Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Posted on August 9, 2010 - by Mary

My Summer: the Condensed Version

I haven’t posted anything on here since Karlie’s graduation party in June. WOW! That is waaaaay too long to stay away! ALOT has happened since then!!! I will try to give you the condensed version of my crazy life…no need to bore you with all the details.

Since my last blog post, here is what has happened:

• My sister and her family came to visit all the way from New Mexico
• We volunteered at the Big Ticket Festival
• Celebrated the 4th of July with my family by going to the beach on Lake Michigan and watching Fireworks in Mackinaw City
• My sister’s husband and all but one of her kids drove back to NM; Sister and youngest stayed here.
• Did a lot of shopping, some garage sale-ing, making of Mexican food, beaching and swimming.
• Went on a youth outing with our youth group from Burt Lake, up the Indian River to Mullet Lake which included boating, tubing, swimming and eating lots of junk food.
• Major church drama that I don’t want to and won’t get into here. (But it’s all working out for the good Praise God!)
• Took my sister and her daughter to the airport in Grand Rapids; stayed the night there; hit 3 malls in one day
• Oooh, got asked to be a bride’s maid in one of my BFF’s wedding’s in November.
• Ordered my dress for said wedding
• BFF from Missouri came to visit for a couple of days…wasn’t long enough!!!
• Attended the reception for a young couple who used to be in our youth group…beautiful!
• Have another wedding coming up this weekend for another young couple who also used to be in our youth group!

I think that’s it in a nutshell.

During all of this, I’ve basically just kept up with my business, working here and there when needed to keep things afloat. Now that all the company is gone, I’m going to focus on promoting my services and building my business. I’m also going to get back on track with my weight loss efforts! As a matter of fact the friend who’s wedding I’m in in November, she and I started a new weight loss challenge…50 pounds in 4 months!

Lots still going on. I imagine there always will be. It’s fun and I love my life. Sure, there are areas which aren’t so great, like finances, church drama, etc., but overall, I love it and wouldn’t change a thing. God has me right where he wants me for now and I’m praying and listening for when He’s ready to move me/us.

Karlie starts cosmetology school in the fall…I imagine I will get to be her guinea pig Watch for new dos…often! LOL.

Grandkids are all getting big and very vocal! Dylan (almost 2) is speaking in 3-4 word sentences now…soooo cute! Ethan (almost 4) is starting pre-school at the Christian school and is so smart! Remmy (almost 7 months) vocalizes her opinion frequently through screetches and other cute baby noises. And grandson number 3 is due in September. I’m sure he will make his presence known very vocally as well.

I’m looking forward to Fall. I love Summer…it’s my favorite season, but I’m foreseeing Fall as a bit more relaxing…and definitely cooler!

Jeff and I are praying to move back to Gaylord. That of course means we have to get this house on the market, so we have been doing some painting and other minor things to get it sale-able. I would really like to rip up the linoleum and carpet and put in all new hardwood flooring. Of course that takes money, so we are praying for an increase there as well. Not only for that, but so we can be more useful in God’s Kingdom. The junior high youth leaders are moving down state, and we feel we’d be able to better minister to the youth living in Gaylord.

Please join us in our prayers and let me know if there’s anything I can pray with you for.

God bless you all!

Posted on May 24, 2010 - by Mary

Graduation is Upon Us-Where to get Graduation Gifts

My baby is graduating this year. It’s kind of weird when your last child graduates from high school. Sadness hasn’t hit me yet, but probably will when she walks across the stage to receive her diploma. Or no, I know when it will definitely hit. She attends a small charter school which focuses on the performing arts so each year at graduation they have a slideshow of all the Graduates throughout the years. Yep that’s when it will hit…I know it. My oldest daughter graduated from this school and that darn slideshow does it every time.

We have the open house all planned out, now we just need to purchase the decorations and cake. She is going to attend cosmetology school in the fall and wants beauty school decorations for her open house. I’ve done some looking online for them, but haven’t been successful at finding them yet. I am planning on going to the dollar store here in a couple of day. I’m looking for cute little combs, scissors, curlers, etc. for center pieces and whatever else I can find that would represent cosmetology well. It will be fun and cute, I think.

