Grace To Get You Through

Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21)

Rick Warren wrote, "Grief is a part of life, but you can't let a season of grief turn into a lifestyle of grief. At some point you have to let it go."

I awakened a few hours ago to the sound of a mother's whaling cries. It did not take long to realize that the cries were those of my neighbour who only 72 hours prior to that, bent over her porch with a wide grin on her face giving congratulations to my young daughter on becoming a first time mother and to me on becoming a first time grandma... She was clearly very excited, as evidenced by what she said, in part, "Congratulations! I am so happy for you all....."

Thought For Today

"Don't ever try to understand everything-

some things will just never make sense.

Don't ever be reluctant to show your feelings -

when you're happy, give in to it!

When you're not, live with it.

Don't ever be afraid to try to make things better -

you might be surprised at the results.

Don't ever take the weight of the world on your shoulders.....

Don't ever feel threatened by the future -

take life one day at a time."

Douglas Pagels

No Cross, No Crown

Have you ever heard any of these sayings? "No cross, no crown. No mess, no message. No test, no testimony. No pain, no gain. To gain something, I must loose something. In order for life to spring forth, something must die.Your deepest valley brings you to your highest mountain." I believe we have heard at least one at one point or another. To some they may be looked upon as cliche, they are non-responsive to such, they look upon them as nothing too serious while at the same time their attitude is one that is laid back. Some on the other hand take them quite seriously. As if to say, well since God is allowing me to go through all of these tests, mess, valleys and my cross is so heavy, then He must have a great reward at the end of the day.

Life Changing Thoughts

     

I have missed the count of how many times that I have stumbled and have fallen in my life. I've lost count of the numerous times I've heard the negative whispers of some very harsh criticisms that have come my way over the years. But even through the midst of them all, I've always found my strength in the Lord. He is an on time God and so is His word as He picks me up in His arms and carries me through. I am certain that this too is your testimony. And so today as I began to put pen to paper, the thought occurred to me, why not share some of my best loved quotes in picture form. I apply them to my own life, and I've found them to be life changing. There is so much power behind every word. As I share them, I trust they will be a blessing to you too. 

No Sin Is Greater Than The Other

One of the greatest misconceptions that plagues the mind of many believers in Christiandom today is that 'some sins are greater than the other.' This is an age old tactic used by evil forces against the body of Christ, and it's a significant flaw called the 'church folk' 'goody two shoe' mentality, seemingly to excuse some sinful behaviours and practices based on the person that is committing the sin without even as much as a slap on the wrist, while others are quickly judged, ridiculed and condemned. I quickly beg to differ with this misconstrued notion, and emphatically state that NO sin is greater than the other! We have ALL sinned and come short of the glory and the standard that God has set forth for us to live by. (Romans 3:23)

Aglow International Caribbean Conference 2012

Aglow International is doing it once again with their Caribbean Conference 2012 to be held on the beautiful island of Antigua at the Grand Royal Antiguan Beach Resort from October 25th to 27th 2012. The theme of this year's conference is,

"The Sounds From The Caribbean Nations"

Conference Speakers include: 

Hilda Douglas (Bahamas) - The Aglow Caribbean Regional Chairperson and national Director for Northern Caribbean

Janet Mangum (USA) - Transformation Director for Aglow International

Bishop Melch Augustine Pope (St.Vincent) 

Gavin Otto (Antigua) - Associate Pastor of Christian Assembly Ministries

Worship Speakers 

Cheryl Erles - Assistant to Aglow Transformation Team Director

Fran Hallgren - VP Leadership Development

Aglow Transformation Department

Other Conference Information

1. Conference is open to male and female participants. Please avoid bringing children.
2. Conference begins on Thursday October 25th 9:00 a.m. and ends on Saturday October 27th at 10:00pm
3. We encourage local participants to stay in at the conference site. You can use the opportunity to enjoy a small vacation and benefit from fellowship with other participants.
4. A daily rate of US $30.00 and a session rate of US $10.00 will apply to those who are unable to attend the entire conference.
5. Meals (except for the festival lunch) are left to individual arrangements.
6. Please budget for departure tax US $28.00 (cash only) and US $20.00 (flat rate applies for up to four persons sharing a vehicle)
7. Aglow conference registrations are not transferable. Requests for refund will be entertained up to November 20th after which the fee will be considered as a contribution to the ministry. A transaction fee of US $10.00 will be retained on each refund.  

Full Registration Fee - US $80.00

Full Registration for Couples - US $150.00

Festival Lunch - US $40.00

Hotel Information:

Resort Phone for reservations - 268-462-3733 ext 1151/170

Email: reservations@grandroyalantiguan.com

For information on how you may obtain application form please contact Cassilda Van de Neut 

Email: ricas@caribserve.net

Tel/fax: 011 721-542-3596

Cell: 554-6255 / 524-4208

Majic Jack: (954) 773-0848

Skype name: princess 46

Interested persons on Tortola you may contact Pastor Ava Baird - President of Aglow International Tortola who is also Pastor at Deeper Life Ministries.

