Seeking His Face/ And Also How The Enemy Uses Technology to Destroy Families

I wanted to write this blog to share with everyone on how important it is to seek Gods face every single day!  We cannot get stuck in the day to day routine and repeat the cycle day in and day out.  It is almost as if we are cycling like clothes in the dryer, we just keep going round and round.  Yes we are alive and breathing, but are we doing anything for the advancement of Gods kingdom?  If you can learn one thing from Society is is "Hustle, Hustle, Hustle."  The whole motto is to get it while you can and get as much as you can.  It is a ME generation and a selfish driven world.  If we don't check in with God daily, we can end up operating in our own strength and our own power.  As you already know, us humans are weak.  We get tired and weary and yes we even get sick.  We need to take care of ourselves and have the proper nutrition since our bodies are so frail.  Now since we know this, how can we even try to think that we can do things in our own human strength?  When we seek Gods face daily, it reminds us that he is first and that we are living for him!  It reminds us that we cannot do anything alone, and cannot survive without his presence.  We need to treat God like oxygen and depend on Jesus minute to minute.  It needs to be that type of urgency that our society has seemed to have lost more and more over the years.  If we only seek him a few times a week or a month, then as you can see we are not keeping him first.  Many people only seek his face, when they are in the middle of a storm.  We need to get in the habit of have a specific time each day to where we make him the priority and spend time in his presence.  I am not boasting and saying that I have it all together, but I can tell you that I get convicted back to back if I start slipping back in the flesh.  I am weak and have my moments to where I am tired and want to relax and start making excuses.  The Holy Spirit is quick to remind me that I haven't spent time with God and that I need to get back to it.  I notice that I have more peace, when I have been making God a priority.  I don't ask for alot of money or nice things, all I ever want is peace with myself and peace with my family.  I think peace is the most beautiful thing anyone could ever ask for in this world.

  So let me ask you, what is important to you?  What do you make time for each day?  Is God on that list?  How much time do you spend on your technology?  Do you know that God has Divine Appointments set up DAILY and I personally believe that everyone today is ALWAYS on their phones/ipods etc to where they never take the time to look up and see these Divine Appointments.  My husband and I recently decided to get rid of our personal facebook.  I know that the enemy comes to rob, kill and destroy and I believe that the enemy uses technology to rob family time and personal time with God.  Some things need to be kept sacred and private, and everyone shouldn't know your business.  Next time you go into an office or appointment, look and see how many people are on their phones and never look up.  I see this at the park with parents and their children.  The parents are on their cellphones the entire time and their children are playing by themselves.  I believe that God has placed this passion deep in my heart on this issue, because I feel like people today are losing touch of how it is to truly connect with one another.  There are people today who have even ended relationships via text.

Where is the face to face?  Where is the heart to heart?  When you seek Gods face he will reveal to you what has been blocking your relationship with him.  Get in the habit of seeking his face daily!!!

Thankful On This Thanksgiving......

What are you thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving?  I am thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ did for me on Calvary's cross.  I am thankful that he cared enough about a sinner like myself and saw value in myself when I didn't.  I am thankful for him rescuing me from the bondage I had and from being a servant to Satan.  I am thankful that the old has passed away and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.  I am thankful that what the enemy meant for harm, God has redeemed and brought glory to HIS name.  I am thankful for my Husband.  I am thankful to have a Godly Man that loves the Lord with all of his Mind, Soul, and Strength.  I am thankful that my Husband puts God first and seeks HIS will above his own.  I am thankful to have a Son that God has blessed me with.  I am thankful that Jesus fought for my Sons life, and loved him even when I didn't.  I am thankful for a beautiful Daughter that Jesus has blessed us with.  I am thankful for my family and for every ones health.  I am thankful for our entire families.  I am thankful for our Church Family.  I am thankful for having all of our necessities met on a daily basis.  I am thankful that God is still working in me and that I am one day closer.

So what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving???

Celebrating Chanukah.....

