Youth Mexico Missions Trip

Please check Fuel's Youth Ministry Blog for exciting testimonies of God's power poured out through their recent mission trip to Mexico!!!

I am blessed to be called to minister to these kids or are they ministering to me?!?!? :)

How to Skewer Yourself With Ten Tiny Splinters

As mentioned in my post "My Knight in Shining Armor," Strongman removed ten splinters from both of my feet. How did I get them? Let me explain. You see the nice deck below? Well, that deck hadn't been cleaned for years, and I do mean years. If you look at the floor of the deck you can see it had actually turned to black because of a fungus that had grown on it...yuck!!! Beautiful Grace, that's me, got the idea to clean the deck and enlisting the help of Strongman set out to restore the deck to its natural beauty.

We scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed for six days we scrubbed. We scrubbed so much that we jokingly kept repeating, "Whose idea was this anyway?"

You can see the clean deck below. Isn't it pretty? My niece's husband even made the comment that he hadn't visited us since we added the new deck. (Our deck is ~17 years old). Strongman, that's my hubby, decided it would be great to stain our deck, since we had worked so hard to make it clean.
We stained and stained and stained some more and finally this past Saturday, we finished. Yeah!!!

Part of my job was to stain the floor boards; I didn't want to ruin my shoes with the stain so I brilliantly deducted to stain in my bare feet. There you have it folks...How I skewered myself with ten tiny splinters!

Strongman and Consecrated ~17 Years Ago

Beautiful Grace Meets Jesus and Dark Chocolate!

I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy at Jesus and Dark Chocolate today for lunch a Panera Bread! What a blessing to spend time with a woman who loves Jesus and one with whom I have much in common. Thanks, Sandy, for taking the time to meet and talk about the things that matter most in this life...Jesus, our kids, and our calls. Bless you, my bloggy and real life friend.

A special thanks to the Inventor for her patience during our meeting today and for taking the great picture of us. You're awesome, sweetie!!!

My Knight in Shining Armor

Art by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site, http://revelationillustrated.com.

"After that I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse [appeared]! The One Who was riding it is called Faithful (Trustworthy, Loyal, Incorruptible, Steady) and True, and He passes judgment and wages war in righteousness (holiness, justice, and uprightness)." Revelation 19:11 (Amplified Bible)

Last Wednesday, while standing by my kitchen sink, I thought about how most young girls and even women, dream of their "knight in shining armor." This gallant man would rescue the fair damsel in distress, and that distress usually manifested in the form of a heinously devious suitor or a fire-breathing, flesh-eating dragon.

Fiction...Fairytale...Fantasy!!!!

Jesus, the Courageous, Faithful Knight, constantly rescues me!!! He has rescued my spirit by providing eternal life. He washes my soul and causes it to be renewed and changed from glory to glory. He has rescued my physical body from various maladies throughout the years. Jesus is perfect in his knighthood!!!

I then thought of my husband, who throughout our years together, has "rescued" me multiple times, not from a devious suitor or from an imaginary reptilian, but from the situations and heartaches, this world (physical and spiritual) sometimes heaped upon me and sometimes I heaped upon myself.

Later that day, I returned home to find I had locked myself out of the house, yikes!!! (Last Wednesday's scorching heat made me feel like my makeup was melting off my face) I called Strongman, and to my rescue, he came riding in his white cube van. He even said something about coming to my rescue. (He didn't know what I was thinking earlier that day.)

That night after my bath, I noticed tiny red dots all over my feet and upon closer inspection noticed brown specs within the red...splinters! Strongman lovingly removed ten of the tiny skewers from both feet. (I'll explain about HOW I managed to get all of them in a posting I intend to compose soon.)

These incidents got me to thinking about the ALL the "rescues" Strongman has performed in the twenty-nine years I have known him. Strongman "rescues" my "psyche" by constantly encouraging me with his words...he tells me I'm beautiful (inside and out) and has thanked me for being a good mother to his sons. He thankfully eats what I put before him and never complains even if he doesn't really prefer what I have prepared. Most of all he never forgets to speak freely of his affection for me.

