Update for Mission India. The travel dates have changed. It had come to our attention that 2013 is a huge religious year for some of the different religions in India, because of this it would be unsafe for us to be in India in 2013. So, our date has changed to February of 2014. It was also changed because of the short time we had to raise the money and more importantly prepare ourselves spiritually for the trip. It will be a huge spiritual battle we will be going into and because of that we need to be prayed up and filled with the Holy Spirit and in that way we will overcome and have a successful and God filled trip. Please continue to pray for us. Have a blessed end of 2012 and know in confidence that 2013 will also be a year filled with blessings and the love of God.

Update on Fundraising

I am just over joyed right now. I have faith and I know that God will provide a way for me to get to India. How it will happen is beyond me but not beyond God. My God is greater than anything and everything.

So, to help get to India I'm not going to sit around and wait for the miracle from God. God tells us we must go and work. Therefore I am doing fundraisers to help get to India. I have done a bake sale and have been baking pies for Thanksgiving like crazy. I will also be baking pies for Christmas but that won't be until December. Now all this baking it will take 250-500 pies to make the total I need so, pies will not get me to India but they will help me get there. I am still waiting for the miracle from God for the rest of it.

Now through these fundraisers and a few donations from some beautiful people I have raised, $379 dollars towards Mission India. Which excites me!!

Now on to more fundraising ideas and work towards getting to India. Pray for me daily, not only for the funds but also spiritually and for everyone preparing to go. Be blessed and have faith in God, he will provide when you least expect it.

I feel so bad. I haven't updated my blog so no one knows what is currently going on with Mission India. In answer to that though is lots and lots. We are doing tons of fundraising to help us meet our goal of $2,800. Yes, the price did go down. It got reworked and adjusted which is a blessing. However it is still a lot of money to raise in such a short time. In about three and a half months I will be in India. I'm so excited. Back to fundraising. To help us all reach our goals we are doing different fundraisers. Two that are currently going on are: Ornament sales (which ends November 11th) and pies (which ends a week before I leave for India). The pies had been just for the holidays but at this time I will make pies for anybody who wants one and deliver it whenever you would like. I have one friend who wants a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Rhubarb is seasonal so she is waiting for them to come in season and is paying for the pie ahead of time. Which is awesome. We had a goal of selling 100 ornaments and/or pies by December I'm almost halfway there. My beautiful mother bought 2 pies for Thanksgiving even though she knows I would of just made them for the family, and she bought an ornament and she doesn't celebrate Christmas. I thought it was so sweet of her. Near the end of this month we will be doing a tamale fundraiser. Which once again my beautiful mother is helping out with it. She is actually helping us make the tamales.  Then for the month of January we will be doing pancake breakfasts at the church every Sunday morning. I am personally making the pancakes. Oh we are also doing a bake sale later this month. Right now each of us needs to raise $1500 by December. This is for our plane tickets. Not sure how it will happen but I know it will. God works in miraculous ways and if it is his will for us to go the funds will be there.

I will also be doing another blog through our church. Once it is up and running I will let everyone know how they can find it and read it. I need to still do my first blog.

Faith that can move mountains. Mountains move as you have faith and prayer lots of faith and prayer. However that doesn't mean more mountains won't arise. Unexpected expenses arose so now I won't be getting my passport or my right birth certificate this week. It did frustrate me at first and as I was doing my own thing yesterday it just kept coming to me of doing God's will and seeking first the kingdom of heaven. How am I to know God's will if at first I don't seek him. I do still believe it is God's will for me to go to India and tell others about his love however I need to dig deeper into his word and know so much more than I know now before I go.

The other night I had the oddest dream. We were preparing to go to India at the airport and ready to go. However some of us still didn't have passports. I was one of them. Pastor Charmaine was with us and we were waiting at the curb then Pastor Paul was there getting his stuff because he was going with us. (Now at this time neither Pastor Charmaine or Pastor Paul are going to India) however in my dream they were both going. Those of us without a passport were to go with Paul to Florida and then go on to India while the rest went straight to India. Next thing I know I am staying in a home somewhere in India and there is this precious little girl who has never been loved who I am showing God's love too. For me this dream is just confirming that I will be going and showing people the love of God. I have the love in my I just need to let it out.

