Walk Boldly With Jesus

Catherine Duggan

Does life feel extra hard right now? Is it difficult to find joy in your day to day living? Do you feel like something is missing? I did. I was struggling with all of it. Life seemed so hard. Then one day I realize what was missing. I needed more Jesus in my life. Our home needed more Jesus. This may be just what you are missing too! This podcast will give you tips on how you can become closer to Jesus. It will talk about scripture and how those stories can relate to your everyday life. It will help you find joy in life again and teach you to be bold with Jesus by your side. If you would like to reach me you can email Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or go to my website findingtruenorthcoaching.com Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  1. 12h ago

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 30 - What If I Never Understand Why?

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 30 - What If I Never Understand Why?Proverbs 3:5-6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”One of the hardest parts of waiting is not only that we don’t know when God will answer—we often don’t understand why He has allowed us to wait at all. I find it easy to have faith when life is going well, when we might have an issue or two, but no big stressors at the moment. I find it easy to rely on God when everything is coming up in my favor, but what about when there are struggles? What about when things happen that cannot be explained? I remember when we received devastating news in May of 2020. Our perfect dog, whom we adopted from a rescue just two years earlier, had spinal cancer and was in a lot of pain. We knew she was sick, and we had been taking her to the vet every so often for several weeks. They gave her medicine, and she seemed to turn the corner. She seemed like she was on the way to recovery. Although we did not know what caused her to struggle for a few weeks, we were happy that she was on her way back to being healthy. She was only 3.5 years old, so we were sure whatever it was, she would get better. Then one day she started whining all day and night. We were not sure what was going on. We finally were able to get her into the vet, and she told us the worst news ever. She told us that our beautiful girl had cancer and was in so much pain and that there was nothing that could be done. We had a feeling going into this appointment, as Skye was struggling to even walk; however, hearing it was so much worse. It made it so real. I instantly prayed, and I had every single person that I know pray. I know God is capable of miracles; I know he does them every day. I know he could have cured our girl in an instant, and he didn’t. How do you wrap your head around that? How does one have faith in a situation like this? I was in a similar place less than a year before this as well.  My friend had throat cancer. I prayed over her; so many people prayed over her and for her, and yet she passed away. I know God could have healed her in an instant. So, why didn’t he? Why didn’t he save her from her disease? Why did he have to take her? Why did he have to take our dog? The answer is, I don’t know. I don’t know why some people die and some people are healed. I don’t know why some dogs live to an old age, and some die at a young age. I don’t know why God does what he does. And this is ok. We are not supposed to know everything, at least not on this side of heaven. God is a mystery. One thing I do know is that God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God has a plan. His plan is greater than any plan we could possibly have for ourselves. He does not think as we think. He knows every second of our life before we are even born. I trust that even though I don’t understand why we had to lose Skye, God has a plan. Skye came to our family when we were in desperate need of healing. We had had a rough couple of years, to say the least, and we needed to heal our hearts. We needed to learn to love again and to be calm and nice and everything that Skye was. She had the perfect temperament. She was calm, she loved to be petted, she could see when you were upset, and she knew when you needed her to just be next to you. She got everyone outside walking again.  She helped everyone to feel love again.I know with 100% certainty that she was sent to us from God when we needed her most. I am so very thankful for the time we did get to spend with her, and I know she is in a better place right now where she is no longer in pain. In Proverbs 3:5, we are told, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” I did not want to just leave you with this thought and not give you some practical ways to trust God in difficult times. Some people find strength and comfort in reading the bible verses and hearing God’s words, and others need more practical steps in how to apply these words in their everyday life. I found this article called “3 Secrets to Trusting God During Difficult Times” on the Vibrant Christian Living website. I will summarize the three practical steps that she takes to trust God in difficult times.1. We must take responsibility for what we choose to savor. What are you taking the time to savor? Are you focusing on fear and pain, or on the beautiful things in life, like the sunset? If you allow your thoughts to linger on the “what ifs,” you will cripple your ability to trust God during hard times.2. We must quiet our lives so that we can discover (and savor) the quiet undercurrents of joy. Life gets so busy that we don’t notice the small things that bring us joy. The author states, “When I am enduring a trial I have to regularly quiet my heart: to let out the surge of emotion that is building; and to allow God to replenish my soul with reminders of the beauty that is happening in my little world.” What are the small beautiful things in your world that you are not seeing because you are too busy? This sort of goes back to the practice of gratitude. If you are really struggling right now, take a notebook and start or end each day with writing 5-10 things for which you are grateful. You will be surprised how many more awesome things you will notice about your life. 3. Release your fears to God and choose to savor His replenishing promises. The article mentions a well-known bible verse that Christians tend to quote during a trial. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Then the author states that although this is beautiful the true power of this verse is actually outlined in the following two verses. Philippians 4:8-9 says, “ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” First, we must release our fears, tell God what we need, and thank him for all he has done. However, we must not stop there. We must fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. If you take this seriously, if you focus your thoughts on these things during a trial, you will find it easier to find joy. When you are tempted to let your thoughts wander into dark places, confess your fears to God and meditate on the truth. Make a list of what is true in your situation and meditate on those anytime you are struggling. There is truth and light in every situation. You just need to find it and focus on that. My truths are that Skye was here for us when we needed her. We were able to give her an amazing home filled with love for almost 2 years. She was happy here. She is no longer in pain. When I get sad, I can focus on these truths.  What are the truths in your situation?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord Jesus, there are so many people hurting right now, and we ask that you be with them all during this difficult time. Lord, we ask that you help us focus on the positive and that you shine a light on the truths in our situation.  Help us, Lord, when we don't understand. We know your ways are not our ways and your thoughts are not our thoughts. Comfort us, Lord, during this difficult time.  Strengthen our faith and help us rely on you. Calm the waves of our storm as you did for the disciples when they were in the boat.  Lord, we love you so very much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Come and adore me, come and praise me, come and share your lives with me, my children. Come and be intimate, come and know me fully, for I already know you fully, and I will bless you in countless ways. Ways that you never even imagined would be possible. You only need to come and receive all the blessings I want to give you.” CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month) CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching

  2. 1d ago

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 29 - “Who Am I Becoming While I Wait?”

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 29 - “Who Am I Becoming While I Wait?”James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”I love how God works. Sometimes, I just laugh at how he orchestrates everything and how He just knows what we need to hear. It’s like He keeps telling you something in a bunch of different ways until you get it. If you have been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, you probably know how much I love talking about healing. I love praying for people for healing. I believe with my whole being that God can heal everyone, and I will pray with anyone who will let me, for God to heal them. As you can probably imagine, not everyone I pray with for healing is healed. This confuses me, as I don’t understand why this is.I know that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I know God knows infinitely more than we do, and that He sees the whole picture when we see only a tiny part. I know He knows the future and knows what He is doing. I know all of this, and yet I still don’t understand why some people have healed on this side of heaven, and some are not. I don’t understand why some people are healed instantly while others take months or years. God and I chat about this often, and He keeps trying to explain it to me, and I don’t seem to be getting it.One month the mentoring theme was the "Dark Night of the Soul". If you are unfamiliar with this, the "Dark Night of the Soul" refers to a spiritual crisis or period of deep inner struggle and desolation, where a person feels distant from God or disconnected from their sense of purpose and meaning. It often involves intense feelings of doubt, confusion, and loss, but is ultimately seen as a necessary stage in spiritual growth or transformation. The term originates from the writings of the 16th-century mystic St. John of the Cross, who described it as a painful yet purifying experience that leads to a closer union with God. I had heard of this before. But I didn’t know much about it. A few people in mentoring asked me to cover this topic, so I did some research and learned a lot. I decided to get an audiobook by Thomas Moore called “Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life’s Ordeals.”In this book, Thomas Moore talks about how we are always trying to end difficult times quickly. If we are sick, we want to be healed immediately. If we are struggling emotionally, we want the struggle to end quickly. If we are uncomfortable in any way, we want to do whatever we need to do to get comfortable as quickly as we can. Thomas said in his book that we are doing ourselves a disservice when we do this. Instead of trying to escape our misery, what if we approached it with curiosity? What if we tried to understand it and what it was trying to teach us? This seemed to stand out to me because I was just talking to a friend the other day about how I just wanted her trouble to end. She was saying that she could see how she would be so much stronger when she was on the other side of this, and yet I was just thinking, God, can you stop these bad dreams now? Why wait? Why keep struggling?Now, to be clear, although God could stop these bad dreams now, He hasn’t chosen to do so. It is not as if she hasn’t prayed for them to stop. It’s not as if plenty of people haven’t prayed for them to stop. So, it got me thinking maybe Thomas Moore is on to something here. Maybe I am just in a rush to have God heal these people because then they will be more comfortable or out of pain or misery, and yet God knows that the uncomfortable feelings that they feel now are nothing compared to the glory they will feel if they just hold out a little longer. I have been talking to the Lord for a long time now to try to understand why He does what He does, especially with regard to healing. When I heard this explanation from Thomas Moore, I felt like the Lord was talking directly to me. Then I went to a meeting at Encounter Ministries where about 16 of my graduating class got together. We try to do this once a month. The topic that night was a renewal of the mind. We all asked Jesus to show us one place where He would like to renew our minds. This is what I felt like I heard the Lord say, “I would like to renew your mind around healing. Not every person needs to be healed. Sometimes, I do work within the illness; I will highlight those I want to be prayed over.” Next, I asked Jesus how He wanted me to think about this mindset. This is what I thought I heard: “I want you to think as I do. I want you to know I have my own ways of thinking and reasons for healing that have nothing to do with your ability to pray over people. You are not doing anything wrong, and you are not the reason they are not healed.”Then, I turned to James in the Bible to look for a verse, as I recently heard someone recommend James as a great place to start if you are new to reading the Bible. I thought I would check it out and see why James was a good place to start. Then, the very first line I read confirmed what God has been telling me lately. I think what this verse is telling us and what God has been trying to tell me is that we can learn from the hard times we are going through. God doesn’t make us sick. He doesn’t hurt us or break our hearts. He doesn’t make us lose our jobs or lose our loved ones. God isn’t the cause of our pain, yet He can use it for our good. He can use this difficult time to form you into a stronger, more resilient person. I know suffering is uncomfortable. I know life can throw some pretty crappy things at us, and we just want to escape it all. We want to be comfortable and skate through life with minimal issues. I get this, and it makes sense. What I feel the Lord is trying to teach me is that God knows how long we need to be in something before it has sufficiently changed us. If we leave a situation too early, we may not have reaped the full benefit from it. Do you know what is even worse than having to go through years of agony? Having to go through years of agony and not reaping any benefits from it. God knows what we need. He knows our future; He knows our past; He knows our innermost being. He knows how much we can handle, and He knows the perfect time to take us out of the fire so we are pure gold with no more impurities. He has also made it clear to me that this doesn’t mean we need to stop asking for the healing or the relief of the situation. He tells us over and over again in the Bible to be persistent and that He rewards persistence. What He is telling us is that while we are waiting on His perfect timing, we don't have to be frustrated and discouraged. As this verse says, we can “consider it a sheer gift” when life’s challenges come upon us. It is giving us a chance to grow more into the person God is calling us to be. Our challenges help us to become more mature in our faith.I pray that the Lord continues to renew my mind in this area. I pray He shows me how to be patient in the wait. I pray He shows me how to approach my struggles with curiosity and allows me to have the strength to sit in my struggles without trying to wish them away before they are done doing good work in me. I pray He gives you a renewal of mind also!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we find it so hard to understand how you work sometimes. We don’t understand why you do the things you do, and so we are asking for a renewal of the mind, Lord. Renew our minds and help us think more like you think. Help us to understand a bit more about how you work and why you do the things you do. Help us to see our struggles and building blocks to becoming the person you made us to be. Give us the strength to hold out when we feel like we can’t hold out any longer. Be with us, Lord, every step of the way! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Spend time with me each day, my children. It is so important that you get to know me. The more you get to know me, the more you will love me. That time that you spend with me each day can make all the difference in your life.” CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month) CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching

  3. 4d ago

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 28 – Your Prayers Matter More Than You Know

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 28 – Your Prayers Matter More Than You KnowEzekiel 22:30 “And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”We spent last night in class talking about prophetic intercession. I have discussed intercessory prayer before on various episodes, as I think it is essential. Here, we have the Lord telling us the same thing. Intercessory prayer is when you pray on behalf of someone else. For instance, my family was interceding for my dad last week as he was in the hospital for a bit. Whenever anyone asks you to pray for someone, you are interceding on their behalf. Catholics do this same thing when we ask the Saints to pray for us. We are not asking them for a miracle. We ask them to intercede for us just as we would our family and friends.General intercession is when someone asks you to pray for someone, and you do. The way they described it in class is that we are interceding from earth to heaven. Someone on earth asks us to pray for them or a loved one, and we send our prayers to heaven for them. Last night, we learned about prophetic intercession, which sounds fancy, and yet I bet we have all experienced it to some degree at one time or another. Prophetic intercession is praying from heaven to earth. Have you ever felt like you were supposed to pray for someone out of the blue? That would be prophetic intercession. God will sometimes put on our hearts something or someone to pray for, and then we must follow through with that prayer. Sometimes, we will find out later why we were asked to pray. For instance, God urged my teacher to pray the rosary for his wife’s cousin. It was precisely 7 PM when he felt this placed on his heart. He started the rosary right away. The next day, his wife called him at work to let him know her cousin had died. She was in an accident at 7 the night before. When we get these feelings to pray, it is essential to obey. Our teacher told us about another time when he heard a fellow deacon was sick. He had not met this man before because he was away when the man came to talk to his diaconate class. He happened to be by his house and thought he would stop by, meet, and pray with him. On the way to the man’s house, he felt called to do the divine mercy chaplet. He completed the chaplet just as he arrived at the man’s house. He went and knocked on the door and found out the man had just passed away one minute before he knocked.This is what is stated in St. Faustina’s Diary about saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for someone who is dying: “At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the pardon is the same. When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of My tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful Passion of My Son. (811) My teacher had no idea this man was close to death. He just knew he was sick. God knew, though, and God used my teacher to pray this important prayer. God may be using you too!Another time, God urged my teacher to do a Jericho walk around the flag pole. This is when you walk around the flag seven times, silently praying, and after the seventh time, you pray and praise the Lord out loud. The burdens of the nation were put on his heart, and this is how the Lord wanted Him to pray for them. Our teacher had so many examples; I believe that is because He always tries to listen to the Lord and then act when he hears something. I was so excited to share this with you this morning because it reinforces that we are not helpless. This world is crazy right now, and with the news as it is, we can often get overwhelmed by all that is happening. We often feel helpless as it seems like the problems are more significant than any one person, which is true. They are more significant than any one person. They are not bigger than God, though. Knowing that our prayers can make a difference is important. Another excellent example of the importance of our prayers is what I talked about in the Witness Wednesday last week. There was a man who saw a woman being put in an ambulance and knew he couldn’t really help her, as he was not a doctor. So, as he ran by her house, he said one Hail Mary for her recovery. Jesus appeared to this woman in the hospital and told her that she was dying and that this man’s prayer saved her.  He held up his palm, and the face of the man running by was on Jesus’ hand. He said one Hail Mary prayer. One Hail Mary that only takes a few seconds to say. We often say, “All I can do is pray,” as if we are out of options. Prayer is the best and most powerful thing we can do. Prophetic intercession is even more powerful because we are listening to what God wants us to do and then doing it. If you ever feel God is putting a person or a cause on your heart, take a minute and ask the Lord how He would like you to pray for that person—the how could make all the difference. Saint Faustina Kowalska was a nun in Poland. She received a vision that an angel was sent by God to chastise a certain city. She immediately began to pray for mercy, but no matter how much she prayed for mercy, she could not save the city. Then, she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus’ grace within her. At the same time, she found herself praying words that she heard internally, “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.” (Saint Faustina’s Diary, 475) As she continued saying this inspired prayer, the angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment (see 474)This example from St. Faustina is why this verse is so important. The verse above says, “And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” Is God calling you to stand in the breach? Is He calling you to help repair the wall? Instead of worrying about all that is going on in the world, we can pray about all that is going on. We often think our prayers aren’t doing much. We are just one person. St. Faustina is just one person, yet her prayers prevented the angel from chastising a city. If the prayers from one person are that powerful, imagine how powerful the prayers of millions of people would be. Pray, Pray, Pray. Pray for our loved ones and friends. Pray for all nations, church leaders, and leaders everywhere. If you feel the prompting to pray for someone out of the blue, take a minute and press in. Ask the Lord how He wants you to pray for that person. The prayer they taught us last night in class is: “God let me think like you think and feel what you feel.” If you can feel what He feels and think what He thinks, your prayers will be better because you will understand what you are praying for more.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each and every person listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to stand in that breach. Please let us help you. Use us, Lord. Show us how to listen to your voice. Show us how to obey when you call us. Give us the grace and the strength we need to follow your call.  Open our ears to hear your call and open our hearts to intercede for others. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “There is nothing too difficult. There is nothing I cannot see about your life. There is nothing worth holding onto that is contrary to my life. No shame. No guilt. No self-defecation. No deep regrets. No unfulfilled longings. No wandering and quandaries and mazes in your imagination and your memory. No generational patterns. No habitual patterns. Nothing is invisible to me.” CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month) CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching

  4. 5d ago

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 27 - Can I Still Make Plans While I’m Waiting on God?

    Can I Still Make Plans While I’m Waiting on God?Proverbs 16:9 “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.”The title of this episode is a question I think we've all asked ourselves at one point or another during our wait. Waiting for the answers to our prayers can take a very long time, and we can get stuck in the trap of thinking we can’t make any plans until our prayers are answered. I understand the rationale for this thinking, and I get where it is coming from. However, if we don’t move forward, we wind up getting stuck. Stuck in our emotions. Stuck in our job or our relationship. Stuck in depression, anger, jealousy, and a whole lot of other emotions. Making plans while you wait does not mean you are giving up on what you are praying for; it means you are trusting God enough to keep living while allowing Him to direct your steps.I don’t think God wants us to stop living while we wait for him to answer our prayers. I also don’t think He wants us to be miserable while we wait. Whatever we are waiting for can be really hard or really sad. We might be waiting for God to heal us, and so we think we can’t do anything until God heals us. We can’t walk, we can’t go out, we can’t try new things. We just have to sit here and wait until God heals us, and then we can start living our lives. We know God has put amazing things inside of us, and we want to share them with the world. We say yes to His plan. We say yes after he heals us. Because we are sick or injured, and until He heals us, we are helpless.It is easy to think this way. It is easy to get caught up in ourselves and all the things we can’t do. These things are real. These are true limitations, and I am not dismissing them. Today, what I would like to do is challenge the story you are telling yourself that you have to get your miracle, or the answer to your prayers, before you can do anything. Is it true that today you can’t take one step towards the thing you believe God is calling you to? Is it true that you are helpless? I am 99% sure that the answer to the first question is no. I am 100% sure that the answer to the second question is no. Let’s look at the first question I asked. Is it true that today you can’t take one step towards the thing you believe God is calling you to? Take a minute to think about what you feel God is calling you to do, or even just something on your heart that you would love to do if you were healed and feeling like you could do anything. Ask God to show you one small step you could take towards that goal or dream today. That doesn’t mean you are going to achieve the dream, goal, or mission tomorrow, but what is one tiny step? If you feel God wants you to evangelize to people about how great Jesus is and yet you can’t walk outside your apartment, then what can you do in your apartment? How can you use social media to tell people all about Jesus? Maybe you could see if there are any prisons, homeless shelters, or nursing homes that have a pen pal service, and you could write to people about the love that Jesus has for them. Or even just writing to them about anything and letting Jesus love them through you.Do you see how there is almost always something you can do with the limitations that you have until you are healed? What if God wants to see what you will do with what you have before He gives you more? What if He wants to see you stop complaining and start celebrating the things you do have, the things you can do. God knows everything about you, and if He placed this desire or this calling on your heart, He will fulfill it. He may be waiting for your cooperation. He may be waiting for you to say, “Ok, Lord, I know my healing is coming, but while I wait, I will use what you have given me to honor you in some way.” If you do this, if you shift your focus from all that you will do one day when God gives you more to what you can do today with what you have, your life will change. You will be surprised how much happier and more fulfilled you will feel while you wait.Now let’s look at question #2. Is it true that you are helpless? Each one of us has the Holy Spirit living inside of us. If you are listening to this podcast and you haven't been baptized, I want to encourage you to look into it, because when we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, we can never claim to be helpless. When we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us. How could we be powerless when someone so powerful lives inside us?Life is hard, and we don’t want to make it any harder. Sometimes this means that we don’t push through barriers. We try to do something, hit resistance, and give up. We figure if God wanted us to do it, then He would make it happen. This can be true. God doesn’t want us to do some things, so He closes the door. However, God also wants us to work to overcome other things so we can be stronger on the other side. We have to be careful not to take everything that happens as a sign from God that we shouldn’t do it or that we should give up. God isn’t the only one who can give us signs. The enemy can also close doors for us. The enemy can also throw roadblocks in our way. I think God sometimes allows this to happen because He knows how strong we are. He knows we can overcome these roadblocks. He knows we can find a different door if the devil closes that one. But if we don’t try to overcome them. If we just give in because we think it’s God closing the door, then the enemy wins, and we blame God. The only way to know the difference is to pray, discern, spend time talking to the Lord, and ask the Lord if he closed the door. Ask the Lord if you should keep going or turn around. Ask the Lord if you should find another door or kick that one down. If you spend time with the Lord, He will direct your ways. Today’s verse tells us this. “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” If you give God a chance, He will direct your steps. He will help you make plans while you wait for the answers to your prayers to come. I believe with all my heart that God doesn’t want us to stop living our lives while we wait for Him to answer our prayers. I think He wants every single one of us to have joy while we wait. To live our lives as fully as we can while we wait. Can you start making plans while you wait?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we love you. We ask you to show us what we can do while we wait. We ask that you help us to be grateful for all we have, even when we feel like we are lacking so much. Help us focus on what we have instead of what we don’t, and what we can do instead of what we can’t. Help us to find joy while we wait, and help us to feel ok with making plans while we wait for your timing. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I can control you through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To move you in the ways you should go. To give you the words to say. To bring you closer to me. And in doing that, you will bring others closer to me. And they will recognize their God in action.” CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month) CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching

  5. Oct 27

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 26 - The God of Hope

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 26 - The God of HopeRomans 15:13 “ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”The God of hope- what a great way to refer to the Lord.  He is the God of hope.  All hope can be found in Him.  I like the thought of God filling me with joy and peace as I trust in Him, don’t you?  I feel as though that would be reassurance that we were doing the right thing.  Actually, now that I just said that, I can see how this is the case.  When we are trusting in the Lord, we are filled with peace and joy.  Can you think of a time when you had a decision to make, and you felt completely at peace with it?   Can you think of a time when you were so happy and filled with complete joy?  Think about these circumstances.  Can you see how you were trusting the Lord in them?The second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 were really tough on our family.  Actually, they were tough on most families, as we were in the middle of a pandemic, and we were stuck in our houses for a lot of it.  It was not an easy time for anyone.  However, on top of all of this, we had a lot of other things going on that made it even more difficult.  Probably some of the hardest parenting issues we will ever have to face, and we have faced a lot of parenting issues.  Although it was a really difficult time, I was filled with joy and peace for much of that difficult time because I was trusting that the Lord knew what was best.  We were encountering situation after situation that we had never encountered before.  We didn’t know what to do or how to handle most of it.  What do you do when you are in a situation and you don’t know what to do?  You turn to the Lord.  I spent a lot of time in prayer.  I asked the Lord at every turn which way He wanted me to go.  I relied on Him to get us through it.  I am not saying this to boast about how great I am for turning to the Lord.  I turned to Him because I did not know what else to do.  This is usually why we turn to the Lord.  When we have tried all we can think of on our own, and nothing worked.  However, I would love to change this.  I would love to turn to God first in every circumstance, not just when I feel stuck and don’t know what to do. This is what the Lord wants too.  He is always there for us, and He is happy when we turn to Him in times of trouble.  However, I am sure He would also love it if we turned to Him in our everyday decision-making.  Or, what about when you do know what you want to do?  What about stopping to ask God what He thinks about you taking that job you want or buying that car you want?  You may already know what you want to do, but what if we stopped to run it by the Lord and see if He thinks it’s a good idea?  Sometimes our decisions can be clouded by superficial things, or we have the wrong motivation driving our decision-making, and we don’t realize it until it is too late.  Invite the Lord into all your decisions.  Wouldn’t it be great to feel that peace and joy of trusting the Lord all the time?This verse ends with, “so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  I don’t know anyone who would turn down the chance to be overflowing with hope.   This verse also tells us where hope comes from: the power of the Holy Spirit.  If we want to have more hope, we just have to ask for it. Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:23-24, “ On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.  Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.”  If we want to have more hope in our lives, all we need to do is ask the Lord for it, and we will receive it by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask that you fill us all with joy and peace as we trust in you.  We all want to overflow with hope; please show us how.  Please fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Please help those who have given up on hope or have forgotten how to hope.  We love you, Lord; you are so amazing.  You give us so much to hope for.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day! CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month) CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching

  6. Oct 26

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 25 -Your Prayers Are Never Wasted

    Your Prayers Are Never Wasted1 John 5:14–15 “And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”I love this verse because God is reminding us that we can trust Him. He reminds us that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us, and if we know that he hears us, then we know we have obtained the request made of him. I don’t know about you, but I can get caught up in the part that says, according to his will. I have asked the Lord for many things, and I don’t think that he has given them to me. I get frustrated when I am praying for someone, and I remember that God said if we ask in Jesus’ name, then anything we ask for will be given to us.I know that God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts greater than our thoughts, and yet it is still frustrating when we can’t understand what is going on. It is frustrating when we think we know exactly what we need or what we want and we ask the Lord, we beg the Lord and it just seems like He is not listening. If you have struggled with this, let me share with you what has helped me understand it a little better.Have your kids, your nieces/nephews, or your friends' kids ever asked for something that seemed really important to them? They asked for something that they really want, and to them, it is something that they have to have. They have given it thought, and they know it is the best thing for them. Yet, you know it is not good for them at all. You only know this because you have been where they are and things didn’t end well. You have seen where this thing will take them, and it isn’t anywhere good.For instance, your child, or a child you are close to, wants to drop out of school. They have given it thought, and they will get a job at the local grocery store or fast food restaurant. They are tired of all the work they need to do at school and don’t want to do it anymore. However, you can see that it is not the best choice for them. You can see how that one choice will limit so many other choices about their future. They are begging you to let them drop out, and yet you know it is not really best for them.This is what I think of when I think of God answering our prayers. Good thing He doesn’t give us everything we ask for because sometimes, just like our kids, we ask for some things that are not good for us. We ask for things that we think we want, but God knows we don’t really want them. For instance, we might think we want a new job, but then we find out the new job has a lot of travel, or the boss isn’t a nice person. God shields us from so many things that we aren’t even aware of because he is shielding us from them. He does this because He is a good Father.I heard a song on the way to adoration his morning, and you know how much I love songs. I wanted to share the lyrics of this one with you today because it talks about how important prayer is. The song is titled “Somebody Prayed,” and it is sung by Crowder. The song begins:Every night there by your bedYou fold your hands and bow your headThrowing out another prayer in faithWhen you're wondering if He's hearing youLook at me, I'm living proofI'm only right where I am todayBecause somebody prayedThese lyrics remind us that when we pray and do not see results, we can look at those around us and be confident that if God answers their prayers, He will answer ours, too. I think it is vital to remember that the answers to our prayers may not look like we want them to and may not come in the timing we want them to. I like how Crowder can realize that the reason he is where he is today is because his mom prayed for him a lot. So I hit my knees 'cause I'veSeen all Heaven move (don't matter if you hit rock bottomMy God pick you up when you call Him.)I pray, "Father, please" 'cause I'veSeen what He can do (don't matter if the storm cloud comingMy God come through when you call Him)I love this verse too because it says that it doesn’t matter if you hit rock bottom because God will pick you up when you call Him. This reminds us that we are never too far down for God to pick us back up again. It also says it doesn’t matter if the storm cloud is coming because God will come through when we call Him. Crowder says he has seen all heaven move, and he has seen what our heavenly Father can do.You might be in a storm right now, or you might be at your lowest point yet. Either way, you can rest assured that when you call on the Lord, He is going to answer that call. He is going to lift you up out of that pit or get you safely through that storm. That is just who He is. If you wonder if this is true, look around you at all the people you know who are struggling, or the ones who were struggling and have made it through to the other side.  They were not alone. God helped them, and if he helped them, he can help you too!These hands have no powerThere ain't an hour He don't come throughThat's why when mountains move, I say"Looks like somebody prayed”This verse is reminding us that we can do nothing without God. He is our source of power. He is our Savior. This is why, when something amazing happens in our lives, we should automatically know that someone was praying for us. Our default should be to thank God and to thank whoever was praying for us. Sometimes we think that because we didn't pray, then it wasn’t God who helped us. However, there are so many people praying all the time. There were many saints who would send up prayers for anyone who needed them. Or they would pray for those who had no one else to pray for them. You might have a whole army of people praying for you, and yet you might not even know it.For instance, when someone asks me for prayer I usually ask my parents to also pray for them because I know my parents are mighty prayer warriors. I also ask my prayer group to pray, my Encounter Ministry fellow students, and the prayer line at my church. Then sometimes I would also add their request to these three online prayer requests websites, one of which is the Lourdes website. Do you see how someone could have a whole army of people praying for them and not even know it?For the child of God that's far from homeThe one who thinks they're too far goneI'm throwing out another prayer in faith (prayer in faith)Worn-out altars, tear-stained pewsStill I won't give up on youI believe that anything can changeWhen somebody praysI love this verse because he is talking to anyone who feels like they are far from home. Anyone who feels like they are too far gone. Then he tells them that he is praying for them. We all need to be praying for those who are far from home and think they are too far gone. There is no too far gone with the Lord. He is always willing to take us back. He is always waiting for us to realize that and to come home. I love it when he says he won’t give up on us because he believes that anything can change when somebody prays.This is an important thing for us all to believe. It is so true. Anything can change when somebody prays. The enemy often tries to make us believe that our situation is too bad and that there is no solution. He tries to convince us that we don’t need to pray because there isn’t anything God can do for anyone. There isn’t anything anyone can do. This is ridiculous! God can do anything! We might not see a way out, we might not think things can get better, but God can always make a way, even when we can’t see how. It is always worth it to say a prayer. It can make all the difference in the world. Sometimes God is just waiting for you to ask. He is waiting for you to invite Him into it all. Why wouldn’t we want God to be in all of it?I've seen miracles come from feeble wordsI've seen hospital rooms turned into cathedralsI've seen freedom come to the prisonerYou can't tell me that prayer don't workThe first line says, “I’ve seen miracles come from feeble words.” Do you know why I love this? I love it because it reminds us that we don’t have to know what to say. We don’t have to pray these long, eloquent prayers. We don’t have to ask for the exact thing or say the exact right words in order for our prayers to be answered. It’s not like in all those movies about making a wish on a genie in a bottle. If you don’t get the wording perfectly, then something bad happens. God is not like that. We don’t have to know the perfect thing to say. We just have to call upon his name and ask him for what we want.It goes on to say, “I’ve seen hospital rooms turned into cathedrals.” I think what he means by this is that hospital rooms can be a powerful place for prayer. Sitting by a loved one's bedside can prompt people to pray more. It can also help us to be bold and ask for more from the Lord. Desperation to save our loved ones can be a powerful motivator. He also says, I’ve seen freedom come to the prisoner.  This is another great result of prayer. You might know someone who is stuck in their past. They may be an actual prisoner in jail, or they may be a prisoner to guilt, shame, and unforgiveness. Either way, prayers can free them from their prison. I have seen it happen many times!!The song ends with:So every night there by your bedWhen you fold your hands and bow your headNot a single word you've ever said in vain'Cause He hears everythingI like this verse too because it reminds us that not a single word you’ve ever said is in vain. When we pray to God, He hears us. We can be confident in this, just as the scripture verse for today reminds us. God hears it all, whether you are in church praying or you are crying out to him in your car. Wherever you are, no matter how far gone you think you are, He always hears every word of it, and none of it was said in vain. He hears you, and He will answer your prayers according to his will and according to His timing.

