It's Dark Out Here!

It's hard to ignore the fact that this world is a very dark place. The constant wars, heartbreaking famine, increasingly common natural disasters and widespread political greed and dishonesty continue to come at us from a myriad of sources.

I vacillate between being glued to the TV, staying informed of the latest breaking news, and being in denial, paying attention only to my own little circle of the world.  I know as Christians we have to stay informed of current events. We must know what we are up against and lean into God for His direction and guidance. He is counting on us to lead others to Him before it's too late as well.

But, it's depressing. It's scary, and it's overwhelming at times. Satan's schemes seem to be winning over God's Truth and Light. How can this be when we know that, in the end, God wins? As children of God, that means we win too!

But God also warns us that "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

The Bible also warns us that "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." We are now seeing this happen in Israel, Iraq and throughout the world.

I sometimes struggle with depression and feelings of hopelessness when I focus too much on these tragedies. I feel insignificant and unable to make even a small difference in these tragic circumstances. I will continue to struggle with these issues, but I am also able to hold on to the many promises God has given us in His Word.

As I continued reading in 2 Timothy, I came upon Chapter 4, verse 18 which says, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom."

I will continue to follow news and politics to a degree, but I am careful not to saturate myself or my family in it. God is well aware of and predicted thousands of years ago that the world would get darker and darker over time. In some ways, we can actually take courage from it, because it means that the time of Christ's return is nearing!

Take a Step

As Christians, we've all heard about taking a "Step of Faith." We talk freely about it as if it's something we do every day. However, a lot of what we call "Steps of Faith" are actually just simply "Steps."
Now, don't get me wrong. Steps of any kind are important. If we didn't take steps in some sort of direction, all we would be doing is standing still, staying stuck and remaining in a rut. God wants us to take steps daily in our lives to move forward in life, to keep going and to continue living for Him.
A "Step of Faith," however, is something much larger, much more meaningful and definitely much, much more difficult and scary. I would even call it terrifying.

It's important to realize that if your "Step of Faith" can be attempted and completed in your own strength, it is just a step. A "Step of Faith" requires God. It requires His strength. It requires His power. It requires His courage, and it definitely requires our trust in His promises.
In order to feel confident about taking a "Step of Faith," one needs to look closely at God's track record, whether it be in your own life or in others' lives. God is always faithful to His promises, but until you know that with 100 percent certainty, you will most likely not be willing to take any "Steps of Faith."
Take the Old Testament Israelites, for example. God had proven Himself time and time again that He would see them through. He freed them from slavery and then led them through the wilderness, never leaving them and never forsaking them. He promised them the land of "Milk and Honey," but when they got to the Promised Land and saw the very large, scary people who inhabited the land, they gave up. They chose not to trust God's promise and, instead, they fled. Everyone except Joshua and Caleb. They were the only ones that trusted that when God said He would give them victory over the land, He meant it. Therefore, Joshua and Caleb were blessed and inherited the Promised Land, just as God had promised. The others, however, never stepped foot in the beautiful Land of Milk and Honey.
Was it scary for Joshua and Caleb? I'm sure it was terrifying, and it didn't make any sense for them to think they could take over the land according to human reasoning. God usually asks us to take "Steps of Faith" that go against all common sense. Otherwise, we wouldn't need faith to do it.
Any "Step of Faith" begins with the conviction that God is Faithful and True to His Promises. Any "Step of Faith" will tap into your Spiritual Strength and engage the enemy, and any "Step of Faith" will take new territory for God.
Read Numbers 13-14 for Joshua and Caleb's great example of how to follow God wholeheartedly and take a "Step of Faith."

Put the Man Together First

While at church a couple weeks ago, our pastor told a story that he'd heard many years earlier that he has used to guide his life ever since. The story goes like this: 

There was a father who was very important at his place of work, and he often took hours of work home with him to do over the weekend. One Saturday morning, like most other Saturday mornings, he locked himself in his office to get his "all important" work done.  

