Big Changes And Your Chance To Win

Hey peeps!

I wanted to let you know that I now have a new website. Simply click here to head on over.

If you don’t mind resubscribing to the blog that would be great. To make it easy for you, I provided the link right here. Enter your email and you’ll be notified of new posts.

Also, in celebration of the new website I am giving something away. Head on over and check it out!

 

Answers To Life’s Toughest Questions

Max on Life

Have you been searching for answers to some of life’s toughest questions? Whether you are a new Christian or have been walking in your faith for years, Max on Life by Max Lucado will be a great asset to your book shelf.

After receiving thousands of questions from others, Max compiled the answers in this amazing book with the goal in mind to answer some of life’s toughest questions.

Question 27 - Is God willing to use anyone to change the world? Even people who’ve lived ungodly lives?

“God restores the broken and the brittle, then parades them before the world as trophies of his love and strength.”

Question 41 – I was sexually abused as a child, and I’ve honestly tried to forgive this person. But I continue to suffer the effects of the abuse, both mentally and physically, so the pain and anguish keep me on a crazy cycle. One day I feel that I can forgive, and the next I feel I can’t. 

“Forgiveness breaks the chain of abuse. Forgiveness resolves the past and protects the future.”

Question 66 – I applied for a job and got rejected. I asked my grandmother for a loan; she turned me down. My boyfriend says we should split up. I’m having a hard, hard week. Is God even listening to me?

“God hears our requests. But his answer is not always what we’d like it to be. Why? Because God knows more about life than we do.

Question 98 – What is the big deal about pornography? Why make such a big deal out of what is natural? Some men say they are controlled by pornography. Not me. I can sample without struggling. So I do. 

“You will live tomorrow the thoughts you tolerate today.”

Question 121 – I’ve put my family in a dangerous financial bind because of my mistakes. I’m too proud to ask for help, but on the other hand I am scared of ruining my marriage and my family. 

“Pride is a stubborn, sticky mess of self-preservation. God never, ever approves of it.”

Question 139 – Things are getting really dicey at work. With all the layoffs, my colleagues are redefining integrity. Some are claiming sales they did not make. Others are padding their expense accounts. I empathize with their actions. In fact, I’m tempted to hedge my bets a bit myself. 

“Don’t make a decision in a storm that you wouldn’t make in calm weather.”

Question 163 – To be honest, heaven does not excite me — this idea of clouds and harps and endless singing. What am I missing?

“The best of this world is a postcard of the next.”

Note: I have only pulled a small nugget from each of the answers to the above questions.

Lucado covers hope, hurt, help, marriage, home, haves/have-nots, and the hereafter in Max on Life. I believe you won’t walk away disappointed with the Godly wisdom packed into this wonderful book.

Get the answers and insights to your most important questions in Max on Life. Check it out on Amazon here…

What is one of life’s toughest questions you are currently struggling with? 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Trust God and God Alone

How To Trust God and God Alone

God and God Alone
from The Confident Woman Devotional- Joyce Meyer

Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (AMP)

Once I found myself worried about what I would do if Dave died. How could I run the ministry on my own? After several days of this mental attack, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “If Dave died, you would keep doing exactly what you are doing, because I am the One holding you up, not Dave.” I obviously needed Dave and was dependent on him for many things, but God wanted to establish in my heart from the beginning our ministry that with or without Dave or anyone else for that matter, I could do what God had asked me to do as long as I had Him.

Every individual needs to believe this same thing. God is all you have to have. Many other things are nice and comforting, but God is the only presence we can never do without. The Bible says that Joseph’s brothers hated him, but God gave him favor everywhere he went (Genesis 39:21). It just doesn’t matter who is against you as long as God is for you.

Comments:

Do you find yourself asking these questions? What if this happens? What if they leave? Where will I go? What will I do?

I have struggled with abandonment for many years. Only over the last two years have I realized it was a problem for me. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t allow myself to get close to people. I feared they would leave. Then what would I do? It wasn’t until I completely gave my heart to God and said “I am okay” that I realized I really would be ok.

I am learning that people are going to come in and out of my life. It won’t always be easy. There will be tears, sadness, and perhaps more tears, but God will still be there when the tears are done.

Remember, “it doesn’t matter who is against you as long as God is for you.”

Prayer from Joyce:

Lord, it is an amazing comfort to know that there’s nothing I can go through where You won’t be with me. I ask You to imprint this truth deep into my heart and soul and mind. Amen. 

