Did You Know Satan Is Afraid Of You?

Satan is afraid of you! He knows that if you are willing to obey God completely, you'll become dangerous to him! 

The enemy often uses others to intimadate us. He wants others to make fun of us or cut us down so we feel rejected, lose our confidence, and stop trying to do anything in life, better yet anything for God. 

Don't let anyone cause you to doubt yourself or abandon the things God has called you to do. Move forward with confidence in His love for you and with a healthy love for yourself. Remember, your sense of worth is not based on how other people treat you or what they think about you. It's rooted in the fact that God created you and Jesus died to redeem you! 

Blessings,

Dalinda

The Comparison Trap

In society today, we have been trained to dislike ourselves as long as we have imperfections. We compare ourselves to others. We say to ourselves: why can't I look like her, why can't I be as smart as her, why can't I have great hair like her? 

Don't fall into the comparison trap. It gives an unrealistic view of how life should really be. Competition and comparison is a cancer that eats you alive. - Whitney Capps

We all need to accept ourselves, knowing that although we are not where we need to be, we are making progress. Jesus died for us because we have weaknesses and imperfections, and we don't have to reject ourselves because of them. -Joyce Meyer

We have to love ourselves before we can love others. If we want to demonstrate love to the world around us, we must become examples to others instead of merely following the crowd. Remember your identity; remember whose you are. ✝ 

Blessings,

Dalinda

Cloaked By Our Limitations

When I think of the vastness of God’s abilities to have much greater things going on than we can imagine, I just want to praise Him! 

Lots of exciting things have happened to my family over the past several years. God used my health issues with Mercury poisoning to lead us to open our own Whole Body Vibration business. For a year and a half, my husband and I helped many people with our business. I would never, in a million years, have imagined being a business owner. What a blessing! ✞ 

And...when my parents passed away I never thought I could or would live in their home...too many memories. But here we are, renovating their house/our new home to make new memories of our own. What an exciting adventure! ✞ 

God’s got something going on in the background; and what we see is always cloaked by our limitations. 

God is so good! 

Blessings,

Dalinda

Be Content In Who You Are

Some girls define themselves through having a boyfriend by their side. Anyone is better than no one. They are sure that they have better standing in the eyes of their friends if they have a boyfriend.

You should be content with where you are in your life and happy with yourself before committing to anyone. Although it may sound selfish to be content with who you are before you add someone else to the mix, it’s actually the reverse. If you don't love yourself, how can you expect to love someone else?

All relationships should develop from a position of strength, not insecurity. For example, there was a young couple that met through a group of friends. They immediately started dating even before they really got to know each other. Their relationship didn't last long because one person was very insecure in who they were. This caused a lot of drama in the relationship.

Too many people nowadays expect to be happy in a relationship when they aren’t even happy with themselves. In the long run, a miserable person’s inner struggle will destroy a relationship, no matter how good he or she is at hiding it.

Young people, a boyfriend/girlfriend should enhance (add value) to your life, not define it. Be content in who you are - and if a boyfriend/girlfriend turns up, it should be because he/she shares and enhances life and makes it more enjoyable.

So get on with it, what are you waiting for? Get out there and experience life. Find out who and what you are. Live life by yourself; be happy by yourself. It’s your life; make it what you want. Don’t look for someone else to do it for you, because they can’t. Only you can know who you really are.

Remember, all relationships should develop from a position of strength, not insecurity. And the best way to strengthen relationships is by putting God first. When you put Him first, everything else will fall into place.✞

Blessings,
Dalinda

Christmas Eve Service at NewSpring Church

I have debated in my heart and prayed about how to respond to articles and blogs that I have seen that present Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Greenville, South Carolina as a false teacher and heretic. In particular, there have been blog posts made that target his teaching at the Christmas Eve service, questioning its biblical truth. I feel led to simply share our experience of the Christmas Eve service at Newspring. First, let me say that my family is not a member of Newspring Church. Until Christmas Eve of 2014, we had never heard a single sermon from Perry Noble, at least not to my knowledge. I am in no position to defend Newspring Church or Perry Noble nor am I in any position to persecute the church or its pastor. I have heard from friends that attend Newspring and have seen on facebook the praise that he receives for his sermons and teaching. I have also seen and heard the cries that this man is a heretic, false prophet and a tool of Satan. However, our goal for attending Newspring on Christmas Eve was not to see and hear Perry Noble preach and it was also not to seek out ammunition to charge this man with heresy. We went to worship and praise God for the gift of Jesus Christ.

