My Two Cents

 
Well it finally snowed here!!  Every time we have a snow storm I am blown away by how beautiful everything is when it stops snowing.  The frosted trees, the sparkly winter wonderland created by that brilliant sunshine that usually follows a snowstorm; that snap in the air that you breathe; that grateful feeling that wells up inside of you as you take a first glimpse out the window of God's breathtaking handiwork....  Those things are all wrapped up inside my brain right now as I sit in our loft working on….

January's "My Two Cents."

Watch

I’m in the mood for inspiring, heart-warming, self-sacrificing movies, so let’s see what is on the shelf…. 

I love studying military history, so when I came across this movie last year I was really excited!  It can be hard to find movies based on stories from that era, that aren’t filled with bad language or unnecessary scenes, but this one was clean and very well done!

Hidden in Silence

“Przemysl, Poland, WW11.  Germany emerges victorious over the Russians, and the city comes under Nazi control.  The Jewish are sent to the ghettos.  While some stand silent, Catholic teenager Stefania Podgorska chooses the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic.”

While most stories of this kind can be very graphic, I felt that they did a good job of portraying what happened and yet still keeping it a family film.  I have family members that can read about graphic things, but if they actually see it in person they are just overwhelmed…. They did not feel that way with this film, and yet it still adequately told the truth of what was happening during that time period.   I would highly recommend this!  Very well done…plus, anything with Kellie Martin is good J

 

My Two Cents

Wow, the month of November has flown by!  I can't believe Thanksgiving will be here in just a couple days and Christmas just a few weeks later!!  2014 has been a huge growing year...I know we tend to say that about a lot of years in our life, but you know how certain ones are REALLY growing years and others are still growing years, but maybe not quite as life impacting??

I think the biggest thing that God has been showing me this year is to find my validation in Him alone.  To meet His expectations alone.  To live for His smile alone.  I will never be able to do what every one thinks I should be able to do or live in such a way that meets the expectations of everyone and that is ok...   I am here to live the life God wants me to live - no matter how countercultural it is :)

Ok, so onto the monthly "My Two Cents"...

Watch

 

I'm just going to come right out and admit that I have been addicted to the "When Calls the Heart" series that came out last spring on the Hallmark Channel...  I know, I know but sometimes I can become a hopeless romantic.  I have those moments of wanting to curl up on the couch and watch a movie that has nothing wrong with it, still has a good story line and has decent actors.  The series is not based off of Janette Oke's books (When Comes the Heart series) like the "Love Comes Softly" series was (which is probably why I can watch it without any pre-judgments).  I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the Love Comes Softly series past the first and second movie... I just loved the books too much and didn't really enjoy the actors and story lines... So I admit to being a bit apprehensive when "When Calls the Heart" came out, however I was captivated by the pilot and have been impatiently waiting for all the episodes to come out on DVD for the past few months!  Definitely check it out!

Eric Ludy Video - Depraved Indifference

One of the ways God shows his love for the fatherless is through us... Are we living in such a way, that we are available and willing for Him to work through us at any time? 

What are your thoughts after watching that?

 



Genius....

Ray Comfort recently released another eye opening video, explaining to people that not one of us is a good person.  We have all broken the commands of Christ.  There was only one good person, and that was Jesus Christ. 

You see, each of us entered this world as sinners.  We were born that way, because the first man created , Adam, sinned. - He broke the one command God had given.  The punishment for breaking God's commands is death.  He had given Adam everything he needed and told him that there was only one tree that Adam could not eat from.  However, he gave Adam the ability to choose right or wrong - free choice.  He didn't want to force Adam to love and obey Him, but rather to choose to love and obey Him.  Adam chose to disobey and therefore we live with the consequences of sin. - Death.

Jesus came and lived a blameless, sinless life.  He is the only one that could pay our debt penalty for sin, because he is the only one that has not sinned.  When He died on the cross he took our penalty and gave us a choice, to either believe in Him and repent of our sins, accepting His gift of Salvation or choose to ignore it and continue our lives.  His gift of Salvation is an offer to spend eternity in heaven with Him. 

