Twitter Convo about God

I was having a conversation with a friend on Twitter about God.  We were talking about churches and God and religion.  She and I have both had bad church experiences.  I went to a Wesleyan church when I was 17 and it was a total nightmare.  I felt so alone, the people were really mean, and it just wasn’t what I thought that church was.  It was not a good environment. It was like if you didn’t fit their exact image and thought the exact same way you were a leper.  I was always taught that you are supposed to love someone as Christ loves us.  I am not going to say I was perfect, because that would be a lie, no one is.  I am still not perfect because I am human, but I was lost.  I was a 17 year old girl lost, trying to seek out God.  I have always believed in God but I wasn’t sure of the answers I was seeking.  I was raised Catholic.  I went to a church looking for guidance and I was totally metaphorically stoned.  I know that I messed up some, but I owned up to it. 

What really bothered me was this youth group I joined would judge me for things and turn around and do the same things.  It was a very upsetting thing to go through.  I wasn’t acting like a maniac or anything; I was just different, trying to find where I belonged.  I had serious issues with the youth pastor sharing my confidential information like it was the weather.   I would go to church and the youth group meetings and I was invisible.  I could have been on fire and no one would have cared.  It was just a horrible thing.  I am so glad that I didn’t decide to base my opinions of God and Christians from this group of people.  If I had, I would be so lost and so wrong.  I have a really strong faith.  I guess I could kind of credit it to what I once referred to as a cult, to my relationship with God. It definitely made me realize that there are bad people in every religion and also good.

After that experience, I taught Sunday school at a Methodist Church.  It was a lot of fun.  I decided somewhere between after those experiences that I should be non-denominational Christian.  I think that there should only be God’s laws and not man’s. I loved the church I went to when I was married because it was totally God driven.  The Lord was totally in charge of the sermons and the things we took part in. It was an awesome thing.  I miss it so much still to this day.

My friend and I were talking about how sometimes churches are similar to MLM or Multi-Level Marketing. I totally agree because when I was at the church I went to when I was married and actually married in was totally not about donations. It was about God, and helping the community.  The church was really small as I know I have said before.  Money didn’t matter at all at this church was awesome.  It was just that we all knew God would provide.  The burden was placed in God’s hands and he provided what the church needed every time.  You have to surrender things and let God handle it.  It is hard to do  I know. I struggle with it daily. 

Something my friend and I talked about is people being preachy. There is a fine line between being excited and cramming it down someone’s throat.  I don’t usually bring up God to my friends. I am not ashamed of God or anything I just don’t want them to feel forced in to believing the same thing as me.  I am firm believer in the fact that it is a choice only you can make. I don’t think that God loves someone any less if they decide it is not right for them.  If my friends bring it up. I love talking about it.  I have never read the whole Bible so I can’t quote scripture but  I am pretty good at saying the right thing so my friends say.

I came up with an awesome analogy on Twitter the night we were talking about this.

I believe in planting seeds, watering them, waiting for them to grow, vs throwing a plant in a pot and having them not flourish.

That basically means you need to take the time to answer questions, pray for and really spend time talking about God with someone who is interested in learning more.

You have to give some TLC as you would to a newly planted seed.  Noah and I planted some zinnias last year from seeds, and they grew to be taller than he was.  Sure it took longer but they were flourishing like crazy. 

If you take a plant and throw it in a pot, the plant will not flourish, you can’t force it to grow and it doesn’t really wanna be in the pot any way.  It feels trapped in the pot.  It can’t spread or grow properly.    You can’t make someone believe in God, no matter how hard you try or want it for them.

You have to start from scratch and it has to be something someone wants you can water the plant as much as you want but it is up to the flower to blossom.

Faith and Relationships

I am kind of nervous writing this post.  I am not too sure how it will be received.

