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Prayer and a Battle Plan

My hubby and I just watched War Room. (Yes I would endorse it fully. 5 stars all the way. Please watch it!)

It was inspiring and encouraging for us for two reasons.

1.      We have already learned some of the principles shared

2.      It inspired us to fight in prayer more, and to not give up

Probably the most inspiring scene in the movie for me was, when Elizabeth finds out that her husband is seeing another woman, and in tears, Elizabeth surrenders everything to God and then with boldness walks through her house and commands the enemy in “Jesus Christ” name to get out!

The verse Elizabeth read in that scene was James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

When we are faced with problems, weather they are relationships within marriage or family, extended family, or boyfriend girlfriend etc… we usually see the other person as the enemy and we know we are right and they are wrong and we want to fight them and fix the problem. But we forget they are not the enemy. Satan is!

As Ms. Clare told Elizabeth, (in my own words) we need to submit to God, get self off the throne, repent if we’ve messed up, get self totally out of the way, do our fighting in prayer, and let God do our fixing/fighting for us.

(Does it ever occur to us that the Lord brings people into our lives for a reason? That maybe we were meant to help one another in prayer? Not fight or walk away from them?)

When Mr. J and I were going together before we were even engaged, Mr. J lived with a headache for 2 ½ years! Doctors didn’t know what the matter was, they would only give pain meds. He sought help from many different medical people, and none had any answers for him. He had a chronic headache and he had to live with it, period. But God wasn’t finished with him.

One day we were sitting on the couch in the basement of our friend’s home, when Mr. J turned to me and with tears asked, “are you sure you want to marry a sick man?” My response was, “yes,” because God had brought us together, so why would I walk away from him when he needed someone to go through all this with him? I knew it might not be easy, I even worried that I may be a young widow, but I knew God had put us together and I was going to trust Him to see us through this.  Shortly after that, Mr. J sought the elders of the church to pray for him. They did what is written in James 5:14 prayed for him and anointed him with oil. Soon after this we were led to a spiritual counselor who began to teach us spiritual warfare like in the War Room movie. It took several sessions with this counselor before we had the breakthrough. With tears streaming down his face, Mr. J renounced the areas in his life where Satan had ground, and commanded them (the oppressing spirits) in Jesus Christ name to get out, and when he did this, the headache lifted for the first time in 2 ½ years!! *

Thank you Jesus! Hallelujah!

So you can imagine my excitement over the scene in the movie. The tools they are giving people; showing them how they can have freedom in their own lives and how to spiritually fight!

The movie has also inspired me to pray harder… or should I say, create a battle plan for the areas I feel led to pray in. It’s so easy to just give up on things, especially people we feel a need to pray for. We can’t see God working so we give up praying. But we can’t see what God sees; we can’t see what is happening under the surface.

I do not have a War Room closet, our house is too small for that, but I do have a prayer journal in which I have names and prayer requests and areas in our home that need prayer. I also feel a burden to intercede on others behalf’s and I think the movie touched on that too.

There are some people who I pray for that I would love to shack some sense into, and yet that is not what we are to do, we are only to pray for them, and let God to the shaking. I was challenged by the movie to pray for their walk with God, not so much the `problem’ they have or are causing. Because if they’re walk with God is right, the Holy Spirit will do the convicting and they will get their problems straightened out.

So here are a few things I pray for individually.

            -That they would know Christ as their personal saviour.

-That their relationship with God would grow.

            -That they would submit to God and take self off the throne

            -That the Lord would teach them how to resist the devil

            -That they would have a hunger for God’s Word.

            -That their eyes would be open to the truth.

            -That they would be free from bondage from the enemy in Jesus Christ name

            -That they would walk in the Spirit and put on the Fruits of the Spirit in their lives.

No, I do not have it all together! Some days I forget to pray. But I hope and pray that as I share things, and am open about what the Lord has led us through or taught us, that it will help someone who reads this.

*It is important to note that not all sickness is cause of spiritual oppression. Like Job some can be for testing or to build our faith. We must always examine ourselves and ask for the Lord to show us.

S.L. Kliever

Craft for February

More doll house furnishings! Cause who doesn't like dollhouses!


Here's a few of my favorites... a home made Calico Critter piano ...

 and some home made plates from buttons!

to start off, I searched on line (Pinterest) for doll house plates that I could print off. 

There were all sorts of kinds, some really nice ones too, but I choice Minnie Mouse, because these are for my daughter's doll house. I printed them off (I only had black and white ink, but these would be great in color!!) cut them out and Mod Podged them on to the buttons with a paint brush and let dry.

 (these should not be given to toddlers!!! they end up in the mouth!)

 Curtains for the doll house!

Started out by making my curtain rods.

 I wanted something simple, so I found some lace, hot glued it on to my sticks in ruffles and wala!

