CONFESSION ON AN IPHONE...REALLY??

I could not believe this when I heard it on the news yesterday. I had to google it. The Catholic faith have designed an app for the IPhone where you can use your phone to confess your sins instead of seeking out your priest or prayer. It breaks my heart to think that the world is losing God. God must be so sad and lonely knowing that some people don't even care enough to talk to him or go to him in prayer. They think they can ask forgiveness from their phone! Unbelievable. The world needs to hit their knees themselves and talk to God in prayer. FORGIVENESS ONLY COMES FROM GOD! Do you think he's going to forgive you of a sin if you text him on your IPhone? News flash...God does not have an IPhone. If you are one of those that think God is going to forgive you by sending a text to ask forgiveness of your sins, you are going to be very disappointed when you get to heaven on judgement day. This makes me so sad. God loves us so much and the world is losing all respect for our creator. PRAY FOR CHANGE.....AND PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS! God does have a direct line but you must seek it with your own mouth. Lord please forgive us. And even so Lord Jesus...come Jesus come.

THAT IF YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH, 'JESUS IS LORD,' AND BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, YOU WILL BE SAVED. FOR IT IS WITH YOUR HEART THAT YOU BELIEVE AND ARE JUSTIFIED, AND IT IS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT YOU CONFESS AND ARE SAVED.
                                                           ROMANS: 9-10

THE WARMTH OF FRIENDSHIP

              I LOVE MY FRIENDS AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!
                       NOTHING CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF A TRUE FRIEND!

Sitting at home watching the snow pile up. Brownies in the oven and snuggled up with hot chocolate. Using the day to reflect and study. Sometimes we don't know how to slow down so God will slow us down to give us time to talk to him. I hope you find lots of time to talk to God today. God Bless you!

MORE SNOW!

I can't believe we are getting snow again! It was beautiful the first time we got it, but now it's just inconvenient. Of course all the kids are looking forward to a snow day. Just wait until they have to make it up this Summer. :)  CraZy kids! Enjoy your snow day. Try and spend it reading God's word, wrapped up in cozy blanket, laying on your couch talking to God. Hope you enjoy your time with God. Praying for you and love you! GOD IS SO GOOD!

THANK YOU GOD FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE

We just finished up our week with the big guys. We had a pretty good week. The boys didn't give us too hard of a time. We gave them a pretty good hard time though. LOL They are really looking forward to tomorrow to see if it's going to snow or not. The kids will be in school until next winter if it don't quit snowing! We did get a new guy in each of our cottages and the girls got one also. Please pray for these kids and for their parents. It's always hard to be separated from your family. Gary and I are doing well but feel very exhausted. I am so thankful that God carries us when we feel like we can't stand anymore. Ethan is doing a little better. He seems to be happier this week. Please keep praying for him. Lyndsie is at college. Hopefully she won't get snowed in. She's like me and her grandmother, when she gets trapped inside she goes crazy! God bless each of you and thank you for your continued prayers.

WHO WON THE SUPER BOWL.....WE DID!

OK. The boys wanted Pittsburgh to win and I wanted to aggravate them so I voted for the Packers to win. The boys decided they didn't know who I was at that point. I really enjoyed the game since I was winning through it. LOL  They didn't. But in the end....we were all winners. Because we are all on the winning team ourselves.........

THANK YOU LORD!

Jesus gave so much for us. What an amazing Savior that we serve. His blood....he gave his blood.....his body pained him sooo much! He hung on the cross and suffered more than we will ever know and so much more than we can ever imagine. I could never do enough to thank him or repay him for what he did for me. And just think, we still have eternity with him. WoW. Thank you Lord. THANK YOU LORD!

              What an amazing day it will be when Jesus' face I will see.


                BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD.
                                                   MATTHEW 5:8

HUMBLE

                  Humble: To make meek or lower in importance.

The definition of humble says we should make ourselves least important. As a mom we can expect most mothers to say their children come first. Most men would say their jobs come first. In our minds that seems like the way it should be. But God says to put him above all and everything. I make a mistake in doing that daily. I always have something to preoccupy my mind and the Devil tricking me into thinking something else is more important. I want to humble myself for Christ and make sure that he will always come first in my life. I never want to come across to anyone that I'm more important than they are. I know that God made them just the same as he made me. I love my husband, my kids, my family, friends and my precious mother. I lift them up to daily to God. But I also know that without my God, they would not exist. None of us would. Let's try and humble ourselves today and put everything we can above our own needs and wants. Let's see how that changes our look on things. We might be surprised how much closer that brings us to Jesus today. Love you all and I am praying we all will be able to find ourselves truly humbled today.


