What is DE?

Ok, so here it is. This is gonna sound really odd at first, but just hang on. "Diatomaceous Earth" is a product that most people are familiar with as an all-natural safe to use bug killer, and it is a very good one if I might add. However, DE (which stands for Diatomaceous Earth) is much more than just a bug killer. It has incredible health benefits for humans as well as animals. We purchased a 10 1b. bag of it at a feed store for only $14.95. DE is used to put in the feed of livestock. First, it controls the bugs. They cannot survive it in any way when the come into direct contact with it. It is a physical reaction and not a chemical one that is responsible for killing them. DE is like shards of glass or razors under a microscope that cuts the bug when it comes into contact with it, causing the bug to dehydrate and die within a very short time. Secondly, it is given to animals because of it's many amazing health benefits, and for the control of parasites. Parasites cannot live in the stomach, small or large intestines, or the colon for the very same reason that it kills bugs. As it passes through the digestive system it cuts up all worms and parasites...even in humans! It sounds dangerous for us, right? On the contrary, it is extremely healthy for human and animal consumption. DE is amazingly safe with no harmful effects to us at all other than causing lung irritation if you breathe the dust. So, don't sniff it, and if you are spreading it to kill bugs, etc...wear a well-fitted mask. This is my husband's and my second day of using it. As I said yesterday, he has had some health issues for several years now. One of them is an arthritis like pain in his shoulders and knees. He has been juicing and daily eating a very strict diet of fish, cottage cheese, and raw fruits and vegetables for the last week and a half, and even though he was improving and feeling better from the diet, he was still in a lot of pain in his knee. I read many testimonials to him from off of the internet concerning arthritis and how people were claiming that their pain was gone within 2-3 days, yet he sounded very skeptical about it. Well, he took 1 heaping tbsp. of 100% pure Food grade Diatomaceous Earth mixed in about 1/4 c. of water, and within two hours he was running around demonstrating to me that the pain was almost completely gone from his knee. He still feels great today which is amazing because he has had a constant pain in his knees without it easing up for many weeks now. I'm sure by now you're wondering just what this substance is and where it comes from. DE is marine phytoplankton which are one-celled plants called diatoms. DE is the fossilized remains of diatoms mined from underwater beds or from ancient dried up lake bottoms that are thousands of years old. They form a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a very fine powder. Although it is very soft to the touch it is also abrasive. Under a microscope DE is honeycomb shaped, and full of small holes, which gives it the ability to scrub the walls of the intestines & colon and to absorb bacteria and virus, fungus, pesticides, insecticides, heavy metals, toxins, etc... as it passes through.  It detoxifies your body. DE is 80-90% silica which is necessary to all life, and has 15 trace minerals in it. It is said that it is especially good for your heart, lungs, and liver. There are numerous reports of a significant lowering of high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It has been said to clear the sinuses, eliminate arthritic pain, constipation, and parasites. It is supposed to work wonders for the skin, nails, hair, clear acne, and remove age spots. There are testimonials of many other healing benefits of DE. One lady reported having cancerous growths on the skin for many years that completely left after using DE for a period of time. I don't know what it will do for us, but I'm trying it. I have taken it for two days now, and have experienced a headache for both days. It is rare that I get headaches. This is a side effect from detoxing; I did read that this can happen when you first begin using it. I have went through detoxification processes before and this is exactly how I felt then so I know that this is what is happening. When this happens it is called "healing crisis," which is a reawakening of the immune system, and although you are getting better, you feel worse. It is suggested that you reduce your dose & slowly increase it to help to alleviate this from happening. To avoid a healing crisis, they recommend starting with 1 tsp. & working up to 1-3 Tbsp. per day, mixed in water or any favorite drink; 1Tbsp in the morning, 1 at midday, and 1 at night. My husband, however started with 3 Tbsp per day and has not experienced any headaches or healing crisis at all, but rather an increased energy level. Don't take it from me, though, research it for yourself, talk to your doctor, and pray about what you should do. As for me, I couldn't get it off of my mind for the last seven months now so we decided to try it, and we are extremely happy with my husband's results so far. He has went wide open today and feeling great! Thank you, Jesus, for giving us natural things from the earth to help us!

Gluttony: An Area Needing Discipline.

