Matthew 6:9 "Our Father in heaven"
Jesus told the disciples to address God as "Heavenly Father." Since I am a follower of Christ, I have the privilege and right to address God that way.
Galatians 4:4-7
According to this passage, we are now sons and daughters who can call upon God as Abba, Father. This title is the most intimate relationship possible with God. How amazing that God sent His son, (born of a woman), subject to the law, to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law. God did tis so that He could adopt us as His vey own Children. We are now God's own children! The Spirit inside us prompts us to all out to Him "Abba." All of that is a miracle in itself if you ask me. First off, God loves Jesus more than, well, anything else. And we (mankind) were dead to God and lost in our sins, destined for an eternity in hell. God had mercy on us and made a plan to redeem us and bring us into right relationship with Him.
1 John 3:1 says, "See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and this is what we are! But the people who belong to the world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know Him."
Ephesians 1:4-8 says "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding."
There are so many more verses that encourage my heart and remind that God's love for me is pure and his intentions for my life are to know Him more intimately, reflect Him in and through my life and to bless and be blessed. These were some notes from my quiet time the other morning and I wanted to share them, hopefully you'll be encouraged by how much God loves YOU and has set the focus of His love on You.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Christmas in Minnesota
In no particular order, her are some of our favorite memories from Christmas 2008 at the Zirbels.
Joe (Zach's step brother) and his wife Tammy making dinner for all of us.
Laure set us up for a scavenger hunt and Zach and I took the win-$40 1st place prize! Yeah!
The Christmas dinner spread :) YUMMY!
The daughter-in-laws! First time we were all together, it was a lot of fun.
Andy and Sarah's daughter, Olivia. She is the only grandchild and we adore her :)
Precious Olivia, again. Isn't she so cute?!
Fritz and Laure with their beloved Olivia. (Zach's parents)
A duet unlike any other. Kodak moment for sure.
Since it was the first time ALL the kids and their wives were together, we just HAD to take a picture. This was probably snapshot number....10...or 15? Stars in our eyes, lol.
Joe (Zach's step brother) and his wife Tammy making dinner for all of us.
Laure set us up for a scavenger hunt and Zach and I took the win-$40 1st place prize! Yeah!
The Christmas dinner spread :) YUMMY!
The daughter-in-laws! First time we were all together, it was a lot of fun.
Andy and Sarah's daughter, Olivia. She is the only grandchild and we adore her :)
Precious Olivia, again. Isn't she so cute?!
Fritz and Laure with their beloved Olivia. (Zach's parents)
A duet unlike any other. Kodak moment for sure.
Since it was the first time ALL the kids and their wives were together, we just HAD to take a picture. This was probably snapshot number....10...or 15? Stars in our eyes, lol.
I won't speak for Zach but 2008's holidays were the best I can ever remember. Being able to see all our loved ones in two months was such a joy and blessing, I'm so thankful! And I'm thankful for all of our friends reading this too. God bless you all!
Friday, December 19, 2008
An Assortment of Events
Monday, December 8, 2008
An Unexpected Treat With Jamie :)
Since I missed my flight, I ended up calling my good friend Jamie who lives in Kalispell where I was to fly out. We didn't even expect to get to see one another but God blessed us with three days of quality time, a Real treat! During our time together, we played around with a new sugar cookie recipe and had the best time doing it!
I taught Jamie how to make home made noodles and we put together chicken noodle soup with wheat noodles. Turned out really good!
Katrina, I thought of you as I took this picture :) (above) 
Jamie took me out to eat one evening and we did a self portrait in front of the fireplace.
I taught Jamie how to make home made noodles and we put together chicken noodle soup with wheat noodles. Turned out really good!
Katrina, I thought of you as I took this picture :) (above) 
Jamie took me out to eat one evening and we did a self portrait in front of the fireplace.Thanksgiving in Montana
Zach and I flew out to Montana for Thanksgiving with my family. Zach stayed 4 nights and then I stayed several days longer. Well, I spent a total of like 2 weeks cause I missed my flight out and had to stay three more nights but it turned out ok. We had a wonderful time with the family and kiddos! See:
Maura and Aunty Tasha scooping out flour for pie crust making
My sister Denikka (Maura's mommy), "Muddah" as Maura would say *shakes head*
Maura and Aunty Tasha scooping out flour for pie crust making
My sister Denikka (Maura's mommy), "Muddah" as Maura would say *shakes head* 
Maura and Brysen giving a nice pose. She'll smile real nice for the camera if I bribe her by saying, "Smile and then I'll let you take more pictures." Ha ha!
Maura pictures.....
What a precious face, don't you think? And she has quite the personality to boot! Love you girly!Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I haven't written lately cause there hasn't been too much going on but I thought I'd get an update out before we started our holiday travels. Tomorrow we leave for Chicago for a 4 day Sports Memorabilia Show and the following week we're leaving for Montana to spend Thanksgiving with my family. And I gotta give God praise cause He provided some Really cheap plane tickets. Yeah, Zach and I are flying for the price of one, or less even! Allegiant Air-if they fly to the destinations you go to, they are the best. Check'em out.
