One Sacrifice For All Time

The United States of America: The Divided State of the Church

2009-11-08T16:08:00.003-05:00

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made BOTH GROUPS into ONE and BROKE DOWN the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile THEM BOTH in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. Ephesians 2:13-16 (emphasis mine)

Lessons I share with you are lessons I have first learned in my personal life. As the Spirit refines, reproves, and helps more of Amanda to die, He opens my eyes to so much! So many times I have been Peter cutting of the ears of Christ’s enemies and drowning out the still small voice telling me to get behind the Cross. I was acting as its enemy. Only until the Spirit began to work in my heart in recent years to break and reshape me did I become aware of this sinful aspect of my flesh. I believe this deep conviction for right and wrong is from God, but He first has had to take me through many things (and still more to come I’m sure) to kill the flesh that would rather be right than love.

There is such a spirit of disunity in the Christian world that it has spilled out into our homes and into our nation. We have become a people so concerned with being “right” that we have completely lost sight of the reconciliation and love of Christ. The enemy laughs as he knows the word of God better than we do.

“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25

This spirit of self “righteousness” has divided marriages, businesses, families, and now our nation’s capitol.

I cannot recommend enough the book I spoke of last time by Catherine Marshall aptly titled, The Helper. My Father brought it into my life at exactly the right time and it coincided perfectly with what I am learning through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God study. In speaking on unity and the church, Catherine says,

“When we look at the fragmentation of the organized Church today, all might seem to be lost. So many denominations and splinter groups! Scarcely a local church without infighting and factions. Little real Christian unity even yet between racial groups-blacks and whites, or differing nationalities, or disparate economic classes. Such miniscule progress towards unity dramatized for us what does not work. Making laws will not do it. Education does not bring unity either. Not even rallies, marches, strikes, and blatant propaganda can effect true oneness. In the United States black-white segregation has seen two decades of laws and education and every external device, but even yet we make painfully slow progress.”

As I watched CSPAN yesterday and listened to the same arguments at nauseam from each side at first I was angry. Then late last night as they debated the amendment to stop the funding of abortion, I watched as the venom spewed from some of those on the left, especially the women. Inside I felt this deep sense of grief. I was heartbroken for these people. I went to my closet and began to pray. I sat silently before my Lord as He poured into me a love for the blind. They are in the grasp of Satan’s power and it is heartbreaking. Then my heart turned to my own life, family, friends, and my church. The enemy has been working vehemently to kill, steal, and destroy the beautiful love that Jesus wants us to have for each other. He reminds us often of the hurt that someone caused us; the wrong words and attitudes they had toward us, the worldly behavior they displayed. He gets us in that judgmental mindset where we begin to replay over and over in our heads how wrong they are and how somebody ought to just set them straight. We complain and grumble (we call it prayer) against them and ask God why He doesn’t do something about this injustice.

And His simple reply is this: “It is finished”

For those who would be skeptic that even the spirit of Christ cannot reunite a divided nation, home, or relationship, I give you the following story taken from Catherine Marshall’s book, The Helper.

“My husband Leonard and I have watched at close range a modern example of reconciliation which has come out of Washington’s Watergate scandal. Obviously, Watergate produced distrust, violent resentment and anger- a climate of hostility and hatred involving many in the nation’s capital. Among them, former Senator Harold Hughes, a political liberal and such a vigorous critic of President Nixon that he was a top man on the administration’s enemies list. Thus Hughes became a particular target for Chuck Colson, Nixon’s “hatchet man.”
Colson thought Hughes a menace to the nation because of his violent and outspoken opposition to Nixon policies.
Hughes thought Colson the epitome of evil as the leader of the White House gang. In politics, Chuck Colson stood for everything that Harold Hughes hated.
Then in an incisive way the Holy Spirit moved into Chuck’s life, cleansing him, changing him, bringing him to his knees.
Years before, Hughes had already had the same experience. It had happened at a time when Harold had been contemplating suicide because of despair over his anger about life and his drunkenness. Jess had been Rescuer and Savior to him in every sense.
Then came the dramatic moment when Harold and Chuck were brought together through an intermediary, Doug Coe, head of the Washington Fellowship Group. In order to take a little of the heat off, Doug had decided to make it a quiet evening with wives at the home of Al Quie, Minnesota Democratic congressman. Doug had also invited a former Democratic congressman from Texas, Graham Purcell and his wife, Nancy. The setting was the Quies’ paneled family room with the group gathered around a mammoth brick fireplace.
In the midst of the others, Colson and Hughes were rather like two boxers waiting in their separate corners for the sparring to begin. Then abruptly Harold began the action. “Chuck, they tell me you’ve had an encounter with Jesus Christ. Would you tell us about it?”
So Chuck described what had happened that memorable summer night near Boston when a lifelong barrier between him and his god had been broken down. To his surprise, Colson felt no embarrassment in talking about this, the most intimate experience of his life, yet he was supremely conscious of his inadequacy.
Here is Chuck Colson’s own description of what happened as the spirit in Hughes heard his spirit testify of Jesus Christ:
For a moment there was silence. Harold, whose face had been enigmatic while I talked, suddenly lifted both hands in the air and brought them down hard on his knees. “That’s all I need to know. Chuck, you have accepted Jesus and He has forgiven you. I do the same. I love you now as my brother in Christ. I will stand with you, defend you anywhere, and trust you with anything I have.”…”

Christians, I implore you today. I know what it is like to be wronged, and I know what it is like to wrong others. I am not saying we ought to sit by and say nothing when someone hurts us or when an injustice is carried out; quite the contrary. First, we are to go to our Father and discuss it with Him in an honest manner with a spirit of submission. We are to ask Him what our part is in that situation. What, if anything, should we do to make it right.

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

For our nation, we must pray as Nehemiah did with a spirit of brokenness for our own part in the apathy we have had toward the things of God.

“I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1:5-11

Ask Him what He would have His people do in response to the evil around us. Ask Him to reveal to you specifically what your part is in the ministry of reconciliation that you received when you received Christ. Then, be obedient to what the Spirit tells you.

One thing He has revealed to me is that the body of Christ has left herfirst love. We run our churches like business organizations rather than bodies. We fail to recognize the necessity of receiving input from every member under the direction of the head and striving for unity in the Spirit before we move ahead. We think it is to be run like a democracy and we have modeled our churches after the American government rather than the Word of God. This must stop!

"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:7
"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." 1 Corinthians 12:18

Secondly, we have bowed to Caesar rather than God. Jesus told us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s. I believe that we have preferred to remain a tax-free organization rather than a bond-slaved body to Christ. Did the 120 gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost worry that if they spoke God’s truth they would lose their tax exempt status? We have been fearful of taxes more than God! We should be ashamed! This is clear evidence that the church has left her first love, disobeyed her head, and bowed the knee to Baal, and we wonder why the Holy Spirit has departed.

