Christmas 2022 New Reality

  Very happy to report that I am now unofficially retired.  That means something different for everyone.  For me, I no longer feel the pressure to go to work that I've felt so long.  To stay home and redeem the senior security pension has changed everything.  I may not make the kind of money to really get out of debt but at the same time there is no way I could make any more money by working any more than I have been at 3 days a week.  Now, I am working one day a week just to keep my foot in the door as long as I want to.  I'm considered flex at my job.  That has the benefit of working once every 6 weeks if I want to.  I might just do that for the beginning of 2023.  Originally I said I would work 1 day a week and that has been working for me but now, after having so much time off in the cold, winter months, I find myself happier and happier that I don't have to go to work.  

With my husband working full time in a good paying job where he is happy, and gets 10% off of reno supplies. We just bought several discounted end-of-the-year sales with an additional 10% off from his store: two black/grey countertops, a kitchen sink that is incredible, a few pot lights and a great deal on a utility sink and cabinet for the basement.  Since he is no longer doing renovations for anyone else, our home is now the target of long, awaited renovations.  We have lived in this house for 12 years after having moved in on Dec 10th just before Christmas 2010.  He started working for a retail store in Simcoe that turned out to be quite disappointing and that was the least of the challenges we would confront financially.  I worked for several years as a waitress at local restaurants.  It was hard work but ensure I would not be just sitting behind a desk either.  I learned how much it hurt to be on my feet at my age and with my weight.  It was a necessity and I had a chance to discover the people of Norfolk County.  

When finances of part-time employment was no longer meeting our needs, I finally agreed to work full time if I could get it or part-time at a really good job.  That is when surrendering did work out for the best.  I let go of my dream to stay home at our new location in country home we bought on an acreage.  It was not long before we knew something had to change.  My husband hated working for that specific retailer for peanuts compared to where we moved from.  That is when he decided to start his own renovation business and the rest is history.  After 10 years in the self-employment renovation business, we were struggling, our marriage was falling apart and we were getting deeper into debt.  Turning to God for eye-opening insightfulness and mercy, our prayers were answered when he got his first job coming out of self-employment. It wasn't pretty, the hours were strange and the first person he went to work for after all these years turned out to be the worst boss ever.  She was mean and hatefully spewed expletives and demeaned her employees. The turn over was very high and yet, my husband just kept working, almost quitting but determined to prevail.  We continued to pray for a job that he could earn good pay and the benefits would be worth it.   Soon an opportunity opened up at the right timing as if it was meant for him.  He was hired.  He loves it, he loves the employees and he loves what he does.  

I'm happier because, my days are mostly at home being the wife and keeper of the house as I wanted to do but never had time for before.  I actually don't mind cooking and cleaning as much if it means I get to stay home.  Eventually I will declutter this entire house and freely work on MY projects I have put off for years, namely writing the book God wants me to write.  

Thank you, God, for answering our prayers and bringing us through to the next level of learning about you, about us and about ourselves.   Amen\

Dec 19, 2022    

A LETTER TO MY CHILDREN November 2011

 

I wrote this letter to you in back in November 2011 but I just found it again and realized that I did not share it with you so I am posting it now to my blog today, 7-25-14, because you should read it and know how much I love you both and how proud I am of you both.  You are my treasured blessings.

 

Dear Haylie & Coley, I am so grateful to you both for being my children. I am so grateful to God for giving me the privilege of being your mother. I don’t think I tell you often enough how proud I am of you both in different ways.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you both for being great kids and honouring your dad and me with your love; for being great step-children to Brian and to Karen; for being great parents/step-parents; for being great a great brother and sister to one another; for being great spouses; for being great neighbour, employees and friends.

You my children are my inspiration in life! I watch you climbing your own individual learning ladders of life and marvel. I think to myself how far you’ve come since you were just little toddlers in my life, babes that I held in my arms needing my protection and love. Now you are adults who are parents and step-parents  yourselves. You now understand the sacrifices a parent must make and how heartbreaking it is when your children suffer but how delightfully full your heart is when you see the innocent smiles of success on your children’s faces and those twinkles in their eyes. As a mother I thank God for you because without you I’m sure my choices would have been different. I believe because of you, I chose better each day as we grew together as a family. I would not have held on during the difficult times if I did not have you there to need me. Later, when you became adults living different lives, miles apart, it is now that I can look at you and be inspired by you, be honoured by you, be loved and appreciated by you that I finally get to reap the reward for my years of motherhood.

Now that you are parents and step-parents, there will be tough days that you’ll wonder how you will get through it but when you look at those days, look down at those faces looking up to you calling you Daddy or Mommy/Haylie. Those are the moments that keep you going, God given to make you strong. You will overcome whatever your battles are simply because you have to – you can’t give up. It will all be worth it in the end when one day these children you are raising will show the love, admiration and appreciation to you just as I am feeling from you today.