We wanted to share with everyone that this is the first year that our family is celebrating Chanukah.  We understand that since we have been in grafted in Christ Jesus that we know take place with the Jews and celebrate in their traditions.  We understand the History of the Festival of Lights and what amazing miracles happened.  We know that Jesus partook in this, and to be honest it is truly remarkable to participate in this knowing that Jesus did this as well.  We have been doing research and asking questions about this: when does it start, how long does it last, how do you light the menorah, the prayers and blessings, games, etc.  We had a friend give us a great resource:  Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis.  You can find his webpage/youtube videos and learn about this festival.  You can also find the prayers online and an outline of how to celebrate this holiday.  Below, we posted an outline that briefly explains how to light it and what blessings to recite.  You can buy a menorah at Walmart or Target.  They also have a game that is played during Chanukah that is called "dreidel."  You can also learn the different types of food that Jews normally make during this festival.  It is so amazing to start this tradition for our family and teach this to our children.  We rejoice in this festival knowing that Jews are doing it all over the World, remembering what God did for them in the temple.  

Wednesday, November 27, 2013	Kislev 24
Tonight is the first Night of Chanukah Recite blessings 1, 2 and 3 and kindle one light in the menorah.

Thursday, November 28, 2013	Kislev 25
Tonight is the second Night of ChanukahRecite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle two lights in the menorah.

Friday, November 29, 2013	Kislev 26
Tonight is the third Night of Chanukah Recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle three lights in the menorah. The menorah should be litbefore lighting the Shabbat Candles (18 minutes before sunset). Light Shabbat CandlesClick here for Shabbat candle lighting times

Shabbat, November 30, 2013	Kislev 27
Tonight is the fourth Night of ChanukahAfter nightfall (click herefor local times), recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle eight lights in the menorah. The menorah is lit after Shabbat ends and the Havdalah is recited.

Sunday, December 1, 2013	Kislev 28
Tonight is the fifth Night of Chanukah Recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle five lights in the menorah.

Monday, December 2, 2013	Kislev 29
Tonight is the sixth Night of Chanukah Recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle six lights in the menorah.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013	Kislev 30
Tonight is the seventh Night of Chanukah. Recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle seven lights in the menorah.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013	Tevet 1
Tonight is the eighth Night of Chanukah. Recite blessings 1 and 2 and kindle eight lights in the menorah.

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Learning History......

I can be the first person to tell you that the subject "History" was never my favorite.  I always had boring history teachers and I would lose interest right away when they started talking because I was bored.  My thought was always "Why, do I need to know stuff that already happened?"  I was ignorant and didn't know any better.  God knew this of course, because my husband loves History and knows everything about it.  I am able to learn from him when he teaches me and I can honestly say that I wish I paid more attention in school.  Recently, my Husband and I decided to have a "date" day.  We went out to Breakfast and talked about what we were going to do that day.  We came to the decision that we wanted to go to a Museum.  There are many Museums in our area so we had a good variety to choose from.  We decided to go to the Holocaust Museum.  I thought this was a great learning opportunity for me considering I couldn't name anything about the Holocaust.  I just knew that people were imprisoned and that there was barb-wire.  I didn't know what countries were involved or why it started or how long it went on, etc.  We arrived and took our time going through the three levels of this Museum and even had audio that we could listen to.  The entire exhibit takes 2 hours, when you take your time.  I can honestly tell you that my eyes were opened and I was absorbing everything.  People think the Holocaust happened thousands of years ago, when in fact it wasn't that long ago.  This event lasted for 5 years and millions of Jews died.  Germany was led by Hitler and he got everyone pumped up and thinking that it was the Jews fault, so they started invading different areas and killing them.  They sent the Jews over in train cars when usually you would sit 40 people in one car, these German soldiers would stuff 140 Jews in each car.  Many suffocated because there was not enough air, and people were killed on the spot.  They would arrive to a destination and then separate the children, women, and men.  People were led off to gas chambers, people were shot in the head and thrown in a ditch, and children were buried alive.  They were preparing the concentration camps, but the camps weren't ready yet, so they sent the Jews to these ghettos.  In these ghettos they had little money received from government, poor school teaching, and little food.  When the camps were ready, they would then lead them over and imprison them.  They would work for hours at a time and were starved and freezing.  During lineup some survivors actually said they would pierce their own skin and take their own blood and put it on their cheeks so they looked "healthy."  During these lineups the soldiers would kill anyone that looked weak.  The survivors wanted to appear healthy and fat and well.  There goal was to just survive another day.  They had hope that one day they would get out.

Are you getting a History lesson right now?  Don't feel bad because you are not alone.  There are MANY Americans and young people in general who don't have a clue on what happened and don't care to learn.  We need to learn about History so the past doesn't repeat itself.  Hitler didn't do this all over night, he started little by little.  It takes time to develop total devastation.  It blew my mind on how ignorant I have been living and how common it is in our generation today.  Parents, educate your children on history!  Your kids need to know what has happened in the world!  Adults if you don't know alot, spend some time doing research on the Internet or read a book.  Don't fall into the typical American category.  It seems like our generation knows everything about music and celebrities and these things are all superficial and have no substance or meaning.  It does nothing for our mind or spiritual growth.  We need to start asking questions and looking for the answers.  I can honestly say it was one of the best date days we have had.  We were able to learn History together and sit down and talk about everything we saw at the Museum!!

Weight Loss Update......

I just did my weigh in and I have lost a total of 15lbs!!!!  I am on my way to my goal weight and become healthier for my husband and children!!!!

Here is a picture of me below after my workout yesterday!  I am finally starting to see results and I know that my workouts are paying off.  This motivates me to keep on doing them but to really step it up and start increasing the workouts and nutrition.  I am now going to be having two protein shakes a day (Breakfast/Lunch) and for dinner eat Chicken.  I am going to have little mini snacks throughout the day to keep my metabolism working hard and start to really increase my training!

                                                                                            

Doing Lot's of Sit-ups because I want to be strong in my abdominals.  It is so important to have a strong core because it helps with your posture and balance.  

My goal is to have toned arms and be able to build muscle.  I know that push-ups work many muscle areas that I am trying to target, so I love to do Push-ups!!  I like to do several sets, during each workout.  When you want to really increase the workout, move your hands closer together and you can feel it working other muscle groups, and set your timer to see how many you can do in a minute!

Love when my workouts are over!! The feeling of pushing your body to it's limit and feeling your muscles get stronger really is the true reward!  

I am not planning on doing anymore updates or posts until I reach my goal weight!! When I have reached my goal, I will then write a blog post about it and post pictures!!  The reason I started blogging about my weight progress was to motivate other women who had children and wanted to getting healthy for themselves and for their children.  What motivates me during each workout is that I am one day closer to being healthier and having more energy to where I can run and keep up with my children.  There are so many people that aren't able to play with their children because their weight holds them back, and I don't want to be one of those people.  I want to set an example in my home that it is important to be active and healthy and take care of yourself because your body is a temple that the Holy Spirit dwells in, and we are to honor him.

Listening To God...

We need to be quiet in our prayer time and listen to what God has to say.  We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and let him lead us.  There are many times the Holy Spirit tries to whisper to us but our lifestyles are too loud and noisy and we can miss it.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss out on the Holy Spirit leading and directing me.  You can get that feeling in the pit of your stomach to where you know something isn't right or that you shouldn't do something.  We should not try to question or analyze on whether or not we should do something.  If it doesn't line up with Gods Word then we need to not follow through with it.  We have to ignore our emotions and feelings and align ourselves up with Gods Word.  We cannot trust the roller coaster of feelings because there are too many highs and lows.  We have to learn to listen to God on our good days and bad days.  Is your lifestyle too busy?  Do you have alot going on?  Maybe it is time to sit down and start making a list of priorities of what needs to be dropped or what needs to be higher on the list.  God can end up getting lost in the shuffle at times, and we need to seek him for discernment so we know what we are to do.  If you have peace about something then you know you are walking in Gods Will, if you do not have peace then you know it's not Gods way.  Our main goal should be Peace!!!  How often do you find yourself listening to God in your prayer time?  Maybe God has been trying to speak to you for months but you have ignored him.  Today I urge you to spend quiet time with God and listen to the Holy Spirit!!