We must as individual Christians and as a body of believers repent and turn to the Holy Spirit for help. We must stop following agendas and pushing the plans of men. We must ask forgiveness for not treating our neighbor’s as we want to be treated and for using the word of God as a weapon against men instead of against Satan.

We must put off the flesh, turn off the television, be reconciled to our spouses, and take care of our children physically, emotionally, and spiritually by teaching them the truth both in WORD and DEED! We must work with our own hands, give to the poor, forgive our brothers and sisters, and worship our Lord by sacrificing our bodies to His kingdom which is our reasonable service.

Then, and only then, will God begin to bless America again!

Jump! Shout for Joy! You Can Be Reconciled to God!

2009-11-03T15:27:00.002-05:00

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (emphasis mine)

Timely! Timely! Timely! This passage is so timely to me! Soul winning as well as loving our church family, the fallen and the upright, is a MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION! Being like Jesus means seeking to help people be reconciled to God! Don't you see? There is no condemning of the lost or the fallen if you see yourself as an ambassador for Christ to bring reconciliation between God and people by letting the Spirit "entreat" through you! Is it just me or is this an exciting revelation?

It seems like lately the Spirit keeps taking me to familiar passages and then telling me, "Now read the rest!" How many times have you heard, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." and thought...that must mean the old sin nature has passed away. Nope! The old thing of being unreconciled to God has passed away, and now we are reconciled to God being given the new nature and the power to overcome the old nature! That is the exciting news! I don't know about you, but I am sick of people forgetting to tell others that when they come to Jesus they get power over sin because they are NOW RECONCILED TO GOD! Get it! You don't have to hide in the bushes Adam and Eve! Come out! Your father has done more than prepare a covering for you, He has washed you clean with the blood of His Son! All things are made NEW AGAIN!

Unbeliever estranged from God this message is for you:

Jump! Shout for joy! You can be redeemed!

Don't look at me or to me or to others; we are simply the ambassadors of Christ to tell you that He has come to reconcile you to the Father! Be overjoyed for your sin is paid in full and your redemption is NOW! "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Jump, shout for joy, you are redeemed!

Believer who has fallen into sin:

Jump! Shout for joy! You ARE REDEEMED!

Don't look to yourself or your sin; confess it and move on!
Receive the grace provided for you! Be overjoyed for your sin is paid in full and your redemption is NOW! "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our (meaning YOURS and MINE) behalf, that we might become the righteusness of God in Him." Jump! Shout for joy! You are redeemed!

JUMP! SHOUT FOR JOY! YOU CAN BE RECONCILED TO GOD!

Now, believers...quit scoffing at sinners, quit looking down your noses at fallen family members, confess, turn around, and receive the "ministry of reconciliation" given to us by our Lord, Jesus Christ. Confess your judgmentalism and begin allowing the Spirit to make you an ambassador of the good news of reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ!

The Helper

2009-10-31T01:35:00.005-04:00

The first years after my conversion, the Helper spent time getting me acquainted with the Father. When I was hurt and wounded emotionally, I would imagine crawling into the lap of my Father and having him cradle me as I wept. I fell in love with the Father and it helped to heal many childhood wounds. Last year, the Helper took me on a journey into understanding that the Lord is my ISH: My husband; He is my protector, my stability, and my lover.
Only He can truly fulfill all the longings I have for romantic love.

I promise that from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master.I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called " Master." Hosea 2:16-17

To my delight, I am realizing that this year the Helper is teaching me about Himself. This is the year to become intimately acquainted with all the qualities of the Helper: The Holy Spirit.

“And all of us…are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified)

I can tell you that once again, I am falling head over heels in love with my Lord. Fully embracing the love of the Helper and how He seeks to help me with EVERYTHING from where did I put my keys, to organizing my time, to sharing my faith, and most importantly to the receiving of and the freely giving of grace.

Recently I've been on the road. Nearly 15 days this month, in fact, and my waistline is definitely PAYING FOR IT! It is time to get back on the wagon! However, a great benefit of travelling while someone else drives is that I get to read! I have been devouring works by both Catherine Marshall and Peter Marshall and can't get enough. In fact, I am excited to have found their son's site, Peter Marshall Ministries, and more great resources to feed this hunger for American history that the Spirit has placed in my heart.

I have almost completed a book by Catherine Marshall entitled, The Helper. The Helper is actually a compilation of devotions that both she and Peter completed for a 1945 issue of a Presbyterian devotional magazine entitled, Today. It is amazing as I read both Peter’s and Catherine’s material how much the Spirit inside me is ignited. It is so inspiring and refreshing to read the practicality and informative insight into what it means to be a Christian and how to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I am more convinced than ever that so many Christians are walking around with a limp because they have never been adequately taught the disciplines of the true faith and how to receive the fullness of the Spirit. We are often taught that the Great Commission is all about evangelism. We act as though it says, “Go and make converts using this program and then teach them to go and make converts using the same program”, but this is not at all what it says.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

Clearly, He is telling us that because He has been given authority, we have been given authority to go and make disciples and to teach them to obey everything. Surely, in this command it is implicit that we teach new converts how to grow and access the freedom granted us by rendering ourselves over to the complete control of the Spirit.
Catherine Marshall writes,

“Many people are afraid of the Helper. Often unspoken is the fear, “If I assent to the Spirit, won’t He then just take over and make me do all sorts of kooky things?” But from a great pool of Christian experience comes the answer. No, the Helper never violates anyone’s free will. He, like each person of the Trinity, has supreme respect for our personhood. He will never trample upon that or take us any further than we are willing to go.”

I, for one, have experienced that fear. I have been afraid of just what the Helper will ask of me. I have thought that if I fully allow Him to explore and guide me, then I will have to live with the constant guilt and remorse over seeing who I really am. Then, today, the Helper revealed to me that He is doing exactly what I have asked Him to do and that is: Help Me! He has been helping me become more like Christ with every humbling confession. He has been helping me become more like Christ with every weakness revealed. He has been helping me become more like Christ with every idol He removes. I finally realized that the Helper is a very loving and gentle Spirit whose only desire is to make Jesus known more fully to me and to those whom He would affect through my fully surrendered life. Catherine Marshall states it so well when describing her surrender after many months of illness. She describes an experience of succumbing to the will of the Lord over her illness after reaching utter despair. After completely throwing herself on the mercies of the Lord, she is awakened around 3:30 am and describes her encounter with Christ as follows,

“At about 3:30 A.M. I was awakened from a sound sleep-very wide awake. Suddenly—He was there. Jesus, standing on the right side of the bed. The room crackled and vibrated. Since I have detailed this experiences elsewhere, I want to emphasize here just one aspect of the electrifying moments that followed. At the end, Jesus gave me this simple directive, “Go and tell your mother.” Even in that command, I was acutely aware of Jesus’ regard for my personhood and of His hands-off attitude as regards my free will. That’s the way Jesus wanted it to be.

