Awesome Book: "Body Image Lies Women Believe"

I wanted to share a book with all of you that touches on a subject near and dear to my heart: body image untruths and how they effect women of all ages. The book is:

If you are a Kindle reader, the book is FREE - yes I said FREE - through the end of the day on Amazon (click on the photo above & it will take you to the site).

Here's what the publisher has to say about the book:

- Are you insecure about your looks?

- Have you ever compared yourself to someone else and found yourself wanting?

- Do complements or put downs determine the image you have of your beauty?

Real Stories of Overcoming Body Image Lies Women Believe with God’s Truth

Throughout this book, Christian women share their stories of how they have struggled with body image lies and a distorted view of themselves. However, each of their stories also contains hope – the hope of replacing these lies with God’s truth. Our prayer for you is that you find encouragement within these pages and allow Christ to transform you with His truth.

We Are Each Created Unique

God has created each one of us with unique abilities, unique talents and a unique personality. As women we are influencers and God has given us that role and our beauty to share with others. Yet so often we settle for a counterfeit. The enemy has counterfeited our idea of beauty, convincing us to share our beauty with the world in a distorted way. Today that often means that we see our beauty as what we look like on the outside.

What Lies Have You Been Believing?

Join us for the journey of replacing body image lies with truth from God’s Word.

I have been receiving a daily devotional from the author of this book that is absolutely right-on as far as teaching from the Truth of God's Word, and I promise you that this book will give you a whole new perspective on who you are and Whose you are.

You are beautifully and wonderfully made, and you have a Creator who absolutely loves you the way you are!

So check out the book and the website:

Body & Soul Publishing

It's Friday, But Sunday’s Coming….

For the past couple of years, I have posted this sermon given years ago by esteemed pastor S. M. Lockridge to his congregation; I think it bears repeating:

It's Friday. Jesus is arrested in the garden where He was praying. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. The disciples are hiding and Peter's denying that he knows the Lord. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. Jesus is standing before the high priest of Israel, silent as a lamb before the slaughter. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. Those Roman soldiers are flogging our Lord with a leather scourge that has bits of bones and glass and metal, tearing at his flesh. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. The Son of man stands firm as they press the crown of thorns down into his brow. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. See Him walking to Calvary, the blood dripping from His body. See the cross crashing down on His back as He stumbles beneath the load. It's Friday; but Sunday's a coming.

It's Friday. See those Roman soldiers driving the nails into the feet and hands of my Lord. Hear my Jesus cry, Father, forgive them. It's Friday; but Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, bloody and dying. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. The sky grows dark, the earth begins to tremble, and He who knew no sin became sin for us. Holy God who will not abide with sin pours out His wrath on that perfect sacrificial lamb who cries out, "My God, My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?" What a horrible cry. But Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. And at the moment of Jesus' death, the veil of the Temple that separates sinful man from Holy God was torn from the top to the bottom because Sunday's coming.

It's Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, heaven is weeping and hell is partying. But that's because it's Friday, and they don't know it, but Sunday's a coming.

~ S. M. Lockridge

Some Perspective...

With two teenagers in our household, life can get pretty crazy.  I try to keep perspective, but it is way too easy to slip on blinders, concentrating on the small, moment-to-moment details, getting caught up in them to the point where I lose the forest through the trees.  So I sat down this morning to regain that big picture view of my life by taking inventory of the the things that are truly important to me:

I have a husband who is an amazing, Godly man with a heart that overlooks my flaws, endures my quirks, and just plain loves me.  No judgment, asking for nothing to earn it - just love.  We laugh at ourselves (and, on occasion, at each other), and we cry when we need to.  He is my greatest champion.

Every day my boys continue to grow into wonderful young men, despite being faced with so many more challenges than I ever had to deal with at their age.  Some choices are easier to make than others, but, somehow, they continue to make their own way.  I am a proud mama; they give me reason to smile every day.

I am so thankful for my church family.  They are an amazing group of people, and I know that whatever I need, they are there for me.  I love that they give me the chance to give back by sharing my time, talents and treasures with them.  Our church is growing like crazy, and it is humbling to see the hand of God working in amazing and miraculous ways; I am blessed to be a part of it.

Above all else, I am overwhelmingly grateful for God and what He is doing in my life.  I love that He sees me through His eyes and not my own.  I am His child, and He is my Father who loves me and wants His best for me in all that I do.  I thank Him for the gifts He has given me, and for the opportunity to share them with others.  He grows and stretches me every day through opportunities and challenges, and every time I come out stronger, filled with a peace and joy only He can give.

