mantra

Mighty Warrior

/ Kelly Bea / Leave a comment

The lord is with you mighty warrior! Judges 6:12

Do you know this story? Its a good one! The angle of the Lord appears to Gideon and tells him he is mighty warrior and that he will deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon replies back that his family is the weakest in the land. The Lord says BUT I am with you and you will strike down Midianites.

Gideon asked not once, but twice for a sign that he really is God. Our God, ever so patient gave him the two signs. Then he asked Gideon to drop his army to 300 men to take down the Midianites. He trusted God– did what he said and they defeated the Midianites.

I relate to this story so much right now. I was drawn into a battle I wasn’t expecting. I had to seek understanding from God. I had to ask Him if I was doing the right thing. And I have to trust Him completely with something I have no control over.

Over the past 25 months God has done a work in me. I learned to stay steadfast no matter what got thrown at us and I learned to flourish in difficult times. Now He is telling me, “stay strong mighty warrior I am preparing the way”.

My name is Kelly Beatrice, but most everyone knows me as Kelly Bea. A couple months ago I was looking up the meanings of my boys names. As I was doing this it reminded me of the Precious Moments bookmark I use to have with my name and meaning of my name on it. Showing my age mentioning Precious Moments. I remember something about being mighty, but couldn’t exactly remember the meanings so I looked up mine and Kevin’s, too.

Kelly is an Irish name that means bright-headed; war and one who frequents churches. I do work at a church! Biblically my name means solider or warrior. Beatrice means bringer of joy and blessings.

Mid-November my name meaning kept popping back up randomly. I told my friend, Pamela I believe God is giving me my word already. Soon as I told her she was in full agreement. Despite feeling I had it I still went through the steps of finding my word and mantra in December. That is when God said “Kelly Bea you are my JOYFUL WARRIOR, lets prepare for battle!”

JOYFUL WARRIOR

Today I start on my knees in prayer and rise up in the full armor of God. Faith is my shield and His love is my armor. I know who I am because I know who He is. I am full of spark and passionate praise for I know the battle is already won! I walk in alignment with God slaying my day like the JOYFUL WARRIOR he created me to be!

Golly Gee I am in love with my word and mantra this year! The emotion overflows when I say it to myself. When I get up in the morning, hit my knees in prayer and rise up to start my day I feel His armor coming over me! I walk in confidence knowing He has already prepared the way for me. I just need to keep my focus on Him and slaying that enemy who tries so hard to steal, kill and destroy.

While going through the process of finding my word and writing my mantra I found a lot of Bible verses and song lyrics that hit just right.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 reminds us to always be joyful. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us the Lord is a mighty warrior who is always with us. Proverbs 17:22 says a joyful heart is good medicine. Ephesians 6 of courses tells of us the armor of God. Psalms 28:7 in the passion translation blew me away, “God is my strength and my wraparound shield. When I fully trust in you, help is on the way. I jump for joy and burst forth with ecstatic passionate praise”.

Some of the songs that have made my Joyful Warrior playlist are The Truth Song by Megan Woods, Battle Belongs by Phil Whickham, Take it Back by Tauren Wells, Warrior by Hannah Kerr, Raise a Hallelujah by Bethel, The Joy of the Lord by Rend Collective, The Joy Song by Motion Worship, Desperate by Jamie MacDonald and Won’t Back Down by Fearless Soul.

Part of Big Life Mentoring is living a BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE! Pamela has an amazing goal writing system that works when you do the work. After getting my word, mantra and doing my year end review I was ready to write goals for 2025. Our goals are broken down into six areas: Spiritual, Health, Relationships, Mind-Happiness, Home-Money-Career and Fun! Once you have your goals for the year you break them down into monthly, weekly and daily goals using the Big Life Digital Planner. At the end of the year if you work the system you have done some living and accomplished your goals.

As if getting your word, mantra and goals written weren’t enough fun next I got to make a vision board. A daily visible reminder of who I am, whose I am and the plans we have. Remember goals are just dreams until you do something. Having this visual daily reminder will keep me focused on living big! I don’t just want to have big dreams. I want a big life! I want to grab up all God has available for me. In 52 years when I get to heaven I want to be able to say I lived to the full and have nothing left. And yes that would make me 103! I have a goal of living a full, happy and healthy 100+ years! I want to still be out gardening and tending to my chickens when the good Lord takes me home.

