Why Make God Known Coffee?
First of all, we are NOT selling our coffee for profit. We sell our signature coffee that we created while owning our own coffee shop to be obedient to God's voice. You see it all began when I (Jen) learned to put my priorities in God's order by putting my daughter first before making money. At the time I was working as a coffee barista making an average of $100.00 a day in just tips. God had challenged me to put my daughter as a priority and to do so I had to switch my shifts around to be at home with her more before school instead of dropping her off at daycare. Doing so however made my tips go from $100.00 a day to only $3.00 a day. I was so discouraged about this one day and totally bored waiting to clock out after doing everything ahead of schedule with no customers to serve, that I asked God why? Why did God ask me to give up my morning shift to be home with Emily more when He know I was a single mom at the time and needed the income. The answer to my why was a still small voice I heard say as clear as day, "To learn to do this, to use it to pour into the ministry I will show you." The "this" was running the coffee shop I was now in charge of instead of just being a coffee barista. It was learning all the in's and out's of the business so that when the day came when God would literally give us the very same business, I would know how to run it. Not only that, after owning our own coffee shop 10 years later, God showed me the ministry He wanted us to use the coffee to pour into. The very church He has now called us to plant He had also spoken to me about when He spoke to me to sell our coffee shop to go into "full time ministry". Since then, God has showed me that His coffee is to MAKE HIM KNOWN, to raise money for ministry, and not just our church here at Legacy, but the ministries we support. The first ministry God showed me was Operation Ignite Light whom we partner with to raise the funds needed to purchase backpacks full of everything a child needs their first night away from home, after being pulled from abuse or neglect. This same ministry that our MGK Coffee supports is now partnering with Legacy Church to donate to us 100 backpacks to give to 100 children here in the Anchorage area. Since our experience as foster parents ourselves, God has spoken to me to begin a ministry called Kings Kids to help foster parents pay for the essential items children need coming into their home as well. This ministry has not began as of yet, but I know in God's perfect timing He will provide for us to do so through the coffee He gave to us to fund it in the first place. We have done all this through acts of obedience and continued trusting in God as the heavenly father He is! By our continued obedience to give what He has given to us we help children in need in the foster care system as He shows us. It may not seem like a lot to you, but every time you purchase MGK Coffee and enjoy it, your purchase goes to support the ministry God has laid on our hearts, and YOU ARE PART OF IT! So that's the Why MGK Coffee, if you would like some MGK Coffee yourself follow the link below: https://bit.ly/BUY-MGK-Coffeebit.ly/BUY-MGK-Coffee
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When I first asked Jesus into my life, God challenged me to wait for the man he would send me instead of searching for someone myself. To wait for a man who would pursue me with the character of God and cherish me as God calls him to cherish and love his wife. Someone who would be governed by the vary nature of God in how he lived his own life for God to use to pursue me through him.
This was all VERY new for me, and something to be honest I had not observed in others relationships yet at this time in my life. I just knew I heard my heavenly Father's voice challenging me to trust Him with this area of my life. I just didn't realize God knew what I wanted and needed better than I knew myself, until my husband Travis came along. You see when I first met Travis he actually annoyed me. We met in Bible College in our Old Testament class. He was the guy that threw paper balls at me in class from the back row, as I sat in the front row with a 4.0 GPA that semester as a single mom. (Side note, even God knew that too would be something God would pursue me in through Travis as he graduated with a higher GPA than I did in the end.) What began as an annoyance slowly grew into a friendship I loved, and it made me want more of it everyday. But yet while walking across campus one day and being told that Travis liked me I was still so uninterested in him as more than a friend that my first response to this information to my girlfriend was, "Ewe gross." Thinking about this now makes me disappointed in myself that day. However, looking back with 20/20 vision I can now see how God was protecting me from being attracted to Travis until I could see him the way God was orchestrating me to. You see at this time in my life, not knowing any better, I had created a list of things I did and did not want in my future husband. Number one on this list in capital letters with three explanation marks behind it were the words NO HAIR. I was not interested in being with someone that was a "hairy man", and Travis is one of the hairiest men I know. Looking back now though, I see how God used this first item on my list; to not be attracted to Travis physically until I was able to see the heart God had instilled in him to love me the way I never thought I deserved. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE MY HUSBAND and think he is the BEST LOOKING MAN now physically, intellectually and spiritually. Yet I needed God to show me what love really looked like before I could fully receive the love God had for me through His love given to me through Travis. When I was waiting for my husband, Travis became the best friend I never knew I could have in a man, first! All of the things on my list God then checked off through Travis and then some, giving me more than I ever expected! I thought I knew what I wanted and needed more than God did, and my question for you today is are you too doing the same? Are you comparing relationships, yourself, or people in your life based on your own expectations and not on God's? Because if you are, my challenge to you is to do what God asked of me. WAIT on God! TRUST in God to provide! Because when you do the unexpected will happen, and you will find the love you have been searching for all along; because the source of that love will be the author of Love pursuing you through them. Love will become more than just the definition of love you have learned it to be. With this new understanding, God will open your eyes to see what God has for you as His child. You will experience a marriage built on friendship, purity and hearts that put God first as their first Love. This love will then create a healthier relationship than you will ever find on your own! Purity is a heart issue, a gift for us, and a gift for us to give. To be holy and pure in God's eyes, to be His light in this world of darkness. So what does a pure heart look like? To love others as ourself.
