This world is not promised to you!

Every day, every breath we take is a miracle of Gods love. The world takes so much for granted. The idea of being able to smile is a miracle. I have had a very rough week with tragedies happening to my friends and & family. I have recognized that this world is not promised to us and neither is our next breath. but what is promised to us is life eternal, and we will have eternal life if we will except Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Such a simplistic message that people take for granted.
My heart is heavy as one of my friends who is a Pastor had a massive heart attack last week. Unexpectedly he slipped from this world to the next. A 47 year old Pastor, leaving his wife and children and grandchildren behind. he was doing what God has called him to do in this day and time. The enemies desire is to allow people to become discouraged and lose hope in CHrist. We know God is a healer and a deliverer, and yes He will come through for us all, lets not allow our hearts to become so heavy that we lose the faith. THe scripture tells us we don’t weep as those who have no hope, we rejoice in knowing that we shall see our loved ones again. We thank God that this world is not promised to us. We have been promised streets of gold, and many mansions that God has prepared for us.
Take time today to hug your children, love your parents, families and friends and by all means pray for those who are called your enemies. We never know how much time we have on this earth to share with those we love. I admonish you today to pray for those with heavy hearts. God is sovereign and He knows whats best for us. Choose to rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those who weep. Most importantly remember that are eternal reward is soo much greater than this world.
Love you all!
Neesha read more...

Exercise Your Gift!

Proverbs 18:16
A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
Proverbs 18:15-17
We all are aware that if we don’t exercise we get out of shape, our bodies stiffin, and we are not as flexible as we should be, the inside of our bodies are crying out to release the toxins and endorphins that need to get out. I love to work out, I feel like a million bucks after leaving the gym, or after a jog around the block, however if I havent worked out in a while, I have to start all over again and go through the same agony of all of my muscles and joints recognizing that its been a while since I gave them a good kick.
My personal trainer always gives me a great interval training workout to make sure I use every muscle group and my workout is even. I pay for it later but if I stick it out for more than 5 days, I begin to see results. I feel great and inches fall off.
I would like to apply this same scenario with our gifts in our natural and spiritual life that we have put on the shelf. I know that many of us have gifts that probably no one would know about unless you were forced to use them.
We were all fearfully and wonderfully made by our creator “daddy God” so therefore if we where created in His image and His likeness and He created the entire world and all of its beauty, there is definitley some gifts inside of each being that is crying to come out.
I just wanted to give a word of encouragement today. What gifts are inside of you that have not been used? I often repeat the scripture that states, …. your gift will make room for you…. we don’t have to be financially poor, and destitute, God has something inside of each of us that can produce. Mankind was placed on this earth to reproduce, not just in the natural but spiritually also. Just like the physical body we have to exercise our gifts. We were made to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. SO whether its, baking a cake, fixing a computer, singing, cooking, driving, fixing cars, or building the skyscrapers, your gift is important and needs to be used so that God can get the glory!
I am so excited that whoever reads this post today, will begin to allow their gift to flourish, they will dust off the gifts that have been laying dormant and begin to allow the world to see God’s wonder work through you!
Love you
Be encouraged!
Exercise your gift!
Neesha read more...

With God All Things are Possible! by Laetitia Benberry

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!! read more...

A Call To Repentance for us ALL!

