Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Moving My Blog

 After still trying to figure out the subscription thing with MailChimp and never having success, I've decided to go ahead and use my WordPress account and start blogging there. This is my new blog address

https://plainchristianwife.wordpress.com

Please go ahead and subscribe if you like and if you decide not to I understand. I have it set that you don't need a WordPress account to comment.

This blog will remain up for as long as Google will allow me since I follow Google Blogs are here.  I also will be turning off comments to this blog at the end of the week to make sure no one is having issues with subscribing to the new blog.



Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Book Review- Let Me Die in Ireland by David Bercot

 

Let Me Die in Ireland by David Bercot is a historical fiction novel based on the life of  Patrick also know as St. Patrick whom many remember every March 17th. This book was definitely an eye opener for me because it changed everything I thought knew about Patrick. There are many myths out there that aren't true about him such as, he used the shamrock to explain salvation or that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland.  I also was encouraged by Patrick's constant prayer and I believe he was a strong prayer prayer warrior. 
This a very easy read and is available for purchase at ScrollPublishing.com
I received a copy of this book from Scroll Publishing in exchange for my review.

Monday, June 7, 2021

Well I Thought It Worked

 It turns out my dear friends that the MailChimp didn't work last time. My friend sent a screenshot of how my posts look in email and sure enough it said it was powered by Google. And some of you commented that Google was still sending the posts. And even though, I subscribed myself to my blog, I never received the test email I sent last time.  Long sigh. I hope to have this worked out by July 1st. You would think Google Blogger would have had another system ready to go into effect on when FeedBurner goes away.

I sure hope with all these changes with Blogger, Google isn't planning on shutting down Blogger all together. I read older articles online and they say there isn't a plan to shut down Blogger. It seems I heard the same thing about Yahoo and Yahoogroups. Remember Yahoogroups? Yahoo said they had no plans to shut down Yahoogroups after they discontinued certain features a couple of years ago, but Yahoogroups closed permanently on December 15th, 2020. So we who use Google for our blogs need to keep an eye on what's happening with the future of Blogger.

Well it's back to the drawing board and figure out my problem. I have a book review I need to post so I hope to get that up today.

Thursday, June 3, 2021

Testing New Service for Email Subscribers Only-Please This is NOT Spam!

 Okay so I've saved email blog subscribers to my Kindle and I've moved them all ( I hope) to my new service MailChimp. I also deleted most if not all email addresses that had @outlook.com because they were spam addresses. I might have accidentally deleted legitimate subscribers though.  So those of you get my posts by email if I did this correctly, should receive this and at the end of the email or somewhere part of my address appears. Due to International Anti Spam laws addresses have to be in all emaild. If you get newsletters from various companies, you will notice their email is at the end of their email and this is why.

 I've removed the FeedBurner subscribe button from my blog page. However I haven't the foggiest idea how to add the new MailChimp subscribe button to my page. I hope to figure that out too.

So I've done what another blogger has done and subscribed to my own blog to see if MailChimp works.  

This is what I need the email subscribers to do. Click on the link that takes you to this blog entry and just comment that you got it AND that  it says MailChimp somewhere in the body or at the end.

Thanks sisters!

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Change With Blogger( Again!)

 If you receive my posts by email as of July 1st Google will no longer support Feed Burner which is the subscription service which Google Blogger uses currently.  I'm looking at using a service called Mail Chimp for people to use to subscribe to my blog. I got the shock of my life when I saw my Followers number which is about 46 is different from my email subscribers list which is 931! Blogger doesn't send alerts about new subscribers. About 800 email addresses are spam addresses! So I'm going to clean up that mess of a list. I need to figure out how to transfer you all to my new subscription service. I'll let you know when I get the new email subscription service.

Monday, May 10, 2021

Book- The Hope We Hold Finding Peace in the Promises of God by Jeremy and Jinger Vuolo

 


I was supposed to get this out last week before the book launched on May 4th since I'm on the launch team but a terrible thing has happened in family and I got side tracked.  This isn't a review but just to let you know about the book and to let you know what it is about.