Being in the youth ministry, we also give the graduates at our church a little gift in honor of their achievement. We usually try to find a devotional or prayer book. I’ve found some in the past at ChristianBook.com at very reasonable prices as well as on Amazon. This year we got our graduates the Prayer of Solomon. It’s a really good prayer journal and the teens seemed to like it and found it easy to read and follow. This is the 2nd year in a row that we’re giving it to them.

ChristianBook.com has some really nice personalized graduation gifts, as well as gifts for all other occasions, like Weddings and Father’s Day. I use them often and have always gotten great service and have never had to return anything. Their prices are also very reasonable.

Where do you shop for graduation and other gifts?

Posted on April 22, 2010 - by Mary

Faith of a Mustard Seed Moves Mountains

I must say the last week has been truly amazing! If you read my last post, you know that God brought me to a crisis of belief and He hasn’t stopped there. It was last Wednesday, and the following Friday we received the remaining part of our federal tax refund. I had to file an amendment to our return because I found another form and needed to file it, resulting in another $1000 refund. We knew it was coming, but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Then to top it off, last Tuesday I entered Karlie in a contest for an entire prom package. A couple days prior to this, Jeff and I were talking about how we didn’t know how we were going to be able to afford for Karlie to go to prom this year. It’s her Senior year and neither of us wanted her to miss out. A day or two later I saw this post on She Scribes, so I emailed the company with our story.

A couple of days later, I got an email from them saying Karlie was chosen as a finalist in the contest! I was ecstatic. I kept receiving emails from the company having the giveaway telling us to have Karlie pick out some dresses and shoes from this site and asking about her prom details. Yesterday, I received a phone call and it was the gal from Kymaro. She needed to know what Karlie was going to say if she was to be interviewed by the news media and so on, so I gave Karlie my phone. We were at church waiting for youth group to start at the time, so Karlie went to the kitchen so she could hear. A few minutes later she came running down the hall shouting, “I won!!! I won!!!!” I was shocked!!! Literally!!! And everyone at youth group was asking “What’d ya win???” and “You won what???” It was so much fun and so exciting!!!

I know it’s totally God’s way of providing for us and her. Not only does she get a dress, shoes, and jewelry, she also gets a makeover with hair color cut and style, manicure, pedicure, prom tickets paid for and limo ride to and from prom for her and her boyfriend! How cool is that! The hair color is alone is a huge blessing to us because Karlie and I need our hair done and I was wondering where we were going to get the money for that.

God is so awesome and Jeff and I know it’s just the beginning of His amazing provision. We’ve both felt it in our spirits that things were going to turn around for us financially, for His glory!

If you have faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. (Matt. 17:20) My faith is growing and growing and becoming stronger and stronger. God is always at work around us. I have faith and am ready to adjust my life and to be obedient to His calling.

How have you sensed or seen God moving in your life?

Posted on April 14, 2010 - by Mary

Truly Experiencing God

Today has been an emotionally crazy day for me. I tried starting it out with my quiet time with God and though I did get in a little time with God, it was quickly interrupted by kids. My adult grown kids mind you. Then of course I got more distracted by email and facebook. Then my hubby woke up (he’s on midnights) and started talking about bills and stuff, and I just became completely overwhelmed and I started to cry. And to top it off, tonight is youth group and I just could see myself being a big mess there when I’m supposed to be a leader, so I decided not to go. I know we’re not expected to be strong all the time, but our youth Pastor is out of town, so the other leaders have to fill in and I didn’t want to burden them with my issues which would distract them from ministering to the youth. Plus I really felt like God wasn’t done with me yet and that He wanted me to stay home so He could finish what he was trying to show me this morning…no, the last few days actually.

