Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I wasn't there, because this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let's go see him." John 11:14-15 Recently I have gone through some situations, in which parts of my life have "died." I have had to really press into God for understanding because it is a confusing time. Just as the disciples stood there, knowing it was not God's will for their friend to die, we sometimes stand there knowing that a certain area of our life is not supposed to die either. It is not God's will & we have peace about that. So why would he allow it to happen? I'm not saying everytime something "dies" in our life, that it is God's will to reserrect it... BUT it just might be. Seek Him, ask Him, be real- open, honest, etc. with Him. He will reveal to you if He is going to resurrect this area of your life. Jesus is no longer on earth w/ us, but He sent His Holy Spirit to guide & empower us! He tells us to speak to the dry bones in our life. Read Ezekiel 37 for more on this. I personally grow the most when I am in a valley. Do you? If so, then be of cheer even though it's a dark time or there are areas of darkness. Praise God from where you are! He promises good things to those who love Him. What areas in your life are dead or dry?... Finances? Marriage? Work? Health? Etc.? Be obedient in these areas as He leads you, but also SPEAK life into these areas! Speak love, encouragement, etc. into a dry marriage. Praise God for the finances you Do have & if you are tithing 10% (being obedient) then look up verses on finances & speak them aloud over yours, pray them over your finances! We truly cannot outgive God. Andy & I are a living testimony to this for over 1 year now. Confess that you have favor at work! Pray for favor w/ family members, friends, etc. I think you get the point. :) Speak life, not death. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. ~Proverbs 18:21. So in answer to my question above... why would God allow these things to sometimes happen? It just might be to draw you closer to Him. To build your faith. To teach you a new thing. To bring you resurrection life! To God be the glory!! The thief comes to kill, steal & destroy BUT Christ came so that we can enjoy an Abundant Life! John 10:10 When we are sick, struggling in our marriage or finances, etc. it takes our eyes off of Jesus. This is satan's plan. Do not allow him to be successfull! Allow God to bring resurrection life!! To ALL areas of your life. He wants to, you know!?! He is waiting for you to Believe! To do your part & stand in faith, patiently waiting for Him to complete the work!! Just as he did w/ Lazarus. Read the story... it's a good one! Be encouraged friends & let's live a powerful life together!! Add Comment Post Title. 02/18/2010
      Here are the pictures that were included in our new year's letter. Our letter is also in the blog below... Our New Year's Letter 02/18/2010
Many of you stated you were not able to open our New Year's Letter or accidently came to my website, so I've decided to post it on here as well!... Happy New Year Family & Friends!! We’ve decided, instead of doing an annual Christmas letter, that we would do a New Year’s letter J (we were very busy w/ moving, the holidays & dealing w/ Alicia‘s health). We had a Very Merry Christmas, snowed in together!! We played games, Andy started a couple of fires (in the fireplace haha), read the real Christmas story & cuddled together watching lots of movies. 2009 was a very enjoyable year for us, full of lots of changes & adventures! We moved to a town home in Dec., shortly before Christmas and are really enjoying it. It has a full basement, a 2 stall garage & a second floor. Fathead (our cat) is enjoying all of the room as well, to roam & play! No more walking up 3 flights of stairs in the bitter cold! We have had some pretty amazing drifts here though. 8 foot drifts out our front door & another 5 foot drift on the garage roof. Ready for Spring!!! (note the paper) J God has been very good to us this past year. With the economy being slow, Andy’s business has soared. Ouch come tax time though haha. God also made a way for us to get a new car by the time we went to Texas over Thanksgiving!! We had a great time seeing our new baby niece Isabel “Izzy” & Andy’s older brother & wife. They took as to Galveston TX & Moody Gardens for a mile long walk through Christmas lights. It was hard for uncle Andy to leave his new niece because he was so proud! We also welcomed our niece Lilah, Alicia’s older step-brother & wife’s, youngest of 4. We look forward to hopefully meeting her this year! We were able to see a lot of our family this past year, including Alicia’s cousin Trina who came to stay with us for a couple weeks this summer. Having a teenager around was great for Alicia. They’d stay up late every night chatting & giggling like little girls. They both were a huge blessing to one another. Wish we could make a tradition of that! In August we were able to go on our late honeymoon to Orlando & Daytona Beach, FL. We had an amazing time. Andy did well on his first time flying, but after having gotten stuck for hours at the airport, on our way home, I think he’d rather drive from now on. We went to Orlando Studios for 2 days. It was so much fun being a kid again. We saw Fear Factor Live, road many 3D rides & watched the Blue Man Group. The resort we stayed at had 6 pools which we enjoyed a lot. Then we headed to Daytona Beach. We were greeted by a nice surprise… a beach front room! What a breath-taking view!! We went camping in Genoa this summer with some great friends Jesse & Amanda & my brother David. That was a lot of fun. Alicia drove the 4-wheeler for the first time & did really good. She also had us set up with everything you could think of for a good camping trip! She says she gets that from Scott. J Andy has a new adventure this year… football! He started pre-season practices for a different team, but after having learned of some things the owners were doing that he didn’t agree with morally he quit & is now part owner of a semi-pro arena football team!! The Omaha Rhinos. He will be playing middle line-backer. He would love to have you come to cheer him on this year up here in Omaha or at his away games (4) in KC… let us know if you would like his schedule! I am so proud of Alicia. She has grown tremendously this year. She is mentoring & life coaching several ladies, who adore her. The Lord is doing a great work in her life & is causing her to share it with others just as God spoke into her life on our wedding day. He lead her to apply for a mentorship program with million-copy, best-selling author Shannon Ethridge earlier this summer. She got accepted, along with only 40 other individuals from countries all around the world! I feel one day God will write many books through her. She has also done a great job on a new website & blog. God is touching many people through her words!! The Lord has grown Andy so much this year. He is leading us in new, exciting ways! His younger brother David wanted a bible study for him & his friends, so Andy stepped up to the plate & began leading them. He asked me to join their bible study & it has been so thrilling to watch him lead & grow!! I am so proud to call him my hubby J Another big change took place this summer when the Lord lead us to leave Trinity church, where we got married, to grow closer to Him through an organic church called the Storehouse. We have met some amazing people & God is teaching us how to seek Him in new ways! This is a letter to share with all of our family & friends what has happened in 2009, but we have to share a couple of things that have already happened this year in 2010. We welcomed another baby into the family… Alicia’s sister Tiffany had her baby boy, Taiten, this past Tues. Alicia is very excited to give him all of her loves. It will be a lot of fun to have a little one close to home. Thank goodness for Facebook though so we can enjoy watching the other little ones grown up! Andy is desiring to do something else other than laying tile the rest of his life, so as we are praying about where God is leading him, I decided to do something fun to earn us some extra cash. This will help us pay off our debt more quickly than the 2 yr. plan we originally had. I’m selling Scentsy candles & they are really amazing. They are safe for kids & pets because they are wickless & the wax doesn’t get hot enough to burn you! I’m excited to cheer Andy on in this way, just as he has cheered me onto my dreams, and it will be a great way to meet new people up here in Omaha as well. Hope all of you had a wonderful 2009 as well & we look forward to 2010 with you!!!! Love, The Todd’s ps~ There were pictures in the letter format, but they are not copying in here. I will try to figure out how to post them. | ArchivesDecember 2011 CategoriesAll  |
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