 I then hot glued them above the windows.

 to make a simple book, I used some scrap cloth I had lying around, and small cardboard, hot glued the cloth around the cardboard, leaving room in the middle for the paper. I then folded some paper and glued it in.

 Now for my favorite! the Piano 

I started with a medium size stick, cut off the rounded ends and added my piano keys

(somehow they didn't come out perfect! would recommend using a ruler!)

 I then began to construct my piano. I would recommend finding a box the right size if possible. I didn't have one on hand, so I made my own.

 I created wood sides. if I had a box, I would have covered the box in wood.

 then added the keyboard and other pieces of wood to make it look like a piano. I kind of made it up as I went a long.

 I also added `foot peddles' and feet.
This is the finished product.

 and in the back is a hidden book shelf or storage. I could have closed it in, but I felt it was wasted space.

 Happy Crafting


S.L. Kliever

Sweet Sour Milk Biscuits

I had some good farm milk going sour on me, but instead of dumping it, I did some baking.


Sweet Sour Milk Biscuits
Preheat oven to 400 F

2 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 t  Baking Powder
1/2 t  Salt
5 T  Butter
3/4 C  Sour Milk
3 T Honey

Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter till tiny lumps, then chill in fridge for 10 min. Add milk and honey and mix.
Roll out dough on floured surface, and cut into biscuits. Bake 10-12 min. on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Additions:
-For making Raisin Biscuits, all 1 Cup of raising and 1 t Vanilla to your milk and honey mix before adding to flour.

-for the Biscuit Jam Roll, add 1 t Vanilla to the milk and honey mix before adding to flour. Roll out on floured surface and spread Apricot (or jam of your choice) on 3/4 of the dough, leaving a strip on one side. Sprinkle with Cinnamon. Roll dough towards the strip of dough with no jam. Use the dough strip to pinch your roll closed. Biscuit Jam Roll may take 12-15 min to bake.
 

Craft for the month of January

The craft for the month of January .... more doll house furniture!!

come take a look!

One of the easiest pieces of furniture to make was this table and benches. 

Just plain popsicle sticks for the top, 

held together with cross ones underneath and then wooden blocks of beads for the feet.

To make a kitchen counter with shelves, I began with a tea box which I cut in half.

 I saved two of these small plastic containers from plum sauces for the sinks. 

Cutting out my holes, I placed the sinks in.

 I wanted it enclosed, so I cut out another piece of cardboard and glued it on the bottom.

I covered it in fabric, hot glued it in place.

 next I made my sides, back and shelve, from popsicle wood...

and glued it on to my counter

 with my craft knife I cut open the sink... and trimmed it up...

 then added my shelve...

 I printed off a stove top and front and mod podged it on... 

cover my whole counter top and front with the glue

 I made a second one from the other half of the tea box, 

following the same steps as above except with a smaller shelf and wooden bead feet.

 the last thing I did was to cut open my oven doors.

 the oven door that opens from the top works better than the side opening one.

The side opening one gets stuck inside.

happy crafting!

(more to come next month)
                                                                                                                                               S.L.Kliever

Craft for the month of December

The craft for December is.... making your own journal/smash book!

To make a cloth covered book, you need, cardboard (sturdy), cloth, and some kind of glue. I used Mod Podge.

 I was using scrap cloth here, so it was challenging to piece it together, but basically you want a piece of cloth that is 2 in bigger than your cardboard all around. You'll be folding it over as you go. You can see too that I have 3 pieces of cardboard. The front, back and the spine.

 You will then fold over all the cloth and glue it in place, covering the remaining inside with card-stock paper.

As you see below, this one I had the cloth cut right and was able to properly cover the spine, by tucking that cloth in.

(uh.... yah, how can you tell I have kids! Diaper box right!!!)

And here we prepared our paper. for the smaller book above, I just folded plain white sheets in half and glued the folded edges together before putting it in my book, but this big purple book below needed big sheets 8 1/2 by 11.

So I took my writing paper, put those gold thingys in there to keep the paper from moving around, and then with the Mod Podge, glued all the back edges together.

 After folding in the cloth, I covered with card-stock paper and then also placed in my paper. I glued that first page to the folded card-stock. my paper I also glued to the spine, because this is a big book and somewhat flimsy. However on a smaller book there probably is no need to glue the paper the the spine and is probably better if you don't for it to function better.

 Next I glued a cover over the outside spine

 these turned out better than I'd hoped!

Next I began to fill my purple book. It's a journal smash book full of pictures, stories, momentous and memories. Anything and everything I'd like my kids to know about me.

Here is how I filled it.

