Blog award

How good it feels when someone out there loves your blog! When they take the time to comment and not just show up for give always and contest. I want to thank Amy from Sensationallychic Boutique for the beautiful blogger award!


Terms of the award: Must list 10 things about yourself, thank the person who gave it to you and pass it onto 10 wonderful bloggers:
10 THINGS ABOUT ME
1. I am a a Stay at home mom
2. I met my significant other through his ex girlfriend who was my boyfriends sister
3. I live in the Alton IL the most haunted town in the US
4. I love all forms of art/crafting
5. I have twins
6. I wish I had my own craft room!
7. I wish I could make papercrafts for a living
8.I love making mini albums and ATC and cards
9. I am a Christian who wants to grow closer to God daily
10. I love to be online and running my own blog!
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10 Wonderful Bloggers
1. The Graphics Fairy
2. Scrap blitz
3.Tiddly Inks
4. My many many passions
5. Color me Katie
6. Scrappin N Style
7. Daisy Doodles Stamps
8. Feathers in my Nest
9.Plum Tuckered's Paper plays
10. Tammy's Recreational Corner
Please post the badge on your blog and list the 10 things about yourself and
then share the love and pass it onto 10 more people.

Sparilli Card

There had to be a sparelli someone on this card for a swap. I saw this design Kwernerdesign. Be sure to check out her blog and awesome ideas for cards! She did the clouds and the flags and I added the sun. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Why Get Baptized?

Pastor Ken preached on baptisim this morning and I wanted to share with you! The first command after being reborn and saved is to get baptized. If we can not follow Gods first command how can we follow the 2nd,3rd,4th etc? Shower yourself in baptism to wash all of you so that you might be clean!

Reasons why to get baptized
1. Jesus did!

2. Commanded by God to be baptized

3. Mark 16:16 whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

4. Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized

5. Our way of witnessing our commitment to the world

6. Gal 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed

7. Acts 22:15-16You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? get up, be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name.

8. Symbolism of baptism

9. Baptism in Greek means to dip, put under. All the way under!

10.Romans 6:2-4 By no means! We died to sin how can we live in it any longer? Or
don't you know that all of us who were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him thorough baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life.

11.Colossians 2:9-12For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity (<~~The Lord)lives
in bodily (<~~Us)form and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head
over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised in the putting
off of the sinful nature not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but
with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and
raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Baptism is NOT a option it is a COMMAND form the Lord!

Final night

Last night was the final night of revival. We had a wonderful time at a fellowship dinner and then was able to participate in signing praises to the Lord with some soul moving tunes!I am glad to get back to normal around the house but have to be honest and admit I am sad to see it go. I really do enjoy being in Church daily! Just because it was the last night though Pastor Mike didn't slack on his preaching! I have three and a half pages of notes here to share with you today. So are you ready?

We learned about knowing the Lord by name last night. Do you know his name? I did but as with other things did not give deep thought into it. Now though I know how to and can apply it to my life! I hope after reading this you too will be able to do the same.

Pastor Mike started us off last night in 1 Cor 1:9 It is Gods will for our life to know Jesus Christ and have a fellowship with him.

Philip 3:10 To many times we see God as a divine Santa clause wanting things from him rather then just wanting him. Believe me I still want those blessings he promised me but if I am wanting the blessings more then the relationship with the Lord then there is a serious issue and we wont see the blessings and I feel we will become miserable!
We should not waste out energy on boasting and bragging about things that just consume us.. Brag and boast that God understands and knows you personally! Boast and brag that no matter where or what time God hears your prayers!

As you get to know the names of God you will be able to grow closer to him. In growing closer to the Lord I personally feel we will see our stress levels drop because we will no longer have time for those things that consume us. Things that don't really matter anyhow!

Ex 3:14 Moses thought he was a no body! To God though he was a somebody. We are all a somebody to God! God has a job for each and everyone of us as he did for Moses and well excuses wont work with God. Sorry folks no calling in sick here!

Now are you ready for Gods name? I AM... Yes I know some of you already knew this but tell me what does it mean??? I AM??? You AM what??? He is the GREAT I AM__________
For instance you are depressed God is the I AM HEALER
You are sad God is the I AM Comforter
You are Happy God is the I AM supplier of happiness
You feel empty God is the I AM your filler

So I AM means what? HE IS EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! ANYTHING YOU NEED HE IS!!!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!! God is anything and everything we need. Just call on him and he will be your I AM.
Because he is the I AM every generation is to know him by name.
He is
The God of your father
1. God of Abraham
2. God of Issac
3. God of Jacob
(Don't forget the above 3 we will be revisiting them)

Gen 12:1 tells us God is a dream maker and will make our dreams come true. ONLY he can make our lives more then we could ever hope for!

Ok back to the above 3 men.
1. Abraham proves and shows God is the dream giver!

2. Issac proves and shows God is a promise Keeper! That NOTHING is impossible with God and God keeps his promises when he wants NOT when we want!

3. Jacob proves and shows God changes lives. Even the most stubborn!

Each one of us can relate to at least one of the men listed above! Who are you? I have to say when I was going through infertility I was 100% Issac and Sara! I wanted a child so bad I wavered on many avenues cause I didn't want to wait or i thought maybe i was supposed to go in other directions. But one thing I know for sure God never took it from my heart and I KNEW I was to be a mother. Now in my life I feel I can relate with Abraham. I have dreams and I know in Gods time he will fill my dreams or show me my dreams need to be different. But in his time not mine!

