F.R.O.G

"Do or Do not

there is no try"

- Yoda



 



Good evening Mighty Warriors, I know I have not posted in a while but I really think I need to be more diligent at writing on this blog because my words and my thoughts could help someone.

So tonight's blog is not going to be about reptiles. A lot of you probable thought I was going to right about frogs and there lives. Well take a breath I won't do that to you. So growing up whenever I would be frustrated with something about life, weather that be about school or friends my mom would always say frog. Well I honestly didn't know what she meant. So one day I asked her what it meant little did I know I was about to learn a life lesson. She asked me what do you think it stands for? I had no clue. She said it means Fully Rely On God. She said this one acronym helps me so much whenever I am struggling because it reminds me that I need to give it to God and rely on Him that He is going to take care of me. That night I went to bed and I just kept saying that over and over again but I am going to be honest with you I would say it but I wouldn't fully believe it.

Right now I am going through a season of life that is just very hard and frustrating and I will be honest I have not fully trusted God with this situation. Being diagnosed with many mental illnesses and health issues like seizures I never have really trusted God with that. I go to church and I hear messages and I hear songs in the car that I feel God means for me to hear just at the right time but there are times when I think that I am doing fine and I don't need help well let me be real with you I am always going to need God. I need to trust Him and his will for my life because Jeremiah 29:11 says "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 a hope and a future." I am starting to chew on this verse more and more as I go through these struggles of life. It's not easy and it takes a lot of chewing but thats Gods way of telling me I am here And I will be here through it all. So as God is starting to teach me about trusting him and relying on him I was thinking the key word that i used is I need to try well tonight as I was sitting in my chair pondering all the lectures and advice i have recieve the quote from Yoda came to my mind "Do or Do not there is no try" This quote is a simple lesson in commitment and the power in giving something our all —  not just giving it a try. So we may not try to use a force but we need to do the trusting because you either trust Him or you don't. There is no trying to trust. Another thing that yoda says is "you must unlearn what you have learned" and the only way we do that is digging deeper into His word and have faith that will get us to the destination He has called us to. We are not alone ever in life but another quote I read this week was sometimes God puts you in places ALONE, He needs you to realize you do NOT need anybody but Him. Now when i first heard that quote I read it as I need to leave my friends and be a loner. ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is a dark world people on this earth can't be your savior because there not. You may think you need to be with this person or family member to help you get through this but if you can't than go to your Savior the one that we celebrated this last christmas and who walked this earth as a human and suffered a criminals death. He was born for YOU He died for YOU. He loves you so much he died. Trusting God is not an easy thing to do I am not saying its a stroll in the park because it's not I am starting to learn that we need to unlearn what we have learned. Do or Do not there is no try!

 

I pray you guys have a great week and if you are struggling and need prayer send an email to me and I will write a prayer out for you personally. My email is mightymariah.84@gmail.com.

Blessings,

~ MM

Zeph.3:17



Fighting lifes battles

Hey everyone, I know I have failed to post blogs for a while and I apologize for that. I am going to try and do it consistently.



Tonight I want to talk to you about fighting life's battles. Lets face it life is hard. Many people around the world are fighting a battle you don't know about. Some people battle with cancer, some people battle finance issues, or friendship issues. I could name so many more but what do you do that helps you fight your battles? Do you tend to try and push it under the rug in hopes that it will just go away. I will be honest I have done that. I have learned though that running isn't going to get you anywhere but it will get you farther and farther than where you really want to be. I struggle with mental illness and there are some tough battles that I fight. Well recently I was fighting a battle of anxiety and depression. As I look back now I realize I did not trust or have faith that God would provide, in fact I question if God even cared. I stopped going to church I had no desire to go which resulted in more isolation which led to depression. I was running away from something that I should have been running towards. The church is one place I should have stay connected with in that time. The devil was trying to get me down and he was getting there he was getting what he wanted. I think of it as being in a boxing ring your fighting and all of a sudden you get knocked out and your lying there and the referee is count one two.... and usually when he gets to three you have lost and got defeated well I was in that situation except the referee did not get to three. I image my opponent standing there enraged that he thought he won the battle well that opponent was the devil screaming at me " you won't win your just a weakling. But in life if we are at that point we shouldn't just give up we need to get up and face it. You can't run from your problems and so many times in my life I have done that. I am thinking why isn't God hearing me, does he not care about the pain and worry I am feeling? No! He is right there standing next you hoping that you will continue to fight because we get our inner strength not from this world but from God. It's not going to be easy just like saying I want to lose weight I am going to join a gym and your hoping that you will lose weight by one night. Its the same with our faith, if we don't continuously work at our faith then we are going to start thinking and asking ourselves "where's God, does he not care" The stronger are faith the stronger we are we grow our strength through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the only way. He is our redeemer He is our warrior, He is our Father who loves us so much that he died for us. He never gives up on you so we as his children should not give up on him. This is a song I heard that really inspired me and really spoke to me and I hope you enjoy this song. Its called "This is how I  fight my battles" by Micheal W Smith
This is how we fight our battles

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog I hope you guys have a great rest of your week. If you guys have any prayer request or need encouragement you can send me an email at mightymariah.84@gmail.com.

Blessings,
Mighty Mariah

Who am I?

