Grace Point! June 2016

Volume 2 ~Issue 6

June 2016 eMagazine of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

Departure & Destination

Table of Contents 3~Notes from Rebecca 4~PrayerWorks 5~Restoration & Renewal 6-7~VerseWorks by Jaime Dills 8-12~180°Works by Craig Harbeck 13~BoardWorks 14-15~NoteWorks 16-17~ImageWorks 18-19~VoiceWorks by Juvena McMahan 20-21~StoryWorks 22-23~Namesakes 24-25~FruitWorks 26-27~ScrollWorks 28-29~Seller of Purple Prayer Journals 30~Seller of Purple Tote Bags 31~Seller of Purple T-shirts Back Cover~Subscribe to Grace Point!

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© StillWorks Imagery by Rebecca Matthews

Notes from

Rebecca

© StillWorks Imagery by Rebecca Matthews

© StillWorks Imagery by Rebecca Matthews

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© StillWorks Imagery by Rebecca Matthews

PrayerWorks TM a publication of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

A Journey to

Many of us have walked through a hell on earth in one form or another. Just as Yeshua descended into hell to free the captives, sometimes we are called to descend into a hell of sorts, to rescue friends and loved-ones that have been overcome by evil. Maybe it is a family member on drugs, or a close friend dealing with a terminal illness. No matter what kind of hell they are going through, we want to rescue them.

In Psalm 139:7-12, David tells us that G-d is with us, no matter where we go: Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from presence?

Your

If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,�

Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You. a publication of Ruth Ministries-The Virtuous Woman,TM a woman's restoration ministry/a segment of Philippi Prospect Ministries

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The dept has been paid by His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, His grace and riches are promised to bring peace and joy within.

We shall obtain an inheritance predestined by Christ alone, After accepting the truth of His word you can make Heaven your home.

The old things are gone, you have become new, There is a better destination in store for you.

Do not hold on to the things that God asks you to leave, Depart from the world and begin to believe. inspired by Ephesians 1:7-13 6

VerseWorks TM is a trademark of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

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by Jaime Dills 7

180°Works Craig Harbeck - his

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the stories of people who have made a decision to turn their lives around

turn around

I am 29 years old, and I was born and raised on Long Island, New York. I had a picture-perfect childhood. My parents were always around. I was never abused as a child; verbally, emotionally, physically nothing like that. I am the youngest of three children; I have two older sisters.

Being the youngest, I learned to manipulate people at a very early age, and being the only boy, I was able to get away with a lot more than my sisters did.

But, I was always into sports, always had a good amount of friends. Throughout middle school was when I really got more involved in sports, particularly lacrosse. I played lacrosse, which is very big up north.

But, early on, I was trying to fit in with other people, so the first time I ever drank beer or smoked pot was when I was twelve years old. In the beginning, it was very passive. But, as time went on, it became more and more.

By the time I was in about tenth grade, I knew I was an alcoholic. One of my sisters is two years older than me, and the other is three years older than me, and they would have parties with seniors in high school and freshmen in college. I would see all them drinking seven or eight beers and be pretty wasted, and I would be drinking 17 or 18, then driving them home. It didn’t phase me the way it phased other people. But, it still didn’t affect what I wanted to do, and the goals that I had set. So, I went on through high school and graduated.

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During that time, I was getting recruited by a lot of colleges to play lacrosse. Looking back, that is where my people-pleasing, and wanting other people’s opinion of me to be high, really started. The two schools that it was down to was UNC at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and Fairfield University in Connecticut, and that is where my dad went. From the time I was about four or five, i wanted to go to UNC Chapel Hill, but I also wanted my dad to be able to say “My son went to the same college that I went to.” So, I ended up going to Fairfield on a lacrosse scholarship.

A lot of friends that I had that had grown up sheltered from alcohol and drugs, when they went to college, they went crazy. For me, it was the opposite. That is when my depression set in, because I had always lived in the same place my whole life, and had the same friends from the time I was about two or three years old. So, I never really had to go out and make friends. So, I was totally out of my comfort zone. I was not happy with my situation, or comfortable in my own skin.

In my freshman year, I would just sit in the dorm rooms by myself while everyone else went out, because I was uncomfortable. The summer after that was when I started to smoke pot every day. And, that was also when I had my first experience with hydrocodone. I had gotten one one of my wisdom teeth pulled, and the dentist gave me a prescription for it.

So, then, I realized that if I took a couple and drank, then I would feel pretty good. Soon after, I started my second year at college and, since I knew a few people from the year before, I started to come out of my shell a little bit. But, then I started experimenting with cocaine, which allowed me to drink more.

