Christa Wells and Nicole Witt graciously sent me a review copy of “Image of God” CD to listen to for thirty days.  I received no compensation for this review.  I received a complementary copy of the music CD in exchange for an honest review.

I usually don’t do a lot of music reviews.  For one each of us has our own style of music that we prefer.  So what I like you may not and so on and so forth.  But when I received the “Image of God” CD, I just had to share with my readers.  When I listened to “Image of God”, I could feel the presence of God withing the words to the song.  It ministered to my soul.

The CD “Image of God” was produced by Christa Wells & Nicole Witt.  This was my first taste of their music, but it definitely won’t be my last.

Included on the CD:

Image of God

Set Free

Dawn of Grace

Lay Us Low

Pray

You can visit Christa Wells or Nicole Witt at their websites by clicking anywhere in this post that their names are listed.  This CD is available on Amazon and iTunes.

The lyrics to each song carry such meaning and are creatively put together to complement the music.  Each song carries a melody and a message about the “Image of God”.  If I had to pick my favorite on this CD I would chose “Pray”, it touched my heart in such a way drawing me closer to the Lord.  I don’t want to give too much away.

Why don’t you see for yourself.  If you purchase your copy please let Christa and Nicole know Melissa of Melissa’s Musings sent you.

Until Next Time,

M

I recently joined a summer Bible study online.  We are using the Focused15 method for 1 Corinthians 13.  Our main focus the first week is our quiet time.  Since the beginning of the year I have been attempting with the Holy Spirits help to be faithful to at least 30 minutes a day in quiet time.  Which includes prayer, Bible reading, Bible Study and reading Biblical books for edification.  Thanks to the Lord and His strength it has been going great, I mean here we are in May.  For the first time on Thursday of last week, I wasn’t able to have my quiet time.  I had to take my dad to surgery.

My dad has always went to bed with the chickens and awoke with them too for as long as I can remember.  Well the day of his surgery he told me to call him at 6:00am to make sure he was awake.  Piece of cake or so I thought.  My dad did away with his land line in favor of cellular only service.  Which is great, but when you can’t hear your cell phone 90% of the time, this becomes a problem for an elder person living alone.  So I called at 6:00am.  No answer only voice mail.  I called again, and again, and again.  All the way up to 6:24am.  Then I realized that he was not awake and I had to go get him up.

To make a long drawn out story short, he wasn’t up and I didn’t get to spend my usual quiet time with the LORD.  I was disappointed, but I realized soon after I got my dad out of bed that I would have at least two hours while he was in surgery and who said you can’t have quiet time in a surgical pavilion?  So that is exactly what I did with my tablet, I read the Bible, studied the Bible, and spend some time in prayer.  I am sure I got some looks, but so did Jesus.

So if you are struggling with quiet time with the Lord, stop!  You too can have a quiet time, but you have to make time for it.  You make time to go to the movies, out to eat, to get your hair, nails done right?  Then make time right now for the Lord and guard it.  If you miss don’t condemn yourself, just dust yourself back off and begin again.  It is easy once you’ve scheduled it in, but until you slice  out time for it, it won’t magically happen.

Until Next Time,

M

I received a complimentary copy of Purified by CeCe Winans free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  I listened to the cd Purified for thirty days and below is my personal review.

Included on this musical disc is:

Mamma’s Kitchen

You Will

Pray

All That I Need

Just Like That

You Are Loved

Let Everything That Has Breath

Always Sisters

I Promise

Colorful World

A Place Like This

Purified

He’s Concerned.

This review was my first encounter with any music by CeCe Winans.  I have to say she has such a way of instilling hope through music.  Comfort flows through the lyrics as well as encouragement.  After listening to CeCe you feel renewed and refreshed.  I would have to say my favorite song was Mama’s Kitchen.  Cece has such a beautiful voice.

CeCe Winans is a six time grammy winner.  Purified is her seventh solo album.  It is a mixture of pop and R&B.  Purified takes you on personal glimpse of the faith CeCe Winans has and her relationship with the Lord.

I recommend this album to my readers.  You won’t be disappointed.  It is an album you will want to listen to over and over again.

