~He's a charmer~

Ladies and Gentlemen I know you think that only humans are capable of being charmers but there is also another who is the best at charming his way into your life..It's Satan.

Satan wraps everything you dream of, up into someone or something that captures your attention, he makes it all look so appealing and perfect on the outside, he makes someone seem like they are everything you've ever hoped for..when in reality it's everything that you don't need at all! 

Satan is only a talker..he won't ever do what he's told you he would do! He's nothing but a pretty little liar!

How do I know this? Because I've fallen for it before, like many of you I've also been swept off my feet by a deceiver and someone that was a charmer..when in reality..they were only like a snake charmer!

You see, Satan knows what we hope for and is the ultimate charmer! He knows our desires and our weaknesses because it's in his nature to figure that out and to study us until he finds out what our weaknesses are!

Not only is he good at finding out our weaknesses but he also knows when to attack! He knows where to strike and when the moment to do it is! He is such a trickster!

Even when you are doing everything in your life to follow God's plan and you are keeping your main focus on the things of God..Satan still plans ways to destroy us and many times we will fall for it! But the point isn't that we fall for his plans..the point is that we get back up when we have been knocked down to our lowest point and we decide to continue toward God's purpose for our life! 

Grace isn't only for those who are lost but for those who stumble into Satan's schemes and we are in need of that grace once more!

We will always stumble but we know who is going to catch us when we do..God!

It's like that DC Talk song that says.."What if I stumble, what if I fall, what if I lose my step and I make fools of us all, would your love continue when my walk becomes a crawl, what if I stumble and what if I fall.."

I can answer that..God's going to catch you..even when you continue to fail Him..He loves you and He wants to see you succeed! 

Put Satan in his place and claim God's grace over your life today, It's not too late even after mistakes have been made! 

Walk into God's purpose for your life! Forget the shame..just speak His name!

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

1 Chronicles 16:35-36

"Say also: 

“Save us, O God of our salvation,

and gather and deliver us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!”

Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

1 Chronicles 16:34

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!"

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

​"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

John 1:1-5

​"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Jeremiah 29:11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

~Dani

~What am I not seeing?~

Many times as Christians we simply "miss it" or we "overlook" things because it wasn't at the time that we were expecting it to appear but worse than that many times we forget to close our eyes and see what God thinks, instead we somehow think that we know ourselves better than our creator and that's how we miss out on so many things!

What if we could have a dream like Mr. Scrooge and see all the moments that we have missed along the way? Would we still think the same way or would we suddenly have a change of heart like that of Mr. Scrooge's change of perspective on life!

God could give us dreams like that but the reason why He doesn't do it very often is because He is simply testing us, seeing if we are going to listen to His voice or that nudge from Him.

But when we don't..most of the time that was our only chance!

We ask so many times "God show me a sign.." But why is it that when it comes our way we don't realize it and we allow our heart to become hardened to it?

If we would only allow God to put things in our path more often, we wouldn't miss out on so much in this life!

Let's make a commitment to listen more this year, to not focus so much on the outer things but to look at the core of things instead! God's love is deep, so why do we always try to find something beautiful on the outside first off when there are many much better things out there if only we would focus on the heart instead of the physical appearance of people?

Let's try to change that frame of mind this year, let's dig a little deeper, because unless we truly understand that..how can we say that we are thinking like Christ? Or maybe it's just me but It's something to get you thinking nonetheless. 

1 Samuel 16:7

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Colossians 3:12-14

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

1 Corinthians 13:13

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love"

~Dani

~Don't waste your time..~

Have you ever stopped and wondered what your purpose was?

The fact is that if you have to stop and wonder about it..you probably haven't discovered what that is yet. 

First of all, We were made to worship.. so if we aren't worshipping our very creator..then what are we doing? 

The answer is..we are wasting our time, precious time.

Second, We have a wonderful imagination..but we are filling it up with things like porn and things that we see with our eyes instead of seeing with our hearts! 

