Viewing 1 - 6 out of 6 Blogs.

If you need a financial blessing, continue reading this email. Heavenly Father, most Gracious and Loving God, I pray to you that you abundantly bless my family and me. I know that you recognize, that a family is more than just a mother, father, sister, brother, husband and wife, but all who believe and trust in you. Father, I send up a prayer request for financial blessing for not only the person who sent this to me, but for me and all that I have forwarded this message on to. And that the power of joined prayer by those who believe and trust in you is more powerful than anything. I thank you in advance for your blessings. Father God, deliver the person reading this right now from debt and debt burdens. Release your Godly wisdom that I may be a good steward over all that You have given me Father, for I know how wonderful and mighty you are and how if we just obey you and walk in your word an d have the faith of a mustard seed that you will pour out blessings. I thank you now Lord for the recent blessings I have received and for the blessings yet to come because I know you are not done with me yet. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen TAKE 60 SECONDS and send this on quickly and within hours, you will have caused a multitude of people to pray to God for each other. Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life for doing the thing that you know He loves. _____ Peace and Blessings.....

"Commander or Cargo?" Marybeth Whalen, Proverbs 31 Speaker Team Member Key Verse: Mark 4:36, "Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him." (NIV) Devotion: When my best friend won a weeklong, all expenses paid cruise, I wish I could tell you that I was a very spiritual, very godly, supportive friend about it. I wish I could tell you that I was super encouraging about this great opportunity. I wish I could tell you that I prayed for her to have a safe, fun-filled trip. Instead my prayers sounded something like this: "God, Here's the thing. I've never been on a cruise or even a really good vacation. I have never won anything in my life. And the truth is, Lord, I should be on that cruise. I shouldn't miss out on the fun and memories my best friend is making. We should be sharing that time together. Lord, you know how special it is when we get to spend time together." And in the silence that followed my grumbling, this is what I heard: Don't you think that is how I feel? I want to be included in your life. I want to share in your special times. Yet many times I am the last one you come to. I don't like being left out of your life anymore than you like being left out of that cruise. OK, so I admit that is not the answer I was looking for—but it was an answer that stayed with me for weeks. God got my attention that day as He adjusted my focus away from myself. Instead of spending that week complaining, I made an effort to use that time to re-evaluate my relationship with God, and where He fell in my priorities. That week I learned a valuable lesson about God's love for us. He is right there waiting for us to invite Him into our lives. He longs for a close relationship with us. Though His love for us is powerful, He will not force it upon us uninvited. He gave us the choice to either make Him the center of our lives, or merely take Him along. In Mark 4:36, we read that the disciples set out on a cruise of their own and made the mistake of merely taking Jesus along with them. I don't think there is any mistake in the wording of this verse. We see that they did not allow Him His rightful place at the helm of the boat as their commander—instead they treated Him like cargo. Before we judge the disciples for this, we must examine how many of us do the very same thing. We stow Him away somewhere out of sight, yet accessible—just in case. If we get off course or hit rough waters, we can go get Him, otherwise we expect Him to stay out of sight. In the process, we lose sight of the blessings of daily, hourly fellowship with our Creator. And that is our loss. I am grateful for God's reminder to me that He wants to join me as I cruise through life. How awesome to consider that the God of the universe would pause to remind me of His love for me, and for all of His dearly loved children. He longs for a relationship with you, too. Don't miss out on His invitation to you today. My Prayer for Today: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for wanting to have a relationship with me, even though I don't deserve it. Help me not to take that for granted in my daily life and to never lose sight of You. I want You to be the Commander of my life. Help me not to treat You like cargo ever again. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