My knight has "rescued" me physically as well. After discharge from the hospital for brain surgery, I developed a fever, became weak, and constantly lost my balance. My knight helped me to the bathroom in the middle of the night and actually set out alarm in order to take my vital signs every four hours. When I was pregnant, he shaved my legs. After a breast biopsy, I became extremely weak due to a drug I had received and my knight was there to help me walk and assist me in getting a bath!!!

What I appreciate most about my knight is his spiritual growth the last several years. Every night, he prays over me before I go to sleep. A few years ago when I struggled with depression, he passionately prayed for me and actually saw a "dark force" leave me. There were times when anxiety would overtake me and my heartrate would increase dramatically, sometimes well past 100 beats per minute. Strongman would pray, and I could feel my heartrate decrease within minutes!!!

My knight, my strongman, my husband, rides to my rescue in a white van rescuing me over and over again. Thank You, Jesus, for my knight in shining armor!!!

Lykens Valley Camp Meeting: 2008

Consecrated, Fire, and their friend, "D" played in a variety show at the Lykens Valley Campmeeting this past Friday. Enjoy!!

Mission Mexico

A team from our Fuel Youth Ministry is leaving tomorrow for Mexico. I am excited to hear reports of what God is doing through them. Last summer a team trekked down south and miracles were seen. One of the adult youth leaders and a few others prayed for a woman with leprosy and they watched the leprous spots fade before their eyes. Yeah, God!!!!

They have launched their own blog to keep us informed of all of the awesome workings of God. Check it out and please as the Holy Spirit leads, pray for them!!!

Thanks a bunch!

You are loved!!!

News Flash: His Resting One Storms Bulgaria With Jesus! Part 2

Here's an update on His Resting One in Bulgaria with Jesus!!!

Friends,

It's so easy to minister out of the overflow of love from our hearts, otherwise it's work. It's amazing how grace works, my little brain tries to figure it out but it's not worth it :) I love going to the poorest of the poor, I think that's where Jesus would go too. Two days ago we were at a Vindin in northern Bulgaria. We were dancing with the kids and they were getting baptized with the Holy Spirit. People in the area didnt know what this looks like, because well it's not common, or even in the US. It was amazing the ourpouring that was happening. After awhile I went away from the crowd and found some widows to love on from a distance in the courtyard. It's so beautiful all the kisses that we give and receive. There is such a freedom to be yourself, who we were created to be. There's none like us, we are so individual. I got to pray with the widows and even had them dance with me for about a minute. After that, muscles start aching, you know how it goes :) Love is all we need.

Yesterday we traveled to Sophia, which is the capital of Bulgaria. The past two outreaches I just begin to cry when we are greeted. My heart is so overwhelmed with the generosity and the love. One group member said she saw Jesus crying out of joy of his believers and non meeting together. We visited the box cars. The government placed them in an area so the gypsies can live there for 6 months... they have been there a year. There are 26 boxcars for 200 gypsies. When I first came i thought the box cars would be BIG but they were only about half the size of a small trailer, enough to maybe fit 4 beds. No toilets, a small well, but lots of love. They greeted us and through a party. All that they don't have they gave us... it broke my heart. It was amazing the people who were healed. I was reminded that love looks like something. God moves out of the overflow of our hearts, not over us wanting to just see the miracles. As I hugged the children and women I felt the Holy Spirit move into them. There was such an acceleration of healing there were EVERYONE who was prayed for was healed! You name it, headaches, eye problems, hearing, liver pain. It was amazing. I jsut held the women and children and laughed and weeped over them. I love the box cars.

I will try to send some picture in the next email. Bless you!

