Keep On Keeping On!

Photo Credit

I can't believe June is almost over! So far this summer we've already had TWO heat waves! But praise God we've had some rain in between.


I want to thank those of you who Soaked In The Son with me! It was a real growing experience for me. Each post that was written was just as much for me as for you and I loved seeing what the Lord was going to do each week. I started this series totally of His leading but now it's time to end it.


July is shaping up to be a very busy month for my family and I'm so excited! There are also some changes happening over here. We had committed to watching less tv, and it's been a huge blessing, but now my husband has decided to cancel the cable all together! I'm excited to see how the Lord is going to use this time to draw our family together. Slowly but surely He is taking away all distractions and I'm loving it!


Do you have any distractions or competing affections keeping you from fully enjoying time with the Lord? If there are you need to get rid of them! It has felt so good to just get alone with the Lord. Sometimes I'll listen to a sermon, sometimes I'll read scripture, and sometimes I just sit quietly and wait on the Lord. He designed us for fellowship with HIM and if we aren't experiencing that, it's not His fault.


Just because this series is over don't stop seeking to soak in the SON! 


Here is a collection of all the posts that were shared I hope they continue to encourage and challenge you to deepen your faith, and love for the Lord:


Get Ready To Soak In The Son
Being Content
Days Of Praise
Picture Day
Focus On Things Above
Praise Him Always
Thanking God In All Things
God ALWAYS Knows Best
Thanks and Praise
Preparing For Rain
Let Your Light Shine
Feel The Love

Feel The Love

Ladies I have been having a GREAT WEEK! I've felt a renewed closeness to the Lord and just finally got it into my heart that Jesus loves ME! (He loves you too, but for the purpose of this post we're just going to be focusing on me lol)


I've known that God loves me ever since I got saved. But sometimes I struggled because it was a head knowledge. I know this, scripture says this, and my pastor preached it. But God has done something in my life. He's done the same thing for you too, and if you don't know about it you need to go and have a chat with Him. 


You want to know what He did? 


He died for me (and for you)! Thinking about this reminds me of the hymn that goes: For ME, He came and to death pursued, AMAZING LOVE! How can this be? That thou my HOLY GOD shouldst die for ME???? 


John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


Whoseoever is ME!! (and YOU!!!!) It's a totally open invitation! God loves with a HOLY love. He became a man and took on all of my sins. ALL past, present, and future. 


Do you know why He did that?


Because He is SO Holy that in my own strength I could not come into His presence. But He wanted to fellowship with ME! With ME (and YOU) He wanted to have a relationship and I was so filthy and sinful that He couldn't. It was impossible, SO HE MADE IT POSSIBLE! Do you understand that? He wanted me, so He came and got me! He came here to earth for ME! 


I've struggled with this and questioned it from time to time. If that's you I encourage you to keep asking questions. But ask the ONE who truly has the answers. 


...be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive -Ephesians 4:14


Don't be turned to and fro by the philosophies of this world or of other religions. Don't worry about "religion"!* Put your focus on the One above and HE WILL DIRECT YOUR STEPS. 

I don't want to make this sound over simplified, because it takes time and we must wait on the Lord for His guidance. But man oh man having a heart knowledge of the love of God is an unbeatable feeling! Nothing compares to it. Having God's unconditional love means I don't have to look anywhere else for love. He provides it all. Having my husband love me, and my children love me is just bonus! I don't have to worry if people like me, because guess what? GOD LOVES ME! He cares about me and my life and my day to day. 


The best part about all of this (for you) is that He loves you too. If you don't know that you need get alone with God and grab hold of Him! Ask Him to show you the truth of His PERFECT LOVE so that you can know, that you know, that YOU KNOW, God loves you! 


Do you feel as on fire for the Lord as when you first got saved? If not you need to re-examine your heart. Do you really believe that God loves you? If you really believe that, and feel that, then you should be FIRED UP! Not lukewarm, but on fire! You shouldn't be able to contain what God has done for you. If you REALLY comprehend how much God loves you then you should be on a roof top somewhere! Because it is an AMAZING, PERFECT, UNTOUCHABLE LOVE, that no one can take away! This is my ONLY praise this week because truthfully.... It is more than enough!!!!! 



