Really?

God is so awesome! I have entered sweepstakes for years now, and I've never won. I never win the door prize or the contests. Usually, I'm sitting next to the person who wins...you get my drift? Lately, I have been amazed with all that I've won! A beautiful necklace, books, CDs, decorative plate and more books! (I need to link up to all the precious people who have given me prizes because I really apprecite everything I've received!)

Allow me to digress briefly (I promise, I'll try to be brief...I know I KNOW). A couple of months ago, I began crying out to God and holding on to His word as my marriage was quickly crumbing. I knew that if I held on to His promises, then no matter what happened would be for His glory. I was believing God - not just in Him but believing Him.

Here are a couple of the promises I held on to and kept repeating over and over:

Psalm 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) -- For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

So, things between James & I are steadily improving. Yippee! And, I've won all these prizes and I have had precious people just give me sweet presents and items to let me know "I love you". So to all of them I saw - THANK YOU!!! I honestly feel the Lord used these people and giveaways to remind me of the delight only He can give. So I PRAISE HIM! Thank you, Abba!

Imagine my surprise when I got home yesterday and I had a box from TitleTrakk.com that said "your prize is inside"! WHAT???? I won a stack of Christmas books from TitleTrakk.com. I went to their site to copy what I'd won for the blog, and there was my name! (The list of books has been taken down already.)

Let's give God a big round of applause and praise Him! Thank you Lord finding favor in me and giving me the desires of my heart. I will worship while I wait on You.

Have a beautiful Saturday. And remember to praise Him through your circumstances. He is worthy!


“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Neat-o Links!

I found some neat-o sites tonight and I wanted to share them! I believe I found them through Bloggy Giveaways (look for a giveaway carnival next week ~ I'm going to go through my Avon and/or Creative Memories for a giveaway. Heaven knows I have alot of both!).

Seems the big craze is vinyl lettering. I gotta admit - I am loving all the things I'm seeing with the lettering. I am loving the sayings on the walls and the thought of having something like that on my wall without having to try and paint it myself is extremely cool!

So, anyway, I went to Tip Junkie first and she has a ton of links to "mom shops". From there, I found this site My Tree House Treasures. She has some really cute products and none of them will break the bank.

Another giveaway site! Great homemade jewelry from RHBDesigns.



Go check these sites out - I know it's helping me pass time on this Friday night.


For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

Surrendering the Secret

I hope I'm linking this correctly. If you have any trouble with a link, please let me know. ~Cathy


A Giveaway That Keeps on Giving
Do you know that one in every three women has had an abortion? In fact, 43% of women of child-bearing age have this secret. And I don't use the term "secret" lightly. While there is certainly a multitude of unbelieving women out there that tote this secret sadness in their hearts, there are as many BELIEVING women - FORGIVEN, SAVED WOMEN in YOUR CHURCH - who are walking around unhealed. Why? Because they are paralyzed by shame and fear at the thought of surrendering their secret.

You may remember my mentioning Pat Layton, my friend, and the founder of A Woman's Place Ministries in Tampa, Florida. With first-hand experience, she intimately understands the fear and heartache that surrounds women, post-abortion. After she was saved, she looked for material to help her and others heal, but there was none. So, she and God wrote a study that was used for 20 years at her crisis pregnancy center. This year, Surrendering the Secret was released in DVD form by Lifeway, in response to the thousands of hurting women that flooded the altar for prayer in this area, after each of their large events.

While I, personally, have never experienced this heartbreak, I know a LOT of women who have. I bet you do, too. The effects are so far-reaching. As you can imagine, with this situation often being shrouded in secret, even if a woman knows about this study and longs for healing, she's not likely to buy it herself. This is why our churches - EVERY ONE OF THEM - need to have a copy. This is where our giveaway comes in - a chance to win one for YOUR CHURCH!

God has recently impressed upon me that we, the blog community, can partner with Lifeway and Pat, to make a BIG DIFFERENCE in this area of secret pain. Just as He multiplied the five loaves to feed thousands (Mark 6:41-44), I'm believing that He will do the same with this giveaway of the Surrendering the Secret study. So, here it is:
Five (5) Winners
One (1) DVD Leader Kit (including DVD study, leader guide and one member book) PER WINNER
Twelve (12) Member Books PER WINNER
Click HERE to watch the promo video of the study.

Giveaway will run through Sunday, October 12th - WINNERS ANNOUNCED MONDAY, OCTOBER 13TH (per random.org)
Because it is my heart that the word get out to as many churches and people as possible, I'm going to give you two chances to win:
Leave a comment
Link the giveaway in a post on your own blog, then leave a SECOND comment, including the link to your post. This is NOT about blog promotion, but about spreading the word of healing!Other ways to get involved:
Tell your church about the study and work toward getting a copy purchased for their use, if you don't win.

Encourage your pastor to discuss abortion from the pulpit and include it in the sins mentioned from the pulpit that are forgiven through Christ. There are MANY women who walk away from a sermon feeling like their sin is unforgivable, simply because it's never mentioned.
Invite Pat to come and speak to your women's group and/or leadership about ministering to women in crisis, or to train your leaders to present this study.
Consider donating financially.
Join me in thanking God in advance for what He will do! Praise Him that He will multiply this small mustard seed of faith into a great movement of healing across our nation.
THERE IS HOPE AND FREEDOM IN SURRENDERING THE SECRET.
You can make a difference for someone else who is hurting - maybe even for yourself.
In His marvelous love,

(From Melinda's blog - Please visit her blog to enter!)




For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11