Well, today I am bringing you a different kind of post than usual. Our health is very important to our lives in general because we as humans, each, are made up of three parts, mind, body, and spirit even though we are one person; in this life one does not exist without the other. We are a spirit that has a mind who lives in a body. When our body is sick, it also affects our mental & spiritual well being. Think of a time when you were extremely ill. What were the tormenting thoughts that you would have to fight back from your mind? Did your spirit man feel as strong in the things of God? When we are fighting an attack from the enemy in any part of our being, we are actually fighting it in every part of our being. I believe that it is our responsibility to keep our temple (body) healthy in order to do the work that God has called us to do. Gluttony, which the Bible refers to as sin, is simply the act of being given to excess. Now, in the land of the plentiful, we as Christians battle gluttony on a large scale whether we realize it or not; whether we even want to acknowledge it or not. Gluttony can get us into serious trouble because we are not setting boundaries for body...or mind...or spirit. How many times have you purposed in your mind not to eat something that you viewed as harmful to you, but your desires overrode what your mind said was right for you, and you ate it anyway? If we are unrestrained with what we put into our bodies, we will surely reap the consequences for it. I always have to keep myself in check especially when it comes to the area of sweets. Even though I have never battled weight problems, I could always put away huge (...and I emphasize the word huge) amounts of sweets. Sometimes the more sweets that I ate the smaller I got. At one point in my life I ate cookies, brownies, cake, chocolate, etc...etc...all day long without hardly even eating any real food, yet weighed only 90 pounds. So, you see gluttony is not even a weight issue in itself, but the weight problems (which ever way) is simply a result of gluttony. I paid the price of that wrong behavior through some real health problems. I actually feel so much healthier (mind, body, and spirit) in my 40's than I ever felt in my 20's and early to mid 30's. I am a true believer in herbs and all natural methods of healing. Many months ago a man had told my husband about a certain all-natural health item that he was using, and that it had made significant changes in his health. So, I began to research it on the internet, and found nothing but rave reveiws of this product. It has been on my heart to get it  for my husband to use who has been struggling now with gall bladder problems for four to five years now with it only growing worse. He has also struggled with knee and shoulder pain along with swelling for even longer. Lately he has hurt so bad in his knee that it was hard for him to walk on it and use it. It is difficult to watch someone that you love be sick. Well, I will tell you more about what we are doing tomorrow. Yesterday we went to the feed store (yes, you heard me right!) and bought some for fifteen dollars, began to use it, and within two hours my husband said that his knee has not felt this good in a very long time. The pain was virtually gone. I had been asking God what we could give him naturally that would heal his body. This might just be the answer to my prayers, and I want to share it with you. God wants us to prosper and flourish in our health. Begin to think about what areas of your life that you need to be more diligent in utilizing more restraint. It feels good to this flesh man to be able to consume whatever we want, but it is not good for us to walk in unrestrained behavior. In Matt. 26:41, concerning any temptations the Word says, "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptations: the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." I pray that you and I both are able to overcome every temptation in the area of gluttony. We should eat to live & not live to eat. God, help us today to begin to be disciplined in this area.

Awwww....Comfort!

Awwww....Comfort! It feels so good! Just being able to sleep in late curled up in the warmth of the snuggly blankets feels so wonderful. We all love comfort in some form or another, however, comfort is not very productive even though it sounds and feels so good. When we are in the place of comfort in life, there are not many uncertainties, yet God has not called us, the body of Christ, to live our Christian lives in comfort. There will never be any real growth or spiritual maturity come to our lives when we choose to live in the place of comfort. So many Christians flock to the comfort of religion, but true relationship has a price; it costs us something. As we peer into the pages of the Bible, Paul was once in a place of religious comfort. He had all that one could desire...Honor, prestige, acceptance, and comfort within the synagogue, yet that was not God's will for Paul's life. It was not His will for Paul to be happy and comfortable within his belief system, but it was His will for him to be a world changer; to leave his mark on humanity. Do you think that Paul would have willfully changed his mindset and left the confines of comfort to suddenly be hated, hunted, stoned, and left for dead to serve Jesus without his Damascus Road experience? Most likely not. Actually it is evident by the Word that he had no plan to be converted, and that's exactly why he needed the road to Damascus experience. I'm sure that being struck down & blinded for three days changed his perspective on life. The Word is clear that it was at this point that Paul became willing to serve Jesus even though it meant that he would then become an outcast of those who had once held him in such high respect. He suddenly desired Jesus above the acceptance of men. God used an undesirable circumstance to get His desired response from Paul. He had a plan for him, but it could only happen if Paul would choose to leave the confines of his comfort and blindly trust Jesus in faith. Even though spiritual comfort feels good, it never produces effects that are good, but rather complacency. Complacency means a feeling of contentment and satisfaction. It is more dangerous to our Christian walk than we realize, and keeps us bound by the norm; the safe; the usual. The Lord has not called us as believers to live a life of complacency, but a life of faith. It's easy to be complacent because it feels good to our flesh, but the Word says in Hab. 2:4b, "...The just shall live by his faith." Sometimes God will shake us out of our comfort zone in order to propel us forward into His plan for us, just as Paul was propelled forward into the ministry that made it's mark on history. If you, a born-again Christian, suddenly find your comfy life full of turmoils, just maybe God is trying to bring you out of your comfort zone, challenge you to live in faith, and propel you into His plan for your life.