For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39




 *Just so you don't get the wrong message, it's not that you don't need to go to church. Just that you don't need to worry so much about religious titles, and the doctrine's of men. Any church you attend should preach THE WHOLE Word of God and should be governed by the scriptures not doctrines made up by men. You shouldn't need any extra Biblical books to tell you the will of God. I just wanted to clear that up lest anyone think I'm encouraging them to leave church and just stay home alone and read their Bible alone. :o)

Let Your Light Shine

Happy Monday ladies! I hope you all had an amazing weekend! I know I sure did. Saturday I got to have a date night with my amazing hubby, and then Sunday we heard some life changing messages preached. I praise GOD that I belong to a GREAT Bible preaching church and that I live in a country where I can go to church as often as I want! If you don't belong to a church where you are being challanged and encourgaed, FIND A NEW CHURCH! You aren't supposed to just be going and feeling nice. You should leave and be encouraged to be a doer of the Word not just a hearer! {James 1:22}


This week's inspirational ordinary woman is Michelle Duggar. Now I know most of you have heard of her and people talk about her A LOT, mainly because of her 19 children. But that's not what we're going to focus on.


The reason I'm known for often making mention of Mrs. Duggar is because were it not for her, and her light, I may not have come to know the saving power of Jesus Christ! It was from watching her family's show on TLC that I came to see that I needed a Savior. I was raised Catholic so I knew about God and Jesus but I didn't know that I could know 100% for sure that I'd go to heaven!


In seeing her love for the Lord I knew that I was missing something. The Lord used her to convict me of my sins and to show me hope. I saw how her family had so much joy and how she wasn't going crazy or being overwhelmed (even with having 17 children and expecting another!). She seemed to have a perfect peace. I wanted that, I NEEDED that. 


My life was in a rough place and I desperately needed a change. So after having been convicted of that need for a change the Lord brought other people into my life that could help me with that. The seed was planted by Michelle Duggar, it was watered by Debbie, and was harvested by Maggie. All three of these people played a vital role in leading me to the Lord. It was because of their light shining brightly, that they were able to help illuminate my darkness. Who knows how many lives the Lord is wanting to use your light to reach.


We all have people that can be affected by our light. Neighbors, lost relatives, people that you meet while you're out. Because of the willingness of one woman to share her faith, countless numbers of people have come to know the truth of Jesus' saving power. That should be true of all of us. We should all be seeking to show our joy in the Lord. Even if you think you have nothing to be joyful about, if you are saved then you do! So turn that frown upside down and be a light to this lost, dark, world!


Whose life can you affect with your light? Are people that see you encouraged to seek out the Lord? Or to run from Him? Do you share your love of Jesus with others? Or do you keep it to yourself?


Think about these things and then make changes where necessary. 


Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. -Matthew 5:16








I'm linking up with Women Living Well

Preparing For Rain

Ladies.... This has been another long week for me. I've heard it said that when we purpose to do something for the Lord, that the enemy attacks us even more. I don't know if that's what's going on but I'm glad this week is over! 


Something that helped me in getting back to feeling better was watching the movie Facing The Giants. That movie makes me cry EVERY TIME I watch it. I know what's going to happen and I still cry! lol 


But I needed it, I needed those Biblical truths that the movie reminded me of. There are so many amazing things in that movie that I can't even begin to share them all. I will, however, share this one thing that really hit home for me.


There is a scene where this story is shared:

"Two farmers desperately needed rain and both of them prayed for rain. But only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one do you think trusted God to send the rain?" 

This story just touched my heart so much. There are so many things that I ask God for, but how many of those things am I preparing to receive? It's so easy to say "Lord, please bless me" but are you in a position to be blessed? Are you asking Him to bless sin? Have you made sure that you are in His will? 


