Hawaii Anyone???

A friend was blessed with a trip to Hawaii and she gave me permission to share these two beautiful photos with you and her story. Thank you, Debbie Lantz, for sharing your fun!!!

"Hi there! Well, I’m back from my blessed trip to Hawaii. As some of you know, this trip was totally a last minute answer to prayer. Not that I was praying for a vacation, but I was praying for refreshing and rest from a hard year of work and a summer of emotional family issues. I have a good friend who is retired and spends most of her time traveling. She rented a house on a beach in Molokai for two weeks and asked me to join her and her best friend. I was able to spend 8 days in paradise for less than $400.00. Plus, once I got to know this new lady better, I found out she writes grants for non-profits for a living and used to be a fund raiser for non-profits. She gave me some great insights into non-profits, I shared about HT, she got it immediately and now I can write my trip off as a business expense and will stay in touch with her for future referrals. I’m looking forward to future trips with these two and other women they travel with. They are not saved and I hope to be able to share the love of Jesus with them over time. There are lots of defenses and layers I will need to work through. I’m not sure what effect I had on them during our time together but the Lord does. Things I learned:

1) God will bless you through others whether they are Christian or not
2) God will let you borrow others stuff-(this house we stayed in was at least a 1 million dollar home) I may own a beach home in Hawaii but only if God thinks I will need it and use it for Him.
3) “Aloha ke akua” means God is love. These women had not experienced God’s love only religious judgment which has made them bitter and self sufficient. My job is to show the love.
4) “Nana i ke kumu” means look to the source-instead of relying on myself as the source.

Attached are a couple of pictures of God’s beauty I was able to witness every morning during my stay. I can’t wait for that bright light to be more than the sun rising one day. Have a blessed weekend everyone!
Debbie"

I hope you enjoyed this wonderful travel story and the photos. Just remember, God can surprise you at any time with the desires of your heart.

Receive God's Best!

I found another book to recommend!!
Jerry Savelle is a great writer of books that speak about God's favor and blessing. Here is a synopsis of the book:


Receive God's Best

Everybody wants to experience God’s best in their lives. We get excited just thinking about the promises of God and what they mean for our lives. But how do you actually get to the place where you are experiencing His best, not just believing for it to happen some day?

In Receive God’s Best, he shares the steps that took him from being just an average Joe to the man he is today. Learn how to apply these practical, down to earth principles. When you do, you will begin to experience God’s best in your life.

The book sells for $13.00. Click here to go to the link to order.

Happy Reading!!

As You Are on Your Way to Becoming a Millionaire

As you are on your way to becoming a Millionaire you may need a little help getting yourself known. Free publicity is always nice. I have a few ideas and your comments are welcome.

My local Sunday paper has a business section and when you open it to the second page there is a spot called transitions and kudos. You can email in promotions, changes, anything different for your business and even a photo in .jpg format. There is also a Business News section so if you have just started your business (or started it and didn’t get it in the paper yet) send in the information and it will be listed. If you are planning a meeting for your business, the business calendar lists it for free. Okay, on to other sections.

Begin getting the newspaper everyday and scour through each section looking for any type of publicity that can be posted for free. Think about what type of business you have…art, real estate, etc. and look in those special sections of the paper to put in a photo, an article, anything that would mention your business. If you have an event be sure to write about it and take a photo and put it in the paper. You’ll soon become familiar with who does what at the paper. To start out call the proper editor and ask questions about what they would like to use or what they are looking for. Be sweet as can be and you’ll win them over.

Another section of the Sunday paper has something called “Fun & Fundraisers” where you can put in your information about a fundraising or fun event. So plan one and put it in the paper.

Your local Chamber of Commerce has events that allow nonmembers to participate so call them and ask when the next one is. Here in Mobile, AL, it is called "Business After Hours". Take a smile and plenty of business cards. I did that and met two ladies who had just the month before began a women’s breakfast networking group. I got the info and went to that and have been going for 5 months now. I love it because you don’t have to join, you just pay for the breakfast as you go and you meet lots of businesswomen. The same would, of course, be true for men. Now…if there is not a group like that already, start one. These two ladies knew nothing about it and started it just because… They didn’t even know anything about publicity so I brought them a folder of ideas and it helped them tremendously.

