daisies

Today’s blog is a guest post by author Marsha Randolph on the subject of prayer.  I’d love to hear your thoughts in response to this. Please leave your comments below, and be sure to visit Marsha’s blog.

The key to any prayer is: knowing God’s will. God wants you well, He wants you prosperous and He wants you to grow spiritually:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2

As an intercessor there are three categories that I generally am asked to pray about: Health, Finances and Spiritual Welfare (salvation). God’s will is not a mystery not even in these areas. His will is found in His Word.
HEALING- Jesus was beaten with 39 stripes so that all would be healed.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24

FINANCES- God does not want you to experience lack.

that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. 1 Thessalonians 4:12

As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19

SPIRITUAL WELFARE- God wants all men to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. Acts 2:21

You do not have to have a title behind or in front of your name to pray effectively, just believe in Jesus. Manifestation of a prayer request involves faith and belief. Faith has been given to us by God. What we believe is based on what we know to be true.

Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58

If you are a believer in Jesus then you have faith given to you by God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3

Studying the Word of God; learning to focus and trust in His promises; and confessing His truths and not the reports of others will help you strengthen your belief.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8

Then God will give you what you ask for.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

lion

“Up in this high land you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the morning you woke up in the highlands and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be.” ~ Out of Africa, Isak Dineson

 Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, is one of my favorite movies. While I detest the adultery in it, what I do love about it is how it captures the essence and the beauty of Africa, a place I have been praying about traveling to for years. I hear the drums of Africa in my soul and its land with the beautiful sunsets, wild animals, and unique people groups beckon to me each day.

This year I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing African missionary Alma Jones, who was here in the states until December 2010. She is now back “home” in Africa, in Entebbe, Uganda. 

This week I received her email update. I wanted to share part of it with you so you can pray for her and the people there, especially for financial provision for her and for the people’s hearts to be open to the gospel of Christ. 

Some people I know at a church group in Kansas City are planning a short-term missions trip to work with Alma there in May or June 2011, so I am contacting them to find out more information. My husband Ray, our oldest daughter Heather, and I have been praying for years to go. We will go in God’s perfect timing.   

Where do YOU want to travel to and are praying to go to? God can give you the desires of your heart, as Alma’s life attests. She went to Africa in her 70′s, and has been there seven years!

Alma’s letter:

 ”I’ve been sick quite a lot since I have been back. Missed my usual Thursday night Fellowship that I have taught most of the time I’ve been here. That made the people get serious and pray hard for me, so Friday I felt fine and dandy. Doctors can never find anything wrong with me so I know it is a spiritual attack by the enemy. Praise God, my God is Jehovah Rapha so I always have a doctor on call. Sorry about that, Ray. [Beth's note:  My husband Ray is a paramedic.]

I got a call last night from a pastor on the western side of Uganda. We went there last spring and had a terrific class. The pastor called to ask when we were coming back, but also he called to say his son got saved and has come out of the house. For quite some time he wouldn’t leave the house. Praise God. News like that encourages us to continue. 

As for teaching, right now I am concentrating on two young men. One of the hardest parts of being a missionary is getting the locals to assume some responsibility. 

One of the young men was supposed to be here today, but he has been having some physical problems and today he had severe chest pains so went to the doctor. Haven’t heard yet so be in prayer.

No, I’ve not been on a safari yet, but hope to some day. They do cost a lot of money. Shall I get a figure for you so you can come prepared? In the meantime we can go a couple blocks from my house and see the monkeys at Botanical Gardens. [Beth's note: One of the things I really want to do when I go to Africa is go on a safari and see the beautiful Victoria waterfalls. I know it's not a vacation and that safaris cost thousands of dollars, but those are just two things I really want to do and I shared this with Alma. I have faith God will provide!]

I must close now. I do have one class scheduled in Myuge on the lake side in February and must prepare. Thanks for the good letter and keep dreaming and praying about the most beautiful country in the world — the Pearl of Africa.”

The Pearl of Africa. What a beautiful, descriptive picture.  I can’t wait to go! Alma challenged me to stop hoping and praying this is the year that Ray, Heather, and I go, and just believe. 

I leave that with you today – just believe.

**************If you feel led by God to help and to make a donation to Alma, learn more here and here.

Video of Royalty – Kimberly Rivera

coffee

How has your week been? I’ve been working hard all week for the upcoming webinar and on my new ebook on women and spiritual warfare, that I hope to release by the first of March.  But today I wanted to take some time, as I told our daughter Heather, “just to goof off.”  Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

This afternoon Aimee at Living Learning and Loving Simply inspired me with her post An Overnight. Her husband booked her a hotel on Hotwire, to give her some much-needed self-care.  I  read her  blog with growing envy interest.

When God created the world and man, after He was finished, He said everything was very good – and He rested. We should take notes from Him.

We may not be able to go away overnight at a hotel right now like Aimee did, but we can find just a few minutes to pull away and be alone with God – to read a good book – to take a hot soak in the tub – to walk in the beautiful, white, crunchy snow – to talk and laugh with our kids – to just read our favorite blogs in the Google reader – to relax in the quiet and sit on the couch, drinking a good cup of coffee.

Be sure to make time to be refilled and refreshed during your week. You deserve it!

“I find that nonsense, at times, is singularly refreshing.” ~Charles M. de Talleyrand

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Want to learn more about pulling away with God for just a few minutes a day? Check out my Kindle ebook Walking With God

Kindle

Don’t you love great deals? I do, too!  

Technology is changing fast, especially changing the face of writing and publishing. One hot trend right now is putting your ebooks, special reports, and tip sheets on the Kindle.

One of the greatest deals right now are ebooks on the Kindle. Lots of well-known authors are putting their ebooks on the Kindle for sale at incredibly low prices.

I have been praying about this, and this week I made a decision to put my baby, my ebook Walking With God, on the Kindle.

It is now available on the Kindle for the ridiculously low price of 99 cents!

I will not keep it at this rate long, so if you, family, or friends have a Kindle, now is the time to get my ebook at a great price!

You can purchase my Kindle ebook Walking With God right here.

After the purchase, it’d also really help me out for you to put a favorable customer review on my Amazon page, and rate it (the more stars, the better!)  My friend Susan Evans already has an excellent customer review on there. Be sure to tell all your family and friends!

Do you have ebooks, special reports, or other documents you’d like published on the Kindle? You can also add an Author page at Amazon Author Central, your RSS blog feed, and videos on Amazon for more exposure of your website!

Below is Denise Wakeman’s instructional video, showing you how to upload and publish your ebook on the Kindle. It takes Amazon about 24 to 48 hours before it goes live, and you do not have to have an ISBN number to do it.  She makes it real simple and easy to understand.

Video of publishing ebook on Kindle

PS: The link to purchase my Kindle ebook Walking With God right here.

I’d love to know your thoughts on the video. Have you used Camtasia in creating videos and the new Microsoft Office 2010?  Do you like them? There’s a bit of a learning curve with Camtasia (pars for me with technology!)  You can include transitions between slides, music from Camtasia or your own computer, and your pictures on the slides as you’re creating the video.

I liked Microsoft Office 2010′s Power Point. The main feature it seems to have that the older version doesn’t is animations (making objects move).

Enjoy the video, and then please leave your comments below.

Video of Women and Spiritual Warfare webinar

Woman shrugging

Today after I went grocery shopping, I went through Sonic’s drive-thru to get a cold drink – and I couldn’t find my debit card in my zebra-striped purse with its endless contents – wallet, pens, change purse, numerous receipts, cell phone, FLIP recorder, etc. I had just used the card at the grocery store, and knew it had to be in there. So I took a second to pray and I heard God’s still, small voice: “It’s in your wallet.”  Sure enough, it was there, tucked away in a place where I hadn’t seen it.  This is the stuff that drives me crazy; it’s certainly not the first time I thought I’ve lost my debit card. (Other times, I really did lose it!)

Yet God uses these little things in life to teach us more patience, and ultimately more trust in Him. The little foxes do spoil the vineyard, but when things like this happen, we need to take just a minute and chill out – and pray. But how often do we do this?  What is our usual response to those daily frustrations and irritations?  Yeah, me, too!  Me praying so quickly isn’t something I always do!

Let’s not let these little things get to us so easily and forget the great blessings God gives us every day!

On my way home after this incident, something funny happened. I heard the song, This Is The Stuff, by Francesca Battistelli. I had already heard it a couple of times in the last couple of weeks on K-Love, but it was so approrpriate right then!  (I really relate to it!)  I laughed, turned the radio up loud, sang along, and really enjoyed it.  It was like God winking at me and laughing with me over how silly it is to get frustrated over such little things!

Here is the video below with the lyrics. Enjoy!

Video of This Is The Stuff

Jael with hammer and tent peg

How is your new year going so far?  I am excited about this year, and have some great new projects coming up for you! One is my free webinar on prayer, Iron Sharpens Iron: How A Stay-At-Home Mom Was On The Enemy’s Head – Women and Spiritual Warfare.

This webinar, inspired from the story of Deborah the Judge and Jael in Judges Chapter 4, will be Wednesday, February 2, 2011, at 11 a.m. CST. Mark your calendar today!

You will learn new things about spiritual warfare and make new friends.  The webinar replay will be available for a short time afterward, and you will receive bonus goodies just for attending!

Want to learn more?  Just go to my video on Spiritual Warfare, and get signed up today!

Prayer, Purpose, Passion ebook

When I find something good, I love to share it with my friends. Today I read Alyssa Avant’s ezine, and she recommended an ecover graphics generator site that is easy and inexpensive, My Ecover Maker. In fact, you can even do a free trial version – I love free!

So I went ahead and tried it out, putting a new cover on my ebook, Prayer, Purpose and Passion. I think it’s prettier than the plain green one I had on there. What do you think?  Like it or not? Leave your comments below.

And I encourage you to buy my ebook while you’re there!     Be sure try My Ecover Maker for your ebooks and other info products, too!

A show of Dr. Phil’s confrontation will play Thursday.

The latest news reports are that Ted is now heading back into drug and alcohol rehab after an altercation with his daughter and it came to light that he drank again.

Some people are very upset about the way things have turned out. Some people are saying it was inevitable given his history and the pressures he was facing with the overnight fame.  Some people are cheering, never having wanted him to succeed and pointing to his abandoning his family, his drug use, and his criminal history. Some people are angry, saying his family is just bitter and seeking revenge or claiming the news media, Dr. Phil, and others are racists.

I personally can’t stand a lot of drama and all this drama turns my stomach.  I probably won’t be posting about this any more after this one.  But I am still praying for Ted and rooting for him. 

“WHAT????!!!!!” You might think.

Yes, I know about him leaving his family and not being there for his kids and about his criminal record.  It wasn’t right. It was terribly wrong.  The kids suffered the most from this.  It makes me so angry when fathers don’t support their children. I have a close relative, whose ex-husband doesn’t support his own kids and she struggles to put food on the table and pay basic bills because of it (he was addicted to drugs and alcohol, had an affair, and left her and the kids!). 

I feel the mom’s and the kids’ pain.  I pray they will be able to forgive him and to be healed from this great pain.

Yes, I am very upset that Ted drank again and fought with his daughter, and the police got involved.  How terribly disappointing.

 But who am I to judge Ted Williams?  And why aren’t we praying for him instead of casting stones?  Except for the grace of God, there go I – even today!

That doesn’t mean we condone any of his sinful actions!  God is holy and doesn’t wink at sin. And if someone has a drinking and/or drug problem, they should be confronted with the truth and they need to get help.

But this entire story shows just how much people need Jesus – Ted, the ex-wife, the kids, the people accusing Ted, the people accusing Ted’s ex-wife and daughter, the people accusing Dr. Phil, Ted’s mother who said to Ted, don’t disappoint her, and yes, Dr. Phil needs Jesus, too. Dr. Phil isn’t perfect either, as great a man as he is. None of us are. 

Let’s face it. All of us human beings are just a mess. We need God! I know I do!

In love, I challenge anyone – will you pray for Ted?  Pray for his salvation, for his deliverance, for his freedom, for his destiny to be fulfilled, for his brokenness.  Or will you judge him?

“They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” ~ John 8:7, NLT

“So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don’t need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You’ll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.” ~ Philemon 1:17-20, The Message Bible

Overwhelmed with info overload?

The last few days I’ve been dedicating to learning, gleaning from Melissa Ingold’s and Carrie Wilkerson’s webinar on videos for your blog (it was EXCELLENT!), Michael Hyatt’s post on Why I Stopped Reading Your Blog (it went right through me!), Candace Cameron Bure’s book, Reshaping It All:  Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness (challenging me about my relationship with food and fitness), and reading a variety of blogs such as Alisa’s post, 21 Lessons I’ve Learned From Blogging. (These are all great resources I highly recommend!)

It’s foolish to be an island unto ourselves. We need other people in our lives for relationships, and so we won’t become stale and stagnant. We can learn a lot from other people.

But today we’re swimming in information online, especially for your business. It can feel overwhelming at times.

To tag or not to tag your posts? (I found out today, quite disappointed, that tags can actually work against you – Google can penalize you for duplicate content. Rule of thumb: use tags judiciously.)   

To allow people to comment on blogs or to restrict comments?  (Apparently, checking “Anyone can register” for users on comments can leave your site vulnerable.) 

To make sure your ebooks are formatted properly for the Kindle, which Amazon said is its best-selling item and Oprah said was her favorite electronic gadget (And I just learned how to do ebooks! Another new learning curve now!)  

 To tweet several times a day, daily, or 3x week?  (What if you still don’t really get Twitter?) 

And don’t forget the overflow in  your email inbox – all those sites you are subscribed to, in order to learn more about having an online business!  Marketing, promotion, social media, plugins for your website, etc. (I’ve been unsubscribing from a lot of lists this year, choosing only the ones that send emails I actually read!)

I’m so thankful for all the wonderful resources online. In fact, I couldn’t  do what I do without them. God has brought many successful, intelligent, creative, loving people and their wealth of knowledge across my path in the last two years to help me and teach me.

But there are times when we need to just pull back to hear God’s still, small voice. He will direct our paths. He will show us the way.

God will give us the words we need to speak and to write.  Words that are worthy. Words that bless and encourage and inspire others. That help them in practical ways with their real, daily lives.

Sometimes we just need to get away from all the noise online and ask God what HE wants us to do and to pursue. And to let the rest go, even though other “successful” people are pursuing it.  Kudos to them for these things helping them.  But it may not be for you and me.  Because what they’re doing may not even be right for you and your work.

You need to hear the reassuring beat of your own drum, your own music - not others’ drums.

Ultimately, blessings and success come God. Listen to Him and you can’t go wrong.

“He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.”  ~ 2 Chronicles 26:5, NIV

fish and loaves of bread

Have you heard the story of a man who inherited $10 million from his father’s company, put it in a briefcase, booked a cruise to Alaska, and began dumping the bills overboard into the deep, cold waters as they were traveling?  I imagine right  now you may be thinking, “Why on earth did he do that? Why is he wasting all that money?” Yet in our own lives, we waste so much. Jesus addressed the important issue of waste when He performed the miracle with the fish and the loaves of bread, instructing his disciples to gather what was leftover, so that nothing would be wasted. Join Beth in this podcast, encouraging you to waste nothing that God has given you and to maximize your life’s great potential and possibilities.  Just click on the link below to download this podcast or subscribe at itunes!

Download by mp3

Julia Williams and son Ted Williams on Today show

Ted Williams, the homeless man whose voice is described as “golden,” already received a great opportunity from God;  he recorded a commercial for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He also reunited with his mom. A video posted by the Columbus Dispatch showed Ted walking quickly toward his mother at their New York reunion at a hotel, the first time they’d seen each other in about 20 years.  Both of them were in tears.

Ted said he just finished doing a commercial for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese that will air Sunday during the Fight Hunger Bowl on ESPN. According to Fox news, Ted recorded voiceover promos Thursday for MSNBC’s Lean Forward campagain, and the spots will begin running immediately. He’s being paid for the spots at an undisclosed amount. Can you imagine how thankful he is for these blessings from God after being homeless so long?

A position with the Cavaliers is still a possibility that could include announcing work at Quicken Loans Arena, the team’s downtown facility. They’ve offered him a two-year contract and would pay his living expenses. (Fox news)

He’s being offered lots of jobs right now, but in his interview on the Today show, he said he wants to choose just one, because the rest of the offers are just too overwhelming right now. (He’s even being offered a movie role!)  He also said that he hopes to get therapy with a pyscyhologist who’s a contributor on Today’s staff, to work on his issues, which I really hope he will do.  That way he won’t be on his own to deal with the overwhelm of offers and sudden publicity, and can have someone to help him through his addiction recovery process.

The interview of him on the Today show with his mom Julia is here.

Ted also taped an appearance on the NBC late-night show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon, who told him his voice “is golden.” I agree, he has an incredible voice. I believe God wants to use this man for His glory and am really praying for him to keep clean from addiction.

When I watched the video of him and his mother Julia being interviewed on the Today show, I was intrigued by his mother. She looks great for being in her 90′s and was amusing sometimes, being so stern with him live on air about getting his life straight with God and especially when she talked about the sign he was holding, which embarrassed her and her family.  The sign is what gave him his break!  Besides, this is not about personal appearances, but about someone who’s fallen down and needs help getting back up – and more importantly, staying up!

Ted’s mom Julia said she had heard lots of promises over the years, and when she first saw him at the hotel reunion in New York, some of her first words were, “Don’t disappoint me.” 

She said he is her prodigal son and is hoping he will finally get his life straightened out.  I wanted to just shake her and tell her to say something positive to the man, but I’m sure she’s been through a LOT of worry and concern over Ted.  I am praying for them both, especially that Ted won’t relapse with all this attention coming at him all at once. Some of the comments I read on YouTube were that Julia provides the “tough love” Ted needs.

What do you think?  Was Julia too harsh on Ted, especially during the interview? Did you think she was a critical person? Or did you think she was just speaking truth to him that he needed? Have you ever had to deal with someone addicted to drugs and alcohol?  (Again, the interview on the Today show is  here.)  Please leave your comments below.

Below is the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese commercial with Ted. The commercial itself is pretty funny. The little boy cracked me up when he talked about dad being in the doghouse.  The mom’s expression at the dinner table is hilarious.  You hear Ted’s voice at the very end.

He’s considering the other job offers, and hopefully will get on the right path, being accountable to others, getting the professional help he needs for his addiction recovery, and making new godly friends. Wise advice for addicts is “New playgrounds, new playmates!” 

I am praying for a happy ending to this story, for God to help Ted stay clean of drugs and alcohol, and that the rest of his life will be victorious.  Please keep this man in prayer!

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese video- Ted Williams’ first commercial after being homeless

Ted Williams

Normally I don’t read the news because it’s often so negative and I like to stay positive and full of faith. But the story of homeless man Ted Williams with the “golden voice” caught my ear this morning from K-Love radio station.

There’s been supposedly 3 million views of him on YouTube since the Columbus Dispatch posted a video (see Associated Press video below) of him on the web earlier this week.  According to Fox news,  he’s now been offered a job by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and is being pursued by NFL films and others for possible work. He became an overnight star when the Columbus Dispatch posted the clip of him demonstrating his voiceover skills while he was begging by the side of the road with a sign for help.

I often wonder how homeless people wind up on the streets. Ted became homeless after his life was ruined by drugs and alcohol, and his past has a long list of arrests.  He’s been in prison several times for theft and forgery with numerous citings for misdemeanors including drug abuse, according to Fox news. On The Early show, he said he had been sober now 2 1/2 years.

Ted admitted his criminal record during the Today show appearance, saying that he turned to crime to support his drug habits. When they learned about his criminal history, the Cavaliers said their offer still stands, Fox news said.

“We believe in second chances and second opportunities. The gentleman deserves an opportunity to explain certain situations. We’re not jumping to conclusions. It’s not fair,”  said Tracy Marek, the team’s senior vice president of marketing.

When he was interviewed on The Early Show show, he talked about being very thankful to God for his second chance and began to cry as he spoke about going to see his 90-year-old mother Julia , who he hasn’t seen in a long time. She lives in Brooklyn and he says she has stood by him through his addictions. 

 ”She has always been my best friend,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, crying. “When I was a kid, she would take me down to Radio City Music Hall and on the subway. I’m just glad that she is still around. I prayed that she would live long enough that I could make her proud and see could her son do something other than stand along the side of the road with a sign asking for money.”

Some comments left on YouTube are pretty nasty about Ted’s story, saying things like, why should anyone give a drug addict a job?  You know, the God I serve has given me not only a second chance in life, but many chances. His mercies are new every morning.

I think this is an incredible story of God’s love and grace. I am praying for Ted, that the sudden rise to fame will not cause any sort of relapse for him and that his life will truly be turned around with an incredible job, a home, new godly friends, and a new church home. I pray that he will indeed become “God’s voice” of redemption to mankind. 

None of us deserve a second chance – but God desires to give us one, through the power of Jesus’ redeeming blood and God’s forgiveness.  

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” ~ Joel 2:25, ESV

What are your thoughts on this story? Leave your comments below the video. Ted, I am praying for you. I think your story is amazing and am rooting for you all the way. And you have a great voice!

Associated Press Video of Ted Williams

Video of Ted’s interview

grilled ribs

Have you ever made great ribs on the grill? Tonight my husband Ray made some, and they turned out delicious! These mouth-watering ribs inspired me to make a vlog about accomplishing 2011 goals!

Are you curious? Check it out below. (Let the video fully load first.) Enjoy!

Video of “Perfect Ribs”

sunrise

Yesterday our daughter Leah and I read the Bible from Genesis 32: 23-34 about Jacob wrestling with God. The backdrop of this story is that Jacob had left his father-in-law Laban, taking his wives and property with him. He sent a message to his brother Esau, who he had stolen his birthright from by deceit, and the messengers came back to tell Jacob that Esau was on his way to meet Jacob with four hundred men with him.

Jacob became very scared of his brother doing him or his family harm or possibly killing him, but prepared a great present of animals and servants for his brother from his possessions, safely crossed the fork of the Jabbok, and stayed behind to pray to God.

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 

Then Jacob said, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?”  And He blessed him there.

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.” (Genesis 32: 23-33)

Maybe you feel you are left all alone. Maybe you feel afraid like Jacob did, not knowing what’s going to happen.  Jacob knew where to go when he was scared – to God, the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.

The Bible says that Jacob wrestled all night with a Man. This Man was an incarnation of God. Obviously Jacob was a  physically strong man, to wrestle all night with someone, especially God! 

Of course, Jacob realized later that he could have died – his life had been preserved. All God had to do was use one finger to put Jacob’s hip out of joint. Jacob limped the rest of his life, a reminder of his great night of struggle and of God blessing him.

What amazes me about this story is Jacob’s determination and endurance. He didn’t stop wrestling, even after God put his hip out of joint. He continued to fight hard.  He told God he would not stop until God blessed him!

The Bible says that Jacob had struggled with God and with men, but had prevailed. That word “prevailed” comes from the Greek word yakol and means “to prevail, overcome, endure, have power, be able, to reach.”  (Blue Letter Bible, Strong’s No. H3201)

Over the last year there are four areas in my life where I am struggling. I have wrestled with God in continual prayer over these things. Jacob is an inspiration to me, because he didn’t stop fighting. I need to keep wrestling with God in prayer. I won’t let go unless He blesses me!  When Jacob left to go, the sun rose on him. As we spend time in God’s presence, His light will shine on us!