I'm so guilty of this. I ask for what I want, and I don't always make sure that it's what GOD wants. If we're honest with ourselves, then we all have done this before. So my challenge to you is to go and prepare your fields. Think about the one thing you've been asking God to do in your life and make sure that it lines up with His will and with Scripture. Then if everything is in order prepare to receive that blessing. 


I can't promise that it will happen instantly, or quickly, or even at all. But I know that your preparations can be a blessing in and of themselves. The important thing is to trust God, and believe that He has your best interest at heart.

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.    -Matthew 21:22

Ok now for my picture!


This week my picture isn't one that I took. We went to the zoo, but my camera died so I didn't get any good pictures and am using one that my husband took on his phone. This peacock was just roaming around the zoo property. Isn't it gorgeous? God is just the most amazing artist!

Thanks and Praise

We've been talking about thanking God, and I think thanks and praise go hand in hand. The things that we thank God for we should also be praising Him for, right? I know that seems like an impossible task. But I think the key is in knowing the character of God. 


If we use our example from Monday about the Ten Boom sisters and the fleas, then God could be praised for being all knowing, a protector, merciful, loving, a great planner, and those are just a few! 


So while for most it would be hard to say "Lord, I am praising you for these flees" it's probably easier (and more honest) to say "Lord, I'm praising you because you know best, because you are in control, because you have a purpose for this!" 


Praising God is such an important part of following Him and loving Him. We can see this in Romans 1:21 which says:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

So how do we glorify God? One way is to praise Him, and make His name known. If not we can end up in a place where we know God, but our hearts are darkened and we're living a life no different than the unsaved. I don't want that to be me! I want to be sure that since I know God, that I glorify Him as God. I want to have a pure heart before my Father and one of the ways that we can aim to keep our hearts pure, and full of light is to keep His praises on our tongues. 


So what are you praising HIM for this week?




My Praises:

• God's mercy, grace, righteousness, and forgiveness
• Seeing my girls play together nicely 
• Getting some of our laundry mountain tackled
• Watching Facing The Giants (that movie encourages me so much)
• Working with the teens at church
• God's provisions
• Listening to some great teachings on tough issues
• Having my parents watch the girls so we could help out at church
• Seeing my husband grow in different areas
• Belonging to a Bible believing church
• Having a great pastor and assistant pastor
• Our 17 month old still sleeping through the night

God ALWAYS Knows Best

Photo Credit

I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was very, very, busy but a lot of fun.


On Friday I posted about how we can give thanks in all things, but this topic is still on my heart and I thought I would share a story with you all that has been a huge inspiration to me. I don't know if any of you have read The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, but if you haven't read it you need to! It's the heartbreaking, inspirational, and motivational story of two Christian sisters who tried to help Jews during the holocaust. These sisters were later arrested and sent to concentration camps. The book shares the highs and lows of their life prior to and during the holocaust, and today I want to share with you just one story. It is an amazing example of God's provision, and how He always does what's best for us: 

Suddenly I sat up, striking my head on the cross-slats above. Something had pinched my leg.  

"Fleas!" I cried . 'Betsie, the place is swarming with them!' 

We scrambled across the intervening platforms, heads low to avoid another bump, dropped down to the aisle, and edged our way to a patch of light.  

"Here! And here another one!" I wailed. "Betsie, how can we live in such a place!" 

"Show us. Show us how." It was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.  

"Corrie!" She said excitedly."He's given us the answer before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Where was it? Read that part again!" 

I glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then drew the Bible from its pouch. "It was in First Thessalonians," I said. We were on our third complete reading of the New Testament since leaving Scheveningen. In the feeble light I turned the pages.  “Here it is:  ‘Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.  …’ “  It seemed written expressly to Ravensbruck.  

“Go on,” said Betsie.  “That wasn’t all.”  

“Oh yes:  ‘…to one another and to all.  Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus–’ “ 

“That’s it, Corrie!  That’s His answer.  ‘Give thanks in all circumstances!’  That’s what we can do.  We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!”   I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.  

