Abel/Cain Mix Up :(

Good Morning! This morning I am actually not going to be writing a post for Flavors of Favor because I just realized that I made a big mistake on my last post. When I began talking about "Abel" I should have been talking about Cain. :( I get those two soooo confused......I have to remember the saying my little sister says, "Abel was able, Cain couldn't" . I will try to get in there and change the names sometime today. 

Also, I will be doing the Flavors of Favor post every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and maybe Sundays. 

Oh! I believe my blog renovation is pretty much done. Grace, from her lovely blog Blog Designs By Grace, made me this wonderful header, button and signature! If you are in need of a header, Favicon, button, signature or even want her to design your whole blog for you just click on the link and fill in the form on her blog. Her "whole blog design" includes all that I just listed and includes a background and tabs. I also recommend stopping by her main blog, It's My Life and checking out some of the gorgeous giveaways that are going on right now. Thank you Grace!!!

I would love to hear what you all think of my new designs so if you get the chance drop me a comment and tell me what y'all think. 

May Yahweh bless you and keep you,

May Yahweh make his face shine on you and be gracious to you,

May Yahweh lift up his countenance on you and give you peace all the days of your life,

And may Yahweh conform you into the image of Christ.

Numbers 6:24-26

Flavors Of Favor-Day 2

Today's Flavors of Favor post will not be talking about how God gave favor to an individual person but a group of people or more specific, the Hebrew midwives that the Bible tells us about in Exodus chapter 1. This is what the Bible says: "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.  "Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land." Exodus 1:8-10

Pharaohs grand scheme was to make the Israelites their slaves and put them to hard work but something amazing happened. The Bible says that the harder the Egyptians afflicted the Israelites the mightier and more populous the Israelites became! Well Pharaoh saw this and called all the Hebrew midwives together and told them that if a baby boy was born to kill him but if it was a girl it could live. Then the Bible says this, "But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live." Wow! What courage they must have had to be able to defy the Pharaoh like that! And of course the Pharaoh notices this and asks the midwives why they did not obey him. Guess what they do? They lie! Here is what they answered him and said, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them." Now here is a interesting question. Is it OK to lie? One of the seven things that God hates most is a lying tongue. (Proverbs 6:16-17)  Maybe we should see what happens after the midwives lie. This is what it says:

 "So God was good (or gave favor) to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them." God gave favor to the midwives? But they lied! Lets look at why God blessed them because it says why. It says "Because the midwives feared God". The Bible says that the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. How did they fear God? Well if they killed the baby boys that would be murder and I am sure they all knew about Cain and what happened to him when he murdered and I am sure none of them wanted to go through what Cain had to go through for the rest of his life. They feared God by realizing that He had the power to do the same to them as He had done to Cain and they decided to follow God and obey Him. 

I think I have come to the conclusion that if someone is harming another person and they must lie in order to save them then God is pleased. But if you lie for your own selfish benefit then God will not be pleased. Since I love reading about WW2 I hear of many instances where people must lie to save other people's lives. In many cases the person is lying to benefit another person and if caught are risking their own lives. It would take me forever to really study this subject deeply but what I have realized by reading this is that there are times when people must lie but I believe it only to be when someone's life is in danger. (When I say someone, I mean a living human being. I notice that many young girl stories like to show that lying, even to your parents, is OK if it is benefiting your "favorite horse"  or animal. I believe that this is a point in the story where the girl should practice some submission towards her parents because her parents are more important than her pet. 1 Peter 2:18) 

So lets take a look at how God showed favor toward the midwives. It says that "He established households for them". Meaning that they were able to have children. Back then most midwives were women who were not able to have children. We see here that God blessed them by letting them be able to have children. And guess what this meant to the Pharaoh? More baby boys to deal with! As before, Pharaoh sees this and appoints his own men to go and kill the baby boys. But this is a story for another time. 

Would you please stop and pray for a minute? Please pray first that God will give us His spirit so that we may be bold and able to stand up for what God tells us. Also pray that we will learn to fear Yahweh. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge". Now we do not only fear Him but we also love Him. Same way with our parents. I love my parents soooooo much, yet I also fear them if I do not obey because I know a consequence is coming! :) 

I hope you have enjoyed today's Flavors of Favor post. I am thankful that you have stopped by! I pray that you have learned more about Gods favor through the Hebrew midwives examples. I pray that Gods favor shines down upon you today.

