~Sound the trumpet~

 

   

"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say rejoice"

 Philippians 4:4

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks,

for this is the will of  God in Christ Jesus for you."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24

    My kitchen is just big enough for one person to stand in and just barely has enough counter space that you can put your ingredients on it and a bowl. It is an older place I live in, and so the counter edges are falling apart. Not to mention, though I keep it spotless and all my food in air tight containers, it is filled with little friends of the black, six legged kind. (Side note, I have used every kind of "food" imaginable for them, yet they continue on.)

   So, I was cooking in my kitchen the other day when I lost my temper. I dropped something, I found an ant, I had no room, someone came in.....oh the ways I get upset in there go on and on. But....in His beautiful, still, small voice He says, "Remember beloved, two years ago, you did not have a kitchen to cook in."

   Two years ago, we lived in a tent in an closed in giant porch. It was winter, it was cold, but we were well taken care of. But, as He reminded me, I didn't have a kitchen of my own. That beautiful, still, small voice cuts deep to the heart. But, it is exactly what I needed.

   It seems as though He is teaching me a lesson these days about being joyful and to rejoice in all things. I was on Facebook on a Monday and saw many posts about "Mondays" and how they are "horrible". The things is, that is so worldly. God created Mondays just as He created Fridays, Rejoice! 

   It is a constant battle, truly, ever day I have to remind myself what His words says. It is so easy to get irritated in my kitchen, or when I drop things for the millionth time, or at drivers who probably should not have their license, rejoice!  

    Did you know that joy is mentioned in the King James Bible 165 times according to ChristianBiblereference.com and the word rejoice is mentioned 192 times according to yahoo answeres. I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, He was trying to say something to us! 

   So, as the Christmas season approaches, here are a few things I am thankful for,

~For my kitchen, because I am able to cook whenever I want and feed my family, and it IS a HUGE blessing! 

~For my son, who is a gift from God. I think about Kyron Horman who is still missing, almost the same age as my son. How horrible it must be to have to keep going on without your son. A dear friend of mine is his uncle. Always in my prayers!

~For my husband, that he gets to come home after work every day, we eat together, sleep together, laugh together. There are families who are separated due to work situations. There are families like Saeed Abedini's who are separated because he is in jail in Iran simply for being a Christian. 

~For my church family because though we bicker at times, though we annoy each other, we are truly family, the way God intended a church to be and I am so thankful knowing I have every single one of them as brothers and sisters. 

~For driving with drivers who maybe shouldn't be.....I get to get to and fro without walking, even when my heater doesn't work in -2 degree weather, it beats walking and I am OH SO THANKFUL for this!!!!

~For my Christmas tree that is truly a Charlie Brown tree but so beautiful to me because it means my family and I went to the woods spending time together and getting to see God's beautiful creation up close and personal. 

~For you Jesus, because I am starting to hear Your still, small voice more and more. I thank You for everything You have  blessed me with, even when they don't seem like blessings to anyone else, I know they are and I thank You. Words could never express my gratitude to You Father for sending Your only Son to die for us so that we could have eternal life with You. 

    Remember the true gift this year, the best reason to sound the trumpet! Jesus was born to live as a man, to be an example, then to take our sin upon Himself and die on the cross as a sacrifice, so that we would be forgiven, and then rose again, to show that He is alive, walking with us, until we get to heaven where we will be with Him forever. To Him be the glory forever and ever amen!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may

overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

 Romans 15:13

~change of plans

   It seemed as though I was on a roll last week of going to the bluff to read, pray, and spend time with Jesus.  Since I had been doing this, things have been going really well. I felt like God was in total control and I was following Him closely.
   Friday, kids had no school, so my son was home. He is 11 going on 16. Some days, he is the most amazingly, smart boy ever. He loves to cuddle with his mom. He loves to spend time in the Word. He is a great boy. But he has his moments.
   This Friday, he had one. And here is where the brutal, humble, honest truth comes out. I have a temper. A short fused temper. He had an attitude and I lost it. It was like the last week had not even taken place. I was on the right path and felt so firm in my steps and one tiny little pebble and BAM, I was off the path.
   My son is a true "mini me" and so when I lose it, he loses it more. We did a HUGE downward spiral of yelling and attitudes. It got to the point where I realized, this was not of God. Not in the slightest so I tried to calm us both down. It didn't work. So, I had to yell at the devil to get out of our lives because I could feel his pull on both of us and finally, my son broke down too and we cried together. We said sorry to each other, and I had to swallow my pride and explain that even parents don't have it all together.
   Change of Plans! I grabbed our Bibles, grabbed my son, and we both went up to the bluff, my office, to pray. We talked about his stuff (games etc) then we talked about the city we were looking at. We talked about the mission field below us. We talked about Christ. We talked about the narrow path to heaven and how most of the people we could see were not going to make it. We talked about how so many people  had hardened hearts. Then we read the Bible in silence.
   What really was amazing was, I read my chapter and loved it and learned from it but I really didn't feel anything jumping out at me as a lesson or word to cling to....but then my son said, "Mom...listen." He was reading Isaiah 1. vs 4 "Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him."  He then said, "It is kind of like the people in this town..." He continued to read all of Chapter 1 and spoke to me relating parts of it to this town and the hearts of the lost.
   It was amazing to me because he was young, and yet, he understood what God was saying. I tell you, it was a blessing to spend this time with my son. To teach him, to be taught by him, to pray over our town together and had we not let God take over that morning, we would have missed it.
    My prayer is that you see when you are being taken off the right path and put on a path that leads you away from Him. Sometimes, a different path looks better or feels better but you know what, the best and biggest blessings are on the right path. Satisfying my need of letting the anger out by yelling or showing my "momness" no way compares to hearing my son speak to me about what was being said in the Bible. To hear his thoughts, ideas, and life. Precious! Lord, please help me to recognize things that are not of you and to give me the strength to rebuke them and run back to Your path! In Jesus name, Amen!
 

~walk on the water

    Today, as I sat up overlooking our city, it was filled with smoke. It was still peaceful and beautiful from a distance, but quite smokey. I smiled, prayed that Jesus would speak to me this morning through His word and that I would hear, whatever it was, He wanted to say to me.
   Always ever present in the back of my mind is Pastor Rory's vision....going door to door spreading the Gospel. And Aaron saying that the JW's  are reaching millions....but my mind still stuck on, that is not for me!
   So,I began to read James and it seems as if God is speaking to me because it does not seem to matter what I read in the Bible lately, whether it be Matthew or wherever, I see this : James 1:22 "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Yes, there is more before and after, and yes, it is just as important but lately, God is saying to me, "Now! Now is the time Nikki, Now be a doer!"
    As many of my fellow brothers and sisters in the Bible, I always hear the discouragements raging on...."You cant do it...you do not know your Bible enough....you are to scared....you will fail....you will get hurt...you wont reach anyone...what a waste of time....you could be doing something else......”
   But, funny thing....James 1:5 (fitting, it comes right before being doers!) "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Again, more to that one...but the point is....I have all I need! I have the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ever present with me. What else could I possilby need?
   I am a visual person, I am a photographer so I see things and I love it when God speaks to me in pictures....I wish I could draw because then I could maybe jot down a glimpse of what I saw but I worked with what I had.
So, as i looked over the bluff....I saw first, a beautiful, quiet city. Details...I need to look deeper....so I did...I saw ridgelines...I could imagine water filling this up and that is when I saw Living Water filling up our town...Amazingly, beautiful Living Water, overflowing, neverending!!!! I saw Jesus walking over our town on that Water....I remembered  Peter in Matthew 14:22-33 when Jesus walked out to them and Peter said, vs 28 "Lord, if it's you, " Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." vs 29 "Come," He said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. vs 30, But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord save me!"

 
 I then looked at what was infront of me....this town, that could be that picture, was filled with smoke, smog....pollution seeping in the crevacies and basically suffocating people. It was almost sneakly like too. Not like water would gush all over, smoke sort of lurks and seeps.

