Making important choices in Life

 

This is my first "poster" design.  It is a bigger version of my CHOICES design that I had created into a magnet (but forgot to add my contact information) to sell.

When I was young I loved serious, beautiful, meaningful posters.  Every time I have checked on what is available today (whatever year it was), I only found sports and other stars for kids and teens to purchase.  I could see the reason we had problems in our society.

I'm not sure my poster could ever be compared to the ones I loved, but it was a first effort.  I think my magnet design would be better for a fridge.  I think a lot of Christian products are suffering and companies are closing.  The society we live in wants to get rid of GOD, and all the products that remind people of Him.

Today I have been thinking about what I want to create and sell to improve my income... and be worth investing my time in.

It has been the hardest part of my life because I don't have what I want to do what I want to do.  :-)  The same cry of most everyone.  So I need to "use up the supplies I already have" to get to the place I want to be.  This is my goal for 2024 - to use what I have already.

Today is a day of thinking and praying and seeking the best direction to reach GOD's place for me.

What did I discover today, again, because I forgot this bit of information over time.  I sold 5 items in my ETSY shop in the past few days, all to the same person.  After the costs of the items, shipping charges I had to cover, and fees to ETSY (about 25% of the order income), I ended up with about $7 in profit.  :-)  Not good.  If you look at the amount ETSY will put into my bank account, it seems like I made money.  But that amount doesn't cover the costs outside of ETSY.  That's the thing I forgot after all these years of inactivity.

So, I have been thinking again about what I want to sell to earn income.

This is a copy of an ad I had in a Christian newspaper in the state I live.  I never had one response.  I would have thought there would be some kind of response.  What do you think?

I am considering focusing on mugs and small posters, so I can share my words and designs with other Christians and people browsing ETSY.

Or I may just carry a few products that are "Print on Demand" (POD) and begin to list my art and vintage and other items for sale online.  Maybe some digital inspiration would work. 

I have had my writing called SERVANTS listed for many years and no questions or purchases yet.  ETSY said I couldn't sell my booklet about the Rapture there, with no ability to respond to whatever their objections were (because I didn't get told what was wrong with it).

I see this as part of the End Time process.  It is that same hidden persecution that humanity has always inflicted on their "enemies."  It is the Black issue, the Mexican issue, the Jewish issue, the disabled issue, and the issue for anyone someone hates.  I might include the Gays in this list, but they are also perpetrators of anger and hate toward anyone that disagrees with them.  True Christians would not purposely hurt others, but there are people in churches that are not true Christians.  How would anyone know they didn't represent GOD?

I found this design again today.

I have two on this topic, but I want to share this one here.  Once we are truly saved, we want everyone we love or know to find salvation through Christ.  We discover the difference GOD makes in our lives.  We change.

We don't want to hurt anyone ever again, even though we will somehow.  If we do hurt someone, we try to make amends for what we have done.  And we try never to do it again.

I think we choose to suffer ourselves because we know we will be going to heaven when we die, we understand others don't have the GOD we do, and we just wait for GOD to heal their hearts and bring them to salvation.  It isn't easy.  We hurt as much as anyone else.  We just want to trust GOD for whatever is wrong in their heart and life.  I am always so glad GOD found me and saved me.  Life without Him is so much harder.  I have seen trials and persecutions as a Christian.  They can be very hard, but life without GOD would be unbearable.

We are in times no one could have imagined before.

How to get through the times we live in without hating back... that's something we will have to learn.  I hope we can find a way to do it together, and the whole Body of Christ.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin, work2gather.us

Faith in Persecution

My life has always been focused on the Antichrist because he is the main turning point for all Christians (and Jews) in our lifetime.  I haven't always understood the impact this has on our everyday lives.  I looked for things in life that would/could somehow be attached to when he would show up.  I didn't realize what this search would do to my own life.

We don't seem to see the spiritual battles that are going on all around us.  We think they are caused by other things, so we don't even register their spiritual nature.  Our lives become filled with struggles we can't understand and don't seem to be able to overcome.  We wonder where GOD is, and why He has allowed these problems, and why He doesn't "fix them."  

