Stacy Navarro's Blog

There's nothing like getting lost for a few hours to get yourself refocused.
If 21 years of marriage has taught my husband anything, I think it's recognizing that glazed-over look on my face when I'm trying to force myself to complete a scene.
Every chance he gets, he grabs my hand, guides me to the car and we "get lost".

Dinner in the mountains and a drive down as the sun set was just what I needed to unfreeze my brain. Take a deep breath, soak up life and I promise it won't be a waste of time.

Not a writer? That's okay. I'm sure there are plenty of other things you've got on your mind that could cause you to stall if you're not careful.

So, get lost...and take someone you love. I recommend it :)

So I'm not even really sure how to start this. I think I've kind of allowed my many faults and imperfections to be chains that I've allowed to hold me back from speaking up more than I do.

I mean, who am I to speak up for God? There is plenty in my life for others to point out and call me a hypocrite, still I have to speak up. As a Christian it is weighing on my heart heavily. I am more hypocritical if I do not speak up. Yep, I am owning it, but when it comes down to it that's kind of the whole point. I am far from perfect, but have the answer.

Surely, some of you have been witnessing what's going on in the World around us and ask; "why isn't anyone stopping this".

We've got to stop looking at ourselves and start looking to the one who can-God. We shout at the top of our lungs about our right to disobey God, then question where He is.

Well, friends, Our Lord has not moved!

He gives us freedom, but just remember there are consequences to our choices.
We are either for God, or against Him.

We were given His Word because God wants us to know who He is, what broke our relationship with Him, and how to mend it.

Stricken with pride or guilt, many have gone running in the opposite direction. Others desperately cling to Christ, knowing He is our only hope, but are beginning to feel paralyzed.
Any attempt to speak up for God is immediately attacked. To beg people to listen to or read God's Word somehow pegs me as a hater, bigot, or hypocrite.
I'm here to tell you that it's quite the opposite, my friend.
I WANT TO LIFT UP MY VOICE TO BE SURE YOU KNOW OF OUR MIGHTY GOD. He is our only hope!

That's not about living by a certain standard, or "thinking we're better". It's exactly the opposite. It's about humility. It's about me not giving in to every temptation I have; putting God before myself. It's not about me "getting what I deserve"; in fact that's a scary thought. It's about me lifting up and praising my God and asking Him to guide me.

I'm not begging for you to try to live like me.
I am begging for you to acknowledge God. Let's seek Him. He will begin to make the changes that make us capable of overcoming the impossible! He wants us to call on Him- Pray, pick up a Bible, ask questions.

We are in a war-Satan wants to DEVOUR US! He is convincing people that giving in to their weaknesses and living in utter chaos is our only choice. It is not!

We live in a fallen world. None of us are perfect; that's no surprise to God. What grace! It is our sins that separate us from Him, but He willingly sent Christ to die for us as a chance to mend our relationship with Him.
Still He gives us freedom.
We may choose to accept Him or reject Him. Just remember there are consequences to your choices.
We are either FOR GOD, or against Him.

He is our hope! Our Joy!

I love you guys! He loves you more!

There's little that can tempt us to feel helpless more than when a loved one is facing serious health issues.
In fact, I'm a bit raw with recent news about a friend.

She is why I write today. You see, the first sentence of her text was "pray for me". Those words instantly slapped me out of the temptation to feel helpless as I read further and she shared about her health issue.

My wise friend knows that while I am not a doctor or miracle worker, I am a strong believer and daughter of the all mighty God. She knows He can heal her if it is His will and no matter what, will give her strength and comfort as she goes through this trial.

So you see, friends, I am far from helpless. To say something like, all I can do is pray is crazy because THERE is POWER in Prayer! To lift her up in prayer is putting her in the best hands possible! Her request proves she knows this as well, and I'm so encouraged to be able to cover her in prayer.

Of course, I can be there for her in other ways; shoulder or helping hand, etc and I cry with her sometimes, but nothing can replace the power of prayer.
May we remember the vital need for prayer and approach life on our knees. And instead of praying when there's nothing else we can think of to do, let us look to God first and continuously.

I love you guys, He loves you more!

This goes out to all the mama bears out there; this one's for you.

