Your service title

REINVEST

WoW!!!!

What a great message from the Father through Darcy.

Keep our eyes fixed on the Lord!!!! Be an icon for the Lord!!!

Thank You Father for delivering that message.

Often as we know, what appears to be heavily burdened with pain and agony can be a great opportunity for growth if we magnify our Father in the situation rather than placing our focus on the self or the ego and what that situation represents to us.

For example when we find ourselves feeling buried alive in grief over a loss, a loss of any kind ,we fail to see the opportunities in the situation thus not magnifying God. Grief over loss usually calls for fundamental change of some sort. When we consider Romans 8:28 we Can find the motivation to shift our perception, funny how that works huh, if we would just humble ourselves to reach for the word, or humble ourselves to pray we instantly find relief. God you are truly amazing!!!

Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

And we know that ALL things work together for GOOD to those who LOVE GOD, to those who are the called according to HIS purpose.

All things, not somethings, not now and again, not his things or her things.....but ALL things work together for the GOOD.

With a shift of perception out of ego ( wallowing in self pity) to our authentic self which is the self created by God, for the purpose of glorifying and worshipping God, perhaps we can find the fundametal change that is required.

Deepen our reliance on God, Fix our eyes upon our Lord!!

While we may only have a mustard seed of Faith the Faith of Jesus is abundant and can be expressed only though the body.

REINVESTING IN LOVE IS REINVESTING IN GOD

We all hurt, we all have pain, we all have suffered, but none have suffered like HE SUFFERED......therefore who are we to walk with a hardened heart to that which we have decided in stubborn refusal that we will not endure again.

What if JESUS decided in stubborn refusal that he will not endure a pain, ANY PAIN again and decided today not to REINVEST IN LOVE???

What if????

His purpose is my purpose

Paul Magnified with his body

More on the Being Filled

So in my last blog I touched on what can happen when you are filled with the Holy Spirit but I want to dig into that more.

Being full of the Holy Spirit is tied to many things in the Bible. Prophesy, speaking in tongues, boldness, courage, filling others, confidence, power, joy, sense of fullness like being drunk, wisdom, signs and miracles are all attached to the power of the Holy Spirit.

I'm thinking that least a couple of these qualities might appeal to you. If they are appealing, here's the deal. The best anyone can ever be is not good enough. We will always fall short of being perfect. God is perfect and requires us to be blameless. In the old testiment every time a person messed up they were suppose to sacrifice an animal to get back to a right relationship with God. So God decided to send his only Son Jesus Christ to be the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins. No more sacrificing animals!!

So we have to accept that Jesus died for our screw ups. The times we missed the mark. Otherwise his "sacrifice" isn't for us. Ask Christ to come into your life and clean you up to restore that right relationship with God. When we do that God gives us a deposit of his Holy Spirit to live in us and help us as we walk out the rest of our life. We have a free personal counsellor for life! He gives us all those qualities I talked about above.

Your life will feel complete. You will have a renewed purpose. Have you ever wondered why so many people who have all it all commit sucide? Without Christ in our lives there is no sense of purpose, no lasting hope, no anything good that lasts.

Is this a religion? I personally don't see it as a religion. I see it as a personal relationship with God who is wants to restore a relationship with His kids.

Many relgions you have to do something to get something. It's "man" reaching to a higher seemingly unreachable and unpersonal power. What I described is God sending His son for us. We accept and recieve it.

Too simple? Children get it and us adults who have to reason it all think it's got to be more complicated. :)

Got questions? God can handle your questions and even your doubt. Ask Him to show you if He's real.

Where are you at?

For those who have asked Christ into their life, I encourage you to ask God to continously fill you. We are sponges and sometimes dry out. Get back to that uninhibitied realtionship with God. See what happens. Nothing like it.

Encouraging you.

Alanne.

Mow Your Own Garden

Maybe I just liked the title. Had to share.