In the introduction of The Hope We Hold on pages 2-3 I Peter 1:3-9 is referenced  and if you are not familiar off hand about theses verses tell about the God promise to be with us through the trials we may or rather will face in life. Even though we were stuck in our sin God showed us undeserving mercy. In case you didn't realize it, just because we are now saved, doesn't mean we will never face difficulties.

Here's a brief excerpt from the book: " But in our grief, we can be confident that our trials aren't for nothing. Each trial is a fire that purifies our faith, refining us, bringing us into God's glory." Later in the same the same paragraph we are told: "God is not only with you in the fire, but He promises to carry you to the other side as a new creation." Isn't that awesome sisters?

Jeremy and Jinger share about the lives before they met and after. They share about the ups and downs the went through individually and as a couple.

I'm looking forward to finishing this book. Right it on sale on Amazon for $16.43. 

________________________________     

Note: I purposely didn't go into detail about what has has happened in Jinger's family regarding her brother. Due to the sensitivity nature  and for the privacy of that brother's children please refrain from mentioning the details in your comments other than you're praying. Thank you for understanding.

 


Sunday, May 9, 2021

Happy Mother's Day

 I want to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!


Photo by Julia Kadel courtesy of Unsplash.com 

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Book Review-Peanut Butter and Dragon Wings by Shari Zook

 

Peanut Butter and Dragon Wings by Shari Zook is a story of heartache through mothering a difficult child, giving up two precious foster children, an unspeakable betrayal and more. Her feelings are raw and she is honest about her battle with depression. But this is also a story of hope. Hope and trust in Jesus.

At the end of each chapter there is a section called Looking Inside which are questions to have the reader dig deeper into her own experiences from what was read. I didn't like the questions. Not because I don't like questions but rather they forced me to really think about my own feelings inadequacy as Christian wife and mother and struggles with  my own experience with depression.
One of the questions she asks is on fear.  From the 1st chapter: Place your hiding on a sliding scale, somewhere between nervousness about looking bad at one, and straight up terror at ten. Where are your particular places of fear? I'm going to be honest and say ten for me. But this review isn't about me.
If you are going to read this book I suggest you get a pretty journal for writing your thoughts and answers to the questions to what you've read.
 I plan on reading this again and getting a journal to record my thoughts

At the end of the book there are great resources for the topics Shari talks about in her book. Topics like foster care, spiritual healing, mental health resources and more.

I believe this book is for any woman regardless of age who is struggling spiritually, mentally and physically. 
Peanut Butter and Dragon Wings is available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released on July 6th.

I received a review ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.  


Saturday, May 1, 2021

A Call to Prayer- Photo by Naassom Azvedo Courtesy Unsplash.com





This wasn't the post I had planned for today ( well this evening now). I had planned a wonderful welcome May post. But so much is going on in our nation, in our world that I decided to switch gears.

There is so much evil in the world it just makes me sick.  We are bombarded with news of this terrible thing or that horrible  tragedy.  Ladies, Satan is out to kill and destroy marriages and families. He doesn't care who gets caught in the cross fire.

So I'm asking all of you  if you feel led to take time to pray everyday starting Sunday May 2nd -Sunday May 9th , Mother's Day for marriages and families. 

Pray for broken marriages.

Pray for prodigal family members who have left the faith.

Pray for broken relationships between parents and their children and that they be restored.

Pray for protection from the evil influences of the internet, in particular social media.

Pray for strength for families who are struggling and feel like they can't go on.

Pray for Christian couples to draw near to Christ and not be influenced by the world's ideas.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things and I'm sure you can think of others.  I'm just feeling heartbroken over a sweet sister in the Lord, who is going through a very difficult trial with her marriage and I just felt we as followers of Christ need to pray. Next week I hope to post some book reviews and book launches. Have a blessed Sunday.





Pray for the salvation of lost family members.



Thursday, April 22, 2021

Fire and Brimstone Preaching

 I have friends who have grown up in churches where the pastor would preach fiery sermons about hell fire and damnation. They said they were so glad to not be at such churches. There was a phrase the late Bible teacher  Dr. J. Vernon  McGee would say when he was about to say something that might step on toes or something profound. He would say "May I say to you". 

Well, may I say to you, given our current state of affairs in our country, there is nothing wrong with such preaching. Mass shootings, riots, immoral lifestyles, murdering unborn babies, etc it appears people have no fear of God. They've lost respect for God and themselves. Our country has gone dowhill and well as the rest of the world!

