This is our testimony video our church did. We pray it reaches thousands to help transform their life and marriage! God is good and faith.
You should arrive at your destination _______?
I guess I’ll finish with this thought: Think! Think about your actions and the choices you make. The choices that you think only affect you, play a huge role in other people’s journeys and the paths they choose and the ones that they can’t but live with the impact.
Financial Prosperity, Past Burdens
This year we started to really look into buying a house. After spending the past 10 years either paying someone else’s mortgage or living in apartments. We realize we wanted a change and fast.
Southern California is where we want to plant our roots. We both spent the majority of our life’s in Missouri and are very happy with not returning. Yes, a lot of our family is there and we love them so much but we have so much out here.
It’s funny a couple years ago I would have told you that I wanted to stay 20 years in the Marine Corps. Funny how people and priority’s change. One of the biggest reasons is our church and our church family. We just want to be around them.
So let the house hunting begins. I did the math and I have spent over 350k in rent which 10 years ago would have paid for a house by now.
The first Saturday was rough I image it would be for anyone with 2 kids driving around for 5 hours. It was also very unproductive because we didn’t find a single thing that would work. From hosting a Connect group to having family stay with us for weeks at a time.
After we finally broke down what we where looking for it came down to this.
1. 3+Bedrooms, 2+Bathrooms, 2 Car garage
2. Backyard (Connect Group/ Girls play area)
3. Low crime rate (doesn’t matter city)
4. 35-40min from work max
5. Good Public Schools for selling
6. Price ?
Well on the second day we found a house that we really liked. It meet all the need and wants even excited them in many areas. So we put in an offer. And….. we didn’t get it. Why? One thing plain and simple. Money.
We have the VA Loan because of the military. Really we don’t do to bad with the money we make. What I have noticed is the choices that we made in the past are effecting the prosperity in the present.
Even though we are living a totally different life. Even a different mindset shift. We have to pay for the the choices we made.
On paper we look like financial geniuses. I have a 809 Fico score (thanks babe). With all the pays it breaks down like this.
1. Basic Pay E-6 10yrs = $3636.40
2. Food Allowance = $369
3. Housing Allowance= $3,033
4. Special duty = $375
5. After Taxes = ~$6800
Not to bad. So what’s our price range $525k. Why so low because we are what you call. Car broke. We have 2 car payments and all the insurance that comes along with that it’s close to $1k.
Yes, let the financial critics ranting.
Told you we where going to be vulnerable.
We where in a different time. We saw happiness in the things that we owned. We were unhappy within ourselves with each other. So we bought stuff and boy do we have some stuff. But that’s for a different day.
This post is a lesson. Even if you change your life around a complete 180. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay for your choices in the past. Every action has a consequence.
This post isn’t just about Money. It’s about getting your life on track. Setting solid goals. Chasing what you want I hope to prosper.
At the end of your life no one cares about your stuff.
Momma Talk
We as moms feel like we have to live up to a certain standard. But honestly that standard should be whatever works for you and not a different mom.
Every kid is different and needs to be raised different. We can’t sit around beating ourselves up day in and day out about what didn’t work. Instead jump into the season your in and love every second of it. Even through those whinny screaming days (we all know every kid goes through that season) . Give God praise for it .
Being a mom isn’t easy but man is it rewarding. God choose you of all the moms out there to be your kids mommy for life! So kiss and hug them all the time!
The season I’m in is a little crazy with a 6 month old and 4 year old . I wake up in the morning thinking yes I’ll sneak down stairs grab my coffee open up my devotions and have a little peace and quite. hehehe
Then I hear the little foot steps of my sweet Kylee girl coming down stairs or the cries of London ready to be fed! God knows my heart and knows my intentions about diving into his word but in this season my girls are needing my attention .
So I try to space my God time through out the day . Sometimes I can finish my reading sometimes it takes me 4 times to read it ! But I realized I have to stop stressing over things out of my control in a sense and let God in and just go with the flow of the season you are in right now!
One day my girls will be off to college and my house will be quiet and I’ll have all the time to read my devotions alone but then I’ll probably sit back and be like man I miss the sounds of footsteps or crying. I need to enjoy and smile in every season God walks me through.