By Bob Gass

Mow Your Own Garden - Not Someone Else's
What is that to you?... follow Me!
John 21:22 NIV
Peter had strong opinions about others. Maybe you are like him. One day he started meddling in John's business, saying, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "What is that to you?� follow Me!" There's an important lesson here. Learn to identify 'who owns what.' If it's their garden let them mow it, or live with the weeds.(Love it!) If someone can only get what they want by playing the martyr or guilt tripping and manipulating others, that's their issue; don't make it yours! If they're living with consequences, it's their consequences not yours! If they deny their problems or can't think clearly on a particular issue, the confusion is theirs. It's your responsibility to love and pray for them, even offer help, but it's not your responsibility to fix or rescue them. If they don't seem capable of showing appreciation or apologising when they're wrong, that's their problem. Only when they have an attitude of gratitude and the humility to acknowledge their mistakes, will they grow. In the meantime it's their garden, stop trying to mow it! If your hopes, your peace and your happiness are dependant on anyone other than God, learn to detach. You're a joint-heir with Christ, not a joint-tenant with Him (Romans 8:17).
Has it occurred to you that God could be waiting for you to get out of the way so that He can go to work in their situation? The truth is, you are powerless over them, but God's not! He may let them stumble before He lifts them, but He'll do what's right and what's best. So follow the Lord - and mow your own garden!

Strong words but good to chew on.

Alanne.

Fighting or Talking

The Bibe talks about putting on the full armour of Christ to fight off the enemy. Ephesians 6:10-20.

I love to communicate and communicate well. I believe it's important. For me though, I'm learning to shut up already!

I need to gear up to fight the good fight, not just sit around talking about the fight I should be fighting!!

Today at church Pastor Dave Wood delivered a powerful message called The Fourth Tabernacle. It should be available to listen to soon on www.weca.com. At the end of his message he said "There's no victory without at battle, it's hard but I've read the Book, we win!"

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.Proverbs 25:11 My mom drilled this into me.

There's a time to talk, there's a time to pray, there's a time to fight and I need to know when to to what. And maybe moreso, just do it!

Fighting with you. :)

Alanne.

PS If you'v read this and you don't understand what I'm talking about, if you don't understand the spiritual battle that goes on around us but want to know more, email me. I'd love to talk with you and hopefully help answer some questions you might have. Life is hard but knowing some key things will help. Thinking of you and praying for you. Alanne schellenbergs@shocotech.com

I'm behind.....

So I had a few thoughts that I wanted to share and haven't gotten around to posting them. I will post them but just to take some time and say it's been a really tough couple of weeks.

We have been sick but this week I have been down. A bit depressed? Am I above being depressed? NO! Do I have reason? Not really. That time of the month? part of it maybe. Attack from the enemy? He's sure trying to keep me from doing my quiet time!

Through all this God has blessed me with "lights". Friends have encouraged, given gifts, and listened and and and!!! I have so much to be thankful for. So I think part of what needs to happen here is taking my own advice that I had heard and shared yesterday at Bible Study. "Stop listening to myself and start talking to myself."

Speak life! My soul, my soul must sing! And press in.

At Bible Study last night Julie shared ...

Phil 4:4-9Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I think I need to write this out, speak it out and post it somewhere where I can speak it to claim it.

Focus on good things and be honest.

So some of the things I wanted to share were ...

We are to let our light shine. Just as Psalm 118:27a "The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us."

My question is does your face shine? Are we a reflection of Christ?

"Lord let me shine, shine like the moon, a reflection of you all that I do..." Song "Shine" by Salvador.

We are to look different than the world. Maybe not radical in what we wear etc but our face should glow.

I am very sensitive to this. God allows me to see past the surface many times and I don't think I'm the only one who is able to do this. People who are not yet Christians can spot a hypocrite a mile away. Can they spot you reflecting Christ a mile away.

I am being challenged in this. Am I a reflection of Christ this week when it's been really tough? I should be. How? Well part of it is being honest. Part of it is speaking God's promises into my life like what I read this morning Zechariah 2:8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you�for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye- 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. ^[a] Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.

"...for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye- 9 I will surely raise my hand against them.."

I am the apple of his eye and he's going to kick anyone's butt who touches me!

Cross Rocks! - Thanks Camille.

Blessings ladies as you "face" your day.

Alanne.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable�if anything is excellent or praiseworthy�think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me�put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Rejoice letting gentleness be evident

Do not be anxious but present everything to God and Peace will guard your heart and mind

Think on whatever is of God, practice what you've learned and the peace of God will be with you.

Maintenance

Good morning! Ladies I am asking that you lift Kevin and I up in prayer. In this fast paced life we cannot survive with out fuel, maintenance and the occasional overhaul. Satan wants to rip apart a great thing and destroy God's work. Thank you for your support and prayers. You're the best.

Alanne.

Quote of the Month

Thanks to my dh and cousin Dennis for working this into our conversations, I believe it's a Cadillac commercial.....

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down!" :)

Rules of the Road

As I sat a t a red light,I watched the drivers turn infront of me. I watched them as they made decisions and acted on those decisions. I was thinking about how people obey the rules of the road how they make educated guesses about what the other drivers will do next.

