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.

Parenting Isn't for Whimps

I can tell you, I have heard people talk about successful parenting, who they think are great parents and who they think have raised their children successfully. I wonder what criteria we gauge success on for parents? Is it that they have made it through infancy and toddlerhood without much incident? They made it through adolescence alive? Do we gauge it on being productive members of society, never been to jail or prison by the time they are adults? Do we look at how much they make, whether they have a degree or if they went on to college after high school? Or...

Do we look at their character, do we look at their lives, their hearts, and see if they are kind, compassionate, loving, forgiving and show the love of God to others. Our children are perfect in our own eyes, no matter what they do, I have seen that from others myself, but what do others see in our children? Do they see all the values and convictions you tried to instill in them? Do they see their mistakes and strange decisions as your personal failures, or something to learn from...

I had no idea when my children were small that I would worry about them more as adults, than I did when they were small. I wonder if I did enough. Was my influence louder than the noise coming from outside our home. I wonder if I taught them enough to be strong, independent and yet caring and able to love another with all they are. Did I teach them enough about my God, who He is and what He should mean to them. Did I teach them about family, who their family is, and how to embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes from it all.

I remember in Proverbs 22:6 that tells me to "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

That promise I stand on everyday as a mother of three adult children. I know I did teach them, and tried to lead them, God knows I tried to do the best for Him, and He is the only one that knows for sure if I did the best job at teaching them, training them in the way of the Lord. Did I show them love, compassion, patience, and the other fruit of the spirit. Was I a good enough example? I pray everyday that I still am. I am not perfect, God knows I try, but I can only strive to be the best self, I can be for Him, and for my kids.

Remember, God promises "His word will not return to Him void..." which means when we teach our Loving God to someone through His word and His promises, it goes in and stays with that person, we may not see the fruit of our seeds in our lifetime, but God will use it in their hearts and lives and He will see a harvest in His time. A promise I give to you, IN JESUS NAME, AMEN

Give Thanksgiving and Praise

Psalms 100:4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. 5- For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting: and His truth endureth to all generations.

Wow, what a time we are going to have when we get to Heaven. Taking our time with the Lord, worshiping, praising, and thanking God for ALL He has done for us in our lives. We will be continuously be in an attitude of worship and praise for delivering us from the depths of hell, from our sins, and from the hold Satan had on our lives until we submitted our will, our heart and our lives to the Lord, God Almighty.

He wants us to be thankful, He loves to hear our praises, He is our Father, and He longs to hear us tell Him how much He means to us. He knows that we will be grateful when we are in Heaven, He knows what the end will be for each one of us, but what He treasures more than anything is to hear us NOW.

Although we will praise Him forever in Heaven for the mighty things He has done for us, He would love to hear from us today. He wants to know that we can see Him in the little things of our lives. He wants us to see him working through us, in us, and to us now, not just in the future when we look back on our lives. He wants to see if we can look at our day and see what He has given us today.

Counting our blessings, naming them each day, one by one, seeing where our Heavenly Father worked in our lives at that moment, in that situation, with that crazy boss, and in the little things our children have said or done. Listening to friends and family who will say they saw Him in aspects of the day, when He was allowed to work in it.

Times are hard for all, there are frustrations, hurt and pain all around, but when we allow Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives, we will be able to see Him in so many aspects of life, daily even when we're not looking. He wants to hear our praises, He rejoices in them too. Not because they are required to be His child, but because it lets our Lord know that we see Him working in our lives. He wants know His Children love and appreciate Him and all He does here, today, in this world, not just in the world to come.

It also opens our heart, it is humbling to know that we can't do and didn't do everything all by ourselves, that we have someone watching out for us all the time, every day, who loves us and wants to give us a little piece of Heaven here on Earth.

Go ahead, give Him praise! Be thankful to Him, BLESS HIS NAME!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and God bless you...