DIANE O'CONNOR

"What an idiot!—How could you do that!" "How could God let this happen?" "I can't believe I did it again—I'm such a failure." Have you ever had thoughts like those? I have. accusing, critical, judgmental, condemning thoughts against God against others against myself Thoughts like that are actually planted in our minds by our Adversary—the Accuser. That's right. We have an invisible adversary. Satan was originally an angel called Lucifer, meaning "morning star" or "light-bring

Last year I learned something. I learned that Satan and his minions whisper to us—spirit to spirit. That is how temptation happens. I also learned that Satan and his minions are very crafty and sometimes speak to us in the first person. For example, instead of whispering, "You are never going to get better" or "You are going to die," "You are addicted," "You're an idiot!" they whisper, "I am never going to get better," "I am going to die," "I'm an addict," or I'm an idiot!"

"As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." Proverbs: 23:7 I understand that I am a spirit who has a soul and lives in a physical body. So then, what is my "heart?" I've realized that my heart is the essence of who I am. It's where my spirit and soul join together. My spirit and soul are so closely united that it's often too hard for me to tell which is which! That's why I need God's Word: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetr

"As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." Proverbs: 23:7 In Part 1 we talked about how amazing our minds are, and how quickly a thought comes in, causes a feeling which cases an action, reaction, or inaction. This leads to our current results. We talked about how easily we fall into a negative cycle if we are not being intentional to think about what we are thinking about. God's Word tells us what to do in order to break out of a cycle of problematic thinking. Romans's 12:2

"As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." Proverbs: 23:7 I've been thinking a lot about thinking. I've realized that my mind is a battlefield and it's crucial for me to understand how it works so I can win the battles taking place there very day. I invite you to track with me as I share some things I've been learning . . . Our minds are absolutely amazing! For over thirty years I've been thinking about how EVERYTHING starts on the inside, where no one can see—as a thought. Fr

Who Should I Be Leading? "Who should I be leading?" was the question that rolled over and over in my mind. I had just completed my Masters of Ministry Leadership through Rockbridge Seminary, and I was working at Christian life Fellowship serving in the area of Ministry Development. Pastor Dean wanted to know what I would include in basic leadership training, A myriad of ideas about leadership development circled through my mind—there were so many things a leader should know!

April - May 2020. I was surfing the net for inspiration for mixed media floral design, and found that Elizabeth St Hilare was offering an online workshop. I jumped right in! I've always enjoyed her work, so this would be inspiring, fun, and give me a little interaction with other COVID but-ins, as well. Elizabeth is famous for her "Paper Paintings" — printing interesting papers in all the colors on her palette and then tearing and applying them as her "brush strokes." I love

I mentioned in Father, Part 1 that over the past year God has been emphasizing to me that He is a loving Father. In my Hooked on Hebrew class with Rebecca Levas I learned that the word Father is made up of the Hebrew symbols for "Strength of the House." And the word love comes from the symbols "Strength of the house revealed." Thus, love is "The Father Revealed." I have studied the Names of God and knew him in a myriad of ways - especially as El Elyon - the Most High, and El

For almost a year now, The Lord has been taking me deeper in my understanding of him as my loving Father. It started last year with a verse in Luke, “Fear not little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” I realized that I believed that was true for everyone else—in my head I knew this to be true, but it had not taken root deep within my own heart—for me personally. While I put my trust in God, I mostly focused on "Jesus" and had not thought too muc

Things seemed to be going wrong. Everywhere. It seemed like no matter what I did I was always wishing I did not feel so much Stress and Anxiety. I was thinking about it so much that it even led to physical symptoms that were awful! I prayed for answers and the Lord began to teach me a lot. I learned that Anxiety was actually associated with a spirit of Fear, and I learned that Stress is simply a modern day term for a spirit associated with Fear. I began to work on defeating

Over the past couple years it finally sunk in to my heart that Fear is not merely a feeling. God's Word tells me Fear is a spirit. And Stress, Anxiety, Worry, Dread, Fear of Failure, Fear of the future, Drivenness, Perfection, Performance, Fear of Man, Fear of Sickness, Fear of Death—and on and on—[all the things I've struggled with at various times] are all "minions" who serve under the Spirit of Fear. They whisper to my mind in order to steal my peace, kill my joy, and dest

SERMON ON THE MOUNT Right before all of this COVID stuff started getting serious, the Lord had put it on my heart to begin a 9-week study on the Sermon on the Mount* to see it as a cohesive unit - as Jesus’ longest recored message - to see Jesus as King, telling us what it means to be a citizen of his upside-down Kingdom. I’ve been learning a lot, and so much of it confirms our inside-out leadership model. Through the beatitudes He shows us how a citizen’s character takes roo

Me: "Oh NO - I lost my joy!!!! Bob: "What?" Me: "I can't find it - I misplaced my joy!" Bob: "What?" Me: "You know, the small mixed media collage I was working on last night." And then it hit me - I was talking about misplacing a physical object - a small work of art that I had been working on, but a spiritual message was right there in front of me! How often have I misplaced my joy? It feels like it's lost, but really it's there, deep down inside, just waiting for me to red