Study of Other Faith Based Books

Posted on July 8, 2008 6:51:10 AM PDT

Donna ~ Last night I stayed up and finally wrote out my testominy about how I came to the Lord. And it was pretty long. Well, I am sorry to say that when I went to save it my computer messed up and there went all that I had typed. I was so upset because I finally got the time and then that happened. It took me awhile to do so I think that was the main reason I was so upset.I decieded I would try again later. Then I had the thought maybe God wanted this way,lol. I promise to try again soon. I just have lot's to do today but know that I do think this was a great idea and I wil get back to it very soon. Love YA, Bonnie RIC

Posted on June 20, 2008 12:49:23 PM PDT

Donna, talking about Gods will and purpose for our lives has got me thinking about how once you start seeking God's will, your will changes.  I can remember always thinking if only we had a bigger house, or another child, or a better job or etc etc the list can go on and on, I will be happier.  But I have now learned that only God's purpose will make us happy. I now think of how I can live for God, not myself and I can truly say I am happier than I ever have been. RIC

Posted on June 19, 2008 11:24:54 PM PDT

Wendy-

I also grew up Catholic. While I always beleived in God,my faith was not as strong as it is today. I was turned off by a lot of the fake pious "Holy Roller" types that were basically doing everything they were telling you not to do.  When I started my first job out of college (the child protective casework position). I had a lot of anxieties, not only because of the toughness of the job, but because several years prior to that, when I was in high school and college, my father had had several health struggles. He is ok NOW...BUT he cheated death numerous times during those struggles. Who else but God could have ensured my father's survival and well being, when from a medical standpoint things looked rather hopeless. Plus, when I was doing the child protective casework, I noticed that several of my co-workers semed to have a great peace about them, even when there were calamities up the wazoo in the office.  I remember thinking....wow...I want to have that level of peace about me. (I then noticed that those people were ALL very spiritual, religious types who spoke openly about their relationship with the Lord, which I found interesting, b/c no one tells Catholics that you could have a peronal relationship with the Lord, and encouraged people to fear (as opposed to respect and revere) the Lord, like you are gonna get crossed off His list the minute you do something wrong. Then I began learning , after talks with several co workers, and reading several faith based books, that God created everyone for a purpose, and that NO ONE was a random accident NO ONE. Powerful stuff, especially with the struggles of the past several years, which I am slllooowly coming out of. (A little tooo slowly for my liking...BUT I guess that is where trusting God's perfect will and perfect timing comes in. ) But as humans, we tend to act as cranky children , often impatiently starting prayers with" COME ONNNNN!!!", in reference to wanting our dreams/desires to come to pass in our time, as opposed to waiting for God's timing.(Or is that just me?!?!? LOL!!!) Reading Joel Osteen's "Your Best Life Now", and Joyce Meyers' "The Battlefield of the Mind" helped me realise this concept more clearly, and that your beliefs and expectations for your life will play a large role in determinig how far you get in life, as you will gravitate towards negativity if you entertain negative thoughts and engage in negative behaviors. But if you act, beleive, and behave positively while trusting in God's perfect will and perfect timing, then the desires of your heart will come to pass IF it is in line with God's will for your life. (And if not, it is b/c God has a better plan for you.) I always thought in the past that this was denying reality, or living in a fantasy world , but it is not. God never wants to see His children lost. BUT  He wil allow you to suffer the consequences for your mistakes in order to teach you the lesson He wants you to learn. BUT he will always build you back up, and help you get back on track when you seek Him, which I do much more regularly now. And I am still LEARNING to trust God's perfect timing and perfect will, BUT in all honesty, I still do struggle in this area a great deal. (BUT as the saying goes, I may not be where I want to be, BUT thank God I'm not where I used to be). Well, that is my salvation story. Now who's next?

I hope that all of you ladies and your respective families are well. Take care and God bless.

