New Hope

Verses for Your Valentine

Scripture Sunday Meme

In Celebration of the Upcoming Valentine's Day
Here are a couple of verses for married couples.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

For my husband - I'm glad that we have each other to support, encourage, and help when the other isn't doing so well.

Loving Others Through Prayer

Sunday Seven Meme

7 Things I Prayed for This Week

Sunday: I prayed that my husband would grow in wisdom and his understanding would come from God, and that his relationship with God would continue to grow and bear much fruit in his life. (This prayer idea was from Denise's blog.)

Monday: I prayed for 2 women that I met through blogging. They are hurting emotionally and they are both angry at God. Their pain encouraged me to write the post Angry at God?

Tuesday: I prayed for Amrita in India that God would bless her vegetable garden that she shares with hungry people. And that God would encourage other Christians in India to help the many people who don't have enough to eat. What a wonderful way to show the love of Jesus.

Wednesday: I prayed for Deena that God would heal her cancer through the Chemo treatments and that she would grow closer to Him during this difficult time.

Thursday: I prayed for the native missionaries serving Jesus through Gospel for Asia. I asked God to encourage them, financially provide for them, and help them witness to their own people.

Friday: I prayed for Christian women who are serving God through their blogs. I asked God to: speak through their writing, help the women show the love of Jesus, help the ones writing and reading to grow spiritually, bless their blog ministry spiritually, be glorified through their blogs.

Saturday: I prayed for our neighbor boy, Austin, that he would come to know Christ I used the 8 suggestions and 10 verses from - Praying Your Friends to Christ.

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Reflecting God's Love

God doesn't want us to ignore the people that we feel uncomfortable with - the diseased, disabled, poor, or anyone different from ourselves. They need to see His love, too.

Jesus was a good example of this. He ministered to men with leprosy, a man filled with demons, a woman living in adultery, a tax collector.

Jesus commanded the Jews (in Acts 1:8) to witness to the Samaritans. However, they weren't anxious about obeying Him, because they had racial prejudices towards the Samaritans. Plus, they knew that the Samaritans hated them. Philip is the first man, that we know of, that obeyed Him. When other Jews were fleeing Saul's persecution, Philip went to Samaria. He spoke to the people and God used him to heal people who were lame, paralyzed, and filled with evil spirits. (Acts 8:3-8) The Samaritans were happy about the miracles they saw and revival started to break out.

The Lord tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. He doesn't exclude the people that we don't like. When we obey Him, lives are changed for eternity. People who are different and alone, will feel comforted knowing that a Christian reached out to them.

Christ loved us, and died on the cross for us - knowing that we were sinners, rebellious, and had nothing to offer Him.

Let's challenge ourselves to reach out to people who make us feel uncomfortable. Can you think of anyone?

Notes from a sermon by Dr. Stephen Jones (This sermon brought me to tears.)

God Loves Me Through Others

God Stop Friday Observing God's Presence

How has God shown Himself to me this week?

My husband has gone out of town a lot this winter, due to his work. On this current trip he will be gone for 3 weeks, again. I'm only a week into it, but yesterday I got feeling really sorry for myself. I felt so down that I just knew I wouldn't be able to come up with a God Stop moment for Friday. I'm lonely, stuck at home for 3 weeks without a vehicle, and no one even seems to care.

This is how God showed Himself to me today (all of this in one day):

The mail lady sent her husband over to plow our driveway. (when she drove by and noticed that I was trying to shovel all that snow)
Then, her husband told me to call if I need a ride to the grocery store or if an emergency comes up.
A nice man, from church, sent (by mail) my children animal T-shirts and a note saying that he missed all of us guys and gals.
Grandma and Grandpa H. sent (by mail) a DVD and 2 card games to entertain us while Dad is gone.
Grandma and Grandpa G. sent (by mail) Birthday gifts to my son.
I got 2 personal emails from new blogging friends.

Thank you, Lord, for showing me that You care about my feelings. You showed me that I really am blessed with people who care about me. Please show us Christian women how we can care for those who really are lonely and stuck at home for long periods of time. Who should I call, email, send a present to, or go visit? Amen.

Come see what the Lord has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! Psalm 66:5

Tag You're It! - 13 Things I've Done

My bloggy friend Christina at - The Life of a Christian Housewife - has tagged me.