But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.        
                                   James 4:6 & 10

PRAYER REQUEST

Please pray for Ethan. He is under the weather. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he has an ear infection and URI. He also has not been himself lately. We want to see Ethan feeling better and smiling again and we know that will only happen by prayer and the grace of God.

GOD BLESS OUR FRIENDS AND WE LOVE YOU!

THANK YOU

WANTED: STRENGTH

So true. Whenever I feel weak or weary, I call to the Lord. So sad that I find myself relying on the Lord more when I feel weak and weary than when things are going well. My prayer life is much stronger when I feel like I can't go any further. God knows me and God knows he will have to bring me to my knees to make me stop and realize that I am trying to handle things on my own. I wished I could say that wasn't true, but God knows what he has to do to get my attention. He knows how stubborn I am and he has to be direct with me.  He created me, he breathed life into me and he can take that life away. For the little time that he allows me, I want to focus on him and what I can do to serve him.

I pray for Satan to get behind me and I pray that I am allowed to focus on God and his ministry only. Master of the Heaven and Earth and Master of my Eternity!

I CAN DO EVERYTHING IN HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.

PHILIPPIANS 4:13

THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SHIELD; MY HEART TRUSTS IN HIM, AND I AM HELPED. MY HEART LEAPS FOR JOY AND I WILL GIVE THANKS TO HIM IN SONG.

THE LORD IS THE STRENGTH OF HIS PEOPLE, A FORTRESS OF SALVATION FOR HIS ANOINTED ONE. SAVE YOUR PEOPLE AND BLESS YOUR INHERITANCE; BE THEIR SHEPHERD AND CARRY THEM FOREVER.

PSALM 28:7-9

   PRAISE GOD.....HE LIVES!   

DOWN BUT NOT OUT!

By the grace of God only!

A PRAYER FOR GOD'S MERCIFUL GRACE

Unity: Condition of harmony or the state of being made as one.

It really is hard for me to write when things have our hearts broken. I love to write about when the boys are doing well and every thing is going great, in a perfect world there is no wrong. Rainbows and butterflies right. Well, we work in God's ministry and when you work for God you can guarantee the Devil is not going to be far behind. We kind of feel like the Devil has been riding on our back today. Gary and I both felt pulled down by the Devil today. This is one of those days when you wished you could crawl back in bed. The only way we could make it out of bed was to think about the progress the boys are making. Gary and I pray for unity for our campus. Unity for our kids and the house parents. All the house parents are here for the same goal, taking care of the kids. We don't want to have to focus on anything else other than making the kids feel like they have a family and a home. We want and pray to work together in unity for the sake of the kids. We desire God's love and plead for God's mercy. Please pray for Gary and I. Start a prayer chain for the Devil to leave this campus! Because you know what?.................................................
                                                       
My God is so much bigger than the Devil. I know that my God will stomp the Devil out and free us from his chains. If we keep on moving along and refuse to let the Devil win, then we have beaten him. (At least this time) Our goal is not to let the Devil win. We are here for the kids and we shall not be moved!


TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED, WHO ARE LOVED BY GOD THE FATHER AND KEPT BY JESUS CHRIST:
MERCY, PEACE AND LOVE BE YOURS IN ABUNDANCE.
                        JUDE 1:2


We know that your prayers will help us succeed with God's children....

TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING AND TO PRESENT YOU BEFORE HIS GLORIOUS PRESENCE WITHOUT FAULT AND WITH GREAT JOY--TO
THE ONLY GOD OUR SAVIOR BE GLORY, MAJESTY, POWER AND AUTHORITY, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, BEFORE ALL AGES, NOW AND FOREVERMORE!
AMEN                                                                       JUDE 1:24

LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS? TURN TO JESUS!

I seen this picture and my very first thought was WALK AWAY FROM THE WORLD AND TURN TO JESUS! I know, easier said than done. So many of us think what the world has to offer is much more appealing than what God has to offer. So many of us are wrong and just don't realize it right now. Sure, on the outside what the Devil has to offer seems great. But on the inside you are miserable and still always longing for something. Love, money, big house, new car...I could go on and on. I used to be one of those people who thought I didn't need God. I could get everything on my own and I could find happiness without God. Boy was I sadly mistaken. I searched for happiness everywhere, but until I found God, I lived in misery. I know I'm not perfect and I know I falter everyday, but God forgives me. God understands me and God loves me. Whatever your ties are to the world, you will never find true happiness in them. When you finish that beer you won't see God's face at the bottom of the glass. When you put your debit card in at the ATM God won't spit out a message for you on the receipt. When you build that big house, God won't come for dinner until you invite him. You might find happiness until the new wears off, but then you are going to have to find something else to fill that void in your soul. God can completely fill that void and you will have to search no longer for your happiness. God can take the most unclean soul, clean it and prepare your life for a life of comfort and a life of eternity in a heavenly home. Sure you will still have struggles. That's God building you and teaching you to call on him. So whatever you are struggling with, give it to God. Ask him to bring happiness to your life. Make you heart clean for God and start fresh again. A chance to find true happiness...how amazing is our God? Amazing enough. So amazing that soon you will realize all you needed in the beginning was God. Turn from the world and try God. He's waiting...... for you!


LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAY AND THE EVIL MAN HIS THOUGHTS. LET HIM TURN TO THE LORD, AND HE WILL HAVE MERCY ON HIM, AND TO OUR GOD, FOR HE WILL FREELY PARDON.
                                ISAIAH 55:7

GOD IS GOOD!

We have a kid here at the home that has only been here about 6 months now. He came here saying; I'm only court ordered here for 6 months then I'm going to go back to my life on the streets making money. I have to be honest, when we first came here he was hard for me to deal with. I dreaded him coming because he was mean and threaten to hit my son several times. Well we all know things don't stay the same for long. We continued to love on him and tell him about how great Jesus was and how he could change lives. It was hard for his guy to understand that after everything he did, God could forgive him. I told him if God could forgive me, he could forgive anybody. Well, about 2-3 months ago he got saved. The first couple of weeks of him being a Christian was hard for him. At one point he became frustrated for thoughts he was having and threw his Bible and his cross necklaces on the floor and said; I don't want to be a Christian. It's too hard! He went to his room and didn't come out the rest of the night. I was broken hearted because I thought this guy had won his battle. Unfortunately, the Devil was just beginning on him. We kept giving him scriptures to read to help build him and show him that God didn't say it was going to be easy. Within the next few days he was wanting his Bible and necklaces back. He would study his Bible and hold it up and say; I'm growing, I'm growing. Two weeks ago this kid told me he wanted to preach. Can you believe that...it wants to preach! I told him we would talk to the preacher at church and see if he would let him do a Bible study one night. Well this guy is inpatient. He wanted to teach us about God. Last night at church they were having a sing out but no preaching. We told this boy that we would stay home and let him preach to us. He sat at the kitchen table for about 2 hours working on his sermon. Gary made him a pulpit and we turned this guy loose on all our cottage boys. Now you know it's hard for men to get up and preach in front of crowds, but to get up in front of their peers is even harder. He had 10 people in his church, not bad for a beginning. :) He preached on Psalm and quoted some of his verses by heart. He did such a great job and I was so very proud of him. He was smiling from ear to ear just knowing he was getting to tell all of us about his Jesus. It's hard to believe that 4 months ago I dreaded being around this guy and now he is teaching me things about Jesus. Only God could make that type of change in someone. I have a feeling that this guy is going to do great things for God. And who knows, he may lead an army to Jesus before it's all said and done. Praise our mighty Lord and Savior!

                                                      GOD'S WORD IS SO GOOD.
FOR THOSE GOD FOREKNEW HE ALSO PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE LIKENESS OF HIS SON, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BROTHERS. AND THOSE HE PREDESTINED, HE ALSO CALLED; THOSE HE CALLED; HE ALSO JUSTIFIED; THOSE HE JUSTIFIED, HE ALSO GLORIFIED.
                                                                    ROMANS 8:29-30

LETS GO BOWLING!

We went out to eat tonight and then took the boys bowling. We had a great time. Ethan did better than his big sister. :) She definitely gets her bowling talents from me....that being NO bowling talent. LOL. Gary and the boys were in competition with each other. Gary won but one of the boys came very close to beating him. After bowling one of the boys drove the race car game. The chair actually simulates a real racing experience. The steering wheel starts shaking when you get over 100 mph. We were all in the car with him when at 143 mph, he crashed! It's OK... we all survived. :)  It was fun watching the boys have a good time. I love to see the boys smiling and laughing. I think that is one of the most beautiful pictures life can paint. A happy child.

