Facing the Mirror

I was so blessed to spend some time with Ms. JudiJo Adams (our beloved founder of Inspired Woman) this past weekend. She is such a cheerleader for Christ and I'm always encouraged when I'm around her and Russ.

During our time together, I shared my excitement for my new book that just came out last week, and she said, "You should share it on Inspired Woman!" So... I'm delighted to tell you about it!

Facing the Mirror: Finding a Self to Live With addresses the age-old problem of guilt, condemnation, and insecurity that every person faces. It also has a companion workbook that is ideal for individual or group study.

In a nutshell, this book is about our righteousness in Christ.  God has a desire to save people from their sins. But that's not all... He is also raising up an army of believers who will fight the good fight of faith in these last days! And only an understanding of righteousness will empower such an army.

Too many Christians (people that are already saved) are standing on the sidelines unsure of their role in the Body of Christ. They are burdened by a lack of confidence in the promises of God toward them-- which is simply a tool of the enemy to keep them quiet and unproductive in their faith!

It's time to change all that!

This book will help people find the truth about God, about themselves (as He sees them), and about the devil and his lies.

Chapters include:

• Through the Fire and Past the Mirror

• You Be (Like) Jesus

• Changing Clothes

• Cricket Mentalities

• Qualified & Convinced

• Performance Not Required

• Awakening

• And many more!

I want to help you grow in your understanding of righteousness so you can BOLDLY fulfill what God has called you to do, therefore I've also included great BONUS CONTENT for every purchase of Facing the Mirror:

BONUS #1: I Will Ascribe Righteousness to My Maker

• This free book will be a great help to anyone desiring to learn more about righteousness! Taken straight from the Book of Job, it has a surprising answer to the question, "What about Job?"

BONUS #2: Ten Audio Teachings

• These free MP3 downloads each contain elements of our righteousness in Christ. These teachings can be studied at home, on-the-go, or passed on to a friend.

BONUS #3: Digital Copy of the Book

• Now you can put Facing the Mirror on your smart phone, iPad, or other device to read anywhere!

To learn more or get your copy, visit: www.mirrorministries.org/facingthemirror

LET'S CHANGE THE WORLD!

It starts with changing ourselves by finding a self to live with!

God Bless!

Daphne Delay

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Preparing for the Unexpected

     When our little Ezekiel decided he wanted to be in this world eight weeks early my Husband's boss at the time said something to the affect of "forget making plans because when you have kids they almost always find ways to mess them up!"  Sometimes I agree and say that this boy is no exception to the statement, but as I sit and chew on it a little while I've learned to embrace it.   We were able to make him wait two more weeks, but from the moment Ezekiel was born it has been apparent that this child has places to go, people to see, and things to accomplish.   He is BUSY!   

     As a new Momma who is blessed to be able to stay home with my boy I have to admit that like a lot of Moms I'm often Exhausted.  Toddlers are EXHAUSTING!  They interrupt your sleep schedule, they climb in the bathtub fully dressed and turn on the water when you are attempting to do your hair, they get in the toilet feet first and flush themselves while you are trying to get your shoes on, they figure out how to open the pantry door and dump bags of sugar all over the floor, they get into the laundry room and decided to swim fully dressed in the tub of homemade laundry soap, and with my boy the list goes on and on.  If I let myself go there it can affect me in a not so good way.  I'll get discouraged and think things like "I never have time to do things for myself" or "I don't have time to read my Bible because I have to clean the house during nap time", and at times I'll even get frustrated with him and think that because I had to sit in the other room and baby sit I couldn't experience and encounter Jesus at Friday night prayer.  

     The Holy Spirit had to give me a swift wake up call and show me how selfish I was acting!    

     A few days ago Ezekiel and I were sitting in the living room and he begged me to get his Bible off of the shelf and read it to Him.  I don't let him play with it because it has pages that he can and has ripped…  I got it out and opened it up and he immediately started shouting "Joshua, Joshua," so I turned to the story of Joshua and before I got to the picture of the great wall he said, "Jericho, Jericho."……………………………………………………… He's not even 2 yet, I couldn't believe He knew all of this.  He then directed me to go to the story of Goliath, Noah, and of course his favorite Daniel and the Lion's den "roooaar".   I had taken for granted the many many times that I had read stories to him over and over again.  

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.    

     I realized that I needed to appreciate the times that I am spending with my Baby, to take time to use all of those moments we have together to teach Him how to worship Jesus and allow for opportunities to let Him experience the Holy Spirit.  I can't make my Son want to love God but I can position him to be in a place where he can catch a spark of fire from the Holy Spirit.  If I don't take the time to do these thing who is going to?    

