CWL xPress Online Magazine

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For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

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Love, Peace, Patience and More...

Galatians 5:22

Christian Women Lifestyle xPress Online

Content CWL xPress

eMagazine

Poet Karmen Booker

8

How Can Studying my Bible Bring Me Closer to God?

29

Poet Rolanda Pyle

12

30

Waiting on an Angel

14

Do You Feel Unworthy of God’s Love and For-

31

Guest Writers Karmen Booker Rolanda Pyle Bess Blanco Diandra Smith-Hall

My Journey to Foster

16

Training Them Up: Some Helpful Tips to Serve as a Family

CWL xPress Team Kathleen M. Krueger Amy Cunningham K. Kristen

Love It !

Bess Blanco Story

22

Cover Design Apple Tree Ink

Is the Music Industry Demonic?

26

Featured Guest Joy Kaminski Wendy Tornow Beth Espada

Care Mommy to Six and I

20

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NadiCafe

Join Us Www.nadiakcafe.com

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Recording Artist

F

eaturing

Whitney Lynn

www.whitneylynn.org

Whitney Lynn Management www.cwlxpress.com 5

Galatians 5:22 Hi Everyone Welcome to Christian Women Lifestyle xPress (CWL xPress) Online Magazine’s first quarterly eMagazine.

It is truly an honor to welcome you.

In this quarterly edition, CWL xPress would like to give high honors to foster moms. It is a job that is underappreciated and often ridiculed by others because some people do it for the wrong reasons, which leads to inappropriate behavior. In this publication, I would like to spotlight those who do it for the right reasons!

These ladies are not celebrities or superstars; they are just women who love unconditionally and care about God’s creation. They don’t get the same accolades as Angela Jolie or other high-profile mothers who raise other people’s children. However, they are being watched by God, and that is what counts the most. It is really easy to love your own child, but try loving someone else’s.

For those of you who are new to CWL xPress, we love to spotlight those who feel that their story can bless others or lead them to the Lord. If you have a story to share, please send it to editor@cwlxpress.com. Don’t forget to stop by the CWL xPress blog as we look at the world from a biblical point of view. You can also join our social networks when you visit the CWL xPress website.

Finally, I enjoy being Editor-in-Chief of CWL xPress Online Magazine. I pray these articles are uplifting and encouraging to our readers. I hope to hear from you soon with your testimony.

Deanetta P. Thompson

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Karmen A. Booker has been called by God to exhort and teach others the Word of God. She is the founder of Wings of Love women’s Ministry (WLWM), which is a teaching and evangelist ministry whose vision is to encourage and inspire people to accept and commit their lives to Jesus Christ so their lives will be transformed into righteousness, and they will experience unceasing love, joy, and peace.

WLWM offers ministry resources such as “Seeking the Face of God”, “You Are God’s Masterpiece” , and “Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts”, that are designed to encourage you to grow in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ and take you to higher spiritual heights of knowledge and understanding of the Word of God!!! For more information go to www.womendestinedforgreatness.wordpress.com

P

oet Karmen Booker

This is a good place to briefly, but effectively, describe your product or services.

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Habitation of Holiness

By Karmen Booker

God dwells in the secret place of the most High.

He resides in a place way of up in the sky.

If you make God your dwelling place, He will cause you to rise above every circumstance you face.

Abiding in God increases love, joy, and peace, which enables you to learn from the very least.

God is to be glorified, so He can make you justified.

Glorification brings honor to God. Justification brings you into right standing with God. Developing a relationship with God by reading, studying, and applying His Word in your life, is equal to abiding in God’s Habitation of Holiness.

Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Copyright Š 2013 Karmen Booker. All Rights Reserved.

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You are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalm 139:14) The Hebrew word for fearfully is yaré (yaw ray) which means to revere (respect).

The Hebrew word for “wonderfully” is palah (pawwah) which means to put a difference, show marvelous, set apart.

When God made you, He made you a respectable marvelous masterpiece. He carefully formed you with unique character and personality and designed you with unique spiritual gifts to use to bless others and give Him glory.

He created you with a unique purpose. Once you discover your purpose and start fulfilling your purpose, then you will have inner fulfillment, peace, and joy.

When you walk in your purpose, you walk in fulfillment; you walk in Divine Completeness, and no man and no circumstance, or trial and tribulation can stop you.

When you walk in your purpose, you open the door of prosperity. God has given power to get wealth; your gift will make room for itself.

When you walk in your purpose you walk in what God has set apart for you to do, and you please God.

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By Karmen Booker

LEGACY OF LOVE Individually and collectively, we leave a legacy for those behind us, based on our beliefs and values.

If we believe in LOVE (Jesus Christ) we will live a life dominated by love, which is reflected in our personal relationship with Jesus and how we treat others.