“Such as?”  I said.  

“Such as being assigned here together.”  

I bit my lip.  “oh yes, Lord Jesus!  

“Such as what you’re holding in your hands.”  

I looked down at the Bible.  “Yes!  Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here!  Thank You for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages.”  

“Yes,” said Betsie.  “Thank You for the very crowding here.  Since we’re packed so close, that many more will hear!”  She looked at me expectantly.  “Corrie!” she prodded. 

“Oh, all right.  Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds.” 

“Thank You,”  Betsie went on serenely, “for the fleas and for–”   The fleas!  This was too much.  “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”  

” ‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ ” she quoted.  “It doesn’t say ‘in pleasant circumstances.’  Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas.  But this time I as sure Betsie was wrong. (pg 180-181)

The conditions grew increasingly worse, but yet during this time the women were able to continue reading their Bible. Then one day the sisters found out the reason for their fleas. 

 Betsie was waiting for me, as always, so that we could wait through the food line together.  Her eyes were twinkling.

“You’re looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself,” I told her.   

“You know we’ve never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room,” she said.     

“Well–I’ve found out.”  

That afternoon, she said, there’d been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they’d asked the supervisor to come and settle it.  

 “But she wouldn’t.  She wouldn’t step through the door and neither would the guards.  And you know why?”  

Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice:  “Because of the fleas!  That’s what she said, ‘That place is crawling with fleas!’  

“My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place.  I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for. (pg 189-190)

 This is why it's so important to thank God regardless of what we see. He loves us and though things may seem awful, if we are His child then He is looking out for our best interests! Even if that means we have to deal with fleas from time to time. 


What fleas are you dealing with in your life? Are you ready to thank God for them, even if you'll never know why they were there? Can you trust that God knows what's best for you?

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Thanking God In All Things

I don't know about you all but I had a LONG week! It seemed to just drag on and I had some rough days. Maybe I've just been not responding correctly to the things the Lord has brought in front of me, maybe it's hormones, maybe it was a test (that I don't think I did too great on), or maybe it's just life. But either way it was rough and I am so glad it's almost over and am looking forward to Sunday so I can hear great preaching and get to fellowship with my church family. 


This week I've been trying to focus on yielding my rights, and realizing that everything I have is from the Lord. I watched a teaching, by Bill Gothard, on responding to irritants, and I made a huge effort to have right responses. But of course it was a struggle, that I failed at many times. I'm just very thankful that the Lord led me to a place of being receptive to the idea of giving everything to Him and thanking Him in everything. 


Before I share my picture with you all I just want to share some of my notes on thanking the Lord in all things. I've heard people say that so many times and I've thought, "oh yes that is so great" and then I purposed to do that. But fail because honestly, I've never known how to do it? But now I have a much better grasp on just how to get our minds wrapped around praising God no matter what.


First we have to recognize that most times when we are angry or annoyed it's because we feel that our personal rights have been infringed upon. One example that really helped me to understand this concept is, getting woken up too early for whatever reason. Some of us are really flexible and would just roll with it. But for those of us (namely me!) who would be angry and grumpy about this, it's because we felt we had a "right" to a full nights sleep. But ultimately if we believe that God is truly in control, then we need to recognize that He is bigger than what ever is "bothering us" and that He can change it. 


Now that we've recognized that God is in control then we can examine the situation, and ask ourselves "am I at fault?" So in the above situation it would be, did I stay up too late last night? If not then ok, but if yes then I need to accept my fault in it. 


If it's a situation that needs to be addressed and corrected (like if you did something wrong to someone) then you need to do that. For example: Say you borrowed something from a friend and then never gave it back. You forget all about it and ask them to borrow something else. Well when they say no of course you're going to be annoyed. But if you reflect on it, or ask them about it, you'll see where you were at fault in this situation. Then you can take the proper steps to reconcile the situation. 


If you were totally faultless then you have to go to the next step in examining the issue. You should think about what God wants to show you from the issue. What character traits is He trying to bring out in you? What lesson is He trying to teach you? We can see the truth of God using a circumstance to teach us about something else in us or for us in the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-12. 

-Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.-Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.-Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.-Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.-Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.-Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.-Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.-Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.-Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Now that you've thoroughly examined the situation it's easy to thank God. You can thank Him for bringing clarity to a situation that could of gotten worse had you not corrected it, or you can thank Him for presenting you with a challenge to help you grow. Once you get good at discerning an irritant, thanking the Lord will be easier and happen more quickly. 


So although I had a rough week, I'm thanking the Lord for His mercies. I've had to repent and go back to Him about things, but through it I am getting a softer heart for my Lord and seeing when I need to repent for a wrong thought or action MUCH faster. 


Now for my picture :o) this was from a day that was actually very good:

Strawberry picking at a local farm

Praise Him Always

I hope that you all have been having a great week, and have some great praises to share! 


In my reading this week (not the 90 day plan) I came across a verse I wanted to share with you all: 

"I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." -Psalm 71:16

This verse stood out to me for two different reasons. The first was the part that says that "I will make mention of thy righteousness". When I read that, my mind immediately went to praising God. He doesn't do things in our lives just because, He does them to show forth HIS righteousness so that we can tell others! We are supposed to be constantly bragging on the Lord. 


Doing that not only helps us to keep our eyes on the great things He is doing for us, but it also gives us a tool to draw in others. When we share our praises it makes others interested in learning more about our God who is so amazing and faithful to give us good things. But even more than that, when we brag on Him when things seem to be going bad that's an even bigger testament to His greatness. Doesn't He deserve at least that from us? 


The other thing that stood out to me was "I will go in the strength of the Lord God". -I know I'm backwards but hey sometimes God has to show us one thing so we'll be ready for the next regardless of the order we read it in- Anyway, that first part of this verse just really got me thinking on what it is the Lord calling me to do. We are all called to do something at different times. It doesn't have to be something extreme like to go to a different country and serve the people there. It can be something very small. 


For example this Sunday I was trying to take a nap, and the Lord placed a woman from our church on my heart. I don't talk to this woman often and to be honest I'm not 100% sure I even know her name. But He put it on my heart to pray for her. So I did. I prayed for everything I could think of: protection, encouragement, financial, physical, mental, spiritual, etc. Then when I was done I got a verse to share with her. So I wrote out a little note and told her what happened and that God gave me this verse to give her. I told her I don't know why or what it means but that I hope it helps. Well you know what? She needed that verse. She needed to be encouraged to continue on in her walk with the Lord. She told me she couldn't figure out why she was feeling a certain way but with the message our preacher gave and then my note she got it! Praise God! 


I was nervous to do it because, I don't know her that well and I didn't want to seem crazy. But I listened and was able to play a part in being a blessing to someone else. What is the Lord calling you to do? And are you willing to "go in the strength of the Lord God"?


Now for my praises from this week :o)

• Getting to go strawberry picking
• Our 17 month old sleeping through the night for a few days in a row!
• My husband's vision of providing for his family
• Great preaching
• Meeting a few missionaries
• My health
• Being able to trust God with my fertility
• Hearing my 3 year old sing about Jesus
• Mommy group
• Having a friend help me be able to go to mommy group
• Getting a magazine in the mail from a friend looking to encourage me (thank you!)
• Seeing God's provision
• Family soul winning 
• Having "Titus 2" women in my life

Please don't forget share a few of your praises in the comments section below. 

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. -Psalm 9:1

Focus On Things Above

Photo Credit

How would you like to be a mom (or woman) who helped change the world? Well it's 100% possible and today I'd like to look at an example of a woman who did just that; Susanna Wesley. 


Susana Wesley is the mother of John and Charles Wesley. Which some of you may already know, were the founders of the Methodist church. As the story goes the boys were in a Christian group at their college and they seemed to be more disciplined than the others in the group. So their peers began to call them "method-ists," a title which the two willingly accepted. See the thing is that Mrs. Wesley, who might I add had 19 children (9 of whom died as infants), diligently trained her children in the way that they should go. 


