reading

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Published by CSA Publishing

A department of Christian Services Association

P.O. Box 1017

Maricopa, Arizona 85139

Unites States of America

www.XPpublishing.com

ISBN 978-1621660149

XPPUBLISHING.COM

dedication

I dedicate this book to hurting, brokenhearted teens who are struggling to know if God even knows they exist. Beloved, He does exist. Through this book you will see that not only does He know you exist but when you are with Him it's as if you are the only one who exists. He loves and cherishes you!

endorsements

"I love Nichole's book! This will deeply inspire many teens and adults to pursue the heart of God. This book will encourage anyone who has a desire to grow. I love to journal and you will, too, as you journey on with Jesus in this book. My prayer is that all teen ministries use this book to inspire their teens to be free in Him in these days of uncertainty."

Theresa Phillips

www.ChicagoPropheticVoice.net

"Nichole has done it again! She has now created a masterpiece for teens. I encourage everyone to get this great gift for your teens, since it is guaranteed to speak to the ups and downs in their lives. We need tools for this new generation to help empower them for the challenges that lie ahead. This devotional journal is that tool!"

Dr. Jeremy Lopez

Founder of www.identitynetwork.net

"Nothing could be a greater treasure to our world than our young people! They carry the seeds of the future as destiny is birthed within them. We need the understanding and wisdom that Nichole shares in this classic devotional - 77 texts from heaven! Buy it for your teens, give it away to your friends, tell the world how much God cares about every young person on this planet! This is the best devotional you'll find for your young person! Thank you, Nichole, for the deposit you are making in the lives of our kids. "

Dr. Brian Simmons

Stairway Ministries

www.stairwayministries.org

"I am very pleased to offer my hearty endorsement to Nichole Marbach's latest contribution to the Body of Christ - 77 texts from heaven. Just as in her first book, these excellent devotional exhortations grant a lingering impression to the reader of a God who is deeply in love with the human race and longs for intimate communication with us. Although this devotional can be viewed as targeting teens and youth, all who read it will be inspired and encouraged from it's content. Thank you Nichole for caring enough to serve us with another delicious spiritual meal from the heart of God."

Jim Wies

editor, itinerate minister

XP Publishing

"Nichole's latest book, 77 texts from heaven, reveals a God who personally walks through life with each of us, whether we know it or not, from childhood on. What an amazing discovery awaits you, young reader, of the Heavenly Father who knows you, loves you, and understands what you are going through. Let these "text messages" sink deep down into your heart."

Lisa Lato

Come and Receive Ministries

www.comeandreceive.com

"Nichole - your gift of hearing from God, interpreting His messages and collecting them as written in your book, 77 texts from heaven, has come at the appointed time when teenage lives are being shattered in schools and churches around the world. Your love and commitment to care for teens will be realized by those who partake of your books. Thank you."

Bonny J. San Hamel

Servant of the Most High God/ Life Coach

BSHministry@aol.com

"This book is an invitation into the Father's heart. Nichole has experienced the love of God in the most powerful way. Thus she is a clear channel through whom God's love comes forth with such purity. The enemy is constantly working to get us to doubt God's pleasure over us, and therefore we need to be constantly reminded. Each of the 77 letters will do just that!"

Daniel Park

Author, Youth Pastor

www.danielhpark.com

"Our youth are the current and future leaders of the end time church. The teens are one of the largest targets for the enemy because he knows if he can derail them at that point in their lives, he will alter our most needed world changers and history makers from impacting the world for the kingdom of God. Nichole's book plays a significant role in restoring God's true identities to the youth. Through her book, our young people will learn how to develop true intimacy with God. Dare I ask, is there anything more important in this day and hour? Nichole's book destroys the lies and mindsets that the enemy attempts to put on our youth and empowers them to be all that our Heavenly Daddy has called them to be."

Mark Kuntz

Greater Works Healing Ministries

www.greaterworkshealing.com

acknowledgements

I would like to thank Heavenly Father for being the best Dad ever and taking care of me the way that I need to be taken care of. Thank You, Father, for being a safe, fun, and loving Father to all of Your precious children, including me. There is no one I enjoy hanging out more with than You! Thank You for loving me no matter what. Your love for all Your kids is amazing, and my prayer is that everyone will come to know it in a deep way in their lives.

