Have you ever failed?

Then you are in good company!

Some of the most accomplished people have failed their way to success.

This quick clip is awesome inspiration to any of us who have ever failed at anything.



I hope this inspires you not to give up on your dreams!!!!!

December Giveaway Coming Soon!!

Hello Bloggy Friends!

I have been working on getting the house switched out from fall decor to Christmas. Also unpacking the motorhome and getting it ready to take in and winterize.


I spent this morning working on my message for the church I'm speaking at next Saturday (the 8th). OH! My heart is so full with this message! I have been praying for His direction for weeks now and getting little ideas, but when I sat down, it just poured out onto the paper (actually computer screen!). I love it when that happens!!!


I can't wait to share it with all of you...but I am going to wait because I know a lot of their ladies read my blog! I'll give you a hint...it has to do with Christmas.... :o)


But I do have something to tell you...

I'm doing another giveaway!


I love giveaways!!!! It really is more fun to give than to receive!!!

Of course it will be more Praise and Coffee!


The praise will be Mercy Me's latest CD, "All That IS Within Me."


And the coffee will be Starbucks!

I will also be giving away a few consolation gifts this time, pen and notepad sets!!

The contest will start on December 1st...THIS Saturday!

Watch for your opportunity to enter!!

He IS the Light of the World

It’s Christmas time!

Not that we need an excuse, but what a great opportunity to talk about our Savior!
He is, after all…LIFE!

There has never been, nor will there ever be, one like Him.
Let’s take every opportunity we can get to bring Him honor this season.

He’s the Light of the world!

John 1:6-9
6 There came a man who was sent from God;
his name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light,
so that through him all men might believe.
8 He himself was not the light;
he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to every man
was coming into the world.
NIV

John 8:12
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said,
"I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life."
NIV

John 12:46
I have come into the world as a light,
so that no one
who believes in me
should stay in darkness.
NIV

I don't know about you, but that just makes my heart leap!
I have experienced some darkness in my life and I can't imagine where I would be without the Lord shedding His light into my life.

We have so many reasons to rejoice this season!
Don't let the crazy/busy-ness and all the hoopla, steal the Wonder of what it's really all about!

He is Loyal Always and Ever!

Hello sweet friends!

This is our last day here and I am looking forward to going home! I love Christmas and I have lots of decorations to put up and lights to hang!!! Don't get me wrong, it's been a fun week, but I am a little homesick and I miss my son that couldn't come with us.

Here is a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner:

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and no one is getting injured while shopping!

I leave you with this precious verse out of the Message Bible:

Psalm 100
A Thanksgiving Psalm

On your feet now—applaud God!

Bring a gift of laughter,

Sing yourselves into His presence.

Know this: God is God, and God, God.

He made us; we didn't make Him.

We're His people, His well-tended sheep.

Enter with the password: "Thank you!"

Make yourselves at home, talking praise.

Thank Him.

Worship Him.

For God is sheer beauty,

all-generous in love,

loyal always and ever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I pray you all have a wonderful day with family and friends.

Hebrews 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."
NIV

Among so many other things, I am thankful for my friends in the blogging community, you have been such a blessing to me!

A thankful heart is a happy heart.

20 years ago today...

...I married my best friend!

This is our engagement picture.

These two kids had no idea what they were getting into!

4 kids and twenty years later, I love him even more!

Greetings from Sunny Florida!

When we left Michigan we had snow flurries, now Lauren is running around in shorts!

I'm a Northern girl, so this is going to be very strange for me to be enjoying such warm weather on Thanksgiving. Therefore, I have vowed to watch Elf, The Grinch and any other Christmas movie I can find, and then to listen to Christmas music all the way home, just to make sure I get myself ready for the season!

In the meantime I will be enjoying my new jogging stroller and getting some exercising- walking- NOT running...my opinion is that unless you are being chased, you never run once you've hit 40 years old. Things just bounce different and it's not pretty!

For some inspiration, I want to leave you with a link to a post I did when I first started posting. It's one of my favorites although most of you haven't read it.

Click here:
Are you living like an orphan?

