"True Christian Motherhood"-- Soon to be Released!

Hey everyone! My mom, June Fuentes, wrote an ebook entitled "True Christian Motherhood" and it's going to be released real soon! Keep an eye out for it in the next couple weeks...

This ebook on Christian Motherhood will give you life-changing vision that will change the way you view motherhood, your life, and the way you engage with children forever.

Women everywhere are looking for guidance, encouragement, and vision. This book will help provide it for grandmothers, moms, and girls not yet married. I encourage you to buy it when it comes out, read it, and then apply it! :)

Make sure to "like" the FB page- True Christian Motherhood- and join the discussion page-  True Christian Motherhood Discussion Group!

New Blog!

Hey Everyone! Wanted to let you guys know that I've made a new blog! It's called "More Than Conquerors". I named it after the verse in Romans 8:37 that says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." I don't think I'll be posting as much on "Teen Impact" so if you would like to keep up with my writings, please follow "More Than Conquerors".

So check out my new blog and have a great week!

More Than Conquerors

Guard It....

Valentines Day....There's alot to think about on this day. But I just want to remind you of a verse that I think is especially made for people that aren't married yet. :)

I thought seeing this one verse in so many translations was pretty interesting. It's almost like a new message with every way that it's said- Check it out...

Proverbs 4:23-

NIV- Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.


NLT- Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.


ESV- Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.


NAS- Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.


GWT- Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.

Just a thought (or rather- a verse) that I wanted to throw out to everyone today...

Have a Happy Valentines Day, Everyone! 

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Well, It Turns Out....

That I won't end up going to Reynosa, Mexico. I had really wanted to go on this trip but for safety reasons, I think it's the wisest and safest thing to stay out on this one. Thank you so much to everyone who was keeping me in prayer and donated!! I really appreciate all of you! :)

Hopefully another trip (maybe later in the year) will come up that I'll be able to go on! Thank you again and I will try to get a new post up soon! ;)

Going to Mexico!

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!! I hope you all are doing well. The Lord has given me a great opportunity to travel to Reynosa (a border town in Mexico) with the Ruiz family. In this town there is no indoor plumbing or electricity. Houses are built from wooden pallets that have been scavenged from the nearby garbage dump. Other families live in cars. Some parents have made the decision to stay living in these rough conditions because moving to a sophisticated town- with indoor plumbing and electricity- would force both mom and dad to work everyday for 16 hours a day because of poor paying jobs.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 15:7, “If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.”

(Little boy sells plastic bags for his family)

And in Galatians 6:8, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

In order to obey these commands, we will be building very modest one room houses on cement slabs and roofs of tin and plywood for exterior walls. Despite this being Mexico it does get cold. The cost of building these houses is $3000. We are asking that you would team up with us in sponsoring a house, helping us with our travel expenses or both. Thankfully, we have been given free lodging with a missionary family living near the border on the U.S. side. We will be on this trip from February 4-16.

This will be my first missions trip! My goal is to reach around $400. I am asking anyone who is able to contribute to give either monetarily or through prayer. Anything you can give will help. Even a small donation goes a long way and will be greatly appreciated and a huge blessing.

I am very excited about this and ask for your prayers of protection and blessing during this time. Pray that these people will see the love of Jesus Christ and turn to the Lord for salvation.

In Christ,

Janai Fuentes   

If you would like to donate, click on the "Donate" button below--

2011!!!

Wow...where has the time gone? I think the year went by way too fast!

My dad said- 

"2010 is in the books, and you can do nothing to change what occurred this past year except learn from it. Resolve to be a better person, remember those you lost, cherish those you've gained, love those entrusted to your care, and take nothing for granted. Your life is on loan from God- invest it in that which will bring eternal rewards. Follow King Jesus, and make 2011 the best year of your life~!"

There was so many awesome times during 2010- and then there were the really hard and trying times in the year as well. But you know- hard as it is sometimes- if I could see the future and what the Lord has planned for me, I wouldn't change any one of those things. God is so faithful and has a wonderful future planned for every single one of my friends and family. I hope you all know that! And I also hope that everyone has an Amazing New Year!!

~Janai

Btw, Check out this list of things we did during 2010 that my dad wrote out on his blog--  

The Male Domain: 2010 Year End Review

Merry Christmas!

Merry CHRISTmas Everyone!!

"If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. 

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. 

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. 

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. 

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior."

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!  

~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

 

"Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see"

-Brandon Heath, Give Me Your Eyes

"So here's my lifelong wish,
My grown-up christmas list.
Not for myself,
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up christmas list."

"You Were Meant To Be Touching

The Lives That You Touch
And Meant To Be Here
Making This World So Much More
Than It Would Be Without You In It


You Were Meant To Be Bringing
The Gifts That You Bring
And Singing The Songs
You’ve Been Given To Sing


You Are Perfectly, Wonderfully,
Beautifully Meant To Be
You Were Meant To Be" 

-Steven Curtis Chapman, