Survival Tools to get you through the Storm

Here are some survival tools that I have used to get through trials and tribulations.....hopefully if you haven't already tried these you now have some new tools under your belt!

Music.... I love music and can recall many songs that have encouraged me to get through some difficult times. For example at the beginning of the year I was in the hospital and in bed for months. I believe music is from God and he put this song in my life right when I need it; "What a Day" by Phil Keaggy. To this day I will listen to this song and be reminded of what God did in my life and how great He is. Worshiping and praising God can help you refocus your attention to Him and take it off of your situation. Sometimes before I pray I will turn on praise and worship music to fill the place I am at with His presence. Worship brings us into the presence of God where we find peace and joy in its purest form.¹ Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! ² Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! ³ Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! ⁴ Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! ⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! ⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! Psalm 150


A Friend... Never take for granted or be to prideful to ask a friend for help. I can't count the number of times I have called a friend for prayer or advice. I believe God places people in our life for many reasons. Whether they are there to give you a new perspective, pray for you when you are down, be there for the mountain top experiences, be there in the valley with you or just listen. Some friends we will have for a lifetime and some for a short while. "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Prov. 18:24

Your Bible.... ¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is powerful and speaking it and believing it is a mighty weapon! ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Books.... Hopefully you will always have your nose in a book. God shows revelation in many ways. I have had God confirm things before by something I have read. Whether it is a book or a radio show God can use anything to get our attention.

Prayer.... ¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16 Obviously you can read through the past posts and see how important prayer is. Prayer can change our world and the world around us.

These are just a few of the tools God has given us. God equips us and gives us no more than we can handle. Be ready in season and out of season.

If you ever need some help on finding a scripture, book or what song/songs might help you in your time of need please post a comment below or email me and I would love to send you suggestions or put together a CD for you.

Let's go pray!!!

The song and sound of a child

I was going into check on my daughters to see if they were all asleep. Everyone was sleeping but one! My youngest daughter who is 3. She was laying in her bed looking at the ceiling singing and telling a story. She was talking about angels and Jesus, her sweet words and sound brought tears to my eyes. The prayers over our children are incredibly important as well as the rod but that is another blog. I pray for my child's safety and health but it goes into much more detail and depth than that. I pray for her daily walk with Christ, that she would find a Godly husband, for provision, for wisdom and understanding when life throws her difficult decisions or confusing ones, for joyful teenage years, for the friends in her life and the ones to come, rebuking the devil and my list goes on. The way we pray for our younger generation should be like an army at battle prepared and ready to fight. For that matter young or old the prayers out of our mouth should be that way! The Word is like a 2 edged sword!!!!

Speak the Word and Let's go pray!

Live Today!

How do we live each day???

In the past........
Living your day remembering what could have been
Remembering Your hurts, failures, losses?
Living off of your accomplishments, good times?

OR.....

In the Future......
Living in the hope of a better tomorrow
Dreaming of what might happen or what you hope to see or be
Living off of a day that isn't promised to any of us

So many of us can wake up each day and forget to live in that day. We will carry the weight of yesterday and the wish and hope of tomorrow but forget to listen and walk in the promises of today. We allow our thoughts of the past and the future to overpower the path that God wants us to walk in today. We might miss the opportunity of talking with someone or being somewhere that was the will of God that day. Before you wake up each day give your day to Him. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and listen to what He might have you do this day. Never forget the past and how the joys and the trials have made you who you are and put you where you are; and don't stop dreaming and hoping for great things for your future and the people around you; But don't forget today and all the opportunities you have to make in this day!

Let's go pray!

Matthew 6:13

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

—Matthew 6:6-13

Some quotes I found about prayer............

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

“All prayers are answered if we are willing to admit that sometimes the answer is "no”

“Many people pray as if God were a big aspirin pill; they come only when they hurt.”

“I have had prayers answered - most strangely so sometimes - but I think our heavenly Father's loving-kindness has been even more evident in what He has refused me.”

“A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing”

“Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan”

“Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.”(Mom I thought of you when I read this. Love ya!)

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.

No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it.

Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.

The value of consistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but that we will hear Him.

When at night you cannot sleep, talk to the Shepherd and stop counting sheep.

Let's pray!!!

Who, When, Where, Why and How do you pray?

Just some good questions to think about and ask yourself.