Do you trust that God is completely for you? 

Calling All Toll-Free Peeps

Calling All Toll-Free Peeps

I was visiting a friend recently and we were watching one of the Christian broadcasting stations. There was a gentleman promoting his latest music cd. As I watched closer, something stuck out to me like a sore thumb.

As video clips promoting his latest and greatest compositions played in the background, the toll-free number flashed across the screen. Of course there was the obvious, “But wait.. buy now and receive the kitchen sink for free.” (Exaggeration mine)

He closed out the promo by asking viewers if they needed prayer. So, perhaps you’re saying to yourself, “Get to the point already.” Okay, here’s the catch: the phone number for prayer requests wasn’t toll-free. Is it just me or does something about that situation seem backwards?

I sat back and wondered to myself just how many people tune into his show on a daily basis who perhaps aren’t in the financial situation to make a long distance phone call. I know it’s hard to believe, but not everyone uses cell phones.  I just wonder how many people were held back from making an important prayer request.

It may seem like something small and I almost didn’t blog about it, but I changed my mind. Nothing is small when it contributes, or doesn’t, to the Kingdom of God. I have since been asking myself if I have my priorities in line. Am I focused more on myself or the needs of others? Do I offer more to people when I know I will receive something in return? Who are the toll-free people in my life?

Perhaps it’s something for all of us to think about.

Who are the toll-free people in your life? 

 

Two Words That Change Everything

This is a guest post by Tracee Persiko. Tracee resides in the Northern VA area. She is a practicing private practice counselor.Tracee enjoys speaking on topics including: leadership development, cultivating character, second mile living, identity in Christ, and carrying the weight of your influence well. Her heart is all about empowering others to believe different and live different. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Two Words That Change Everything

There are two powerful words in the English language that changes everything. These two words are expressions of a heart that is grateful. These two words fill the heart of another with appreciation. These two words change the hearts of all involved.

Thank you.

Thank you are the words of a grateful heart. Thank you takes the heart’s gratefulness from just feeling it to the next level of living it. It makes all the difference.

I have been camping out in a story of gratefulness in the bible that has been rocking my heart. This gratefulness comes from a man who had nothing, and who was also considered to be nothing. This man had no reason to be grateful as disease dictated his life and grief. He is the exact person that has changed my heart of gratefulness.

The story begins as Jesus was traveling on a road along the border of Samaria and Galilee. Along that road stood a community of men who had been thrown out of their homes and lives due to the disease of leprosy.

They say Jesus was approaching and shouted out to him for mercy and healing. That day they risked what was left of their hope and believed this man could heal them.

Jesus shouted back, “go show yourselves to the priests.”

If I were one of these lepers, I might have been confused by those words. “Was I healed because he didn’t really say….”

They took Jesus at his word and set off to find the priests. Along the road feeling started to come back to lifeless limbs. Their skin, which had been dead for so long, started to mend –fingers started to move again.

One of the men realized he was healed and returned to Jesus. He fell at his feet praising him for his grace. This man was filled with a thousand thank you’s of gratefulness. I wonder if he even made it to the priests before heading back to Jesus.

This wasn’t just a healing for this man. Jesus gave him his life back. He was dead and now alive again. This man was really seen for the first time in a long time. Life was restored to him.

All ten lepers were healed that day. Gratefulness is what made the difference between feeling something and expressing it. This man’s whole life expressed his thank you through the response of gratitude.

I am no different from this man. Jesus came and gave me my life back as well. I was once considered lost and now I am owned by my God. At one time my life looked aimless, grief stricken, and lost.

He has matched the depth of my pain with the depth of his matchless love.

I want my life to tell the story of gratefulness. A heart that responds out of gratitude looks and sounds different. A heart that’s grateful makes all the difference.

Your life has been given back to you. Does your life express that gratitude?

Three Steps To Finding Guidance Through Impatience

Three Steps To Finding Guidance Through Impatience

Three Steps To Finding Guidance Through Impatience
from Come Away My Beloved - Francis J. Roberts

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Psalm 37:23

My child, hear My voice, and give no heed to the voice of the stranger. My paths are straight, and they are narrow, but you shall have no difficulty finding them if you watch Me. I am guiding you. You need not look to people for direction. You may learn much by fellowship with the saints, but never allow any to take the role that is rightfully Mine – to direct your steps. As it is written, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” – not by the preacher, not by some Christian worker, but by the Lord.

