The BIG Dream

          So, if you have followed any of my blog posts (not that there have been that many – I admit my blogging has been very inconsistent, to say the least!), you know that I have talked a lot about my BIG dream. Until now, I have not really been comfortable sharing my dream with more than just a handful of people. I think the biggest reason I have been reluctant to share it is because I tend to try to keep my distance from negative influences in my life. A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook today, and it really sums up how I have been feeling: “We need to hang around people who pour water on the fires of our fears, and throw gasoline on the passions of our dreams.” ~ Kris Vallotton

          There have definitely been a few people in my life who have done just that. I will not name names. I am sure they know who they are. I will say that without them and their positive encouragement along the way, I would have never made it this far. I am truly grateful for the people God has placed in my path who have helped me to not give up.

          My dream has been brewing in my mind for many years, long before I even thought to really pursue it in any way. The one thing I know for sure is that God put the dream inside my heart. The Bible says in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...” Wow! A whole sermon could be preached on that one verse, but for now, I will just say that God knows each of us so intimately. In that passage of scripture he was speaking to Jeremiah, but God is no respecter of persons. He has put dreams, talents, and passions in each of us for a purpose. So few, if any of us, really ever tap into the calling God has on our lives. One thing I know for sure, though, it that it is never too late to try to do what you think you were destined to do!

So, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, my dream has been to start my own MLM company. Actually, I don’t actually see my business as multi-level exactly, but definitely direct marketing. If you know anything at all about multi-level marketing, you know that this is a BIG dream! I am still far from accomplishing that goal, but I am close enough now that I feel comfortable sharing my vision with you and how it came to pass. Life is like a puzzle ~ full of strange little pieces that sometimes don’t seem to fit. Sometimes pieces go missing for a long time, and they show up when you least expect them to. For me, journaling has helped me to find some of those missing pieces.

As a matter of fact, about 10 years ago, a prophet came to our church. She told me what seemed like the strangest thing in the world at the time. She said that I needed to journal. She also said that I would be leading and speaking in front of many people, important people, someday. (That still hasn’t happened, but I like to imagine myself addressing a crowd of consultants at an Udderly Delightful convention!) I have not kept a regular journal, although I wish I had. Life gets really busy, so there is not always time. But, I will say, that as I read back over the journal entries I have made over the years, they all contain little pieces of the puzzle. I know that through journaling, I have been able to see the dream more clearly.

Although I know it really started in my childhood, the first time I ever had thoughts of my own MLM company was shortly after I became a Pampered Chef consultant (almost 20 years ago). I loved the whole idea of the format of home parties. I have never considered myself a salesperson (because I am not!), but I loved gathering with people, meeting new friends, and sharing what I love to do. When I read the book, “Come to the Table” by Doris Christopher (the founder of the Pampered Chef), a very small part of me knew I wanted to follow in her footsteps. Again, I am not a salesperson, so I was not terribly successful as a PC consultant. However, that was a very important part of my journey because I learned so much from my time with that company.

Fast forward many years later to when we bought our little farm, and more importantly, our first cow. Esther. She was born on Easter Sunday, so her first owner named her Easter. I have never liked the pagan roots associated with the name Easter (we call it Resurrection Day), so we wanted to change her name. Long story short, we renamed her Esther after one of my favorite Bible characters. One of my favorite Bible verses is Esther 4:14, “And who knows but that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this?”

Through our little journey with Esther and our new way of living, we learned a lot. We learned about milk and how it is processed, and processed, and processed…That led us to look at the other foods we were eating. We started to make small changes in the foods we were eating which led to big changes in our overall health. I am not a health food fanatic by any means! However, I try very hard to avoid overly processed foods and artificial ingredients. It was through this journey with food and learning to make things from scratch that the idea for Udderly Delightful was born. The name came to just came to me one day when we were brainstorming ideas for what we thought was going to be a homemade cheese business. I originally liked Udderly Delicious, but that name was taken. My all-time favorite Bible verse has always been, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4. So, the word Delightful came from that verse. The desire of my heart for many years has been to have my own business. So, when people tell me that my business name doesn’t seem to fit some of my products, I tell them it would make perfect sense if you knew my story.

