A Unique Clothing Challenge!

“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
― Audrey Hepburn

 

How true... God wants our hearts to be a reflection of Him and He wants people to be able to see Him in our eyes, actions, words, hobbies, etcetera.  However, although I agree with Audrey that "The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears" I do believe that what we wear reflects our inner heart and if we are to be a reflection of Christ then our clothes are to reflect him as well.

 

So...... I just found out about a "Clothing Challenge" that will be starting tomorrow and ending next Saturday.

 

I've seen several different clothing challenges and each one has a God honoring vision, but I've never felt led to enter any of them.  This one however, I feel is different from the others.

 

* First of all, it is for girls and  guys! 

* It's focus is on the hearts of the wearer

* It is a week "to put a little thought into what message your clothes say for you."

 

The focus of this challenge is as follows:

 

"Not attracting abundant attention to yourself, avoiding over thinking your outfits (and people’s responses to the outfits), and self control (avoiding gaudiness)."

 

The challenge's focus is to wear clothing that is carefully chosen to send a message that honors God, without spending an absorbitent amount of time choosing the outfit.  Our appearance is a reflection of what is in our hearts and our hearts as Christians are to reflect Christ. 

 

I think this will be a lot of fun and would love for more people to get involved!  If you are interested, please go and check out the challenge, sign up and then let others know!  Have fun!

 

 

 

 

Our True Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know that there are probably many bloggers out there today blogging on this holiday that have wonderful posts prepared, but somehow it never dawned on me to prepare one.... :[  So, I just want to encourage all of you to remember who is your True Valentine this holiday.

~ When you see a bouquet of flowers being delivered and are tempted to pine for your own, remember who made the flowers in your favorite field and put them there just for you to enjoy.

~ When you see a box of chocolates being shared and wish that you had one as well, just remember that your True Valentine sends you sweets (blessings) every day in a very wide variety.

~ When you see a note read for the readers eyes only, remember that He who loves you most of all has written you a whole book.

~ When you see the "look" between a couple that speaks volumes, picture in your mind the look on His face when He gave His life for you.

~ When you see a couple sitting together talking, remember He made sunsets for us to sit with Him and marvel at.

~ When you see that special gift meant for a special person, remember the special gifts we've been given...like a special day to celebrate our relationship with our True Valentine!

I hope your day is very special and that you are surrounded by the love of your True Valentine, family, and friends.

P.S. One of those special bloggers that prepared a fantastic Valentine's Day post did such a great job that I thought I would give you a link to check it out! "Singles, Valentine's Day and Love"

Free Suff....What will you do about it?

I recieved this in an email the a couple weeks ago and have been meaning to post it.

"I have never heard this said as simply or as well.  Class war at its best. 

The folks who are getting the free stuff don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff  can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff.

And, the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop.

And the folks who are getting the free stuff want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now...  the people who are forcing the people who pay for the free stuff have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff that the people who are PAYING for the free stuff are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff
and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.

Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded.  The reason?

The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.The United States officially became a Republic in 1776...........

231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff.

We have one chance to change that in 2012.

Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.

ELECTION  2012 IS  COMING 

A Nation  of Sheep Breeds a  Government of Wolves! 

PASS THIS  ON !!!     

Take a  Stand!!!

  Obama:   Gone!

  Borders:   Closed!  Language:   English only

  Culture:   Constitution, and the Bill  of Rights!

  Drug   Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before  Welfare!

  NO  freebies to:  Non-Citizens!

  We, the people, are coming."

Embassy Institute...Better than Netflix in so many ways.

Our family has recently found a treasure on our quest through life.  This treasure contains so many precious gems and we have just started to uncover them. Gems of truth, encouragement, discipleship, comfort, guidance, lessons on how to work on relationships, character qualities and our relationship with God.

You know how when you find something new and you can't wait to tell your bestfriend?  Well, that's the way I feel as I write this. There is a treasure chest waiting to be shared with others, the word just needs to get out! 

Our treasure chest is "Embassy Institute."

"Embassy Institute is the online media library of Embassy University with hundreds of powerful messages.
Embassy is committed to the high calling of training every student to experience success in five vital areas of life:

1. Being a successful Person with character and skills
2. Being a successful Provider in making and managing money
3. Being a successful Persuader in communicating truth
4. Being a successful Partner in marriage
5. Being a successful Parent in training up sons and daughters who are "mighty upon the earth."

The entire Embassy curriculum is built on forty-nine commands of Christ, which transcend all nationalities, cultures, religions, and political systems." (1)

I realize that we are talking about an institute here, but you do not have to be a student to access these incredibly powerful messages.

Our family is learning so much from the many different speakers. Each of the speakers/couples has several different videos of themselves speaking on different topics.  From spiritual warfare, to conquering lies we are believing that are controlling our lives, to working on character qualities.  Our favorite speakers right now are Paul and Jenny Speed,  Chris & Anne Hogan, Bill Gothard, Otto Koning & Jim Logan.  However there are so many more speakers that we haven't even listened to yet!