But the key to being able to train our children (or to help other people's children) is being firmly grounded in the Word of God. In one of her many writings Mrs. Wesley wrote: 

“I will tell you what rule I observed when I was young, and too much addicted to childish diversions. . .never to spend more time in mere recreation in one day than I spent in private religious devotions.”

How much time do you spend doing things that have no eternal value? I know I'm guilty of spending far too much time online and on twitter! But how much better would our lives be if we focused all of that time and energy on the things of the Lord? Who knows how much further our reach would go. I use the example of changing the world as a mother, but we can change the world in so many capacities. We are all called to be light to this dark world. So what are you willing to do to draw closer to the Lord? 


Pray and ask the Lord to show you what things in your life are keeping you from Him. If you find that your days are too busy to spend time reading His Word then you are too busy and need to re-prioritize! Scripture tells us, in Matthew 6:19-21, that where our treasures are that is also where our heart is. 

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

We all make time for the things we deem most important. But what is more important than God?

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."  

-Colossians 3:2

Picture Day!

Photo Credit

Today is the day to share whatever pictures you have that reflect the greatness of God! 


But before we start with the pictures I want to share something with you all about prayer. I came across this article on the Noble Call website that broke down using the Lord's prayer as an outline for our prayers. The article said that using this outline you could pray for an hour, so I figured it could surely help us to pray for 15 minutes! Here are the notes I took on it.


1.) Our Father who art in Heaven, hollowed be thy name....

Meditate on a Name of God (some examples are El-Shaddai = Alimighy God, Yehovah-Shalom = Lord of Peace, Yehovah-Rapha = Lord who heals, Abba = Father, Yeshua (Jesus) = Yehovah's Salvation)

2.) Thy Kingdom come thy will be done...

Pray for God's will in 5 key areas. As a person, a partner (also pray for your spouse, or future spouse), a parent (also pray for your children), a provider, a proclaimer (pray for those in authority and for those you are called to minister to). 

3.)Give us this day our daily bread...

Pray for God's daily provisions. 

• Constant filling of the Holy Spirit {Ephesians 5:18}

• Wisdom for daily decisions {James 1:5}

• Grace to do His good pleasure {Philippians 2:13}

• Favor with God and man - soul needs

• "Grow in stature" - physical needs

• Provisions to fulfill our assignments and calling

4.) Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...

Pray for God to bless me and my offenders with the character of Christ so that we can be reconciled.

5.) And lead us not into temptation but deliver us...

Pray for a hedge of protection, and for ministering angels as necessary. 

6.) For thine is the Kingdom, and the glory, and the power...

Dedicate myself and my family to God. Our spirits, souls, minds, and bodies.  Confess any known selfish motivations. Ask for God's motives of love for the day. 

I hope this helps you all because it has been a real blessing for me :o)


Now for my picture......

This is my 3 year old hanging John and Romans tracts
on the doors of people who weren't home
while we were out soul winning :o)

To share your pictures and to see others head over to our flicker group! (if you didn't get an invite to the group please email me your email address)

Days of Praise!

As you can now tell Wednesday will be our praise day! Before we get into what our praises have been so far let's look at what scripture has to say about praise. Here are just a few verse that I've come across in my recent readings as I've been preparing for this revival:

 Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. - 1 Chronicles 16:8

This verse here is a direction. It's not saying that it would be nice if you did this but rather it is saying DO this. Give thanks, call upon His name, make known His deeds! So we see we are told to praise God. 

Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. - 1 Chronicles 16:24-25

Again with this verse we are told to do something but there is something else very important here. God deserves our praise! Now I'm sure we all know that, but how much more should we realize it as truth when we see it laid out for us in scripture?!

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. -Psalm 33:1

Here we see God wants the righteous to rejoice in Him, and that's exactly what sharing praises about His goodness does. 

Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me -Psalm 50:23a

Who doesn't want to bring glory to God? I'm sure we all do! So that's exactly why we are doing this! We are taking time out every Wednesday to share about the goodness of the Lord. 