Excerpt From Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard

"...then the King said: "You know, Grace and Glory, 'It is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord,' and to learn also to overcome evil with good. There is absolutely no experience, however terrible, or heartbreaking, or unjust, or cruel, or evil, which you can meet in the course of your earthly life, that can harm you if you will but let me teach you how to accept it with joy; and to react to it triumphantly as I did myself with love and forgiveness and with willingness to bear the results of wrong done by others. Every trial, every test, every difficultly and seemingly wrong experience through which you may have to pass, is only another opportunity granted to you of conquering an evil thing and bringing out of it something to the lasting praise and glory of God..."

"You sons and daughters of Adam, in all your suffering and sorrow are the most privileged of all beings, for you are to be perfected through suffering and to become the sons and daughters of God with his power to overcome evil with good. If only you realized your destiny, how you would rejoice at every experience of trial and tribulation, and even in the persecution which comes your way. You would 'count it all joy.' You would take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake 'for when you are weak, then you learn how to be made strong.'

Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard is the sequel to one of my all time favorite books, Hinds Feet On High Places. I identify with the main character, known as Much Afraid in the first book, whose name was changed by the King to Grace and Glory after she reached the High Places. Grace and Glory has now returned from the High Places to the Valley of Humiliation where she intends to lovingly persuade her Fearing family to enter into service of the Shepherd (known as the King on the High Places). Grace and Glory meets great opposition at first and has returned to the High Places to receive counsel from the King Himself.

The Lord has been speaking to me through these allegoric novels, and I long to passionately grasp the truth contained in them...Truth that transforms completely, Love that overcomes evil with good, Peace that flows like a river, all the while extending my hand to one lost and bound.

Much Afraid transforms into Grace and Glory and this sometimes scared little girl gloriously is being transformed into His Bride, Beautiful Grace. In Jesus' name!!! AMEN!!!

News Flash: His Resting One Storms Bulgaria With Jesus!

A Picture of Bulgarian Gypsies

The following is a copy of an e-mail I received from His Resting One. This wonderful young woman of God, now ministering in Europe, blesses the next generation by teaching them science in a local public school system. This same woman prayed for a dead gerbil and saw it raised. Harrisburg, His Resting One's home and permanant mission field, is our region. We are blessed to have her!!!!





Dear Friends and family,

What an adventure the past few days have been. I've flooded the bathroom at one hotel (yes long story) and had pickles on my pizza (not per my request) and found it to taste quite alright. We traveled to Bucharest, Romania and ministered to the gypsies in the garbage dump and it made me cry. Winnie Banov told an amazing story how she searched the country for the poorest gyspsies in the land and followed a garbage truck to this location. We danced, sang, and ate bread and chicken with the group.

We then traveled across the border to Bulgaria and ministered in many gypsey neighborhoods. We prayed for a guy in a wheel chair and he began to walk! He was smiling and crying and thanking Jesus! There are also testimonies of tumors actually falling off of people bodies! Dancing with the children and the women bring back so many memories of the great times I had with the orphans in Nicaragua two summers ago. The love of Jesus is so rich here and the group of 50 of us are filled with so much love and joy as we party with the gypsies.

Last night was crazy as we piled into this train with small cabins to sleep in. It was such a fun but restless night... somehow we received supernatural energy (without cafiene). A lot of our day is spent traveling as we have been all over Bulgaria the past few days. The food is good... but interesting.... and we are finding sleep is a priceless jewel. I'll send some more quick updates later. Please forgive my spelling and grammer for I am a speedy typer in little time.

The trips ends on the 23rd where I will then stay in France for three weeks with a friend. This trip is definitely renewing my heart for Harrisburg as Jesus is reminding me what love really looks like. :)

My Son, The College Man

If you have been reading my blog, you know that my son, Consecrated, was accepted to the Art Institute at York, and today was his first day. He called me a little while ago to tell me he had finished his first class in digital imaging, and that he had already read the first chapter in his book while eating his lunch. I am so proud of my son!!! :)

Sharing the Love

"My Lord and King," said Grace and Glory, "what is true love? How can it be recognized?"

