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Encouraging the Act of Charitable Giving

Now that Christmas is over it is still important to remember those who may be less fortunate.

On the act of charitable giving, humility, receiving gifts, and thanks to God.

In Mark 12, Christ discussed what are the most important commandments. He answered, for all to hear, ”Hear, O Israel, The Lord, our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

             Now let me ask you this. If you truly did love your neighbor as yourself, then you would wish to give to everone fairly and generously, wanting for yourself no more than everone else. After all, wouldn’t you do the same for your own family members?

Generosity Encouraged 

             “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:
       “They have scattered abroad their gifts to the poor;
       their righteousness endures forever.”

            Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-11)

Now more than ever, food banks need our donations of food and cash. Please Give.

God Bless.

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Get a free devotional book, even shipping paid for you… see below

I’d like to share with you some life saving experience I’ve gained. You may need to hear it, you may not, but I want this to reach the ones that do need to hear it, that lives may be saved.

If you have some faith, or even if you don’t, then you must realize that there is a whole spiritual world  that we cannot at this time fully measure. Whether you do believe or not, it is well documented in the Bible that this realm truly exists and that spirits, angels and demons who live in this spiritual realm do have the capacity to communicate with people in our “tangible” realm who have the “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15).

Truly, truly, know this.  The Name in the Power of Christ holds the power to command demons. The everlasting Sacrifice of His Blood and my faith in Him shelters me from evil spirits. I know from experience that YOU do not have to live in bondage to frightening voices who say that you are not worthy of salvation.  Satan the “deceiver” wants you to believe that you are not worthy or ready for salvation… why? He doesn’t want you to go to Paradise, he wants you and your soul to be separated from our Father, the Almighty Everlasting One.

God loves you deeply. He cares, for your life. YOU ARE worthy of salvation, all you need to do is give your love to Him. God Himself paid the ultimate price for the salvation of YOUR soul. If you want to know how I know this, please read Isaiah 52 and 53.

Thanks to Jesus’ life, teachings, death, resurrection, and crowning as the King of Kings, YOU now have the permission and the power to command evil spirits out of your life, by the knowledge of these truths and the conviction of your beliefs. You do not have to be frightened, controlled, or bullied by evil spirits. Christ already won that battle, though ultimately, it is up to us to choose our hero.

 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (John 18:11)

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 p.s.  Gospel for Asia is giving away a great free book, they will even pay the shipping for you.  I very highly recommend this book, I read it myself and was deeply impacted and surprised at some of the Missionary’s findings. Tons of testimonials.  Get The Free Book Here.

 

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A message that bears repeating forever…

The girl who silenced the world at the United Nations summit in Brazil. 

This important speech carries a message that everyone should hear, young or old, rich or poor, weak or powerful, all nationalities!

This young woman’s speech carried an astounding weight that can’t be measured… she projects as much power in her poise as did JFK or Winston Churchill… this speech has already reached so many people… but since I first heard this message today I’m sure that there are many who still need to hear it, or hear it again!

 

Our children have no choice but to inherit the world as we are leaving it to them.  It is up to us, not up to them, to improve it!  We should at least set the example!

We love them, or we say we do. Now let our actions reflect our words. This world needs to be a healthier place, we all have to work together for this!

Our world is the most important inheritance we will ever give to our children.

Start something now, make a difference now!  Change the world!

To our children!

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This is how I can help starving children.

In time for Christmas… a story about… me.

And I thought I suffered hardship.

My confession. Over the past eight years now, I’ve been learning, first hand, what mental illness is, the consequences of addictions, how the tearing down of my strength and will, all I held dear, divorce, family separation, major rapid weight gain due to essential medications I can’t do without, chronic unemployment, and how all this actually serves a much greater good and turn all my losses into gains.

While I’m choosing right here not to go into the details of traumatic events I’ve gone through since my first psychotic episode, if even to save space, it truly, deeply, humbles me to think how much many millions of people have lost in comparison.

