I am 'Overwhelmed' (book review and giveaway)

I was given the opportunity to receive the book Overwhelmed as well as the Study Guide and a Small Group Study Leader Guide. I received the books, as e-books, for free so I could review it for my blog. Even so, the thoughts in this post are my own and are truthful.

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

This is a hard world we live in. We have all be overwhelmed at times.

The book's subtitle is Hope and Help for the Financially Weary. The book has stories from a number of women who have been through a variety of financial difficulties. The study guide has very good questions to help you think things through. The leader guide gives you suggestions about how to manage a small study group, if you wish to have one and the leader guide is free right now.

Overwhelmed is a resource designed to meet both the spiritual and practical needs of those struggling to overcome financial difficulties. In the first section, nine women share their testimonies, faith, and financial counsel to help you go from being overwhelmed by your finances to being an overcomer through Christ. As an added bonus, the second section offers more practical advice on frugal homemaking, women in business, and financial resources such as handling credit card debt and so much more.

My review of the book

 Overwhelmed? Some days I am!! First... before reviewing the book, I will tell you a little about me. 29 years ago my hubby and I married. Since then we have moved 6 times, he has had 13 jobs, and we had 4 children.

9 years ago he injured his back while working. Our kids were daughter age 18 (our first to graduate from our homeschool just a few months before his injury), daughter age 15, son age 10, and son age 7.  My husband went to our doctor and she sent him to therapy. The therapy made him worse. Then we started an almost four year battle with insurance companies, Dr.'s and lawyers to keep my husband getting the help he needed from a Dr. who was both a Chiropractor and a Neurologist, He sent him home to the recliner and started working on him, slowly, and once my hubby had healed some he started therapy with the Dr.'s brother. My hubby also had regular shots for pain from a pain specialist. With the Dr.'s recommendations and our lawyers help we kept hubby from getting surgery that had high probabilities of failing. We finally settled with the insurance company. He was out of work just about 3 years.

When my hubby was cleared by the Dr., he started looking for work. He had many new restrictions. No driving jobs. No bending or stooping repeatedly. No standing for long periods. No lifting more than a gallon of milk and no jobs that had repeated lifting. And, I may be missing a restriction or two... there were a log of them. He needed a job where he could sit mostly, but also get up and down during the day and not be 'chained' to a desk was best. He had 2 jobs, one that lasted two weeks and then one that lasted 90 days, after that he found a job, that he HATED, that lasted 3 years until they had hard times and let a bunch of people go. Since being let go from that job he has been unemployed for 3 1/2 years and we are still counting.

I have had a lot of ups and downs during this period of unemployment. I cry. A lot. I read my Bible and pray and feel strong for awhile. Then, more things happen (or nothing happens and I just feel unsure or fearful, or...) Unexpected things happen. Little things. Bigger things. Broken things, and with no money to fix them it is hard. 'Normal' family needs, like new shoes, can be a big deal. My family has been through financial trials many times. God has met our needs all the way through... that does NOT mean I trust God fully, each minute, I have had times of SERIOUS doubt. Yeah, I'll be honest. I doubt God. I don't doubt that God can do it. I doubt that he will do it for us... again.

Reading books has been a big help in keeping up my spirits. Reading for fun, but also reading spiritual books. God seems to bring me just the book I need when I need it. This was one of those books for me this year.

I have to admit. Some of the stories the ladies shared helped me more than others. That is natural. Some people's stories will resonate with us more than others. Ones that may not have hit me as hard may be just the thing you need. I liked the variety. Although some impacted me more than others all the stories illustrated the glory of God and His care for His people. It is amazing to me how many different kinds of financial trouble there are and how differently God is dealing with these troubles in the writers lives. Also, the differences in the emotional/spiritual troubles and the lessons God is teaching different ladies/families through their trials. He know just what our deficiencies are and just how to work in our lives to make us more like his Son. Trusting in that process is still HARD.

Those stories that impacted me are full of highlights. Picking a favorite quote of two from this book is very hard. But here goes.

