I have always been quite self-sufficient. Or so I thought. It’s more likely that God knew I really was not prepared, so He never allowed the storms that I faced to be extremely severe. I thank Him for that blessing. When the first big storm did come to ravage my life, it came in a threat to take the life of one of my children. Self-sufficiency has no footing in a storm of that magnitude. Oh….I tried to fix it. I am the mom and I thought that was my job. I simply did not have the ability. My only refuge was to take shelter under His wing, pray by the blood of Jesus Christ for her healing and let go! As I gave Christ complete control of that situation, a Peace enveloped me. Peace, while facing a threat to your child, can only be described as the peace that passeth all understanding. This is a peace that allows total rest and confidence that all is well, regardless of the storm raging around you. It took a while for me to come to that point, but looking back, I realize the surrender was the easy part. The battle I waged before the surrender was an exhausting, futile effort. A few situations have threatened since then, but I am learning to hand them over quickly. My Heavenly Father has promised His peace for my protection through Christ Jesus. What a precious gift.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Amy has been married to her wonderful husband, Mark, for 26 years.  They have two daughters, Morgan and Taylor.  One son, Payton, and a son-in-law, Trevor.  They lovingly call their home the Clark Ark, acknowledging that God has kept his promises and it just so happens that teenagers, and animals tend to show up 2 x 2. J  God has richly blessed their family in so many ways and they love the opportunity to share these blessings with others.

For more inspiring accounts of Jesus’ transforming power in the lives of my friends, click here.

Deadly Disclosures is Julie Cave’s first of three novels called the Dinah Harris Mystery Series. The central character, Dinah Harris, a detective who struggles with depression and alcohol abuse, works to find answers to the questions in her life. ‘Why are people dying for their faith?’ ‘Why am I depressed?’ ‘Why do I choose to drink?’ ‘How can we be saved from all of this?’ She learns what it means to be saved by God’s grace and that no one is ever past the point of redemption.

Julie’s desire is that her books would be used to lead unbelievers to know Jesus. Many people enjoy a great mystery and could receive the Truth via this great storyline.

Check out the digital version for only 0.99 cents through the end of January. If you love the book like I do, share it with a friend who has questions about the Bible.

Here’s a video teaser to whet your reading appetite.

Just in case you haven’t heard of this fast – here’s the skinny – -

The Daniel Fast is a powerful spiritual experience to help followers of Jesus Christ develop a more intimate relationship with their Lord, seek answers to prayer, and grow in the love and knowledge of the Savior.

It’s a vegan diet with even more restrictions. For details, read more here.

I made the decision to fast before Christmas. Why? I feel like there are fewer reasons not to fast. I’m desperate for God’s will to be done in so many situations (remember those trials I mentioned in Sunday’s post?) Besides those, my work is taxing. The mission of our company is to change the eternal destiny of people with the power of the printed page (and digital). Many of our books are written to proven the authority and authenticity of the Bible. In today’s culture, that’s not extremely popular. But it’s necessary. But it’s a struggle – a spiritual struggle to defend God’s word while the enemy of our souls wants to remove it from every area of our lives. I need to hear God’s voice, be able to follow Him, instead of my own will. I need His power working through me. So, a fasting I will go.

As of Day 18 of the fast, I can happily report that…

1. I’m feeling so much better physically.

2. Life feels simpler. Maybe because there are fewer decisions to make about food. Maybe because I’ve decluttered the meal menu significantly. I cook once or twice a week. I’ve saved a lot of grocery and eating out money. Friends are on the same fast and we share the food we cook which makes life even simpler.

3. I am praying more confidently using the authority of the name of Jesus.

4. Difficult topics are pushing closer to the top of my heart and mind. Yeah – this is not so fun, but there is GREAT JOY knowing I could move forward in these areas and be more complete – more of the Jennifer God is gently molding me to be.

5. I don’t plan to stop at 21 days.

6. I need God. I try to do things in my own strength WAY too much. One of my struggles is consistency. It’s a hurdle I want to clear. I made it my One Word for 2012. I want to be consistent so I can accomplish for God what He created me to accomplish. But I’m a knucklehead. I keep trying to do it by myself to prove to Him that I can. To get the atta girl from God. Today I’m back on my knees with a cry for help. I need you Jesus. This is one is definitely going to be all You.