Just as there are rules of the road there are rules in life. For some people they obey just the bare minimum and some are extreme legalists. I'm wondering where you are at? I'm thinking about where I'm at.

What rules do you live by?

The curious,

Alanne.

Challenge

It's tough as a mom to add something extra to our plates. It's so much easier to toss something into the garbage than take the lid off rinse it out and then walk it down the stairs to put it into the recycling.

It was easier in Nanaimo, if you don't recycle you get a fine, plus you are only allowed one garbage can per week so it only makes sense to recycle. I know in Ladysmith, just south of Nanaimo, they have even gone a step further and you have to seperate your compost for roadside pick up. Edmonton is a different story, recycling is optional. It's definately easier that Nanaimo as we had to sort it and here we don't!!!

So my challenge to all the mom's/ladies in Edmonton and I'll even go as far as to say all Alberta, is to recycle everything possible. Get your kids to be involved. It is good for the environment. It is good training for your kids and as we all well know actions speak louder than words.

So take the challenge. I tell you what..... I will have a draw. For every response I get I will put your name into a draw and I will give you a free product from BeautiControl. And if you share this with 12 friends let me know and I will enter you twice. I trust that you are challenged and will do your part to help the environment and train your kids.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Alanne Schellenberg

www.alanne.info

Life Snipets

I wanted to share a couple things that have impacted me over the last few weeks.

Here are the titles...

Big Decisions, One Liners, Challenges, What we're here for.

Big Decisions

I was listening to the radio in the van and there was a snipet from a ministry called Love Worth Finding Ministries with Adrian Rogers and Adrian shared something that really impacted me. He said "One big decision takes care of a whole bunch of small ones." Is there some things in your life that you are mulling over? Sometimes a bigger decision that you have made or will make will take care of some of those smaller details.

A couple big decisions that I can think of would be accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross for you, making him center of your life. Or the decision of marriage. Are there any other big decisions that you can think of?

One Liners

This topic came about by a conversation I had with a dear friend. We both share similiarities in our lifes in that we love on people around us and then get "whelmed" by all the directions we feel pulled in.

So here's your chance. What would you do if you were in our shoes?

Challenges

"I want to see more miracles and less TV." Adam Browett

"The music style, volume, or speed of songs sung at a service does not change God or our need to worship Him." - me

"A heart of true compassion, and a heart of love combined with wrong teaching and direction is disasterous." - me

What we're here for

And I'll leave you with this thought, It's from Isaiah 60:21b

"... They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendor."

Living life with you, beside you, for the display of His splendor.

Alanne Schellenberg

What's filling your day?

We start each day new. It's great. We could get up and do nothing or get ready for work or to take care of kids or??

Having 4 kids is busy. Many people have asked how do you do it? And somehow I still find time to make cards and do spas. So my question is what fills your day? Everyday we have 24 hours. That's 1440 minutes (if my calculator and mind did it right). Well it takes me say 3 mintues to wash my face and brush my teeth in the morning. Do you have 3 minutes in the morning? I do my quiet time most mornings and that takes me about 15 minutes. Do you have 15 mintues? I think you get the idea. We all have the same amount of time. We all have different lives and time schedules etc. But somehow the bottom line is that we have time for what we make time for. Maybe that sounds silly but I recall having a conversation with a young lady who didn't have 8 hours to attend a training day. Ok but the same person has time to see up to several movies a week. It's about what we make priority.

Now there is nothing wrong with doing what we want. My challenge is be honest about it.

I am being challenged to pray and fast. My life is currently not busy. I have my regular must do's, feed the kids, clean the house etc. but on top of that I have some time. I am feeling like I deserve some "me" time. I have had a busy couple of months. But I know I'm called to pray. So do I flip on the tv or start a project or do I simply take time to hang out with God. The tv and or projects make me feel good. They make me feel accomplished (muchly desired in the life of a mom) But it's temporal. It's self satisfying. For me it's not right. So what's the right thing for you? Only you can answer that.

I need to think about what is eternal. I need to be disciplined about reading the Bible, praying and fasting. No distractions. (including Christian books or music) There is NOTHING WRONG WITH CHRISTIAN MUSIC OR BOOKS as long as your not ignoring God. :)

Ps 94 says "Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who forms the eye not see? Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?.....

Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death."

So what's filling your day?

Served Straight up.

Alanne.