10 Ways to Recover and Reconnect With Your Spouse Bill & Pam Farrel Even the nicest homes need maintenance. They need to be cleaned, repaired, manicured and managed. In the same way, your relationships needs maintenance. Because nobody is perfect, there will be emotional meltdowns, communication faux paus and plain old mistakes in your marriage so you need to be good at recovering, recuperating and reconnecting. To help in the process consider these ways of keeping your relationship in good shape. 1. Test the waters. Don't say a thing, just give her a hug, or squeeze his knee or pat his hand. Sometimes the best things in life are unsaid. One way to remember this principle is this little poem: To keep a marriage brimming with love in the loving cup -- When you are wrong, admit it and when you are right, shut up! 2. Look for a positive. Anything positive -- even, "Sure is nice weather today, huh?" In fact, one researcher discovered that the more positively couples rated their communication, the more satisfied they were with their relationship. John Gottman and his colleagues have found that satisfied married couples had five positive interactions to every one negative interaction . Decide to have a positive attitude and then positive words will flow from it. 3. Try to encourage. Look for something that is good. Say some word of affirmation. Bill often says things like, "That's ok, Pam. I'd rather be here with you in this situation than with anyone else, any place else." When Bill blows it somehow, I usually say something like, "That's ok, you are a really great man and this is such a small thing." Start spontaneously listing off your spouse's best traits. (Who cares if you can't cook if your husband calls you "One red hot mamma!") 4. Look for the humor. This is not the cutting humor that can slice a heart. Instead, look for the inside joke. In our surveys of couples who have long-term happy marriages, nearly everyone mentioned the need for a good sense of humor! King Solomon, known as the wisest man in history, says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine . . ." .( Proverbs 17:2) and "Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." (Proverbs 16:24) 5. Keep it in perspective. Real problems are when someone has cancer or you've just lost a loved one. Everything else is just an obstacle to overcome. My friend, Debbie Andersen, a career military wife, gives young, stressed wives great advice when hit with a tough circumstance: "Just adapt and overcome." We asked the long-term happily married couples in our survey their advice to newlyweds and a number of them used the same phrase, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Before you raise the roof over some issue, ask yourself, "Will this matter 10 years from now?" Most often in a few hours from now it doesn't matter! I often ask, "If I do it Bill's way, is it immoral or illegal?" (Of course the answer is "No!" so, as often as possible, just decide to defer to your spouse as a gift of love.) 6. "Plan B" it. Offer alternative suggestions and solutions. If things are really tense, you might want to hold your spouse for awhile then ask, "Are you ready to brainstorm some alternatives yet?" When Bill and I were newlyweds, Viva towels had a commercial that tested their towels toughness with others. So in a tight spot when we didn't know what to do next one of us would ask, "What shall we do now?" The other might answer with a smile, "The Viva Towel test?" Of course it wasn't the real answer to the real issue or problem at hand but it usually lightened the mood and made us laugh so we had a better attitude. It gave us the opportunity to regroup, put our thoughts together and come up with a new plan or solution to the real issue. 7. Walk it off! If your mate has a severe emotional meltdown, offer to take the kids to the park (they probably want to escape too). Vacating the premises sometimes gives God some space to quietly work on your spouse. God's healing and encouragement can be pretty powerful. Draw her a bath, light some candles, turn on some soft music and pray for her. Give him a safe place to escape and cool down. The garage, the tennis court, the golf course or the park to shoot some hoops might work to give him time to mentally regroup. Or, find a way to relax and take five together. Take a walk, go on a bike ride, or water the lawn. An interesting side note from the surveys of long-term married couples is many of them mentioned that buying a Jacuzzi was one of the best investments they made for their marriage. One couple said, "We found out the silent treatment did not work, so we finally learned to communicate and share how we both felt. When we got our Jacuzzi, we would sit in it at night and share how our days went and talk about the things that bothered us before they became big issues." 8. Hey, Look Over There! Offer up a distraction: The movies, a shopping trip, or lunch out. For many women, a trip to Starbucks for a cappuccino, a stop at Crate and Barrel, some lotion from Victoria's Secret and any kind of chocolate might do the trick. For a man who is upset or angry, a trip to the batting cages to let him get his aggressions out might help a bit. I saw a healthy pattern in my grandparents who were married for over 60 years. The more angry they were at each other the harder they would work. When grandma was really ticked the house became spotless. When grandpa thought grandma was unreasonable, a new barn might just go up! One counselor once said to us at a conference, "If you have to choose dysfunctions, choose workaholism over depression. At least you'll have something to show for it after the emotions are gone!" 9. Mia Culpa. If the emotional meltdown was your fault, apologize. Recently, I helped one of my best friend's husband throw a surprise 40th birthday party for her. He was so stressed over trying to keep it a secret and hide all the details that he just wasn't acting himself. She got all mad in response. In the middle of an argument the night before, she drove off in a huff. She was upset because she thought he wasn't going to do anything special for her birthday! Not wanting to spoil the surprise he just took all the ranting, raving and emotions. He finally offered to take her and the kids to a nice dinner and the movies. To pull off the surprise he said they needed to stop by her friend's house on the way. Well, when my 40-year-old friend walked into her surprise party, she let out an excited gasp of joy. Then she immediately threw herself into her husband's arms and cried out an apology in front of her roomful of guests, "I am so sorry!" That is a wise principle. The bigger the faux paus, the bigger the apology should be. Guys learned long ago that candy, flowers and diamonds are a good way out of the doghouse. Remember, no husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes! So, if you lost it emotionally on your spouse try to think of a very sincere, very creative way to make amends. I don't know what the guy's mistake was, but I knew it had to have been pretty big when one day while driving down the freeway, I saw a huge white bed sheet with "I'm so sorry, Paula!" spray painted in big bold letters. I hope Paula forgave him because that big a gesture is very rare. 10. Keep Short Accounts. It is not unusual for passionate couples to ride the emotional roller coaster of life together. Couples who choose to let the past reside in the past get a fresh start with each other regularly. Couples who let resentments build up find that even the smallest infractions can create major conflicts. You might be able to make a few points like the husband who proposed a toast to his wife at an anniversary party: To the two secrets for a long-lasting happy marriage: Here's to a good sense of humor -- and a short memory! May we never forget what is worth remembering or remember what is best forgotten. Pam and Bill Farrel are relationship experts who recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. This article is an adaptation of advice found in their newest book, Every Marriage is a Fixer Upper (Harvest House) They are the authors of over 20 books including best-selling, Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti. For more info on the Farrels speaking and writing ministry see http://farrelcommunications.com.