But first I must seek the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 6: 25-34 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how they flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? So do not worry, saying 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Why should I worry about how and why. It is all in God's hands. His will be done in my life. As I follow Christ the things that I need will be taking care of. Especially the needs that need to be met to follow God's will for my life. If it is the Lord's will that I go to India and spread his word then the funds will be there and the passport will come and the shots will be gotten. How can I do this when mountains keep coming, the funds that I had for going are spent. Seek first God and all these things will come. Why worry when God will provide for me as long as I seek him first. How many of us when we get up watch the news or go online and check what is going on with Facebook or just in the world? Yes, I am guilty of this. Is this putting God first in our lives? What kind of difference would it make if the fist thing we did in the morning was to read God's word, or pray or turn on worship music and just take the time to praise and worship God. It would make a huge difference because we would be seeking God first in our lives. He is the one who gets us through each day, even when we fail him he still stands up for us and gives us grace. When all we deserve is to be condemned and cast aside God sent his Son to die for us so that we can be saved and lifted up and given another chance. Did the news or Facebook ever die for us, would they?  No, never. The world would be quick to condemn us for our sins. So, why then do we first go to the world instead of God? Will the world cloth us and feed us? or will God? Now I know God is my provider, my redeemer, my everything. Now I need to put it into practice, I need to seek first the Kingdom of of God and his righteousness and as I do that he will provide for me. Who will you seek first?

Well today was an interesting day. I ended up getting some unexpected money so I went down to get my passport with it. I get to the post office they inform me I need to make an appointment. No problem made it for 11:15. Of course I'm early but she takes me in. She is very happy with the fact I have my drivers license already copied and my paper work together. Then she asks for my birth certificate. Which of course I left at home. She tells me it is okay run home and get it but be safe. I run home search all over for my birth certificate then remember where I filed it and pull everything out to find it, then I run back to the post office and give it to her. Now she feels bad, I needed my full birth certificate not just the abstract of birth one. Then I find out you can no longer just pick up your birth certificate at the library you have to pick it up at the auditor controllers office. Which our closest one is in Hesperia so now I got to drive out there to get it. So, I rescheduled an appointment to get my passport and will have to go pick up a new and different birth certificate this week. More mountains just jumping up and trying to get in my way of doing the Lord's work. However I have faith that can move mountains.

We have all heard the saying and maybe have even said it our self "Sticks and stones may break your bones but names and faces will never hurt you." I'm going to tell you right now that is a lie. Maybe you have even heard the one "I'm rubber your glue what ever you say to me bounces of me and sticks to you." Another lie. Kids learn these at a young age because we don't want them to listen to the mean things other people say. However the words hurt, they go deep and cause pain and discomfort. The child or even the adult will remember the things said to them and think that it is true. This can hinder them in many things including the work that God has prepared for them to do.

If we look back to the story I told earlier about the withered fig tree we can see just how deep words can hurt. In Mark 11:12-14 it says "The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard him say it." At that time nothing happens to the tree. It was as if Christ's words had no effect on it. The same is true for those who hear mean things said to them it seems to have no effect on them. However later in Mark 11: 20 we see that "In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots." The tree heard the words of Christ and it became withered and dead so that none could eat of its fruit again. When people hear the mean things said to them they become like the fig tree and wither up and become dead. Maybe not actual death but dead to the potential or joy that they could of had if the words hadn't been spoken.

We can also see just how powerful the tongue and the words that come from it can be in Proverbs 18:21a "The tongue has the power of life and death" The tongue can encourage you (life) and discourage you (death). What we say to others and to our self's means so much. It can bring life or death into our life, give us encouragement or bring us down. Speaking death into our life or having someone else do it can keep us from doing God's work.