Peace and Love,

Donna

Posted on June 19, 2008 8:11:07 PM PDT

Donna, I was so happy when you posted the topic of when we turned our lives to Christ.  I love sharing and I love hearing others experiences.  Well, I will start.  I will try to keep it short. I grew up Catholic but never had a personal relationship with Christ.  I was raised to believe that as long as I believed in Jesus, I was going to heaven.  I met my now husband as a freshman in high school and we were your typical party kids, we drank all time and did the occasional drugs.  After we graduated high school we got married and partied all the time.  I then got pregnant a year later and had our first son.  We stopped partying so much, but we usually always had people over and drank and everything there so we felt it was better for our son than always going out. (The excuses we make) A month after our son turned one, my husband was in an accident at work where he was burned 3rd degree over 65% of his body.  He was in the hospital for 2 months and was lucky he is even alive.  He knows God saved his life and he knew it at the time, but didnt turn to God.  We had a rough time after that, we had to deal with him not being able to work, he was in a lot of pain, and self esteem issues and a boat load of other life changing issues.  Well we really just became people struggling to live, to deal with life.  He turned to alcohol and I guess I just really became bitter. We had our second son and was just trying to get back to "normal"  My husband starting realizing something was missing, he was raised in a Baptist church and through that and through God saving his life he knew he needed to turn to God.  Well, after God dealing with him for a while, he gave his life to Christ in our living room while I was a sleep.  I woke the next morning to find, not my husband, but a new man.  I didn't know what to think, and unfortunatly I turned to anger and hatred.  I felt like he was just trying to act like he was better and he was becoming some crazy religous fanatic.  I couldn't stand it and I hated to even be around him, but I just really never understood why.  Well, a while went by and he had his cousin over who was also a Christian and they sat at the table doing a Bible study together.  I was watching American Idol, and he called me to come in there and listen.  I very reluctantly went.  They were discussing Revelation, coming of Christ and the rapture.  I had in my 12 years in Catholic school, never heard of any of this.  I had them to explain it to me and show me in the Bible.  His cousin explained how we are all sinners and all going to hell, unless we accept Christ as our Savior.  Its not enough to just know there is a God,but we have to know we are in need of a Savior and He died on the cross for my sins and without Him I was going to hell.  I was shocked, why hadn't anyone ever told me something so important.  Well, his cousin left and me and my husband started talking.  I told him I hated him and I didn't know why.  He said he knew and it was because the devil was trying to use me to keep him from giving his life to Christ.  At that moment it made sense and I realized, I knew there was a devil and there is a living God.  Immediately, I knew I was wrong, I was a sinner and I needed Christ.  I then prayed and I will never forget the peace that came over me that day.  That peace has never since left me, sometimes it gets pushed back with the worries and stresses of this life but it is always there.  God gave me my life.  I am unworthy of all He has done for me, and I could never repay Him.  But I just pray that through my life, others will learn of Him and His loving grace.  I hope God will use me, and all I want is to be His servant forever.  RIC

Posted on June 11, 2008 2:55:39 PM PDT

Another topic of discussion that I wanted to post:

How do any/all of you ladies deal with the struggle of wanting the desires of your heart in your own timing, vs. waiting and trusting God's perfect will and timing? I was having this conversation with a friend of mine, who is married, expecting her first child, and set in her career, while I am still believing for most of the above.  I was sharing the struggles of sometimes wishing that God's timing was a little (ok A LOT) closer to my own. And she was telling me (rightfully, as much as I don't like to admit it.)  that you cannot want things to happen in your own timing, that you must be patient and wait for God's timing. While I know this to be true, I was also becoming angry thinking: "Yeah...it is so easy for you to say that when you have everything you have been believing for, and I am still believing for my dreams to come to pass, and for certain wrongs that I have suffered to be made right. "

Do any of you ladies go through this also? And if/when you do, how do you handle it?

Hope that all of you and your respective families are well. Take care, and God bless.

Peace and Love,

Donna

Posted on June 6, 2008 12:32:41 AM PDT

Hey Ladies-

Sorry that I haven't been on in awhile. I didn't mean for this group to fall by the wayside. There are so many interesting conversations going on in the Christian Girl's Coffee Talk and The Bible Study.

I want to pose this topic of conversation:

How did all of you get to the point where you were living your earthly lives (I beleive the correct spiritual term is living in the flesh....correct me if I am wrong.) to wanting to deepen your walk with the Lord, and to make more diligent efforts to live in His will as opposed to your own? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing, and feel free to use any resources that helped you (and continue to help you) to this end. (i.e. faith based books...as per the title of our group.)

