Living By Faith

Living by our faith is not always easy.  Life itself can be hard.

Hard to understand.

Why do good people die?

Why does evil triumph?

Why does my tv station always go out when I finally sit down to watch Dr. Phil?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why do we kick against the goad?

Why do we question God????

Why not?

In the story of Job, satan had to ask for permission to test him.

In fact, it was God who pointed Job out to satan.

"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.  And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

When I read this, my mind sees that not only was God proud of Job, but God TRUSTED Job.

He trusted Job's faith.

How awesome is that?

The Word says that God would never test us beyond what we can handle, and look at what Job handled.  And look at how God blessed him when the test was over.

" Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.

After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days."

So, if your life is in the middle of the story, full of ups and downs, just hold on.

That's living by faith.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Here's music to bless your soul.

Let His Love flow over you today.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Some Sunday Worship

I pray this day finds you blessed.

If not, take time and worship....it will change everything.

How comforting it is to know that He knows me, and loves me.

He knows and loves you too.

And He's just waiting for you.

Be blessed,

Debbi

He Knows Me By Name

One Word!

That's all it took.

One Word.

And Mary's life was changed....forever.

Mary had gone to the tomb and found it empty.

And I imagine she "lost it".  I would have....

3 days with little to no sleep or food. 

Memories replaying in her mind of THAT day when everything seemed lost.

Now to find that His body also was lost.

Can you imagine that?

The person you loved most died, and you go to the cemetery, and the grave is empty?

How do you respond?

How would YOU respond?

Then she hears a voice.

And talks to that man....not knowing.....

until He says one simple word.

"Mary"

Her name.

And that is all it took, she knew Him, and her heart was healed, and her life reborn.

It's like that for us.  Sometimes we are so busy "looking" for him in our distress, in our crisis, in our chaos, that we don't see him.

There.

Right there.

With us.

Waiting.

For us to turn....

when He calls our name.

Yes, our name.

Yours.

Mine.

He know us.

Intimately.

He never left us.

And He never will.

Be blessed,

Debbi

The First Day Of My New Life

It was in August of 1982.

I was a single mother of 2 living with my mother in Tonawanda NY.

My husband had left for Texas to find work, and to be honest, our marriage needed the break.

I knew about God, and Jesus.

But they were mostly just someone I prayed to when I needed something.

My mom had a relationship with them, but didn't push them on me.

Sometimes I wish she would have, my teen years were...well...difficult.

Anyway, here I was with 2 young children and only 23 years old.

No college, no job, and no prospects.

BUT GOD...

He had a plan for my life,

but first I needed to meet Him.

Really meet Him.

Personally.

A dear friend from the church I attended off and on invited my mom to a special  church service.

So, like most everything else, all us girls went with my mom.

To a Messianic Jewish Temple.

Where my destiny awaited.

What I am about to tell you is the absolute truth.

While I can't remember much about the service, 

the songs, or the sermon.

I will remember this until my dying day.

I was standing next to my mom, realizing that my life was in a mess, and I couldn't fix it.

The preacher was telling me about someone who knew me, and loved me, 

and still chose to die for me.

Then the preacher directed everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes.

That's when I felt Him.

With my head down and eyes closed, I swore someone put their hands on my head.

My eyes flew open, and I looked around, but there was nobody near me.

So I closed my eyes again.

And again, someone put their hands on my head.

They were heavy.

They were warm.

And they felt good.

And I knew they belonged to Him.

The one I had been looking for all my life, I just didn't know it until then.

When the preacher asked all those who raised their hands to come down to the alter.

I froze.  Literally.  I could not move.

An usher came up and asked me if I wanted to go down.

I yelled at him for peeking when the preacher told everyone to keep their eyes closed.

There was a woman sitting next to me.

I had not noticed her when we first got there.

She calmly took my hand, and walked to the alter with me.

Turns out, she was the preachers wife.

On the ride home, my sisters kept teasing me, but it didn't matter.

I felt lighter, and happier.

And I couldn't stop smiling.

For months.

In fact, I still smile every time I remember this day.

It's been 32 years since then, and my life has been up and down.

I had a third child.

That marriage ended in divorce.

I met a wonderful man and remarried.

And through it all....

I could always feel those hands.

Thank you Jesus for loving me.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Head Colds....Yuck!

Want to know what I hate?

Colds.

More specifically....head colds.

They make me feel all stupid and slow.

Want to know what I love?

God.

More specifically....The God.

The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

The Great I Am.

And His Son.

Jesus Christ.

Fully man, and yet fully God.

And it makes me feel good knowing that while Jesus was fully man, He struggled.

With hunger, and pain, and

head colds.

:0)

Be blessed,

Debbi

"Great is His faithfulness; His mercies are new every morning."