What about you? Is there any area of your life where you are struggling? Some situation you need to endure and to overcome with victory?  Some area where you need more of God’s power?  

Let’s learn from the patriarch Jacob. Spend a night in prayer to God, meeting him face to face as Jacob did, and wrestle with Him. Be determined. Fight for it. Don’t let go until God blesses you!

This video is called New Year, New You. I’d love to hear your comments on it. Be sure to let it load fully first so you can view it without interruption.  Enjoy!

Video-New Year, New You

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Sometimes things happen in life that absolutely blindside you. Today I attended the funeral of a 27-year-old, beautiful girl in the prime of her life, big dreams in her heart, a contagious smile of joy always on her face. I’d recently met Jessica, prayed with her, and gave her words of encouragement at a local church where I was visiting one Sunday morning. I didn’t know her before then, but that day when I met her, she made a big impact on me.

This week she was driving one night down the highway, lost control of her car, crossed the median, and a semi-truck hit her car. Critically injured, she died at the hospital after being life-flighted there. Two friends texted me the news just after the accident to pray. When I was praying for her from the text, I didn’t realize it was the young woman who I’d prayed with and talked to only a couple of months ago. Later when a friend told me who it definitely was, I was devastated.

I have really debated writing a blog about this. Will it dishonor, hurt, or anger the family by writing about the funeral? Some of her family live here in town.  I don’t want to do anything that causes them more pain, because God only knows the severity of their pain today. I can’t imagine the horror of what they’re going through right now, and don’t want to even think about it. Since I first heard about this, I have been praying for all of them continually.

But this girl made such an incredible difference in many lives, and through just meeting her one time, in mine!  It was evident today. People say the date of your death says more about you than any other day of your life. What would people say about you or me at our funeral? Something to think about…

Today when I came to the funeral home for the visitation an hour before her funeral, I saw that she was dressed in a gorgeous, white, lace, wedding dress. Why a wedding gown?  All her life, Jessica had wanted to be a wife and a mother, and she never had been. After being homeschooled, she became a phlebotomist and was currently employed by a family medicine clinic.

But more than anything else, Jessica had one passion: winning souls to Christ. A student at The Masters’ Commission, she became a missionary and went on missions trips funded by family, community, and church, privileged to go to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, and into the mountains of Old Mexico. She was a preaching woman and a soul winner. She was a licensed minister, soon to be ordained, and had an Associate Degree in Biblical Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in Missions from Central Bible College in Springfield, MO.

And Jessica was waiting for the right man to come along to add to her joy. That was one of the things I had talked about with her when I met her, that I sensed she felt alone and lonely. Tears filled her eyes, and she said, “Yes, I am. I really want to find a good husband and get married.” I encouraged her to hang on, to focus on Christ, and that God would give her the desires of her heart. 

I told her that I sensed it wouldn’t be too much longer, that soon she would no longer feel alone and lonely. Little did I know when I gave her this word, that what God meant was being by HIS side as the Bride of Christ.  (I thought it meant she’d be married soon – here!)  Yet the wedding dress she was buried in was very appropriate. She’s no longer alone, lonely, empty. She is complete and whole in Christ, in His glorious presence, His radiant Bride without spot, blemish, or wrinkle. (Ephesians 5: 27)

From her obituary, Jessica lived a full and happy life in her very short time here. She loved spending time with her family and friends, fishing, swimming, horseback riding, eating corn on the cob, reading romance novels, watching Hallmark movies, and spending time with her faithful white poodle, “Taffy.” She had a great sense of humor and loved pulling pranks on people.

Jessica was described as “the favorite” in her family.  Her sister Stephanie at the funeral said that Jessica was her very best friend. She and their other sister, Tiffany, did a creative drama-song with hand signing glorifying Jesus and as a final, touching tribute to their sister, with tears in their eyes. It was anointed and beautiful.

I was amazed at all the people there who had come to see Jessica. The funeral home chapel was filled to overflowing with people who had been touched somehow by her life. She was well-loved. Jessica made an eternal impact on those around her.

Her pastor at The Master’s Commission, Lloyd Zeigler, wept at times as he gave the sermon, and said the way this happened so suddenly, the way she died while just in her 20′s in the prime of life, was all wrong, it was backwards. “She should be preaching at MY funeral!” he said.

But he didn’t want to disappoint Jessica when he got to heaven. He joked that he didn’t want her rebuking him when he got there. Her passion was to tell others about Jesus, so he boldly gave the invitation for salvation by her casket. At her funeral, people quietly came to the pastor or family members after the service to give their lives to Christ. This would have made her really smile. Even in death, Jessica was winning souls for Jesus!

This is the second death of someone I know in the last several months. (The first was Ray’s and my friend Mike Fools, who lost his battle to stage 4 cancer.) When you encounter death through those you love, it shakes you up.  Grief is such a painful emotion. It just aches in your heart.  It also makes you face your own mortality, which is a very uncomfortable thought.

None of us like the thought of dying, of our lives suddenly ending. The Bible says to dust we shall return. (Genesis 3:19) It’s discomfiting, thinking that one day we’ll be nothing but dust again. Driving through the gates at the cemetery today for the graveside service, I thought about how we all end up there…and how brief our years really are.

But it’s necessary to think about these uncomfortable things.  What are we living for today? Are we making any difference while we are here? Does our life really matter? Have we impacted anyone’s life with ours, and more importantly with Christ’s life in us?

Not to indulge in a pity party, but I really wondered looking across the room at Jessica in the white wedding gown in the casket, would ANYONE come to my funeral? Or would they have to hire mourners for my funeral? :O  Of course, I am kidding…sorta’!

I don’t think that I would have as many people there. Maybe very few people would actually come to my funeral – just my immediate family. Maybe fewer would even feel a sorrowful loss over my death. :O  I am just being real with my thoughts here – all of us want to know the answer to this question: “Does my life really matter and have any significance? What is my purpose? Why am I here?”

I looked deeper inside because sometimes I can be so selfish, so uncaring.  What am I doing TODAY to help others? To make a difference in this world for God and to further His kingdom? Am I living in such a way that my death would cause many others great grief because I loved others so well with the love of Christ – like beautiful Jessica did?

Am I leading others to Jesus, the Living Waters, the Messiah? Am I sharing the good news with others? Is His light boldly blazing from my heart – or am I just along for the ride in a dark, sin-filled world, not making much impact here? Am I so busy living my life, ignoring the most important things – like people’s relationship with God?

“Preach the gospel. And if necessary, use words.” ~ St. Assissi

When I talked with Jessica at the church in town recently, I told her that I sensed from the Lord that she had a strong preaching and teaching gift and that she needed to use her spiritual gifts for God. She confirmed that she did have a preaching gift, and that she wanted to preach – she loved preaching.  Ahhh, this is one reason we hit it off so well immediately!  (besides her being such a great person!)

She said she had thought about preaching at pastor Charles Mathis’ church (Full Gospel Church, the church I was visiting). I urged her to go to him and share this with him, to not wait. God wanted to use her gifts now.

Jessica did go to pastor Mathis to talk to him about this, and he let her preach one Sunday. (She was supposed to preach there again, 3 weeks from now.)  Unfortunately, I wasn’t there that morning when she spoke, but my friend Diane who attends there said she did great. A clip of her preaching was played at the service today.  It was amazing.  Who knew that when she preached this sermon, it would be the one to be played at her own funeral?

Its message was on always being ready for Christ!  And Jessica sure was!

From her Facebook wall entry in September this year, she wrote about her sermon:

“I preached from Mathew 12:30- love. Getting back to the basics of Christianity and practicing what we preach. Because I truly believe when we are faithful with the basics, God will then entrust us with more of His promises. Then, and only then, will we see God move in our midst, see people give their lives to the Lord, and witness great and mighty miracles. That’s it in a nut shell.  :)”

What about you? Are you ready to meet Christ? Don’t wait any longer. The time is now. Time is so short. Today choose to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. All of us have sinned and are separated from God. Only Jesus can save you. Repent of your sins and ask His forgiveness so that you can be restored in your relationship with God and spend eternity in heaven with Him.

Live for an audience of one!

Here is a poem that Jessica’s sister Stephanie wrote in tribute to her:

Jessica lived for an audience of one
A life of worship, a princess to become
In the arms of her Prince Charming
she is now embraced
The heartbeat of God and worthy
of seeing His face
So now precious Father above
Grant us peace and make us worthy of Your love.
Give us strength to live each day
Til our name You choose to say.
Thank you God
for the time we had…
Treasured memories
we will always have.

Copyright 2010 Stephanie Evans

*****

Jessica, I’m so glad that I got a chance to meet you here on earth. You made such a big impact on me in just that one day.  I’ll see you when I get to heaven and we can chat some more – so glad you have now met THE one!   

beautiful Jessica

bulls-eye

The new year is just ahead, and if you’re like me, you don’t even like the word “resolution” anymore. (Too much of a reminder of failure, isn’t it?)  Instead, you want to set some concrete goals to attain the dreams in your heart.  Today’s blog post is a guest post from Michele Pariza Wacek, which will encourage you to do just that.  

Pray. Obey God. And position yourself, for great things are ahead for 2011! God wants to bless His people and use us mightily for His glory! 

Enjoy the article!

(Want to listen rather than read? You can download the Director’s Cut on the podcast here:
www.michelepw.com/blog)

Goal Setting — 3 Tips to Positioning Yourself for Business Success in the New Year

It’s December and you know what that means. Not only is it holiday mania but this is also the perfect time to get yourself ready for the New Year.

If you’re an entrepreneur who is ready to enjoy more business success next year, I would highly encourage you to take a little time to work ON your business (rather than IN your business) before the start of the New Year. Below are 3 tips to help you get focused and ready to shine!

1. Make sure you celebrate your past success. This one isn’t easy for me to do either (much easier to make a list of all the things I want to get done next year). But if you don’t celebrate what you DID accomplish last year, what would be the motivation for achieving next year’s goals?

You need to give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it! (And be honest, when was the last time you gave yourself any sort of credit?)

Here’s what I would suggest doing — get a piece of paper and write down 50 things you accomplished last year.

Yes I said 50. And no I won’t take “but I didn’t accomplish 50 things” as an answer. You see, by setting an intention to come up with 50 means you’re not going to stop at 3 and miss a bunch that you really need to congratulate yourself for.

Next, celebrate! Buy yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit in a bathtub or call up a friend or associate and tell them what you accomplished. Let yourself feel good about what you accomplished — you did good!

2. Write down your goals for next year. This is important –especially the writing down part. If you don’t write them down, the chances of you actually accomplishing them are pretty unlikely. In fact, it’s pretty close to zero. According to a famous study of Harvard graduates, less than 5 percent of those who didn’t write down their goals actually accomplished them.

And don’t rush this either. I’m not going to give you a number to hit, but take some time and actually think about what you want to accomplish next year. And make them specific — don’t just say “make more money.” Put a number in there — how much money do you want to make. Even better, write down how you plan to make more money — launch a new product? Get X number of people into your coaching program?

3. Now break down your goals into steps. This is probably the biggest thing you can do to make sure you actually achieve your goals.

The more specific you make your goals and the more you break them down into doable action steps, the easier it’s going to be to follow through with them.

So for instance, with the “make more money” goal. Break it down into how you’re going to make more money — like launch a product or get your coaching program going. Get your calendar out and put those milestones in your  calendar so you know what you’re shooting for.

Now the idea here isn’t to make this a big, difficult task. Have fun with it. You’re planning your year and you can turn it into anything you want it to be! This is exciting! Take time to enjoy the process. This is your life and your business — you should be able to transform it into exactly what you want it to be.

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What Michele specializes in is writing copy and creating marketing campaigns that gets people to TAKE ACTION, whatever that action may be (signing up for your newsletter, buying a product, hiring you etc.). In fact, Michele has mastered psychological and hypnotic techniques designed to persuade your target market to become your customers.

She also specializes in warm Web 2.0 traffic strategies that will bring a flood of hungry visitors to your Web site who want to buy exactly what you sell!

Whether it’s online or offline you need, Michele PW knows how to Rev Up Your Results!

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Mary and baby Jesus

This week we’re celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus. As I was reflecting on the Christmas story this morning, the response of Mary, the mother of Jesus, amazed me. I believe when Gabriel appeared to Mary to give her the news, it was a test from God. She could have refused to accept His great assignment for her life.  But Mary said yes to God, and God did the impossible in and through her life. God wants to do the same with you.  Will you be like Mary, who said, “May everything you have said about me come true.”  Join Beth today for this encouraging podcast. Simply click on the link below to download.

Download the mp3

Download the pdf!

crystal Christmas ornament

Last night our daughter Heather and her family arrived safely home in Missouri from Florida. They hated that their beach trip was cut short, but didn’t want to chance encountering freezing rains here! Thank you so much for your prayers for them!

Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for the gift of His life, so He could give me eternal life!  To Him the King Immortal, Prince of Peace, Immanuel, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, I give all praise and worship, forever and ever! There are no words to describe all that Jesus has done for me and how grateful I am to Him. He is my BFF!

I am also very thankful for each one of you who stops by to visit my blog each day.  It’s been such an honor and privilege to serve you here, and you have greatly enriched my life with your faithful friendship, support, prayers, questions, and comments.  I  pray that at my sites, you find encouragement and are blessed from God’s word.  Please let me know how I can pray for you and what I can do to help you at elizabethdjones@gmail.com.

May you have a beautiful, blessed Christmas with your family and friends, and may the coming 2011 be a year of the wonderful impossible for you. Nothing is impossible with God!

We both love the beach – the beautiful, amazing ocean that God created. Missouri? Tonight and tomorrow the weather forecast predicts freezing rains. ‘Nuf said.

What about you? Where do you want to visit, to travel to, to live, to start a new life? What is your dream?

What’s keeping you from it?

It’s important to have not just resolutions for 2011 and the next 10 years, but dreams.  Write them down.  World-traveler Chris Guillebeau, who has visited 140 countries and plans to travel to the rest of the countries in the world, wrote a great post on dreams and life.

God wants to give us our dreams, the desires of our heart. Today think about yours. Hold them up before God, and pray about them. Determine to do what it is that you’d love to do with His help. Then do it!

Blogging soon in Florida and in Africa….   

This week I shared at my new website that our oldest daughter Heather and her family were at the beach in Florida and were planning to return home on Christmas Eve.  But it’s supposed to get down to the 20′s tonight here in Missouri, and weather forecasters are predicting snow and sleet Thursday, so tonight they left Florida to head back to Alabama. They then leave early tomorrow morning to arrive here hopefully by tomorrow night by about 8 p.m.  Please keep them in your prayers!

This meant, of course, that their beach trip was cut short, even though it’s warm there.  Today it was in the 70′s in Destin, Florida. Heather’s husband Kyle and their two daughters have never seen the ocean before, and they LOVED it. The girls had a lot of fun digging in the sand with their new pail and shovel, and collecting shells. They also went to the Gulfarium, and saw dolphins, stingrays, sea lions, urchins, and other marine life.

Annabelle and Violet digging in sand on beach

Heather, Kyle’s mom, and the girls went shopping yesterday while Kyle, Becky’s husband, and their two sons Noah and Ryan went to visit battleships. Last night they drove to Alabama to see special Christmas lights in Alabama.  Today they all enjoyed a seafood lunch by the beach in Destin.

Violet on beach

But they would have liked to stay the entire time. It was disappointing for them. Sometimes we get unexpected news for us, our family, or friends.   The news can be bad, such as:

• bad weather for driving home to Missouri
• a doctor’s negative medical report
• our house is foreclosing
• your spouse lost his or her job
• your grade on your test was lower than you thought
• your husband or your wife has had an affair
• you owe taxes again this year
• your close relative had a traumatic accident
• you need surgery
• your child is pregnant – out of wedlock
• someone wrecked your car
• someone you love was arrested for criminal activity
• your husband, your son, or your daughter is being sent to a war zone
• your husband, your son, or your daughter is not coming home from the war – ever.

Sometimes the unexpected news is good, though!

• you got a raise and a promotion – far more than you’d hoped!
• you traded your lemon car in for a newer, great car
• you made all A’s in your college classes – again
• you won a year’s worth of Starbucks coffee free
• you’re having a baby – in your 40′s!
• your husband or your wife gives you a Christmas card, telling you a trip to Ireland is booked for you two
• your child won first place in a sporting event
• you won first place in a sporting event!
• you get a check in the mail instead of bills – on an ordinary day
• you’ve lost a dress size when you go shopping
• you are invited to speak somewhere – a  place of great honor
• you sold a lot more books than you ever thought possible
• your wildest dream comes true – sooner than you hoped!
• the child you are adopting will be home from China for Christmas!

Whether the unexpected news is good or bad, we can have confidence that no matter what, God is in charge and He is watching out for us always.  Nothing shakes Him up. He’s got it under control! We can put our lives into His hands and trust Him…sleet or snow, lack or abundance, good times or sad. He is the LORD. We are under the shadow of His wings. (Psalm 91)

Annabelle on beach

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. (Psalm 125: 1)

Beth Jones

This week a friend of mine invited me to visit a new church she found in Lee’s Summit because they were having guest speaker Bob Sorge. Several years ago I’d heard him teach, and I couldn’t wait to listen to him again. He runs very deep in the Lord, like a deep well of water. At the beginning of the service, I just soaked up the great worship there, especially the song How He Loves (originally sung by the David Crowder band).  It’s such a blessing to have corporate worship with other believers in Christ!

Mr. Sorge delivered an incredible presentation on 1 Samuel 17:54 about Joab taking the stronghold of Zion. This teaching is included in his book Opened From The Inside.  The teaching challenged me: am I willing to do whatever it takes, even laying down my own life, to follow Christ?

I was also surprised and delighted to see several friends there, who I hadn’t seen in awhile. We hugged each other’s necks – it’s awesome how God orchestrates things!

Afterward I spent the day in Lee’s Summit doing our Christmas shopping, taking time at Borders book store for a gingerbread-spice latte’ with whipped cream, that came with a cute little gingerbread man on top of the cream.  :)  I’m almost through with Christmas shopping, and just have to wrap the presents now.

Several times today – on the radio, at church – I heard the scripture on how the veil was torn in the temple by God when Christ died, and the torn veil was symbollic of  there being no more barrier between us and the Lord. We now have full access to Him. (Ephesians 3:12)

No one has to petition God on our behalf; we don’t have to confess our sins to anyone and do penance for our sins.  We can approach God with confidence through Christ’s finished work on the Cross and the power of His blood that He shed for us. What Jesus did for us was God’s love gift to all of humanity – greater than any Christmas gift we could ever give or receive!

Today you have personal access to the God of the Universe, whatever your need is. Come to Him freely. He’s waiting just for you!

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Want to learn more about having access to God and spending time with Him each day?  Click here.

Video of How He Loves by David Crowder band

Beth Jones

In case you are wondering why I’m quiet lately and if I’m just shopping a lot, actually I have not even started shopping yet – rare for me to wait until the last minute, but we’ve had to watch our finances lately! Instead of shopping, I’ve been busy behind the scenes working on new projects for the coming year: my January 2011 webinar at CWA on spiritual warfare, a new ebook on women and their daily spiritual battles and struggles (very excited about this one! I have 8 women contributing their stories to it so far!), and creating another website.

“But Beth,” you may be thinking, “How can you create another website if you’re not even paying attention to your own – your main one, OR the homeschooling site?” Well sometimes you just need something new and fresh to work on to get different perspectives. It’s like walking outside in the cold air – it’s invigorating.

The site is for writers, speakers, and bloggers and will be a place of encouragement, inspiration, challenge, and practical help. I ran across the free theme today and decided on the spot to download it and just start a new website! Don’t you love spontaneity? I’d love to know what you think! Leave your comments here or at the new site. The site is still being built, so stay tuned for more!

It is http://www.bethjones.net/writingroom.

Have you ever been really excited about something and then when it happened, you were just disappointed? Well for weeks now, I’ve been waiting with much anticipation for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie in 3D. I went tonight with Ray and Leah, and yes, I was disappointed – the first one was so much better!

Now don’t get me wrong. I was still glad to see dear Lucy and Edmund again (and Susan and Peter briefly). Yes, I was happy this time around that  Edmund made the smart decision to leave the Turkish Delight candies alone and to not join the white witch (although Edmund and I share a mutual love for the sweet, sugary Turkish Delights! Ray surprised me with some at home a couple years ago, and I ate nearly the entire box!).  But I digress now! 

Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy, was – as always – a delight with her freckles, accent, and sweet nature.

I was so glad that the movie addressed Lucy’s struggles with her identity, in particular her physical appearance and her attractiveness.  She stared into the mirror, envying her older, pretty sister Susan, who Lucy imagines looking like (who wouldn’t want Susan’s flawless skin and those thick red lips–they are Angeline Jolie lips!!!)   Aren’t we girls all this way, wanting what some other woman has, and NOT wanting something we already DO have that God so graciously gave us?  

Lucy and Aslan by mirror

Lucy asks the age-old question that all of us girls ask ourselves and other women —- but mostly we ask it of our man:  “Do you think I am beautiful?” Only one answer from him will do for her and will make her completely happy, maybe for months or years – or even a lifetime!  A different answer will destroy her heart, her very life.  And satan never wants us to discover how beautiful we are to God!   (You can read more about this interesting discussion in Staci Eldredge’s great book Captivating.)

So, no romance in this new Narnia movie…what are the writers and producers thinking? We can rest in the knowledge as women that God says our voice is always lovely to Him and our face is so beautiful to Him. That can make a girl’s whole day, ladies! (Song of Solomon 2:14)

It had been awhile since I had seen a 3D movie and our youngest daughter Leah told me that it was totally different now than the last time I’d gone to a 3D movie, acting as if I am centuries old!  I did about SCREAM when  a ball was thrown toward me from the screen during one of the commercials and I wasn’t expecting it. Ye-uh, this is definitely much more real! 

The 3D glasses are different now, too. I am telling my age now by admitting the last 3D pair of movie glasses I wore were quite flimsy, almost like paper or cardboard.  And you left the movie not quite sure what really just happened – it was kind of blurry. 

 But these are plastic frames  today, MUCH harder than the paper 3D glasses  - these are big, ugly, square, plastic glasses. Can’t the 3D glasses creators at least try to make 3D glasses in a Third-Dayish fashionable style?

3D glasses

Toward the end of the movie Edmund has made his righteous decisions, Lucy has come to her senses about accepting her own identity and helping another younger girl accept hers, the Narnians disappearing to the evil green mist are recovered, and the 7 lords’ swords are intact and returned as they should be.

I didn’t think I was going to get through the first part of the movie, though.  Initially I couldn’t stomach that whiny, complaining cousin Eustace and nearly wanted him to drown when the ocean water came pouring into the room from the Narnia ship picture. I didn’t feel sorry for him either, when he turned into a dragon and cried on the beach  - he almost deserved turning into a scaly, ugly dragon, being such a brat and then being so greedy for all that gold! He was very lucky to be turned back into a boy by Aslan at the end, after all!