These videos are all online for you to watch and some of them even have free downloadable materials to go along with the session.

All of this is available to you as soon as you sign up for a subscription.  There are two different options available when signing up for a subscription:

1. A monthly subscription is $9/month
2. A yearly subscription is $99/year (save the equivalent of one month!)

You can listen to some of their sample videos here. 

I can not begin to tell you how much we are learning about God through these speakers that God is using in a powerful way.  Satan wants to destroy us individually and our familes.  However he does not have to kill us in order to do that, he just needs to chain us up in lies he will tempt us to believe.  Lies that will cause us to lose our ability to become what God has planned for us. 

God created us to live victorious and vibrant christian lives and yet how many people do you know that you could describe like that?  Christians that have such an incredible relationship with their Creator and Savior that everyone who comes into contact with them can see Christ and His love.

I know that that is what I want to be.  I want to be what God intended me to be and not your "average" christian.  I want people to see Him and not me.

This Institute is truly a beacon in the spiritual battle we are fighting. 

I want you to imagine in your mind D-Day and the Normandy Invasion of WW2.  Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy.  Imagine if you had special information that would have helped prevent all that bloodshed.  Would you have run to General Eisenhower and showed him that information or would you have kept quiet and hoped for the best?  

 Just think how many more lives are at stake.  Millions!   Satan is fighting to bring as many people with him to hell as he can and those he can't take with him he wants to make as ineffective as possible.

This Institute, I believe, has information that is imperitive for every christian to hear and share.  Please go and see what I am talking about.  This is a battle we are to be fighting not sitting on the sidelines and hoping for the best.

May God bless you today and may he help you to live a victorious and vibrant Christian life!

Footnotes: 1. http://www.embassyinstitute.org/about

What is Romance?

I've been reading Leslie's book "The Lost Art of True Beauty" for my devotions lately and it has been such a blessing.  This morning I read several things that I wanted to share with you.  They go right along with the post I did in January regarding the relationship we can have with our Heavenly Father through prayer.


"Contrary to popular opinion, romance is not a relationship - although it can add fullness and spice and excitement to a connection between two people.  Romance is not hearts and flowers and violins, although an evening of hearts and flowers and strings can be soaringly romantic. Romance is instead an attitude, a set of habits, a way of encountering the world.  You are romantic when savoring experience is a priority for you, when you are willing to invest time and energy into making your experiences more vivid and memorable." ~ Thomas Kinkade

      "(Eric's) romantic qualities go far beyond the realm of human romance.  Eric loves life.  He has a passion for living, an excitement to be alive each day, a hunger to experience the fullness of all God has for him on this earth.  He savors the romance and adventure of living a Christ-scripted life.  He deliberately adds a zest to life wherever he goes, whatever his circumstances.  He excels at enjoying the romance of life probably better than anyone else I've ever met.  And in the 17 years I've known him, I've become somewhat of a hopeless incurable romantic too - caught up in the epic adventure of a God-centered life.  It's a most exciting way to live.
      Eric and I believe God doesn't merely intend for life on this earth  to be endured; rather, He intends for life on this earth to be savored - every experience can be purposeful, meaningful, and significant.  Every day is an opportunity to discover more of Him."  ~ Leslie Ludy

That romantic relationship that I wrote about in my previous post on prayer and the relationship it brings with Christ, can be lived out when we see the gifts God has given us and choose to savor experiences, get excited with the little things and love the life He has given us!

As you ride through your weekend, may He bless you with lots of little blessings and may He bless you with the eyes and heart to see them!

For His Glory!

A Blessing......

Our family watched a movie the other night that had all of us (even my Dad) in tears as we were touched and blessed by a truly moving movie.

The movie was "Letters To God."

"Letters To God" revolves around a young boy (Tyler) who is fighting cancer, but writes letters to God as his way of talking to Him. The letters touch the hearts of so many people; the mailman who picks them up everyday, his mom who is trying to understand how this could happen to her son, his grandmother who finds such joy in knowing her grandson loves his Heavenly Father, his brother who is frustrated with what is happening with his brother and just wants life to be back to normal, and so many other people. Tyler wants everything he says and does to point people to God so everything he does is deliberate. He knows his time here on earth is short and precious and he wants to use it to help those he loves for his departure and bring as much joy into their lives as he can.

Oh boy, did we cry! It was such a blessing! It remined us of how precious life is and to spend each moment deliberately bringing glory and honor to Christ.

How many times do I take my family for granted?  My friends for granted?  My God for granted? 

Here is a trailer of the movie.  Please check it out, it may change your life.

If you have watched it, I would love to know what you thought of the movie and if you haven't, why are you still reading this =]

Blessings,