Redeemed! I am his!

I wanted to say, Happy (late!) Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there! I was given the chance to review the I am His Jewelry set from the “Redeemed’ product line from DaySpring that is called (in)courage, on the (in)spired deals website. My Mom has inspired me and being a Mom has really inspired me!

My Mother has a huge heart. She has shown me that no matter what, she will always be there to be counted on. We have not always had the best of relationships, but my Mom is so special because she has loved me unconditionally, even with the things I have put her through. She has shown me that family counts and that family matters.

Being a Mother has made me realize I am stronger than I think I am. It has changed my goals in life. It has made me realize that no matter what I think I look like at a given moment, my daughter thinks I am beautiful. It has also made me realize my downfalls and pushed me to change them.

Motherhood has led me to see the beauty in life and this product is definitely beautiful!

What is more beautiful that knowing God loves you and that you are His? I love that this jewelry set reminds me whenever I wear it and look at it. If I feel alone, scared or unsure, I can just look at my bracelet and necklace and be reminded that 2 Thessalonians says I am TREASURED and I belong to a Great and Just God! HE chose ME to be saved by the blood of Jesus! Wow! That is truly wondrous and enough to make me realize I am truly special in the Lord’s eyes!

“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

With Mother’s day here and gone, I can always use a reminder that I am special, I am wanted and I am REDEEMED! I think as Mothers we get wrapped up in and do so much for the ones we love-our children and our husbands, that we often forget how important we are-and how important we are to them and to the One who made us!

This jewelry set is part of the Redeemed line of products on the (in)courage, (in)spired deals website. It is normally $29.98 but is on sale this month for $22.99! Plus, with any $25 purchase, you can get FREE shipping for a limited time! It includes the Necklace with the imprint of “I am His” on the back.

Also included is the beautiful bracelet that says “Treasured” on it. Both include the 2 Thess. scripture on them as well. Each piece comes in it’s own cloth bag!

This jewelry set is so inspirational! I am so happy Dayspring gave me this chance to review it. It truly is very beautiful and well crafted!



I was given a free jewelry set from the Dayspring (in)spired line of products in exchange for a review. Although I was given a free product, all opinions are all my own. This disclosure is in accordance to the FTC guidelines.

DaySpring (in)spired has been so generous to offer my readers a chance to win! You can win a set of the same jewelry I got, the “Redeemed” bracelet, necklace and cloth pouches by just entering on the rafflecopter below! (click on “read more” if you don’t see the rafflecopter form)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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One Hit From Home Movie Review and Giveaway

I like Christian movies. I like that they have a positive message and there is nothing I will find objectionable in them so I can show them to my daughter without worry.

I was given the opportunity to watch and review a new Christian movie entitled,”One Hit from Home”.

The movie is about a ex-professional baseball player who has to return home after a career ending knee injury. He has to confront his own demons with being in his hometown and coach a failing local baseball team. The plus side to this type of movie is I was also able to get my husband to watch it because it involved a sports theme. He usually prefers much more objectionable type movies.

At first, he makes it very clear that he is not happy to be playing the role of coach, but as God works on his heart, he discovers it ignites a passion in him for the sport again and not only gives him a new life, but a renewed sense of hope and healing and a role in a young player on the team’s life.

I don’t want to give too much away about the story, because I really do think it is a valuable one.

I do have to say that one of my pet peeves with Christian films is the acting is not usually as realistic or good as in Hollywood films. Unfortunately, this film is in the same boat, but if you can get past the sub-par cheesiness of the acting, you will find a great Christian message.

The soundtrack was excellent to this movie, in my opinion.

One Hit From Home was released in 2012 and is available on DVD.

I was given a second copy of the film on DVD to give to one of my lucky readers! To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below!

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Praying for Change

Today is the National Day of Prayer and it got me thinking.

I need to spend even more time in prayer. Its not that I don’t make time to pray every day. I do. I just don’t pray when I should.

