Jesus Our Overcomer {Thankful Thursdays}

We live in a world full of compromise, hate, and violence – a world of sin. As Christians, we are told we are to live in the world, but not of it. We are to live a separated, holy life {Romans 12:1-2} but we can’t do it in our own strength; we have to let Jesus take total control of our lives. When we turn our lives over to Him, Jesus becomes our Overcomer.

Jesus Our Overcomer

Every time the news comes on there are stories full of awfulness that enters our ears and eyes. Events that are hard to forget: the persecution of Christians, the persecution and attacks on different nationalities, freedoms slowly being removed one by one; things that should cause a sense of awareness for the Christian.

We face uncertain times every day. While some of us may face things more difficult uncertainties than others, we all have things we face that cause worry and fear. You know, Jesus is not the one who gives us the spirit of fear. He gives us the spirit of strength, love, and self control. {2 Timothy 1:7}

When Jesus was here on earth, He faced tribulations. From the time King Herod heard about His birth, Jesus was sought after to be killed; Joseph and Mary took Him and left their country for Egypt until the danger was over.  During His ministry years, Jesus had his own people turn against Him because of who He was. Can you imagine having your own people turn against you? It’s hard to imagine, but it happens – even today. Jesus told us we would have hardships, but for us to be comforted in Him because He has already overcome the problems of this world.

This year, I’m focusing on being more Faithful in my life. It’s easy to say we have faith but putting it into action is a little more difficult.  Do you have the faith to rest in Jesus and let Him be your Overcomer? Do you have the faith that He has already won the victory?

Encamped along the hills of light,
Ye Christian soldiers, rise,
And press the battle ere the night
Shall veil the glowing skies.
Against the foe in vales below
Let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know,
That overcomes the world.

Faith is the victory!
Faith is the victory!
Oh, glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.

An Heir To An Inheritance {Thankful Thursdays}

Have you ever dreamed of being notified of a long, lost relative naming you as their heir to a large inheritance? I think most people have thought about a mysterious knock on the door bringing such news at one time or another. Christians are an heir with an astounding inheritance like nothing we can imagine.

An Heir To An Inheritance

Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

As a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We are a child of God and are an heir to ALL that God has waiting for us. When Jesus died on the cross, it opened the door for our adoption into God’s family, which gives us of all blessings of Heaven.

Ephesians 1:11-13 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

We obtained the inheritance through the shed blood of Jesus. It is sealed through the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Let’s be thankful for our salvation, because it has qualified us to be heirs to the inheritance. We can’t work for this inheritance, nor can we lose it. It is a gift that comes through the grace of God.

I Peter 1:4 To an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.

An earthly inheritance doesn’t last; money is spent, items get broken, and family members get greedy and fight over it. Oh, but our heavenly inheritance! We don’t have to worry, our inheritance will last forever, it cannot be damaged, and we don’t have to worry about a family member fighting us for it. It is an inheritance that is worth waiting on.

Through Jesus, WE HAVE AN INHERITANCE!

Spring Is In The Air: A Roundup: 10 Popular Posts

I have no idea where the days have gone lately, I guess it has something to do with having my head in the clouds with all of this beautiful spring-like weather we’ve been having. On a sad note, we did have snow flurries yesterday, I guess it’s just nature’s way of reminding me our spring is really not here until mid-May.

Because of the craziness on my end this week, I’m sharing with you A Roundup of 10 Popular Posts.

A Roundup: 10 Popular Posts

1. Cleaning My Self-Cleaning Oven Safely

2. Baked Polish Sausage and Potatoes

3. A Little About How We Save Money

4. Staying Thankful During the Christmas Season

5. Tools of the Trade

6. Five Reasons to Study and Memorize God’s Word

7. Five Benefits of Self Learning

8. Reusing Old Baking Soda From the Frig and Freezer

9. Thankfulness Leads to Contentment

10. Having Faith When Praying

If you see something another would benefit from, do you mind sharing it with them?

Mad About Lentils! {Spicy Lentils Recipe}

Do you like lentils? I love lentils! If you’ve never tried them, you need to. I’ll never forget the first time cooking them after reading about the health benefits of lentils, I wasn’t too impressed because the recipe listed was basically just boiling them. I wish I would have known a little more about them then because if I had, I would have tried them sooner.

Spicy Lentils

I started cooking lentils again last year and was determined I was going to find a way to cook them where we all would enjoy them. I even like to take a spoonful or two of cooked, cooled lentils and add them to a fresh garden salad to get the extra fiber and all the goodness. Lentils are easy to cook and they are so good you won’t even realize you’ve had seconds or thirds before it’s too late.

Would you believe they are one of the world’s healthiest foods? They are packed with folate, fiber, protein, and many more important vitamins and nutrients. While lentils are tiny legumes they do big, powerful jobs within our body – lower cholesterol, give you energy while stabilizing blood sugar, and decrease digestive issues.

There are two kinds of lentils found in the local stores here – brown and green. They both taste the same, the green ones do hold up in shape more than the brown while cooking, but they are both just as tasty.