Have you denied yourself food or other things in order to hear from God? Did you come out a different person? I would love to hear what you learned during your fast.

I’ve been drawn to the book of James for several years without really having a reason. And thanks to Nelma’s inspiration, I am embarking on a journey of memorizing the book of James (the New Living Translation). I’ve found the best times to practice it is while I’m on the treadmill. I say the verses outloud and sometimes create hand motions to go with the words. Yes – the hand motions are goofy and can lead to sliding off the treadmill if I’m not careful.

I’ve already learned so much. Here’s a major nugget from the first few verses:

Brothers & Sisters – when trouble comes your way consider it an opportunity for GREAT JOY (emphasis mine)!

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

So…. let it grow, for when your endurance is full developed, you will be perfect and complete

NEEDING NOTHING! (emphasis mine again)

You’ve probably heard the “Count it all joy” over a thousand times. I have. But now, I know the rest of the story. Why should I consider a trial an opportunity for great joy? Because the end result is ….. I will become complete, perfect, needing nothing!

In my own words – I will become all that God created me to be. I will be the complete version of Jennifer O. White when I allow my faith to be tested by trials.  I will learn to endure those trials allowing God to do in me and through me all that He decided long ago He wanted to do.

That is GOOD NEWS people! Trials = Joy because I get to be the real me when I endure them.

Now I am working to apply this good news to my current trials which include a commuter marriage with my sweet David, living 2 states away from some of the people I cherish the most, and feeling inadequate in my marketing job.  All these things are opportunities for celebration because they have purpose – an eternal purpose.

Can you look ahead of your current trial and see the end result God has in mind? Let’s try it together.

Dive in to Kim’s post and you’ll be inspired by how Jesus’ love changed the focus of her life.

I no longer live! On March 6, 1995, at 2 a.m., I died.  I chose to allow Christ to live in me through the power of His Holy Spirit. I cling to Gal. 2:20, it’s no longer I who live but Christ…

I stopped thinking about things, materialism, buying, wanting. I wanted to give. I became satisfied with simple. I became satisfied with what I had no matter what it was. I stopped wanting.

I stopped living my life according to selfish desires I wanted and started living my life for the desires He put in my heart. I always hated school, but He wanted me to go to school. So I went. I earned a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from an Evangelical University.

I stopped hating and judging people. I loved everyone. My heart was deeply drawn to people, all kinds of people, especially the broken hearted and the mentally ill.

I stopped believing lies. Lies the enemy had told me, lies from the world. The Truth was revealed to me through His Word and revelation.

He led me to disciple broken women who needed love, acceptance, understanding and honor. He taught me how to teach them. He loved them through me.

He developed the Table Rock Freedom Center and asked me to take care of it. He brings the addicted, the broken hearted, the abused, the angry, the deceived, the confused, the mentally ill. He brings them there to be loved and know love. He brings them there to heal, to learn, to discover. He brings them there to find Him so they can truly know the Truth and the Truth can set them Free, (John 8:32).

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God (Jesus) who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

He is the only reason I live.

What about you? What is radically different in your life because of Jesus?

For more inspiring accounts of Jesus’ transforming power in the lives of my friends, click here.

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! John 14:13-14 NLT

1. The authority of prayer is from Jesus

2. Authority = a legal right, someone authorizes authority.

3. Because of the name of Jesus we have the authority to pray.

4. Because Jesus has given us permission to use His name, we are received in the Father’s presence as Jesus is.

5. When the father looks at me, he no longer sees Jennifer, he sees Jesus in Jennifer form.

6. God hears my prayers through the voice of Jesus. That is the power of His name.

7. Using the name of Jesus in prayer gives you the authority to declare to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms what the manifold wisdom of God is.

8. When we pray in Jesus name – we will bring the resources, the timing, and the events that will most clearly display God’s power and glorify His name.

9. You do not influence God to do your will – you influence the spiritual realm to do God’s will.

10. Our authority in prayer is not our own. You and I are only exercising authority in the spiritual realm if Jesus is speaking His thoughts and desires through us.

