Celebrating 5 Years of Marriage

Five years ago today, I married the man I was created for…to be his Help Meet. He is a blessing to me in so many ways and God has used him to heal me and sanctify me for His purposes.

I thank and praise God so much for giving me strength to obey Him in several areas of my life which helped lead me to David, my husband. I remember some of the hard things He was calling me to obey on about 6 years ago before I met David.

Here are a few of the things:

1. My roommate at the time talked to me about tithing. I gave money to the church, but not 10 percent of my gross income. Even though I felt I could not afford to pay my bills if I tithed, I began tithing (giving to God) what He says in His Word to give and my old job opened up overtime which allowed for financial blessing. Now, I think tithing differently. I feel blessed to give to further God's Kingdom and I feel like I am under God's protection and blessing as I (Now, we) obey in this area.

2. My roommate 6 years ago, suggested I cut my hair for locks of love. I didn't want to, because I didn't want short hair. There have only been a few times I have heard God's voice, and this was one of them. I heard Him say, "I want your husband to meet you with short hair!". It may sounds odd, but only God knows all the reasons why. I decided to cut my hair, even donating 12 inches instead of the required 10, to make sure it was short (chin length). I met David exactly one week later.

3. I received an email from a friend, asking me to be in an Easter skit, where I would be acting in front of a large group. As I was typing the email back to say, "I can't do it, I get too nervous in front of groups", I heard God say, "I picked you, Amber". This was a huge struggle for me and probably one of the hardest things ever for me to obey God with, I remember even wanting to run away. So, I did the skit. It went well, only by the grace and strength of God. David was there and saw the skit, and afterwards he said I was a good actress. (At the time we weren't dating yet, I had only known him for a couple of weeks).

4. A few months before I met David, I felt like God wanted me to date someone soon. (David was the one, yet I hadn't met him yet- well, I sort of had but that's a longer story). I also felt like God said, "There is only one". So that there would be no confusion, I began praying this prayer: "Lord, I pray that no man is attracted to me, except the one You made me for. I pray that I would not be attracted to any man, except the one You made me for. I pray the man You made me for would not be attracted to any woman except me, and I pray that no woman would be attracted to him except me." I strongly believe there were huge and awesome results from this prayer.

Thank you, God for giving me the strength to pray bold prayers and obey You with hard things, to allow me to meet and marry the man of Your dreams for me.

One Hundred Gifts

This book is awesome: "One Thousand Gifts. A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. By Ann Voskamp".

God tells us to be thankful in all things. Yet, I am a person who needs to discipline myself to think of the things I am thankful for. There have been several times where I feel prompted to just sit down, take a breath, and think of all the things I'm thankful for.

This book has helped me to discipline myself to be thankful and to see many more things and moments as gifts from God. I feel so blessed! It is a joy and a gift to feel blessed! We all have so many gifts, we don't even realize it. My prayer for you is that you would see all the gifts around you every day, every moment.

So, I am a slow reader. I've been reading this book on and off for several months. And since March 10th, I've been keeping a list of the many gifts God sends my way. Here is my first 100:

