James 1:2-6

Today was an amazing service not that other ones aren’t, but I just felt so close to God? Before we started worship I remember praying that God would allow me to enter in and not just sing for the sake of it, but to actually Worship Him. I believe that my prayer to God allowed me to have a change in my heart to allow me to be present with the Lord. I usually do this every time before worship, because sometimes I plain just don’t feel like singing. Which, I am glad that I did enter in because I could really feel his presence and it allowed for my ears to hear the message he had prepared for me. Sometimes it is easy to just sit back, have you mind on your worries and not listen to the answer God has for you. Because to receive from the Lord you have to be willing to listen to what he has for you. I really felt like God was saying.” Don’t give up, keep praying, seeking, and asking,” because honestly it is hard to keep your chin up in the hard times, to keep praying to God, and to not get beaten down. And since we live in the.” we want it now era”, it is even harder to keep praying with no quick results. But the sermon today allowed me to have a recharge of energy to keep praying for my family. God’s timing may be different than mine but ultimately we are reaching for the same goal; to save the lost, heal the sick and bring hope to the brokenhearted.
So lately I have really been having a burden on my heart to pray for my family, especially my mom. For the past month now I have been praying passionately for God to heal her. And I do believe he can heal her but I need to remember to trust in him and that all in all he has a plan and a reason for things. Not that he would want some to have such a disease as lupus but sometimes it is all that can humble you. I know for myself if I did not have low points in my life, it would be easy to just go to church, play the part of being Christian without actually having a relationship with Christ. It humbles me and allows me to reach out to God in the hard times which help me to get into the habit of praying even in the Good times. I thank God for my trials and tribulations. One verse that helps me to thank God in all situations is
James 1: 2-6 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

Therefore, remember have patience, seek after God, keep knocking because the door will be answered, just in Gods time.

PAYBACK IS SO SWEET!

Today was a very adventurous day. For one it was Brad’s b-day so we had a birthday party. We bought a yummy heath bar ice-cream cake. We had just a couple of people over. Shelly, Clayton, Nathan, and Terry. It was fun visiting and laughing thinking up pranks to plot our revenge of the forking of our yard. And of course we decided to go do a prank. We all loaded in our van went to Wal-Mart and bought forks. We must have bought like seven boxes of 48 forks, which totaled to 336. We rushed to Jennifer and Dave's house to fork their yard. We were very sneaky and parked at the church across from their house. We of course told Nathan if he made a noise we would duck tape him and put him back in the car, so he was good. We all took about two boxes a piece and stabbed their yard full of forks. It was so sweet getting payback. Hehehe. Clayton was getting a little too much into it, cuz he kept wanting us to go prank another person. I think we created a monster. I was so surprised we didn't get caught. But if you know me I can't keep a secret worth anything, I had to blab about our latest adventure on Face book so Dave and Jennifer found us out. When I talked to Dave he said he got home probably 5 minutes before we got there to fork his yard. Talk about perfect Timing. lol.



Oh and I am still waiting for Officer Jenson to call me!!! I won't hold my breath.

Candles, Carols, and Communion

Tonight was our special service for CHRISTmas. We sang carols which was quite fun even though I am not too fond of Christmas music. Then we took communion to remember the sacrifice Christ did on the Cross. As I was taking communion and listening to Pastor Terry speak I couldn't help but think," It would be so hard to sacrifice someone you love so dearly to you." I honestly couldn't say I could do it. Just thinking of this I remembered a dream I once had that broke my heart in two. My dream was that Brad was in a car wreck and Died. It felt so real, I woke up with tears streaming down my face. I couldn't stop crying. And it made me think how is it that if I was able to get so upset over a dream of the person I love dying how much more upset was God when he had to send his only son to pay the price of my sins. I thank God everyday for that such sacrifice. And it makes me tear up every time I think of the heartbreak God felt on that day. And how it wasn't just a simple dream he could wake up from, but a real situation he would have to remember every single day. I could not live with that realization. So remember when you are celebrating this Christmas that it is about Christ. Jesus is the whole reason we are celebrating. It was because the ultimate sacrifice was born on that day. The son of God, which is Christ Jesus!
Facebook | Brittany Saddler

We have been Forked!

Well last night my best friend Shelly came over to stay the night. We had fun reminiscing, venting, and watching movies. We were up til 2am having fun chatting and updating each other on our lives. We watched Julie/Julia which was a cute movie. Brad actually picked it. lol. Sometimes I wonder about him. jk.

Anyways after a fun night we went to bed and I was awakened by Brad at 6:30am. He woke me to tell me that our yard was full of forks. So I looked out the window and he wasn't kidding. lol. The only thought that was running through my brain was who did it? I have some suspects:

Jennifer and the Friends girls

Clayton and Nathan- Doubt it though

and My Brother Dustin

The reason I am pretty sure it was Jennifer and the girls is because they were out late and I am sure they all stayed the night at the church. So of course they most likely got bored and forked our yard.

Or it could be my Brother cuz he has reasons to pay me back because of past pranks of me plastic wrapping his car and toilet papering it. But not too sure about that one though

And it might have been Clayton and Nathan cuz I wouldn't put it past them. But who knows, I don't think his dad would allow them to come to our house in the middle of the night to do it though.

So in conclusion I think it was the Girls. Don't worry Jennifer I will get you guys back....MUHAAAAHHAA (EVIL LAUGH). I am thinking up an evil plot now!!!


Hope your ready!! :)

Who do you give the Credit too?

Don’t Give the Devil Credit when Credit isn’t due!