Also, loving chic flics as I do, I was hoping for a little romance in the movie somewhere. Maybe dark-eyed Edmund finding a good woman to really love him and to help him overcome this little obsession with the witch, or Prince Caspian noticing that little Lucy is now growing up into a pretty young woman!  Lucy was begging for romance anyway, staring into the mirror all the time, wishing she was beautiful.  But no romance at all – a man must have written this one, sigh!

Then there was the bald sea captain in the movie, who I never quite trusted. He seemed to be a composite of the old Captain Kirk on Star Trek who had hair and a lot of arrogance, the new bald Captain Kirk on Star Trek with just as much arrogance, and the bald male captain who smoked cigars and yelled a lot on Top Gun.  This sea captain acted like he was almost going to EAT the poor, little innocent girl who snuck on board to desperately find her mommy, who’d been taken by the green evil fog . Or I thought he might throw the little girl overboard. But then suddenly he let her stay and gave her an orange. 

But he gave occasional hints of his emotional instability by dropping comments like, “The sea can play nasty tricks on a crew’s mind!”  (Obviously! ) and “If we don’t hurry up and find land soon, my men ARE going to eat the dragon.”  Of course since I didn’t like the whiny-complaining-bratty-cousin-boy-turned-into-dragon, I probably wouldn’t have cared much at all about that part, except that the crew might have winded up with severe indigestion after eating someone like him with his awful personality!  :O

But I just never really did like or trust the ship captain. I kept expecting him to to turn on the royal family and use them as kidnap bait to pirates who might sail by.

There were a few good lines in the movie that I enjoyed. One was “You’re all about to be tested…be strong.”

Another was, “You doubt your value – don’t run from the noble one you are.  A noble warrior doesn’t run from fear – let’s meet our destiny head on.”

These lines were about the only positive review I could think of the entire movie, other than seeing Aslan the lion (who represents God). What was worse about the disappointing movie was the family sitting behind Ray, me and Leah. Later Ray said that he was going to drive over them in the parking lot, lol.

Please understand that Ray and I are usually very nice people. But this family was SO annoying. They had one decibel – LOUD. I finally began getting out  a pen and a piece of paper from my purse to record some of the things they were doing and saying to blog about this. It was just too unreal and funny. Things they were shouting in the theatre right behind us:

“That was AWESOME!!” (a kid yelling this during a commercial that played just before our Narnia movie. His parents shushed him because he was so loud.)

“You drank it ALL!” (siblings fighting over large coke, now gone)

“Stop hitting me!” (hopefully the kids talking to each other, and not the dad and mom)

“Mom, can I go to the bathroom now?”  (this whispered loudly just as the movie starts playing!)

They also slurped their drinks and loudly chewed their popcorn and food.

Now the people who had come to the matinee before us had apparently never heard of trash cans and they simply threw their used popcorn bag, candy wrappers, soda cups, and everything else on the FLOOR beneath us. It was quite STICKY. The family in back of us must have gotten up at least four or five times to go out the door, and of course each time they were having to step over, step on, and get unstuck from popcorn bags with sticky movie theatre butter. This went on at LEAST four or five times and they TALKED while they got up, causing the rest of us to not be able to hear what was said on the screen!

popcorn

Granted, I had to get up once too, but it was because our oldest daughter Heather, her husband Kyle, their two little girls, and Kyle’s family left this morning at 8 am to travel from Missouri to Mississippi all day today (12 hours of driving almost, with MANY bathroom stops, gas stops, and at least one main meal stop).  Heather was calling to let me know she was there in Missisissippi SAFELY arrived - something I asked her to do as I am praying for them. They drive the rest of the distance to Destin, FL today. 

I had a good reason for getting up in the theatre!   The people in back of us did not have good excuses and were getting up for another giant box of POPCORN. They should be directed to the Walmart to the dvd section or to Redbox rental, where they can play dvds at HOME and be as loud as they want THERE.

Another time one of the kids loudly coughed coke into Ray’s hair/neck. I thought I was going to lose it laughing right then. Ray was gracious though. What a guy! (I hope he washed his hair today.)

At any rate, I loved seeing Aslan the lion again and love when he roars. It fills my eyes with tears to see him each time.

This longer than the movie blog post does have a point. You are wondering when I’m going to get to it. Here it is.

Maybe there is something that you’ve been waiting on and had such high hopes for.  Maybe something is going on in your life that you feel really disappointed about – even just crushed. It’s not what you wanted or you thought it would be like at all.  How can this be happening ? Doesn’t God care about you?

Maybe your disappointment is from:

• your marriage
• your kids not behaving
• your finances
• your relationship that is broken and strained
• your health
• your serious emotional issues that you thought you’d worked through already
• your debt
• your friends who really aren’t there for you
• your business
• your home foreclosing
• you losing your job
• your hair – you have bad hair years!
• your sheer boredom with life – is this it?
• your hurt and feeling of aloneness inside
• your frustration with other people
• your faith/church/church leadership
• a product sale
• a work of art you’ve been working on and it isn’t turning out the way you want
• you not being able to visit someone you love
• you not getting a promotion you’ve worked hard for
• you not being able to get a pet that you want or a pet dying
• your weight yo-yoing
• you making a lower grade than hoped for on a college test

No matter what disappointments you have been through in your life, you can count on one thing. God will never disappoint you. He will never let you down.

 In fact, God has a great, exciting plan for you in 2011. (Jeremiah 29:11) He wants to bless your Christmas socks off!  (Deuteronomy 8:18, Ephesians 4:28, Malachi 3:11).  He wants to pour out His goodness on you! (2 Corinthians 9:8 and 11- The Amplified Bible).

Today bring all of your disappointments to God in prayer.  He will take them from you. He will give you beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3).  He will give you new hope. He will give you fresh dreams and purpose.

rainbow

stressed woman

Yesterday I shared two stories with you from Carrie’s ezine about clutter – both physical clutter (the storage unit) and mental clutter (ideas nagging at you, telling you that you should have already done something, making you feel guilty).  We can take the best of those ideas in our head that have potential and value, and transform them into something beautiful and creative which can bless and serve those around us, and can glorify God.

Stress in our lives is “emotional clutter.”  Today’s guest post by John J. Simmons  is about transforming the stress in our lives that is especially prevalent around the holidays. If we’re all stressed out this holiday, it’s going to be hard to focus it on Jesus, which is why we’re celebrating Christmas in the first place!   We can de-stress by choosing to look at our circumstances with an alternate point of view and by making new choices.

In this post below, the practical questions John asks and challenges us with on looking at things from an alternate point of view can be applied to many different aspects of our lives: the stressful holidays, our business, our marriage, parenting, homeschooling, writing a book, building a speaking platform, our career or ministry, financial problems, conflicts in a relationship, etc.

Today lay down your expectations (and your worries or stress!).  Get “a room with a view” -  a new view!  Give yourself some new choices, especially concerning this holiday season.  You don’t have to spend a lot on presents. You don’t have to go around Christmas Day to five relatives’ houses for dinner and dessert.  You don’t have to stuff yourself at dinner until it hurts. You don’t have to argue with that relative who just loves stirring up drama and strife each year.  You don’t have to go to all those parties, but can stay home and just enjoy the kids and your husband. 

You can look at things with a different perspective, and this holiday you can choose peace and tranquility. You can make new choices. These new choices will help you to succeed – and you and others will have a much happier holiday and coming year! Here is John’s article. Enjoy!

Quick Learning: Stress Transformation – Our Stories, Our Stress

For the last three issues, we have talked about stories and how they affect our perception of the situations we are in… and the stress they can cause during the holidays.  We have covered the family get-togethers and it’s opposite – loneliness. 

This issue, I would like to address some other areas that our stories can cause stress and tension for us during the holidays. 

More than any other time of year, this season carries with it greater expectations (and baggage), due to the traditions that have built up.  And tradition is a very powerful thing.  In fact, Silvia Hartmann calls it a “powerfield”.

Some of the stories we tell ourselves are:
    It has to look like Mom’s used to look.
    It has to match the family’s expectation.
    It has to be as good as last year’s.
    It has to be bigger and better than last year’s.
    I have to be SuperMom/SuperMan.
    My love is expressed by how many presents I give (or get).
    If I don’t give them “X”, then I will disappoint them.
    If they don’t give me “X”, then it will prove they don’t [insert your fear here] me.
    My worth is expressed  by [insert your insecurity here].

So, how can we change that?

It probably won’t surprise you to hear me suggest “change your story, change your stress” applies here.  I only repeat it because it is true… and powerful.

In previous issues I have suggested finding an alternative way of looking at the situation in order to gain a different perspective.  Please remember that it doesn’t mean you have to end up with that alternate viewpoint… only that you need to find it and consider it.  You might very well decide that you REALLY DO have to make it bigger or better than last year’s.

However, once you have considered the alternative(s), you have the power to choose the one you want to live with.  You are no longer a slave to the powerfield.  You now are free to choose your outcome (insofar are you can control an outcome.)

The beauty of considering an alternate version is that it automatically changes your story…  temporarily anyway.  If you choose to go back to the old story, at least you have done it deliberately and not simply out of habit (or wounding.)

So, how you do you get an alternate viewpoint?  Ask yourself a question or two.  Things like:
    Is there another way to look at this?
    Could this be explained in another way?
    How would it look to someone from another culture?
    Can I do this another way?
    What if I don’t “X”?  Who will care?  (Besides you, I mean.)
    Is there a silver lining to not doing “X”?

Of course, there are many ways you can phrase the concepts embodied in the questions above.  The main thing is to utilize the concept so you can give yourself choices.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the consequences of our choices.  Sometimes, the price of not doing something is higher than we are willing to pay — and that is okay.  In fact, that is a part of life.  Our choices and our actions do have consequences.  And all I am suggesting is that you acknowledge your choices and take ownership of your decisions.  In that way lies both freedom, and, surprisingly, a reduction of stress.

John’s original blog post on holiday stress is here.

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Copyright 2010 John J. Simmons. All Rights Reserved.
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Yesterday’s post on Premier Designs Jewelry has me thinking about valuable jewels and what we value in life….then I ran across this article in Carrie’s ezine today. I hope it inspires you and gets you to thinking as it did me.

Are Diamonds Really a Girl’s Best Friend

I bet you’ve heard the saying “a diamond’s a girl’s best friend,” well I’m not so sure it’s true. Read these two examples and tell me what you think…

About five years ago I received a wonderful present from my mother-in-law. She gave me a pair of 18 karat gold earrings that she had inherited. What’s more is that the earrings were covered with 44 smallish but nearly perfect diamonds. It told you it was a wonderful present!

But there was a problem…the earrings were ugly and certainly not something I would ever wear. Since they were valuable I put them safely into my drawer and they sat. Last year, I told my husband that four years was long enough to be staring at ugly (but valuable) earrings. They weren’t taking up much space but I kept seeing them and they were making me feel stupid for not wearing them. I realized that it was time to either sell the earrings or turn them into something that I’ll enjoy. I decided to take the earrings, sell the gold and use the diamonds to make a bracelet that I would wear.

I have a client who had a storage unit. She had been paying storage fees for years but had no idea what was in it. She knew she needed to go through the unit but somehow could never find the time or energy. She would constantly beat herself up about it as she promised herself again and again that she’d do it next weekend. Finally she did it. She spent the better part of two weeks going through the storage unit. Add to that the hours she spend being angry at herself and the guilt for not getting to it sooner.

When she did go through it guess what she found…a diamond ring. Pretty cool, huh? So I asked her…was it worth it? Was the diamond ring she found worth the years of storage fees? Was the diamond ring worth the amount of angst she put herself through? Was the diamond ring worth the time she spent going through the storage unit and disposing of just about everything else? Tough questions, and there are no right or wrong answers.

So how does this apply to you and your life and business?

I bet you have lots of potentially valuable things. Some of them are physical like my earrings but for most of us what’s even more valuable are our ideas. You may shove these ideas into drawers, piles, storage units or the recesses of your brain. You tell yourself that you’ll get around to doing it one of these days. In the meantime the ideas nag at you. They make you feel guilty, that somehow you should have already done it, used it or created it.

The reality is that it all comes down to a decision. Decide to do it and then do it or decide to let it go and not worry about what you should have done.

I decided that it was time for me to do it. I spent the time, energy and money necessary to transform my ugly but valuable earrings into diamonds. My client looked at her situation and the amount of time, energy and money that she had invested over the years into her diamond and realized that for her it wasn’t worth it. With hindsight being 20/20 she wishes that she had just let go of the storage unit years ago. After all you can’t miss something you never even knew was there.

What about you and the ideas you have laying around? Just by having these ideas you are putting time, and energy into them. Is it worth it? Sure they may have potential and become something valuable and useful but are you really going to take the steps to make it happen and if you do, what won’t you be doing?

Make a decision…

Imagine yourself picking up that idea, dusting it off and making it happen.

Imagine yourself taking that idea and setting it aside once and for all and letting yourself go onto something else.

What will you decide? Share your thoughts and comments with me on my blog.

A closing thought…

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes…but no plans.”

— Peter Drucker, Management Guru

© Copyright 2010 CarrieThru, LLC.

About Carrie

Carrie Greene

Carrie helps entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed with possibilities, ideas, shoulds and coulds within their businesses to feel in control and get things done.

Carrie can help you create systems and structures that enable you to prioritize, focus and follow through on the right activities for yourself and your business. You’ll be better able to monetize your business and create the life you want by carrying through on the steps it takes you to reach your goals.

To learn more about Carrie please visit www.CarrieThru.com

Last night I attended my first Premier Designs Jewelry*** show given by my friend Genevieve Burk, at the home of our mutual friend Christen Trumble.  In September 2010 I held a ladies’ retreat here in Butler and had asked Gen to display the beautiful jewelry on treasure chests for our retreat’s table decorations.  It was just the right elegant touch!

Getting some free jewelry was just too good of an opportunity pass up, so I hosted a show at Christen’s house last night and won over $120 of free jewelry, which will arrive just in time for Christmas!  With Gen’s “fashion show,” snacks, and fellowship, it was a fun girls’ night out!

Premier Designs show

Our daughters Heather and Leah both attended the show.  Heather had hosted a previous show and won a lot of free jewelry, which quickly spurred me to action because she had won my favorite piece, the gorgeous Glam Slam bracelet!

Heather and Gen

Here below is adorable Leah in Christen’s kitchen. Leah initially didn’t want to get out in the freezing cold and go (it was 16 degrees when we drove home after the show!), but she had a lot of fun when she got there, trying on the different pieces of jewelry.

Leah at Premier show

We all had fun!  Women love accessories – shoes, purses, scarves, hats, belts, and jewelry. One of the things Gen shared was how plain our clothes look without jewelry. At the beginning of the show, she was wearing a lot of the jewelry. She then took it off, piece by piece, to demonstrate how much jewelry enhances our outfits.

Genevieve's Premier Designs show

Just as the Premier Designs Jewelry is an asset and adds allure to what we’re wearing, making women feel beautiful, God’s fruit of the Spirit also adorns us as believers and makes us beautiful to God. The fruit of the Spirit are the very essence and the character of Jesus.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ” (Galatians 5: 22, NASB)

What fruit of the Spirit do you need to accessorize with today?

Premier Designs "Main Event" necklace

***I love what Premier Designs Jewelry co-founder Andy Horner said about each customer – that she is an infinitely valuable person made in the image of God:

“”I’m talking about a total life commitment to being a servant. This means that when one of our Jewelers walks into a home, she must focus on more than selling jewelry. She must see each of the individuals at the Home Show as an infinitely valuable person made in the image of God. She must care about those people and seek to build them up. Even if the retail sales are disappointing, a Home Show is considered a success if the Jeweler gives of herself — expecting nothing in return — and enriches the lives of each person there by caring, listening, encouraging, and helping each participant understand that they are ‘somebody.’ This is the heart of how Premier Designs defines success.”

gift

Christmas will be here soon and we’re anticipating both giving and receiving presents for and from those we love. But what about the One who started Christmas, the one whom this season is all about – Jesus?  What gift do we give Him? God could ask for no greater gift than our hearts, our trust and faith in Jesus.

God also delights in us using our spiritual gifts, talents, and skills for His glory. Maybe you feel like you don’t have much of a gift to offer God. But God is the one who created you, wonderfully and fearfully, in your mother’s womb, and put gifts inside of you to use for His kingdom. Discover what they are and begin to use them.

Whatever gifts are inside of you, God wants to use right now. Don’t think it is small and insignificant. Here is a short video of The Little Drummer Boy song, that comes from one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Little Drummer Boy. The little drummer boy felt that he didn’t have very much to give to Jesus – but he could play his drums.  Let it inspire you to use your gift for God this coming year. It will be a sweet sound to His ear.

What's ahead for you in 2011?

Only 15 days until Christmas and 21 days until this year is over!  As 2011 is around the bend, it’s a good time for reflections.  Here’s some challenging questions to look back on 2010 and to anticipate 2011:

• What went well in 2010? What goals and dreams did you achieve? How did you achieve them? Write these things down. Take yourself out and celebrate these victories – buy yourself a pretty new outfit or scarf, a new book, treat yourself to dinner with a friend or to a movie. You did it! Look at how far you’ve come this year!
• What goals did you NOT achieve in 2010?  What were the reasons? What hindered or stopped you? Identify self-limiting beliefs and the roots of those beliefs.
• What grudges are in your heart still? Who do you need to forgive? Forgiveness sets you free.
• What are you afraid of? How is fear interfering with your dreams and goals? How is anger or discouragement interfering?
• What relationship(s) do you need to work on? What is one step you can take today to improve it?
• How did procrastination interfere with your goals in 2010? Re-read the book Eat That Frog.
• What are some funny things your spouse, kids, and friends said and did in 2010? Write them down. Make a scrapbook of photos and quotes to preserve sweet memories.  Burn digital photos on cds or back up digital photos online. Be sure to date them, and add comments to help jog your memory of events later. Consider writing a diary to go along with the pictures.
• What good books did you read and study in 2010? Write down 10 books you will read by the end of 2011. Include books that teach you new things such as Dave Ramsey’s book on finances, More Than Enough,  books that make you laugh such as Becky Freeman’s marriage book Marriage 911, books that inspire you like Alexandra Stoddard’s decorating book Living A Beautiful Life, books that grow your faith such as Beth Moore’s Bible studies, and books that help you just get away from it all like Eat, Pray, Love .
• What lessons did you learn in 2010?  Will you have to pass the test again in 2011 or are you tired of going around this same mountain?
• Is this the life you want?  What needs to change in your life?  How will you get there?
• Where did you travel in 2010? Where do you want to travel in 2011? Write dates on the calendar. Start making plans now. Check the airfare and hotel or bed and breakfast rates. Price tours. Dream!
• What friends did you make in 2010? How have these people enriched your life? What is it about them that you particularly like? Do you still want to be friends with them in 2011?
• What character trait did you work on in 2010?  Are you still working on it? What is something new you can work on in 2011 to improve yourself?
• What do you think 2011 holds for you?
• What big dream is still in your heart?  Do it!  Ask God and He will help you. He is the dream-giver and the dream-fulfiller.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. ” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

The Last Song photo

The Last Song is a new movie starring Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear, and Bobby Coleman about a rebellious teen girl and her father reconnecting after her parents’ divorce through their mutual piano music gift.  I felt the movie was symbollic of the spiritual gifts God has put inside of each of us, to use for His glory. Don’t let the music inside of you die. Play it for God’s glory. Join Beth Jones today as she shares about this movie and using your spiritual gifts and talents.

Download by mp3

Heather in holiday hat

What is your favorite Christmas song? There’s so many I love, it’s hard to just pick one!  But it would probably be Carol Of The Bells, because one of my favorite Christmas memories is that of our oldest daughter Heather when she was  a teen, wearing a red Santa hat and Christmas socks, singing Carol Of The Bells around the house. It always makes me smile and laugh each time I hear the song, remembering Heather doing this. 

Barlow Girl has a beautiful rendition of the song.  Enjoy!  As we prepare for Christmas in the weeks ahead, let’s sing to our King Jesus – the reason for this special  season!

Barlow Girl video

Zumba class

Last night our daughter Heather had her last zumba class for 2010.  We did some zumba to Christmas music, which was a blast!  One student, Dawn, did her own choreography, and afterward we had the Christmas party with snacks and games. Here is  Dawn doing her moves on stage:

Dawn doing zumba

The snacks were yummy ~ hummus and pita bread, apple slices and dip, chips and salsa, cheese nips, pomegranate seeds, a cheeseball with chips, sugar cookies with green colored icing (the kids loved this!), and chocolate-covered strawberries:

snacks for zumba party

Here is the class seated, about to play musical chairs to Christmas music:

zumba class playing musical chairs

The kids loved doing this. See Heather’s daughter Violet (the cutie little redhead) smiling at the camera?

Violet playing musical chairs

Here are Heather and I in our festive hats. Vote for your favorite, and leave your comment below!   I really like Heather’s red Santa hat with the faux leopard fur (it’s different!), but my cute elf hat has jingle bells!      I am also wearing a red “necklace” with jingle bells – it’s actually a Christmas door decoration!

Me and Heather in our Christmas hats

Here are Annabelle and Violet in their cute Santa hats on the playground outside the church youth building, where we have zumba class. They are so adorable.

Annabelle and Violet on playground

They had a lot of fun playing with the other kids at the party.

Kids at zumba party

The zumba party was a lot of fun, and classes resume at the end of January 2011.  Everyone is very excited about coming back.  Heather is praying to be able to get officially zumba certified by then.

There is one party that is bigger and much more fun than we could ever have here on earth. It’s the celebration the angels in heaven have with God when someone is saved and receives Jesus as Savior:

“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.” ~ Luke 15: 10, The Message Bible

What about you? Do you know Jesus?  God wants to throw you a party, too!

Operation Christmas Child shoebox

Do you want to help needy kids this Christmas? Operation Christmas Child’s national collection week is over, but you can still pack a shoebox for kids for Christmas. They are having their biggest drive this Christmas.  Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is part of Samaritan’s Purse ministry and is an outreach to needy children around the world.

Items you can pack are:

• toys (stuffed animals, games, yo-yo’s, Etch-a-Sketch, harmonicas, kazoos, toys that light up or make noise with extra batteries, dolls, slinkys, etc.)
• school supplies (pens, pencils, sharpener, crayons, markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads, coloring books and crayons)
• hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap, comb, washcloth)
• other items (hard candy, lollipops, T-shirts, sunglasses, hair ribbons and hair clips, watches).

OCC does have a few item restrictions that you can pack such as chocolates, war items, liquids or lotions. You will need to print out a special label from OCC’s website to mail it, designating whether it is for a girl or a boy. There are several drop-off locations around the country, or you can mail it to OCC’s address.

The shoeboxes aren’t expensive to pack, and there is a donation of only $7 for each shoe box to help cover shipping and other project costs. You can write a check or money order and include it in an envelope inside the shoebox, or you can make a convenient online donation for your box’s shipping cost. When you make an easy payment online, OCC provides a special shipping label with a bar code that can be used for you to follow your box to wherever it goes!

