1. to be securely placed or fastened or settled. To be founded in a place – set up
2. to be braced, just like a building. The Spirit of God holds you in place. It means to hold your position.
3. to be supported by a frame, just like your body is supported by your skeleton, it acts like a frame. The Spirit of God is your frame.
4. to have backing – God’s Spirit has your back! Praise God!
5. when something is concentrated , or stronger. Cordial drink is a concentrate- all the useless liquid is distilled and you are left with a strong concentrate. The Spirit of God works in you to get rid off all the useless stuff, things that dilute your effectiveness so that you become pure concentrate – which is MORE of Him.
6. to have force, power to accomplish, equipped, furnished, having the means, resources , skills and capabilities to complete a task. Just like strengthening an army is making sure that they have all the neccesary supplies.
7. taking a tonic – the Holy Spirit is like taking a tonic, He gives you inner strength to carry on.

Wow isn’t it awesome to meditate on what the Word means when it talks about the Holy Spirit being your strengthener.

Here is a great quote:

To be strengthened by God’s Spirit means that you are enabled to encounter danger with coolness and courage and to bear pain or hard times without mumuring or depression.

It is good to check out the opposite – what does it mean to be NOT strengthened?

-weak, deprived of resources, decay, gradual failutre of health, deficient, inadequate, incomplete, lacking, exhausted, faint, feeble, all used up, coming to an end, helpless, low and wasting away.

Okay  – no one wants to be all those things! They are not the plan of God for His children. He has given us the wonderful gift of His Spirit whose assignment it is to strengthen us. If you don’t feel strengthen then you need to spend some time with God and His Word and build your faith – discover who God really is and what His plans are for you!

part two coming tomorrow on the Holy Spirit , my Strengthener.

John 14 v 26 says in the Amplified Bible

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

Apparently the word Comforter is the Greek word parakletos and it is very hard to translate this into one English word. Some versions have “Advocate” or “Helper”.

It literally means “called to one’s side” It is a person who is called in to help in a situation where a person by himself cannot cope. Wow! how amazing to think that we as belivers in Jesus Christ have a person like that 24/7!

The Amplified Bible has given 7 English words to try and convey what parakletos means.

I wanted to know more about the Spirit living inside me so I spent a bit of time meditating on each of these English words.

The next post will be about the Holy Spirit , my Stregthener

It has been a life changing experience for everyone. Joyce really brings the Word alive and makes it very practical to our daily lives. The subtitle of the book is “12 Strategies to win the battle of the mind” and it certainly gives that.

I looked everywhere on the internet for a guide on how to study this book in a home group situation and I couldn’t find anything. So I had to work it out myself.

How I tackled this book:

I required everyone to buy their own copy from The Book Depository (the cheapest by far). Then the group was to read up to page 71 (the introduction) themselves and then we came together for the first night and discussed what we read. We then had 12 weeks looking at one Power Thought each week. We would all read the Power Thought during the week then come together on the Tuesday night and discuss it. As the leader I would briefly review the next week Power Thought with the group before they read it. I did this by choosing Scripture that went with the Power Thought and wrote the references on little pieces of paper and then gave these out to the women to look up and read out to the group.

I also created some Power Thoughts Cards that go with each of the 12 strategies. I gave out the next weeks Power Thought to each group member and they would stick these cards on their bathroom mirror or any place that they would see frequently. This helped to keep the Power Thought in their minds while they study the chapter for the week.

I am happy to share the Power Thought Cards with you. I printed them onto A5 paper with page 2 on the back and then laminated them. Or you could print them onto cardstock.

Power Thought 1 “I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ”

Power Thought 2 “God loves me unconditionally”

Power Thought 3 “I will not live in fear”

Power Thought 4 “I am difficult to offend”

Power Thought 5 “I enjoy people and I love helping them”

Power Thought 6 “I trust God completely; there is no need to worry”

Power Thought 7 “I am content and emotionally stable”

Power thought 8 “God meets all my needs abundantly”

Power thought 9 “I pursue peace with God, myself and others”

Power thought 10 “I live in the present and enjoy each moment”

Power thought 11 “I am disciplined and selfcontrolled”

Power thought 12 “I put God first in my life”

Enjoy!

Rachel Larkin

Enjoy
Rachel

There is only 4 pages on this PDF file – I have left it up to you to make as many copies of pages 3 & 4 (the actal journal pages) as you like. I made one up with 15 journal entires. Once printed I took it down to the local printing shop and got it bound. It looks very professional. Please note that I have made it for A5 paper so that it is an easy thing to carry around while bird watching.

Here is the link Bird Watching Journal

Rachel

It is for a 4gb MP3 player!!!!!!!

You can too – here is the link The Homeschool Lounge Giveaway

Time is just so short and it is so easy to spend it on absolutely nothing worthwhile.

Well, yesterday I totally surprised myself – I managed to cross off a couple of “Things to do before you die”

1. I watched my younger sister’s netball game – wow I have a new respect for her fitness level – I became so tired just watching those girls run around the court. It is a good thing to spend a bit of time encouraging someone doing their thing.

2. At this same netball game , the referees asked me to score the last two quarters of the day. I was so apprehensive , I was worried that I wouldn’t score correctly.After I had done it, I felt so good – for the rest of the day I kept saying – “I scored a netball game!”

