Mindful Monday Devotional -Called to Create

Mindful Monday Devotional -We are called to create

 

This devotional came at a really opportune time for me.  I’d recently been giving a lot of consideration about what to do about couponing blogging on my CalvaryCouponers.com blog.  I had been frustrated about the scammers bombarding the two large couponing Facebook groups I admin and the time it took me to moderate the pending posts,deleting a ton of spam and porno site links.  I was just frustrated and the whole coupon blogging world was just ‘old’ to me as a result.  After some prayer and thought, I felt like the Lord was reminding me of why I started that blog to begin with.  To help my family and others like mine learn to save money on needed groceries and be able to have a little more money at the end of the month.  Also given my natural inclination towards inclination, it gave me a creative outlet as I design 90% of my own graphics.

I just had posted about resuming my coupon posts on that blog when later that evening I read the following devotion.  See if it inspires something in your life as well!

 

Casper ten Boom

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, work has been arduous and difficult (Genesis 3). But as we saw yesterday in Genesis 2, work is not inherently bad—it was designed by God to be an act of worship and a meaningful way for humans to glorify God and serve others.

In a fallen world, it can be difficult to see the goodness, meaning, and eternal significance of our work. I doubt many of Casper ten Boom’s neighbors saw his work as particularly meaningful. As his daughter Corrie remembers in her book, The Hiding Place, for more than sixty years, ten Boom went to work every day as a thoroughly ordinary watchmaker and shopkeeper. But while ten Boom’s work may have appeared as monotonous as a ticking timepiece, he was a man who loved his work and saw it as a calling from God, using his watch shop as a means of serving his neighbors and discipling his employees. While ten Boom was faithful in using his work to serve the Lord in these “little things,” God had plans to entrust him with much more responsibility as Europe headed into World War II.

After the Germans invaded the ten Booms’ hometown of Haarlem in the Netherlands, the family began leading a clandestine effort to hide Jews and others at risk of extermination by the Nazis. Ten Boom’s unassuming watch shop quickly became the front door for the anti-Nazi underground network in town, used to smuggle food and other supplies to the Jews hiding in the ten Boom’s home behind the watch shop. The ten Booms even used encoded messages about “watches” as a means of communicating critical information across telephone lines undoubtedly tapped by the Nazis.

On February 28, 1944, German soldiers caught the ten Booms and sent Casper and Corrie to prison. At the time, the ten Booms were hiding four Jews and two members of the underground network. When the ten Booms were taken away, they didn’t know if these six people were dead or alive. Weeks later, while detained at Scheveningen concentration camp, Corrie received an encoded message informing her that “All the watches in your closet are safe.” Corrie knew that the six had made it out alive. Ten days after his arrest, Casper ten Boom died at the age of eighty-four, not knowing that his work as an entrepreneur and watchmaker had been used in this dramatic way to accomplish God’s will one more time.

I recently had a chance to visit ten Boom’s watch shop, which is still in operation today. As I approached the front door, I was startled by how ordinary and unassuming the shop is. Most people walked by without giving the shop a second look. I’m sure many of Haarlem’s residents looked at Casper ten Boom’s work as a watchmaker the same way, wondering what meaning there was in tinkering with timepieces for sixty years. But ten Boom leveraged his work in some incredibly meaningful ways. And while our stories will almost certainly not be as dramatic as ten Boom’s, the fact is that as we embrace God’s call to create on our lives, He will use our work in ways we can’t even imagine to accomplish His will.

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17‭-‬19 ESV

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
Luke 16:10 ESV

 

This devotional and others can be found in Jordan Raynor’s book, “Called to Create”

End of the Age Prophecy Updates for 8/26/18

End of the Age Updates for 8-26-18
As we review these  prophecy updates this week, I’d like to remember Hawaii and all those affected by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Lane as well as the volcanic eruptions in Hawaii too.  Please keep all of them in your prayers!  This is all a reminder that we can expect these things in these last days.  For you scoffers out there, of course we’ve always had hurricanes and volcanic activity, but as Jesus said it would be like the birth pangs of a woman in labor, the occurences are getting more frequent, and much closer together.  If you don’t know if you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, I highly encourage you to do so now because the time of the end of the age is getting VERY near!

 

Pastor J.D. Farag:

(No update this week)

(Pastor J.D.’s Video List Here)

 

Amir Tsarfati:

(AMIR’S VIDEO LIST HERE)  (Amir’s Facebook here)

(Amir’s blog here)

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Doodle Challenge for September 2018

September 2018 Doodle Challenge

So I asked the members of my Facebook group what they would like to have as the theme for the doodle challenge for September and the answer that got the most “likes” was Heaven. I thought, ‘Oh boy, am I going to be able to get together 30 things to doodle about Heaven?’  Then I decided to open up the book of Revelation and the ideas started jumping out at me.  Here is the result of that Book storm 🙂

This challenge is participated in by the members of my Facebook group, Christian Planner, Journal, and Craft Fellowship and any of you who would like to join us! You can join us in the group or join along on Instagram.