If you don’t have time to pack your own box, you can pay $35 to have OCC’s staff pack a box for you or for $35 you can select gifts on their website to personalize the box and have it shipped to a child. I have wanted to do this all year long, so I wanted to pack my own box! Leah and I went out last night to buy the toys and other things to pack our boxes. Walmart, Target, and dollar stores are great places to find bargains for these shoeboxes.

I’m really excited about OCC’s partnership with the upcoming Narnia movie. Our family loves the Narnia series books and loved the movie and can’t wait for this new one! OCC is partnering with the upcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is set for release on Dec. 10. Through this partnership, Narnia fans will be encouraged to participate in the world’s largest Christmas project by packing shoe box gifts that will make a difference in the lives of needy children.

In Narnia, it was always winter and never Christmas until Aslan arrived with hope. In the same way, shoe box gifts filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items can bring hope to children around the world by reminding them they are loved and not forgotten. Just as God loves and never forgets you and me!

I encourage you to think about packing a shoebox or donating online to Operation Christmas Child. There is still time to practically demonstrate God’s agape love and to make a difference in the life of a child this Christmas. Below are 2 videos for you. Enjoy!

Video of Leah’s and my shoeboxes

Here is a video of Operation Christmas Child. I just cried when I watched it from the happy faces of the children! This is such a great thing to do that will fill your heart with joy.

You’re either in the “I’m so excited about Christmas and am decorating RIGHT NOW!” category or  the category, “Are you kidding me? Christmas is weeks away! We’ll pull out the boxes of decorations the week of the 20th!”   

I fall into the first one; our decorations are already up. After being inspired from Sarah’s show at Momtv tonight on blogging about the holidays, I thought I’d share some of our Christmas decorations with you – although I think I was the only one in the chatroom on Sarah’s show who’d already started decorating.  At least I didn’t start before Thanksgiving like some friends of mine do! 

Here is our Christmas tree. Yes, it’s already up, it’s decorated, and -GASP! – it’s not real. That’s right, a FAKE tree.  I really dislike anything artificial, including people. This is NOT what I want, but my husband Ray previously worked as a  firechief and a fireman for many years, and he has seen way too many fires with way too many real trees. We always had a real tree when I was growing up, and I love the fresh pine scent and miss having a real one!  

Several years ago, I bought this fiber-optic one. The pic doesn’t do it justice when it’s all lighted up at night, and right now it’s looking very lonely without any presents yet…but Ray’s Christmas bonus is around the corner, so soon there will be the gifts under it, which I LOVE to give! 

Christmas tree

Many of our tree’s decorations are ornate, home-made ones from Ray’s grandmother and his mom. Some of my favorites are the little bears glued on lace,  attached to a tiny clothespin.

bear decoration

 Another favorite are “lace” bells made from old egg cartons, glued with lace, and painted pure white.

bell

My absolute favorites are our kid’s craft ones made at school or at home when I began homeschooling, like this gold cross glued with “precious stones.”

A cross, one of our kids' home-made decorations

Don’t you  love nativity sets?  This nativity scene, with white lights in the background,  is on our fireplace mantel, with the 3 red stockings hung – those stockings are just aching to be filled with wonderful CHOCOLATES!  

nativity and stockings on fireplace mantel

This week I hope to get stocking hooks (holders) – the scotch tape just isn’t doing the job very well!   I added some of my Willow Tree angels to the nativity scene.

nativity

I love snowmen decorations and have decorated our bathroom in them, as well as this one in our family den. A red male cardinal bird has landed on Mr. Snowman, which is my favorite bird, and he’s holding a sign, “Let it snow.”

snowman

In our dining room, the buffet has snowmen, bears, a gift box, and a decoration of The Nutcracker Ballet, with more white lights wrapped around them:

buffet Christmas lights

Here is the Nutcracker decoration. The tiny ballerina is so cute! I have never actually gone to this ballet, but am praying this Christmas we can go see it!

The Nutcracker ballet decoration

In the dining room on the marble-topped table, I put the little church made by a friend of Ray’s mom. It has a steeple, tiny stained glass windows on the side which light up with a switch, and it plays the old instrumental hymn, How Great Thou Art. I added more snowmen on the sides and a spray of red poinsettas beside the church for some color.

church

On our formal dining table,  the centerpieces are an antique, crystal-glass bowl filled with red rose petals and gold spray-painted pine cones, and a cute, kissing little boy and girl angel.

angels

Our kitchen table has a centerpiece with a thin, square-cut mirror, a thick red candle, and a spray of greenery, gold spray-painted pine cones, and cranberries.  It is simple but pretty, especially on this forest-green tablecloth.

red Christmas candle

What about you? Have you  started decorating for Christmas yet ? Please leave your comments below and tell me some of your favorite decorations and holiday traditions!

http://www.bethjones.net/audio/tips-for-holiday-anxiety.mp3

Because it is valuable and we want to handle it with care, we use this delicate china only for special occasions such as family Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday meals. The china pattern is called “Georgia Rose,” which is interesting since I was born and raised in Georgia (Ray was born in Louisiana and raised in Louisiana and Texas, his parents’ and grandparents’ place of residnece). Here is a picture of the beautiful china pieces:

Ray's grandparents' antique china

This Thanksgiving we had a young guest who looked at the specially set table and told me he’d never sat at a formal table like this before, which took me by surprise. I told him that almost everything in our dining room was an inheritance from Ray’s grandparents. Like Mary pondering things in her heart, I thought about how God had blessed us with the antique furniture and the china, and then thought about the inheritance we give our children, both physically and spiritually.

Several years ago, I bought a beautiful, antique, Victorian, maroon-red sofa with a high, ornate back.  Our kids have more modern taste in furniture and decorating, so none of them really like it. Ray’s friend Ed, who helped us to load and haul the big, bulky thing in his pickup truck 60 miles to our home after we bought it at an antique store, joked that the day after Ray and I die, our kids are going to carry it to the side of the curb by our house, where the trashmen will pick it up. Well, I guess some things our kids don’t want to inherit! 

Seriously. Are you giving your children, grandchildren, and generations to come a godly inheritance? If not, what are they receiving from you?  Doubt? Unbelief? Anger? Unforgiveness? Bitterness? Distrust? Jealousy? Greed? Lust? Materialism?  Strife?

Or are they receiving God’s love, forgiveness, purity, holiness, faith, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, trust, giving heart?  When you are no longer here, what will you leave as your legacy?

I am thankful Ray received the antiques and the china. But more than anything, I want to leave a godly legacy of prayer and faith in Christ for our children and their children. I want them to know Jesus intimately, to be able to hear His voice clearly, to follow Him, to fulfill their great destiny in Him.

What will leave you behind for your children and those around you?

antique china plate

Video tribute to Mike Fools

Plane departing

Several years ago I was a flight attendant for a company that owned small jets servicing a major airline. Imagine that you are a passenger 10 gates away from your gate, when you hear over the intercom, “Your flight leaves in 5 minutes.” Would you leisurely stroll along, stopping for a Starbucks latte’ or to buy a book at the newstand – or would you run to get to your gate on time and ultimately to your place of destination? Join Beth as she shares about the brevity of life and the importance of obeying God, loving others, and fulfilling your purpose from two major events this week.

You can download this podcast immediately to your computer, Ipod, or Iphone.

Download by mp3

One of the reasons people love the holidays is the good food that is prepared, especially cakes, pies, cookies, fudge, and other sweet goodies. Although I can’t take credit for this delicious bread pudding recipe and have only made it once before (although I did tweak it!), I wanted to share it with you.  Our daughter Leah helped me to make it this afternoon and oh, it is good!

Pudding ingredients:

2 cans of Coco Lopez Coconut (found in the liquor aisle – a blue can with a coconut on it. The ones I found today were called “Cream of Coconut”.)

2 cups whole milk

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 eggs

Place ingredients in a pan (NOT THE EGGS).  Bring to warm temperature to melt the coconut, but do not let it get hot.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Temper eggs with the pudding mixture by pouring a cup full of the warm pudding mixture into  the eggs slowly while whisking. Continue pouring in one cup full at a time. This makes the eggs not cook.

Slowly pour this mixture over a pan full of bread cubes, shredded coconut,  raisins, and diced apricots that are layered in a pan. Since apricots aren’t in season, today I used a can of apricots and saved a little of the juice to pour over the bread cubes.

Make sure all the bread is covered with the pudding mixture to keep it moist.

Place the pan of bread cubes in a bigger pan that has water at the bottom. The bread pudding pan will be about 1/4 to 1/2 way sitting in water. Cover the bread pudding pan with aluminum foil.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Take off the foil and bake another 10 to 15 minutes to brown the top lightly and give it a “crust.”  You can garnish with browned coconut, whip cream, or ice cream if you dare – but it’s already VERY sweet and wonderful!  Mmmm!

bread pudding

Our youngest daughter Leah, now 16!

This past week was our youngest daughter Leah’s 16th birthday, and here are some videos of her party I wanted to share with you. We had a great turnout, a houseful of guests, and the food which we all brought was delicious ~ a deli tray with slices of roast beef, turkey, ham, salami, various cheeses, soft bread and home-made spinach dip, a veggie tray of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots with ranch dip, cookies, home-made apple pie, pickles, olives,  two types of home-made cheeseballs with crackers, little bbq’d smokies, and Leah’s cake from the bakery, white with chocolate frosting and colored sprinkles.

I created a power point slideshow for her sweet 16 party, accompanied by Celine Dion’s beautiful song “A Mother’s Prayer” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS4wljFuh3Y), and got teary-eyed as I made it, going back through her pictures from babyhood to now. Leah has grown up in a blink. I can’t believe our baby is now driving!

Her 16th birthday has caused me to realize how fast life is, and how precious each moment is. If your life is hectic and busy, I encourage you to slow down and really enjoy it. Hug your children each day and tell them you love them. Spend time with your spouse and let him (or her) know how much they mean to you. Go to lunch with friends or call just to chat. Be God’s living epistle of love and grace with all you meet.

Don’t get so busy living that you forget to really live. Life passes so quickly, and we want to live it fully and live it loving God and others, making sweet memories – not having any regrets.

Today’s the day to finally make a change.

“Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.” ~ Psalm 39: 4-5

**If you let the videoes upload first, they will play faster. The last video, “The endless gift,” was really funny! Enjoy.

Leah’s cake

Leah’s 16th birthday

Singing happy birthday to Leah

Some of the guests at Leah’s 16th birthday

The endless gift

Clock

This week two important events happened: our youngest daughter Leah had her 16th birthday and our close friend Mike Fools, 50 years old, passed away from Stage 4 liver cancer.  As I looked across the table at Leah blowing out her candles on her birthday cake, I wondered how the time had gone so fast.  I felt it was interesting and significant that these two events happened the same week, and it spoke to my heart two things:  one, life is very brief, and two, we need to celebrate life each day with God’s love and joy while we are alive, intentionally living a purpose-filled life, fulfilling our destiny in Christ and making a difference in the lives of others.

This week I am reading Dr. Randy Carlson’s book, The Power of One Thing: How To Intentionally Change Your Life. He says that God is the timekeeper of our lives. He is the one who starts the timer and then, usually many years later, He stops it. (p. 94) We need to always be ready for the day it stops this side of heaven.

Dr. Carlson makes it a practice on the first day of each year to go back through his calendar from the year that just ended and ask himself, “Was I intentional with the use of my time?” 

 How are you using your time each day? Are you making the most of it or are you wasting it? Are you living for God or for yourself?   (p. 95)  If today were your last day on earth, would you feel that you had achieved your life purpose and that you had done what God called you to do and to be – or would you have great regrets for the way you lived your life?

Dr. Carlson says The American Time Use Survey collected information about what people spend their time on each day, and here is what it found for Americans ages 15 or older. They spent:

• 8.6 hours sleeping
• 5. 1 hours doing leisure and/or sport activities
• 3.7 hours working (an average of all days of the week)
• 4.7 hours participating in a variety of activities including eating, drinking, going to school, and shopping

What is missing, Dr. Carlson writes, is time spent on life’s essentials like relationships, time with God, and personal growth. We don’t spend most of our time pursuing activities that help us achieve our goals and dreams. Dr. Carlson writes that we do our household chores, pay our bills, eat, and then flop in bed without reading our Bibles or spending much time talking with our spouses or our children. (p. 94-96)

Dr. Carlson writes that we procrastinate, stay busy doing the wrong things, think too much about changing other people, worry about the past or the future, have regrets, oversleep and get nothing done, search for lost items, get bogged down in physical or emotional clutter, get stuck in indecision, check email, spend hours on Facebook or Twitter. But we do spend time wisely, doing what really matters? (pp. 96-99)

Do we spend time each day with God, growing closer to Him?

A tombstone has two dates on it – the birth date and the date of death, with a dash in between those dates. How are we filling the “dash” of our lives? 

Dr. Carlson writes that successful people keep the main thing the main thing:  ”When we know that Christ is our main thing, and that our purpose in life is to honor Him, we can focus on that main thing. We all have different talents and abilities, but our purpose is always to know, love, and honor God.  For many mothers with kids at home, parenting is the one thing in their current season of life. Yet I often talk to moms who have decided to stay home with their children, only to fill their time with a thousand other things that distract them from the very thing they wanted to do – be there to raise those kids.  Whatever is your main thing right now needs to be your primary focus.” (p. 101)

When asked how he writes so many books, Chuck Swindoll said that he gets up an hour earlier than everybody else to do nothing but write. “Think of it: one hour each day times six days each week times fifty-two weeks each year is 312 hours each year. You, too, could write a book in 312 hours – or accomplish something else that is important to you.” (p. 99)

Are you accomplishing what is important to you?  Are you making an impact on others with God’s love?  How are you investing your time each day? Life is so short, just a vapor, as I realized this week when our baby girl Leah turned 16, and realized when our friend Mike suddenly passed away this week, when he was just 50 years old.   It seems just yesterday that our daughter Leah was a little, newborn baby girl in that pink gown in the hospital, and that Mike was a healthy, 5th-degree black belt, Tae Kwon Do instructor teaching our class at the recreation center, talking to our family about God, his beautiful wife Wanda who was his best friend, and making another joke that we laughed at. What amazed me so much was how many people were at Mike’s funeral. The church sanctuary was full, and there was even an overflow room for more people to attend the service. He was a great man of God who dearly loved his family and others, a great warrior for Christ, someone who made a real difference here and an eternal impact on the lives of others.

 ”Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NKJV)

Beth Jones

This week Nicole Dean asked a panel of marketing experts a question that she says she knew would spur her into action, because she needed to clean her office:

“People oftentimes ask about my home office and how I’ve set it up. I thought it would be fun to share pics or videos of our offices this week. Give us a tour and show us where you work.”

While I’m not a marketing expert, I thought this was a great idea. People are naturally curious, and they want to get to know you better. Showing others your office space will help to let people into your life on a more personal level.

Two years ago Ray, Leah, and I moved into a smaller rental home, and I don’t have my own “office.” Later I will, but for now my “office” is a corner in our dining room, where we have our big family holiday dinners three to four times a year.

You have to just go with the flow sometimes. This rental house and certainly this room is NOT my personal taste. Most of our house’s rooms have sheetrocked white walls, but the dining room has 70′s-style brown paneling (yuck!). But the room does have two windows that let in a lot of sunlight, which I love. (I dislike dark rooms.)

To improve the look of the dining room, though, I hung our family pictures on the walls (one is nicknamed the “Wall of Fame”). In the corner, our youngest daughter Leah’s picture is above my desk and on the adjacent wall is a picture of The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (I mistakenly called it “The Last Supper” in the video!).

You will see in the video that my “desk” is actually an inexpensive, simple black card table and chair. This was purchased so that I could fit my work space into a corner, since we don’t have a spare room for my office. I work in the dining room which is actually a less-family-traffic area (the kitchen draws everyone!). Some people can work with all their kids in the background running and screaming, or their husbands having a conversation with them. But I need quiet to work effectively.

Is this little corner and my card table my ideal office? No! I’d love my own writing room in a beautiful cottage by the beach with a nice desk, bookshelves to put all my favorite books in, a large bay window overlooking the ocean, with a cute windowseat underneath it and soft, fluffy pillows, etc.

But today I was thinking about it. Writing comes from within the heart. Yes, our environment definitely influences and affects us. Nicole Dean’s and Melissa Ingold’s live plants in their offices are inspiring me, and I think this week I may go buy some pretty plants, too, to liven up this space around me. But you can have the most perfect room possible for your work space, and not be able to write a single word!

Really, we should take lessons from Henry David Thoreau, who wrote 3 1/2 years before he went to live at Walden Pond, “I want to go soon and live away by the pond, where I shall hear only the wind whispering among the reeds.”

I think nature is the best “office” (creative thinking room!) of all. But I can’t live by Walden Pond or the beach right now, and for now my little corner must do.

What does your work space look like? I’d love to hear about it and see pics. Email me at elizabethdjones@gmail.com or leave your comments below.

Video of office/desk

When she was asked if she is a little bit aggressive, she said she likes to win.

Don’t you just love the mental picture of this little old lady whacking a yellow tennis ball with a gleam in her eye at her opponent?  I thought this was hilarious and really, the whole situation makes me feel absolutely lazy! 

Maybe tennis isn’t our sport, but we can do something, even at home. We all know exercise is an important part of our lives, yada yada.  Staying in shape keeps you healthy and increases your life expectancy. Weight bearing exercises increase your muscle mass and bone density as you age. For women especially, bone loss is a problem. Any woman of any size, age, race, or health, can have bone loss. When the body needs calcium, it can rob it from your bones and cause osteoporosis.

Most of us know what to do when it comes to exercising, but the problem is where and when to get the job done.  It’s a challenge making time to exercise.  We can pray and ask God to help us fit regular exercise into our day. Here’s a few toning exercises we can do to help get you and me started:

1. The Bridge Butt Lift – We women complain about our “big butts.” This is an easy way to tone that bottom!  Lay down with your feet flat on the floor, with your legs shoulder width apart.  Place your hands, palm side down, on either side of your body.  Push with your feet, squeeze your gluteal muscles, and lift your butt off of the floor.  Hold for a count of 5 to 10 and release. It burns, burns!

2. Squats – Squats work the butt too, and the hamstrings (back thigh muscles behind the knee) and the quadriceps (thighs).  If you aren’t sure how to do this correctly, you can use a chair.  Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and feet firmly planted.  Push your butt back like you’re about to sit in a chair.  Keep your abs tight (what abs?) and your upper body straight.  Once you reach chair level, stop and hold  for a count of 2 to 5 and release.  At the lowest point, place all of your weight on your heels for balance and the maximum toning. 

3. Reverse Lunges – Lunges work the quadriceps muscles.  Ok, for people with knee problems, this can be hard!  Stand with your feet together and your arms at your sides.  Take one leg and move it backwards until you are in a lunge position. Your front leg is bent at a 90 degree angle and your back leg is extended until you’re on the ball of your foot.  You can lower your knee to the floor. Hold for a count of 2 and go back to your starting position.

4. Pushups – This is great for those arms that tend to get so flabby as we grow older. If you aren’t comfortable or strong enough to do a pushup on your toes, do what is called a “girl” pushup, although you might get flack for doing a girl push-up in the blogosphere.  To do a “girl” push-up, lower your body to your knees.  Whether you do a “girl” push-up or a “real” one, keep your back straight as you go down to the ground and lift.

5. Crunches – Ohhh, these are so hard!  You can work your abs every day to build strength and muscle tone.  Lying on the floor in sit up position, lace your fingers behind your head.  Squeeze your abdominal muscles, lift your upper body until your lower back is about to come off the floor.  Hold for 2 to 5 counts and go back to start (if you could actually do it!)

These five exercise moves can be done whenever you have time.  The best thing about exercise is that its effects are cumulative, and even 5 to 10 minutes at a time will be good for you.  Let’s just do something, and get up from our computer chair, couch, or bed! God didn’t intend for us to live sedentary lives, but to move. My zumba class is tomorrow night, whooo!

 While the theme was a focus on Christ during the holidays, each speaker’s teaching session for the Expo was unique and anointed by God.  The sessions all flowed together.  God is amazing how He orchestrates details like this.

If you missed the live event but would like to hear the recordings of the teachings, you can still get a ticket here. You will also receive a free ebook by Visual Manna, the song God gave Felice which a friend’s daughter set to beautiful music and sang, and the holiday recipe and traditions book Felice put together of all the speakers – PLUS all the bonus goodies from the speakers (over $500+ of free products!).

I can’t wait to dig into the membership site to all the goodies today! What are you waiting on? 

Mineola house

This year my father- and mother-in-law, Leonard and Judy Smyth, made a radical change in their lifestyle and moved to a rural house with acreage on Sundowner Lake in Mineola, TX.  Other than needing to repaint the kitchen and the family room’s dark, nautical blue walls and having to replace the roof after they moved in, they love it.

Judy enjoys sitting out on the deck in the morning with her coffee, watching the abundant wildlife: egrets, raccoons, hawks, large woodpeckers, and blue channel catfish in the lagoon nearby.  They can enjoy eating crappie (freshwater fish) anytime they want.  She does not like the spiders and the snakes, which also inhabit the land.

Judy and Leonard Smyth

Her husband Leonard just laughs about the little black spiders, and flicks them off Judy if they happen to get on her. I would scream if they got on me, and would especially scream about the snakes. They have had to resort to spreading Snake-Away on their property, using a hoe to kill them, and even Leonard getting out his rifle and blasting the things. (Rifles are legal out there.)

Judy said one of their neighbors is a very generous, big-hearted person, especially regarding animals. She has five dogs, three cats, and one pig.  These are all rescue animals.  The neighbors live in a  beautiful home, and all of the animals live inside, too. Yes, even the pig. The pig’s name is Sugarpie, like the oldies song Sugarpie with the lyrics: “Sugarpie, honeybun, you know that I love you.”

pig

The pig actually minds quite well and is rather spoiled. Sugarpie goes to fairs and even pig-kissing contests. (In my mind, I was wondering who on earth would kiss a pig?!)  While our family doesn’t celebrate Halloween, this neighbor of my MIL’s even dresses up the pig on Halloween and has kids over from the neighborhood. The pig loves to eat celery out of your hand, munches it and grunts, then comes back for more. My husband Ray would say the pig would make great breakfast sausage.

After she first moved there to Mineola, Judy said she was scared to death the first time she drove to town alone, as she didn’t know the area and doesn’t have a cell phone (something her kids are after her about!).  She said, “But I found my way to Wallyworld (Walmart), and I knew then all is right with the world.” (If you knew how elegant my mother-in-law was, you’d understand why this and the stories about her new home are so amusing. She is one of the most beautiful, sophisticated people I’ve ever met.)

What about you? Is everything all right with you?  Remember that no matter where you are or what you are going through right now (even if it’s moving to a new home and facing spiders, and snakes!), God loves you and is watching over you.

*****

Want to learn more about having a closer relationship with God? Click here.

Ugandan missionary Alma Jones

It’s been a busy couple of weeks flying to Phoenix to speak at Norma Washington Motivational Ministries’ conference, speaking at UHSE 2010 on Filled and Focused, and getting ready for the holidays.