Now two questions could be coming up about now. One is how do I get rid of the death that was spoken into my life? second how does this have to do with you going to India? Well we will start with the first one answer is simple prayer, ask God for forgiveness, and for an understanding of how he sees you. He sees you in a completely different way then the world does. Remember the words of death that were spoken into you are lies from the devil (John 8: 44b "He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." ) rebuke the lies in Jesus name and believe the truth. There was one time when I believed what the world said about me that I couldn't do it, that I was a failure and couldn't succeed and that I should give up. But I got rid of it and rebuked it, that may be what the world called me but God had a different name for me and that name was Victorious. Find your new name find the name God gave you and be proud of it. Get rid of the world and follow Jesus.

For the second question about how this has to do with me going to India. Well a lot. Before September 11, 2011 I would never have considered going,  it meant I would have to talk to people in a public setting and they would actually have to hear me. But something happened to me that weekend that changed me. To start with I will give you a bit of my history (now if any of my family reads this please don't take offense. Remember I love you). When I was younger I had a very high shrill voice and my r's sounded like w's. From since I can remember my brothers and cousins made fun of my voice. Now my parents and my cousin Ronnie really loved how my r's sounded like w's and they thought it was cute. I did go to speech class for that though (school insisted) and overcame it. Only in stressful situations will it sometimes come out (example wedding day it was with this wing I thee wed, my husband still gets a kick out of it.). Even though the saying r's as w's wasn't a big thing the shrill voice and being picked on for it was. I hated talking in public, I wouldn't do it. I hated my voice on camera I didn't want to be recorded I didn't want to do oral presentations, microphones were out of the question wasn't going to use one. I didn't want to be ridiculed for my voice. Well at Life Church and being a ministry coordinator I did have to speak on a microphone a couple times, I did it but I wasn't happy about it. I had to talk in my Life Group which was okay but not something I enjoyed. At least it was a small group, bigger groups not going to happen. Then my second encounter weekend came. I overcame a lot that weekend but the one that was big was I overcame my fear of speaking in public. People at Life Church had always told me why don't you like talking in groups you have a nice voice. Well it took God to tell me that my voice is a gift from him and that I am to use it to glorify God to make me overcome it. I overcame so much more that weekend. When Pastor Paul asked me to just tell what had happened to me I was like no, then was like okay I can do this. I took the microphone and talked and talked, power went out I still talked, normally no one can hear me in the back because I am quite well not anymore, everyone heard me. I was overflowing with the Holy Spirit and the joy of being released from the lies that I talked so long Pastor had to come up and stop me. He was afraid I would talk the night away and I probably would of.

I overcame the death that was spoken into my life (it was done innocently but even innocently still hurts) so can you. Just go before God and lay it all at his feet. If your church has encounters go on one, if they don't find one and go. It is a life changing experience and brings joy into your life. It brings you closer to God and his purpose in your life.

If you have seen my page before or even if you are new to it you  may have seen my goals. I've posted about my first goal of reaching the $3,800 to be able to go to India. But my second goal I've never talked about. Today I will. 

One thing we will be doing while in India is a lot of walking. Now I don't mind walking and I even enjoy walking and I love to hike. I've heard we will  have to be able to walk at least 7 miles. I know I can do it, especially when it is to do God's work. However I weigh a bit more than I should and I would like to make it a bit easier on me by having less weight to carry around when I go. 

I have started to get on track to lose the weight. I have gotten up to weighing 200lbs so, I would like to weight 150 by the time we leave. I had been walking at least three days a week with a really good friend of mine but once school started it messed me up because I have to be at school early in the day. With the heat here that is the best time to walk. I plan on getting back on track with walking, either in the evenings or something. However there are other things I can do to get healthier and to lose weight.

I am hypoglycemic so, I need to eat at least three meals a day but even better would be to eat a little something every three hours. Well I've always never really eaten. I didn't eat breakfast barely ate lunch but then would eat dinner. To jump start your metabolism you need to eat breakfast but I wouldn't. I also drank tons of soda throughout the day and none or very little water. I guess that is why I gained so much weight. 

