The next day, their little boy punched our 8 year old daughter in the stomach! I sat down for a minute when she came home with her story and injury and talked to God. I told Him that we had just prayed for this family and look at this!

And the Lord brought this scripture passage to mind:

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic[a] either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons ofthe Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

And I had a revelation. I realized that it's easy for us to be an example of love when everything is good. It's when things go wrong, when people are unkind, when there's really a reason to be offended, that people will notice the difference. When we surprise them with love and peace in the face of adversity and offense, they will see Jesus.

We walked over to their house and met with the parents, heard both sides of the story and found out our daughter wasn't blameless, and we asked forgiveness and gave forgiveness. From then on, we had a very good relationship with their family.

One day, about a year later, we lived through Hurricane Opal. Our power went out at 9 pm and we spent a scary night in the basement listening to the multiple tornadoes come up our street and trees crashing all around us, and even one breaking through a window and coming into the house. When we got up in the morning, we had seven hardwood trees down in our backyard, three of them across our roof, and one, like I said, into a window. Our neighborhood was a mess but thankfully, not a single person in our town was injured!

Several neighhbors gathered in another neighbor's yard to cut and remove trees from their driveway. The kids were running all over and enjoying the chaos. Soon, several of the kids rang the doorbell telling us that our 3 year old son was hurt. I ran outside to see blood pouring down his face. When the neighbors realized I was there because he was hurt, all the chain saws stopped and they wanted to make sure he was ok. I asked him what had happened and he told me he wanted to pet the little neighbor dog and that she got a mean look on her face and jumped up and bit him.

She had clipped him right above his eye brow and below his eye and the two tiny wounds were bleeding profusely. I immediately wiped the blood away, saw the small injuries, scooped him up as I spoke gently to him and started to carry him home. The mom of the neighbors we had prayed for ran over to see if he was ok and I smiled and said that it looked minor.

Forever after that, she would tell me whenever she saw me, that she couldn't believe how calm I was. I've thought about that a lot since then. I've wondered what she was used to. She would come and talk to me whenever she had a chance and she would always mention it.

We lived next door to them for five years. We continued to pray for them while we were there. I hope we were a blessing to them and God has brought our prayers, and other's for them, to fruition.

But because of that situation, I've learned to look at adversities as an opportunity to shine in Christ. I look at bad situations completely differently and watch and listen to the Holy Spirit to see how He wants me to use that opportunity. And because I know that 'Jesus is interceding to cause all things to work for good for those who love the Lord' (Romans 8:28) I stay in peace.


love and blessings~

The next day, their little boy punched our 8 year old daughter in the stomach! I sat down for a minute when she came home with her story and injury and talked to God. I told Him that we had just prayed for this family and look at this!

And the Lord brought this scripture passage to mind:

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic[a] either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons ofthe Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

And I had a revelation. I realized that it's easy for us to be an example of love when everything is good. It's when things go wrong, when people are unkind, when there's really a reason to be offended, that people will notice the difference. When we surprise them with love and peace in the face of adversity and offense, they will see Jesus.

We walked over to their house and met with the parents, heard both sides of the story and found out our daughter wasn't blameless, and we asked forgiveness and gave forgiveness. From then on, we had a very good relationship with their family.

One day, about a year later, we lived through Hurricane Opal. Our power went out at 9 pm and we spent a scary night in the basement listening to the multiple tornadoes come up our street and trees crashing all around us, and even one breaking through a window and coming into the house. When we got up in the morning, we had seven hardwood trees down in our backyard, three of them across our roof, and one, like I said, into a window. Our neighborhood was a mess but thankfully, not a single person in our town was injured!

Several neighhbors gathered in another neighbor's yard to cut and remove trees from their driveway. The kids were running all over and enjoying the chaos. Soon, several of the kids rang the doorbell telling us that our 3 year old son was hurt. I ran outside to see blood pouring down his face. When the neighbors realized I was there because he was hurt, all the chain saws stopped and they wanted to make sure he was ok. I asked him what had happened and he told me he wanted to pet the little neighbor dog and that she got a mean look on her face and jumped up and bit him.

