Top Bible Verses to Change Your Life

Top Bible Verses to Change Your Life

By: Josh James

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Luke 5:31-32

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

2 Corinthians 4 16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,”declares the LORD,”plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Jeremiah 31:19

After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.


Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Hebrew 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 44:22

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you

A Sweet Treat

 A Sweet Treat

By: Alyssa James

Sorry guys! Neither of us were able to post a blog last week. :( WAH! Josh was offered a new job and

has been preparing for that along with getting everything for our church ready AND putting together our first (and successful) bible study! I will write a post sharing about that soon so stayed tuned! It was also my finals week at school in which I passed all my classes for the semester! God truly blessed us both with our own personal lives last week. When I think of this
I remember Deuteronomy 2:7 “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you’re going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you and you have lacked nothing.” Josh is super excited to start his new job and I couldn’t be more proud of him for doing so well. I have decided, with the baby being due soon, I will be taking this next semester off of school so I don’t have to worry about giving birth on finals week. This means more free time to write blogs! Woo!! Lol Two weeks ago, it was our youngest one, Hendrix, second birthday! For those of you who don’t know, with four kids (who have birthdays within weeks of each other) we made a family decision to only have big birthday parties every other year. This was not Hendrix’s year for a party but we still made it fun (per usual). Disney on Ice happened to be in town that week AND it was on Groupon! Even better! I was able to pick Stella up early that day to take her with as well. It was a girls princess extravaganza of a morning for us. I let them each pick out what dress up outfit they wanted to wear. Hendrix, with no surprise, chose her Elsa dress. She is a frozen fanatic. She even sang the words let it go before ever saying mamma! Stella, on the other hand, did surprise me with her choice of Jasmine. (Her favorite as of late has been Rapunzel).

The girls loved the show! They enjoyed seeing all the Disney characters come out and dance and sing along to all their favorite songs. Stella didn’t understand why they don’t ice skate in her ballerina class. Haha how cute is that?! Second half of the show was a little rough for Hendrix because now, it was almost two hours past her normal nap time and the kids around us got the fun light up spinning toys during intermission that she just “had to have.” A few fits later the show was over and we were able to head home for some lunch. Nikkie’s school was having a fair that night. My husband, Josh, had volunteered to run the second grade cotton candy stand for an hour not realizing, at the sign up time, what day it fell on. I had some family in from out of town so we had plans to meet for ice cream and presents as well. It was alright though, we had just enough time to squeeze that in before our meet up plans. While Josh tried his best at making cotton candy, (he wasn’t very successful :p) I took the kids around to enjoy the fair. They each got four tickets and could spend it on whichever activity they wanted to participate in. Jude and Nikkie both wanted to partake in the fish races where they both won their own fish to take home! Jude named his Sake, after his most recent favorite anime character, while Nikkie went with Fishy for her new pet’s name. Hendrix and Stella

chose the bounce house followed by a rubber duckie game in which they were both winners as well! Jude then chose to use the last of his tickets on the battle cage where he went up against a child much older and bigger than him but still managed to take him out a few times. (I think karate is paying off!) Daddy was done volunteering just in time to see the fight then it was time to head out for some ice cream for Hendrix’s birthday! Everyone got an ice cream cone and Hendrix unwrapped her presents. She

received a frozen back pack that she still wears obsessively two weeks later. *Tear! Mamma's baby girl is getting way to big. We had to make a quick stop for a fish bowl and food for our new pets but by the time we got home they were all pooped and ready for bed. Especially Stella and Hendrix. It was a busy birthday with no naps but they were troopers. We are so blessed to have such an amazing, loving family. Must we always remember, “give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His love endures forever,” –Psalm 107:1

