God is my Helper

God is my everything.

God is all-powerful.

God is all-knowing.

God is always loving.

God is ready to give me His words.

God provides for my everyday life.

God gave me a wonderful family.

God gave me an amazing guy.

God gave me beautiful friends.

God always watches out for me.

God is always ready to help me obey Him.

God protects me from harm.

God gives me the little things that I don't even need.

God knows what I do need, and He's never left me without it.

God always loves me.

God always forgives me.

God sent His son for me.

God does not lose His temper.

God is always there for me

God always hears me when I talk to Him.

God always pays attention when I talk to Him.

God does not just ignore me.

God is faithful to tell me what is right.

God always wants the best for me.

So why then...

do I be selfish?

Why do I be disobedient?

Why do I forget to be grateful?

Why do I snork around when things don't go my way?

Why do I be impatient?

Why do I sin?

Why do I not pay attention to God like He pays attention to me?

What I do not want to do, I do.

LORD, help me always to be alert to You. Thank You for loving me.

The latest thing I'm praying about...

My mom and some ladies of our church were talking about different parenting books the other night. There are a great many, as we all know. I was just listening and thinking, maybe I should read a parenting book. I'm not a parent, but I work with kids in babysitting and with my own sibs. But then I thought maybe a parenting book still wouldn't be quite right for such a job as mine. I made an aloud wonder about the fact that there are a great many "parenting" books, but no "big sissying" books. This was met with the response. "You should write it! That would be perfect and it would sell!"

Hmmmm...would it? One part of me says I don't know if it's something I could do. I'm sure there are much better big sissys than me that should be doing it. I'm positive. But the other part of me says, those ones aren't doing it. And God has given me the most diverse set of little siblings to ever stick in one family. I have...

A quirky and gorgeous one who's always good for a story

A studly and goofy one in between kid and man

A flibbertygibbet who can think and do cool things

A quiet and loud at the same time one

One that just wants to have fun

A strange, surprising, cocky, and cute one

A precious baby girl with some bite

and

A small and serious one with a large vocabulary

The biggest thing I've learned with having eight, very different little sibs is how to generally get along with everybody. Living with such different personalities all the time I think has really helped me not just learn to get along with them, but with other different personalities outside the home.

I may just have to figure out how to transfer that from this thought, to like a big sissy study. If I did this thing I'd certainly need some help from my big sissy friends! Not to mention I have an adopted big sissy who's purty special to go off of a bit as well.

Just something I'm praying about...

When chatting to the LORD about the weather ain't small talk :)

Dear LORD, there are a ton of cool things going on this weekend--the kind of cool things that require good weather. But the Arkansas forecast is icy and cold and decidedly UNcooperative. Please tell the ice and rain and cold to be still and head off, just like You did when the storms were not friendly towards You and your disciples. Even the ice and the rain obey You! :D

Haiti

We've all heard about it--seen all the headlines. The Haiti earthquake disaster. At least 50,000 people dead Many are more are injured, many are homeless, and all are effected. But I read a cool little blurb...

 "During the days following the the earthquake, hundreds of women were seen marching through the streets in peaceful processions, singing and clapping. On Sunday, 17 January, Haitians roamed the streets looking for church services to attend. Impromptu gatherings were held outside churches that had collapsed with a few attendees appearing in their best clothes."

It's easy (for me at least) to think that this doesn't effect me since after all, it didn't happen in the US or directly effect anyone I know. But can you even imagine how the people that were directly effected feel? People are STILL dying from being trapped under rubble and buildings. These are God's children, and it's selfish and sinful for us not to be concerned.

Pray hard my friends!

LORD, I'm your servant

Father, you are the Sovereign LORD,

and I am dust upon the floor.

Your power and purity brightens my life,

though I often block it out and and ignore your wondrous light.

No more, my Jesus. Drive it far from me.

You are the Master--the writer of my story,

but as a simple human girl, I cannot see the glory.

I do not know what you have planned.

Reveal it, O LORD, though I may not understand.

For to obey my God is by far my greatest wish,

and everything you want is what I must accomplish.

I will not lean on my understanding

for even I do not trust in my own speculating.

But I know, my Jesus, that you have an idea.

Let me in on the action--please make your scheme clear.

Whatever you say is what I will do.

My story will be the one written by You.

Prayers

"Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."

~ 2 Chronicles 7:15

God, please be attentive and answer the prayers when two or three or eleven that are having rough times are gathered in your Name. Give wisdom generously to us - we believe and do not doubt.

Pray for our troops

First, a confession - I rarely remember to pray for our troops. But they sacrifice so much for our freedom that it makes my little problems seem like nothing.

God, please bless our troops. Give them victory and bring them back safely to their families. Thank you for blessing America!

The Gift of Prayer

Last night we had some friends over and Dad was flipping through a book and it mentioned something about the "gift of prayer". Have you ever heard someone pray aloud just magnificently? I really appreciate it, since I'm praying those beautimous words as well that I could've never thought of. I never really thought about prayer being a gift, but I know when I pray aloud it's just not the same as other people. I don't have the gift! When I pray in my head, I don't use many words. I start out that way, but when I can't think of the word I just use the idea, since God knows what I mean. And sometimes I use phrases like, "Well, gosh!" or "kinda weird" and that's fine for me, but when you're leading other people in prayer it doesn't work as well, ya know?:) So I don't have the gift, but I appreciate it in other people!

