Friday, May 13, 2011

Bible in 90 Days ~ Week 2

Well, week two began by finishing Genesis and beginning Exodus. As I read Exodus, I saw how deeply God loves his people and how he used Moses to relocate his beloved people back to their land that God had given to them. I watched as God fed them spiritually through Moses, and how he literally provided their food (manna fell like rain) and water from a rock  during their journey through the wilderness.  And how God defeated the Egyptians when he had Moses part the Red (reed) Sea for safe passage of the Israelites on a dry sea floor and when they were on the other side with the Egyptians chasing them, how God brought the water together again by the way of Moses!

We all should have that kind of faith and trust in God as Moses had. I do think we (believers) have a certain amount of trust in God, some of us more trust than not, but I think we are reserved at times in our trust in God. Faith, there is no question but trust?, yes, I think we sometimes fail in the trust department. We need to just let go and trust  him.

The book of Exodus is also where the Law is introduced to God’s people through Moses.

TheEvidenceBible

In The Evidence Bible, there are in depth commentaries, questions & objections, quotes and extra resources to help us better understand God’s word. It is so easy to read and understand.

As of this post, I am on chapter 10 in Leviticus and I am only a week into my challenge! I should be reading 20 pages a day, however because of the ease in reading the text, I am reading far more than 20 pages a day. I have never accomplished that much reading of the scripture than I have with The Evidence Bible. I am finding that this version of the bible also helps to keep the readers interest on “high”.

Now, onto the giveaway!!!

Let me first say”Thank You” to all who have entered this giveaway and that I was planning to giveaway one bible every few weeks during the next 90 days but after beginning to read this version of the bible, I couldn’t help but think how much you all might want to journey along with me so, I have decided to give them all out now so that you might join me when I get to the Psalms, which I think will be in about a week and a half to two weeks! Just enough time for your books to get to you Smile So….. I would like to congratulate our 5 winners, and they are….

Lea H.

Robin S.

Living For God

Penney Douglas

Rosemary

Please contact me with your mailing address. You can reach me at twillyard@comcast.net.

I will get them mailed out to you by the end of next week.

Blessings♥

 

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Thank You to Everyone Who Followed Mother of Pearl Blog Series!




Thank you all so much for following along with the Pearl Girls Mother of Pearl Mother's Day blog series. I pray you laughed, cried and were touched by the translucent stories of real life written by new moms, stepmoms, grandmoms, adoptive moms, and moms without moms. Iridescent reality. And how poignant that the translucent nacre which coats the sand stuck inside an oyster’s shell is called Mother of Pearl. Mothers surround children with their love and with God’s love so they can grow in grace. I hope you'll join us this December for the third annual 12 Pearls of Christmas series.



AND ... thanks too, to all of you who entered to win the beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. I'm thrilled to announce that the winner is ...





Jennifer (heavensent1)!





Jennifer, please email amy@pearlgirls.info with your mailing address.



If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we're all about. The purpose of Pearl Girls is to connect women so that together, we can make a difference in the world.  All proceeds of the Pearl Girls book go in full to two charities: Wings (women in need growing stronger) to help fund a safe house in the Chicago suburbs and to Hands of Hope to help build wells for schoolchildren in Uganda. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls products to help support Pearl Girls.




Please stop by the Pearl Girls blog and connect with us there.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Each Life is Unique by Lucinda Secrest McDowell

Welcome to Pearl Girls Mother of Pearl Mother's Day blog series. The series is week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today's best writer's (Tricia Goyer, Megan Alexander, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Beth Engelman, Holley Gerth, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, and more). I hope you'll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother's Day.

AND ... do enter the contest for a chance to win a beautiful hand crafted pearl necklace. To enter, just {CLICK THIS LINK} and fill out the short form. Contest runs 5/1-5/8 and the winner will on 5/11. Contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we're all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT Mother's Day gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

And to all you MOMS out there! Happy Mother's Day!

Each Life is Unique by Lucinda Secrest McDowell

“God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. II Peter 1.3 (NIV)

Moms, God wants you to know that He has given you everything you need for life --- your unique life. He does not plan to give you what you might need to live the life of your best friend, or your neighbor, or even your favorite mother-model. No, God has called you to the life that He planned. I suspect that for most of us, it didn’t turn out to be the life we thought it might be… so long ago when we were young and dreaming of ‘growing up.’

On Mother’s Day I often recall my own dreams to one day be a mother. I grew up playing with dolls and looking to my own Mama as a model for that particular role in life. However, by the time I reached my thirties I was still not a mother! God did, however, have a plan. It just wasn’t what I imagined.

My own unique life would find me becoming a mother through the adoption of my first three children who were ages 9, 7 and 4; and then much later giving birth to our fourth child. Of course I was shocked when God revealed this to me, but I was ecstatic as well. It’s as though I could hear Him saying, “Well, you’re not getting any younger so I’m just going to just give you a jump start with three at one time!”

A huge blessing! A huge adjustment! A joy and a struggle. Change is often like that, isn’t it? We finally get what we want then we have to deal with it. May I just offer a bit of advice if you just got a great answer to prayer, but perhaps not in the way or form you imagined? Just receive it. Embrace it. And be willing to move forward into a new paradigm for your life. So what if you’re not like all the other mothers you know? So what if you’re not like your own mother? So what if your family unit is different? I guarantee God has a plan.

Not only did he want me to embrace my own story, but He called me as a mother to do perhaps one of the most important tasks of all --- to nurture my children to live their own unique lives. Not for me to try and squeeze them into what I hoped and dreamed they would be. Not for me to try and live my life through them. But to recognize how God made them, gifted them, and called them to their own special place.

All of my 4 kids are different from one another. Let’s take sports, for instance: I have one child who wins gold medals in international tennis competition, one who is a born equestrian, another who competes nationally in obstacle course shooting matches, and yet another who manages to dance onstage in 3 inch heels, do cartwheels and splits while singing at the same time. Now, honestly, I do none of these things. And yet they do.

I don’t remember placing my order with God for these things.  But I do remember when that tennis player turned 9 years old and I enrolled him in Special Olympics for the first time and how it changed his life… and ours. I remember getting a counselor job at an exclusive summer camp so that my daughter could take English riding classes. I remember being a Cub Scout leader (even though I knew nothing about boys) so that son could one day become an Eagle scout and pursue his love of the great outdoors. And yes, I remember enrolling my preschooler in dance lessons. Later when all the little girls were scared to go on stage for the recital, she exclaimed that she had endured a whole year of lessons just so she could go on stage.

Don’t compare yourself to someone else. And don’t live vicariously through your favorite reality show star. Live your own story. And Moms, raise your kids to embrace the unique life God has for them.
Remember, He has given us everything we need for life!

Lucinda Secrest McDowell, a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, is the author of 10 books including “Role of a Lifetime,” “Amazed by Grace,” “Spa for the Soul” and the new Bible Study “Fit and Healthy Summer.” She is an international conference speaker and enjoys being a Pearl Girl from “Sunnyside” – her home in a New England village. Visit Cindy at www.EncouragingWords.net

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