Our lives won’t be engulfed with dishonesty and hatred, which perpetuates bitterness, oppression, and self-destruction.

The lives we live today not only affect “today”, but dictate the future lives of our children.

What we do today in their eyes, will determine how they live tomorrow.

Let us examine our lives daily, and leave a Legacy of Love, based on our faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

Copyright © 2013 Karmen Booker. All Rights Reserved.

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Poet Rolanda Pyle www.rorosrainbowcommunications.com

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Thank You For My Family!

I always felt alone but now I feel a part Because you invited me into your home and your heart I always felt so lost but now I'm found I was bent for destruction but you turned me around I was misused and unwanted, abused and felt haunted!

You took me from distress so now I can rest You took me away from the strife and gave me a new life All I ever had was so much shame and blame But that all changed when you gave me a home and your name.

Thank you for adopting me!

My life was incomplete and I felt alone Bored, unfilled, and always on my own.

I would look, search, and always pray Until I saw your beautiful face that day.

Now my life is filled with caring, sharing and everything that is so endearing!

After a long search, sometimes filled with tears God has finally answered my prayers.

Instead of everything being just about me Now It's us, it's we, our FAMILY! Thank you for letting me adopt you!

Copyright Š 2013 Rolanda Pyle. All Rights Reserved.

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Waiting on an Angel

By Joy Kaminski I’ll never forget the day we got the call. It was Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 3:36 pm. “Hi, Joy, we have a newborn premature baby who was left at the hospital. Could you come and pick him up on Monday?” My heart was pounding. I immediately knew the answer was yes. We had received our certification as foster parents in January, and we had received several other calls to take in other foster children, but my husband and I were not quite ready to say yes until that day.

I listened as the matcher told me the details. His name was Joshua Isaiah, and he weighed two pounds at birth and now was four pounds. He was born two months early. We would have to be trained on how to feed him properly to ensure that he was consuming the proper number of calories each day. The doctor wanted us to spend the entire weekend with Joshua in the NICU so we could learn everything about him before we brought him home. His biological mother was addicted to drugs, the father was unknown, and no family members were interested in taking in Joshua.

The day that we walked into the NICU to meet Joshua was surreal. We walked down the rows and rows of babies. Most seemed to be to clinging to life, with all kinds of wires and monitors coming out of their fragile little bodies. One thing was consistent, though. Each baby had loving moms, dads, and/or other family members and friends by their side— except for Joshua. Joshua had no one. He was all alone. And in that moment, we knew that we loved him and would always love him no matter what. He was born with a positive test for opiates and had many health risks because he was born prematurely.

So we were scared, but we decided to love him anyway because in that moment, we were all he had. For forty-five days, he was in the NICU with no one to love him, encourage him, or be there for him through the night and day. He looked up at us as if to ask, “Are you going to stay here and love me?” And we said yes. And we did and still do.

A month later, we had a court date to see how Joshua’s biological mother was doing. It was my first time in court, and I was nervous. I signed in at the front desk at the same time that Joshua’s biological mother signed in. We both smiled nervously and walked over to the waiting room area together. My heart was pounding again. I had been hoping to meet her for quite some time. We sat together in the waiting room for two hours because the court appointments were running very late. We spent that two hours together talking. She said that she prayed for Joshua to go to a family just like ours. I told her, “Thank you. Thank you for having Joshua. Thank you for bringing him into this world.” We love Joshua, and therefore we love his biological mother too, because she brought him to us. She is a very sick woman and still sadly addicted to drugs, but she never wanted her life to go down that path. I learned that her mother was an alcoholic and that her father left her at a very young age. She never learned how to parent because she never had loving parents herself. I looked into her beautiful blue eyes, and I knew that I had to pray for both Joshua and his mother.

People always say, “Well, I hope that you adopt Joshua one day” or “I don’t know how you do foster care, because Joshua could leave you one day.” But it is not about us. It is about him and being there for children when they need love most. At the end of each night, we just hope and pray that Joshua finds a forever family that loves him unconditionally. We would love to adopt him. It may be us, or it may not be us, and that is okay. Our only job is to love Joshua. We are not here to judge his mother’s actions or to decide where he should end up. We are just here to love Joshua. That is all, and that is okay.

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Child Face is covered for Legal reasons

My Journey to Foster Care By Wendy Tornow In the spring of 2009, I was leading a very comfortable life. I was happily married and had been for fifteen years. I was practicing as an operating room nurse, which I had done for twenty years. I had two beautiful girls, whom I homeschooled. I also was very involved in the church I grew up in, and my family and friends were all close by. Things seemed to be as they should be. Suddenly, my husband was offered a job in Rochester, New York. He had been searching for a job locally for a year and a half with no luck. The company he was working for was on the verge of bankruptcy. We prayed and decided to make the move.