Journal prompts

0. Name and Date of starting your journal

1. Where you were born –where you have lived –where you are now

2. Early memories from childhood

3. When were you saved?

4. Preteen years in a nutshell (or memories from)

5. About my Grandparents

6. A book you love

7. Teen years in a nutshell (or memories from)

8. Something you feel strongly about (personal beliefs or convictions)

9. Into your early twenties in a nutshell (or memories from)

10. Favourite scriptures and why they are

11. Five things to win your heart (or up your love bank)

12. About my dad

13. About my mom

14. Your second favourite book

15. Family Values

16. Family Traditions

17. Books you’ve read

18. Your Love Story (how you met, how he purposed, your wedding day)

19. Your kids –daughter –son (describe them)

20. If you could meet a character from any book, who would it be?

21. Dreams for the future

22. Your Hero’s (special people) in your life and what makes them so.

23. What has God been teaching you lately?

24. Top 10 favourite movies

25. What do you day dream about?

26. About your best friend (or spouse)

27. A Day in your life

28. If you could go back in time to the olden days, what era would you choose and what modern things would you take with you?

29. Write a letter to yourself to be read in the future

30. Make a timeline of your life

31. Story from your past

32. Write a letter to your spouse (or future spouse)

33. A story from this summer (year)

34. What did you read in your devotions today?

35. Write a letter to your children (or future children)

36. Your families names and the meanings of their names or stories behind their names

37. A list of your favourite things (food, color, music, activities,) and a list of dislikes

38. The story of your daughter’s/son’s birth

39. Describe yourself,  personality, talents, hobbies… etc.. and something about yourself that people might not know.

40. Write about the story books/novels you want to write

41. If you could choose any profession/job what would it be and why?

42. Family members and their characteristics (siblings, aunts, uncles)

43. Your spiritual journey

44. How do you want to be remembered?

45. Characteristics that you admire in your husband (or want in a husband/wife)

46. What is God teaching your today?

47. A prayer for your family or friends

48. Answered prayers that you remember (so you won’t forget!)

49. Bucket list (things you want to do yet)

50. Count all your blessings! Name all the things you are thankful for!

Extra prompts or substitute prompts:

1. Add a picture and the story that goes with it.
2. Add pictures to existing journal entries
3. Write in your favourite recipe
4. Your devotions for that day (prayer and Bible verse that stood out to you)
5. Glue in encouraging or special notes or letters that were given to you 
6. old journal or diary you want to throw out? Take out the entries you like and glue/tape them into your new journal.
7. Write in your favourite quotes
8. Write out the best advice that was ever given to you
9. Write advice you’d give someone else
10.  Glue in love notes from your spouse/special someone
11. Glue in mementoes from a special event and write the story behind them
12. Write about the people in your life who have died and what they meant/impacted you.
13. Old Drawings
14.  Whole Page Dedicated to your hobby
15. About your friends
16. About your brothers that aren’t your brothers
17. About family that aren’t your family
18. A fictional story about you
19.  Keepsakes from the past
20. Write your favourite writing prompts 
21.  If you could step into a book or movie, what would it be and who would you be in the story?
22. Write a short children’s story

A Message from a baby...

Not Worthy

On Oct 30^th of this year 2015, my nephew was born into this world. His name is Joshua William. His name means `Because God is my Salvation, I am a strong willed warrior’. He was born with Trisomy 18.

That’s not the saddest part. The saddest part is that before his birth, some of the doctors didn’t see his life as worth anything.

Seems in our world we can’t look past the defects. We think we know it all. We know what kind of people are normal and what aren’t and we measure by that standard. We measure everything by that standard, even our love.

I find it very ironic, that in this sin sick world, truth be told none of us are worthy to `live’.

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death!”

God set this standard, and the standard says, the penalty for sin is death. This is an eternal death, one spent in hellfire.

How depressing you say?

Well, there is good news folks! The rest of the verse above says, “…But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Over 2000 years a go, a tiny baby was born to a virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem. A Miracle! God knew from the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned, that He would make a way for Salvation for all mankind. God would come to earth in the form of baby, as Jesus, and he would live a sinless life and then die (take the penalty) for all the human race!

This Christmas I have one message to all of you, John 3:16

“For God so loved the world (you!) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life”

God’s love is not measured by our defects. The penalty for our defect (sin) is death, but He as a loving God, also made a way for our Salvation. He loves us while we are still in our sin. He offers a gift to you, the gift of eternal life in Heaven with Him. What must we do to accept this gift?

Romans 10:9-11 says “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed.”

Confess your sin to God, ask for forgiveness, and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I find it so incredible that my brother and his wife had picked out Joshua William as the name for their son, long before he was even in existence. God knew that this little one would be born fighting for his life, and he knew what name they would pick. `Because God is my Salvation, I am a strong willed warrior’.

This whole situation spoke one thing to me; God knows the sinful state we are born in. He knows what a mess we’ve made of the world, and yet, He is our Salvation! And in HIM we truly live!!!