demonstrated by Jesus on the cross. John 3:16 “For God so loved (agapao) the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the highest and most supreme love. This type of love can only occur with the help of the Holy Spirit. Many times I have heard people reference if they can even experience or have Agape love this side of eternity and the answer is Yes, you can. 1 John 4:8 “Anyone who does not love (agape) does not know God, because God is love (agape).” The Father God would never require anything of us that He has not equipped us to do. Agape love is possible. It is possible in your marriage, with your children, and with others. The greatest representation of agape love should be between a husband and wife. It says in the Word of God that a man should love his wife like Christ loves (agape) the church. This is a great place of honor for men. To lead in Love. God’s love is His nature and the expression of Himself. It is possible to have love as your nature. Agape love is always shown by what it does. Love is an action word. I have been so blessed to see an Agape love marriage by my parents. I remember hearing a story when my dad asked the Father God to help him love my mom like He (Christ) loved the church. He said a warm sensation came over him and from then on He has loved by faith through the help of the Holy Spirit. Agape is a love that gives, it does not demand, it does not hold back, it prefers others, it believes the best. It is a 1 Corinthians 13 Love. I have also seen my parents choose to stay in Agape love. They have fought the good fight of faith in Love. This is a selfless love and does not change whether the love given is returned or not. My own marriage is a miracle story. My mother always says we are going from miracle to miracle. Yet I know that when I met my husband there was a birth of an Agape God Love in me. Amazing how sometimes you can close your eyes, feel and hear the wind, and be swept back in time to a sweet memory. Thinking of a fourteen year old girl that heard that still small voice saying there is your husband. I could feel it, hear it, and see it. There he was unaware and unprepared for what the Spirit of God had just done. I knew in my heart it was a yes and the Lord knew that it would not be an easy test. Many times we hear the voice of God and it may seem so impossible or even unimaginable but His word says what is impossible with man is possible with Him; it also says He can do above and beyond what we can ask think or imagine. So that fourteen year old girl loved and lived by faith. That fourteen year old heard the Lord. Today that same girl loves and lives by faith over 25 years later but she still hears the yes in the wind! Listen to the Spirit of God and don’t ever be afraid of yourself or what men may say! Faith and Love! I still hear Agape Love and it is the Love that has held my marriage together. The choice not to keep score, to see the best, to forgive, to die to self, and to fight for love. Love wins and it does not fail. If you need a miracle of love today, just stop and ask the Father to help. I pray for my children today that they will give and receive Agape love. I also pray over marriages to be restored and renewed with fresh Love. If you ever find Agape and you feel Agape fight for it, it is a God thing! 

I enjoy reading. It has always been a hobby of mine. I also enjoy hanging out with my family. My mother that I love bunches seems to always help me out and 99% of the time the saying holds true, “MOM KNOWS BEST!” One of my favorite books in the Bible to read is John. From the very first verse until the end it makes me happy. John 2 is the story of MOM KNOWS BEST. I remember the first time I read it as a young woman and thought wow, Jesus’s mom told Him what to do. It is wonderful to know that Jesus was God and man. This story shows His man side. It is just like a mother to see a need and push their children to fulfill it. She realized that it was time for something to change in His life and ministry. My own mother has been this voice many times in my life and in other lives too. She is such a gracious spiritual mom that sees needs and also sees potential. Just like Mary in this story with her Son. I see myself becoming this type of woman and also see it in my daughter. What a heritage to pass on, Spirit led servants. Today, that is your heritage too if you believe on Jesus. Just like the story there were six water pots, six stands for mankind. We come empty and get filled with His Spirit. Then we have this amazing opportunity to bring others to be filled People draw out and drink from our lives and it will be even better than before. They will be tasting the goodness of God; His mercy, compassion, grace, hope, forgiveness, peace, and the greatest LOVE! My mama does know best because she knows and leads always to Jesus. She chooses to be a woman of faith and forgiveness. Today you are a conductor of love and the best is always Father God’s way of doing things. Don’t become frustrated today when someone is sharing truth with you and pushing you to go ahead in your ministry of Love…. look through your faith eyes and see truth with them.

“Come Home” are two of my favorite words to hear and to say. It reminds me of the story in the Bible in Luke 15. The story of the Prodigal Son coming home… My daughter loves the saying “come home”. We have always said home is where the heart is. Home is not truly a place but the people you love. We believe it is never to late to return home. You are not a son or daughter by worth but you are a son or daughter by birth. That is how it works in God’s house…. We are His by birthright, believing on Jesus and becoming a child of God. Father God wants to do great things for you. The prodigal son did not feel worthy to go back to Father’s house and said I could just live like an employee, but the Father was full of unconditional love and was saying “Come Home! ” and live like a child. Shame says I no longer can be what I was or want to be because of what I have done, but Father God says I can work all things to your good. The prodigal danced in this story because He realized the Father loved him and he was welcomed home, it was not because of anything he had done or not done. You can dance today knowing that the Father God loves you and is saying “come home.” Read the story of the Prodigal today and see the logical older son and the radical loving Father. The challenge of serving the Lord is dancing for Jesus when it looks illogical and foolish. The Father’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours. The Father God is running to you today. Remember transition and trouble make for the best transformations.