God is greater!

What a beautiful morning my friends. When I woke up this morning I was inspired to write for the first time in quite some time. I don’t even have the words to describe what is going on in the world today. However, I do know that God is our great provider and regardless what is going on in our lives or around us that He is always faithful. During the hardest of times we have to remember not to limit God in our lives.

Matthew 6:33 says; Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. This is God’s word and it’s straight from the Holy Bible. This is a promise that he made to all who believe in Him. We, as believers have to continue to exercise our faith and put it into action even during what seems the roughest times. We are living in a time of a great Pandemic, but the good news is that our God is greater than any Pandemic. The Bible says that God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. He is the way maker, miracle worker, he makes a way for all of us when there seems to be no way.

It is a fact that God is with us and he said no weapon formed against us shall prosper, if God is for us who can be against us. When Jesus shed his blood upon the cross he gave us the VICTORY! We have the victory in the name of the Lord. Only he can change our scars into stars. Faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God! I encourage all to open up their Bible and start reading, start seeking, and start praying if you already haven’t. This is something everyone should already be doing, I know how busy life can become and Satan is truly crafty.

I would like to share this with you and I pray you find comfort and encouragement in the divine words. Isaiah 55:8-9 says; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. NIV

With that being said I have the confident assurance that God has everything under control. Romans 8:28 says; And God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. Jesus paid a debt that he did not owe and we owed a debt we could not pay. Remember, faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain. That mountain could be any obstacle that is standing in your path as a believer in Christ.

I believe it is a time for many to repent and return to God. There is no other way, he is the author and finisher of life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. John 8:32 says; If ye shall know the truth the truth shall set you free.

With all that being said I hope and pray that we can be in agreement. I would like to ask you to join me in prayer for many people around me. I ask that you pray for my Pastor, he has been feeling awful tired as of lately. I ask that you pray for the Pastor’s wife, she is suffering from severe chronic pain in her body. Pray for my friend Matt who is having heart problems, that he may be healed. Pray for Farren and Shelly who need reliable transportation. Pray for reconciliation of my family and for my mother to be healed. Pray for Jake and Jody and their family situation. Pray for the son of my friend Curtis who’s son suffers from seizures and possible autism. Pray for the church. I would also like for you to pray for me in regards of healing and that God would open a door of my passion to provide a way. Pray for Karen who suffers from chronic back pain and pray for Aden concerning wisdom and knowledge on what he is suppose to do. Pray for Elya who is looking for a different job, pray the Lord opens a door of employment for her here in Marysville. We will be praying for you as well. May God have all the glory, honor, and praise! God bless you all. In the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen

“I am truly blessed!”

Testimony

Wow! Do I have a beautiful testimony to share today. I have been pondering on this for a

Picture I took at work after a storm. A sign of God’s covenant he made with us.

few weeks. Some of you who have read my book Rock Bottom know what I have been thru in this journey we call life. As for those who haven’t I encourage you to do so. I will provide you with some words to help you understand what I am feeling at this moment in time. If someone were to ask me, I’m afraid there isn’t words known to man that can describe how I feel at this time and it just keeps getting better.

I am sharing this hoping to bring joy, hope, and inspiration to those out there who may stumble across this piece of writing that are going thru the same thing that I was experiencing. This is what I do know my friends, when we let go and let God, He is faithful.

Anyway, so I married the most beautiful woman in the world by a lake near our hometown twenty four years ago. Myself, I thought it was going great. However, our marriage dissolved in less than three years. I grew up in a hard way, a way that I always thought was unfair even growing into a young man. At this point in time I didn’t have Jesus in my life. It wasn’t until then that many of my life long questions were finally answered and understanding came to my heart.

Shortly after we were married this beautiful young girl came into this world. I was on top of the world like you would not believe. I had my beautiful wife and now a beautiful daughter. Suddenly that day came when my wife told me to go to my mom and dad’s house for a couple of weeks to think about what I was doing and how it was affecting our family. Yes indeed, I had a bit of a drinking problem. So there it was, I loved to drink, all the men in my family drank, and that’s why I said I grew up in a hard way.