We’ve been going through the Experiencing God bible study in small groups at church. And, wow is it ever an amazing study. I get more and more blown away with each unit. Not this past Monday but the Monday before we have what’s called “The Throne Zone” at church. It’s a praise and prayer service the first Monday of every month. We’ve been attending that service since the beginning of the year and God has been revealing some pretty awesome stuff to me personally and to my family. At this last service, God once again came through for me. I was standing alone praying and saying to God, if you’re there, if you’re the real God and if you hear my prayer, please send someone over to pray with me. I just needed to know He was there and that he was listening. Within a minute or two, the wives of one of the elders was at my side. She said she didn’t know why she was there, she was just being obedient. Tears streamed from my eyes and we just stood and worshiped. Then God began to use her to speak to me. He said he wanted to use me and take me places, but I needed to spend some time with Him first because there were some things in me He needed to remove and deal with. No surprise there. I’ve been dealing with some stuff and I was so ready to receive and to allow God to do what needed to be done so I could be free to worship and be free to be used by Him. My friend explained that I might start to feel overwhelmed, but that it would be okay, that it was just God removing those things so I could be free.

Well today must have been the day because all day long I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to be alone with God. I tried doing other things but that feeling just wouldn’t go away. So, finally, after Jeff and Karlie left for youth group, I laid face down on the couch. I actually felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. But, I didn’t go to sleep. As I laid there, God began to speak to me and show me something. He began to reveal to me that the god Jehovah’s Witnesses worship is a FALSE god. It’s not the same god we worship.

If you’ve been following my blog at all, you know I was raised a JW and have been struggling with doubt for a couple of years. I’ve been trying to dismiss the thoughts of doubt as my own thoughts, but at the first Throne Zone we attended in January it was revealed I had a lying spirit tormenting me with lies and putting those doubts, fears and thoughts into my head. I rebuked that spirit and a couple of other ones, and felt complete freedom and a renewed confidence. However, every once in a while little thoughts of doubt would still creep in, making me question my faith again. I’ve learned to rebuke those thoughts as well.

Over the last few weeks or so, I’ve been hearing the name “Elijah” come up over and over again in various conversations. I kind of know the story of Elijah but not really, so I thought (ha!) I should read the story again in the bible. One day, right in the middle of doing my Experiencing God lesson, I felt this strong urge to read Elijah right then. So I put down my EG book and opened the bible to 1 Kings chapter 18. I read how God used the prophet Elijah to reveal Himself as the one and only true God to Ahab. Ahab’s people worshiped Baal, a false God. God told Elijah to build to build an altar, and place a bull on it, and have Ahab do the same. Then Elijah told Ahab to call upon his false god Baal and he (Elijah) would call upon the Lord to bring fire down and burn up the offering. Ahab and his people called and cried out and cut themselves for hours and hours and Baal was silent. Baal didn’t show up. Baal didn’t answer. Then Elijah had water poured over the altar he built 3 times. Then he called upon the Lord to come and received the offering. Fire came down and immediately the altar was consumed by fire, even the water in the trenches was burned up by the fire. Ahab knew that his god was dead and the Lord was the true Lord, the God of heaven and earth, the Maker of the Universe.

When I first read this story a few days ago, I didn’t know what God was trying to show me through it. I continued reading and thought he was showing me how He is in the whisper (1 Kings 19:12-13). But, deep down, I knew that that wasn’t it.

This morning as I re-read the story, I began to see that God was trying to show me something else. I thought He was trying to get me to call out to Him and out to the god of Jehovah’s Witnesses, to prove and see which one is the true God. In all honesty, I was afraid. You see, there is a part of me that still doubts, that still hears that voice saying JW’s teach the truth, they have the truth. So, I was afraid to do that because I didn’t want them to come to my door. I didn’t want them to have the truth. I didn’t want to ever have to go back to one of their Kingdom Halls again. As I  type this, I realize how crazy this all sounds. And most of you are probably thinking…I don’t know what…but I know this must sound crazy to you all. Anyway, this afternoon as I laid face down on the couch with my eyes closed, God started to speak to me. He said the reason he showed me that scripture is because I needed to know and to see that the god the JW’s teach is a FALSE god. It’s not the God of the Universe, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is a FALSE god and HE is the only true God.

Do you know how blown away I am by that right now??? I am blown away because I NEVER looked at it like that. It’s kind of hard to explain how I looked at it I guess. Kind of like the Muslims look at Ala, I suppose. They think he created the universe and claim he is the same God we worship. That is a lie from the pit of Hell. The god the JW’s teach about is a FALSE god just like Baal and Ala. “Jehovah” (the Jehovah they teach about) is not the same Jehovah the same God I worship. It’s almost like an incomplete god because they don’t believe Jesus is God, nor that the Holy Spirit is God.