A Hero's Party

A Hero's Party

By: Alyssa James

Our little man, Jude, has officially turned 7! (He will forever be a four year old to me) lol. This year, Jude and dad have been working on a video game called Kingdom Hearts. It’s a great RPG game for the PlayStation game systems that incorporate Disney movies and characters! Maleficent, the evil queen, has stolen the princess’ hearts to take over all the realms and you must work alongside Goofy and Donald Duck to travel to these different worlds and save the princess’. Jude loves this game and was able to do a lot of it himself actually, which was pretty impressive for a six year old. (Daddy just had to help with the hard boss fights) They recently finished the first game and, to no surprise, wanted his birthday party to be themed to the game. This meant a bit of task for me though as there are no party supplies made for this game. Even finding toys or figurines to use as decorations is nearly impossible as they must all be bought online, most of which would ship from China, or costs more then a pretty penny for a 3" figurine. This meant everything was to be handmade. We accomplished the task though! From invitations to a life size replica of the keyblade itself. He was a happy camper which is all that matters in the end. If you do not know already, we are a large family. We have four, soon to be five, children who all have birthdays within weeks of each other. We decided two years ago, in order to save on expenses (as well as our own sanity of chaotic stress this creates) each child would get a big party every other year and the alternating year would just be a family gathering. So making sure they get the party they want and thoroughly enjoy is kind of a big deal. Ecclesiastes 11:9 reminds us "..be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth." The game has very beautiful stained glass images of the princess' so an idea I

had was to create my own "stained glass" project using poster board, contact paper, and tissue paper. I drew popular images from the game onto the poster board and cut the image out. Next I applied contact paper, sticky side up, to the back of the poster board. Cutting the tissue paper into little squares, I then randomly filled up the image with the paper. When hung in the light, all the colors shine through creating a pretty image the children ooed and awed over. It was a simple project actually and one even the kids would find fun to do. For table decor, I drew and cut out the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, the crown worn in the game, as well as hearts to sprinkle like table confetti. Unfortunately though, mother nature decided to make it a really blustery day but only during the hours of the party of course. It was so windy everyone's filled up drinks were even being knocked over and our oldest daughter, Nikkie, had her whole hot dog fly over ketchup side up on her pretty new dress. She was so embarrassed she was afraid to play or talk to anyone. I then reminded her to be courageous explaining the verse Joshua 1:9 to her "be strong and courageous for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." She was a happy girl ready to play again afterwards. Jude was gifted two Kingdom Hearts T-Shirts for Christmas last year so for some added decor, I wrapped the shirts each around a piece of cardboard so the image only was showing and hung them on the playground pillars. Last but not least, daddy pulled through with the biggest and most awesome decoration for the party. A life sized replica of the keyblade used to fight with in the game. He made this happen by drawing the keyblade onto plywood in which he then cut out using his jigsaw. He also cut out a mini Mickey Mouse head and drilled a hole through both it and the handle of the keyblade and attached a thick chain to link them together. He painted the keyblade and wrapped electrical tape around the handle to make it a tad softer on little man's hands. Jude was so excited about his keyblade he couldn't wait to go outside and act like Sora! (the main character) After learning the rules of the blade first that is. In that moment, no one was cooler than dad for building that =] Jude had his two best friends from school show up which made him really excited and none of them wanted to stop playing and leave. We finally made it home for the night where he played with his new toys for about an hour before becoming too overcome with exhaustion and was in bed very shortly afterwards. Last Monday I had the privilege of chaperoning Jude's school field trip to the Phoenix Zoo. It was so

much fun! I had a group of three children and we had two hours of freedom to go look through the zoo however we pleased. The kids were all hungry as soon as we got there so we grabbed a map and sat to eat while looking it over. If you've never been, the Phoenix Zoo is pretty big and you definitely need more than two hours to go through it all. Knowing this, I had the kids all decide which animals were most important to them to see and luckily, the animals they wanted were all next to each other so I knew exactly which way to head first. The kids all had a great time but started to get worn out from the heat a half hour before meet up time. I took them to rest a minute in the shade for a water break and a last decision as to what we wanted to see. We got to see most of the animals but not all of them unfortunately, like I said, this zoo just requires more time then that. Especially when walking around with a group of 6year old's in the middle of a hot day. On the bus ride home, Jude wanted to pretend play kingdom hearts which pretty much consisted of my heart being stolen then him returning it over and over again. lol but we managed to take a few selfies while we were at it. Upon getting back to school, Jude's mom brought ice cream sandwiches for the whole class to enjoy in celebration of his birthday! What a perfect treat for them to have after a long hot day at the zoo. We are so blessed and grateful for all that we have and get to enjoy in this everyday life. 