Hey Every one, sorry I haven’t been writing lately. So what I want this post to focus on is listening to your heart and God about who you are and who you are meant to be. Who am I? That is the three word phrase a lot of us have trouble trying to grasp. In my personal life I went through and still am trying to answer this question. I know the simple answer to that is I am Mariah and I was born in Guatemala and was adopted when I was 18 months old. I got adopted by Dave and Joan and from there my life began. So that’s the simple answer but who am I, a lot of people have told me I am a very wise person  but I don’t believe it half the time because so many of my choices that I have made in life has been selfish and hurtful to those around me. In High school I was bullied constantly and for the longest time I let that define who I was as a person. I had the belief system of I am just a small weak person who is unable to stand up for herself. That really hurt me and those around me because that is not what they saw. Ephesians 2:10 says we are Gods masterpiece. I read that and have a hard time seeing that because when I look in the mirror I see a small orphan girl who let people walk all over me and told me who I was. But God sees us as a master piece. Think of the famous paintings by Leonardo De Vinci he remains best known for his art, including two paintings that remain among the world’s most famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. I sure it took him a long time and a lot of mess ups to make it be the most beautiful painting. Well the same is with us. God made us and we are his masterpiece we shouldn’t go by the standards of this world but be who God meant for you to be. I am sure he has great plans for each and every one of you. God didn’t just say I need something to just make this world more crowded so I will just put some humans there. Let’s say he did it just so he could get done with his job and move on. He could have done that but he placed every star in the sky and all the fish in the sea and every human in their own unique way. God didn’t just snap his fingers and bam humans are made. He took his time to make each and every one of us. He made us with a define purpose in life and all through are life we are mainly here to worship God praise his Holy name. Share the gospel with those around you. Maybe you are a plumber or a painter and you don’t know what your purpose is, you will find your answer if you look deep inside yourself and spend some quality time with God asking Him to show us our purpose and beware it could blow your mind away. So listen to the voice of truth and listen to your heart. You will find your purpose it won’t be right away but at the right time and place, God will make himself known to you, and through Him we will see ourselves.

Hope you guys have a great weekend

Blessings

~MM~

Mental illness

Hey Mighty Warriors, I hope y'all are doing well. I know its been a while since I have posted but I finally am able to sit down and write one. So I have been living in a program that helps people with mental illness become more independant. I have been here for over a year now and I have seen different sides of different people. I am sure you all know the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" I have seen the hardships of so many things. It has really been an eye opening experience. I have seen people who just struggle with friendship, people who struggle with alchoholism and people that have anger issues and so much more. We are ALL children of God and with that we are called to Love our neighbor as ourself and I can honestly say I didn't know what this meant and now I finally do. Love is an action not an emotion. God loved us so much he sacrificed His own son to die on the cross for us, so that we can live in everlasting peace with him. When I look at my roomates and seeing where they struggle I feel the need to love on them. Because I don't know what battle they are fighting just like they don't know what battles I fight. There are times when we need to just give them grace and encourage them in there walk of life. Life isn't easy and its also not meant to be a solo ride. A couple of months into me living here my roomate one day said "I REALLY NEED JESUS IN MY LIFE" I instantly asked her if she was serious and if she really wanted to know about God. She looked at me and said yes. So I prayed about it and I felt led by God to give this person my bible. She has been reading it and its amazing to see what God is doing in her life. My past roomate was the same way she didnt know where else to turn and I looked at her and said "Christ is waiting with open arms. Two big opportunity to share Christ with those around me and just thinking of the joy in Heaven knowing that two people came to Christ because i showed them Christ like love, grace and all the fruits of the spirit. But may I also say dont give me any of the credit all the credit should be going to God who can turn a mess into a message a trial into a triumph and a victim into a victory. I am blown away at how God is working in the lifes of my roomates and it brings me such joy. How do you show Christ love to those around you. It only takes one action it could be a smile a simple hello or even holding the door for someone. You impact the lives of people everyday just by your kindness and gentleness. Its not easy but God is the one that helps you carry this out.  I encourage you to ask God to show you how to love the unlovable and to reach the unreachable and to do what man can not do but a Mighty Savior can do.
I hope this blog encourages and blesses you.
Blessings
~MM

An update from Mighty Mariah

Hey Mighty Warriors. Sorry for unable to get a blog update out sooner. I have limited internet time and its very hard to get a blog update out. Know that every single one of you are in my prayers. Be Blessed Mighty Warriors
~MM

Patience is a Virtue

Hey Mighty Warriors, I apologize it has been a while since I wrote my last blog update but I think y'all are really going to enjoy this one. So tonight's blog is about something we all find hard to do and that is being patient. Patience….Patience….Patience we sometimes are going through stuff and sometimes all we hear is "Be patient" and I will admit its a hard thing to learn and do. It is way easier said then done. Let me tell something so I have had a lot of changes with living situations to relationships and even my faith. I spent 3 months at a center and I remember when I got there I was so ready to get things going and start getting into therapy and work on myself so I could get out of there. I remember I had to talk to the therapist on staff first but she wasn't working the first couple days I got there and it was the weekend and I remember it wasn't even Sunday yet and I was already asking the staff "When can we start getting me settled and into group" the staff kept saying to me "I am sorry the therapist won't be in until Monday so your going to have to be patient this weekend. I remember that was the longest week of my life. I was so ready to dive in, get started so I could move on. But then that night I felt God was telling me "Be Still and know that I am God. That was the night I knew this was going to be a long and hard road ahead and one thing I had to get down was how to "Be Still and know that He is God" and BE PATIENT. So the scripture I want to share with you tonight comes from Ephesians 4:2 Hear the Word of the Lord "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Right now I am awaiting to hear for a placement on my living situation and I am struggling with patience but I always say to myself whenever I feel impatient "Be still and know that I am God" It reminds me to trust in Gods timing and not in my own. Sometimes God doesn't give his answer right away to teach us how to be patience but then to also teach us (His beloved children) how to trust in him. So I am going to challenge you whenever you feel impatient look up a bible verse that speaks to you and stick in your pocket and whenever your feeling impatient, anxious or scared read that and soak the words in. I did it until I the verse memorized. Its also a great tool to use for memorizing scripture as well. To end this blog update I will be posting a song that really has spoken to me that last couple of months. Take a listen and enjoy. 
Casting Crowns-Come to the Well
Blessings Mighty Warriors
~MM

Good in Goodbye!

