God & Devil

I tend to over think things. (And "tend" is an understatement.) Something I do over think is how the devil and how God can work, and I know over thinking in this situation is a very good thing. If you think about it, think about your life, you can see the devil working around you when things are going bad. He can play with your mind, he can make things seem worse than they really are, and he can push you away from God by making you think that God is the one causing the problem. As you can read in John 10:10, it is VERY clear on God's intentions and the devil's intentions.

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Here the "thief" is the devil, and "my" is God. If you are in pain, despair, depression, or anything along those lines, God is not testing you, God is not putting you through these things to teach you a lesson. It is the devil stealing your happiness, killing your health, and destroying your life. God's desire is for you to have a rich and satisfying life. A happy and fulfilling life with Him in it, with Him leading it.

Now keeping all of that in mind, what about when things are going good, plans are made, and then something happens that changes those plans, or things change to start going bad. The only way I can explain it is to give you and example...

As I stated in my last blog, I am re-studying healing. With the exception of my "condition" I haven't been sick since December, which is a VERY long time for me. Then yesterday I got sick, and my body thinks I'm sick again today. So I started thinking about this. I asked God this morning: "I'm studying healing, focusing on my health, and I get sick NOW, why?!" Then He said "Cause your on the right track." I think what that means is this, I'm scaring the devil with my prayers and my knowledge on healing. The devil is trying to break me down by making me sick. He is saying "Your God can heal, then why are you still sick, he can't heal." But I know he can, and I know he already did. I told Jeremy this morning that I was glad the devil was messing with me, cause I know I'm on the verge of discovering something amazing, my complete and total healing.

ABS

Re-Focusing

So, I need to start off with explaining a few things. I haven't really shared this information with many people, but why not....The doctors say I have this condition called "Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis". Here's some info on it: only surgery can completely remove it, it hurts a lot, it's never cancer, and once it's removed the recurrence rate is 48%. Synovial cells are supposed to be thin flat layers, but with this condition they become thick balls and lodge in joints and such, causing pain. Medical people call it a disease, I will always refuse to call it that, so it's a condition. I have had numerous surgeries for this, 3 shoulder, 1 knee, 2 feet, and I've been on pain meds for as long as I can remember. And I just had my 3rd shoulder surgery on June 19th, 2009. 2 weeks later I hurt my shoulder again, and my Doctor thinks I could have damaged it for a while. So I'm back in pain once again. This has been going on for more than 10 years, and it is some form of pain almost everyday...Anyway...So there are the physical & medical facts...BUT I don't believe or accept any of that.

I am a spirit-filled Christian and what I believe is that God's healing power contains a million times more healing than any surgery. And I believe that God's power is living and active in my body. SO why you ask do I have this condition? Why have I had 6+ surgeries? Why am I in pain everyday? Why? WELL...that's what I'm working on. :-) I began praying and thinking about this (again), and the conclusion that I came to was: Since God's healing power is already in my body, the only thing that is keeping my healing from me, is me. And I know that I believe, pray, and have unconditional faith that I will be healed. The only reason I could come up with was that I didn't have a knowledge of God's healing. I felt like I needed to study healing once again, and understand God's healing power. So I raided my parents house of Christian books. I found one by Doug Jones, "Understanding God's Healing Power." On the very first page, in the introduction Pastor Jones says: The thing that is keeping people from receiving God's healing power, is a lack of knowledge. Let me tell you, I knew I picked the right book. :-)

So I'll blog more throughout my studies. But this one scripture I read last night, while it has powerful meaning, I just sensed God's wonderful sense of humor with me....

Isaiah 10:27
And it shall come to pass in that day, that your burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
(haha - get it?) ;-)

ABS

40 Day Love Dare

Jeremy and I started "Love Dare" it's from the movie Fireproof. It's a marriage series, you read a section, do the love dare for 40 days. Take a look: http://thelovedarebook.com/ .
We are on our third dare today.
Day 1: don't say anything negative about your spouse.
Day 2: do one unexpected act of kindness for your spouse.
Day 3: buy your spouse something that says you were thinking about them.

Basically you read a short section about love, then read and complete the dare, then the next day write about the dare, how you both did on completing it and what you learned from it.

I really like this book. We don't have a lot of time, yes I know you make time for this stuff, but it's true! And this book is an easy read and takes less than 5 minutes a day. On our 40th day or 41st we are going to watch the Fireproof movie. I'm really excited about the dares and learning different ways to show my favorite person what he means to me. It's always fun to learn new ways to show my husband I love him, and learn how I can better love him. :-) Some of the dares I can tell will be easy, because we are not in a troubled marriage, but some would be hard for anyone. Just reading ahead...Day 5: Ask your spouse to tell you 3 things that you do that irritate them. I'm still very excited about the next 40 days...or 36, whatever!

By the way for today's dare...without even talking about it, or knowing we did it. We bought each other the same thing! Energy drinks : )

ABS

DAVID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One HUGE thing I couldn't say in my last blog...DAVID IS HERE!!!!!!!!!! He is from Germany, stayed with my family years ago, and he came as a surprise to my family and to Danielle for her wedding. (I keep the BEST secrets!) I'm sooooo excited to have him here!!!!