  7. Oct 23

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 24 - Can I Still Have Joy While I Wait?

    Hope in the Waiting - Day 24 - Can I Still Have Joy While I Wait?Habakkuk 3:17-18 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”Talk about a bad day.  This verse is from a time when the people relied very heavily on crops and animals for survival.  This verse states that they have reached rock bottom.  That nothing is going right for them.  If their crops are not producing any food and they have no meat in their stalls, then not only do they have nothing to eat, but they also have nothing to barter with.  Have you ever felt this low?  Have you ever been in a situation where you couldn’t really imagine it getting any worse?  That is where this person was when they wrote this.  Even if you haven’t been in a situation this dire before, I am sure you can imagine how they must have felt.  Please take a minute and try to put yourself in their shoes.  Close your eyes and imagine you are walking through your fields.  You look from vine to vine just praying for some grapes that you may have missed, or that miraculously grew overnight, but you find nothing.  Now imagine you are walking by your fig tree.  This tree that was once full of figs is now empty.  Next, you walk through the olive crops and pray that there will be some source of food, but again, you find nothing.  You think, at least you have your animals to provide you with food.  However, when you go past the sheep pen, there are none.  When you walk through the cattle stalls, they too are empty.  You realize you have nothing; you have somehow lost it all.  What are you feeling right now?  What are you thinking?  How do you think you would react?  Would you be angry at God?  Would you blame Him for not providing for you?   I am not sure how I would feel or what I would think, but I do not think that my first thought would be to rejoice in the Lord.  The verse says, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  I am thinking that I would struggle to find anything to be joyful about.  I am joyful in God my Savior.  He is amazing, and I love Him so much.  However, when I am at my worst, I am not sure that I would think of that.  I do think I would turn to Him.  I believe I would ask God for His help and for the strength and courage to make it through this difficult time.  But would I rejoice in the Lord?Honestly, I can’t picture it.  I can’t picture how that would work.  I do know that when life is going against us, and we can’t see a way out, that is the perfect time to praise the Lord.  We don’t have to see the way out.  We can praise the Lord for being so awesome that He can see a way out even when we can’t.  We don’t have to praise Him for the situation; we can praise Him for who He is and for what He does for us.  Ok, so now that I am writing this, I am starting to see how this could work.  I guess we wouldn’t have to rejoice in being in this dire situation, but we could rejoice that God was in it with us.  However, would we think to do this?  Would it occur to us when the chips are down that we should rejoice and praise the Lord?  My first thought is no, not without someone reminding us, or without some practice ahead of time.  Several things I have been reading over the last few years have been saying that the best thing you can do when you are struggling is to praise the Lord.  The fastest way out of a difficult situation is to praise the Lord while you are still in it, even when all seems lost.  So then, how do we do this?  How do we try to practice ahead of time so that when we really need to remember this, we can?  I have a couple of suggestions, some you may have heard before.  Some I probably even mentioned before on this podcast.  However, I think that’s how God works.  He tells us something again and again until we get it.  My first suggestion would be practicing gratitude.  When you are focused on being grateful for things, you can’t also be feeling sorry for yourself or feeling miserable at the same time.  Even if you can find just one small thing to be grateful for.  For instance, you have to go to a funeral, and you are really sad, but you can be grateful that the weather is at least holding out for you.  Or maybe the weather had been raining all day, but on the way to the cemetery, the rain stopped, and now you can see a rainbow.  I promise you, no matter how bad things are, there is at least one small thing you can be grateful for.  Practice finding that thing, focusing on it, and thanking God for it.  I promise if you give this a try, you will find more joy in your life.Another suggestion would be to find a few verses that talk about praising the Lord, or rejoicing in the Lord, and either memorize them or post them around your house where you will see them often.  You could put one on your mirror so you see it every time you look in the mirror.  Or, maybe on your fridge, so you read it every time you get something out of the refrigerator.  You could put a note like that on the lock screen of your phone, so when you look at your phone, it reminds you to praise the Lord or rejoice.  