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Amy's Posts, {Life}

{Life}  Curveball. 

UYM

Written by: Amy Gauvin

Hello ladies! My mission to all of you, is to be real and vulnerable with you. I want to speak straight from my heart, as to what God has done in my life. So here we go!
Life throws us curveballs from time to time…some are caught and some we want to just dodge. My sister was thrown a curveball in August of last year, that she just couldn’t dodge. At age 39, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 bladder cancer. It was a very aggressive cancer. In a matter of months, the tumour had quadrupled in size and spread to other organs. She had an extensive surgery in London, in which they removed her bladder, uterus, and ovaries.


They took a part of her intestine, to make a diversion attached it to her ureters and out her stomach so she could empty her kidneys. She has a urostomy bag now. After healing from surgery, she went through 4-months of very intense chemo. I will admit…it was the scariest thing I have ever been through with her…to see my sister in so much pain and all I could do was pray and to trust in God that prayers were being answered! The strength that my sister had to pull through everyday was admirable. She made it to the end of her chemo in April. The minute they pulled the leads out after her last treatment, she danced her heart out to her favourite song and HIT that gong! It was finished! She had won..cancer had lost!!!!
She went in this past May, to get a CT scan and it came back clean! Praise the Lord! About three weeks ago, she had a pain in her abdomen…she went to emerge and they found a twist in her bowel. Through much prayer, it came loose and she could come home. Four days after she came home…the pain was back and more intense this time. She went back to emerge and they suspected a twist in her bowels again. Eight days, of horrible pain and with out any food going in or out. They decided to go in and see what was happening. It was then, that our family got another curveball…

There are tumors on her bowels. My faith was shaken…to see the hope vanish in my sister in an instant was devastating. All of us went through the process of emotions. We are all back on track knowing it happened once before…it can happen again…It WILL be beaten! The enemy will not win! Through Faith and Prayer! Saying all of this…

I want to share with you where my faith was with myself during that time. You see…watching my sister go through all of what she went through…and how horrible cancer really is. I was there, puffing away on cigarettes…I was willingly catching this curveball! I used “stress” as an excuse to puff away. I realized something a week ago… I sit here and I believe and have faith knowing that God is going to heal my sister of cancer….but I have no faith in believing He could deliver me from smoking? Where is my faith for myself? My sister did nothing to cause this cancer and I am smoking something that causes it…how ridiculous is that!

To think, “nah….it won’t happen to me?” How selfish!  My sister didn’t deserve ANY of this. I watched her go through this KNOWING, she wanted me to quit smoking…because she didn’t want me to get cancer, and I was doing it to myself!

I had been humbled…how am I any more resiliant than my sister who didn’t smoke? It could happen to me and I was helping the enemy take me out…I was destoying Gods temple!
My faith had been restored, in knowing God wanted to take my addiction from me. I give every urge to have a cigarette to Him…because HE is faithful and He is TRUE! Its a feeling to have a cigarette…and false sense of need, this is an open door for the enemy to attack you. Feelings are subject to change, give it to God and the enemy has NO ground to stand on! You are Gods child and Satan can’t have you!

Amy Gauvin pic with sis wedding
I am now smoke free!!! I can now stand in total agreement with my sister knowing that God is going to heal her! He did it once already….And yes,
He will do it again! I am so proud of her and encouraged by her everyday and I know she is the same for me 🙂 Ladies….together we stand in Faith knowing that everything happens for a reason and that our Heavenly Fathers Glory will always prevail! Amen sistas! Blessings, Peace, Love and Joy to you all ❤ xo
Until Next Time,

~Amy

Kerrington's Posts, {Faith}

{Faith} Answering the Call. 

UYM

Written by: Kerrington Sweeney

(Click image to read more about: Kerrington Sweeney)

I am a Passionate servant of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. I am a redeemed Daughter of the precious Almighty King. To be honest, I am definitely a work-in-progress but, I feel so blessed to be able to continue serving God with absolutely my whole heart. I feel God’s ‘call’ to become a Women’s Pastor and Women’s Counsellor one day, and by God’s amazing grace I hope to fulfill both of those callings! From day one, I have grown up in the church; I’ve been raised by Godly parents, who also had Christian up-bringing’s. I have been homeschooled my whole school career. You might say that I’m considered to be, one of those “Church girls.” Every time you say that you are a Church-going, Homeschooled girl….They instantly think you are some sort of a social out-cast…Who has no place in this world; Someone who has no dreams, no passions, no desires.

As the years of my childhood went by, I started finding out, that I had a true love for writing…but I never truly pursued it. Until, I was 9 years old…I felt the “Writer’s Call” on my life. Not in a church service, a prayer room, or a special spiritual spot. I felt it…in my living room. This, is where God began to plant in my heart a true love and passion to see women of all ages rise up. He planted words deep into my heart. Words, that would touch many broken lives. This Call, among others was simply placed before me…not forced onto me. This call, was a free gifting for taking or saving for later. 