Once I stopped drinking soda, on August 8,2012 I learned just how bad my hypoglycemia actually is. With drinking soda I was getting sugar in me, however it was the bad sugar. My body was using all of that bad sugar and it just made me gain weight. When I quit drinking soda I no longer had that sugar intake. I have learned from it that I need to make sure I eat breakfast. I also need to eat lunch and dinner and snack on something healthy during the day. If not I will be shaking like a leaf and feeling very weak. 

So, over the course of the next five months, I will be working on eating healthy and regular meals. I will also be working towards my goal of losing 50lbs. So far I have lost 1, 49 to go. I know I can get there if I apply myself and work at it. Everything that we want takes work and dedication. If it doesn't it really isn't worth it. Things we have to work for are that much more enjoyable. 

Faith that can move mountains. I have a mountain that needs to be overcome. It is bigger than I am that is for sure. I'm sure most would agree that making that much money with no income is a huge mountain to overcome. But I have faith that the finances will be there in time for me to go, actually at least a month before I have to go.

Faith is the confidence, trust or believe in something or someone. Christ tells us in Mark that if we have faith then we can move mountains.

Mark 11:20-15 (NIV): In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, Look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

All I can say is wow, I can move mountains all I need is faith and prayer. Well I got both of those so why worry. Jesus tells us flat out that if we want something to ask for it in prayer. Just pray to God asking for what it is that we want. Then not only pray for it but have faith that it will happen. He also says that we must forgive others and he to will forgive us. You could write three different sermons just from that one passage because there is so much in it.

We are also told to pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV): Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

So, let me see here we can move mountains through faith and prayer, and we are to pray continuously. So, God wants to hear from us all the time. Did you know you can pray anywhere at anytime. I actually have a conversation with God while on my way to school in the mornings, in the shower, talking to other people (I can carry on two conversations at one time) anywhere, anytime if I feel the need and the stirring in my heart I will talk to God through prayer no matter where I am at or what I am doing. Many call or talk to their parents, siblings, children and/or friends everyday for hours, or even twice a week. But when was the last time you talked to God?

Pray continuously and remember forgiveness is divine. Lets move some mountains!

I posted the three ways you can donate to Mission India 2013 but some may be asking themselves well how much does she really need for this trip. Good question and I actually don't really like talking about finances however it is a huge part of our day to day lives.

First the question is how much: well for the cost of the trip, which includes plane, transportation, accommodations, food, and those just in cases it will be $3,800. Now when I look at that I think there is no way. How am I going to make that much money when I have no income? Plus I still need my passport and shots. Okay just breath. We will be doing fundraisers that will account for some of it but what about the rest? The answer actually came from my 10 year old daughter. She told me don't worry mom you have lots of friends with jars. My heart melted.

For those who aren't really sure what my daughter was talking about and even if you may have an idea I will fill you in.

2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV): The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

She had but a little oil that turned into a lot of oil, enough to pay off the debts and to live on. She was able to do this through two things, faith that what the man of God said would work and second because she had the relationship with people around her. Because of this relationship she was able to acquire jars that she could fill with oil. What if she had only known a few people and only got a few jars? She wouldn't of had enough because once the jars ran out so did the oil. If she had known even more people she would of had more jars to fill and the oil would of ran longer until all of them were filled.

Now how does oil in jars refer to my getting to India. I have faith that through those I know my jar will be filled. Faith that can move mountains.

Yes, my husband was accepting of me going to India. Like Joseph it took him some time to think on it but he said yes.

To me that is huge!! I had prayed on it and asked God to let his will be done, if he wants me to go to India then have my husband  allow me to go if I'm not to go have him say no. So, my confirmation came, yes I am to go.

This was really huge for me because well I'm very independent and do things my way and if I want to do something  I will. I've been married for 12 years and have tried to be accepting to my husbands decisions and if he says no then to go with it but it is hard and in general I still do my own thing. The problem is that isn't good for a marriage and it isn't what God wants from us.

