I will stand no matter the cost.

I tend to be very opinionated so I am going to use mostly scripture or quotes from pastors and authors far more intelligent than myself.
My only personal opinion is that I am SOOO very thankful to be a member of a church that stands for the gospel as I know so many people I worship with do.  Someone recently said to me that if I was a representation of what the people at my church were like then they would never have any part of it.  I was very upset at first but those words have played over and over in my head and I have come to the conclusion (thanks to God opening my eyes to it) that YES I DO represent the people I attend church with.  I am very proud to attend a church where the pastor stood from behind the pulpit and told people that they were commiting adultry by seeing a dirty movie. (Ephesians 5:3-7 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater —has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.^[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.)   A pastor that is focused on the family and kids and purity for our children.  A church that believes in taking care of the widows and orphans. (James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. )    Ye without sin cast the first stone someone told me.  Well I say to you that 1 Corinthians 5 says that if you are a child of God and refuse to repent  and correct your sin then you are to be cast out from other believers and God will then cast judgement on you. ( But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister^[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”)   A fellow believer and I had a conversation this week and I found out that someone else is passionate about standing up for what is right.  I am tired of being the one that backs down because I am supposed to be nice.  Where does it say that in the bible.  I was told being straightforward isnt the way to lead someone to Christ.  WELL THEN HONEY YOU DONT WANT THE SAVIOR I HAVE!!!!!  There was nothing passive about the teachings of Christ.  I am not trying to package him up and sell him to you.  Its your loss not His or mine.  But if you claim to be a Christian and are doing wrong I can promise you this I am going to tell you, and I would hope that someone would love me enough to do the same.  God calls us to do this and there is nothing nice about what Timothy says here: 2 Timothy 4:In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage —with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.  So from now on if you dont mind, when you comment on a status that I have or a blog that I have written or decide to get in a conversation that I am having please know that if your opinion can not be backed up by scripture then you opinion is not  necessarily correct.  Especially when there is a black and white answer.  I get terribly offended when someone takes my saviors sacrifice lightly.  My husband and I have always talked about something that keeps our heads in the right place.  "Would you still labor and do the work for Christ and live for Him if the reward wasnt heaven or if there was no reward at all, if you were simply doing it to pay Him back for his Sacrifice that He made For you on the Cross?  Do you love Him that much?"  Christ Gave his life for us and some of us cant even live the way he has called us to live.  And still have the nerve to say He is your savior.  Lets get real, you dont really accept and appreciate the gift if it means so little to you that you feel no desire to try and repay it.  I am not perfect Im not claiming to be,  but I am fighting this fight with everything I have... are you?

anticipation....

The past few weeks i have found myself in several "serious" conversations about my faith and what I and my family will stand for.  Magic Mike being the most severe; but there have been other conversations with various people over the past few weeks about my views as a Christian.  They seem to be way off from what others believe.  I say to you now, I used to live totally on what I heard in church.  As I grew older my family and I stopped going to church because we started reading our bibles more, growing our relationship with Christ and realizing that preachers were preaching things other then the scripture.  They were teaching opinion, doctrinal beliefs, and heresies.
The past few weeks conversations about what we "The Bartley" family believes has be reaffirmed by several of my brothers and sisters in Christ as truth, not opinion.  I also believe that these conversations and events in my life have been preparing my heart for my next step.  Craig and I agree that we did not go to our first "Impact Class" expecting to become foster parents in a few short months but after just 2 meetings we both knew that this is what is next for us.
A Blog that I posted on facebook a week or so ago was against Magic Mike, the new male stripper movie.  As I have pondered this week on the many comments and arguments I received on the post I am reaffirming what I said there.  There are times in our lives when we realize that we were wrong.. unfortunately this is not one of them.  The reaction I got from that post just let me know where people stood in their walk with Christ.  I never want to look into my childs eyes and tell them to do as I say not as I do.  I think that is the absolute worst parenting style there is.  So if you would take you child to see that movie I guess this is irrelevant to you, but sin is something that can be a choice.  If you choose to not sin often then there is more room for Christ in your life.  So I guess thank you to the ones that persecuted me for standing up for what I believe in.  You let me know that I am just closer than I realized to being ready for the next MOVEMENT that God has for Craig, Sean, and I!
On a different note, there are several things to remember us for in the coming days.  Craig has an extreme fear of needles and we still have to go get our medical exams done and drug screens.  He is probably not going to be a happy camper for a while.  After that it is a short trip to being "foster parents."  Craig told me today he is excited to know that He will be a daddy again soon.  That just makes my heart melt.  I am truly blessed to have a man in my life that can look at a child that is not ours and love them unconditionally, as I know he can.  Sean is also waiting in anticipation on the day he has a brother here to play video games with all day every day.  His dad and I can only take a few hours of Disney Universe before we are ready to pull our teeth out.  So off to bed, church in the morning.  G'night!

July 15


Hello blogging world. Today is day one.  I should be doing other things but instead i am laying on the couch with my hubby watching Batman (aka getting ready for next week when Dark Knight Rises come out).  Paperwork is not going anywhere, it will surely be there when I get ready for it. 
I feel like I am going in 50 different directions at once and on days like this I just hide from it all; its raining. 


I suppose this blog is to stand the purpose of informing you on our Foster Care Road and also asking for ideas, care, support, and mostly Prayer.  Since I was young and found out that I was not going to be able to ever have children  I have wanted to adopt.  I, at a younger age, was interested in adopting special needs children but as of right now we are going to ease into fostering, number one because we are still young and "inexperienced." So in the beginning stages of getting qualified for foster care we are already excited about the things God is doing in our lives.  Today I have thought an awfully lot about praying in the spare rooms of my house.  I want to be in those rooms to pray today, to ask God to fill them.  To ask God to bless our home and family "how ever big it may get" a friend of ours once prayed. So today is an introduction to our journey-adventure.  Rejoice Always.