Sharing the Journey

  Note to the reader, this post is from my book "From The Shepherds Heart - A Devotional"  which can be purchased at  https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Heart-Dutchess-Horton/dp/1619044404           One of my favorite passages of scripture comes from Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) where God declares, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  It is a very encouraging verse.  It’s full of promise and just a touch of mystery.           This verse says God knows the plan He has for us.  However, it does not say God is going to tell us His plan.  We are told the end result only.  The NIV says hope and a future.  The KJV says an expected end.  But neither version tells us how God will get us to that future or expected end.  God doesn’t share any of the details.   ...

I discovered this post while searching through some old files and felt it was the appropriate time to share. Anyone who is seeking to live for Christ will have some run ins with the accuser. Well sometimes, when he gets busy reminding us of our past, we have to remind him of his future!  Read this letter to satan and maybe write one of your own. Be blessed! --Dutchess There are so many things I have to be thankful for. As I was sitting in my prayer closet with a list of physical needs, the enemy tried to remind me that when God called to me this morning at 5 a.m. I rolled over and went back to sleep. The enemy reminded me that I got a little short tempered with my husband yesterday and that my house STILL isn’t clean and “company ready”. He reminded me that I am always in some sin, be it in word, thought, or deed and that I had a lot of nerve to think I could go to a holy God and ask for anything. But even as the enemy whispered in one ear, the Holy Spirit was whispering in ...

For some time now it has been on my heart to share my testimony here but for reasons I dare not try to explain, I waited. Now I’m certain now it’s time. I don’t know who it’s for but I trust you will find these words at just the proper time and it will encourage your soul and strengthen your faith in The Father – no matter how your circumstances work out. I am the mother of two beautiful teenage girls, 19 and 14. I am also the mother of 8 others, sex unknown, who were never held in my arms but went straight to the bosom of Christ. When I had my first miscarriage, I allowed the enemy to make me think the baby’s death was punishment from God because he’d been conceived in sin. (You will notice that I refer to all of my rainbow babies – babies of miscarriage or still birth – as boys.) That’s another story all together but I no longer believe that lie.  Children are a gift from God and conceived in or out of His perfect plan, He loves them and would not allow their demise just b...

May my desire be for you and for you alone May you and you only sit on my heart’s throne May it be your will and not mine that is done May I die to self daily and live for your Son May all that I am be all that you are May your light within me be a bright, shining star You are my savior and I am your girl May my life revolve around you – the center of my world May I never disappoint you or bring to you shame May my life, words, or thoughts never blemish your Name Jesus my redeemer, my keeper, my friend. Give me strength to go with you till you come back again. This is my plea Lord sent humbly your way May you hear me and answer me whenever I pray. Written by Dutchess Horton All rights reserved © Copyright 2016

                Coming home after dropping my husband off at work I turned on the radio. K-Love was playing a beautiful song, “ He Knows My Name ” by Francesca Battistelli. Listening to the words made me smile and then made my eyes tear. I got to thinking about the unfathomable, unexplainable, inescapable love of God and the fact that He knows MY name.                 Not once has He mispronounced it. Never has He called it by mistake or called me the wrong name and came back with “You know who I mean.” He knows my name. When I was in school it was not always a good thing that all the teachers knew my name. While I didn’t get in “trouble” I was a talker and pretty aggravating – so I’ve since been told. So if I did something, it was hard to get away with it because they all knew my name.        ...