FreshFire4Life: Encouragement for an Unanswered Prayer

FreshFire4Life: Encouragement for an Unanswered Prayer: "I feel like there are those who just need to be encouraged to not give up on particular matters that you are praying for in your lives. I re..."

Encouragement for an Unanswered Prayer

I feel like there are those who just need to be encouraged to not give up on particular matters that you are praying for in your lives. I remember many years ago this certain person who prayed fervently on a very regular basis for a certain something to happen. I remember thinking, "Why do they waste their time?" You see, at that time in my life, I did not have the faith that they had, therefore, I surely did not have the understanding that they possessed either. James 5:16b speaks of a certain kind of prayer that gets results; a prayer that God pays attention to, and moves on your behalf to bring it to pass . It says, "...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." When we continue praying for something that we know for sure is the will of God, and we believe wholeheartedly for the answer while refusing to allow doubt or reasoning to overtake our mindset, God will orchestrate events to cause that answer to come to pass because we trust Him. It will most assuredly not be within our timing, though, but nevertheless, He does promise that to us. Effectual is a word that simply means effective, capable of producing a desired result. Fervent is another word for impassioned, and both words mean to be characterized by intense emotional feeling and sincerity that are capable of stirring equally intense responses. The word righteous simply means to be in right standing with God; proceeding from a sense of what is right in God's perspective. Wow, This means that when we are abiding in Christ and are praying forth petitions from our hearts that are sincere & passionate linked with faith in God's ability to bring them to fruition, that our prayers are certainly getting God's attention. His Word says that He will perfect those things that concern us. Now, Back to the person who prayed relentlessly for an answer from God. Well, they died and never saw the answer to their prayer come to pass, but with my very eyes I have had the privilege to watch their prayers be answered! Did God fail them? No! Just maybe God needed to use that as an example for me to learn by. You see, their prayers were sent into the universe because sound never ends. Sound goes on and on and on. I believe that even after they passed on from this world, their prayers kept meeting Christ as He intercedes for us. This person continually sowed, therefore they reaped their harvest. After all, they did not pray to see it, but that it would just be. If you plant a seed in the ground and tend to it, it will be there for many days appearing unproductive because you cannot see what is going on beneath the soil. Also, some seeds take much longer to spring up than others. However, at some point life it will begin to spring up. What if the one who plants the seed & cares for it dies, does the seed stop growing just because the caregiver is no longer there? Why, no; at some point it will begin to spring to life, grow strong, and even reproduce. I have planted seeds and left them alone just to come back at a later time, and at my surprise find growth. Keep sowing those prayers and God will make sure that someone is there to water them, tend to them and harvest them. The most powerful thing that we can do in desperate situations is to pray. The effectual fervent prayer stirs the heart of God. God is hearing your prayers, and if by chance you pass on into eternity without seeing the desired result with your eyes, know that the Lord will still honor your prayers. I learned a valuable lesson. If the just shall live by faith and not by sight, as the Word says, then our prayers must be prayed by faith and not by sight, also. Shut your eyes and ears to the circumstances around you; refuse to believe what you see & hear in the flesh. We must never trust what happens in the natural, but rather know that God is moving in the realm of the Spirit. That is where we get our breakthrough. The devil will always try to make you believe that you prayers are non-productive and a waste of time. However, always remember that you cannot see beyond the surface of what is happening in the spirit when you pray, but it's still happening. You just got to believe. You've got to know in whom you put your trust! I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help, Ps. 121:1. The Lord God Almighty is moving on our behalf when we pray...He really is.

