His Loving Embrace!

There is a way that seems right to us- its way curves, bends, and widens as we go. The turns and diversions, along the way, bring fear, hurt, and horrible destruction.
The body of sin often takes this way, leaving behind a strewn path of ache and blame. The mouth of sin does speak in doubt and warped pain aimed to hit the mark and bring down all who get in it's way!
Slain and bleeding are those who nearby tread, crying out for mercy. The Lord will hear! God Almighty, God of grace- He leads us beside those waters still.God our Shepherd gives His strong embrace, He makes us to fall down and weep, upon our face!
The flesh does fight and flail about, knowing only it's own pleasure and delights. The sky will darken, the storms will come as the seas are rising and the tide whirls in.
Just as a bird in flight knows the patterns of the wind that carry him- we too  can know the power of God's unfailing love, forgiveness and grace.
We must look  only unto Him, giving Him all our agony and struggle. We leave it at the cross and humbly submit our hearts and will to Him.
This is the way of God, He so graciously allows our footsteps to falter, our hearts to stammer, then gloriously He gives us feet like a deer to leap and to sail over all the rough places!
The sinners must give over and die, for to die is gain. The mouth of sin must be silent, still, and listen for God's words of accuracy. He alway delivers, never late, His merciful and wonderful embrace, when we ask with contrite hearts and humble submission.
Only our God knows our every sin, He knows the direction we take. As our Shepherd leads us to those still, quiet waters- the ebb tide arrives  and we bask in His warm, impervious  and loving grip.
His mercies are new, His words infinitely true, He loves us and bids us draw near  to the water's edge. Grace meets mercy, as deep calls unto deep, and together they meld as faith is fastened and obedience becomes our delight.
The sun may go down, the rains will prevail, but always, our magnificent God takes us to the edge where we can behold His glorious face. We then are made new and white again, washed clean and refreshed.
Walk on oh body of sin- sin no more! We can take hold of His  Royal hand and let Him escort us on the way.
Oh body of sin we need to put down the parsimonious deeds of the flesh! Let no more unwholesome words pass from our lips! Make ammends, be true, set our eyes and heart upon Jesus Christ, the only One who knows our every distress. He heals! He restores! He forgives! HE IS the GREAT I AM!
Wait for Him, daily seek Him out to repent and repose. His tender, loving embrace will strengthen us and make us able to face Him again!

SAICFF Trip

Our family just had a wonderful and exciting trip as we made our way to San Antonio Texas for the SAICFF. We drove and it took us 11 hours to get there!
We finally got to meet all the really tremendous people Joshua worked with on Ace Wonder as well as many more. We were privileged to meet John Moore, his entire family,Geoff and Victoria Botkin and some of their children. We also met Doug Phillips and so many other top-notch people in the industry.
Joshua and Kelsey are now trying to come up with a workable story line for their next movie, as they want to try and get their film entered into the 2012 SAICFF.
We were all encouraged, and instructed, as we listened to the film maker's themselves. We also enjoyed a workshop on how to analyze a film. 
I want to highlight one documntary in particular though. First I will tell you that there were many really excellent films, such as The Penny, Ace Wonder, (OF COURSE!), Runner From Ravenshead, Divided, to name a few. The film I want to make known to you also happens to be the Jubilee/Grand prize  winner!
The title of the documentary is: "Agenda, Grinding America Down"

I am going to post a link for the trailer here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH8LkIqu1c8&feature=player_embedded

I very strongly recommend you purchase, if possible, watch this,  and show as many people as you can. It is well worth your investment of time! This film exposes the fact that communism is NOT dead. Extremely well documented and very compelling!

I hope  you enjoy it, but mostly  that you will become informed, if you aren't already, regarding the content of this excellent film!

God Bless  you.
In Christ,
Lydia

Some things to think about

Dear Family,







I have been thinking lately about something quite a lot. Maybe because I need to consider these things for myself. (Which I do!) I have been talking to my children about the same thing and thought I might share some of these same thoughts with all of you.

