Category: daily life

Pre-Order the God Dare by Kate Battistelli (Pre-Order Bonuses)

Posted on by Mary

 

The God Dare Bonuses

Get Your Pre-order Bonuses before June 1st

Hey Everyone- Can I just tell you I am over the moon excited by Kate Battistelli’s new book The God Dare which launches June 1st!  That’s right THIS SATURDAY! So if you pre-order by June 1st then you are eligible for an amazing bonus bundle. But more on that I a minute.

I have been a part of this launch team for the last six weeks and can I just tell you it has been so much fun being a part of this book birthday!

Are you ready for the Dare?  aka about this book!

God has called us to something….whether we like it or not.  sometimes those things look really scary- ok if we are really honest most times that is the case. Is this book Kate asks some hard questions about our willingness to go where God has called us to go or do what God has called us to do.  I just love it when Authors pair people from the Bible who have been in similar shoes to my own and kate has done just that.  I have found myself in the shoes of Esther- do I keep my mouth shut, or speak out for justice?  I have traveled with Abram and Ruth when I have left all that I know and love to follow where God leads and I can tell you right now that each of these instances.   Sometimes it is just making an unpopular decision that may look like you are absolutely off your rocker to the rest of the world around you.  The question Kate asks is Are You Willing? and If no why not?

Each chapter concludes with soul searching questions that dig deep into where or what God is calling you to.

Who is this book for?

EVERYONE, No seriously are you confused about where God wants you?  Or is He REALLY calling me to do THAT?  How about a hard situation that seems above our understanding and we are left on our knees asking what now or why or how?  And if you aren’t in any of those places I promise you are heading there.  And when you get there this book offers a HUGE blessing and that blessing is perspective.  And many times perspective changes many things especially hearts!

SO what about this bonus bundle you mentioned?

So if your order your copy of the God Dare before June 1st- then you can claim your free bonus bundle.

Here’s what is in the bundle-

– Companion Small Group Book or Bible Study PDF
– “Those Who Take the God Dare” printable PDF
– “The God Dare Secrets” printable PDF
– “Backstage behind-the-scenes” video discussing how The God Dare  came to be

Here’s how to claim your bonus bundle.

Step 1:  Order the book from your favorite retailer

Step 2: Visit www.katebattistelli.com/god-dare/ and fill out the form that pops up after you click on the “preorder bonuses” button

Step 3:  Watch for my email containing your bonus bundle to arrive after June 1st!

Here is the Amazon link (this is NOT an affiliate link)

And one more thing:

And don’t forget when you get your book don’t forget to either screenshot the cover on your device or snap a picture of your physical copy and use the hashtag #theGodDare and Tag Kate in the post!    @KateBattistelli

DISCLAIMER:  I was given an advanced readers copy of this book by the publisher

Happy Homemaker Monday- Sunset 9/24/2018

Posted on by Mary

Happy

Have you ever stood and stared and watched a sunset as it changes. It’s like it’s a living water color painting.  I love sunrises too and they are the same way.  But as of late I have been watching sunsets and pondering them.  Every sunset os different and there are Many factors that go into that. A sunset os very similar to life.  sometimes it’s full of color and vibrant and other times it’s dull and gray.    The one thing we know and can expect is that nighttime is coming.  I the Bible we are promised dark and hard times, but we are also told joy comes in the morning which as you guessed it is something else that beautiful. a sunrise.  the thing is that just like life if we don’t take the time to soak up the beauty, we will miss it!  That’s what I love about Happy homemaker posts is that it makes me sit down and think about all that is going on around me!  So let’s get started!

The weather:::. Fall showed up on Saturday after quite the storm Friday night. But since then it has been bright and crisp.  The clouds started rolling in this afternoon and  now is overcast and ready to rain at any moment.