Pretty soon, he heard a knock at the door, and when he opened it he saw his 6 year old son standing there with a baseball in one hand and his mitt in the other saying, "Dad, are you ready to go play catch? Remember you promised?" 

The father had forgotten he had made this promise to his young son, but he said simply, "Yes, of course. We will play as soon as I am done working. Come back later, and I promise we will go out and play catch."  

So his son went away, but about 10 minutes later there was another knock on the door. When the father opened it, he saw his son. "Is it later yet, Daddy?" 

"No," said the father. "You didn't give me enough time. Come back in a long while, and then I promise we will play catch." 

So the young boy went away again, but about 30 minutes later there was another knock at the door. "That was a long time, Daddy. Are you done now?" 

The father was getting frustrated, so he explained to his son that he had to wait until he couldn't wait any longer and then wait some more. Then it would be time to go outside to play catch. 

So, the boy went away for over an hour before coming back and knocking on the office door.  "That was a really long time, Daddy. Is it later now?" 

So the father had an idea.  He went to the shelf and pulled out a large world map.  He tore it into many very small pieces and then handed it to his son along with a roll of tape. "Here, son. I made you a puzzle. Put this world map together with the tape. I promise when you are done with that, I will be finished with my work, and we will go out to play together." He felt very smart and sat down to focus on the work at hand. 

The father couldn't believe it when 1-1/2 hours later there was a small knock at the door. When he opened it, his small son stood proudly displaying a heavy, but accurate, world map. "Son, did your mother help you with this?" 

"Yes," the little boy said. 

But still, the father didn't understand how they could have put the map together so quickly. "How did you know how to do that?" he asked his son. 

"Well," the boy said, "I realized that on the other side was a picture of a man with long hair wearing a white robe. I just realized that if I put that Man together, the whole world fell into place." 

______________________________________________________________________

Just remember, if you make sure Jesus is intact in your life, everything else in your world will fall into place. 

Chaos or Calm?

Sometimes it feels like God is nowhere to be found. Maybe He's too busy to worry about my little problems, or maybe He doesn't really care that much. He does, after all, have a whole universe to keep track of. He said it Himself in the Bible, we are each like a speck of sand to Him. Does that mean my problems, fears and broken dreams don't actually matter to Him?

Have you ever had those kinds of thought? I definitely have, but deep down I know they aren't even remotely true. Somehow, some way, God cares so much about each and every one of us. He knows our every thought. He keeps track of every one of our tears. He knows our hopes and dreams, when they are realized and when they are broken and trampled on.

Remember the story about the disciples in Mark 4? They were with Jesus, crossing the Sea of Galilee on a fishing boat. A terrible storm began, and they were afraid for their lives. Jesus was sleeping through the whole thing, and the disciples asked Him, "Don't you care if we drown?" Jesus got up and said to the storm,
"Quiet, be still." And it stopped immediately.

Jesus spoke to the deadly storm as if it was a barking dog that was scaring his young children. "Stop now. Quiet. You're scaring them." And it obeyed.  Had Jesus been unaware that there was a dangerous storm brewing? Of course not. But still, he waited for His children to come to Him seeking protection.

God is our Protector. He wants each and every one of us to run to Him when we are afraid, when we are in need of protection. Oftentimes we forget. We run to worldly "saviors" instead, and we need to realize that God will never let money, people, success, or anything else be our "savior." He is the only One that can truly protect us.

When a storm hits a believer, they are immediately turned into a mirror. What are you reflecting during your storms? Faith in God or faith in the world? Trust or self-reliance? Fear or peace? Chaos or Calm?

It's important to remember that oftentimes God will calm the storm in our lives, but sometimes He calms us in the midst of our storm instead. Either way, He is always in control.

The Decision Has Been Made!

