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