Tag: Religion and Spirituality

WF: All things are possible

On By Naty MatosIn WorshipLeave a comment

As part of returning to blog, we are also back with our Worship Fridays. Like I said at the beginning of this week, sometimes life gets in our way. We can find ourselves in a place where we feel limited to what we are able to do. Let’s not forget that those can be distractions from our purpose. As humans we can allow ourselves to stumble but let’s not allow ourselves to fall .

Let’s live by the words we read in Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

WF: Worship Friday

 

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“This book is in a class by itself, you will not be able to put it down! The characters pull you in and you begin to feel their emotions. Excellently written. The title fooled me, the saying goes” never judge a book by the cover “and this is one of those books.” By Duezette

Book Blast: A Life of Gratitude: 21 Days to Overcoming Self-Pity and Negativity by Shelley Hitz {3/20/13} – $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

On By Naty MatosIn Writing Happenings1 Comment

Title: A Life of Gratitude: 21 Days to Overcoming Self-Pity and Negativity

By Shelley Hitz

About the Book:

During a season of transition in my life, I found myself overwhelmed with negative emotions like self-pity and a complaining spirit. It was as if a dark cloud had descended over me. I prayed and asked God for wisdom on how to overcome these negative emotions. As I did, I sensed Him leading me to do a 21 day gratitude challenge.

Over the course of the 21 days, God began to change me as I spent intentional time being grateful for all I had been given. I did this through writing in my journal each day and also sending a hand-written thank you note to someone different each day. This also led me to writing out 21 prayers of gratitude and compiling 21 stories of gratitude.

I want to share what I learned with you in the pages of this book which includes:

21 Days of Gratitude Challenge

21 Prayers of Gratitude

21 Stories of Gratitude

What to Expect On Each Day:

Read my personal stories, struggles and reflections.

Read one scripture and one quote about gratitude.

Apply one personal application step from the challenge.

Read one prayer of gratitude

Read one story of gratitude

Get Accountability and Encouragement

Along with the 21 day challenge, I also started a private Facebook group to provide accountability and encouragement for myself but also for others who decide to join me in the challenge. You will get access to this group as well. It has been amazing to see God at work in each of our lives.

Will you join me on this journey to gratitude?

KINDLE | PAPERBACKShelley Hitz
shelley-lynne-headshot-webShelley Hitz is an award-winning and international best-selling author. Her openness and vulnerability as she shares her own story of hope and healing through her books will inspire and encourage you.

Shelley has been ministering alongside her husband, CJ, since 1998. They currently travel and speak to teens and adults around the country. Shelley’s main passion is to share God’s truth and the freedom in Christ she has found with others. She does this through her books, websites and speaking engagements.

You can find more about Shelley at ShelleyHitz.com or invite her to speak at your event here: ChristianSpeakers.tv

Follow Shelley Hitz
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter below to enter a $25 amazon gift card, sponsored by author Shelley Hitz!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This book blast is hosted by Crossreads.

We would like to send out a special THANK YOU to all of the CrossReads book blast bloggers!

Psalm 19 P.5 And the winner is…

On By Naty MatosIn Book Review, Worship2 Comments

First of all you have to forgive me. This has been one of those weeks, but I didn’t forget about you. I’m very glad that you all enjoyed our latest series of studying Psalm 19. If you missed it, I have linked the previous parts at the end of this post so that you can catch up.

We never got to discuss the last few verses, but I know that at this point you get the message of what this psalm is about.  I still want to share those last verses with you for your Friday meditation with a little worship video. (It’s Worship Friday after all, right!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-zJHgaoVa4
 

Psalm 19:12-14

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Now to the part you are all waiting for.clip_image002_thumb.png

The winner of a copy of Growth Lessons is…

Marriott Cole

 congratulations

Related articles

Psalm 19 Part 2

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts1 Comment

We are going over Psalm 19. I’m not a preacher, a theologian and aside from going to church, my only official bible classes were two semesters in college. I don’ t claim to have a deep understanding of the scriptures, but this one had a great impact on me when I read it the other day and I wanted to share with you what I saw in it. If you missed the first 4 verses check them out here.

Psalm 19: 4b-6

God makes a huge dome

for the sun—a superdome!

The morning sun’s a new husband

leaping from his honeymoon bed,

The day breaking sun an athlete

racing to the tape.

That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies

from sunrise to sunset,

Melting ice, scorching deserts,

warming hearts to faith.

The imagery of a dome gives me a sense of covering. In the crazy world that we live in, I need to feel the safety and the protection of my Lord. It is what gives me the strength every morning to do what I’m called to do, the knowledge that I’m under his covering.

