Happiest of New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Not So Very Merry Day That Ends In Rejoicing!

Here we are, getting ready for the holiday season. My daughter and I have done everything we know to do to build our Avon business, and we decided to have a booth at that Craft and Gift Bazaar at our local mall. We had such a great time the first two days, things have been going pretty well, even without a lot of traffic, we were just trusting that God would send the people through to build our business and buy our product.

After two amazing and fun days, we came in this morning, only to find that a couple of young ladies, teenagers, had raided through our products and stole quite a bit of the products and fund raising items off our table the night before. After taking inventory, speaking multiple times with security and going over security tapes, I was absolutely out of my mind this morning.

I think I was more heart broken than anything. I am the type of person that, regardless how much money I owed on something, if I know you need it, I would have just given it to you, rather than make you pay, only to find these two just so blatantly, without any kind of regard to us, just went "shopping" for themselves and walked out without any conscience whatsoever.

All I could think was, what a world we are living in, when kids just think its okay to take whatever they want and they aren't even bothered by it. Our children are so numb to breaking the law, bad behaviors, hate and deceit. It is like, it doesn't seem real to them, no big deal to do this, "why should it bother you?" type of attitude. My heart is so saddened by this, by the lack of conscience and lack of regard to others.

Even with the hardest trials and pain, there are lessons to learn. We must learn to forgive and show compassion to those who have hurt you, to show them the love of God and remember that everyone is going through something. I praise God that He has given me a heart to love. Even in a not so merry day, I can find beauty and joy through it all. I'm not saying I wasn't devastated, I surly was! I am saying that even though I had pain, I was hurt, that I was able to find something good to find out of this situation. I was able to find joy and peace in the midst of the storm. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind." II Timothy 1:7

God asks us to put away the fear of hurt, pain, and rejection to allow Him to give us the Love and Power to show compassion and forgiveness to others, to those who have hurt or wronged us in some way. I chose this, I chose God's love, power, and sound mind. To make a not so merry day, a day that the Lord has made, one that I can rejoice and be glad in it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you this season! 

From 

The Clausens

Taking a Breath!

Sometimes we all get caught up in life, struggling to just get from point A to point B, we wonder why

it is such a struggle and is it really worth it? God shows us over and over again in the Bible that He works all things out for the good, that even in the worst of times there is ALWAYS something to praise Him for in this life. Through every struggle in the Bible we see one person who stands out, who God recognizes as His Child, the one to bring other's together or to Him. What do they have in common?

They prayed, they praised, they listened, they worshipped, and they paused, yes they took a breath
. They just didn't run into every situation hot headed and saying "I am the greatest and God will do this because of who I am." No, they said, "with God's help, because He's the greatest, we will be victorious in the name of God, because of who He is..."

When we come to those times in our life when the struggle is real, and we don't know what we should do, that is when we should stop, pray, listen, and take a breath. It could be in that still, small moment of taking the time to breathe everything will become clear, that God can speak to our hearts above the loudness of the crazy and lead us in the direction we should go.