 I am not lying, do you know what happened? A JW came and knocked on my truck window.....they gave me a flier and shared their web page with me. Seeing I had my Bible out, she asked me only a few questions about what I was reading and what my purpose in reading was. I told her I wanted to share the Gospel with people and that was that Jesus died, rose again, giving us hope of heaven forever with Him. She didn't argue but she did leave fairly quickly.
      The analyzer that I am said....you didn't really do any good there Nikki. But then GOd said, "that was not for her, that was for you! Pollution is moving very quickly here....What are you gonna do about it?”

~Save the lost, show they I AM all they need!

     Yep, in my office now :) If you read the prior post from today, this is time I spent with Jesus in my office, after letting it all go!

      Our Pastor has a huge heart for the lost. He is always encouraging and exhorting us to be disciples, to disciple, and to evangelize. I will never forget when he told us he was driving threw town and started sobbing because he could see so many lost people, people going to hell.
   My prayer has always been to have the heart of Jesus....but, did I really want it? It is clear to me now that I prayed it but did not pursue it to the fullest. I do have a heart for people, for youth, for poor, for growing the Kingdom of God, but....I see a bigger picture... I don't zoom in....Stay with me a second here....

    So, this is the view from my office :), from the bluff overlooking our small town. I was looking it over and praying and praying. I prayed for my pastors vision of reaching everyone in our town with the Gospel, however that looked like, even if it meant stepping out of my comfort zone. I prayed that God would move in this town.

   I had just read a blog by Pastor Chuck Smith on Genuine Faith and he spoke about how you can feel the wind and see its evidence...I saw wind and then I could hear God saying, "I am moving in this town...I am at work here." I could see His hands holding our town. Amazing.....

    Here is the thing, God said "I"...and that really hit me. My core group had just taken cupcakes to a shelter and I said, "We are from Calvary Chapel" as I introduced us.....Better wording would have been "God sent us here with these for you." Because, it is not about our church, my church, your church, it is ALL about HIS church! It is about HIM and HIM alone! Our goal is to build HIS Kingdom, not ours. 

    Last night we were reading and read, Matthew and in chapter 13, there is a lot of talk about seeing and not perceiving and hearing but not listening....Oh Lord, let me be like verse 16 "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear..." 

   So, now that we are thinking about the corporate church, HIS church, lets zoom in....lets not look at what I can do or we can do to this town, lets zoom in and see what HE wants to do through us....

      Now, can you see the cars....I didn't before, I saw a town...now I see houses, businesses, cars, people....life.......My heart broke. Most of these people do not know Jesus. My neighbors, my favorite McDonald's girls, my favorite cashier, my favorite barista.....they are lost, they are going to hell. I began to weep for my city...weep for these people I could now see through His eyes. Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours!
   And He spoke to me, "Save the lost, show them that I am all they need!"
   I saw a group of ravens flying....my favorite verse is Luke 12:24 "Consider the raves for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?"  What a beautiful picture....He is all they need, the poor, the homeless, the rich, the mighty, HE is all they need and He was showing me in words I could understand! Thank You Jesus!!!!