I’m talking about the losses of children, families, villages, and countries have faced and are now, more than ever, facing because of widespread crop failures overseas, re-allocation of crop to supply demand for bio-energy fuels, food shortage, no access to clean water, loss of family caregivers due to devastating hunger and epidemic…

Man have I been lucky.

While I won’t speak for everyone in my country, I am truly so thankful for my life, which is not that bad, and that I still have both parents who love and give everything they have to see to the successful raising of my generous, sensitive, faithful and caring seven year old son, and still make strong efforts to see that I am not lonely or suffering in my place…

It honestly breaks my heart to think of what my life or the life of my son would be like without their care, and even moreso the helplessness I feel when I see on television line-ups many hundreds of starving people long, in remote villages, when each of them are waiting hours for no more than a bowl of nutritional oatmeal, and I can’t even afford to donate $10 without giving up some precious aspect of my daily life.

What a spoiled people we are!

Heaven FORBID we go without our internet, coin laundry, or buying yourself that 55″ television you really can’t do without.

That’s sarcasm if you didn’t catch it.

The hardships I’ve gone through have taught me an abundance of lessons over the years. One important lesson that I think should be shared with everyone is this: 

The hardships only make you stronger if you learn a lesson and grow from them.

But even more important, is this.

It simply does not matter, in the true scheme of things, if your yard has the best trimmings or if your foyer or dining room has the best chandelier… image is just that, and how much money you have is not even substantial to ensuring the safety of your family or the lessons you impart behind.

At least not in our country.

Truly, truly, what is more important to you? Think about this… will you feel better about yourself if you have the prettiest house on your street, inside and out?

Or if that $1000 you could have spent on tile flooring actually fed three hundred hungry people a hot bowl of nutrition each day for 3 months?

You are already as beautiful as you can be on the outside… which choice of those two do you think makes you more attractive on the inside?

There are thousands of missionaries spreading the God’s soul-saving Love by filling hungry bellies and ministering to hurting people in hundreds of the most remote and hard-hit of famine-stricken lands in Asia, Africa, South America, and everywhere else that hunger and suffering exists. Don’t you wish you could help them?

If your answer is yes, I highly recommend you visit this site: www.LifeToday.org

Please… throroughly examine that website.  Learn about the founders of Life Outreach International.  Find out how their ministry of humble beginnings has evolved to become world-changing…

That site again is  www.LifeToday.org  …  They have staff ready to take your calls right now. You can donate from a credit card if you want or $30 once a month right from your bank account. This goes right to helping the missionaries acheive their purposes… and they need that help, right now. If they don’t have enough money to do their job, someone else might die who doesn’t have to, and fewer souls will be won to life-saving Love and Word.

www.LifeToday.org

Me, I’ve been through much, and money’s barely there, but hey, I’m blessed. I’ve got loving family, adaquate shelter, medical care, food in my fridge, and more, much more to be thankful for. Many thanks to living in a rich, developed country with social aids.

Shed your pride.  Help the lives who truly need it.

Please. I’m asking for the child who is near dying of starvation… if she is saved, she may grow up to change the world for her generation.

www.LifeToday.org

“Godly people give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will never be forgotten.” (2Corinthians 9:7-9)

“Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” (Proverbs 22:9)

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Great guitar lessons for free

Hey friends,

You know, when I come across a good thing, I like to share it to where it will make a difference. On that note, be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed and bookmark my site, for I’ll make every effort for each of my posts to be helpful, and maybe, if the time is right for you, you can purchase from some of the banners or links in this page, to help to generate us some income. My disability pension doesn’t pay much… this page is all I have to earn extra income for our small family. I do hope you want to help.

For the longest time I lived in poverty… always struggling paycheck to paycheck… I do know what it’s like to go hungry. The thing that made the biggest difference for me in fixing that, was quitting smoking. Thank you Lord for helping me quit smoking! Prayer… Intercession… that was key. I found that after praying with a friend for the Lord to help me quit smoking, that I thereafter wanted to get rid of my tobacco, and I found my hands to be at rest… no fidgeting, no uneasiness. I couldn’t have done it alone.

