Two Sweet Christian Testimonies: Hailey and Mia

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Here are two sweet, honest, heartfelt testimonies from a couple of Christian women on how they came to faith in Jesus.  Thank you, Hailey and Mia, for sharing your stories, for opening up your beautiful hearts to us.

My testimony - Hailey Bleau (14 minutes long)

How Jesus saved me from anorexia, anxiety, and depression - Mia Dinoto (14 minutes long)

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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Happy Valentine's Day! Love, God

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"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."   ( Ephesians 3:17-19 ) On this Valentine's Day, remember how much God cares for you and about you, how many blessings He's given you, how many hard times He's carried you through, and how many good things He's brought out of the bad. But above all, remember how much He loves you.   God loves you - us, all of us, each and every person, all sinners,  you personally  - so much that He sacrificed Himself for you so that He could spend eternity with you and give you the fullest, most meaningful life you could ever have, on earth and in heaven.  He'd rather nail Himself to the cross for the chance that you'd believe in Him and be saved than risk losing you forever. It wasn...
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A Random Verse That Destroys Calvinism (And "Is The ESV a Calvinist Bible?")

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In my normal Bible reading today, I came across a verse about "singleness vs. marriage" that destroys Calvinism in a few short words: "But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but who has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin - this man also does the right thing."   ( 1 Corinthians 7:37, NIV ) When you get past all the layers Calvinism wraps itself in to disguise the bad parts, it ultimately teaches - at the heart of it all - that God causes/controls  everything , even controlling our wills and causing our sins.  (But He then punishes  us  for the things He caused us to do, which would make Him unjust, no matter how much Calvinists try to deny it and cover it up.  See  this post  for some links about that.)  Calvinism ultimately teaches that everything we do is because God preplanned it, ordained it, and compels us to do it.  That we have no abil...
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Broken

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(Another post from my other blog.  It fits nicely after the previous post, "Are Tragedies 'Gifts From God'?" )    It hurts to be broken. It’s being vulnerable, taking a risk with our hearts . . . sometimes winning, sometimes losing. It’s leaning on others and opening ourselves up to them, to trust, to hope - sometimes finding support and acceptance and help, being caught before we hit the ground, but sometimes being let down and battered, falling flat on our faces when others pull back and fail to catch us. Sometimes, it’s just a minor annoyance, a pain that we absorb with relative ease, realizing that we are better for it.  And sometimes, it’s more pain than we can bear, feeling like we’ll never be whole again, wanting to curl up in a ball in a dark, lonely corner and fall asleep forever. Being broken hurts! And it leaves us different, changed.  It leaves tear-stains on our cheeks.  Scars on our hearts.  Bruises on our souls.  A limp in our ...
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A Great Blog To Visit: Our Healing Moments (Testimony #1)

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I've recommended this blog before, but I'll do it again: Our Healing Moments (UPDATE: This blog has been deleted, so I took down the link.) I haven't really been reading other people's blogs lately (or even my own).  I've been trying to stay away from the online world as much as possible.  But I decided to check out her blog again because I like her writing and her heart so much.  You can see her sweet, gentle, godly spirit shining through everything she writes, even though she suffers from chronic, debilitating illness.   And the new posts I read touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.  It's so nice to read something uplifting in this difficult, chaotic world.  From someone who knows pain and suffering.  Someone who has had to struggle to cling to the Lord.  I appreciate people and testimonies like that.  I understand them.  I learn from them and am encouraged by them.   [In fact, I have been aching to hear some g...
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Giggle Translate #3: Dating Woman, Guns, Screaming Cats, and Sheep

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Here are the newest  "random facts about me"  that I ran through a bunch of different languages in a row with Google Translate and then back to English, just for the giggles.  It comes out like a really bad Mad Libs.  (Sometimes I do several translations and pick the best parts to make each paragraph, particularly if a sentence was boring or basically the same as the original.) Original paragraph:             I used to get the dirtiest looks from people when I would push my twin brothers around in a stroller.    I was 15 years old when they were born, so people would assume they were mine.    And I tell you, the judgmental looks some women gave me were enough to make me feel ashamed.    And the babies weren’t even mine!    I should have made a t-shirt saying, “I’m just the sister, so keep the judgments to yourself!”              (With five younger brothers, people...
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My Most Trusted Pastor

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If you don't know which pastor you can trust because  so many of them are Calvinists , I recommend the one I listen to most and trust as the most biblically accurate: Tony Evans.  [And for one more: the late Charles Stanley ]  Back before we left our Calvinist church, when we were getting super fed-up listening to all the Calvinist sermons, I began listening to Dr. Evans every week, and I haven't yet heard anything that alarms me or that I disagree with (except for a few very minor points when it comes to prophecy).     I actually credit Dr. Evans with "restoring my faith" after I felt it crumbling under the Calvinist preaching we were getting at the time.   For quite awhile after we got our new pastor, I didn't know he was teaching Calvinism.  I just knew something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it yet.  But whatever it was, it was starting to affect my faith and my husband's faith as we heard these twisted, contradictory, u...
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Saying a prayer for Demi Lovato

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When I hear reports of celebrities who are hurting, who have hit rock bottom, who are desperately searching for healing from the demons that torment them, I say a prayer for them. The latest one is Demi Lovato .  I'm sure there are a lot of people who envy celebrities, who think they live a glamorous life. I don't envy them at all.  I think living in the public eye is a terrible burden to bear.  Being followed by the paparazzi, having pictures of everything you do published for the pleasure of a voyeuristic society.  Being picked apart by every trash magazine.  Having every detail of your life examined by people who think they have a right to comment on everything you do, to judge every outfit you wear, every choice you make, every thing you say, every pound you gain. I think it's a torturous way to live.  I don't think the fame and money they get makes up for the lack of privacy.  And my heart goes out to the celebrities who want more than what ...
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"My Corona Blend": An Essential Oil Blend for Diffusers

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(Great, now I'll be singing "My Sharona" all day!) This is an essential oil blend I made to put in our diffusers at night while we are facing this coronavirus pandemic.  I picked oils that are known for their powerful anti-viral properties, that are good against colds/flu/fever/infectious diseases, that are good for lung/respiratory health, and that help stimulate the immune system.  (I call it "My Corona Blend" for my own reference, but I make no promises about its ability to defeat the Coronavirus.) The smell of oregano and thyme really come through in this.  It smells a bit strong, but pleasant, like a lemon thyme herb plant.  If you want a less oregano/thyme smell, add about half of both of those oils. (Check out safety recommendations for each essential oil to see if they are safe in a diffuser for your family, depending on the age of everyone in your house and whether they have compromised immune systems or not.  And then adjust accordingly, a...
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