Thankful Challenge - November 5th

Psalms 30:12 "To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Thankful Challenge -November 5th (if you're not sure exactly what this post is all about, click here to find out)

Lauren - I'm thankful for my salvation and how the Lord has changed me, and continues to change me to become more like Him. (2 Cor. 5:17)

Page - I'm thankful for answered prayer to unspoken requests. Even when we don't know how exactly to pray, the Lord knows our heart and makes intercession with the Father on our behalf. (Rom. 8:26)

Let us know what YOU are thankful for! Join us in this "Thankful Challenge" each day until Thanksgiving. Let's count our many blessings, naming them one by one.

~Lauren & Page

You Can NEVER Out-Give God!

Malachi 3:10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Matthew 7:11 " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? "

You sure can't out-give the Lord! My husband and I have seen this truth so many times! Giving of yourself, your money, your time, etc. can be a challenge, but it is a command in Malachi 3:10. When we are faithful to give, God always gives back MORE! I was reminded of this fact even this week, and it caused me to stop and thank Him for his goodness to remain true to His Word! I love how the Bible says that the Lord will open the very windows of heaven, pouring out blessings upon us! What an encouraging thought, and I'm here to say that it is TRUE!! It has happened to me!

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

You can NEVER out-give God!

I could give you example after example of how we have seen the Lord work in this way, a result of us proving Him. It is humbling, amazing, and beyond words to watch the Lord work on your behalf. How humbling to know that the Creator of this Universe would care about me!

We live in a selfish society, one that lives for self for that is our world's philosophy -(humanistic -which is anti-God by the way). When you step out of your comfort zone and give of yourself, your time, your money, etc, looking beyond yourself - you WILL see the blessings, for as the Bible says -Acts 20:35b "....It is more blessed to give than to receive."

I want to challenge you to prove the Lord as He says in Malachi 3:10. Have a spirit of giving and watch and see what the Lord does for you!

One of my favorite verses:
Eph. 3:20 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."

You can NEVER out give God!

~Lauren

Thank God for NEW CARPET!!!

My Thankful Thursday is all about the NEW CARPET that the Lord blessed us with for our bedroom. The Lord was so good to allow us to purchase beautiful $500.00 carpet for only $80.00!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you heard right - and no, it's not some crazy color. It's a neutral that goes perfectly in our room! And it feels awesome squished between your toes. ;-)
We had searched and searched for the right carpet at the right price and to no avail. Because we waited on Him, he allowed us to find this amazing deal!
Our good friend (and the best carpet installer in the world), came out last weekend to install this luscious carpet for us, and we are enjoying it immensely!! Our old carpet was an ugly blue color that was all kinds of flat, drab, stained, etc. After pulling up the drab blue carpet, it gave way to this dated orange stuff that someone had GLUED to the beautiful hardwood floors. *cry* Why are people so dumb? :-P This is the "before picture" - here you see the old stuff rolled up, and the retro orange carpet underneath. Groovy, huh? I recently redecorated our room. We painted the walls a lovely, sophisticated gray with crisp white trim, bought luxurious new bedding (saved a lot on Ebay), installed a gorgeous new light fixture, hung the perfect curtains, and put the finishing touches on the room with artwork and decor. The LAST step to transforming our bedroom was the carpet......FINALLY our room is complete! Here's the "after picture" (half of the room anyway) and you can see how much of a difference it truly makes!
Thank you Lord for caring about even the little things, like my fabulous new carpet.

~Lauren

A Spectacular Prayer

Col 1: 9-14 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"

I came across this prayer, while searching The Word for some encouragement. As afore mentioned, there has been hardship in my family, which is seemingly ever growing right now... But I know that God is SO MUCH BIGGER than any problem I'm facing.

I found these verses to be so powerful ("powerful" not even being the half of describing His Word). Just read them; let them sink in. Think about this prayer.

This prayer covers so many aspects of the Christian life:

*Never ceasing in your prayers

*Gaining wisdom and spiritual knowledge

*Being fruitful

*Growing in His strength

*Learning patience and joy in your longsuffering

*Remembering the phenomenal sacrifice paid for us on Calvary

*Realizing that the battle is won--we will be partakers in the heavenly inheritance, because of redemption through the blood and His ever forgiving of our sins!!