When my wife told me to go my heart was removed from my chest. I didn’t even have what it took to be strong and to be there for my little girl. Anyway, that was the beginning of my great downward spiral. Shortly after the fact, not only was I abusing alcohol, I began to abuse any drug I could get my hands on. I began to get in trouble with the law, lost my job, and everything else that meant anything to me. It was time for the great pity party!

So I was in and out of jail a few times and then ended up going to prison a few times. It was quite the experience, over a decade inside those prison walls. Let’s just say I had more than enough time to think about my life and what I truly needed to do. My father died of ALS while I was inside those walls. That was a traumatic time in my life because I hadn’t seen him for years and I didn’t even know he was sick.

Quite ironic if you ask me. It was that exact tragedy that brought Jesus into my heart. That’s when I truly found him and allowed him to take the wheel while I sat back and listened. I was so excited because I was seeing great things happening in such a dark place. When I found God I still had two plus years before my release. I just said this is it, this is what I am going to do. After all the time I spent in the Word of God and opened my heart to the greatest relationship I have ever experienced in my life, the day came when I got out. What did I do? I continued on just as I was meant to do.

My favorite Scripture is Luke 10:27, And Jesus said, with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. It has been quite the journey my friends, believe me. There were many things in my life that I wanted to do, but Jesus had to make the way for me this time around. I was released on December 3, 2009 which enabled me to join my family for Christmas for the first time in a very long time. It was awesome!

We are all human and as a human I never stopped thinking about my daughter or wanting to spend time with her. Things didn’t end so great with her mother and I so she was only doing what she needed to do for the sake of our little girl. Just like with anything else I put it in God’s hands, said Father if it is your will that I know my daughter please do what you do. I left it at that.

It was the year 2000 the last time I saw her. She was three going on four years old. Let me just say it like this, since the day I got out I have waited patiently on the Lord to see if this was ever going to happen. Then one day in June of 2020 I got a phone call, and a couple weeks or so later I met my daughter in person for the first time. All I can say is Glory to God! She will be twenty four years old this year. She is a beautiful wonderful person and doing very well.

God is so good. Jesus, you are the greatest. Thank you for all you have done in my life and for all the blessings that you have brought my way. I am so excited about this new beginning with my daughter and I. I has been wonderful. Honestly, God never stops amazing me. God takes what was meant for evil and turns it around for the good. He’s not finished, he’s working on more miracles in our lives as I write story. So, as the Bible says, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains if we only allow him to. We just need to get out of the way and let him do it. He does it better than us anyway, and what’s wrong with that!

I hope you enjoy this story, it’s a miracle and I’m ready for more to come along. You are in my prayers and please be so kind to pray for me as well. God bless you all.

Michael

God is Good!

What a beautiful day! Don’t you think so my friends. Friends, and when I say friends I mean my friends here, back home, and I can’t forget my friends of the WEST and their associates. If I did what kind of friend would that make me? Would it make me a bad or a good friend, I guess it would depend on what kind of acting lessons one acquired. Then again it could just be natural. However, there is one friend I would really love to say hello to and that’s my brother.

My brother and I are two different people no doubt about it. I will never forget the day when I returned to the family home outside of town one beautiful afternoon. I pulled up in front of the house and there it was. Mine and my dad’s favorite oak tree laying on the ground. Yes, my friends, it was laying on the ground. Someone cut it down. It was lying on the ground and it had my brother’s name  cut into it right through the bark. I couldn’t believe it, of all people, I was really surprised or was I? Yeah you’re right, I wasn’t. It reminded me of a bunch of Gypsy Moths that attacked a hard wood tree. Only thing that was missing was a campfire and a little pop up camper. I was thinking now this is genius.