"I am love," said the King very clearly. "If you want to see the pattern of true love, look at me, for I am the expression of the law of love on which the universe is founded." From the Christian allegory Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard

Thank you, Jesus and Dark Chocolate, for this award! The story behind this award inspires. Click the button to learn the history of the award.

This Is Our Independance Day!

This article is a reprint from Christian Breaking News.

Ten Things I Love About America
Teresa Neumann/op-ed (July 4, 2008)

1. The U.S. Constitution: particularly the freedom to worship as we choose. Imagine living in an age, or a country, where your religion is determined by the state. It's a freedom well worth protecting and defending.

2. The U.S. Armed Services: God bless our brave men and women in uniform. It is because of them—and the grace of God—that we dwell safely in this wonderful country of ours. They more than deserve our support and prayers.

3. Capitalism: That's right, the good ol' free enterprise economic system touted by none other than John Calvin. When one considers the alternatives, it's no contest. For all its grand ideals, communism was rife with abuse and failed miserably. As for socialism, ask the middle classes of socialist countries about their tax burden and quality of healthcare. While abuse is inherent in any economic system, and must always be checked, entrepreneurialism and free market enterprise is part and parcel of the history of a prosperous America.

4. Largesse; Our National Consciousness: Largesse means "liberality," or "generosity." Typically, it is generosity that goes beyond the norm; abundant beneficence. It manifests in global giving to the poor, and right here at home when neighbors reach out to neighbors. Largesse is at the core of how we Americans view ourselves and how we respond to national and global challenges. Our optimism and can-do attitude match the vast open skies of the West, the Great Plains of the Midwest, the sweeping seashores of the Atlantic and Pacific, and the soaring mountain chains that crisscross this breathtaking nation. We think, act, and feel as big as the 3,000-mile-wide cord that connects us. Big stores, big skyscrapers, big cars (hopefully fuel alternatives will allow us to keep them!), big ideas, big dreams. Don't ever feel guilty about employing righteous and healthy largesse in your life. After all, God is Largesse.

5. Conveniences We Take for Granted: Americans who have travelled overseas are only too aware of the joy of these conveniences. Clothes dryers, air conditioners, dishwashers, microwaves, hair straighteners, escalators, vacuum sweepers, etc., etc. Every country is known for its love of something or other. France loves its food, Italy loves its art, and we Americans love our conveniences.

6. Customer Service: True, customer service is better in some areas of the country than others, and there will always be that incompetent clerk who will drive one to utter distraction, but by-and-large customer service in America is superb. (Think Costco, Nordstrom, Wal-mart, etc.) One need only consider India, where shoppers aren't allowed to touch, or closely observe, anything in a store before buying, let alone return anything, to appreciate this point.

7. Educational Choice: Don't like the public school in your area? Send your children to a private school, and take your pick from any number of religious institutions running them. Don't have the money to send your children to a private school? Homeschool (that is if you live outside California).

8. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Granted, we have a long way to go to clean up the airwaves in this country, but at least we have something, compared to Europe where network television is shockingly amoral. Remember Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction?" Europeans were stumped at the public outcry against it. Such American puritanism they snarked. I rest my case.

9. Our Infrastructure: Rule of Law on Highways, and the Courage and Kindness of Strangers. Again, think India where pedestrians, bicyclists, dogs, mules, carts and cars all share the road in common. One Indian friend of mine noted that the worst road in America is better than India's national highway. Not only are American highways efficient and well-maintained, but they are used by drivers who, for the most part, obey the law. Try driving somewhere like Marseilles, France, where no one reads, or cares about, road signs. If that were not enough to be thankful for, far more Americans are known for their quickness to come to the aid of someone in need or in danger—on the road or elsewhere—than the few who make headlines preying on such victims. When disaster strikes in America, Americans rise to the aid of their countrymen.

10. Peanut Butter: Any kind, but Skippy is my favorite.