My Vision Board
Word & Mantra
Mind/Happiness
Spiritual
Relationship
Fun
Home/Money/Career
Health

The most difficult year…

/ Kelly Bea / Leave a comment

In 2023 there was the awesomeness of the Eras Tour and the devastation of Maui fires. The legendary Tina Turner died and Barbie made a huge comeback. Throughout the entire year it was full of highs and lows. For us it was much the same. I can honestly say it was the hardest year of our lives.

The year started off great! I knew I wanted to focus on my health and my relationship with God. I treasured 2022 a little too much when it came to indulging in food. I was the biggest I had ever been and I was miserable. When you go from running multiple half marathons a year to not having the energy to walk a mile you know its time to get your butt in gear.

The word God gave me was perfect! “Today I am STEADFAST in His direction as I faithfully imagine all He has planned for me. I am circling it in prayer and putting it into action. I will not be shaken by circumstances, but remain loyal to God, myself and my commitments!”

I mean look at the mantra! I was ready to tackle my health and grow my relationship with Him. Nothing was gonna shake me or break me! I was ready! Little did I know on January 1st when I stuck my word/mantra beside my bathroom mirror how much more I would need it for.

One thing I have noticed is you think your word & mantra comes to you for one reason, BUT GOD has given it to you for another. The year unfolds and that word takes on new meaning. Your mantra becomes so much more.

I missed New Year retreat this year, but got to take my niece to Universal Studios for a long weekend. It was her first time flying and our first time to Universal. She is a huge Harry Potter fan so we did all the HP things. We loved Dr. Suess world, too. It was a fabulous trip!

On February 18th our world was rocked! I don’t know how else to explain it. Literally all the wind in our sails deflated in a matter of minutes. I thought I was having a heart attack only to learn later that day it was a panic attack. Made it almost 50 years without ever having one.

At this time I cannot go into the details of the what, but I can share what it did to us. When your trust is betrayed by someone you never in a million years thought would betray you, it really does rock you to your core.

I was even warned we might want to go in a different direction, but my gut never went on alert so we thought we were making the right decision. My gut has rarely failed me. It did this time.

The next few months were a blur. Kev and I went through all the feels. Deep hurt and betrayal were among the strongest feelings we had. It was like walking in quicksand and being surrounded by thick fog. We were truly stuck in that moment. How did this happen? Why is this happening?

I was having panic attacks. We were both dealing with anxiety and depression. As someone who never really had much sympathy for people with anxiety it was a tough lesson to learn. It was the first time in my life I wasn’t sure how to conquer my feelings. I ended up on medication.

The medication numbed me. For me that was worse than being anxious and depressed. I turned to God. Sometimes we forgot that he can do ANYTHING. Through prayer, reading my Bible and talking to people I trusted I was able to work through everything and find my joy again.

Next came the anger. I am not an angry person. I don’t stay mad. I couldn’t shake this anger. I ended up talking to my pastor. He said my anger is normal and very valid. Acting on anger is when it becomes sin. I began praying for God to take away my anger and bring back my zest for life.

That is when I begin to work on forgiveness. I realized forgiveness was for me and me alone. The person(s) don’t even have to know they are forgiven. Once I truly forgave I was able to start mending my heart and soul. I began to see my spark again. We were still heavy in the middle of mess, but the enemy no longer controlled me 24/7.

The gamut of emotions we faced in 2023 were more than anyone should have to deal with. One second things were happening and the next it was crickets. We were always left up in the air wondering is it over or what’s next. We were still riding a rollercoaster, but it didn’t control me anymore.

My mantra was something I said to myself multiple times a day. I had to remind myself to stay steadfast in his direction, to circle it in prayer, give it to Him and I would NOT be shaken by the circumstances of life.

As we faced this battle I prayed so much. I cried out to God. I asked him to show me if we were wrong, if there was something we needed to see and He consistently told me to remain steadfast and keep our eyes on Him. He gave me this verse again and again. James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”.

We took a leap of faith and completely changed our lives moving back to Kentucky. We knew God wanted us to use our farm to glorify Him. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we never expected this.