This week I also interviewed African missionary Alma Jones at TalkShoe. Alma got cut off twice at the beginning of the interview, which was frustrating (gotta’ love technology!), but after that it went well and you will love her!  She is a hoot and has much wisdom to offer.

Alma has an incredible story of how God called her to go to Africa when she was 17 years old – and she finally went to Uganda, Africa at 73 years old!  She has been there for 7 years, teaching the Bible to Ugandan pastors and other people, is in the states right now, and returns December 31 this year.

You can hear this exciting story here, as well as my interview with our daughter Heather Denney doing a missions trip to Nashville this past summer.

Do you have a dream in your heart, something you want to do for God?  Do you feel like it’s never going to happen? Don’t give up on your dream.  God is able. For nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1: 37)

If you want to keep copies of the audio sessions, plus get the mommy grab bag filled with all kinds of goodies, be sure to get your ticket for only $19.97!  With your ticket, you get an immediate download, a free Arts and Crafts book donated by Visual Manna. There are over $500.00+ worth of free eBooks, coupons, audios and products on the membership website available for access on November 11th!  An original song, “Homeschool Mother’s Prayer” will debut live on November 11, 10:00 am EST.

I am one of the spekaers for the UHSE, so if you missed my live session, you can still hear it when you buy a ticket.

You will be so blessed by this online seminar! To get your ticket today to UHSE 2010, just click here.

Yesterday I changed my Gmail password and wrote down the wrong password.  (I know, I know, duh!)  Of course, Gmail won’t let me access the account without the right password (which is a good thing really!), and I now am completely dependent on Gmail staff’s mercy to get back to me  very soon at an alternate email, so I can access my Gmail email again.

 Although I have several backup email accounts in different places like Yahoo, my primary friendship and business contacts are in Gmail – and of course I have never written them down or created a backup file of them!  Lesson learned the hard way – my usual way of learning things! (If you need to get ahold of me meanwhile, email me at bethdiane68@yahoo.com.  The email name “Beth Jones” was already taken.  And say a prayer for me about the Gmail account, please! I am backing up my contacts as soon as I can access it again!)

I was thinking about needing the right password for the access to Gmail. This morning in impatience I tried several different ones that I thought were it, but apparently they weren’t exactly right. In our relationship with God, we can try to relate to Him or find Him in different ways. It may be through  going to church, reading the Bible or other devotional books, enjoying nature, doing yoga and meditation, being a good person,  joining religions like Islam, Hinduism, or New Age, or looking for God in any number of ways. But there is only one way to God, one “access” to an eternal relationship with Him.

That access is through faith in His only Son Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus, in the blood He shed for us at the Cross over 2,000 years ago for our sins.  He died for you and me so we could be forgiven of all our sins and have a relationship forever with God.  One day we will all die and give account to God for our lives, and it will be determined at that Judgment where we spend eternity, based on our relationship to God.  Faith in Jesus is the “password” to enter heaven for eternity.

I have such good news for you, dear friend.  It doesn’t matter what you have done wrong in the past or even right now. God will forgive you if you ask Him. I am so thankful for His mercy and forgiveness in my own life! You don’t have to get “all cleaned up” before you come to God. Jesus’ blood is what cleans us and makes us righteous before God.  “For everyone who calls upon the name of the  Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10: 13)

Do you have access to God through a saving faith in Jesus? If you don’t, I invite you today to meet my BFF (Best Friend Forever) Jesus. He’s waiting just for you.

Beth Jones

How do we hear God’s voice?  The Bible says that God has a small, still voice. (1 Kings 19:12)  In today’s noisy, hectic world, it can be hard to hear that quiet voice. I personally believe that all the noise in this world today is the enemy’s strategic attempt to keep us from hearing God clearly. He is trying to drown out God’s voice with noise pollution.

That is why it’s so important that we take at least a few minutes each day to pull away and be alone with God in prayer and to read His word – to “practice His presence,” as Brother Lawrence wrote about in his book The Practice of the Presence of God.

Here are a few tips for hearing God’s voice from my ebook Walking With God:

• Get alone with God.  It’s hard sometimes for us to do the “being still and listening” part, but practice each day just being quiet and listening to hear God speak to you.  He will help you with life’s problems each day.
• You can use a prayer journal or prayer box to record your prayers and answers to those prayers (with the date). Like the memorial stones in the Old Testament, this will help you and your family to remember all the great things God has done.
• Remember God will never contradict His own word.  Any voice you hear that goes against what the Bible says isn’t from God!
• Listening to worship and praise cd’s can help you to let today’s worries go and to just rest in God’s presence, so that you will be able to hear Him more clearly. It’s hard to concentrate on what God is saying when the “laundry list” of things to do is going through your mind. Remember Jesus said Mary of Bethany chose the part that would not be taken away from her.  Worship and praise music sets the atmosphere for meeting with God. (Psalm 100: 4)
• Meditating on a passage of scripture or on a devotional will help you to hear God best.

God wants to speak to you today. What is He saying? Listen closely. He will show you great and mighty things! (Jeremiah 33:3)

Be sure to check out my friend Susan Evan’s blog post today, Hearing God. Susan’s homeschool blog is a wonderful rich site, with creative hands-on activities for children to do, as well as posts on home organization, travel, finances, and Christian living.  Susan has a deep passion for Christ, is a giving and loving person, and she is HILARIOUS!  

Her website offers ideas for homeschooling with hands-on learning, 75 articles for you to enjoy, and products that will greatly bless you.  This morning I just read her ebook, Growing Up as a Missionary Kid, and loved it!

********

Want to learn more about prayer?  Click here.

If you want to keep copies of the audio sessions, plus get the amazing mommy grab bag filled with all kinds of goodies, you will need to purchase a ticket, which is only $19.97! 

I am one of the spekaers for the UHSE, so if you missed my live session, you can still hear it when you buy a ticket. What do you get with a ticket?

The immediate download with a ticket purchase is a free Arts and Crafts book donated by Visual Manna
There are over $500.00+ worth of free eBooks, coupons, audios and products on the membership website available for access on November 11th!

An original song, “Homeschool Mother’s Prayer” to debut live on November 11, 10:00 am EST. Last Monday in Felice’s prayer time, the Lord gave her the lyrics to a song. She doesn’t write music so this was a shock to her. Felice wrote them down, emailed her good friend’s daughter, a homeschool grad and young mom, and a few hours later she sent them back set to music. It is beautiful. The song will debut on Thursday and will be made available for free on the members only site.

You will be so blessed!  To get your ticket today to UHSE 2010,  just click here.

We as Christians are familiar with the story of the origin of sin when Eve was tempted by satan in the garden to eat the fruit of the tree that God had forbidden, and then she and Adam ate.  God walked through the garden, asking, “Adam, where are you?” because Adam and Eve were hiding in shame and guilt, covering their nakedness with fig leaves. This passage is heartbreaking because God already knew what they had done. He just wanted to be with the ones He had created and loved.   But the man and the woman were both weighing guilty in the balances – not one more than the other.

When God confronted them about their sin, Adam blamed the woman and Eve blamed the serpent.  Since the beginning of creation, people have blamed others for their sins and refused to take personal responsibility.

Yet to take personal responsibility is a sign of spiritual maturity. Blaming keeps you in bondage; it holds you captive still to sin’s power. By not confessing your own wrong, you have no way of relieving yourself from the burden  – and from the inevitable punishment – of guilt. You continue to hide under a cloak of shame and guilt, never experiencing the wonderful freedom that comes with admitting, “I am sorry. I was wrong.”  Blaming is one of Pride’s haughty masks.

On the other hand, taking personal responsibility reveals your understanding of your own need before a holy and righteous God. Taking personal responsibility is the earmark of humility. It reveals a broken, contrite heart which God will not despise. It acknowledges that you have to stand before God one day, face to face. No one else will be there.

You can’t point to anyone else that day and say, “They did it! It’s THEIR fault!”  No, you will be naked and transparent and vulnerable before His eyes of fire, and will only be able to just cry out for His mercy – based on the blood of Jesus Christ.  There can be no excuses before God.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else did. He is concerned with only YOUR heart.

One example of someone who took personal responsibility is King David. The Bible calls David a man after God’s own heart. Yet this man, in his human weakness, committed adultery with Bathseba, killed her husband Uriah, and then took her as one of his wives.  He thought it was well hidden when God sent Nathan the prophet to confront him. Nathan used a story to illustrate David’s sin in 2 Samuel 12:

“So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”

5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”

 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

 11 “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”

David Confesses His Guilt
 13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
   Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”

 15 After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. 16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.

 18 Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”

 19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked.

   “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”

 20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.

 21 His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”

 22 David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”

 24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as the Lord had commanded.”

********
The first thing King David did when he was confronted by God through the prophet Nathan was admit that he had done wrong. He didn’t blame other people. He didn’t say, “It was the woman, Lord.”  He didn’t say Bathseba was just too sexy on that rooftop and lured him into a trap.  He didn’t say the devil made him do it!  He didn’t say he had done nothing wrong – that it was others who had done wrong.

He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Not against Bathseba or Uriah. Not against his own wife. Not against the nation of people he was leading. But against God, and God alone.

No blaming. No excuses. David took personal responsibility for his sin and repented, asking God for forgiveness.

The second thing David did was, after he heard of God’s judgment in response to his sin, was to fast and pray for the life of his and Bathseba’s child. He laid all night on the ground and begged God to heal the child. He knew that his own sin had brought about the child’s death.

This judgment from God seems so harsh to us, but the wages of sin is death.  David knew the consequences of his own sin were far-reaching. It went beyond his own little world. It could impact generations to come.

David knew he could not hide his sin from God. He knew God would accept no excuses or blaming. He had to admit what he had done wrong, and could not point the finger at anyone else before God’s eyes of truth.

The third thing David did after the child died was to comfort his wife Bathseba. He realized this life was not about him. He needed to love and help other people – despite his own great pain inside.  He needed to show others the mercy, the forgiveness, and the love of God – just as God had shown him.

Then God did an incredible thing. When David comforted his wife after their child’s death, Bathseba conceived another child (which in itself shows the favor and mercy of God, for it’s God who opens the womb) – and when they named him Solomon, God instructed them through Nathan the prophet to name the child “Jedidiah.”  This name means “Beloved of the Lord” or “Friend of God.”  How awesome is that!

God didn’t hold anything against David. He still loved David, despite his sin. He still wanted to bless him – and his children after him!

We can learn from King David’s example to own our sins. To take personal responsibility and not to blame others. To be broken and humble before Almighty God, a God who forgives, restores, and blesses -  despite our weak, sinful human condition.

When we take personal responsibility, we are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ who humbly took the ultimate responsibility for us all.  Today let’s search our hearts and ask God what we need to take personal responsibility for – to stop blaming others for, to say, “I have sinned against you, God.” And when we do this, we will find great freedom in Christ!

Beth Jones

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the second class of a Bible study by Uganda missionary Alma Jones, who I will be interviewing this Friday at 11 a.m. CST (12 p.m. EST) at Talkshoe.  Our group class is going through Kay Arthur’s book  The New Study: How To Study Your Bible. 

Alma had a dream in her heart at 18 years old to be a missionary in Africa, but it was not until she was 72 years old that God commissioned and released her to go.

Now offiically part of the community of House of Friends, Alma has hosted many teams in Uganda.  She is now training African leaders how to study the Bible.  Americans are almost spoiled by having a wide variety of Bible versions to choose from to read, but there are many people in Africa who don’t even own one Bible.  Because they don’t own or know the Bible, sometimes people believe doctrine that is full of errors.  It is important for Christian African leaders to be supplied with and taught the Bible, so they can know and can teach God’s word correctly to their native people.

Alma also is helping Abba House develop a children’s teaching program.

Alma is here in the U.S. until December 31, 2010, when she will return to Entebbe, Uganda to continue her missions work there. 

I’d love to have you join me and Alma for her interview this coming Friday. She is a loving, very unselfish woman of God with a lot of wisdom, and she is HILARIOUS! You will love her!  You can listen here.

Video testimony

Heather’s Story from West Ridge Church on Vimeo.

Our daughter Eden & her son Jacob

Last night our middle daughter Eden came over to visit us with her son Jacob. They live a good hour’s drive from us, so we don’t get to see them that often.  It was good to see them. Jacob is adorable and growing up fast.

While visiting us, Eden was sharing candidly with us about her life’s disappointments. Unfortunately, Eden went through a divorce this past year, even though she didn’t want it.  It was emotionally painful for her, and now she faces life as a young single mom (she and Jacob’s dad share custody, with  Jacob’s father as primary custodian).

Christians are not immune to hard times or life’s disappointments – or even divorce. In fact, Jesus told us in John 16:33 (NLT), “ I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

When we are going through difficulties, it’s hard to keep from feeling disappointed in people and with our life circumstances. But God will never disappoint us, and His joy is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)  He gives us His peace as our gift.

Today, no matter what situation you are facing, know that God is there for you, to help you handle all of life’s problems. He will never leave you or forsake you.

***

What disappointments have you faced?  How did you overcome it?  What has helped you?  Leave your comments below.

Beth Jones

Thank you all so much who prayed for my speaking session this week at UHSE 2010 with publisher/author/speaker Felice Gerwitz!  It was such a blessing talking live with Felice and I was so honored that she asked me to do this!  You know how sometimes you don’t feel very anointed  or prepared doing something - but God shows up anyway? That’s how I felt this week, but God in His grace helped me and the feedback about my session from the attendees and Felice was very positive and encouraging!

At my session I gave away 3 copies of my ebook on prayer, Walking With God, as a doorprize to those who attended the live event, as well as other goodies for the mommy grab bag. You too can receive the goodies for the mommy grab bag when you purchase a ticket for the entire event.

The faith-filled teaching sessions and bonuses from the over-35 speakers in this expo are such a blessing. PLUS, you will receive a  holiday recipe and tradition book collected from all the speakers as  a special gift.

To learn more about the homeschool expo, just click here.

Today I also want to share a special recipe with you for the holidays on a cold night, that is from my friend Debbie. It is NOT low-fat, but it IS soooo delicious!  Enjoy!

1 pot double strength coffee

1/2 gallon Blue Bunny expresso and cream ice cream

1 cup Hershey’s chocolate syrup

Make coffee. Add ingredients. Pour into pretty coffee mugs, and indulge in with your best friends!

woman enjoying coffee

Beth Jones

Today in between supervising our daughter Leah’s homeschool lessons, washing loads of laundry, and making a simple version of alfredo pasta (Ray’s recipe***), I’ve been preparing for speaking tomorrow at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2010.

I would love to have all of you there joining Felice Gerwitz and me for support and prayer! My session starts at 9 a.m. central time (10 a.m. ET), and the show is for approximately one hour (that includes the intro and the Q & A afterward). My speaking topic is Filled and Focused. When mom is focused on Christ during the holiday season, her whole family will be!

You can listen to the live session tomorrow for free!   But if you want copies of the audio sessions, plus the bonuses and mommy grab bag, you will need to buy a ticket.  If you don’t have a ticket already, just click here. The teaching sessions are so anointed and the bonuses are incredible! I attend this online event every year, and am always so blessed.

For my session tomorrow morning, you can listen at TalkShoe here or listen on the TalkShoe player below.  Hope to “see” you tomorrow! It is going to be fun!

***Ray’s recipe for simple alfredo pasta

Egg noodles or lasagne

1 can of Campbell’s cream of chicken soup

A little heavy cream

1/8 cup sour cream

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, a dash of dill, and Mrs. Dash’s no-salt, extra spicy seasoning

Cook noodles or lasagne until done. Drain, rinse with water. Pour noodles into large skillet. Mix in soup (uncooked), sour cream, heavy cream, and add all spices. Mix well over medium heat for several minutes.

Season with powdered parmesan cheese – add slices of warm garlic bread and salad with vinegar & oil if you like. 

I have posted the video on here before, but if you’re like me, you never get tired of hearing it!  Enjoy.

Video of Celine Dion – I’m Alive

centerpiece

The holidays are coming up fast (where has the year gone?), and we often have even more to-do’s each day!  To help with the  preparation, here are some practical to-do’s before the busy holidays arrive:

• Pray! It’s important to take a few minutes each day to spend with God to hear His voice and be filled up with Him. We can’t pour out to others if we’re empty ourselves.  Don’t let yourself get distracted by all the commercialism, but take some time to center on Christ this holiday season. Everything is for His glory!
• Make lists – and check it twice. No, we’re not Santa Claus, but writing a to-do list will help you to stay on track and prioritize.  Look over it to see what needs to be assigned Priority A, Priority B, etc.  I use Manymoon to help me stay focused. You might prefer using your Ipad or laptop to writing on paper, although when I write things down I prefer writing on sticky (Post-it) notes and colorful pads that I find at Walmart and the grocery store. I also use my Franklin Covey Dayplanner® memo sheets. You can make a master list for all to-do’s, and separate lists for buying items for your big meals, gift shopping, chores, homeschooling lessons, deep cleaning, etc.
• Ask your family for creative ideas. So often we women think we need to do everything, which is really nothing more than pride and self-reliance. Talk to your family for input about how to make this holiday season special. Our oldest daughter Heather and her family are going to Florida this Christmas for a  change. Her husband Kyle and their two girls Annabelle and Violet have never seen the ocean, so they’re renting a beach home with Kyle’s parents and a rental car, and driving there for Christmas. Maybe your family wants to do something different this year, too, visiting somewhere new, instead of having the usual big turkey or duck dinner. Maybe your kids might enjoy putting together a shoebox for needy kids with Operation Christmas Child or sending Christmas packages or cards to our troops.  You might be pleasantly surprised at what great ideas your family comes up with for this holiday.
• Deep clean.  When additional family and friends are coming over and your house is a mess, it can stress you out. Prepare ahead of time with deep cleaning: vacuum, dust, clean cabinets and closets, give old clothing and those boxes of books away to Good Will or other charities. Get your kids involved and assign chores, listening to fun, upbeat music while you’re doing them or setting a timer to see who can get through theirs the fastest. Reward everyone afterward with a good movie, a good book, or an ice cream treat.  Having a pleasant, sweet-smelling home to welcome guests to is a great feeling!
• Downsize.  We’re under more stress these days because we do more, eat more, buy more. Remember “Less is more!”  Learn to downsize this holiday season. Do you really need that huge turkey or to buy those many gifts? Over the last several years,  I have begun buying less gifts and less expensive gifts for our family and friends, because I realized that people really don’t want a bunch of stuff. They want your love and friendship. Prune activities this year. Set a firm budget for the holidays and stick to it. Make home-made gifts such as a scrapbook of photos, a power point slideshow, or baked chocolate chunk cookies. You will find yourself more relaxed, and your family will appreciate you not being so stressed out!
• Organize.  One of the reasons we women get stressed out is because our homes are cluttered and in chaos. Do a walk-about in your home. Look at the piles, what’s just laying around, or shoved into cubby holes and closets. Begin organizing your space, room by room. Take one room at a time for one week. Get your kids and your husband to help. Does he really need all those papers and magazines and books piled up?  Do your kids really need that collection of feathers or rocks from when they were 5 years old? Do you need to hang on to all those notes you took a couple years ago at that conference?  Are 30 different pencils or pens from various local businesses and hotels necessary?  If you can’t bear to part with things (or your family can’t), then at least find a system to organize them and neatly put them away to reduce your stress.
• Buy in bulk ahead of time.  There’s nothing more stressful than running out of toilet paper or milk during the holidays with its rush and busyness (and visiting family!).  Stock up on staples ahead of time, and buy in bulk to save. Use coupons to help, and look for bargains in the paper or online. Don’t wait until the last minute to buy staples, but fill your pantry ahead of time – before the crowds hit the stores!  ”Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise. Even though they have no prince, ruler, or governor, to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. ” (Proverbs 6: 6-7, NLT) One of my friends, Kim Weber, buys bargain gifts on sale throughout the year. By Christmas time, she has nearly all of her gifts for family and friends bought, without the stress of shopping in the crowds! You can also take advantage of “Christmas” accounts at banks, which offer special savings account for Christmas funds or other needs.
• Focus on what really matters. In the rush of the holidays, we often get so busy and stressed out, that we sometimes forget to focus on what really matters – our relationship with God and our loved ones. Take time this holiday season to enjoy spending time with God and your family and friends.  This life is gone in a blink, and today is all that we have. Let’s cherish it now.

Here is a video by Celine Dion, Don’t Save it all for Christmas Day. I pray it blesses you as it did me.

Me by pool waterfall & palm trees

This weekend I flew to Phoenix, AZ, to speak at Norma Washington Motivational Ministries’ conference. Here are a few videos from the weekend to give you a nice visual. Enjoy! 

Video of waterfall and beautiful palm trees – I love waterfalls and the palm trees are so incredible!

Video of Norma Washington preaching – she’s such an inspiration!

Video of incredible worship at conference – man singing “The Potter’s Hand”

Video of Beth Jones- Norma Washington conference, Phoenix, AZ

This weekend I flew to Phoenix, AZ, to speak at Norma Washington Motivational Ministries’ women’s conference. In return, I was greatly encouraged and inspired by the other speakers there, and was physically refreshed by just relaxing near the hotel pool’s waterfall and admiring the tall, elegant palm trees in the background. I also made some great new friends! 

Everyone attending the conference was blessed with:

• God’s sweet presence and His words of truth
• Norma’s on-fire preaching Friday and Saturday night
• Praise and worship from singers who had me just in tears at times from the power of their anointing
• Teachings from different speakers who were such a blessing
• A dramatic skit of the woman with the issue of blood
• Lots of fun fellowship with women of God
• A luncheon on Saturday
• A cute, colored handbag with a free copy of. Matt D. Watt’s 3-cd set, The 8 Principles of Goals and Success.

***Norma’s public consecration

On Friday night, Norma was set apart for public consecration and installation to the office of Bishop. It was a great privilege and honor to be there witnessing this, and to now be officially part of her Preach Woman Preach Alliance. Preach Woman Preach Alliance is a non-denominational alliance of anointed women who feel a call by God to preach and teach God’s word. Its goal is to empower women to live abundant lives in Christ, and the Alliance serves as a spiritual covering for women in ministry.

Do I mean this alliance is some sort of club, clique, or even a new type of church?  No!  It’s just basically women of God encouraging and praying for each other!  What we should be doing each day anyway, because God knows we women all need the encouragement in thisbusy, stressful life – women who are wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, women who work outside the home, women with on-line businesses, women with trials, women in tears, women who just want more of Jesus!

Bishop Ben Washington installed his wife Norma into the office of bishop, and it was a powerful time in the Lord. After she was installed, Bishop Norma got up to the podium to teach out of Zechariah 4: 6-10 on the capstone, and was her usual firey, preaching self. She is inspiring and so funny!

One thing she said that struck me was that we can NOT do this apart from God!

Me by hotel pool

***My speaking session

I spoke early Saturday morning. The topic God gave me for speaking was on “secrets” – our secret sins that we need to bring to Jesus at the cross to be forgiven, and the secrets God desires to speak to us in prayer like He did with Deborah, Daniel, and Abraham.  One of the secrets I shared about that often has women so bound in shame and condemnation is abortion, which they feel is the unforgiveable sin.