Wow, so much going on in the world we call “church” today! We all are subject to trials and tribulations. Everyone knows the saying, ” If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”
This is so true, and I could expound on it but I have decided today to put a plea of intercession out there for the entire body of Christ. Especially our leaders today.
The scripture tells us that … gifts and callings are without repentence… God has called all of us to spread the gospel of Jesus CHrist to a lost and dying world, when so many of us are dying. Unresolved issues that have not been dealt with and we need deliverance . The church today judges and holds people hostage especially when one of our leaders fall. I am so convinced that we need to be mindful of our own journeys and be quick to repent of our sins. Make sure we are mindful of the mote in our own eye before we begin to pluck out someone else’s.
Now having said this I am by no means condoning the sin of this wicked world, but I often remind myself, that but for “mercy & grace” where would I be. I believe God gives us time and time again to repent. I believe just as we give our children a grace period to do things differently and repent, God gives us the same time to repent, I believe our heavenly Father allows us time to be set free. The scripture tells us that …. there hath no temptation taken us but what is common to man but God will with the temptation make a way of escape that we will be able to bear it…….. A lot of times just as we try to keep our children safe and free from shame, they always have a choice to do the right thing, and if they don’t, we eventually have to allow them to be exposed and learn that they must repent before the Father until they have learned their lesson. THere is only so much protection that we can have.
So I challenge everyone, to begin to repent quickly, examine ourselves, “” Lord is there anything in my heart that I need to get rid of , is there anything I need to allow you to cleanse completely. One of my famous sayings is..” Lord, rod me out like a sewer, please create in me a clean heart….”
People of God lets do as II Chronicles 7:14 says, lets humble ourselves and pray, turn from our wicked ways, so God can heal our land….. Let us allow Him to heal us, if there is something you have been holding onto, unspoken skeletons in our closets, hurts that you have not healed from, Lets be free today!
So Lord Jesus, we come to you today as humble as we know how, asking you Oh Lord to forgive us from our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness and then Oh Lord please heal those who have been broken by sin. Please heal us from our past Jesus. Heal us Oh Lord that we might overcome sin and satan. GOd heal our leaders who have great anointings on their lives. Touch and set free Lord! Let us be used by you to share our overcoming testimonies, let us not be ashamed of what you have delivered us from. In JESUS NAME AMEN!
Let our hearts continue to pray for this lost and dying world, and also lets lift up our leaders before the Lord! As a matter of fact we are all leaders, we are all ministers of the gospel, lets not forget!
With Love and Grace
Neesha read more...

How’s Your Treasure? by Neesha Stringfellow

Thinking of today and the world being in the midst of a recession, we are all trying to make sure we protect our assets. Whether you have investment accounts, cd’s, real estate, personal accounts, or business accounts we all have been a victum to the media, news, employment, and all of the changes going on in the world today.
THere are those whoever who have not felt the heat at all. There are those who are like the ant, who prepare for the winter. There are people who have made sure that in case there was a rainy day their bank account remained full. There are even some old school people like my late great-grandmother who would hide thousands of dollars around the house in shoe boxes or panels beneath the floor. This might appear a bit humorous to some, but my great grandmother, affectionaltey called “motherdear” took pride in making sure she always had money and more than enough. I am not quite sure how well she knew the Lord, but I did know she made sure she invested in the right things, and had a savings. Motherdears bank accounts paid for her senior care later in life.
Well today I challenge us as believers to not only make sure we be wise stewards over our monies, but lets examine how well our bank accounts are doing? How are your treasures holding up?
God has given us each a measure of grace in this life to be wise and live for Him to the fullest.
I was thinking there has to be the same application for our natural life as for our spiritual. Where is our treasure today Where have we been making our investments. Do we invest in the temperal or in the eteranal. I know often times we as people move on impulse and not pray about things. Something as simple as what to purchase and what not to purchase. We just move on what our intellect tells us or better yet what our experience tells us. What has God told us? What has He told us to invest in. It is so true that what you invest in is where your heart is. I am careful to pay attention to where I invest. I choose to make eternal investments for they last forever. I love God so much that my heart desires to worship Him in everything I do, and with this investment, I never have to worry about going bankrupt, with this investment I never have to worry about a recessecion. Choose to pay attention to where your treasures are laid. Make sure your investments and treasures are not temperal but eternal.
FOR ONLY WHAT YOU DO FOR CHRIST WILL LAST!
Love you
Neesha
Matthew 6:19
“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. read more...

Now Board the Ship! By Neesha Stringfellow

Now Board the Ship! By Neesha Stringfellow
Next GOD said to Noah, “Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you’re the righteous one. Genesis 7:1 read more...

Timing is Everything by Min. Lenard Appleton

TIMING IS EVERYTHING! read more...

Love Keeps No Record of Wrong! By Danielle Stone

Love keeps no record of wrong! read more...

CHOOSY MOMS CHOOSE LIFE!