Well, I have finally made the decision that I have been praying about for quite some time. As a matter of fact, I have been thinking about, praying about and contemplating it ever since last August when I finished writing Gratitude Greens. I have officially chosen the topic of my next book!  Actually, I didn't choose it at all. God did. I just had to wait it out until He revealed it to me.

As I sat down last week, mulling over my many (quite varied) ideas of book subjects, I narrowed it down to just 7.  Seven? Yes. I had 7 different ideas about what I might write about next, and boy! were they all over the board. I like all of them for different reasons, but now I realize how much information I really need in order to be able to write an entire, full-length book on a single subject.

I worked on Gratitude Greens for almost 3 years, and after all was said and done, it ended up being just 104 pages.  Now, for my first book, I guess that's not too bad, but I wanted it to be longer, more substantial feeling.

So, I go into this next book with much more information and realistic aspirations than I had with the first one.  I know how written pages (yes, I hand-write everything first-it's the only way my creativity can flow freely) translate into much fewer typed pages. Then, after editing, formatting and putting it into book form, it ends up seeming much shorter than I first anticipated. So, of these 7 different ideas, none of them just jumped out at me as something I could write an entire book on.  At least, not yet. So, I waited....

And then, on Thursday, I grabbed one of my journals (I have several sitting around), and in it I found a note I had written quite a while back-I don't even remember when. It listed 2 more ideas for books that I had completely forgotten about.  One of them stuck out to me right away, and I felt myself get that excited feeling I have been waiting to get again, "I think I found my next subject!"  I prayed over it and slept on it and then prayed some more.  Then, just to be certain, I sat down and started writing an introduction.  And it just flowed. One idea led to another which led to another.  Yay! I had found my topic.

Obviously, God wanted me to find it in His timing, like He does with everything else. But, I am so excited and so optimistic about writing my next book, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for it. I have just a broad, basic idea of what it will include and what impact I hope it will have on my readers, but I know God has plans for it that I can't even imagine right now.

I am not going to divulge the exact topic of my book, because for some reason it takes something away from my writing experience when I talk about it before I write about it.  I always feel very protective of the work that I feel the most passionate about.  I will say that it will be another God-centered, inspirational and encouraging book.  I plan to include my own experiences as well as the experiences of people I admire and respect, and I can't wait to see who God directs me to include in this exciting new endeavor.  Maybe it'll be you!

Nerium International

I wouldn't normally use my blog as a platform to share a product with you, but I am going to tell you a story about how Jim and I came to the place we are now.

My sister, Angi, has been talking about this skin care company called Nerium International for a while now. She and her daughter have been using the night cream for a couple months, and Angi swears that it has cleared up her rosacea and her daughter's acne. Now, the company doesn't claim that their products clear up either one of these skin problems, but the results have been amazing. Nerium International is actually a company that markets anti-aging products, so I had my doubts.

Eventually, my daughter's acne got to the point where we were willing to give Nerium a try, and the fact that Angi gave us a free 5 day trial period helped us along.  After just a few days, my daughter's face was already beginning to noticeably clear up. Even more amazing was the fact that her acne scars were fading rapidly as well!

Ok, I was hooked. I would bite and buy my daughter the monthly night cream. (Any parent of a child with acne knows that we would do just about anything to help them clear it up).

Well, Angi began talking to me and Jim about becoming Brand Partners for the company so that we could earn free product and make some extra income along the way. We weren't convinced at all. I mean, Nerium isn't even being marketed for acne and rosacea (I know 2 people who've had their rosacea cleared up within days with Nerium, however)  So, Jim and I didn't really buy the whole "Amazing Results" shown in the before and after pictures on Nerium's website. It looked a little far fetched to us. But, what the heck! We decided to both do the 5 day free trial and see what happened.

Oh, my goodness!  After the first night's use, our skin felt smoother and much less dry and rough. After our 5 day trial, we thought we definitely noticed less crows feet (Jim's term when he was talking about me....hmmm..)  and less bags under Jim's eyes.  I looked like I already had foundation on before I had even applied any makeup. My skin tone was evening out, and my chronically dry face was completely supple.