Close Encounters With the Difficult Kind

August 9, 2011  I do not fear rejection anymore for I have looked direct into the eyes of hate and rejection and have overcome.


** NOTE:  After I was home, I thought of this scripture but I couldn't find it and to be honest I was lazy and didn't really pursue it. Now weeks later I find it again and wish I would have pursued this word because it showed me that my PEACE is valuable and I have a choice to share it and leave it  with others or not.  I also have a choice to allow it to be taken away from me.  According to the word of God in Matthew 10:13 NIV  If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. **

Our life is full of encounters that teach us about life’s perspective and the choices we have to make every day dealing with various kinds of people on this planet.  For the last several months I have been surrounded by people who are miserable in their life situations, mostly not  Christians so not knowing the Lord or they are Christians who truly do not know the joy of the Lord.   We all find ourselves surrounded by unhappy people -- neighbours, co-workers, friends and even family members. 

At first I thought it was just me and my perspective was wrong so I looked to God to search inside me and find out what was wrong, what I needed to change – my attitude, my outlook, my contribution to the situations dealing with these difficult people. 

I failed miserably on several counts, often getting angry and allowing my own feelings to be hurt and feel rejection.  It was not a phase that ended quickly.  In fact, as I write this, I have just encountered another difficult situation with a difficult person.

God’s grace carried me through the last situation, which caught me completely off guard. I literally felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in time of need and discovered the impartation of courage to get through it.

During these same strenuous encounters over the last few months I have also walked in love toward others who received it gladly and appreciated me.   Those are the rewarding moments on our journey to Mt. Zion (the promised land).   “A Journey to Mt. Zion”, would be a beautiful book title, if somebody hasn’t already thought of it.  The pages would be filled with various types of encounters – some good and some not so good while we are living our lives for the glory of God until that day when He takes us home to be with him eternally, either by rapture or through end of life. 

In the last days evil will appear to get worse but God’s grace will also abound (see Romans 5:20-21).  This means that the harvest is ready – there are people, many of them very difficult to be around because they are so unhappy in their lost state, not having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal delivering Saviour.  Although they are miserably bitter, they are ripe to hear the good news, especially when what they believe or how they live is truly not working for them – nothing can satisfy or fulfill except the living God who through Christ, can dwell in us and is our hope. 

(2 Timothy 3) in the last days people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power.  

The Bible says they are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desire, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  We are told to have nothing to do with them.  These are the same type of people who opposed Moses – opposing the truth – men of depraved minds who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.  Their folly (stupidity, foolishness, madness) will be clear to everyone.  Then Timothy goes on to say that, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

I believe God is talking about people acting against God’s will to attempt to prevent the advancement of the Kingdom of God, trying to deceive those who are weak in faith.  With them we have to take up the Sword of Truth (the Word of God) to prevail against the enemy.  However, do not confuse the above descriptions of people and our instructions to “have nothing to do with them” with reaching out to the lost souls who are hurting and angry, confused and bewildered, lonely and sad, fearful and abandoned, bitter and in pain, unwilling to forgive and lashing out with rage, filling themselves with everything and anything but God.   These are those who need compassion from us so that we can reach out to them and pray for even more. 

There is a reason we have been led to encounter them along our journey.  Somebody has to be the one who will pick up the burden of prayer for them.  They are the ones who will test you to see if you will reject them even when they are ugly to you.  They are the ones who you need to carry in the Spirit to the throne of Grace by praying for them.  They are the ones you may have to fight for.  They are the ones who, the more you love them the more they hate you.  They are the ones who need deliverance, healing and restoration.  Will you be the one to answer this call? 

I believe there are lots of people we would like to run away from and do everything within our power to avoid.  They are the ones who need friends, true loving and genuine friends more than anyone else – above all they need Jesus.  The question is – will I be the one who will tell them the truth.  My honest, personal answer is ‘Yes Lord, I am willing to encounter them and bring them through prayer to the throne of Grace but please do not ask me to submit myself to more persecution.  I do not want to fail you, Lord.  I ask for more wisdom and revelation of your word. Fill me with your word and let my cup of joy overflow so that I might be an example, a walking epistle of God’s love even when they spit in my face with hatred.  I will not fear rejection anymore for I have looked direct into the eyes of hate and rejection and have overcome.’  

1. What if Satan’s plan was to attack to keep me away from his claimed territory? 
2. What if God wanted me to be the one to bring them the good news?

This weekend a non-Christian, describing a fictional book, mentioned The Sword of Truth, which was in this fictional book.  He had no knowledge of the power that comes from the true Sword of Truth.  This happened immediately after an incident at his house where his wife verbally attacked his guests (my husband and I). So I know God was speaking to me as this was the only way to do combat for them – with the true Sword of Truth.   