One thing that got me through many of the hard times though, was this… learning to play the guitar. What a great hobby! I’m still not an expert, but I’m getting better each day I practice… and I wanted to share with you the link to a great web-site that a guitar-playing friend of my dad’s introduced me to!

http://justinguitar.com

There’s like two full years of lessons in this site that you can access even if you have no money! Payment works on an honor system… you pay if you can, but if you can’t afford it, it’s free to use. There are scores of great lessons you should practice if you are interested in learning the guitar.

All you need is a guitar, and the Internet, and you can learn to play.

And be sure to comment  if you have something to say… I’d love for some discussion!

Enjoy!

Elaine

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Encouraging post, be who you are, be success!

Hello friends,

I’ve run across a really great character in the Internet Marketing arena… the self-proclaimed king of Internet marketing, David King! Here I’d like to share with you an important blog post of his that merits mention here.

David’s got a great repertoire of knowledge, having studied profusely on the ins and outs of twitter and other online social media. He is an accomplished student of Anthony (Tony) Robbins, and shares one of Tony’s lessons in his post.

I hope you will take the time to visit his blog and let me know what you think!

http://davidbeking.com/be-you-be-passion-be-life/life-lessons

There is a lot of great content in David’s post that can make huge improvements in the average person’s life, challenging people to make small adjustments in their lives, not give up and be in control!   Very encouraging.

Just be you, you are already a success!

I hope you take the time to read his post.

I’d also like to take this time to bring to your attention a previous post… it is about a music video that emphasizes the very point of being happy with who you are, life is a journey, have faith that God is there for you… no matter how hurting or stressed out you may feel, smiles will inevitably come.

It’s about hope.

http://elainenicol.com/faith/fwd-fail-us-not-music-video/

Hopefully both of these websites will touch your heart and make a difference. Be sure to tell your friends about this site!

God Bless,

Elaine

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Let the peace of the Lord be upon you…

“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When the Judgement Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles! Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!”  Matthew 7:21-23

How can it be that a person who performs miracles and drives out demons in Jesus’ name, be called wicked by His own divine mouth? Unfortunately, it’s  easy, and simple. Pride, and judgement. Pride is like when you feel glad that you are who you are because you feel justified or above others. Judgement is not up to you, mortal. We must exalt the LORD on high because HE is righteous and just, and HE has created us all, no matter what nation you come from or what religion you call yourself.

“God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble.”  1 Peter 5:5
“Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.”  Matthew 7:1,2

How do we find His favor? Well, he has made available learning. If we are PROUD, we might feel that, “NO, I don’t HAVE to read the Bible because I know MY book is better, and because I am right and you are wrong! I proclaim judgement on you in the name of —–!” 

That whole concept simply does not fit the awesome loving listening and forgiving  of the LORD God Almighty of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, characterized throughout the entirety of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible.

“So let us come near  to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and do good.”  Hebrews 10:22-24

To reference the words of an important prophet today that I regard very dearly, ”The Lord would say today, cling to unity and love one another. Let your joy flow like a river. May peace permeate your body, soul and spirit. You have not because you ask not. Ask not to waste upon yourself but for the sake of others.”

And in learning to be humble and truly earning the favor of the LORD, please study this wisdom by an ancient wise king, remember these sayings to govern yourself and those under your power:

“Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble.”  Proverbs 17:1
“The LORD gave us mind and conscience, we cannot hide from ourselves.”  Proverbs 20:27
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Lest We Forget

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They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;

Time shall not weary them, nor the years condemn;

With the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them.

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I thought for a while this night (it is currently the wee hours of Nov. 11th, Remembrance Day) on what I was going to write about.  I got an email, yesterday, about a hyped new traffic generator that guarantees a veritable hurricane of new viral traffic on steroids for my site by cloaking all my links… er, sounds great… it sure would be nice to be earning some money for a change and a larger number of website visitors would probably help that… you know, I’ll think about that tomorrow. It seems important… but does it?