1. The book, "One Thousand Gifts"

2. The women's retreat tonight.

3. The woman who came up to me and prayed for me at the alter.

4. Her anointed prayer that spoke to my heart.

5. Intimacy with God tonight.

6. God speaking to me through the message.

7. David playing electric guitar as I snuggle on the sofa.

8. Fun time at Dave and Lacey's.

9. Friendships ~ old and new.

10. Wisdom from Proverbs.

11. Many birthday blessings that made me feel so loved.

12. Our lovable bunny.

13. A husband who is compassionate and loves to love people.

14. David helping me prepare dinner.

15. Time to spend with God each day.

16. God providing for us.

17. Making "Thank You" cards.

18. Seeing my aunt Doris today.

19. The beauty of art.

20. Colors.

21. My sight. So that I can see colors and other beautiful things.

22. The quilt on our bed made by Grandma.

23. God's perfect timing.

24. Cozy pillows.

25. Pink pen I found today that I had lost.

26. The book, "Jesus Calling".

27. The note I found that says, "The bigger you dream, the higher you go."

28. Neighbor loving his gift from us.

29. David's car window fixed.

30. Little King subs.

31. Hot tea.

32. A new day!

33. My mom.

34. A graceful deer running.

35. A field of deer in the middle of the city.

36. A night drive with David to look for the deer.

37. A beautiful snowfall. (written 3/24/11).

38. A beautiful sight out of the kitchen window, snow delicately covering tree braches

39. The scent of 'midnight vanilla' softsoap.

40. A responsible husband who loves God.

41. A husband who obeys God, even with big things like leaving his job.

42. Faith to know that God's plans are bigger and better than our own.

43. Supportive, praying friends.

44. The scent of cleaning.

45. Encouraging cards.

46. Hope.

46. Repentance.

47. Forgiveness.

48. David telling me, "You are precious".

49. Our snowflake date ~ a walk under an amazingly beautiful snowfall (written 3/28/11)

50. The beautiful sound of rain.

51. The sounds of thunder.

52. Connections ~ we seem to be crossing paths with some great people.

53. Promises in the Bible.

54. The story of my wedding ring.

55. Life.

56. Purpose.

57. Investing in a younger generation.

58. A gym membership.

59. Setting goals, and then surrendering them to God.

60. Meeting goals.

61. The shelter staff being super thankful.

62. Shelter guests thanking us and telling us how much we helped them.

63. Helping others.

64. Text messaging.

65. The website for facingGoliath is done. Yay!

66. People's excitement for our ministry.

67. Our little house.

68. The beautiful wood floors.

69. The weed puller that helps pull dandelions.

70. The field of thousands of dandelions near our house.

71. Dessert night tomorrow night with lots of women from Heartland church.

72. Living debt free ~ other than the money we owe still on the house.

73. David's music.

74. More church fellowship and community.

75. The blessing of Heartland Church.

76. A smart, wise husband who seeks God's will.

77. Colors on walls

78. Dilusso Cracked Peppered Turkey.

79. The blessing of ACT International.

80. The power of God's Word.

81. Determination to memorize the book of Colossians.

82. The scent of coffee.

83. M & M's.

84. Slippers.

85. Answers from God.

86. Water.

87. A husband who leads us in prayer every morning since we've been married.

88. Front porch candlelight dinner

89. A blessing of a part time job with a flexible schedule.

90. The peace of God's Word.

91. The sounds of summer: Lawns being mowed, neighbors music, birds chirping.

92. God's favor.

93. The power of being thankful!

94. NASCAR chapel service.

95. Men lined up to thank David and shake his hand.

96. Cute welcome mats.

97. Peonies.

98. The scent of Lavender.

99. The pray "God change me!" when I am feeling like someone else needs to change.

100. Finding out about salt & pepper popcorn.

Snowflake Walk

I love snowflakes. The other day, I looked out the window of our little house and I was so amazed at the snow. I said, "BEAUTIFUL!". My husband agreed. It was peacefully falling down in large clumps of snowflakes. I told him I was going outside to catch snowflakes on my black coat and look at them up close. I caught many cute flakes of snow on my black wool coat and I had fun. I said, "Wow!" and "Cute!" a lot. I am amazed by how perfect some of them look. I try to find really cute ones and stare at them in amazement and then they melt like 2 seconds later. It is so cool that God takes the time to make snowflakes and I have heard that "no 2 snowflakes are alike". Wow! Out of the millions that fall, isn't that amazing?

cute little snowflakes

A day or two later, there was a pretty snowfall again. I asked David if we could go for a walk together in the snow. I told him we could take an umbrella. He thought it was a great idea. We had wanted to work out that day and hadn't been to the gym yet and we really needed a refreshing break from work. He drove us to a cute neighborhood to walk around in. We felt silly carrying the umbrella, so we just put our hoods on.

On our snowflake walk in front of a pine tree.

David on our snowflake walk.

Thanks, Lord, for the beautiful snowflakes you create! Thank you that no two are exactly alike. It reminds me of people, we are all unique; wonderfully and complexly made by You. God, you are amazing and what you create is amazing!

Women Need Each Other

I'm sitting here at my cute desk in front of the computer with my slice of zucchini bread and wild berry herbal tea. For the last hour or so I've been thinking of all of the women friends I have that are such a blessing in my life and realizing how much women need each other.

Women need women friendships. I am thanking God for many women in my life right now.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a women's retreat at Glad Tidings Church here in Omaha. It was amazing. The first evening at the retreat, they asked if any women who needed prayer would come to the front center of the church. I went up there, even though I didn't want to. I mean, I wanted prayer and felt I really needed it, but I felt way out of my comfort zone in front of a group of several hundred women (who most I didn't know as this is not my home church). I went though. I was prayed over and, Wow! I felt it was a turning point in my life. I surrendered control. I start to feel like I want to control things when I am not trusting God. That night gave me peace, and reminded me that with God all things are possible. And God does provide for His children.