We really need to have a vision that is larger than ourselves. We need to have a vision that is more, and larger, than our self preservation, preservation of our stuff/possessions, and than that of our supposed position in this life. We are here by God's design if we are His. He is the one who has given us our influences and our very life! What are we doing with them? Is life all about us? Or is life all about HIM? The word of God is our life direction. It contains the words of life and gives us clear directives for living holy lives as servants of the King. Are we in the truth? Have we laid everything down of our own doing, pleasures and desires, and taken up HIS cause and purpose? Do we  wallow in self pity?  Or have we counted it all joy to know Him, to possibly suffer for Him?  Do we give glory, honor and praise to our Great and Mighty King? Do we keep records of wrong done to us? Or have we forgiven those who have hurt us?And have we asked forgiveness for all we have done to hurt others? Do we keep clean hearts and pure motives or are we stained by the world and it ways? Have we allowed our flesh and it's desires to lead us in our choices? Do we give or do we take? Do we look to the needs of others or do we look to our own needs and selfish desires? Are we servants or do we want to be served? Do we overlook transgressions or do we hold every wrong done to us, in our hearts for future retaliation?

Our vision must reflect the God of Love. Our whole life should be an act of worship to the ONE who saved us! Our vision should be greater than what we will next attain ,or winning an argument! Our vision should be more about being Christlike, humble, teachable and pleasing to our Awesome God. Do we always look back and feel the need to cover over our tracks or our reputaion? Do we run from truth or to it? Do we have the peace of God that passes all understanding or are we fretting? Are we filled with His hope and grace or filled with anger and hostility towards our brother's and sister's in Christ? Do we seek to be a good example to the world and our families or do we relax when no one is looking? (when we think no one is looking) Is Jesus our best friend or have we alienated Him with our besetting sins and by harboring unforgiveness? Are we full of bitterness or are we clean and full of joy? Are we living in love with the Creator of all? Is our goal to make Him and His truth known, to enjoy and glorify Him forever, or is our goal what we look like to others, and are our self interest more important? Do we seek to make ourselves great or HIM great?

These are all things we all need to think on and examine. I only share because I am a sinner saved by grace and in need of the same sometimes. We all are in such great need of our King of Glory. He is so Amazing and patient with us. We must go to Him and ask Him to make known to us, our failings, and where we fall short of the goal and glory of God, and where we need to give Him complete control. Are we holding tightly to the things of the earth or do we have a light touch? Is He our greatest desire and His word our delight?






Let us all be on our knees daily asking Him to humble us and make us transparent and ready to do all He asks! Let us decrease that He might increase! Let us look to the needs of others. Let us go to the foot of the cross and ask Him to cleanse us of all unrighteousness and to reveal those areas of blindness and deception. May we all be more like Jesus. We can in no way give back what He has given us, but shouldn't we be trying? Shouldn't we have thankful hearts?










Let's make our vision much bigger than ourselves!






Love you all so much and will pray for myself and for you.






In His Amazing and Gracious Grip,


Your sister in Christ,


Lydia

All photos by my daughter Kelsey!:)

My Smoothie Recipe!

This is my daily breakfast. I think it is so good and healthy all in one. You can adjust to specific needs, of course, but this is a good basic recipe to start out with. Experiment with it and have fun!

1-2 Bananas (frozen makes it more creamy and thick)
Frozen or fresh blueberries (about a handful or so)
Can add fresh or frozen Strawberries and/or raspberries, or any fruit of choice (A tropical one is good sometimes for a change, and  just use coconut, mango, pineapple etc)
Fresh Kale or spinach (a stalk or handful, by taste)
Coconut oil ( heaping tablespoonful)
Coconut Milk (add enough so blender can churn and adjust to thickness desired
Cinnamon (to taste again:))
Greek yogurt ( a dollop if desired, and dairy isn't a problem)
Nutritional yeast (I use about a teaspoon)
Lecithin (Teaspoon-tablespoon)
Ground flaxseed (1 teaspoon)
Pysillium (tablespoon)
Green powder (Tablespoon)
Vitamins C powder ( I use Alacer-Emergen C type)
You can add nuts, dates, honey, (for enzyme content) stevia, whatever you think will be suited to your needs and taste! (Not necessary though)

Blend this all up in a blender and use the Coconut milk as needed for smooth and drinkable consistency.

Enjoy energy and health!!!

Hope you like this. Let me know how you liked it, if you try it! Comments are always welcome!
God Bless and have a wonderful week in Christ!

In His Grip,
Lydia

Amazing God!