Why do we doodle? Doodling helps improve our drawing skills so we can improve our Bible art journaling pages!

Click the thumbnail image below to pull up the full-sized PDF file for printing! –>

September 2018 Doodle Challenge

I had to create it in landscape mode this month because of the Bible references. It would only fit on the page sideways 🙂

I usually print these out on 28 pound white paper (or 32 pound paper is even better) and just stick them right into my planner or journal. The heavier the paper, the less chance it will tear out of your binder or planner by accident and helps resist bleeding or ghosting from your pens or markers.  It helps the page turn easier too.

If you choose to print these out on full-size (letter) sticker paper.  I use these here.  They’re priced great and you can write on them easily. They are good enough quality for my needs.  If you want a top-quality sticker paper look for these or clear ones here. (Though not all pens or markers will write well on the clear ones). If you don’t want to use sticker paper, you can print them on card stock or regular printer paper and glue them down.  Honestly, the sticker paper is the best way, however. Regardless of the type.

Going through a lot of ink printing out planner stickers?  Do like I did and enlist in the HP Instant Ink program! I’ve saved so much money on ink since I did a year and a half ago.  They have different plans, but the one I’m in (the most pages) is that I can print up to 300 pages worth of ink for just over $9.99 per month. You can choose lesser pages for a lower rate, but I do a lot of printing between coupons, planner stickers and other things.  Click on the image here to check it out! –>

HP Instant Ink

Freebie Friday – TV Show Printable Planner Stickers 2018-2019 Part 2

Freebie Friday Printable Planner Stickers TV Shows 2018 2019

This week’s Freebie Friday is part 2 of my printable planner stickers for TV Shows for the Fall 2018-Winter 2019 season.  I sized them to fit the classic Happy Planner and the Erin Condren planner.

 

(CLICK HERE FOR FIRST INSTALLMENT of A-I

 

There are SO many TV shows now that it would take forever to vet them, so I have no idea of the content of many of these.  So I ask you to please use your own discretion in using them according to your own values and know if there is something very unGodly in them, I haven’t vetted them so don’t email me complaining if there is something not so worthy.  Having said that, shows I know for sure to be ones that someone following Jesus should not be promoting I did exclude (Lucifer, Supernatural, etc.), so this is in no way a total list. It’s a very thorough list though, I have to say! 🙂 I put a lot of work into it for sure! 🙂

I will also be updating this post with links to CUT FILES for the Silhouette (my personal favorite that I’m a proud owner of) and the Cricut cutting machines, so keep an eye out for that update!  These are PDF versions of the whole set (with an introductory page in each set). So my advice is to print the pages you want to use rather than the whole set.

Next week’s Freebie Friday will probably be a post of all the cut files from last week’s set and this week’s.

Here’s part 2 —>

 

Printable Planner Stickers for TV shows 2018 2019

I THROUGH L :  CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL-SIZE PDF FILE !

(Additional Files in this alphabet span at the end)

These are thumbnails of what are included in this set one to I (click for larger preview):

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Mindful Monday Devotional – Irreplaceable You!

Mindful Monday Devotional: Irreplacable You

Are you one of those people who were picked first for games as a child?  Maybe you were one of the sought-after ones for the hope of being the date for the prom. Everything went well and you were popular.  Maybe you were a cheerleader or on the drill team.  Star of the football team.

Or, maybe you were like me, and sat at home when the prom was going on and was one of the last picked for the dodgeball game or volleyball game at school whether people were aware you were a good player or not.  They just judged you by your size, appearance, popularity status, etc.

Those of us who were the left-outers suffered pain and rejection by our peers (and possibly family members as well).

Our Heavenly Father sees us as priceless, though!  He created us and watches over us daily.  To Him, we are irreplaceable!  He will never push us to the side in favor of someone else and He gave us the talents He wants us to use for His Kingdom (whether you have discovered it yet or not).

Crystal Stine has written a devotional just for those of us who can relate to this syndrome of feeling overlooked and unwanted.  I could SO relate to it and I hope you enjoy it too! Check it out!—>

There are Legos all over our house. Our collection began with just a few sets at Christmas one year, and now there are bins and bins of little colorful blocks. As my daughter builds, the larger Lego pieces are used first. They’re the ones that set the stage, the ones that overshadow the hundred little plastic bags full of nearly invisible parts, necessary and perfectly equipped for their purpose.