Our faith seems to falter when some of these trials enter our lives.

We blame GOD, not the Enemy.  

In my own life, I was so confused by all the struggles I didn't understand.  It made me seek GOD for the reasons why.  It made me find answers I never saw before.  I began to understand all those people in the Bible I never really thought about.  I learned more about our true relationship with GOD.

We study the stories of the Bible to learn more about GOD and our relationship to Him.  Because the stories in the Bible are about people from way back in history, we think our lives don't really compare to them.  But that isn't true.  They were people like us.  Every human being throughout life on Earth has the same nature.

We like to lift up the blessings GOD gave them.  We tend to make them holier than they were.  We believe there must have been something supernatural about them to have done the things they did.  But the struggles are the same for ALL humans.

We don't seem to have the same kind of faith GOD's best people had.

I have wished I had that kind of Faith.  I wondered why GOD even put the desire to make places to help Christians on the way to the Antichrist and then didn't provide.  Was it my Faith that wasn't big enough to deserve His provision?  I didn't know.  Something was wrong, but what was it?

I still don't know, and GOD still hasn't provided what Working Together needs to build any resources for Christians as persecutions rise.  I can't make anything happen.  I believe there is a very thin line between prayer and presumption.  We can ask GOD for the things we need, or we can push our own plans into being.  If GOD is going to use Working Together to provide for His People, then He has to provide for its needs.  I know GOD has created this direction in my life, so I continue to wait for His path to making it a reality.

With all the struggles I have had to this point in time, I understand more about the unseen battles that go on in GOD's Work on Earth.  In the beginning, I expected GOD to quickly provide whatever was needed in ways that were normal for our time in history.  It was a godly work, so naturally GOD would provide.  Then a lot of problems seemed to happen.

GOD provided for our individual needs as each day happened, but not in the ways I thought He would.

Persecutions entered our lives.  Hidden attacks we couldn't really fight against.  Miracles happened that we would be hard-pressed to verify.  

Eventually, I gave it all to GOD and tried to walk through each day as it happened, trusting that GOD was bigger than Satan, believing GOD would do with Working Together what He wanted.  I guess I began to see I might die because of my place in GOD's Work, but only when it was GOD's time for me to go.  I couldn't do anything without GOD's provision so I tried to find things I could do in my circumstances.

We are heading into greater persecutions than anyone thought possible.  Technology has changed the battlefield.  I don't know how I will deal with what is coming, or how the greater Church will change, but I know we can survive each day and trust that GOD knows all the hidden details.  He will be with us as we walk each step.  We may not get all the "goodies" we think we need, but we will have enough for the moment.

Trusting GOD in the middle of really hard times is not easy.  We lose things that matter to us.  We might only have the clothes on our back and a piece of bread.  It is what we need for the moment.  

The Bible doesn't say GOD promises everything we want.  He only promises food and clothes.  It was a hard lesson to learn. 

We see the blessings of Job, not the suffering of Job.  The prophet had only a brook for water and ravens for food.  The apostles left everything behind to follow Jesus.  

Faith isn't easy.  It has a price.

I hope I can stay faithful to the end.  I want to spend my eternity in Heaven, with those I love.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

https://work2gather.us

Keeping on...

What can I say?

Faith is hard.

It's a daily commitment.

It costs.

I just finished my post for Working Together (working-together-inc.blogspot.com) about persecution and an old movie I watched yesterday about the Nazis invading Denmark.  Lots of hard thoughts, and wondering about us in 2023.

GOD doesn't just make all our problems go away.

We suffer... for doing nothing wrong.

We suffer because people sin, because we sin, because others sin against us.  I have thought about these issues with suffering a very long time.  This is what I decided was true.  It all has to do with GOD's promise of Free Will -- we have the right to choose, good or evil.  It is the basis of all GOD stands for.  

Suffering is the big argument against GOD.  People tend to blame GOD for everything they suffer, and they expect GOD to just fix everything that is wrong with the world.  When you seriously think about these issues, you see that the idea is ridiculous - there is no way GOD can make every life without pain and still give us the will to choose our path.