    Today.....October 23, 2013, after a hard few weeks, I gave up.....I gave up everything....I gave up trying to be the perfect wife....I gave up trying to be the perfect mom.....the perfect core group leader....the perfect sound control person.....the perfect "behind the scenes" girl.....the perfect anything....I gave up control on all of it, every aspect of my life. I realized, after blurting it all out yesterday at a meeting, that I was in control of my life, I, not Him.....whoops...how did that happen?
    To recap yesterday quickly, I was feeling overwhelmed in my Godly duties, ones I know I am called to do by Him...."How can one be overwhelmed when one is called by God?", you might ask....simple....by taking over control. I stated I was overwhelmed and wanted to know how my Pastor does it cause he surely does a lot more than I.
   A few people spoke up and said a lot of things but here are the things that hit me.....
    Simplify your life....now....I may have interpreted this the wrong way, but here is what it meant to me....Try to de-clutter your home and life. Home being, keeping it clean by eliminating certain things in it. I live in a very small one bedroom apartment with three of us. We have a very cluttered home. And, as a woman, it stresses me out to no end, sitting in my living room, trying to rest in Christ, surrounded by clutter. So, this made great sense to me because for me, I would have less stress in my life if my home exemplified a life of less clutter!
   And simplify your life....getting rid of the world. I try not to cling to the world too much and I think I got a little proud in my "unworldliness". See, we try, as a family, to make sure all our decisions are based on how God would want it not what the world thinks, we don't cuss, we don't drink, we are pretty "good" people. BUT.....I like to sit down after dinner and relax by watching TV. Yep! There it is.
    Here is our schedule, my husband gets home from work around 4:30pm. My son 3:00pm. I am home all the time. But, typically, we have to be somewhere by 6:00pm so, we squeeze in dinner, family Bible reading, and all our own stuff in that small time....then when we get home around 8pm, it is TV time! Woo hoo! Relaxation!
   See why I am stressed.....  1.5 hours to cram my idea of what we are to do as a family  into that short period of time.   (We read the Word on our own and are very involved in church with different classes but what I am talking about here,  is the family reading time of the Bible and talking and dinner....so on! You know, MY ideas!)
   Here was my thoughts as I was listening to this Simplify your life talk....."I don't watch too much TV and it is certainly not my god. I could give it up at any time."   Here is the question, "Do I?" No....My fleshly, worldly side takes over and says, "You work hard for God, take a few hours to relax and take care of you, God would want you to......" Don't misunderstand, there are times of relaxing and taking care of you, but this particular "thing" in MY life is not of God!
   That night, as we were reading the Word after dinner, 6pm came too fast so we decided to finish reading when my son got home from Youth Group. Well, he got home at 7:35pm and NCIS starts at 8pm....hurry, read read read read!  Now, my boys are great readers but they are not fast....not by any means....so I could feel God poking me, "See....this is what I am talking about." I was getting irritated at the slowness, at the time that was wasted in questions.....and it hit me.....Nikki, you have somewhere lost it and TV has become an idol...it is more important that God.....
   Talk about a slap in the face! I did not want to ever hear that. It is never my intention to have idols! I never thought it was because I truly could walk away from it, but that night, last night, it was an idol. Amazing how they creep in so sneaky like! I let it go, control over my schedule, GONE! Bam! I felt peace finishing our reading!
   I also heard about being in the Spirit and prayer! Two so very important things. Have you read the Bible? How many times are they mentioned? Acts 4:31, for example "And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness!"   That is one example, there are a gazillion more!
   So, this morning, I got up ready to go. I packed my camera, my Bible, a dollar for a McDonalds Diet Coke, and headed to take my son to school. After which, I went up on the bluff of our town. A place I like to call my office! On the way up, I had in Red. (My favorite Christian Rock Band.) As I drove up, the song, "Let Go" played and I screamed it at the top of my lungs. I realized, satan had me, he had me in control of my life. I was trying so hard to fit everything in and to be the perfect everything it was falling to pieces very quickly!
   I will put the lyrics at the end...but it was exhilarating! I felt satan let go, I felt myself let go of all of this control I seemed to be taking, and gave it all ALL to God! Wow, what a relief it is, what a joy, what peace. Why on earth would I want all that. I don't. Oh Lord, please don't ever let me get control again, slap me in the face again when I do. I want to let You lead me. I want to follow You. Direct me O God! My life is Yours! In Jesus Name, amen.
    Here are the lyrics!
"Let Go"

"Hey you, look what you do to me
You bend and you bruise me
Why you try to control me?
But you don't know me
How come you just want to hurt me?
How come you just want to push me?
I can't ignore you anymore
Cause everywhere I turn you
You burn me, you break me
You always want to take me down with you
What do you want from me?

I don't wanna be afraid, I don't wanna run away
I don't want to be here fading it's more that I can take
I'm never gonna be the same
I threw it all away
I don't want to be here fading
Just let go! (look what you do to me)
Let go! (look what you do to me)

Hey you, look what you do to me
You burnt and you scared me
With all that you tell me (but I don't listen!)
You love me, you hate me
You always want to take me down with you
What do you want from me?