A farmer planted a row of hand-selected seeds. After some consideration, he placed a brick on top of one of the seeds and passed over it when watering the others. Once in a great while, the farmer would lift up the brick and sprinkle a few drops of water on top of seed, but when it didn't immediately sprout, he'd slam the brick back on top again. Several weeks later, the farmer was admiring the lush little plants that his seeds had become. Each had a small imperfection, but were sure to produce more fruit than that ridiculous seed that just couldn't seem to take advantage of those droplets of water and few minutes of sunlight he'd given it.

I admit, the mama bear in me originally wrote this analogy with one of my son's coaches in mind.
UNTIL, my gracious heavenly Father patiently reminded me (after I may have allowed more than one negative word of frustration to slip and I realized I could blow my testimony over a sport, so I begged God for His help) that this was not eternal.

I'd allowed my focus to get off track.

Big picture: what battle did I want my teenage son to remember his mom fighting at this time in his life? After all, he was living through this struggle with grace. Save your claws to fight for what matters! Then the song I'd just texted him the link to the week before popped into my head, "keep fighting the good fight, keep letting your light shine" and I knew the answer.

Calm down, Mama Bear. Let your boy hear you praying for him; with him. Talk about the farmer, but parallel it with his relationship with Christ. Remind him if he really wants to flourish and be used for the Lord, he needs to water his soul with the living water of God's Word regularly, expose himself to tons of "Sonshine" through prayer, and not hide his faith under a brick. Don't just shrug and assume others are favored more than you; faithful endurance is a beautiful fruit! A close relationship with the Lord is the battle worth fighting!! But we each have to spend time and energy if we want to grow and be used to our fullest potential, however God wants. Our faith will help us keep that in perspective.

Yes, friends, my Lord is more patient with me than I deserve. Sometimes I just feel the need to share these little moments of failure, followed by triumph with you guys in case one of you might be struggling with a similar circumstance.

PRAY, keep things in perspective, own it when you're wrong, and fight the good fight! When they're all grown up, what really matters?! Mama Bears, fight for their souls

I love you guys, He loves you more!

Mark 10:43-45 and Matthew 20:28 have been some verses of motivation for years....if you're like me that sent you scrambling for your Bible; hope so :)

They just seem to captivate the emotion of my unworthiness and the indebtedness I feel to my Lord and Savior. It's hard to explain, that's why I haven't tried until now.

Here I am, in that week between just celebrating Christmas and planning New Years and those verses once again scream at me. "Look what Christ has done for undeserving you! Live for Him; He has broken the bondage sin had over you and gives you the power to live fully for God."
That's the first part: I CHOOSE to serve HIM; being His servant, voluntarily without any chains holding me to Him; just my love for Jesus my King of Kings.

The second part for their meaning in my life has always been serving those He loves, which is EVERYBODY! It's still true, I mean, Jesus washed His disciples' feet, spent His life spreading the Word to as many people as He could! BUT, I've learned that somewhere along the road I'd allowed my view of reality to be skewed and create me a monster that could never say no to anyone.
"A servant never says no!" That is true in part, but never says no to who?.....His master! Moments of my life are evidence that sometimes I allow people and what they want me to do to turn my eye away from my Master. What a hard balance it is for me to remember that to spread God's love doesn't mean I have to run myself completely ragged doing everything everyone else wants.

Oye, that's a toughy. That means I have to discern to say no sometimes...oh the horror! No, not at all...what an opportunity! More reason to hit my knees and beg my Lord to show me His will. Which brings me right back to that servant without chains. I am bound to my Lord. He is my everything.
Yes, this coming from a head-over-heels wife who has been married to the man she's madly in love with for over twenty years. From a mom of four amazing children she treasures everyday....
Christ makes me better for them; helps me be less selfish, more loving. Plus, He's the one who suffered and died for them too. He knows His plan for their lives and has the power to bless them. So, yes, He is my everything!

I am His servant without chains; undeserving as I may be. No longer held with chains to my guilt and shame or the power my sin had over me. PRAISE HIM!

"For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve; and to give His life as ransom for many."

