As we prepare for the New Year, I pray that God will bless each one of you, my readers!

As we prepare for Christmas, let's not forget that Jesus is the reason for the Season!

Readers:

I have a couple of prayer requests for you:

1: Please pray for my Sister Lori and her family, they're having real bad problems.

2: Please pray for my friend Nicie and her son Cameron, they're having trouble with his school.



Thanks!

The sermon in my church today was on the birth of Christ. Jesus could have came as some conquering hero, but instead, he came onto Earth as a baby. He went through all the things we humans go through every day. He played with the other kids, (dunno if he got into any fights, what do you think?) probably gave his parents a bit of trouble like we did as kids, came crying to his Mommy when he got banged up and scraped from playin, and got sick like us. Anyway..I'm glad he came that way, so he could relate to us!

God has a plan for us all, all we need to do is believe in Him and Seek his will in our lives!

Patience and Expectation are important when it comes to prayer. First off, you must have patience when waiting for a prayer to be answered. It may not be God's time for it yet. Second, You must enter into prayer with an expectation that if what you're praying for is in God's will, that IT WILL HAPPEN. So many people (Me included several times before) after they're done praying and seeing that nothing has happened right away say "It's not going to happen". People, just keep praying about it! Whatever you ask for (if it's in God's Will) will be given to you!

Here are some prayer requests for this week:

Pray for my Pastor, Dan and his family as he gets ready for his surgery and as they search for a bigger house.

For my best friend Kat, as she works through problems in her life.

For the People displaced by the California Fires.

And as always, for my family and I!

To all my readers, please pray for my Pastor, Dan Howard. He's going to have surgery sometime in the near future, an I pray that he will make it through without incident.

As a long time chatter online, one thing that really gets to me is people who PM you, ask for money, and when you say No, they use religion to try to put a guilt trip on you. This is so wrong! Although we as Christians are supposed to look out for our fellow man, we should also use discresion and common sense. Plus, I don't think Jesus looks very highly on those who try to rip off people in his name!

Sometime, I wish I could have lived in the time of Jesus. Wouldn't it be awesome to be in His Presence, and actually watch him perform all the things the Bible said he did? Reading about them is one thing, but seeing them in person---WOW!!!

Lord, as I enter another year of my life, please continue to guide me!

Sometimes to do his work, God takes us out of our Comfort zone. Take for example Carrie Langley, the new Mission Service Corps Volunteer who has come to work with our church. She has moved all the way from Texas, giving up a teaching job to come here and help us develop a ministry for the kids in our church. This is not a paying job, she had to get support from people and churches in her own town, and had to find a house and a new job on her own here. Just goes to show you, that when God tells you to serve, expect some personal sacrifices!

Dear Lord, I pray that you would please help Kat get through all her health problems, and the other problems going on in her life! She is my best friend in the whole world, and I don't know what I'd do without her.

10 PRINCIPLES

Stop and ask yourself today, "How do I really feel about myself? " Before you answer read these ten principles.

Better yet, keep them before you daily.

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(1) Never think or speak negatively about yourself; that puts you in disagreement with God.

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(2) Meditate on your God-given strengths and learn to encourage yourself, for much of the time nobody else will.

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(3) Don't compare yourself to anybody else. You're unique, one of a kind, an original. So don't settle for being a copy.

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(4) Focus on your potential, not your limitations. Remember, God lives in you!

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(5) Find what you like to do, do well, and strive to do it with excellence.

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(6) Have the courage to be different. Be a God pleaser, not a people pleaser.

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(7) Learn to handle criticism. Let it develop you instead of discourage you.

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(8) Determine your own worth instead of letting others do it for you. They'll short-change you!

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(9) Keep your shortcomings in perspective - you're still a work in progress.

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(10) Focus daily on your greatest source of confidence - the God Who lives in you !

A fact I've learned the hard way the past few years is that God puts situations in your life, but it's up to you to figure out how you'll handle them. You can run away from them, or you can call on God for help,and tackle them head on! I wish I would have chosen the latter a lot of times, it would have saved me lots of grief!

A little something I found on a website. Thought it was nice.

Life is a Trainer , and God is the back seat instructor. He's their to let your spirit soar, and keep you flying straight. After you've passed, you earn earn your wings.

Lord, I pray that you would show me what you want me to do to serve you. The past couple weeks, I've had a feeling that you're trying to direct me to something, but I just don't know. Please Show me! I'm not the most talented or smart person in the world, but if you tell me to do something, I'll do it!