Have a wonderful Sunday! I am looking forward to service here at the racetrack tonight!
Blessings,

They will be MY people

I love to 'people watch' and observe how we all relate to one another and respond in different ways. It is so interesting to me that our behavior can be so self-preserving.

I think about this particular person (that NONE of you know :0) ) that is very much like this.
He is one of my kids' friends.
He is what I would call a "one-upper."

It matters not what you are talking about, he has a bigger and better story.
He is constantly arguing and stirring up trouble with others, in fact often telling you that you are wrong and he is right.

The very sad thing though is that he is a very lonely person and can't understand why no one likes him. He complains all the time about 'so and so' not liking him or being mad at him.

By his trying so hard to impress people, he actually repels them.

Of course I know that this goes far deeper in him that I can diagnose, I'm sure that this was learned over many years and 'who knows what' else. He tries to give an impression of superiority, but the irony is that he himself has such a low self-esteem.

If only he could see that by 'lifting' himself up, he is only tearing others down, and who wants to be around a person that tears you down all the time?

We, by nature, will gravitate toward those who make us feel good about ourselves and avoid those who make us feel "less than" them.

We all want to 'fit in' somewhere, we want to belong and feel valuable.

God wants that for us too!

I love what the Word says:

Hebrews 8:10
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and
write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
NIV

God knows of our need to belong- He put the desire there!
And He is the one that wants to fulfill it!

...and they will be MY people....
I love it!

I am praying for this young man, and I pray that you would lift up the person that jumped into your head as you read this.
Our natural reaction is to reject them, but they really are just longing for love and approval.

Blessings friend,

And the winner is...

The November

Praise and Coffee Giveaway

goes to...

Number 57:

The Preachers Wife!
Congratulations Lisa!!!!

I am so thrilled, I just love this new friend who

I've recently found online,

check out her blog The Preacher’s Wife,

she's a sweet heart with lots of love to share!

I almost feel gulity

(but I would feel that way about soooo many of you if you won!)

I promise you all that I used the

Random Number Generator

to pick her number!

Thanks to everyone who played along.

Watch for a Christmas giveaway- with several winners!

Coming soon!!

Lord, help me bring this offering

Romans 12:1
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you:
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
(Message Bible)

How cool is that?!

Such a simple statement, give it all to Him! And count it an offering, I love that.
It is simple. but not easy. If it were easy He would not have said, "God helping you."

The Lord doesn't want an offering that is so easy we can give it without His help.
He loves that we lean on His everlasting arms to help us through this life and that we need Him, even in regards to our relationship with Him.

Without Him, I am not even able to love Him....whew, that's almost too much for my mind...

Here it is in the NIV:
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
NIV

"In view of God's mercy..."

What an amazing God we serve...He doesn't just demand our sacrifice....it's only because of Him that we are even able to offer it.

If He did not show us mercy (that we did not deserve), than we would not even have the right to bring an offering before this Holy God. Yet, He made a way for us to boldly come before Him and stand in His presence.
If not for His mercy, we would not have this incredible access to the throne!

Oh! Let's offer Him our everyday, ordinary life...but remember what an honor it is to be able to do just that!

Lord, I pray that You would help us today to lay our lives before Your throne as an offering. Help us to "see" what an incredible honor it is to do that, and Father give us the strength and courage to do those things that you've called us to do today. Let our lives be a pleasing sacrifice before You. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray!

Click HERE to enter the November drawing...TOMORROW!

A New Day

Don't you love the fact that God's mercies are new every morning?
I love that the Lord gives us so many new opportunites even when we've failed.

I am not writing this after coming through a time of failure (this time! :)), but I was just thinking about how God gives us so many do-overs. I love that about Him.

What do you need/want to put in your past and leave it there?
1 John 2:12
I write to you, dear children, because your sins have
been forgiven on account of His name.
NIV

And then there's this verse- a personal favorite of mine:
Isaiah 43:18-19
"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
NIV

Like a breath of fresh air, the Holy Spirit sweeps over us in complete renewal!

Draw near to Him today and let Him refresh you.
Confess your sins and He is faithful to forgive you!

Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water.
NIV

It is heavy on my heart today that some of you really need to know how deeply He loves you and is right there, reaching out to you...with hope and freedom.

I am praying for you today!

Click HERE to enter the November drawing...THIS Thursday!

In Christ Alone

I ran across this very sobering quote:

General Douglas MacArthur, American general, 1880-1964

“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral
decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either
a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral collapse, or a progressive
deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

I vote that we pray for a spiritual awakening.

Amazingly powerful video.



Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

I Met Monkey Giggles!

We had such a nice time! We met at a mall and sat in Panera Bread for WAY too short a time!
I still had so much I wanted to talk about, so we'll have to do it again.

Yup, she IS just as sweet and fun as her BLOG makes her seem. No surprises here!

I am thankful to have so many new "friends" in the blogging world, and the ones I meet in person make all that much more fun.

Thanks for such a wonderful evening Hope!

Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

While I'm blogging...

She entertains herself by crawling inside her toy box, the dog never leaves her side.
Busted!

Don't forget to enter the free giveaway!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

Our Conquering King...a servant

ipod
itunes
iphone
istuff

i-i-i

Toby Keith says it …. “I want to talk about ME”!

As a worship leader it was easy to notice that the largest file in the music folder was the letter “I”. I used to search for songs written specifically about Him and not how “I” feel about Him.

Phil 2:3-4
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of
you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others.
NIV

I believe that so much of our own inner turmoil comes from thinking about situations and how they relate to US. Instead of putting ourselves in the place of Jesus who had every right to act like the conquering King that He was, but instead He became a servant.

Phil 2:5-7
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality
with God something to be grasped,
7 but made Himself nothing,
taking the
very nature of a servant,
NIV

This is an incredible challenge. It certainly doesn’t come easy for me. Make myself NOTHING?? ~sigh~ I have a long way to go!

But OH! The freedom of dying to ourselves!

The whole chapter of Philippians 2 speaks powerfully to this subject, I encourage you to check it out.

Drawing is one week from today!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

Sometimes the Night is Beautiful

I love this song! I will never get tired of it, the words are so powerful and the video pictures in this are done very well.
I am always reminded of this song when walking through tough times...the line "sometimes the night was beautiful" just brings tears to my eyes.

The "night", the darkest hour, the loneliest most painful time...can be so beautiful when we find HIM there. He has made so many dark times in my life beautiful by His love.

I have also sung these words by faith when I was so confused at the course my life had taken..."step by step You'll lead me, and I will follow YOU all of my days!"

If you have time, watch it all the way through, the ending is so powerful.

Sometimes By Step by Rich Mullins


Check out the praise and coffee free giveaway!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

It's just not home!

This is my home away from home. I’m about to spend about ten days living in it in Florida!

I'm incredibly thankful for it!
It is very comfortable, but it’s just not home.
I have many of the same amenities, but it’s just not home.
I have a king sized bed, but it’s just not home.
I have a nice bathroom and shower, but it’s just not home.

In the same way, this world can be comfortable and really wonderful, but ultimately as Christians we know that…it’s just not home.

I can not help but think daily, as I watch the news, that we are getting closer and closer to the day of the Lord’s return to this planet.

Sometimes the signs of the times seem to scream so loud to us, I am amazed that we are still here another day!

2 Peter 3:10-13
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

(Talk about global warming! Going “green” won’t stop this!)

13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
NIV

I don’t say any of this to scare you, it shouldn’t scare us at all.
We are God’s children, He has a home in heaven for us- be it tomorrow or 100 years from now!

We should however take notice and not hold on to anything in this world to tightly.
The Bible says we are ambassadors here on earth. An ambassador goes to a foreign land on goodwill missions and negotiations. Our negotiations are that of reconciliation!

2 Cor 5:20-21
20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
NIV

So let’s not get too sidetracked in this world and forget why we’re really here!

It’s just not home!

Don't forget to enter the free giveaway for Christmas praise and coffee!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

Does He Rule My Brokenheart?

Psalm 147:3
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
NIV

Let's look at some definitions in this very powerful verse in the Strong's concordance.