"God wants you to rely on Him, not an income. Deliverance will come but in God's timing and for His purpose. Make no mistake--our trials are soul deep." pg 11

Soul deep... that's for sure. Many are the times during this trial that I have cried out to God in anger, doubt, not understanding, fear or with such emotion that I don't even know WHAT I feel.

"I know right now you think things look really bad. I know you think that you can't possibly take any more trouble than is already on you. I know that you might feel like sadness and despair have moved into your bedroom, setting up residence alongside shame and confusion and that they are all totally disregarding your comfort, hopes, and dreams. I can imagine you probably feel like you just don't know where to turn. There may be a cloud of darkness all around you, pressing in and testing your faith in a way you never dreamed possible. In a moment, all at once, you have found that you, like the subject in Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken", have taken the less traveled, more difficult, and less popular road and that has made all the difference." pg 46

"I know you are probably thinking something like, "When did I choose the road not taken?" You see, the day you said, I do! to Christ, you also said, "I will." pg 47

"This-yes, even this-is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in His sight. No matter the current circumstance, the truth is that if you are a blood-bought saved child of God, you can stand, and you can take every punch the enemy throws. Yes, you can make it because your life is His to care for, and His grace and mercy, faithfulness, and everlasting love are all yours for the asking. I know you may feel like the world is caving in all around you; it can seem that way. Believe me, I know because I've been there, too. But, be of good cheer because when it comes down to it, God is in control, and He knows what is best for you." pg. 47

It is good to know others out there understand what we have gone through. They have been through similar circumstances and had similar feelings. They dealt with their feelings and with the troubles that come from financial difficulties. They dealt with marriage struggles caused by our sin and magnified by our circumstances. Even though they are children of God they struggled with feelings of fear, that God didn't love them, doubts about what he was going to do for them in the future and more. It is great to know I am not going crazy. It also gives me hope for my future too.

I could go on with the quotes.. and on and on and on... but I will stop and move on to other things from the book.

Section 2: Financial Resources - most of this was not applicable to our situation. We own a habitat home and it is the low payments and zero percent interest that has allowed us to keep our home this long. Other than our mortgage we have ZERO debt. That is one thing my hubby is strict about. We had financial training before getting our habitat home, and we did learn a few new things there, but we have not been irresponsible with our money. It has always been jobs and/or bosses that have been our problem. Another area they talk about in this section is used cars. My hubby fixes our cars himself, he is very handy in many ways, and so we have always gotten good deals and had good luck with quality vehicles for the price we pay... and we ALWAYS pay cash... hubby will NOT borrow.

Section 3: Women in Business - I can not make money blogging. It is just not my gift or my passion. In fact, I am blogging less now than ever. I only blog what I feel like blogging because of the emotional stress this trial has inflicted on me. I have homeschooled for 22 years. I have thought about making my unit studies into sell-able items, but I lack confidence and feel there are so many other products out there, better than what I could write. I just don't feel like now is the time the Lord has for me to pursue making money for the family. I am still homeschooling one of our children and don't really have the emotional strength to begin something new. Maybe it will help others, but not me, not right now anyway.

I have to be honest with my readers. I felt like some of the information in the Women in Business section was just so that the ladies who wrote their testimonies in the book would have a place to advertise. I do not begrudge them this opportunity. They worked hard on this book and if their families are helped by someone knowing about them and their businesses then they deserve it. I just wanted you to know my feelings on it. I found no new information or things that would help me, but like I said maybe it would help someone else.

Section 4: Home Business Guide and Resources - since I am not planning to start a home business any time soon this section really didn't help me with anything either. There are some good things here... just not for me right now. Some of the topics were: Home Business Opportunities (a list with places/ideas for work from home); Maintaining Your Vision (this was good); and Simple, Not Easy.