Before the retreat, I had been struggling where I was trusting in money instead of trusting in God. But God's Word says "Trust in money and down you go!" (Proverbs 11:28a). I was trying to figure out over and over in my head, how my husband and I would raise all of the support we need. I admitted my struggle with this and the woman prayed out loud over me. I felt so much peace and I had confidence that God would provide, and even in amazing and interesting ways. And the next day God amazed us and showed us that He is richly providing for us.

I am so thankful for that retreat, where I learned a lot from many wise women. I am so thankful for many women in my life who are helping me become the woman God made me to be. And I am so thankful that I am learning to trust in God, and not money.

I love my husband; he is my best friend. But because I'm a woman, I will always need to have time with other women. And I need to remember this. Women need each other: to pray for each other, to learn from each other, to encourage each other, to support each other and to love each other.

Here is my prayer for all women: May God bless your women friendships. May He use you to bring light, joy, truth, peace, and healing into the lives of other women and may He use other women to bring you light, joy, truth, peace and healing into your life.

This is an old picture, but I love it. Me with my sweet friend, Kimberly.

Help the Poor and Be Blessed

When I first began really crying out to God, He began speaking to me. I was so excited! I wanted to tell everyone how awesome it is that "God talks to us when we talk to Him! He does not ignore us when we yell out to Him! He loves us! He has an awesome plan for our lives!" I had a vision of yelling these things out from a mountaintop where the whole world could hear. That was almost 12 years ago.

I had compassion for homeless people. I would talk to them on the street about how God loves them. I would sometimes buy them food. Often, I felt like I was the one who was inspired in the end. Maybe that was God's way of blessing me for wanting to bless them. But sometimes it actually felt like they were an angel or even Jesus himself.

Soon after meeting the man God made me to be the Helper of, I learned that his desire was to share God's love through music with many people, including the homeless. He, David, had wanted to play music and share God's love at the Omaha homeless shelters. We spent our first Valentine's day sharing music and stories about God's love to the poor and homeless at the Open Door Mission.

Last Wednesday, I was super thankful to God that we can do this full time now. We were at the Open Door Mission sharing God's love through music, testimonies, and the Gospel. People were listening...clapping and cheering..thanking us a lot...encouraging us...and giving us money. I was trying to hold back tears.

One man walked over to me, while David was playing music. He said "He does a really great job. It is rare that they ever get people to clap here". I thought "Wow!" because people were clapping after almost every song, some hollering out "Yeah" or "Praise God"!

One man came up to the stage, seemed to bow his head to David, to thank him and set a dollar bill on stage. A little while later, another man came up on stage and grabbed the dollar bill. By the end of the show, the first man set a pile of change on stage. I had seen him walking around and looked like people were handing him something. I wondered if he was collecting change from the people. We were amazed that the change totaled over $4. This is from homeless people. The people who are sometimes known for begging for money. This amazed us.

One man left a note to David, started out "Dear Brother in Christ". It was a note of encouragement and one thing he wrote was "I pray God gives me the courage and faith and music to sing as he has to you".

One of the workers at the Open Door Mission came over and thanked us, saying "These guys need to hear this." He said it was so nice to be having music in there. He said, "We do not get this nearly enough".

Another gentleman who worked there thanked us a lot and spoke with us for about 10 minutes after the show. He reminded us that some of the men are there of nothing that is there own fault. For example, due to the economy and not being able to find a job. The thing that stood out the most to me is when he said if Jesus were walking planet earth right now, that is where you would find Him. He said Jesus would be everywhere, he would be in West Omaha too. But one place He would be the most would be there in the shelters. He mentioned how these people have nothing - and so many more people there are open to hearing the Truth. Unlike people who have "everything" they need.

So, we left with a little over $4 in change that day. This is not a lot of money, but it felt like we were leaving with a treasure chest overflowing with valuable riches.

"If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord - and He will repay you!" Proverbs 19:17

Here is the change that the homeless people gave us.

An Amazing Night With David and Jesus

Last night, while sitting on our green comfy sofa, I had this awesome memory of a super special night that happened over 4 years ago. I found an old journal entry and pictures to remember the date and details...

On January 14, 2007, David and I were sitting on his green comfy sofa. We were not married at this time, although we knew God brought us together to be husband and wife and for His plans and purposes. On this evening several years ago, I felt like God was mad at me about my sin. I told David, "I wish God was with us right now in human form to talk to us." I knew God's Spirit was there but I wanted to see His face. The expression on His face especially. A little while later, I looked up at the wall there was Jesus's face (a shadow). He looked loving and kind. He didn't look angry. This shadow of His face made 2 eyes, eyebrows, nose moustache, beard, the outline of His face with cheekbones. It looked like there were clouds behind Him to His right.

The above picture is the shadow we saw. The below pics are a zoom in of the shadow.