Sometimes I want nothing more than to be, like those larger Legos pieces, the established, obvious choice. But the larger and more impressive Lego pieces don’t make as much difference once the building is finished, not like you might think they would. As I picked up horses and mini figures, tiny hedgehogs, and sparkly snowflakes, I realized sometimes the smallest piece of the set makes the biggest impact.

Little pieces of clear plastic, nearly invisible, create beautiful windows.

Sparkly little dots add final touches to roofs and tables.

Carrot noses complete snowmen, and tiny ice skates adorn tiny feet.

Often, I’m the accent piece that plays a small supporting role. The quiet one overshadowed by the larger-than-life personality. The one who assumes I’m easily replaceable or unnecessary for the finished product—nice to have, but not a “must have.” But how generous of God to create the body of Christ specifically and intentionally to need every part—no matter how large or small.

Do you feel like one of the tiny, overlooked pieces in the kit? Are you still not sure that what looks plain and ordinary and messy could ever be part of the holy kingdom work your heart longs to offer to the world? Do you wonder how you can stay where God has called you when you aren’t sure the work you’ve been given is good enough?

Your presence and your purpose matter. Whether we’re the most impressive piece in a pile (helping others to stand firm!) or the smallest accent (shining brightly!), we glorify God when we unite for His kingdom. You are irreplaceable, perfectly equipped, and incredibly necessary to the work God has planned for you. In Christ, we can do more than we could ever imagine.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  –1 Corinthians 12:12‭-‬14 ESV

For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord , which range through the whole earth.”  –Zechariah 4:10 ESV

If you enjoyed this devotional, take a look at Crystal’s book, “Holy Hustle:  Embracing a Work-Hard, Rest-Well Life” here —>

 

End of the Age Prophecy Updates for 8/19/18

End of the Age Updates for 8-19-18

There’s a lot going on this week with some of our prophecy teachers.  J.D. Farag is having Jack Hibbs teaching this week at his church, so he won’t have a prophecy update.  I’m still going to post it here though, because Jack does a lot with Bible prophecy too and is teaching on that here too!  I hope you are all doing well and getting settled with all the back to school craziness.  Were you able to make it to the tax-free days for buying school supplies a few weeks ago? Here in Ohio we had that anyway. I went early in the morning before the rush got started.  My son starts back to school on Tuesday. We had his orientation last Thursday. He begins high school (9th grade) this year. UNREAL that he’s old enough to be a “high schooler”!!

Pastor J.D. Farag:

(Pastor J.D.’s Video List Here)

 

Amir Tsarfati:

(AMIR’S VIDEO LIST HERE)  (Amir’s Facebook here)

(Amir’s blog here)

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Scripture Writing Plan for September 2018

Scripture Writing Plan for September 2018

 

I want to thank all of you who prayed for me and reached out to me with encouragement and support after I posted about my autistic son running away from home last month.  You’ll never know how much that meant to me and how much it helped me!  I have since installed door and windows alarms to keep him safe (and my stress level down).

This month, I’m getting our scripture writing plan for September up a little early. I put together a different planner (I’ll post about that really soon – my Frankenplanner) that’s keeping me on task for getting this prepared on the same day every month. I know most of us use planners or journals of some type to schedule our writing for the month and it’s always nice to have the schedule with plenty of time to have the information to set up our next month’s planner or journal.

 

Use these passages to write out the scriptures and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! 🙂

Click on the image below to pull up the full-sized PDF file for printing –>

Scripture Writing Plan for September 2018

I usually print these out on 28 pound white paper (or 32 pound paper is even better) and just stick them right into my planner or journal. The heavier the paper, the less chance it will tear out of your binder or planner by accident and helps resist bleeding or ghosting from your pens or markers.  It helps the page turn easier too.

If you choose to print these out on full-size (letter) sticker paper.  I use these here.  They’re priced great and you can write on them easily. They are good enough quality for my needs.  If you want a top-quality sticker paper look for these or clear ones here. (Though not all pens or markers will write well on the clear ones). If you don’t want to use sticker paper, you can print them on card stock or regular printer paper and glue them down.  Honestly, the sticker paper is the best way, however. Regardless of the type.

Going through a lot of ink printing out planner stickers?  Do like I did and enlist in the HP Instant Ink program! I’ve saved so much money on ink since I did a year and a half ago.  They have different plans, but the one I’m in (the most pages) is that I can print up to 300 pages worth of ink for just over $9.99 per month. You can choose lesser pages for a lower rate, but I do a lot of printing between coupons, planner stickers and other things.  Click on the image here to check it out! –>

HP Instant Ink

Freebie Friday – TV Show Printable Planner Stickers 2018-2019

Freebie Friday Printable Planner Stickers TV Shows 2018 2019

This week’s Freebie Friday is a set of printable planner stickers.  They are for TV Shows for the Fall 2018 – Winter 2019 season. I sized them to fit the classic Happy Planner and the Erin Condren planner.

