Bring on the Rain

Miss Jocelyn is having a Winter Bundle Giveaway at her blog, A Pondering Heart! There are $700 dollars worth of giveaways and many awesome prizes!! Go to her blog and see how you can enter!!

What a terriffic and busy week! SisterLisa and her family welcomed my family in sharing their traditions, meals and time together all week! It was a true blessing for us and I cherish their friendship a lot! I've been spending time yesterday and today in catching up on all my emails and everyone's blogs! Whew!

Now I can't believe it is almost 2009! I can remember 2007 and how I didn't want that year to end. Now 2008 is over already?? Wow.

2008 was a wonderful year for me. I grew more in God, started attending church more faithfully and tithing faithfully. That was a big improvement this year.

I graduated from college with an AS degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences!

I also grew closer to Lisa through the discipleship class and we became fast friends since. Her family has been a gift from God for us. She taught me a lot about how to be a Christian woman, how to be a better mom and how to be a good wife someday. They also helped us through financially difficult times and I am so thankful to them! _\m/

Lisa also invited me to join as a writer for AGMinistries.org in May and I enjoy it SO much! I joined the blogging world and found a passion in writing for the Lord.

We moved three times this year. I had to move out of our house because of financial changes and I wouldn't be able to afford it anymore. The apartment we moved into was a dangerous neighborhood and drug infested, so I thank God for bringing us to the apartment we have now! Praise the Lord!

I enjoyed a class at the Evening School of Bible at my church about Biblical Womanhood and I want to take more classes in 2009!

Now as I look forward to the new year, I want to make reasonable and specific goals. Here are my resolutions!

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1. A stable schedule for teaching my kids everyday at home.

2. I want to establish a daily family devotional time.

3. I want to have a prayer list and to pray for others daily.

4. I want to reduce the amount of time I go to restaurants with my family and start cooking more often at home & learning more recipies.

5. I want to work on the new project my mom and I created, called "Needles for the Needy" and raise enough blankets for the homeless (post coming soon!).

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Have a Happy New Year everyone!!
May 2009 be bright and better than last year for all of you!
God bless!

Today, I was brought to the local fire department with my kids and Lisa's family. All I knew was that they were handing out toys and the media and santa was going to be there. There was a press confrence and we applauded for all the contributors. Suddenly, Scott got up and he talked about me. It all happened so fast and he said I got a new minivan! What?? And that the bags and bags of toys in the corner were all for my kids! What??

The media was there, the news channels and the newspaper people were there. Also, dozens of people were there. I was just in a DAZE and shock!! Am I dreaming? lol. I was asked some questions and I hope I gave good answers. I was like a kite flying high in the sky.

God has been SO good to me and my family!! The Bertolinis have been a Godsend to us too! My cup runneth over! I didn't have ANY money this month and we've been broke all month due to debt from the past. I have been three months behind on a loan. I only got the kids Spiderman slippers for Christmas that was 99 cents on Ebay. I felt awful not being able to get them more.

Now we have a car! With NO payments! Now we have food and toys for the boys! God ended this year with a BANG for us lol. I am very blessed! I do not deserve any of this, but I have a GREAT God who is merciful and loving. Thank you to everyone who helped us and you all are doing a wonderful thing helping so many families!!


"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:10

God has blessed me and there's no more room to receive it, that I have to open all the windows of my house because it's flowing!! I will never forget this day!!

There is so much joy in being a child of God! Sometimes I just feel my heart bursting with joy and the only reason is because I know my Savior and my God. The world may look at me and expect me to be depressed and miserable because of the hard situations I face, but there's joy that the world does not understand that comes from above.



We should live life like we know the ending. In the end, we will be living in Paradise with our King, rejoicing in such great wonder for all eternity! Why live any different? We know how it'll all end! What a beautiful ending!

Our time on Earth is so short compared to eternity. We will be tried and tested, but let us stand faithful. We love our Jesus though we have not yet seen him face to face, but we have experienced his presence in our lives! Such joy flows through our soul knowing we shall soon see him just as he is!

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom,
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory:"
1 Peter 1:7-8, KJV

Rejoice while you suffer, and that is when the Lord's glory shall be revealed and magnified! I can't wait to see what God does when we need him the most! He never fails to leave me in awe.