The following recipe is what I cook for my family so we can enjoy leftovers for several days, but it can definitely be cut down. I found the recipe HERE, but worked a few things differently for my family's tastes, they had rather have grated carrots instead of big pieces, I like bigger pieces so sometimes I’ll add larger pieces for me.

With our limited selection of certain things in the stores, I ended up using red pepper flakes. The flakes when heated give off a more intense heat, you can add them to the pot after you’ve added the liquid to help keep the heat down a little. If you’d rather leave out the pepper flakes for a non-spicy dish, you can and the lentils will still be yummy!

The BEST thing about this recipe ONE POT is all it takes to cook in!

SPICY LENTILS

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of lentils, rinsed
• 5-6 strips of bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon of dried pepper flakes
• 4 cups beef broth
• water (if needed)
• 1 Tablespoon bacon grease or your favorite oil
• salt and pepper, to taste at the end of cooking

Directions:

In a large pot, heat the bacon grease, cook bacon until crisp and remove from grease. Add onion and sauté until it is soft and translucent. Add shredded carrot and garlic to the pot and sauté for about two minutes. Next, add the bay leaves and dried pepper flakes and cook for about a minute, adding the bacon, lentils, and broth to the pot. Cover the pot and let the lentils simmer until they have softened. You will probably need to add a little water to the pot while simmering. When the lentils are softened to your liking, test for salt and pepper flavoring.

Through The Eyes of A Missionary Kid -

I met the Boltz family during a missions conference where both of our families were scheduled to be at. I fell in love with this sweet family that week and we’ve kept in touch over the years on Facebook. It’s amazing to see what God is doing through them in the country of Guyana. Believe it or not, missionary's children struggle with things being a missionary kid. I'd like to introduce Kimberly, she is one of six children in the Boltz family.  I asked her if she would share a little of what she has experienced while being on the mission field.

Through The Eyes of a Missionary Kid

At the start of deputation in 2009 to go to the mission field of Guyana, I was so excited! God was doing a work in our family’s life. We began to travel to different churches right in the state of Florida. I was still able to attend all of our sending church’s activities and some services too. But we started to travel further, eventually reaching other states. Deputation was hard then because I was focused on the wrong thing…being around friends. After three years of deputation, our support was fully raised and we prepared to leave for the field! It was an exciting time but a sad time also. We were excited to come, but our family and friends were being left behind and who knew how long it’d be till we saw them again.

a boat ride

In January of 2012, we boarded the plane for Guyana. We had a pit-stop in Jamaica and then a short turnover in Trinidad. When we took off in Miami, reality set in of what was really happening. I was leaving America for the first time to go to a jungle. It had me crying. We arrived in Guyana early in the morning and it wasn’t what I expected. At 5 that morning, I laid down and cried myself to sleep. Was this really what God wanted for me? We flew out to Port Kaituma where we awaited to hear about our work permits. Dad called the office every week to see if they had an answer and their reply was, “Call back next week.” After 60 days, we heard that they only gave us a 90-day stay. We’d already been here for 60 days, so we had 30 days to pack up and leave. This included turning our container right around to ship back to America because they wouldn’t clear it here. I had finally gotten adjusted to the different culture just when we found out we had to leave. This was harder than I ever imagined it could be.

We returned to the States, and for 2 years my parents sought the Lord on what He wanted us to do. We tried things Stateside, but the doors kept closing. Guyana was still on our hearts. I graduated high school, and then got a Biblical Studies Certificate and an Associates Degree in Christian Ministries through Salt Lake Baptist College. In those two years, I became Aunt Kimmy to 3 nieces and a nephew!

our church and home

In August of 2014, we were able to return to Guyana. At this time, I was 20. I came as a single missionary to work in my parents ministry until Mr. Right came along. We put in the applications for our 3-year work permits once again. We finally got word that they were APPROVED…all of them for 3 years! We were planning on beginning a work on our land in Kuru Kururu. But God had other plans. He led us to start a church in Bushy Park. The first service of Harbour Light Baptist Church was on April 26th, 2015. We had 48 in attendance! While the building was going up, we met at the banquet hall here. In June, we were able to move on over and use our building. We then began having 3 services a week and soul winning every Saturday! And as time went on, we have been able to start many other ministries for our church folks. I am now 21 and really enjoy being the teacher for the 8-12 year old Sunday School class and being the church piano player! We are now having a little over 100 in service on Sunday mornings with the average of 50 on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. We have seen many come to know the Lord as their Savior and quite a few follow the Lord in baptism as well. We are praising the Lord for the work He is doing!

our first Sunday morning service

Recently, the Lord brought Mr. Right into my life! Navin is Guyanese and is a very sweet, humble, godly guy! He is an answer to all my prayers over the years! On January 12th, 2016, we began a courtship! I’m excited to see all that the Lord has in store for Navin and me! It’s worth it to wait on the Lord!