Hind's feet on high places

Habakkuk 3:9 says, "The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places."  A hind, which is also referred to as a Red deer, are able to climb very high mountains and leap deep gorges & rocky precipices. They are able to pass through very hazardous & dangerous territory with ease because of the ability of their extremely agile feet. There is a book written by Hannah Hurnard titled, "Hind's Feet on High Places." It is a wonderfully written book, an allegory, about a little maimed hind named Much-Afraid. It depicts his struggle with fear and many other great struggles that he has to face in his life. Even though the book is filled with characters that challenge Much-Afraid, the real struggles of overcoming every challenge are within himself. He goes from being debilitated by fear and doubt, which holds him back in life to freedom by following the ways of the loving Shepherd. No matter how many times that I read this book, I find myself fighting back tears; it is always an emotional experience for me to read it. It seems like no matter where you are at in life, when you read this book, you are not only looking into its chapters, but into the chapters of your own life. God will just speak to you through this book. I remember years ago that my oldest daughter, Jordan, who was a young teenager then would always want me to read this book to her every night at bedtime. So, I would go into her room, and with her tucked into the bed, I would read it to her. We had many good nights at bedtime while reading this wonderful book. One day when she was about eighteen or nineteen years old, I was searching everywhere for my book, yet even though I had looked everywhere, it was still no where to be found. Jordan knew that I was searching for it, yet seemed uninterested in helping me find it or the very fact that it was lost. Finally, I found it hidden away in Jordan's bedroom. When she saw that I had found it she playfully wrestled me to get it back. She had purposefully hid my book, and she let me know that it was her book, now. Obviously, she must have thought that she had squatters' rights to it because she was insisting that the book now belonged to her! Well, she won that day, and I gave her the book... after all, if it meant that much to her, I most definitely wanted her to have it. If you have never read the book "Hinds' Feet on High Places," it is a must read!!!  It is evident that Hannah Hurnard was anointed to write this incredible piece of literature that is a definite tool in giving you insight into the pitfalls of your life. It helps you to link the significance of your struggles to your victories. If we have no struggles in life, we have no victories either. We need the difficult places of suffering and sorrow in order to become who God is intending for us to be. God promises to each of us that in everything we face in life if we surrender to Him and He is with us, there is nothing that we face that we cannot overcome. We do not have to be afraid of the struggles of life if God is for us. I am determined to go to the high places in my life with the help of Jesus Christ, and to be transformed into all that He desires me to be. If you do not own this book, go to the right of this post & scroll down to the Amazon box and order it today. You can get it from amazon.com either new or used. I purchased my new one (thanks to Jordan...which is a hard back copy this time.) through Amazon for not much at all. This is a great tool to use for family or private time; My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it together just a short time ago. If you have children of any age, it is a great book to read to them. I found that there is even a book, "Leader's discussion guide for Hinds' Feet on High Places," that is for small study groups, written by Christine Moon & Barbara Moon, which amazon sells new for less than $10. This sounds like a great tool to use in combination with this incredible classic Christian book. I am sure that I will be purchasing one for my library. You will not be disappointed or bored reading "Hinds' Feet on High Places;" it is actually very hard to put down. I believe that this book is without question my favorite book other than the Bible of course.

God is for you!

Phil. 4:8 says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. Today, determine to take control of your thoughts and think on the good things in life. Remember all the victories. Think on good things today. Know that God is for you and not against you. He loves you.; you are His. He will fight for you when no one else will. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is your refuge, your shield, your constant help in times of trouble. He is Jehovah Nissi, your victory, Jehovah Shalom, your peace, And Jehovah Shammah, the Lord that is always with you. Life can be quite challenging at times, but the good news is that we don't have to go it alone because we have the comforter right here with us...dwelling within us. If God is in you...than you can be sure that He is for you. One of my favorite passages of scripture is in Isaiah 49:15-16, which states that other people may forget about you or not even have compassion on you, yet God says, "...but I will not forget you. Behold I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands."  Wow! That word inscribes means to be engraven...carved!  When you are born again by the blood of Jesus you are ever before Him; He has taken you as one of His own. He will not forget you! He even intercedes and prays for you constantly; He is listening to you. He is your help! Don't allow yourself to be discouraged or disheartened. Make yourself remember the victories of the past, and as hard as it can be in times of being hard-pressed by the enemy, refuse the mentality of defeat. God is the one who goes before you...He wars for you! I love Kari Jobe's song, "He is for me."  I have it posted on my blog so give it a listen if you will; it's to the right of this post & scroll down. This is a beautiful song that I'm sure will minister deeply to many of you. God gave it to me at a time in life when I needed to be reminded that...God is truly for me!

