Taken

We saw a great movie last night, "Taken." (Not your typical "Valentine's Day movie....) I have to preface the rest of this post by saying that I LOVE action, spy, detective-type suspenseful thrillers. I love stories where the good guys "get" the bad guys. When I was little, I wanted to be a "Charlie's Angel" when I grew up. They were smart, could fight, solve a crime, and still look pretty!

This story begins when Liam Nieson's daughter goes to Europe with her friend unchaperoned, against his better judgement. Being an ex-government "preventer" (he tells his daughter, "I prevented bad things from happening" when she asked what his job was), Dad doesn't want Kimmy to go. But, Kimmy and her mom (ex-wife) poo-poo him, making him feel like an "out of touch", overprotective dad.

So, he lets Kimmy go. You guessed it, she gets "taken".
Kimmy and her friend are stolen and put into the sex slave trade. Dad only has 72 hours to find her. What he finds will break your heart. Not because it is a movie.

Because it is a reality.

PLEASE watch this video or this video.

This is a heartbreaking reality of the world we live in. Please pray for these girls. Please pray that these men would see the Light of Jesus Christ and know they are wrong.

Pray for God to vindicate this injustice. Pray that He would break the yoke of this slavery.

...do not fret...for evil men will be cut off...

A little while, and the wicked will be no more...

Psalm 37:8-10

Lord, I know Your heart breaks when You see this torture of Your precious children. Lord, as I weep and mourn when I see this horrible injustice against human life, how much more You must feel....how sad this must make You.....how angry.

Lord, help us.

Please be aware of this horrendous travesty. Tell others. Give to organizations that help. Joyce Meyer has a program that helps as does Life Today.

Make a difference.

Cafe Chat

Tell of one specific time in your Christian walk that you were overwhelmed with God’s love for you.

Oh, I love this Cafe Chat! I love to share with others the love of Christ! He loves us so much! He is our knight in shining armor! He is the sweetest Lover we could ever imagine! Some people think, "Oh, God doesn't do these sweet things for ME. He does these amazing things for Tracy or Beth Moore or the Cafe writers. He's never spoken to ME this way."

Oh, sweet one, I CHALLENGE you! He doesn't love ME any more than He loves YOU! He longs to show you His love. He longs to give you "kisses." He longs to bless you.

BE OPEN.

BE WATCHFUL.

LISTEN.

BELIEVE.

Scroll down and read "Happy Valentine's Day" for my example of God's love for the Cafe chat.

Blessings!

AAAHHH!!! Stolen Identity!

Wow! What a morning I've had! First of all, I had intended to join Gina at Chats with an Old Lady for "What are YOU Learning?". Instead, I was in crisis "mode"!

When I opened my email to read my daily online devotions, an email caught my eye. It said it was from PayPal and that someone was trying to access my account. So and So was trying to buy silver dollars using my account.

I panicked! My first thought was that someone had stolen my identity or had stolen my credit card information. Not really taking a breath, I immediately followed the instructions on the email. I clicked the link to check my account.

Now first of all, I have to tell you that I am not STUPID! (I know sometimes we think people who fall for these scams are just not right thinking people!) This LOOKED so legit. It had links to other PayPal pages. It had PayPal images all over. It LOOKED authentic (boy are there some great lessons here....wish I had more time to write about how things LOOK authentic in our lives, but are just counterfeit!). This looked like a genuine PayPal site/page. I thought this was what I needed to do to stop this transaction being made with my account.

But, as I began to fill in all of the appropriate information I stopped in my tracks. Although there were links there about this being "secure", I was suspicious. God reminded me of an email I gotten recently about online security. If the web browser says "http" it is NOT secure. If it says "https" it is a secure address.

Well, this was a non secure address. Then, as I continued to look at the information I was being asked to provide, more red flags went off.

IT ASKED FOR MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!

I knew PayPal would not be asking for that- especially on a NONSECURE address.

I immediately called PayPal and found out that no one had used my account to buy anything. When I was on hold waiting for a representative, a message said when looking at suspicious email, make sure the email is addressed to you with your first and last name. When I was finished talking on the phone, I went to delete the email and noticed that it WAS NOT addressed to me (or anyone). In fact it must have been sent to undisclosed recipients as there was no one listed in the send column. How could I have missed that?????

Any way, I was shaking....praising God for His protection! Thank You God, for Your Holy Spirit that warned me. Thank You, God for reminding me about the email about web security. Thank You for wisdom!

Thank You, God that no one can steal my identity in You. Thank You that no one, not even the devil can snatch me from Your Hand!

Remember the "https" tip I learned! Don't ever give your social security number online!

Blessings, dear ones! Remember YOUR identity is in Christ Jesus! He loves you!

How Do I Pray...I'm at Laced with Grace Today

Have you wondered if there is a "right" way to pray? Have you ever felt like you just didn't know how to or what to pray?

I'm talking about this at Laced with Grace Today. Please visit me there to read about it.

Thankful Thursday

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am going to thank God for my sweet honey! I am so thankful for this wonderful man who has blessed my life in so many ways.

I am thankful that he is patient with my immaturity, my selfishness, my self-centered-ness!

Love is patient.

I am so thankful that he forgives me. I am so glad that he overlooks my flaws...my mistakes...my sin!

Love covers a multitude of sin.

I am so thankful that even though there was a time in my marriage that I would not have blamed my beloved for asking for a divorce, God gave him the grace to stay with me! I did so many stupid things in my youth! And, I would have told you that I was perfectly justified, the one who was "right." I thought HE needed to change, needed to do for me, needed to be different.....

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Looking back, I see that I was so WRONG!

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the
Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity.

And, I am so thankful that by the grace of God we survived those difficult days and that now we have a healthy, strong marriage with no possibility of divorce. I am thankful for the commitment and the "forever" attitude that we both share.

The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." For this
reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and
they will become one flesh.

Lord, thank You that even if I didn't have Brian, YOU call ME Beloved. You love ME with an unending LOVE. You are my TRUE LOVE and the hero of my love story.

Please visit Iris at Grace Alone to read more Thursday Thankfulness!