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may
be glad also with exceeding joy."
1 Peter 4:13, KJV

Let our joy be full and flowing in our hearts, and let it remain. Remember, we do not live under the circumstances. Remember that through whatever may come!

"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
John 15:11, KJV

Bring on the rain, for the Lord is my shelter!

Today, I was sitting by the window on my couch. I had finished my book and I was drinking coffee. I was thinking about the Lord and then remembered a recent experience. It was a beautiful, awe-filled experience. I feel it whenever I remember what happened. I have wanted to share it with my friends but I haven't because I was afraid of what they would think.

Then I started thinking that I shouldn't be worried about that at all. The Lord has showed me something profound and it shouldn't be kept a secret. I decided that I would write about it tonight.

I'll start with a brief explanation first. Growing up, as a girl, I have always been able to see spirits. Not like psychics do and no, not like the Sixth Sense movie. For a reason that I haven't understood yet, God has showed me these things. I saw a lot of dark, shadow people growing up. I also saw demonic entities who took on many different forms. We were haunted growing up and I believed they were following my father.

When I was ten, I found Christ as my Savior. That experience changed too. I still see spirits sometimes but they are not here for me anymore. I see them passing by once in a while. I ignore it most of the time.

This summer, some of you remember that I was living in a dangerous area and that we were stalked by a gang in white masks. They would come and bang on our door in the middle of the night trying to get us to let them in. My brother in law saw a gang wearing white masks ready to pounce if we opened the door and he called 911. They did this four times. It was scary enough, but I didn't tell anyone about what was happening on the inside of the apartment.

The apartment was haunted and we struggled during the time we stayed there. They would turn the lights on and off, bump on our bed while we were sleeping, run fast out of the corner of our eyes and Brady had a bad incident where he saw one of them. He was inconsolable for three hours and just cried and cried and wouldn't let me go.

One night, I was online and I felt a heavy presence just cower over me. I felt surrounded by invisible and evil beings. I ignored it and walked to the kids' room. I immediately saw something run fast past the corner of my eye. I ignored that and crawled into bed with my kids. I said my nightly prayers and suddenly, I heard shrill shriekings in my ear. Mind you, I am very deaf, so if I heard it, it must have been extremely loud.

I kept praying. Suddenly half of my face felt like it was burning. The room was dark but I saw a pitch black mass on the ceiling. It was frantically moving about the ceiling. I ignored it, closed my eyes and kept praying. I heard the high pitched shrieking again. I looked again and this time, the black entity was fighting with something.

I didn't want to stare at it directly because it terrified me. I looked over to the side by a few inches and could see it clearly. The black mass was fighting against a clear being that looked like water but it was invisible and I could see it move. It's hard to describe but it's like the Hollow man movie with Kevin Bacon and that even though it was clear, you could see it move. I believe that was an angel.

They were fighting intensely and clashing against each other in a speed that was not human. I can't explain it but the moving was not at Earthly speed. It was so quick, so fluid and so fierce. They kept clashing and clashing without pausing for a second and whenever they clashed, I could see sparks fly in the middle. It looked like white flashes or fireworks whenever they clashed and it was like swords clashing to me even though I did not see swords.

The black entity paced around the ceiling and tried to attack the angel from different sides. My heart was pounding and I started reciting Bible verses outloud by memory. I fumbled over it a few times because I was panicked. When I recited the verses loudly, the fighting actually got MORE intense! It became more violent and more quicker. I believe the Word of God had an impact.

This actually continued for several long minutes. Usually, when I see spirits, they run away but these were different. I have never witnessed ANYTHING like this! And I saw it for a prolonged period, maybe 6, 7 or 8 minutes! I have never seen them fight too!

I ran quickly to my mom's room and we turned on all the lights. We prayed and rebuked them in Jesus' name. I slept with the light on every single night (outside for the intruders and inside for the spirtual intruders) for a month until we finally moved.

I am still in awe and I believe the Lord had Angels fight for us. I feel so.. humbled by that. Just, wow. I don't know why God shows me these things, but I feel blessed because I know beyond a doubt they are real. When you see it, you have no choice but to believe it. I am here to tell you all that there are Angels and Demons fighting for us. It's real.