Hey Mighty Warriors, How y'all doing tonight?! I hope you guys have had a great week! So todays blog post is about relationships, friendships and maybe for some of you, you can relate from a marriage or divorce stand point. Today's scripture reading comes from John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.My first question to all of you is  " Do any of you see the "good" in goodbye? From my own personal life I can tell you that I now do see the good. I was reading a devotion out of my Beth Moore devotional book and this is the reading. Hear the Word of God:
I wouldn't for a minute minimize the pain of a relationship broken by unreasonable-or, at the very least, unsustainable-expectations. I've knelt with too many weeping women at the altar of my church sanctuary only to learn that they needed prayer over feelings deeply hurt by someone sitting elsewhere in that room. When such a close and dependable relationship is injuriously severed, the knife penetrates to the exact depth we've invited them into our private lives. Indeed, one of the primary reasons we're so wounded is because the person knew what we we were going through and still abandoned us. What I'm about to say can be painful to hear, but I pray that God will use it toward someone's healing: sometimes a person abandons us not in spite of what we're going through, but directly because of it. They either ran out of answers or they ran out of energy and no longer had the wherewithal to go through it with us. If our helping friends actually did something that overtly wronged us, they bear responsibility before God for that. But if they wronged us only by running out of fuel and dropping out of the struggle, we might need to realize they've done all they felt they could humanly do and let them go without bitterness or anger. 
Our friendships and our spouses are only human, and our expectations for them-especially when we're hurting - can require superhuman insight and strength. No wonder they let us down. Just remember Mighty Warriors that Jesus the one who came and died for you He won't every say goodbye and He will never abandon you. HE LOVES YOU!!!!!! He loves you enough to die for you to save you and most of all to redeem you! Live in that truth Mighty Warriors.

I have had a lot of friends and adults abandon me in my life because of the way I act and just more for the fact they couldn't bear to be my friend anymore. I have spent many nights awake asking myself "Do they care about me? I wonder if they miss me" Truth is in my mind I think they will come back but deep down in my heart I know they ain't coming back. IT all happened within a blink of an eye. I held onto a friendship and it ended in the worst way possible. Yes I still see this friend at church but I am terrified of her. I don't know what to say or how to act around her. It's like she is just there waiting for me to screw up and so she can make fun of me. Mighty Warriors relationships and friendships there hard. My mom always told me find good friends, have good fun and enjoy the moments. My moments with friends were always traumatizing and I don't say that with any exaggeration I mean being bullied took a huge toll on my life and than having adults also walk out of my life in some way has damaged my view on friendships. I will be honest I find it hard to trust people. Because I live in that fear of being abandoned. Two adult women gone from my life in a blink of an eye its hard. But with my time living at the facility I am at has in a way helped me see the good in the goodbyes I had to say. I pray for all you mighty warriors who maybe are in this same boat right now. I pray God brings his calming peace into your life and may your life not be bitter because of what your relationships have broken inside of you. May you see the good in where you are at in your life and maybe one day you will look up to the sky and say "Thank God we aren't friends anymore" or "Thank God I didn't marry that man/women. God has your life planned. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you Hope and a Future.
That's my weekend blog update I hope y'all enjoy it.
The song I want you to look up is Carrie Underwood "Good in Goodbye"
This song really speaks to me in so many ways. I am so thankful for this womens strong faith and for her wisdom and knowledge.
Blessings to all
~MM

How to Survive in your Pit!

Hey Mighty Warriors, How y'all doing tonight? So I apologize for not posting as I usually do. Some stuff has happened in my life that I had to take some personal time off and spend it with family and most importantly God. The verse I want to share with you today comes from Psalm 40:1-3. Hear the Word of the Lord,
  
I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand. 
 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him.

So I will share with you parts of what has happened. So right now I am living at a Stabilization Center because my anxiety just got a huge hold of my life and caused some serious problems in my life. I can honestly tell you that choosing to live at this place was the best decision I ever made. It has helped me understand more about my mental illness and my anxiety in a whole new way. Today's blog post I want to focus on living in your pit. You pit could be whatever it is for you. Maybe it is depression, anxiety, fear, divorce, grief and so on. So one of my mom's friend mailed me a devotional by Beth Moore "Looking up"
This devotional is amazing. I encourage everyone to go and check out this book. So that verse I started out with has really been a truly uplifting verse for me especially during the tough days I am here at the Center but the cool thing is during those difficult times I truly feel God's presence within me. He can do that for you and will be there for you if you call on him and lean on him for peace, love and hope. So we all know life sometimes doesn't go the way we want it to. If it did God wouldn't have sent his only son into this world to be brutally beaten, mocked and killed. He did it for one reason because we are His beloved and He loves us wider then any ocean, higher than any skyscraper and deeper than any pit we have ever been in. So the scripture I started out with has to do with many things. It references being patient and waiting on God's timing and not our own. The fact He hears my every cry and wipes away every tear and our rescuer when we are in the deepest part of our pit. He is our solid rock on which we stand, He will never cause us to stumble. A reading out of my devotional says this " If you're in a pit, you don't have to stay in it. Even if you've been there your whole life, you can call it a day. Even if you somehow- at least in your own mind- deserve the pit you live in, you're still not stuck there. Maybe your the noble type trying to make the best of your pit You keep wondering why you can't get satisfied there, why you aren't mature enough to be content where you are. After all, didn't the apostle Paul tell us that we should learn to be content in any circumstance?
Has it occurred to you that maybe a pit is one place where you're not supposed to be content? Maybe you should thank God you're not. Some things weren't meant to be accepted. A pit is one of them. Quit trying to make the best of it. It's time to GET OUT!! Will you think outside the box- Outside YOUR pit and accept the truth that God doesn't want you in there any longer?"
The prayer at the end of this specific devotional reading is this
" I praise You, Lord, for being my Deliver, my rescuer, my redeemer! I know I'm not supposed to be content in my pit. And I believe You can get me out- You want me out- of it. I will look to you to give me strength to lead me to a place of true contentment.
So for example I have learned my triggers that cause my anxiety to arise and cause me to in my term "being in the zone" So for me when I am in the zone I lose track of what is going on around me. I can't hear anything and I can literally feel my heart pounding faster and faster. I found that bible journaling is very helpful. I have a note book and print out pictures and i trace them and then later color the pictures in. This has become so helpful. I encourage you to try it out. If you like pintrest just look up bible journaling there will be some cool ideas to get started and maybe even save them and you can try doing them yourself.
I usually reference a song at the end of my blog but I am unable to post the videos due to content being blocked.
But you can look it up on your computer if you go to www.YouTube.com and search Kari Jobe I am not alone the video should appear and I feel this song speaks truth,hope and love.
Blessings Mighty Warriors
~MM