As I look outside my window::: I see my neighbors porch light and an occasional car whizzes by but other than that it is pitch black outside

Right now I am:::  sipping sinus soother tea and mentally  working on my #write312018 blog posts

Thinking and pondering::: about many things but I have really been pondering a challenge given by a speaker while I was at camp all by myself this summer.  My word for the year has been influence and it has been forefront in my mind but this speaker challenged up to write letters to those who have had an influence on us.   specifically ministry leaders who have poured into our lives so I have compiled my list and am preparing the preamble to those letters.

On my bedside table::: a whole bunch of books wanting my attention

On my tv::: nothing

On the menu for this week:::

Monday –  Chicken bacon Ranch casserole  (I tweaked the recipe so I could make it in the crockpot”

Tuesday – Meatball subs and salad

Wednesday – chicken pot pie (also in the crockpot- yeah we will see how that goes)

Thursday – grilled cheese

Friday – chili

Saturday – hayride 9there is dinner -kinda with that

Sunday – Hamburgers, salt potatoes and veggie

On my to do list::: well ya see I kinda made this mess, a VERY BIG MESS.  I kinda lost something and so I went on a hunt to find that something (with no positive outcome) and when I was done it looked like a tornado had hit the place.  Now I have to fix it.

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating::: I am starting on the curtains for my craft room this week.  I also have to sand and paint the trim and sills of my three windows in the craftroom. And I have a sign that is the theme thought for my room and that involves painting AND Cricut work.

My simple pleasure::: hot beverages.  I LOVE me some COFFEE but I also really enjoy tea and hot cider as well.

Lesson learned the past week::: oh I have two.  1) well on Sunday I was catching up from my missed devotions while I was away at a conference.  and as I read I began to see a pattern I a couple of different places waiting on God was forefront I my reading and then my secret sister gave me a cute ceramic pen holder with a very cute pink sloth on it and it says Take your Time.   Ok I get it.  So many times I think it should go on my time line and that I can fix it but in reality  I need to wait on God.  he has it all under control.  2). over the last month r so there has been some heavy stuff I have had to process through. and I have learned these last few weeks that sometimes you have to let go of self-imposed expectations and go with simpler disciplines and routines and build back to where you once were.  so That is what I have done.  I have gone back to my 3 minute morning routine I set up when I  read through Hello Mornings, and it has been a huge blessing.  Because God has met me in the simplicity and deeply fed my soul.  As much as I would like to say I am back to my old self , I can’t.   ButI’m getting there for sure.

Looking around the house::: UMMM did you read what I wrote on the to-do list part??

From the camera::

:sunset- happy homemaker

This was the sunset from behind our church Saturday night during youth group.  It’s unfiltered and I firmly believe that we have some the best sunsets around!

Prayer List::: unsaved friends and family and I have a bunch of friends and family going though some really hard stuff.

Bible verse, Devotional:::

Isaiah 40:31 English Standard Version (ESV)

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

for more happy Homemaker posts check OutDiary of a Stay at Home Mom

Bucket Lists, Strange Movie, Finishing What I Started-Random Reflections

Posted on by Mary

lists

This post has been three days in the making! No joke.  I have had this post open and slowly coming up with what to write about. But as we have been talking about things this week we have been talking about a few things over and over and over again.  This  post has been born out of our conversations,.  Conversations about a certain bucket list we have.   We aren’t normal in the terms of bucket lists.  Yes we have places we would love to go  and see and do BUT we have some odd lists. And this week, the conversation has centered around one in particular.  Then this morning I was telling hubby about this strange movie that I listened to.  It was weird. And lastly there is the topic as this week has been a week of finishing things I started last year.  I will go into this a smidge more in another blog post coming this evening.   LET”S JUMP IN!

Bucket Lists.