Skipping on down, she writes,

“Not understanding why He wanted me to tell my mother, I still knew that I must obey anyway. My healing began at that point of blind obedience. In retrospect, I realized that it was not for my mother’s sake that Jesus had given me this directive, but for my own sake: I had to bend the will and obey.”

She concludes by helping us to understand that while the Father will complete His work in us, He will never violate our free will. He will only fill us to the degree with which we are willing to empty ourselves. She states,

“He insists upon being a welcome guest in our hearts and beings, never a trespasser or an interloper or a squatter. In fact, we can, whenever we choose, turn this sympathetic, courteous Guest from the door of our heart. We can also so grieve Him with wrong attitudes that He withdraws…”

This, as she summarizes, clearly puts an end to our fears and puts the responsibility back upon us. I believe that we are not experiencing the power of God in our lives as individuals, as churches, and clearly as a nation because we have chosen to grieve, deny, and flat out refuse the help of the Helper by our self-determined wills. Even as Christians, we can be saved and promised eternity, but have little power over the enemy, over sin, and over our circumstances because we are relinquishing it. We refuse to ask for help from the Helper and then, even if we ask, we refuse to obey. Let it no longer be said of me!

Father,

Thank you for the Helper. Forgive me for the MANY times I have denied His help. Help me to recognize fully every day the work of the Helper in my life and to fully and completely obey Him. I relinquish myself to you completely. Where there are areas that I have still not relinquished control, help me to see them and surrender. Thank you that you have not left us helpless, but have graciously provided us with your Spirit. I completely reject all unbelief that would say that this life is hopeless, that this nation is forever doomed, and that your people cannot see a revival. I believe that ALL THINGS are possible with You and I pray that Your people will begin to cry out for the Help that we so desperately need from the Helper for our homes, our churches, and our White House.

Amen

A China Doll Seeks True History and Prays for American Revival

2009-10-22T08:38:00.001-04:00

History! It is so important! Never before in my life did I fully realize, understand, and embrace it as I am now. As a matter of fact, I am so excited about learning it that I wish I could somehow just push a button and get it all in my brain. Ah, but that is not how our Lord works and thankfully so. Surely, it is He who has taught us to appreciate the slow sips of a good, hot, cup of coffee. Learning is truly the same. Savoring each nugget of wisdom and meditating on its truth. Certainly, true biblical wisdom is to be obtained this way.

The sweetest thing about what the Lord has been revealing to me over these past two years of what we will call “home study” is that I can look back over my lifetime and see His great redemption of my life and just fall and worship Him! Since stepping out of the workforce full time and coming to my calling of wife and homemaker, the Father has opened my eyes to the greatest work, apart from my eternal redemption, that He has ever done in my life. That is the redemption of a rebellious woman to a biblical woman. He has been calling me back from the pits of a past lifetime of worldly teaching into a beautiful future of biblical teaching. He has been doing it for years, but only in these past two years has He begun to open my eyes to it.

The making of a biblical woman! You can find most of its chapters here on this blog. You will see the great highs, the deep lows, and everything in between. As a matter of fact, I have been tempted at times to go and remove some of what I have put “out there” about myself, but then I recall that the point of this blog was to share Jesus through the “real me” and I stop myself. This morning as I bowed my head to speak to my Father and the images in my mind of where I came from and where I am going began to play, it sparked utter adoration for Him. I realized that what He has done in my life is the same as He has done in millions of lives and wants to do in millions more. He has reached down into the miry clay and picked up a very dirty, broken, and smudged porcelain China doll. She was sharp on the edges and able to cut any who dared to get close to her and yet He could see through that and know that inside she was hollow and desperate for someone who would deal with her gently.

The world had told her that she needed no one but self. It had told her that her talents and intellect would get her far in life, and that if those around her didn’t appreciate her for who she “really” was then she should just dismiss and discard them. The world had said that the only way she would ever get clean was to clean herself. The world had said that being “right” was better than being “gentle”. However, God began to show her that she could never be “right” apart from being “a gentle, quiet Spirit” because only His “gentle, quiet Spirit” is “right” and “pure”.

The gracious God of the Universe indwelt flesh as Jesus Christ and came to set the record straight for us all including women. Last night, I watched a movie named, “A Man Called Peter” based on the book by the same name written by the late Catherine Marshall. You might be more familiar with her popular work, “Christy” which is how I came to know about her. I was ever more excited by her when I found her to be born in the same town as I, and that she had aspired to be an author from childhood. I am currently reading some of her other works and her biography, but I had been told that this 1955 film was wonderful. Well, wonderful, certainly does not do it justice. In this clip, you will hear exactly what the Lord has been showing me these past two years regarding His design and plan for women and how the enemy has come to steal, kill, and destroy all that is beautiful: including biblical womanhood. The enemy also tries to tell us that things are hopeless and that taking a stand for God in America is over and we might has well just sit down. Well, I can tell you that after seeing this movie now more than ever do I refuse that LIE from the pit of Hell!

Men and women of God, evil has been occurring in this world since Eve committed the first act of feminist rebellion. However, alongside that evil, our God has been raising many godly men and women who refuse to accept the majority tide of things. It is time that we do the same in this generation. It is time that we Christian women reject feminism in all its forms. It is time that we quit thinking that we are more “godly” than our husbands, that we are better able to run our homes, our workplaces, and our churches. It is time we bowed to our King and asked Him what He has designed for us, our children, and our spouses and then humbly offer our lives in complete submission to His perfect plan. Not ours!

As I see it, ladies, we have two choices. We can continue on the path that some of our ancestors have set before us by telling us that the way to true happiness is to rebel against all that God says a beautiful woman is and continue to see our marriages destroyed, our children on drugs, and our lives crumble. We can continue to sedate ourselves with antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. We can continue to drug our ill behaved children raising them to fill up the jail houses and disrespect authority and have no love for their nation. We can choose DEATH!

HER FEET GO DOWN TO DEATH, HER STEPS TAKE HOLD OF SHEOL. SHE DOES NOT PONDER THE PATH OF LIFE; HER WAYS ARE UNSTABLE, SHE DOES NOT KNOW IT. PROVERBS 5:5-6

OR

We can choose to rebel against the father of all LIES! Repent from following his deception and evil ways and turn to the ONE good and perfect God who created us. After all, if He created us don’t you think He knows the “way in which we should go”? The reason Proverbs 22:6 gives us the promise that a child will not depart from being raised in the way “he should go” is not because there is some “general” way, but because the Father knows the “way” in which each of His children should go and if they will but seek to find it through a relationship with Him, they will NEVER WANT TO DEPART from it! I can tell you that my spirit soars when I think of the truly biblical woman, gentle, quiet, and at peace in her soul because of her God; a woman who is not rushing around frantically trying to figure out her life. She is a woman who is not ranting and raving every time things aren’t going “her” way, but calmly taking all her concerns to her Lord. She is graciously thanking him for her husband who, not perfect, is there in her house providing stability and love for her and her children. She is a woman who KNOWS her God, who TRUSTS her God, and who is not afraid of the future or the storms that the enemy brings her way. She is truly a beautiful, biblical woman.