Now I'm not talking about screaming, accusing, judgemental preaching. I'm talking preaching that warns what will happens on judgement day if we aren't leading a life that honors God. I'm talking about preaching that comes straight from the Bible and doesn't water down the scriptures. I love our pastor's teaching. He's not afraid to speak truth and he is concerned about the unsaved.

It's time pastors stop being afraid of offending people and losing members. People's souls are in danger!

In the Beginning...

 God created the heaven and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

Even though it's Earth Day lets not get too caught up in the creation but remember the Creator. I'm studying Genesis using the Thru the Bible Radio Network app with the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee.  Though he went to his heavenly reward in 1988 his radio ministry still lives on.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Spring is Here!

 I hope you are enjoying your first day of spring.  I'm decorating the front of our "porch". The flower decor came from Dollar Tree, the bunny from a friend and the racoon was here when we bought our house.





Friday, March 19, 2021

Women of Faith Corrie ten Boom

 This week I want to talk about Corrie ten Boom who wrote The Hiding Place which she shares about her  Christian family helping  Jews escape the Nazis before before they were eventually caught and arrested were sent to a concentration camp.

Despite her circumstances Carrie was able to share her faith in Christ and encourage the other ladies there. And what I found exciting is many ladies got saved as a result of her and her sister Betsie sharing their faith and having Bible studies with the Bible Corrie  was able to sneak in.

Sadly Corrie was the only member of her family to survive the Nazi death camp. Both her father and sister had become ill and died.  Corrie was released from the death camp due to a "clerical error"  which I don't know what that was but I do know that God definitely had His plans for her after her release.  A week after her release all the women in her age group were murdered by the Nazis in the gas chambers.

After her release, Corrie went on to continue serving the Lord and authoring several books including as mentioned The Hiding Place which was made into a movie. 

Carrie ten Boom graduated to her eternal reward on April 15th 1983 on her 91st birthday.

I really would like to encourage you if you get a chance to read The Hiding Place and be sure to have a box of tissues handy.


Sunday, March 14, 2021

And a Correction and Recommendstions

 The author of The Tubman Train is Doug Peterson not Doug Peter. I highly recommend his Underground Railroad true story series:

The Vanishing Woman The story of Ellen and William Craft. Ellen a light skinned black woman disguised herself as a white  man and her husband William as her slave. Ellen Craft was biracial as well as her mother and grandmother who were also slaves. Many women slaves were often violated by their masters which resulted in children.


The Disappearing Man- The story of Henry " Box" Brown who escaped slavery by (with the help of two friends) shipping himself in a cargo box that had a hole drilled in for air. I can't even imagine what it could have been like for Henry being in that box. There had to have been fear of getting caught or just being in the box and not having room to move.


The Tubman Train - The story of Harriet Tubman whom I've already mentioned who helped many slaves escape.

All the of the above mentioned Doug Peterson ebooks  are available on Amazon to download to your device.


New Post Coming!

 Hi ladies. I'm sorry I've been absent. I got a new Amazon Fire Kindle for posting because my previous Android  device quit working properly. According to the guy at Best Buy it was outdated and that's why I had issues with it not updating and restarting itself constantly. This one takes some getting used to but I think I'm liking all it's features. I always thought Kindles  were only ebooks readers! 

We also have company here visiting so that has taken time away from posting.I  hope your Lord's Day is going well!

Monday, March 1, 2021

Women's History Month- Harriet Tubman

 March is Women's History  Month. Last year I attempted to write posts on godly women instead of political figures but COVID caused  our state to be shut down and I  was preoccupied with all that was going on at the time. I would like to try again by this month by writing a post each week by a woman of faith. I don't want to post about political women's figures because most of them have ungodly lifestyles or have political views that go against the Word of God.

This week the spotlight  is on Harriet Tubman. I had no idea she had a strong faith in God.  In school we only focused on her rescuing slaves and her Underground Railroad. From what I read about her life she trusted God to lead her and keep her and the slaves safe. She and none of the slaves she rescued were ever caught. If they had been they would most certainly be hanged. There are many resources available to learn more  about this remarkable woman. I just finished reading a historical fiction novel called  The Tubman Train by Doug Peter which I highly recommend. 