13 Things I Have Done That Are Pretty Awesome

went on a 2 month mission trip to Europe: Hungary, Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia at the time), Poland, Germany, and Austria
sewed my wedding dress
fell in love at 18, got married at 20
went to Hawaii for Christmas with my family (during my Junior year of high school)
gave birth 5 times
started homeschooling 9 years ago.
moved 3000 miles from home
took 3 trips alone to see my parents and sister's family
went to Manhattan last year (saw the Statue of Liberty from a ferry)
became a Christian at 5, was baptized at 18
passionate about Evangelism, so I made a site called Easy to Evangelize
raised chickens (notice the past tense - too much work and they stink badly)
learned how to: propagate plants, knit, bake bread, and make a blog

I am tagging (in alphabetical order) - Debbie, Elizabeth, God's Girl, IDNJC, Jen, Joyce, Shannon and Shonnte

(I don't know how many people I am suppose to tag, but I want to hear all of your answers.)

Wordless Wednesday: I Wanted a Wii for Christmas

Angry at God?

I've met a few women, lately, who are feeling angry toward God. After Googling "angry at God" I found out that there are many people feeling this way and expressing it on the Internet.

My suggestion is to call people who know what they are talking about. The Hope for the Heart Call Center has counselors available 24 hours a day to receive your call. Tell them that you are angry with God. They will listen and care and offer you hope. 1-800-488-HOPE (4673). It's Free.

This life that we live on earth is not how God intended it to be. When sin entered, because of Satan, the perfect plan got all messed up. And it won't be perfect again, until heaven. God allows bad things to happen, but he also gives many blessings. I wonder how much tragedy He spares us from experiencing. It's easy for us humans to focus on sufferings. We tend to forget about the undeserved blessings that we receive.

I don't fully understand God or His ways. But, I have chosen to trust Him despite the bad things in my life. I've had my share of sorrows, and I expect many more in the future. My favorite song is Blessed Be Your Name. It's a song about Praising God when life is good and Praising Him when life is bad. It's about recognizing that He gives blessings and He takes them away. It's about choosing to always say - "Blessed Be Your Name", no matter what the circumstance.

Above is a YouTube video of this song. Here are the lyrics to Blessed Be Your Name.

Manic Monday

My last post was about praying for salvation and the one before that was about Satan. So, I'm going to lighten things up with a Manic Monday Meme. (Except for #3. That is not a lighthearted question.) They provide the 3 questions and I provide 3 answers.

Is there anything too serious to joke about? If so, what falls into that category for you?
This depends on who it is getting joked about. Most people don't seem to be able to handle joking that hits them personally. I have met many adults who are still holding on to hurts caused by inappropriate joking. So, I'd have to say that anything that could hurt the feelings of another person is too serious to joke about - race, fat, crazy, male and female jokes. Lawyer jokes are acceptable. I don't think lawyers have enough feelings in order to get hurt. Now, I'd like to quote my life verse (that my children have heard a thousand times). Encourage one another and build each other up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Would you rather be a tortured genius or a happy simple-minded person? Why?
Definitely a happy simple-minded person. I wouldn't purposely bring on torture, even though brains would be nice. I do much better with being happy and since it is my choice I'm choosing simple minded.

A dear friend or family member has a terminal illness and is in agony. He/she wants you to help him/her die. What would you do?
Interesting. I just mentioned euthanization 2 posts ago when I wrote about The Foul One. Satan is so evil that he gets humans to kill for him - murdering the unborn children, euthanizing the elderly and disabled, and getting people to kill themselves through suicide. I don't like the idea that some of us have to suffer physical pain. But, that is no reason to help Satan murder. 6 posts ago I wrote a post called Why? Basically, whatever good and bad things happen to us are to help accomplish the purposes that God has for each of us - His specific will for each of our eternal lives. God can use our terrible troubles, even terminal illness and agony. He can use them to strengthen us spiritually, bring glory to Him, make us more godly, prepare us for eternity, and to help others going through a similar situation. I would explain this to my suffering loved one, pray for the person, spend time showing love to the person, and encourage the person to bless and serve God despite the physical pain.

Does anyone else want to join in? There are about 40 of us doing Manic Monday.

(Simple Minded Fish image from ChristArt.com)

Pray Others to Christ

The following suggestions were taken from the booklet
Praying Your Friends to Christ

Ask God to open up their spiritual eyes. 2 Cor. 4:4
Ask God to set them free from spiritual captivity. 2 Tim. 2:25-26
Ask God to give them ears to hear Matt. 13:15, faith to believe Acts 20:21, and the will to respond. Rom. 10:9
Ask God to send people into their lives to witness to them. Matt. 9:38
Ask God for ways to build caring relationships. I Cor. 9:22
Ask God for opportunities to witness. Col. 4:3
Ask God for boldness to witness. Acts 4:29
Ask God for an opportunity to invite them to a harvest event. Luke 14:23

Who are you praying to Christ?