I don't wanna be afraid I don't wanna run away
I don't want to be here fading it's more that I can take
I'm never gonna be the same
I threw it all away
I don't want to be here fading
Just let

You kept pushing me
You keep using me
You keep twisting me
You keep breaking me
You can't have me anymore [x3]
You can't have me, let go!

I don't wanna be afraid, I don't wanna run away
I don't want to be here fading it's more that I can take

I'm never gonna be the same
I threw it all away
I don't want to be here fading
Just let go! Let go! Just let go!
I don't wanna be afraid
Let go! (I don't wanna run away!)
Just let go! Let go! Let go!"

 

~Beautiful

     I am learning to play the guitar on my own and I only know certain chords and others, I have not learned yet. It is a process for sure. I try to get songs in the keys I know most of the time.   So, there is a beautiful song I really want to learn, Porcelain Heart by Barlow Girl, and I am so frustrated because there is one chord I can not get. No matter which key I put it in, it still has a chord I do not know.
  So, this got me thinking...if only I could play that one, one mind you, note, this song would be perfect and beautiful.....I don't want to practice and practice, my fingers hurt so bad, and I just can not seem to get the hang of this one chord (Its a B chord for those wondering).
    Isn't that the case with us? If we would only let go of that sin or that fleshly self, we could be perfect and beautiful like He created us to be....
  This doesn't happen instantly, we just have to keep trying, keep practicing, keep doing things that sometimes hurt trying to make it pure, beautiful, innocent, and then one day, it will all come together beautiful....
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Amazing

I can not begin to explain the feeling of overwhelming awe I have for Jesus since Sept. 25,

2013. If you have not heard, there is a man who was born in Iran but a citizen of America living in Boise, Idaho with his wife and two children. He went to Iran to build an orphanage and while there, he was sentenced to 8 years in the notorious Evin Prison. This man is Pastor Saeed Abedini.

I was made aware of Saeed through my Pastor at our church who actually had the  privaledge 

to meet Saeed and his wife Naghmeh a few years back. We have been praying for him and his family ever since. Long story short, September 26, 2013 was the one year anniversary of Saeed being put in jail. 400 days away from his family, his wife, his children. And on that day, there was a world wide prayer vigil going on.

Which leads me to the overwhelming awe and amazement I felt on the day before. As usual, I pray

before I go to sleep and that night, as I prayed, I realized, though it was still the 25th for me, it was the 26th in other places around the world and at that second, someone somewhere was praying for Saeed. I had a hard time going to sleep. 

 When I woke up, someone in another place was praying and this went on all day. My heart

fully understood the verse in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 26. "If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over, If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy." I have heard this verse so many times and I grasped it....but something was different...I could feel the world praying for Saeed, for all those persecuted, I could feel it in my body. I could feel joy and strength coming from when HIS people pray!

I do not know the outcome, and I may never know, but I do know, the day after, our

President, President Obama, made his first plea to the Iranian President to free Saeed. The first time! Wow. I do know how humbled and blessed Naghmeh was at the amount of people around the world from the US to Germany to Jerusalem to Africa praying together in one accord. I do know that I grasped a little bit more what heaven will be like. I also grasped what it means to be a disciple, to lay your life down, and I am so in love with God, so in love with this God who loves us so much, who created all things, who is in control of all things. I love you Jesus! 

So, if you would like to know more about Saeed, please research. Write letters, pray. I will provide some information for you! ACLJ.org is a great place to sign petitions, to sign letters, to read up on info. If you want to write to Saeed or Naghmeh, look her up on Facebook or email me and I will help you get the info you need! 

~love, do not hate and don't give up!

Ecclesiastes 3

1.To everything there is a season,

​​A time for every purpose under heaven:

​2 ​​A time to be born,

​​And a time to die;

​​A time to plant,

​​And a time to pluck what is planted;

3 ​​A time to kill,

​​And a time to heal;

​​A time to break down,

​​And a time to build up;

4 ​​A time to weep,

​​And a time to laugh;

​​A time to mourn,

​​And a time to dance;

5 ​​A time to cast away stones,

​​And a time to gather stones;

​​A time to embrace,

​​And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 ​​A time to gain,

​​And a time to lose;

​​A time to keep,

​​And a time to throw away;

7 ​​A time to tear,

​​And a time to sew;

​​A time to keep silence,

​​And a time to speak;

8 ​​A time to love,

​​And a time to hate;

​​A time of war,

​​And a time of peace.