Anyway, I truly had an experience with God today. I feel so much better than I did earlier today. It’s amazing what happens when you lay yourself down and allow God to speak to you. I know there’s more stuff He wants to reveal to me, and I hope I don’t have to get to the point I did today in order to hear Him.

Posted on April 4, 2010 - by Mary

God works through our Circumstances

Our entire church has been studying the Experiencing God bible study for the past 6 or 7 weeks. It’s a twelve week study and every week it gets better and better. I’ve already seen God move in our lives in many ways and I’m learning how see where God is working and then go there, instead of me making my own plan and asking God to bless it. It’s amazing. God is amazing.

This week I’ve been learning about how God works through our circumstances. And boy do we have some circumstances! Just the other night, Thursday I think it was, Karlie, my 17 year old was on her way home from Petoskey with one of her friends, who is about 4 or 5 months pregnant. As they rounded a curve the car in front of them suddenly came to a skreetching halt because of an accident that just happened, and so did Karlie and her friend. As soon as they stopped, Karlie looked in her rearview mirror only to see the vehicle behind her racing toward them, smashing into them. Karlie and her friend were okay, Praise God, but the van is not. We’re pretty certain the frame is bent because the two sliding side doors are sprung open at the top. The tow truck that came to tow the vehicle that hit them, used their wench to pull the side panel away from the tire so we could drive it home, but the bumper is dragging, not to mention most of it’s missing, and the backend is smashed in.

We still owe about $4000 on it and if they total it we will be lucky to get that amount out of it. When we hit the deer a couple of months ago, the body shop estimated it’s worth at about that amount or somewhere around there. If they do total it out, we may or may not have enough to pay it off, but we definitely won’t have enough money to buy another vehicle. We’ve learned through Crown Financial that we’re supposed to save enough cash to buy a vehicle outright, but we haven’t been able to do that either. We have to have 2 cars with Jeff working in Gaylord, and Karlie still in school. And I need a vehicle on Wednesday’s but we can manage to work around that with two cars….but not one.

Our truck is out of commission right now due to a blown tire, and we haven’t had the cash to buy new tires for it yet. It also needs frontend work, not to mention the body work, but that’s not a necessity to get it on the road. Our car runs pretty good but the hood needs a new latch. It’s pretty ghetto looking but like I said, it runs, so that’s what we’re using now to get around. Thank God Karlie is on spring break right now and Jeff is on vacation this week to give us time to work something out…for God to work something out.

So, I guess I’m writing this so you can pray for us. I’m praying for a financial miracle. I know God will provide all our needs, so I’m not worried. I definitely want to see how God is going to work through this! It’s going to be exciting and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Posted on March 20, 2010 - by Mary

Spiritual Root of Disease

I started reading this book a while back, then I put it down for a while, and now I’m back to reading it. It’s called A More Excellent Way: Be In Health by Henry Wright*. The reason I picked it back up is because my granddaughter, who is just 2 months old, is quite colicky. The wife of our Associate Pastor, when she heard Remmy was colicky, said she learned from this conference a while back that the spiritual root of colic is a spirit of fear. That conference was based on this very book. So, of course I picked the book back up to learn more about this. Since then, discussions keep coming up, or I keep reading about diseases and illnesses that I know my family and friends are suffering from, as well as issues I myself have.

I have 3 specific health issues: low thyroid, low good cholesterol and high bad cholesterol, and I am obese. I hate saying obese, but the hard truth is what it is. All three of these diseases have a spiritual root in self hatred. I must say I’m kind of, but not completely shocked at this. I know I used to struggle with low self esteem and insecurity a lot more than I do now, and perhaps I am now at a place where I can actually face my self hatred and be healed.

When I told my husband that the spiritual root was self hatred he wasn’t shocked. He is always getting on me about the way I talk about myself, how I say I’m fat and ugly quite frequently. Honestly I thought I had stopped the negative self talk….well maybe not stopped it, but didn’t do it as often, but the thoughts are still there.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do have a MUCH better self image than I used to, especially when I was a little girl, being sexually molested by my step dad. But I know those self hating thoughts creep in there, and I don’t even realize it.