We try to satisfy ourselves with temporary pleasures that only feel good or look good for a season but when they fade away we wonder what we are missing in our lives..But what do we do? We go back to the porn and all the temporary fills that brought us to that place more than once in our lives and instead of changing..we remain the same and we refuse to admit that it's us that's the problem and that our hearts need to change!

What is wrong with us? We are starting to waste away, we no longer apply the bible to how our lives should be, but instead we go on reading the verses that we are "okay" with and refuse to apply the whole word of God toward changing our lives for the better simply because we are afraid to be different and to be separated from the ideals and temporary fills of this world!

What would happen if we gave God our all? How many more people would we help! If only we'd admit that we want to change into something better..we would also understand that we can do anything with God and we could benefit others around us by walking in His truth! We could shake this world and wake it up to realize that they need Jesus!

Our vision would be clearer and we would start to dream beautiful dreams again, if only we would surrender our minds and our eyes to God again!

Let's surrender our everything to God! Our every thought and dream so we can strive to be something better for the world to see and along the way we will bring others to salvation just from seeing our faith turned into actions!

Don't waste today, choose today to make a difference in the world by showing them the love of Christ and by showing them the difference that He's made in your life!

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 138:7-8

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and your right hand delivers me.

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;

your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 130:5-6

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning."

~Dani

~Unanswered Prayers~

Have you ever prayed to God about something only to find out that your prayer had not been answered and down the road you thought..

"Thank God that He didn't answer that prayer!"

I think about it all of the time, I'm so happy that God knows what I need and He knows my heart's desire, even when at times I don't fully understand why some things don't work out ideally as I would have figured in my mind..

thinking back now, I am so glad that God took care of me and guarded me from walking don't a certain path, 

even when we stray off course at times..God knows what we are called to do and what purpose we have over us!

Rest easy today and when you find out that your prayers weren't answered..don't fret because God has a much better plan, job, person or whatever it may be..He has that special thing in mind for you and it will be so right for you that you'll also be left saying "Thank You" to Him!

Proverbs 19:21

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 18:1-3

​"I love you, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies."

~Dani

~Dani's Oven "fried" chicken strips~

~Dani's Oven "fried" chicken strips~

written & tested By:Danielle Stoker

Dairy-free recipe

8 oz. chicken breast, sliced into strips

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs 

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs 

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

3 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning 

1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

2 teaspoons smoked paprika 

2 teaspoons chili powder

Put the seasonings in a ziplock bag into the bread crumb mixture, 

sprinkle strips with a dash of each seasoning before putting into bread crumbs,

coat the strips in batches of 3 at a time, place strips on a canola oil sprayed cookie sheet, place into a preheated 375F oven for 15 minutes, 

carefully flip over the strips and continue to cook for 15 more minutes or until fully cooked and golden brown, enjoy!

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 17:6-8

“I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

incline your ear to me; hear my words.

Wondrously show your steadfast love,

O Savior of those who seek refuge

from their adversaries at your right hand.

Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me in the shadow of your wings,”

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 136:23-26

"It is he who remembered us in our low estate,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

and rescued us from our foes,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

he who gives food to all flesh,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven,

for his steadfast love endures forever."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Matthew 6:5-15

The Lord's Prayer

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

~Dani

~No Substitutions~

Why is it that we humans somehow convince ourselves that we can make it on our own most of the time?

When will we come to realize that we simply cannot make it without His help?

Living a life without God is the loneliest way to live..even more so than the loneliness that we feel while we're single!

In fact, there is a part of us that cannot be filled with anything or anyone but to be filled by God and it's time that we started to realize that!

If you are married but you're still lonely, chances are that you don't have God in your life or it may be that you haven't been building up your relationship with God lately, no matter how many friends you may have around you..it cannot fulfill the emptiness in your heart..only God can do that!