I love how this verse talks about the athlete and the newlywed husband. To me it shows God’s love and eagerness to be with us, to wake us each morning to see his creation in action. When I read this I thought, How sad would it be if the Lord wakes up with all this expectations of the things he has planned for me to do today and then I work on my selfishness instead of his plan. I think that’s the other reason why my morning prayers have become so important, because I can surrender my agenda to grab his agenda.

The other day I was listening to the radio and the announcer said, “ If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans” It left me thinking, yes I would make him laugh because my plans are usually nonsense compared to his.

Food for thought

Until our next time, be blessed

Note: Remember, I encourage you to follow the You Version challenge. If you follow our Bible studies as well and enter a comment in any of our blogs until February 2nd your name will be place in a hat to win a copy of my devotional “Growth Lessons”. I will announce the winner on February 4th 2013. Let’s enjoy this journey of learning the Word of God together.

 

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In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham

Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames

WF: This Is The Stuff

On By Naty MatosIn WorshipLeave a comment

One of the things I enjoy the most about my “Christian Lifestyle” is the fact that I am able to worship. The ability to connect my spirit to God is quite an experience.
I’m not superstitious, but I do think that the Lord alerts me of things to come. When I’m having some quiet time with the Lord I stumble into scriptures that prepare me for things that happened.

This week I read a scripture that gave me the heads up that it was going to be a challenging week. It proved to be every bit true. “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)

Have you ever had one of those weeks where as things happened you kept hearing a song inside your head that kept you collected. One of those weeks where you had to repeat the Serenity Prayer even in your sleep; especially that part that says “taking as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it”.

If you have had this kind of a week, join me in praising the Lord with this song. It’s Friday, we survived, we made it. Let’s Praise the Lord for that.

WF: Worship Friday

clip_image002 “This book certainly held my interest straight through to the very emotional ending. ”Mary Anne Benedetto

“With the ever-constant presence of her closest friend, Aimee, Desiree slowly makes her way to God and learns the greatness of His power and love. ”Cynthia

“A very engaging story about faith, love, and friendship, and the trials and tribulations that life can bring you. ”Jersey Gina

FINDING YOUR WAY OUT OF A DARK ALLEY

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment

by Lillian Duncan

James 4: 8

Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.

We humans are not necessarily the smartest of God’s creations even though we think we are! We seem to go out of our way to hurt ourselves in so many different creative ways. At one time or another most of us end up in a dark alley of our own making through our own bad choices and actions. And sometimes other people put us in those alleys or at least lead the way.

It always seems so dark and so lonely there, but God never abandons us—it only feels that way sometimes.

And that’s what I want readers to take away after reading DARK ALLEYS. No matter what we’ve done, God never stops loving us. He is always there waiting for us to ask for His help. In James 4: 8 it says, Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.”

To me that means, God is always there waiting for us to come to HIM.

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29: 14, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity. Another way of saying draw close to God and God will draw close to you. Of course, His help may not come in the form we want or expect, but then again His ways are higher than our ways.

The important thing to remember is that God loves us and he won’t abandon us.

My latest book, DARK ALLEYS is a story about a woman who ends up homeless and alone in a dark alley on a cold winter night. She witnesses a murder while in a drunken stupor and almost becomes his second victim. She awakens in the hospital with no clear memory of how she was injured. She attempts to put her life back together but, of course, the murderer has other plans.

I wanted to write a story where the main character was the queen of underdogs and I think I succeeded. Tessa is a mess, just like the rest of us. She could give up and no one could blame her, but she doesn’t. She keeps going—putting one step in front of the other.

And some days that’s all any of us can do.

Those are the days we need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus.

And one step at a time He will lead out of that dark alley and into His light.

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ABOUT DARK ALLEYS: Being innocent and proving it are two different things, especially when a powerful politician is involved

Tessa’s life spiraled out of control after the death of her only child, and she finds herself in a dark alley on a cold wintry night. After she witnesses a murder, she almost becomes his second victim, but manages to escape—just barely.

Homeless and alone, she knows the authorities won’t believe someone like her, leaving her only one option—to run.

Lillian Duncanwrites stories of faith mingled with murder & mayhem. She writes the type of books she loves to read—suspense with a touch of romance. Whether as an educator, a writer, or a speech pathologist, she believes in the power of words to transform lives, especially God’s Word.