In October 2022 I was in Oklahoma at friends house. A book on Kim’s desk caught my eye. She gave me that book and I read it that fall. Looking back now I see how God gave me that book to prepare me for this battle. The book was called The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. I actually used “circle in prayer” in my mantra. That was before I knew what this year would hold. That book helped me so much this year. I clearly heard God tell me this was our Jericho. Silently circle it in prayer and trust Him with this rest. When the times comes He will tell us when to shout and watch that “wall” fall!

To this day we remain STEADFAST in God. We got off the rollercoaster of emotions and put our faith in Him and His timing. We are not letting what is happening keep us from living our best life. Despite the difficulties we faced in 2023 we still had a really good year. Stay tuned for the goodness of 2023.

Light Shine Bright

/ Kelly Bea / Leave a comment

As we rolled into 2021 we were still learning to live in a covid world.  Here in the United States we were dealing with election fallout and a change of Presidents.  Despite all the chaos that 2020 brought I was overflowing with joy for all the good God was doing in my life.

Restoring my relationship with God had me centered and focused on living the life He has in store for me. I knew that in 2021 I wanted to shine bright for him.  I wanted to be a light in the darkness. Most importantly I wanted people to look at me, see my zest for life and know it’s all because of God. With all that in mind the word ILLUMINATE became my word for 2021.

The mantra I said to myself daily: “With a heart on fire for the Lord, I will live my life with so much zest that I ILLUMINATE Him in all I do!”

Why ILLUMINATE?  The definition is “make (something) visible or bright by shining light on it; light up”. I want to light up God and how amazing He is.

Toby Mac has a song called “Lights Shine Bright” that was my theme song for that year.  Here is the first verse: 

I wanna magnify your light
I wanna reflect the sun
Cut like precious diamonds
With the colors by the millions
This is the only world we know
And for now this rental's our home
If we gonna be a reflection
Gotta make this third rock glow
(Just so you know)
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul

I went to New Year Retreat in January of 2021.  This is where it was confirmed that illuminate was my word.  During retreat I really was able to connect and open up about my dreams.  When I left retreat I had my word, mantra and goals for 2021.  I also left with some forever friends and sisters in Christ.

The end of January I ran my first marathon with my 6AM Hotties there to cheer me on.  These are the girls I connected with during the height of covid in 2020.  We worked out together every morning at 6AM.  The only goal for my first marathon was to finish. Based on my 22 mile training run I was thinking I could finish in 5 hours and 5 minutes. 

The marathon started off in the low 60’s and it was raining.  I was happy about this, because I run well when it’s raining.  Around mile 14 the rain stopped, the sun shined bright and the humidity of the south kicked in.  This wasn’t good for me.  I get migraines when I overheat and I was overheating big time.  My pace slowed down and I was struggling big when I hit mile 20. 

Just as my mind was telling me I couldn’t finish my phone rang. It was my friends, Pamela and Jessica calling to cheer me on.  During their pep talk I cried and laughed. They gave me what I needed to finish! 

Just before I hit mile 26 I heard my hotties cheering for me. A couple of them ran with me giving me that burst of energy to finish strong.  I crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 35 minutes.  

Things were going great at work.  I was an administrative assistant on a government contract and in training as a ACPSO (Assistant Corporate Program Security Officer). 

On the other hand, my husband was miserable at his job.  He had been staring at code since 1997 and just needed a break.  My goal was to get to a place in my career that Kevin could quit his job and go do something else.

God had other plans. He dropped the first little spark one night in May.  Kevin and I were looking at old pictures on TV and one of our family farm in Kentucky popped up.  I made some comment about how this is the spot I always wanted to build a hunting cabin and he agreed.  That little spark caught fire and burned bright in a matter of months.

Seriously, by September we were closing on our house in Alabama and moving in with my mother in law in Kentucky.  We had our spot picked and we were talking to my uncle about building our little farmhouse.  

We felt God’s guidance every step of the way.  He was lighting our path.  We knew He had big plans for us in Kentucky. 

This blog started because I felt like God was telling me to share our story.  It was another way to ILLUMINATE Him.  You can go back to the beginning of my blog for all the details of how 2021 unfolded.

As 2021 came to an end we were soaking up all that God was doing in our lives.  On New Year’s Eve we moved into the back bedroom and guest bathroom of our little farmhouse. Although we still had a ways to go to finish the house we sure were excited to kick off New Years 2022 waking up on the farm!

New Year’s Eve