And I know not everyone will believe me. I haven't told many about it but I've heard from others that they have went through a similar experience and have seen things. People are afraid to speak up and share their experiences because they are afraid of what others might think. That is so disappointing. I think we ALL should speak up and share these experiences. It'd do so much if more people started coming forward.

I understand that not every person has seen a spirit, good or bad. I want to remind you that it is Biblical. The Bible speaks of Demons and Angels countless of times. They are real beings and they are out here, fighting over us. I know I will never, ever forget this experience. It leaves me in awe every time I think about it.

Do not fear. Remember the demons tremble in the presence of Jesus.


"For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Psalm 91:11

"For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee" Luke 4:10

I was planning on writing an article about Santa Claus but I found this amazing article that explains the Biblical and historical depth of Santa Claus much more than I ever could. It is the best website that I've found about this and I want to refer you guys to this link,

http://www.av1611.org/othpubls/santa.html


And I know many of us have childhood associations with Santa. We may have become enamored with him and like Lisa describes it, we have become "grafted" in. I encourage you to truly take a look and learn the truth, especially for our children. They are the ones being exposed to Santa the most. Who is this being that we are allowing our children to become so enamored with? As parents, we must know!

I have never really liked Santa for some reason growing up. My soul feels stirred when he appears. I never knew why until I researched more about him. We do not celebrate Santa or have any Santa decorations in our home. I excite my kids with Jesus and never speak of Santa unless they ask who he is. I will be honest with them.

As we know, Satan is a great deceiver. He will not appear to the world as a wicked creature with horns and a tail. He wants to allure the world and seem harmless and appealing. He also wants to mimic the likeness of God. Santa (switch the words around and it'll spell out Satan), says he sees us all the time, knows when we are good or bad, he claims to be omnipresent (everywhere at once) and omniscient (all knowing). He is mimicking the power of God and taking his glory. Christmas is ALL about Santa and Christ is banned from Christmas. As a matter of fact, Christ was not the origin of Christmas if you research the history. Miss Jocelyn wrote a wonderful article about that HERE.

Many Christians say that God can see what's in their hearts when they celebrate Christmas and that their intentions are pure. The Bible says our hearts are wicked and if only we knew what God saw when he looked into our hearts!

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

The majority of people keep Christmas because of their own desires. What about God's desires? He abhors these things. I want to delight in what the Lord delights and have no part in what offends him! Let us forsake our own carnal desires that the devil works hard to appeal, and seek after the Lord.

I cried when I saw this video!! I saw this on Sharing Life with Lisa's Blog, Click HERE for her blog. What a beautiful video! It is only a few minutes and WORTH watching!! Its called the BRIDGE. Click on the link below!


http://www.maximumreferrals.com/videos/bridge/bridge.html

I am getting to know a new friend online and she mentioned that she couldn't find my life story on my blog. I started thinking that I didn't have one here and that I should make one. Also, God has been SO incredible in my life and I want to share what he has done for me. Ok, got your coffee yet? Here I go.

I was born in 1984 in North California. I was born deaf and I was born into a deaf family. I consider that very lucky since it's rare for there to be a deaf family. It's from a gene called Connexin 26 and two people have to be carriers of that gene to have deaf children. My sister came two years later in 1986. She was born hearing but progressively lost it at the age of two.


We were born on the road. For ten years, my father couldn't stay in one place too long. We moved about every two months. I spent my childhood in the backseat of a car (he couldn't keep the same car for too long either and would trade it constantly). I remember staring out the window and daydreaming about my future. All I did was daydream when I was growing up.



When I was 10, my mom finally had the courage to divorce my father. He was very abusive to all of us. He also admitted he was bisexual and was in love with a man in a wheelchair. The cut off shorts should have been a dead giveaway but what did I know back then? I watched him beat my family for years and even as a girl, I prayed that I'd be big enough to stop him. He was so evil to me. My own father and I never called him "dad."

My mom remarried very quickly to a self employed plumber. He was very nice and I loved him as my stepdad. We never had a chance to grow in our relationship as father/daughter because he was a workaholic and gone all the time. I didn't call him dad either, but he was a good friend.