So, although the day-to-day details are not going to go away, I know - truly know - what is important to me. 

And really...I couldn't ask for anything more.

Cracked Pots...

I recently read a quote by Leonard Cohen:

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

I would also offer this:  

By allowing the light in, you cannot contain it. 

Because of the cracks, you become a light for others.

Just some food for thought...

Thoughts on Mercy...

It started in November of last year. 

I felt myself getting more and more angry because of the bad choices our foster son was making.  Everything he did I took as a personal attack on me, and my fuse got shorter and shorter to the point where no matter what he did, I was unforgiving and judgmental.  I stopped listening to his excuses and refused to believe that there was another side to any of the stories he told.  He could no longer do anything right in my eyes, and I had this ugly, unrighteous anger boiling over constantly from the depths of my heart.

My personal relationships suffered the most.  I stopped reading my bible.  My husband and I couldn't agree on what to do about anything that our son was doing, and we started fighting more and more.  Our other son got angry as well, but mostly at us for the abrupt changes in our personalities.   Even the dogs got fussier.

So unhealthy. So unbalanced.  So unfair. 

I felt like a Charlie Brown character with the scribbles in a word balloon over my head, or like the character who has the raincloud that follows them everywhere they go.  The pit I was digging just kept getting deeper and deeper, and I wasn't talking to anyone about it.  Instead I sat at the bottom and stewed about how mad I was, and I got angry - a lot.

That's when I heard it.  Deep in the darkness of that bottomless pit, I heard it.  Over the constant clamoring of my unreasonable angry ranting floated the still, quiet voice of God whispering one word, over and over and over: 

MERCY

But I didn't want to be merciful.  I wanted to be angry.  Angry at this child who had lived with us for 10 months and still didn't follow our rules.  Angry at this boy who had lived in 5 different homes in 6 years, only to be used and discarded like trash again and again by people who said they 'loved' him.  Angry at this man-child who, for 16 years had never truly known the meaning of love or family or self-worth.  This child who had spent all of those years building walls to protect himself, knowing in his heart that we would be just like all the rest of the families that had rejected him.  The families who had given him back because he was a troublemaker and would never be any good.  

I wanted to stay angry because it was the easiest thing to be.  That way, I could give up on him and not feel bad about it, having given it my  'best shot'.

MERCY

Really, it hit me like a Mack truck:  What if God had decided to be angry instead of merciful all of the times I had turned my back on Him, had lied to Him, had done things that had completely gone against His will?  What if He decided I would get what I deserved - where would I be then? 

MERCY

God hasn't given up on me, and I am so unbelievably humbled and grateful for that, because if I were in His shoes, I would have given up on me along time ago, having given it my 'best shot'. 

MERCY

So I'm not giving up on this boy, no matter how hard he pushes me to do so.  Because I know that he pushes me the same way that I push against my Father who refuses to give up on me.  And if I truly want to grow to be like Him, I have to be willing to give mercy, even as I receive it.

My heart feels lighter now that I have let go of the knots of anger that were tied around it.  My relationships are better, and my days seem brighter.  Our son still makes bad decisions, but by showing mercy, I can see the good ones he makes as well.  My eyes are opened wider and the light is back.  I can see what I'm supposed to be learning through this:  to be less judgmental and more forgiving. 

To show mercy.

Helping In Haiti…

It has been a while since I posted, but I wanted to share with you the involvement our church, Palm Valley Church in Goodyear, AZ, has with the people of Haiti and how you can help.  Our church has been partnering with ministries in Haiti for the past 3 years, and we, as a congregation, have built 2 churches, help with one of the local orphanages, and work with a local ministry training center.  I wanted to give you an update of how all of our ministry partners are doing and to put some faces with the ministries (most of what I am including below comes directly from our pastor’s blog, http://www.gregrohlinger.com/.  You can go out to his blog for updates.):
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** Photos of Palm Valley staff in Haiti are from a trip in November 2009 **

…here’s a rundown of the ministry partnerships Palm Valley has in Haiti…

Missions Door- the mission organization that we work with to partner with Guillo and his team in Haiti. http://www.missionsdoor.org/

Joaquin Vargas- Vice President of Missions Door and heads up Latino and Caribbean Ministries. Joaquin works with each of our ministry partners in Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Our pastor, Greg Rohlinger, with Guillo, the national Ministry Director (Pastor), in front of Vallue Baptist Church (one of the churches Palm Valley built)

Herode Guillomenttre (Guillo)- Church Planting
Personal Profile- Wife Edline and 2 young girls Deinlee and Leissa.
Ministry Profile- Herode Guillomenttre also known as “Guillo” established the Christian Center for Integrated Development, which trains and equips many Pastors and leaders through seminars and conferences.
Guillo is the National Ministry Coordinator in Haiti for Missions Door. Some of Guillo’s responsibilities include equipping pastors from across Haiti (over 750) this includes Vallue Baptist Church and Pastor Emmanuel. Guillo also works directly with the Haitian Baptist Association (network of pastors) and is the director of a the Community Hospital Center of Lilavois.