I asked on Twitter one day, if it was wrong that I want to have a relationship with a man who has the same faith I do? I mean we don’t have to be exactly on the same page about absolutely everything, but I would want someone who has the same fundamental beliefs I do.  I hope that doesn’t seem judgmental or anything but God is a huge part of my life and I want to be able to share it with my someday husband.   I want to be able to pray with him, read the Bible together, have discussions, and worship together. I personally believe that people with different beliefs in a relationship can strain the relationship.   I think a solid relationship is based on a foundation and you have to have similar belief systems.  When I think about this subject two things come to mind.  The first one is a bible verse.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken, if you are both wrapped around God your relationship is stronger.  Three is stronger than two strings that are just wrapped around each other.  This could be whatever you believe but for me it is God.

 The other thing I think of is an episode of Trading Spouses.  I think it is the only one I have ever watched and I have seen it twice.  The families are a Christian family and the other family is Orthodox Jewish, which means they are completely Kosher, they are very strict about dress and very old school with their beliefs.  When the Jewish mom is having dinner with the other family, she says it is important that her children marry someone who is also Orthodox Jewish. One of the family members said something along the lines of that’s judgmental.  The mother of the family agreed with the new mom and said it is important to have the same beliefs.   I have noticed people struggling with their relationships because they want to talk about their faith and the other person is not interested or even disrespectful about it.  It is ok that they don’t believe the same thing but I think that it is important to have that support system.

I have dated guys that don’t believe in God. I had some be rude about it and insult my faith. I never sat them down and tried to get them to believe in him. I respected their beliefs. I think it is easier when you have someone holding your hand and encouraging you to believe in your faith of choice and nurture it.  You definitely notice it more when you’re struggling in your faith without that support system.  It is in my opinion easier to get off the path you are on and be led astray.  I guess it is an accountability thing,  someone to keep you on track.

 Someone on Twitter responded it is important especially if you want kids down the road.  I totally agree. I am teaching Noah about God and Jesus.  His first DVD was God made Christmas. I love the God Made series. They are really cute DVDS.  I am not cramming it down his throat, he can make the choice when he is old enough to do so, but I want him to know about God.  We talk about God  together, pray together, he calls them God Blesses. It is important to me that he does. I want all my children to know about God.  I don’t want my future husband to derail my family’s beliefs.  I don’t want my children to hear that God isn’t real because he is.  I think that it becomes confusing for a child when they have parents that believe totally different things.  It becomes a struggle for the family and the child.  Things come together better when you are all together in faith and are able to grow in God (or whatever you believe in) as a family.

The Secret Things of God is Amazing!!!

I have had many people tell me about “The Secret”, they told me about all the great things that happened to them and I was interested in learning more. I remember going to Borders and looking for the book. I didn’t find it and I remember thinking, I don’t know if this book is right for me.  A little voice inside me was saying don’t read this book.  I just felt like I shouldn’t read it. I wasn’t sure where this secret came from. I am a Christian and although I am not someone who only reads Christian books or very many for that matter, I just felt like I needed to research it more. I wasn’t able to really find a source of where the Secret came from, I looked on CBN’s website because I figured Pat Robertson would know.  I didn’t find anything either way so I stopped looking.

I started wanting to know more about The Secret again. I still couldn’t find the source of the secret so I decided to download the audio book. I listened to the first 45 minutes and was falling asleep. The book was like 4 and half hours long.  I decided I would listen to it later.  I knew there was a DVD version and if you know me at all, you know I love to watch movies. I remember someone saying it was on Netflix. I wanted to get Netflix anyways so when I did, I found out that The Secret wasn’t on Netflix any more.  I even called Netflix and I asked them because it was showing on the site before I signed up.  I guess it was only available on DVD. I didn’t really want to deal with signing up for DVDS too.  So, I let it go.  I knew I would have to start the audio recording again and that wasn’t an option.  I kept feeling like I shouldn’t watch it.