Oh! By the way my new header will be in soon....just incase y'all were wondering if I was just going to leave it like that! :) I can't wait for y'all to see it. It is so pretty! Thank you to Grace who also made my button and my new signature. Thank you also to Storyteller who was so sweet to offer to make me a header as well. Well, that is all the announcements for today. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday! 

Flavors of Favor-Day One

Rise and shine! Today is my first post for Flavors of Favor.....I am so excited!  I hope this time encourages you and me to look at how God showed favor to His people throughout the Bible.  

Today's individual is a man named Simeon. Now, we do not know much about Simeon's life. Actually, all we will ever know about Simeon is summed up in a couple verses in the the gospel of Luke when Mary and Joseph were taking their first born Son Jesus to be dedicated to Yahweh God. Here is what the verses say:

 " And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word;  For my eyes have seen Your salvation,  Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,  A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."  And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed-- and a sword will pierce even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." 

 Luke 2:25-35

Another word or synonym for favor is gift. Do you think that Simeon was happy to get to see Jesus? Wouldn't you have liked to be the one to see the very person who would one day die for you to set you free and give you eternal life? I know I would, and that if God had told me that I would get to see Jesus I would be soooo excited! Do you think that God gave Simeon a gift or "favor"? I believe so. Just imagine Simeon's joy in getting to see the One who would one day set his people free!

If you are reading this post I would like to ask you to stop and pray for a minute. The Bible says,"The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."   James 5:16 

God will hear you if you come to Him and ask of His will. One way that we know we are praying His will is if He tells us in His Word to pray for it. " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you.  May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.  For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, May peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good."  Psalms 122:6-9

Today I am going to ask you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem or all Israel for that matter.  I am going to ask you to pray that God will bring healing to their land, bring healing to their hearts and help them to understand and follow Jesus Christ and our Abba Father. Will you join me in praying for His chosen  people and God's chosen city? 

Thank you so much for joining me today at the Proclaiming Grace Cafe! I hope you have enjoyed your time here and I hope you will come back. If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you! May God show His favor to you today. 

In Christ,

Evangela Grace

Flavors Of Favor- New Morning Posts

Grace- acceptance, benefit, favor, gift, joy, pleasure, thanks

When my Mom asked me what grace was the other day I was surprised. Not because of what it meant but because I did not know what it meant! When I first thought of grace in a spiritual sense I thought of it as something very deep. Something that you can only thoroughly understand by hours of study on the subject. 

I knew what the characteristic grace was, graceful or showing grace in actions of movement but the other meaning of grace surprised me. Favor. Acceptance. Pleasure. These are a few that stood out to me. My Mom suggested that I try looking for something in scripture every day where someone was shown grace or favor so I thought I would share my finds with you every day. (Though, don't hold me to it. Flexibility is our family's middle name!) At least I should be able to do it a couple days a week if I cannot every day. My Mom came up with the name, Flavors Of Favor. The theme for that time is going to be tea time! (Yum!)  I am hoping that every time I do a Flavors of Favor post to have a different picture of tea cups or something to do with tea. I found tons of wonderful pictures on Pinterest that I cannot wait to use! So, would you like a spot of tea? If so, meet me at the Proclaiming Grace cafe once a day to enjoy a refreshing cup of Gods favor. 

In Christ,

Evangela Grace

By the way, I am working on up-dating my blog so if you have anything you would like me to add or maybe change  I would love to hear from you!  Also, I am just got a new button for my blog. You can see the button by clicking here. I am also working on getting a new header. Both items were made for by a wonderful girl named Grace at her blog, Blog Designs By Grace. All the designs she makes are free of charge and she is so great to work with!  If you are needing blog buttons, headers, signatures and more she would be my first recommendation! 

Thank you Grace! 

"Peace Child"

The Book "Peace Child"

Imagine sharing the gospel with cannibals 

Who admire Judas's betrayal more than Jesus' sacrifice

Among the headhunting Sawi of Irian Jaya, treachery was an ideal that generations of their people had perfected. The heroes of Sawi legend weren't those who took the greatest number of heads in battle or ambush, but those who were the most deceitful in befriending their victims before they took their heads.

