Wk 3 Challenge of Memorizing the Word

This is week 3 of my challenge to memorize the Word. I hope you are still with me on this challenge. Here is a list of the verses from week 1 and 2
Week 1
Ps. 119:11
Matt. 22:37
Week 2
Prov. 3:5-6
John 3:16-18

As I watched the devastation in Moore, OK after the tornado yesterday, with tears and prayers for the victims and their families a verse came to my mind from Psalm 23:4 KJV "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."  and also the verse from last week in Prov 3: 5-6 KJV " ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. ⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

I don't know how you make it through a tragedy like this with out trusting and leaning on God and remembering that God is with you. This is why for this weeks challenge I have chosen the 23 Psalm as one of the verses to memorize. I believe memorizing the whole Psalm is important so that when you need it you will be able to recall this comforting Psalm and promise. The other verse is found in Isaiah and is important to remember when we are afraid.

So this weeks verses are
 Psalms 23:1-6 KJV " The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
 ⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Isaiah 41:10 KJV "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Please continue to pray and hold the people of Oklahoma up who have been touched by this terrible tragedy

Book Review

I was given an ARC copy of this book and was asked to read and give a honest review of the book
Lock, Stock, and Over A Barrel A Dear Daphne Novel by Melody Carlson.


This book and characters are easy to connect with, you feel like you can just step into this small hometown and be friends with all the characters. It is a book that you just want to keep reading to see what is next.

Daphne had a dream to be a writer and after college she lands a job as a writer for the New York Times, but after years in the city she wonders if this is what she really wants. She is like we are when we think we know what we want and then when we get it we wonder is this really that great or what is going to make us happy.

Daphne's Aunt dies and she goes home for the funeral, but to her surprise Daphne's Aunt has left Daphne her house with some strings attached. The reader gets caught up in Daphne trying to decide what she wants, whether she can meet her Aunts strings for her inheritance and what will really make her happy.

This book, I think, is somewhat of a quest for Daphne to find out what she really wants out of life, about being happy, and about trusting God to help her make the right decisions and believing in the plan God has for her. It is a very good book that is very enjoyable. It has a good story and at the end of the book it leaves you wanting more. An excellent book. Melody Carlson has another good book that will connect with the readers.

I would highly recommend this book. This book will be out June 2013. check out Melody Carlson's website for more about her and her books at www.melodycarlson.com

If you would like a chance to win the ARC copy of this book head over to my other blog debsbooksgalore.blogspot.com

Wk 2 of Challenge New Verses and Book Review

This is week two of the memorizing the Word Challenge. Week one went well for me. Week one's verses were
Ps. 119:11
Matt. 22:37
I hope you are memorizing these with me. If you have any suggestions of verses to memorize let me know in the comments.

This weeks verses are ones that some might already know but are imporant to remember in our walk with God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV 5" Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
John 3:16-18 KJV "16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."



These verses explain how much God loves us and has made away to Him through His son Jesus Christ. Then we also see that if God walks with us daily and all we have to do is trust Him and lean on Him and he will direct our way. He makes a promise that if we trust and lean on Him then he will direct us in our walk through life. Simple right. Well it is simple but we being who we are don't always do this. Trust is easy when everything is going good, but we stumble sometimes when life gets hard. We try to say we are trusting but also try to figure things out on our own. We need to memorize this verse so that when things come up and we stumble we can recall this verse and follow it. God knows we are human and will fail sometimes and the other verses tell us how He has already made away to be forgiven through Jesus all we have to do is believe and give our hearts to Him.

I hope you will continue the challenge this week and memorize these verses with me.

I wanted to include a book review of a book that I love and think is great for studying.

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan
The book talks about how awesome it is that God who made everything loves us and loves us enough to give up his precious Son for us. He helps us to understand more about God and his love.  You need to read this book it will change you in a positive way. I recommend that everyone read and study this book, it brings you closer to God and helps you grow in your faith.

Leave a comment and let me know if you are memorizing the verses and how it is going. Also leave a comment on what you think of this book. If you have any suggestions of books let me know also.

Book Review

I am an avid reader so I thought I would share with you some of the books I am reading. Hope you will get them and read them too. The first books I reviewed on my other blog mysteryreadingnook.blogspot.com and here is that post.
I was asked to read and review A Plain Scandal An Appleseed Creek Mystery by Amanda Flower. I was given a ARC for this purpose.
A Plain Scandal An Appleseed Creek Mystery by Amanda Flower is book 2 of the series.