BUT MARY TREASURED ALL THESE THINGS, PONDERING THEM IN HER HEART. LUKE 2:19

Ladies, let us choose this day whom we will serve! Let us choose life for ourselves, our homes, our neighbors, and our nation. I implore you to consider the TRUTH of God’s word and consider examining your own hearts. Is the very thing you so desperately desire in the hands of others around you or your own. Proverbs tells us that,

THE WISE WOMAN BUILDS HER HOUSE, BUT THE FOOLISH TEARS IT DOWN WITH HER OWN HANDS. PROVERBS 14:1

Start today by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. Tell Him that you don’t know how to be a biblical woman, but you are willing to let Him teach you and you are willing to obey Him despite the cost. Tell Him that you want to be a godly woman in this evil and perverse generation and you want to take a stand for biblical womanhood and against the enemy and his schemes to steal, kill, and destroy America by stealing, killing, and destroying our God given and created beauty!

I wrote this prayer in my journal this morning and I would like to share it with you.

“TEACH me Lord! Teach me Your Word, teach me about Your people, and the history-The TRUE history of this Great Nation. Lord, I know we have had great atrocities and dark blots on our society called racism and slavery, but Father must all the godly men and women of all races be forgotten because of the evil ones? Must we turn our back completely on what made this nation great and embrace complete darkness? Father, please help it not to be so. Father, please send a revival to America, to its pulpits, to its Senate and House. Father, the power lies not in the hands of the American people to see us return to God, but in their hearts! We must turn to you and beg for your mercy and Spirit. Father, please spare us and for the sake of the righteous blood bought citizens of America, send forth your light; send forth Your Truth! I love you and I adore You! I desire to follow You TODAY! Amen”

A Message that WE WOMEN NEED TO HEAR AND HEED!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-21T23:36:00.000-04:00

I will be writing MUCH MORE about this movie later, but for now please watch this clip! Catherine Marshall has become a great hero to me this past year. Now, even more than ever! This movie will be added to my family movies and I can't wait to incorporate it into American History teaching of my son! Oh, Ladies, how far we have fallen!!

Father God,

I know that there are still men and women in this great nation as those represented in this movie. May they heed the call to become great men and women in America's 21st Century!

TOT School-New Space

2009-10-21T11:56:00.005-04:00

I have FINALLY and I stress the word FINALLY completed cleaning out the room affectionately known as the "junk room". Before pictures would be too embarassing to post trust me. My husband remarked last night, "Wow. It's like we have a new 150 square foot addition to the house." LOL. The room is actually our guest room and I have also decided it will serve as our make shift school room. So I moved all of Jacob's educational toys, crafts, and other things that I don't want him getting down on his own over there. Mark bought me a label maker and I have organized everything into containers. It is so wierd how good you feel when things aren't a cluttered mess. It's like I walk around going, "Hmmm...surely I should be doing something else right now." Of course, the upstairs attic is next on my list. Yikes!

To celebrate our newly clean space, Jacob and I spent some time at his desk this morning finger painting and creating a birthday card for my dad. "Papaw Johnny" who will be coming over tonight for a belated birthday dinner. (We had colds on Monday and had to cancel). We are enjoying our "new" space. :-)

2009-10-18T23:07:00.002-04:00

Watching Apple Butter Making, Catching Up, and Making New Friends

2009-10-17T19:40:00.000-04:00

To read about our fun WATCHING Applebutter making, catching up with old friends, and making new ones, please visit my good childhood friend, Martha Parlier's, site. Here.

We had a great day, too! We must get together again soon!

Solid Food Anyone?

2009-10-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14

Great Sermon on knowing and doing the will of God here. I just love John Piper's teaching. He never shys away from the difficult answers!

Are you progressing in your walk in such as way that it is affecting you RADICALLY? If not, WHY NOT? You need only turn on the news for a few short minutes to be awakened to the need for this. Your neighbors and friends need Jesus and you can't share Him if you don't KNOW Him yourself. I only wish I could figure out how to not need sleep, not need to perform secular duties, and not sadly sometimes have 'no desire' to study. However, my Lord knows my heart and I am continuing to ask Him to help me learn and study and manage my time in such as way as to honor Him in ALL THAT I DO!

I pray that the body of Christ will truly WAKE UP and begin to eat the solid food that she desperately needs. We are so malnourished in America. Read this article at Fox News describing the trend in America (via polling anyway) for a declining Christianity. The saddest aspect to me in the article is not the athiest and/or agnostic statistic. Sadly, we spend a lot of energy and pathetic arguing with those who believe there is no God (which only fuels their argument when we try to win them using the same weapons of fleshly warfare that they use...that's another post altogether), but we have no clue what to do with the many 'saved' or the apathetic believer in God who simply thinks He has no personal bearing on their daily lives.

I truly believe that our inaffectiveness in our culture, our families, and our churches stems from a largely Biblically illiterate congregation of people. I, myself, am woefully ignorant of the deeper things of God and spend far too much time Facebooking, blogging, and basically 'entertaining' myself. We (and I mean me) desperately NEED a personal revival in America that starts with each Christian being bold enough to say that the ONLY HELP WE NEED is found IN THE BIBLE and begin learning, teaching, searching, begging, praying, and pouring over the Scriptures EACH AND EVERY DAY!

Let's get started!

2009-10-15T09:04:00.003-04:00

Living Proof Live - Memphis from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Wild God Chase in Memphis

2009-10-14T23:17:00.005-04:00

These are my friends, Lynn Polk from Somewhere in the Middle, and Regina Dean from Grinder's Switch. We have been friends in the blogosphere for over a year and were able to meet for the first time in Memphis and share Christian Fellowship over ribs at Rendezvous. It was great!

Shew! What happened? It seems I went from whining to God about how I had nothing to do, to trying to reevaluate how I organize my to-do list so I don't forget to follow up with people. Wow!

Here is just a glimpse of what’s happening:

Thursday as I was heading to my mom's to pick her and her friend up for the Beth Moore simulcast, I received a phone call from the teenage daughter of the woman we hosted the baby shower for in July from the abortion alternatives clinic. She has had her baby. Unfortunately, I was unable to go visit since I was on my way out of town, but I am planning to organize some meals to be taken her family. They are Hispanic so I am hoping to take someone with me to translate in an effort to build some relationships and share Jesus.