He can't stop the bad choices of others from hurting us either.

When I studied the Bible more deeply, I saw a GOD that only intervened in essential moments, when there is no other choice, when He needed to.  When His greater Will was involved, He acted.  That would be most evident in saving Jesus from the attacks of evil that wanted to kill Him.  

When I suffer, I try to see the cause, God's Purpose, and my part.  It isn't always easy to find the spiritual details and keep my faith in GOD.  Suffering is hard.  It hurts.

The world has been struggling for some time now, especially with the effects of COVID.  No one expected anything like COVID to happen.  The damage it did will never go away.  We will all keep looking for ways to recover.  

I keep coming back to the fact that GOD is able to do whatever needs to be done.  We may not get what we want, but GOD is still in charge.  We may be facing a test, may be the focus of some evil battle, may be heading into GOD's Plan for our future -  there's no way for us to fully understand all the details of our current struggles.  But we know GOD could do something if it was needed, so we trust Him to provide what we need to accomplish HIS WILL.  Even is we die, we trust GOD through the hard times and the good times.  It is all leading us to heaven, if we keep our faith in Him.

I'm 70 now, so I am ready to leave this earth.  It is expected I will die soon.  I wonder how younger people will meet their suffering.  Will they give up and run to the temptations Satan uses on them?  Will they lose their place in heaven because they aren't prepared to suffer for what they believe in?  It is hard for me to think of friends and family turning away from heaven because they don't want to suffer, have no one to help them, or don't even know what the Bible teaches about our time in history.

I wonder what other Christians believe.

What do you believe about suffering and persecution for your faith?  Are you ready for it?  Do you have a plan?

Let me know what about your struggles and faith.  How do you deal with it?

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

https://work2gather.us

FAITH FRIDAY :: 19NOV2021 - Suffering and GOD

Hello, again...  how has your week been?  I hope you are well and happy and keeping your eyes on GOD instead of the world.

Living is a bit precarious for me, always.  I am almost 70 and I still fear having to live on the streets, maybe die there.  I wonder why GOD has not provided the finances I need, so I don't feel secure about my existence.  The valley I am living through is still a valley that filled with battles against the enemies of Faith.

When GOD is not doing what we want Him to, we have to search for the why.  I look for clues in the Bible, and other Christian testimonies, and history, and any place I can find it.  I want my life to be safe and peaceful and busy with good things.  That isn't what history tells me happens to Christians.

In times of persecution, men who only know power and hate and violence seem to thrive on the attacking the innocent, the weak, those who cannot defend themselves, women and children, the elderly, etc.  It allows them to see themselves as powerful, in control, the "boss" of everyone and everything.  Are they just "lost" or are they used by the Enemy of GOD or do they make the conscious choice to do what they do?  It is hard to decide about evil and what causes it to hurt us.

In the 80"s I made a statement for a card design I was working on...  The enemy is not Man, it is Satan living inside Man.  That's the best I can remember of it.  I lost those cards along the way of life.  In those days I was able to separate the actions of people from the damage they did. We fight the same Enemy every day.  I am not sure I can separate the source anymore.  The statement is still true, but the pain caused by those who lift up evil is also more real to me now.

It's hard to see the reality of suffering in Christian films... we don't even want to think about it.  The Hiding Place is one film we think of, how concentration camps were operated.  Maybe Schindler's List and how we become in the midst of a battle for life in wartime.  I can't think of a lot of Christian films right now... mainstream films... things that make it to the larger Christian community.  Maybe Fiddler on the Roof would be in that group - a picture of how the Jews suddenly have to leave everything because of a change in politics.  I watch these films every so often to remind me of how the world gets about Faith... just because it is Faith.

They show us parts of suffering for our faith... but to live through it is another thing, especially in our America.  The Enemy uses hidden tactics in our time.  Lawsuits.  Pies in the face of those who have opposed them - in public spaces to hurt the opposition even more.  There are collusions.  Lies?  Financial ruin so there is less ability to fight back.  Luring our loved ones into places they wouldn't go otherwise.  Attacking people for no real reason, including children.  We call it many things, but behind it all is the Enemy of GOD.