It is so good to be a part of a heavenly family. God's greatness,  His goodness, mercy, grace and loving kindness are matchless and unbelievably amazing! We deserve nothing, and yet He saw fit to save us (His children) from our own destruction.  He took us by the hand and gently, yet firmly, led us to Himself. What a WONDERFUL God we serve!!!!!! The King of all knows our very thoughts, desires and motives. Shouldn't we then, be always and ever alert to our weakness and failings, that we might ask Him to forgive, and that we would confess to Him daily of our shortcomings so that we may be clean and  able to commune with the King of Glory?! How horrible it would be to know such an incredible ONE as HE and not be able to feel His presence and  the warmth  of His love, How awful to not know His close and strong touch. What if we couldn't feel the His power in prayer and know He is listening? How could we desire anything less? The perfect God, who died for us,  and rose again, wants our hearts, whole and pure, that we might bow before His throne, to worship and adore Him in the fullness of who He is! To love and enjoy Him forever and ever! What am unfathomable gift!!!! Oh, the depths of His love and forgiveness, could we really ever comprehend it?? I say not. We must remain true to Him and His word , we must cling to Him always. We need our God every day! All praise and honor to our Great and Mighty God! Words just can't explain His goodness and nothing can contain Him! Give Him the glory due His Holy name!

Have a superb week and keep short accounts with our Heavenly Father who knows all, sees all, and is everywhere we go.  He knows the very number of hairs on our head and the number of stars in the sky! How amazing is HE!

 Seek to honor, obey and glorify Him! He is all we need! HE is worthy, though we are NOT!

 Safe In His Gracious Grip,
Lydia

Segregation: A Most Insiduous Evil

I am resposting this from John Moore's blog about an important new  film. See below for information:

Segregation, a new project from NCFIC and the award-winning filmmaker Phillip Leclerc, is an important film about an important issue. I would wholeheartedly encourage you to watch the trailer, follow the film's development, and support the production both financially and socially.






View the trailer.



Segregation from NCFIC on Vimeo.





As you can see from the trailer, the caliber of production is very, very high. This kind of quality requires resources, it requires prayers, and in the end, it can have a very high impact on the audience.



From NCFIC:



"Now is not a time for introspection or compromise. It is not even time for more research and statistical analysis. That has already been done by many. It is time to call the church to back to the clear commands of Scripture, to repent and reject the methodology of the world, and to obey by implementing biblical, age-integrated worship and discipleship in the church.





Will You Help Us?





We need $85,000 in order to complete this film making project. Praise the Lord: He has brought in $17,000 already which has brought us this far in the project. We are earnestly praying that the Lord would provide the remaining $68,000 in order to finish the film and have it in your hands by this fall."





Let me encourage you all to be a part of this film. Donate your prayers, your thoughts, your emails, your blogs, and if you can, your money. I'm very enthusiastic about this film, and would love to see it reach far and wide into the culture. With your support, I believe it will.


To contribute to this important project, click here:
http://ncfic.org/segregation-contribute





Have A Wonderful Day!
Thank you for following.
Love in Christ,
Lydia

Children As Pets

This message comes from Doug Phillips Blog and is an excellent lecture and thorough examination of an incredibly destructive worldview. Geoff Botkin was the speaker/writer of this very true and great message. Read it and be encouraged and challenged.

We live amidst a culture that delights in an infantile worldview. The moral character that was meant to sustain a hardy Christian people is disdained and the fruit of this is a generation of weak immoral people incapable of even helping themselves, thinking for themselves, finding their own solutions, making informed decisions, carrying them out, standing in the gap, fighting when the battle calls to name a few. Children consumed by the lust of their parents have no future and no hope for righting such backward thinking, but for the grace of God.






Caleb Hayden writes:






In his talk, “Children as Pets” Geoff Botkin explained how our culture has attempted to replace God and create a new reality. This broken culture has become a culture of death, manifested through parents’ ungodly behavior in how they raise their children by:






Nourishing within children a morbid preoccupation with self


Minimizing the value of children’s souls


Indulging children because parents carry guilt for failing in their spiritual responsibilities


Being unwilling to direct children to bear the cross of Christ in moral tests and responsibility


Not insisting on obedience to every aspect of God’s law


Making lawlessness comfortable in the home


Directing personal affections away from God toward defiant stubborn attempts at self-fulfillment


Substituting sentimentality for God’s Law


Additionally, adults often exploit their children and manifest disdain for their future by embracing the fantasy policies of a death culture, which include:






Fiat money


Anti-family “social security” schemes


Death taxes


Socialistic policies in business licensure


The religious upbringing of children by government experts


The toys and escapist entertainments of the day.


Mr. Botkin went onto describe how our culture and even some Christians believe that when families make a deliberate choice of when and how many children to have, the children are better loved, cared for, and protected.






But is this not also true of pets? Like pets, children are seen as having no future, no context in God’s created order, no responsibilities, no designated understanding of their place in God’s Kingdom, and no sense of personal duty. However, unlike pets, children have souls, are discipled, and then become disciple-makers of their own children. In our present cultural context, this means discipleship in an excessive, self-centered, and immature approach to life and culture.