Dear friend, God will forgive you if you have had an abortion. His love and mercy are unconditional. The blood of Jesus was more than enough to cover any sin that anyone has ever or ever will commit, if they will receive Him as Savior.  (I do urge you, though, if you are considering abortion – don’t do it! God will help you through this time of pregnancy!)

God used my message of His love and forgiveness to free other women more. One woman said:

“The conference today was very motivating. After listening to Beth Jones speak today, I left the conference feeling very liberated. Thank you for a life changing word today.” ~ Minister Vanessa Ferrell, Phoenix, AZ

After I spoke, two women at this conference publicly announced that they had had an abortion years ago, the first time they had ever publicly admitted to this. Through this confession – exposing the darkness and bringing it into the light – they experienced more freedom this weekend. God’s heart longs to forgive, heal, and restore us.

Sister Kay Nabors

***Sister Kay’s testimony

One of the other speakers was Karen Nabor, also known as “Sister Kay.” Prior to coming to the conference, she had her presentation organized and well prepared with a great visual aid – and then God changed everything she was to share at the last minute!  She winded up hurriedly writing what He was giving her two hours before she spoke, on loose notebook paper! Don’t you just love the Holy Spirit?

So instead of her original speech, Karen spoke on “The Call of God,” sharing from the book of 1 samuel when God was speaking to young Samuel for the first time. She gave her testimony on being delivered from drugs, immoral relationships, and especially addiction to alcohol even when she was a pastor’s wife. It was a powerful testimony that ministered to those attending. And it clearly conveys the message that we as Christians are NOT perfect and we have problems – it is why we need Jesus!

Kay and I discovered to our amazement that God has given us the same life scripture, Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The way God brings people together astounds me.

Sherry Clements

***Sherry Clements’ dramatic skit

My room mate at the conference was Minister Sherry Clements of the Non-Perishables Ministries & Productions, Inc. Sherry did a powerful teaching and dramatic skit at Norma’s conference this weekend, on the woman with the issue of blood, reaching to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment and being healed.

Sherry is a author and poet, and she has written some great books on poetry, which I encourage you to check out. Here is one of her books on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Even-Adam-Book-Poetic-Ministry/dp/141379808X/ref=sr_1_1? 

Here is Sherry on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/poetsherry#p/a/u/0/rzI36IIQKMk. 

***My new sisters in the Lord!

One of the women I met at this conference who I felt an immediate connection with was Pastor Theresa Buckner. She must be at least six feet tall (I felt SO short beside her!), she has long black hair, and she is just beautiful, gifted, and very funny.  We talked, we laughed, and we had a great time sitting together – and we hated saying bye to each other!  She’s like my new sis!  

Evangelist Beckie Porter-Watt was a powerhouse in prayer, and I would just love to hear that woman preach! I was so blessed meeting her!

Another impressive woman I met was Pastor Verna McGee, who with her husband is planting church fellowships in Ohio now and is about to go to Africa with him in December to minister there.

What has God put in YOUR heart to do?  What’s holding you back from doing it?  Remember, it’s all for God’s glory, not our own!

The Washington family

As always, it was a blessing to see Bishop Ben and Norma again, and to hear them preach God’s word. Bishop Ben has an amazing singing voice that fills my eyes with tears when I hear it.  Bishop Norma gave me an encouraging word this weekend and my response to that is, “Yes and amen! Lord, here am I, send me!”

 The Saturday night meeting when Norma preached was POWERFUL, and we were uplifted and encouraged. What I love about their church is that they don’t hold back from worshipping God in song and dance. They have FUN praising God and enjoy laughing, too!  The Washingtons are a man and a woman after God’s own heart. May God bless them exceedingly in their ministry.

***Spiritual authority and spiritual gifts

The spiritual authority and the anointing and talents of the people at this conference was just incredible. I was so encouraged to meet so many gifted women of God.  It was truly a blessing and an honor to be there.

Bishop Norma ministering

What on earth does all of this long post have to do with YOU?

When you’ve got good news, you can’t keep it to yourself!  I had to share all God did!

Also,  I just want to encourage you to take some time and attend conferences or retreats to be filled up and renewed- and remember to have lots of fun like I did! 

Writing Tablet

Each week brings its to-do’s. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Before we start swimming in the to-do’s each morning, we can take a few minutes to pray and to ask God to  lead us and to help us accomplish what He wants done that day.  After praying, we can use the wise, practical advice from the guest post below from Jenny Flintoft, director of The Association of Work at Home Women:

Deadline, Delegate, Dump

We’ve all been there – To Do lists that are becoming epic in their content – designing squeeze pages, writing for our blogs, phone calls, product creation, attending teleseminars – life can sometimes consume us and leave us feeling overwhelmed and overloaded.

Feeling like that is only going to mean that jobs and tasks take longer, which only serves to overwhelm us even further. But good news! You can do something to regain control. I guarantee that if you take 20 minutes to follow these steps, you will feel better, lighter, focused and re-energised. Okay – let’s go!

Step 1. Write down a long list of everything you have to do. Even if you’ve already got one, two or more different lists on the go, compile them onto ONE list of items that are really pressing.

Step 2. Write down the deadline for each item and the time you believe it will take you to complete it. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE TIME HERE. Whatever you think it will take – add 10%, in order to cover interruptions, etc. If it takes you less time in the end – great. You’ve got some time back. But this list needs to be as realistic as we can make it at this stage.

Step 3. You’re now going to go through each item on the list and apply the 3D’s to each one – Deadline; Delegate; Dump.

Deadline – have a look through and see which items you could extend the deadline to. Although deadlines are important, sometimes we underestimate how long things are going to take to do. Have you set yourself an unrealistically difficult challenge or task to achieve?  Have a look at any tasks which you feel you could feasibly change the deadline to and give yourself a little breathing space.

Delegate – have a look through the remaining tasks. Which can you delegate out? Even some simple, small things that you can hand out will make you feel better that you don’t have to think about them any more. Be creative – you may not actually have a team to delegate to. But you may have family members, your partner, your children….could any of them help out with even one thing? Choose the things that don’t need much explaining, but that you can quickly hand over. Making a phone call; finding out some information; collating other information into one place – anything you can delegate, do it. And this may be the time to investigate the use of some external help – VA, tech teams, etc – even for a few hours per month, to relieve some of the pressure on yourself.

Dump – honestly, are there any things on your list which have passed their usefulness date? These might be things you planned to do a while ago and have been on your to do list for ages. Because of that – are they really still relevant? Will the world collapse if you don’t do them? Identify at least one thing on your list which you can simply dump. There may be more and believe me, it’s a fabulous feeling when you can simply take things off your list because they’re no longer relevant.

I guarantee this process will not take any longer than 20 minutes, no matter how many things on your list. Going through this will help you to quickly see what you can to do to regain control of what you have to do. The truth of the matter is – more often than not, we all have more things to do than we have time for, in work, life and business. However, it’s not about what you’ve got to do, it’s about how you feel about it. By following these steps you can feel much, much better about what you really have to do!

*******

Copyright 2010 by Jenny Flintoft, Director of the Association of Work at Home Women.

The Association of Work At Home Women was founded on the principle that every woman should have a place of support, expert information, resources and the chance to grow their home-based business.

The opportunities of women to work from home and earn executive level incomes while balancing the fine intricacies of family life, lead to the foundation of the AWHW.

As fellow Work-At-Home professionals, we recognize the need for a complete, easy and trusted resource that will guide you with the right information, when you need it, so you can spend your time implementing and growing professionally, spiritually and personally.

We recognize that women have different learning styles, different time commitments and different business models. We strive to provide quality, researched and tried & true techniques in various formats to meet your personal needs while leveraging the power of a community.

We look forward to your joining us on the road for success and great achievement!

Check out our purpose and passion and see a little inside our hearts at www.theMOREMovie.com

Follow us on Twitter: @AWHWorg

Woman holding out arms

Do you have a big dream? A God-sized dream?  What is it?

I love Sarah Mae’s videos and blog Like A Warm Cup Of Coffee.  (That’s exactly what spending time with her is like!)  She is so beautiful and she just shines with the love and the joy of God.  In the video below, she encourages and challenges me with her God-sized dream -  being the best wife possible, a good mom, a homemaker! 

Oh yes, I have BIG dreams in my heart concerning speaking and writing, but if I fail at the most important job there is, being a wife and mother, then what good is any other success? Like Sarah Mae says, it’s God-sized to me because it doesn’t come easily (cooking Ray breakfast, for example!) – I need God to work this out in real life, in THIS lifetime! 

We desire to be godly wives and moms – and yet. So often I stumble. That is where God’s grace comes in. His mercies are new each morning to help us to become what we desire to be – and most of all, all that He desires us to be!  Women passionately in love with Him. Women after His own heart.

If you are a wife and mom, I pray this video inspires and challenges you, too. Thanks so much for the reminder this morning, Sarah Mae!

Houston-KSBJ radio host Liz and singer Matthew West

Recently Christian singer Matthew West went  to a cabin alone outside Nashville, TN,  for two months to pray, to read the letters of his fans about painful things in their lives, and to write songs from them.  There were about 10,000 letters that came from people all over the U.S. and from 20 countries. One of the songs God inspired in him was My Own Little World from the album The Story Of Your Life.

Matthew had been sharing with his audience in his concerts that their lives mattered, that God cared about them and had a plan for their lives. He wondered, “What if I turned the microphone around?” where his audience could share their lives with him.  This record features songs that cover painful stories like abuse, divorce, cancer, and adoption.  It ends with an appropriate song,  The Healing Has Begun.

The song My Own Little World challenges us to unselfishly step outside ourselves for just a moment and to look at all the people around us who are hurting.  What can you and I do today to help someone else? How can we reach out to others in a practical way?

One way we can help greatly is to pray. As Matthew sings in his song, “What if there is a greater purpose that I could be living right now?”  Right now in Haiti there is an outbreak of cholera that Fox News says has killed 200 people, left 2,674 people sick, and is a possible danger to the 1.3 million earthquake survivors living in camps in Port-Au-Prince. 

Cholera can cause vomiting and diarrhea so bad that it can kill someone from dehydration in hours. Fox news said that cholera hasn’t been a problem in Haiti for decades. and emergency workers are doing all they can to teach the people the importance of washing their hands and with other preventative measures.

Our dear friend Pastor Jay, his family and his ministry are located in Port-Au-Prince. Please pray for God to protect them, to miraculously heal those who have cholera, and to stop the outbreak of this disease.

Prayer is one way we can step outside our “own little world, population me” and to make a difference in this world, as Matthew so truthfully sings.  May our hearts be broken with the things that break God’s heart, and we have open hearts, open hands, and open doors to do God’s will here on earth.

Video of Matthew West, My Own Little World

Woman worshipping God

Last night I attended an online marriage conference by Ibloom associate Leigh Ann Napier, and was inspired by her sharing on John 6 about Jesus feeding the 5,000+ from the little boy’s five barley loaves and two fish. God took this little boy’s offering and multiplied it for His glory. What is it that you have in your hands that God can use?   Give whatever is in your hands to God as an offering, and God will do with it much more than you can even imagine!  Join Beth today for her podcast which will encourage you how God wants to use you greatly, 12 Baskets Full: Your Life as an Offering.

Start with the decorative plate and fruit:

Fall plate, fall fruit, candle, and pumpkin

Arrange your plate however you like. I added a pumpkin pie scented candle for the center – the smell is delicious!  The large green leaves contrast well with the orange pumpkin, the orange-red berries, orange candle, red apple and pomegranate, and the brown pinecones. This makes a nice centerpiece.**

Fall decorations

A new seasonal towel always brightens your kitchen. These pretty ones with orange pumpkins and purple grapes were less than $3, together.

Fall towels

Finally, I found a cute scarecrow for our entry way.

scarecrow

What about you? How have you decorated your home for fall and/or Thanksgiving? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section below.

******************************

**I will be sharing on how Christ is the “centerpiece” at God’s banqueting table of love for the holidays at the UHSE 2010 on November 4, 2010, at 10 a.m. ET. I’d love to see you there!  To purchase your ticket today, go here.

Beth Jones

Vera Wang jewelry

Today I was shopping for jewelry at Kohl’s and found some beautiful things on sale.  Having just the right accessories make a girl’s outfit complete and most of all, FUN!

In our lives, we also need “accessories,” along with the basics of shelter, food, clothing, etc.  Things like:

• friendships
• good books to read
• walks in the fall when the leaves are changing and the wind is on our faces
• hot, creamy, sweet coffee first thing in the morning (or however you like yours!)
• fun hobbies like scrapbooking, sewing, hunting, or horseback riding
• writing or emailing a friend
• shopping
• dancing, running, fencing, or some other type of exercise that gets your blood pumping & your mood lifted
• a time of quiet solitude
• a loyal dog or cat who loves you unconditionally
• a romantic dinner date with your husband or wife
• a game or tickling session with your kids
• going someplace new
• a funny movie.

What about you? What are some of life’s “accessories” that you enjoy? Leave your comments below. I’d love to hear them.

Our backyard

Sometimes it’s beneficial to venture outside of our own blogging backyard, and read other blogs. One of my favorites is Problogger Darren Rowse, whose blogs and vlogs are always practical, informative, and often entertaining.  Today’s vlog was not disappointing. He shared how he missed the posts of a certain blogger which he loved, and found out that the reason she wasn’t blogging was because she had landed a job. The original intent for starting her blog was to build her profile, credibility, and potentially meet some employees.

Darren, who had viewed the lack of blogging as a possible “failure,” said that maybe our blogs aren’t an “end all,” but  a stepping stone to help us achieve our goals.

While my blog is definitely not an “end all,” it is a tool to reach out to others to encourage them in their life purpose and to pursue their passion, with the potential to reach many more people than I might do off-line. Those whom I have met online – my website’s subscribers, the peers in my coaching classes, my blog’s readers and podcast listeners, readers who email me, have greatly enriched my life.  

This blog is also a platform for my writing and speaking business, and it has helped me to reach some goals so far – but I have many more to go! At the same time, I can’t allow this website/blogging to take over my entire life (refer to the Me, Myself, and Bob book by Phil Vischer on this one).  

What about you?  What is the purpose for your blog and/or website?  Is it helping you to accomplish your dreams or is it more of a fun hobby?  Is your blog a temporary one to achieve a certain goal, or is it here to stay?  I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just leave your comments below.

Roadblock

  What’s blocking you from reaching your goals?  

Today I received an email from one of the encouraging online-marketing lists I am subscribed to, and one of its topics was that there are only 11 weeks until the end of the year to reach my goals!  After the initial panic subsided (just kidding – sort of!), I made a brief list of must-do’s before 2010 ends. One of those includes getting into better physical shape.

What does this look like on a practical, doable level?

 Let’s face it. We can make so many excuses for why we’re not doing what we know we need to change.  It’s time I lay aside those excuses, and really decide to just do it!

If getting into better shape before the end of the year is here is one of your goals, too, a websites that may encourage you and inspire you to fitness is Charlotte Siem’s.  A homeschooling mom who’s had 12 children, Charlotte has an incredible testimony of how she used T-Tapp in her late 40′s to go from a size 22W to a now size 4. She is much healthier and happier, and desires to help other women realize, “Yes you CAN!”

When you live a sedentary lifestyle and your work is primarily at a laptop, it’s easy for those pounds to creep up. And 11 weeks is not a lot of time left for major weight loss.  Maybe T-Tapp isn’t for you, or zumba either.  But we can take some steps today to do something different, and those goals we desire to reach can be achieved.

I for one don’t want to go into 2011 being the same! What about you?  With prayer and God’s help, a decision of our will, and discipline, we CAN do it!

***

Would you like to go into 2011 drawing closer with God and getting the help you need for your goals and purpose?  Beth’s ebook Walking With God will encourage you to have that daily quiet time with God in the midst of your busy life’s schedule.

Need encouragement to center on Christ these coming holidays?  Here is the schedule this week for the Ultimate Home School Expo 2010.

Tuesday:
October 19, 2010 at 1:00-2:00 ET on Blog Talk Radio
Andrew Pudewa of Institute of Excellence in Writing joins Felice Gerwitz in an interview on the Effects of Music on Life
 
October 18, 2010 at 2:30-3:30 ET on Blog Talk Radio

Andrew Pudewa of Institute of Excellence in Writing shares his presentation: “About Boys”
Join  us online at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ultimate-homeschool-expo
*******************************************

Tuesday Evening on Talk Shoe Radio
Vikki Goedmaker: “A Different Holiday Season” at 7:00 pm EST
and
Lee Binz: “Colleges and Christmas Presents” at 9:00 pm EST
Talk Shoe Radio: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/89293
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Thursday on Talk Shoe Radio
Lorrie Flem: “Activities: Thanksgiving is an Action and Being Verb” at 10:00 am EST

Lori Lane: “Handel’s Messiah: A Unit Study Approach at Noon am EST
Catherine Jamie: “Down to Earth Holiday Ideas” at 2:00 pm EST
 
Becky Develle: Protecting Precious Preschoolers from Educational and Holiday Predicaments at 4:00 pm EST

Talk Shoe Radio: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/89293
*******************************************
Door prizes have been donated and the winners will receive all types of wonderful products. Please join us live to win.

And, if you purchase your ticket to the event, you will receive a special gift: A Memory Book containing a recipe(s), and/or holiday tradition or memory from our speakers! This is included in a beautiful keepsake gift for all of you!

Can’t make the live events? Don’t worry. They are all being recorded for you! You can get the whole set for the low price of $19.97.  Get your tickets today!

You can have the entire set including the membership site:  free holiday eBooks, handouts, projects, planning guide, recipe book, grab bag, sponsors promos, discount coupons, and so much more. This includes all of the audios of the live sessions and the Memory Book of Recipes and Special ideas to make your holiday blessed!

I will be speaking at the UHSE 2010 on November 4 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, and would love to see you there!

For more details or to purchase your ticket, go here.

stacks of papers

The seasons are changing, and you might notice some changes around here, too, at Tablet Of My Heart. For one, I have permanently deleted some old blog posts and podcasts. My husband Ray, who rarely throws anything away (and I do mean that literally and, yes, opposites definitely attract!), mildly PANICKED when I told him this. Did God inspire me to write these posts, he asked.  But what if I needed them one day?  Well, I thought, they weren’t exactly the holy canon!  Really, as I read them in retrospect, they were more like – for lack of a better word – ramblings. (Some of you may be thinking, “You mean sort of like this blog post?”)  :O

Besides, sometimes we need to get rid of the old to make room for the new.  (Such as last year’s clothes in the closet, so we  have an excuse to go shopping!)  I certainly wish this was Ray’s philosophy, with all the stuff he’s accumulated over the years.  (One person’s treasure is another person’s stress!)

But I digress. You will see that I’ve also created another special report for brand-new subscribers,  A Strong Current: Being Who You Were Created To Be. This report will encourage you to discover your life purpose and to pursue your passion(s), so that you can do the things God has called you to do and to be, and to be happy!  Like a strong ocean current, I desire to be a strong current of God’s love, mercy, and power.

What about you?  Are you fulfilling your destiny in Christ? If not, what is holding you back or stopping you? God has great things in  store for you if you will pray, believe, and obey Him!

There will be some other minor changes around here in the weeks ahead, step by step. We need to evaluate our lives, our schedules, our time, even our websites from time to time, with a praying ear, a sharp eye, and to get laser-focused. What needs to be pruned and can go? What can we tweak or improve?  How can we change things for the better? What needs to be transformed in our lives to be more like Christ?

What in your life needs changing today?  Pray and ask God to show you. I have a small ad on my vision board that encourages me, which you might like, too: “Small changes, big results.”

Do you need the friendship and support of other homeschooling parents? Are there homeschool topics you need to learn more about? Is your soul thirsty for the Word of God? Do you desire to keep Jesus Christ as the main focus of this holiday season?

Well, then, I have some good news for you! The fall Ultimate Home School Expo 2010 (UHSE) is here!

Join Felice Gerwitz and a line-up of anointed speakers for this fall’s expo.

Over 45 seminars that will inspire you to keep Christ as the focus of this holiday season. Tips, recipes, holiday traditions and so much more from homeschool industry leaders.

I will be speaking on November 4, 2010, at 10 a.m. ET, and would love to see you there!

To learn more, click here.

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting 
and autumn a mosaic of them all.”
-   Stanley Horowitz

This morning as we left the house in the autumn morning chill, Ray asked me, “Tell me again why you LIKE this time of year?” (He can’t stand cold weather at all!)  I do love the changing leaves and cooler weather of  fall, and the Missouri snow in winter. It’s beautiful and invigorating!

So often many of us gripe about the weather. “It’s so cold!  I can’t wait for summer!” or my mantra, ”It’s so hot! Turn up the a-c!”   We’re always waiting for the next season, wanting the time to rush by, instead of enjoying the season we’re in right now.

A young mom says she can’t wait until her little ones are out of diapers, finished potty training, or in school so she has more time to herself.  A teen says he can’t wait until he can drive or move into his own place ”to do just what I want.” As the saying goes, to a 3rd grader a 5th grader is a god. Teenagers are counting the days until they’re 18 or 21, young adults in their 20′s and 30′s can’t wait until they’re reached “success,” mid-life, hard-working men and women look forward to retirement, and on it goes.  Then grandpas and grandmas look back with longing at the flawless beauty of youth and their carefree days!

Will we ever be satisfied with our lives right now, aware and present of this moment, which is a precious gift from God?

To feel the cool wind on our cheeks in the fall, to perspire in the summer sun, means that we are alive.

Every season of the year and of our lives is a beautiful picture painted by God, His incredible handiwork of creation. And we are a part of that masterpiece for His glory. No matter what season we’re in today – winter, spring, little child, young adult, mid-life, or senior citizen, we should slow down, pay heed to who and what’s around us,  and savor the moment – for it won’t come this way again.

“How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog-it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:14, NLT)

My husband Ray flew in to Kanas City, MO, late last night after working a week at Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, to get the new medical clinic operational at Fishers Of Men Ministries International (FOM). 

Ray spent the first two days going out on the streets of Haiti with a visiting medical team from Turning Point Church of Forth Worth, TX. Part of the group went to a local hospital to perform surgeries, and the other part of the group, whom Ray joined, went to a tent city to set up a medical clinic.

 Tent city medical clinic, Haiti

Ray and the team worked for two days in the clinic, seeing approximately 50 to 70 people a day, treating various ailments such as respiratory illnesses, bowel diseases, urinary tract infections, anxiety, etc. 

A large shipment of medicines and medical supplies recently were sent to FOM Ministries, and Ray spent the rest of the week getting the medical clinic operational, organizing the medicines and medical supplies on shelves in the pharmacy. 

  Fishers Of Men Ministries International medical clinic, inside

The medical clinic was started by Ray after the earthquake on January 12  this year, in one of the Christian school classrooms. During the month he was there after the tragic earthquake – which killed an estimated 230,000 and left approximately 1,000,000 homeless – Ray and medical teams at pastor Jay’s ministry treated approximately 200 to 300 patients a day. 

The clinic was temporarily shut down in July 2010 to focus time and energy on building the new clinic.   The clinic will be a permanent facility at FOM Ministries, and is now located on what was formerly a soccer field at the ministry compound.

