To God be the Glory!

Psalm 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

¹ Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

² Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!

³ Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.

⁴ All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Selah

⁵ Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man's behalf!

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.

⁷ He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Selah

⁸ Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;

⁹ he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.

¹⁰ For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.

¹¹ You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.

¹² You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.

¹³ I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you-

¹⁴ vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Selah

¹⁶ Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;

¹⁹ but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.

²⁰ Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

I am full of overwhelming joy, encouragement, and excitement. I am surrounded by love and faith and I know that I am truly grateful for every minute of this life I get to live.

I waited a long time for the P.I. (planned indulgence) I had last night not know that it would be a celebratory dinner spent with just me and my husband. We wore matching sweaters and went out on the town in Red Deer after receiving a call that encouraged our hearts and fulfilled our hopes.

Our offer on a house I have been LONGING and dreaming of for months now, but was WAY off our price range until the other day has been accepted. It meets every prayer and request and more. And as I reflect on the duration of my desire, I see how there was no other time, but EXACTLY as it happened that it could have come to where it is today (God's plan is perfect!).

So as we continue to work towards moving into our home, I would ask that continued positive thoughts and prayers can be submitted for the financing to go through smoothly, and that we get a renter for the condo as well. Thank you for your love and support my family. I am truly grateful you helped to encourage me and give me strength through all this time.

Yes we CAN!!

• Posted by Elisa on November 6, 2008 at 11:28am

WOW! What an awesome week! What hope and change for the future, what promotion of unity, what strength of heart, what intense passion and struggle realized .....WOW!

Congratulations to all the success that each of us have accomplished and thanks to everyone who voted for me and to all who provided their wonderful support to help me through and the other women here as well. As this group of wonderful women sought to encourage others in need, it left no room for not doing the same and including myself in the process.

We aren't done yet as we know life is still going and I hope that this celebratory time will encourage more confidence, more commitment, more positive thinking, more support and more love to go around.

Let us ALL seek to do better and love more and leave fear behind and walk forward into bright futures full of success. It does take work, but with many hands and hearts to help, we CAN do anything.

Again, I thank God for such a wonderful example to live by and continue to strive for. Thanks for letting me live out love and life to the fullest.

Keep it UP!!

P.S. Thanks Holly for taking the first step and sharing this journey with us. Much love and gratitude to you.

P.P.S.
I guess I really should get some undergarments in my size heheh.....no excuse now!

Pride of Ownership

• Posted by Elisa on October 11, 2008 at 2:30pm

I was watching TV and a phrase popped into my ears and stuck there....Pride of Ownership! It was referring to a home that was well taken care of and reflected the love that the owner had put into it.

I got an email from the city councillor that I have been in contact with over the last week (well her assistant) and it turns out from what they have suggested that I do, I have taken every avenue to try and get this situation resolved. Now it feels as though I am just waiting for it to come through the wall in the kids room now. The signs have already started as what happened before, when we had discovered a mold issue in our kids room on the window wall (quality windows are a good investment....quality installation is a key component). The boys don't want to sleep in their room and won't sleep through the night anymore (on top of the fact that they are sick). And of course, my "spidey" senses can smell that same smell and going into that room triggers my asthma. I am hoping that I'm just being sensitive, but if it has made it's way through, it will be quite the undertaking.

I can't help but to think about the topic of neglect. I am an advocate for love and coming from a past that was filled with neglect, I can't imagine any other path to forge forward with. But when it comes to putting something off to the side and not giving it the due love, and respect, whether it be a home to maintain, a child to raise, or to stay healthy and fit, you could be encouraging something negative and unknown to foster. Without putting the love into what you do, you can not expect to get in return positive results. Want a nice, clean house? Put in the love to get it there. That house in return is going provide you with shelter and a place to be together as a family. If you don't take care of and maintain a home it could come down around you. Want a fit, healthy body? Put in the love into what you do to get it there. Love up on your workouts and being active. Don't think of giving up food or taking on the responsibility of being thoughtful about what you put in body as a burden, but rather as the due respect and love your body, YOU, require. How else are you going to get healthy than to live it. Live the lifestyle.....being unhealthy or thoughtless about the care of your body (and the environment around you) leads to many negatives, from pain, reduced quality of life or even no life at all. And if we put in to ourselves the attitude of "pride of ownership" we will help to shape not only our lives in a positive way, but our children will have that example to live from as well.

So back to loving up on this home and hoping for the necessary fixes to take place so that everyone (including the home) can return to an improve state of health and respect and continue to serve into the future.


Elisa