If I had known what God has going to take me through when He woke me up on July 27, 2023, I am not sure that I would have gone quite so eagerly LOL…but of course I will always and only follow Jesus. On that morning, the Father woke me up at 5 am, and He said, “follow Me through the Aspen trees to the place of tangible hopes”. 

Jesus been not only my support for many years now, but He is my Best Friend. Where else would I go? He is the only truly loyalty I had ever known and the only One that I could trust not to hurt me when I am vulnerable and in need. 

So followed Him….and He led me to a whole different state with only enough money in my bank for one night at a hotel. Since that day, it has been nothing short of miracle, after miracle, after miracle. 

At the same time, it has been a time of deep growth, healing, and deliverance from fears and doubting. I had to know for myself that God would never drop me or fail to keep His promise… 

There were times when He took me through very narrow paths that I had to get down so low to get through, such as the night when we had to sleep in the car at a truck stop for a few hours before the hotel money came through. I have sobbed myself to sleep more nights than I can count, because of the fear of not surviving and the appearance of no support coming in.

Often I felt unloved and forgotten by man. Many watched me struggle and turned the other way. They didn’t care, or maybe they just didn’t want to be bothered from their comfortable life. I had to pour my soul out to Jesus and force myself to believe, because faith was the only way to survive.

I have had to convince myself in those dark times that Jesus would never stop loving me, and He would never break His vows. The thing about this path was…. God was leading the way, and not I. I had to do things His way and trust His unusual ways to get to the desired destination. 

There were times when I didn’t know how we would eat, and I had to press all of my faith into God’s promise to feed us. Jesus led me through faith tests of imagining and believing that I had His promise fulfilled, even before it happened. 

There was one horrible morning when I went to pack up the car because we were scheduled to check out in the morning of the hotel. But I couldn’t find the car. My heart was suddenly in a panic and I realized that it had been repossessed. 

Yet God was so good. He promised me that we would get the car back, and He did just what He said. We got the car back and my payment plan has been according to how Jesus provides for it…which is not according to what the world expects. 

I have had to lay the entirety of my weight and my daughters weight upon Jesus to hold us up and keep His word. There was a time recently when I didn’t think there was any way to get through. 

My computer had broken, and we were at the end of our reservation. There was no way to go forward, but God surprised me with generous sweetness. He provided me with a BRAND-NEW laptop to write on this blog, AND He provided another 2 weeks free to stay at a beautiful hotel with a kitchen.

So for the next 2 weeks God blessed us with refuge and a calm, nurturing space where I can write. I just have to trust God for our food and other bill needs. I am also still trusting Him for the rest of my daughter’s tuition miracle needs, but I know that He has her too. This gift was such a relief! 

Jesus has been my everything. No matter what anyone says about me, nothing can remove His love and leadership off of my life. May God deal accordingly with those who accuse in any other way. 

It has been over 7 years of nonstop miracles since I stepped into a Super 8 hotel in Florida with only enough money for me and my kids to stay a few nights. We had no car, no home, and no one who cared to help us survive. You can read the fullness of that in my book, Naked Wings.

We were cast out like garbage on the side of the road, and Jesus picked us up and promised to be our “Home”. He promised to support us on this blog and to always give us good food to eat. He promised we would always have comfortable refuge and that His love would keep us safe. 

For all of these years, God has never dropped us or failed to complete those promises. That is real life miracles that cannot be replicated. Let that be known to those who hold accusations in their heart of who I follow. 

We just got to the new place yesterday, and I was instantly tested in trusting God’s protection. I had to face so many fears of the “past pain” and “past fears” happening again, right off the get go. 

God told me that I would have to walk through a place of facing my past fears, so that I could have renewed faith to trust Him completely. He even led me to read the childhood story of “Billy Goat’s Bluff” and how the goats needed to cross the bridge to get over to the other side where there were more provisions. 

However, there was a fearful looking troll on the bridge threatening to kill the billy goats. The last billy goat had to kill the troll of fear in order to cross the bridge, where the plentiful provisions were found. 

That is where I am and it is overwhelming. God has been telling me to shed away the afflicting memories of pain and fear, like a snake shedding its skin to grow bigger. Then He told me to press into my hopes with all of my strength, like adding yeast to bread to cause it to rise. 

The thing about living by true faith is that we cannot take the past with us in order to move forward. Fear is connected and rooted in the past. Whether that is past hurts, trauma, disappointments, etc. 

To remove the fear is to remove the past. It is a constant faith exercise to push the negative energy away and stay rooted in faith in what God promised. We have to let those painful memories from the past go in order to move forward and step into the land of promise. Fear is like the troll that blocks the bridge. 

We need to expand by faith, by letting go of what hurt us and choosing to trust God to give us a new experience. We need to be made new in our minds, every day. 

God promised me that when we let go of the past pain, like a snake shedding its skin, then we will be comforted. Snake skin boots are softer than normal leather boots. They are more flexible to help us to walk and move with grace and FREEDOM. 

That is what happens. Just try it, because letting go of the past fears is the most liberating thing in the world. Imagine what life would be like if you had no fear or doubt in God to do exactly what He said. 

I am learning to walk in such a way, (in the midst of total danger, lol) like learning to use the pain of my past as snake skin boots to walk in the power of God’s salvation. I have to put on the boots of salvation and know that Jesus has got me. Nothing can separate me from His love, and that is the best feeling there is. 

No accusation from man can separate me from His love. No threats of danger can stop God’s love from reaching my place of need. Nothing can stop God’s love from fulfilling His promise. There is no darkness, no other powers, no demons, nothing….nothing can separate us from His love. 

His promise will not fail, and I am putting my life into believing that. He has never let us go, and He never will. For over 7 years, God has held us over the threats of danger and death—and I believe that it will only get better from here. 

I love you! 

Dannette 

https://linktr.ee/dannetteward