I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior when I was 10 years old. I was aware of God and sought him out. I wrote a story about that experience in a previous post. Immediately, life changed and God blessed our family abundantly. We finally had a REAL home! I had my very own room! I got to stay in the same school because back then, I went to fourteen different schools. Life was beautiful for the next several years.

When I was 16, I was infatuated with a boy who worked at the local video store. I was terribly shy too and couldn't even bring myself to make eye contact for two years. Finally, my mom locked me out of the car until I wrote down my number to give him when I was 18. He called me that night. We dated for five months and married before he was sent to a Navy bootcamp.


I grew up innocent and wanted to save myself for marriage my entire life. When I met him, I was drawn to the world and I would do anything for him. I compromised myself and upon doing that, I left God in shame. I couldn't bring myself to face God for a long time after that. I also became terribly sick physically and constantly after committing that sin and everything started falling apart when I left God.

The two months that he was gone at bootcamp was terribly difficult for me. I joined him in Great Lakes, Illinois after he got out of bootcamp. Immediately, I noticed that he was a different person and I remember feeling afraid that I had married a stranger. Nevertheless, I ignored it because I was madly in love with him. He grew into a person that was far different than the one I had met. I don't know whether he changed, or if I was simply blinded by love before.

It had gotten worse when I was pregnant with our first child, Landon. The verbal abuse started, the neglect, and he became friends with a bad crowd. He started strangling me, banging my head on the wall and twisting my arm. He left us constantly and would go out all night. He became addicted to the single guy life, started cussing, listening to bad music, going to bars and spending a lot of money. Our family became his ball and chain. It was very difficult for me emotionally because I had no one to confide in. I was completely alone and isolated for three years in Illinois.

I became a ghost of who I was. I was very depressed and felt so alone in the world. My computer broke and I couldn't contact my family and friends. We had no cable tv and barely any furniture. I was stuck inside that tiny base housing with no car, no money and couldn't walk far in the snow. He was the only person I had to talk to and he wasn't around. When he was home, he acted so irritated and annoyed by me. My self esteem went down the toilet.



Finally, he was deployed to California and he stayed in south California while I stayed in North California with my family. He didn't want us to come with him so we'd "miss each other more" if we were apart. Before he left for the south, our relationship was falling apart. I separated from him for a week to make him "wake up" but he left for two days to party with his friends the moment I got home. He spent every waking moment with his friends and I desperately needed us to save our marriage. Divorce seemed to be inevitable.

He left and it would be a long time before I saw him again. I was so depressed. A week after he left, I played with my sister's pregnancy test that was sitting on her sink. I couldn't believe it when it was positive!! I was pregnant with Brady. I called him and he didn't sound thrilled one bit.

He came to visit for a few days in July and left. Financially, it was awful. We were negative 500 dollars every single month. When he left, I didn't hear from him for two weeks and we were negaitve 700 dollars. I was panicked and worried. I started searching for him. I opened bank statements, bills, emails, and everything I could to find him. I had NEVER opened these letters before in our marriage because he insisted on handling it. When I did, it changed me forever.

I kept finding more and more things.. secrets.. and I realized he was leading a double life. He was going to weekend getaways to the beach, he went to places he swore he would never go with women who show themselves sexually, he was emailing his ex girlfriend back and forth saying that we were getting a divorce and that he missed her. I was spiraling into a hole of pain and more pain as I continued finding more information. Hundreds of dollars was being spent for his clothes, dvds, cds, while I couldn't afford rent, diapers and milk at home.

I was a mess. I tried talking to him but he threatened to cut off our conversation and leave if I mentioned any problems. I cried and cried and I thank God for my family who helped us make it during these months financially and emotionally. I didn't hear from him for a month. I ran to a lawyer's office and got divorce papers. I told him I wanted a divorce.

I went to church with my mom and they intervened. They told me to go back and God can save our marriage. I felt inspired and I drove home and tried contacting him. But then at the same time, I noticed a girl on his MySpace profile that posted a happy birthday comment to him. I clicked on her profile and there were pictures, slideshows and all of that of them together in bed, kissing and she wrote "all night long and the morning after." I was in pure shock and I remember shaking so hard and saying "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."