There can be peace in every season if you allow God in!
I love being a mom and wife . Something that comes hard for me that I’m working on right now is putting God first then my amazing husband then my girls.
It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the day with my kids then realize crap I haven’t engaged with my husband or Heavenly Father some days. Ive gotten so much better at making sure my girls come last in that line up! Which may come off bad to some but that’s the order we have set to have a Healthily family .
Without my husband there is no complete family . So I need to put his needs over my girls needs first .
I’m not perfect or know everything . Shoot I’m still learning things everyday from other amazing moms in my community. Let’s be encouraging other moms and lifting them up. Instead of tearing them down for the things they do! We can all learn from each other !
#momblog
You may swim but Have you been caught in a rip current?
Recently I made a trip to Hawaii. I stayed on the island on Oahu. It was amazing with the views of the mountains, the clear ocean, and of course the waves.
The first night my buddy asked if I would like to go snorkeling. Since I had never been snorkeling in Hawaii I accepted the invite.
The first location we went to was very pretty. It was this big cove protected from the wind and the waves. At that location there was really no danger except the occasional sea irchent and scrapping your legs and feet on coral.
We spent a good amount of time there but there wasn’t any big fish, sea turtles, or sharks. We decided to move locations to what he said was a better location.
The second location was completely exposed to the elements. I watched as my buddy swam out to the location without much thought I jumped in and joined him. The view was amazing. The ocean went from about 10 feet to a drop off of over 60 feet. That’s the stuff I had come to see.
Bobbing up and down in the surf made us a little woozy, plus we had been out there for about 30 minutes so we decided to head in. The tide was heading out and at that moment I realized I was in trouble.
See I had been swimming since I was 4 or 5. I was very familiar with Missouri’s lakes, rivers, and ponds. I had even swam across a lake and back just to say I did it. This was different body of water all together. It took me 30 seconds to get out to the location but back I wasn’t even moving.
To be perfectly honest I was freaking out. All life guards where long gone. The sun had just set over the horizon and there was a sliver of light. Everything I had learned about rip current went out the window no relaxing what so ever.
Just about the time I was going to just start survival floating, I prayed, give me the strength I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure I’m not suppose to go out like this. Just as I finished. My buddy yelled at me.
I looked up he came back a little ways and explained the best method to get back to the shore. He swam the rest of the way with me. Giving me little tips along the way. This whole event took about 15 min to get in even though we were only 35ish meters from shore.
I was exhausted. I went back to my hotel room and fell on my bed. It was one of those experiences I will never forget. One because I didn’t know if it was going to be my demise or not. Those experiences are the ones you will learn a lesson and apply for the rest of life.
What was learned. In all things in my life from fitness, finance, or faith. I can stay in the cove of comfort and maybe suffer only a couple scraps here and there and never see the real beauty of life or snag that big fish. Accomplish the massive goals. The big reward lives in the deep not the shallows.
I’m not saying just jump in like I did blindly. But go into it with a buddy/mentor. Someone who can come along side and guide you out and back in as you chase that dream down.
I have lived in the shallows for the past couple year. I haven’t taken any big risks. I have learned through the military to love the uncomfortable. It’s time get that feeling again.
This is a Get out of your comfort Zone post.
Out of order, Automatic Door
I was at a local Starbucks not long ago. Usually I don’t stay and drink my coffee but today I was about 45 minutes early to my brief so I decided to grab a chair with a clear view to the door. This was about this time that the abstract part of my brain kicks in.
It was one of those Starbucks that are located within another store. As I watched people check out of the of the store. I observe them almost running into the automatic door that didn’t seem to be working. At first it was almost comical.
After watching about 10 people do the same thing, I thought, man they should really put up a sign saying that the door is out-of-order so someone doesn’t get hurt. I got up to suggest this to one of the workers. To my surprise there was a sign on the door. It actually had two one on each side.
The sign which was your standard piece of paper, in horizontal format. It had big bold letters and was laminated. It read, OUT OF ORDER SORRY. Height placement of the sign was about eye level of your standard American female. We will call it 5’6″.