I’m so excited to have this knew perspective on praying in the name of Jesus. I want to pray effectively. These 10 things are helping me put the puzzle pieces together. Once again the answer to my life’s questions = it’s not about me it’s about Jesus.

What about you? Have you wondered what it means to pray in Jesus name? Do you have a different perspective you’d like to share? Let’s chat about it in the comment section. I’d enjoy learning from you too.

The wonderful places in my head made real life pale in comparison. My dream worlds didn’t have problems, hurts, disappointments, or failures. No one hurt me there. Risks I took always resulted in fame and fortune. The men I fell in love with were perfect. They anticipated and met all my needs, understood me, and took me on lavish trips all around the world.

The spiritual truth is that I was looking for real love. It had taken on a cartoon-like glow in my mind but my heart sincerely wanted to be loved without being hurt. My sexual abuse was from a family member, so love and intimacy were very confusing to me. I didn’t understand how the two went together, so I came up with my own way of combining them, which left God out and was entirely unrealistic.

I managed to live in both worlds for years, and thought I was doing well. But as is true for every person for all time, secret sin catches up with us and takes us down.

Jesus arms were around me the whole time! He carried me to a Biblical counselor who walked me through the steps to healing and wholeness. It was a long, painful journey but so worth it!

God gently massaged my heart with His unconditional, genuine love and transformed my mind into spiritual health and alertness. Today, I love my life! My real life. I embrace all of it. It takes constant vigilance but I face my reality, no matter what it is, every day in the power of the Holy Spirit. He fills me with all I need for life and godliness. I’m in it! I’m all about it!

Really living … because of Jesus.

Lyn Smith is passionate about God and His Word. She is an international Bible teacher, inspirational speaker, and writer. On the speaking and writing team of LeadHer, she is also a state speaker for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, serves on their human trafficking task force, and is a contributing writer of Pastors.com. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three children. When she isn’t doing life in her stilettos, you will find her running in her favorite sneakers. You can find Lyn at www.lynsmith.org, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lynsmithls, and on Twitter as @Lyn_Smith.

For more inspiring accounts of Jesus’ transforming power in the lives of my friends, click here.

“One thing I do know…I was blind, but now I see.” – John 9:25

That is how I feel most of the time about Jesus.  I don’t pretend to know everything there is to know about Him – His works, His ways, His miracles, how He gets them done.  I don’t know a lot of theology, the Hebrew and Latin for certain words.  I do not have commentary memorized or know all the history behind every Bible story.  There is a lot I do not know…but I do know this.  He changed my life.  Once I was blind.  But now I can see.  Once I was blind to my sin and selfishness, but I can now see through His grace and loving kindness.  Once I was wallowing in a pit of depression, seriously contemplating suicide…now He has pulled me out of that pit and set my feet upon a rock.  Once I questioned my purpose in life and wondered if the core of me, who I was, was ok.  Now I know that I’ve been created for a beautiful purpose, that God is pleased with who I am, and that He has good things for my life.  I once was dead inside and He breathed life into me.  I once was broken beyond repair, but He put me back together into something wonderful.  I once was devoid of hope, but He has stirred that hope up within me and renewed it again.

I could never tell all of what He has done.  In fact, I am sure that I do not even know the half of it myself.  It is unbelievably hard to describe what He has done in me and to me and through me…and yet incredibly simple all at the same time.  He changed me.  From the inside out He changed me.  He left nothing undone, no stone unturned.  And He is working diligently in me even still, polishing me up to look more and more like His Son.  Nothing about me is the same as what it was when I started my walk with Him.  So when you ask me what I am and what I have become because of Jesus my mind leans towards 2 Corinthians 5:17.

            “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Callie and I have been friends for a few years. I am so grateful to God for her friendship and the role she’s had in my freedom in Christ. She is a high school teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Central High School in Springfield, MO. She played collegiate basketball at Drury University and graduated in 2003 with a degree in Education. She then received her master’s degree from Drury in Education in 2006 and is currently pursuing a degree in Counseling. Callie is very involved in her home church, Stonebridge, and takes part in many ministry areas there.

For more inspiring accounts of Jesus’ transforming power in the lives of my friends, click here. If you’d like to share how your life is different because of Jesus, please let me know. This series is ongoing and posts weekly on Fridays.