He denied it completely. He came to visit two weeks later for Landon's birthday and he finally admitted it. I was in shock and it felt like I was falling from the sky and hadn't crashed on the floor yet. I had the divorce papers on the table and told him to walk away from it all. I said I forgave him, but we needed to start from scratch all over again and rebuild our marriage from the ground up. He said he could not change and that he was happy. We had breakfast before he left and he looked lustfully at a hostess' rear end. I remember thinking that it would be the last time.

He signed the papers and left. That was it. He emailed me a few weeks later and said he knew we would get back together. At the same time, he was emailing a red haired girl online and giving her his phone number for him to "entertain her." I couldn't sleep until 4 in the morning and told him that I wasn't here to wait for him while he fufilled his lusts, became satisfied and decides to come back at his convience.

The following year and half, I was empty. I felt my heart slowly die and it became a black hole in my chest. I was so pale that people thought I had a terrible illness. I just didn't care about myself anymore. I had to keep going for my two year old and the baby in my belly. I can't explain it except that it's like you're dead but your body is alive.

My mom moved in with me during this time and she was an amazing support. She went through a divorce the same time I did. My stepdad was unfaithful and quickly married our neighbor. We helped each other through the hardest time in our lives. I am forever thankful because she taught me how to be strong.

I gave birth to Brady and it was like a dawn. He was so beautiful and God blessed me with a deaf child. When I was 7 months pregnant, I prayed to God in solitude by the window and said if it was his will, I'd love a deaf child. God answered my prayers. I slowly came back to life after that and tried getting my life together.

I moved here and life got much better. I went to college to finish my degree. God blessed my life incredibly. My ex husband left for 8 months in the military and we had a chance to experience peace. No arguements, no threats, no pain, no war. Just peace. I found this amazing church and grew very close with some members there.

When I felt worthless and ashamed, God reached for me, loved me and pulled me through. He used me even though I was nothing. He changed me, transformed me and he is my WHOLE life! I have been alone with my kids for two and a half years. I am using this time to grow closer to the Lord, to raise my boys in his glory and to find myself again. I'm no longer the same person I was back then, but now I have a chance to get to know myself again. God has given me a new identity and he calls me his own. I am his.

I have to tell you all about this morning!!

First of all, I absolutely dread going to court. It is my least favorite place in the entire world. I'd be so happy if I never went inside a courtroom again in my entire life!

And I've been praying hard for God to allow me to keep Sundays so Landon and Brady can faithfully continue in church. I want to see them grow up in the Lord's house. I want them to be taught in the Word and I want them to learn how to walk with the Lord.

When my ex husband threatened to take Sundays, I felt so despaired. I sought out the Lord in prayer. This morning, I woke up early and drove to the courthouse (a half hour away) and I worshipped the Lord. I sang his songs, repeated verses and just cried out to the Lord. As I neared the courthouse, my hands became very weak that it was shaking. I went in the bathroom and read the Bible (Proverbs 24).

Then, I sat and waited in the mediation office with my interpreter. I still didn't see my ex husband. The mediator said we would wait 15 minutes and then we waited 20 minutes. She finally excused us and officially said he was a 'no show.'

Wow, I marveled at the Lord. I have no idea what his reason is but this is a miracle! I rejoice in the victory that the Lord has given me! I haven't won the entire battle but this will surely help me! I drove all the way home screaming in joy at the top of my lungs and praising God until my voice was gone. Praise his name! Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Thank you for your prayers!!!

I have been struggling with a heavy burden in my soul to the point that I feel depressed. This is so strange to me how affected I have been and I am not even sure what the cause is! I just felt so heavy in my soul. I noticed that several of my good friends have been struggling with the same thing.

Last night, I sought out the Lord and asked him the reason why this was happening. Suddendly, words formed in my mind without me thinking of these things and it made sense. I believe the answer from the Lord is that I was given a glimpse of God's pain for someone and he has given me the burden to pray for someone in particular. I finally understood and then my heaviness was lifted as soon as I prayed for this person. I will continue to do so for the Lord.