I’m sure many of my friends are familiar with Romans 8:28- And God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. Some know and take heed, others know but are to arrogant and think they know better than our creator. Wow! Doesn’t that put a sower taste in your mouth. However, it is all for God’s glory of course. It’s rather simple if you think about it, God gave us free will, he gave us a choice. He created good and he created evil, without evil there would be no good. What would life be without evil? Myself, well I think it would be rather boring if evil didn’t exist. Evil makes life quite interesting because evil thinks he’s smarter than God. It’s a beautiful thing.

Does God not allow the rain to fall on those who are evil and those that are Godly. Indeed he does and that’s because He is a loving God. Meaning he has hopes that all will repent and turn back to Him that they may receive the gift of eternal life. Well, we all know how men are and how smart they think they are, many men of the west fall short when it comes to this belief. I would like to see one of them blow the breath of life into man from the earth, wouldn’t that be something. All I can say about it is, “Don’t hold your breath.”

My old man was truly humble in all that he did. He was never worried about what the neighbors had, he never worried about his job, and he was never worried about his youngest son which is me. He was content with what he had and he never complained. It’s probably safe to say that not all of his sons follow his example. It’s just like the old story of Cain and Able. We all have one of those in the family. Leads me to this. Luke 10:27- And Jesus said, “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. That means all things, he has already given us the Victory. That victory is in his loving son Jesus Christ. If God is for us who can be against us? Some gypsy moths or white buffalos, I guess that’s a valid question.

Like I said, haven’t been on here for awhile, it’s like a smoke creation but I would like to let my friends know that back East, the game is a little different. I guess it all depends on your training. But we all know that Jesus fully equips us with beautiful armor and a two edged sword that is out of this world. And when you have this sword my friends, you have the supernatural ability to unveil any sort of evil, magic, and powers of darkness. So I prose a question for you. What kind of warrior are you?

Many blessings to you all my friends, no pun intended.

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s been about seventeen months since I’ve been out here in Marysville, KS. It’s been quite an adventure. Marysville is absolutely different from the town I moved from. Regardless, it’s important to be where the good Lord wants you to be. I know I’m right where he wants me. So I can say with out with great confidence that’s why everything is going so well.

Marysville is a small town of approximately 3,000 people. The closest big city is Lincoln, Nebraska and Manhattan, Kansas. If you feel the need to get out-of-town for a day or so these are nice places to travel to. Marysville is a warm inviting place to be. From my experience most people are really friendly unlike where I came from. Maybe it’s because it’s so family oriented. This is a great place to live if you want to raise a family, in fact I believe that’s why most people are here.

Now myself for example, I came here to do a job. It has been a really challenging experience. If I was going to raise a family I wouldn’t mind doing it here. There are many things to do and experience out here. There is a lot of nature to experience, there’s many lakes and rivers to explore, beautiful trails surrounded by wooded areas, ( great place for a tree house ), along with many other things.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity that I have been given out and up here, lol. I know the good Lord is shining on us. Sometimes I find myself asking myself what I am doing out here. I say this because I don’t get to see my family or my friends very much. Then I hear this small still voice saying, “And God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose”. Roman

God’s Grace

s 8:28. That gives me the confident assurance that my heart desires. We all need that no matter what we are doing in life.

So the other day I had a few minutes to kill so I called my old boss to see how retirement was treating him. I hadn’t talked to him for quite some time. When I heard him on the end of the line it was like going back in time, just like the good old days never came to an end. He asked me how work was going so I told him that we have been fighting the rain, it’s hard to put the highway down in the middle of a down pour. He said he wished he had that problem, and that they were in serious need for some moisture to help the crops out.

So what he told me next was really awesome, so glad he shared it with me. He said he and his four-year old son was outside the other night and he was telling Logan how bad they were needing rain. Then he said little Logan closed his eyes and said God, would you please give us some rain. You could hear the joy in Mike’s laughter while he was telling this to me. Then he said about ten minutes later the clouds rolled in and the rain began. He said all he could do is laugh. That’s pretty awesome, God is so good. I don’t know about you but I needed to hear that testimony.