David and I prayed and asked God to speak to us. We sat in silence for about 5 minutes to hear what God would say to us. Afterwards we started talking. David asked if I thought God was mad at me. I slowly started to cry. David began telling me how much God loves me and that I am precious to Him. I began to really cry, so much that I was sobbing. We hugged and both cried. It really meant a lot to him that I opened up and expressed my feelings. That night was super special.

The face was on the wall for at least a year after that. We would sometimes show people when they would come over and it was dark. The face only appeared when the sun was down, the living room light was off and the dining room light was on. The dining room light shone through the neon Coors beer sign and artificial plant on top of the armoire. At some point the plant or something must have got moved a little. So, this shadow is no longer on our wall. But the memory of the moment is clear.

God, Your love is amazing! I love the ways you love! Thank you for reminding me of this intimate time with You and David! Thank you for bringing us together and using our lives for Your Glory!

A Big Snowball of Gratitude

I was resting today and pondering things I am thankful for and cool things that have happened in the past month. Before that though, I had been feeling way more on the negative side.

During my time of rest this evening, God nudged me to think of 10 things I am thankful for. Gratitude seems to have a snowball effect. I first thought of a few. Then, I thought of more. Then, several minutes later I was thinking of more and more.

Here are some of the things I thought of and am still thinking of:

~ So thankful for David's health, and my health.

~ David's beautiful, healing music.

~ It has been one month today that David and I have been working from home together and I am thankful that we work so well together. If/when we do get into a disagreement or conflict we are good at resolving it right away. Thanks God, for your help with this!

~ I am so thankful for a husband who obeys what God calls him to do, even when he has to leave everything the world says is security (job, retirement, health insurance). I am so proud of David and thankful for him.

~ I had this thought: God must be up to something through facing Goliath, that He would call us 2 1/2 years ago to raise support, me to leave my job, and my husband to leave his. Wow! And good thing He only tells us a little bit at a time. I don't know if we would have believed him 2 1/2 years ago if He would have all of a sudden said that we would both leave our jobs and be doing ministry full time in 2 1/2 years.

~ I am so thankful to be studying Colossians with others at Heartland Church. I am excited about the challenge of memorizing the book in one year! Mostly excited to have God's Truth sinking deep in my heart.

~ Also thankful to be studying Proverbs with my friends Christa and Lian. A few years ago, I began studying Proverbs at the beginning of each year. Great life lessons and Truths on so many things. And I love that I am studying it with friends this year. Friends sharpen friends!

~ So thankful that we had a house showing yesterday evening. Now our house is super clean! And I love working from a clean house.

~ While cleaning the house yesterday, David found a card in the basement that he had bought years ago that he saved for his wife (this was before we met). He gave me the card yesterday. I felt like God had him find it at the perfect time. Reminds me that God is in control and I need to always trust His timing for things.

~ The opportunity for David to lead the chapel service at the Open Door Mission a couple of weeks ago.

~ A letter & donation that arrived in the mail today from a family member who was inspired by the support letter we sent. It was the second inspiring letter we received from family. We hung them up in our kitchen. I love encouraging letters!

~ Singing a praise song to God today with David in our kitchen. :)

~ The 10 day forecast said it is supposed to be really nice next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunny and mid 30's!

~ Had a super fun time at David's show on Tuesday night with Amy Schmidt and Orion Walsh! And thankful for the great turn out.

~ So thankful to have people being supportive of our ministry, through encouraging words, through prayer, and/or financial support.

~ God told us several times at the beginning of this month to be generous. We had so much fun with this because David and I both love to give. We have had several opportunities this month to help people and be a blessing to them. I am thankful to be able to be generous.

~ Although we are only at a small percentage of our financial need for our ministry, we are so thankful for the financial support that is coming in! It means so much to us to have support from others who we care about.

~ Having people tell us recently that our story is inspiring!

~ Looking forward to going to my mom's house on Sunday afternoon to celebrate her birthday!

Thank you, God! Thank you for disciplining me to think of things I am thankful for. I am filled with so much joy because of you! You always know exactly what I need. I am so thankful for you, God!

God Calling Us Into Ministry

A little over a year ago, God began speaking to David and I that I would leave my full time job. We felt He was calling me to stay home, to work on marketing David's music, work on the beginnings of our non-profit, and work on writing. I didn't understand how we would survive living on only one income. However, God made it very clear that He was leading us to do this and we knew that He would take care of us if we obeyed. I left my job in November of 2009.