Logan, the sky angel cowboy

Go to Youtube and type watch?v=zCdZwitrNoY

This was so great I had to share.

Alanne

Book I'm going to check out.

I was at my BeautiControl Unit Meeting and the Director closed the meeting by reading a quote from the book "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat." By John Ortberg. It encouraged us to get motivated in our business by discovering and getting over our fears. I'm going to check it out. If you've read it let me know what you think.

Alanne.

Soak Time

This morning I learned a lot reading the Bible. I love learning new things. And being Saturday I didn't have places to be I went to lie down and I prayed a quick thoughtless prayer asking God to help me remember that. How selfish of me.

At Evangelistic Tabernacle in Nanaimo I went on (and later helped lead) and Encounter weekend. It's a weekend packed full of 18 sessions that walk through what the Bible says about being a Christian to how to walk that out. It's intense but so good. One of the sessions was a soaking session. A time where everyone grabs their pillow and sleeping bag and
"soaks" while quiet music plays in the background. (Sounds great hey?)

I got thinking and this question came to my mind. "How can something cool I've learned soak in without soak time?"

So the challenge to me was not only to read the Word but to take the time to let it soak in.

Philippians 4:8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable�if anything is excellent or praiseworthy�think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me�put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

In this busy world take the time to learn and then time think on it.

Thinking on this this morning.

Alanne.

Challenge Details

I have to add some details (read the last entry called Challenge) as now my kids want to get involved. They have challenged Kevin if they get their friends to recycle that he should get a toy for a draw prize!! I'm excited about this and possibly other challenges.

The draw will happen at the End of February and depending on how it goes we may move it to the end of March!

So for anyone who challenges their school, workplace, community or city/government to also take on this challenge will get 5 extra entries into the draw. (the government is already on board but people don't get fined for not recycling. - If you get that changed I'll just hand you a product on top of the draw!)

I'm excited! Feel great about what you are doing and be a great example to those around you.

Alanne.

Recycling Challenge Winner

Recently I posted a Recycling Challenge. Thank you for all who responded, shared your recycling ideas and more importantly took up the challenge. The draw winner is Christy Fisher!!! Congratulations. I will be delivering your BeautiControl Product shortly.

Alanne Schellenberg.

What are you full of?

As I was typed my title, I thought of what some people might think of when they read that. :) Sorry, I came up with the title before I thought of that but it is kind of funny and relevant.

In the Bible it talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Now there are many arguments whether those two go hand in hand or not. I'm not here to debate that. I will say they are both great and I encourage you to check them both out more. Especially being full of the Holy Spirit and having sex with your spouse! (more on that topic to come, stay tuned) Ok so this is proving to be an interesting, straight up post.

So initially I was going to talk about being Full of the Holy Spirit and I will touch on that however, when I went to do research on www.biblegateway.com I discovered a whole bunch of things people could be filled with. Search "Filled Spirit"

filled with the Spirit of God

filled with power

filled with the spirit of wisdom

filled with rage

filled with Holy Spirit

Whatever you are filling your life with, evenutally you will be full of that. Deep I know. When you are full of something it causes you to act. Here we go.

Full of words -you want to speak

Full of Holy Spirit - you want to do God's will

Full of wisdom - you know what to do and want to do it

Full of Faith - you want to do

Full of doubt - you tend to question or avoid

Full of fear - you tend to hide or lash out

Full of shit - well garbage in garbage out

Like the example I gave my kids about us all being 341 mL coke cans. (If we are open we are crushable and if we're full and sealed we can't be crushed but realisitically we don't ever stay sealed very long.)

So 2 questions for you....

What are you filling your can / life with ? What does that make you full of ?

When the pressures of life come and squish you what are you going to spew onto those around you?

Pressures will come. Don't be ignorant as I was to that.

Fill yourself with Christ.You will do things that will blow your mind. Luke 9:1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

We are to be his disciples so guess what you have the ablitiy to do those things too.

You won't be bored. Freaked maybe but not bored. And life will be way more than you could ever imagine.

Want some?

Alanne

Scriptures for "filled"

Exodus31:3

Exodus 35:31

Deut 34:9

Esther 5:9

Micah 3:8

Luke 1:15

Luke 1:41

Luke 1:67

Acts 2:4

Scriptures for "full"

Job 32:18

Luke 4:1,2

Luke 10:21

Acts 6:3

Acts 6:5

Acts 7:55

Acts 11:24

Romans 8:4

Romans 15:19

Scriptures for "power" and "authority"

Rev 12:10

Luke 9:1

Luke 10:19

Thanks to www.biblegateway.com

Give me a love for dishes!