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”

- Henry David Thoreau

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times or more – if you want to reduce the stress in your life you need to simplify. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “Simplify, Simplify.” But this is much easier said than done, of course, and there is no shortage of experts who are happy to tell you exactly how to do it.

All of that advice and guidance can quickly become confusing and even overwhelming – so much for simplifying your life! So I’ve sifted through this huge onslaught of information and picked out the ten best tips I could find to help you simplify your life. These tips are my ten commandments for a simpler way of life:

I. You shall find work that is fun.

Nothing complicates your life more than forcing yourself to go to work every morning when your heart tells you that you should be doing something else. To live is to grow and change, and nowhere is that more evident these days than in the world of work. So find work that is fun and uses your natural gifts. Wise people spend their days on pursuits that engage the fullness of their natural strengths. In doing so, they always meet with success.

II. You shall laugh on a daily basis.

Laughter is very powerful medicine. It can lower stress, dissolve anger and unite families in their resolve to overcome troubled times. It will renew your perspective and rekindle the childlike enthusiasm that you may have lost. Most of us are too busy to laugh and too serious to smile. We have become caught up in our own sense of importance. We have forgotten to nourish the child within all of us who is just waiting to get out and have some fun. Never forget that children come to us more highly evolved than adults to teach us the lessons we need to learn. Study children. Learn from their natural wisdom. They will remind you that if you haven’t laughed today, you haven’t lived today.

III. You shall sell the box sitting in your living room.

Although it has the power to do good, television is eating up your free time. And do you really have anything to show for all that time you have given to the box sitting in your living room? When you deeply reflect on all the hours, days, weeks and months you have given to your television, has it done anything to raise the quality of your life? While TV has some excellent programs, don’t be a slave to it. The average American watches 3-4 hours of TV per day. Don’t lose the best years of your life spending every evening on the couch.

IV. You shall break your addiction to the news and go on a “news fast.”

News is predominantly negative. And one of the universal laws of the mind says that “as you sow, so shall you reap.” What goes into your mind determines what comes out. So break your addiction to the news. All those killings, all that violence and the calamity do nothing to add to your inner peace. If you want a simpler way of life, spend the next seven days away from the news. Read some great books or listen to some good music instead.

V. You shall get in the habit of taking daily “silence breaks.”

Slow down. Silence is golden. In this crazy age we live in, the average person doesn’t spend even an hour a month in silence. Yet silence renews us, it relaxes us, and it allows us to reflect on how we are living and make necessary corrections before it is too late. Try spending 30 minutes a day in silence and solitude. It will help your mind to relax, so you can shift from the work-and-spend treadmill and focus on what’s most important to you.

VI. You shall clean up your act.

We all collect “stuff” along the way - it is inevitable. So try spending some of your time going through a closet, a shelf, a drawer, and getting rid of anything you don’t need or cherish. What’s exciting is that once you start on these surface areas, weeding that out, the skills and mindset carry over to more complex areas like your work and relationships.

VII. You shall turn off your technology.

Are you feeling the stresses and strains of modern life? Turn off your cell phone in the evening, answer email once a day instead of constantly throughout the day, or put down your laptop computer for an afternoon. Let yourself be unconnected to the rest of the world for a little while and relish in the freedom that creates.

VIII. You shall be spontaneous.

Routine is good to a certain extent, but sometimes you just need to break free and do something different. Let yourself be spontaneous, choosing what to do and how to do it based on your own wishes rather than someone else’s wishes. You’ll feel more in control, have more energy, and lift your spirits immediately.

IX. You shall set a bedtime and stick to it.

Chronic lack of rest affects every aspect of life, from the amount of energy you have to your performance at work or in school. Simplify your life by setting a bedtime and sticking to it. Get in the habit of going to bed early and you will transform your life.

X. You shall learn what is “enough.”

Many of us are turned off by ideas like simplifying or frugalizing our lives, but it’s really about transforming your life in a conscious and deliberate manner. It is about determining what is enough in your life, so you can do more with less. Keep that in mind.

Remember what separates the peak performers from the weak performers: the first group says “no” to anything that is not important while the second group says “yes” to everything. Live a simpler way of life.

I hope you liked the mail

Do keep in touch

A love affair with knowledge will never end in heartbreak.

This week, I'm helping out with my church's Vacation Bible School. I'm having a good time so far! We've got kids of all ages attending, most of them eager to learn about Jesus. I hope and pray that many of them will be saved during this week, or at least start considering starting a relationship with Christ.

In Church, we sing the song "I Surrender All", but do we really do that? God wants you to give your life to him %100, and lay all your burdens at his feet. NOTHING LESS WILL DO!!!