I won’t bore you with all of the details because I know my blog posts tend to be long. I will just say that little by little, the details started to come together. We started with cheese kits out of my desire to teach others how to make cheese (which is really cool, by the way, if you’ve never done it!) Then we moved on to seasoning mixes. That started because I was looking for a recipe to make my own taco seasoning. Have you ever read the label on that stuff?? That led to my first “Tasting Party” where we made cheese and tasted lots of yummy dips!

At this point, I knew that I wanted to grow Udderly Delightful into a new MLM company, but I didn’t have enough products to support that dream. Slowly I started to add more products – expanding into soaps and skin care because what you put on your skin ends up in your body – just like food does! (It makes sense now, doesn’t it?!) Then about 2 years ago, I was introduced to essential oils. That was when the last missing piece of the puzzle finally came into place. As I was thinking about all the chemicals in our food and skin care items, I began to notice how we as a nation have become obsessed with medications. Yes, I do take medicine from time to time, but what has more artificial junk in it than medicine?? I can’t think of anything, can you?

So, as I was finishing up my new product catalog last night, I had an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Seeing all the products and plans come together in one booklet was something I can only describe as pure joy! I could hear all the voices of the people who told me it would never happen, and the people who didn’t understand why I had such a seemingly eclectic group of products. I know at times it must have looked like I was going off in all kinds of different directions at once. I could hear them all say, “What is she thinking?” Well, hopefully, it makes more sense now. All along I have been trying to build a foundation for a company that would lend itself to direct marketing.

I have had a plan all along. It has taken a very long time to get to this point. I still have some little projects to do (okay, a lot of little projects!), but I have the framework in place to make this dream start to become a reality. It is going to take a lot of work, and I don’t know where this path will lead, but I know that it is God’s plan for my life. I want to see this company grow because I truly want to help others. I am exceedingly grateful that God has always allowed our family to have our needs met. However, now I believing for this little dream to grow so that we will have not just our needs met, but an abundance of resources so that we can help others make their dreams come true, too. There is nothing that would give me greater joy than to be able to give to those in need, as the Lord lays it on my heart.

I still don’t know if my dream will come to pass. Only time will tell. All I know is that if you have a dream, it is never too late to try to make it happen. There will always be people in your path who will tell you can’t do it, but hopefully, there will be more people who will tell you that you can. “Sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream no one can see but you.” (author unknown)

Seek First the Kingdom of God

     Once again I find myself drawn back to this original blog. God has instructed me to begin to blog regularly on my business website (www.udderlydelightful.net). I have had some issues being able to share the blog on social media, so today I felt led to simply copy and paste this blog onto my website as well as share it here. God is speaking to me as never before, and I have to believe that the message He gives me will be seen by the right person or people. So, if you feel led at any time to share one of these posts, I encourage you to do so. With that said, here is what the Lord laid on my heart this morning:

     The last few weeks I have tried to be obedient to the Lord when He asked me to take some time off from my business and just use the time to seek Him. For anyone in business, that may seem like the dumbest decision you could ever make. Who takes time off during the busiest sales month of the year?

     I know now beyond a shadow of a doubt that God intended me to get back to the place where I hear His voice and put Him first in my life above everything else. He has given me new vision. He told me, "I have given you this dream. I have given it to you as a platform for you to use to declare my grace, mercy, power, and provision. You will be able to speak to those who need to hear My voice who wouldn't have been able to hear it any other way." Praise the Lord! That literally just came to me as I was writing. I still don't know how God is going to do it, but He is telling me to trust Him. He is telling me, "I will prepare the way when there seems to be no way. I will go before you and open doors that you could never begin to open for yourself because it seemed like they were sealed shut. Those doors are easy for me to open, and when I open them, I want you to walk through them. I need you to trust me.".

     Today is my last day off from my break from school. God instructed me this morning to just once again take some time to spend with Him and listen to His voice. (It is now 1:20, and I have been praying and seeking Him since 8:00 am.) Truthfully, my mood was not great this morning. I was feeling a little discouraged with some of the things going on around me, but God reminded that it was simply the enemy trying to gain a foothold. In Ephesians 4:27 it says, "Do not give the enemy a foothold."