Lamentaions 3:23

Amazing Grace....

I have often been asked about my religion and my usual response is

"I don't have religion, I have a relationship".

Someday I will tell my story

but for today...

enjoy...

Be blessed,

Debbi

Rush of Heaven by Ema McKinley - a Zondervan book review

Today I am going to tell you about an excellent book...

Rush of Heaven by Ema McKinley with Cheryl Ricker and published by Zondervan.

It was uplifting and very well written.  I had trouble putting it down!  First a little background of the story.  It's a true story of Ema McKinley and the health issues she suffered with after a severe work related accident.  I enjoyed the fact that while she was honest about her anger and frustration, she did not dwell on the part of the story where she had problems with insurance companies and the medical community.  It could easily have become a "woe is me" and a Me against Them kind of dark book, but it wasn't.  It was a truly inspiring story on how God allows us to feel angry and hurt and confused, and to even ask him "why" and still feel His Love and His Comfort in all situations.

There is a wonderful section in the middle full of pictures of Ema before her accident, and after her miraculous healing.  Ema never portrayed herself as a saint, or a "special" child of God, just as a woman dealing daily with pain.  And through it all, she kept her faith in God, and her joy.

"The Joy of the Lord is our strength."

I won't tell you much about her healing, so you can enjoy the miracle yourself.  But I will tell you this, this is a story you will want to re-read, and to share.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Agents of the Apocalypse by Dr. David Jeremiah - A Yankee Burrow Book Review

After I requested my free copy of "Agents of the Apocalypse" by Dr. David Jeremiah for my next review for Tyndale House Publishers, I started to hear a lot of buzz about it on several media sites, so I was excited to have the opportunity to review it.  And I was not disappointed.

I have to admit that it was a little slow for me in the beginning, but I have been studying Revelations and end time events for years, and I think I expected something "deeper".  But then I realized, I was not the target audience for this book.  This book was written for the person just starting to wonder about everything that is going on in the world around us, and what does our future hold.  So with that in mind, I changed the way I approached this book and

I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT!

Dr. Jeremiah begins each chapter with a fictional story about a certain end times event, then he explains that event based on scripture.  So, the signs become something that every Biblical "novice" can grab onto first and then learn the scripture that supports it.  And every chapter flows from the preceding chapter, so it is a full story that will keep your attention.  It did mine.

It was an easy read, no big long religious words or phrases, just simple and straight forward.  So I highly recommend this for everyone who not only studies end times events, but everyone just starting to think "what does the future hold for our world".

I received my copy of this book free from Tyndale House Publishing, but this review is totally my own opinion.

If you are interested in reviewing great Christian books, check out The Tyndale Blog Network.

Be blessed,

Debbi

Tyndale Blog Network Book Review - the one year book of Bible Trivia for Kids

Today I am sharing a review on a book we received from Tyndale House.  First I want to remind everyone that I do not get paid to review these books, but I do receive a free copy of the books I choose to review.  

The most recent book I received is 

the one year book of Bible Trivia for Kids by Katrina Cassel.

I don't know about you, but sometimes getting my kids to sit still for a family devotional time is not easy.  They squirm.  They talk.  They roll their eyes.  LOL.

But they do love games, and puzzles, and trivia.  So this book makes a great addition to our arsenal of bible tools so we can "train up our children in the way they should go".

The daily devotions are short and to the point, and in an easy to read format.  The devotion for the day starts with a multiple choice trivia question, which I read and see if they can answer before we start.  Then a section talking about the scripture story, and how it applies to our lives, and then the actual scripture answer.

This is a book geared towards young children, but for older teens and adults looking to study God's Word, this book is too simple.  I love the fact that my kids are having fun while learning.  You can purchase this book by clicking on the link above.

Be blessed,

Debbi

True Love Waits

Our church recently provided our teen (and pre-teen) girls the opportunity to participate in True Love Waits.  This is a program to help our young people to understand and embrace purity and abstinence, and while my daughter is still too young for sex (I wish), this is something that all parents need to share with their children, boys and girls.  If you're a believer in Jesus Christ or God or not, you can not leave it up to society to teach them and guide them.  And while this program does not mean our children will stay a virgin until marriage,  because our children are bombarded with sexualized tv shows, games, and movies daily, it does give them understanding and a choice.  My husband and I are proud of the choice Hannah has made, today.

(oh, and even when Hannah makes poor choices, we are proud of her everyday).

 Crystal and Hannah at the TLW purity ring ceremony.

 Here they are with their youth leaders.

And Hannah with us, her loving and wonderful and extremely smart parents. (she's reading me as I type, and just huffed, lol)

The photo we took at church did not come out, so we took another one when we got home. 

She is growing up just way too fast for me. :-(

Be blessed,

Debbi