Making An Impact For The Cause Of Christ...

This needs to be every believers number one goal!  Our purpose here on earth isn't to live for ourselves and give ourselves pleasure, but we are to seek out his will and fulfill his plan.  We have been so blessed with having the breathe of life in us that so many people still today, take for granted.  God gives us life each day to have us serve him and make an impact for him.  So many people look at God as "controlling" when in fact he has nothing but LOVE for us!!  To think about it, he loved us so very much that he sent his Only Son to come down here to live on earth with us, and to sacrifice himself for us when he didn't deserve it.  When I picture "controlling" I picture someone forcing us to do something, and only giving us one option.  This is what the enemy does, he tries to force things down our throat and back us into a corner in panic.  Our loving God gives us free will where we get to choose to either serve him or not.  He waits on us patiently while we do our own thing and he is waiting with arms wide open when we decide to come to him.  When you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior you understand the price that was paid for you, and all you want to do is give back.  You want to use your life as a walking and living testimony for him.  You want to tell others that you come in contact with about Jesus Christ because you don't want to see others perish.  We cannot be afraid to offend people, we need to share what Jesus has done in our life and share the Word.  We can remember that Gods Word never returns void, so when we give scripture then seeds are planted in that person and God can start working in their heart.  We live in a fallen world and lost society to where there are many people on their way to hell and don't even care.  People want to fulfill every selfish desire and don't care what it costs.  We cannot be surprised to see so many people living for the flesh, because we know that only a few truly follow the Lord.  We are responsible to do our part, and that is to be a walking testimony to Jesus Christ.  We are responsible to know what his word says by studying it, and to actually walk it out in our lives.  We are to forgive others that have wronged us and walk in love.  We are to stand bold and hold God to his word because he puts it above his own name.  So what are you doing in your life to make an impact for the cause of Christ?  Have you taken any bold stands lately?  Start somewhere, and start looking for people to pour into.  God sets up divine appointments daily, we just have to take our eyes off of our busy lives, and look around to others.  In your prayer time start asking God to open up your eyes so you can be used fully for the cause of Christ!  God will give you wisdom and revelation when you ask according to his will.

True Enlightenment.....

I needed to write this blog post to explain the enlightenment I received last night during a Bible Study!  I had such a move of the Holy Spirit to where I felt the very presence of God himself.  We have been learning "Blood Covenant" and this was something I didn't know much about.  When I grew up in church, blood covenant was never explained to me.  In this class we went through the Bible to where we could see "Blood Covenant" throughout the entire Bible and went through the process of what they would do.  We learned the symbolic meaning behind this covenant and can see that "Marriage" mirrors the concept of blood covenant.  While reading Gods Word I am literally seeing words come to life now, and able to see it from a different perspective.  I have never been in a class before where I had so much enlightenment from the Holy Spirit himself to where I couldn't contain the way I felt.  The Bible is the only book that can do this.  The more you read it, the more things are revealed to you, and come alive to you.  I am on fire for God and I don't want this fire to go away, so I am on a mission to keep seeking him and learn more about the Blood Covenant.  The enemy wants Christians to be lukewarm and now know EVERYTHING that we have received from being Abraham's descendants.  I am so thankful for this Pastor for taking the time and doing such an in-depth study on this subject.  All the Glory to Jesus Christ!!!!

New Running Plan......