The Lord has allowed me an opportunity to befriend some local teenage girls (most of whom have difficult and troubling homes) through a local mission camp and a friend of mine. We are trying to create a mentor/big sister type relationship with them in order to establish a relationship and share Jesus with them.

The Lord also invited me to join Him in His work at my local church by accepting a leadership position in our prayer ministry. We are slowly trying to completely revamp the prayer room, write policies and procedures for the collection of prayer needs from each ministry in our church, and recruit more prayer warriors and information liaisons.

The Lord has invited my husband and me to become encouragers of a dear friend who recently became and evangelist. We are planning a trip next week to Live Oak, Florida to support him in his first ever evangelism crusade.

Oh yeah, and I am still the mother of a VERY ACTIVE AND VERY HYPER AND VERY HAPPY and slightly strong willed two and a half year old boy. I am TRYING to get this ever unorganized house into some type of order and get what is affectionately called the "junk room" converted into a workable guest room and school room for Jacob. I'm still couponing and bargain shopping and spent three hours grocery shopping today with that very ACTIVE 2&1/2 year old.

I am also woefully behind on patient visits because the company we contract with temporarily shut down our billing and have re-vamped the process. I haven't worked in about six weeks and need to get caught up on patient visits.

AND I am being sued for the accident I had in April which was my fault so I have to add that to my plate.

Are you tired yet?

Well, I can tell you that amazingly I am not because my God is so good. If you read my posts the last few weeks, you know that the enemy was tirelessly attacking me. As a matter of fact, I was remembering going through a similar time period last September and wondering if there is some sort of environmental trend to this season of Spiritual Depression. Happily, my Father has delivered me from that season and I am feeling so excited about EVERYTHING that He is doing in my life right now. (Including the law suit...I KNOW THAT GOD IS ALLOWING IT SO THAT I CAN SHARE JESUS WITH EVERYONE INVOLVED...and I AM EAGERLY AWAITING HIS MANIFESTATION IN THE WHOLE THING!)

As I mentioned, I went to see Beth Moore in Memphis, TN last weekend. What a blessing and refreshment that was! Prior to going during my time of Spiritual depression one of the things that Jesus seemed to be saying to me was that I really needed to embrace again the simple yet difficult truth of, "Jesus loves me, THIS I KNOW, for the BIBLE TELLS ME SO!!"

Right away it became clear God had brought me to this event to CONFIRM that message LOUD AND CLEAR! The theme for the weekend was, "Wild God Chase" and Beth emphasized the TRUTH that God wants us to chase Him with all our heart, mind, body, and soul! He desires to MANIFEST Himself to each of us personally if we will just KEEP SEEKING HIM! I don't have time to give you everything from that weekend, but needless to say as Travis Cottrell said at one time, we were there to have a "Divine Collision" with God! I love it! If I go on a Wild God Chase, I will have a DIVINE COLLISION every time!

She shared how every single time the apostle John had an encounter with God, he was altered by it and we should never cease to seek the same experience. She shared with us from Exodus 34 when God revealed Himself to Moses and told Moses what He was like using the following descriptions.

1. I AM a compassionate God!

2. I AM a gracious God!

3. I AM slow to anger!

4. I AM ABOUNDING IN LOVE!!!!

5. I AM ABOUNDING in FAITHFULNESS!

6. I AM MAINTAINING MY LOVE!!! (If you know my testimony, you know this was HUGE for me)

7. I forgive wickedness, rebellion, and sin

8. I will NOT LET THE GUILTY go unpunished. (The guilty being the unrepentant, persistently rebellious)

There is SOOOO MUCH MORE, but this post is getting too long already. I am sure that I will have more to share as I continue to go on my WILD GOD CHASE and the Lord MANIFESTS Himself to me. However, I have to share the single most important message I received. My DIVINE COLLISION with Jesus came on the second night as Beth elaborated upon God's forgiveness. One of her outline point was, "God is scandalously forgiving". She shared a visual example about how we often don't take our forgiveness as deep as we take in our sin. We let the sin go from our head to our toes, but we only let the forgiveness be a band-aid on our forehead. As I thought about this and prayed about it, I realized that I had gone further than the band-aid, but I had only received healing maybe to my waist line. I was so excited about the partial healing and forgiveness that I was always out trying to give it to others, but because the enemy knew that I didn't have COMPLETE healing, I would eventually end up sick, weak, and piled up in a pit again.

Jesus very clearly spoke this to me, "Amanda you need to LET YOUR FORGIVENESS go AS DEEP AS YOUR SIN" You need to let me completely heal you in every way. You are prone to wickedness, meant to be rebellious, and bound to sin as long as you walk in the flesh, but I know a truly repentant heart when I see one and YOU ARE COMPLETELY CLEAN BEFORE ME!

This was not really a NEW REVELATION to me, but it was one that I very much needed as a reminder. I needed to embrace my forgiveness and quit calling God a liar! Satan is the liar and Jesus is the most WONDERFUL God! I just pray that I will be usable to my Lord for the rest of my life so that I can be a vessel through which I am able to forgive and love others with as much FORGIVENESS AND LOVE that I have received.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32, King James Version)

God bless you each one and REMEMBER God is SCANDOULOUSLY FORGIVING! Shouldn't we be the same!

Great Song! I so RELATE to these LYRICS!!

2009-10-13T16:04:00.002-04:00

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

(CHORUS 2)
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

The Next Time You Are Shocked by Sin: Pray for Help Lest Ye Fall

2009-10-07T16:16:00.001-04:00

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Galatians 6:1-3

Have you ever heard someone say, "I can't believe they did that?" when referring to another person's sin? Or have you ever thought it yourself? Sadly, I must confess that I have heard it, thought it, and said it in my past. Then the Lord began to do a work in me to SHOW me my own sin. It's so sad how we think we see so clearly with this gigantic log in our eye; when, in reality, we are so blind. We are blind to our own filth and wretchedness. We are blind to the fact that even while we sit in shock and dismay, we ourselves are in sin. I am reminded of the woman who was the sinner who came to weep and wash the feet of Jesus with her tears.

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” Luke 7:36-39

They were so spiritually blind themselves that they did not even realize that if Jesus did not associate with sinners and eat with sinners, He would not be eating at THEIR table!

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:40-48

When we finally get the log out of our own eye, the reason we can help the other is because we will be so sensitive to our own blackness, our own filth, our own sinful nature that we will only be able to help them remove their speck with fear and trembling. Our nature and spirit will be that of the gentle comfort of the Holy Spirit and with prayerful consideration of our own tendency to fall.

Anytime we get so spiritually arrogant as to point out or be shocked by another brother or sister's public or obvious sin, we are in EXTREME DANGER! The next time you are SHOCKED by someone's sin and think, "I can't believe they did that!", you had better hit your knees, confess and plead for mercy before you fall into some sin and find out for yourself the utter weakness of man apart from a daily and close walk with Jesus Christ. God does not help those who help themselves. He helps those who have no help apart from Him!