The point in doing five praises a day is so that we can seek to find things to praise Him for regardless of the situation. There have been days that I struggled to even write down one praise let alone five! But I pushed through and I did it! I hope that you were blessed in doing this exercise and that you would see the benefit in continuing with it :o)

Ok now for some of my praises:

• Getting to have quiet time with the Lord
• Bible time with my family
• Opportunities to train my children
• Wisdom to know to turn to God for the answers in training my children
• A Great dinner
• God's Provisions for my family
• Finding a mentor
• My husband's business picking up a little
• Family soul-winning
• Pizza for dinner (not having to cook!)
• Getting a scripture from the Lord
• Getting to talk with a mom who used the curriculum I want to use

Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. -Psalm 150

What are some of the things that you are praising the Lord for? It doesn't matter if they are big or small, let's bring Glory to God together! 

Day 1: Being Content

photo credit

I hope you all had a great weekend and that you had some great praises to write down! 


Today I want to talk to you all about Fanny Crosby. You might of heard of her before, she is a famous writer who wrote many poems and more than 9,000 hymns. Now that's a lot of hymns for anyone to write but add to it the fact that she was blind, and now you see why we're talking about her today. 


I received a copy of Fanny Crosby's Story, by S. Trevena Jackson, from my church. Someone left it on a table for people to take, and so I did. Then in our quiet time I started reading it to my girls. I was immediately inspired. 


At the tender age of 6 weeks old she lost her sight, and from that point on needed to be cared for very carefully. As soon as Fanny's grandmother heard that she would not have her sight she came to live with the family. Fanny is recorded as saying :

"My gradnmother was more than I can ever express by word or pen. When she knew that her little granddaughter was to be sightless for life, she sought to make up for the loss of my eyes by coming to our home, taking me on her knee and rocking me while she told me of the beautiful sun, with its sunrise and its sunset" (pg 29)

What devotion her grandmother showed! I'm sure any of us could volunteer to do that for a little while, but for a life time? I'm not sure I would make it. Sure I could love on this child and be there, but to literally be her eyes.... That is the love of Christ. 


Not only did her grandmother act as her eyes she also introduced her to the Bible! 

"It was Grandma who brought the Bible to me, and me to the Bible. The stories of the Holy Book came from her lips and entered my heart and took deep root there." (pg 33)

Because of the devotion of her sweet Grandma, Fanny was able to learn to love the Lord and cling to him. Her mother also encouraged her, and told her that:

"...two of the world's greatest poets were blind, and that sometimes Providence deprived persons of some physical faculty in order that the spiritual insight might more fully awake." (pg 26)

It was after the hearing of Milton's sonnet on his blindness that the Lord gave something to the young Fanny Croby. 

"...I made up my mind to store away a little jewel in my heart, which I called Content. This has been the comfort of my whole life." (pg 27) 

At just 8 years old she wrote this poem: 

O what a happy soul am I! 

Although I cannot see, 

I am resolved that in this world 

Content I will be. 

How many blessings I enjoy, 

That other people don't. 

To weep and sigh because I'm blind, 

I cannot, and I won't.

I've never had any major injuries or anything really debilitating happen to me (unless you count morning sickness) but I know how am now, without any of those issues. Content is not a word that can be used to describe me. I'm usually pleasant and happy with what I have, but if you hang around me long enough you would most definitely hear me complain about something. But how much more would the Lord use us if we would just learn to be content?

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. -1 Timothy 6:8 

Who knows if you are called to be a Fanny or if you are called to be "Grandma". God can and will use us all differently. So today I encourage you to be content right where He has you. I encourage you to praise God for all that He has given you and to only focus on those things. **This is convicting me as I type it! I am so guilty of complaining about not having a dishwasher. It's such a small thing having a dishwasher. I have food to eat and dishes to eat off of! I should be happy to clean them so that my family would have clean dishes to enjoy the meals I prepare. So I'm confessing and forsaking this area of discontentment today! And I'm sure as the week goes on I will think of other areas also. 