I don't know what else will come up in the future, but technology is already being used to hurt anyone who disagrees with the politically correct views of a lot of topics. Maybe with algorithms or suspensions or thefts or internet access or medical connections or business or education or ???  Technology is growing into that weapon that will destroy us.

In my own life I have endured a lot.  I remembered that the Bible tells us to endure to the end.  It doesn't make it easy.  It just helps me to see that there is pain in Faith, there is suffering in Faith, there is a choice every day about whether we will stand with GOD or fall away to avoid pain and suffering because we believe Christ died to save us.

I can't control what the Enemy does, I have to keep my eyes on GOD and trust that He is still at work in the world, my world, when it seems like the Enemy is winning.  Prayer is my weapon, sometimes my only weapon against the forces of evil in my life.  

I do my best to keep going and stay faithful to GOD.  

I think that is all anyone can do.

In Christ,  Deb  <3

13 AUG - Faith in the hard parts, and Christmas prepping

 Hi, again...  the days seem very long when you are busy with things.  

In matters of Faith, I have been thinking deeply about the issues we are facing with people who have no moral foundations... who blame GOD for all their problems... who don't think it is "a hate crime" to attack Christians because they don't like the way we think about their issues.  This is what persecution is.

I received an email from a Christian media organization that offered a free viewing for Tortured for Christ, which is about the Voice of the Martyrs founder.  I signed up to watch it, but persecution is so hard to deal with... in real time.  I can't say whether I will force myself to watch it.  I will think about it over the weekend... my main movie watching time.

In our time, in our country, persecution takes a different route, usually.  It is growing in our lives, so we will one day think it is normal.  In the Bible, it was also "normal" (for the Jews, and also a political issue.  When Jesus came to die, it was the church of the time that wanted Him killed.  Jesus also warns us that people will think they are doing GOD a favor by killing those who don't agree with the prevailing thought.  

When I try to think about what life will be like as the End Time get worse, it seems so impossible that our salvation in Christ will be the weapon against us.  We usually think it will be the obvious enemies... those outside of the Faith.  I have been thinking a lot about what our lives will become like as evil wins more battles because it is required to fulfill prophecy.  

If I decide on any answers, I will try to share them with you.

Today I have been organizing my crafting supplies as I look for certain things I need.  It has been a good thing to do, but I am tired.

I finally found my silk-screening paint, then found my silk-screening supplies, then found my cardstock and other painting supplies.  I am going to get those started as soon as I can.  I made more space to do all that.  I still need to hang some kind of drying string.  I found more canvas-type art options for my learning curve on them.  Eventually I will settle into the ones I like the best.

I found many of my "in-progress" projects for selling things.  Those will get worked on first.  I have at least SEVENTY earring sets to make for this holiday selling season.  :-)  I will be experimenting with a LOT of different supplies.

I finally cut out some shapes with the play dough I made the other day.  I found a recipe that was a lot like my old one (from when my kids were small) so I tried it out, with the addition of lemon extract and yellow food coloring for this batch.  The recipe is so like salt dough recipes I am trying to see how it dries for making projects.  I flipped the pieces today because I noticed the edges were curling.  I will try to flip the pieces every day and see if that helps.

I am very excited about this year.  If I can work out the photo and shipping issues, this will be a good year.

I received my new battery-operated mini lights for Christmas today.  I found them at IKEA one day and ordered them right away.  I ordered a small one for my year-round mini fake tree, which will some day be used for my Holiday Sales events... one Christian, one Public - that's the goal.  Right now, since last Christmas, it has been too high on my shelves to attend to.  The batteries went out and I just didn't want to get up there to change them.  Now I totally redid the tree with last year's blue mini-lights and this year's white mini-lights.  I also put it in a place I can turn the lights off or on for the night time.  You cannot believe how bright they are with a new battery, then just a small subtle glow when the battery is nearly gone.  I like it in the middle range, but Dollar Tree and IKEA bargains are not built with that option.  If I find some one day, and they don't cost a LOT, I will try a set with a "dimmer switch."  Later on I will get some photos posted.  I am still decorating the space below the tree for this year.  :-)

So, my life is focused on CHRISTMAS... making, selling, gifting.