Heals=
OT:7495
rapha' (raw-faw'); or raphah (raw-faw'); a primitive root; properly, to mend (by stitching), i.e. (figuratively) to cure:
KJV - cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, thoroughly, make whole.


Broken =
OT:7665
shabar (shaw-bar'); a primitive root; to burst (literally or figuratively):
KJV - break (down, off, in pieces, up), broken ([-hearted]), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt, quench, tear


Heart =
OT:3820
leb (labe); a form of OT:3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything:
KJV - care for, comfortably, consent, considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), heed, I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), regard ([-ed)], themselves, unawares, understanding, well, willingly, wisdom.

Bind=
OT:2280
chabash (khaw-bash'); a primitive root; to wrap firmly (especially a turban, compress, or saddle); figuratively, to stop, to rule:
KJV - bind (up), gird about, govern, healer, put, saddle, wrap about.

Wounds=
OT:6094
`atstsebeth (ats-tseh'-beth); from OT:6087; a idol; also, a pain or wound:
KJV - sorrow, wound.

In other words, Psalm 147:3 says:
So, He mends, repairs, makes whole our broken, crushed, quenched, destroyed heart, which is our feelings, our will our intellect- the center of our being. And He binds up, wraps firmly, to stop the bleeding, to rule and govern our wounds and sorrows.

OH! Isn't He wonderful?! Don't you just love HIM?!
How is it that we are so blessed to have a God that loves us so much!

That word "govern", really jumps out at me.

Healing is a journey. As we see that, to bind up is: to govern and rule- the journey starts with receiving healing and then continues as He rules our hearts- the very center of our beings.

Selah my friend.

Don't forget to enter the free drawing for Christmas Praise and Coffee!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

~Hot Topics~ Willow Creek Repents

Hi Girls,

I came across an article and I would love to chat about it with you. I think it's relevant to our day and important for us to look at.
You can read the article in it's entirety HERE.

In a nutshell, it is a study on the effectiveness of the many programs of the mega-church style churches.

“Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these
sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples
of Christ.” This has been Willow’s philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. The
church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The
outcome is spiritual maturity. In a moment of stinging honesty Hawkins says, “I
know it might sound crazy but that’s how we do it in churches. We measure levels
of participation.”

Through this study, they have come to realize that they have been wrong.

Bill Hybels said:

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would
really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came
back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that
much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying
out for.

He goes on to confess:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of
faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching
people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should
have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how
to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

I can say that I am thrilled they have come to this conclusion!

Revelations 3:15-17
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17
Because you say,'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' — and
do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked —
NKJV

This may be a little toe stepping, but I'm willing to take the risk that all of us need reminding of this- including me!

I believe that it is time for Christians to stop playing the church game.

Are we living for Him or just joining a country club?

This world is not going to get any brighter ASIDE from the light that you and I shed by the Lord inside of us.

It's time to live this thing. Really live for Him. No more walking the fence, thinking we're fine if we attend church on Sundays. He doesn't want to be part of our life, He wants to BE our life- because He IS life!

What do you think?

Don't forget to enter the free drawing for Christmas Praise and Coffee!
Click HERE to enter the November drawing!

Giveaway Galore!

A few of my friends are having giveaways too!
After leaving a comment on my giveaway (November 1st post),

make sure to check them out too!

Monkey Giggles
Drawing November 4th!

Karen's Ramblings
Drawing November 9th!

Mel's World

Drawing November 12th!

Here's another:
Carries Crafty Cottage
Drawing November 15th!


Check out these great gals and their fun giveaways!!

November Praise and Coffee Giveaway!

I had so much fun last time, I'm doing it again!

This time it's a

DOUBLE CD set of Christmas Worship

and

Godiva Coffee!

(Note, I will send cocoa if you are a non-coffee drinker!)

Here are the rules:

1. Post a comment to THIS post, including

a note about something that you are THANKFUL for!

2. Make sure there is a link to your blog or email

so I can contact you if you win

3. One entry per person please!

4. Feel free to advertise on your blog if you like!

EDITED November 15...contest closed!