What are you willing to confess and forsake? 

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. -Hebrews 13:5



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Free Movie!

If you all remember recently the Moore family made their film Children Are A Blessing free to watch. Well now for the month of June they have so graciously made It Is Your Life: The Moss Family available to watch!


I haven't seen it yet but my hubby and I are planning to watch it very soon!


Here is a excerpt from the Moore family website"

"It Is Your Life: The Moss Family depicts the life of a Christian family who has made counter-cultural, yet distinctly biblical decisions to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  Please take the time to watch this endearing documentary which will inspire and challenge fathers and mothers not to be deceived by the current status quo of pragmatic parenting (doing that which seems to work) but to look to the Bible as the absolute source of all truth as we raise our families.  

In this first film of the It Is Your Life series, get a refreshing glimpse into the daily life of the Mosses, a Christian family training their children in the ways of the Lord.
     Learn:

• Why they educate their children at home

• Why Beverly stays home to care for the family

• How George leads his family in Bible reading and prayer

• Why they trust God for children after 6 c-sections

• How God brought them through a time of trial

• How brothers and sisters can be best friends

Be encouraged and inspired as the Mosses work together, play together, and pray together.  See for yourself how a biblical vision of family life results in a strong family who loves each other and desires to glorify the Lord together.  This is their life..."

P.S. Have you signed up to Soak in the Son with me this summer?

Get Ready To Soak In The Son!

Welcome ladies! I think this summer will be very rewarding and draw us so much closer to God. I want you to know that I've been in prayer for you all and I will continue to be as we go on. This first post will serve as an introduction and as motivation.


Every week there will be three challenges that I'm asking for you to complete. There is a prayer challenge, a praise challenge, and a picture challenge. I will also be taking part in these challenges and we can use the comment section to discuss what the Lord is doing for us in these areas.


Ok so let's jump in.


Prayer Challenges: every week I'd like you to pick a day and spend at least 15 minutes in prayer. If you can do it everyday even better but for at least one day take 15 minutes (or more!) and get alone with God. Now prayer isn't just about asking for things, so I'm not saying sit down and rattle off a list of requests to God for 15 minutes. I'm asking you to really TALK to God, engage Him, praise Him. If you think you can't do it for 15 minutes, just start by thanking Him. Thank Him for the little everyday things and built up to larger ones, pray for your children, your husband, your church, your friends, your family, whatever comes to mind.


Praise Challenges: every day (starting today) I'd like you to write down 5 things you are praising God for. Then by the end of the week you will have 35 praises! I know I have weeks were I don't feel like I have 35 praises, but they are there! The point of this challenge is to make you look for them. Like as I'm typing this my 1 year old just tried to swing on the curtains. Well praise God the whole thing didn't fall down on her! I'm not upset with her, she's 1, I'm just happy she didn't get hurt. And of course she had to be instructed not to do it again lol. So everyday FIVE things, write them down, and when you're praying don't for get to tell God about your praises! Once a week we will discuss our praises. You don't have to share all 35 but I'd love to hear some of the things you've notice through out your week. If you blog you could even post your praises once a week!


Photo Challenge: now this one optional but it's very fun! Once a week share a picture of something that shows the greatness of God. It can be anything that you saw through out the week that made you stop and realize how amazing our God is. If there are enough of us taking part in this challenge then I'll set up a weekly linky on Fridays. Then we can all put our pictures in one spot right here on the blog, but either way we have a flickr group! The group is called Soaking In The Son. In order to join the group just send me your email address so I can invite you. I didn't want to make it totally open so that just anyone could post a picture, so I hope having to do it this way isn't too complicated for anyone.


Along with the challenges I'll be posting brief scripture studies, and inspiring stories of ordinary people doing great things for the Lord. It is my prayer that we would all be inspired and do as William Carey said "expect great things from God, attempt great things for God."

Make sure to check back on Monday so we can Soak In The Son together!

If you plan on joining in or share about this on you're blog please use this button:

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