At first, I was excited. I had never lived anywhere but North Carolina and had never moved more than ten miles from my childhood home. However, I was leaving all of my friends and family. My support system would be gone. In my heart, I knew God had big plans for me in New York. My husband’s job would offer me the opportunity not to work, and I would be able to homeschool our kids full time. I had big plans!!! I had visions of finding a church that needed a women’s ministry so that I could teach and minister to other women. I had always wanted to write or speak about God’s goodness. I could not wait to see what God had in store for me!

As I prayed about the move, God spoke to my heart and said that He was going to give me a son. I had always wanted more children and had regretted starting my family late, but I was forty years old, and my last pregnancy put me on bed rest for seventeen weeks. In my feeble mind, having more children was not even a possibility. I shared this with only one of my dear Christian friends and put it out of my mind, thinking it was only a dream that would not come to pass.

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We moved to Rochester on July 4, 2009, and I can safely say that the first year and a half of being in New York turned out to be the darkest time of my life.

All of the things I dreamed about did not come to pass. The first church we went to during that time was suffocating. It had so many non-Biblical rules and did not want “outsiders” handling anything, much less developing a women’s ministry. I was a person who was constantly serving, and no one wanted me to serve. I tried without success to make friends. I was a mess! However, it led me where I needed to be, which was on my knees. I cried out to God that I could not find my purpose for being here and asked Him to please take the pain away. My kids and my husband were thriving in this new environment, but I had shed more tears than I had in my lifetime.

In February 2010, the despair became almost unbearable. I prayed, fasted, and studied for twentyeight days and began pleading with God to reveal my purpose. He reminded me of a desire that my husband had ten years earlier. He wanted to pursue foster care. At the time, I had said no because my dad was very sick, I was working, we already had a two-year-old, and I wanted more children of our own. I could not fathom taking on anything else. I immediately called my husband at work and asked whether he was still interested in fostering, and he said, “Yes, just find out what we need to do.” I was excited, so I called and found out that there was an informational meeting that night. I signed us up. At this point, things began to move quickly, and we saw God’s hand all along the way. The caseworker visit that was supposed to take three weeks to get scheduled only took two days. Classes that were supposed to take months to get into only took two weeks. It was amazing to see God working it all out. We completed our certification in October 2010 and had our first placement within four days.

He was a four-month-old boy with severe injuries, but the matcher who called me said he would probably be adoptable. I went to the hospital and scooped up this sweet little boy, thinking that God had truly given me a son. Everyone in our house instantly fell in love. We spent fourteen days loving on him, nursing him back to health, and praying he

would stay forever. Then the call came. There was a relative resource, and the caseworker would be picking him up that afternoon. We were to have all of his things together. All of us were devastated. I was back in that pit of despair, and now I dragged my girls into it as well. I began wondering whether I would ever be able to do it again. It physically hurt to hand him back.

However, what hurt the most was that no one else understood our pain. Everyone remarked that we should have expected that to happen; after all, we were just the foster parents. That is a misconception that people have. The problem is that the second these kids crossed our threshold, it was as if they were our own. It truly was like handing your own child over to a stranger when they left. I asked my husband whether he ever thought it would get easier. His response to me was, “If it does, we need to stop doing it.”

We were blessed in December 2010 to find a new church home that was in the process of developing an orphan ministry that included foster care. There, I met another foster mom, who has since become my best friend.

We continued to take children into our home and nurse them back to health, and then they would leave. It was taking a toll on our family. On April 11, 2011, we received a call that an uncle had surfaced to take the four-month-old that we had put our heart and soul into for the past month. We were ready to close our home. We could not take it anymore.

The next day, I planned to call and close our home, but before I could, I received a call from a caseworker who asked me to please just take one more.

I felt God say to me, “Are you doing this for you or for me? I never said it would be easy.” I was humbled.

It was a little boy who was four weeks old and weighed only five pounds. He had been born nine weeks early and was exposed to many drugs in utero. I said yes without even really thinking or calling my husband. I just kept quoting the scripture James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” These kids are in so much distress when they come to us. They www.cwlxpress.com 17

just need a safe place. There were many times we thought we were going to lose him to relatives, but we saw God’s hand all along the way. As we headed to court to fight for him in May 2012, I was very apprehensive.

God took me to Deuteronomy 10:18: “He defends the cause of the fatherless.” I was instantly at peace. I knew then that I was heading into court with the best attorney we could possibly have. In October 2012, we began the adoption process. On June 10, 2013, God granted me the wish He had placed in my heart all those years ago and gave me a son. My sweet Anthony Jacob Tornow is truly a gift from God. God has blessed us with twenty-five different children who have been placed in our home in the past two and a half years, and we are in the process of moving to a larger home so that we can serve more children. God has done amazing things for our family, and I can’t wait to see what else He has in store for us. Will we adopt more? Absolutely, if God allows. If not, we will just continue loving them while we have them.