Mark and I love this song!!

2009-10-07T08:10:00.000-04:00

My past won't stop haunting me
In this prison there's a fight between
Who I am and who I used to be

This thorn in my side is a grace
For because of it the flesh and blood of God
Was offered in my place, my place

You fought the fight in me
You chased me down and finished the race
I was blind but now I see
Jesus You kept the faith in me

Where did my best friends go?
In my defense they disappeared
Just like Your friends did to You, oh Lord

But You were there, You gave me strength
So this little one might come to know
The glory of Your name, Your name

You fought the fight in me
You chased me down and finished the race
I was blind but now I see
Jesus You kept the faith in me

Awaiting, set apart like incense to Your heart
A libation I'm pouring out
Empty and beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

You fought the fight in me
You chased me down and finished the race
I was blind but now I see
Jesus You kept the faith in me

You fought the fight in me
You chased me down and finished the race
I was blind but now I see
Jesus You kept the faith in me
Jesus You kept the faith in me
Savior, You kept the faith in me

Goodness HAS COME ALREADY!

2009-10-06T09:09:00.001-04:00

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (New American Standard Bible)

I so love the Word of God. I have so desperately wanted a fresh anointing from my Father. Like I said yesterday, I've been really wrestling with the enemy lately and fighting his demons vehemently to leave me alone. Father reminded me this morning of this passage and I just want to hug Him for it. Can't you just wait until you get to climb up in His lap? I hope you don't think me irreverent, but my Father has paid the price through the precious blood of His son to allow me, a black and dirty sinner, the pleasure of climbing into the lap of the MAKER OF THE UNIVERSE. Is that not just amazing? Our evil arch enemy has wanted me to forget that! He has wanted me to get caught up in my dirtiness instead of in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS which is MINE!! Just meditate on that today, will you? If by repentance and confession of the Son of God as your Lord and Savior you have been made an heir to the throne of grace, YOU HAVE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST for your very own possession. You are not seen as the black sheep of the family. You are seen just a beautiful and dear to the Father as is the Son Himself! Wow!! I feel like shoutin over that. I'm off to make apple butter with my family and a long time friend and her boys (that I have never met) and as I go I am going to meditate and rejoice over this:

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;" Luke 15:21-22

The enemy would have you think that the Father is always watching and expecting you to mess up. That He is up there waiting until you make yourself clean in every way. It is a LIE! He is waiting until you come running to Him, helpless and broken and desiring to just be His servant, but He will not allow you to be a servant only; You are His precious CHILD and He celebrates and sings over you! THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE sings over you dear sinner! Embrace the cross TODAY! AND REJOICE IN IT!

God bless!

Goodness is Coming

2009-10-05T11:07:00.008-04:00

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:15-17

I only have but a quick minute (well really I don't, but I must write this for it is a breakthrough I have desperately needed). In the past several weeks it seems as though all the gates of hell have been raging against my mind. So much so that I have had very little peace and felt much like a hypocrite when trying to share Jesus with people. Old sins and past indiscretions have been so strong that I have had much difficulty it seems reaching heaven with my pleas.

Even though I have vehemently argued with my enemy and called out such truths to him as, “There is now, therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, and others like it, I have stilled struggled and wrestled and wondered yet again whose voice I was hearing. For two solid years now Satan has raged a battle in my mind to try to cause me to question whether I am hearing from God or not.

Discouragement continued to set in as I look around me and see my loved ones attacked and wounded by the enemy, my nation turning more and more evil it seems with every waking moment, and despair in my own soul as to whether the Father is displeased with me for some reason. It just seems as though everywhere I look, everywhere I read, and everywhere I talk to people there is no good to be found. On top of that, the very passion that was once raging in my soul to speak truth and see the lost saved from eternal damnation was wavering because I was so confused by my circumstances. Battling that balance between mission work and work at home, my desire to read and write about God’s glory and serve my family and my husband, my desire to see things right!

A few weeks ago, a dear saint, gave me a gentle rebuke that “I” needed to get the “I” out of my life. Well, it isn’t as though “I” haven’t heard and been rebuked for that before. Seeking my Father’s help, the rebuke set me straight in some areas, but still there was this nagging feeling. This “conviction” versus “guilt” issue that just won’t seem to go away and clarity won’t seem to come. Surely, this is the work of the enemy since God is not the author of confusion and Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Finally, this morning after spending a bit of time on my knees and in the word, pleading for peace from God, begging for encouragement, some confirmation that all of this was just the enemy’s attempts to discourage and stop my work in the prayer ministry and other ministries of the Lord, I got up without any such assurances.

I sat down for a moment and opened to a section in the back of Charles Spurgeon’s book, “Prayer and Spiritual Warfare” entitled, “Satan in a Rage”. After reading a few pages, I found the following words,

“There are times when, in the believer’s heart, the battle rages horribly. He hardly knows whether he is a child of God at all and is ready to give up all hope. He cannot pray or praise, for he is so distracted. He cannot read the Scriptures without horrible thoughts. It seems as if he must utterly perish, for no respite is given him in which to refresh his heart, the attacks are so continual and violent. Such dreadful excitements are often followed by years of peace, quiet usefulness, holiness, and communion with God. Satan knows that God is about to set a limit to his vexations of the good man, and so he rages extremely because his opportunity is short. It is very remarkable that some of the greatest of the saints have died in the midst of the most fearful conflicts for the same reason: the dog howled at them because he knew that they would soon be out of his reach.

You would not suppose that Martin Luther, a man so brave and strong that he could defy the Pope and the Devil, should on his dying bed be woefully unsure. Yet it was so: his worst struggle was the closing one. He was more than a conqueror, but the fight was severe, as if the Devil, that old coward, waited until he had his antagonist down, waited until he was weak and feeble, and then leaped upon him to worry him if he could not devour him. Truly Luther had bothered the Devil, and we do not wonder at the malice of the Fiend. Satan knew that he would soon be out of the reach of his fiery arrows forever, and therefore he had to have a last shot at him.”

What a glorious Lord I serve to let me read this. To encourage me with these words and with the fact that many saints before me have struggled with man of the same mental battles that I, too, fight. I shared my testimony twice this week and both times the enemy began to work afterward. “You told too much about your past. You shouldn’t have told that part.” “Why are you telling people that Jesus can help them, when you know right now you don’t even have any peace?” He is a sly old devil who sends many demons to stop and torment us, but my Lord has never left nor forsaken me and He never will! I also read this in Mr. Spurgeon’s essay on this topic.

“How much the shortness of our time ought to stir our hearts! With the ardency of love and fervency of zeal ought we to pass the days of our sojourning here! Knowing that the time of our departure is at hand, and that the season in which we can serve God among sons of men is very brief, we ought to be excited to flaming zeal and passionate love. We are not half as stirred as we ought to be. Devils feel great hatred. Why is it that we do not feel great love? Should they be more eager to destroy than we are to save? Should they be all alive while we are half dead?