    As today marks the 12 year anniversary of 9-11, I have to think about these verses. It was such a terribly sad time but now we have good memories about some things that happened that day, some people who are alive, stories of others giving their lives for someone else....but...it also reminds me of that day before we could see the good, the aftermath...it reminds me of the pain, the fear, the sadness, the children who lost parents, parents who lost children, spouses who lost spouses...etc....

   Death.....

  For those in Christ, death is not an end to forever but....it is still an end to our lives here on earth. And because of that, because of death....I truly feel it is so important to mend relationships, to build relationships, to love....oh to love like Christ first loved us. 

   It is not easy, you know this....but in this day and age it is so easy to give up...say, its too hard, I give up. I should't have to deal with this....but you know what, what if that man gave up trying to save that child's only parent at the twin towers....what if Jesus gave up on you?
    I had to do a hard thing today, I had to reconcile with a family member...that meant, emptying myself of "Me" and filling me up with "Him". Cause "me" , I wanted to cut and run. BUt Christ...no, that is not what we are called to do. 

  Sometimes, we are called to be humble, to take the fall, to take the blame, to love no matter what, to do what is right even though it hurts. Did Jesus not give up everything to come to earth to show us the way and then take all the sin, ALL and bear it on the cross? Think about that, sweating blood as the sin was poured out on Him, ALL sin, ALL. Yet, He did it because He loves us....  John 15:9  He loved so we love.....

   Each situation is different and requires prayer...why did Christ pray so much? Cause He was bored? NO! To show us it is IMPORTANT!!!  So important!  So, reconcile, pray first, LOVE.....

   This one is short but I wanted to implore you, life is short, LOVE each other!

His Child....

    To keep this short and sweet, due to unforeseen circumstances, my son started into private school this year on a scholarship but after a week, we had to pull him out; nothing to do with my son. So, after much stress and really trying to give it to God, after much prayer, and many talks, we decided to put him in public school.
    I will admit, I am one of those "home school" or "Christian school" is best moms...or, rather, I used to be and God has really been working on my heart about this. I have done research and listened to other peoples opinions but let me tell you this....the ONLY opinion that matters is Christ's. We do not need to worry about what our "Christian" friends say, what our "non-Christian" friends say, what our parents think, what will our pastor think...none of that matters if you are truly listening to God.
    Yesterday was his first day of "public" middle school. 6th grade. You know, the WORST year to send your child to public school, or so you hear. I was a nervous mom all day wishing he could tell me how he was doing, if he was getting picked on, if he was left out......all the things Phil 4:8 tells us not to do!
   And each time I drove by (no, I was not stalking...it just happens to be in the middle of my small town) I prayed for him. And in that still small voice I heard, "You are My Nicole but you know what....he is MY child... I got him!" And I had peace.
   It may be hard to grasp or scary to think but it is truth, our children are not our own, they are His. We are blessed with the ability to love them, raise them, guard them, enjoy them but they truly belong to Him and if we are walking in Truth, we will let them go to Him. We will TRUST Him to take care of them.
   BUT, that does not mean we don't have a job to do....that does not mean we can just leave it at that. It is our job, (not the church, not friends, not pastors, not anyone else) OUR JOB to train our children up in the way they should go (Prov. 22:6). We are do instill Biblical truths in their lives. Make sure they are learning about Him. That they are holding every question or decision against the Word of God. We are to spend time with them. Love them. Be interested in them.
    I was really thinking about this today as I decided it is time to pray every day with my son before he goes to school. Now, don't confuse what I am gonna say with me having a bad childhood, because I did not. But...I do not remember my parents once praying WITH me and honestly, I really doubt my parents prayed for me daily. They led busy lives....do you? Are you too busy to pray for your child?
    I really believe in the POWER of PRAYER. I do. I know kids will have trials, troubles, temptation, just like the rest of us BUT I believe if we are praying for them, they will be able to find the right way out of those things...they will be able to hear God's voice. I believe this! This does not mean our kids are not gonna get into trouble...there is still sin in the world, but I think, no, I believe, God wants us to be active in praying for our children and active in the paths they go...he did create us as parents...is that not our job? Does Jesus not pray for us all the time?
   Please, I encourage you to spend time with your child, talk to them, not at them, listen to their stories, even the highly boring ones that you have no idea what they are talking about, show them that Christ is number one, show them that you LOVE them, and please, I BEG OF YOU, please pray! Pray constantly for them because they may not be adult, they may not have our trials but I tell you, they have trials that seem huge to them, cause they are huge to them. Why else would there be so much depression and suicide among our middle school and high school children? PRAY!
   They are His children, but we are their parents and He has called us to pray. Pray pray pray pray pray! And have peace knowing that He has them, He loves them more than we could possibly imagine, and no matter what, He knows what has happened, what will happen, and He has a plan for it all.
           His children.....just think about that, His.....that means, they belong to Him forever....they will have life after death in heaven.....they will have Him walking by their side all of their days. ~Hallelujah!
   Thank you Jesus for saving me, thank you that I am yours but today Lord, as I think about my son, I THANK You that he is Yours as well. That you love him more than I ever could. That you are walking those halls with him right now. Thank you for being such an amazing Comforter, Father, Friend, Counselor, Thank you Jesus for loving us all as Your Children! ~amen
 