Currently, there are over 400,000 children in the foster care system in the United States. The numbers are rising every day. More than 112,000 children have already been freed for adoption and are awaiting their forever family. There are 300,000 Christian churches in the United States. What if just one family in each church stepped up and took one child? Just think of what we could do as Christians for this population of children and their families.

Contact Wendy tornowgirls3@ymail.com

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Mommy to Six and I Love it!

By Beth Espada

M

y husband and I started our foster care journey in 2008. It was something we had thought about for many years. I had many reservations but took a leap of faith and decided to proceed with becoming a foster parent. My husband, Irving, and I were parents to a wonderful little boy named Antonio. We tried for many years to give him a sibling. For several years, we tried fertility treatments and spent thousands of dollars with no success. We were never able to get pregnant a second time. We didn’t know this at the time, but God had different plans for us. We looked into several adoption agencies, but the costs were high, and we feared we would not be picked because we already had a child. Irving and I married young. I was just seventeen, and he was twenty-one. We had Antonio the same year we were married and are together now, seventeen years later. We have had ups and downs but always stuck together. We wanted to parent Antonio with both of us together and strong.

We began the foster care process by attending an information session. We then took an application and met with our home finder. We had to do a series of things, including being fingerprinted, having a criminal background check performed, and having our home inspected several times. We also attended a ten-week series of classes called MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting). We enjoyed the classes and meeting the other prospective foster parents and hearing their stories. In the ninth meeting, several current foster parents came in and shared their stories. I remember intensely listening to one foster mom’s story about her little girl who was starved and neglected by her biological mother and entered foster care with her four older brothers.

This story was stuck in my mind for many months. I think God kept it on my mind because as fate would have it, I ended up adopting one of this little girl’s brothers and her baby sister years later.

We officially became foster parents in September 2008. Immediately, we were called for a little boy who needed a home. He was seven and had been in foster care for many years with several failed placements. Irving and I discussed it and agreed to take him. Collin came to us a few days later. He struggled at first with some household rules and expectations. However, he was very sweet, affectionate, and loving from day one.

In fact, he called us Mommy and Daddy the very first day he came home. I feel we earned that title as the months went on. Unfortunately, the legal case was quite complicated for Collin and his four siblings. Only Collin and his older brother had the same biological father. Therefore, at times, going to court was very confusing and overwhelming with all the different parties involved. Collin’s mother surrendered her rights to Collin in August 2009. His father surrendered his rights in November 2012. Collin was adopted in June 2012.

Our second call was for a one-year-old baby girl. We were thrilled to get the call and said yes! Arianna was with us just ten short days and then went to a relative. Our third call was for a teenage boy named Eagle. Eagle had been in and out of foster care for many years and was looking for a forever family. We said yes, and Eagle moved in August 2009. He did great for many months and then began acting out, so we asked for him to be moved into another foster home. We regretted this decision. We were called for Eagle again in August 2011 for a vacation placement. We said yes! Eagle came for that week and then started visiting on weekends through June 2012, when he moved in full time. Eagle is our forever son, and we will adopt him as an adult.

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cations of his case. Our fourth call was for a six-week-old baby girl named Christina. I was IN LOVE with this baby from the moment I laid eyes on her. Christina’s case was considered an easy case in the eyes of the foster care world. Christina’s biological parents were homeless and addicted to drugs. Christina was delivered at the hospital and signed into foster care, and her parents never came back for her or sought to get her back. Christina was freed for adoption three days after her first birthday, and we adopted her when she was twenty-one months old. Christina is an amazing little girl with extreme talent in dance and gymnastics.

Our fifth call was for another baby girl. Collin’s biological mother was pregnant with her sixth child and delivered a baby girl in December 2009. We picked Jazmine up from the hospital and brought her home. Christina was just three months old at the time, so we were basically raising twins. Jazmine was a very difficult baby to care for. She had many issues resulting from a lack of prenatal care and drug exposure. Jazmine suffered from breathing issues, sensory issues, gross motor delays, and constant crying. We had to lean on our faith, family, and friends the first year with Jazmine. She was a beautiful angel and did not deserve what her body was going through. When Jazmine was ten months old, her biological mother surrendered her rights to her daughter. We adopted Jazmine on the same day as Christina in 2011. I have always had a lot of respect for Collin and Jazmine’s biological mother. I frequently send her pictures of the children, letters, and arts and crafts. Their biological mother is a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome and has impaired cognitive abilities. She loves her seven children but lacks the ability to care for them. I am the only adoptive parent of her children who allows her to visit and communicate with them on a limited basis.