I offended someone today. Don't get me wrong, I am anything but bragging. If anything, I'm sharing it in an attempt to deal. You see, I'm one of "those people" a lot of the time. You know, the women who apologize too much and think about things they've said and how it made someone feel long after that person has forgotten.
Well, yesterday I was smiling and attempted small talk with a woman who was also bagging up some green beans at the grocery store. Her furrowed brow made it obvious that she wasn't pleased with me, then she voiced it. "Some people walk around only thinking about themselves, as if they live in a bubble. Haven't you heard about all of the terrible things that are happening? It's so sad."

My stomach turned a little. After all, it's true. I hated that I'd come off as someone who wasn't sympathetic to all of the hurt around me. It was one of my great moments, though, when I remembered to plead for God's help with my words before I opened my mouth. I just didn't want to agree with her and her doomed perspective.
He was faithful to help.
Turning serious for a moment, I looked at the sorrow-ridden woman. "It's true, there is so much sadness. I'm prayerful for those people and do care."
I was twisting my bag of green beans shut as I allowed my smile to return. "But God's bigger than all of that, and no one can take away the joy of the fact that He's..."
That's as far as I got before she turned in a huff and walked away.
Yep, that's the teeny-tiny scenario I am working through in my head because I feel like it's the huge reality we are facing in the world.

It's a struggle to balance warning my kids to be cautious, but rest in the knowledge that God's in control....pray and try to share God's unfailing love, but realize not all will accept it....know that God saved me, but will reject those who reject Him....
I am not saying just sit and smile passively and don't say anything against all of the bad...
What I am saying is; stand up for what's right and true. Don't let hate consume you and turn you into exactly what the enemy is shooting for. That's the point keep the focus; eyes on the Lord! He'll direct us, and sometimes it might be into some tough spots-way rougher than the little story I just shared. Still, if I can't maintain my greater joy in times like that, how will I ever last in those?!

I just can't apologize for dwelling on His glory. My smile doesn't mean I'm ignoring the hurt and needs of others, or that I'm not going through some of my own. It does mean that I refuse to let all of that keep me from rejoicing over His saving grace!

I love you guys, He loves you more!

How Do I look
This morning I stood staring into the mirror. I figured it couldn’t be a coincidence that several people had made comments about my aging in the same week. My reflection showed me all of the obvious flaws that had been pointed out just in case I hadn’t noticed. There’s no denying age; and some other stuff I’ve gone through, has left its mark.
“Maybe I should do something,” I thought as I inspected my reflection.
But as I continued reflecting on myself in the mirror, my thoughts were swayed when one of my favorite songs in the whole world came on; Big Daddy Weave’s 'Audience of One'.

That. Changed. Everything.

While belting out the words to the song(maybe a little off key), I asked, “Lord, how do I look?”

The brown smudges dotting my face told me they can remind someone hurting that they’re not alone. We all have dark spots in our life…grief, sin, shame.

The wrinkles around my eyes had even more to say. They’re evidence of how much my awesome God has allowed me to smile joyfully despite those dark spots. God’s glory shines so brightly when I keep my eyes on Him; I have no choice but to squint. Of course that changes
me!

Guys, He’s teaching me to ask Him, “how do I look?”
How do I look at others? With love and compassion? Am I desperate to at least make sure they’ve heard they need Christ?

How do I look? Turn my head in the direction you want me to go.

Yep, all of this started with a peek in the mirror this morning. I wonder how that makes me look ;)
Welp, I know who to ask…Lord, how do I look?

I've written about a bazillion things about my kids; kept most of them to myself so far. As time passes, (I won't say because I'm getting old) I'm realizing I need to share some of the works God's done in my life.
I wrote this poem two decades ago as a mom of a preemie.
July 1995, I was 25 weeks pregnant when my toxemia was so severe the doctors decided our only chance at survival was to separate us. So, after all the warnings of their low expectations of her quality of life, my 1 lb. 5 oz. baby girl was delivered via cesarean section. I vaguely remember being wheeled by her on a gurney on my way out of the operating room and to ICU...I wanted more than anything to reach out and touch the tiniest foot I'd ever seen.
Five days later (an eternity to me at the time) I was stable enough to be taken to the maternity floor to see my baby girl for the first time.
I remember being petrified and thinking, "where's the rest of her."
There are countless stories (some of which I'll probably share with you someday soon) about amazing obstacles my daughter, Alexis, has overcome. But I'm fast-forwarding past all of that today. I just want to say. Last Sunday I witnessed that sweet girl, that I have watched work twice as hard to go half as far as others, stand in front of our church.
Alexis was being installed as our new youth leader. What an amazingly joyful moment that was for me. And, if I'm honest, a heavy moment to know that your child is volunteering to be held accountable for what she teaches those God puts in her path! Praising the Lord and begging she will continue to cling to Him.
I realize I've left out twenty years of details; and I'm working on sharing some of those. Today I just have to say that God is capable of anything; especially taking those seemingly small and weak ones and making them strong to do mighty works! Never doubt what He can do.