**update** (don't get excited, nothing interesting)

Well I haven't had much to talk about lately. No eye opening experiences, profound wisdom, or breath taking news. So here is a little run down with possible insight along the way...

• Dyed my hair, I pretty much don't like it at all, but im trying the "stay positive" approach (this of course after a all night freak out, 2am run to walmart and re-dying to fix)
• I'm excited about so many things coming up these next few weeks. I got about 2 hours sleep last night and am crazy busy, but I LOVE it. We have: bach party, rehearsal stuff, wedding OF TWO OF THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, the lovely KATJA'S COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, one year anniversary at church, AND I'm evidently going to be playing bass at church in a few weeks (not gonna lie, kinda excited about that)
• After the wedding is all over CHRISSI is coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is gonna stay for quite a while. (For those who don't know, Chrissi is my german "sister"! She stayed with my family a while back and I love her to death and haven't seen her in FOREVER (she lives in Germany)...I can't wait until she's here! And i'm mad jealous because right now she is on an around the world trip since like October or something crazy, and the trip doesn't end until May. LUCKY CRAZY GERMAN!
• I am an aunt once again...Brennan Grady Withrow was born Sunday the 15th...baby and mom (Amanda) are healthy & happy. He is adorable of course! (This brings my "aunt" total to 6, pretty good for an only child huh?!)
• I want a passport to magically appear (free and quick) so I can go on a cruise that we might actually have money for...just need that passport.
• That one year anniversary...JOURNEY CHURCH OF ACWORTH, 10:00 @ RUSSOM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. I'll give you a cookie. (and no Jeremy you don't get a cookie unless it's your first time and I invited you...those are the rules.) :-) But seriously, I love my church and whoever is reading I think you would to.
• I can't believe I will be married 5 years in May. When I first got married I thought so many things about the 5 year mark. I though I would be all old and grown up, grumpy married couple...we are still not grown up. We pay bills and work, but the rest it's still like im a college kid dating my honey. :-)
• Quick thought...what is it about Germany? What's Germany got, I mean really? That country takes more and more of my friends/family I swear. But I guess "Ich Liebe Dich"...stupid country.

That's all I have for now.

ABS

you are what you eat...?

I was reading an article this morning. (I always try to read something educational each day) This one is about what is in the food we eat. What the "ingredients" mean in common terms.

• Carmine (aka red food coloring): commonly used in cranberry drinks, strawberry flavors, yogurt, anything red. Contains dried, ground bugs. The female Dactylopius coccus costa (the bug) feeds on red berries, the berries stay in their stomach and in their unhatched larvae. Basically squish it and get red food coloring that we eat.
• Carrageenan (Seaweed) - used to thicken ice cream, pudding, etc.
• Gelatin (Jell-o, Gummy stuff) get this, contains...several different animal parts, including ligaments, skin, tendons and bones.
• Bacteriophages (Sprayed on deli meats and cheese) sounds nasty but this one actually does a good thing, it kills listeria (not a clue what that is, but it will kill you if you eat it). The gross part is the bacteriophages are a mixture of viruses.
• Shellac (shiny coating on fruits, hard coating on jelly-beans) this is made from the excretions of Kerria lacca insects. FYI excretion means leaving the body...urine, feces, or sweat.

The kicker in this to me is vegetarian lobbyists are trying to get the FDA to put on these "vegetarian" food items, that they do in fact use animal products.

Gross...but I feel educated for the morning.

ABS

FIRST

Here is something to think about...

• Was your last previous kiss as exciting as your FIRST?
• Did saying "I love you" to your spouse give you the same rush as the FIRST time?
• Are you as excited today about Jesus as the FIRST day you met Him?
• Are you as much of a new creation today as you were the FIRST day you were saved?(ahh, yea that's a good one...)
• What have you done to grow spiritually from the FIRST day you were saved?

Take the first two questions for example. In life after we repeatedly do things they loose there "wow" factor if you will. It's human nature, it's reality. When I am listening to a sermon or reading my bible I try to comprehend everything with a new attitude, like I am learning it for the first time. I think one of the most dangerous things a Christian can do is listen to something and say "Oh I've heard this before" or "same sermon as before". You can hear something 50 times and, with the right attitude, get something different out of it each time, and maybe that 51st time you finally actually GET IT and can share it with someone who needs what you have just learned.

2 Corinthians 5:17: This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God...

I have heard this scripture numerous times. It went through my head this morning and I realized something. NEW PERSON...when I have heard this taught it has been talking about when someone gets saved old things are gone, washed clean, they are a new person. Where in that scripture does it when when someone gets saved? I says if anyone is in Christ he is a NEW CREATURE. I'm in Christ, I'm just as new now as when I first got saved. AND this is yet ANOTHER gift from God.

I encourage you to relearn things you already think you know, make what is repetitive new and just as exciting as the first time you heard it. Pick your favorite or most talked about scripture and dig into it, pick it apart and learn something new. You can never, ever know everything there is to know about God, He is too amazing for that. Learn something new today.