Happy New Year!! Hope your year was joyful, but that this one coming up is better!! God guide, love Sam

Awesome Books & CDs that by applying them, they can ligitally change everything!

    

'Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

A growing movement of young people is rebelling against the low expectations of today's culture by choosing to "do hard things" for the glory of God - and Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge.



Do Hard Things is the Harris twins' revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential.'

 

http://www.life-leadership-home.com/Shopping/tabid/63/ProdID/1848/language/en-US/Default.aspx

'Confidence of a Champion by Tim Marks

Bestselling author Tim Marks helps you let go of past lies and become who you were created to be.'

 

 

'Letters to Lindsey by Terri Brady

AGO Book of the Month for November!



In the words of the author, “These letters are meant to vent, challenge, or simply entertain, but always to leave the reader and the writer changed.”'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links coming soon!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

The bombing of Pearl Harbor was December 7th, 1941.  When the Japs bombed American state, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor. 
That's what got us into the war, World War II.

So....Am I Really Walnut-Sprinkled Poop?

"Okay, so where is she going with this?"  I bet that's what you're thinking.  Bear with me, I have a really great tie-in here.:-)

As we sat at the kitchen table today, we were reading about our World War II history and suddenly, (no, it wasn't me just getting on a bunny trail, it was really God leading me I believe), I felt led by the Holy Spirit to lay out the Gospel again to my siblings.  I have three siblings, ages 12, 10 and 8.  Wow, that looks pretty cool doesn't it?
Anyways, I began by saying something like, "Now guys, imagine a pile of poop" (embarrassed giggles bubble from my audience, but I continue seriously) "what do you think when you see that?  It's gross, right?  No matter HOW hungry you may be, you probably would rather die, (well, not literally but you get the point) than eat poop, right?  Well now look over at that walnut brittle over there.  (I'd just made really yummy Christmas walnut brittle and it was cooling on the counter).  When you look at that, your mouth begins to water, and you think, "Mmm..." it happens automatically.  Because it's delicious and wonderful!!  That walnut brittle, would you eat it when your hungry?  Of course you would!  Would you eat it even if you were stuffed?  Of course you would!  Why?  Again, because it's specially delicious and scrumptious.  Your tastebuds recognize that it's good.

"But guys, we are the poop.  We are nothing, absolutely NOTHING apart from God....I was poop but I tried to sprinkle walnuts on my head and pretend that I was brittle!"
Haha!  There was no foolin' anybody!  The only person I fooled real good was myself.
I know Jesus Christ is the one true God because it was by His Word alone that peeled back my blinders and showed me that I was faking everything.  I was simply poop with walnuts sprinkled on top, and I expected that was good enough for God.  For Holy God.

So are you poop with walnuts, or are you the real stuff?  I know I used to be!  But by trusting in Christ Jesus God saved me from myself and whipped me up into an entire new recipe.  I  suddenly became something special all because of Him.

A dangerous prayer that all should venture out in faith to pray is Psalm 139:23-24,

'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' 




......................Walnut Christmas Brittle, by Samantha
 2 C. white sugar
3/4 C. water
1 1/4 C. walnuts (toasted)
 red&green sprinkles
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Bring liquids to a boil over Medium heat on stove.  Keep stirring UNTIL it starts bubbling and then STOP stirring so it will thicken.  I learned that lesson the hard way...*sigh.*

Pour liquid mixture over nuts, sprinkles and salt.  Let cool before cutting.

Time: 35-40 mins
Serves: I'm not sure on the exact serving, but it fills a nice 9/9" casserole dish nicely.

Enjoy your brittle!!:-)

Giving Thanks to our Deliverer, on Thanksgiving, for Deliverance from the Fire

 

We had a grass fire occur on Thanksgiving Day.  My Dad was doing a bonfire and went in the woods for a few minutes, my brothers decided to check on the fire.  When they got there, it was spreading not just a little bit but past the pit all over the grass! We have about 100 acres of woods right next to our house, our bonfire is about twenty-five feet away from the treeline.  By the time my Dad came and saw what that my brothers were trying to put it out (with rakes, never use rakes! It fans the flames) it was about 18 inches from the trees! 

I had no idea this was going on until my littlest brother Jordan came running up to the house screaming "We need more water! We need buckets!"

My mom, (quick thinking) ran our double-size hose up to where the fire was burning and I filled and refilled buckets as fast as I possibly could while my dad and brothers ran into the smoke and poured on the fire closest to the treeline first.  Mom called the Fire Department, but we waited for 30 minutes and they never did end up coming anyway because they said it wasn't an emergency if we got it out or something like that.  Good thing we weren't waiting on them!! 

I literally took pictures of the charred grass to show how close the fire was and it was LITERALLY 6 INCHES AWAY FROM THE TREES!!!  You know as soon as it would catch those evergreens and other trees, there would be no hope for our woods! 

I can think of nothing other than miraculously God's hand was holding back that fire from going any closer to the trees!  What a Thankful Thanksgiving it was for us! 

And as I thought of that, I realized how it was really a spiritual picture of every single person.  We are the trees, and the fire is our punishment in Hell for our sin, ready to consume us, but by the grace of God He holds His hand between us and the fire while we're on this earth, giving us the chance to repent and trust in His Son! 

And Jesus is the Fireman, the Savior, who, when we yell out to Him to save us from this eternal fire, He puts us upon His back and carries us far away from the fire. 

:-)

Another true story I just have to tell you is that my 18-year-old cousin  (this was on Thanksgiving too, jinx) was riding back home with her boyfriend after Thanksgiving dinner when her boyfriend had been taking anxiety medicine and she didn't know it, and so he basically passed out at the wheel, his eyes were glazed over and she ligitally thought he was dead.  She kept saying his name over and over but he was completely out.  They were going off the road and she reached over to grab the wheel but it was too late by the time she tried to correct it.  (I'm not kidding either) their car flipped and they were airborne for a while, and they crashed into a  telephone pole and it uprooted it from the ground.  The telephone pole was suspended over their car, held by the electrical wires very weakly.  The car was all bashed up and their car was on fire.  My cousin had passed out during one point in the whole ordeal but the heat of the fire woke her up.  When she woke up she felt something in her lap and looked down; what do you know, it was a cross with the Bible verse John 3:16 on it "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."  Not get this that she is not a Christian and has been, from what I can tell, for a long while running away from the Lord.  But God put that verse right in her lap! She couldn't suppress the Truth! She had to read it!
Meanwhile the fire was so bad that the car could blow up at any moment, and the telephone pole was suspended in a way that it would any second fall and crush them both.  The Ambulance came and she was able to crawl out of the car, though reluctant to leave her boyfriend who was still out. She made sure before she crawled out that she had the cross clenched in her hand...

Finally he came to and they were about to dig him out but he was able to somehow get out of the car. 
But isn't that amazing?!! No broken bones on either of them that we know of, and the midst of it all was that cross midst the fire!  It was certainly God's hand who had perfectly placed that cross in her lap.  He spared her life, giving her another chance to believe in Jesus and be saved from eternal fire!  So amazing!  No coincidences!!  This really happened, and God ordained it perhaps as the the starting point to begin to open her blinded eyes to His love and saving grace!

Whew! Praise the Lord that He saves the repentant sinner from the fire! 
Happy THANKSgiving! 
love,
Samantha