My! How Things Have Changed by Chris Jennings Penders

Chris Jennings Penders is the Author and Publisher of Wisdom And Life Blog. I've been following his blog for some time and I have also had the opportunity to connect with him on Google +, Bloggers.com and most recently on Twitter. Why you may ask? Well let me just say I have found him to be a blog friend who writes with integrity. Like so many other blog friends I follow, his writing inspires me and I've discerned how much he has grown in the faith and his deep desire to draw even closer to God. On September 17th 2012, he posted this article that I have been permitted by him to feature today here on Empowerment Moments. I was moved by the contents of the article. It reminded me so much of my own struggles within the context of the discussion...Okay I will present it to you and let you get your own experience by it. So here is what Chris wrote:

by Chris Jennings Penders
I've written here so many times about how my faith has changed in the past ten years, moving from a belief in my own God, keeping an open ongoing dialog with the divine and NEVER having ANY doubt that there was a Divinity that we could ALL tap into if we only released our doubts and listened for HIS answers. The answers are ALL around us in messages cloaked in coincidences that don't exist.

A New Home For Empowerment Moments

There is no place like home - your own home that is, and one that you were able to build from ground up with very minimal assistance.   

Thank you to all my blog friends, followers and visitors to Empowerment Moments Blog, affectionately called EMoments. For those of you that have been following closely, you would have noticed the different transformation phases that this website has gone through over the past months. It has now come to it's final phase and I am pleased to announce to you that Empowerment Moments now have its' own website at URL http://www.empowermentmoments.com/ It has been done in such a way that you are able to navigate much easier from one page to the next, ie from this page to Empowerment And Life Quotes, Prayer Without Ceasing and back to the main home page. 

As time goes by additional services would be provided. In the meantime, I invite you to take a walk through. I hope that you love it just as much as I do, and just in case you don't, I am open to suggestions. :)

NB: If you have been blessed by what has been shared thus far, I trust that you would be encouraged to share the blessing with others and provide them with the link as well. God bless you!

Mwah!!! Have a great day. 

A Poetic Expression On Overcoming A Dark Journey

This poetic expression on overcoming a dark journey is based on a true life story..a story of her struggles, fear and frustration, yet the remarkable courage and overwhelming faith in the journey that she will become strong  to walk away in victory. She refused to become another statistic and by recording her experience, hope that others would find encouragement and hope, and that God will give the grace and the courage to rise up and become the woman of strength that is so needed in the world today.


What Is Darkness?

Darkness is a sinister feeling, it is hard to explain - like suffering but without the pain.
Darkness is the stormy night when there isn't a star and you cannot tell by looking just where you are.

The place darkness....It is sheer madness! Always crying, so frustrating, you can't breathe, feel or even see. Darkness is what's inside that is killing me. The sound darkness is Boom! Boom! Boom! A boulder echoing in an empty room, in a thunderstorm the darkest cloud you become deaf, deaf, for it is just too loud!

silence.......

Getting Back On Track

Hi everyone, I hope you had a great week and like me, you are looking forward to this weekend for some much needed R&R. I sure need that! My week has been very hectic - hours of travel, hours waiting around at airports to board my flights. Don't get me wrong though. Truth, I love to travel. I love to meet new people, not to mention, I love visiting cities and places I've never gone before. Sure you'll agree, no two are alike. My business travel took me to Charlotte, North Carolina and then over to Cleveland, Tennessee - both very beautiful places.

"I AM" - A Declaration Of Faith

Who Am I? How do you see yourself? What does God see when He looks at us? How does God expect us to live? I AM! These are two of the most powerful words, and what you put behind them will indeed shape your destiny..."Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am one of God's beautiful creations, created in His images and after His likeness which is His authority and his power. I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus and forgiven of all my sins according to the riches of His grace. I am born of the Spirit of God and I am filled with His Holy Spirit. I therefore possess and walk in the fruit of the spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. I am an Ambassador for Christ. I am his representative here on earth. I am God's official Legislature and law enforcement agent because I have an unction from the Holy One.

Freedom To Encourage Yourself

Deep within me I kept on hearing this song 'Encourage Yourself.' It is a song that has blessed me time and time again. I tried to sing along but did not quite know all of the words - so I went on a websearch and there it was, a widget with the lyrics. Do enjoy, sing along and be blessed.

 

Lyrics | Donald Lawrence lyrics - Encourage Yourself lyrics

It's The 100th Post And I Am Grateful

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." Ralph Waldo Emerson. When the Lord first gave me the idea for this site back in January 2012, it was at a very low point in my life - it was born out of much adversity, trial, persecution, and rejection.. Circumstances that I've since archived in the pages of history, had left me feeling unappreciated, unloved, defeated and shrunk back by fear. Wait a minute, did I just say fear? That's right, fear! That manipulative bully! It was in that moment of my deepest despair, that a voice deep within me began to cry out. I was listening to my heart cry. It needed urgent attention! There was no one else that I could turn to but God. It lingered on for a couple days until He answered my cry and asked me this question: "Who better to encourage and empower yourself but you through the word of God?" 

You Were Born To Be Blessed

Whatever the color of your skin, your ethnic background, your religion, or your denomination, the difficulties and challenges in your life, the many times you may have stumbled, fallen and got back up again, I dare you to believe that you were born to be blessed! Your job may be paying you well and then there are those who struggle being paid minimum wage, or may be still trying to find a job, still I say that is not what defines you nor the extent to which you are blessed. In support of the point as is headlined in this article, I share with you these words from the Apostle Paul:

It's Not Luck...It's God's Favor!

"For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." [John 1: 16-17 NASB Version]

It is always a very humbling experience for me whenever I receive something in my life, that I know even under the most ordinary circumstances that it did not and could not have come about by man's doing. I never see it as luck. It's not because as some would say, 'oh you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.' If it's an increase in my finances, it's not because I won the lottery or something of that nature. It is not through some inheritance that my parents or some family member left behind in a will for me. No, not so at all.