Marciafied
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Mission Statement:

To use my God-given insight, inspiration, and ingenuity to bring hope to women in the midst of life's challenges.

I Call It A Miracle

4/26/2016

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On March 29, I had a severe allergic reaction to an over-the-counter medication I was taking. I probably should have gone to emergency, since I felt it was affecting my heart at one point; however, I worked the entire day and didn’t realize the cause of my problems until the day was almost done.

I stopped taking the offending medication right away. While this relieved the worst of my symptoms, I still had problems. My stomach was very upset and reacting to more and more foods, to the point that I was considering limiting my eating to soups and purée.

I was in a lot of pain and was looking forward to being prayed for at my Friday night Life Group. God did not disappoint. When it came to prayer time, I shared the problems I was having and everyone gladly prayed for me. There was a point where, all of a sudden, I realized how hunched over I was and that I needed to sit up straight. I felt God give me action steps to take in the following days, and I knew that healing had taken place.

I am so grateful that the extreme intolerance of food went away and I am back to my normal diet. I am so grateful to God for the healing that He gave me that night, that continues three weeks later, that I want to share what happened with all of you, so we can praise God together.

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

P.S. In my next blog, I'll talk about what God told me to do.
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Marcia's Orange Chicken Surprise (My First Recipe Blog)

4/19/2016

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,I am very surprised that I get to include food, and especially an original recipe, as part of my blog posts. (I know this is a deviation from the spiritual musings that I usually post; however, we are all eclectic, and we all need to eat.) I'm surprised because I don't consider myself that great of a cook. Yes, I have been able to get a meal on the table and for the food to be enjoyable. Generally, though, I am following a preset recipe and the only deviations are my errors in follow through. Fortunately, I have been blessed in that these errors have worked in my favor more often than not.

Following is a recipe that is the result of one of those errors:

Marcia's Orange Chicken Surprise.

Preheat oven to 350° F
 
3 or 4 pieces of boneless chicken breast
(If you need a larger quantity, double the recipe) 
 2 Tbs butter
Brown chicken in butter and arrange in baking dish
 
In a bowl combine:
     1 tsp salt
     1/8 tsp pepper
     3 Tbs brown sugar
     1 Tbs corn starch
     1/8 tsp ground ginger
     1/3 cup apricot preserves
     1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
     1/2 cup water
 
Pour mix over chicken – cover baking dish with foil.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour
 
Place sauce in a separate bowl and use over chicken and rice.

Uncle Bens long grain and wild rice blends well with these flavors.

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Picture
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If I Could Go Back to My Younger Days

4/12/2016

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In a current Christian song, the singer explores what he would say to himself if he had a chance to tell his younger self something, and it got me to thinking. This is not the first time I thought about what might have been done different to help me grow up into a better, more successful adult and Christian. I have a girlfriend whose daughter is much like me and while she was growing up her mom would ask for my advice. Honestly, I didn't have much good advice to give. I have no clue what would have helped me as a child, but this song comes at a very unique point in my life.

Before I go on, I need to define something. If you don't believe that people still speak in tongues, that there are miracle healings, that people prophesy words from God, then you won't get the following. If you believe that prophets no longer prophesy about future events, then this might challenge your thinking. I'm not going to try and justify my beliefs here. I'm only going to discuss my experience and you can agree or disagree.

For years, I have been a part of a group that includes a few prophets. Many times when we pray, we get the same message from God. It has been incredibly educational and I'm grateful that God has allowed me to play a role. I have no clue if being part of a group of prophets when I was younger would have been helpful; I just know that I am eternally grateful that I'm part of such a group now.

I think the first night my gifting really manifested was the night that there were 7 to 9 women who needed prayer, and we had them sit in a row and the leader prayed for them. I got a specific verse and vision that applied to each of them as he prayed for them, but two were very profound. There was a woman for whom God gave me a phrase from one of my favorite verses, Isaiah 61:10-11. The phrase was 'wrapped in a robe of righteousness.' As she was struggling with life events in the following weeks and months, I was reminded of that phrase and how she really needed to lean into that robe and trust God as she walked forward. She moved away and I wish I knew how she is doing today. Another woman was given the breastplate of righteousness. I don't know what that meant exactly in her situation. She is a beautiful, godly woman, struggling with health issues even to this day.