To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit: www.lillianduncan.net. She also has a devotional blog at: www.PowerUpWithGod.com

Promoting in a Christian World

On By Naty MatosIn Writing Happenings5 Comments

I’m not sure who it was. I was listening to the radio and there was a Christian artist who was being interviewed. He said that he struggled with promoting his work because people would be looking at him and crediting him for his work and not necessarily God. He said that through prayer he realized that this was his business and that not promoting it would not be wise, but that he had to make sure of two things:

1) Keep his focus on the Lord

2) Give God the Glory for his success

I read the following scripture and it reminded me of this…

2 Corinthians 10:17-18

But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

That was the main messages that Tim Tebow tried to impart on people, that yes he had great abilities but they were given to him by God and any success he had was given by Him and him only.

I know at the beginning of my journey as an author I thought I should not place my name on anything. I should not promote anything and let God place my things where they should. Like the singer, whom I wish I could remember his name, I realized that if I hid under a rock nobody would find the message that God had entrusted in me. I would be just like the man who hid the talent that God gave him in the parable. However, although my name is there, I make sure that when people cheer me on, to tell them that it was all God. That I am just using what I was given for the Glory of the Kingdom and He who called me to proclaim His message. All the honor, glory and accolades belong to HIM.

Christian Authors, Artists, Business Owners, have you struggle with this? How have you reconciled this concept?

Until then, Be Be blessed!

In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham

Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames

Keeping the Sabbath

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8

In the passage above we read that we are supposed to rest. Our modern life goes totally against this principle. When God created the world including humanity everything worked inside a principle of balance.

Do you remember that ecosystem science project in school? You needed certain elements for everything to function properly. The same way our lives were designed to work, to have fun but also to rest. The Word of God doesn’t call us to exhaust ourselves and wait for a week vacation once in a while to recuperate, it says that out of every seven days we need one to rest.

Society works against this principle. Our “days off” are usually the weekends, and what do we do with those? Some people work, some people spend both days running errands, doing housework. And like a good friend of mine would say, How is that working for you? How is your body functioning on little rest? How is your relationship with God when your mind is cluttered with business? How is your relationship with those around you when they don’t have down time with you?

Like I said before, everything in God’s perfect plan has an order and a purpose, so aside from obedience conserving the Sabbath is about the balance in our lives to fulfill God’s purpose.

Be blessed

If you want to read about some of my own life lessons in my walk with Christ, check out my book Growth Lessons.

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In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham

Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames

Perseverance

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts5 Comments

I heard the word persevere yesterday and it really stuck to my spirit. As a believer it is very easy to stick to God’s plan when things are flowing and going well. When things are not working and not moving in a positive direction we want a way out. We want to try something different and if we’re not careful we may stray for the right path.

I’ve been working out for a month (yes, miracles do happen!) and have seen great results, but the last week there have been no changes on the scale. I’m frustrated about it to say the least. I’m looking at other areas in my life where my expectations had placed things moving in a certain way; after all I’m doing all the right things and have submitted them to God.  Now God has brought up this word of perseverance.

My friend Webster, whom I had not talked to in a while, defines perseverance as a steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Did you read that?  It says in spite difficulties, obstacles or discouragement. C’mon, sigh with me!

So then I went to the Word of God and I found a promise. Revelation 3:10 says, “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.” Wow, perseverance is actually a command and we will be protected during our test for being obedient. To me this means that the test is precisely the difficulties, the obstacles and the discouragement.

What are you struggling with today? What has you discouraged? If you don’t mind, share it with us so that we can pray together. If you want to share in private, do so at my email: therisingmuse@gmail.com

Hold on to the promise; good things are to come.

Be blessed.

Don’t forget to get your copy of my new book “The Road Home” available on Kindle and Nook. If you want an e-autograph, just place your request on kindlegraph.com

A good friend

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational Thoughts, Writing Happenings5 Comments

As much as we may love our families, we all would have loved to have a say in to who would end up being part of the clan. God as always made a way and that’s why he gave us friends. Friends are the family we get to choose.

In some instances, friends are those who are there to bail you out of a situation without judgment, even before our family. They are the ones willing to tell you the truth when we don’t want to hear it. Even the ones who are willing to support you when you have a bad idea, tell you it’s bad, but because the friendship is more important; they rather be there when we crash than let us walk the plank alone.

God never intended for us to walk in life alone. He created us in a community. Even Jesus spent more time with 12 of his closest friends than with his family. The word of God tells us in Proverbs 27:9 ”Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.” Take this day to evaluate the relationships in your life and thank God for the friends He has placed in our paths.TheRoadHomeFinal

Talking about friendship, you will be delighted to check out my new book,“The Road Home”. Meet Desiree and her quest for true love, see how her friend Aimee supports her through all her ups and downs and is the one who shows her the way to the light at the end of the tunnel. The Road Home will be officially launching this Wednesday, June 13th 2012. Get ready to get your copy!