The Defeat of the Foul One

The writing prompt for Sunday Scribblings this week is "Foul"

So, I'll start by saying that I am feeling very foul. I got a nasty cold and I think I can trace it back 8 days ago when I went to Wal-mart. I've spent most of the day in bed, which is not normal for me. It's just a cold. These are my only accomplishments for today:

watched an episode of Brady Bunch (Greg had a groovy crush on his math teacher- that's kind of foul.)
heated up frozen chicken nuggets (fowl) and frozen french fries for my kids' dinner
wrote this post about The Foul One

The Defeat of the Foul One

The Foul One was created as an anointed angel. However, due to his self-centered pride, he tried to make himself equal with The Holy One. This got him kicked out of heaven, taking 1/3 of the holy angels with him - those fallen angels became his evil demonic followers.

There is no truth in the Foul One. He does know The Truth and works hard to get you to doubt Truth. He dangles temptation hoping to get others to fall, too.He schemes and cunningly deceives, looking to destroy someone's life. He's especially drawn to those who don't follow The Holy One, wanting to devour them before they decide to believe in The Truth.

The good news is that the Foul One has limitations. He is not omnipotent ,or omniscient; his time is limited, and he knows it. Therefore he is going to hurriedly take down as many humans as he can. And this is the bad news. The Foul One gets humans to do his dirty work for him - perverting the truth, slandering each other, destroying their own lives through addictions, becoming false teachers that draw in the people by offering some promise, but unable to deliver. He also gets us to kill for him - murdering the unborn children, euthanizing the elderly and disabled, and killing themselves through suicide.

There is more good news though. A time will come when The Holy One will send The Foul One, and all his death and hell to a lake of fire forever. "Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Revelation 20:10

When we die, all people of the world will have to give an account of how they lived. We all will be judged. Did we follow the truth of The Holy One, or did we let The Foul One corrupt our hearts?

The Foul One and his followers will be defeated. The Holy One and his followers will live forever in true peace.

Hell's Best Kept Secret

The picture of the chickens (fowl) is a pun on the word "foul". I didn't want any of you to think that I was losing it.

Are You Preparing for Eternity?

Life doesn't end here on earth. We have something bigger that we are working towards - eternity in heaven. Even if we complete all of our earthly goals, we will not feel accomplished and satisfied unless we are working for God's Kingdom.

What are you doing to prepare yourself and others for eternity? (evangelizing, teaching, praying, encouraging, supporting, counseling, growing, helping, ministry work, using your talent or skill). Your answers can motivate and encourage your Christian sisters.

I'd really like to Get Your Answers (with some details).

If you'd like to read more about Eternity, I wrote a post called What Is Eternal Life?

(Fish image from ChristArt.com)

Wordless Wednesday: I Know It's You Grandpa

Why Me?

What have I done to deserve this problem? Why did those bad things happen to me? Why me?

I don't like problems and I imagine that you probably don't either. Some of my problems I bring on myself due to choices that I make and some problems just happen to me. One thing that I have learned about problems is that we can grow spiritually as we deal with problems.

Basically, whatever happens to me is to help accomplish the purpose God has for me - His will for my life. Therefore, I will have problems and troubles, but I will also have blessings. And they will differ from the problems and blessings of other people, because His will is different for each of us.

How are our present troubles beneficial?

They will be used to glorify God.
God will strengthen our spirits in our weakness.
They make us more godly, like Him.
He can use us to help others going through the same trouble.

Through our individual experiences, God molds and makes us into what He wants us to be. Each of us is shaped uniquely to fit into His bigger, eternal purpose. He's getting us ready for His heavenly plan. We should surrender to His plan, instead of fighting it.

"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Monday Memories: Building Childhood Memories

As I went to write my post for Monday Memories, I drew a blank. I couldn't think up anything to write about that sounded entertaining. So, I Googled "memories" which led me to a post about childhood memories. That's when I started thinking about what kind of memories do I want for my children. Parents can help provide good memories for their kids. So, after thinking, these are some of the good memories my kids will have and some of the memories I want them to have.

listening to Dad's stories about when he was a naughty boy
watching Little House on the Prairie DVDs over and over
playing lots of card games
family road trips
having "snack food" dinners
doing our family Christmas traditions
trying to raise chickens
going to the County Fair during the summer
doing evangelism and ministry projects as a family
watching their parents get more involved in church
trying to live a more simplified life - in the country, on a lake, chopping wood, playing in the trees
Mom reading chapter books aloud to the kids
going on a summer mission trip as a teen (this one is still to come)

Do you have any neat "building memories" ideas that you want to share?