The last section, Section 5: Frugal Homemaking - has tips, mostly for cooking, but also some for cleaning and even Christmas. I have to admit I have not tried any of the recipes, but some of them look really good. Some of them seemed overly simple. Like a recipe for pancakes. We have lots of recipes, including a favorite one for from scratch pancakes, but like I said some of them look good. I have been married a good long time. We make most things from scratch. We don't even buy the cheap brownie mixes... we make them from scratch. Most of the recipes will have to wait until our trial is over because we do not even have some of the most basic of ingredients, most of the time. We are eating very simply these days. A few of the tips they give for saving money would not save money for us... for instance they say to make your own butter, but heavy cream is more expensive than butter in our area and won't make as much either, unfortunately we have had to switch to cheap margarine, for now. Save on organic foods??? we would not afford organic foods when my husband was working. Some of these tips are just not for those on such a tight budget as we are.

Homemade Deodorant recipe - that is something I might try. I HATE the aluminum in deodorant and have tried one organic one, but I had a reaction to it. Finding the money to buy the Coconut oil may be difficult. to be honest, these days I do not even bother wearing my deodorant most days. Go ahead and judge me, I don't care. My family has never told me I smell. I only wear it when we go out, and that is not often, so a stick lasts me a few months. Some of the other non-food cleaners I would like to try as well. They look like they would save us some money.

Also some of the tips don't apply to me because we have 5 adults and one teenager in the house. We eat more than a family with 2 adults and 2 little kids. I can't make one chicken go for 3 meals. I just can't. So, we do what we can and save where we can and we have all cut back on our eating. I can't wait until the day I can go to the store and buy anything we want to eat... at least once in a while. I don't want to waste our future money on food, I just would like to satisfy some of my cravings and some of the kids cravings.

The Study Guide

I really enjoyed the study guide. Since the testimonies were my favorite part of the book and this was to enhance that part, it is also a favorite part. For each chapter there are 2 pages in the study guide. The first page has a summery, a verse of the Bible to focus on and then some reflections... things to think about and questions to answer based on the things the author of that chapter talked about. The second page was lovely. It is a little notebooking type of page. At the top is a space to write what you learned from that testimony... no questions just your own thoughts. Next was a doodle with a space to write what God is impressing on you to start or stop doing. Lastly a place to write a prayer, surrounded by fun doodles and a border. The questions were well thought out and really made me think more about what I read and how it could help me to deal with my own circumstances and my relationship with my Lord. Such a great way to get a lot out of this little book. The study guide was my favorite part.

Small Group Study Leader Guide

I did not use the Small Group Study guide because I did the study on my own. But, I did read it. There are a lot of good tips in there that would be great for this study, or any study you were doing with a group. This part is FREE for everyone so you can it check out and it costs you nothing.

I recommend this book and it's guides. The pdf is VERY reasonably priced, and that is good for those who are having financial troubles. The prices for each part are listed below. I think the testimonies of the ladies, and my favorite part, the study guide; make this worth the money. It certainly was an encouragement to me in some areas and a challenge to me in other areas where I needed the kick in the seat.

You can find the book, the study guide, and the small group leader guide, and order them, here – Overwhelmed

PDF: $4.99
Kindle: $7.99
Print: $12.99

The Study Guide
PDF: $2.99
Print Copy: $7.99

Leader Guide - FREE

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Do I act as if I am POOR in spirit?

Proverbs 13:7 (ESV) "One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth."

I was not sure what this verse meant when I was reading in back in February, so I checked the Matthew Henry Commentary  on Gateway.com. This is what it said.

"This observation is applicable,

I. To men’s worldly estate. The world is a great cheat, not only the things of the world, but the men of the world. All men are liars. Here is an instance in two sore evils under the sun:—1. Some that are really poor would be thought to be rich and are thought to be so; they trade and spend as if they were rich, make a great bustle and a great show as if they had hidden treasures, when perhaps, if all their debts were paid, they are not worth a groat. This is sin, and will be shame; many a one hereby ruins his family and brings reproach upon his profession of religion. Those that thus live above what they have choose to be subject to their own pride rather than to God’s providence, and it will end accordingly. 2. Some that are really rich would be thought to be poor, and are thought to be so, because they sordidly and meanly live below what God has given them, and choose rather to bury it than to use it, Eccl. 6:1, 2. In this there is an ingratitude to God, injustice to the family and neighbourhood, and uncharitableness to the poor.