So yeah I guess you could say we have bucket lists.  Like we would love to continue the Trend  we  started on our honeymoon of visiting presidents homes.  Since we have been married  we have visited  something like 11 or 12 presidents homes.  We have visited the Eisenhower’s estate in Gettysburg. Montpelier, (Madison’t home) Ash Lawn (Monroe’s Home). Mount Vernon ( Washington’s home), Monticello (Jefferson’s home) James Buchanans home.  The home of both Harrison’s, Home of Woodrow Wilson, Abe Lincoln’s Birth home, Andrew Jackson’s home in Nashville and I am sure I have missed some or two !   Not all of those were done on our honeymoon. Lincolns and Jackson’s were done with very small kids on our family vacation in 2009 to Franklin and Nashville Tennessee and Kentucky.

Another odd little bucket list is battlefields centered around the civil war..  We have been to Gettysburg , Antietam, Appomattox Courthouse and the Canton House in Franklin TN.  (out of those Canton house is the CREEPIEST). Even though there aren’t any others on this list to speak o (That we went to see)f we wouldn’t necessarily turn down the opportunity either.  (There is this ongoing threat that the hubby and the oldest man child are going to take me back to Gettysburg to read EVERY. SINGLE. MONUMENT. -if you have been to Gettysburg, you know how serious this could be, we may never make it home again!)

But the bucket list we have been discussing all week is concerts.  After being to our second Newsboys concert in two years and a Mercy Me concert in October,  we are discussing what’s next.    There is one man child who wants to see Mandisa (I’m with him). And there is one Man child who wants to see Toby Mac ( I’m with him). and there is a hubby who wants to see Casting Crowns (I’m with him). HMMMM I think I can’t loose!   I would then add Francesca Battisstelli., Chris Tomlin, Matthew West and Brandon Heath and Jamie Grace.   I’ve been scratching concerts off my list for a LONG time, so these  would. be icing on the cake. (oh and since I just got to see the  Old Sschool  Newsboys- I can now hold out hope for a DC Talk reunion concert ..hint hint hint!!)

Strange Movie

So often times while I am working on house work I will have a movie playing in the background.  Yesterday I pulled up  PUREFLIX and scrolled through some movies.  and I landed on a newly added movie called  THE LIST.   There are actually two movies called this and I had already listened to the other one.   This particular one starts out in colonial times (Remined me a lot of the NATIONAL TREASURE movies. ).   It has Christian themes and  gets really weird.  Basically a young man gets caught up in a secret society/ cult.  And there is spiritual warfare BUT they aren’t really forthcoming with info needed to explain what exactly is going on.  The focus was on Prayer and breaking free from the grip, but from what?  It was just an odd movie, and if you didn’t know what was really being said  ( as in an unbeliever or a baby Chirstian). you would be severely confused!

Finishing What I Started.

In the next blog post (Five Minute Friday ). I will be talking about the one word prompt for today : STUCK.  And that is exactly how I was feeling from November  of 2017 til March of 2018. It didn’t seem to matter what I was doing, I felt like I was dragging a 250 pound weight behind me.  And yes I was completely immersed in play season for two of those months but generally I can still manage life along with the Christmas play for church.  Well just over the last couple of weeks I feel like I have finally had my head come up above the water.  And in the last few weeks I have completed some things I started last year.  Like my One Thousand Gifts Study, The Hebrews Study I had been working though and I finished the Lies Young Women Believe study.  And I am really on track for finishing this years first Study of Esther and completing the study portions of Hello Mornings (my review book from the beginning of the year).

I also want to finish up the women’s leadership video  series that I started last year on Right Now Media.

When these things are all caught up I will begin tackling my rating list for 2018.  Let’s be honest I know it’s not all going to happen AND THAT’S OK.  The point is to grow, not perfection.  But it was really important to me that I finish these things.  I want to be a woman who is known for finishing well.  Finishing well isn’t a time frame either.  It’s not gauged by years but by doing your best with what you have .   This is all part of the reason why I evaluate my goals so often because sometimes goals need to be taken off the list.  It’s just not what can happen in this moment of time.

Well That’s about it for this week!  I hope you  have  have a wonderful weekend.  What are some of your Random Reflections from this week?  Share them in the comments below!