As I watched "Genius" I was saddened by the amount of people who have no idea where they are headed for eternity.  There are only two places we will spend eternity, whether you believe in them or not is irrelevant.  They are places and someday we will stand before God and will have to take the consequences of what we have done - the choices we have made. 

The morals of today are so low compared to what they used to be, because most people have no moral code to follow.  God gave us a moral law to follow and it is written on all our hearts.  For example we all believe murdering others is wrong.  However the people who do not believe in God have no reason to follow that moral law, because according to the evolutionary worldview, it is "survival of the fittest."They are looking out for No. 1 - themselves.  God did not make us to live this way, however He gave us the free choice to choose how we will live.

How will you live your life?  Who will you live it for?  Where will you spend eternity? 

~ God of Heaven ~

This video plays one of my favorite songs, sung by the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team: God of Heaven.

The person who put the video together also placed some absolutely gorgeous photos of this beautiful earth our amazing and creative God made!  I hope you enjoy listening and watching as much as I did!

I just listened to this short clip from Scott Klusendorf's full lecture and thought it needed to be shared.  It is just audio, but well worth the listen.  I think I need to memorize his response as it defeats every abortion argument! 

Father, I pray you would protect the unborn.  That you would keep them from pain.  Please give us the words to say when we come in contact with someone who would desire to kill them.  Please open their eyes to the lies they are believing and help them see that the unborn baby is just as human as the born baby.

In Your Name,
Amen


I am not endorsing Scott Klusendorf - I don't know anything about him.  I just listened to this clip and thought it should be shared.

Yodeling Video =)

I saw this posted on Google Groups today and have played it several times :]  I'm not even familiar with the language, but I love listening to them sing and the girl yodels beautifully!  :o)

I know this is so random, but I thought it would be fun to share and I hope all of you enjoy it too! =P

P.S. I know the words and music are out of sync with the video, but it really didn't matter to me as I just enjoyed listening!

 

Five Books Every Christian Should Have On Their Bookshelf

In the school years of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 I took classes through Apologia Academy.  They were some of the best classes I ever took!  Apologia Academy offers classes in Science, Bible, Worldview & Apologetics.  The classes I took were 1. Apologetics Introduction, 2. Advanced Apologetics, 3. Introduction to Worldviews, 4. Advanced Worldviews and 5. The Life of Christ.  They were amazing classes and I learned so much.  My teacher, Mr. Larry Blythe, was phenominal and his love for Christ and teaching came across into the class every time.

This video, is Mr. Blythe's opinion of what he thinks are "The Five Books Every Christian and Homeschool Family Should Own."  I've only read the first book he mentions, "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" and learned SO much from that book.  Mr. Blythe had us read at least three books each semester for the classes we were taking and there wasn't one that I didn't enjoy. All of them were by credible authors and were very well written for teenagers and adults.  If Mr. Blythe recommends it, his word is good enough for me. All of the books he talks about in the video look really good.

If there was one thing that I walked away with from the classes that I took, it was that God commands us in 1 Peter 3:15 to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."  God wants us to prepare ourselves and He has given us some fantastic resources.  There are some pros and cons to living in this century, but the amount of information that we have and the ability we have to search out truth is amazing and definitely one of the pros!

When I saw this video, I thought it would be a great one to share with all of you, so I hope you all enjoy it!

HMMM....

"The environmental agenda has been infected by extremism—it's become an economic suicide pact."

 Free Market America released this video on Earth Day and it has gone viral.  My Dad received it via his email and as soon as I saw it, I new what I would be posting on my blog next.

This upcoming election is crucial! 

The video says it all.  "If I wanted America to fail"......

Sound familiar???  Please share this with other people. 

Every person able to vote this upcoming election NEEDS to vote. Whether you believe the Republican nominee is the best person for President or not, he is better than who is currently in office and every vote counts.

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,

How Great Thou Art!

My mom received an email the other day and the email directed her to this video.  It is fantastic! I loved and hope you will too!