Chloe Humphrey lives in Appleseed Creek Ohio which includes the usually quiet Amish Community also. The Amish community is being rocked by someone who is attacking them and cutting the hair of the girls and beards of the men. Chloe gets involved to help find who is behind the attacks and she happens to stumble on the body of Ezekiel Young who has been murdered and his beard has been cut off also. Are these attacks and murder related? Why is the Amish being targeted? Who could possibly be behind these attacks and is Chloe in danger now too?

This book keeps you guessing with many possibilities of suspects so that you want to keep reading, because you want to find out just who it is behind the murder and attacks. It is a book you do not want to put down and that will be a surprise at the end. I have spent time in the Ohio Amish country and can just picture myself there with Chloe and this community. I would highly recommend this book to the mystery buffs and cozy mystery fans that want a good read with a good plot, murder, romance, friendship and throws in the unique Amish Community, what more could you want.

The author Amanda Flower has another hit on her hands. This book has characters that you can see yourself being friends with. Find out more about this author and her books at http://amandaflower.com/Appleseed_Creek_Series.html

New Challenge

I have been thinking for awhile that I really need to get back to memorizing Bible verses. I kept telling myself my memory isn't what it use to be and I don't know if I can remember the verses now like I did when I was younger. Really if you think about it we remember all sorts of things that are really useless, like what happened last night on our favorite TV shows.  Sometimes I think we fill our minds with the wrong things. We need to know God's word and as the Bible says to hide it in our hearts. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119: 11 KJV Our hearts and minds should be on God and knowing his word helps us grow in our walk with him. I read in a book one time, when I was a kid, that we should memorize God's word so that if they ever took our Bibles from us we would still have his word with us. I thought at the time that they would never take the Bible from us but now as I get older I am not so sure. I want to delve into God's word with a renewed passion and let God speak to me through his word. I also am challenging myself to memorize at least two verses a week. As Christians we need to start arming ourselves to be able to stand up for our faith and our God.

My two verses for this week are Psalm 119: 11 and Matthew 22:37

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119: 11 KJV

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind Matthew 22: 37 KJV

I hope you will join me in this challenge. Let me know if you are going to try and learn and memorize along with me.

Chicken Fajita Rice Skillet

Chicken Fajita Rice Skillet

I again found myself in need of a quick and tasty dinner. Looking to see what I had in the pantry and fridge this is what I came up with. It actually was very good and everyone liked it. Was good the next day too for lunch. I find sometimes, actually more times than I want to admit, I find myself doing last minute quick cooking, but this will be one of my go to meals when I find myself in that spot.

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken strips cubed ( I used fully cooked fajita chicken bought from store)
3 cups white rice
1 pkg frozen rainbow mixed vegetables ( vegetables were corn, peas, green peppers cubed and red peppers cubed)
1 cup Velveeta cheese
1 cup salsa

Directions:
Cube the chicken strips and place in a large skillet. Heat the chicken. Cook rice and vegetables as directions on their package states. While this is going on cube Velveeta cheese and place in microwave safe bowl along with the salsa. Microwave at 20 sec intervals stirring in between till cheese is beginning to melt. When chicken is heated through add the cooked rice and vegetables to the skillet. Stir and add the Velveeta cheese and salsa, you can add more cheese and salsa to your taste we had one in the house that didn't like spicy so we didn't add as much salsa as we might otherwise. Turn to low and simmer for 5 min or till heated through.
Dish up with a side salad and cornbread and you have a good meal. If you use salsa that is gluten free then you have a great gluten free meal also.
This dinner can be made by cooking your own chicken and using fresh vegetables too, but like I said I needed quick tonight. Hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think.

Have you been watching The Bible on History

Last night was night two of The Bible on History Channel and I was wondering if anyone else was watching and what you think of it? I think that it has been good and well done. It moves through the stories pretty fast so you have to pay attention. Pleased so far with all they have done. I find that it makes us dig into the Bible to read the stories again to make sure they are following the Bible and it gives us a conversation starter too. I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series. What is your take on the series?

Verses for today to memorize are :
John 13: 34-35 KJV ^{34 "}A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Micah 6:8 KJV " He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

Quote for this week:
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
C. S. Lewis
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/c_s_lewis.html#Pm2pBvWqwJC3OoY9.99

I will be back on schedule for blogging now that I am feeling better. Have a great week and remember
CHOOSE TO HAVE A GREAT DAY!