     I pray that you will go on this new journey with me. God has instructed me to faithfully write what He lays on my heart. It may be daily; it may be weekly. I don't know, but I will be obedient this time. It may seem unconventional to write these things on my business page, but I am going to go where the Lord leads me. I have begun to see my business as a ministry. I know that is what God intended it to be all along, but somehow I didn't see it myself until very recently. I plan to share with you in the coming blog posts some of the dreams and visions I have had about this business and how they began to take shape over time. I have such a strong feeling that God wants to unlock the doors that have been holding me back from accomplishing the dream He has given me. I feel like 2016 is the year that everything changes. Please understand that when I speak of "my" dreams, God wants you to envision your dreams, too. He is no respecter of persons. I feel like the purpose of sharing these posts with you is so that I can awaken something in you and give you hope and encouragement. When the Lord speaks to me, He is speaking to all who will listen. If ever the Lord speaks to you through these posts, please feel free to comment. I would love to hear from you. Be blessed, and be a blessing.

Very Challenging Year

This has by far been the most challenging year homeschooling. Even though Steven was taking all his classes at the college, he still needed help now and then. Mostly with him it was just making sure we were getting all the necessary things done so he could graduate. Then throw in countless hours spent researching, visiting and applying to various colleges...

With David, we made the decision to switch virtual schools 10 weeks into the first semester. He was able to kind of "skip" the 8th grade and go into 9th, but it has required him going back and doing all the 9th grade curriculum. I am very proud of him for making the decision to challenge himself instead of spending the year being bored. It may have been a bit more challenging than he expected, but he has continued to maintain an A average, so I know it was the right decision for him. He still has 2 weeks of school left to finish (and lots of assignments still to do), but we are trying to keep our eye on the prize. We will have some serious celebrating to do when he gets done!!

As if that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, just throw in my decision to go back to school myself full time. This has been a life changing decision for me that I do not regret, but it has definitely been challenging, to say the least. Going back to school has opened up new opportunities for my business (more on that later), and it has also allowed me to be able to set and reach some personal goals for myself. I guess you could say that illusive diploma has always been on my bucket list!

 Steven and I start back to summer school on Monday. (He wants to get his Associate of Science degree from ABAC before starting Mercer University in the fall). It was really just a personal goal, and I am very proud that he is going to have something to show for his time spent there. David is considering going to what we homeschoolers like to call a “brick and mortar” school in the fall. That decision has yet to be made. We are also looking into possibly letting him take a class or two at the college through dual enrollment.

Maybe I should change my first sentence of this post to say, this has been the most challenging year, period. Where am I going with all of this? Change is in the air….LOTS of change. I am sure there is lots more change ahead as my husband is also hoping to find different employment or a promotion in his current job. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention in the midst of all the chaos of school, we are finally getting down to doing some home renovations, too! Between that and the whole family going off in new directions, it can be a little overwhelming, and a little scary. The one thing that keeps me (all of us, really) grounded is our uncompromising faith in God. When the winds of change are blowing, I adhere myself firmly to the rock of my salvation, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I would not be able to keep it all together, but with Him, “ALL things are possible.”