The Bible commands us to pray for our enemies and to love them. That is a hard challenge and it requires a heart transformation. The Lord is able to do this when we are willing and seek his help in this matter.


You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy."But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44).

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).



Are you facing persecution from someone? Pray for them.

As for me, I feel ashamed that the Lord had to drag me over to pray for this person. I have been terribly stubborn about it. I will change this now.

My good friend Mike (his BLOG here) and I were having a fascinating discussion about Revelations 17. A lot of it is symbolized but if we read this entirely, it isn't very difficult to understand. The Bible explains what each symbol means and I believe these times are at our doorstep. Please take the time to read this and feel free to add anything you wish to this discussion!

And keep in mind, these are just possibilities.


Revelations 17, KJV Bible:

1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: (Many Waters is defined clearly in verse 15)

2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

The Catholic Church has been in power for many, many years and even had power above Kings. If you look in the history, the Pope actually had higher power than the King. This is still continued to this very day.

3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Their clothing is SCARLET AND PURPLE! They are known for their jewels, gold and riches.




And the Golden Cup is all over the place!



5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

It is reported that 50 million Christians were martyred for their faith and persecuted by the Catholic Church. They called it the Dark Ages when the Catholics were in rule.



7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

The Vatican rests on a place called "The Seven Hills" in Rome. That's kinda obvious, isn't it?

10And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Pope Benedict, our current Pope is the 7th. He is already 80 years old and his health is failing. The Bible says the seventh King will only be in rule for a short time and then the eighth will arrive and take over, bringing damnation and chaos with him (perdition). I'd watch this if I were you.



12And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

There will be ten kings that are given power and kingdoms to rule over within an hour with the Beast. They all are like minded and subject unto the Antichrist.

14These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

How many nations, peoples and cultures call themselves Catholic and worship in these churches?

16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

This church will be hated and destroyed after the beast comes into power and the ten kings have their kingdoms.

17For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

The Beast will be in supreme power over the 10 nations.




18And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth

And the whore is a great city which has power over kings. I believe this is the Vatican in Rome.



More information in this link, CLICK HERE.

And this woman writes amazing things and backs it up with scripture! CLICK HERE!

My mom found these pictures for me online, yay! I had a great opportunity to perform the song "Carry the Light" in sign language for my church this year. I have been performing songs since I was eleven years old and it is one of my greatest passions. Just to be able to use my hands to praise the Lord in silent music is an honor. I hope to be asked to perform again!

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would testify of Jesus so he created the candy cane. He incorporated different meanings inside one candy cane. Here are some things and I bet you'll never look at a candy cane the same way again!

*He created the J shape for Jesus. Some say that it's shaped like the staff because Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

*The red represents the blood that he shed for us.

*The white represents the purity of his virgin birth and that his blood washes us white as snow.

*He is our rock, and the candy is a HARD candy.

"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock" 1 Corinthians 10:4

*The stripes symbolize the flogging that Jesus received prior to his death.

*The smell and taste of peppermint relate to the herb hyssop.

Psalm 51:7 writes "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

*The candy is meant to be shared and broken into pieces for others to share as well in the illustration that Christ broke his body for us all.

Hi everyone,

I made a big change this year! It started by me growing in my walk with God and walking with the Lord is guarateeed to make your heart softer and more tender gradually. I also noticed a 'falling away' in my own personal walk with God. The more closer I drew to him, the more I started to shed away things that would offend God and be a hinderance.

I have always heard a little here and there about Christmas being a Pagan holiday. Back then, I had chosen to play the ignorance card. If I didn't learn about it, then I couldn't be held accountable for it. Who would want to stop any fun festivities of Christmas? Pfft.

But the Lord opened the eyes of my heart and he showed me a Bible verse:

"Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." Jeremiah 10:2-4

I found that one and I started looking through Deutronomy. Suddenly, this other one appeared to me as well. It is about not placing any trees near the altar of the Lord. Jessica pointed out that many churches have Christmas trees near or upon the Altar.

"Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee." Deuteronomy 16:21

I wrote a devotional about it called "Merry Paganism" at AgMinistries.org and it explains the history of Christmas and how it all started with Nimrod and his mother, Semiramis. This has been a practice of Paganism since the days of Noah. The Lord abhors it and even told us to destroy their groves.