We were spending Christmas week in Myrtle Beach away from our home church but wanted to worship on Christmas. So after doing some searches of local churches, we felt led to give the Myrtle Beach campus of Newspring a try. Now, some articles I have seen online claim that in this service, Perry Noble attempts to rewrite the Ten Commandments. However, this was not the message I received at all. In fact, the spirit opened my eyes to some truths about the bible that I had not noticed before or at least needed to be reminded of. I do believe that the 10 commandments were laws given to the people of Israel by God through Moses, just as I believe there are many commandments given to us throughout the old and new testaments. Jesus tells us to love one another...that one right there is enough to exclude most of us from being perfect. How many of us have those few people in our lives to whom we honestly just cant seem to show love? I know I do. But the measage I received from God was that there is more to the bible than a set of rules or commands. Am I, as a Christian, not allowed to pray a prayer that says, "Father God, fill me with the Holy Spirit today. I find myself looking on Facebook at the things my friends get to do and have. The bigger houses, the newer cars, the trendy clothes for their kids and I find myself angry and jealous that I cant afford to give these things to my family. Father, fill me with the spirit so that you can change my focus to be thankful for what you have given me and remove my anger and jealousy in Jesus name Amen." And can we not pray a prayer that says, "Father fill me with your spirit because I recognize the things in my life that have become idols. These things I place above you. My job, my family, my desire to go deer hunting or watch the NFL playoffs instead of coming to worship you. Remove these idols from a position that is above you and restore in me the desire that in all things I will worship and praise you first in Jesus name amen."

These are the promises that God opened my eyes to because if I can't pray these prayers and KNOW that God will answer them, then two things are true. One, I will fail and two, what Jesus did on the cross was a scam. Jesus died not just to forgive our sins but to free us from sin. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). But if I have to rely on myself to denounce sin and worldly ways, I will fail. If it is up to me to follow the commandments of the bible then all hope is lost for me. But God promises that along with these commands, he can give us the strength and power through the holy spirit to follow his word and the example given us through the life of Jesus. That is the message I received from God through the Christmas Eve service at Newspring. That by saying yes to Jesus, we say yes to God's holy power through the spirit to live a life that glorifies him. And that is promised to me by GOD.

That is also the message that my 11 year old son Drew received that night. My son gave his heart to Jesus at that service. He didnt give it to Perry Noble or Newspring (nor was he asked to do so)....he gave it to Jesus. He prayed a prayer. I dont know what he prayed exactly because quite frankly that is a private conversation between he and his creator. But as I was praying, I felt a tug on my arm and I looked down and my son had written his name on a little name tag they had in the bulletin. He whispered to me "Mom, I said yes to Jesus." He turned and tugged on his father's sleeve and told him the same thing. He then got up and without asking any of us to go with him, he stepped out into the aisle and with a big smile on his face walked to the front and placed his name tag on a poster that said "Yes". What a bold, public profession of faith! When he came back I looked into his eyes. I saw Jesus in his eyes. Growing up in church, I have seen hundreds of people make decisions for Jesus and the ones that are truly real, you can see something in their eyes and that something is Jesus. I praise God for that. My family, all four of us, will be in heaven.

The spirit moved in that service. I can't tell you about Hebrew words or Jewish teachers or if Perry Noble wants to rewrite the bible as these articles claim. But I can tell you that in that place, on that night, the spirit moved and people were saved. For that, every christian should rejoice and for anyone to say that it wasn't God and that it wasn't real....thats the real heracy.

Be very careful who you call a false teacher. Again, I make no defense for Perry Noble because I dont have enough experience or knowledge to do so just as I dont persecute him for the same reasons. But just remember that the Bible is full of men who were different that preached the word of God. Imagine a man wearing woven camel hair, with long scraggly hair bursting into a church in the middle of a preacher's sermon shouting about the coming of the Lord. I would guess that 98% of these churches would have the volunteer security committee jump up and escort him out yet God used such a man in John the Baptist to precede the coming and announce the arrival of the King of Kings. We should be careful who we lable a heretic or false teacher and have God given assurance that our accusations are true. Otherwise, we are the enemy. We fight a battle against one of our own. I believe the military calls it friendly fire. Just be sure....