Have we really gotten to the point where all we do is blame the devil for everything. I do believe he is a big part of the problems that occur in our lives. But remember God gives us a way out of things it is our choice to act on certain situations.
1Cr 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

So if you are being tempted to do the wrong thing instead of the right. Look at the scripture God gives you a way out. For example if you want to gossip or tell a lie about someone take the high road. And if you decide to do what you want and gossips don’t always blame it all on the devil. He may have a part in the situation but ultimately it was your decision.

Men always know when to say the wrong thing.

Men always know when to say the wrong thing.

Me: Brad dinner is almost done.
Brad: Ok, What are we having?
Me: Spaghetti
(Slight moment of Silence)
Brad: You know Honey you should have gone to a Culinary School. Then you could cook me really good food.
Me: WHAT! I cook good food.
Brad: OOPS I didn’t mean it that way.

Changed

Changed By God my Savior

Looking back at my past, I have realized how much I have changed. I use to be a prideful, arrogant snob when I was younger. I was out right rude to people when I thought they were not good enough to be my friend. My whole idea of what I should be like was distorted. I actually thought I was going to make it to Heaven, when in fact I was the farthest from being able to enter Gods heavenly gates. My idea on how to get to heaven was being a good person, basically someone who didn’t murder someone or commit suicide. How messed up is that.
The truth was to enter heaven you have to humble yourself, acknowledge your sins, become truly sorry for your sins, repent of your sins, take faith in Jesus Christ and approach God through Jesus Christ to be truly saved. This I now know and have known for about 8 years.
One thing I believe is that when you do make the decision to follow Christ you have then decided to begin the process of becoming Christ like. It doesn’t happen overnight, it is something that takes time and prayer. I remember a time when I kept having road rage while driving to work. Every day I decided to pray that God would change my heart and mind to stop me from becoming angry. After a couple days of this process I never had road rage again.
God was slowly changing my attitude and heart, and I am so thankful for his patience. And as I look at what I have now become I notice that the changes in me are closer and closer to the characteristics of Jesus. I know I am not perfect but I know God will help me to get to a point that pleases him. To be perfect I will have to wait for his eminent return to take me to heaven. Because ultimately that is the only time one can become perfect.
Remember God is a loving, patient, kind God. All he wants for his creation is to turn to him and love him back. Some people think he is a mean God telling us what we can and cannot do, but that is not true. He allowed us choice; he does not want any one of us to be cast into Hell. God wants everyone to go to Heaven but it is our choice, Heaven or Hell? Without choice our love for God would not be true love.

Some of my Photography

Fun

Today was a simple day didn't do much. Brad had the day off so that was nice. I think we may bake cookies for christmas presents, which will be interesting. We had youth group today, It was fun, Tammy had games for everyone to play. Then all the kids recieved a gift. They really enjoyed it. I was excited to see we had 15 youth there. I have been praying and fasting for God to have a break-through in our city. It seems each week we have a little more kids than normal. God is great!!! My biggest goal is to see the youth group grow to over 100 kids. But I also want a spiritual growth to happen. The numbers wouldn't matter if there wasn't a spiritual growth. Well I will keep you updated.

My Intro

Well, where shall I start?

Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.




Some say the course of one’s life is determined by the steps you plan on taking to get somewhere. By looking at this scripture it reminds me of all the past circumstance that has brought me to this point in my life. I do believe I have had a part in getting to this place in my life by the decisions of what fork in the road to take, but ultimately I believe God has directed my steps in every way.

When growing up in the little town of Irrigon in our little trailer I never really thought about the effects of my decision making. I was young, carefree, and a tomboy. I loved playing games with the boys, running around beating up neighborhood kids (boys), and scuffing up my knees climbing trees.I mostly hung out with my big brother Dustin. My sister Valerie thought I was annoying. Which I must agree I probably was. I would always steal her clothes, which she hated. But the whole reason for me stealing her clothes is because I secretly looked up to her. I wanted to be just like her.  Alot of people say that My sis looks exactly like our mom, my brother is a mixture of both parents, and I look like my dad.  But you can tell we are all related.  I really love my family though, it may have not seemed like it when we would fight with eachother but I would do anything for them. We were kind of crazy when we fought. I remember one time Valerie chased Dustin with a knife and I was running after him with a broom. Good thing he ran to the bathroom and locked the door.  We didn't really make the best decisions of which weapons to use. Us Swindlers have some anger issues.

See I never really thought about God and my purpose in life. That stuff was way too deep for me at that age. Well at least until my world was turned upside down when I was 13. Some kids who have parents divorce never really can say they are thankful for it, but honestly I am. Not that I ever wanted my parents to divorce but it is a situation that brought me where I am today and allowed me to find Christ.

And I have my best friend Shelly to thank for befriending me at that time in my life and inviting me to church. I believe God placed her in my life for that purpose. Oh and on a side note, I don’t believe in luck, or coincidences. But you probably already knew that.  So once I started going to church I received Jesus as my savior and my life was forever changed. Not that everything becomes perfect once you are saved, but God comforted me in my trials. I was no longer depressed or hard hearted. I forgave my mother for everything. And now we have a great relationship.

Anyways, lets talk about my life now. I am recently married to my highschool sweetheart. He is an amazing man of God. I know it may sound cheesy but he makes me want to be a better person. We really balance eachother out.  Brad and I have been together for almost 5 years. It dosn't seem like that long but it has been great.  We are like any normal couple we have our arguments but we get through them.  I really don't think my life could get better than it is now. And I have the Lord to thank for that. :)

I really do believe Brad and I are the perfect match for eachother. We both love people and love helping others.  On our spare time we go door to door inviting people to church and praying for people. And since our recent move to Hermiston last year we found the PERFECT church for us Hermiston Assembly of God.  I love our church, we are able to help with the Ignited Youth Ministries group. We love it so much. It helps us not to be so lonley since all our family lives away from us. They kind of make up our family. We would probably go crazy without them in our lives.