The Parable of the Vine and Branches

Good afternoon Mighty Warriors, I hope y'all had a great and blessed week! So todays blog is going to be on the parable of the vine and the branches. So I am not going to post the entire verse as it is very long but I am going to post parts of the scripture that we are going to look at today. Hear the Word of the Lord.

“I am the true Vine. My Father is the One Who cares for the Vine. 2 He takes away any branch in Me that does not give fruit. Any branch that gives fruit, He cuts it back so it will give more fruit. 3 You are made clean by the words I have spoken to you. 4 Get your life from Me and I will live in you. No branch can give fruit by itself. It has to get life from the vine. You are able to give fruit only when you have life from Me. 5 I am the Vine and you are the branches. Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me. 
This is the Word of God. So let me ask you this, when you read this passage what comes to mind? This entire gospel on the vine and the branches is all about who you are becoming as this makes it all about the Glory of God. In this story who is the vine? JESUS! WE are the branches! This scripture is about growing and sharing but also becoming ONE with Christ! In the book Ezekial it talks about how he takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. If we abide in Christ he will remain with us. What this means is that we need to look to Christ in Every moment of our lives good or bad. We are completely helpless-He is completely able in ALL things, It says in scripture that Christ prunes us so that we can continue to bear god fruit. 
I want to tell you a story that my friend Jay told me. 
"Before Christ rescued me I had terrible road rage. I would get frustrated in traffic especially in winter driving. My fruit basket of patience, self-control, peace on and on is deficient. So God gifts me with winter weather and challenged driving (pruning) which gives  me the opportunity to grow in him. I become more like him as he prunes me to help me grow my faith in him." So through this blog I pray that you learn that you are the branches and to learn how to bear good fruit. When God has rescued you and you are joined with Jesus one WILL BEAR FRUIT! There is no such thing as a person grafted into Christ where you do not see the fruit of Him who lives in a person. Galations 5:22-26
Amen? 
I want to end with a song called Closer by Hillsong and I think this song really connects with todays blog because it talks about how WE the church find belonging in Christ and how we want to be closer and closer to Him! Enjoy!
Closer-Hillsong
Have a wonderful and blessed week Mighty Warriors!
~MM

Happy New Year! Mighty Mariah's highlights of 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR MIGHTY WARRIORS! Another year in the books and now we look ahead and wait to see what the year 2015 holds for us. I know who holds my future a king who is Mighty to Save! So I want to highlight some of my favorite memories of 2014 and some of the events I got to attend and be a part of. So sit back and enjoy. Let me first say THANK YOU to my followers on facebook and twitter and my readers of my blog. I appreciate the support and the feedback I get from all of you. Some of you have told me I would make a great writer some day. I LOVE hearing that. Keep the feedback coming would LOVE to hear from you!
So let me first start off by saying that Septemeber was an amazing month because that is a special month for so many people who are not only starting their journey in recovery but who have been celebrating the freedom they found in their mighty savior Jesus Christ! It is by the grace of God that we are saved! September was Recovery month and last year I had the great opportunity of being a part of and attending a concert that was put together by the leader of our Celebrate recovery at Lutheran church of Hope Melissa and that concert was called "Lost and Found" Three bands played and one of those three was a rapper and I had the privilage of interviewing him y'all know my buddy Echo! We also had our very own Celebrate Recovery band that was let by the worship leader Jed! Then we had Matt baird who plays for a band called "Spoken' It was a great and memorable night. Here are some photos from that event!

Recovery Month 2014

Mighty Mariah with Echo and CR Coordinator

Mighty Mariah with Matt and his wife Tiffany!

 That was an amazing night and I will always remember that night! Thanks to all the gifted artists that came out and played for us!

My next highlight of 2014 was I also got attend a baptism event held also by Celebrate Recovery. A lot of people from my Celebrate Recovery family. I was so proud of my family that day. It was a great and memorable day for us as a church family.

CR Baptism Event!

Last year I also got to Volunteer and visit Hopetroplis (Home of Super Bible Dude) This was Lutheran church of Hopes Vacation bible theme. WE all had a great time getting crazy for Jesus and having a blown out Jesus party. Like my pastors say "there is no party like a Jesus Party" Here are some photos from that event. Batman, The Hulk and many more awesome characters came to visit us at VBS last year it was so much fun.

Mighty Mariah at HopeTropolis

Mighty Mariah and Waterboy

Mighty Mariah and Batman

Next I had the great opportunity to help support a great cause and a great friend who has Lupus. Lupus is a disease and one of my friends has it and last year we did a walk around the mall to support Lupus and here is one of the photos that we took together.

Lupus awareness walk 2014

One of my favorite highlights was going on a motorcycle ride with my dad but meeting one of my church pastors along the way that was celebrating being cancer free. She kicked Cancers butt! So proud of you Nicole! God was with you every step of the way. You truly inspired me and I pray God continues to bless you and your family in new an awesome ways! Here is a picture of me and Nicole together.