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In my junior year of college, I was actually kicked off the team. I had went out on a Saturday night and gotten blacked-out drunk, didn’t show up for practice when the recruiters came, and it got back to the coach. From the time I was about nine years old until then, when I was 21, lacrosse was my life. I had never thought about anything else in my life besides sports. I never thought about what I wanted my career to be. I never thought about where I wanted to live. I was just living to play that sport. So, once my own actions took that away from me, I didn’t know what to do. As a result, i started getting heavier into drugs.

Toward the end of my junior year, I began to sell coke, which put me in very hairy situations because of the people I was dealing with. But, as time went on, I knew that I had to graduate, so I cut back on that part. Even through all of the drug use, I still maintained a 3.2 GPA. and, i graduated with two Bachelor’s Degrees, one in finance and one in accounting. So, up until that point, the drug use had not really made my life unmanageable. I focused on what I needed to do, but I still had the “other side” to me.

After I graduated, I really didn’t know what to do, so I moved back in with my parents. I ended up getting a job working in accounting for Estee` Lauder. I worked there for four years, but I knew something was wrong with me, because I had to use someone else’s urine just to pass the drug test. At that time, I was only smoking pot, and I had not been there but a few months when I realized that I could smoke on my lunch break and then come back and not only be able to do my job, but no one would notice. Then that led to me smoking before work, during work, after work, all day long.

I had been there about two years, and just turned 23, when I started experimenting with Roxicodone (the generic form of Oxycodone). I still remember vividly the first time I did it. I snorted a couple of pills, went over to my buddy’s house and smoked one, drank a few beers and then threw up everywhere. The insanity of my thinking was “Let me try this again, and maybe it won’t be that bad.” And it wasn’t, so that was how I continued from there.

By the time I got to be 25, I was drinking every day, smoking pot every day, and taking Roxicodone every day, which by itself became a $900-a-day habit. When I got tired of spending $900 a day, I started doing heroin. This led to me being more and more isolated, and the depression I was in was unbelievable.

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There are two situations that stick out in my mind, which were the craziest things I have ever done. One of them was me at my friend’s house with two other people, one of which was an EMT. I rarely hung out with anyone who was an EMT, so the situation that happened that day is how l know that there is a God. I went into my friend’s bathroom and took a shot of heroin that would probably kill me, but I was so unhappy with myself and life in general that I just didn’t care. So, the EMT heard me fall off the toilet. I had basically overdosed and died. He hit me with Narcan, which brought me back. I don’t remember this part, but he said the first thing I said was “Why did you wake me up? I don’t want to have to relive this tomorrow.”

The second thing is the worst thing I have ever done to myself. I was housesitting for a buddy of mine, and his dad collected guns. I was there alone, taking Xanax, Roxicodone, and drinking. I had not gotten to the blackout stage yet, but I could feel it coming, so I took a six-shot revolver and put a bullet in every other chamber, and basically played a game of Russian roulette. My thought was that if I pulled the trigger and there was a bullet, then all of this madness was over, and if not, we’ll keep going and see what tomorrow brings. I had been friends with this guy since I was 18 months old, so i began to think about him and his family coming home and finding me, and how awful that would be.

After my 26th birthday, in 2013, I ended up going to another rehab, which is what brought me to South Carolina. I ended up getting sober, and stayed sober for about 2½ years. Then, about a year ago, in June of 2015, I stopped working the AA program. It’s wasn’t that I thought I could do it on my own, without God’s help, but I didn’t feel it was necessary for me to put in the daily footwork of praying and meditating. Then, one or two days turned into a week, then a week turn into two weeks, then I stopped altogether.

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Then, it wasn’t more than two weeks before i started using again. I started out with low-level pain killers, because i do wake up every morning in pain from various sports injuries. My ankles, knees, shoulders, and back-they all hurt. And, at first, I was doing it for the pain. But, it wasn’t long before the low-level pills turned back into the Roxicodone, and the Roxicodone turned into the heroin. So, it became a pretty bad downward spiral. I have always considered myself a pretty outgoing person, but after I started using again, the only two people I saw was my girlfriend, who lived with me, and used with me, and my drug dealer.

Those were the only two people I saw. In the weeks before I got to the location where I am now, I told her on numerous occasions that if I had had a gun, I would have just shot myself, because I was just done with everything. I was also supplying her with drugs, and from Christmas time to about the end of February, I spent close to $20,000 on drugs. So, to see all I had accomplished go downhill, I just wanted it all to be over.

On February 29 -only by the grace of God- one of my friends in Florence, SC, where I was living, texted me to see how I was doing. He knew that I was using again, and had been texting me a lot, but I never responded to him. So, then he showed up at my house, and as I literally put the needle in my arm, he knocked on the door. When I asked who it was, he told me, so I told him to hang on a minute and I would be down to talk to him. As soon as I started talking to him, I broke down. He works with a foundation called the Jake Koenigsdorf Foundation, which is the T-shirt I’m wearing, and my friend basically said that he was not leaving until he took me someplace where I could get help. And, I was so broken and willing, that I said “Take me wherever you want to take me.” So, he brought me to Greenwood, and I have been here since that night, February 29. I am now in Salvation Oaks Recovery Community, and I have now been sober since March 1.