Who do you pray with?
(alone, with friends, spouse, family, daughters, sons)

When do you pray?
(without ceasing, daily, on Sundays)

Where do you pray?
(home, car, in closet, at church, in the yard while mowing, doing dishes)

Why do you pray?
(for healing, for prayers answered, to have a deeper relationship with God)

How do you pray?
(with big words, from your heart)

Let's go pray!

A prayer request

I have a prayer request.

A friend of mine just lost his job and he has a beautiful wife and 2 wonderful kids. When you have time could you pray for direction, comfort, peace, a new job, encouragement and wisdom for this family!

When praying remember and be encouraged by prayers in your and other's lives that have been answered and never lose hope.

A good book on Intercessory prayer I recommend........
"Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth" written by Dutch Sheets


The Word of God:

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13

Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Matt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word. Psalm 119: 114

Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord! Psalm 31: 24

But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. Romans 8: 25

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. James 1: 5

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

John 14:27 I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give
is not fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Psalms 30:5b Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.


Let's go pray!!!!!

We are all significant

^{1 Corinthians 12:27 says "}Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

"Because the church is one body, we can fill up the need of other members in the body. Some members can supply the body with life power, while others must receive life from the body. We should have both aspects. We truly need the supply of life from the Body, and we should also supply life to the Body. Through fellowship we receive life from the the Body and we also supply life to other members. When we talk of the church as the Body, it is not a mere doctrine or teaching, but an absolute fact. The children of God joined together as members of the Body is also an absolute fact. So we must gladly receive help from others, and we should also endeavor to help other brothers and sisters!" Watchman Nee

Like a well working machine, when we all do our part we are a powerful tool used by God!!!!!

1 Corinthians 12:12-26(Message) I love knowing we are all working together!

^12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

^14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

^19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

^25-26The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

Let's go pray!
Let's do our part!!

What is your prayer need?

If anyone ever has thoughts about prayer or has a prayer need just click on comment under a post.

Have you asked for prayer lately?

How comfortable are people asking for prayer? I know there are times I feel like it is to much trouble to ask someone or it is too embarrassing(PRIDE). It is sad. Too many people have gotten to that place where they have to "look" like life is ok to everyone. The kids are all great, the marriage is peachy, not only are we financially incredible but we have more than enough. Why are people so silent when it comes to needing help, a shoulder to lean on, the honest truth, a push in the right direction, just someone to talk to about what is really going on, PRAYER! The power in prayer is underrated. Almost like a old past time. I could have used some extra prayer a while back, did I call anyone, no. Why. I didn't want to burden others with my problems. Yikes. That is impart why God created us all to help one another. God opened my eyes this last accident I had. I don't want pride to be one of the things that made life harder for me and my family. Sure we shouldn't tell everyone we know our problems but be sensative and search out those around you who love you unconditionally and have a love for Christ. Admitting and being honest about the problems, sins, aches, hurts you are facing can be hard but would you rather continue the life you're in or go down a new path that will lead to understanding, peace, healing and victory? In the beginning it might be a hard road but life always has its mountain and valley times either way. About 6 years ago I admitted to something that I had held onto since I was a young girl and it was one of the most difficult things I have done. When I did it though I felt the biggest weight lifted off me. It was amazing. I believe the devil helped shut my mouth for years and I hurt and felt ashamed almost everyday. Once the truth was said aloud I was set free. "The truth shall set you free!" God was there with me and it wasn't until that point that I realized God forgives and always loves no matter what! To know someone is praying for you isn't a little thing. It is a huge and powerful thing!

Let's go pray!
Let's ask for prayer!

Closet Prayers

I was literally in my closet several weeks ago praying. There are times I need to be alone, no distractions, no noise, nothing...so there I was in the closet. God was very present. I needed nothing at all but Him. I would over and over say I loved Him, how worthy He was and it still wasn't enough. I couldn't say enough words to describe the feelings I felt. In those moments I wish I never had to leave but then it is almost like God reminds me of all the amazing things on the earth He has blessed me with. He is so good. Reminding me of too many things I take for granted, but I am thankful in those moments that He reminds me because I almost feel I am seeing people and situations in my life through His eyes. That is my desire, to be a women after God's own heart! Prayer is powerful, keep on praying!!!

Let's Pray!