She had clipped him right above his eye brow and below his eye and the two tiny wounds were bleeding profusely. I immediately wiped the blood away, saw the small injuries, scooped him up as I spoke gently to him and started to carry him home. The mom of the neighbors we had prayed for ran over to see if he was ok and I smiled and said that it looked minor.

Forever after that, she would tell me whenever she saw me, that she couldn't believe how calm I was. I've thought about that a lot since then. I've wondered what she was used to. She would come and talk to me whenever she had a chance and she would always mention it.

We lived next door to them for five years. We continued to pray for them while we were there. I hope we were a blessing to them and God has brought our prayers, and other's for them, to fruition.

But because of that situation, I've learned to look at adversities as an opportunity to shine in Christ. I look at bad situations completely differently and watch and listen to the Holy Spirit to see how He wants me to use that opportunity. And because I know that 'Jesus is interceding to cause all things to work for good for those who love the Lord' (Romans 8:28) I stay in peace.


love and blessings~

So blessed by this message - How your thoughts affect your health!

Dr. Caroline Leaf

love and blessings!

So blessed by this message - How your thoughts affect your health!

Dr. Caroline Leaf

love and blessings!

Hi All!

Sorry that I've been gone for so long! If you read my other blog, Gates of Crystal, you know I've been busy!

I used to wonder if decorating my home was ok with God. I wondered if I was laying up treasure in the wrong place and valuing the wrong things.

I started decorating when I was a kid. I would rearrange my furniture in my bedroom and it was important to me that my room was clean. It was a reflection of 'me' even then. I remember finding out a friend's mom was selling a piece of furniture that I liked and telling my mom. My mom bought it for my room.

When I was in high school, I picked out a new bedspread and had my mom take me to the store for paint. I painted my room by myself on a Friday night. I was an only child and my mom worked full time so I was home alone a lot. I would clean and get things perfect and then enjoy the house. (I never liked to cook!)

When my husband first got his PhD, we moved several times before he got a tenure-track position. We rented homes in two different states we lived in and it was really hard for me that I couldn't paint the rooms. I had learned by then to sew slipcovers so I would match my furniture to the carpet of the house. I also loved garage sales and estate sales and that's when I started finding furniture at prices I could afford. I babysat children from our church so that my kids would have playmates and we would have the extra money.

My family has thought that I was a little obsessed at times. But being a stay-at-home mom for so many years and homeschooling (which requires you to stay at home) it was the thing that kept me sane. I could control my environment.

And that's what brings me to this thought. When we visited The Mises Institute in Auburn in March, I sat in on several of the talks. The Mises Institute is a Libertarian based think-tank and a lot of the people involved are Christian. I love attending the conferences there and often times will hear the Holy Spirit teach me while I'm listening to a lecture.

I was listening to a gentleman give a very informative talk about how our government is causing farmers to not be able to own land and to farm when the Holy Spirit began to enlighten me.

One of the first commands God gave was 'to be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the Earth.' Without apology, I will say that I don't believe that God's intent was that we take dominion with guns or force but His intent was that we take dominion over evil with love and salvation.

If you read the Old Testament, many of the stories are exactly this: take dominion over the Earth. Obviously, the story of the Children of Israel being set free and taking the Promised Land would be the big one.

I believe we're each given a 'realm of influence.' For some, it may just be their families but for others it may be a Bible study, a neighborhood, a congregation. For some, it will be a world-wide influence. All with the same goal: take dominion, in Jesus' Name, over the Earth.

Where the enemy has brought destruction and chaos, we are to bring healing and love. Where there is lack and loss, we are to bring love and covenant relationship. Where there is ugliness, we are to bring beauty.

Whatever we touch should be better off for having us there. We are the light of the world. Joy, love and beauty should be the fragrance we leave behind when we go.

I believe that ALL people are creative. They ALL were made in the image of God and God is a creator. All children love music, love to move to music and dream of 'making' something. My grandson wants to be an inventor when he grows up and he's always talking about what he's going to invent. (My daughter doesn't have a microwave because of the negative health issues it causes and one day he said he was going to invent something that heated your food real fast! Ha!)

I never want to value the things I own more than God or the people He's put in my life. Therefore, I give a lot of things away. It doesn't bother me one bit. God has asked me before to give away things that were the most dear to me~ my Bible, a banner that I took everywhere and was like an extension of my arm, all my worship dance dresses~ those were the things that were hard to give away. They represent my heart more than my house.