April (Snow) Showers, Leave of Absence, Let. It. Go.- Random Reflections 4-17-2018

Posted on by Mary

Random

April (Snow)  Showers

So while scrolling through Facebook the other day I came across this meme and since there is snow falling today I thought it might be fitting to share:

“April Showers bring snow plowers”.

There was a huge snow plow plowing through feet of snow.    though there are no feet of snow, or inches of snow, I did go to bed to the sound of a snowplow last night salting the roads. and this is what I woke up to this morning….

those little white specks in the air are you guessed it snow.  And we have had quite the heavy snow showers this morning. now it’s not sure if it wants to be snow or rain.  It’s been doing both. I struggle with the cold and gray of New York.  As a girl from Pennsylvania. I am not used to winters like this even  after living here for nearly 17 years.

Leave of Absence

This last week I took a leave of absence from the pregnancy center.  I love it and my clients, but for the time being I need to  deal with smoother things. Somethings good, somethings hard, somethings just a must. I will miss everyone and hope to be back very very very soon.

Let. It. Go.

Our ladies Bible study will be gearing up for it’s next study.  We picked the book a few weeks ago Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman.  I have already read the book but I think it is time for a revisit.    The subtitle is How to Stop running the show and start walking in Faith.  All I can say is DID YA READ MY LAST BLOG POST?

I’m looking forward to diving into this study soon..

I know that’s not very much but it is what it is.  I hope you have a spectacular day and if you live where it is warm and sunny go out and enjoy some vitamin D for me

 

Life is a Journey

Posted on by Mary

journey

I would like to sit here and think that today begins a new journey but in  reality it’s not new.  Life is the journey.  Yes at times we come to a fork in the road and we need to decide which path to take.  It is the very reason why I chose the theme for my blog to be walking by faith.  Journey is in the subheading.  and as I alluded to in yesterday’sblog post that there were somethings up my sleeve.  I have been thinking and praying and planning for the last few months and I have really needed to wrestle through some stuff. Things like :

Fear

Control

Lack of confidence ( this one strikes me as funny because  that was my word for last year.  ,

Once upon a time….Journey back in time

I struggled with intense fear.  Fear that left me curled up in the corner of my bedroom sobbing.  I had come home to no power and I feared what lurked in the darkness. The unseen,  You know what was there?  Furniture Thats it. .  I was as quiet as a mouse all of the time.  When we moved into a different apartment  a year and a half later I was pregnant with our first son and I quickly learned that the guy downstairs was on the creepy list.  When our oldest was born hubby and I praised God that he was too young to ask questions about what was going on downstairs, on many levels. I was still scared but now I could no longer  be as quiet as a mouse, because I had this youngling…and what do younglings do?  They Cry.  Sometimes a lot. But in my heart my thought was what  if that creepy guy comes up stairs……?  Then one day!  He did.  I was standing at the sink tasing dishes and this insane pounding came . I froze.  He yelled Get out, the Apartment is on fire.  Wait what?   IS this for real?  Sure enough  I picked up our newborn son and scrambled down the stairs.  It was filled with smoke, firetrucks everywhere.

Fast forward….the journey between then and Now

As I look back over the nearly 13 years since that day. I see an on again off again relationship with fear.  What was once an absolutely gripping fear of being alone…as in no one in the same house. I could be alone, actually I really liked being in solitude, just not in the sense of being left alone….and in the ONLY ONE, morphed into a different kind of fear.  Fear of people.  Nope not kidding one single bit.  I was afraid that I was going to get hurt.  There was a time on my life as a young mom where I was convinced that it was my job to be hurt…by people.  It was during that time that I had no friends.  I was home all the time alone and arrows flew at me from every direction..  Now This did not just happen once or twice.  there is a lesson in this for me.  I knew there was but I was DENSE (still am).  So I had to keep learning it over and over and over again.

Right now….on the journey

Continue reading “Life is a Journey” →