Our sixth and possibly final call was for Collin and Jazmine’s newborn baby sister in September 2012. This was their biological mother’s seventh child. All of the children have been adopted or are with a relative resource. The county removed the baby at birth and placed her in foster care in our home. We have had the baby for ten months now. We are not sure whether her mother will surrender her or whether the county will seek to terminate her mother’s parental rights. We are fostering her now and will love her forever, although we do not know what the outcome will be. Collin and Jazmine adore her, along with Christina, Eagle, and Antonio. We call her Scooby.

Our foster care journey is different than most. We were blessed through the grace of God with six children.

We have our biological son, Antonio; three adopted children, Collin, Christina, and Jazmine; and two foster children, Eagle and Baby Girl. We did not know what to expect when we became foster parents. I am sure if someone told me I would be a parent to six children, I would have LAUGHED. I am now a mommy to six and I LOVE it. Each of my children is unique and funny, and each has a piece of my heart. I am raising my children at home while my husband works. I will be teaching preschool at my church this fall. This is also something I felt I should do. I attend church weekly with my children, and my church family has been amazing through this process and has welcomed my family wholeheartedly. I know foster care can look scary from the outside, but it has truly been a blessing for my family. I thank God every day for my family.

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My Healing Testimony

By Bess Blanco One of the most important ways that we know God’s power through the Holy Spirit is real in our lives is in the area of physical healing. Healing: this is a word sometimes used in a nonchalant way, but it is powerpacked for those of us who have experienced illness or disease firsthand! Healing is a physical manifestation in our minds and bodies of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross! In other words, when we have struggled for some time with a malady, we are good and ready to be rid of the affliction. Say, for instance, that you’ve had massive migraine headaches a couple of times a week for a month now. These headaches are debilitating, grounding you to your dark, silent room and disabling you from your life as you normally know it.

Your children are fending for themselves, the house is a mess, and you are miserable. This sickness has you in its grasp . . . or so you thought!

Let me tell you a story—a story of disaster, disease, rejection, and abandonment but ultimately also of hope, grace, and HEALING in our Savior!

Through a series of events in which I made some wrong choices, my husband Juan and I divorced in December 2006 after almost ten years of marriage and three young children. And, oh, incidentally, we were Christians. We separated in September of that year, and I began to walk farther and farther away from a lifelong, deep relationship with God. I was making confused decisions out of rejection, guilt, and shame. Meanwhile, I was working several jobs to make ends meet and living in sin and rebellion, which resulted in the breaking down of my body and mind. Weakened, both physically and in my soul, I believe I “opened a door” to Satan, allowing him to have total access to my heart and health. God is clear about the “curse” of forsaking Him as our God and choosing instead to live in sin and disobedience to Him and His word. (Deuteronomy 28:2 ) The three key things that the curse brings to our lives are poverty, sickness and disease, and spiritual death. As I look back on that time in my life, I can see that I was clearly walking in disobedience to God, especially since I grew up knowing Him and had served Him my whole life. Hence, the door opened to Satan, who of course jumped on that opportunity!

Consequently, I began struggling with a terrible nervous disorder in January 2007 that left me jobless, homebound (I couldn’t drive due to the possibility of seizures), and practically alone without family and friends for a long while. Blessedly, there was no physical pain associated with this illness, but the emotional and spiritual toll it took on me was so awful that I can’t even begin to describe it in words. My young children were terrified of both my weird behavior and the seizures that were occurring, I was hallucinating on the medication, and my ex-husband (at the time!) couldn’t bear to be around me. So, he took legal action and had my children removed from me and my house. Subsequently, I slipped even deeper into anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. My children had become the only reason I had to live, and now I couldn’t even see them.

At this time, I began to seek God again, but I experienced no answer immediately. I know now that He couldn’t reach me until I repented, and I was still clinging to my sin out of desperation and loneliness. However, I could increasingly feel my physical heart breaking into little pieces, pulling at the muscles and nerves inside my chest cavity. My heart was literally breaking, and I had never, ever felt such sadness and hopelessness as I did at that time in my life.

One day, alone on my couch, depressed and desperate for a change in my life, I cried out to Him like never before. I had finally used up any strength I thought I had on my own, and I repented, needing Him www.cwlxpress.com 23

in my life just to keep breathing! At that moment, He spoke to me, and my mind, body, and Spirit were instantly flooded with comfort and acceptance! I realized He had never left me; He just can’t commune with sin, so our relationship, just like my marriage, was broken. Communication had been stopped due to my blatant rebellion. Now, though, I was starting life again. I felt like a new Christian, and I dove enthusiastically into the Bible, daily prayer, and church. However, the seizures and brain disorder continued to plague me with a vengeance. Soon, in the early summer of that year, I realized I was pregnant out of wedlock, and I wasn’t even in a relationship with the baby’s father any longer. So now, my body was not the only one being harmed by this cruel disorder.