II. To their spiritual state. Grace is the riches of the soul; it is true riches; but men commonly misrepresent themselves, either designedly or through mistake and ignorance of themselves. 1. There are many presuming hypocrites, that are really poor and empty of grace and yet either think themselves rich, and will not be convinced of their poverty, or pretend themselves rich, and will not own their poverty. 2. There are many timorous trembling Christians, that are spiritually rich, and full of grace, and yet think themselves poor, and will not be persuaded that they are rich, or, at least, will not own it; by their doubts and fears, their complaints and griefs, they make themselves poor. The former mistake is destroying at last; this is disquieting in the mean time. "

My take on the verses and commentary

Worldly Goods -
One borrows and so looks to others as if they have much, but if they paid their debts they would not be worth anything. This is a sin - the Bible says we ought not owe any man. We should not borrow just so we can "keep up with the Joneses."

One is rich but acts poor. They 'bury' their riches or hide them in banks in other countries instead of sharing with those who have little. Those who have been blessed with much should share with those who don't have much. Acts 2:44-45 "And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Spiritual Standing
One says they are saved but they are not. They fool others and maybe even themselves, but they are void of the grace of God in their lives. They have never repented and accepted the free gift. They may be good people, they may even go to church. Some, who think they are saved will be surprised to hear God tell them...

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

I am sure when we get to heaven we will be surprised at who is not there... and at who is there!

Others (like me??) are afratid, but are Christians and spiriturally rich and full of grace. Yet, by doubts and fears, complaints and griefs behave as if they are poor in spirit.

Boy, this last section hit me. Is this me?? Yes, many times it is. I have much power through the Spirit. There are many  promises from the Word of God that I can claim as my own. Yet so, so many times I walk around defeated. We have already won the battle friends. I need to act as a fellow heir with Christ. A participant in this great journey and though the way is rough here on earth some days I need not fear. I need to act as if my father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, because He does!!

Do you remember that old chorus. We used to sing it all the time in the church where I grew up. I have not sung that chorus for years but it comes back to me quite easily. I tried to find a copy on YouTube but could not find a good one. Here is a midi file to hear the tune in case you don't know it. It will open in a new tab and play so turn on your speakers and listen.... then I listed the lyrics in case you need them as well.

"He Owns the Cattle" midi file

Lyrics
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
The wealth in every mine;
He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,
The sun and stars that shine.
Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell -
He is my Father so they're mine as well;
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills -
I know that He will care for me. 

 

God Bless you this coming week.

 

And, as the president of The King's College (where I went from 1979-1983 and graduated from), Dr. Bob Cook used to say,

"Walk with the King today, and be a blessing"

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Scripture and a Snapshot ~ Psalm 8:9

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God loves to love us

"The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with galdness,

He will quiet you by his love'

He will exult over you with loud singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

Not 'he was in our midst'

but HE IS!

He is mighty

He rejoices over me.

When doing my devotions I often check the Matthew Henry Commentary  at Bible Gateway. This is what it had to say about Zeph. 3:17

"III. God will take delight in them, and in doing them good. The expressions of this are very lively and affecting (Zeph. 3:17): He will rejoice over thee with joy, will not only be well pleased with thee, upon thy repentance and reformation, and take thee into favour, but will take a complacency in thee, as the bridegroom does in his bride, or the bride in her ornaments, Isa. 62:3-5. The conversion of sinners and the consolation of saints are the joy of angels, for they are the joy of God him-self. The church should be the joy of the whole earth (Ps. 48:2), for it is the joy of the whole heaven. He will rest in his love, will be silent in his love, so the word is. “I will not rebuke thee as I have done, for thy sins; I will acquiesce in thee, and in my relation to thee.” I know not where there is the like expression of Christ’s love to his church, unless in that song of songs, Song 4:9; Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of thy eyes. O the condescensions of divine grace! The great God not only loves his saints, but he loves to love them, is pleased that he has pitched upon these objects of his love. He will joy over them with singing. He that is grieved for the sin of sinners rejoices in the graces and services of the saints, and is ready to express that joy by singing over them. The Lord takes pleasure in those that fear him, and in them Jesus Christ will shortly be glorified and admired."