I think it is human nature to forget to pray when we most need to. For me personally, I often feel ashamed to ask God for things because I feel like I ask for too much already. I feel like I have no right to ask for more. I feel like I am always asking my Father in heaven for something like a begging child.

I need to remember that my Father not only gives me permission to ask, but wants to hear my prayers. He wants me to place my trust in him. He desires to build this relationship with me. How can I build a relationship if I don’t talk to Him about my problems?

Have you ever had a friend that you hid your “true” feelings from? Maybe because you are afraid they will see you differently if they knew? Maybe because you want to put a wall up and let on that everything is fine?

That is NOT the kind of relationship Our Father in heaven wants with us. There is no shame in sharing our whole selves with God. He already knows us! He already knows our fears, our anxieties and our faults. He wants to comfort us and provide answers. Its a simple step. We just need to trust Him enough to give our whole heart to him; show him our ugliness, our weakness. He is waiting to heal us. He is waiting to comfort us.

With open arms.

20/365
Photo via Flickr.com by lisahumes

Book Review- “Biblical Beauty” Giveaway!

When I was first approached to review the book, ‘Biblical Beauty, Ancient Secrets and Modern Solutions’ by Rachelle Weisberger, I was very intrigued. I thought it fell right in with the theme of my blog being both Christian Living and also beauty that I add in from time to time.

The author, Rachelle Weisberger is a Licensed Cosmetologist, Make-up artist and Skin care specialist.

I love hearing stories of the women in the Bible and this book is full of them. Not only are there references to the women of the Bible, there is history about them and what they most likely practiced for beauty-from make-up to skin care to sunscreen, there is a ton of knowledge in this beautiful book! It takes us all back to a time when women used to use natural methods for caring for themselves. I think this is wonderful for a time when more folks are looking to go natural and organic.

Any person who loves ancient history and modern beauty practices would find this book as fascinating as I did. What I love most about this book is the way it is easily organized into categories and how the author gives you a history of that section of beauty using a lady from the Bible and then has a chapter on modern beauty solutions and how some of the ancient solutions still apply even today!

There is a couple picture tutorials as well for doing several makeup techniques. I found this very helpful because I am very much a visual learner.

There is a wonderful chapter-by-chapter resource guide in the back of the book for more information as well as an index for quick look up.

This book truly is a treat! Its so unique, I cannot even think of another title I have even come across that would even be close to this exciting blend of history and beauty techniques. I love the author’s view of beauty-it is not just physical beauty, but a blend of physical, spiritual and emotional. This book would make an excellent gift for Mother’s Day for that special woman in your life!

You can purchase the book, ‘Biblical Beauty, Ancient Secrets and Modern Solutions’ from Amazon or directly from Rachelle Weisberger on her website (which by the way is a wonderful source to learn where Rachelle will be making appearances and see an interview from her about the book!)

Rachelle Weisberger was also very generous in offering one of my readers a chance to win a SIGNED hardcover copy of her book, ‘Biblical Beauty, Ancient Secrets and Modern Solutions’, a guide, ’7 Ways to optimize your beauty potential’ and a bookmark.

Just click “read more” to see the Rafflecopter form!

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LA Dream Center..I need sponsors!

My Church is going to the LA Dream Center in September and since God has laid it on my heart to do ministry for months now, I feel I have to go with them! I want to go with them! Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps and makes my tummy flip.

The Dream Center in LA is a hospital that has been converted to a huge ministry center. They help over 40,000 people per month with anything from food, clothing, detox, helping those in the prostitution industry get out and many many more ways.

You can read more on their facebook page as well.

The only problem is money. My church has put together trip bundles and has reduced the price for each member to go. It would be a week long trip with all expenses included for around $900 a person. My husband also wants to go, so we need $1,800 dollars all together.

I believe God will find the money for us to go, but I need to put this out there. I need to make it known that I need the money and I need to ask for help.

At the present time, we do not have any extra after bills. In fact, we barely pay those. My husband works full time and I am on disability. We barely keep our head above water.

