Stars In The Night

"No matter where you lead
We wanna follow you
The trouble is we forget who we belong to
We chase the wind and tides
We chase the reasons why

We fix our eyes on what we know is true
Even in our share grace makes a way through"

These are the Lyrics to Tenth Avenue North's song Stars In The Sky. I fell in love with the lyrics and the song! We constantly look and try to find God yet the whole time even through our own shame of life events His grace shines through!

Have you ever gotten the feeling that you are explaining faith to yourself? I will be honest I have felt that way lately. I think because I have been so busy with other things that I have not given God the time I need with and for Him. My faith and my spirituality is right there in my faith for Him. I have become a very outspoken Christian, but not a pushy one by any means. I guess more proud of who I am and what people see in me as a Christian! Anyway this Song got me thinking about the lost out there and what will happen to them. I know it is our JOB to at the very least tell them about God and introduce them to Jesus, I just worry for their souls!

I wonder what life would be like without Him in my life. WOW it felt cold just thinking about it! We live in a very dark world and the stars in the night make me think about who we are supposed to be and follow God NO MATTER WHAT!

Enjoy!

God Bless

~Victoria Clouse

Prayer Requests

Has anyone every had issues praying?

I feel like I have always been a huge spiritual person, even from an early age. But for as long as I can remember when someone would ask me to pray for this person or pray for that I would get so excited being able to put my prayers to better use then my generic tunes (thats what I would call them). Just in the last week I have been asked to pray and offered my prayers to 3 separate people. I reached out to another person on a separate occasion for prayers and it feels amazing! I am one of those people that when I pray I never ask God for "things". I find that to materialistic and feel that to be very unpersonal. I like the REAL stuff. The stuff that helps others or even the ones that help me to help others. Like with school and with my family in deciding where God wants us to best fit into His plan for us in being better shepherds! Reaching out to others has been a real challenge for me in the past, but sharing things with people about my faith has made me feel closer to the Lord.

So with this short post I am taking prayer requests for anything that I can pray for you or someone you know!!!

God Bless,

Victoria Clouse

IT HAS BEEN WAY TO LONG....

Good Morning everyone!!


Does it seem at times that it has been way to long since you last accomplished something, or since you last made in effort to call someone or go see them? This has happened a lot in my life lately. We are now settled into our home in New Mexico and a month later I leave for training away from home for 3 weeks. When I got home there was so much going I just had to catch up on family life, work, school, and even God. I made a commitment with someone to do something and because of all life's other things I have pushed it to the back burner. It is something I wanted to do and thought I could handle along with everything else going on. I just need to prioritize things better.


God deserve more time then we give Him credit for. What time do you have to devout to God out of your day? For me it used to be when I would drive to work. Now it is more when I drive home. Even then I find myself thinking about the bills, the house, the laundry, dinner, Sophia, the next baby, childcare, school, work, family/husband time, what are we going to do this weekend, we need to do grocery shopping, we need to get the babies room together, get our murphy bed set up..... and it goes on and on and on. Before I know it I am pulling in the driveway and all I want to really do is lay with my family on the couch and watch a movie.


Bottomline, life is rough and it gets extremely busy. I a am just grateful for the people who do text me and call me to check in as well as my husband for the continued support he provides me with all the craziness called LIFE! Yet the fulfillment in life comes from the Lord. Giving him some of your time is what he wants most and what we need more then anything. Giving back to the lord should be the number one priority!


lets start with prioritizing and putting the lord at number 1!


God Bless,


~Victoria

Thankful

I know I know it has been way to long…..

Since my last post Will and I got orders to Holloman AFB, NM. Google it! It will be a bit of a change, but we are pretty excited overall about it. We bought a house, we move in like 3 days, Halloween has passed, and one of the best of all Holidays THANKSGIVING was just last week!

With that said what are you Thankful for? I mean not just your health and your family I am talking about the deep down stuff….. I will start: I am Thankful for the spirit that I have always felt deep inside of me that is alive and spinning circles of Joy in my heart. I am becoming the women I hope God intends for me to be and I am internally Thankful for that. I am Thankful that I have health care for those times where we need to go for whatever reason and do not pay anything. It is pretty scary out there without the military and its help with healthcare. I am Thankful that I live in a country where we can argue about religion and voice our opinion (even if they are different from my own) and not be killed in our beds in the middle of the night for doing so. I value the freedom regardless of the opinions and regardless of the faults we have in our country.

Please share what you are Thankful for.

God Bless,

~Victoria Clouse

Week 8

This weeks post in told by my wonderful and amazing Mother - in - Law Carol Clouse. Enjoy!

As I was reading the assignment of week 8, the Holy Spirit continually gave me the message of Give God the Glory! When we try to do anything in our own power, in our own unworthiness we will come up short every time but when we set out to give God the Glory, we will always have the victory. We are only equipped by God when we are a child of God, we are only empowered by the Holy Spirit when we have laid down our sins at the cross and confessed our sin and asked for the forgiveness that only Christ can offer. 

On day 2 we watch the wrestling match and see how her focus switched from trying to win to try not to lose. We see this quite often in the lives of Christians that feel like the world is beating them up so they retreat and do not take an active role in the community. Stop going to church and let Satan get a foothold in their lives. We need to fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. This word peace is an action word, the battle is mine says the Lord! 

When reading day 3 my heart felt so sad when I read the words we shoot our wounded and leave the lying in the dirt to find help on their own. We are so afraid of getting into the mess of broken lives, that we find a reason to stay out of it. As Christians we also put a price on forgiveness, I will forgive you if you do this...this is not how Christ asks us to forgive. We are to live as Christ and Christ went to the cross with no expectations our stipulations of Him dying for us. He just knew He needed to for God to forgive us for our sins. Pray earnestly that God will reveal to you those that are hurting, those that you need to carry the cross for. 