The wrong kinda love.

John 2:15-17 says, " Love not the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also it's lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.  

If we fall in love with the things around us, we can not follow after the plan that He has devised for each and everyone of us. Many times we will say, " I need this!"..."I can't go without it"..."I can't live without it."  Need is a very strong word. Especially over the last couple of years, I have found that I don't need near as much in life as I may have thought that I did, and to expound on this...I don't want as much in life either. In reality, too often the more that we possess in life the more our attention is pulled away from our purpose in life. Many never even think about being born into this world for the divine use of an almighty God. These wonderful possessions that we have now will only become our junk one day. As a matter of fact the Word tells us not to lay up our treasure here on earth because moths & rust will destroy it, or thieves will steal it. If we do not listen & heed God when He tells us these things from the Word, then He will teach us a life lesson to demonstrate it. I remember one time where there was this particular lady who liked this beautiful new skirt that I was wearing so much that she just had to have one for herself, and she wanted to know where I had bought my skirt at. Now, I did something that I can never really remember ever doing before. I wouldn't tell her! Simply because I had been hurt by this woman who had done something really wrong to me. Now, anyone who knows me well enough will tell you that I'm all about getting a good deal when I shop & helping others to get a good deal also. I always share my info, but this one particular time, I would not. My state of heart was wrong! I wasn't going to help this woman to get the great skirt that I had found, and for the awesome price I found it at! No way! The funny thing is that I rarely even had to see her, and may have never had to see her wear the skirt, but I still didn't want to be a help to her. I had simply just been offended by her, and was not going to help her out; after all it was the most awesome skirt, and I had found it. I want you to know that after I saw her, I washed that skirt & hung it up. I had hung it amongst a lot of other clothes, and when I pulled that skirt out to where it again, ants had eaten the skirt up. The whole skirt was full of holes! It was in the very middle of all a lot of clothes, yet it was the only one with a single hole in it. No ants had ruined any other article of clothing. God was teaching me one of life's lessons! He showed me that I had loved that skirt, but not my enemy; not enough to even tell them where to get a gorgeous skirt at a great savings. I had shown love to a possession, but not to a human being! I now had a beautiful skirt full of holes and ready to be taken out with the trash! I know without a doubt that God was giving me the precious attitude adjustment that I so desperately needed. You see, it's not wrong at all to have nice things; the Bible actually tells us in Proverbs 15:6 that much wealth is in the house of the righteous. It is our wrong attitude towards things that can harm us; the love & great desire of things which is greed and covetousness. What you possess does not denote who you are as a person. Possessions do not validate who you are. If we have a wrong mindset towards things, the way that we view life in general will be distorted; we will begin to believe that what we possess characterizes us. Some of the most incredibly godly... not religious, but godly people that I know are very very poor, however, some are very very wealthy, also. What you possess as a person does not characterize your life. Truly living life as God has planned out for you, cannot be measured by what you possess. When we have a right attitude towards things, we have a right attitude towards God. A scripture that God has used to speak to me is found in Luke 12:15. (NAS) It says, "Beware, and be on guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." I am very grateful for all of the things that God has given to me, however, I do not have to have those things; I need the Holy Ghost & His presence in my life...This I cannot do without. I need Him. We need Him. The Lord is the only source of complete satisfaction and success in our lives. Without a real relationship with Him, we could still live very comfortably in this life & be exceedingly successful according to this world's view's, yet never fulfill the very thing we were spoken into existence to do. How horrible that would be to stand before God & not have completed the very purpose in which we were created for. Let's make sure that nothing gets in our way & robs us from fully carrying out what He has planned for us. God help us today to rid ourselves of every wrong attitude or desire in Jesus' name. Amen! I am thankful to have the greatest treasure in my life, which is salvation through Jesus Christ!