Your local television station likes to have people on, typically in the morning, to tell of upcoming events so keep that in mind when you plan one.

On the internet there are networking groups you can join. If you want to join mine and begin your growing network, here are some of my network links:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/cgivens

Start a blog yourself and get it hooked up with feedburner so it goes into search engines when you do updates. Your blog doesn’t have to be work related. I have this blog and 2 others:
http://www.cookiecocker.blogspot.com for my cocker spaniel doggie and http://www.if-i-had-a-bed-n-breakfast.blogspot.com/ that goes along with a bed and breakfast cookbook that I wrote/edited. Once you have a blog look up places to put your blog. Also, your blog posts can be considered articles so post your articles for free in various places in the internet. Do a search for posting blogs and posting articles for free.

I know this is not everything, but it’s a start and you'll learn as you go. If you want to add anything, send in a comment.

Calling Those Things Which Be Not As Though They Were

I was listening to a teaching the other day and the preacher said he went to God in prayer and asked why things weren’t working out the way he believed they were supposed to. He heard in his spirit God telling him that he wasn’t praying enough about it and he wasn’t calling things that are not as though they were enough. That really ministered to my spirit because I have my goals list and I have my prayer list but it was not happening as fast as I thought it could. I went to the verse God was referring to and it is in Romans 4:17
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

God was speaking about Abraham in Genesis 17: 4-7:
“As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Can we have the same things as Abraham? Of course. According to Galatians 3:13-14 I am the seed of Abraham and heir according to the promise. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
So back to where we started: My words are important and frame my world around me so why not speak out and call in those things I want to happen. My goals list is not just a goals list…it is my list of things that I am calling in, I call those things that are not yet here as though they were. How do we do that? One is to believe in your heart that God wants to bless you. So begin asking God what He wants to bless you with. Get bible verses on this that way you know if God said it in His Word then it is His will. Next begin thanking God for blessing you with “it” (whatever it is). Thanking Him shows you believe it is already done and you’re ready to receive it. Why would God want Abraham to have nice things and not you? After all, we are promised better promises based on a better covenant----because of Jesus. Find your scriptures and go after it!!!
Comments welcome!

My Legacy to You!

My legacy to pass on to my children and to you, my readers, is to know my God in the deepest, most intimate way possible while still remaining here on the earth. To be awakened early in the morning because your awesome God wants to be with you…spend time with you. To get up, put on praise and worship music and dance with the Lord and before the Lord in adoration and love. Suddenly nothing else matters and God who knows all secrets and knows all hearts twirls you about as you raise your hands to Him with heart lifted to Him. He clears your mind of anything else and there you are alone with the One who created the universe and all things in it. He is spending time alone with you ready to tell you the secrets that will change all things in your life for the better. You dance and worship then suddenly you become still and He speaks to your heart. You cry because of the awesomeness of it all. Humbled because you know He could do this with anyone, but He selected you and there you are. Quiet and still and He speaks in whispers of His love for you and…suddenly you are on top of the world instead of the world on top of you; and He tells you what will make you a success at what He has called you to do. Here in this secret place He gives you instructions and strategies to move. The devil wasn’t invited so he hasn’t a clue as to what is going on…this is your secret place with God. And then, even though it’s very hard to do, the time has come when you must begin the regular day. Yet somehow even with waking up the children, showering, getting ready for business, that worship time stays with you and you smile because you have a secret plan from God. Suddenly something you were working on breaks through, and you dance and shout and praise the Lord and you know that the quiet, secret time from this morning was where the battle over this was won. You know that when God whispered: “Call now,” and you did. It was perfect timing and you got through to the exact person you needed to talk to…the divine connection was made. The gatekeeper may have gone on break at that exact moment and the boss decided to answer the phone. However God did it, He did it, and with this you have the edge over life…God and you getting the job done. He does the set up and you do the follow though. This is the legacy I want to pass on to my children: that throughout their lives they have this awesome relationship with their Father, and He leads them in every area and they have the edge over life.

“…For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.“ Joshua 1:8b. This scripture will then become a reality to them: “I can do all things through Christ (the Anointed One and His Anointing) which strengthens me.”