ENJOYING GOD'S CREATION

Wow we had such a beautiful day! The boys worked outside raking leaves and trimming bushes. We had a project to do for an elderly lady in town. We took the boys and went to rake her yard and clean up around her house. God blessed us with such a gorgeous day to do these projects. I was watching the boys, they would rake a pile of leaves and then just pick them up and throw them at each other. It's amazing that you can put 6 boys in a cottage and they can still get along and have fun together. They enjoyed the day outside and I think the fresh air did us all some good. I tried to play soccer with one of the boys but I was not good at that! LOL. I did enjoy watching the other boys play though. I watched one of the boys who recently earned driving priveledges, drive the farm tractor. It was really funny. He was singing the song; I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor, and just trucking right along. We are fixing to head out the door now. We are taking the boys bowling. (Another sport I'm not good at.) I'm glad we were blessed with such a beautiful day. Can you imagine God just breathed life and so it was! With all the sin and destruction in the world, I'm so glad we still can take time to admire the beauty and enjoy God's precious creation. Thank you Lord for being so forgiving and allowing us to enjoy such a wonderful day together. God is good!!

                                                      F
                                                      R
                                                      I
                                                    JESUS!
                                                      N
                                                      D

PARTY AT GOD'S HOUSE!

I found this looking around through pictures. It was a party invitation that a little girl wrote to her friend. Working here I don't know why things kids do surprise me, but they do and they still amaze me. A child concerned about a friends eternal life wrote this and gave it to her friend. I would love to know if her friend accepted the invitation or not. Regardless, we should all have the same goal in mind. Do you have a friend who's eternity your concerned about? I'm sure we all know someone. Write them an invitation. Stick it in the mail, even if it's done anonymously. The point is for them to get the invite... right? Plant the seed and let God take care of the rest. Go ahead and get the stamp ready to go....God Bless you.


I PLANTED THE SEED, APOLLOS WATERED IT, BUT GOD MADE IT GROW.
                                           1 CORINTHIANS 3:6

MY FRIEND JESUS

This describes me so well. I should pray each morning before my feet even hit the floor. I think the Devil starts working on me as soon as the alarm goes off! I need God's help everyday. God is so good to me and I am so undeserving of his love. Thank you Lord for guiding my steps and being my friend. A friend that will never leave my side and always has time to listen to me. A friend that layed his life down for me before I even existed. A friend that if given the task again, would die all over again for me. Thats the kind of friend we all need. Thats the kind of friend Jesus is. I love my friend Jesus!


MY COMMAND IS THIS: LOVE EACH OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.
GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS, THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS
LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.
                                                     JOHN 15:12

TIME WITH FAMILY

I am back from my moms. We had so much fun together. We went shopping and just had some much needed girl time. I went to my sister's last night and my niece cooked us dinner. It was very good. We left there and went to our home church. I told my pastor I was going to quit coming there because every time I came he made me mad. Just kidding, but he does have a bad habit of stepping on my toes. LOL. We went to our meeting today. It was a conference on how to spot a child who has been abused. A lot of good information but very sad to hear how often it happens. After the meeting we went to see our dear friend who is in the hospital. We love you Ms. V. and pray you get better really soon! We came home this afternoon and went with the older guys to have dinner. It was really fun and we had a great time. They are so much fun to hang around. This ministry is hard...but well worth it. I am so honored that God has allowed me to be part of it. Please continue to pray for Lyndsie's friend Paige. She is doing good but she is going to have to have physical therapy on her knee. It's hard to take off so much time during your first year of college. It doesn't take much to get behind. God Bless you and I hope you have a great night.

NOT PERFECT....JUST FORGIVEN!

A few days ago a kid was showing me pictures of his mother. I said she's very pretty. He said; yes she is and I can't wait to go home again. When Gary and I first started this ministry this kid told me why he was here. Details that no mother would want her children to endure, but this kid did. Then it hit me like a brick. I thought, with everything his mother put him through, he still thinks shes beautiful. He still sees her as perfect.... because shes his mother. Then today I seen the picture above and it reminded me of the pictures of this kids mom. I thought about us (being sinners) nailing Jesus to the cross, and yet he has forgiven us. He is carrying us....THE ONES WHO CRUCIFIED HIM! What a forgiving God. My father is awesome. Just like a child sees their mom as the most beautiful person in the world, God sees us in the same way. After everything we did (and do) to him, he loves us more than anything. He still loves us knowing all our faults and all our thoughts. And you know what....HE LOVES YOU AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THAT!


THOUGH THE MOUNTAINS BE SHAKEN AND THE HILLS BE REMOVED,
YET MY UNFAILING LOVE FOR YOU WILL NOT BE SHAKEN
NOR MY COVENANT OF PEACE BE REMOVED',
SAYS THE LORD, WHO HAS COMPASSION ON YOU.
                             ISAIAH 54: 10