When missionaries Don and Carol Richardson searched for the key that would open the gospel to the Sawi, God moved in a stunning way. He revealed His true Peace Child–the ideal fulfilment of the Sawi's own redemptive analogy. Peace Child chronicles the agony–and the triumph–of the Richardson's unforgettable sojourn among this people loved by God.

-Taken From "Peace Child" 

I interviewed my sister Gabby about the book because she just finished it. This is what was said: 

Evangela- "What is your favorite part in the book?"

Gabby- "My favorite part is when the Richardson's were in a boat and they tipped over.  They only found the mother and one of the two sons.  They could not find their other son Steven. After several minutes they found him alive. The amazing part was that he never  breathed in any water the whole time!"

Evangela- "What were the Sawi like before the missionaries came?"

Gabby- "Before they were cannibals and they would just kill each other for fun. They also exchanged "Peace Childs" in order to make peace with other tribes. Often though the peace would not last long and the child would be killed.

Evangela- "What happened when the missionaries came?"

Gabby- "The indians were scared at first and they ran away but over time they began to love the Richardson's and treat them kindly."

Evangela- "How did the Sawi life change after the missionaries came?"

Gabby- "At first the Sawi were not very interested about God but He moved in a miraculous way one day. Through a fathers grief over giving his only son in order to make peace, the whole tribe was able to understand how God felt when having to give His only Son so that way they could have peace. The ultimate Peace Child had already been given! After this revelation the Sawi life changed dramatically. They stopped their killing and the exchanging of the peace child was exchanged with a simple ceremony of forgiveness." 

Evangela-"Thank you Gabby!"

"You and your ancestors are not the only ones who found that peace required a peace child. The Spirit whose message I bear has declared the same thing–true peace can never come without a peace child! Never!"

-Taken From "Peace Child"

I hope you have enjoyed my second missionary book review for my blog. If you have a favorite missionary book you love, I would be thrilled to hear from you! I hope you all have a blessed day! 

-Evangela Grace

By the way, those who are participating in the Liebster award can still continue on as normal. I will continue updating the page as more bloggers join. Newer posts will not effect those participating in the award.  Also,  I am planning on making a post with a couple of my favorite answers that I received when everyone has finished their answers ...... I will tell everyone when I have finished it. 

I Have Been Nominated For The Liebster Award!

Thank you to my wonderful friend Leah Oxendine at Apassionata for nominating me for the Liebster award!


About The 'Liebster Award':
Bloggers nominate other bloggers that they like with 200 followers or less. It doesn't matter what kind of blog you have, or in what language. If you have a blog then you can be nominated! It's to get to know new bloggers a little better and go networking with them, it's been going on for a few years I guess. It's never ending!



The Rules:
1. List 11 facts about yourself
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger who nominated you left
3. Ask 11 new questions for those you nominate
4. Choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to nominate
5. Go to each blogger's page and let them know about the award
6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog


Facts About Me:


1. My favorite school subject is Biology....especially the experiments! I love learning about all the complex organisms that make up our world.
2. Yahweh willing I am going to try to memorize the book of Romans by next year. I think this is a great tool for witnessing to others about Gods Word. I am using a website called MemVerse to do scripture memory. It is extremely well-built and the best part...it is free!
3. I LOVE reading adventure books...mostly books about missionaries and history.
4. My favorite fiction book is Swiss Family Robinson. (Note that I underlined book. I mean the unabridged version.....meaning the version before Disney got a hold of it.)
5. I have the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious family ever!
6. I adore being a part of a large family. I have learned so much...and still have so much to learn!
7. My dream life when I grow up would be to live on a farm. (The bigger the better!) I would have plenty of cows and goats along with chickens and pigs. I would also make soaps out of the goat milk and make homemade cheese.
8. I am fond of baking. (Because I love sweets!) My favorite things to bake are apple pies, granola bars and homemade biscuits.
9. If there is any place I would like to go in the world my first choice would probably be the Florida Keys. I am sure I could spend all day there collecting shells! Since rock collecting is one of my hobbies I would travel the whole world in search of possible additions to my collection as well!
10. My "love language" is "words of affirmation". I read something that someone wrote about "love languages" and they said that actions do not always speak louder than words. I definitely do not dislike when love is shown towards me in the other active love languages but I notice that encouraging words means a lot to me.
11. My favorite spiritual hero is my Mom and Dad. My Mom is a wonderful example to me of how to walk in Christ. She has always been there for us kids and my Dad and has been a living example of the love of Jesus Christ. My Dad is just as wonderful. He works all day to provide for us and then comes home and has Bible study with us, even when he is tired. He is a great example to us kids and is also a living example of Christ's love.