I love hearing how God is working in the lives of other people, and I love to see what he is doing right where I’m at. I have a great feeling that he is about to blow me away once again. You just never know what he has in store for us.

Well my friends, until next time, pleas pray for my girl in Texas, and pray for Emily and my daughter in Australia. God bless you all.

Michael,

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Matthew 25: 31-46

But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those on the right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.

Then these righteous ones will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you? And the King will tell them, I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!

Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and the demons! For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me no clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.

Then they will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you? And he will answer, I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.

The Lord put this on my heart to share with all, it is imperative that we lead by the example the Lord set for us, nothing less and nothing more.  We must remain alert and aware of the needs of all humanity. The reason I say this is because it’s the right thing to do, this is what we should want to do. Everyone will be held accountable to God on that day. We will be held responsible for our own walk with the Lord and how we have helped others. Because Jesus identifies himself with others who suffer, so should we.

God bless you all and have a wonderful week my friends.

Michael,

 

This is absolutely unreal my friends! I don’t believe I’ve been on here since I made the move to north-western Kansas when I took on a new job. That has been almost a year ago. Let me just say this, the job that I have now is more demanding than the one I had before. Being the Superintendent over three asphalt plants all over Kansas can be pretty time-consuming. I have to keep reminding myself of Mark 10:27 which says; And Jesus said, “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible”.

I know I’m right where the good Lord wants me to be. I have been so blessed since I have been out here. My ministry continues on just like the Lord planned. I haven’t spoken as much as I normally do, however, I am scheduled to speak at a church this Sunday so if you would be kind enough to pray for me I would truly appreciate it. Pray the Lord will give me the words he wants me to speak by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Anyway, I won’t bore you too much but I have seen may amazing things since I’ve been out here and it’s been an awesome experience hallelujah. I know it’s because God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So I do my best to do what he asks of me.

I do have some prayer requests. Please pray for Jake in Texas, pray for Harve and his health, and pray for Fred who is going in for oral surgery tomorrow morning in Manhattan. Also, please pray for my daughter in Australia and my daughter in Texas. God bless you all and thank you.

Michael

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It’s been a minute since I’ve been on here. How time passes when you’re having so much fun! As you know I took a big step by moving and beginning a new job. I would say it’s almost like starting all over in a sense. So far it has been truly rewarding and a great challenge. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Proverbs 16:3 says commit your work unto the Lord and your plans will succeed. I’m not even sure what my plans are to be quite honest. I know the Lord wanted me to make this move and I did. It has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The hardest part is I don’t know anyone. My best friends and family are all hours away from me. That makes it pretty rough. I can’t just jump into my car and go over there like I use to. So it’s been a little rough not being able to do that.

I have been praying that the Lord will place good Christian friends in my life. So I ask that you would be kind enough to pray for me concerning this matter. I know he will do exactly that, I just don’t know when.

The company I work for is pretty awesome. Please pray that they are given more work for the year. The asphalt business is a tough business. Thank you and God bless you all.

Youth leader,

Michael

 

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God is so good and He rewards those who seek Him diligently. It’s been approximately

Super Natural

one year and three months when I received my first job offer. It wasn’t long before that when I learned that my wife decided she wasn’t coming back from Australia. So in a nutshell I was offered a big job in Texas, my wife wasn’t coming back from Australia and she was pregnant, and then learned that my boss was retiring. Wow! This was a lot to soak in all at once.

What could I do? I already lived the crazy life and knew in my heart I didn’t want to return to that. So I decided it would be best to continue seeking God in my life. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33. So that’s what I did because he has all the answers. Did I receive them all at once, of course not.