Nor is the result of knowing that his time is short merely emotional on the part of the Archfiend, for in consequence of his great wrath, he is moved to make earnest efforts. His energy is excited, he persecutes the woman whose seed he dreads, and he pours floods out of his mouth against her. There is nothing that Satan can do for his evil cause that he does not do. We may be halfhearted, but he never is. He is the very image of ceaseless industry and untiring earnestness. He will do all that can be done in the time of his permitted range. We may be sure that he will never lose a day.”

While I wallow in self pity and wonder if the Lord is upset with me, Satan laughs and hoots at the fact that he has silenced me for a time. He has removed my confidence in my Lord. What a dreadful sin! He has caused me to doubt my Lord’s strength to cleanse me from all unrighteousness by my confession, to empower me to share the good news, and to accomplish both my secular responsibilities and my heart’s desire to share Jesus with the world. Satan laughs! Then I read these words,

“My beloved, you and I, on the other hand, should be moved by the shortness of our opportunity to an equal energy of incessant industry, serving God continually, because “the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). My friend, if you want your children brought to Christ; speak to them, for they will soon be without a father. If you wish your employees to be saved, labor for their conversion, for they will soon be without an employer. If you desire your brother to be converted, speak to him, for your sisterly love will not help him much longer. Minister, if you want to save your congregations by the Spirit of God, seek to do it at once, for your tongue will soon be silent. Sunday school teacher, if you want your class to be gathered into the Good Shepherd’s fold, treasure up every Sunday’s opportunities, for in a short time the place that knows you will know you no more forever.”

And finally, I read the following paragraph which greatly encouraged me and I hope does you as well.

“In the world around us, we must not think that things go altogether wrong when the powers of evil become strong. We would be foolish if we wept in despair because the tares are ripening, for is not the wheat ripening, too? True, the dead become more corrupt, but if the living become more active, why should we lament? Because blasphemy grows loud, because infidels seek to undermine the foundation of the faith, or because the clouds of superstition grow more dense, we must not therefore conclude that we have fallen upon evil times, the like of which were never seen before.

Oftentimes, the development of evil is an indication that there is an equal or a greater development of good. The climax of ill is frequently its end. Do you not know that in the world of nature the darkest time of night is right before the dawning of the day?”

Friends, we must not stop or lose heart! Too many souls are at stake here!

Help

2009-10-05T00:15:00.000-04:00

Can you see my coupon ad? I can see it in Safari, but in IE I can't see it and I don't know why? Please leave me a comment and let me know. It's on the 1st sidebar midway down my page. I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is a great new site I found for helping with organizing and I NEED LOTS OF HELP.

Planning on trying her advice this week....at least M-W and then I AM OFF TO SEE BETH MOORE IN MEMPHIS AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family Fun Fridays: Fall Fun and Apple Pickin

2009-10-03T23:49:00.005-04:00

I am loving the Fall so far this year. A few weeks ago my hubby took us to this great recreational orchard , The Heavenly Holler Farm, to pick apples and blueberries. Unfortuanately, we didn't have the camera so today we went back and took the camera with us. We took my mom and little sister this time, too and had a great time. It is located in Unicoi county with some of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the area. We also went to the apple festival in Erwin this weekend and may squeeze in some time at the Story Telling Festival in Jonesborough, TN tomorrow. I just love this time of year and having Jacob makes it all the more enjoyable. He is so much fun and just loves life so much. I pray that he will always remain so full of life and have so much vibrancy to everything that he does.

Just stopping by for a quick late night hello

2009-10-03T00:39:00.001-04:00

Been super busy with prayer room ministry and TRYING to get this house in order...I emphisize the word TRYING!! I spent an entire day (between working for prayer room...and managing toddler woes) just in the master bedroom and bath yesterday. It was suppose to be a day for the whole house...what a joke! Oh well, it will happen eventually I'm sure. BTW...bargian shoppers, most of the coupons have reset and you can get new ones here and here.

Today is the 16th anniversary of the first night my husband met my parents. He picked me up after band practice ( I was 15 yo and he was 17) and took me home. I was so nervous, I remember, but so proud to be showing him off to all my friends and getting to ride in his totally cool 1984 (this was in 1993) Red Pontiac Firebird with T-tops. I was something else...or so I thought...tee hee! He was so dreamy!!! (And still is of course!!)

So, we have now been together officially more than half of my life. It has been a bumpy road for both of us and, honestly, I just now feel like I am maybe starting to grow up a bit (although I know that I have much more to learn), but I don't regret it at all! I once had a friend who, at 24 years old, had already been divorced 4 times. I felt very sorry for her and still pray for her often. In pharmacy school I took a lot of flack for being married so young and not being able to party like the others. Sadly, there was a short time that I bought into that lie and actually felt cheated. This was before I had my life changing encounter with Jesus Christ the week after September 11th. You can read about that here and here.

Mark and I have been through a lot together. We have lived with his parents on and off for a total of 3-4 years of our early marriage, we have both been to professional school, we have built a house together, built a business together (and are about to take another leap of faith on the business with an expansion and remodel..pray for us), and we are growing together as Christians and it is the most exciting and scary journey of them all. Learning how to walk by faith and not by sight has been the most challenging and rewarding aspect of my life and God continues to challenge, reward, and teach us. God has been more gracious to us than we ever have deserved and continues to amaze us along the way. My dear husband did an amazing thing this past month as an act of obedience which I will not share because I do not want to steal his reward, but let me just say that I have NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD OF THAT MAN!!

The night I fell in love with him we had been dating for about 3 months and it was around Christmastime. It was a Saturday night and he was driving me around to shut ins and nursing homes to deliver fruit baskets for my church. I remember looking at him and thinking, Amanda, there are not many 17 year old boys out there that would take a girl out to do this on a Saturday. You better keep this one! I won't say that we haven't had LOTS OF UPS AND DOWNS, but through it all the loyalty and largeness of my husband's heart continues to amaze me. He is so faithful, SO FORGIVING, and so GIVING, that it puts me to much shame.

I love you husband of my youth and happy anniversary!

Hope all is well with everyone and God bless.

The Bargain Woman is moving back home

2009-09-26T22:53:00.001-04:00

Okay folks...I've had to finally surrender to what I knew the Lord told me the moment I ran with this idea. NO! I cannot chase this rabbit trail right now...I just don't have time for it. Not as a separate blog anyway. I must consolidate and be one person. I have really wrestled with this because I did the .com thing on this blog and I didn't want to face defeat. I also didn't feel that I could switch everthing over to The Bargain Woman because I know that my One Sacrifice blog is a ministry that God gave me and I have too much of my heart and testimony in that.