Multiple times in the Bible, groves are mentioned and God tells us they are to be destroyed. This is one example:

"And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place." Deuteronomy 12:3


And if you search for the word "grove" and "altar" in the Bible search engine, you shall find multiple references to Baal. Baal worshipping was started by Nimrod and his mother and it continues to this very day. It is a false religion that strongly resembles Christianity but it is a fraud!

"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves." Judges 3:7



"For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them." 2 Kings 21:3

I threw out my Christmas tree a couple of days ago. I also threw out anything that had evergreen leaves on it. I kept the lights because I have them all year long because deaf people love something that plays with their eyes. And Santa, Christmas trees, evergreen leaves, himmeli shapes, angels of light and these sorts are out of my house. I am going to take this time to teach my children the story of Christ's birth and put their focus on glorifying our God alone. I am thinking of creative ways and starting new traditions to make this a very special time of the year for our family and departing from the worldly traditions of men and lucifier himself.



Remember to stand strong and not to be enticed by the 'Angel of Light' himself. He dazzles, lures and draws us in as hard as he can. Remember the true light, the one of Jesus Christ. He was born in a humble manger in a poor barn for animals. His way is humble and the Christmas world we see today is far from it.

Many people will say that Christmas is a Christian holiday, but we've crossed an X on Christ's name in "x-mas," we make Santa, Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman bigger than Jesus and Christmas is more about spending money and buying gifts than embracing the joy we have in Christ. We've left him out of Christmas just about completely. It has all been a part of satan's agenda this entire time.


I understand that this is a hard saying and many will not accept this, but let us seek God and draw near him. Let his ways become ours. Let us not partake in anything that would offend him. Let us have a willing and obedient spirit. It's a blessing to serve the Lord and walk in the way that delights him! Blessed be the name of the Lord!

I found an interesting link, click HERE for more info.

(p.s. Interesting fact is that Joseph smith was visited by two "angels" in a sacred grove. I wonder which angels they were since sacred groves are pagan sites of worship to satan.)

I have a very inspiring pastor. Over the course of several weeks, he taught about prayer. It's very crucial in a Christian's life and often underused. Did you know the average Christian prays for only 3 minutes a day? I was thinking about that.. and well, it takes about a minute to say grace for our meals. Three meals a day would be three minutes a day. Gosh, how convicting that was for me.

My prayer life is a roller coaster. Sometimes it can be truly consistent and those times are when I feel God's presence the most. Then, all the distractions roll in and I'm suddenly too busy. How I miss the presence of the Lord! My soul hungers for him.

I decided that I will make a new resolution this year. I know I am a whole month early, but no one really has to wait until Janurary 1st ;) My resolution is to have a stronger prayer life.

My pastor suggested that we start a prayer list. We can make one by writing down prayers that are needed and list them so we don't forget. We can write down the answers we get from God for these prayers. That part will help me be more thankful to God because I don't always remember to thank him!

We are creatures of habit. We can condition ourselves to pray daily. Remember that the more you pray, the more answered prayers you will get as compared to not praying at all! I also heard that the more we pray, the better we get at it! I better start practicing then! :)

An interesting Bible passage I learned at church tonight:

"And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." Luke 11:5-8

I learned that importunity is like persistance. Imagine the man knocking on the door for a need to ask of his neighbor and his neighbor is telling him to go away because he's asleep in bed. The man continues to knock and is persistent, and then the neighbor arises and gives him what he needs. It is not because the neighbor liked that man or even wanted to help, but it was because of the man's importunity.

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13

And don't forget that our father is SO Much More generous and merciful unto his children than an angry neighbor.

I have decided to take Jacque's challenge for the first time. She has a wonderful blog and one of her activities is called "Saturday Psalm &Praise!" Go visit her wonderful website when you get the chance! She is a very wise and Godly woman!

I will post the lyrics to a song that I have always loved since I was young. I used to have a Twila Paris cassette tape and I would play it in my car. This one is called "Watch and Pray." Enjoy!

"Watch and Pray"

The enemy roams
Like a roaring lion
Looking for the sleeping
Looking for the sleeping