Countdown to Christmas vlog

We started the countdown to Christmas vlog last week. We find that it is an interesting way to show how we weave the gospel and following Jesus Christ in our daily lives as a family. We hope you enjoy it!

Countdown to Christmas #12: http://youtu.be/DX6pzhCtoxQ

Tru-Image Wifestyle Vlog #2

Here is Tru-Image Wifestyle Vlog #2. I actually was not sure if the Lord wanted me to talk about this or not, but as I wondered over the last month, things began falling into place. A message here, a sermon there, quiet times and other conversations confirmed it. So please do listen. There is only one video this time...lol.

Notes from this vlog:

Scriptures: Isaiah 58, John 4, Psalm 23

Your only complete satisfaction is in Christ. Don’t expect perfect love, understanding and contentment from a man. He can’t do it.

Concentrate on respect and being a helpmeet.

Learn that man. Write down what you love about him and respect him for. Accentuate the positive.

How can I help you?

Marriage is about service and sacrifice on both ends, then satisfaction comes!

R - Remember that you are a sheep

E - Embrace intimacy with the Shepard!

S - Sabbath

T - Trust God!

*Feel free to leave thoughts/comments about this vlog here or at TruTube4U!*

Call your daddy

It's Labor Day weekend! Time to just sit back and relax right? No way! Not if you are a mom and wife like me. It's so strange but at my house when I wanr to "do nothing" is when everyone else wants to make plans. When I'm excited to "go and do" everyone is a homebody! Weird.

So friends, next week is my next Tru-Image Wifestyle Vlog on google hangouts! You can rsvp for the event right HERE. Please pray that God will bless this event and that everyone who participates and/or watches later will be blessed! Thanks.

Has school started for you? It has for me. I am taking a bible class and my nursing classes for my MSN. It's hectic because I'm also teaching fulltime. This is what I do to myself....lol! So the struggle becomes DISCIPLINE! I must be disciplined to wake up and spend time with my Heavenly Father, go to bed at a decent time each night, remain organized and sure to prioritize and re-prioritize my life as the Lord leads. But when I get busy, it gets hard. Not only do I need the right amount of time to work, but I must rest.

My favorite time to rest is on Sundays! Gotta have that mid-day nap and I'm so right! My family is aware that I will be resting and they need to go away. I tell my boys "Call your daddy!'. I will be of no use to them...at all for like two hours. Yes, two hours! Sometimes I might even wake up early but I don't let them know just so I can enjoy the lack of hearing "Moooooommmm!!" "Mooooommmmmmeeeeeee!" "Hey babe!". However, there are other times when their calls to get my attention are music to my ears. I mean, I almost long to hear it.

To be needed and wanted is so fulfilling. God does not need to be fulfilled but the Bible tells us that He wants to be depended on, reached for, wanted. Do you put a smile on God's face by telling Him how much you need and want Him? Like any good dad, God desires the reliance of His children. He is waiting to give us good things, to deliver us, rescue us and be our hero...if e would only call out to Him!

This morning in my quiet time I read Exodus 20. God had just rescued the Israelites and was now instructing Moses to give them the Law. However, the people were so afraid that they asked not to hear from God (Exodus 20: 19-21). It is ok to be a protective Father and loving miracle-maker, but please don't make us respect you or have a healthy fear of you. God wanted to keep them from sin (what got mankind where they were in the first place) but they did not like that side of God. Sounds like the parenting relationship to me! It's ok to call when you need them but don't tell me what to do. Really?? We expect love but refuse discipline. A good Father knows we need both.

At some point, slow down enough to thank God for being a good Father. Then tell Him how you couldn't have made it this far without Him. He wants to be needed and appreciated so He can show off in your life. And does He ever show off! He wakes you up with the sun, gives you strength, purpose and a reason for going to work and then He'll top it off by putting a rainbow in the sky for you to see on the way. He also has no problem giving correction so that we do not continue the habit of sin.

What a great God we serve. Thank you dad. I love you and I will need you later today, tomorrow, the day after that and  forever!

Don't touch the ducks boys!

Jeremiah 33:3, Psalm 91:15, Exodus 20, Matthew 7:11

Vows, Contacts and Covenants

Watch this video where I announce my upcoming hangout vlogs this week!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z79I_rhoEfM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Tru-Image Wifestyle Coaching

The Lord has placed so many broken women before me. Some are hopeful for their marriages, others are hoping that divorce comes sooner than later. I have cried with women over the years and have had stern mothering moments with others. Over six years, my husband and I have been talking to people about marriage. My goal as a Tru-Image Wifestyle coach is to empower you to do what you said when you made your vows!

"....to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live." 

For Better or for Worse
For example, there is Candy (fictional name of course) - This wife has a well-kept secret. Her husband drinks and although he is not physically abusive, she is worried that he could be. It's been too emotionally taxing on her and she wants out of the relationship. There is no rebuttal from him about that at all, even when he's sober. My advice is not to divorce him but to pray to the Lord to reveal to her his source of hurt and that he is willing to get the assistance he needs to overcome this addiction. Prayer still works! If we truly believe that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, we must pray like it! Life is not easy, especially if you are a wife. Your marriage is not to make all your dreams come true but to mold you into the image of Christ. This mold will press and force you to conform to God's mold for your life....if you are willing to be that is.

For Richer or Poorer
Victoria represents another wife that I have coached. She has abuse in her past and married Mr. Wrong in her opinion. The marriage started one way but is sadly veering in the other. Her hubby is literally "not who she married". He proclaims his love and faithfulness regularly, but is growing ever distant due to his pornography addiction that is draining the family funds dry. How can a wife be a "helper" in a situation like this? Tough love - that's how. Sometimes a man needs to hit rock bottom to bounce back. His mind needs to be renewed by the Great Physician. Sex is a powerful force in marriage and cannot be ignored. By taking the Word of God and applying it daily, it becomes a scalpel to sever soul ties and to repair the heart. A wife can help her husband by giving him time, space and leading him to the greatest Doctor of all time - Jesus!

In Sickness and In Health
Two couples come to my mind. The first is of a wife who could not bear her husband's illness. She left him. Sick. Alone. The marriage ended. In another relationship, Mary (alias) was sick herself and so was her husband. Instead of abandoning the relationship, she saw to it that he was cared for. In response, her husband did the same for her. It is hard to consider others before yourself especially if you dont think they are deserving. That is what a wife does who is walking in her calling. She looks like Jesus who layed down His life for all sinners.

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I will be doing a series of Tru-Image Wifestyle Vlogs in the near future via TruTube4U on Youtube. Please leave me any questions or topics that you would like me to address from a biblical point of view. For details and pricing on individual coaching sessions in person or via phone or hangouts on google, please email me at truimagelsm@gmail.com.