So I imported my posts from The Bargain Woman over here to One Sacrifice For All Time. I also Imported my 1000 souls posts over there. It will take some time, but I plan on continuing these ideas at One Sacrifice, but I just won't have separate blogs for each of them. So please join me at One Sacrifice and watch for my posts on bargains as well as the sharing of my journey with Jesus Christ.

The following three priorities are what define my life and I must continue to say NO to the enemy when he attempts to use what "appear to be good ideas" as distracters from these things.

1. Love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, body, and soul. Actively pursue Him through DAILY TIME in prayer and Bible Study (and three blogs was taking away from that)
2. Serve Him by serving my family through homemaking, teaching and training my son in the ways of the Lord, and serving my husband as his helpmeet.
3. Ministry to others through prayer, evangalism, (both in person and online at One Sacrifice), and teaching/writing.

So, while discovering bargaining and couponing as a new tool for helping serve my family and wanting to share that with others is a noble idea, I can not let that take precedence over other priorities. I know that I have done this a lot, but I never promised to be perfect when I started blogging...only to share what is going on in my life. If I seem to be a bit sporadic and indecisive, I'm sorry. I am very much a work in progress, but I have found that if I am honest and transparent with both my God and others that somehow the Lord still uses my pitiful efforts to bless people. And that is all I want to do...be obedient to Him by using the passions and talents that He has given me to show the world that despite this girls faults and sporadic personality...Her God is Awesome! So I really do hope you will join me at One Sacrifiice. I am going to leave the contest up until the end of the week and I hope you will participate.

Thanks again for sharing in my journey to becoming a Jesus loving, bargain hunting, often failing, ever desiring to know God, biblical woman.

Sincerely,

Ms. Amanda aka

One Sacrifice for All Time,

1000-souls,

Diabetic Daily Bread, and

The Bargain woman....and so much more. tee heee hee!

Jeremy Camp - Empty Me (Live Video)

2009-09-26T11:18:00.001-04:00

Freebie at Target

2009-09-24T16:39:00.000-04:00

Me again!!! It's Hip 2 Save just posted a possible freebie at Target. Check out her site! I don't have time to relist them right now...but be sure to read through the comments for more great ideas.

Contest: The Best Bargain is a FREE ONE!!

2009-09-24T14:00:00.000-04:00

Image via CrunchBase

Welcome to The Bargain Woman. I hope you find way more than you bargained for!

I'm sorry I've been so busy this week that I haven't had time to post. I recently assumed the responsibility of being the onsite prayer room coordinator for my church's prayer room. This is a brand new undertaking and I am responsible for writing all the content and policies and procedures for the prayer room and collection of prayer requests. It is so funny because it seems like I went from having very little extra curricular activity to having everything hit all at once. So much so I have contemplated halting this blog altogether. However, my husband has asked that I give it at least 30 days so I am going to honor him and do so.

The actual coupon searching and learning how to do the gaming is taking so much computer time right now that I don't have much time left over to write, but I know that once I get past the learning curve that won't be a problem.

This post is to announce the contest I promised. I have thought about a few different ideas and settled that the easiest thing to do would be gift cards. So here is what I am proposing:

1st Prize: Will receive a $25 gift card from Amazon.com

2nd Prize: Will receive a $15 gift card from Kroger

3rd Prize will receive an envelope stuffed full of valuble coupons

Entrance Rules:
Each contestant will receive one entrance for each of the following. After one week the person with the most entrances will win.

1. Write a post sharing your experience with grocery gaming, bargain shopping, etc.
2. Be sure to mention my new blog in your post and link back to this post.
3. Recomend The Bargain Woman to at least 5 other bloggers.
4. You will receive one entrance for each recommended blogger who also link up.
5. Subscribe to my feed or Follow my blog
6. Put my new button on your blog. (You will have to copy as a photo at this time and add my link as I haven't had time to get the html posted yet)
7. Don't forget to leave me a comment letting me know that you posted.

Thanks, good luck, and Happy Homemaking!

Contest starts today and will end in Friday October 2nd. I will announce the winners sometime that weekend and send out the prizes the following week. Good luck and thanks for haning in there with me.

Great Websites

2009-09-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

Welcome to The Bargain Woman. I hope you find way more than you bargained for!

Here is just a sampling of some of the great sites I have found out there so far!

Shop At Home

It's Hip 2 Save

Money Saving Mom

Home Solutions News

The Krazy Coupon Lady

Common Sense with Money

Stretching A Buck

I'll add to this as I find more sites to help you in your bargain shopping and your happy homemaking.

Walgreens

2009-09-24T13:53:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

Welcome to The Bargain Woman. I hope you find way more than you bargained for!

Okay, I'm posting like crazy today...trying to get a week's worth in one day. I'm not doing you much good by posting this weeks bargains at the end of the week, am I? Sorry. I have noticed, however, that some of the other ladies just post one or two items as they find them. That makes sense. I'll try to do that more.

So here's what I did at Walgreens this week. I will say that I got a little burned because I needed diapers and would usually NEVER buy them at Walgreens, but I thought if I did two transactions that I could use my register rewards and some coupons from the first transaction and come out better than driving all the way to Target or Toys R Us. (The Walgreens is only about 5 miles from my house). Well, low and behold, I didn't do my Walgreens homework and was sadly disappointed to find out that the RR don't work like cash. You can only use 1 RR per item (and the cashier rang up my $1 first instead of my $2 RR Ugh!!) I didn't have the heart to make her rering it because she already had some trouble with a void on my first transaction.

Soooo needless to say, I overpaid for my diapers, but here are some good deals that I did rack up while there.

Campbells Crm of Ckn Soup .89 cents ea. w/WG in-store coupon
combined with $1/2 coupon found here
Paid .39 cents ea. (Also found out you can't use RR on items valued less than face value...Argh again!)

Mayfield Nutrish Milk sale $3.49 combined with Sunday paper $1.00 off Mayfield Nutrish=$2.49/gal

Electrasol Finish Dish Detergent and Jet Dry gave $2 RR combined with coupon found here,
Paid $3.99 for Jet Dry minus .75cents/1 found here
Paid $3.99 for Electrasol Automatic DW Detergent minus $1/1found here
Got $1 RR for each item
Like Paying $2.24 for Jet Dry and $1.99 for Detergent

Aquafresh ISO Active TP $3.49
$1/1 coupons found here or here
$1.50 RR
Like paying $1.00

Aussie Hair Conditioner $2.99
$1/1 found in Sunday's circular
Got $2 RR
Like getting it FREE

It's Hip To Save says that some WG's are clearancing their Domino's Sugar at .80 cents/5 lb. bag so I have to run out later today and may stop by to see if I can use up my RR on some of it.

That's it so far this week. A little birdie, several bloggers, and some FB folks are telling me that Kmart is set to do another double coupon run next week. I'll let you know what I find out.

Happy Homemaking!