I was simply called. Not with a booming voice or a flash of lightning. A gentle and very tender whisper, from my precious Heavenly Father in the comfort of my own home. The Uniqueness of how it all happened still amazes me. What a BIG God we serve!! I live in daily awe. During this time, is when I decided to write and self-publish my very 1st book! I even had a mini book release party with my parents and Grandparents. It was a day, forever etched in my memory bank. 

Time has gone by, it is now September 2013 in our little story. I am 15 years old and I have just been asked to Guest-post on my dear friends women’s ministry blog. This is when everything truly started to unfold. That November of 2013, I started praying and petitioning God, about starting my own ministry blog for women and with much consideration and God confirmations, I launched my own blog that month. 

This was a huge step for me, in faith trusting God’s “call” to start this small online women’s ministry….As I began, followers started trickling in. Of course, that is NOT how we judge our successes off of but, it is so encouraging to know that people are reading your work and are enjoying it.

 
Ever since that step in faith and act of obedience to God, He has opened many doors of opportunity for my Blogging Ministry… Such as being featured and interviewed on a Christian Radio Station based out of Sudbury, Guest-posting on a blog in England,  and also being promoted world-wide by many other Christian women bloggers, and having many dear friends become Guest-Author’s on my Blog!

A year and a half, has now gone by in our little story and God has spoken to me very vividly in a dream, that now was then, the time to begin preparations of a brand new website but, this time…to have an official writing team, ministry photographers, videographers, networking partners, advertising teams and more, the whole show! At first, I was a bit afraid because, I was to be the leadership of it all? Why me God? Am I truly capable of coordinating all of that?? These were just a few of the dozens of worries racing, in my mind. 
It is now October 2014 in our little story, preparations have already begun for the exciting reveal of this brand new ministry. I am getting more and more excited to have the opportunity to work with other Christian women writers but, who would they be? I thought. This was a fear in the back of my mind. As time went on, God truly planted in my heart a permanent peace about those decisions that had to me made. After a long while of praying deeply into the writers, He made it so crystal clear to me, in His perfect timing, who they would be.

IMG_4088

It is now July 7th, 2015, We are HERE!!! It’s been a joyful, stressful, yet so rewarding experience that I have been SO blessed to be apart of. As I sit here writing this, I am reminded of the incredibly-encouraging people who have been such a support to me ever since I started this journey towards this new ministry. I appreciate everyone of the words of encouragement, that have been spoken. I so look forward to continue writing and by God’s grace, touching more lives than ever before! I know that this Women’s Ministry is NOT at all about me or The UYM team but, rather that when they read our posts, they are instantly pointed up to Jesus! Because that friends, is the true purpose and meaning behind our ministry. To be able to see women of all ages, backgrounds and faiths, rise up and be everything God has truly called each of them to be. 

Until Next Time, 

~Kerrington

 

Kerrington's Posts, {Beauty}

{Beauty} Restoring modesty in all generations! 

UYM
Written by: Kerrington Sweeney 
 
Women are more than just “bodies”, but of course you wouldn’t know that if you were to just look at the media of today. Although, our media and culture is screaming so many different lies about us women, the Bible often teaches us quite clearly on Modesty and sexuality. 
 
Ephesians 5:3 says
“But among you there most not be even a hint of sexual immortality.” 
 
That ‘hint‘ includes both our actions and our appearance. God truly calls each of us Women, to a life of purity and a life of Modesty. Speaking of our Actions…
Ladies, we seriously need to get real about the effect our bodies and actions have on the young men around us. 
 
Given the current state of our World, 
The question that is frequently asked is… 
“Does modesty even matter anymore??” 
 
Our culture of course, tells us No. And we’ve been so distracted by the worlds views that sometimes we don’t even stop to think about what our appearance says about us or how it measures up to God’s standards. Many of us, are still so blinded to the fact that the way we dress, will also impact the kind of man, that we will attract. Ultimately, the kind of man we want to attract, is committed to his sexual purity as well. But Ladies, always remember…You still may sometimes receive some unwanted attention from men around us. 
 
The attacks from the enemy,on them are so vivid and real, it’s often hard for them to keep pure thoughts with all of the garbage our world is constantly promoting. I’ve heard girls time, after time argue that it is our personal right to wear what we want to wear and it is all the boys fault, for thinking such ‘bad’ things. 
 
This Ladies, is 100% NOT Christ-like, at all. When we dress ‘sexy’ and revealing this isn’t helping our brothers. These are young men fighting against the temptations and attacks of the world, just as we are…just in a different form. 
 
Furthermore, we need to show Christ-like love and respect to our Christian brothers at ALL times…Not just at youth group and church! We need to lay down our lives (And our so-called rights) to love others and continue to encourage each other to follow God with a passionate fiery heart.
 
In closing Ladies, always remember…
“Modesty is not just something you wear, it is part of your character.” 
 
Until Next Time, 
 
~Kerrington