Alexis Francklin- Children’s Ministry
Personal Profile: Recently graduated, and would like to continue his studies.  Ministry Profile: Francklin is a children’s Pastor and works directly with 8 different churches and their children’s ministries over 800 children total. Francklin also works runs a facility in Petit Goave, that just recently opened as a location for ministry groups to stay at, as well as a location for further equipping for Pastor’s. This was demolished in the earthquake.

Palm Valley Ministry Team with Francklin

Jonathan Joseph- Leadership Development
Personal Profile: Married to Alexandra in 1999.
Ministry Profile: Working with

Pastor Emmanuel- Pastor of Vallue Baptist Church
Personal Profile: Engaged and will be married November of 2010.
Ministry Profile: Works directly with Guillo and Missions Door. In 2007 Palm Valley Church was able to send the finances to the church in Vallue so they could build a facility to meet in. This facility was damaged in the earthquake.

Palm Valley Pastor Greg Rohlinger with Pastor Emmanuel

Community of Joulien- funds where also sent from PVC to help build a facility in the community of Joulien. The pastor has continued his education at HaitiArise Ministries. This community is also where we are having a Well drilled.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP:

HaitiArise- Marc and Lisa Honorat are the directors of HaitiArise Ministries. They are located in Grand Goave which is located 30 miles west of Port Au Prince. HaitiArise is a Bible school and technical school. They also have started a church at HaitiArise that has over 400 adults and 300 children weekly. http://www.haitiarise.org/

Maison Des Anges- House of Angels orphan home is located in Port Au Prince. http://lamaisondesanges.e-monsite.com/accueil.html
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The earthquakes in Haiti have brought the world’s attention to a much-neglected country that may finally get the help it sorely needs.  The people are filled with such amazing strength and resolve, and I wanted to share some pictures that really spoke to me about the faith that is getting them through:

“He gives beauty for ashes…

…strength for fear…

…gladness for mourning…

…and peace for despair.”

Join me in praying for Haiti and its healing.  The road to recovery is a long one, and will not end with the immediate needs.  There will be a need for help for many months to come, and my prayer is that the needs of the people continue to be met long after the rescue stage is over and the reporters are gone.

Merry Christmas To All!

Good Friday...

No pain, no palm;

no thorns, no throne;

no gall, no glory;

no cross, no crown.

~ William Penn

Faith 4 God...

I wanted to share a great blog with you all: Faith 4 God, written by Peter Sauer up in Washington State. Peter describes the purpose of his blog this way:

"I created faith4god.com for the purpose of expanding God’s kingdom. How do I intend on doing this you might ask??? Well I just wanted to create a site that is fun and inviting. A site that God would approve of that has a little bit to offer to everyone out there! When people leave faith4god.com I want them to leave it with a smile on their face and feeling uplifted and hopefully closer to God. If it weren’t for my desire to bring people to God this site would not exist."

Every day Peter and his wife post an entry that coordinates with this schedule:

• Sermon Sunday


• Music Monday


• Testimony Tuesday


• Weekly Scripture Wednesday


• Thursday Thought of the Week


• Fun Facts Friday


• Silly Jokes and Quotes Saturday

Today, Peter used one of my blog posts, Transparency, as the testimony for this week. Thank you, Peter, for sharing this post with your readers. I am honored you chose my words to further your purpose of sharing Christ's love with your readers.

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Transparency...

We had unbelievable sunsets last week. The colors changed minute by minute, causing the clouds to take on an increasingly deeper shades of pink, then purple, and eventually a deep black tinged with gold.

I felt so small in comparison to the wide-openness the sky. In that moment, when the last beams of light were fighting their way through the clouds, I realized that my desire is not only to let God’s light shine in me, but to have His light shine through me.

I want to be transparent.

Not in an “I don’t matter so therefore I don’t want to be seen” way, but in an “I want to be so close to God that you can see who He is because of who I am” way. I want you to know that I am hiding nothing; that what you see is what you get.

I want to be transparent.