Testimony coming soon

     For some reason I felt compelled to return back to my blog today after a very long absence.  I think part of me thought that I would never come back to this blog, but that part of me was wrong.  This morning I spent my usual quiet time reading old posts that I had written. Then I spent an equal, if not greater amount of time, thanking God for his goodness and asking him to forgive me for allowing seeds of doubt to enter my mind.  It is so amazing to see how God works.  He sees the whole picture from beginning to end while we are here trying to muddle through life one day at a time.
     I have spent the last few weeks and days filled with all different kinds of emotions.  There have been days that I have been filled with fear and dispair over what the future will hold.  Then I am reminded of the goodness of God and all of His promises.  I am once again filled with hope and joy of the future. 
     As I may have mentioned before, my husband and I have spent our entire married life trusting in God for provision.  Except for the first few years when I was working "a real job", we have relied on God to provide for our needs.  We have had good times and bad times financially, and God has been there every step of the way.
     We have recently come to one of those times in our lives where we just have to let go, and let God.  (There is the title of my book again sneaking its way into my thoughts...Yes, God, I am listening!)  Anyway, when you come to a crossroad in life and things seem impossible in the natural, I have found that if you put your trust in Him...the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who sent his only son to die for us, the one who numbers the hairs on our heads and the grains of sand on the earth...He will never let you down!  I am at such a point in my life right now.  I am making a full surrender to Him because I know that I can not do this on my own, but I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.
     I have never felt such hope and joy for the future as I do right now.  If you knew some of the circumstances going on in our life right now, you would know just how ridiculous that statement sounds, but it is true.  Even Jesus cried out to God when he was on the cross and said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 15:34).  I think God allowed that to happen so that Jesus would be able to experience the same feelings that we have from time to time.  However, as we all know, God was there all the time.  He sees us struggling, and I believe it pains him.  But I also believe that He allows us to experience some things in life so that we can learn to really trust Him.
     That is where I am right now.  I am trusting Him.  I am not afraid of the future or what it may hold.  I am excited to see what God has in store next.  I KNOW it is good.
     Thank you for reading.  I don't know if this if for any of you, or just for me, but I felt compelled to write - even though I have a million other things I could or should be doing.  If this post spoke to you in any way, please let me know.  If it did, please stay tuned.  I believe there is a really big testimony coming soon....you don't want to miss it!

Without a vision people perish

Once again, I have taken a rather long sabatical from writing this blog.  And once again, I feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit that says, "You are supposed to do this!"  Have you ever had the experience where you hear from God, but politely try to ignore him?  When you can feel God speaking to you, but you answer back, "That doesn't make sense!  Why would you tell me to do or say such a strange thing?"   I should know by now that a lot of the things God says to me do not make sense at the time, but they always make sense in the long run.

So, just to catch up with you, at my last post we were just getting ready to start school.  Let me just say that this year has been a lot harder than any year in the past because of all the transition.  Steven started a new virtual school, and I attempted to homeschool Jesse for the first several weeks of school.  Consequently, everyone got off to a slow start, and we have been playing catch up ever since.  Jesse went home a few weeks ago, and we have been working like crazy to be on pace.  This week is the end of our first quarter, and I can finally say that we should be on target for the first time since school started by the end of this week.  Praise God!!

I actually wrote a blog post several weeks ago that I never had time to get onto this blog.  This morning during my quiet time with the Lord, I could feel an urgency to post it.  So, I do not know who this is for, but please know that if it speaks to you in any way, it is the Lord speaking to you.  Most of the words from this post are not my own, but they came straight from the lips of Clarice Fluitt during the ladies beach retreat (advance) that I attended back in June.  I think I posted before that she had spoken a word over me.  This is from the sermon she gave, and the words that God spoke over me through her:

You need to believe in the power of God and a positive confession.  The Lord has a plan for your life and for mine. He knows what is deposited in you.  He knows your substance because he put it in there.  We are co-regents with God.  The God that made the moon, sun, stars and galaxies...the God that knows everything - every hair on your head, lives in you!  You are a co-regent with the living God, and that God knows what is deposited in you.  He knows your substance because He put it in there in you.  If you will hold your confession, if you will hold those words that God says, "whatsoever things you desire, when you pray...If you believe and not doubt,"  I'm telling you that God answers prayer, and he knows your heart.

Immediately after saying those words (out of nowhere in the middle of her sermon), she points to me and says,"Stand up!"  These are the words that she spoke over me:

"Shyness and timidity - it must bow - because the Lord says you must become as bold as a lion because there are things that I have in you.  For I say unto you there is gold.  There is gold.  There is the divine nature.  Yea, sayeth God, It is not you that chose me, but I the Lord God chose you.  I know what is in you.  I know the deposit that has been made.  Yea, sayeth the Lord...there is healing in your touch.  There is healing sayeth God.  There is deliverance.  There is a prophetic voice inside of you."

"You are a treasure, and I come to you with spiritual WD-40, and I am beginning to spray on those hinges.  The Lord says, 'I am opening my box.  I am opening my treasure box, and you are going to say, "Oh!!  Dear God!!"  I wash away the grief and the sorrow.  I wash away those disappointments sayeth God, and I remind you:  Did not Peter say, "There is no disappointment in Jesus."  Nothing has the power to bring disappointment to you except things that you believed that someone other than I could fulfill."