Sadly, most Christian children learn to view the world not as God’s battleground, but as a playground, Mr. Botkin noted. Children made in God’s image become enslaved when they are treated like spoiled pets in a culture that emphasizes cuteness, sentimentality, and image over obedience and duty.






Men with hobby lives have hobby families in the artificial world of their own making. Artificial worlds make artificial lives, and the result is a death culture. We have a superstar mentality. We believe we can do what we want, get adulation, and have the world revolve around us.






Believers, Mr. Botkin urged, must repent and do the following four things:






Trust God and His promise to bless families who fear Him


Know your children’s hearts and souls, and guard their affections


Provide children the freedom and tools for learning


Provide children a vision for Christian civilization

In closing, Mr. Botkin commended Titus 2:11-13 as words of instruction for Christians to embrace: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

God Bless you and have a tremendous rest of the week!! Our God Reigns!

In His Gracious Grip,

Lydia

Everyone had a home--but Him!

(James Smith, "Daily Bible Readings for the Lord's Household")

Everyone had a home--but Him!













"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests--but the Son of man has no place to lay His head!" Matthew 8:20






What an astonishing fact!






Here is the Creator of all things--without a home!






Here is the Ruler of the universe--without a habitation!

Here is the eternal, immortal King--more destitute than the birds of the air, or the beasts of the forest!

"Then each one went to his own home--but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." John 7:53-8:1






Everyone had a home--but Him!






What brought Him into these circumstances?






LOVE!

Love for whom?






Love for sinners, the vilest, the basest of mankind!

    

Why did He stoop so low?






He became poor--that we might become rich!






He was without a poor cottage on earth--that we might possess a splendid mansion in heaven!






He was destitute in time--that we might possess a glorious portion in eternity!

O Jesus, how astonishing is Your love!






O my soul, admire, adore, and praise--the wondrous love of your beloved Lord!

Photo's by Kelsey Anne Hoppman :)


Hope you enjoyed this and have a blessed week in our Lord and Savior!
Please always feel free to leave comments and to browse! I may just want to visit your blog;)
Love in Christ,
Lydia Hoppman

Below are some random family photo's

My sister and I. Our family joined her family for a  Memorial Day BBQ.  

                                                                       Josiah.

                                                  The boys had fun with "boffer wars".

.   

Uncle Monty and Keturah

                                                                   Emily.

Basketball with the boys/men.         

                                          Mykaela getting on her skates.

                                              Best Bud's and cousin's! (Silas and Joshua)
Wearing his Ace Wonder t- shirt from interenship opportunity, working on the same.:)

Jonathan eating  a smore. Mmmmm!

Joshua also eating a smore!:)

Getting Goofy!

More fun!

Now Emily and Kayla get in on the fun.

Family is so wonderful!

We are blessed beyond measure with family, fun and friends!

We need to be so thankful for these memories and for our freedom's. May we never forget, no matter what!

God Bless!

Chains

This is a poem by my seventeen year old daughter Kelsey Anne that I want to share with you.
 Hope you enjoy!



Are you mortally gripped with sin


And the terror of this life?


No strong grasp of what you see;


Full with repulsion and deep strife?






The rest, given you freely


Has been quickly pushed away.


You rush to sin and evil,


When you should simply kneel and pray.






Such a wicked heart beheld


The dark lusting you stepped in;


Glad the flesh chose errant ways-


And strong, depressing chains of sin.






Now, look deeply in your heart;


This path- rashly you desire.


Gripped by the claws of malice-


Your path- a morbid death through fire.






Oh, the burden you must hold


Without any hope or care.


May you see-with endless joy


The love Adonai want’s to share?






Then you’d quickly shy away


From the evil clutch you see-


To the world- you could proclaim


“Now through Jehovah, I’m set free!“.






I see, instead, that you chose


A heart simply full of greed.


The flesh, I glimpse, has triumphed-


You have divided want from need.






Full with guile- the corrupt man


Will be constrained as he’ll fall,


For his strong hold on conceit-


When he should trust the Lord of all.






When life conveys some desire


To go enter in “small sin”,


Now know, Christ goes on before-


The feared takeover- He shall win.

Kelsey Hoppman

Here are some photo's by Kelsey as well, just for your enjoyment.
(The above photo's are Kelsey's as well.)

Hope you have a really great week!

Jesus is LORD!

~Lydia