     Parents:  Children's pastors and Youth pastors shouldn't be expected to be the only ones teaching your children about the things of God.   As parents it is our job to cultivate the environment in which our child live.    Proverbs 22: 6 Train up a child in the way he should go,  And when he is old he will not depart from it.   I'm sure all of us at one time or another have caught ourselves doing things or saying things that we had seen our parents do while we were growing up.   I want to create a environment in my home that involves worship and prayer and reading the Bible because if my child grows up in that setting it will be much easier for Him to carry that into his own life.  

     Nothing gives me more joy than to see Ezekiel raise his little hand and say "Jesus, Holy"  when he hears music playing or when I tell him my head hurts without even asking him to do so he puts his hand on my head and says "Jesus………(quiet for about 30 seconds)…. Amen".

     I want to be like Timothy's mother and grandmother in 2 Timothy 1:5 whose faith was so strong it was a generational thing and passed on to Timothy.   Not that my child chooses my faith in Christ because I do, but because it come out of him from the inside.  He is my legacy… who my child is reflects on me, but even more who I am reflects on my child!   

     Jeremiah 29:11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. 12Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.13You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! 

     I can only imagine what the future holds for my little one. What I do know is that the Lords plans for him are far greater than anything that I could ever dream up or plan!  My heart is to see him worship God and to love Him with his whole heart.  I want to see him have Encounters with Jesus from an early age.   My prayer for him is that "He will go where no one has gone before, he will do what no one has done before" and that he will see the Unexpected.    

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Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Glass Ranch. The day after Thanksgiving I make the trek up the attic stairs and drag down all the boxes full of Christmas decorations to begin the task of beautifying my home for the holidays.  Decorating the day after Thanksgiving is a tradition that my parents started long ago.  Year after year they purposed to do things that would make lasting memories for my siblings and I.  Now that I have a family of my own I realize just how essential it is to create an atmosphere that not only turns the hearts of my children to home but most importantly to Jesus!  With the holiday season upon us I wanted to share some of the ways that we have built strong family ties and brought Christ into our Christmas.

• Make a birthday cake for Jesus

          We have been doing this since Riley, Rachel, and Ben were old enough to blow out the candles. 

          We sing happy birthday to Jesus and celebrate His entrance into the earth.  Now that Riley and 

          Rachel are teenagers one might think that they would have outgrown this tradition.  To the 

          contrary they look forward to it and as a bonus they do the baking!  Laughing and cooking 

          together in the kitchen is such a delight.  

• Adopt an Angel Tree child

         Each one of our children chooses a needy child from the Angel Tree at school and then blesses 

         them with gifts.  This is a wonderful opportunity to impart how Jesus loved and 

         cared for the needy and broken.

• Read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve

          We cozy up by the fire and my husband Robert reads the precious account of the birth 

          of Jesus from the Bible.

• Write an encouraging note to each family member and put it in his or her stocking. 

          It is heart warming to receive a love note from each other on Christmas morning.

• Give only three presents per child. 

          We have, from the time our children were very little, shared with them the story of the three wise 

          men that brought their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus.  By giving this way we are

          taking the focus off all the "getting" and placing it on the true reason for the season...Jesus!

• Open one gift on Christmas Eve. 

          This signifies to them that Jesus was the one true gift to the world.  

As a side note...we don't celebrate Santa....GASP!!!!  Honestly, we just never made Santa our focus during Christmas.  Our children never even thought twice about it until they went to school.  They came home telling us how some of their classmates became argumentative and upset when our children innocently told them that Santa wasn't real.  Oh my!  We had often read the true story of Saint Nicholas to them, which satisfied and answered their questions.  The modern day Santa Claus originated from these true accounts of Saint Nicholas and his good deeds.  Needless to say, they weren't too concerned by the "hubbub" at school.  However, we did tell them to kindly respect the opinions of others and to not argue about this delicate subject.  

I asked them not long ago if they felt cheated in any way by not celebrating Santa.  My oldest (who is now 14) frankly replied, "No, why in the world would I have wanted that kind of disappointment when I found out he wasn't real?"  Therein lies why I just couldn't acquiesce to the tradition of Santa.  How could I, for most of their early years, persuade them to believe in a Santa whom I knew was not real and in the same breath convince them to believe in a physically invisible Jesus who is real?  That just didn't make sense to me.  Hebrews 11:1 says "Now Faith is the assurance (the confirmation) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)" AMP.  I wanted Riley, Rachel, and Ben to grab hold of Jesus with all their heart while trusting and believing that what we told them was true.  

Unfortunately, many believers today buy into the world's way of doing things and then question why they live a lack-luster defeated life.  I am grateful to the Holy Spirit for showing us another way.  Simply put, we have chosen to celebrate the living Jesus and not a fictitious substitute.  

I hope that our family traditions will inspire you to bring Jesus into your Christmas.  May you have a glorious time with your family celebrating the birth of our RISEN Lord.  

Merry Christmas!  

    

       

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