Friday, February 19, 2021

Thank You and End of a Era

First of all thank you to everyone who commented on my Valentine craft. I had fun making them.
So it's been a week now that Aunt Jemima has become The Pearl Milling company. That sweet face I loved childhood has now been replaced by in my opinion an ugly building. They are removing Uncle Ben's face and changing the name to Ben's Original and I hear they are removing the black chef's face from Cream of Wheat cereal. So companies really think that removing people of color from labels is going to stop racism? 
I think not. There will always be racism against black people, racism against white people, racism against Hispanic and racism against all the other cultures God created. And it will continue until Jesus returns. Oh what a glorious day that will be!

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

I ❤ Valentines

 I thought I would give the hearts Roxy at  Living From Glory to Glory made on a recent post. I did mine just slightly different.  I made mine by hand because I'm still not good at sewing around curves. You can find the tutorial on Roy's blog.



Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Eliminate

 That's the word I'm going to focus on this year. I was hesitant to post this because I've seen other bloggers with positive  words like  serendipity, hope, faith, etc and then there's mine. Eliminate. Elimination.

But I have come to the realization  there are things I really need to eliminate and the first two things that immediately come to mind are :

1. The need to control people who leave in my opinion stupid comments on my friend's blog or other blogs I follow.

2. Eliminate unkind words from my vocabulary which brings me back to Number 1.

My friend, who is a believer in our Lord Jesus,will write sometimes deep thoughts and what she's experiencing at the moment. She has some significant health issues which she  shares about frequently . There are those people who won't take the time to read what she actually wrote and will respond with something like "Beautiful post!"  or a smiley emoji. That makes me  want to respond to the commenter and ask if they even read what the girl wrote before writing their comment. I haven't and won't since I want to respect her blog and not cause arguments. I did however confront a woman on her own blog about her thoughtless comment after my friend had shared some significant physical pain she was experiencing. She came back and apologize to my friend for not reading her post carefully.  

I have noticed that my friend does have followers where English may not be their first language so Google translate might do a poor job of translating to their native language 

My friend is a  very kind hearted young lady and she doesn't let the thoughtless ( I replaced " stupid" with  "thoughtless") get to her. God has definitely gifted her with much grace and patience to deal with people.

It's going to be interesting to see how "Eliminate" will play out this year. I know the Lord is pruning me and "cutting of the bad branches" in my life ( See Luke 15:1-5). I suspect it's not going to be easy. But I'm looking forward to seeing how God will work in my life and hopefully be an encouragement to others.


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

What I Will Be Reading Instead

 In my last post I wrote about being cautious about what we read in the media. One of my goals this year is to read books. I've always had a passion for reading.

So Lord willing,  here are few books I hope to read or I'm actually reading this year. I was going to snap pictures of them all with the tablet but saw it was too much trouble. Of course I will read my Bible. That's part of my quiet time with the Lord. Also you will find I'm one of those people who have more than one book going. I crochet the same way. I have several crochet projects going at the same time.😊

Physical Books:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- I'm reading this right now.

Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan 

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - My 20 year old wants me to read this to her like I did when she and her sisters were little.  Our copy is well worn and loved. Anne of Green Gables is my favorite children's book.

A Gown of Spanish Lace by Janette Oke. I don't usually read Janette Oke books but this was on my bookshelf and never read. Another book I'm reading at the same time as another book.

Kindle Books:

I really prefer books I can touch but when I saw I could download Kindle for Sansung devices I couldn't resist.

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and yes I'm in the middle of reading this one too.

The Secret -of the Strength- What Would the Anabaptists Tell This Generation? by Peter Hoover. This book is not just an Anabaptist history book but Peter encourages Christ-followers to put into practice the teacohings of Jesus.

Weight Loss God's Way Bible Study and Devotional by Cathy Morenzie.  I downloaded this book last year but never got around to reading it.

Speaking From My Sock by Victor S.E. Moubarak - A collection of humorous stories and anecdotes. Victor blogs over at Time for Reflections


Audio books:

I never in a million years thought I would like audio books because I love reading but last week I signed up for an Audible free trial and it's like being little again and someone is reading to you. Also I can listen to book while I crochet.