So why were so many people about to run into the door? What made them miss this very obvious sign. It was the optimal height. People had ample amount of time to identify it before getting that close. So why?
At this point I had been sitting there for about 25 minutes. So I came to several concussions about the people I watched and how it applied to everyday life.
First person. The I was to distracted. These were the people who were texting, reading the receipt, or they where looking through their bags searching for something in it. So I would say they had a reason. It wasn’t really a good one. They just seemed oblivious to the whole situation until it was too late.
Second person. These were the individuals who saw the sign. They realized that it was broken so they just avoided it they walked around leaving that door behind them and went about their day. They had good posture, head up, and moved to the other door well before they had to juke out the door. We will call them the observer but not the fixer.
The third person. This person slowly became the hardest to watched and actually saddened me after a while. They had no phone in hand, no receipt, and not looking in their bag. They were simply looking at the ground. Like the world had beaten them down. In the animal kingdom they would be the smaller of the pack a loner and had to eat last after everyone else who mattered had their fill.
Why am I telling this story. I’m telling this story because I feel it has a direct correlation to individuals who commit or make attempts to commit suicide. You may think its a stretch. But this is the beauty of abstract thinking. I have personally been effected by suicides multiple time. In my own family, friends in the military, and close friends. I myself have made excuses and heard others do the same.
I’m not trying to dog on people, once again I am one. When I hear well I didn’t even know anything was going on with them. I question if they where one of those 3 people formally described.
If you’re the first person. Your excuse may, I was so busy or I didn’t know anything was going on with them, sometimes it could be happening within your own house or family. But your on that #grind and you have to many things going on you don’t even notice. Then it’s too late.
The second person the observer. He or she may be able to read the signs or even just identify that something seems off. Then they tell themselves well I’m not qualified to deal with this. If I turn now I won’t even have to. I can exit stage left. The next person should be able to deal with that or their family can handle it. I’m on a schedule.
The third person. They my be that someone or even my be the next out-of-order automatic door. They could just want someone to talk with. Or maybe they just want someone to intervene on their behalf. I bet you that before that door stopped working it wasnt working properly.
By now you’re wondering who is doing something. Who is the good Samaritan. The fourth person. Wait there is a forth person. You didn’t say there was a forth person. Or did I.
The fourth person identified that their was something wrong with the door. They took the time to make the sign have it laminated. Placed it at the right height. Then they put in a work request and wait around for someone who knew how to fix it to come and help.
See everyone in this observation of mine was effected by the door. They took the door for granted. The door just became apart of their routine to go about their life. In this case and many others that person could be an automatic door in your life it could be your barber, barista, co-worker, employee, or many other people who are apart of your automatic routine to get where your going.
Next time you go through your daily routine. Put down the post, the text, and observe those people who make your day automatic. The ones most would overlook or take for granted. What you might observe. Could change someone’s world or save a life.
This is a challenge.
Through the Desert, Stuck on the Edge of Paradise
Cleaning out the Clutter: Part 1 of 6 Mentality
“The desert is the theater of the human struggle of searching for God”
Jan Majernik
For whatever reason every time I travel through the desert I receive some sort of prophetic word. It could be hours of travel mixed with the audio of a life changing book from my audible. Or it could be the silence where I can hear clearly only one voice other than my own. This is the conversation between the Holy Spirit and myself. Which led to several observations which I quickly turned into principles to follow and live my life by.
Two trips ago as I entered the desert. I passed the rows of windmills that line the freeway. I saw a shirt it was stuck along the base of a cactus. I knew it was a shirt but that was about it. I couldn’t tell you what the original color of it was, the brand, material it was made from, or how long it had been out there. The only thing that I knew for sure was that it was a shirt.
Then the conversation started. There is so many people out there just like that shirt. At first I was puzzled. Why are so many people like shirts? I said. The voice replied again, “people aren’t like shirts, there are though people like THAT shirt.” That shirt, what was with that one in particular.
The voice said, “Look back, what do you see?” Well I see the highway that leads all the way to the coast, where I much rather be. Where did you see that shirt? On the corridor to that highway, to the coast, at the base of a cactus. Do you like the desert or do you like the coast? Quickly I replied I like the coast. At the coast there is so much life, joy, and wealth.