10 Christ Centered Easter Ideas For The Family

10 Christ Centered Easter Ideas

 By: Alyssa James

Easter is just around the corner and like with any holiday, it can get easy to get lost in the fun and gifts but forget the meaning behind it all. This year, I've collected 10 Easter Ideas centered around Christ to help teach and remind our children the true meaning of Easter and why we celebrate. First and foremost, what is the meaning of Easter? Easter is one of the most important and oldest celebrations by the Christian Church, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Luke 24:6-7 "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ " 
 Now for the fun! (Psst! Kids! It can be fun to learn sometimes too!) I'll begin with my favorite, 1. RESURRECTION EGGS. I saw this idea in a recent flyer in my mailbox from Lifeway Christian Bookstore and I loved it! You can buy the kit from their store or online here. The idea around it is, 12 objects representing the meaning of Easter such as a cross and a donkey. There are plenty of free printables you can google as well. Finding the objects will raise interest in the kids and is a more age appropriate way to tell the story and help remind them each year. 
2. THE JELLY BEAN PRAYER. Lets face it, jelly beans are an Easter must especially if you have toddlers. They just cant seam to get enough! The jelly bean prayer is a fun, simple and inexpensive way to tell the resurrection story. You can put one in the kids basket or have them help you make them to deliver to your friends, family and/or neighbors! Just bag up some jelly beans and attach the cute little poem, which can be found online.
3. EASTER VIGIL. I found this idea on multiplygoodness.com and I love it!! It's so pretty and a perfect tradition to start with your family. Go check out her story and participate in your own Easter vigil with your kids. She also shares an idea to do with the family everyday the week leading up to Easter which is fun too! She reminds us in her post of the verse John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” 
4. RESURRECTION ROLLS. A delicious treat any kid will love and get to help make! Follow this site for the recipe. She also tells you what verses to read to the children as your making them and how to explain what each ingredient represents. Such as, the crescent roll is the cloth and the oven is the tomb. This is so much fun and such a great way to share the story as they help bake and eat the treat!
5. SCRIPTURE SCAVENGER HUNT.  This activity can be done during Easter week on any day to help teach and prepare your children. It's a fun outdoor activity that uses scripture to give the kids clues as to what to hunt for. Give each child their own bag to collect their items then read the scripture provided in the list followed by the clue to go with it. (Click on the image to print.)

6. RESURRECTION BINGO. Who doesn't love a good ol' game of bingo? My kids love to play and it's become a little bit of a holiday tradition family game where i find a different set for us to play themed for each holiday. You can even reward winners with jelly beans for Easter! I found this cute printable you can download and print for free!
 7. COLORING PAGES. Every child loves to color. Finding a Christ centered coloring book is very easy to come by too. They can be found at nearly every store from Dollar Tree to your local Christian book store, or even free printables can be found online!. 
8. STAINED GLASS CROSS. This is a beautiful and easy project for any child of every age to

partake on (even toddlers!) First, you will want to tape a sheet of clear contact paper (Sticky side up) onto the table. Place your pre cut cross onto the paper (can be made from poster board from the dollar store). Pre cut different colored tissue paper (also from dollar store) into squares and give each child their own pile. Next, let them place their squares however they'd like inside their cross. When they are all done, place a second pre cut cross directly on top of the first (to cover the overlapping tissue). Trim the contact paper around your cross and hang it up outside or in your window for the kids to enjoy all the beautiful colors when the light shine through. 
9. STORY BOOK. There are many children's books available to read to your kids that tell the story of why we celebrate Easter. The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry is one of my personal favorites for its soft and gentle for children's ears while still getting the story across. It is very important to always be reading with your children so why not an Easter story? 
10. CHRIST CENTERED EASTER BASKETS. Having a family of four (soon to be five) children, shopping can get a bit expensive. We love to turn to the dollar store first to find all that we can and for only a dollar an item why not!? You can find some pretty great stuff there too. We have found lots of Christ centered items as well! As I said earlier, you can find coloring books but aside from that, we've found Christian books for all ages including toddler! Chocolates in the shape of a cross, Christian puzzles for different age ranges, CD's, and so much more! You can even add verses to different items such as the jelly bean poem mentioned earlier, Revelation 7:17 with a slinky, Isiah 64:8 with play dough, and Luke 12:7 with hair accessories to name a few. There are so many cute, fun, and delicious ideas for you to enjoy with your family that keep the holiday centered around Christ. Must we never forget why we celebrate. HAPPY EASTER!