Anne of Green Gables because why not?😊

Yesterday I signed but for Scribd two month free trial which has both ebooks and audiobooks:

The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. I read this a few years ago and loved it.

Having a Martha Home the Mary Way- 31 Days to a Clean House by Sara Mae

Seeking Allah. Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi. A devout Muslim shares his encounter with Christianity.   I've been wanting to read Nabeel testimony of how he became a Christian for a long time and I'm excited for the chance to read it. Sadly Nabeel passed away in 2017 from cancer leaving behind a wife and child.


And that's my partial list of books. If I get through all these books more will be added to the list.

Thoughts

 I've been troubled by the things that have been going on in our country. The riot last week at the Capitol was horrifying.  Unfortunately included with President Trump supporters were anti-Trump rioters but the timing of this whole thing was just plain weird. If the authorities knew this was going to happen because of information posted on the social media app Parler then why weren't steps taken to prepare and prevent the violence? Instead Google, Apple and Amazon removed Parler from their store after this all happened. A little too late Google, Apple and Amazon!

The media is having a field day with the whole thing. Either reporting half truths or concealing truth or telling downright lies. It just can't be trusted.

So what should  the Christian believer's response be? First of all we need to be praying. Even if that's all we do. Prayer is a powerful weapon. Pray for President Trump and in President- elect Biden. Right now there are impeachemt hearings going on which makes me wonder why the hurry to get Trump out when Biden takes office next week?  Is there something going on that the unreliable  press is not reporting that we should know? Seems rather silly and makes me think there is something fishy going on.🤔

Be cautious of what you read on the media. As I mentioned earlier the media can't be trusted. One of my Christian friends is doing a 31 day phone challenge and today's challenge is regarding the media. She says in her post to stop and think about what you are reading.  Ask ourselves " How do I know ss this truth?" " Can I verify this data, research or statistics?" " Is the opinion being stated as fact?" But most importantly Gina says is "Does it line up with the truth of God's Word?"

Gina posted this scripture which a good one for us to memorize if we haven't already. Philippians 4:8 - "Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

This is something I really would like to do for myself.  I can't tell you the number of times I've either read a news article, a blog post and it's comments and got so angry and I focused on it all day. 

Finally as believers we need to be a light to a dark world. We need to share Jesus and what He's done in our lives. At church on Sunday our associate pastor asked this question after he had preached on Luke 16:19-31 which is the parable of the rich man and the beggar. He asked "Which is worse, our country "going to hell in a handbasket" or people going to hell?" 

He encouraged us to think of one person we want to reach for Christ and to send that person's name to him and he will commit to pray for him or her. We also need to commit to praying for that one person we want him to pray for.

I believe that most if not all my followers here are born again believers. I do get spammers or that one people who doesn't believe in "organized religion".Well I'm not into it either because "religion" is disorganized but Jesus is not! He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Note: There is a chance Google Blogger may remove this post as I saw someone's innocent post about the riot was removed. It would appear some Christian bloggers are being censored so we will see how long this post stays. Should my post be removed it may be a sign Google and need to call it a day and blog elsewhere. 

Friday, January 1, 2021

And a Correction

 In my birthday post, I mentioned I  bought soft crochet hooks. That should have said soft handle crochet hooks. It was late and I was tired and I didn't proofread my post.

These are what I'm talking about. The handles are very comfortable because of my arthritis.  My youngest daughter gave me a set of these crochet hooks last year and I love them so much I ordered more to replace all my metal hooks.








Happy New Year!

 Happy New year to all of you. The first day of the new year I always write my goals for the year however 2020 taught me that God always have other plans.

So my goal this year is to be open to whatever God wants me to do. There are things I would like to do such as do sew myself a dress with sleeves and crochet a granny square blanket.  I want to figure out ways of earning extra money like perhaps opening an Etsy shop but what would I sell? 

So anyway, I'm praying this horrible COVID will become a thing of the past. I'm sad there was no Rose Parade this year in California. I always looked forward to the beautiful floats and marching bands.

You all have a safe New Year!


Moving My Blog

 After still trying to figure out the subscription thing with MailChimp and never having success, I've decided to go ahead and use my Wo...