If you're lonely, think hard to what the reason behind that feeling is and find out if you need a friend, a companion or if your relationship with God needs some attention, and find what your treasure is in this life so that you can be the happiest that you can possibly be in life!

That feeling within you may also be a longing for purpose in your life, a purpose to help others, to find your calling, to find greater meaning in your life and to discover what God has called you to do in this world for His namesake! 

Seek the Lord, that He would reveal to you what you were put on this earth to do for Him and ask Him to give you the means to fulfill that purpose to the best of your ability!

Matthew 6:21

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Philippians 4:8-9

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Romans 5:1-5

​"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

~Dani

~Unashamed~

We were all lost for a moment in our lives, but just because we have made mistakes that doesn't mean that we have to hang our heads in shame..No! It means that once we ask for forgiveness and we ask Jesus into our heart, that we can walk in freedom and we can walk tall by showing others around us the mercy that God gave us by giving us  His grace!

Common Religion says.."If you make a mistake, you have to walk around hiding your face in shame.."

A personal Relationship with Christ says.."God has forgiven you and you don't have to be ashamed anymore because He has made you free and you have another chance to do right..If you fall..He will catch you!"

As Christians, We don't have to feel constantly ashamed of our mistakes because Jesus has already died for those mistakes, He has already given His grace to us on the Cross!

When all seemed lost, God sent His only Son to die upon a Cross! 

We can leave the ugliness of our sin at the foot of the Cross and look to God for a better way!

We can live a life unashamed because He took that shame upon Himself and though it hurt..He did it unashamed because He wasn't ashamed to call us "His" I thank Him for giving us a new life to be lived the right way..the way that we should have always lived, in good health, forgiving others, being obedient, serving God, loving others as Christ loved us!

I'm so glad that He saw it fit to give us another chance! That we now have hope because of His sacrifice and now we can leave our shame behind and move forward into His calling for our lives!

Romans 5:8-11

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 32:7

"You are a hiding place for me;

you preserve me from trouble;

you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah"

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 30:5

"For his anger is but for a moment,

and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning."

~Dani

~What is my face saying to them?~

We don't realize sometimes just how careful we need to be when being around people, for instance..

They say "a pictures worth a thousand words.." 

So what is your face saying? 

You don't always have to say a word, there are plenty of ways to tell what you're thinking about someone else just by the mere expression on your face!

Let me ask you this.. Is your face expressing kindness to others?

Or is your face expressing judgement to others?

If you have problems judging others and you show it in your expressions, it's almost the same as just saying it out loud to them! 

For example, If you cannot learn to be kind at church then you certainly shouldn't be going out into the world with an attitude like that! That doesn't say.. "I'm a follower of Christ" 

instead that makes the unsaved view church as a bunch of people who are judgmental toward them!

I truly believe that is the reason why so many people are choosing to stay home on Sunday's instead of attending church, even they know how Christians should be acting..which to me speaks volumes of the attitude that we are putting out by even our facial expressions!

If you do anything out in the world..have a good attitude to contribute to others so that they will have a good day and more than that, that they will begin to view "church goers" as "friendly" not as "critical" because in these last days IT IS CRUCIAL for us to reach them for Christ and if our attitudes aren't backing that up..then what does it mean to be saved? What then is the difference between "a Christian" and "a sinner" if you can no longer see the light of Christ glowing on your face?

Think about that today..What is my face saying to them? 

Smile, show kindness and perhaps come Sunday, they might be sitting next to you in church with a smile on their face that they can take into the world as well!

Matthew 5:16

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

~Dani

~A lot can happen..~

Rewind to last year on January 6th 2014, If I had a crystal ball showing how many responses I'd receive just by writing down a little thought from out of my head for strangers to read one day..I wouldn't have believed it.

I am so humbled and am so incredibly grateful to God for giving me this ability to write.