As for me, I will rejoice in the fact that the Lord knocked...and my son answered and I thank God that my son heard HIS message and responded to HIM. I am also thankful that we were led to attend the Newspring service. Had we not, that decision may not have ever been made. Had we said "No God.....I want to go to another church because I have heard from other people that their preacher is not a man of God" my son's salvation would have been placed in jeopardy. I apologize to no one for following where God leads me.

Blessings,
Dalinda

Make Sure Your Vacancy Sign Is Always On

Each of us is an Innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus. - Neal A. Maxwell

God will never force Himself on us. Jesus knocks on the door, but leaves the decision on whether or not to open that door to us. Sadly, I think about how many things I must have missed out on. How many times has God come knocking on my heart only to discover I have left no room for Him? God’s plan will be carried out regardless. I am the one that missed out on the blessing of being able to participate in that plan.

Don't miss being a part of God's plan. There is a man in the Bible that almost missed Christmas. His name was Joseph. It wasn't because he was distracted with holiday parties, visiting relatives or completing his shopping list. He just couldn't see how his current circumstances were part of God's plan for his life. 

If Joseph had walked away from Mary, he would have missed Christmas. And he would have missed the life-defining lesson that God's plans aren't always logical in human eyes, but they can always be trusted. 

What at first looked like a huge problem, a troubling circumstance, a total reputation-wrecker to Jospeh, turned out to be the most glorious things in his life when seen from God's perspective. 

God's ways are not our ways. And sometimes in our greatest difficulties we find our greatest opportunities and blessed responsibilities. 

Make sure your vacancy sign is always on! 

Blessings,

Dalinda

Surviving The Holidays And The Blindside Reminders

There is an expectation during the holidays that people should be cheerful. But for those of us who have experienced loss during the holidays, the Holidays can create fresh memories of our loss and a fresh experience of pain and grief. The thought of facing another holiday season causes some people to wish they could sleep from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving until January 2. Loss is always hard, and at the holidays it can seem crushing. The thought of being in a festive mood for two months is just too much to bear when our heart is breaking.

During the holidays, we must navigate a difficult path in deciding how to handle decisions about family activities and rituals. I decided to attend my husband's side of the family Christmas party, just three days after I buried my mother. This was a terrible decision because I was not ready to be around a lot of people, nor did I feel like pretending to be in a festive mood. Well what do you know,  I did the very same thing four years later, after my father passed away. So now, during the holidays, I am often hit by powerful feelings that are evoked by some reminder of the loss. I like to call these "blindside reminders",  if you will. For me, doing the usual traditions and celebrations makes the loved one’s absence all the more painful.

The past few Christmases we have done things a bit differently. Last year, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Great Wolf Lodge and then headed to the beach Christmas Day night. We had a blast! And it made it much easier for me to deal with my parent's absence by doing something other than the normal routine.

My advice to those dealing with loss during the holidays, whether it's been 6 days, 6 months, or 6 years since you lost your loved one: Allow yourself to grieve. American culture has a tough time with death. For some reason, there is pressure to get on with life within a year after a loss. That expectation is unrealistic and unfair. Most people take three to five years to fully accept the loss of someone they loved. If someone dear to you died during this past year, remind yourself that it’s normal and healthy to want to bow out of some of the events of the winter holidays that emphasize family and togetherness when you are feeling alone in a new and painful way.

- Let others know that you may not be able to do the things that you have done in the past.

- Avoid social events that seem more like an obligation.

- Accept that feelings of anguish are difficult to avoid during the holiday season. Do not expect too much of yourself, and recognize that you are doing the best you can.

I want to love the Christmas season again. I really do! And I believe I will love Christmas again one day. It’s helpful for me to do some things that aren’t shadowed by the fact that the last time we did them, the deceased person shared it.

It is very important to remember that when people are already experiencing the great stress of grief, the additional strains of the holiday season can create distress that is almost unbearable.

Time does indeed heal most things. But everyone has his or her own sense of timing. If this is your first holiday season since the loss of a loved one, give yourself permission to feel what you need to feel and do what you need to do to get through it. Find ways to honor the memory of your loved one and to accept the support and care of those who love you.

Blessings,
Dalinda