But I do believe in God’s power to make things happen. All I need is your help. If you can sponsor my and my husband’s trip, please make a donation. Even a small one helps. Even if all you can provide is gift-cards to fast food restaurants so we can eat while we are there, that helps.

God will make this happen. I know he will. Nothing is too big for him.

I would love a company to sponsor this. If a company sponsors, it will be well know on my blog and various social media outlets that you sponsored and I would be willing to offer free ad space in exchange as well.

Please e-mail borntimestwo@hotmail.com for more info and to be a sponsor.

God Bless you!

Anniversary is just around the corner!

My anniversary is just around the corner. Anniversaries are always a time I reflect on my marriage, naturally.

I am so proud to say that this year is our third anniversary. May not seem like a lot, but we beat the odds as far as I am concerned.

Our first year was the hardest and it almost ended there. We fought all the time. Very bad fights. The kind that tear your heart apart and the kind that usually end in divorce.I won’t go into detail, because frankly, its too personal, but we did work things out and I am so happy neither of us gave up. God truly worked a miracle in both of us.

Its crazy to look back on that and see where we are now. Marriage is truly work, but very rewarding work. I cannot imagine my life without my Husband.

I feel so blessed to have been given a good man.

I feel even more blessed that I asked God for his help when times were hard and the human part of me just wanted to walk away and end it all. It would have been so much easier to do that some days. But, as they say,”Anything worth having is hard work”. Boy, oh boy, it is seriously hard work, but, wow, is it worth it.

My husband is my best friend in the entire world.

Now, I have the task of trying to figure out what to do for our anniversary that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. I would really like a creative thing that is far from the usual.

Anyone have any ideas?

In the spirit of remembering, here is a couple pictures of us on our wedding, May 2nd,2009

Thank God for his answered prayers!

This week I was pretty blessed.

I had been praying to God to give us a means to get a bed for my husband and I. Our bed is simply a mattress on the floor that is old, hard and unfortunately, I discovered a mold section underneath it as well, recently. My husband also has terrible asthma and our old mattress is not a good fit for it.

God says to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and I have spent many times in prayer about this issue.

God led me to a website that helps people with just thins thing. It is called Sleep 4 All and a regional mattress retailer runs it. The idea is for people to donate their gently used mattresses for the program. The mattresses need to be clean, in good repair and in good shape. The Sleep 4 All program then takes them and cleans and refurbishes them and gives them to family’s that need help. They have donated to children’s shelters and those with medical needs.

I signed up a couple months ago, thinking I would give it a shot and see if I could receive some assistance. Well, a couple days ago, I got a call from them and they told me we were picked to get a mattress and box-springs. I cried tears of joy right there on the phone. It was like God’s loving hand reached out and held me.

I can’t even tell you what this means to us. We are truly feeling blessed.

If you know anyone in the Washington (state), Montana or Idaho area that needs help like this or would like to donate, please see Sleep City’s website for more info and click on “Sleep 4 All”.

Wilbur the cat (sleeping)
Photo from flickr by bwarren@binternet.com

Here’s to a good night sleep coming my way! Thank you God!

Help support Shelter cats

So to those that know me personally, you know I LOVE my cat. He is a therapy cat, or technically called, an emotional support animal. I deal with major anxiety and I have actually been amazed at how much my cat has helped with this. I used to feel worried and be very anxiety ridden when my husband would go to work and in the time I have had my kitty, that has greatly reduced.

In any case, I wanted to talk about a company that is helping shelter kitties. You may have seen the commercials for World’s Best Cat litter. Well, they are offering a way to help shelter kitties have FREE litter. It’s called the GiveLitter Charity.

It works on a voting system and they will give one pound of litter for each vote to participating shelters.

You can even submit a shelter/charity for voting.

You can vote for one shelter a day, so come back every day to vote.

Also, soon, Saved By Grace Blog will be having a review and giveaway for World’s Best Cat litter, so come check it out!

Click HERE to participate in GiveLitter!