I honestly didn't know if anyone would respond to my blog, nor did I know if I was anywhere near talented enough to do this, but by God's given talent of placing into my life this ability to write..

it has made me realize a lot about myself, including my self worth in God's eyes, in my family and friends eyes, and in my own eyes! I know now more than ever that I'm valuable and that I'm a child of God.

Being a pastors daughter and being a caring person.. I'm sure that many of you may think that I don't have very many struggles but I'm human just as you are and I've made mistakes..huge ones that I'm not proud of, 

but because of grace I was able to get through it all! 

I've made it through some struggles that I wasn't sure I would make it through, many of those struggles have been in the last few months that I was secretly fighting in my prayer closet!

In fact many of the blogs that I've posted have been out of my struggle at the time and by writing I was also encouraging myself in the process.

I've learned while writing this for all of you to read that..You never know about a persons struggles that they hide away from others, all you can do is be obedient when God speaks to you and to use your talents for God's glory that somehow, somewhere, in some way..someone is going to benefit from your life and your relationship with God can be a testimony to that someone who is in such desperate need of Hope in their life!

This life is but a vapor, it's happening now but gone in what seems as though a minute..Make those minutes count for something this year and perhaps in a year from now you will also be the one sharing a powerful testimony of reaching over 30,000 people with a message of God's purpose and love the way that I have done this year.

It may seem small to you but your talent could save a life someday if only you'd give it to God now, think about it.

I'm going to add a footnote to this by putting in the first blog post that started it all, though it seemed so small to me..maybe it will inspire you to put your talent out there as well and you could reach someone for Christ because of your obedience to God..

As the singer Brandon Heath says.."It takes one, what if I'm "the one?"

“January 6, 2014

~A Sudden change of direction~

Why is it that unless a person has passion to drive them, they cannot accomplish their dreams?

I realized this to be true just last week, as I was praying and slightly confused with the direction my life has gone, now I'm not saying this as a bad thing, what I'm saying is I came to the reality that my hopes, dreams and aspirations in life had suddenly change from my own wants to what God wants me to do.

When you line yourself up with the word of God and you build a strong relationship with him, somehow God's desires for your life suddenly become your desires.

I never knew I would ever become more passionate about something other than cooking but now my passion is leading worship and encouraging others in Christ! I've surrendered my whole life to reaching the lost now and I know that it's going to be the best thing for me to do with my life! God is with me!”

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

~Dani

~Misery loves company~

They say that misery loves company but I've always thought that was kind of ironic, mainly because when I think about the word "misery" the word I think about next is "lonely" but when I think about the two things I wonder, why would someone who is miserable act the way that they do by wanting to bring down the company that they are with?

Then I think about the word lonely, this word means to desire or long for companionship, not so much the same meaning as the word misery but the two words are similar.

why is it that we want others around us at that time?

it's because we want them to show empathy toward us when we are feeling miserable but we don't have any idea how much of a toll that we can bring to others by doing this, 

perhaps if we could find a way to get past our feelings of misery in our prayer closets more often..maybe others would be there for us when we are lonely more often because we would allow them to bring our spirits up instead of us bringing their spirits down like we do when we are feeling miserable.

When you're feeling blue sometimes you need someone to be there for you but you need to understand that sometimes your friends aren't going to be able to be there for you and that's alright because that gives you the opportunity to reach out to God for comfort and to bring you the full healing that you need at that very moment!

When you're feeling miserable..God can meet you where you are! When you're feeling lonely..He will draw near to you and be your best friend! 

God is with you at all times so put your trust in Him..He's got you!

Psalms 119:76-77

"Let your steadfast love comfort me

according to your promise to your servant.

Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight."

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Psalms 57:1-3

​"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,

for in you my soul takes refuge;

in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,

till the storms of destruction pass by.

I cry out to God Most High,

to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

He will send from heaven and save me;

he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah

God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!"

~Dani

~Verse of the day~

Job 8:20-22

“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouting.

Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

~Dani