So the first thing I did was pray about the job offer in Texas and immediately received a no from the Lord. I prayed again and received confirmation. We were now under new management and I couldn’t think of one logical reason why the Lord said no. Honestly, I figured I would retire from this company because they gave me a chance to show them what I could do. Bottom line: my loyalty lied with them.

So here we are now in the present moment and as I pen these words my old boss is doing great and really enjoying his retirement. I go and see him at least once a month. My wife is now my ex-wife in Australia with a beautiful little girl who is almost two years old now. That has pretty much come to absolutely nothing, am I upset about it, of course not. It is what it is. Do I understand it? No, but God does. And God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28. I continue to trust in his word, do I know why all this happened? I have no clue whatsoever and it’s been my experience that God takes what we call bad situations and turns them around for the good in our lives. Honestly, my curiosity is peaked at this point in time, Lord what is it!

Now the job situation is a little different at this point in time. All I can say is I thank God for my old boss retiring, and I thank God for keeping me at Fashion Inc. for an extra year because the truth about many things came to light. I remember my old boss telling me keep an open mind when it comes to your employment. I didn’t quite understand what he meant so I asked him. He said when the job offers start rolling in always take them into consideration. He knew something I didn’t know, and that was the fact other companies would be seeking me out. The idea of that never crossed my mind.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next, yes they started rolling in and one really stood out to me. I met with these people and we spent quite a bit of time together. They are really nice Christian people and they have one thing on their mind which is truly amazing to me. Anytime I inquire about the job all they can say is just come here and do what you did at Fashion, bring the people together.

So I’m sitting here thinking the main reason they want me to come work for them is because of my ability to bring people together in Christ. I’m completely in awe my friends, I never would have thought people would want me to work for them because of that reason. God is so good to us, and he never ceases to amaze us. So I will let you know that I prayed about the job and I received a yes.

Where did this happen? It happened in a church in Lawrence, KS. A friend of mine told me there was a guest speaker named Babatunde Okaye from Nigeria sharing the word that morning so I went. When it was over he asked me to come up. I went up and he began to pray for me. When he finished he looked me right in the eye and said I just had a vision and in that vision I saw you holding a suit case in your hand and said it’s alright to leave. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t tell him anything, he just began to pray. He also said that I will write over twenty four best selling books and my finance will over flow. Once again, I said nothing to him and I have already had one book published. Pretty amazing! Then I prayed again and received confirmation to go.

So that’s where I’m at my friends. I will be moving soon so I would like for you all to keep me in your prayers. Especially for courage and boldness to continue to do what I do, I really appreciate it. God bless you all.

Youth leader,

Michael

 

 

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Moving forward! Isn’t that what the Lord wants us all to do? I believe without doubt that when we are presented with an opportunity to grow in all aspects of our life we are to seize it with great confidence. Romans 8:28 says; And God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Therefore, when God is in the center of our life we will be blessed by stepping out in our faith with boldness.

Super Natural

And Jesus said, “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:27. This is my story right now. I have been working the same job for some years now. I accomplished my goal quicker than I expected. Anyway, I have truly been blessed. Long story short, there is no more room for growth. I have been dealing with this for quite some time now. I have to work at making my job interesting. However, the Lord has opened a door of opportunity in my life. Now all I have to do is step out in faith.

I just want to be where the Lord wants me to be. Going through all the steps to get there can be quite overwhelming, but it’s a true blessing. Change is what it’s all about. Stepping outside our comfort-zone. God is truly amazing! All promotion comes from the Lord. I have been seeking promotion at my current job because this type of work is what I love to do. However, there is no room for promotion so God has given promotion just in another amazing company. I didn’t see this coming, but I am truly excited to get started.

I just wanted to share this with all of you and ask when given a chance to please pray for me. I’m just a man so I need all the prayer I can get. All glory to God!

Youth leader,

Michael

 

 

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Among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant…….For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26, 28.

We thank you LORD for what you have done at the cross because we are not worthy.

Youth leader,

Michael