Prayers that Avail Much: Commemorative Edition (3 Vols. in 1)

Fast forward to 2012. I am more aware than ever that I need to be speaking God’s word back to Him. Not to change God with my prayers. But to say “yes” to what He wants for me and for others. I can reach up to God and ask Him for what He already wants to give.

In 2012, I want to become more consistent in praying this way. I’m starting today with a prayer for the children in my life taken from Germaine Copeland’s book – Prayers That Avail Much for Your Family. I’ve modified her prayer to fit my family.

To Know Who They are In Christ

Father in the name of Jesus, I speak over my nieces and nephews that they have (or will have) the mind of Christ. Teach them to understand what Christ is thinking! I thank You Lord, that they are (or will be) set free by Your blood and they have forgiveness of sins and they know the richness of Your grace.

I pray for them, asking You to give them wisdom and eyes to see clearly and to understand all You have done for them. May Your bright light make their way plain so that they know what pleases You and give them the courage to do Your will.

May they always liven in fellowship with You, for they are (or will be) Your children in Christ Jesus. They can do everything through You because You give them strength.

Open their eyes that they may understand that they have been made (or can be made) the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and that they are (can be) brand new creations in You. The past is forgotten and everything is new. You have chosen them and they are accepted. They are light in a dark world and completely victorious through You.

Thank You, Father, for loving them and giving to them everything that they need in this life. Amen

Scripture References:
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
Romans 6:11
1 Corinthians 1:30 NLT
Ephesians 5:8 MSG
1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT
Romans 8:1
Galatians 3:26
Ephesians 1
Romans 8:37 NCV
Philippians 4:13 NLT

Do you use scripture to pray? Please share scriptures that you pray over your family.

Because of Jesus I am alive, both physically and in Him for all eternity. At the age of three I died from pneumonia but a nurse (because of Jesus) acted quickly and I was revived. Most recently my doctors, due to the extent of my cancer, gave me six months to live. That was three years ago.

Because of Jesus there is work for me to do as His vessel.

Because of Jesus I have an incomparable Joy that can only be found in Him. As I look back over my life, I see that He has constantly been with me. Even in those times when I denied Him, He led me through the trials and protected me from bad choices while still allowing me to experience the consequences of those choices. His Joy is rock solid, the assurance of His constant, abiding Presence in every situation.

Because of Jesus I can say that I would not trade one moment of the past three years for anything because of the Joy of the certainty of Him and His loving Presence. He is always faithful to His promises and He tells us in Dt. 31:8 and Heb 13:5 that He will never, ever, ever leave us and He will never, ever, ever forsake us. I testify to the Truth that He has been faithful to this promise; how awesome and incredible is our God!

Because of Jesus, Kay and I are continuing to experience a love that is beyond anything we could have ever “asked or imagined” (Eph 3:20). Kay has been His vessel – His conduit to me in so many, many ways and He has shown me a heart in her that is filled with love for Him and how His love touches all of us around her.

Because of Jesus I find that the truly fun and joyful things of each day are about Him. Those things I used to think were fun now pale in comparison to sharing Him with others, talking about Him and with Him throughout each day, praising Him, worshiping Him, all of which brings me great joy.

Because of Jesus He has shown me I don’t have to be successful, I need to be faithful. When I share Him with others I don’t have to see a change in them immediately. I just have to faithfully share Him and His word and what He has done for me then He will take care of the success part since that is His anyway.

In spite of knowing Him as I do, I still continue to pick up burdens that I should leave to Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mt 11.30) so when I finally realize what I am doing, I can go to Him and give Him all my cares and anxieties because He cares for me (1Pet 5:7).

Because of Jesus I can write this today because He healed me. Because of Jesus I am joyful no matter what my current condition may be. Because of Jesus I have hope, the hope that never disappoints us (Rom 5:5). Because of Jesus I get to share Him here on earth and I get to be with Him for eternity. Because of Jesus I am in the perfect “win/win” position, it doesn’t get any better than that…Because of Jesus.

A bio would never do him justice. He’s a walking, talking bright light of Jesus’ love and grace regardless of the trials he’s recently endured.

For more inspiring accounts of Jesus’ transforming power in the lives of my friends, click here.