So, how am I going to overcome and get rid of this self hatred? Well, the first step is to recognize it, so I’m going to pray to God to show me when I have these thoughts and why. Then once I begin to recognize them, I can repent and be healed.

Please be praying for me as I go through this journey. I know Satan attacks even harder when we try to overcome something because he wants us to be in bondage and sick, so pray for protection, guidance and wisdom.

What are your thoughts on disease and spiritual roots?

Note: I now know and believe that God used that book to show me what I need to know in order to be healed. I’ve been praying for healing of my low thyroid so I can lose weight so I can be healthy and take care of the temple He’s given me.

*While I am an affiliate for Amazon and will get paid if you click the link above and make a purchase, I was not asked to write about this book or mention it. I chose to do so on my own free will and do highly recommend it.

Posted on March 11, 2010 - by Mary

Leadership Conference Highlights

Last night was my first night home after spending 3 days at the Resurrection Life Church Leadership Conference. This was my 4th year attending the conference and I feel it’s the best one yet. The main speakers were: Pastor Duane Van Der Klok (Res. Life), Chris Hodges (Church of the Highlands), John Vereecken (Lidere, Vida Internacional) and Chris Moon (Res. Life Cadillac)

Chris Hodges spoke on topics such as: Engaging the Culture, and the main points were:

• Daniel 6:1 – excellent Spirit (NKJV) Exceptional qualities (NIV)
• 4 values for staff: Genuine love for God, Genuine compassion for people, a culture of excellence, and a good attitude.

Recommended reading by Chris: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It and Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition

Chris Hodges also taught on 7 Principles to Make it Through a Bad Day:

• Hebrews 12:2: If you want to conquer any land, the enemy is going to come against you
• The cross really sets the framework for us: See my previous blog post about the 7 statements Jesus said on the cross

Chris’ also taught the 8 Secrets of Life-Giving Ministry and we were given a handout, but the main points were:

• Empowering Leadership
• Gift-based ministry
• Passionate Spirituality
• Functional Structures
• Inspiring Worship Service
• Holistic Small Groups
• Need-oriented evangelism
• Loving Relationships

John Vereecken’s topics included: Heroism, where he explained what it means to be a hero in ministry: Extreme sacrifice for a cause that benefits other people.

• Phil. 2:5-8 – Jesus gave up His divine privileges so others could benefit
• Live a life of sacrifice
• Luke 14:26 – Love Jesus more than your own life
• 2 Tim. 2:3 – As a good soldier of Jesus Christ you must endure some suffering
• Phil. 1:29 – You’ve been given the privilege of suffering for Christ
• Adopt the same attitude as Jesus had

Each day there were also break out workshops. I attended “The Heart of a Leader” by Ken Reynolds, worship leader at Res. Life, and John Vereecken’s “How to Influence and Lead your Superiors to Create Change”.

Chris Moon gave a really good message about how to Pastor orphans and slaves; there’s a difference between discipline and punishment. Main points throughout the talk were:

• We need to sow into the younger generation
• The heart of a great leader always leaves a great legacy
• In your life, in your church, aim at something
• Promote fruitfulness not faithfulness
• Reach people where they’re at
• Church isn’t for Christians-it’s for the lost
• Be a servant leader
• Good shepherds always smell like sheep…get with the people
• Servant leadership isn’t what you do – it’s who you are. Attitude leadership
• Your joy is your greatest strength as a leader (Nehemiah 8:10)
• People are looking for an emotional connection. The Spiritual connection will come through that.
• Our church should be a happy place-maintain a joyful place
• Understand growth is always inconvenient
• What you will tolerate will kill you
• Luke 14: You know you’re inconvenienced by your language
• Luke 9: 62: You will know you’re an orphan and a slave when you have obligation language
• Live your life with a “Please Disturb” sign
• In a growth environment we don’t choose who God calls
• Accept people where they’re at
• Don’t put in the hearts of people that they can’t serve because they smoke, drink, lie or have been, or are, in jail. It creates a subculture.
• See their potential. Call greatness out of people. All things are possible with God.

I’m looking forward to next year’s conference already! What conference’s have you attended that you would recommend to others?