After a few of these images and verses I wondered how God would give me something for all of them and I quietly mentioned it in my mind to God and the reply I got was 'when you get to the last woman, you will wash her feet.' That startled me and I told God that I wasn't leading and I couldn't interrupt the leader when he was the one in charge. I kept on praying and God continued to give me something for each woman. When we got to the last woman, the leader said, 'Marcia, you pray for her.' I still wasn't committed to washing her feet, but as I tried to walk around to the front of her to pray for her, I knocked over a Coke on a side table. Water had to be brought out at that point, so I said, 'Well, if you're bringing out water anyway, God told me to wash her feet.' I was obedient and prayed, and the Holy Spirit fell and there was a powerful anointing. Recently, this woman told me that in that experience she felt God tell her that her time of being served was over and she was moving into service. That is an amazing statement that matches the washing of the disciples’ feet, as it really was a transition point for the disciples moving into their apostleship.

Now when I read the words 'the community of prophets' in the Bible, I'm always jealous and wish I could be part of such a community, because I have had a little taste of what that is like, and I would like even more, which brings me back to what might have helped me in my youth. What if I had been exposed to a community of prophets as a youth? What if those with special anointing gathered together and built each other up in the faith? Would I have been brave enough to step into my anointing, instead of hiding from it all these years?

My desire is that, if you are experienced in a spiritual gift, that you look for a young person or two with that spiritual gift and help create opportunities for them to practice it and help them mature in it. Everything in our lives is about maturing, whether it be physically, spiritually, or emotionally. We should help each other where we can.
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No Absolutes

4/5/2016

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I read a story with a couple who had sued a collection agency and lost. According to the article, they claimed to not know who the collection agency was calling about. Cross examination proved the calls were for their son who was living with them. I thought about this story and wondered if the parents had taught the son to be irresponsible or if they were learning from the son to take advantage of the situation. It reminded me of a story I was told by a man who had sold homework papers to his classmates during high school. When his father found out and told him to stop, he convinced his father that someone was going to make money from this so why not him. His father relented and took a cut by charging him rent.

When there are no absolutes or no reason to follow a moral code, the best argument wins. If you're a fan of Star Trek, you know that Vulcans are ruled by logic. In one of the early episodes of Star Trek Voyager, Tuvok proved that an argument could be made to justify an action. It was Captain Janeway who pointed out that regardless of the argument the code had to be followed. It's the same with all morals.

Of course, today’s media doesn’t help. The problem with television and movies is that the bad characters are more interesting than the good characters, because entertainment is built on conflict. It is harder to express conflict when it's not expressed openly, like the internal conflict of conscience which is the battle ground of the moral person or the lack thereof on the part of a moral person because that battle was fought and decided long ago. Entertainment glorifies the bad. We've seen so much more of the bad that we've grown to believe that the bad is the norm. We've evolved from shows that shared actual morals, like Father Knows Best and My Three Sons, to shows that either teach us how to be immoral, like How to Get Away with Murder, or lead us down a spiral of hopelessness, like Criminal Minds. Additionally, entertainment has been teaching us for years that children are wiser than parents, for example in every Disney movie, or that they don't need their parents. It's no wonder when children come to their parents with good arguments that, instead of being the role models and leaders they were meant to be, the parents follow the bad examples of their children.

Only when you and I determine to follow a set of rules that we believe are absolute can we stop the free fall of moral decay this country is in. And, for me, the only way to adhere to a set of rules that consistently challenge my emotions and desires is to embrace a God that is bigger than everything, who loves me, and will guide me through it all to higher moral ground.

The funny thing is that I can hear the groans and curses of those who have been hurt and those who don't want to give up the lies their emotions have made to be truth. They are cursing self-righteousness and pride, as they should! But as I truly give my adherence to a set of rules to God, I am finding that my pride, my self-righteousness is being broken. God is removing the blinders that said ‘I am the exception to the rule that everyone else should be able to follow.’ He is showing me that everyone else has a struggle equal to or greater than mine. God's rules are not about who is better, but building a society we can all thrive in together. While you might argue that God's Old Testament laws can be used as grounds for boasting, the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ, if really adopted, is humbling.
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    ​
    ​Hello and welcome to my website. I hope you enjoy and let me know if you have any suggestions.


    Have a blessed day.
    Marcia

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