And the election.

This is the strangest year... so many struggling, so much hate and violence, media-bashing is rising again, and technology is changing our lives in both good and bad ways.

I am able to deal with it all much better when I do my Prayer Journals.  They help me see the limits of my ability and my resources.  They help me to call on GOD for things I could never do.  They help me to focus on Him.

I still sorrow with the news reports and the struggles of my own life, but I am able to see the world through the eyes of GOD and allow Him to be in charge.  I pray.

I hope your lives are doing much better than mine, that you are able to lift up others in your hearts to GOD daily, and that we will all keep our faith as the time grow harder.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

and more...

What does it mean to be a Christian?

I am not prepared for a formal post... I have been busy with other things and trying to figure out how to get everything done! 

I made those cake pop things and discovered the mix was GMO and I could tell.. so I have been avoiding eating the pop shapes I saved for later. Most I froze.  I did eat the regular cupcakes, but I don't think I can eat these.

I found a small cake maker that does the shape of a cake pop.  I may find a made-from-scratch recipe and just go that route.  It looks better for eating, and making.  That's something way in the maybe future... not an urgent need.


I was on Facebook a bit ago and watched part of a Benham Brothers live on Thursdays replay... I think it's their Business by the Book.  I was looking at the verses they posted and found a note about a Christian author who decided he was gay.  Eventually I found the place where that segment was and listened to most of it.  When I went to check the name, it seemed like a story I had seen a long time ago, but was suppose to have been something recent.  Not sure what is up with that.  (Fake News?)

I left a comment on a TBN post about NOAH's time...  it was on the 22nd.  I will paste it below for you.  In the process of writing it, I thought about the End Times.  There are only two parts of the BIBLE that tell us what it will be like in those days. The story of Noah talks about the evil everywhere in that time. The story with Sodom as the reference point tells us one of the main evils that will exist. 

It seems to be the same road down every time GOD tries to "start over" with His creation... our world.  What I remember most is that all the men from the city tried to reach the new visitors to have their way with them first, and the fact that Lot was willing to sacrifice his virgin daughters for the angel visitors.  Sexuality is the biggest goal of Satan... because anything outside of a monogamous marriage between a DNA-male and an DNA-female, for life, is like an attack against GOD.  It is the goal of Satan to hurt GOD by hurting us.

========================
FYI--

Deborah Martin
I think of Noah as trusting GOD... over years and years and years and years of time... and how GOD kept his sons from having children... but gave them all wives... -- I often wonder what the people around him were like in all that time... we only know they were evil, fully consumed by evil, and destined to die. Were there any conversations about faith and GOD and what was coming... we don't really know. -- if anyone was saved, they didn't get a ticket on the Ark. I suppose they had to leave the populations and live where they could cut wood to build the Ark. They must have lived off the land. GOD says He brought the animals to the Ark when it was time to fulfill His Words. It was over a hundred years of building time, I think... I don't recall right now, it's been awhile since I studied that passage. It is always a difficult thing to think about Noah's time because he is just one of two passages we have about the End Times, what it will be like in those days. Evil rules the day. What will it be like when the Antichrist gets here and kills all the Christians? I hate to think about that. GOD warns people hundreds of years ahead of things... and the erosion of faith and godliness continues. We try to solve problems on our own... but there is no way to "solve" prophecy. We can only prepare for it. work2gather.us
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We live in difficult times.

I made another comment (today, I think) about our need to be strong enough to die.  It's hard to imagine that kind of America.  I don't think many Christians are ready for that kind of testimony.


Getting off the pain of our futures, I also have been search out Kindle books this week. On a few topics... creating recipe books (small / short in length), some short opinion booklets, and a short "inspirational" booklet.  It looks achievable for me.  :-)  I also found one called  GROW  OR  DIE !!  It is on growing  your own food to survive any kind of disaster situation. 

I'm still looking through them.


Christmas is still high on the attention list.  Still working on the details.  Going to try making small art, in case you don't remember or I haven't shared that yet.