Whew! This prayer is so amazing to me. I have decided to start using this prayer for others and myself--to gain these wonderful things in our lives!

1 John 5:14-15 says "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

God answers prayers. He is a wonderful, merciful, and astounding God. He has saved me from hell, and I will be bounding in "the inheritance of the saints" one day!!!!

I would like to challenge you to pray this prayer. Watch what God will do. Let Him and His Word do a marvelous and miraculous work in you.

Acts 16:31 says "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

Also Romans 5:8 says "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

I want you to know that He cares for you; He can and will save you. He loves you so much!

Look to Him. Prov. 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

God will lead you if you let Him. He will reveal the truth to you, and fill your heart if you let Him. Please let Him.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done for me. Thank you for Your Word and how it reaches me. You're the best!

~Page

Like a needle in a haystack....

Matthew 10:29-31 "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

I debated on what to write about for this "Monday Meditation", I had a couple of thoughts rolling around, but it wasn't until tonight that it hit me.

Let me preface it with this short story - We went driving to find a vast canola field full of beautiful yellow flowers, proceeded with a mini photo shoot, and while doing so, my sister's gold and ruby ring slipped off of her finger. The saying "Like a needle in a haystack" never rang so true! I immediately prayed aloud, asking the Lord to help us find the cherished ring. My husband, brother, sister, and myself were all searching. How would we ever find this small gold ring among these dense, waist-high plants??

We reluctantly decided to call it quits, with the thought to try the next morning, after scrutinizing the entire area. I was just about to stand up after crawling around searching, when I spotted it right next to my husband's shoe!!! I can assure you that it was ONLY the Lord that led us to that tiny ring!! It was a reminder of so many things, several being ~ God hears and answers prayer, He cares about the "smallest things"(all we have to do is ask), and there is NOTHING too hard for Him!

I love the verses above and find myself in awe that the Creator of the world cares about us enough to number the very hairs on our head! He knows what we're going through and best of all- He CARES!!

Be encouraged and reminded of the golden ring in the canola field. :-)

~Lauren

~Making Time~

Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.




I've certainly been busy these past few weeks, and I'm sure that you can relate! I enjoy the various activities I'm involved with, and am grateful for my many hobbies. However, something that I'm realizing more and more is that you MUST make time for the important things in life. We could seriously stay busy doing things 24-7. I seem to always have housework to do, a meal to fix, pictures to edit, jewelry to make, the list goes on and on- a woman's work is NEVER done. :-)
I have to ask the following questions though -How many of us go throughout each day without even stopping to read our Bible and spend time with our Lord? How many of us get so wrapped up in our daily chores that we forget to show our spouse and children how much we love them? I think we are all guilty of neglecting the important things from time to time.
This past week I've had my sister, Heidi, and brother Silas out here visiting. We've had a good time, but I can tell you that I haven't been getting as much done. I haven't made jewelry, hardly cleaned house (I'm planning to put them to work though-shhh!), edited pictures, practiced piano, etc. It's easy to get somewhat frantic thinking that you're getting behind on everything. I had to stop and realize that I'm making time for my family. They are SO much more important than anyTHING I can do. Cultivating relationships with family will always be more worthwhile. So what if you get behind on a few household chores (just do what I'm going to do and put your family to work!-muahaha)
In all seriousness, MAKING TIME for our Lord, family and others is what life is all about.
The verse below causes me to always re-examine how wisely I'm spending the time that the Lord has given me.

James 4:14 "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

"Only one life, so soon will pass, only what's done for Christ will last."
Focus on the eternal, for the here and now is so temporal. Do you know for sure you're saved by the blood of Jesus Christ? Are your sins forgiven? Do you know where YOU will spend eternity?
If you are indeed saved - are you becoming too wrapped up with your day to day schedule? Have you taken time to let your spouse know how much you appreciate them? Have you stopped to hug and cherish your children?
When we MAKE TIME for what is truly important, we'll be amazed how the other things will just fall into place.

I'm filled with thankfulness for my wonderful husband, and family that the Lord has blessed me with!

~Lauren