Chapter 25: Lord, use me to touch the lives of others.

          I can honestly say that this chapter speaks to me in great volumes. It has been a specific prayer of mine for a long time until God put on my heart to create S.A.V.E.D. I always loved God, but I very recently started my walk and taking my relationship with Him seriously about a year ago. I would go to church, do my devotions, read outside sources but I felt like there was something missing. 

          Stormie brings up a great point at the end of the chapter when she says,"If you love God, you will love people and it will motivate you to do whatever you can to help them". Often times we think we don't have the means to help others in addition to our own responsibilities but we overlook the simple fact that a PRAYER is worth more than any amount of material thing. Yes,there are needs like food, clothes, etc that must be fulfilled but prayer to the one who created and provides it all is worth so much more. Not only is your service or prayer helping your brother and sister in Christ, but it is also a form of gratitude to God. (2 Corinthians 9:12). As you continue to bless others in your life, God will use that to bless you even more. 

        Another point that was brought to my attention in this chapter was the fact that she mentioned "We can never move into all God has for us until we first move into intercessory prayer". I can definitely say I'm guilty of getting so caught up in praying for my personal needs that I forget to pray for others. I can't move forward in my spiritual life if I don't put others before me. Sometimes you just need to put your own needs aside and pray for others, then its amazing to see what you wanted for yourself gets answered before you even ask. "We release the flow of God's blessing TO us by letting them flow THROUGH us". So I want to challenge you ladies! :-) Regardless of what you're going through or dealing with this week, lets pray hard for someone else that we know is in need and as always I will be praying for all of you as well. Love you dearly, have a great rest of your week!

         

Chapter 24: Lord, Free Me From Ungodly Fear

Growing up, a passage that has gotten so engraved in my mind from my mother repeating it to me and having me memorize it is 2 Timothy 1:7 "for God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, love and of sound mind". Today if you ask people what is your greatest fear very few people will say that they have no fear and the people that do are not necessarily saying it because they so much trust God but because they want to appear fearless before man. My response to the question has always been that i am afraid of failing in life and i am afraid of not being loved. But from a relationship with God i realize that it is impossible for me and any child of God not to be loved because we have a father and friend that loved us sooooo much that he gave up his position as king just to come and suffer as a common slave and die on our behalf. That quality of love can not be replicated ("Like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me, Above all!"). Its funny that my standard of love was based on man and i, like so many, neglect the fact that i am forever promised a love that is greater than any man can ever offer. Understanding this love also helps alleviate my second fear because a God that loves me that much could never and would never allow me to become a failure unless i simply push Him out of every area of my life.


What has been your fear growing up and how has your growing relationship with God helped alleviate that fear?

p.s This just gave me something to tell my dad when he complains that i watch movies and shows instead of watching the news lol. The news instills too much fear in people because  people especially parents start fearing that living in certain areas will cause you to get shot because its dangerous; or going on a cruise will lead to your death because of all the ships sinking; or travelling certain places like Nigeria will lead to kidnapping all because of what they see on the news. As parents of course it is only natural to be afraid for your child and concerned about their well being but sometimes what we as humans forget is that the PRESENCE of all this FEAR is the ABSENCE of FAITH. The truth of the matter is this world is a dangerous place and anything can happen anytime anywhere. We are not alive today because we live in the safest neighborhoods or drive the safest cars or never travel. We are alive and well unlike many people who die doing the same things we do everyday simply because we are under the protection of the Most High. There will always be something to fear, just turn on the news and every death, explosion, countless of unexpected accidents and disasters will show you that there is  always something to be afraid of but there is no need fearing something you can not change; all you can do is put your trust in the one person that can deliver you from all these things!

Has anyone else ever found  it difficult to fear God because we are sometimes so focused on the love aspect? "O how He loves us, He is so merciful and His grace is ALWAYS sufficient unto us, He always wants the best for us" This is typically the only way we think of God. What helps balance this mentality is realizing that just like He is all powerful to bring us all the wonderful things His hand has ever created, He is also all powerful to allow evil to come to us just like he does when defending us from our enemies. Just like He is a God of love He is Also a God of war, we only wish never to see the war aspect unless He is fighting on our behalf. But it is important to know that when it comes to God fear and love go hand in hand. We do not want to obey God simply out of fear because He holds the whole world world in His hand and can bring anything to happen either to us or for us. Instead we want to always want to please Him because we love Him so much and would never want to do anything that is displeasing to Him or cause Him to be disappointed in us (I am still learning this).

Hope you are all blessed by this chapter.
I Pray that everyone in the Boston area and their families are all safe and well ~plz pray for Boston.

<Testimony: I was actually suppose to be at the marathon all day for work but i got a phone call Sunday afternoon changing my plans. God def has a reason for everything so lets strive never to question Him and always to trust Him. I thank god for He loves me more than i could EVER deserve!>

Have a wonderful week everyone
L&B Abbie E. <3

CHAPTER 23 :LORD HEAL ME AND HELP ME CARE FOR MY BODY

This is a very great chapter  for us ladies to enlighten us about our health.Any one that know me knows that i live for health  and  i often come of as annoying in daily life .Even when i am outside work , the public health in me still comes out. But without God our health is nothing. He created our bodies and gave it life to function. Many at times do you go to the hospital and the doctor diagnose of whatever disease  but at the end of  the day just know God has its purpose for you. Whatever the case it is , get down on your knees and pray for healing and i bet you he got your back.

The body however is a temple of God, so we need to maintain it . Ladies just like our homes we need to make  sure we are clean, get enough sleep and  do our  check ups. I know i often get on peoples  case on this but get your annual well woman exams to screen for cervical cancer, breast cancer and all those good stuff. I am not the healthiest eater but i strive to eat proportioned. Take a walk or two sometime or hit the gym. You do no necessarily have to do intensive workouts you can take a dancing class or swim a lap or just play some music at home and get it cracking ( i do that often ,don't judge me). Get up and switch the TV Chanel sometimes instead of  the remote it helps, walk around when u get a phone call. All this count. As you can tell this is my field so i can keep going and going . But the moral of the story is that  there is no Doctor bigger than God and also Our Bodies  are  the Temple of God so  lets make sure we treat as such.

Have a Blessed week . Love y'all!

Chapter 22 - Lord, enable me to resist the temptation to sin

This chapter very much reminded me of a blog I recently read (http://www.setapartgrl.com/2013/03/sex-happens-before-our-panties-come-off.html), except it is specific to sexual temptation.

Two things I learned in this chapter:

-we easily succumb to temptation because we are not walking according to God's will - we are at the wrong place at the wrong time

-everyone gets tempted, yet our reaction to temptation tells us that we are either living to our sinful desires or living to please God.

These two statements above are related (in my opinion at least) because once you please God, you are more likely to act according to His will and less likely to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and as a result, less likely to succumb to temptation. However, that does not mean that we will never be tempted! So always be prepared for temptation, by praying daily to stand firm, just like Christ has taught and told us.

So reading this chapter, I kept wondering, why is sexual temptation/adultery the most attacked temptation/sin? As in why does it compromise our future, the most, by robbing us of all good things God has for us? I mean lying is a sin, which can be used to tempt us, yet it is barely mentioned in temptation topics.

Anyone knows why!!?