A pure heart is willing to sacrifice when the world wants us to make it all about us. A pure heart seeks after God to know Him first to receive the strength we need. A pure heart is willing to be humble when pride screams, "Look at me". A pure heart chooses to follow God's direction for our lives instead of ourselves. A pure heart chooses to forgive always, love always and pray always. A pure heart asks for forgiveness when sin has been allowed in & made things wrong. A pure heart is willing to ask for forgiveness from even children, & make it right. A pure heart has faith to see God can change ANYONE no matter what they've done. A pure heart speaks the truth always! A pure heart protects the weak and seeks the truth! A pure heart is hard to maintain, but worth striving for. It always brings you closer to the God of the universe that wants you to be a part of His plan. To love and to be loved. So how are you doing at protecting the gift God has given you today? And how well are you doing at giving that same gift to others? Be Still and Know that I am God!
Those are the words I heard God speak the day I got divorced. I was so broken inside words would not come out no matter how hard I tried. While dissolving our marriage the judge told me I needed to speak because the court recorder could not record my head nods. But no matter how hard I tried the words would not get past the knot in my throat, created by the grief that I felt. After leaving the court house, I ran to the only place I believed at the time was the closest I could be to God physically. I did not understand at this time in my life that God lived in me, I only knew Him as the God that lived in heaven, so I drove into the mountains to get as close to Him as I could. I drove and drove until I could drive no more and found the biggest boulder I could find to sit on to be the closest I could be to my heavenly father I knew how to. As I sat there and cried I was distracted by the biggest butterfly I have ever seen. It began to flitter around the boulder and distracted me from my tears. It came so close to me as it flittered in the air right in front of me and starred into my soul that I was struck with fear and awe. As it continued to flittered again around the boulder, I said to God, "It would be really cool if that butterfly would come and sit on my right knee cap." As I finished speaking these words to God the butterfly did just that. As it placed its heavy little feet on the exact spot I had asked for I heard the clearest voice say, "Be still and know that I am here." As I heard those words I took a deep breath and sat in amazement and wonder of God's love for me. God wanted me to know that I was not alone and He was there with me. He wanted me to know I was loved and to give me the hope I needed to see past the worst day of my life. God wants you to know He is here with you in your pain and suffering too. He wants you to feel His presence and experience His hope for your life as well. As we seek after our heavenly father as the child of God we are, He draws close to us and shows us a greater depth of His love each time. What are you going through today that you need to hear "Be still and know that I am here." What pain are you experiencing that only God can understand because it is the inner most depths of your heart that only He can see? Whatever it is, He knows it and wants you to know that He is with you, that He loves you, and that He wants to bring you through to the other side. If you would like to read more about this story and others from my journey with God, please find my book Pursued with Relentless Love on Amazon today! https://bit.ly/BUYPursuedWithRelentlessLove |
Is this you?.Do you want to know God more? Do you want someone to help you do so? Do you want someone to walk alongside you who has been in your shoes? Do you feel alone? Do you want to experience the healthier and happier you? Archives
March 2023
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