I would like to thank my three children for giving me grace for not being the perfect parent. Tiphanie, Lexy, and Lucas, you are gifts from God and I am so proud of all of you. You are so very special to your parents, but especially to your Heavenly Father. Never forget how much He loves and accepts you no matter what. He loves you more than we ever could.

I would like to thank my wonderful husband, Claude, for being such an awesome husband and great father to my three children. Claude has always been a reliable, trustworthy, safe place for myself and my kids, and I am so grateful that God put us together to raise the beautiful family that we have. I love you so much, Claude, and am grateful we are celebrating 20 years of marriage and counting.

I would like to sincerely thank Melanie Ahlquist for being such an important person in my life. Over the last year she has been a precious gift from God, bringing me into deeper inner healing through her many spiritual gifts. She is encouraging, loving, and very supportive. The light and love of Jesus shines through her to bring healing and wholeness to many in the body of Christ. Melanie, I want to thank you for always being there for me, and for helping me to find my voice. You will always have a special place in my heart.

I would also like to thank Jim Wies for how he has helped me in the things of the Spirit through his many spiritual gifts, including wisdom and encouragement. Jim is a mentor to me and I am so grateful that I can always go to him with the many questions on my heart and know that he loves to help me as well as others in the body of Christ to go higher spiritually. His encouragement has assisted me tremendously in fulfilling the call on my life to become an author. He is a solid, trustworthy brother in Christ and I am grateful that God has connected us.

I would also like to say a special thank you to Lisa Lato, Bonny San Hamel, Laurie Riggs, and Theresa Phillips for how they have impacted my life over the last year in various ways. I am grateful to have all of these wonderful sisters who encourage and support me. Thank you for continuing to bless my life.

~Nichole

table of contents

foreword

introduction

my story

day 1 ~ i love you with all my heart

day 2 ~ i love smiling at you

day 3 ~ i love it when you talk to me

day 4 ~ you have power over the enemy's lies

day 5 ~ i will never hurt you

day 6 ~ i love to laugh with you!

day 7 ~ i choose the rejected ones

day 8 ~ you are not a mistake

day 9 ~ i'm not making a list of your sins!

day 10 ~ you are never alone!

day 11 ~ if I could text you

day 12 ~ i want to be your bff

day 13 ~ i'm proud of who you are

day 14 ~ i understand temptation

day 15 ~ i love it when you forgive others

day 16 ~ you are unique

day 17 ~ i am the never-ending safe hug

day 18 ~ i'm never too busy for you

day 19 ~ i understand rejection

day 20 ~ you don't have to work for my approval

day 21 ~ i love spending time with you

day 22 ~ i understand pain

day 23 ~ i came to get you

day 24 ~ you were not created to suffer abuse

day 25 ~ not guilty

day 26 ~ i understand betrayal

day 27 ~ it's about my love for you

day 28 ~ i am true, safe, healthy comfort

day 29 ~ you can trust me

day 30 ~ i am your biggest cheerleader

day 31 ~ i love hanging out with you

day 32 ~ you are precious to me

day 33 ~ the most powerful thing in the universe is my love

day 34 ~ i will never break your heart

day 35 ~ don't be afraid, my beloved

day 36 ~ i never ignore you

day 37 ~ you are my cherished treasure

day 38 ~ i love to have fun with you

day 39 ~ when you cry, i cry with you

day 40 ~ let me help you put the pieces together

day 41 ~ i love it when you dream big

day 42 ~ you are my beloved

day 43 ~ i can give you supernatural energy

day 44 ~ did you know that I sing over you?

day 45 ~ it's an honor to be your heavenly dad

day 46 ~ i will never fail you

day 47 ~ i will always be faithful to you

day 48 ~ say the precious name of jesus

day 49 ~ you are definitely my favorite

day 50 ~ you were created to feel joy

day 51 ~ declarations of who you are

day 52 ~ do you hear me?