But unknown to me, God was working in my ex-husband’s heart around the same time, softening it and readying it for His will! Juan began to invite me to stay for dinner when I would drop the kids off from their short visit with me, and I humbly agreed, desperate for any extra time with my children. One time, I remember looking across the dining table at his handsome face, eating roasted chicken with rice with him and the kids, and feeling like the luckiest girl in the world! You see, by then I was completely broke, homeless, staying with an “adopted family,” and jobless due to my disorder. I had been completely broken in a spiritual sense as well, but the humility came easily to me and with joy, as I was so grateful for the little things. Life had become about surviving, and time was a gift.

By the end of the summer, Juan and I were back together again, and I was no longer homeless! I had so much time with my children, my belly was big with a healthy baby girl, and I was slowly recovering my self-esteem and faith. I had lost a good reputation along with all my “friends” over the divorce and sickness. But God’s restoration is beyond earthly standards, and over time, He restored all that was lost and more! God was strategically placing the right people in my life, those who spoke life over me (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, my life theme!) and taught me about faith and fear, life and death, curses and blessings . . .

Ana Sophia, my symbol of God’s grace (Ana means “grace”), was born prematurely three days after Christmas in 2007. At just four pounds and some odd ounces, she was placed in the NICU because she was having difficulty breathing and eating. The beyond-grand mal seizure hit me a few days later, sending me into the worst experience yet: four days of coma in the ICU, with more days of recovery in the “crazy people ward” after that! I was getting really tired of this disease by now, as it was so debilitating to my family and me. They needed me even more now than ever before, as we were recovering as a family unit from the drama and pain of the last year and a half’s events.

The baby was released from the hospital a few days after I had recovered and come home, and we tried to start family life again. Two months later, I seized violently in the shower, waking up from that episode with a broken foot! One day at home, my adopted mom finally spoke out loud over my sickness, “That is enough; it’s just enough.” Instantly, something inside of me leapt (I believe it was desperate faith!), and I began to mentally fight against the disorder and my previous acceptance of it as “punishment” from God. Sometime in March 2008, while I was in church, the leaders anointed me with oil and prayed over me for healing. One of them spoke up and said that God showed them I was unforgiving toward someone in my life.

Faces flashed before me as I remembered all the people who turned on me during the divorce or bailed on me in the time I needed them the most. All of my family members had either turned their backs or directly fought against me for the past couple of years. I began to weep, as a desire to forgive them and truly move on began to come over me.

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At home the next morning, I had a session with the best counselor one could have: the Holy Spirit! I was praying intensely, prostrate on my office floor, about these things that God had recently shown me. I heard the Spirit speak audibly, and He told me to get a piece of paper, write down the names of those who had hurt or abandoned me, and pray individually over those names for total forgiveness from God for them. I could barely read some of the names because I was crying so hard, feeling purified and fresh afterward. Now I was ready for my healing!

The next week at church, the elders laid hands on me again, anointed me, and prayed earnestly. The pastor’s wife said, “There is someone you still haven’t forgiven: yourself.” At that moment, I broke down completely before the Lord and wept, realizing she was right. As the pastor prayed over me out loud, he suddenly commanded a spirit to leave in Jesus’s name, and I felt a large burden lift immediately, even as the pastor said, “There: it’s gone!!!” It was almost like a puffy cloud of heaviness, and it went poof and was gone! I was healed, and I knew it. I began confessing the word of God over myself and over the previous stronghold of the sickness. I confessed Galatians 3:13, Psalm 103:2-5, Isaiah 53:4-5 . . . There are so many!

In the following days and then months, when I would feel a symptom coming on, I would say out loud, “Oh, no, Satan, don’t even think about it! I am healed, delivered, and excited about it!!! You can’t touch this!”

Then I would quote a Scripture to back it up! I even began to testify to others of my healing, especially when the fear of a seizure would try to return. I was on a journey to complete health, as I didn’t even get off the medication immediately. God was building my tender faith, honoring my naïveté, and carrying me through!

I am so beyond grateful to my Lord and Savior for the way He has touched me. I truly believe that His healing is for everyone; He says so in His word. I tell this deeply personal story to encourage you in your faith walk! You are on your own journey with Him, and He cares deeply for you. To experience this incredible love that I get to experience daily, all you have to do is cry out to Him and ask Him to come near you! Cling to God’s living word, the Bible! All the answers can be found there! God bless you today.

Bess Blanco is a Health Coach & Founder of The Intentional Lifestyle (www.theintentionallifestyle.com), where she serves precious people from all walks of life as they seek to create a healthier lifestyle through Biblical principles and practical strategies! She would love to get to know you on her facebook page, www.facebook.com/coachbess where you can find inspiration and tips for your healthier lifestyle!

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Is the Music Industry Demonic?