Until Next Time,

M

Did you think that Melissa of Melissa’s Musings went missing?  Well in a way she did.  Mother’s Day weekend I came home from work to discover that I was being whisked away by my family to spend some nice quiet time with them at one of my favorite places in the whole entire world.  St. Augustine Beach.  Yep, we had a whole four bedroom condo to ourselves.  It was so nice, I actually got caught up on some reading.  But I have to confess, when I got home that Friday afternoon, I was tired and when they sprung this surprise on me my first reaction was… What about the Bible Study I am leading?  What about all the homework I have for my own Bible Study?  Will we even have internet?  Then I realized I was being selfish and just took a chill pill.

So I know I am a week late, but how was your Mother’s Day?  I pray it was a blessing.  I saw a church sign on the way to St. Augustine and it said You could never give your Mother a better gift than the one she gave you, Life.  How true.  Thanks Mom.

Then on Tuesday after returning from some much-needed quiet time, I celebrated my 41st birthday.  Wow, I can’t believe it and then some days I feel twice that.  It was a nice birthday with Key Lime pie from work and chocolate my favorite.  My dh  bought me a boy Pomeranian earlier this year as part of my bday present so I can begin my breeding program.  Of course he had to buy me something else on the actual day, a beautiful bracelet in my favorite color, purple.  The girls picked out three charms for my charm bracelet and dh got me one from him too.  I got a new journal and some awesome pens.  We are going out to dinner at the Outback this year for my birthday this weekend.  The girls were studying Australia in school so this should be a good history lesson while we dine.

Thursday, was the girls last day of school and it was a field fun day.  I didn’t get to attend until close to lunch time due to my dad’s cataract surgery.  But we still had a blast and they even won awards for the field events.  We had tons of snow cones, hot dogs, chips and capri suns.  Awards night was tonight, with each girl bringing home awards.  Gabby surprised me and brought home the math award.  You go girl.  All three girls made the A honor roll.  Madison won the spelling award, you go girl too.  Savannah got the highest grade point average in her class for the year.  So I am very proud of my three little ones who aren’t very little anymore.

So if you missed me I am truly sorry.  Life got in the way and I am glad it did.

I am truly blessed.

Until Next Time,

M

As a Gabby Moms reviewer I was given the opportunity to review Chores – Many Hands Make Light the Work bundle by Lorrie Flem of Eternal Encouragement.  As a Gabby Moms reviewer I received a complimentary copy of Chores Many Hands Make Light the Work bundle to review in exchange for an honest review.  I received no compensation for this review.

This month as part of my Gabby Moms review I’ve been authorized to giveaway one bundle.  To enter please click on this link and enter.  Winners will be notified by email.  Enter Contest for Chore Bundle #2 Many Hands Make Light the Work.  The winner will be chosen on June 1st and they will be contacted via email provided in the comment.  I wish each of you the best in this contest.

Do you struggle with getting it all done?  What does help look like to you?  In Chores Many Hands Make Light the Work bundle, Ms. Lorrie Flem shares through pdf files, ebooks and audio files getting things done requires the assistance of your children.  How to train them to complete the tasks at hand and become a help.

The bundle includes:  Organization how to tips, homeschool storage systems that actually work, rules for unorganized people to live by, teaching your children to help happily.   The following audio files are included: God Blesses This House, But He Doesn’t Clean It, God Blesses, This House, But He Doesn’t Organize it, 12 Super Simple Time-Saving Tips, Cheerful Children and Challenging Chores.  E-Books: Neat and Tidy Tried and True Organization Tips, Turn Housework Into Fun and Games!  E-Booklet: Keep It Clean and Toxin-Free.  All these are valued at over $100.00.  For more information please check out the store to get a detail description of each item included in the bundle.

I have to confess the first thing I turned to upon receiving the bundle was the E-Book Turn Housework Into Fun and Games!  I don’t know about your house but with both parents working full-time and part-time away from home and then taking care of a second household, I can use all the help I can get.  But… usually I get griping, complaining and fighting when it comes to chore time.  So I was very interested in how to make housework fun for me and my children.  Usually I end up completing the chore myself to save myself the grief associated with my children and chores.  Not anymore.  I have a new tool that has helped our household tremendously.