Nicole and Mighty Mariah

As most of you know my church is in the process of getting our very own building and we did a giving campaign and we called it "Building Hope Together" The church is really coming along and hopefully will be done by Easter of 2015. Here are two pictures for ya!

Here is Hope Ankeny's new building

Alright I am going to wrap up this very long blog update. There are so many highlights of 2014 I just can't list them all. 2014 started off kind of rough for my family that around thanksgiving of 2013 that my aunt Jan's Cancer had returned and she was back in the hospital and there she stayed until the news came that the final medicine didn't kill the cancerous cells and my aunt was moved to Hospice. There she stayed until her heavenly Father called her home on January 27, 2014. I miss my aunt very much. The wisdom that lady had and the kind words she had for everyone and the love she had for her family was incredible. She will be missed very much! I have learned that in this life there will come a day where we are called to our eternal home and there we will rejoice and celebrate because we are free from sin in this world and we will be with Jesus forever! I have a peace knowing I will see my aunt Jan again. 

2014 was a great year and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store. I hope y'all enjoy this blog update! Blessings to each and everyone of you!

Happy New Year!!

~MM

That's my kinda night!!! Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MIGHTY WARRIORS!!! This blog update is obviously a Christmas blog so I hope you enjoy reading this on Christmas morning or if your reading this at midnight! Lets travel back into time and go back to when someone special was born in a little town called Bethlehem…..this is the Christmas story.

Hear the Word of the Lord:

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. 

That scripture verse came from www.biblegateway.com

So on I want you to picture if you were one of the sheperds and you got this kinda news. How would you feel? How would you react? For myself I would probable be astonished and breathless to hear the news that a SAVIOR has been born TODAY!! So now lets talk about Mary because Mary is a BIG part of this story cause she is holding the Savior of the world in her womb. But Mary was a little confused when an angel appeared to her saying that she will be pregant with a child but a child that will SAVE and RENEW THE WORLD!!!! Now Mary was a virgin and she had never had intercourse so she was probable thinking "There's no way I could be pregnant with not a child but a SAVIOR" Now for those of you who are mothers and who have had kids lets just use this as an example when you take that first pregnancy test and its positive you are full of excitement right? Of course and you can't wait to tell everyone the good news. You make phone calls, you share it on social media with your family and friends and word gets out pretty fast but back in Mary's time they didn't have facebook,twitter and instagram to get the word out, it says right in scripture that and angel of the Lord appeared to the sheperds telling them of this wonderful news and right above where Jesus was laid in a manger there was a bright Shining star that shined and the sheperds followed that star until they reached the place where baby Jesus was born. That sounds like a pretty amazing night right? I mean today we celebrate and we honor Jesus' birth but sometimes we tend to forget or loose the sight because we have presents to get,wrap and give to friends and family. We have family meals to make, we have a house to clean and we don't take time to just enjoy the season. Wether that be taking a drive and looking a christmas lights on houses or watching the snow fall. This year I have a friend that use to be my counselor and she recently wrote a book called "Stop, Breathe Believe Mindful Living One Thought at a Time, and last year she came to Lutheran Church of Hope for a Christmas Brunch and shared with us how to do just that Stop,Breathe Believe. 

I am going to describe to you what I have learned from this wonderful yet very sinmply technique to take steps to help live a peace and wonderful life using our minds and hearts and breath to help with this growth in your own life. If you would like to purchase this book you can get it on Amazon.com. So when I first started using Stop, breathe believed it really helped with my anxiety. I felt my anxiety decrease and more hope arise in my life. So for example if I am driving and I feel myself get anxious I am reminded of this easy technique because the book cover is a stop light and how it works is like this. When you feel yourself getting drawn into negative thinking or for some people maybe your mother used the phrase of "Stinkin Thinkin" you just say to yourself Stop Mariah and then the yellow is the breathing part of it and you take big deep breath in and when you retrace your thinking to a postive you exhale and let out all the negative thinking and believe in the green or hope filled thoughts and then repeat it everytime you feel those negatives thoughts try to creep in your head and steal your happiness and joy this holiday season. So with that I am going to wrap up my blog update with three songs Emmanuel by Micheal W Smith and Mary did you know by Rascal Flatts! The last one is a fun song sung by Luke Bryan and its called Run Run Rudolph! Enjoy everyone! I also want to give a special shout out to those who are reading this across the world I pray y'all have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. 

TODAY A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN TO YOU HE IS CHRIST THE LORD AMEN! 

THANKS FOR READING 

MERRY CHRISTMAS MIGHTY WARRIORS 

~MM

Song 1 Emmanuel By Micheal W Smith

Song 2 Mary did you know? By Rascal Flatts

Song 3 "Run Run Rudolph By Luke Bryan

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Mighty Warriors I hope you all had a great week...what? you say today is a holiday YOUR RIGHT! It's a day of Thanksgiving. Today is a day of thanks, today I am going to share with you Psalm 100. Hear the Word of the Lord:

Psalm 100

A psalm of thanksgiving.

 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! 

     Worship the Lord with gladness.
    Come before him, singing with joy. 

 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.
    We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name. 