By Diandra Smith-Hall Recently, I watched a music video on YouTube, and I began to wonder . . . are people being fooled by the enemy?

I did a broadcast, “Who Really Is Our Enemy,” on Spirit Soul Radio where I talked about Lucifer/Satan. It is interesting to me that the “truth” has been exposed but it still needs to be put into the light because music is talking about demonic things. What do I mean by this? Many things that the “church” world deems anointed are really demonic . . . they are in fact wicked (seeming to be holy when they are unholy).

I was honored and blessed to have done an interview with Deanetta Thompson of CWL xPress Magazine/ Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio on the topic praise and worship. We talked about gospel music and discussed what praise and worship music truly is. To listen to the broadcast, click here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/ podcast/christian-women-lifestyle/id495924561.

So many people are being hoodwinked by the devil and calling “gospel” that which is truly wicked. Gospel should not only be the good news, but it should also exhibit the anointing and the very presence of God. In Luke 4:18, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed . . .” The keyword is “ANOINTED”! Jesus was anointed to set us free, and music that we deem gospel should have that same motive.

I want to challenge you today: is what you call gospel really anointed, or is it demonic?

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Do Tithes and Offerings Affect Your Life?

Today, for many individuals, the idea of tithing and making regular offerings to God has fallen by the wayside. Many people are struggling financially, and the idea of relinquishing some of their financial wealth or possessions simply doesn’t seem to make good financial sense.

Tithing and making offerings are not about Christians giving their own money to the Lord but rather are about returning these things to their original owner. All things exist through His grace, and therefore in truth, the wealth that you have you keep only as a steward upon His behalf. So, if you think about it, when Christians choose not to tithe, they are in fact stealing from God. According to Malachi 3:7-10: Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said,’ Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God?’ Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessings that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

In this passage, there are two very important ideas that should be recognized. The first is that tithes and offerings are returned to God and not given. Christians are stewards of what they have, and therefore we should treat the possessions within our care with respect and love.

There is a difference between tithes and offerings, and it is one that many Christians fail to realize. A tithe, by definition, is a proportionate part of your gross income, usually 10%. An offering is what you choose to give back to God above and over that 10%.

So, besides not stealing from God, why should a Christian provide tithes and regular offerings? The passage in Malachi quoted above provides a very real incentive. Whatever is returned to God, He will return in full. If you return to God what is His, He will in turn bless you with the promise and grace that only He can provide. What could be a better incentive than that?

Is tithing a gimmick that the church uses for its own personal gain? Is tithing for the Old Testament only? Is tithing nonsense? Do tithing and making offerings affect your life?

Let CWL xPress know how you feel about tithes and offerings.

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How Can Studying My Bible Bring Me Closer to God?

A Bible study class is a group of individuals coming together on a regular basis to read and study the Bible. They may discuss certain parts or passages of the Bible, and the topic may change weekly. In other groups, the topic may not change every week; instead, they may focus on the same subject for an extended period. Bible study classes may be offered through your own church or a local church, and sometimes you can even find them through a community center, a local library, or another organization. The goal of these classes is to bring like-minded people together to discuss and interpret the Bible. They are beneficial for a variety of reasons. For example, they promote friendship, discussion, and understanding of the Lord’s word.

Use discretion when choosing a Bible study class. When you attend, you want to be surrounded by people who share your beliefs so you can grow and mature in God’s word. It should be a time of comfort and peace, not conflict. It may also be a good idea to obtain a suggestion from a trusted friend who previously attended a Bible study or even take the Bible study with the friend instead of by yourself. This will not only allow you to become closer to the Lord but also strengthen the relationship with that trusted friend.

So, you may be wondering how taking a simple class will bring you closer to the Lord. As you already know, the Bible is the word of the Lord. When you study His word, your relationship and bond become deeper and stronger. You learn more about faith, love, and devotion, and you learn how to be a better Christian. If you practice this with an open heart and ask the Lord to enter your heart, He will fill it with love, hope, and faith and a host of other wonderful blessings. You will begin to develop a tie that will never be broken, and you will be on your journey to living a Christian life. This is a life that the Lord will be proud of you for accomplishing. You will begin to live your life according to His word, the words written in the Bible. Each and every day, you will pray and ask for His guidance, and He will lead you in the right direction.

The Bible is an extremely powerful book, and the Lord works through it in very mysterious ways. All He asks from us in return is to have faith, to be devoted to Him, and to make the Lord the number one priority in your life. We must believe in our soul that Jesus died for our sins so that we may have everlasting life. Can you imagine all the benefits we reap by opening our heart to God’s word? What a wonderful Lord we have! You too can begin this indescribable experience by studying the words of God with an open and willing heart. This is how you begin your path to becoming closer to God. Whether you choose to study your Bible with a Bible study class or by yourself, you can expect a lifechanging experience. You will develop a bond and a closer relationship with the Lord that can never be severed. Open your heart and invite Him into your life sooner rather than later. You will be so glad you did!