  FOMM medical clinic, inside

The clinic has four rooms with two bathrooms and showers: a pharmacy, a storeroom, a reception area, and a large patient treatment area. Its floors are all tile, and it is air-conditoned (when Haiti electricity is actually running at times during the day!).  Since Ray had to come home to get back to work (and to his family ), the clinic is going to be locked until someone or medical teams can be in charge of it. As always, pastor Jay is full of faith in God and looking ahead, not behind.

 FOMM medical clinic, outside

Please pray for God’s wisdom for pastor Jay, and for God’s continued blessings, provision, and protection upon him, his family, and his ministry in Port-Au-Prince.

 From pastor Jay’s newsletter this week, here is an excerpt, asking for those who feel led to join him to help at the clinic and/or with donations (the man with the duffle bag in this paragraph is Ray):

“What started out of necessity due to the catastrophe of the January 12th earthquake, with one man and a duffle bag full of medicines, has now reached the completion of the first stage of the FOMM Medical Clinic here in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Building construction is now finished and we have begun the process of moving our medical supplies into our new clinic.

We still have many needed items and equipment to furnish our clinic, but we are now ready to open the doors and serve the people of the city with a free medical clinic. We are looking for medical teams who are willing to come and serve the Haitian people. We look forward to partnering with doctors, nurses, dentists and other medical personnel.

Do you know people in the medical supply business? Do you know pharmaceutical reps? Do you know doctors and other medical personnel that would be willing to partner with us in serving the sick in Haiti? Let us know! We have a list of needed supplies, equipment and medicines needed to keep this clinic open and effective!  This is just Phase 1 of our plan…in 2011 we hope to build a second building that will house a small outpatient surgery center. We will keep you posted on how you can partner with us when we are ready to break ground.”

All donations to pastor Jay’s ministry are tax-deductible. To donate, click here.  You also can send donations by mail to Fishers Of Men Ministries International, P. O. Box 410953, Melbourne, FL, 32941.

If you didn’t attend my fourth webinar, Seasons of Stretching: Shaped and Equipped For Your Great Purpose, you missed powerful, anointed teaching sessions by Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane of http://onlybyprayer.com.  The three of us had a lot of warfare the week before and the day of the webinar, so I knew it was going to be good!  We pushed through the battle in prayer and Jesus Christ gets the glory!  Initially we had trouble with the audio, but we got through it. (Gotta’ love tech stuff!)   Those who attended were greatly blessed and encouraged.

Here is what one attendee, Susan, said:

“What a joy it was to attend your webinar yesterday. The topics of prayer and passion resonated with me. What Jane referred to as a ‘prayer strategy’ is something I’ve done for years, which is to ask God how to pray. Then wait. See what God brings to your mind. I like the fact that she said to write it down, because sometimes I forget what God wanted me to pray for a certain person, especially if it was more than one thing that I need to remember…I’ve often been told that I’m passionate in my pursuit of God… If I was less intense in my pursuit of God, my life would be more normal and ho-hum. But is that why I’m here? I was just so pleased in my soul to be affirmed that pursuing God with passion is actually something we’re commanded to do in Scripture.”

Jane’s and Mary’s teaching left us all with more of a hunger to pursue God.  Thanks so much, Jane and Mary, for sharing these messages on creating prayer strategies and living God’s great purpose. You both did wonderful!

After the webinar, I wanted to do something to just relax and have fun, so I went with our daughter Heather to the Bank of Blue Valley’s unique Ladies’ Night Out. They had free hor d’oeuvres and drinks, door prizes, and over 30 vendors for shopping.  Some of mine and Heather’s favorite booths were Arbonne skin care and the adorable, chic Miche bags. 

I love the story of how the Miche bags got started!  On the way home from work in 2004, Michelle Romero spilled something on her favorite purse. She felt frustrated and didn’t want to transfer everything from her bag to another one. She wished there was some way to just change the outside of the bag.  So she took the bag apart, and with super glue and scrap fabric she made her very first Miche purse.

Michelle showed the prototype to her friend, Annette Cavaness who was an accessories buyer.  They worked on a business plan, perfected the product, met with a patent lawyer and a sourcing agent, and Miche bags became reality – and it’s now international!

From a spill came something splendid. Think of the “spills” in your life – the accidents, the mess-ups. You know, things you wish you had a “do-over” chance for today. Take heart and hope.  God can take our worst moments and our weaknesses, and turn them into something beautiful and useable for His glory. 

Just like the four webinars I have done the past few months, where there’s been minor tech issues as I have learned the ropes doing them.  Were the webinars perfect?  No.  Did the speakers do awesome?  Yes!  Was Jesus Christ lifted up and exalted? Yes. And that is all that really matters. 

This morning Ray flew to Haiti for the dedication of the medical facility that he started this year after the earthquake in Port-Au-Prince.  He  is now safely in Haiti. The building now is going to be a permanent facility on pastor Jay Threadgill’s property. This week Ray will be unpacking and organizing a large shipment of medical supplies in the clinic, and taking two medical teams to see the needs in the slums of Haiti. Thanks so much for your prayers for Ray’s protection there.

Meanwhile, I am getting ready for my 4th webinar with Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane.  It is going to be great!  If you are not already signed up for the webinar, there is still time. You can register here.

I am also preparing now to speak at the morning session on October 30 in Phoenix, Arizona at the “She Shall Be Called Woman” conference.  The hotel is filling up fast, and women are getting really excited.  I’d love to see you there!  NOTE:  Conference is now full.

Enjoy the delicious change in seasons with the cooler weather this week by sipping some apple cider and lighting a pumpkin scented candle.     Let’s give God praise for His awesome creation!

If you have read any of my writings or heard me speak, you know that I am very passionate about women pursuing their passion, fulfilling their great purpose and destiny in Christ. You, dear friend, are the one God madly loves, enough to send His Son Jesus to die for you!  

Women and teenage girls are bombarded daily by images of “perfect,” air-brushed models on magazines, on the internet, and on t.v.  We compare ourselves to them, and the enemy satan lies to us constantly that we never measure up to this standard of perfection.  Or we compare ourselves to other “perfect” wives, moms, stepmoms, speakers, writers, entrepreneurs, internet gurus, women in ministry, or whoever in our mind is more beautiful, smart, successful,sweet, nice, giving,  sexy, talented, creative, wealthy, gifted, anointed, loved, organized, spontaneous, popular, etc.  No matter who it is that we are looking at, we are left staring into the mirror, feeling less than.  You are more than what is hurting you tonight! To God, you are so beautiful!  This song says it all.

Here are the lyrics to Beautiful by Mercy Me, followed by a great video with the music and lyrics. Enjoy!

Beautiful
by MercyMe
from the album The Generous Mr. Lovewell

Days will come when you don’t have the strength
When all you hear is you’re not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they’d see too much

You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You’re beautiful

And praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you’ve held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You’re beautiful

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You’re the one He madly loves enough to die

You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
In His eyes

You’re beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His

Video of Beautiful by Mercy Me

While there, we didn’t see anything earth shattering.  But below are a few short videos of some interesting-looking buildings there. On the side of one of the buildings was a painting depicting Order No. 11. (If you aren’t familiar with this horrible tragedy in Kansas and Missouri during the American Civil War, click here to learn more.  Although we didn’t go in, the town also has the Bushwhacker Museum and the old jail, one of the few buildings not burned by fire when the town was burned in 1863 by federal militia. Tours of the museum and the jail are available.)

What about you? Do you need a little time away today? How about a get-away with God, just spending a few minutes with Him to be refilled and refreshed?

Vlog of Nevada, MO – see the little VW Beetle police car at the end? How cute!

Vlog of buildings with unique architecture

Vlog of painting with Order No. 11

Vlog of DQ ice cream treat

You may remember that after the earthquake hit Haiti, my husband Ray flew there to help our dear friend Pastor Jay Threadgill, pastor and founder of Fishers of Men Ministries in Port-Au-Prince, and started an urgent-care medical clinic. Ray was there for a month, treating 200 to 300 patients a day in the aftermath of the quake. You can listen to my podcast interview of Ray about his missions trip to Haiti here.

Ray and I felt that he was supposed to go back to Haiti earlier this year to continue running the clinic for pastor Jay, but we were unable to raise sufficient funds for this. We are still praying about this, as it may be a timing issue or God may be knitting together other necessary details that we don’t see yet.  If he is to go to stay there on a more permanent basis, it will be in God’s perfect timing.

Ray is flying back to Haiti this Sunday, October 3, for a week, because the medical clinic Ray started there is now going to become a permanent facility and pastor Jay wants Ray there for the dedication ceremony. Please keep Ray in prayer for traveling mercies, for provision of costs while he is there, and for protection.

The needs in Haiti are still great. Recently there was a tropical storm that damaged the donated tent where pastor Jay’s congregation has been gathering under as a temporary place for Sunday morning worship, Bible school, worship practice, and other meetings.  Pastor Jay is a man of amazing faith.  There are very few brave men like him, who just believe God for huge things and then obey. He has poured his heart and soul into Haiti to see this poorest of nations saved for Jesus.  Once again, despite the storm, he is just going forward, not letting another obstacle discourage him from what God has called him and his wife Linda to do.

From pastor Jay’s email newsletter, here are the details about the tent damage and the ministry’s needs, with Fishers Of Men Ministries’ donation link if you feel led to help. All donations are tax-deductible. Even a gift of $5 would help but please give generously if you can and if God puts this on your heart.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

 ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

 ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you were doing it to me!’ (Matthew 25: 34-40)

********Pastor Jay’s newsletter:
Late Friday afternoon, a powerful tropical microburst storm hit the city of Port
 Au Prince. At least 5 are confirmed dead, hundreds injured, electricity is out
due to damage to the electric plant, and thousands of temporary tents and shelters
have again made multitudes of Haitians homeless.

The storm hit fast and hard with winds of 100 MPH and torrential rains. Many said
they had never experienced anything like it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damage
Our tent is down and damaged!

As you know, we have been meeting in a tent that was gaciously donated to the ministry
after the January earthquake. This tent has served as the home for our church, morning
prayer meetings, bible school and all the other meetings associated with church
life (weddings, worship practice, etc.).

On Friday, our tent was severly damaged with huge tears in the fabric and much of
the hardware and poles destroyed. Our Bible school was meeting in the tent as the
storm hit and had to evacuate as the tent came down, running out into the fury of
the storm! These are the same men and women who were in our church building when
 it came down during the quake killing 30 students and church staff.
Thankfully, no one was hurt this time!
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Determination
Clean up and set up!
Early the next day, we cleaned up the damge and set up what equipment that could
 be salvaged so that the church could meet on Sunday morning. Even in the midst
of another tragedy, we are determined to move forward! We know that there is only
one direction for us to go and back is not an option!

Sunday morning, close to 4000 faithful men, women and children gathered under the
sun to worship, pray and encourage one another! Pastor Jay, who had been out of
the country when the storm hit, was able to adress the church via cell phone broadcast
over loud speakers.
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Destiny
As of right now, we are flying in a team to see if the tent can be repaired and
set up so that we can move forward. At best though, this is a temporary soloution!
IT IS TIME TO BUILD!

Church meeting outdoors!
In February, just weeks after the quake, we laid our foundation for our new building.
This is the same foundation the tent was erected over.

In May we began a building campaign with the Haitian people that are part of Fishers
of Men. In just 4 months they have raised $60K in US dollars! This is no small feat
for one of the poorest nations in the word! We also challenged many of you to be
 part of this building campaign, to help build the new building by the one year
anniversary of the January quake.

Now we need you more than ever! We need churches, ministries, businesses and individuals
to take up the challenge to raise the funds needed to get our building! Will you
 help the people of Haiti fufill their destiny? You have never seen such a spirit
of determination as you will in this people! You can be a part of making this happen!

Our immediate need is to place the order for the steel…the cost of which is $500K.
We need 10 partners to give $50K. But that is not all we need! IT IS TIME TO BUILD!
The urgency of this need is now mare apparent than ever! We always knew the tent
 was a temporary fix. Now is the time to challenge your people, your church, to
challenge yourself to stretch your faith and be part of the soloution to this problem!

No gift is too small, but we need to move forward now! If all money was in hand
today we would still have months of building ahead of us. IT IS TIME TO BUILD!
Will you help? Will you help now? The people of Port Au Prince need you!
IT IS TIME TO BUILD!

Umbrellas to keep the sun off as we meet outdoors!
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Determined to fill the nets!
Jay & Linda Threadgill
Fishers of Men Ministries

In This Issue

Damage
Determination
Destiny
Office Complete!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Office Complete!
Although Friday’s storm and the need for a permanent church building is the focus
of this edition of our newsletter, we do want to let you know about the completion
of our new admin office that sits right next to our downed tent.
Our staff and pastors have had no offices to work out of since the earthquake. Several
months ago we began a new office building for our pasors and staff which is made
 od a styrofoam building system. The building was undamaged by the storm!
This same material is being used to build our new medical clinic (almost complete)
and will be the material for our new housing program for families that lost homes
during the earthquake!
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Quick Links

Our Relief Site http://www.fomrelief.com/?paged=3

 Home Site http://www.fomhaiti.org/

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PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER TO FRIENDS, COWORKERS AND FAMILY! FILL IN THEIR EMAIL
ADDRESS IN THE SPACE BELOW!

Join Our Mailing List  http://www.fomhaiti.org/

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How To Give!

Giving to Fishers of Men is easy and all donations are tax deductible! Checks can
be made out to Fishers of Men and sent to the address below. Please indicate “building
fund” on your pledge.

You can also donate securely on PayPal by visiting our website
at fomrelief.com http://www.fomrelief.com/?page_id=13

OR the main site

http://www.fomhaiti.org/donatetoday.html

Checks to:   Fishers Of Men Ministries ~ PO Box 410953 ~ Melbourne, Fl 32941-0953

This weekend I was browsing through an antique store and found a “writer’s paradise” - shelves full of old, blank postcards with pretty pictures. Postcards of Paris, rose gardens, Florida orange trees, tropical island beaches with clear, blue-green water and white sands, humorous ads, cute beagle puppies, women in 1950′s hats, you name it. There were boxes and boxes of these postcards.

I bought a handful to send to my family. What a great way to let someone you love know that you’re thinking about them.

A new favorite author of mine, Alexandra Stoddard, writes about postcards in her book, Living A Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty, and Joy to Every Day Of Your Life:

“A short, timely letter can enhance moments of your day: it can be a gem given or received. In my bedroom I have a small antique wicker desk that is uncluttered and neat and is all arranged so that I can sit down and dash off a note or a card to a friend. I’ve gathered dozens of postcards from trips to museums and have them there along with stationery and notepaper in letter racks, having the supplies attractively arranged where I can see them, be inspired and dash off that note. Make it a daily opportunity to communicate with a friend…Have a pretty cup to hold some colored pens so you can have plenty of variety when you sit down to write.”

Sending postcards and letter-writing is nearly a lost art today because of  rapidly changing technology and how busy we are.  But in this tech age, we can send emails, ecards, IM’s, and text messages “just because” to let our family and friends know that they are on our minds. We all need encouragement and prayers each day.

Who can you send a postcard to today, or some other form of written communication to say, “I’m thinking about you”?

**********

God lets us know each day that He is thinking of us through His word. The Psalms and Proverbs are especially His “postcards” to us, telling us how much He loves us.  Today for encouragement, meditate on a few scriptures such as Psalm 3:5-6, “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side.”

I wanted to quickly get out this exciting news out to everyone on my reader, listener, subscriber, and webinar sign-up lists, because the web page is ready now for my fourth upcoming webinar, Seasons Of Stretching: Shaped and Equipped For Your Great Purpose with Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane of http://onlybyprayer.com. 

Jane, Mary, and I are SO excited about this and we can’t wait to see you there. It’s going to be fun, you’re going to learn a lot, and you’re going to walk away encouraged and inspired.

Will this webinar be the same as my last three webinars?  NO!  Each webinar I am doing has a different flavor – it is awesome how God orchestrates things and meets people’s needs and desires in such amazing and personal ways.  Jane and Mary are anointed women of God, who sit daily at Jesus’ feet, and they will have MUCH to impart to you in this particular webinar – you don’t want to miss it!

The link to sign up today is here. http://www.bethjones.net/seasofst.html

This may be my last webinar this year!

This is possibly my last webinar for this year, as I am flying to Phoenix, Arizona in October to speak, and will be taking a break sometime after that to pray and seek God for more year-end direction and the year 2011′s direction…so please take advantage of this webinar at no charge to you today! Also, there’s no pushy, very annoying ”snake oil” selling in these webinars; we are just women of God who love Him and want to encourage you, dear friend, to draw nearer to Him!

I want to leave you with five practical tips when YOUR faith is being tested and stretched.

Call out and stay close to Jesus.  When Peter realized he was sinking in the waves, he didn’t just shrug his shoulders and let himself drown. No, he immediately cried out for help to the Lord.  Acknowledge to God that you’re over your head here and you need Him to deliver you! God is just waiting to give you His love and His strength, and to demonstrate His great power to you and others for His glory!

“I am holding you by your right hand – I, the Lord your God – and I say to you, don’t be afraid; I am here to help you.” (Isaiah 41: 13-14).

Lose your mind! As my friend Norma Washington says in the front of her book Saturday Morning Sisterhood, you need to lose your mind so you can gain the mind of Christ! Renew your mind daily studying God’s eternal word. Get God’s thoughts on the matter and His eternal perspective on the situation.

Beat it —passivity, that is! (to the tune of the late Michael Jackson’s song!)   Get physical! Go for a walk, dance, run, do crunches or leg lifts, jump on the mini-trampoline, put in an exercise tape, join a gym, swim. I am walking now and just starting our daughter Heather’s zumba aerobics class when she is teaching it again in a couple of weeks. Exercise will help you to take loving care of yourself to be fit and healthy, so that you can do and be what God has created you to do and to become!  We can’t fulfill our destiny without our bodies!  When you are in a trial of faith, you’re often under a great deal of stress. Exercise will help you to de-stress and to re-energize.

Ditch the Eeyores and find the Tiggers!  Surround yourself with positive, faith-filled people who will encourage you in your faith and your walk with God,  and who will speak God’s words of life over you and your difficult situation. For those family and friends who are always critical, negative, and pessimistic, with a cloud of gloom over their heads like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, thank them kindly for their concern – then run the other way from them!  Find friends who will lift you up and give you hope through God’s truth.

Sing, girl! (or boy!). Yeah, right, I can just hear you saying, and rolling your eyes at me! The last thing you feel like doing when your faith is being stretched is singing!  It’s hard to worship and praise God in the middle of a battle, but worship and praise are powerful weapons of warfare!  Let the high praises of God be in your mouth!  (Psalm 149: 5-6)  They will cut down the enemy and bring you to victory through Christ.

These tips will help you when times are tough and your faith is being pushed to its limit. Want to learn more? You will learn effective and powerful prayer strategies in overwhelming times. You will also discover what to do when you are at the crossroads in life, wondering if God can still use you, and find out how to pursue your life’s passion and purpose, at our upcoming webinar, Seasons of Stretching: Shaped and Equipped for Your Great Purpose.You will love Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane!

Has life been stretching your faith and trust in God?  Want to go from being overwhelmed to overcoming life’s challenges?  Conquer paralyzing fear?  From stressing out to pressing on? From a crossroad of uncertainty to crossing over with passion and your God-given purpose?

Then join me, and authors and speakers Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane of http://onlybyprayer.com for my fourth webinar, Seasons of Stretching: Shaped and Equipped for Your Great Purpose.

This exciting webinar is approximately 1 1/2 hours long on Thursday, October 7, at 2:30 p.m. Central Time, at no cost to you!  Just think:

• No fighting traffic!
• No expensive seminar registration fee!
• No expensive hotels!
• No hunting for parking places!
• No crowds!
• No hassles!

You’ll be able to enjoy this online seminar from the comfort of your own home. You’ll make new friends and will be encouraged from God’s words of truth. You’ll walk away refreshed and inspired from the teachings of these anointed women of God – who also happen to be sisters!  You’ll love Jane and Mary!

To sign up today, click here.

Well, God did it!  The Wash Over Me ladies’ retreat was a great success!  God’s presence was there and the women were greatly encouraged, which is what I prayed for!  About 20 women came both days, enjoyed the fellowship, the relaxing neck and back massage Friday night and the delicious brunch Saturday, and were blessed by the anointed teachings. Thanks so much to all of you who prayed!

The retreat was a “Queen Esther” theme, so we decorated with purple tablecloths, small square mirrors on the tables with heart-shaped, crystal candle holders, purple votive candles and decorative stones on the mirrors.

Several weeks ago, one of my speakers, Patty Bartlett, had told me about some treasure chests she had seen at a store in Nevada, MO, and I knew immediately they’d be perfect decorations so I drove to Nevada and bought them.  On Friday night, I talked about these treasure chests in my presentation – we are God’s royal treasure chest. Within us is the person, Spirit, and power of Jesus Christ, a great treasure, and our precious spiritual gifts from Him that God wants us to use for His glory. (On Saturday Patty, who has an herb and essential oil home business, taught on essential oils and the Holy Spirit as THE essential oil. Diane Bishop taught on being empowered by God’s grace and on forgiveness. They both did an awesome job!)

 treasure chest with jewelry

After I got the treasure chests, I then called my friend Genevieve Burke to ask if we could use her Premier Designs jewelry to display on the treasure chests, and I could help promote her business in return. She thought it was a great idea and was very excited. The decorations looked beautiful on the tables with the purple tablecloths.  Genevieve also provided a drawing for someone to win free jewelry, and our daughter Heather won! (Yes, fairly!   She was so excited and ordered it yesterday.)

There is a lot of work to do for a ladies’ retreat that requires planning, organizing, decorating, and advertising. Diane and I went around town several weeks ahead of the retreat to ask the local businesses for donations for the ladies’ gift bags and door prizes, in exchange for us promoting the businesses at the retreat. God’s favor was with us, and the businesses were very generous with their donations. The ladies were excited and blessed over their prizes, and we were so grateful for our sponsors!

I was also thankful for our worship leader, Carolyn Bolinger, who led us in sincere worship and praise to God for both days. There is nothing like the presence of God!  She was an answered prayer for our retreat. She also prayed an anointed prayer of financial blessing over an attendee who needs a financial break-through and over everyone there, and she ministered in prayer to different women on Friday night after I taught. Carolyn, God bless you! You have such a humble, pure, beautiful heart!

 Worship leader Carolyn Bolinger

On Friday night, we prayed for the women after my teaching time, and it was just an incredible time of being in God’s presence. At the end of the retreat, I asked for everyone to write down their feedback about it, and one attendee, Frances, wrote:

“The meeting was exceptional – whatever need was present was no longer a need as we left. The Holy Spirit did a work that we know not of – blessings to those who helped make a special day and love to all.”

  Praying for attendee on Friday night

Something that was in my heart to do for the Friday night ”beautifying” session was for a masseuse for the ladies, so they could just relax after the teaching time. I wanted every woman to feel accepted, loved, and ministered to while there. Our daughter Heather had treated me once to an hour-long massage at Unwind Massage, and I called Bonnie who gave the wonderful massage, and asked if she ever did massages for retreats. To my delight, she agreed to come on Friday night. I had no idea she was a Butler girl, born and raised here, which I thought was so cool- but God knew!  He is amazing how He orchestrates things.