I remember hunching down in the back seat of our brown station wagon with the other seven children in the car because I was so embarrased by my mom and dad having so many children. People made fun of us and because Shanna and I were the first two born, we were old enough to understand that people thought my parents were crazy having this many children.
By the time my mom was pregnant with Rachel I was furious, “this is just tooo much” and I thought this has got to end. Well when David Jason came along I just gave up the ghost. I knew it was useless. All of my praying and attitudes came to a hault and I began to embrace my brothers and sisters.
I did not understand the quality of life at this point. I did not understand that inspite of the fact that my mom was facing challenges in her marriage, health, not to mention finances, that she chose to have each of us.
Tears are brought to my eyes with the thought of what would I do without my brothers and sisters, who are all different but each my best friend in their own way. I am so grateful that we never had to be invited to parties because it was so many of us, we just had our own party. Never a dull moment, we did everything to make up songs, play games, tell jokes and sing. Boy did my dad always make us sing, like we were the Gaither Family or something.
Today as an adult, my appreciation has grown. Shanna(Doug) , Tim(Khali), Stephen(Tif), Deborah(John) Morris(Vickie) Rachel(Jon) David (Kaytee)! Our family has doubled in size not forgetting all of the masses of nieces and nephews that I have and still more to come. God knew what He was doing. But it was a choice! A choice to say yes to life. A grandfather who was not ashamed to take a righteous stand against sin! A praying grandmother who still prays and calls out each of her granchildrens names every night before God. A mother and father who said no matter what we choose life.
I understand that Pro-Life and Pro Family might seem like a pro-choice decision. I have to disagree. Not because I was born into a family where this was something we stood for, but because, when God made man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life and man became a living soul, it no longer became our choice. Life is God’s idea. Join me this week as we touch on some sensitive topics. Feel free to add your comments.
I chose to have KRISTEN MARIA STRINGFELLOW. I knew she was God’s idea. He thought I was special enough even in the midst of my youth to allow such an awesome seed to grow in my womb. I stood for life because I knew I had no other choice but to trust the one who breathed into my womb, and breath life into Kristen.
to be continued…..
Love Neesha read more...

I’m Ready for Another Upgrade by Calandra Jones

I’m ready for ANOTHER UPGRADE!
I’ve thought about this topic, title, slogan for this year’s getaway over and over again, “Are you Ready for an Upgrade?”. The answer has been the same, “YES, I am ready for an Upgrade”. But the same question has arose, “God, where do we go from here?”
My husband and I have attended several Marriage Retreats in the past and they were not as effective as they should have been (or is it that we were not ready to grow up?……hhhmmmm). Anyway, there was a period where we did not attend any retreats at all and I desperately wanted to be involved in a ministry where Marriage was a focus. In 2008, after learning about Heartlife and the Marriage Ministry, I made up in my mind that my husband and I would attend the Getaway in 2009 come no matter what!
You see, my husband and were on the brink of divorce mid-year 2007. We had thrown in the towel and pretty much started discussing who would take what, who got the kids, dogs, etc. We both had all we could take and just weren’t going to do “this” anymore. But one thing we had always agreed upon was the health and welfare of our two sons. No matter what, they were always the priority. We could not allow a divorce to destroy them. We immediately found a way to run “damage control”.
My husband learned of a professional Christian Counselor in a southern suburb of Chicago. We then began to make plans as to when and how we would tell the boys we were splitting up. Then we would send them to this counselor to ensure that they received professional help through the life change they were about to experience.
Oddly enough, during this period, my husband and I became more transparent with each other than we had ever been. It was absolutely nuts! So, one day we decided to see the counselor first. We figured if we can talk to someone on neutral ground, maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what was left of our marriage. Well, we began our counseling sessions and let me tell you, the counselor could not believe we had even made it to year 17. I mean we literally blew his hair back and he didn’t have much to begin with. But one thing he said to us was this; he saw that we were friends. And the fact that we could sit in a room together, live in a home together and sleep in the same bed without having killed each other to that point said to him that we really loved each other. Our issue was we hadn’t gotten past the mess of the past. It was the past that kept arising and kept us in a holding pattern of hell!
Fast forward to Heartlife Marriage Ministry Getaway 2009; my husband and I had determined that we were going to get all God had for us that weekend. I mean we meant business. God brought us back from the brink of disaster and we were MOVING FORWARD IN HIM! And I’d like to testify that that is exactly what happened.
The Monday after the Getaway, we put a contract on our NEW home and moved in 60 days later. We found a new church home and it has been a fast track; we’re in ministry and God is moving in a mighty way. My husband has been trying to get me to come home in 20 years and I was laid off my job in June; but God has a plan in that too! read more...

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