Trust Me to do it, and give Me the time and the opportunity to do it. Be not hasty, and lean not upon your own intelligence.

Rest in Me. I shall bring to pass My perfect will in your life as you believe and live in faith.

Comments:

How often do you look to others for guidance before seeking God’s direction? This is an area God is constantly growing me in. It’s easier to talk to someone sitting right in front of you, or call a friend on the phone for advice first, than it is to sit and talk to God. But that doesn’t make it the way it should be.

That doesn’t mean we cannot receive spiritual wisdom from those around us, but we must take the right steps first.

• Ask God.
• Talk to others.
• Go back to God.

I love this part in the devotion: Trust Me to do it, and give Me the time and the opportunity to do it. Be not hasty, and lean not upon your own intelligence. I too often lean upon my own intelligence, then quickly find myself question that intelligence with a what was I thinking slap to the forehead.

We must go to God and believe that He will answer us in due time. Sometimes I find myself going to God for direction and immediately turning around and taking the issue to someone. I haven’t even given Him time to answer me. I can imagine Him shaking His head at my impatience.

Next time you find yourself asking others for direction, ask yourself if you have talked with God about it first.

Do you struggle with impatience in this area?

Why Humor Is Necessary

Why Humor Is Necessary

Why Humor Is Necessary

Without humor there is no such thing as laughter. Without laughter I would quickly find myself asking the question, “What’s the point of being here?” Jesus laughed. I’m sure there were days he laughed so hard his stomach hurt.

Think about it for a moment. He was surrounded constantly by 12 of his best friends. There must have been nights they sat by the campfire telling crazy stories, chewing with their mouths open, passing gas, and rating their burps on a scale of 1 to 10. Jesus had to be surrounded by humor. It’s one of the greatest gifts of God.

Not only is laughter good for the soul, it’s good for the body. Here are a few reasons researchers say why humor is necessary for our health:

• Immune System - When stress shows up your immune system decreases. Studies have shown that using humor may actually raise the antibodies in the body and boost the immune system. You know what they say? “A laughter a day keeps the doctor away.”

• Blood Sugar Levels - Place a dibetic in front of a hilarious movie and watch his or her blood sugar level lower. The sweet taste of humor – there’s nothing better.  

• Relaxation And Sleep - I’m working on this. Wear those stomach muscles out and head to bed with a relaxed mind, the ability to take the focus on any pain you may have for a while, and sleep soundly. If you try this and it works, let me know. I would love to hear about it. 

Humor is my middle name. The feeling of making people laugh is wonderful. It fills me up to watch others smile and laugh.

I still have to be careful because I can quickly use humor to mask pain. I’ve done that since I was a small child and I still find myself struggling with it. My family has always dealt with tragedy through humor and that’s immediately where my mind goes. If something bad happens to someone, I instantly feel responsible to make them laugh. It gets me into trouble from time to time, as they may just want me to be still with them. I’m a work in progress.

Have you laughed enough lately?

Ten Tips To Jump-Start Your Weight Loss

Ten Tips To Jump-Start Your Weight Loss

People often ask me how I lost weight. I haven’t really blogged a lot about it. I’m constantly working to keep myself healthy, so it’s hard for me to focus on giving tips. I’m still taking tips. But I thought I would share with you some simple ways to keep yourself on track.

Here are ten tips to jump-start your weight loss:

1. Start your day with a good and healthy breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day. I’m the type of person that eats the same thing almost every day. It’s either oatmeal with a banana or a spinach omelet. I like to add some raisins, blueberries, or even peanut butter to my oatmeal. It just depends on the day.
2. Make it a habit to eat every meal. Skipping meals will lower your metabolism.
3. Get enough sleep. It’s recommended that you get a good 8 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep has influence on your hormones.
4. Don’t make eating healthy a religion. If you want a cookie, eat a cookie. But, I recommend only doing so if you’re in a place to limit yourself. If you’re not ready, wait.
5. Stop dieting! Yes, that’s what I said. I hate that word. When you diet you gain it back. When you become healthy your  lifestyle completely changes. I’m living proof of that. Read more about my weight loss here.
6.  Try to plan your meals ahead of time. I must admit I slack in this area, but it’s a good plan. If you find time, make your meals on Sundays so you can warm them up through the week. When you get tired and ordering out seems like the perfect plan, you won’t have to worry about it. You can simply warm up your pre-planned meals and all is well.
7. After exercising, eat the right foods. This helps you to avoid binging post-workout.

   What are some tips you have for weight loss? 

Life of John Newton Book Review

Life of John Newton

“I see in this world to heaps of human happiness, and misery; now, if I can take but the smallest bit from one heap, and add to the other, I carry a point. If, as I go home, a child has dropped a half-penny, and, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel I have done something. I should be glad, indeed, to do greater things, but I will not neglect this.”

In the Life of John Newton, he was described as as a man whose “benevolence was always active, and he was always ready to do good, no matter how small the occasion.”

If you were to ask those involved in his life during his younger years  you may get a different story.

Who is John Newton you ask? He was a young kid who didn’t want to find a job. He partied like there was no end. He was in love with Mary from the first moment he met her. He tended to start fights without reason. He was a human trafficker. He became a minister of the Gospel.

Oh yeah… and there’s one more thing…

He wrote one of the greatest songs known to man, “Amazing Grace.”

In the Life of John Newton, a book originally published in 1831 by the American Sunday-School Union, and republished by Attic Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, you’re taken through the trials, tribulations, and temptations of Newton. Watch his story unfold through the pages of history as he goes from libertine to annointed preacher.

It’s a great book to read whether you’re a history lover, or intersted in watching a love story develop between John Newton and Mary.

The hardest part about the book? The language definitely dates back to 1831. It took me a while to adjust and I did have to get the dictionary out a few times. Don’t let that scare you away though. It’s a great biography and worth the read.

Newton asked that these words be written on his tombstone:

JOHN NEWTON, CLERK
Once an infidel and libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior

JESUS CHRIST,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the faith he
Had long laboured to destroy,
Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks;
And — years in this church.
On Feb. 1, 1750, he married

MARY,
Daughter of the late Geroge Catlett,
Of Chatham, Kent.
He resigned her to the Lord who gave her
On the 15th of December 1790.

To purchase the book or learn more about this great redemption story, click here..

Too Busy Not To Pray

From Sundi Jo: This is a guest post by Ashley Pichea. She invites you to join her in living intentionally by faith everyday and making your goals reality. Connect with Ashley on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to her blog.

Martin Luther once stated that he was too busy not to pray. As wives and mothers, we can understand being too busy, but how many times do our family responsibilities become our excuses for not spending time with God in prayer throughout the day?

It should be no surprise when I say that one reason we are to spend time in prayer is because we are commanded to pray, but do you also realize that prayer is a privilege?

Over and over again, the Bible instructs us to spend time with God in prayer:

• “Let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4.6)
• “Devote yourselves to prayer” (Colossians 4.2)
• “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5.17)
• “Pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6.18)
• “Pray and not… lose heart” (Luke 18.1)
• “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Luke 18.9).

Scripture also tells us of the privilege that prayer is: because of Christ’s mediation on our behalf, we have direct access to the throne of God! Let us explore this privilege together, as we seek to become better moms and wives through the power of prayer.

How many times have you found yourself up to your neck in curveballs and piles of life’s junk? Have you ever noticed your attitude during these times?

I know that when I’m faced with too much to do and too little time to do it, my stress level is definitely high. My attitude turns sour, and my family feels the brunt of my frustration, even if they aren’t the source.

It’s in these moments when the discipline of prayer allows me to access God’s strength, patience, and lovingkindness. Turning my thoughts

Too Busy Not To Pray

heavenward allows me to refocus and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me through the mud.

It is in prayer that we admit our dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance as we seek to know and do God’s will. Our response to God as we rely on the Spirit of God to guide us comes through prayer.

When we pray, we ought to praise God through the Spirit, giving thanks for the work of the Spirit, confessing our failure to obey and trust the Spirit, while petitioning for the help of the Spirit. Through prayer, we express our trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us as we work through our to-do lists and deal with all of life’s curveballs.

When we make time to pray, we are putting ourselves in a place to be able to grow in grace. We allow ourselves to be transformed through our time in prayer. Prayer is one of the main ways God transforms us.

“In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills”. {Foster}

Through the transformation of our hearts and minds in prayer, we become more Christ-like, helping us to be better wives and mothers.

How has God transformed you through prayer?