This time it is completely different. Even though I was sober for 2½ years, I have learned more about AA, and the concept of God, than I did in the 2½ years previous. It is important to me for me to continue on this path. It is heartbreaking for me to see the media and medical professionals treating addiction as if drugs and alcohol were the problem. No. Pain is the problem. The drugs and alcohol are just the symptoms of numbing the pain of the problem.

It is important to me to talk about my experience and let people know that there are many ways to get sober, but the way medical professionals do it with chemicals that are just as addicting as the drugs is not the best treatment.

Because of that, one of the things that I want to do now is become a substance abuse counsellor. Another thing I want to do is get back into lacrosse. Those are my goals for the future.

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Welcome to BoardWorks, where each month I share interesting articles from my FlipBoard account. A little ‘food for thought’ to snack on.

Click

HERE to read

Roots:

Uncovering ancient Ashkenaz – the birthplace of Yiddish speakers BoardWorks TM is a trademark of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

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Satan knows your name, but calls you by your sin.

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GearWorks TM is a trademark of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

God knows your sin, but calls you by your name.

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ImageWorks TM is a trademark of Philippi Prospect Ministries TM

What does this picture say to you?

(read this page from the bottom to the top)

Are you now in a fog of confusion, doubt, and misguided belief, and do not know what to do to change any of your negatives into a positive?

Have you pushed through all the obstacles and hurdles of life, just to get to the end and realize it is not leading you anywhere?

Has your journey so far been twisted and torn by the storms of life?

Has some of your hurtful past been hastily covered over so that you don’t have to deal with the pain that is still present?

Has your life’s journey been a precarious balancing act to keep from falling off the walkway under your feet?

Did your life start out on the decline, with a broken foundation?

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by the word of our testimony

Rev.12:11

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Last month I promised to start a series of articles on the effects of domestic violence. I’ll begin this month with its effects on women who are abused and focus specifically on the long-term health effects.

Some of you may recall that once I was out of the abusive relationship, I was in the hospital three times within about the first month of my stay in the domestic violence shelter. The diagnosis was atrial fibrillation and three different medications had not resolved the problem.

Therefore, the third hospitalization required an ablation. When I told the cardiologist of my extended history of domestic violence, he said the stress of the abuse had pumped adrenaline into my heart repeatedly over the years and the damage from the adrenaline had opened pathways for electricity. Triggers, like dehydration for example, would then cause the flare ups and my heart would respond as if it were being tased.

Thus, my personal experience, and my research have confirmed that domestic violence has negative effects on women’s health that transcends the most obvious bruises, contusions, and broken bones.Several sources agree that the effects of domestic violence on women include physical, mental, and spiritual effects. The surprising thing for me was that those physical effects encompassed long term health concerns, like atrial fibrillation and chronic pain. How does this happen? According to the Joyful Heart Foundation, the energy to fight or flee that is called upon during an abusive episode creates “short circuits.” Then, over time, these short circuits create the negative effects that victims and survivors experience.1

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Not too long ago, I mentioned on here that Dr. Nadine Burke Harris discovered through extensive research that childhood trauma has an impact on an individual’s health.2 As it turns out, the same is true for adults who are traumatized by domestic violence. According to www.domesticviolence.com, “Exposure to violence leads to poorer physical health overall compared with women who have not experienced violence, and it increases the risk of women developing a range of health problems [such as gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, back pain, fainting, seizures, and gynecological problems].”3 Another source says, “Battering is the single major cause of injury to women, more significant than auto accidents, rapes, or muggings [and] many of the physical injuries sustained by women seem to cause medical difficulties as women grow older. Arthritis, hypertension and heart disease have been identified by battered women as directly caused or aggravated by domestic violence suffered early in their adult lives.”4 The bottom line is this: If you’re in an abusive relationship, even if he doesn’t hit you, your body is still being damaged and creating short circuits that will lead to long-term, chronic health problems down the road, so get out of that abusive relationship before it ruins your health!Yeshua is the Great Physician and He can heal us of all our brokenness. However, He cannot heal anything that has not been surrendered to Him. 1.

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http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/domestic-violence/effects-domestic-violence https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime/transcript?language=en http://www.domesticviolence.com.au/pages/impact-of-domestic-violence-on-women.php http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/domviol/effects.htm

I Am the God that Healeth Thee - Don Moen

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In a little town in western North Carolina used to live a man that had a hardware store right beside the railroad tracks. The train had long since ceased taking hauling product to the local mills and had been turned into a tourist attraction, taking people on a long slow ride by the river that flowed into the next county.