Ms. Lorrie Flem teaches us as mothers how to train our children up in a responsible way while reducing the size of our to-do lists.  Lorrie has a way of teaching you from a personal standpoint.  You can tell she has struggled with the same thing that we are facing when it comes to chores.  She shares practical ways to incorporate our children into chores and she makes it a teaching lesson on responsibility.

I recommend this chore bundle to anyone who has little ones and wants to train them up in the way they should go.  You will be teaching them valuable lessons they can use in their adult lives.

Until Next Time,

M

Whew.  Has it been a week.  It seems like the enemy was fully engaged with the blood bought child of God this week!  Every where I turned I could see the fiery darts of satan.  Each person I met seemed to have an alternate agenda that satan was using for his good.  Every piece of machinery I touched also seemed to have it in for me.  By Tuesday night I was totally exhausted and could not get a good nights sleep.

Have you ever experiences the attack of your enemy?  Have you noticed how he prowls around hoping to steal your time, your testimony?  The only way we can stand against these attacks is stand on the Word of God (truth) not news, not friends, not family, not data, the truth!  Ephesians 6:13 says “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” KJV.

I know why satan is bring on the attack.  I have since the beginning of the year purposed in my heart and made a covenant with the Lord to spend quiet time with Him in His Word.  I recently about a month ago began this new study method.  I shared on my blog about Focused15 and most recently Savoring the Living Water How to Have an Effective Quiet Time.  These two Bible study books helped changed my outlook on Bible study.  Now I hunger, thirst and pant after the Word of God.  I understand when Job said that he loved the Word of God more than food.  So satan is trying to tear me away from this faithful, one day after the next excavation in God’s Word.  I have gleaned so much already things that I had never seen before in Scripture are popping off the page and the Holy Spirit is revealing the knowledge promised by Jesus.  As Jesus molds my life through the Word of God it is becoming more effective for His purpose and our enemy does not like that.  So I guess I should have expected the attack.  I was prepared I just wasn’t expecting it to come in the form that it did.  Know what I mean?

I have been studying the book of Galatians with an online group.  Study 1 Corinthians 13 the love chapter with the Focused15 method.  I am still finishing up my DO NOT DEPART study in Psalms.  I began leading an online group of ladies in a book study called Knowing God By Name author Mary A. Kassian.  I have really met some awesome people who will be doing this study with me.  I love to reach out through online studies and met new people.  You can fellowship miles away and praise God together.

So as you spend quiet time with the Lord today, slow down and observe the scene you are reading about.  Let yourself be in the scene, observe the people.  This will help the Scripture come alive to you.  Read the passage over and over.  Why not write down on an index card the verse that caught your eye or spoke to you specifically.  Carry this verse with you every where and read it over and over and allow God to speak to you.

Until Next Time,

M

Please join Eternal Encouragements Facebook Party on May 14, 2012 from 3pm to 5pm EST.  You can join the party by clicking on the word Eternal Encouragement anywhere in the post to be taken to the Facebook page.  This is a Mother’s Day Monday!!!

From Eternal Encouragements Facebook page “We will have a good dose of Mom Motivation prepared just for you as well as doorprizes and goodies galore. In fact, in honor of you, for this party we have a free gift that every mom would love to have for each attendee – you’ll have to be there to see how to get yours.”

I am sharing this party with you as part of my Gabby’s Moms participating.  You can learn more at www.eemagazine.com.

Until Next Time,

M

Katie Orr one of the authors of Savoring Living Water How to Have an Effective Quiet Time graciously send me an e-book copy to review for 30 days.  I received no compensation for this review other than the complementary copy.

Savoring Living Water How to Have an Effective Quiet Time is available as e-book format or in print.  You can click on the word “Savoring Living Water” anywhere within my product review and you’ll be taken to the Savoring Living Water website.

When was the last time you tasted the Word of God and seen that it was good?  When was the last time it quenched your thirst?  We may read the Word of God each day, but have we allowed the living Word to change us?  To saturate us?  If you are tired of wandering aimlessly through Bible Reading, Bible Study or your quiet time, I recommend this book.