Whats in the desert? Not much its pretty barren, extreme hot and cold, wind, and exploding meth shacks on occasion. What would have happened if that shirt didn’t get stuck? Hypothetically it could be at the coast or in a thriving city. Then it hit me.
We were talking about the shirt not what it was made of but about the location of the shirt. It was about a mentality issue. So many people get caught up on the color of their skin, the branding that the world has given them. The material which is where they come from be it the getto or Beverly Hills. Or even age. They are so worked up about those things that they miss where they can be going.
They weight all those things, they except all the labels that the world says about them and get stuck right before paradise. Right on the edge all they need is one side step. I thought it was silly that people would see the beauty and not just change their direction.
They make that journey through the desert, the battering wind, blistering heat, freezing cold, and the occasional explosion. Then they stop. Their story never gets told. Why, because no one wants to listen your story if you’re stuck in the desert. We hear enough Boo Hoo stories. Those are the stuck ones.
You must crossover into that paradise. At first it might be uncomfortable. You might have to leave those other shirts/people behind. Maybe you getting out, helps others get out of their desert. I know what you are thinking. What if I get labeled? What if I become that guy or girl? Who did that thing? What if no one believes my story? All you can do is display it by the new life that you live. Let your fruit be your representation. There is a good chance that those people who are yelling at you. They are stuck in the desert and are too comfortable being there.
Then last question was asked. Where are you at? I answered with no real confidence. The Ocean. REALLY!!! The life your living is what you want paradise to look like? The Legacy that you want to leave your girls? This is the way that you want people to remember your name? Confidently. No. End Conversation
So begin our families quest for Complete Prosperity. Of course there could be some dry areas along the way but I can promise it will be identified, we will side step, and our eyes will remain along the path God has for us.
This is a self assessment.
Test to Testimony Part 2
Moriah here to share my side of the testimony, our shortcomings in marriage without God, our victory when I turned to God in our darkest hour and gave him control, and the victory when we both came to God together and started over.
Gabe and I had very different upbringings. He had to go to church, I got to choose when I wanted to go. He was the first-born, I was the baby. He didn’t have abuse in his past. My past had some very dark moments in it, that I didn’t realize would play a part in the way that I saw men or treated them.
In 1 Cor 13:4-7 MSG says, Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
2017 was the low point in our marriage my husband was heading off on deployment and I was headed home to stay with his parents. During this point things were not going well in our marriage to say the least.
We were packing up our house to go into storage. We argued everyday not the way you want to spend the last couple days before your husband leaves you and your daughter for deployment. I wish I could tell you that the distance made it better that he saw the amazing thing we had with each other but it didn’t because the problems was never solved.
The transgressions that he committed I was keeping them in my heart. At this point I was pretty sure that my husband was going to leave me. Despite that I continued to pray for him, I had others praying for him, and I had people praying for myself that I would put my trust fully in God.
Side note: There is somethings that women should never have to put up with. So don’t think for a second that if you went through abuse or infidelity that I am condemning you for leaving. I’m not and you deserve respect.
The reason I held on for so long was due to a prophecy that I received about our marriage. That there would be a second marriage, and a second babe. At that time I had no idea what that ment and wouldn’t see the whole prophecy fulfilled until Mid 2018. But God was faithful as I continued to surrendered to him.
I went to marriage counseling and couples meetings by myself. Working on my own problems even though he wasn’t making his life any better. Even through the lies and his transgressions I forgave not once or twice but more than I could count on my hands. I know that you might think I’m crazy but I kept turning to the Bible and the verse I found…
Luke 17:3-4 MSG says, Be alert. If you see your friend doing wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it’s personal against you and repeated seven times through the day, and seven times he says, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,’ forgive him.”
I hear wives say all the time I forgive him for what he did but it will never be the same. If that’s you, then you haven’t forgave him and you shouldnt want it to be the same. The way it was is what led you down the path to start with. Keep no records of wrongs. John 8:7 says He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her. Turn to God pray that God removes it from your mind. Make it better than before.