Here is a picture of Bonnie giving one of the ladies a massage on Friday night. The women LOVED it.  Bonnie even gave away two free massages as door prizes. One attendee said, “”I was most blessed getting away with other ladies, and just being pampered and taken care of. We were ministered to, blessed in the Word, and allowed just to receive.” 

 Bonnie giving massage to attendee

There is nothing like friends to help you out in a time of need, and I couldn’t have done this retreat without mine to prepare the food for the Saturday morning brunch and get everything ready – juices, hot herbal teas, hot coffee, bottled water, grapes, quiche, breakfast casseroles, coffee cake, chocolate cake, gourmet fruit muffins, spicy pita and tortilla chips, salsa, hummus, croissants and jam, deli meats and slices of  various cheeses, a veggie tray with ranch. It was all delicious!

 Ladies lovin’ the good food!

The week of the retreat, one day our daughter Heather’s lower back had bad pain suddenly in it as she sat down at her kitchen table. She was supposed to do a funny skit with me at the retreat Saturday and then break into zumba aerobics to entertain the attendees, so I was not surprised the enemy was attacking her. Patty, Diane, Carolyn, and I had been experiencing warfare all week prior to the retreat! Whenever you step out and do things for God, the enemy doesn’t like it! 

We prayed for Heather. She was still able to do the skit and the zumba, and everyone really enjoyed it and laughed. We actually had a technical difficulty with our cd player for the skit/zumba song and Heather and I were trying to wing it for a minute until it was fixed (someone had accidentally pulled the plug out of the wall), but everyone thought it was all planned as part of the skit, LOL!  I think God allows these kind of things to HUMBLE me and to deal with my perfectionism struggles!  :O  Heather’s back is now better, but please pray total healing for her as she still has some pain. She may have hurt it in zumba last week.  She tried to just take it easy last night teaching her zumba class. (Her version of easy isn’t mine! I was praying she wouldn’t overdo it!)

Heather also surprised me in the afternoon after we had given away the door prizes and gift bags by announcing, “We have one more door prize! It’s for my mom – happy birthday, mom!” She had bought me 3 beautiful, long-stemmed red roses and then the entire room sang Happy Birthday to me (it was yesterday).  I was embarrassed, but very touched. What an unexpected blessing!  I have a wonderful, thoughtful, precious, beautiful daughter!

 My birthday roses from Heather

We had teaching sessions Saturday afternoon. My “sister” friend Debbie Campbell-Nagel makes one strong, good cup of coffee. Thanks, Debbie, for keeping the coffee going all day for the ladies! And thanks, Theresa, Heather, Shawna, Hannah, Gen, Nina, Patty, Debbie, Herb, Diane, and Carolyn, for being such servants with the clean-up afterward – without you all, I would have  been there all night cleaning up!

Thanks especially to my speakers Patty Bartlett and Diane Bishop, who encouraged and blessed the women so much. I could NOT have done this without you!  The Lord bless you for your hearing ear and your faithful obedience to Him. I know the spiritual warfare in the weeks preceding the retreat was not fun, but thank God for the victory in Christ! 

 Patty teaching on essential oils & Holy Spirit as THE essential oil

Several women said they want me to do a retreat like this again. Here are the attendees’ encouraging feedback comments about the teaching sessions and the retreat:

“I liked the “realness” – the authenticity. This was not a show orchestrated for man’s glory, but a time with God orchestrated by women being obedient to Him.” ~ Jane Hulme, Raytown, MO

“Several times God used something to minister to my needs. In a prayer, in a message, and in personal ministry.” ~ Ruth Christian, Pecular, MO

“The best was allowing the Spirit to move through the women attending and the fellowship.”  ~ Marla Kash, Butler, MO

“I loved the speaking on oils (Patty Bartlett) because I believe in God giving us things to heal from nature. I liked that we were able to eat and pray together. I loved Diane’s talks – she was interesting, informative, funny. Everything Diane talked about spoke into my life experiences.  I felt God in the room.” ~ Shawna Raab, Kansas City, MO

 Diane teaching on “staying at the level of grace”

“What I liked most was Beth Jones’ teaching on Esther and the treasure, and Diane Bishop’s teaching on forgiveness and bitterness. Nothing could have been done better. I enjoyed the whole weekend. It was good to meet each woman. I received healing and blessing from it.” ~ Anne Pedersen, Kansas City, MO

“I was most moved by the teaching on forgiveness. There were people in my life that I was needing to forgive.” ~ anonymous attendee

“I loved everything! I loved the testimonies of each and every woman. I loved the talk on forgiveness and grace. I loved the food. I loved no judgment!” ~ Joanice Walker, Kansas City, MO

One woman sees this retreat happening again and growing bigger. She’d like us to include booths representing various women’s businesses.  “I would like to see this in the future as a 24 hour/over night with different events and booths that help women in healing.” ~ Nina Erickson, Butler, MO

“The time we took aside to pray for another’s need was the best. Everybody really came together and related then. Beth, you did a great job of putting this together. I had a great time.” ~ Genevieve Burke, Butler, MO

 Diane Bishop, Beth Jones, Patty Bartlett

If you missed the retreat, I sure wish you could have been there! I had so much fun at my own retreat.  :)  I stood back after the retreat, thinking about it all, in awe that God had put this into my heart and helped me and others pull it together beautifully- He showed up, and these women – some I knew and some I didn’t, and we were all incredibly blessed.  How thankful I am to Jesus for all He is and all He does.  All praise and glory go to Him! 

“Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.”  ~ Psalm 63:3

One of the songs I played on cd was How He Loves by the David Crowder band. Listen here at You Tube to the lyrics, and just enjoy God right now. Thanks again for praying for the retreat. The prayers worked!

Many friends come and go, and there is no friend closer than Jesus. Among our human friends, though, some of the closest ones we can have are our husbands, our children, and our family members. One of my very best friends is my sister Maria.

There is five years’ difference between Maria and me.  When we were younger, we fought like cats over Barbie dolls and Baby Tender dolls. As the years passed, our jealous, selfish rivalries ceased and we grew closer in heart and mind. I moved to the midwest and the phone became our lifeline to each other, sometimes literally for both of us in very dark times when we just needed someone to tell us, “You are loved! You matter! Don’t give up!”

Throughout my adult years, I have written Maria literally hundreds of letters – some of them very long. Yes, the lost art of letter writing instead of emails, IMs, and texting.  When I say long, I mean ten to 25 pages long, some hand-written, some typed! Some include my famous “stick cartoons,” depicting stressful events in my life that I would cope with by drawing exaggerated, funny stick cartoons of me, my family, and others. Maria, “bless her heart” as they say in the south, has loyally read every single one of these letters – and laughed a lot over the cartoons with me.

Maria doesn’t write letters.  If I am lucky, I get one a year from her. When it comes, it’s a total shock and I prize it like Belgian fine chocolate. I’ve begged her for years to write me, but she doesn’t have time. (She actually has a life!) But she does call. A lot. A whole lot!  I write, she phones. We are borderline co-dependent on each other.  We talk, we cry, we laugh, we pray for each other. 

We don’t always have an answer for each other.We’ve watched as each other has gone through troubled relationships, career transitions, fnancial crises, problems with rebellious kids, identity crises, church transitions, radical hair color and haircut changes, weight gain, and inevitable aging – as well as incredible joys and happiness, achievements of lifelong goals, and great successes. We are always there to cheer each other on to the finish line – and to confront and challenge each other, “What are you doing? Knock it off!”

We don’t always agree with each other. We even get on each other’s nerves sometimes. But we tell each other the truth. We see the best in each other. We believe in each other. We’d fight to the death for each other.  And only my sister can really get my warped sense of humor!

We are sisters. But best of all, we are friends.  And not just here – but for all of eternity.

My sister Maria. I love her – and I don’t know what I’d do without her!

Do you have such a sister and friend? Who are your best sistahs?   Tell them today that you love them and what a difference they make in your life! Some of the best sistahs and friends I’ve met are online!

***Quotes on sisters from http://www.quotegarden.com/sisters.html

“You can kid the world, but not your sister.” ~ Charlotte Gray

“A sister is a forever friend.” ~ Author unknown 

“How do people make it through life without a sister?” ~ Linda Corpening

“It was nice growing up with someone like you – someone to lean on, someone to count on… someone to tell on!” ~Author Unknown

“Sister to sister we’ll always be, A couple of nutts off the family tree.” ~ Author unknown

My sister taught me everything that I needed to know, and she was only in sixth grade at the time.” ~ Linda Sunshine

“In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips.” ~ Author unknown

Veggie Tales – Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato

How has your week been?  I have been reading lately, when I’ve been able to have a few spare moments before bedtime, and one great book that I just finished is Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea Productions (the man who started Veggie Tales). My sweet friend Kimberly Ehlers told me about the book, and as I finally read the last 3 chapters, tears poured down my face.  As I shared with a few family members and friends this week, this book has just demolished me.

In Me, Myself, and Bob, Phil shares the story of the big dream that began in his heart when he was just a young man, to become the “Christian” Walt Disney, to build a new media empire for God – teaching children funny, touching stories using the talking, colorful vegetables (Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and other characters) and using the truth of God’s word…unapologetically including God and His word. Phil wanted to change the world with his big idea.

As Big Idea Productions grew bigger, so did its budget – and its enormous debt.  Veggie Tales sold more than six million Veggie Tales videos in 1998. Between 1996 and 1998, its revenue grew by 3, 300 percent – from $1.3 million to $44 million. Between 1996 to 1998, their marketing department grew from 1 person to 30 people. Big Ideas had grown from an original staff of two creative, enthused college guys to 315 people.

Yet by the time Big Ideas produced its first feature film, Jonah-A Veggie Tales movie, Big Ideas was in serious financial trouble. The company eventually went bankrupt and was auctioned to Classic Media, at $19.6 million in 2003. 

Phil wrote on pages 227-228:

“…I entered adulthood (1) absolutely committed to spending my life to doing things for Christ, and (2) determined  not to be a “parked car.”  I had to get going. I had to get busy. But busy with what?…Eventually, I found a place where my storytelling gifts seemed to line up with a need that was tugging at my heart – a need to express God’s word through popular media. And that would be my work for Christ.”

“That issue resolved, I got busy. I built, and built, and built. Even when I wasn’t building, I was thinking about building, dreaming up the things I would build next. And in the midst of it all, God showed up, blessing my efforts. Great! I thought. Look at all the good I’m doing! But I was just getting started…And so, I got busier. …”

“…And then, in the midst of my great goodness, everything started to go wrong…Good thing I was the good guy, I thought, because the good guy never falls off the cliff. Except that I did. My dream and I fell all the way to bankruptcy court, where a gaggle of lawyers picked through the wreckage, packed up all the good parts, and mailed them to Franklin, Tennessee, leaving me alone, with nothing. Nothing but my old Big Idea office chair, my thoughts, and the God who had watched me bounce down the stairs without raising a finger.”

Nothing left but him and God. Ultimately it’s where we all end up.  

Phil also quotes an old family friend, pastor Richard Porter:  “If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you – the dream or God.”

What matters more to you – God or your big dream?

Phil also shared from  Henry Blackaby, author of the devotional study Experiencing God, who wrote a book studying the life of Samuel.

“If you start something and it does not seem to go well, consider carefully that God, on purpose, may not be authenticating what you told the people because it did not come from Him, but from your own head.” (p. 239)

This is where I couldn’t stop crying. The thought that I may have been doing many things over the last year (such as writing, speaking, blogging, podcasting, creating information products, writing a bi-monthly ezine, forming relationships through social media), the possibility that these things may not have come from God, but came from myself, was devastating. Only God knows if this is true and that is what I am praying about this week, for clarity and wisdom.

I don’t want to do anything that God doesn’t authenticate or authorize. I don’t want to be like Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, offering unauthorized fire (Leviticus 10: 1), or to be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand, instead of the Rock of Christ, and when the rain, wind, and floods came, it collapsed and was destroyed. (Matthew 7: 24-29)  Anything apart from Jesus will not bear fruit and won’t last.

As a result of this book, I have taken some time this week to pray and seek God on His will, His purposes, His vision for my life. I am still thinking things through, asking for Him to speak to me clearly. My dear sister Maria said God may have used this book as a warning to me about future success – to not let my dreams become an idol.

 Yes, there are dreams in my heart, big, big dreams!  I don’t want to live a medicore, boring life and want to do great things for God!   I believe God is the one who put those dreams there in my heart, because He’s a big God and has big plans for His glory.     The Bible says nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)  God is the Dream-Giver and the Dream-Fulfiller.

But I never want my dreams to mean more to me than God does. I only want to please Him and do His will, not my own. (Luke 22: 42) While I desire to do great things for God in this lifetime and to make an eternal, significant mark on the timeline of history, influencing and impacting others’ lives, most of all what I want is an intimate relationship with God. For every part of my life to glorify Jesus Christ.

As Phil writes on page 251, “The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact. It occurs when we’re pursuing God.” 

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”  (Psalm 42: 1)

I encourage you today, pursue God, not the dream. Because He alone satisfies. And when we pursue God, then He will make sure the dreams that HE has for us come true. Even beyond our wildest expectations! (1 Corinthians 2: 9)

***What are your thoughts on all this? I invite you to comment below.

This weekend our oldest daughter Heather did her first 5K run. She even beat her best timing in training by four minutes!  At one point during the run, though, she wanted to quit. What about you? Do you  feel like giving up?  Do you need endurance for the long haul?  Join Beth Jones as she shares encouragement that God will give you the daily strength and endurance you need in this race of life.

Photo taken by Kathryn Bechen of her master bedroom. Copyright Kathryn Bechen Ink; please do not copy this photo without the written permission of Kathryn Bechen Ink.

Recently my husband Ray was asked to be the one to walk our friend Debbie’s daughter Amber down the aisle when she marries her fiance’ Ricky this coming October. We have known this family for years, sharing together the fun, good memories, as well as the hard times – including when this family’s beloved husband and father, Alan, died suddenly several years ago. Ray was honored that Amber asked him to escort her. Our prayers are that Amber and Ricky will have a happy, forever marriage which is a glory to God.

It is often said that the honeymoon doesn’t last long. Creating a happy home isn’t always easy as you are finally getting to know the real person of your mate, living every day with them. Suddenly there are verbal spars over the thermostat, the finances, even the vacation spot!  Yet it is possible to have a happy, fulfilling marriage.

The Bible gives us the wisdom and tools that we need for the best marriage. It also tells us what not to do! 

I recently discovered Kathryn Bechen’s beautiful website with her encouraging marriage article, Creating a Happy Home. This article gives a recipe for both wives and husbands to have that fulfilling, passionate marriage.

I emailed Kathryn to ask permission to use her marriage article as a guest post here for Tablet Of My Heart, and to my surprise, she asked me to call her.  I did, and we had a lengthy, enjoyable conversation.  It was an honor to speak with her.  She is a warm, lovely person, who generously poured into me her wisdom and knowledge for almost an hour!

One of the first things I asked her, after seeing her gorgeous, all-white bedroom on her blog, was, “You don’t have any kids still at home, do you?”  (I envisioned our kids’ dirty handprints all over those perfect white linens!  She laughed in response and said she had been asked that question before. The answer is no, they don’t have any children.)

Get to know Kathryn. I feel that one reason God may have brought her across my own path is to encourage me to write more – and to write better.  I came away refreshed, inspired, and uplifted, as you will be visiting her site. I was also blessed that Kathryn mentioned me at her blog this week on this post.

Kathryn walks her talk about marriage, as she and her husband Steve Bechen have been happily married 30+ years and are best friends.  He is her business partner in her writing and speaking business.  Steve handles her accounting and computer systems, and is her “mastermind” buddy for new business strategies and ideas.

Kathryn’s website, enhanced by beautiful graphics, is a wealth of  encouraging blogs, articles, and ebooks that you will just love!  She offers a variety of  practical, professional services. You’ll also be inspired by her bed and breakfast blog. She and her husband Steve have stayed in over 60 B & B’s in 17 states since 1987.

Her writing credentials are impressive and substantial, including:

• Kathryn winning the San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards;
• Her writings have been published in national home and garden magazines, in regional wedding magazines, and in newspapers and business journals;
• Her true story was published in the inspirational book publisher Guideposts Books.

You will discover more of Kathryn’s incredible accomplishments at her blog.  I was simply amazed at all she has done and is doing!

I encourage you to read her story here of how God has been using her writing since she was a little girl to now being published across the world. She feels that her writing is the vehicle through which she serves Jesus best.  I so agree! 

Pour yourself a cup of hot tea or a cold drink, and take some time to draw from the well of Jesus’ living waters there. While you’re there, be sure to check out her humorous poem, Decorating Without Divorcing.  This poem was picked up by over 50 global media outlets, as it appears couples from Timbuktu to New York City have trouble agreeing on house decor!

And please share her marriage articles with others, Creating a Happy Home. It will be such a blessing.

Do you have a goal you really want to accomplish, a dream in your heart? You can do it!  At the beginning of this year, our oldest daughter Heather was determined to lose weight and to run a 5K race. Today she did it! 

Using the book, The Belly Fat Cure (a diet which eliminates white sugar and reduces carbs) and joining and teaching a zumba aerobics class, she has lost weight in 9 months, going from a size 14 to now a size 8!  And today she ran her first 5K run!  I am SO proud of her!

The 5K run/walk today was at the Kansas City Royals stadium and raised awareness for autism. About 1400 people participated: little 5-year-old kids, teens, men, women, senior citizens, handicapped, all backgrounds and races. The enthusiasm was contagious. I was touched by how many people came out so early in the morning for this cause.  There are many runs and walks each month for great causes that you can be a part of, either through running, walking, volunteering, or giving financial support.

The runners were supported all the way to the finish line, which was inside the stadium at third base.  Yes, I “mom” was there, cheering Heather on to the finish line, shouting, “Go, Heather!”    A team of friends from her church was there, running too.

At one point during the run, Heather wanted to quit. She thought that she was almost to the end of the race, and then realized coming around a bend that she still had a ways to go. But she pushed herself, and ran the entire race, not stopping once. She even beat her own fastest time in training by 4 minutes!

Heather had a big smile on her face after the run from her accomplishment. It hasn’t been easy this year for her to get to this point, but  hurray, she did it!

It’s on my bucket list to do a 5K run WITH Heather before the end of this year!  I pray I can do it, losing weight too, with God’s help and my family’s support and encouragement. I need prayers for consistency and self-discipline, so please pray for me!  

After the run as Heather and I got into the car to go home, we both had a great laugh over a postcard advertisement placed on her car window, which had a picture of a pig on it and the words, “Run your pork butt off!”  It is the Royal Rib 5K Run on October 2, at the American Royal.  I have put it on my fridge for humorous motivation!

What goal have you set that you want to do this year?

What’s your stopping point?  What obstacles are hindering you from reaching your goals and dreams in your heart?  Remember, you can do it with God’s help and determination!

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 1-2, NKJV)

Here are videos of today’s run.

Vlog of Heather’s first 5K

Vlog of military band playing national anthem

Vlog of Heather & friends lining up for the run

Vlog of the runners starting the 5K run/walk

Vlog of Heather going toward finish line

Vlog of Heather right after her run

Vlog of food and water for runners

Fountains at Kansas City Royals Stadium

Do you love Italian food?  I do, too!  Today our daughter Heather and I went to “Little Italy,” or Cinzetti’s in Overland Park, KS, for her church’s ladies’ brunch. This restaurant is an all-you-can-eat Italian feast, with 60 authentic dishes for a very reasonable price. It was heavenly. I felt like Julie in the movie Julie and Julia, eating the delicious bruschetta on the toast (this was the best part of the meal for me today!)

Some of the tasty foods on their menu that I tried are:

• Bruschetta and bread – yes, I went back for more and more!
• Fresh-cut fruit (melon, cantelope, grapes)
• Insalata Mediterraneo
• House Italian Salad
• Chicken Marsala Rotini
• Warm bread pudding (Did I mention that this is NOT the place to diet?!)

Other dishes you may enjoy there are:

• Eggplant Parmesan
• Lasagne Bolognese
• Italian Sausage and Peppers
• Mixed Grilled Vegetables
• Fried Calamari with Arrabiata Sauce
• Marinated Mushrooms
• Homemade Minestrone Soup
• Hawaiian Pizza
• Home-made meatballs
• Spaghetti Marinara
• Farfalle Carbonara
• Fresh Fruit Tartlets
• Hand-dipped Gelato
• Chocolate-dipped Strawberries
• Tiramisu

I can’t pronounce all these words correctly and don’t know what some of them are, but I assure you that you will not leave this place hungry! 

What I really loved about the restaurant, other than the great food and service, was the way it was decorated. Mounds of fresh fruit, green and red peppers, purple eggplants, cans and glass jars of red tomatoes, olives, and capers, and beautiful glass bottles filled with oil and peppers were stacked openly in view on counters, displayed in front of the open kitchens, where chefs in white aprons and chef hats cooked the meals.

Friendly waiters and waitresses served you glasses of water with lemon, pink lemonade, sweet tea, or cups of hot coffee or creamy cappucino.  A wall rack  contained a variety of white and red wines.  The atmosphere was warm, inviting, and vibrant with color – an artist’s dream!

What I enjoyed the most about the afternoon, though, was spending time with Heather. I am so very thankful to God that Heather is not only my cherished daughter, but also my very dear friend.  

I am also grateful that while at the brunch, I was able to spend time with my long-time friend Debbie Nagel, and her two daughters Christen and Amber, who are like daughters to Ray and me. (I can’t believe “little” Amber is getting married soon!  Ray is giving her away at the wedding, as her dad passed away several years ago. I remember when Amber used to come to our house and play with our kids!)

From the book, 7 Ways to Be a Smarter Mom by Kasey Johnson that Heather loaned me to read today (no, it wasn’t a major hint from Heather, lol – she was reading it and I wanted to borrow it!), here’s an excerpt from the preface chapter on page 8 that I wanted to encourage you with today:

“When I seek God’s voice, I discover more about what it is He wants me to be. My challenges and temptations will be different than yours, but we share one very important element: we’ve never been at this exact place in our lives before. Each day is a new adventure. Each season of life brings new discoveries…”.

Whether it is trying a new restaurant like Cinzetti’s, going to a ladies’ brunch and meeting new faces, signing up for a college course, going horseback riding or skydiving for the first time, traveling to Africa or Italy or the next town you’ve never visited, inviting your neighbor over for coffee, making a decision to lose weight this year, writing that book, trying something new for your business, or spending more time with family and friends, let each day bring something fresh, inspiring, and adventurous into your life.  LIVE, dear friend, really LIVE!  Buon appetite!  Enjoy this gift of life God has given you – and thank Him!

Here are some videos of my great time there today. (I hope to go back soon, to take Ray and Leah to try it!)  Enjoy!

Vlog of me and Heather at Cinzetti’s

Vlog of Christen, Amber, and Debbie at Cinzetti’s

Vlog of Bruschetta and Salads buffet

Vlog of chefs at salad buffet

Vlog of bruschetta and toast

Vlog of pizza, egg, and dessert buffets

Vlog of cappucino and plate

Vlog of Heather by waterfall