 For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,
    and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

So that was today's scripture reading. So now I want to ask you, what are you thankful for? I went to a thanksgiving service on Tuesday and the lady who brought the message had 2 mugs in her hand. One of the mugs she called "A mug of Thanks" And she first wrote a list of things she was thankful for and then she cut them into strips and put them in the "mug of thanks" and each day she would pull one out and think about that one thing she was thankful for throughout the day.  Then we get out our "mug of giving and each day we put a quarter in and then when our mug of giving is full we can choose what we want to do with those coins or dollars that we gather. Maybe you pay it forward in the drive-thru at a fast food place, or you donate it towards charity this holiday season. There are multiple ways to give. See thanksgiving isn't just one word. Its two words put together but have such an impact if we use it on a daily basis. I will admit I fail at this every day. I forget to be thankful. I know during hard times it's hard to be thankful. Being Thankful is such a great thing and even though during the hard times it may not seem helpful but I think it can be. This year I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for my church family that is continuing to grow, not just as a congregation but as a body of believers. We are still in the building process of our new church home and we have come so far since we first began. I am so thankful the Lord has provided us a place and the money to do this. This week I am very thankful for health and safety. My grandma is in the hospital due to dehydration but is doing so much better. So I am thankful that she is getting her strength back. I am so close to both my grandparents and I love them dearly. My uncle recently fell and broke his hip and had to undergo surgery but all went well and he is now recovering. So I am thankful that he is doing better as well. Family to me is also so very very important and I am just so thankful to my parents who have chosen me and adopted me to be there child. So for me I have a ton to be thankful for. I also am thankful for all my readers of my blog. I pray for all my readers and I pray that these words I write wouldn't be mine but the holy spirit speaking through me into your lives. I could go on and on about what I am thankful for because there is just so much but I finally want to give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for dieing for my sins and the worlds sins. On November 21 5 years ago on that day I professed my faith in Jesus Christ, I could tell you the whole story but I will save that story for another blog. But one of the songs I heard in High school was a song called "Yes I believe" and this song was written by an artist Peder Eide and I want to end with 2 songs about faith and just how awesome our God is. I hope you all have a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving.
Song #1  Awesome God By Rich Mullins
Song # 2 Yes I believe By Peder Eide

Blessings to all!
~MM

Pastor appreciation month!!!

Good Evening Mighty Warriors! I hope you had a great week. So this months blog is dedicated to all the pastors out there. But my church is one church in multiple locations. We have many pastors on staff at Hope. I am going to focus on the pastors that I hear from on most weekends. Those pastors would be Pastor Mike Housholder and Pastor Scott Rains. I also attend another church called Hickman Road Church of Christ, their pastor is Colby Clapp and he gives great messages on Sunday mornings. So I since this month is pastor appreciation month I have asked a couple of people from my church what they appreciate about there pastors. 
Angie from Hope Ankeny told me "I appreciate that all the pastors at Hope are approachable, authentic and live life transparently alongside the congregation."
Jennifer from Hope Ankeny say "she appreciates that the pastors don't pretend to be perfect 
people. 
 Trevor from Hope Ankeny says "I'm a fan of sweater vests"
Scott from Hope Ankeny says " I like that Pastor Scott is so genuine and relatable. He doesn't elevate himself, he humbles himself and is not afraid to share his challenges and heart."
Tiffany from Hope West Des Moines says "I love that our pastors take the time to talk and listen. I love that we can work together to do what God wants us to do…Love God, Love People"
Last we go over to the church Hickman Road church of Christ. The Olson family told me what they appreciate about there Pastor Colby.
 Ethan says " He is like a brother, I know I can talk to him about anything. He is overall a really cool guy.
Alex says "He is really sensitive to other peoples emotions. I like the messages he gives on Sundays.
Abby says "He is really cool. I like when he plays video games with me. He is really good at getting the point across in his messages.
Sherri says "He is a very compassionate guy and he cares about everyone. He has a talent for preaching the Word and getting it across.
Todd says "I like the way he focuses on the Word"
So now I am going to post some pictures of some of the pastors that we talked about in this post. This post is dedicated to all pastors out there. I just want to say continue to share your gifts and talents with your congregation. Let Gods spirit continue to flow through you and may You continue to reach out to the world around you and share the everlasting love of Jesus Christ. ~ Hopes mission statement.

Mighty Mariah and Pastor Scott Rains

Jeremy Johnson and Scott Rains

Mighty Mariah with Pastor Mike Housholder

Alex and I with pastor Colby from Hickman Road Church of Christ!

I want to end with a song dedicated to all pastors. This song is called "Fix My Eyes" By For King and country!

Enjoy! 

Blessings to all!

~MM

September is_______?_________ Month?

Hello Mighty Warriors, I apologize for not writing in the last two months. My life has been busy with work and many church activities. So I just want to get right to the point. In April I wrote a blog about an organization called Donate Life. And how my cousin donated his body and organs to help those who needed it. I want to talk to you today about the month of September. September is recovery month.

This year marks the 25^th annual observance of Recovery Month, a national effort to raise public awareness of the importance of prevention, treatment and, especially, recovery from behavioral health disorders, including substance addictions. 

