Gateways to Joy

Hi ladies! Today I have two videos that I want to share with you.  The first is from our Bible study leader Courtney over at the Good Morning Girls blog. Courtney is going to share with us her reflections of this weeks reading via Youtube. You may silence the music by going to the side bar, clicking on the button in the middle :-) I'm one of the ones who will be catching up this weekend.  I am doing so many things.  One in particular is learning about graphic designs and typography, while also trying to understand different software that designers use today in the industry.  Let me just say this week I've been a bit perplexed :-/ Yesterday while roaming about on the web I came across a video that quickly became dear to my heart.  In this video I saw my dream being lived out and became very inspired. Take a look and you'll understand. Also my dear ones, I ask that you pray for a family friend. Her name is Fannie, she's our CPA and my husband...

Tonight I watched Sara Frankl's memorial. Sara is the blogger who passed away this Saturday due to a debilitating form of arthritis. So many people talk about Facebook, blogging and Twitter in a negative way, always saying why they "don't" participate. I understand totally. Yet I always share, though we should indeed play it safe, this new means of communication...networking, is my mission field. It's the way God is allowing me to minister to people I wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to. I'm writing this to show you the love God's people bestowed on Sara, blogger and friend to many, and vice-verse. These are some of the tweets that other's used, mostly bloggers, to express love to her during her final days and hours. Choosing Joy Tweets. There is also a beautiful write up about her and the mark she made on many of us. Tonight I watched a live stream of her memorial and yesterday her family allowed a live stream of her funeral. ...

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Ladies you really don't want to miss this video!   I'm just going to be honest with those of you who don't listen or have not listened to some of the videos that I've posted:  YOU REALLY ARE MISSING OUT! HONESTLY .  I am not in anyway putting videos up for the sake of putting up a video. I'm not even trying to get you to like someone that I like.   I put the videos up because I know your stories.  I talk to you... on the phone, skype, emails and you tell me your hardships, your difficulties. Yes.  I know your story and some of them are my stories.   The   videos that I put on this blog addresses our stories in one way or another!   God uses the stories and the experiences of one to help another, that's why I put the videos up.  We are all very similar and like minded so I know if I'm helped, more than likely you will be helped too! I am now hearing from so many of you until I can no longer get to all of you.  I'...

Sara is her name. Her blog bio reads: "I'm just a girl who used to write for a magazine to make a living, and now writes a blog to make a life..." Sara suffered with Ankylosins Spondylitis {AS} .  A disease that kept her physically home-bound, yet in our world daily.  A lot of us who blog about our faith and life knew her very well... her story and what He was doing with her life. Yeah... blogging reaches out and touches lives.  It allows us to go places we wouldn't otherwise go, and meet people we wouldn't otherwise meet .  This is just one of the reasons why I blog and I ask many of you to share your stories ... your quiet time "aha" moments, your ups and your downs.  In doing so we never know who we are helping. Yes, our stories have helped Sara, but Sara has helped us in many ways.  One in particular is the fact that she showed us what  choosing joy looks like, choosing joy in spite of our circumstances is what we are called to do. If...

Good Morning Girls! I'm passing the below information to your from the Good Morning Girls Blog! I've noticed that when the links alone are put up some of you go, but not all of you, and I don't want you girls to miss the information that Courtney and the other ladies take so much time in preparing to bring to us, so I thought I would bring their information to you! Welcome back to week 2 of our study in the book of I John!  If you are joining us a week late, here is a  link to the Free E-study guide  - download and print it or use it as a guide as your write in your own journal! Let’s get started by looking at this week’s key words in I John 1:5-10.  Remember there is no right or wrong way to do this.  Mark the words that you see repeated often or that mean something to you.  You can use colors or symbols.  I like to use a  yellow triangle to represent the Trinity  -  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit....