All of my newly ordered supplies haven't arrived yet... the remaining things are due mid-August to maybe October... can't recall right now, but it was way for out there.  I guess it's on the slow boat from China.  :-)  I have plenty to do, so that will be OK for this year.


Well, I'm going to close for today.
I am still thinking about some things, and tired, and seeking GOD.
That author that suddenly declared himself Gay -- well, he plans to continue writing children's books and doesn't see the problem with being "Gay and Christian."
I still think it's slanderous fake news, so I will wait and see. 
I hope they catch those who are doing this kind of thing.


In Christ,
Deborah Martin

work2gather.us
and more...

ONE Body of Christ...

Make sure you understand that your vote can save our nation from spiritual demise.

Choose which leaders you want to be over your life... their decisions affect your daily and Christian life.

Finding the way to GOD's Peace

Friday, 1 July 2016
faith-and-prayer.blogspot.com
Deborah Martin, work2gather.us



It is hard to be Christian in the face of evil.

 

 

Today starts another month !!  As each month passes, I am reminded of how quickly time passes by, and how little I have left.  I would like to use my remaining time to do as much as I can toward the goals GOD has put in my heart to work toward, especially Working Together.

This understanding of GOD's Will in my small life is a challenge I face each day.  I wonder why the past happened and what the future will be.  How much of our pain is a consequence of previous bad choices we have made, how much comes from the sin of others, and how much is a message from GOD to direct our course?  The inability to change some of the parts of our lives makes us dependent on GOD for the details we have to live with (against our chosen will).  My quest is to know what I need to do -- today, and tomorrow, and the days after that.  With a focus on the End Times, I want to prepare myself for the unknown challenges that lie ahead.

For me, it is hard to imagine living in a country that was once free, good, and powerful and have to watch as it disintegrates morally, financially, and spiritually.  The Bible tells us the End Times will be like the days of Noah.  (verses 37-38)  The story of Noah (Genesis 6) tells us that he was the only righteous man of his time.  What would our world be like with just one righteous man?  As I was reading these Bible sections to write this post, I was reminded that all those people who filled the earth in Noah's time were unsaved.  The Bible tells us they were corrupt, violent, wicked, evil continually.  It is beyond my comprehension what it would be like to live in a place like that, but we are on our way there.  I hope I am long gone before it gets to that point.

We hate the crime and violence we already have to deal with... and GOD's good people are still plentiful.  How will Christians continue to exist in the middle of this increasing violence and persecution?  We seem to think that creating a law will make the struggle go away.  It won't.  The Bible warns us the changing of laws (verse 25) will be part of the End Time process.

I don't do very well in suffering.  I have had to endure a lot of terrible things in my life, but that doesn't mean they were easy for me, or that I suffered them well.  I did what I could, what I had to do to survive them at the time.  After I committed my life to the path of GOD, I endured suffering with prayer and a daily act of trust in where GOD was taking me through them.  I don't want to suffer any more than I already have.

I need to find my sense of peace again...

 about GOD

 and LIFE

 and SUFFERING

I have been watching Facebook posts from the Corrie ten Boom page go by on my timeline.  They make me think about how terrible it was to endure the actions of the Nazis against the Jews.  It is the only effort at global genocide I know of.  With the advances we are experiencing in technology, the reach and persecutions of the Antichrist (and his followers) will be far worse.  I'm not sure how well any of us will do when this "war" begins to live in America.  The path of least resistance will lead to the possibility of comfort today, but the path of faith leads to eternal comfort.

I want to remind myself of the things I know from the Bible. 
I want to keep my focus on GOD.
I want to keep my faith in His Word.
I want to keep my life on the narrow path to heaven.
I want to make sure I am making the right choices. 
I want to be ready for the future. 

 I know there is a large group in the Body of Christ who believe the pre-Tribulation rapture will keep them from this suffering.  I haven't found any guarantees that interpretation of the Bible is the correct one.  We may all have to pass through the days of the Antichrist and his Mark of the Beast, dying because of our faith in GOD, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. 

I hope I am able to die with some level of spiritual dignity.  Preparing my heart and life for it helps me to think I will.