Has anyone every heard a great and amazing program called "Celebrate Recovery" Rick Warren started the program at Saddleback Church in California and there are many more churches that have the program as well. But right now I want to tell you about my time so far at Celebrate Recovery at Lutheran Church of Hope. It has been very helpful and that doesn't even begin to describe it. My church believes that it is no accident you show up on a Thursday night to Celebrate Recovery or any other event that goes on because WE as a CHURCH have been praying for you. I have been a greeter at my churches Celebrate Recovery for many months and every time it just makes my heart glow brighter and brighter. For newcomers who walk through our doors WE as a CHURCH welcome them with open arms because THEY ARE HOME. We care for one another, we are there. When you join any Celebrate Recovery group there is no need to fear judgement because truth is EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS WORLD STRUGGLES. It doesn't matter what our hurt habit or hang up is.Drugs alcohol, Sexual abuse,drug abuse, divorce,,anxiety, depression, addiction, pornography…. We all have sin, no one in this world is perfect. It doesn't matter how big your house is, or how much money you make or how big your family is or even if you have the best job in the world. NO ONE IS PERFECT! Are you hearing me Mighty Warriors? NO ONE!! Here's the most mind blowing thing about Jesus. He came into this world as a little baby born in a manger. God knew why He sent his one and only son into this world. He didn't do it for nothing.HE DID IT FOR YOU!!!!!! HE LOVES YOU! HE DIED FOR YOU! If you were the last person on this earth He would still have come down to earth and taken on your sin on the cross.  I don't know how many of you have seen the Passion of the Christ? It is a Mel Gibson film and I can tell you that it is such a powerful movie. But I mean even though its just actors its a hard but its such a moving movie. It tugs at your heart. When I first watched this film it was hard to even see my Savior get flogged and beaten and killed like that. Mighty Warriors we will never really know what it was like 2,000 years ago in reality, but this film gets yours thoughts spinning and questions arising. But he really did get flogged and beaten and nailed. All the blood that was poured out of his body was for you! Everything that you have that is weighing on your shoulders has been take off your back and you can now stand up straight and not feel weighed down by your own hurts,habits or hang ups. He took your sin and erased it. It no longer matters to Him. That's what makes Jesus Christ so Mighty so Powerful and so AMAZING AND WONDERFUL. He created every single one of you on purpose for a purpose. Yes, there are struggles in this world but He is already overcome it through his death and resurrection. So I was able to talk to a couple of people who go to my church and here are a couple of questions that I asked them.
Joseph answered these questions: What have you learned from your time at Celebrate Recovery?
Joseph answered "By God's grace I have been set free from my depression and anxieties. Celebrate Recovery has taught me to be grateful for what i have and to concentrate on positive solutions. By confessing my faults to others. In doing so I was able to gain a new perspective and that enabled me to break out of the prison of my old habits"
Melanie: What are you in celebrating recovery from? " I am celebrating recovery from addiction and sexual abuse. It was in the year of 1992 that I first sought help. I was sexual abused at age nine and I took my first drug at age eleven.
What is one piece of advice that you could give to someone who is new to celebrate recovery?
"Reach out to someone you trust"
What is your favorite thing about the Celebrate Recovery program"
"Be still and know"
Mighty Warriors those were a couple of people who have told you a little bit about how Celebrate Recovery has helped them in their recovery journey.
There are many Celebrate Recovery leaders out there who would love to chat with you. I encourage you if you have a hurt, habit or hang up that is weighing you down reach out to one of the Celebrate Recovery programs in your area. You are meant to be FREE from whatever is holding you back from the life that your Mighty Savior has planned for you.
Melissa is a good friend of mine and she is the Celebrate Recovery Coordinator at Lutheran Church of Hope. If your in the area come on out on a Thursday night and check it out. We have a meal at 5:00 than our very own Celebrate Recovery band starts off the night with some awesome and uplifting music, we hear a teaching or a testimony from someone afterwards and last we break out into small groups and if you visit the booth before the service you can find which group best fits your need for recovery or you can check them all out. Come on out and check it out! Celebrate Recovery is a great program and the transformation that I get to see every Thursday is just amazing. We all struggle YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!

Well that is my blog update for Recovery month. I hope y'all enjoyed it. I want to share three songs with you that just touch my heart in so many ways. Feel free to take a listen
The first song is called:  Celebrate Recovery (cry out to Jesus)
The second song is called: I Surrender:Hillsong
The Third song is called: Changed: By Rascal Flatt's
I hope y'all enjoyed this blog update
Blessings
~Mighty Mariah

Exclusive Interview with Echo!!

Echo

Hey Mighty Warriors. I apologize it has been a while since I wrote an update. If you want to also stay connected with me check out Mighty Mariah's facebook page. I am also on Twitter just look up Mighty Mariah. This blog update is one I am really excited about I can't wait for you guys to read this. So first off let me ask "How many of you guys like to listen to hip hop/rap music? What is your favorite hip hop artist? Well for me personally I at first didn't really care for hip hop/rap. But then I found an artist who not only do I know but this mans music as been such an inspiration on me. This mans name is Echo. And I was able to have an exclusive interview with him on his life story,music and faith. Now this interview I asked the questions but he typed me up his answers and he put it in a good format so I just copied and pasted the document. Now there are a couple of reasons to why I did that. 1. Because I don't want to change the wording of his answers. And I wanted to be honest with you that I did copy and paste the interview document. So I invite you to sit back and enjoy this exclusive interview with a Mighty Warrior who enjoys not only rapping but spreading the word and truth about a Mighty Savior.

 How are you doing echo?

I’m doing well, Mariah, hope all is well with you!

 So I have several questions I would like to ask you for my blog.

 Go for it!

 When did u find your calling to be a rapper?

That’s going to take a trip down my memory lane… It wasn’t necessarily that I always grew up thinking, yeah, I’m going to be a rapper. In fact, until I was about 16-17 if you asked me or told me I’d be a rapper I’d probably looked shocked, confused, or not understand you. But God grabbed a hold of me through this genre, and by 16 I was starting to see the need for my state, Iowa, to have a rapper who talked about real life, but also pointed them to a hope they need. Then, by 17, after some recording and some demo songs, I finally released my first single, “The Youth,” and since then have continued to be pressed on my heart and in my life to use the platform of music, especially in the genre of hip hop/rap, to reach and impact the youth culture. I couldn’t say there was a certain day, but when I  started receiving messages about how my second single, “Free,” was being used by God to move in people’s hearts, I knew He had me doing this for a reason. 

Who is someone you admire that motivated you to become a rapper? 

LECRAE. That dude has not only been one of my favorite artists of all time but was the man God used to wake my dead and complacent soul. He’s been such a role model and inspiration to me. I would say he, TobyMac, and Grits were some of the earlier day motivators for me. And now, there are so many I love and are inspired by on the daily. 

What is one piece of advice you want my readers to hear? 