Questions from my nominee: (Leah)


1. Would you rather be respected or loved?  Wow! Great question! Hmm. I think I would rather be loved because if the person loves you they should respect you but I know I can respect a person and not necessarily love them.
2. What is your favorite quote?  I do not really have a favorite quote but one I have liked, as of recent, is one by Galileo Galilei: "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered. The point is to discover them."
3. What are your three favorite songs at the moment?  Well, my all-time favorite song/hymn is "It is Well With My Soul" which was penned by Horatio Spafford as he was going over the place where his three daughters had died in a ship wreck. I admire the strength that it must have taken him to be looking out over those icy waters where his young daughters had perished and being able to say, "It is well with my soul." My second favorite is "Awesome God" which was written by Rich Mullins. I do not really have a third. Probably "You are God Alone" sung by Philips, Craig and Dean.
4. Cows or Peacocks?  Definitely cows!
5. Describe your style/taste in art, design, fashion?  Hmmm. I do not think I have a certain "style" for anything and if I do I am not quite sure. I know this may sound strange but I know my style but I do not know what it is called or if it even has a name! To make it easier I will answer each question individually. Art: I enjoy calm, cool colors and shades. When it comes to paintings I like scenic landscape pictures best. Design: I do not have a certain design as in shape or pattern that I like best, but if I were to design a room I would make it cozy and warm.....use dark reds and browns with a light colored backdrop. Fashion: I hope asking other people for help is a part of the rules! I asked my Mom and she could not really describe my fashion either. Here is what I do know: The only clothes I buy are from thrift stores, (I would NEVER pay 100 dollars for one skirt!) I love to look grown-up and I only wear modest clothing.
6. What place would you travel to if you could?  The Florida Keys. I would love to go and collect shells.
7. Coffee or tea?  It depends if you are talking about smell or taste! :) Coffee smells wonderful to me and when we have it I usually pour me a cup but I never drink more than a couple sips. I think that it is too strong for me. I love tea, especially peach tea so I guess my answer would be tea.
8. Introvert or extrovert? Sadly, an introvert. I want to learn to be more of an extrovert but I get nervous and embarrassed easily. :(
9. What do you hope to do with your life?  I want to do whatever God calls me to do. I desire to be a missionary but God may not call me to do that. If that does not happen I will probably be a mother with TONS of kids. (I want to have a huge family!) And I will raise my kids to follow Yahweh God.
10. What's your favorite entree?  To be honest, when I first read this question I was not sure what an "entree" was.....soooooo......I looked it up! Everything I read did not give me a solid answer as to what an "entree" was. In French (which is where the word came from) it meant the dish served before the meal. In American it means the main dish. (As one person said: "When it comes to matters of language, Americans always get things wrong." :) So I decided since in my family we always eat everything at one time I will tell you what my favorite meal is. My favorite meal is steak (with extra garlic powder, salt and pepper), mashed potatoes, hawaiian rolls, green beans and corn.
11. If you could be granted 1 wish, what would it be?  Only 1 wish???!!! :) Alright, you can choose which wish you like best! Having my own farm or traveling all over the world collecting rocks!


Here are my questions:
(Please answer the question and also tell why you chose that answer)


1. Would you rather live on a deserted island a country farm or in a busy city?
2. If you were to write a story what time frame would it be in?
3. What is your favorite name and its meaning?
4. Which do you like best, Skittles or M&M's?
5. What person has inspired you most?
   6. Which person would you rather meet, Adolph Hitler or Barak Obama?
7. If you had 1000 dollars what would you do with it?
8. Which is your "love language"?
     1. Physical Touch (Hug, kiss, etc.),
     2. Words of Affirmation (Words of encouragement, affection, endearment),
     3. Quality Time (Going out with that person, spending time with them)
     4. Gifts (I think this is pretty easy to understand)
     5. Acts of Service (Someone doing your chores for you, helping you with your school)
9. Which of the four personality types are you?
     1.Lion-Needs freedom/Craves authority, Goal setter
      2.Otter- Energizer Bunny/Entertaining
      3.Golden Retriever - More interested in relationships than goals, a good time, or tasks
      4.Beaver- Perfectionist, cautious, high standards
10. What number are you in your birth order? (First child, second child, third child, etc.) 
11. What is your favorite game?