So have you ever thought about prayer as a gift? Now that you have? Do you have it? I just thought that this was an interesting thought... who'd have thunk?

Do I know 365 people?

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

A righteous girl's prayer I assume is the same:) I don't remember to pray for others nearly as often as I should. But I want to remember people in general prayer, and of course I want other people to remember to randomly pray for me! So here is my solutionful idea: I'm going to get one of those little pocket calendars (or whatever they're called) and write the names of people I know on each day of the month every month. I want to do someone different every day, but probably each family member will have a monthly pray-day. And I'll probably have a "look up a random name in the phonebook" pray-day, and I'll leave a few days blank to fill in with people I have just met. That will probably, as a side note, help me remember names and faces of people I meet. And you know, praying for people you don't know/don't know very well really helps take the focus off ME, ME, ME. Like try praying for one of those bikers that you drive by for half a second. Mom says she always prays for people with crummy cars:P

So, what do you think? I'm looking forward to it! I think it's going to be a lot of fun. But since I don't have one yet, I'm going to go look up a random name in the phonebook. Just a minute... ok, the name is John Grinstead. So today, let us say a quick prayer that John Grinstead will have a great day and that God will help him with whatever problem he may have at this time. After all... God knows John Grinstead, right?

The Armor of God

I am here commentating on Ephesians 6:10-18 in red.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Imagine if you tried to fight a duel on your own and without any armor! For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. I just wrote a story about this - there is a guy who is living a normal life, but doesn't know that the demons and God are in a great battle for him. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Readiness that comes from peace - it makes sense doesn't it? If you're peaceful about a situation in Christ, you're not going to freak out and say the wrong things. You're ready with Christ! In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word of God is like a sword! Do you have it ready? We should work on memorizing more scripture and have it on all the time, just in case. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Praying for the saints... do you do it? I don't as much as I should. But why not? I haven't figured that part out yet. I'd certainly like to be prayed for to stay strong in my faith, so why don't I do it for other people?

"So let's just praise the LORD..."

Have you ever prayed without asking God to do something? Not saying that God gets tired of us asking Him to do things, but we all like a conversation without requests for stuff don't we? Ever just told God how awesome He is? I don't do it nearly often enough, but today I found a Psalm that doesn't ask God to do a single thing - not even "deliver me from my enemies"!:D

Psalm 66

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!
Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name."
Come and see what God has done,

how awesome his works in man's behalf!
He turned the sea into dry land,

they passed through the waters on foot—

come, let us rejoice in him.
He rules forever by his power,

his eyes watch the nations—

let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Praise our God, O peoples,

let the sound of his praise be heard;
he has preserved our lives

and kept our feet from slipping.
For you, O God, tested us;

you refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison

and laid burdens on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to a place of abundance.
I will come to your temple with burnt offerings

and fulfill my vows to you-
vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke

when I was in trouble.
I will sacrifice fat animals to you

and an offering of rams;

I will offer bulls and goats.

Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth;

his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened

and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God,

who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld his love from me!

20 Days of Prayer Challenge!

The Bible says in Matthew 17:20 that if you simply have faith has big as a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, you can move a mountain. Prayer can make an impact in everyone’s life. The Bible also says that Satan has to flee at the mention of the name of Jesus, and he knows prayer is a weapon he can’t fight. Unfortunately many have truly gone blind to how powerful prayer is. We really want to encourage people, especially kids, to learn the power of prayer and to pray more.

The Bible is full of verses in regards to praying to the Lord and prayer does change things. In Philippians 4:6 it says “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”The Word says to pray, pray, pray, and that’s what we want to do! We want to challenge you to take the next 20 days and pray for one country. Whether it’s America or Africa or India. We also liked to encourage you to make a list of different things about that country that you’re going to prayer for.

Some key things you might pray for:

-God’s Word would reach the people
-The people would accept it
-The salvation of the people
-The leadership of the country
-The false religions to fail

We don’t want to make this challenge a chore so please don’t do this just for show. We want you to do this with a willing and loving heart towards those who are lost. We want Prayer Warriors who will be diligent in praying for those who need Jesus. The Bible says that when just one person comes to Christ all the angels celebrate.This challenge was supposed to start on Thursday May 1st, which is the National Day of Prayer, But I didn't see it until a couple days ago, so I'm starting now. We hope you’ll pick a country you’d like to spend the next 20 days praying for (along with specific things about that country to pray for) and post about it on May 1st. Please just leave a comment if you’re going to join us in this fight against the forces of evil, and post about it on your blogs to spread the word.

You’re also welcome to take one of the 20 Days Of Prayer icon and put it on your site! Let’s make the Gate of Hells shake as they did when Jesus rose again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Be sure to check out this link and get the code for this icon and/or sign yourself up on Miss Jocelyn's blog.

Instead of praying for a country, God has been laying orphan children on my heart. Our pastor adopted a boy from Kazakhstan and it was really sad what he went through before they got him. I met a 6-month-old, absolutely adorable, African-American baby recently with no parents, no name, and no prospects. I'm going to pray for these zillions of kids out there who have nothing, that God will raise them up, draw them to Him, and change their circumstances. Hope you'll pray for a situation or country that is on your heart and start up some prayer in this world!