But.....were we just imagining it? Luckily, Angi had encouraged us to take very close-up (yuck!) pictures of our faces and chests (mine) where we felt like we were showing signs of age.  We took these before we used the Nerium for the first time. We got our pictures out on the fourth night and WOW! we really had undergone some changes already, and it wasn't just our imagination!  That was crazy, and we were hooked!
Now that our 5 day trial is over and we had to give our sample bottle back, we are very anxiously awaiting our own shipment of the Nerium so we can get back to using it.

And we have decided to become Brand Partners! Not only is the product amazing with 10+ years of science to  back it up, but the company is just 3 years young and growing at breakneck speed! It had 3900% growth in one year (no, that's not a typo) and has been featured in several magazines, on The Doctors and The View and just launched into Canada last weekend. But, most people still haven't heard about it, so there is so much more growth to go!  Nerium is planning to launch into a total of 32 countries, so that gives you an idea of how much bigger it will get.

Now is a great time to check out Nerium for yourself! See if you have the amazing results Angi and her daughter and Jim, our daughter and I had. In about a week or so, we will have several bottles to give out as 5 day samples, so let me know if you would like to try it for yourself or someone you know.  The only requirement is that we ask you to take before pictures of your problem areas, as it is hard to see changes in your own face sometimes.

Also, go to the website (link at the top left of my blog) and check out the amazing science behind the products as well as the great business opportunity! I know someone that has been in the company 3 weeks (no joke) and has already promoted 2 levels and has earned several hundred dollars and an iPad already-in 3 weeks, and she knows someone that earned the Lexus bonus after 4 months of being with Nerium!

Let me know if you want any more information, and don't discount Nerium like Jim and I did for so long. Keep in mind too, that 50% of the people using Nerium are men.  Many married couples sell it together, as well as individual men and women.

Just look into it and give it 5 days!  It's free, with no strings attached whatsoever!  You'll either love it or you won't.  http://www.nerium.com/Opportunity.aspx?ID=jimandamy

WWJB

We've all heard the words and seen the bracelets saying WWJD, What Would Jesus Do?  It's a great question to ask, but there is an even better one: WWJB or What Would Jesus Be?  What kind of mom would He be? What kind of son would He be? What kind of employee would He be? What kind of teenager or manager or pastor would He be?

This is a sobering and thought-provoking question. If Jesus were placed right smack in the middle of your life, what would He be? It's thought-provoking, because we don't usually think that God would place Jesus in our life, in our position. It seems below Him, somehow not important enough for the Son of God to be as insignificant as one of us.

However, where God has placed you is not at all insignificant.  He has placed you exactly where He needs you to do His work. He has placed the people in your life that He needs you to touch, and He has put you exactly in the place He needs your light to shine.

A couple weeks ago at church, we met a couple named Thomas and Beatrice Omolo.  God has placed them right smack in the middle of one of the biggest slums in Kibera, Kenya. Their life mission is to reach the children and locals of Nairobi. They started a non-profit organization called the Garden of Eden which provides a stable home for the children of Kibera, and they have recently planted a church there as well.

Kibera, Kenya

The Omolos know God has called them to a significant mission here on earth. He has made it clear to them that their lives matter, they are needed.  Thomas and Beatrice have chosen to follow God's leading and be Jesus in the slums in Kenya.

But, we aren't all called to such clear missions. Most of us won't be drawn to foreign slums to serve God's people and bring His word to those who have never heard it.  But, that doesn't mean that your light doesn't matter just as much as the Omolo's light matters. God has called each and every one of us to be the Light of the World.  Your light might be needed in the school you attend. Maybe it's needed in your family.  Your place of employment might be exactly where God needs His light to shine through you.

Just remember: your light matters, even though you aren't in Kibera. That's where God put Thomas and Beatrice Omolo. Where did He put you?