Why should you do this now, when everything seems to be going well?  First, if you can get in the habit of praising God all the time, when times are good and when times are bad, I think you will see less and less of the bad times.  I think God loves to reward his children for appreciating Him and thanking Him.  Second, if you don’t intentionally get into the habit when things are going good, and it feels easier to praise the Lord and to rejoice, then the chances are a lot less likely that you will do it when everything feels hard.  Another suggestion is to listen to praise music.  I think many of us listen to music.  Maybe it's when you are driving the car, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, whatever the reason, most of us listen to music.  What I am suggesting is that some of the music you listen to is praise music.  What you listen to affects your mood.  You could be in a perfectly good mood, and then an angry song comes on the radio, and if you don’t change the channel, you can notice yourself starting to get in a bad mood.  If kids listen to a lot of rap music, they may start to feel negatively towards the police for no other reason than the lyrics that they are constantly listening to are telling them that the police are bad.  Those are examples of how music can negatively affect your mood, but the opposite is true as well.  You can be in a really bad mood, and then an upbeat song can come on the radio, and your mood can change for the better.  If you are listening to praise music about how great God is, then those will be the thoughts flowing through your head.  The music can not only change your mood, but it can also change your outlook on life or your current circumstances.  Some of my friends are really struggling right now.  When all seems lost, it can take a daily or sometimes hourly reminder to praise God in the struggle.  Praise God for any slight sign of improvement.  Praise God for the things that do go right in the day.  Maybe you got up, and everything seemed to go wrong.  But, you know what?  You got up that day, and not everyone can say that.  You are able to walk, and not everyone can say.  There is always something you can praise God for.  Try your best to focus on those things and just keep turning over the other things to God and trust that He will take care of them for you.  It is not easy to praise God and to rejoice when all seems lost; however, it is possible. If you take the time to learn how to praise God, even in the difficult times, I think you will be amazed at how different you feel.  I think you will be amazed at how much more at peace you will feel, even when it feels like things can’t get any worse.  Give it a try, what do you have to lose?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you pray for everyone listening to this episode today. Dear Lord, we ask that you help us to praise you. You do so much for us, and we don't deserve any of it. You don't do it for any other reason than the fact that you love us completely. Lord help us to see all the things that we can rejoice about, even when we're struggling. Jesus shines a light on all the things we have to be grateful for when we can't see them. Lord, it must be difficult for you when you see us struggling. We ask that you help us through the struggle, that you help us lean into you and praise you for all that you do for us.  Sometimes we feel like all is lost and that there is nothing anyone can do to change the situation. And you know what, that may be true. But you are not anyone, Lord God; you are the Lord of lords and the King of kings.  There isn't anything that you can't do. Help us to remember this, Lord. Help us to rejoice when all seems lost because nothing is too big for our God to fix. We love you, lord; you are so amazing, and we are so very grateful for you and all that you do. We thank you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I can't tell you how happy I am to have you along for the journey. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day! Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the Lord your God. There is no other. Come to me, my children. I speak to you in the silence of

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Does life feel extra hard right now? Is it difficult to find joy in your day to day living? Do you feel like something is missing? I did. I was struggling with all of it. Life seemed so hard. Then one day I realize what was missing. I needed more Jesus in my life. Our home needed more Jesus. This may be just what you are missing too! This podcast will give you tips on how you can become closer to Jesus. It will talk about scripture and how those stories can relate to your everyday life. It will help you find joy in life again and teach you to be bold with Jesus by your side. If you would like to reach me you can email Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or go to my website findingtruenorthcoaching.com Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/