day 53 ~ tell me what you need from me right now

day 54 ~ your voice matters

day 55 ~ the enemy is a liar

day 56 ~ you are the light of the world

day 57 ~ there is no one like you

day 58 ~ are you feeling confused? let me help you

day 59 ~ i sing to you and speak to you while you sleep

day 60 ~ enjoy the sun and the son

day 61 ~ i am a giver

day 62 ~ i love it when you say good morning to me

day 63 ~ when you see the snow, remember your forgiveness

day 64 ~ when you hear thunder, remember my power in you

day 65 ~ when you see a rainbow, remember my promises to you

day 66 ~ i came to heal broken hearts

day 67 ~ peace of mind is yours

day 68 ~ i am the bread of life

day 69 ~ you are creative

day 70 ~ you are my masterpiece

day 71 ~ what to do when you mess up

day 72 ~ just say no! to the enemy

day 73 ~ you are my happy thought

day 74 ~ i celebrate you every moment of every day

day 75 ~ no greater love

day 76 ~ i am so much bigger

day 77 ~ i enjoy you and the time we spent together

prayer to accept jesus

foreword

Nichole Marbach's Devotional Journal, "77 texts from heaven" really is straight from the Fathers heart! If you are a teen, I know you will benefit and prosper from reading this book. In my years of working as a Marriage Family Therapist, I have seen teens struggle with all kinds of issues. The most common are self image, depression, peer pressure and a lack of identity. The psychosocial developmental issues we have to overcome for the teen years are identity vs. role confusion. When a teen knows and accepts who they are, they develop a positive sense of identity. This enables them to make positive choices in life. When a teen experiences role confusion, they don't understand their value and tend to make poor choices and are swayed by negative influences.

If you are a teen reading this, I am excited for you. I truly believe this journal will change your life. Nichole will share her journey with you and how she overcame some hard situations in life. If you don't know who God is or feel far away from him, that is okay. Just read these texts from heaven and you will begin to understand the Father's heart. I really believe as Nichole wrote this that God was speaking directly to her so she could share this with YOU! God see's you, loves you and wants to be your best friend! If you don't feel like you have someone to talk to, you do now.

As you read this book allow yourself to take in these texts and even text back. That's right! You can text back by talking back to God. You will begin to see a shift in your life and I believe really good things will happen for you. So thank you Nichole! Thank you Father God! And most of all thank you, you wonderful teenager for never, never, never giving up!

Pat Lairson

Marriage Family Therapist

Co-Author of "Stop the Bully"

introduction

Ephesians 3:18 (MSG) - "And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God."

Beloved, I wanted to start with the above verse to show you the importance of experiencing the love of God in your lives. You are never too young to start really knowing and experiencing the love of God in your life. I believe that had I truly known His love in a deep way as a teen, I would have been spared so much more pain than I had to go through.

I don't regret the pain I went through in my life in order to have a powerful story to share with others, including you. Yet, my hope is that my testimony and what I have to share with young people will help them to start living a life of victory at a young age. I believe that knowing the love of God and knowing God as your Heavenly Father (or Heavenly Daddy as I refer to Him in my life) will change your life.

When we accept Jesus into our lives, we immediately become children of God whether we are three years old or 98 years old. Throughout this book, God refers to you as His beloved and His child. Let that sink in. You are His precious beloved child and He loves you with an extreme love that will never change.

He wants you to know Him as a good God who has plans to give you a good life and bless you, not harm you. He is good. His love is holy, safe, trustworthy, and unconditional. You are accepted and loved right now, beloved. As you read the words in this journal, picture your Heavenly Father speaking them over you. They were written just for you. It is no accident that this book is in your hands. Receive His love for you today and see the joy and peace increase in your life.

There is a "daily decree" at the end of each message. I suggest that you read these out loud and say them throughout the day if you remember. They are powerful truths that will help you in your journey with God. The more you say them, the more they will sink in.

After each "text" and daily decree, I would suggest you do the journaling pages. Those exercises will really help you in your relationship with God. Also, I suggest that you look up one or more of the Bible verses at the end and let them sink in. They will help you get to know Heavenly Father's heart of love and grace.