No matter what Gods ultimate desire is for us to know him!
No one can cry out to Jesus for you! ONLY YOU can cry out to Jesus for you! If you call his name he WILL answer. He is there waiting to be your I AM___________

Gods love and blessings to you all
Connie

Forgivness

Okay I think I may be ready for this preacher from our revival to go back to Florida! Well not really but man he has sure been stepping on my toes! Guess that's what revival is about huh? Last night he preached on forgiveness. He made the point to say we all have someone in our lives that when we think of or hear their names we cringe and grit our teeth. Do you have one or more of those people? I currently have 2 UGGG!!!! He said we should not be like Johna in Johna 3:10 and bull up and refuse to forgive and take Gods job from him and think we should hold anger and be the judge. Its Gods place to judge not ours. Pastor Mike went on to say we need to get Gods heart in us! Gods heart is a forgiving spirit. Where if we live in our heart we will be living like Johna. When we are saved we are asking God to come into our hearts and allow it to become his. So in a sense when we hold a grudge we are turning from God and being in our heart not his.

Still with me?

Okay then lets move on. Are you ready to know how to forgive that person who has hurt you? Ya I have to re eat these words so I can bring them to you! That's okay though cause I know someone out there needs this as bad as I do! Pastor Mike at one time had to deal with this his self with a person who repeatedly hurt him on purpose. So he started going through the bible to find answers on forgiveness and found there is actually 5 steps to forgiving. And here we go:

1. We need to separate or release. Forgiving when someone hurts you we have to remember that the person is separate from the deed. We need to be angry at the deed the person has committed and not the person.

2. Send Away-We need to push the thoughts away and don't dwell on the offense. We must refuse to focus on the offense.

3. Be gracious toward the person- Learn how to be gracious to the person. PRAY FOR THEM. Ask god to forgive them and change them. When you pray for someone you will see your own heart change.

4. cover over- over time the offense will be covered over with the grace of shed blood of Jesus! Let god be the judge and you be you!

Its time to forgive who ever it is you are angry with. once you forgive you will feel a release.

He told us if we start taking these steps we will see that we will fall in the step following. WE are the ones who suffer when we hold a grudge!
I know this post is long but I have just a little more to add if you will please stay with me. Sometimes we feel there is no way to repair a relationship. Pastor Mike gave an example of a lady he worked with who had a falling out with her neighbor. She said the relationship was beyond repair. He told her to go over with a plate of cookies and tell the woman she was thinking about her. She said that would never work the lady would throw the cookies at her. He said okay pick up the phone and call a friend and tell the friend you are on the way over. Get in your car with the plate of cookies pull out of your drive way and into your neighbors. Leave your car running. When your neighbor comes to the door hand her the cookies and tell her you were thinking about her and continue with you are on your way out and just wanted to give her the cookies. Before the neighbor has time to respond leave. He said he got a letter later with the woman telling him she did what he told her to do. She went to the friends house she called and they prayed about the situation. She went home and soon heard a knock at the door. It was her neighbor. She went to the door and there stood the neighbor with the cookies AND a pot of coffee. the neighbor said cookies go much better with coffee and asked if they could sit down and talk. They worked things out over a plate of cookies!

Tell me are you thinking about making a plate of cookies right now? I did last night and I feel it again today! I need to make a plate of cookies.

Please pray for my relationships to heal with my Sister in law Gayla and my step son Andrew. If you leave a message here I will be sure to pray for you and the person your suffering over now.

Now I need to go say yes to something else and no to this computer. If you don't understand what I am talking about search yesterdays post titled "yes is a no and no is a yes".


Gods blessings to each of you!
Connie

Yes is a No and No is a Yes

Anyone see this? This week my Church is in Revival! This preacher is really touching me with the word God has given him to bring and I wanted to share last night with you. I know we have all heard yes means no and no means yes but has anyone given a deep thought to that? I know I never had until it was explained to me. When we say yes to something we are saying no to something else. As well when we say no to something we are saying yes to something else. For example I was so tired last night but I went to Church. I said yes to Church and no to staying home and sleeping. Which brings me to my next subject. We were made to be a influence to others. When we are saying yes or no to something people are watching. By saying yes to Church last night I was a influence to my Children that God and his Church are very important! Our ability to influence others depends on the choices (yes or no) we make. In Matthew 3:13-14 God says we are Blessed. Gods plan for our (my,your) life is bigger then we could ever imagine! Why are we not saying no to the world more and yes to God more so we can be BLESSED!!!! I want to be Blessed don't you? What are you saying yes and no too? I know I am not perfect and I never thought about saying yes to one thing was leading me to say no to another. But I find as I wake up this morning I am giving more thought to my yes and no's. If we ignore the power we have to influence other people we are in all honesty ignoring Gods plan for our life. We are put here on this earth to serve the Lord. Not for him to serve us. The sweet thing about this is if we serve him and bring people to him we will be BLESSED!!! You are Gods child. When our children do right we reward them. When they don't we punish them. We have a choice God can reward us for our good behavior or we can go without being Blessed! God is going to DAILY put people into our lives that we can influence. Whats your choice? Check Yes or no!

Im a Princess

Denise from the SCALHints group created the most adorable princess crown! You can find the file on her blog Denise's Scrapbooking Room. I thought for sure Reagan would have this tore apart in no time. Of course she proves me wrong (fine by me haha) She wore if for the longest time and then took it off and gave it to me to put up so she could wear later. THANK YOU Denise for helping Reagan be the princess she always knew she was.

Its mushroom time

Nicholas has discovered the love of mushroom hunting! He has found a spot he considers a gold mine lol. We told him to be sure not to tell anyone! This is his largest mushroom and he thought it picture worthy!

I was going to edit all the dirt and so forth off of him, but ya know what? You don't exactly look pretty after crawling on the ground mushroom hunting now do you?