So learning life lessons is hard. School/work learning I enjoy cause I can apply it and get instant results, instant gratification ,a pat on the back.

House work doesn't get me a promotion or a pat on the back most days. It's just there constantly. It has to be done and it has to be done in a way that my husband is happy with it. I could care less about dishes. I want to be out, away from home.

Lord give me a love for housework. Give me a personal desire to make it happen. God you want to see marriages succeed and I don't want to have a bitter heart about doing housework so please help.

Being honest. Been there?

Alanne.

Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem is the name of my brother and sister-in-laws sailboat but the saying has been on my mind lately.

The meaning "seize the day; enjoy the present, as opposed to placing all hope in the future. "

So I've been working on this. "Being in the moment" or as a good friend shared "Be in the Zone".

This is tough but something to work towards or improve on in our lives. Recognizing we need to improve is a first step. Taking any size step towards improving is worth a pat on the back! As I said in a previous blog entitled "Throw yourself a party". Celebrate small victories.

I get all too wrapped up in the bigger picture that I forget that even small steps are progress. Right now I believe where there is progress there is growth and there is real life.

There are so many examples I could choose from. Exercise, eating habits, getting enough rest.

A quick example before I head to bed. Exercise. I love to work out, to work on getting in shape, to be active and get into that positive cycle. Because I haven't had or made the time to get to the gym I give up on everything to do with exercise. This is not making the most of my moments!

Do something active. I don't need to be at the gym to do something active. I just need to do it. Don't get me wrong when I get to the gym it will be great.

When you become a little more disciplined see it as a positive. When I put off having that treat, even if I had it later, I took a positive step. When I was patient with my kids, even if I lost it later I took a positive step. For me I was disciplined even if it was only for that moment. When I recognize that I have taking a positive step I will feel good about it and next time work harder to take more positive steps. Hence a positive cycle.

My kids teach me a lot about not giving up. Sometimes they need encouragment sometimes they need a break. Who am I that I don't think I need encouragment or a break as I work towards improving?

So be encouraged, encourage others and take a break when you need to.

Alanne.

God doesn't take vacations

Thankfully God doesn't take vacations. I couldn't imagine if you went to pray and you heard. "God will be out of the Universe till next Friday" AHHHHH

Our family is preparing to go on our vacation. God has taught me a lot leading up to our vacation and I have a feeling God's not done yet. I do feel that he will give me rest and refresh our family before we do what God has planned for the fall. I'm looking forward to coming back to hear what the Pastors have decided our church plans and directions to be, to get our kids into school. Starting preschool with Orin (and I'm sure Rueben will want to do what Orin's doing :) Getting together with my friends and being real with everyone.

I just want to leave you with a quote from the girltalk.blogs.com website.

Vacation is great. I can get in a car and drive away from many of the responsibilities of everyday life. I can clean my house and not clean it again for two whole weeks. I can leave behind the errands and the meetings and the emails. But as much as vacation is an "escape," there is one thing I can't get away from: sin.

As my dad is in the habit of reminding people: indwelling sin doesn't take a vacation. As long as we're in this world, we can't escape it. We can't get in the car and leave it behind. We take it with us. Everywhere.

In fact, it seems to me as if new sins sneak into my luggage. Serving others sometimes seems like more of a sacrifice on vacation. I'm often more tempted to be impatient and self-centered. Worst of all, is the temptation to spiritual lethargy; the lure of pleasure and ease that seeks to pull my soul away from communion with God.

Because sin doesn't take a vacation, I cannot�I must not�take a vacation from dependence upon God. I desperately need His help to fight the sins that surface on vacation. But, sadly, I must confess that all too often I have neglected the spiritual disciplines. I start off with good intentions, but by the end of vacation my soul is cold and lacks passion for God.

That's why I need others on vacation. My husband challenges me and encourages me in my walk with God. My mom and sisters and I trade off watching the kids so each of us gets time with the Lord. They all provide an example that inspires me.

But even though sin travels with me, the good news is that I cannot escape the grace of God! And I don't want to! The gospel tells me that God sent His Son to redeem vacationing sinners like me. And even better�one day I will truly escape from sin, and spend eternity worshipping Him!

Remember sin doesn't take a vacation either so please pray for our family. Please also pray that we will be refreshed and renewed on this trip. I will try to post from whereever we are to keep you updated.

Blessings,

Alanne.