Would you say that you are a satisfied woman?     Did you know there is a secret to being a woman of satisfaction? Today we will look at writer, speaker and teacher Priscilla Shirer's new book, "The Resolution for women."  Before I delve in to today's post, I want to let you all know there is a book, "The Resolution for men," that is out.  But not only that, the creators of the movie Fireproof haven created an awesome movie that will be coming out at the end of the month. Ladies, make some date nights!  Grab your husbands, your sons and encourage them to see the movie. I put the trailer below. For those of you getting this post by email.  You can see this awesome trailer by going here.  See the trailer.  Don't forget to scroll down to quiet the music. Now ... Getting back to the question of you being a satisfied woman... Society has many messages that screams to us, "What we have isn't enough!" " Out with the old.  I...

Good Morning Girls! Today is our day of reflecting on what we've read so far in the book of 1 John 1:1-4. How are things going for you? All of this, for some of you, is rather new so I realize  some of you might still be in the phase of "trying to grasp"... that's just fine.  I'm in that phase too. There are so many of you that I have not yet emailed.  I have soooo many emails to respond to for various reasons, but just haven't been able to get to all of them just yet.  Please know that I will. Today I will share Courtney's video with you all.   Courtney is the lady behind the Good Morning Girls Bible study.  Before I share her video though, I want to share my reflections with you all: When I read John's reflections about his friend, it is easy for me to see how Jesus was in fact the friend of this man John, and they loved one another.  Just as you and I have special friends that we cherish and love.  John and Jesus were that to one a...

Watch live streaming video from goingbeyondministries at livestream.com Instead of writing something else about this book, I decided to share with you all the not so live, livestream, so that you, too, can listen to the discussion that Priscilla and the other two women in the broadcast discussed. They hit on many topics that we women, married and single, struggle with. We may all be different, but we suffer like things. I don't know about you, but so often I go through life wanting to get to the next thing...the next phase, and in looking back I see how due to my discontentment I've missed out on a lot.  Sometimes it's only in looking back that I see how far I have gotten and how some of the very things I longed for were with me.  I see friend that God truly was and always is faithful toward me. He does know exactly what He's doing. Please, please, stop where you are for a moment.  Take a deep breath... slow down and be here.  Right here in this moment a...

My heart grieves when people deny Jesus , but it seems to grieve even harder for those who can acknowledge that He was "once" here, yet still deny that He is the Christ, the Son of God , the Savior of the world, the Messiah . The first three verses of 1 John explains the " Incarnate Word " to us—Jesus being made flesh. Throughout the Bible, in fact, we bear proof of Jesus being the Son of God, yet many still go on in their unbelief, some dying in it even. John is know as "the disciple Jesus loved" and like Peter and James, this discple had a unique relationship with his Rabbi—his teacher. Whenever I read John's writings it seems that I connect with the warm love and affections that he had for his beloved Christ . The loved disciple wrote this letter, 1 John, to encourage the first generation of believers {little did he know his writings would continue encouraging believers throughout generations, extending to the 21 century and beyond} to get ba...

For a while on this blog, I will share my quiet times notes on the book of 1 John  and my thoughts on a book that I'm reading as part of a book club with Priscilla Shirer and the women on her blog. The name of Priscilla's book is: The Resolution for Women. In the book, Priscilla says, "So let me just be clear. This book is slanted. It's decidedly and purposefully designed not to take into consideration the actions {or inactions} of the other members of your family or the people who live and work and go to church with you.  I'm not going to be addressing your husband or how he should behave.  This is about what you will do, what you will become by God's grace from this day forward. This is the Resolution for WOMEN.  More specifically, one woman.  You." In both the book club and the online Bible study I find evidence that "God is calling me to make hard yet necessary decisions for this season of my life." And sometimes, honestly, I become so ov...

Ladies click on the blue title to leave a comment.  Most of you are emailing me saying that you don't see each other's comments.  I think I fixed the problem and there are comments on some of the other Bible study blog post. I really feel as if we are being attacked already.  I've never had problem with anyone leaving comments before this study, so weird :-( Good morning girls! I hope you all have done your reading for this morning.  I'd love for you guys to share in the comment section of the blog how it went and what you have learned. If you have a blog let me know because I'd like for us to do a link up party sharing what we're learning each week.  Also, Courtney, the leader of the Good Morning Girls group wants all of us with blogs to link up on her blog each Wednesday. I will share with you all a bit later today, through another person what my quiet time was like and what I learned, but first I wanted to share the information with you below from Courtney...