Day 4 finds us looking into the eyes of the giant Goliath. What is your giant? What do you worry so much about that you have sleepless nights? Have you made that your giant? The Lord says to cast your cares on Him, to trust Him, do you have power over your panic?  

In day 5 we see the verse Romans 8:31, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" This sums up the whole weeks reading by telling us that nothing is too difficult for God, when you and 

I face the storms in our life, and we will, let us not be led as sheep to the slaughter but stand firm in our faith knowing that we have a all powerful God that nothing is impossible for Him. Be strong my friend, have faith, pursue peace and stay in your Word!

God Bless,

Carol Clouse

Week 7

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart 

and do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge Him, 

and He will make your paths straight"

Proverbs 3:5-6

"He is my Father who knows what is best for me" (p.145). 

"You don't have to understand God to trust Him" (p.142).

I start off with these two, because it stuck out as soon as I read them. How very true are these two statements and especially for someone who is unsure of their faith or their faith is not as strong as they want it to be. These whole reading for week 7 was pretty intense. I did a lot of underlining and reflecting of my own. Lets just get right into it and as we do keep in mind the two statements above.

When suffering and trying to weather the storms of life sometimes you wonder is God even there!?!?! Think about when Jesus was crucified how do you think God felt? He knew that would happen, but watching would be worse then the actual act of what Jesus went through. The storms we endure today are what tests our faith and spiritual healing. He is always right by our side and when we are going throughout painful times He allows it so it will work for our ultimate good.

When God says NO! He has a reason for it. I think after awhile we feel that God and the Holy Spirit have abandoned us, but in actuality we are granted grace in the perfect moments, times, days, and also for each stubble we go through. It is all about weather or not you accept the grace that is being offered. the Lord gives me grace that strengthens me when I am weak. This goes hand in hand with a strong faith!!! If he says no it does not mean He does not love us, because He knows what is best for us!

In this series the key take away is FAITH and TRUST. In our reading it says "faith is an anchor of hope for the believer. Trusting God is a core essential" (p.148). It is ALL about choosing to trust Him and not doubting Him. ALL meaning your life and lifestyle and how you live your life as a follower of Christ. Psalm 34:18 says "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (p.147.). Know that your faith and trust in God are the things that you need in order to fulfill Gods objectives and live a God-centered life! If you cannot do that and are only doing the bare minimum as a Christian how do you think others view you are a believer? Not just that, but what kind of "power" do you think you will have in Gods kingdom? That is what it is all about my friends, it is about what you will do once in the House of the Lord!!!

Lastly, I don't know about you, but do you pray often for things other then your own struggles? i know I look at my own life and feel that my struggles are nothing compared to those that are REAL! The Lord know what is going on every min of every day and is in total control. Your struggles are also real do not forget that, but take time to pray for those things that tug are your heart, because that is the Holy Spirit working in you! Psalm 59:16 from the reading says "But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble" (p.154).

Lets Pray:
Lord Jesus, thank you for allowing me to spread your word and to those who read and receive it thank you for leading them here. I know at times your answer is No to our prayers, help us to better trust in you because you know what is best for us. We come to you in times of pain and helplessness. I need your strength and power of grace to strengthen me when I am weak. When I am weakest your are strongest, and I know then that you are shaping and molding me into the person I am supposed to be in honor of You! Help me to live what I believe in and spread your word with more courage tomorrow and the days to follow all in Your glorious name. In Jesus' sweet an holy name I pray, Amen

God bless,

~Vickie

Week 6

This weeks reading has really gotten to me more then most, due to the fact that I found an amazing church that has opened my heart to the Lord even more then ever before!!! Believing is something is greater then believing in NOTHING at all. Renewing your faith in times where it is extremely hard and to have any faith at all is huge Isaiah 40:29-31 stuck out hard during the reading….

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint". 

What is the first thing you do in the morning? Coffee? Shower? Read Facebook, emails, news? What if your first is put on hold for 15 minutes so that you can glorify God. I mean whats 15 minutes? Make the excuse in your head right now!!! ANNNNNDDD forget it and just do it. Start with just 5 days straight and see how you feel. If the mornings are not your thing then do the evenings before bed time! Start somewhere and do not make an excuse of it.

Ok so back to the reading for this week. Getting away for time with just God helps to renew your faith as it says in Romans 10:17 "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ". If you are not willing to listen how do you expect to even hear God? 

I watched Son of God twice this past week and have gain so many questions (thirst of more knowledge about Jesus), this lead me to read different passages in the bible. For instance when Jesus raises from the dead and comes to his disciples John 20:28-29 says And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." As a believer or even someone unsure of where you are in your faith, does this passage not make you want to read more about Jesus Christ!?!?!

From the book Mary Southerland wrote "We often fear the outcome or don't understand the step God has asked us to take, so we hesitate. We are afraid to fail and are more concerned about our reputation as a Christian than we are about being obedient to God."  That being said she also says "If we don't live it, we don't really believe it." Change your life and fulfill God's purpose for His Kingdom. 

Here are some tips in helping with preparing your heart and mind for whatever trials lie ahead for you:
1. Make time each day to be alone with God
2. Pour out your dreams and desperation to Him.
3. Invest fifteen minutes in solitude each day, allowing your soul to "catch-up."

I leave you with two things; when David remembered his past victories, his God-confidence was off the charts! We can gain God-confidence the same way. What battles has God brought you through?

And Corrie ten Boom put it, "Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible."

Lets Pray
Thank you Lord for giving me the words to write to all these people reading this post. Help us to be more faithful and keep us from leaning on our own understanding. Help us trust that He is in control and that He will renew our strength threw all adversities. 

God Bles each and every one of you

~ Victoria