Posted on May 3, 2008 10:08:01 PM PDT

Posted on March 27, 2008 11:42:55 AM PDT

Yes Bonnie, We are still reading "Battlefield of the Mind. Next, we are going to be reading Max Lucado's "Facing Your Giants", as per the request of several members on here. Please feel free to lead a discussion on whatever books you are reading, if you feel comfortable doing so. I hope that all of you and your respective families are well. Take care, and God bless.

Peace and Love,

Donna

Posted on March 26, 2008 7:15:29 PM PDT

Hello Ladies ~ Just wanting to stop in and say hello and to see what good books you are reading. Are you all still reading Battlefeild of the Mind? If so how are you find it to help you? I have the book and really want to read it but I feel that it is not the right time just yet due to I am reading two other books right now and I don't want to get confussed, trust me it wouldn't take much,lol. Well I hope all had a good Easter. God Bless, Bonnie RIC

Posted on March 20, 2008 2:00:49 PM PDT

May all of you ladies and your respective families have a happy, joyous, and blessed Easter. Take care, and God bless.

Peace and Love,

Donna

Posted on March 18, 2008 6:51:58 PM PDT

I am halfway thru Battlefield and am so glad you guys recommended the book.  It is like I am reading about myself. I am someone who worries if Im not worried. She seems to address me. I like that she says you can always know your circumstance and know it may not be very good, but you can still wrap yourself in God's love his word and provision and go forward.  I always felt that most self help books just want you to deny that anything is wrong instead of saying that it is okay for you to know you have problems. RIC

Posted on March 18, 2008 11:27:59 AM PDT

Yeah, I finally made it here! I am excited to join this group. I am sure I will get much out of it. For any who don't know me, my name is Bonnie, I am a mother of two wonderful boys, most the time,lol. I have been married for 13 years this Oct. High School Sweetie. Got married alittle on the young side but wouldn't change it for the world but wouldn't want for my boys to follow in my footsteps either,lol. I am currently reading two books, that deal with parenting because I am having troubles in this area and I feel that I need the Lords Wisdom here. The books are called " The Heart Of Anger " by Lou Priolo and   "Creative Correction " By Lisa Whelchel! Both have been very helpful. Also I am going to a young mom's class at church which has been a real blessing to me. And of course God's Word is the main thing that I have been trying to draw guidence from. I think Prov. is a really good book to start with when it comes to Parenting and I find it helpful to in the area of me being a good  Godly wife. I am so far from where I need to be but thankful that I am not where I use to be all Glory to God! Well I llok forward to meeting with you's and thanks Donna for inviting me. You are super great, and I loved what you wrote to Wendy on Corpral Punshiment. Please let me know if you's have read these books and what you have thought of them? I was gonna start reading the Battelfeild of the Mind Book but felt like God was calling me first to these due to the importance of our situation. Love In Christ, Bonnie   I will try to get on as much as I can,thx. RIC

Posted on March 17, 2008 5:58:30 PM PDT

Posted on March 5, 2008 5:30:58 PM PST

I have reserved Battlefield at our library and hope to have it soon. I have already read Max Lucado's "Facing Giants." I must admit he is my favorite Christian author.  His writing style is unique and completely his own. His books don't read like "self-help" books. Just follow steps 1 thru 5 and your life will be perfect.  Those books annoy me.  Lucado's love of God comes thru in his works.  I love that he wrote about David in this book.  When David was good, he was great, but when he messes up, he really does.  I can so relate to David.  Even when David was wandering and pretending to be crazy, he had lost faith. Yet, David would turn around and refuse to kill Saul.  He was so up and down, just like I tend to be.

Okay I've typed all this and am now rereading the posts. If you guys weren't going to do Facing Giants next, OOOOPS! But, I've done all this typing so I am definitely going to post!LOLOL

Posted on February 28, 2008 3:21:27 PM PST

I am still in the early chapters of Battlefield of the mind, and just those few chapters i have read (im reading slow so that i can really grasp the book) this book is really making me stop and think about what i am thinking. i think since reading this book i am a little more positive. RIC