I hope you enjoy! I can't wait to see your answers!

P.S I will keep adding names of the people I have nominated as they respond

Emelie
Piano Bookworm
Deborah
Journey
Aidyl
Rachel
Zoë
Storyteller


Snow, Snow All Around, In The Air And On The Ground!

 Yes!!!! It finally snowed!!! At first it started out as sleet and gradually turned from frozen balls into floating snow! We were out getting our weekly movie when it started to sleet and by the time we got home the snow was coming down thick. We slid a couple times coming home (nothing big) but it was enough to add to the adrenaline of the moment. The long awaited snow had arrived! As soon as we pulled in the drive the kids dashed out of the truck to play in the snow....I waited until I got dressed up in my snow gear before I went out to play. We played outside from 11:45 to around 5:00 in the evening. We went over to our neighbors house with some friends and built them a snowman and made several snowmen for ourselves, including one Hawaiian snowman which we put up next to the road.

Our Neighbors House 

Nathan Trying To Ride His Scooter In The Snow

Justice On His Way To Play

Nathan Sledding Down The Hill (The sleds were given to us by our Aunt Heide for Christmas)

Nathan Carrying His "Snowman-To-Be"

Verity Testing A New Theory Of Torture

Verity and Gabby Building A Snowman

Nathan And Justice In A Snow Fight

Nathan In His Snow Gear

Mikaela Drawing On The Driveway

The younger kids had tons of fun playing in the snow. Justice was freezing but he would not come in because he was having so much fun!  Us older kids had lots of fun too. I helped Gabby build a HUGE snowman. (She rolled the snow balls until they were to big and then I helped roll and then stack them on top of each other) Liberty did not play in the snow much because it was so cold and she did not really care to be out in it. Maybe if it snows next year she will be able to enjoy it better. Dad and Mom were thrilled to see us all having such a fun time in the snow. My Mom took pictures of us and helped clean all of the snow that ended up inside. Every couple minutes someone was charging inside for a breath of warm air and a quick change of socks. (Since snow kept getting inside our boots we kept having to change them often or our toes would freeze!) I probably changed socks 5 times while we were playing. One time I had 4 pairs of socks on at a time! Around 3:00 it began to snow like crazy and I could hardly see across our property. I went on a walk and took pictures of all the snow but it was very hard since snow kept flying into my camera lens. Later our friends next door came over and we built a snowman for our other neighbors and took a quick hike through our neighbors property to see their creek. Then we all played "Apples To Apples" and ate popcorn and then we watched a movie together.

Nathan Driving His Remote Controlled  Car

My Hand-Print In The Snow 

Mikaela Making An "Icee"

Mikaela made us the face scarfs for Christmas.....The hole was just big enough for my tongue to fit through! :) (My Mom wanted me to add this picture)

Snow covered logs

A frozen Justice hugging a snowman

Me building a snowman 

Our house right before the major snow sweep came through

Our Hawaiian snowman

Our Hawaiian snowman (My camera had snow all over the lens)

Mikaela's snowman at the bottom of our mailbox

Gabby and I sitting on our snowmen while trying to see who could reach the highest

Our pond and all the snow falling

Mikaela showing off a snow covered shovel

My camera accidentally made everything blue....I though it looked very pretty though

Nathan in a T-shirt and shorts (Not a smart idea) throwing Mikaela her camera (Another not-so-smart idea) 

Our house again

I am so thankful to God for letting us be able to have "real" snow this year. (Not little flurries)  We enjoyed it so much. Already the snow has melted to hardly nothing.....now the yard just looks like one of the dogs got into the trash and white diapers are all over the yard!

Have a great day!

Love,
   Evangela Grace

Thank you God for giving us a day of snow!