 Navin and I

Lastly, at the age of 19, I finished writing my first book, “Here, There, Seems Like Everywhere”. If you’re interested, you can find my book at either IBA DIRECT or AMAZON. Or you could contact me directly by EMAIL.  Through reading, you’ll find more detail of how the Lord worked in my life on deputation and our first trip to the mission field. I’m in the process of writing two other books.

Will you join with me in praying for both Kimberly and Navin as they seek the Lord for direction in their life? I know they both would greatly appreciate it.
You can find Kimberly on Facebook. She and her family shares some of the most amazing pictures from their work and from around their area.

A God Who Sees and Hears It All

There’s a mess going on in the world today. Any time you turn the internet on or watch the news it is full of wild and craziness. A couple of things that catches my ears are world leaders planning this or that against another country or laws being put into place that are vile and disgusting. Laws that go against what God put into place thousands of years ago. Our nation is in the middle of a very important election year. Honestly, I’m a little worried about this election, because if the Lord doesn’t intervene our country will slip further down the tubes. No matter what is going on we have A God Who Sees and Hears It All.

A God Who Sees and Hears It All

I was reading earlier this week in Psalm 2 and when I read verses 2-5, with smirkiness I giggled and thought yep, their day is coming. We have politicians in office who have turned their backs on the things of God and what our nation was founded on. Sadly, God sees it all because it is not hidden from Him. There is going to come a time when God is going to laugh at them. They will get the scolding of their life; a scolding I would never want to face. God will get the last laugh and the last word in and I can’t even imagine what they are going to face because it is going to be horrible.

Just because we have these people in office doesn’t mean we have to give up. God hears our prayers and He will answer them. As Christians, we have to get serious about our prayer life when praying for our leaders. A quick, bless Mr. SoandSo is not going to cut it. We need to be praying for their salvation, for wisdom in making decisions, for the courage to stand up for what is right, the strength to stand against the temptation to use their position as a weapon in getting what they want.

I want God to bless our nation and its leaders. But He is not if we are not willing to seek Him in everything.

II Chronicles 7: 14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

5 Reasons To Not Homeschool

Unlike some home educating families, I believe a home education is NOT for everyone. If you search the internet on why you shouldn’t homeschool, you will find articles written by parents who say things like, if you don’t want to spend time with your children, or if you don’t want to enjoy doing this or that - I can’t stand stumbling across those types of articles because I read judgmental attitudes in many of those. You’ll also find articles written by the opposition – public school supporters; I’m not fond of many of those either. While I am currently a home educating mom, I am not a home education is the only way to go mom. Today I want to share with you five reasons to not homeschool.

When we began this journey in 2005, my husband and I agreed I would return to teaching and our son would attend high school. The purpose for this was to make sure our son had access to more opportunities than we could give him at home, to have the proper transcripts, and the amount of credits for graduation and college. For some reason, the Lord has placed us in an area where I have not been able to return to the classroom. Very quickly we learned small town schools have their fair share of problems like larger area schools. Because of this, attending the public school is out of the question for now.

Teaching your child at home is a serious business. It is a lifestyle that can change your family life from what you are used to; for many it is not easy.

Five Reasons Why You Should Not Homeschool

Commitment 

You have to be fully committed to the whole idea of teaching your child at home. You can’t go into it saying I can’t do this, I don’t have the patience, or this is only a trial basis. Your child’s education is extremely important and should be a top priority during your day.

If you choose to do it on a trial basis, give yourself enough time to get a routine down; one month is not enough time. Don’t let your child hear the words this is a trial basis, especially if they are not thrilled with the idea of being at home. They will make sure you are reminded of it any chance they get.

Discipline 

It takes a lot of discipline to teach your child at home. If you are not disciplined enough to get up and get school work started and finished without falling into the trap of I need a break today, you better think twice before starting.

There is nothing wrong with taking a break and enjoying the day doing something fun. (I can't wait for a nice warm day to go fishing.)

Organization 

Being organized is necessary for a lot of things in life. While it is not a must for a home education, it helps keep problems down. Keeping track of grades, days you attend school (if your state requires it), writing yearly progress reports and high school transcripts all need organization. It even helps in keeping the stress down with the daily book work for your child.

Sacrifice 

You have to be willing to sacrifice time, money, or events for education. This doesn’t mean you have to do without everything for a home education. Many families sacrifice a second income to be at home teaching while knowing they are paying for all the books and tools that will be used, and it is not cheap. There’s going to be situations where Me Time will be on the back burner so your child can learn.

Because Others Are Doing It 

This is the WORST reason for homeschooling. Just because others are homeschooling and telling how you should be doing it, doesn’t mean it’s for you. Like I said earlier, homeschooling IS NOT for everyone. This lifestyle really is a calling and if you are not called to educate your children at home, don’t do it. Don’t allow others make you feel you should be doing something you know that is not right for your family, even if it is homeschooling.

Just remember your child’s education is important whether they learn at home or not. It is one thing that cannot be taken away from them. You want to do your best when filling their heads with knowledge and sometimes that means having your child attend a school.

If you found this helpful and encouraging, would you mind sharing it?