The businessman was approached by the railroad, who made an offer on the land on the other side of the tracks, so they could use it as a parking lot. The man refused to sell the land, but made a counteroffer letting them use it on the condition that they charge $5 per car, and gave him half the funds.

Since it was a small town, and tourism waxing and waning through the years, the railroad knew that most people would not want to pay that much. So, the counteroffer was refused.

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Unbeknownst to the businessman, the railroad made some enquiries at the office of land records, and it turned out they they had owned the land all along. It was the railroad that had given the businessman’s father, who first opened the hardware store decades before, permission to store his inventory wood and lumber that was once delivered by the railroad.

Over time, with the shutting down of the railroad, the land had just been used by the business, but never legally acquired. Imaging the surprise when the businessman learned of this major development.

Not long after, with the economy taking the way it did, the businessman had to close his hardware store completely. He was not yet old enough to retire, so he had to take a “regular� job to make ends meet. That job was working for the railroad, taking $2 per car at the ticket booth set up by the railroad on the land he had claimed as his own.

Moral: Greed will never bring success. And, in some circumstances, greed will cause us to lose everything, and end up beholden to the very one we were greedy toward.

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Asher Happy/Blessed

Our names are more than just what we are called.

God gave names, or changed names, in Scripture, in the lives of those whose names were changed. Do up to the character of that name? Or, do you feel

Hebrew Transliteration: Asher Hebrew Spelling: ‫ָאשֵׁר‬ Anyone with the name “Asher” can look very much like his namesake in Scripture. Here are a few examples of the characteristics of the name.

Genesis 30:12-13 Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son. Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.

Leah’s handmaid bore Jacob a second son. So, Leah, feeling fortunate with the first son, felt happy and blessed with the second son she was able to present to Jacob.

Deuteronomy 33:24-25 Of Asher he said, "Asher is blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his brothers. Let him dip his foot in oil. Your bars shall be iron and brass. As your days, so your strength will be.

When Moses blessed Asher, he used a word that means “shoe” or “shoe latchet” which is the English word “bars”. Symbolically, the shoe and shoe latchet was used to convey the idea of occupancy, refusal to marry, or valuelessness. Moses makes the point of saying that even the things belonging to Asher that is of no value will be strong like brass and iron.

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They can reveal a lot about our character. When it signified that a change was about to take place you have a Scripture-based name? Are you living a name-change is in order?

2 Chronicles 30:10-12 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun: but they ridiculed them, and mocked them. Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also on Judah came the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of Yahweh.

An “Asher� will humble himself to the will of God, and to Godly authority, thereby putting, keeping, or creating a happiness within himself, and extending that happiness to those around him.

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a closer look at the fruits of the Spirit

In Galatians 5:22-23, we are given a list of the fruits of the Spirit. They are the guidelines to which we conduct ourselves in our daily walk. These are nine different aspects of Godliness that we must adhere to in order to live to our fullest spiritual potential. They vary slightly, depending on the translation, but the foundational fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

While at first glance, these all look the same, a closer look reveals small differences in their meanings, which translates to differences in their application and implementation. This article is meant to shed light on each of these nine characteristics of holiness, to explore their nuances and minute differences. Happiness falls under the category of joy.

Happiness What is it? What does it look like? The modern definition for this word is most often linked to being the opposite of depression. But, what does this word really mean? How do we apply it? And, is there a Scriptural model?

The dictionary describes happiness in the following way: 1.

2.

the quality or state of being happy. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy

The definition of happy is: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky: apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances, or ideas obsessed by or quick to use the item indicated

The following are just a few examples of happy/happiness in Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:8-10 So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. On the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and happy for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

We are to rejoice and be happy when God brings a facet of our lives to completion, especially something that has been long-awaited for, and the journey to get there has been hard.

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dictionary credit / dictionary credit

Romans 14:16-22 Don't let your good be slandered, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

0on't overthrow God's work for food's sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn't judge himself in that which he approves.

So many people want to lean into legalism of Scripture by tellings others how they should live. But, God Himself said He made NOTHING unclean. It is man that taints what God has done. In this example, Paul was referring to those who ate or drank in a custom other than what they were taught in their religious upbringing. He made the point of saying that God is more than any custom, tradition or ceremony. So, therefore, if we are pleasing God by our actions, then we are to carry on without fear of judgment or condemnation from others, or ourselves based on the judgments of others. We are to be happy in knowing that we are not bound in religious legalism, but free in God’s divine will for our lives.

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Yahweh said to me, "Arise, take your journey before the people; they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them." __

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Deut. 10:11

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