3. I was due to go to a 30th birthday party last night – we all had to wear a flash dress. Well, I thought – why not get my nails done? So my sister and I went (after the netball game) to the mall. The nail technician suggested that we get nail art as something special. I just giggled all through the nail art session – it was so wild. I have never had my nails half painted black with gold sparkles and diamonds before!

These three “things before you die” may seem to you to be so insignificant but to me this was a very different way to spend my Saturday – chuck the TV away and start doing something new today! It just changes your attitude towards what you can do. Confidence Building 101!

Until Next Time
Keep Connecting with God!

I have just received an email from Tawra from Living on a Dime about a crazy sale they are having. Here’s what she said:

We are going to be having a 50% off sale on all our books and 63% off if you buy 3 you get one free. (yes, this is just barely above our cost but it’s not worth having books sit around

Here is the link to check it out:Mothers Day Crazy Book Sale

She has given me one ebook to give away to one of my blog readers – this is the giveaway lowdown

Dining On A Dime – e-Book
Eat Better and Spend Less with Real Food for Real People!
Dining On A Dime Cookbook – Money Saving Recipes, Grandma’s Home Cooking

Save $10,000 a year on food?

Without cutting coupons! Unbelievable? Read Tawra Jean Kellam and Jill Cooper’s advice in their e-book: Dining on a Dime (formerly Not Just Beans) and find out that it really is possible.

Tawra has told her story to millions of listeners and readers on the radio, on the web and in women’s magazines (including Woman’s Day and Woman’s World) and now she’s put her best tips and tricks into a 476 page e-book. Using these tips and suggestions, Tawra shows how anyone can tighten his or her food budget.

Dining on a Dime is packed with over 1,200 money saving recipes and tips, kids tips and snack ideas, gift baskets, menus, food storage directions, Cleaning Cents and Pretty for Pennies. The recipes are easy to cook with ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. To make shopping easy and economical, Tawra has also included a pantry list and a shopping list.

This is worth $19.95 and 481 pages!!!!!!!!! – you could be the lucky reader who will get this for free!!!!

Here is how you can be in to win:

I am a speaker at New Zealand’s H.E.A.R.T retreat this year and my topic is “Avoiding Burnout” I would love to hear your ideas on how you avoid burnout as a wife, mum, homeschooling mum etc.

Just leave a comment with your avoiding burnout advice and the suggestion that appeals to me will win the “Dining on a Dime” ebook. You will have until 20th April to post your ideas.
Good Luck!

Rachel

We sometimes wish that our lives were a little different – well this short list of steps shows us clearly where we start and that we can change our lives – we are the only one responsible for our own life and we can change it.

1. When you change your thinking you change your beliefs.

2. When you change your beliefs you change your expectations.

3. When you change your expectations you change your attitude.

4. When you change your attitude you change your behavior.

5. When you change your behavior you change your performance.

6. When you change your performance, you change your life!

It all starts with our thinking!

Let’s change our thoughts today towards what we what to see our lives become.

Rachel

For most of the typewriter’s existence, if it was an important piece of paper you were typing you had no choice but to throw away the one with the mistake and start over again.

This was very time consuming. For some, it was impossible to actually type a whole page worth of characters and not make a mistake. This meant many people couldn’t use the typewriter…at least not until someone could solve this problem.

A Valuable Solution

In 1954, an executive secretary, Bette Graham, decided that there was a better way. Her mother was an artist and Bette decided to use tempura paint to cover up her typing mistakes.

Soon, others in the office saw what she was doing and wanted some of this magical liquid Bette called “Mistake Out.”

The demand for it grew and she started making it at home. Her son and his friends would bottle it up.

In 1958 an office magazine ran an article about “Liquid Paper” which resulted in over 500 orders. This grew to over 5,000 bottles per week by 1962.

By 1975 she moved the headquarters of Liquid Paper from San Antonio to Dallas. Three years later she sold her company, Liquid Paper, to Gillette for $48 million.

Bette’s Acres of Diamonds was sitting in her mom’s painting supplies. She turned an irritation with typing mistakes into a multi-million dollar fortune.

Other Solutions

Over the years this same problem has led to many other solutions:

* Typing training (teach people how to not make mistakes)
* Typing tests (screen out the bad typists)
* Erasable paper
* Erasable ink
* Ink remover
* Cover-up sheets – looked like white carbon paper
* Different keyboard layout like the Dvorak keyboard
* Correcting typewriters
* Type ahead buffers with built in dictionaries
* Dedicated word processors like the Wangwriter
* Word processing software like Wordstar, Word Perfect and Microsoft Word
* Voice dictation software like Dragon Speak

Each of these solutions is someone else’s Acres of Diamonds. There can be more than one successful solution to a problem.

Finding Your Own Acres of Diamonds

Ask yourself a series of questions:

What problems are you facing that others face?

Which of those problems would people be willing to pay money for a solution?

What possible solutions are there for that problem?

Which solution seems like the right one for you to pursue first?

What are your next action steps?

You don’t have to have a degree, a special background, previous experience or certification to come up with a great solution to a persistent problem. You just have to decide you want to find a solution and take action. The power of intention and persistence will yield great rewards.

About the Author

Dan Swanson is an Internet marketing consultant, who systematically increases qualified traffic and improves conversions of visitors to customers for client’s websites. For more information on his Internet marketing consulting services visit http://www.iq2.com. For more Acres of Diamonds success stories, visit http://www.AcresOfDiamonds.net.