Bonified Beauty

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ                                                                   Romans 5:1 (NIV)

A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.                                                                 Proverbs 15:20(NIV)

About two months ago I was asked by a very troubled friend of mine to start a bible study. She said she just loved the changes she saw happening in me, and hoped to have some of it for herself. This is how God put on my heart to start a Ladies Bible Study Night in the place where I live and work. Saginaw is a blink of a town, meaning if you blink on the way through you miss it entirely. There is a little store, a half of a wood mill, and a trailer park. That is about it. The park is sadly known for its problem tenants. I know when I tell people where I live, they tend to get the look of "Really? Saginaw? I'm so sorry." There is a lot of condemnation for the park from the surrounding area. Some of the kids don't get to have their friends over because their parents fear the trailer park. It is sad really. I fearfully went around after this friend inquired about a study, and asked other lady tenants if they would be interested, that it would be free of charge an...

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful;  he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.                                                         1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

So, I have said many times the toll Uganda has taken on my heart. I have also mentioned my unexplained desire to devote my life to changing the massive epidemic of AIDS/HIV, malnutrition, lack of education. Like I have said before due to the astronomical amount of mothers and fathers dying due the the spread of the AIDS virus, the number of orphans is continually on the rise. Most people who live in rural Uganda live on an average of $2 a day. I want to experience this. How can I truly empathize with such a situation if I have never experienced what it is like? I have heard of other people doing something similar to my upcoming commitment to living on just $1 a day, as the people in Sierra Leon must do. I want to understand the struggle. I want to feel the pain, actually feel what it is like. Most people will trust and open up to a person who has dealt with similar situations, they can build a foundation of trust in each other by  bonding over the circumstances they both endure...

I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.' But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.                                                                   Job 32:7-8 (NIV)

Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is called knowledge, which some have professed and in doing so have departed from faith. Grace be with you all.                                                                                                                                  1 Ti...

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.                                                                     Psalm 9:18(NIV) We should be in the habit of praying for God to guide us in his truth everyday. Come to the Lord throughout your day, asking for him to guide you in all you do.

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I have written of the burden placed on my heart for Uganda. Not just the orphans, which are in dire need of intervention, but the women, mothers, fathers, elderly. The terrible situations the people of rural areas in Uganda are unimaginable to say the least!  I cannot fully understand myself the reasoning of my deep concern for, and desire to help the people of Uganda. I just know it has taken over my purpose of being. I cant get them out of my mind, yet I have never met them.  I have had my eyes opened by the Lord. He laid down before me what he needed me to see. He showed me stories of children raising children through Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision and author of The Hole In Our Gospel, and Katie Davis the founder of Amazima Ministries and author of Kisses From Katie. I highly recommend these books to you, they will change the way you view your responsibility to the poor forever. They did mine, and I don't ever want to go back. My life was wrought wit...

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 grow their strength.                                                                    Isaiah 40:29-31(NIV) Though the world will wear us out, make us feel beaten down. Temptations that call to us, we may give in to, yet put all hope in God and your strength to battle temptation and the world will multiply. We can overcome with faith in our ever-loving God!

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved                                                                       Romans 10:13 All we have to do is cry out to God, asking him into our lives, our hearts and he will come. He is only waiting in patience for you to call.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"                                                                               John 1:29 (NIV) The Lamb of God was not a term widely used in the days of Jesus, it is thought to be started here when John the Baptist makes reference of what's to come. We are given here a glimpse at the pupose of Jesus' time on earth with us. He is here to be God's sacrifice for our sins. We can take a great comfort in this verse.

I know for me to just sit down and find the passages in the bible that explain it all seemed ultimately impossible, especially in the very beginning. I went to a very special conference at my local church given by Ken Ramey. It was so great how he laid it all out for me. Now I will share that same plan with you. When we are at the beginning, most of us don't know where to start. We feel alone, and intimidated. The bible can be just so confusing. First I want you to know that you are not alone. We are all children of God, and he is with us ever step of the journey. We become more aware of that as we allow the Word of God to open our eyes and our hearts. I am also with you for this journey, every step of the way. If you have any questions please just comment below or send me an email  and I will gladly answer any questions you may have. If I don't have an answer, I will get it for you. So, come with me and lets get to know our everlasting God together! We are go...

... Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you.                                                             1 Chron. 28:9 (NIV)

 If you have been reading my blog, you know very well that I have felt very discouraged lately. I am loving my life with Christ leading the way. He has been telling me to keep wrapping myself in his word. He has taught me that this is the armor that gets us through this hopeless world. I want to worship my Lord and Savior without the struggle I face at home with my fiancee wanting me to limit my time in worship. It feels like being torn in two directions. So, as I have said many times already, when feeling down I lift up my bible. This is the lesson the good Lord showed me today, He showed me Isaiah 28:5 In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. I have been feeling so beat down with all the discouragement exuding from the rolling of my boyfriends eyes, the shrug of his shoulders when I talk, or just the straight out asking me to step down from my worship of the Lord making it more of a once...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.                                                               Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) By letting go of our need to figure things out for ourselves, and understanding that only the Lord knows the way to a peaceful life, we surrender to his control and loving wisdom. He will not forsake you, trusting him will guide us in the ways to righteousness

With this ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, has come a great pain.  I have already spoke of my pain for the children of Uganda. With that pain has come the extreme urge to do something about it. I have been trying to help through technology for now, since being a financially challenged single mother of five kids that is about the only way I can. If I could, I would be in Uganda right this minute doing anything I could to bring hope to the people so badly in need. I don't have finances to change their terrible circumstances, but I do have the internet. Since it is going to take me a while to collect enough spare change and soda bottles for the deposits to make the money I need to get myself to Africa. Oh, believe me I am working on it! I save every last penny and soda can for my African mission fund. Some people are calling me crazy. Some get kind of angry, saying there are so many people in need right here. I do agree with the fact that there is...