For the poem goto my facebook page. www.facebook.com/StacyNavarro.author

‪#‎livelifebrave‬

Another crazy moment when God uses the simple conversations with my children to smack my forehead

Self-doubt and unworthiness sure is a pathetic excuse to shrug off a prodding in your heart! After all, if it's God's will He can use whoever He wants to get it done; even simple ME :/

Without each other knowing, two of my four teens approached me this week seeking advice on leading a devotion time with a friend. In each discussion I gave them ideas I've kicked around about a devotional book...they were baffled by my hesitation. One daughter's words..."just do it, Mom. Who cares if it never gets published. It could help the people we know. Trust God."

How humbling to admit that the responsibility of teaching His word often intimidates me. But I imagine the restlessness I've been feeling could have a lot to do with the fact that I'm avoiding a calling.

Time to remember what my goal of #livelifebrave looks like.
Thanks for all of your prayers, my friends!
And I pray you too #seekHimdesperately No matter what the scale, if we are doing the will of God the amount of people touched are up to Him. We've just got to answer His call and take it seriously; no matter the fear.

I couldn't help but smile at the burst of laughter coming from the crowded picnic table. The kids were making their best attempt at dividing the last pancake into seven pieces.
My daughter was leading the dissection. "What's the hardest thing we've ever tried to break equally?"
My two sons shouted in unison, "bacon!"

A friend who'd joined us camping for the first time looked at me with concern. "I can't believe you make them share everything; it's not normal. That's what's happening to society."

In all honesty, I felt like I'd been hit in the gut...this is something I do think a lot about.
You see, my husband and I have four children. They currently span between 13-19, but our home is usually the landing spot, especially during summer, so a lot of the time we have a few extra; cousins/friends. With such a full house, they do share their space and food with each other. Whenever there are guests they just naturally add them into the count when dividing up how many cookies each person gets.

I understand what my dear friend was thinking on when she made the comment. Our society is completely skewed and often takes from the hard-working to give to those who refuse to work! I never condone that. My crew has side jobs and what they earn they spend on what they want. In all honesty, I do catch them buying each other ice cream or slushies from time to time, but I won't apologize for that either.

You see, my goal is simply this...that I raise kids who think of others. If they can't do it in small ways now, they certainly won't in big ways! It pains me to see a grown man first in line at a full table and load his plate with most of all the good things without a thought to the others there. THAT is what is happening to our society. "I want it, so I'm taking it", with no regard for others.
My prayer is if I teach our children to remember they aren't the only person on earth, they won't have a sense of entitlement. When one sacrifices, they are more likely to recognize when someone does that for them. Plus, if we can't see the small needs of others how will we ever bring ourselves to think of their need for Christ and have a desire to share Him?!

Anyway, my sweet friend and I let it go. We both love each other and the Lord and have been friends long enough to know we are different as day and night; we'll never agree on everything. She was smiling later that day when all seven of our children were dividing up the work to tear down the tents and pack up.

Whew, this post got a little heavier than I intended; who knew. How we parent is important! I know it's a huge responsibility the Lord has trusted me with...it strengthens my prayer life!

Our big family can be overwhelming. Seeing us coming often makes people shake their heads and mutter "please don't sit by us".
It's summer, I get it...I walk with the dog at 5 am most mornings just to hear myself think. Still I wouldn't want it any other way.

Have a great day and....
** I DARE YOU TO FRY UP A CRISPY SLICE OF BACON AND THEN TRY TO BREAK IT INTO FIVE EQUAL PIECES.



He is most high and capable of far more than I am! Oh that my kiddos will love the Lord and live to serve Him! #seekHimdesperately

Mark 10:45, 1 John 3:17