I don’t want to hold onto secrets. I don’t want you to think that I have any ulterior motives. I want you to know me, inside and out, as a child of God, living my life for Him.

I want to be transparent.

I want you to know that, good or bad, all that I am belongs to Him, and that He is still working on me, turning me into the person He has created me to be.

I want to be transparent.

I want to love without reservation. I want to see you for who He has created you to be. I want to be merciful, not judgemental. I want to be grateful for the life I have been given and not the life I think I should have. I want to sing with joy. I want to rejoice in the opportunity to change and grow.

I want to be transparent.

I want to throw open my arms, turn my face towards the sky and say without hesitation, “With all of my heart, my mind, my soul and my strength, I am Yours. Use me. Teach me. Love me.”

I want to be transparent.

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Interview With God...

I happened on this today & wanted to share it with you: Enjoy! (You'll have to pause my music to be able to listen to the music on the video.)

Sorry! I had to take the video feed out of my blog, but you can get to the slideshow, "The Interview With God", at this website:

http://theinterviewwithgod.com

For Unto Us A Child Is Born...

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David's throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

Isaiah 9:6-7

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Thoughts on Faith...

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about faith. With all that is going on in the world today, faith seems to be the first casualty in our collective efforts to “turn the tide”, so to speak. We want to take charge of our future and storm ahead, making things better and overcoming the insurmountable problems of this world. We have been told “Just do it!”, and we believe we can do it on our own, with a little elbow grease and a lot of willpower – strength in numbers and all that…

On the surface, this sounds just great. We just need to buckle down, work together and weather this bumpy ride, and all will be better in the long run – you’ll see! There is hope: a light at the end of the tunnel. I know it is really dark right now, but if we work hard enough and long enough we’ll make it. Prepare for the worst – hope for the best. Isn’t that how it goes?

Well, maybe not…

We have heard that word “hope” used a lot in the past few months. Entire campaigns were constructed around that one, very powerful word. Hope is a great thing to have, but where is our hope coming from?

A few months ago, I wrote a piece about hope. In it I defined hope like this:

“Hope itself is the sure belief that something better is coming. As simple as that definition sounds, it implies that to have hope, there must be suffering or despair to overcome. It requires the one who is suffering to make a choice between despairing in today’s pain and grief and hoping for the better day that is coming.”

I still believe that this definition is true. The question that arises, then, is “What is this ‘something better’ and where is it coming from?” Good question.

This is where faith comes in. Faith is commonly defined as our belief system – our “religion”. While this may be one definition, the one I prefer is from the book of Hebrews. Paul writes:

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

Another translation says it this way:

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

In other words: believing in something that we cannot see for ourselves.

That’s a tough one for most of us. We as humans are wired in such a way that we only believe that which we can see, hear, touch and experience for ourselves. Faith, then, goes against every logical bone in our bodies. How are we supposed to have faith in anything but that which we can do for ourselves? It doesn’t make any sense!

So here’s the rub: in order to have faith, we must overcome the innate desire to see, hear, and touch, and make the leap to belief in that which is unseen.

The very essence of faith - the foundation of hope, therefore - is believing in someone or something acting on our behalf even though we don’t know in advance what they are doing or how they are doing it.

OK…so back to the question of where does our hope comes from? The answer is: it all depends on where we place our faith. Not so simple, is it?

So...where do you place your faith?

For me, the answer is simple: “Have faith in God," Jesus answered. Mark 11:22



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Sunday Thoughts...

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.' "

John 8:12

Light of the World

Giver of creation, bringer of salvation
Word of God, eternal life
Praise the Son of God
Promised One of Heaven
To bring us to your Kingdom
Rescued us from darkness
Praise the Son of God


Jesus, light of the world
Shine on us, shine on us
Word of life, spoken for love
Breathe on us, breathe on us
Light of the world, King Jesus


Darkness will obey your voice
Weakness will in you rejoice
You have bound the broken heart
Praise the Son of God
Jesus
You have shown your father's heart
And to us you will impart
The holiness of all you are
Praise the Son of God


Jesus, light of the world
Shine on us, shine on us
Word of life, spoken for love
Breathe on us, breathe on us
Light of the world, King Jesus


Shine, breathe, live through us
Shine, breathe, live through us
Shine, breathe, live through us
Shine, breathe, live through us


Jesus, light of the world
Shine on us, shine on us
Word of life, spoken for love
Breathe on us, breathe on us
Light of the world, King Jesus


God's beating heart, live through us
God's beating heart, live through us
God's beating heart, live through us


Light of the world, King Jesus
King Jesus, shine on us, shine on us


Watermark, "Jesus, Light of the World"
A Grateful People

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Why Hope?