Fast-forward to now, it was not tell this Jan 2018 that I got him to church more than 10 years of me praying for him. Then it happened, I gave him no option, he went to church with me. During the message I saw tears running down his cheeks. This man who I knew who had hardened his heart to me, his family, and placed barriers up they began to break down.
Then miracle number one. The next Sunday he asked to go with me. Inside I was jumping for joy and then same thing I saw tears and I started to see joy enter back into his life.
Then miracle number two he said, I’m quitting drinking to work on myself and he went cold turkey 8 months. Until he broke that bondage over his life and the alcoholism.
Miracle number 3. He went to a mens retreat (Shout out to C3 Mens Emerge) with the church which he said he would never do and gave his life to God, then same day got baptized.
On the 18th of March the church asked him to give his testimony. This man I knew from someone who would never step in church again was standing on stage in our church telling about how amazing God changed his life and without warning he pointed at me and said, I wouldn’t be here sharing this amazing story If it wasn’t for my amazing wife who is a woman of God and prayed for me everyday.
Imagine if I would have given up on him who knows where he would be, but because of my faithfulness and trust in God I have a husband who’s testimony has changed men and lead them to accept Jesus as there Lord. I have people coming up to me saying how much my husband and our story has changed their life. My husband has now returned to that same mens retreat but this time as a Captain, and has even preached at the youth service.
And that prophecy that I was holding on to. That second marriage, My husband surprised me with a renewal of our Vows on the beach, for our 9 year wedding anniversary. That second baby, London Faith was born Oct 21,2018. Those things God had promised me, came to pass. He is so Faithful.
We still have things that we have to work on. There are areas that we have suppressed for a long time, and neglected. But now we work on it as a couple with God at the center of our marriage.
I’m so happy I get to share with all the readers. If you need words of wisdom please reach out. We aren’t counselors by any means but we did walked through it.
I would also like to thank all those who stood by me and prayed.
Tests to Testimony
Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength
Sigmund Freud
Gabriel- God is my strength.
It was Jan 2018 and I wasn’t a good husband, father, or a good person as a matter of fact.
Side Note: This testimony has been redacted, not as bad as a Hillary court case but just enough to protect people and for legal reasons.
Bad husband is the best label for it. I hear people say O well he’s a good person at heart not the best husband or vice versa. Stop that’s Crap. You can’t be both its eventually going to spill over into the other aspect of life. Plan and simple Bad Tree = Bad Fruit. What that person is really saying is “I love him/her and I’m ashamed but don’t want to leave him/her”
For me there was really no excuse. I wasn’t raised on the wrong side of town. I wasn’t abused. No, I had two amazingly loving parents that cared for me and meet all of my needs. I actually come from a line of Pastors, Minister, and Missionaries. Quick shout out the them for declaring big things over my life. I am now reaping the benefits of those prayers and affirmations.
Growing up was easy, church twice on Sunday, once on Wednesday, and be home when the street lights turned on. I didn’t realize it then but looking back now, my parents were pretty cool. I felt that it was only a bunch of rules and ways to keep me from having fun. Sound familiar to anyone, else thought. So once I was older I immediately feel in to the party crowd. Summer before my Senior year I moved out of my house which left me homeless and broke. Looking back I feel so bad for my parents because there was multiply times I would show up drunk or hungover from the night before to church. The next 12 years didn’t get much better.
It’s funny how it all changes at the point of rock bottom. For me the first rock bottom was my senior year of high school, soccer season had just ended. It was the last time I was going to be able to put a soccer jersey on. Not because I wasn’t good I was good. In fact every senior that year went on to play in collage except… yours truly. Due to my actions, which included getting kicked off the soccer team Twice. I had lost all chance at a scholarship. So what did I do I ran right back home to mom and dads. Remember the move out because I could make it on my own.
I wish that’s where this whole thing ended but No. What I was really doing was running back to Mom and Dads to get coddled. Lick my wounds before stepping into the real world five months later. All in all I didn’t learn a single thing.