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Do You Feel Unworthy of God’s Love and Forgiveness?

By Kathleen M. Krueger kmkrueger.net

The feeling that a person is undeserving of God’s love, forgiveness and blessing is a common one. It is one of the biggest hindrances to individuals in moving forward in their faith. Every time they start to move forward in confidence to grab hold of God’s promises and the life He has prepared for them, they hear a whisper in their ear that reminds them of all the times they’ve failed God in the past. They are reminded of how weak they are and the shameful sins they have committed.

Does this ever happen to you? Are you beaten down before you ever start? You are not alone. It is a common issue, one that even the apostles dealt with. “What a wretched man I am!” says the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans.

Yet, we know that Paul was not held back from his service to God by feelings of unworthiness. Are your sins worse than his? That can’t be the case. The Apostle Paul called himself “the chief of sinners;” he had killed and imprisoned Christians before his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. Few of us are guilty of such deeds. What is the secret that he and many other Christians possess that sets them free from shame?

Listen to the words of Jesus from Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, verses 32 and 36: “…and the truth will set you free….So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

What has set them free from their shame and guilt? The truth! And what is that truth? The truth is this – you are NOT worthy of God’s love, forgiveness or blessing. BUT – “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” says the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:25. He goes on to explain in the opening verses of Chapter 8. “…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

The beautiful truth that set the Apostle Paul, and many others, free from their shame and guilt is this: I am not ‘worthy’ of God’s love, forgiveness or blessings, but He gives that love, forgiveness and many blessings in spite of my unworthiness. We have not and CANNOT earn these gifts of God’s grace. That is the whole beauty of the Gospel. We are given what we do not deserve.

So, here’s the secret to defeating those whispers of shame and guilt. Say to the accuser of your soul, “You’re right. I am not worthy to receive God’s favor, His love, His forgiveness or blessings on my life.”

Agree with him! This is the one time that the Father of Lies speaks the truth. Then remind him that your unworthiness is the very reason why you serve and love your God, because He is a gracious God, full of mercy.

Rejoice in receiving what you do not deserve, but have been given freely through the sacrifice of His Son, and you will silence those accusing whispers. “The truth will set you free!”

Author: Kathleen M. Kr ueger Kathleen is a full time freelance writer and poet from Minnesota.

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Training Them Up: Some Helpful Tips to Serve as a Family

By Amy Cunningham littlecunningham.blogspot.com

One of the things I’ve prayed over my children from the time before they were born is that God would give them unique and special gifts that, in turn, would bless others. When I first learned about the gifts God gives us when He creates us, it was easy for me to recognize He had called me to not only be compassionate (a calling for all of us who follow Him) but to lead others in growing in their compassion, too.

Proverbs 19:17 says, “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and He will repay you!” It only makes sense that I would make this a priority when it comes to serving with my own family.

When I talk to other parents that wish they had more time for “outreach” or “serving”, I usually encourage them to think outside the box. Serving the poor doesn’t always have to look like working in a soup kitchen or moving heavy items at a food pantry. Ways to bless local children do not just include teaching lessons in Sunday school. What is available in their own community that is easy for them to include their children in? They won’t need to arrange childcare and can serve as a model to their children, no matter how young, during the actual activity itself.

Once you have evaluated the options in your community, it is a good time to determine how you’ll actually plug in and help out. If the thought crosses your mind that what you’re thinking about doing won’t be making a “significant” impact, know that is a lie and that any way you can be outward-focused is pleasing to God.

However, if you’d still like to impact the people you’re blessing in a larger way, think about asking your friends from your small group, church family or anywhere else and talking to them about what you’re thinking about doing with your family. One of the things I’ve found is that these “volunteer” opportunities are great entry points for people who may not be in a church, or friends from another church, to join in with someone they know to partner with Jesus in what He is doing. Our own small group has had a couple instances of people joining us to serve, and later checking out our small group on a Bible study night, when that was something they had never previously done before!

Finally, when it comes time to actually participate in the activity, look at the environment through the eyes of your children. See how they fit into what you’re doing and think about how they can help, at their own level.

Perhaps you don’t necessarily need someone to pass out napkins to the folks sitting down eating a meal, but you can send a pair of school age kids to walk around the room and distribute napkins. Whatever it may be, talk to them about it afterwards and ask them how it felt to bless the people they encountered. In the days and weeks to come, you can include these individuals in your prayer time with your kids, to ensure this experience is one they do not forget!

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

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When you play in the devils playground you are not playing with children you are playing with demons!

1 Corinthians 10:20—22

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What? know ye not that your body is the

temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

For ye are bought with a price: therefore

glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 16;19-20

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CWL xPress Team

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