I feel sorry for Churches who say that you have to dress up to attend them. God doesn't look at the outside, he looks at what's in your heart. As one who doesn't like to dress up, I am sooo glad that my church isn't one of those who have a dress code. As our pastor Dan would say " I don't care what you're wearing, just make sure ya got something on"

In Sunday School today, we talked about forgiveness. This is not my strong suit! I've told you all about all the things I've been through in my life, and this is really giving me problems. Some days, I'm Ok with it, and can forgive those people from school who picked on me, and some days, I just wanna kill em. I know deep down that I need to forgive, and Lord, I pray that you'll help me, because I know that you can't do the things with me that you want to do if I can't forgive.

Lord, as Hannah prayed so fervently for a Son all those years ago , right now, with everything I have, I pray that you would guide me to the Woman you've made for me. I don't know how much longer I can take the lonliness. I know that it will only happen in your time, but I pray that you will take my feelings into consieration.

Prayer is the most powerful tool in the life of a Christian! How can you really worship God without talking and listening to him? You might not get the answer you seek right then and there, but beleive me my friends, God does hear your prayers, and he will answer them in his time, if you come to him with a sincere heart!

Our Revival services this week were awesome!!!! The guy who was our speaker was only 24 years old, but his knowlege seemed to be that of someone twice his age! You could tell that God was really with him! I really got a lot out of it! I feel like I'm out of the spiritual slump that I was talking about it the previous post.

Tomorrow, we begin our yearly Revival Services at Church. I know I'm gonna be there every evening, because I feel like I'm in a spiritual slump of sorts, and I pray that I can get something out of this to restore the spark!

Never Forget, the Lord doesn't give us more then we can handle!

Today we celebrate the Ressurection of Our Lord! I can only imagine what the ladies who went to the tomb that morning, found the stone rolled away, and Jesus not there were thinking! He had told them that he would be back, but I don't know if they actually understood what He meant. Anyway, without the Ressurection, where would we be?

Lord, I pray that you will take care of my friend Kat, she is going through very tough times. I know she says she's OK, but deep down inside, she has to be hurting, so please watch over her.

A couple of days ago, while I was out, my Parents watched The Passion Of The Christ on video. I got home to see the last few minutes of it. It just makes me cry thinking about how much Jesus suffered for me and all of us!

They say the way to conquer your fears is to face them head on, and with God's help, I am going to od that when it comes to beating my shyness. I cannot keep hiding any more! For all my 35 years, I've let what people say and think about me and my weight dictate my life, but no more! There are probably millions of frienships I've missed out on, and maybe I'd probably be married by now, if I hadn't let the actions of a few cloud my opinions of the many. So here I come life! Thank you Lord for helping me get through this!

I have some good news. I might be going on a trip this Summer! Our Church is planning to take a trip to Ligonier, PA in July to help the church and community there. For those who say I need to get out more, there we go! Hopefully things will go as planned. Even though I'm shy, I try to do everything to get the word out about Jesus.

The Things Which Are Impossible With Man Are Possible With God.

IT’S UP TO YOU

It’s not what happens to you that can make your life or break it.
The thing that really matters is the way you choose to take it.

You can feel sad about what has happened and say life’s not worth the living,
Or find some place that needs the love and help you could be giving.

You can crawl into a shell, and reach a state of deep depression,
Or count the many blessings you still have in your possession.

You can say that life’s not fair, and that you simply cannot bear it,
Or seek what’s good in life, and find a way that you can share it.

No, it’s not what happens that decides the winning or the losing.
It’s how you take it -- and you’ll find it’s strictly your own choosing

Mary Jensen

Last Sunday in Sunday School, we talked about how we have been wonderfully created by God. No matter how fat, thin, beautiful or ordinary looking we are, all people are worth loving, and those who think they are worthless need to seek God's guidance to learn that there lives really matter! I used to think that way because of my weight, but I don't anymore.

The Top 10 Ways to Know If You're Obsessed with Prophecy
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1: You Always leave the top down on your ocnvertible in case the Rapture happens.

2: You never buy green bananas.

3: You talk your church into adapting the sixties pop song "Up, Up, And Away as a Christian Hymn.

4: Barcode Scanners make your nervous.

5: You refuse a tax refund check because the amount come to $666.

6: You can name more signs of the times than you can commandments.

7: You believe that there is an original Greek and Hebrew text with Scofields's notes.

8: You believe that the phrase "church fathers" refers to Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye.

9: You get goosbumps when you heara trumpet.

10: You use the Left Behind Books as devotional reading.

As this new year begins, Lord, I make my resolution to you to keep striving to be closer to you, and continue to seek your will in my life!