God tells us in Ephesians 5:22-24 (NIV)-"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

Submit to my husband in everything not just some things but everything. That is some hard stuff to take. But it comes down to this if I can't submit to my husband then how can I submit to God? God tells us to submit to our husbands and if I don't then I'm not submitting to God, so, I submitted. When I talked to my husband about it at first he said no. I was hurt because I really felt that God was calling me to India. However I had also told God that if my husband says no I will submit to his authority and accept his decision. So, I accepted it, I did ask him to wait and make his final decision before the first mission meeting. Not that it would make a difference because once my husbands mind is made up there is no changing it. Knowing this I came to a place of acceptance, I knew the Lord wanted me in India, but with my husband saying no I had to accept it and submit to him, and accept that decision. Once I submitted and prayed about it I had peace with the choice my husband had made. I knew that one day I would go maybe not in 2013 but one day. Then my husband texted me saying I could go. I was so happy that I cried. I guess it takes divine intervention to change my husbands mind. Our relationship has strengthened since I submitted.

Through giving of yourself , you are giving much. As I submitted to my husband and gave up my stubborn independence and let him lead instead of me leading, I also submitted to God. Therefore God then can use me and touched my husband to have him say yes. God had to break me and make me submissive so that he can use me, if I stayed in my own ways God couldn't use me.

God molds us to what he wants us to be, we go through storms and fire to become pure, it hurts and it can be tough but God won't give us more than we can handle. I've told you so far of two storms that I have gone through as God prepares to send me to India. The accepting of God's will and letting him lead me and submitting myself to my husband and to God.

No matter what religion we are or even if you are an Atheist, you have probably heard the story of Christ's birth. But think about it:

In that time a good Jewish girl was to stay a virgin until her wedding night. If she did not she would be stoned to death. Think of a young girl about 16, who is promised to a young man. Now she is a good Jewish girl and knows the laws of her people and follows God's commands. One day she is told by an angel of God that she will give birth to the Messiah. Now she has never been with a man and if she becomes pregnant before she is married she will be stoned to death. She doesn't say no but accepts God's plan for her knowing he will provide. Joseph is expecting to marry a pure, good, Jewish girl. He finds out however that the girl he is promised to is pregnant. By law and Jewish custom he should put her away and have her stoned to death. However through Mary's faith in God's plan her husband/fiancee came around to it and married her. Now yes it took an angel of God speaking to Joseph but he accepted Mary's choice and the will of God. 

Now you may be wondering what does that have to do with me going to India and knowing if God is telling me to go. Well it has everything to do with it. One Sunday Pastor Paul (for those who don't know he is the Pastor of Life Church) did a sermon on missions. At the end of service as is his custom if you had a word from God and needed prayer during the service he would pray for you. This time it was if God is calling you into the mission field. Now I have a tugging to stand and get prayer, but I don't. My thoughts are how can I go? Will my family be accepting of this? God spoke to me through Paul that day. Paul didn't know who it was for but he spoke the words that God told him. I immediately stood up. Tears streaming down my face not knowing how but willing to do what God calls me to do. I was going. I signed up for Mission India and  Mission Malawi that day. I knew I was called to go on one but I wanted to be ready to go anywhere God sent me. 

Last month I was accepted for the Mission India team. Now came the hard part telling my family that I have been called to go. Is it really God's design for me to go, the answer will come from my husband and I know it. If he says yes then I am to go, if he says no then I am not to go, but the hard part is asking him if I can go. I don't want him to say no because I want to go, but it is God's will that I must follow. 

Will my husband be accepting as Joseph was accepting of Mary? 

Blogging, I guess I will give it a try.

Have you ever had that feeling where you just know you have to do something? Earlier this year we had a couple from Come Alive World come to Life Church and talk about the mission work they do in India. My heart just went out to the people in Machilipatnam where they are doing this work. I knew then that I had to go just to let them know how much God can do for them, and how much he loves them. That they aren't outcasts who should be shunned but people who are loved. But how could I do this, how could I go? I have a family and school.....was God really calling me to go?