~adopted

   Adoption....if you know me, you know I am adopted. I am a huge supporter of adoption. I am pro-life all the way. I was raised by an incredible lady who loved me as if I was her own. When she married the man I call dad, he instilled in me great morals and showed me how to take care of myself. They introduced me to Christ.
   However, I knew Christ even before I met Him officially. I knew He was with me every step of my life. He took me out of situations that my physical body was in yet I have no recollection of them. I know it was Him because I know He was saving me from a life of pain and misery and hurt that my heart could not recuperate from.
   I grew up knowing I was adopted but also knowing how much my adopted mom loved me. I figured if I wanted to find my birth parents, it would hurt her though she said it wouldn't. When you love someone like that, you don't want to hurt them.
   It took me 33 years to find my birth parents. 33 years...wow.
  I have been watching Switched at Birth on tv and have felt connected to parts of it due to my life. Well, tonight's episode was a "what if" episode...what if we had made a different decision type episode. When the character found out who her birth mom was, it was too late, she had died.
   That really hit me hard....
What if I had waited too long to find the women who carried me 9+ months in her stomach, who chose life instead of abortion, who loved me enough to wish a better life for me. What if? PRAISE THE LORD my birth mom is alive, so is my birth dad.
   I met them a little over  a year ago and I still am getting to know them. I have only seen my birth mom once since meeting her due to finances and distance but we talk quite often and I am so blessed by her. She prayed for me....even though I was not with her, she prayed for me. I come from a praying family. I come from a family of writers. I come from a family of Bible believing people and then I knew, that is why Jesus was with me before I "officially" met Him.
   Thank you Jesus for adoption, for life, for family! Thank you Jesus that I am YOURS...
My hope in writing this is a few things.
   1. TO the ADOPTED....Don't wait 33 years to find your birth parents. No matter who they are, even if they are not as amazing as mine turned out to be, it is better for you to know, trust me!
   2. To the PARENTS who adopted, encourage your adopted children to find their birth parents. Trust me, it will not take away from the love they have for you. There is nothing that could change the love I have for my adopted mom and dad.  Nothing!
   3. To the BIRTH PARENTS, pray for your children! Pray. Even if you never meet the on earth, pray. You will see them in heaven someday. There is so much power in prayer! So much!!!! Never give up looking for them.
     If you have any questions, I would love to talk to you about adoption. I love everything about it and I love answering questions about it!
   Good night everyone!
                                                                                                     ~His Nicole