The enemy was trying to make me run away in fear because I don’t like confrontations but God gave me the grace I needed to get through the situation.  After I was safely away from the situation, having looked at it from all sides particularly from God’s side, I now see that the enemy wanted me to be hurt, scared, unforgiving and bitter but that beautiful grace and power of God was unforgettable and all I could do was feel sorry for them and wonder what God had in mind for me to learn from this event.

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.  Mark 11:25

Then I came home and found myself mulling it over trying to understand it from every angle.  I discussed it with my husband who was there, then I reached out to my daughter and daughter-in-law for their perspective.  I couldn’t forget it.  I struggled with my own emotions about it.  Since I do not believe it is healthy to nurse it and rehearse it but instead to let go of it and ask God to heal the hurt, I searched out the answer until God began to give me compassion for this woman who lashed out at me and my husband.  I can finally see that she how much she is hurting in her marriage and in her own life.   

Here are 2 links to read more about forgiveness:   

http://www.kingstreetcommunitychurch.com/how-to-heal-the-hurt-3/

http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/a/bibleforgivenes.htm

Here are 2 links to that will help regarding our thoughts and emotions and understanding difficult people:
http://www.sethbarnes.com/?filename=difficult-people-are-gods-grindstones-in-our-lives
http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/power_thoughts.php

So now, I am seeking God’s face for help in praying for this couple.  I ask you to also join with me and lift them up in prayer.  They need Jesus Christ.  I don't have to mention any names because God knows who they are.  In the Name of Jesus (by his authority), I bind the spirit of pride, hate, anger, controlling spirits.   I loose them from negative influences, confusion, deception. unhealthy vises, false religions and beliefs, unforgiveness, pain and torment.

I pray that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened as the Father would draw them by the Holy Spirit through the Son, Jesus Christ to the Father by your love.  I pray they will open themselves humbly to receive your forgiveness.   I ask you to give them a desire for the one true and living God.

This link explains a greater understanding of binding and loosening than I've been taught in the past:

http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/binding_loosing.php

The following is from http://www.globalchristians.org/articles/praylost.htm

How To Pray for The Lost

The following ideas have been pinched from a small pamphlet called "How To Pray For The Lost" which I discovered years ago and have found very useful. I have also added in a few practical hints of my own.

The first thing you need to understand when praying for the lost is that the price has been paid. When Jesus died upon that cross He paid the price for every single sinner on the earth. When you are praying for the lost remember that the price has been paid and make that the starting point for prayer.

"Lord you bought _____________ at Calvary, he is yours and so is his wife ___________ and now we are asking You to claim ________ and _____ for yourself, to remove the chains that bind them. Don't let the Devil have those you have bought Lord, be glorified in them and through them Lord. Take them back to yourself, set them free, Christ has done it, now we claim it. Amen "

Knowing that Christ has paid the price gives us confidence to pray boldly. It is not as if we have to bargain at all. The price is paid - that person rightly belongs to God who has bought them back out of slavery and sin. The technical name for this is "praying on the basis of redemption" or in some circles "praying for the lost in the power of the blood of Jesus". Stand before God, confident that He wants your friend saved and confident that He has already paid the price for that to happen.

PERSISTENTLY AND REGULARLY - praying for people to be saved can at times be a very long battle. We need to pray persistently and regularly for those we want to be saved. In Luke 18:1 ff Jesus makes it clear that persistence pays off and tells us that we ought to "pray and not get weary."

PRAY WATCHFULLY - It pays to be alert to the spiritual state of the unbeliever and to pray appropriately - are they curious about God yet? Are they convicted about their sin? Are they attracted to Jesus? Are they involved in something they would find very difficult to give up if they became a Christian? Pray specifically for where the person is at spiritually so they can take one or two steps closer to faith in God. "Lord you know how ______ finds it hard to believe your Bible - please show _____ it is true and that it can be relied on..."

SPECIFIC THINGS TO PRAY FOR:

Persistently pray for the lost on the basis of what Christ has done on the cross!

1. That God will make them curious about spiritual things. The first hurdle is often sheer apathy with regard to the truth. Pray that God will stir them up to search out the truth about Life, The universe and Everything -for themselves.

2. Pray that God will surround your friend with witnessing Christians. Pray that they will feel absolutely surrounded and unable to escape from God. This forces people to consider Christ and the difference between their lives and the lives of true Christians.

3. Ask that they may clearly grasp that they are sinful. Unless there is a clear perception of sin there can be no true repentance from sin. They must know that they are in the wrong.

4. That God will grant them an almighty thirst for God's Word. That even as unbelievers they will want to read the Bible especially Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah and the Gospels.