Somehow right now though… with the date on this post being the 11th of November… it seems somewhat petty or selfish to headline my business. What is truly important here?  Sales?  Traffic?

One day, once a year, is NOT too much to ask for everyone to bow their heads and pray for the lives and memories of veterans and their families, hundreds of thousands our nations’ valuable young men and women who are serving or have served in the pursuit of our human rights.

That’s what was fought for. Many people would say it’s freedom that was fought for. Freedom, I believe, is a word that is somewhat misunderstood and over-used. Yes our freedoms are a very important part of our national Constitution, and worth fighting for… but truly, the foundation of human rights, of what not only makes us free people, but makes us as fellow humans beings, joining together in spirit for the purposes of what is good and right… what makes the world liveable for people who are disadvantaged, and makes the loss of our loved ones in the battle for freedom, not in vain.

Publishment  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (full and complete and free): http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Recommended reading to obtain for your collection:  We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures

You can purchase this Audio MP3 to listen to on your iPod:  Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Unabridged)

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I pray… LORD God, Be with and work through the brave soldiers who are making moves and risking their lives to spread to all the human race Your forever-important Teachings about Love, Freedom, Unity, Righteousness, and Truth. Protect them and their loved ones, and bring Peace to those who have lost. Your Love and Forgiveness LORD is all-encompassing, merciful, and just. Thank You FATHER for our lives and for the Love of our families and friends, Thank You LORD for the lessons of the past, and Thank You LORD for the opportunity of this day, to make things right.

Father, In Your Holy Name,  Amen.

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To my readers, thank you for your readership and your patronage. I hope you find the meaning in my writings and I hope I have found your care for me and my purpose here. I want to make a difference in this world and help inspire others to make it a better place.

You can make a difference by your existence in taking to heart everthing included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which I believe are Divinely Inspired for the good of our entire race. Help me personally by purchasing through my site, and also, please help me and others by sharing my site.

Thank you, go in peace, and God Bless.

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Lovin’ the new home… warmth, love, and wonder, enter, stage right, the holiday season.

I haven’t been on the computer for a while. Over Halloween we moved into our new place, a lovely little apartment that is affordable and close enough to family (without living under their roof!) I’m liking the new place… while waiting for cable, internet and phone to be set up we managed to acquire all the furnishings and unpack… including our Christmas tree… I decided to put it up on display already, the place looks great!

… yeah, yeah, Halloween’s come and gone and the gift-giving season is inevitably approaching. TV ads about Santa. Sparkly malls and department stores. Overcrowded parking lots, cold weather, and Christmas bonuses.

So please allow me to share with you what I think are great gift ideas…

Shopping online is quick, easy, fun and reliable when it’s from an established, trustworthy company with a well organized, unmatched selection of products and great deals.  No contest, one of the most memorable presents you can give someone is a surprise gift package they pick up at the post office or in their mailbox…

Books/Gifts Re: Business & Investing for the Entrepreneur you know

Health, Mind, and Body Books

Apparel & Accessories

Books Re: Professional & Technical

Shoes, Boots, Slippers

Health and Personal Care Items

Computers Delivered

Of course, another great gift you can give is one they can have fun choosing for themselves.  Gift Certificates/Cards are sweet gifts for the people on your list, more personal choices like music mp3s, electronic devices, books on tape, digital movie downloads, blu-ray discs, software, shoes, handbags, furniture, kitchen wares, garden tools, even musical instruments and sheet music… then your employee/family member gets to pick out for themselves exactly what they’ve sincerely been hoping for!

From me to you, those are all truly awesome gifts suggestions. Now you have a CHOICE, do you really want to go to the overcrowded malls and HOPEFULLY stumble-upon the perfect gift for everyone on your list, or go shopping Amazon-style and find something great for everyone all in one place?

There, I’ve had my rant, I just want to share something good with y’all. So, much love from my family to yours, and hope you have a magical holiday season full of warmth, kindness, and wonder, the way Christmas was meant to be spent.

May God abundantly bless you and yours,

Elaine

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