Everyone who has been following my blog knows that I have been training for a few months now and it has been a success!! I have been documenting my journey throughout these past months and been giving updates.  This update is my new running plan that I have recently discovered and it works!!!!  I am 5'2 and not a fan of running because obviously I don't have long running legs.  I am a better sprinter.  I know that with my body type I need to do cardio because that is what my body needs the most.  So on the days that I do not work out in the gym with my trainer, I go to the gym and do cardio.  I did my running plan lastnight and I wanted to share what I do and post a few pictures.

    My running program is this:  I walk at a pace of 2.0-3.0 for 2 minutes

- At 4.0 I run for 1 minute then I increase it each minute as follows
       4.5 run for 1 minute
       5.0 run for 1 minute
       5.5 run for 1 minute
       6.0 run for 1 minute
       6.5 run for 1 minute
       7.0 run for 1 minute
After you complete this one time, go back to the pace of 4.0 and run that for 2 minutes then repeat the entire cycle for a total of 5 times through it.  The key is that you run the entire time and don't stop to walk.  By changing the pace it gives you more challenging workout where you will see results.

Here I ran for a total of 45 minutes without stopping and burned a total of 461 calories.  

As you can see: You will NOT look pretty afterwards but your muscles feel amazing!!  For someone who doesn't like to run and gets bored with running, this is something that I am able to do in a short amount of time and see results!!!

I WILL POST THE NEXT UPDATE SOON WITH MY WEIGH IN!!

I AM ON THIS JOURNEY AND WILL NOT STOP UNTIL I REACH A HEALTHY GOAL!!!

We Are A Work In Progress........

We have to remember that in this life, we are a constant work in progress.  This means that we need to change our mentality of thinking "It is too late;" "Things are too bad."  Everyone has a past and everyone has baggage, but it doesn't mean we have to keep it.  We need to remember that we all have sin and come from the same place.  Nobody is better than anyone else.  The only person who could brag would be: Jesus, but he is too humble to do that.  We need to strip down the "expectations" we have built up in our minds of not being realistic.  We build up these imaginary things for people/things/goals/pleasures/etc.  When we make "life" all about living for these expectations then we end up making them idols and become slaves to them.  We are going to be constantly focused on them and never satisfied.  The enemy would love to get us in this cycle and keep us running around in circles.  When you pick up Gods Word you can see that are value is not based on what others say about us, it is based on what God says about us.  When we become saved we understand that the old man has passed away and we are a brand new creature in Christ Jesus.  This means all of those generational traits/cycles have been broken and die with you.  The traits will not pass onto your children.  Every morning when we look in the mirror we need to remind ourselves that we are BRAND NEW in Jesus, and that EACH MORNING we have a BRAND NEW FRESH START!  God gives new blessings each morning and he doesn't remember yesterday.  This should give us so much confidence that we can come boldly to him and make our requests known.  As long as we are alive we are never done and finished.  There are going to be days when we mess up but we can't stay in that messed up mentality and drag it out for days at a time.  There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus!!!!  We receive conviction from the Holy Spirit, but no condemnation.  If we start feeling this, we need to confess Gods Word out loud and shout "I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus."  It takes time to develop this boldness and recognizing attacks from the enemy but it is ok because we are a work in progress.  Jesus is not finished with us yet, so as long as we are breathing, he will continue to mold us.   The main key point of this message is to keep God first in every area of your life.  Keep him first individually/dating/married/family/work/friends/finances/etc.  He needs to be at the top of every area of your life.  He cannot be in certain areas and left out of certain areas.  In order to receive Gods blessing and be in his perfect will, he needs to be at the center of our life.  If you are reading this and this message is speaking to you, there is good news: You can make changes and start right now!! You can start making God first in your life and start making him important.  We are a work in progress so there is time to make changes!!!  Forget your past, Keep your head up and eyes fixed on our risen Savior!!!

Preparing For Your Role In The Spiritual Battle....Lesson 2

This is a video for our second lesson in class: Who Will Qualify?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meH9i5NXk7U&feature=youtu.be