5. Plead for a clear understanding of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. With some of the heresies abroad today Jesus is often misunderstood. Pray that your friends may see Jesus as real and historical and also as divine. Pray that God may clear up any misunderstandings in these areas and be prepared to answer questions. Be clear about Jesus being the only way to a true and favourable relationship with God.

6. Intercede for your friends at any points where they are being held under Satan's power. Ask for release from wrong ways and bad influences. Their friends may be a real obstacle to their salvation, pray that they may not give in to them but may instead have the courage to believe in God. There is today an increasing interest in the occult and some people are badly hooked -pray for their release from this dark addiction so that they may be free to believe.

7. Ask for grace toward your friends so that they may develop godly tastes which lead them toward God and salvation. Pray that they may start liking Christian music or if they are literature buffs that C. S. Lewis, John Donne, Milton and T.S. Elliot may hold a fascination for them. If classical music - pray that the great Christian works of Bach and Handel may intrigue them. If rock music that the contemporary Christian rock bands with good messages may become their passion. Pray that somehow their tastes will be drawn to that which witnesses to Christ.

The following is from http://www.bible-knowledge.com/different-kinds-of-demonic-spirits/

Once too much pride starts to build up over time in your personality, you will then start to lose your ability to see what the real truth is in many of the important matters in your life. The only truth you will now see is what you think the truth is, even if that truth goes against God Almighty Himself.  You will then start to become a little god yourself, thinking that all of the world revolves around you and your own set agendas. You will then become very selfish and narcissistic and will refuse to listen to any kind of correction or counsel the Lord will try and bring your way.

·         Pride 

·         Arrogance

·         Haughtiness

·         Rebellion

·         Blasphemy

·         Control, Domination

·         Possessiveness

·         Contention

·         Quarreling

·         Critical, Judgmental

·         Selfish

·         Narcissistic

·         Unbelief

·         Skepticism

·         Greed

·         Paranoia

·         Deceit

·         Mockery

All of these negative qualities will all go right along with the main spirit of unforgiveness. These additional qualities is what many of the times will keep you from being able to forgive someone who has trespassed against you. Anger, bitterness, resentment, and a hard heart could all prevent you from being able to try and forgive someone for something bad they may have done to you in your past.  Here are some of the function names of the demons who will play this kind of mind game with us:

·         Unforgiveness

·         Bitterness

·         Jealousy

·         Resentment

·         Anger

·         Stubborness

·         Envy

·         Hard-heartedness

If demons will try and cause you to either overeat or under eat in order to try and kill you, then this next realm should come as no surprise. This next realm is where you get into the different types of vices and addictions that are out there – and demons love to play this kind of extreme game on anyone they can.  All of these vices can become extreme addictions and they can all shorten our life span, not to mention they can all seriously cripple us and prevent us from being able to properly function in this life and in our specific callings for the Lord.

·         Alcohol

·         Cocaine

·         Heroin

·         Meth

·         Marijuana

·         LSD

·         Anti-prescription drugs

Our Bible is very clear on this next issue. Per our article titled, “The Basics of Salvation Through Jesus Christ,” there is only one name and one way into heaven – and that is directly through Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross.

There are no other ways, no other names, and no other religions in this world that can get us into heaven. Jesus has made it very clear that He, and only He, is the only way into heaven, and that no one will come to His Father unless they come directly through Him.  With Jesus being the only way into heaven, then it can only be expected that demons will try and conjure up as many other “ways” as they possibly can so they can keep people from finding the only one true Way. Hence you have many false religious systems that are still in operation in the world today.  We believe that all of these other false religious systems in the world today are being run by demons, and each one of these areas are major stronghold areas, with some of Satan’s best and smartest demons running all of these false religious systems.

Here are the major false religious systems still in operation in the world today, with each one of them being run by demonic spirits who specialize in each one of these demonic systems:

·         Islam

·         Jehovah’s Witnesses 

·         Mormonism

·         Hinduism

·         Buddhism

·         Confucianism

·         Shintoism

·         Sikhism

·         Jainism

·         Zoroastrianism

·         Spiritualism

·         Christian Science

·         Hare Krishna

·         Scientology

·         Kabbalah

·         Unification Church

·         Freemasonry

·         The Children of God

·         EST

·         Eckanar

·         The Forum

·         The Way International

·         Theosophy

·         Rosicrucianism

·         Atheism

·         Legalism

Once again, here are the most powerful verses in all of Scripture telling us that Jesus Christ is the only way to be able to receive eternal salvation with God the Father:

1.     “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
 

2.     “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all …” (1 Timothy 2:5)
 

3.     “There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4)
 

4.     Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
 

5.     “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and find pasture … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:9)
 

6.     Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25)
 

7.     Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”(John 8:12)
 

8.     And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
 

9.     “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
 

10.   “… whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:15-16)
 

11.   “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
 

12.   “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)
 

13.   “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)
 

14.   “… And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11)
 

15.   “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:14)