With the delivery of my mosaic piece, my contact from the Breast Cancer Awareness group asked me if I could send her information on what inspired me to use the design I chose for this piece. After thinking about how to put it into words, I came up with this:

"As soon as I was asked to donate a piece for this event, I instantly knew what the theme for it would be: HOPE. But how to depict the essence of hope when it is an emotion coming from the very core of the human condition?

Hope itself is the sure belief that something better is coming. As simple as that definition sounds, it implies that to have hope, there must be suffering or despair to overcome. It requires the one who is suffering to make a choice between despairing in today’s pain and grief and hoping for the better day that is coming.

I heard a story the other day that inspired the design of this piece:

While walking in the park, a child came upon a cocoon that obviously had a butterfly struggling to get out. The child felt sorry for the butterfly, and helped it to break free from the cocoon. As she watched the newly freed butterfly, expecting it to take flight, she noticed that its wings were not strong enough to lift itself off of the branch. You see, the butterfly’s ability to fly comes from the strength that is built during the struggle to free itself from the cocoon.

Just as it is true with the butterfly, it is also true for people: without the struggle, we cannot grow stronger. We cannot always choose the condition of our adversities, but we can choose to engage in the struggle. In doing so, we sustain hope in the knowledge that we will emerge stronger than we were when we began.

HOPE is what gives us the strength to fly."

Spirit West Coast - Del Mar 2

Just a quick note on the trip to Spirit West Coast - San Diego:

Wow - what a weekend! This experience was just overwhelmingly awesome! For three days we listened to Christian bands on 7 different stages and just spent time together as families (we were there with 4 other families). Actually, the boys camped out the whole time, so the hubby and I got a lot of "alone time" which we sorely needed.

The concerts were fantastic, but none compared to the boys' performance - they were just amazing! The boys and parents will be meeting with a recording company in the next few weeks to discuss a recording contract - how surreal is that? We're working on t-shirt designs and getting sponsors right now (apparently being in a band is quite costly...).

I can't wait to see what He has in store for them next!

That's all for now!

Spirit West Coast - Del Mar

OK...I'm going to indulge a bit here...

Today my family and I are about to set off on an adventure this weekend! We are on our way to "Spirit West Coast - Del Mar", a 3-day Christian music festival in San Diego starting Friday, where our son's band, "Two Days Til Tomorrow", will be performing on Sunday. What an amazing opportunity for these guys! It is even more amazing in that the band has five incredibly talented musicians who are ages 14 - 16 writing and performing all original songs -- very cool!

Our son plays electric guitar & sings background vocals. The coolest thing about it is that, at 14, he is getting a chance to pursue his dream and to use his God-given talents to serve God and to be an example to others. At fourteen!

It took me 30 years before I had enough courage to put my talents to use. I wish I had been as quietly confident of myself and the plan that had been laid out for me when I was 14. Then again, I wouldn't have the life experience to give me my perspective on life if I had...

He is truly a blessing in our lives, and I am grateful to have him in mine. Ahhh...the love of a mother...

That's it for now - I've gotta go pack!

Being Thankful...

Some days I just wake up and realize how blessed I am. I have an amazing husband, a terrific son, a roof over my head, food in my belly and a song in my heart. Yesterday we sang "Happy Day" in church, and I can't seem to get it out of my head. Yes...today is a very happy day!

Thoughts on glass...

I am fascinated with glass and its remarkable, perfect, reflective surface. It can be clear or colorful - any color really. It is everywhere I look, reflecting impulses of light - versions of reality depending on where I am standing. A powerful yet fragile surface that, left on its own, can stand for a while, eventually revealing every chip and scratch, slowly growing tendrils that inevitably shatter the whole into tiny unrecognizable pieces. What is left is a pile of something that used to be beautiful, but is now considered by many to be unworthy and disposable. Each little piece has razor-sharp edges that will injure any who try to pick it up without protection.

Putting the pieces back together to recreate the whole as it was is impossible. Pieces will always be missing. Only by taking the pieces and rearranging them into something new can the possibility of being whole again be considered. Even then, it cannot stand on its own – it will need something to fill in the cracks – something to surround each piece, giving it stability and structural integrity.

Only when the pieces of glass are carefully arranged and glued down in a new way – a new creation – can the piece be completed. Filling in the spaces around the pieces with grout gives the artwork structure, unity and purpose. The transformation is remarkable. The artwork is not complete with the glass or grout alone. Only with the one relying on the other is the new creation possible.