Because of all God has done for me I am Greatly Blessed...

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Storms

verse 1:

 The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;

Secure whatever ill betide,

A Shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain:

 Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

A Shelter in the time of storm.

(the rest of the song lyrics and music)

In time the storms clear and the blue sky shows again.

I am still waiting for that time. 

We are in the midst of the storm yet.

Thank the Lord we are not there alone.

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Prayer Book Updated

This is my prayer book. I made it using a scrapbook that has pages that are 6x6 inches.



The cover is covered with wallpaper samples that my sister gave me. They are just glued on. For photos of the steps for the cover and back see my first post... the link is below. Each page is first covered with scrapbook paper. Then I add the envelope but leave the top open. Some I had to trim or shrink with my printer so they would fit my page. I tried each pocket on regular printer paper before printing on cardstock for final folding and gluing.  The other pages of my prayer book may be seen HERE... some of them were replaced by pages I updated last week.

I use 3x5 cards for my family for things that are more long term. One of the things I have done is copy some of the prayers from Power of a Praying Wife or Power of a Praying Parent so I can have them handy to pray when I feel my husband/children need them. For other requests, like online friends for instance, I use scrap paper so I can just throw out the paper when it is no longer relevant. 

The templates for the envelope/pockets on the new pages are below each picture. Under that are the pockets I used in the other pages. Under that are some cute envelopes I found while trying to re-find the links so I could post this. I will use some of them next time I need to redo a page(s).

When doing the pages I take the book apart... When you do this remember how the pages go on, especially the front and back cover so you don't have to do this over and over by trial and error to get it right like I did. It is easy to pull the rings apart and slide the pages off and on.

I completely redid my hubby and boys pages. I threw out the page and made a new one from scratch because the hubby and boys pages were back to back and I had extra pages that I saved when I first made the book. I redid them not just because I was not happy with the scrapbook paper and overall look of the pages but mostly because I was not happy with the pockets. I used the Coin Envelope.

 Coin Envelope

I am still not thrilled because I need a larger pocket for my hubby. When I am ready to redo it I will probably use the Card Portfolio Template below because it has expanding sides like a portfolio would have. That will give me the expansion I need because I have a lot of things to pray about for my hubby.


I like the way the boys new page turned out. I especially love the Lego stickers.

CD Template
at the time of posting this link was not working for me, this pocket can easily be replaced with one below that you like if the link does not work for you.

 Coin Envelope (again)

I can't find this pocket any more. I didn't reprint the pocket I just changed the stickers and the oval name because I didn't need the category that this had been before I changed it. Oh, and this page now says Blog and Facebook friends. I needed a place to put non homeschool Facebook friend requests (I already have a homeschool friend pocket so that covers them).

 

I redid this page because I didn't like the pocket at all. I like this much better.

 

Curved Envelope

Here are some more templates I used in this project, these pages were not changed but I thought someone might like to see the resources I used to make the other pockets from my prayer book:Mirkwood Designs Templates - There are a lot of pockets on this page I used the following:

• Postage Stamp Envelope Template
• Envelope for Artist Trading Cards (3.75 x 2.5)or Credit-Card-Sized Gift Cards 
• Library Card Book Pocket Template 
• Interlocking Envelope Template 

Repentance pocket templates and directions:

http://www.4shared.com/photo/cjfC43F8/envielinerclippingmask.html

http://www.4shared.com/photo/dur68AxT/envieclippinmask.htm

Repentance page - this one is a little more complicated. The first thing I did after saving these png's is lighten them with my Picasa program. I did not want to print all that black so I lightened them both to gray like this:

 I printed both pages on cardstock. Then I covered the back side of the cardstock with scrapbook paper... gluing it down well. Make sure you cover the side that doesn't have the printing on it so you can cut them out after you glue down the scrapbook paper. I used complementary colors but different designed paper for the top part and the bottom part which is the liner. I folded all 4 sides in for this one and I keep the "lid" closed with velcro. See directions for using the Cricut here and more pictures as well. http://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/envelope-and-liner-free-template/

Some templates I didn't use but will in the future

I didn't use this one because I just found it but I like it a lot and will use it next time I update or add a new page... Scrap Envelope

3x3 Envelope

Mini-petal design envelope

small envelope template

Square Petal Card

Card Portfolio Template

Basic Envelope Template

4.5" x 6" Envelope Template
 

Printable Envelope Template 

Artist Trading Card Envelope

Envelope Templates

lots of templates here at Homeschool Share including pockets:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php

If you have an questions just leave me a comment and I will reply to it in the comments and if needed update the post as well with a NEW NOTE: so you will see it.

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We Need the Lord

We need the Lord.
I need the Lord.
You need the Lord.

If I want to achieve my goals for 2013 I need the Lord.
If I want to accomplish anything in my life I need the Lord, without him everything is vain and empty.

America needs the Lord. It is the only thing that can save our country. We must return and follow the Lord...
each one individually...
as a family...
as a church, not a building or a denomination but the church universal... all believers in the death and resurrection of the Lord... all the saved...
then we can impact our country.


Please do excuse the fuzzy quality of the video... I cannot control this.
Please pay attention to the words... that is the important thing.



Lyrics:
If you ever needed the Lord before
You sure do need Him now
You sure do need Him now
You sure do need Him now
If you ever needed the Lord before
You need Him every day and every hour
 
You gotta walk a little talk a little with the Savior
Live a little give a little in His favor
Tell the world about the Master's wondrous love and power, his saving power
When the race on earth is run, the vict'ry down here has been won
The crown of life to me is given, and I'm on my way to heaven
You need Him every day and every hour

I need Him in the morning
I need Him in the night
I need Him in the morning
When the sun is shining bright


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Storms of Life

My husband and I have been reading My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Most nights before bed I read 2 days of the devotional to him, we read 2 because we are behind. Some of them have been very challenging. Some very comforting. Before we went through the trial we are currently facing (2 3/4 years of unemployment and counting) we would not have gotten as much out of this as we are. Some days, I also have to admit, I don't understand what he is talking about. But, those gems we have found make the other readings worth it. I am also thankful to have my husband, a lot of times he can help me understand a lot of the bits that make me go, "Huh? What is he talking about?" It is one of my goals to finish this book this year and I will do it.

One devotional that especially touched me...

May 8
"....God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands.

...even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.

God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God.... The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering...."

God is doing a work in me, a work that I may not like, a work that is hard. He knows what is best for me. He leads me into storms in my life. Storms I don't want. Storms I would rather avoid. But the storms cause me to run to God. The storms cause me to grow and change. I read the book How People Change and now we are reading it again as a family. It is a challenging book and we are doing the Study Guide with it. I am also currently reading The Resolution for Women and recently I have been thinking a lot about faithfulness. I love this quote from the book which I already posted on Facebook, pg. 76.

Having a strong set of beliefs is one thing, But standing up tall on them, making decisions according to them, and adjusting your life to line up with them - that's quite another.

That's faithfulness. 

Faithfulness is born when the outward expressions of your beliefs are lived out over time. Often through difficulty. For difficulty is where faithfulness is honed and brought to life. 

I want to be faithful through this trial. I want to learn/get all God has for me. I definitely don't want to have to redo this trial because I didn't learn it this time. I want God to touch all the areas of my life that he has not yet reached. I want my faith to be strong and not wavering. I want to trust my Lord. I want to be strengthened through the storms of life. I want to grow.

Note: Portions of the devotional are quoted above. To read the complete devotional go to: http://utmost.org/the-faith-to-persevere/ At that sight you can read each daily devotional from the whole year by Oswald Chambers. I plan to share a few more of my favorite quotes from this devotional.


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