My best friend watched The Secret, and she had already figured out the secret before watching the movie. She found it on Amazon Prime, I wasn’t a member and I wasn’t going to sign up for it.  I thought maybe I would look On Demand, you never know what you will find on there.  I started looking and I couldn’t find it.  I did find something called “The Secret Things of God”.  I read the description and found out it is a faith based version of The Secret.  I wasn’t sure about this either, so I was able to find something on CBN’s website and a short video of Dr. Henry Cloud. I watched it a couple times.  My favorite part was when he was talking about being on an airplane with this woman and she was talking about how angry her boyfriend always was and how they always break up and get back together.  Dr. Cloud said something like you know there is an old proverb that says “If you rescue an angry man you will have to do it again tomorrow”.  She was like that’s amazing where did you learn that?  He said it’s in the Bible, Proverbs 19:19. That just rang through me; I knew that I needed to watch The Secret Things of God. 

I know that doubt creeped in and I decided to read other peoples reviews, many people put it down, called it cheesy and talked about the audience being fake and mindless. I didn’t focus on the audience, I was so focused on the message and the secrets of God.  I hesitated for a few moments to order it, I know that everyone is a critic and some people go to seek out to be negative. Those leaving the negative reviews about it and calling it a cheap knock off of The Secret, aren’t practicing their positive thinking skills.  They were instead of focusing on the point of the seminar; they were looking for what was wrong with it. I guess I don’t understand why they can discredit something because it came from God but sit there and believe some kind of magical mystical thing like “The Universe”.  I think that there is a whole stigma when it comes to God, but will put their faith in other things, that they believe to be true.  I am not trying to say what you believe in is wrong, we all have the choice in what we believe in.

While watching The Secret Things of God, it opened my eyes and my heart.  I have been a Christian for a long time and it helped implement my faith.  It wasn’t a sermon by any means and it was actually really awesome. It wasn’t like a seminar about why you should believe in God and if you didn’t your life would be miserable.  It was more about how God works in our lives through different keys or secrets.  I learned so much about things I didn’t even know.  Dr. Cloud is a psychologist so he also included his clinical views along with his personal views.  All of the things he shared are backed by psychology and science. There were also other people sharing information  and personal stories like Dr. Drew and a Rabbi to name a few.  I learned that my relationship problems are due to my patterns and that I attract a certain type of person and I have to figure out what kind of person that is, by exploring past relationships and realizing who I am attracted to.  I will have to spend some time thinking about it, but I will definitely blog about it. 

I love The Secret Things of God so much that I watched it twice in a row.  I was tired after the first time, not because it was boring but because it was getting late. I put it on again and I watched the whole thing and when it was over I was wide awake.   I was unable to sleep because I was so excited about what I learned.  Needless to say it was 3 AM at this point.  After watching it I wanted to blog about it. I opened my laptop up and decided to wait until morning.  I am so excited about The Secret Things of God and using the keys and secrets that God designed me to use.  I highly recommend it to anyone.  Especially people who have faith in God, or are searching to learn more about God.

VeggieTales: Pistachio Review and Giveaway- 2 Winners

I used to teach Sunday school and I would do some occasional babysitting during the week. Most of the time when I would babysit during the church events, we would watch a video, this was back when VCR’s were still big. We would always watch a VeggieTales tape. I enjoyed watching it with the kids back then and I decided when I became a mom that I wanted my child to watch VeggieTales too. I really like the characters, stories and messages. I also think they do a great job of holding a child’s attention. Watching Christian based DVD’s with my son is important to me. We have another series we really like to watch too. So, when I had the opportunity to review the newest VeggieTales DVD Pistachio, I was really excited. I only had one VeggieTales DVD that I had bought online.

Check out the Trailer for Pistachio here

VeggieTales is made by Big Idea Entertainment. It stars all kinds of fun vegetables. There is Larry who is a cucumber and Bob who is a tomato to name a couple. All of the stories are made to teach you a lesson and it also uses Christian values and morals to help the Veggies learn about right and wrong. They sing the cutest songs too. My favorite VeggieTales song is God is bigger than the boogie man. The songs are catchy and they get stuck in your head really easily. They are so much fun to dance to and sing along.

When I received the DVD, I couldn’t wait to watch it with Noah. He really enjoyed watching it. He talked about the different veggies. He loves to name things he sees. Pistachio really gauged his interest and he thought it was hilarious. At one point he was laughing so hard I thought he was going cry. His laughter was deep belly laughs and I could tell he really likes it. He liked it so much that he asked to watch it again. He only asks to watch something again if he thought it was good. Of course I couldn’t resist his little please can I? Can I? Can I? Mommy please? I hope you all check it out with your little VeggieTales fan. It is a great movie that all ages will enjoy. I thought it was adorable and really liked it.

For more information and to order please visit Big Idea Entertainment’s Website. You can also find Pistachio at a store near you.

Thank you to Big Idea Entertainment for providing me with a complimentary copy of Pistachio for my family to review and providing the giveaway prizes.

I have a giveaway for you. Two (2) lucky readers are going to win a copy of the Pistachio DVD.

Mandatory entry: Please visit Big Idea Entertainment's website and tell me another VeggieTales DVD you would like to purchase.

You must do the mandatory entry in order for the extra entries to count.

Extra entries:
Subscribe to my blog via email. It must be verified

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Join the Big Idea email list for all the latest and greatest VeggieTales news HERE.

Follow @Sheilacakes7 and tweet about this giveaway including the link to this post. This can be done once a day.

Grab my button and put it on your sidebar. Please tell me where to find it.

Please remember to leave your email address in your comments or have it accessible on your blog so, I can contact you if you are a winner.

This giveaway is open to US Residents ONLY

This giveaway will end March 21, 2010 at 11:59 pm ET

Country Bob's Review

Ever heard of Country Bob’s? It’s not a country song or a little general store. It is a brand of the most delicious All purpose sauce. I started enjoying Country Bob’s back in 2003 after I was introduced to it by someone I knew. He had been enjoying it much longer. It was an instant hit with me. I have never been too big on steak sauce but I love Country Bob’s all purpose sauce.Look for Country Bob's All purpose sauce at your local grocery stores! When I was pregnant I drank it straight from the bottle. True story.

Something else that I really like about Country Bob’s; it is a Christian based company. It is really refreshing that there is a company out there that is not only making great products but are serving the Lord while doing it. It is awesome to see a company with such great wholesome values.

Country Bob’s has other products besides the all purpose sauce. They also have seasoning salt, BBQ sauce, and for those brave folks a spicy all purpose sauce. There are all kinds of delicious recipes on their website. When I look through the recipes my mouth waters.

Country Bob’s was created by Country Bob Edison in 1968. After giving his sauce to friends and family for quite a few years he began to sell it in 1977. Country Bob’s Inc wasn’t actually a company until 1982. Where Bob and a few friends went in to business with equal ownership as it remains to this day. Those who try Country Bob’s all purpose sauce become live long users. Just ask me I have been using it for 6 years now. Country Bob’s has grown so much since it was created in 1968.

They have not forgotten the where they came from and the excellence of a quality product. If you were to ask them where the credit for Country Bob’s was due they would say the Lord. The Lord is their CEO and the whole success of the company is and always will be in the hands of the Lord.

I had the opportunity to try some of the Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt. I love seasoning salt. Some people think that all seasoning salts are the same. In my opinion they are not. I can tell the difference between good quality seasoning salt and not so great ones. Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt is so delicious. It comes in a big bottle so you will get a lot for your money and you can indulge in whatever amount suits your taste. It is full of flavor. It provides just the right blend of seasonings together for a taste that the whole family will enjoy. It’s a quick, easy way to change food from ordinary to special.

Thank you to Country Bob’s for the opportunity to sample some Country Bob’s seasoning salt.
For information Please visit Country Bob's website