But I believe that God spoke something into us when He told us to take dominion over the Earth and in a lot of us women, we express that with our homes. This is our territory where we express ourselves and want to have a perfect representation of who we are. And God is the creator of color and beauty. God wants our homes to be an oasis in a crazy world.

I ask God when I want a specific piece of furniture and He always brings me the most amazing deals! The Word tells us that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He brings us the desires of our heart.

love and blessings~

Hi All!

Sorry that I've been gone for so long! If you read my other blog, Gates of Crystal, you know I've been busy!

I used to wonder if decorating my home was ok with God. I wondered if I was laying up treasure in the wrong place and valuing the wrong things.

I started decorating when I was a kid. I would rearrange my furniture in my bedroom and it was important to me that my room was clean. It was a reflection of 'me' even then. I remember finding out a friend's mom was selling a piece of furniture that I liked and telling my mom. My mom bought it for my room.

When I was in high school, I picked out a new bedspread and had my mom take me to the store for paint. I painted my room by myself on a Friday night. I was an only child and my mom worked full time so I was home alone a lot. I would clean and get things perfect and then enjoy the house. (I never liked to cook!)

When my husband first got his PhD, we moved several times before he got a tenure-track position. We rented homes in two different states we lived in and it was really hard for me that I couldn't paint the rooms. I had learned by then to sew slipcovers so I would match my furniture to the carpet of the house. I also loved garage sales and estate sales and that's when I started finding furniture at prices I could afford. I babysat children from our church so that my kids would have playmates and we would have the extra money.

My family has thought that I was a little obsessed at times. But being a stay-at-home mom for so many years and homeschooling (which requires you to stay at home) it was the thing that kept me sane. I could control my environment.

And that's what brings me to this thought. When we visited The Mises Institute in Auburn in March, I sat in on several of the talks. The Mises Institute is a Libertarian based think-tank and a lot of the people involved are Christian. I love attending the conferences there and often times will hear the Holy Spirit teach me while I'm listening to a lecture.

I was listening to a gentleman give a very informative talk about how our government is causing farmers to not be able to own land and to farm when the Holy Spirit began to enlighten me.

One of the first commands God gave was 'to be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the Earth.' Without apology, I will say that I don't believe that God's intent was that we take dominion with guns or force but His intent was that we take dominion over evil with love and salvation.

If you read the Old Testament, many of the stories are exactly this: take dominion over the Earth. Obviously, the story of the Children of Israel being set free and taking the Promised Land would be the big one.

I believe we're each given a 'realm of influence.' For some, it may just be their families but for others it may be a Bible study, a neighborhood, a congregation. For some, it will be a world-wide influence. All with the same goal: take dominion, in Jesus' Name, over the Earth.

Where the enemy has brought destruction and chaos, we are to bring healing and love. Where there is lack and loss, we are to bring love and covenant relationship. Where there is ugliness, we are to bring beauty.

Whatever we touch should be better off for having us there. We are the light of the world. Joy, love and beauty should be the fragrance we leave behind when we go.

I believe that ALL people are creative. They ALL were made in the image of God and God is a creator. All children love music, love to move to music and dream of 'making' something. My grandson wants to be an inventor when he grows up and he's always talking about what he's going to invent. (My daughter doesn't have a microwave because of the negative health issues it causes and one day he said he was going to invent something that heated your food real fast! Ha!)

I never want to value the things I own more than God or the people He's put in my life. Therefore, I give a lot of things away. It doesn't bother me one bit. God has asked me before to give away things that were the most dear to me~ my Bible, a banner that I took everywhere and was like an extension of my arm, all my worship dance dresses~ those were the things that were hard to give away. They represent my heart more than my house.

But I believe that God spoke something into us when He told us to take dominion over the Earth and in a lot of us women, we express that with our homes. This is our territory where we express ourselves and want to have a perfect representation of who we are. And God is the creator of color and beauty. God wants our homes to be an oasis in a crazy world.

I ask God when I want a specific piece of furniture and He always brings me the most amazing deals! The Word tells us that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He brings us the desires of our heart.

love and blessings~