Good morning, you guys!!

I’m here to talk to you about one of my favorite things in the world. Can you guess??? 🙂

It’s COFFEE!! LOL! Yup, it’s true! But did you know I never used to be a coffee drinker? I barely used to be a tea drinker (maybe only an easy Earl Grey).

But through a slow shift from tea, through to flavored French Vanillas, next dipping into a deep dark roast, I am now fully on and fully into being a full-flavored BOLD coffee drinker. 🙂 And anyone who knows me knows there are tablespoons of cream and brown sugar to make it taste even better. (Can you see how and why the addiction has begun? LOL! )

Yup, I prefer to brew my own brand and style here at the house, but some people are pretty dedicated to their coffee stores and sources. You know them — the Starbucks “snob,” McDonald’s “McCafé-er,” and our own local lovely Kootenay Grounds Girls. 🙂 But as any good Canadian will say, the top spot has got to go to good ol’ … Tim Hortons!!

Yes, “Timmies” is a Canadian staple. And I think the most popular cup of coffee from there has got to be the Double Double. (Does anyone else agree?)

Well, I’ve never actually had a Double Double, but when I’ve asked people to pick up what they wanted, what I always get back is a Double Double this and a Double Double that.

Yup, that “DOUBLE DOUBLE” phrase is very special to many a Canadian, and particularly to me, Carol Conroy. But not because of the link to coffee, but the link to … scary seasons of soul-shift when I lived off the “Double Double PROMISE PACKAGE.”

Oh my, just what does she mean THIS time? LOL!

Well, I remembered sitting in a “season and spot” realizing I had to choose whether to DO what God told me in HIS WORD to do and to stop doing what I oh-so-wanted to KEEP doing. Yup, it was pretty darn clear, and yet I had stopped, stalled and got “stuck” at this spot, not MOVING forward, but “staring into this scary blank area” of wanting to KNOW what would come next??? And yet only seeing THE UNKNOWN.

Like, I could straight-up read and hear all the “short- and long-term cons” of what I was doing, I could CALL out my (ridiculous) reasons and rationalization to “want to and have to” keep DOING it, and I could recognize and had realized I was the ONLY one who could make a CHANGE in my choices and so … why did I not just go forward??

Well for me at that time, choosing something new and UNKNOWN was so super scary. Like, the idea of doing something different from maybe what I’d always done just plain up froze me on the inside.

And I remember talking about it to my husband, hoping he would help, but his response was, “Carol, this one’s yours to do.” And, ugh, he left me holding the “bag of decisions” in MY hands, just when I wanted to rely fully on HIM. How cruel!! Couldn’t he HELP ME get OUT of this mess??!! Or better yet, MAKE the decisions for me??

And yet, I think THAT was a lesson that I needed to learn. I mean, if I couldn’t rely on Darin (or anyone else), just WHOM am I going to turn to? Well, after trying numerous options, it turned out I needed to turn to — and here is the “shocker,” girls — GOD.

Yeah, it all came down to God’s WORD when I read Isaiah 61:7: “Instead of your shame, you will receive a DOUBLE portion, and instead of disgrace you WILL rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a DOUBLE portion in your land, and everlasting JOY will be yours.”

Wow, what a great verse. But it was that short phrase, “The Double Double,” that stuck in my head because it basically said a “double portion promise PACKAGE” would be coming. But what did that mean? Honestly, I didn’t really know. And if I didn’t really know, how could I GO ahead with what HE said to do? How could I obey if I don’t fully know what’s next? Or maybe, better said, believe this “promise package” would come true?

Well, as I turned to pages of HIS Word each day, ALL sorts of verses appeared on what HE had to say. Here were black and white words I could CHOOSE to cling my HOPE for true change onto.

And so, as I stood at the start of that “change and shift,” I could NOT SEE what was coming in the “middle,” but I could CHOOSE to CLING to and make my decisions based not on the fear of the UNKNOWN, but on the FACT of the “double double Promise Package” that somehow and some way, God WOULD keep HIS WORD, if I would keep MINE.

And so, I stepped into the “unknown” of the middle (where you can’t see what’s coming NEXT because you never have made these types of DIFFERENT decisions before, learning to let go of the old OPTIONS, and cautiously testing out the NEW). And I will be the first to admit, this was at first totally scary, totally unsettling, totally uncomfortable. And now that I look back? All the negative FEAR and emotions were … totally unnecessary!!!

YES, that whole “empty unknown” mIddle piece, that daring, “dangerous,” dark empty space really WAS the KEY to being the biggest-bogus-belief-buster-upper AND  BIBLE-BELIEF-builder-upper of all!

Yes, it’s true! Step by step, NEW choice by NEW choice, my belief in what God said to DO became stronger and stronger, smoother and smoother, and simpler and simpler … until now??

I love and live off His WORD! Oh, I don’t always get it right (not even close), but I know that I know, that I know in my SOUL, that HE knows best, and so I keep moving for what HE says over MY HEAD.

And the areas that challenge me? I believe that there will be a “Double Double” at the end of the “challenge to change,” and not just in the way that I might see or say, but that God has proven most POSITIVE for me. (And PS His “DOUBLE DOUBLE” PROMISE seems to show up through improving and increasing my relationships in the ultimate FFF AREAS (Faith, Family and Friends). ‘Cause isn’t building up REAL RELATIONSHIPS what He’s all about anyway?

So, get ready to be “SOUL-Satisfied” girls as you CHOOSE to step into the unknown and keep your eyes posted on that Double Double Promise. Trust me, HE won’t let you down … because He has written down HIS promises about 1,001 times in HIS WORD.

Got time to check out

• Exodus 14:4; Deuteronomy 31:8
• And a whack in Isaiah (Why does it seem these old guys have so much to say? LOL!) 

Isaiah 40:29-31; 41:10; 41;13; 43:2; 54:10 … and on and on and on it goes.

So sit back, grab a cup of joe and just be prepared to be IMPRESSED by all that HE has promised to do —  for you.

Carol 😉