Just to let you know I am thinking of you. THREE THINGS Three things in life that,once gone, never come back - Time Words Opportunity Three things in life that may never be lost - Peace Hope Honesty Three things in life that are most valuable - Love Self-confidence Friends Three things in life that are never certain - Dreams Success Fortune Three things that make a man/woman - Hard work Sincerity Commitment Three things in life that can destroy a man/woman - Guilt Pride Anger Three things that are truly constant - Father Son Holy Ghost I ask the Lord to bless you, as I pray for you today; to guide you and protect you, as you go along your way. His love is always with you, His promises are true. And when you give Him all your cares, you know He'll see you through. Pass this along to People you want God to Bless - I Just Did!

Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. -Jeremiah 33:3 God bless to all!

FORWARD THIS TO EVERY WOMAN YOU KNOW Through the Eyes of a Rapist This is important information for females of ALL ages. Guys - please forward to the female members of your family and all your female friends and associates. When this was sent to me, I was told to forward it to my lady friends. I forwarded it to almost everyone in my address book. My men friends have female friends and this information is too important to miss someone. Please pass it along. A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts : 1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets. 2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who's clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around specifically to cut clothing. 3) They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered. 4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between 5:00a.m. and 8:30a.m. 5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery store parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages. Number three is public restrooms. 6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to another location where they don't have to worry about getting caught. 7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years. 8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming. 9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it. 10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk: "I can't believe it is so cold out here", "we're in for a bad winter." Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up; you lose appeal as a target. 11) If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell STOP or STAY BACK! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target. 12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent. 13) If someone grabs you, you can't beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the upper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it hurts. 14) After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN. I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you'll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble, and he's out of there. 15) When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly. 16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don't dismiss it, go with your instincts!!! You may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble. PLEASE READ THEN FORWARD THIS TO EVERY WOMAN YOU KNOW, IT'S SIMPLE STUFF BUT IT COULD SAVE HER LIFE!