"I am your lover. I am your husband. I am your brother, your sister, your mother, your aunt, and I am your friend.  I am closer than the breath you breathe, and I shall never turn you loose.  My hand is upon you to do exploits.  I will melt you.  I will melt you sayeth God.  I will cause your substance to run.  Provisions and signs and wonders...You are NOT ordinary!!  You are extraordinary..for this is the voice of God.  Praise the Lord!"

Then she said, "The wonderful thing about the prophetic voice of God - it is like the rain.  When God looks at us, he sees us individually, but he also sees us as one.  So when you hear a word like this and you think, "Oh God!  I'd like a word like that!" Take it!  When the rain falls, you just say, "That is mine!"

A Tribute to Sadie

I don't really know where to start except to say that yesterday was one of the saddest days of my life.  I had no idea until she was gone just how much that dog really meant to me and my family.  I don't remember when or if I have ever cried that much.  The hardest part was watching David go through the same pain I was feeling.

Sadie was actually David's dog.  She was a gift to him on his 10th birthday.  (He will be 12 on Sept. 14th).  Our family had never owned a dog.  We were always cat people.  David begged us for a dog for years and years.  My husband finally gave in when we moved to the farm.  We always liked big dogs, and I don't like the idea of dogs in the house, so we never really had the space for one.

We looked online for several days searching for the perfect dog.  I still remember the first time I saw our little Sadie.  Her sweet face just jumped off the page at me.  I knew she was the one.  She was pictured with 2 other puppies.  One looked just like her, and the other one was black.  When we called the person with the ad she said, "One of the puppies has already been adopted, but there are still 2 left."  I was sad because I was just sure that Sadie was the one the other family had taken.  She was just so cute!  Well, surprisingly to me, the black one was gone.

The lady on the phone explained to us that the 3 puppies had been found together abandoned on the side of the road.  She told us the two puppies that were left were extremely close to each other, and would we consider taking both of them?  She even offered to waive the adoption fee on the second puppy.  My first thought was, "It has taken me 20 years to talk my husband into a dog.  Now she wants us to take two?  No way is he going to go for that!"

Well, after some discussion, John actually thought it was a good idea.  He said that way they would have some company, and Steven could have a dog too.  So we made arrangements to go meet the puppies.  They were in a doggie foster care.  They were in a pretty small pen in what almost seemed like an abandoned lot.  There was a house on the property, but it was pretty far away.  The dogs had an automatic feeder.  (I had never heard of that for dogs).  Basically, they received very little attention.  They were VERY excited to see us!!  However, Katy was quite scared.  (She still to this day is very cautious of strangers).

So, each boy picked out his dog.  I was amazed that for once they didn't fight over it!  A few days later we brought them home.  Since that day, those two dogs were completely inseparable.  They did everything together.  Their favorite thing to do was run to the pond to swim.  They would come home completely filthy!!  I think the thing I will miss most will be watching them run and play together every morning.  They loved each other so much, and they would have so much fun!  They were like twins.  They looked almost the same except that Sadie had a short tail, and she was a bit smaller.  They were definitely sisters from the same litter.

I don't want to go into too much detail about yesterday because it is just too painful to talk about.  But we did go get Sadie's body so we could bury her.  Katy had been hiding under the house all day.  I'm not sure if she knew what had happened.  She may just have known that Sadie was missing.  She was clearly sad and not acting like herself.  However, when we brought her over to see Sadie and say goodbye, it was truly the most heart wrenching thing I have ever witnessed.  Katy actually started to cry.  She knew in that moment that her best friend was gone.  Words cannot express what that was like to watch.

After that we put her away.  Then Steven, David and Jesse helped me bury her.  Steven did the most touching thing.  He suggested we take Sadie's collar and put it on Katy.  (She wasn't wearing her collar when she got hit by the car.)  We buried Katy's collar with Sadie.  He said, "That way, they will still have a part of each other."  What more can I say?  I am blessed to have two amazing sons, and I was blessed to have a really great dog.  Life is precious.  Never take it for granted. 