There are SO many TV shows now that it would take forever to vet them, so I have no idea of the content of many of these.  So I ask you to please use your own discretion in using them according to your own values and know if there is something very unGodly in them, I haven’t vetted them so don’t email me complaining if there is something not so worthy.  Having said that, shows I know for sure to be ones that someone following Jesus should not be promoting I did exclude (Lucifer, Supernatural, etc.), so this is in no way a total list. It’s a very thorough list though, I have to say! 🙂 I put a lot of work into it for sure! 🙂

My hope in creating these is that those of us who grew up in the TV generation and beyond can choose a handful of our favorite shows and plan for them, so that we aren’t just sitting in front of the screen mindlessly lost in the fog of information being thrown at us.  Choose your favorites and schedule watching them into your day, be it when it’s first aired or (like me) from your DVR.

I first made these last year and didn’t use them as much as I thought I would because I got in the habit of just watching whatever showed up on the DVR.  But now my hope is to do the advice I just gave you and choose a handful of shows and include them into my planner.  I can see ahead of time what shows will be on the next day that I want to watch and schedule the amount of time they will play into my day the next day so I watch just those and be a better steward of my time. That’s where these stickers and my planner come in 🙂

Right now for Freebie Friday I am sharing the TV Shows alphabetically and numerically, so this first installment is the number one through the letter I.  (I’m still working on the rest).  I will also be updating this post with links to CUT FILES for the Silhouette (my personal favorite that I’m a proud owner of) and the Cricut cutting machines, so keep an eye out for that update!  These are PDF versions of the whole set (19 pages of planner stickers with an introductory page). So my advice is to print the pages you want to use rather than the whole set.

Here we go!

Printable Planner Stickers for TV shows 2018 2019

I tried to put these all into one big PDF file, but it was too big a file to upload, so I had to break them down into smaller file sizes.

ONE THROUGH A :  CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL-SIZE PDF FILE !

 

These are thumbnails of what are included in this set one to I (click for larger preview):

TV show stickers one through A tv shows planner stickers A tv planner stickers A 2

 

A 2 :  CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL-SIZE PDF FILE ! —>

These are thumbnails of what are included in this set one to I (click for larger preview):

 

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Mindful Monday Devotional – Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

Mindful Monday - Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

This is one of the devotionals I read recently on YouVersion.  It both inspired and convicted me and I thought you may benefit from it as well!

 

“Serving Leftovers to a Holy God” by Francis Chan

James 2: 19 says, “You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” God doesn’t just want us to have good theology; He wants us to know and love Him. First John 2:3-4 tells us, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Call me crazy, but I think those verses mean that the person who claims to know God but doesn’t obey His commands is a liar and that the truth really isn’t in him.

Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded? You’ll notice that He didn’t add, “But hey, if that’s too much to ask, tell them to just become Christians—you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything.”

Now, I do not want true believers to doubt their salvation as they read this book. In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us.

Each of us has lukewarm elements and practices in our life; therein lies the senseless, extravagant grace of it all. The Scriptures demonstrate clearly that there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3). His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). I’m not saying that when you mess up, it means you were never really a genuine Christian in the first place. If that were true, no one could follow Christ.

* Do you see the fruits of Christianity in your own life? A love of Christ, following His commands? If you’re feeling brave, ask someone who knows you well whether or not your actions reflect Christ and the commands He gave.”

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
James 2:14‭-‬17

For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
Luke 9:25

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:15

 

You can pick up Francis Chan’s book, “Crazy Love” which this devotion can be found in here —>

Ponderings of My Predicaments – The Great Yellow Jacket Escape

Ponderings of My Predicaments The Great Yellow Jacket Escape

See this yellow jacket here? —>

Yellow Jacket

One just like this one is at the center of one of the worst days of my life to date.

On July 19th I was on our deck sweeping the leaves and debris away in preparation to assemble the new patio umbrella I’d gotten for my birthday 10 days earlier (it’s still not together). My 15 year old non-verbal autistic son, Evan, was inside and I could see him in the house on the other side of the sliding glass door that separated our kitchen from the deck.

In the corner of the deck there was a cover that usually goes over one of our patio chairs covered in leaves. I picked it up not knowing it contained a yellow jacket nest.

Yellow jackets swarmed me and one got in my ear!  I quickly went into panic mode and raced into the house and up the 7 stairs to the bathroom where the mirror was I was hoping would help me to see the nasty little creature to extract him from my ear.  The loud buzzing was disorienting me, besides the fear of the bee being in my ear to begin with. But this was just the beginning of the traumatic day for my family and I.

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