OCP Blog Challenge - August 12th

Let's do the bible passage that speaks to you the most right now and why.

Right now, the bible passage that speaks to me the most has to be Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

It speaks to me right now because it was my father-in-law's favorite verse, and he's gone to be with Jesus in Heaven and I can't wait to join him there (hopefully not for a LONG time yet).

I hope you enjoyed reading, until next time.

God Bless You,
Jackie

Dear God

I am very late on this one, as it was mentioned back at the beginning of this month. I am doing it now though :)

Dear God,
I'm sorry I haven't been very loyal lately, but I'm trying to change that. We have decided to stay at our current church, everyone has been SO supportive all these years and I just can't us leaving now. Also, Justin's dad always wanted us to stay at MFC so we are going to do that for him as well. I want to give every day my VERY best and live each day like it's my last, so that I can meet you up in Heaven, and see Justin's dad again too. I need your help in this, and I KNOW you will be there for me to see me through. I thank you for everything you've given me and will give me in the future. Please take care of Justin's mom and help her to realize she NEEDS to be here for her family and she has to take care of herself in order to do that. In your name, Amen.

I hope you enjoyed reading, until next time.

God Bless You,
Jackie

God Whispers

Often God will speak so profoundly to us through circumstances, and even just out of the blue ~ like in the shower. Share one of those "God Whispers" with us!

I don't believe that I've had a lot of these moments, but I know there have been a few. I will talk about the most recent one.

I have been struggling with my Christianity for some time now. It was like the Devil was getting a foothold on me. I was sitting on the couch in the living room and thinking about how it's been lately. I felt the urge to pray about it, so I did. Literally, seconds later something came to my mind, something that I don't think I've even heard before. Just then, I KNEW it HAD to have come from God.

the Lord and the Devil are playing tug-o-war and I am the rope. Where we stand now, the Devil is winning. So, I need to lean on God and help him pull in order to move closer to Him so that he can win the war.

Thank you for reading, God Bless!!

Jackie

Love letter to God

Dear God,
I love you Lord and want a close and personal relationship with you. You have given me SO much to be thankful for and I find myself taking advantage of that, A LOT!! Lord, help me to change for the better for my family and for myself. You are my God and I KNOW you can help me through the dark times and I can praise you through the happy times. Lord, hold me up when I feel like I am going to fall and help me to stay on the ground. I love you Lord with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind. Amen.

It's not very good but I believe it came from the heart :)

God Bless,
Jackie

Favorite Childhood Summer Memories

It's been awhile since I've done one of these. I'm not online very much anymore, so I'll try to do one at least once a week from now on.

Favorite Childhood Summer Memories

I don't remember much about my childhood because I have a BAD memory, can't even remember much about last week lol. So, here are the few that I do remember.

My dad's side of the family always goes camping at the beach during the August long weekend. When I was a kid, we used to go every year. I remember sitting in a camper during a downpour, with my cousins and we were playing Yahtzee. I also remember playing on a big tube at the campsite and we were playing something. We called out our pretend dogs name and somebody said something and scared us lol. Those are the only two times I really remember. Now, we go for the big dinner the last day but that's about it, Justin HATES camping.

Man, I had another one but it totally slipped my mind LOL. Oh well, I guess that's it lol.

God Bless,
Jackie

Summertime Fun (OCP Blog Challenge #12)

Let us write about our plans for this summer.

We don't do too much during the summer months. Justin doesn't like camping, so that never happens. The park and the pool are less than a block away, so we spend some time there. More time at the park then at the pool, because when I'm alone with 3 kids it's hard to get to the pool and watch them by myself, so we wait until daddy gets home for that. The park we will probably go to at least once a day (of course if it's nice outside). We will spend lots of time just playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the swingset and slide, doing yardwork and just running around and playing together.

July 10th is Justin's birthday, so we'll probably do something special that day. I'm not sure what that is yet lol. A friend of his, her daughter turns 2 on July 12th I believe, so we'll be going to Tinkertown for that. August 20th is Isaac's birthday, so we'll be doing something for that (not sue what yet either).

This summer is Trinity's first year of swimming lessons (she was supposed to start last year but it was cancelled because they were working on the pool). She goes from July 21st to August 1st from 11:15 - 11:45am. While she's doing that, the other 2 kids and I will probably either watch or play at the park.

Here in town, they have the Stampede and for about 4 days they have rides and one of the days they have a parade, so we'll more than likely be going to that.

Also, August long weekend my dad's side of the family go camping. The last day, they have a dinner and invite the whole family (even the ones that aren't camping), so we'll be going to that. There, we'll probably do some swimming at the beach, so that should be fun!

That's about all. Everything else will be last minute things lol.

God Bless,
Jackie

OCP Blog Challenge #11

This week, let's talk about somebody we look up to. It could be a parent, a relative, a pastor, or a friend, anyone.

Most of this is going to be what I've heard, because I haven't known this person my whole life, only 8 1/2 years (for now). This person is, my Father-in-law, Ron E.

Let's see, when him and MIL first got married, they had LOTS of problems. Neither of them were Christians, he was into drinking and smoking, she had a young child from a previous relationship whom he ended up adopting, he was a bit abusive (mental and physical) towards her. I'm sure there is more, but this is all I can remember. I believe at one point he was in jail (they told me why but I can't remember). At another point, their 3 children were put into foster care. I believe her mother had custody of the oldest, Shaun and the other 2 went to live with a family (that happened to live in the same town as me, but I didn't know them), eventually they got their children back (I believe MIL called herself to get them out of their house and put into foster care, which I think was really brave of her).

Eventually, they had enough and started attending church and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and they became Christians. Ever since then, things have gotten WAYY better. Ron has got to be one of the BEST Christians that I know. He is so faithful to the Lord, he reads his Bible every morning (at least 1 chapter a day), he attends church both Saturday night (just during the summer months) and Sunday morning, he was the Sunday School Superintendant (until he got sick back in June of 2007).

Even after he got sick, he was so faithful to the Lord and trusted in Him. He has had an impact on a BUNCH of people's lives. Since getting sick, people from church and neighbours have done lots to help him. Last Summer, after he got sick a bunch of neighbours helped him with his farmwork, this year they are helping him get his farm equipment ready for their auction sale.

He is just an AMAZING man and I love him to peices :)

I hope you enjoyed reading about my HERO :)

God Bless,
Jackie