Don’t let anyone tell you you cannot pursue your dreams and passions. God uniquely crafted you to chase after the passions that were breathed into your existence. Be careful, I’m not saying if you want to be a singer, an actress, or something big, to do it just so you can be famous and get a lot money. This is a heart thing, God created in your heart a passion to live and do something. You have to find what that is for yourself, and CHASE IT.

What is the story behind the band name Echo?

Echo is actually the name for me as the rapper of the band, my band is comprised of Ben Nordemeyer (Lead Guitarist) , Becca (Vocalist), Jacob Lubinus (Drummer), and myself (rapper.)

How did you come up with the name? Is there a story behind it?

 The name came while I was trying to decide what my rap name should actually be. I knew my actual name would be hard not only to pronounce but hard to spell and just all around hard for people to catch onto. I was listening to a song called, “Echo” by Canton Jones, which in the chorus sings I’ll be an Echo, Echo, Echo, hey, hey, I’mma say what you say. 

I really liked the message of that song, and the concept of that as well. When someone listens to my music, I don’t want them looking to me and saying, wow he’s so amazing, and he’s doing that all by himself. NO! I want my lyrics to reflect what God wants to say to the youth, to this culture, and Echo those words to them. So when I got into the writing process, sure it is personal, sure it’s my words, but I make it a point that God is speaking through me what He wants to. Not just what I want to say or make it all about me. That’s how the name came about, and so far, has been a great foundation for us. 

What is your favorite part about being a rapper?

For real being able to create music in my favorite genre. But more importantly that I have a better opportunity than most genres to go into depths about the topics I want to talk about, and knowing it’s impacting.

What hardships have you faced in life before you became a rapper that maybe you can tell us and how you got through those times. 

Well, there have been quite a few, though I will say, praise God that I did go through them!

Something that definitely has affected my life has been my struggle with insecurity in myself, depressive thoughts, and definitely the time in my life I contemplated suicide. 

Something you’ll realize when you continue to get to know me is I’m a broken man who’s faced, or been around, a lot that the world has to throw our way. During my late teen years, I had been struggling already with my identity, my faith, my purpose, and if anyone actually cared about me. As you can notice I was focusing so much on myself, my wants, my needs, that I was just slipping deeper into negative thoughts and my depression. I tried to seek satisfaction and appreciation in relationships and in my addictions, but they didn’t work, and it broke me even more, especially the fact that I didn’t let many people know about them. Finally, I came to a point where I thought nobody would truly care if I was gone, that maybe the world would actually be a better place if I was gone. Praise God that He used music and others around me to reach into my life and pull me out! It’s taken a long time for me to face my struggles, my scars, and my pain, but I take it one day at a time and declare with joy today that I didn’t choose suicide, that I didn’t let my loneliness and depression rule my life, but I let Jesus set me free from that! I’m not perfect and I still struggle through a lot, but that’s what life is, we struggle, we break, but if we continue to cling to Jesus, to get to know Him, and surround ourselves in community with others, we can experience the freedom, the joy, and the life we were meant to live!

Finally what is something you would like to share? It can be about faith, your life quotes or anything. 

Honestly? What I’ve been talking about, pursue the passion God created in you, because that was in YOUR design, not for someone else to do for you. Also, live real. If you are struggling, be honest about it, if you are contemplating suicide, talk to someone about it and get friends and others around you to encourage and help strengthen you. I will say this, fixing my eyes, my heart and my mind on others and on Jesus has helped me steer away from my selfish desires to be focused on and noticed and appreciated by everybody. Focus on Jesus, not on what others think or want from you. Also, HAVE FUN. Jesus gave us freedom and a joy we could never attain!! That should give us reason to have the biggest party ever!!

Thanks for letting me do an exclusive interview with you, Echo. You are so inspiring to me! You rock! Keep rappin’

Hey Mighty Mariah, YOU rock, thanks for interviewing me, and for giving me a chance to express myself to you and your readers!

Mighty Warriors that was my exclusive Interview with Des Moines Rapper Echo! If you want more information on Echo 

Check out Echo's official website!

I also want to give y'all an oppurtunity to hear a song sung by Echo. 

Song "Free" By Echo

Echo did a video called "What is love" This is actually a very small video clip and I encourage y'all to check it out!

Check out "What is love" here

I really enjoyed interviewing this Mighty Warrior! I want to end this blog update with writing out a prayer for Echo and his band of Mighty Warriors. 

Dear Heavenly I want to take a moment and lift up Echo and His band to you. Father you work in the most mysterious and awesome ways. I love how you love us so much that you can't stand to leave us in our misery and pain that this world throws our way. You came to give us life and so that we could live it to the fullest. Father I want to lift up Echo and His band to you. Father I thank You for the work You have done and will continue to do in each one of their lives. Father I thank You for the gifts and talents You give each and every person in that band. Echos band shines for You every time they take the stage. Father I ask that you pour out a special blessing upon them. Continue to give Echo wisdom and knowledge as he writes songs and reaches the youth of this culture and make them see that there life has a purpose and that Father you made each one of us for a specific purpose. You are almighty. You don't make mistakes. Father life can bring challenges but when challenges arise may we grab your mighty hand and may we trust in your Mighty plan. You carried a rugged cross to Calvary. You got beaten, spit on, kicked and you got nailed to the cross, BECAUSE YOU LOVE YOUR BELOVED SON AND DAUGHTERS OF THIS WORLD!! You took the nails on that cross for US!!! You died to recieve glory you died to save us because you love us. You will do anything to fight for us your children. Father speak to Echo in new an awesome ways and may he breath in your truth grace and love every day for the rest of his life. I pray this all in your Mighty and holy and precious name Amen.

Blessings to all you Mighty Warriors out there.

Stay Mighty In Him alone

~ Mighty Mariah, Interviewer

~ Echo,Rapper and Mighty Warrior for Christ