With no chance of soccer in my future I switched to option two, the Marine Corps. With Moriah(Amazing Wife) and I in a long distance relationship, we meet my senior year, and I being 19 in Southern California, and no one to tell me no, you can imagine the trouble I got in. Thank God for the bigger plans that he had for me there is a lot of other places that I could be right now besides beautiful sunny California.
The lifestyle that I choose to idolize. Set in motion one of the biggest shifts my mindset of what a husband should be or even a man and how we should treat women. I no longer thought Love and Kindness was what made a man, just like how I saw my Dad treat my Mom. No, now I was a SAVAGE and all I wanted to do was Eat, Sleep, Drink, Pillage, Lie, Cheat, and Steal to get to where Gabriel wanted to go. So I Did.
This kept going for 10 years tell all Hell broke loose in 2017. An avalanche of past and present transgression all came into light at the same time. Moriah had had enough. Which I thought meant she was leaving, which was fine at the time I was deployed, most likely drinking, and way to lazy to want to deal with the paperwork, but NOPE. She was going to press in and pray for me harder then she ever had.
Side note: For 10 years Moriah had been praying for what she wanted me to be. How did her prayers finally shift my atmosphere.
Moriah started praying for me to be the man that God called me to be, not the man that Moriah wanted me to be.
Through the tears and the disintegrated heart that I one of the many men in her life had caused. She told me through FaceTime. She was going to pray for me. I laughed at her, it was an evil laugh like show me your God as if growing up I hadn’t seen all the amazing things that he did. Funny how the power of prayer works. Give it a shot, sometimes it takes years.
All of 2017 I fought to push her away. Beating her down with my words and actions continuously. I question myself, even in this moment after being a changed man, if I Gabriel Axtell would be able to offer someone such Grace, Love, and continue to press in for someone so evil. Feel free to ask yourself the same thing.
But wait every good story has to have silver lining in this story is January 2018. Moriah busts into our bedroom, at this point we were more roommates than Husband and Wife. Then she said the dreaded 4 words for any heathen “Your going to Church.” Due to me not properly planning my Sunday with some sort of activity usually golf, and not completely obliterating myself with alcohol the night before, I really had no excuse. Plus she had been raging about this new church that she found C3 Church in Carlsbad.
I hated that first time, and the second, and the third, don’t get it twisted C3 Church changed my life. No I hated it because I couldn’t stop crying. Here I was a strong 235 lbs Marine who had been places and done some stuff, lived like a Viking Warlord and I was Crying. What was going on. I know now it was Grace that overcame me. Not only Gods grace but Moriah’s as well. Why did I deserve to feel that Love.
It took only two months for me to totally give in. I rededicated my life to the Lord at C3 Mens Emerge the Mens retreat. The best way to describe Emerge is like God meets Gladiator, Epic. If you are reading this and you’re a man, or a woman and you have a man. Get them there it will change their lives. I did mine and since that time I have watched countless other marriages get restored, and peoples mindset shift.
This is my testimony in a nut shell. It took 12 years of running for me to hit rock bottom and surrender. That 12 years I could have been walking in my God calling, even now after all of the garbage things I did, God still has a purpose for me as well as you. A plan for me/you to Prosper. He is Love and his Grace is amazing. It’s time to give him 100 percent.
Thank you my Love for believing in me.
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me!
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
This post is just a short summary to what Complete Prosperity is all about. In my 29 years of life i have walked through many things. I have done 3 deployment, been in the military for over 10 years, been married for 10 of those this year June 5th, and have had 2 amazingly beautiful baby girls.
To most that seems like I’m on the right track but what they don’t see is the near divorce, health issues, and the financial struggles. That I being hard headed have caused with a lack of self discipline.
I realize that in this last year before I get out of the Marine Corps that I really don’t know where to step next. I have dreams and business ideas but no knowledge of what it takes.
Complete Prosperity is going to be an in-depth look into my life and journey to achieve what i believe i have been called to do.
That calling is to PROSPER.
During the next 365 days. I’ll be diving into 1. Personal (Mind, Body, and Spirit) and 2. External, The 3 F’s (Family, Finances, and Friends).
This Blog will include the Habits I have to change, books I read, Mentors along the way, and me just being Venerable.
I look forward to your feedback.
Thank you.
Complete Prosperity 