21 Day Attitude Fast

It has been a while since my last post.  We have been going through a lot of changes in our family dynamic, and I guess I just haven't had the desire to write.  After listening to some awesome worship music by Kari Jobe this morning, I was inspired again.

I really feel like this summer has been a huge time of transition.  My husband has started a new job.  He is home every night now, but he is working crazy hours, so we almost see him less than when he was in Florida every week.  I have been praying and fasting for several weeks now about the situation.  I guess what I am really seeking is peace that this is the right job for him, or that God will send him something better.  I haven't seen evidence of either of those things yet, but I know that God is faithful.  So I will keep praying and keep believing.

School is starting back next week.  I guess I am ready.  I have tried to make the most of my time off.  I didn't get everything done that I set out to do, but I can say that it was a productive summer.  I spent a lot of time in prayer and reflection, and a lot of time in my garden.  I wish that there had been more time for both.  We didn't have the extra money for a vacation this summer, but the boys got to spend lots of time with their friends.  We have also had the pleasure to spend time with Jesse this summer.  He has been staying with us since late June.  I feel blessed to still have him in our life, and I will truly miss him when he goes home.

In addition to my regular fast, I have been doing Clarice Fluitt's "21 Day Attitude Fast" that I happened to find on her website.  I will include it here if anyone would like to join me.  It has been challenging, but just what I think I needed at this time in my life.

AN ATTITUDE FAST - 21 Days January 2010
Dear Ones:
In obedience to what the Lord is speaking to us at this time we invite you to join with us in a 21- Day Attitude Fast. In Isaiah 58 God speaks of a "chosen fast"; a fast that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. It is not a fasting of food so much as it is a fasting of attitudes. As we refrain or fast from certain mindsets and attitudes, then blessings will overtake us. Specifically, the promises that He declares in Isaiah 58:6-14.
Wonderful things such as: ●Your health springing forth ●His righteousness making the way before you ●Continual guidance by His Spirit ●And the ability to build and create in the midst of what seems to appear as utter chaos.
Just to name a few.

I submit to you the terms of this fast and ask that you prayerfully consider joining with us in this
21-Day Attitude Fast. We are beginning a New Year. There’s never a better time than this than to consider and put in practice a "Lifestyle" change. We will observe this fast during the weekdays of January 2010 with the goal of incorporating it into our lives throughout the entire year.
AN ATTITUDE FAST - 21 Days – January 2010
Week #1 – Read these scriptures: Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14; and Zachariah 3 & 4 ASK THE LORD THE FOLLOWING:
1. Show me what wealth has been hidden from me!
2. What is the Sound of Deliverance that is within me?
Stand up in the midst of your situation and say, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"
Make a list of everything that is hindering you.
SHOUT "GRACE" 8 (eight) times to every hindrance and DECLARE that you will see the portion of your wealth in God that has been hidden. Week #2 – Read these scriptures: Psalm 16; Isaiah 60; Eph 4:25 – 5:21 1. Get up and encourage yourself by singing or chanting a spiritual song. See yourself putting on garments of Glory – take off sadness, depression, and downcast thoughts with your mouth and put on Glory! Sing it! Sing it on yourself!
2. Memorize two key scriptures in Ephesians.
3. Say and ask the Lord "Lord show me my new portion that you have for me", then write it down. 21-Day Attitude Fast- Dr. Clarice Fluitt  Week #3 – Read these scriptures: Numbers 23 (especially verse 21) SHOUT 7 (seven) times against false altars that have been built against your life and watch the blessings of the Lord open up over you.
Begin to say:
1. You are highly favored
2. People love you – see God in you – want to be a part of what you are doing. Read: Matthew 21; Mark 11:10; John 12:13 Then SING UNTO THE LORD "I know you have gone before me and I am delivered! Read these scriptures:
John 14:12 (NIV) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Mark 16:17-18 (NIV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
They will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." 1 John 4:4 (NIV) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. John 14:14 (NIV) You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 1 Corinthians 2:15 (NIV) The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: Romans 8:9 (NIV) You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ Matthew 16:19 (NIV) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Here is an opportunity for us to come into the unity of His Spirit and to raise up a standard internationally in the midst of this present world condition. God is clearly speaking that we, His People, have the ability and power to change the world.
God bless you
Dr. Clarice