As far as things with the ministry, we're coming right along. There were a few meetings this week with people from churches and a foundation in Las Vegas and the purpose is to share the vision, gain connections and in some circumstances, gain support. My role (Natasha) is to research Foundations that have similar mission statements as ours and schedule meetings with them. Also, since there is a lot of money in Las Vegas, we're looking to schedule appointments with, well, the Rich guys. And I'm learning more and more about grants because they are a good source of moolah and so its my job to fill them out and submit them. We've realized that appearance has absolutely nothing to do with who people know around here. The most random situations get us some of the best connections. It's all about networking and God is surprising and humoring us with the connectORS and connectIONS. Eric and Brenda have been looking for a lot of furniture on Craig's List to furnish their home and the guy who moved some of their furniture to their house last night, knows Marie Osmund (from the Donnie & Marie show) and we're looking to get a meeting with her (hopefully) so you just never never know. :)
Zach has been working long hours on his computer lately. He is researching statistics for Turning Point and there is a lot of time and reading to be done to get all the information we're currently needing. Eric is getting the brochure finished and Monne, well, he does everything else and then some. Georgia is being stretched as well (like me) and learning more and more about the internet and contacting people establish meetings. We work alongside each other and keep each other encouraged. We've got a commited, hard working team and God is blessing us and our obedience.
As far as things with the ministry, we're coming right along. There were a few meetings this week with people from churches and a foundation in Las Vegas and the purpose is to share the vision, gain connections and in some circumstances, gain support. My role (Natasha) is to research Foundations that have similar mission statements as ours and schedule meetings with them. Also, since there is a lot of money in Las Vegas, we're looking to schedule appointments with, well, the Rich guys. And I'm learning more and more about grants because they are a good source of moolah and so its my job to fill them out and submit them. We've realized that appearance has absolutely nothing to do with who people know around here. The most random situations get us some of the best connections. It's all about networking and God is surprising and humoring us with the connectORS and connectIONS. Eric and Brenda have been looking for a lot of furniture on Craig's List to furnish their home and the guy who moved some of their furniture to their house last night, knows Marie Osmund (from the Donnie & Marie show) and we're looking to get a meeting with her (hopefully) so you just never never know. :)
Zach has been working long hours on his computer lately. He is researching statistics for Turning Point and there is a lot of time and reading to be done to get all the information we're currently needing. Eric is getting the brochure finished and Monne, well, he does everything else and then some. Georgia is being stretched as well (like me) and learning more and more about the internet and contacting people establish meetings. We work alongside each other and keep each other encouraged. We've got a commited, hard working team and God is blessing us and our obedience.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Exciting Times!
I think you will all be excited about what I'm going to tell you...No, I'm not pregnant, lol. BUT, much to my surprise, over the last couple months, and more specifically, in the last two weeks, God has completely changed my heart toward having children. As most of you likely know, the whole first year of our marriage I was not even wanting to talk about having kids because I was "far from ready." Well, after spending quite a lot of time with my little friend Hope Martin, serving in the church nursery, AND being a caretaker for the Moore family, I feel excited and ready whenever the Lord would give us the peace that it was time to begin trying.
The Lord spoke to my heart late in the evening as we were driving on the second day of our journey to Vegas and the next day I told Zach about it. I smiled with tears streaming down my cheeks, mostly because I was amazed at how God had moved on my heart but also at the joy of thinking about having a child of my own! What a transformation. AND, last night we went to our first small group and the folks there have been praying for us a long time because Jan has kept them up to date with our lives of ministry. Well, one of the pastors was in the small group (I didn't know he was a pastor until later) and as they prayed over us, he told us in private that the Lord gave him a vision of a baby and a home for us. Keeping in mind that this gentleman knew Nothing about our living situation or the things God has been speaking to my heart so it was really neat to have that confirmation. God is blessings us in our obedience and we are so humbled to be a part of this enormous undertaking that TPE is embarking on. Hallelujah!
The Lord spoke to my heart late in the evening as we were driving on the second day of our journey to Vegas and the next day I told Zach about it. I smiled with tears streaming down my cheeks, mostly because I was amazed at how God had moved on my heart but also at the joy of thinking about having a child of my own! What a transformation. AND, last night we went to our first small group and the folks there have been praying for us a long time because Jan has kept them up to date with our lives of ministry. Well, one of the pastors was in the small group (I didn't know he was a pastor until later) and as they prayed over us, he told us in private that the Lord gave him a vision of a baby and a home for us. Keeping in mind that this gentleman knew Nothing about our living situation or the things God has been speaking to my heart so it was really neat to have that confirmation. God is blessings us in our obedience and we are so humbled to be a part of this enormous undertaking that TPE is embarking on. Hallelujah!
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