If you are ready to take this journey, pray the following prayer:

Heavenly Father, I pray that as I go through this devotional journal, You would personally speak Your heart of love and grace into my life. I pray that I would really experience Your love. I pray that I would get to know You better and that any lies that I have been believing about You would be brought up so that I can get rid of them. I want to know Your love. I want a deeper understanding of Your forgiveness. I ask that my life would change during the course of this book and that I would have a closer relationship with You as a result. I also pray that I would come to know You as My Heavenly Father, the only perfect parent in my life. In Jesus' name, Amen!

my story

Beloved, I grew up with a lot of pain and anger during my growing up years, but you wouldn't have known it because I hid it well. I was able to hide the pain and frustration by participating in sports. I was a star athlete in high school. I was voted "best female athlete" of my senior class and captain of the track team I was on. I broke school records in the 100 and 200 meters, and even placed 8th in the State of Michigan in the 100 meters my senior year. I was also on the swim team and played softball for many years. I was always one of the top athletes on whatever team I was on. I also got good grades throughout high school and was well liked and had many friends. I tell you this to show you that everything looked good on the outside, but on the inside, I was holding in a lot of pain. Nobody knew what I was going through and what was really going on inside of me.

My parents got divorced when I was really young, and my sister and I had to continuously go back and forth from home to home. Also, my mom moved us a few times and that was really hard. I also had a fear of being able to express myself because I would get in trouble if I did. I held a lot in. In addition, I suffered verbal, physical, and sexual abuse from various people throughout my childhood. Because I held everything in, I got involved with self-injury when I was very young. I started out pricking myself with safety pins and pulling my hair. However, I remember a couple incidents as a young child when I hurt myself with a razor and banged my ankle against a rock until I had to go to the hospital. I was in a lot of emotional pain and kept it all in.

I accepted Jesus when I was about 10 or 11 and was so touched by Holy Spirit that I started crying - something I wasn't used to doing. I started going to church and felt God's presence and joy. I was often depressed at home, but when I went to church, I felt the joy of the Lord. God was showing me the difference between depression and His joy at a young age.

At 15, I became addicted to alcohol. I thought alcohol was the answer to my pain, but it was not true comfort. I often drank until I became sick. I hid it well and never got caught by my parents. I started to need alcohol at a very young age and it continued into my adult years. I walked away from God, but He never left me.

I met my husband in college. I was very athletic and went to college on a track scholarship. We eventually got married and had three beautiful children. Unfortunately, after holding in a lot of pain for most of my life, it started to come out in the form of anger, and I started using alcohol every day in an increased amount to try to numb the pain. I finally began going to a Christian counselor to get some help.

A year and a half later, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and many other mental illnesses. I also suffered from panic attacks and was considered an alcoholic, a self-injurer, and I develop an eating disorder where I stuffed myself with food and gained a lot of weight. I felt hopeless. I was so sad for my family.

I started self-injuring again to the point that I had to have stitches in my wrist. I also tried to take my life a couple of times by cutting my wrist and taking too many pills. I felt so hopeless that I became very suicidal almost every day.

I was hospitalized many times, went to rehab for alcohol addiction, and attended many recovery meetings. I tried to get better but was told that all the doctors could do is try to make me feel better by giving me a whole bunch of medicines, and the meds were changed often.

I cried out to God. I knew He had to be the answer. I was blessed to have a wonderful church and support system through it all. God always provides what we need when we need it.

Eventually I met a couple of women who helped me to realize that part of what I was struggling with was the enemy. I refer to the enemy throughout this book, too. The enemy is also called the kingdom of darkness. You can refer to the enemy as Satan, evil spirits, or demons. Whatever you want to call that kingdom, know that they are real and they don't like anyone. God is love and they are the opposite of love. All they want to do is plant lies in people's heads to try to destroy them. That's part of what was happening to me. I finally got a revelation of what the Bible says about healing; I knew that the enemy was defeated at the cross by Jesus. I talk about that a little bit in this book.