When I opened this e-book on the second page I came to was the foreword and I came across the word “The Flip Bible Study”.  Have you ever pulled out your Bible and just let it fall open?  This is the “The Flip Bible Study”, I have to say I’ve been guilty of this.  I don’t know what I want to study, I am not quite sure sometimes how to study the Word so I just leave it to chance.  You don’t have to admit to this if you don’t want to, but still check out Savoring Living Water.

The authors, Katie and Lara didn’t just author this book they are a living testimony to how to have an effective quiet time.

Savoring Living Water includes the following:

An Introduction

Chapter One: Recognizing Your Thirst

Chapter Two: Finding a Seat at the Well

Chapter Three: Cultivating the Dry Ground

Chapter Four: Drinking Deeply

Chapter Five: Savoring Each Drop

Chapter 6: Spilling Over

Chapter 7: Living the Quenched Life

There is also four awesome appendixes with all the tools to get you off on the right foot.  And a companion journal.  Once you are finished with Savoring Living Water you will be fully equipped to drink of God’s Living Word.

Savoring Living Water is the type of book that you want to savor.  Take small sips each day until a habit of having an effective quiet time.  The authors share that there are other ways to connect with God, this is just a way that worked for them and has brought fruit to their lives.

I have been using Savoring Living Water faithfully in my quiet time.  I have to tell you there were a few study tools, I simply never tried because I didn’t know how.  Savoring Living Water fully explained these tools I had been avoiding and made them user-friendly to me.  Which in turn opened up a whole new way to spend time in God’s Word.  For instance, I have read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 many, many times.  Using a lexicon for the first time, when I came across the word vaunteth(KJV) and using my lexicon, I finally saw this word for what it truly was for the first time.  I had always read this word vaulteth, not vaunteth.  So I was not rightly dividing the Word of God.  I was misreading the word all this time, not intentionally, but out of blindness.

I highly recommend Savoring Living Water to you.  Whether you are a theological major or a novice like me, you will glean from the book.  It will also break up the routine that you’ve been stuck in while muddling through Bible study.

An awesome aspect of Savoring Living Water is that for every book purchased, $2 of the purchase price will be donated to OneVerse.   OneVerse is an organization that translates verses into the native language of people with out Bibles in their language.

Until Next Time,

M

Recently Melissa’s Musings did a product review of the The Printable Planner for Moms Life Simplified.  Heather at The Printable Planner for Moms Life Simplified agreed to give one digital copy away.  The contest has drawn to a close.

And the winner by random drawing of comments, likes, and shares is tami519.  So if yo are tami519 you are the winner of The Printable Planner for Moms Life Simplified.  Please drop me an email you can find that under my contact information on the blog page to claim your prize.  You have until May 11, 2012 to claim the prize or I will have to draw another name.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who commented privately, liked, shared my post or dropped me an email about this contest.  I read each one and was touched by what you had to share.

I pray you have a great weekend!

Until Next Time,

M

Stabilo graciously sent Melissa’s Musings three Stabilo Worker rollerball pens to use in exchange for an honest review.  I received no compensation for this review other than the complementary pens.

As you know from reading my blog, I am a pen addict.  I love ink pens.  The other day when I cleaned out my purse I had 41 pens inside it.  41!  That’s a lot, and no two were the same.

One of the first things that caught my eye about the Stabilo worker pen was the color.  Bright orange.  I liked the color.  You don’t have to worry about one of your co-workers stealing one of these pens.  They stand out.  These pens are very durable.  The outside feels almost like a rubber material.  The pen is marketed as the tool for hard work.  In my line of business I do a lot of writing.  This pen definitely held up to the pressure.  I found that you can write at almost any angle with this pen.

From Stabilo’s website:

High-quality rollerball with nickel silver tip for an extremely smooth feeling when writing.

The latest bionic liquid ink technology.

Ergonomic design with non-slip surface over the entire shaft.

Ink level indicator.

Available in two widths: fine (0.3mm) and medium (0.5mm)

Available in the four most commonly used colors.

The advantages:

Indestructible tip glides quickly across the paper.

Relaxed fatigue-free writing.

If you are a person who uses writing implements on a regular basis and are looking for a different look and outstanding performance, then I recommend this pen to you.

You can purchase these pens by clicking on the word Stabilo anywhere within this product review.

Until Next Time,

M