Backing up a little...in the summer of 2009, we began taking steps to start our own non-profit, as we knew that God was leading us to raise support for what we do. We didn't quite understand how we would be a non-profit and we became discouraged when the first lawyer we contacted said it would cost between $5,000-35,000 to start a non-profit. However, we were thankfully led to Artist in Christian Testimony, an organization that allows artists to raise tax deductible donations.

We received a huge blessing just hours after I obeyed God and put in my 2 week notice at my job in October of 2009. It was an email from Artists in Christian Testimony accepting us to be our own non-profit through them. Our non-profit is called 'facing Goliath'. We use art, mostly music, to share God's love with others. We focus on loving those who are often forgotten, like the homeless.

In February of 2010 God spoke to both of us that He would have David leave his full time job of being a fire sprinkler in December of 2010 in order to do music and ministry full time. That was hard to believe God. How would we be able to support ourselves without David's income? We began sending support letters out in the summer and we were touched each time someone said they would support us and each time we received a donation.

Many times since February we both doubted what God said about David leaving his job in December. We cried out to God on a number of occasions to speak to us and confirm that this is what He wants us to do, or to warn us if this is not what He wants us to do. He encouraged us in so many ways, through His spirit speaking to us and through His Word. He confirmed several times to both of us that He wanted David to leave his job in December. It's amazing that God does not ignore His children when we cry out to Him for help and guidance.

David's last day of work was Tuesday December 27, 2010. We are celebrating this week as we are taking an even bigger leap of faith than when I left my job. We are trusting that God will provide and continue to guide us. We will begin the New Year in full time ministry, loving people through the arts and music.

Today as I was studying the bible I was inspired by these verses:

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Is there a limit to my power? Now, you will see whether or not my word comes true!'" ~Numbers 11:23

"Jesus called out to them, 'Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!' And they left their nets at once and went with Him." ~ Mark 1:17-18

These are good verses for David and I to remember as we have left our jobs and financial security to follow Him. We look forward to what God will do, as His power is unlimited.

May your New Year be one of following Him, and experiencing what His unlimited power can do in and through your life.

* Here's a video of a great and inspiring song. The song is called "Let the Waters Rise" by Mikeschair. One morning several months ago we woke up to this song being on the radio. It came on during one of the times that I was doubting what God said and I had been asking God for encouragment if we were on the path of His will. Check it out:

Home for the Holidays

I was so happy that my sister, Robyn, from Vermont and her two kids were in town recently. She was here for my youngest sister's wedding reception. We also celebrated Thanksgiving with her while she was here (the Saturday before Thanksgiving). Robyn and I are only 11 months apart in age. When we were little and we were the same age for one month, I remember thinking that we were temporarily twins.

So, I wanted to post of blog of some recent pictures from Robyn's visit.

Sisters: Kelsy, Jessa, me, Robyn at Graham & Jessa's wedding reception.

This photo is taken by http://www.paddackphotography.com/

Grandma Delores, Jessa & Graham (the newlyweds)

This photo is taken by http://www.paddackphotography.com/

David, my Sweet Husband, played many of his songs during the reception.

This photo is taken by http://www.paddackphotography.com/

I love this picture of my nieces: Maya hugging Lia.

Lia, Ethan & Maya, posing for the camera.

Maya, Robyn's youngest, drawing a beautiful tulip.

The Gap Story

I recently got a job at the Gap for their holiday stock help that was needed. My sister, Kelsy, who is a supervisor their called me a couple weeks ago and asked if I would want to work there for their busy season. David and I decided it would be the perfect part time job for me. So, I started this past week and loved it. I love working around cute and soft clothes. I have no idea why this is fun for me.

So, that is how I found out about the 50% off everything sale that Gap was having on Thursday night from midnight to 10AM. I decided we should go at midnight to avoid the early morning rush. I thought we'd get there at midnight and get some great deals, and be home by 1AM. I was looking forward to it and I didn't think it would be that busy. Who goes shopping at midnight? Well, we found out that lots of people do. And due to the crowd, we didn't make it home until about 3AM! It was an interesting, kinda funny, and slightly closterphobic experience. I found 3 clearance items that I loved, and waited in line for about an hour to purchase them. I've never seen a store so crowded before.

Speaking of shopping....this Saturday December 4th, I am selling Cookie Lee jewelry at a Craft Show in Omaha. This should be fun. There will be over 100 Crafters/Exhibitors selling all different types of things. Although I sell retail jewelry, my favorite at these craft shows are the homemade items. The last craft show I went to, I purchased a homemade knitted scrubber for doing dishes for only $1! It probably took the lady an hour to knit it, it's hard to believe she was selling it for only $1. Stop by my Cookie Lee booth and say 'hello' if you can make it to the craft show. Details are below.