God’s little reminders

I am always amazed at how God works. It is always so much more than I can ever begin to imagine and so much bigger. I mean, I know He is God, so He does big things.

What I am saying is, is He is always there loving me, even when I don’t deserve it. His grace is so unchanging and so huge and it really inspires me.

Yesterday, my daughter was bit by a dog. We were out for a jog since I am doing this Couch 2 5K thing, and this house we usually pass that has this intimidating dog was where it happened. We had barely gotten past the halfway point in the gate when I saw the dog jump the fence out of the corner of my eye and suddenly she just bit down on my daughter’s calf. Terrified, we both started running as this dog chased us, baring teeth and snarling.

My daughter was hysterical. She was hard to calm down and when she finally let me look at her leg, I realized it had not broken skin, but was very bruised and you could see teeth marks. I took her to the urgent care that is open on the weekends. They cleaned it and told me she would be fine (which I figured, but I wanted documented medical proof).

I was so angry all day. Just stinkin’ mad. The urgent care had reported to Animal Control and the Animal Control officer and I had a couple heated conversations. We could not communicate because I was so angry that not much could be done at this point and they could not make contact with the owner of the dog. Plus, my “mommy instinct” was on high alert. I was honestly pretty cantankerous with her, shamefully. She talked me through it and I was more calm soon, but I was still not very happy.

I went to church yesterday evening and when I came home, there was a message in my voicemail. I checked it and it was the Animal Control officer. Instead of checking my email, I accidentally pushed “send” and my phone started calling her. I realized and hung up. It was nearly 9 at night and I hoped I had not disturbed her.

Well, she called me back in about 5 minuets. She re-iterated what she had said on voicemail, and for some reason mentioned she was busy trying to read the bible when I called. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head and I realized this was a test. (Not the whole thing, but this single conversation). I suddenly felt the need to apologize to this woman for my horrible attitude earlier and we had a lovely conversation after that. I told her I was a Christian as well and told her I was sorry for my UN-christlike attitude with her earlier on the phone. She told me she forgives me. She told me she respected my apology. We carried on and then talked about breeds of Dogs and our shortcomings as humans and how God has grace. She also admitted she had. had a bad day and was a bit too short with me as well. We are all human!

I then decided to extend that grace to the owner of the dog, whom by the way was very,very sorry (and honestly mortified) his dog had bitten my daughter, and had agreed to cooperate with Animal Control and also agreed to pay for the trip to urgent care as well as build an enclosed dog run in his yard.

I am always amazed by these moments in my life. I believe they are God’s little reminders that his grace is so unending for us, and he expects us to extend the same grace to others. Thanks God. I needed that yesterday.

One Day without Shoes

I had heard about this event a while back called “One Day Without Shoes”. I read about it on Essie’s (nail polish) website and entered to win a bottle of their exclusive polish in the shade of “Barefoot in Blue”. Turns out I won and got my polish today.

I am excited to share with my readers what Tom’s shoes is doing for this event. They, along with Essie, are raising awareness by going without shoes for ONE day, “so kids don’t have to”.

So many kids go without shoes in other countries because they can’t afford any. This is A HUGE problem for these kids. It keeps them from being able to attend school (because shoes are required to attend school), leaves them open to getting infections and injuries and open to getting parasitic infections like hookworm. Imagine having to deal with no shoes. I feel so blessed that I have never known what that feels like.

Tom’s is encouraging you to donate to charities that help kids get shoes and raise awareness. I am also encouraging you to participate on April 10th, 2012 and go without shoes for the day and raise awareness. If anyone asks you why you are not wearing shoes, tell them why.

I know I will be wearing my polish on my bare feet April 10th.

You can find more info on the Day Without Shoes movement here:

http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/learn-more

Tom’s and Essie’s websites also have more info:

Tom’s: http://www.toms.com/onedaywithoutshoes

Essie: http://www.essie.com/

For more info on where to donate to a charity that helps kids have access to shoes see Tom’s blog

http://www.toms.com/blog/giving