I always pray with joy...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.                                                                  Philippian 1:4-6 (NIV) There are times when doing the work God has called us to do, we just don't feel quite worthy, or "good enough" for the job. If we give these worries to the lord in thanksgiving, and keep faith that he will always supply our every need to carry out his plan, we regain the strength to keep pushing forward in his name.

A six year olds journey towards christ has a much more basic understanding. They are much more literal with things they hear and learn. Here are 2 of the cutest little things he has said: 1) "Mom, if this is blood...blood is good!" at least we know he actually is listening to the preacher during communion, right? LOL! 2) "God loves me, I can trust him" thanks to my son's in-school bible release class, he chants this all the time. I love it!

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the father will give you. This is my command:  Love each other.                                                                    John 15:16-17 (NIV)                                                           ...

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.                                                  Psalm 119:105 (NIV) When we give God the control, he guides and lightens our way towards peace.

I think we can all agree, it is very hard to wait for the answer to your prayer. It is one of the areas that tests our faith. Our God can be a silent God, but he is always listening. Sometimes I forget this. I pray about just about everything. I talk to God silently all throughout the day. He doesn't always answer right away, and in all reality sometimes I just simply don't see the answer, or the answer is not the one I was looking for. Today however, is one of those times where he answered so immediately and with such clarity. Oh how I praise him. Yesterday was such a struggle for me. Having such a hard time with my partner as I come to my Lord Jesus, well let's just say it is awful! I feel like there is something trying to keep me from learning more, from reaching the ultimate relationship with God. This morning I woke up still thinking of the problems of yesterday. Praying the Lord would soften my partners heart at least enough to just support me in the path I am t...

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.                                                                            Luke 6:45 (NIV)

I am being tried today. Just struggling through some resentments. I get going so far in my faith and things are just wonderful, even miraculous. Then something happens like a snide remark from my partner. There is an emerging pattern. The closer I get to God, the more upset and snide he (my partner) becomes. I believe that the more I study the word of God the closer I can get to him. He is not of this world, therefore the absolute reality of God has been a hard one for my primitive brain to wrap-around. The more I study the history of it all the more the gap between God and I is filled. I am filling the gap literally with his words. However to be able to do this has turned into such a daily struggle. I feel God pulling me into the word and I have my partner saying he doesn't want me making it such a large part of my life. He just simply doesn't understand that to follow the teaching of my God and savior Jesus Christ, I must wrap myself up in his word and let it b...

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,     because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.   Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you .                                                                                                  James 1:19-21 (NIV)      ...

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."                                                                  1 John 4:18 KJV This verse in 1 John helped start the road to my new life. I never would have imagined when I first found this verse the impact it would have on my life. In January of 2003 I was sitting at the kitchen table of my cousin in North Carolina. I had a bible in front of me, I was searching. Searching for help. Searching for anything that would help me sleep that night. I was going through some very terrible things at that time. My husband, and father of four of ...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.                                                                      Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?                                                                         Psalm 27:1 NIV God longs to be our rock in life, what keeps us firm in his love for us.  With his spirit to guide and protect us through all of our everyday trials this life holds, as only the One True God can, we have the power to overcome the temptations of the world.

  The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing .                                                                                                                 Zephaniah 3:17 We have an amazing mighty God. He loves us eternally, complete adoration of us his wonderful creations. Out of that ...

The good Lord has broken my heart. He has broken my heart for the children of Uganda. There is so much devastation in their tiny little lives. They don't know the reality that we do. Their reality is they don't know where their next meal is coming from, let alone how long it will be before there even is a next meal. It breaks my heart to know that so many children don't have a mommy to kiss them goodnight, to kiss their boo-boo's when they fall, to comfort them when they are sad, to hold them when they are ill. There are so many facts that break my heart for the orphans of Uganda. These children, though I have never met one, are changing my life. I was hoping to change theirs and began my search for a way to help with such desperation to make a difference in theirs. When this first began several months ago I had no clue what I could do, then the Sanyu Foundation-Uganda came into my life. This has been such a blessing and I am ever-so-grateful for the opportunity t...

The mind governed by flesh is death; but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.                                                                                       Romans 8:6 The more we struggle with our daily lives we need to learn to let the Lord take control of our decisions. Let him guide our every thought. He is there to guide us towards righteousness and carry us through our troubles,  leading us to peace.

I had a revelation about my own spriritual health and well being while my neck was aching and grinding and popping, and I was whining in self pity and groaning in pain asking the Lord "Why does it hurt this much? What did I do to deserve all this pain?" That is when it hit me! In all the times of my life that satan has crept in and created chaos and confusion in my life, I have looked to the ground, searching my own mind for the resolution--the answer. I have hung my head in shame, guilt, confusion, remoarse, and self-pity when I should have been looking up. Up to the Lord my God for the answers. God has put a burning straight into my neck to tell me " Kimberly,what are you doing looking to the ground for the answers. Don't you know already? Look to me my child. I am the way!" In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, except through me." How reassuring it is to know that while I am a sinner b...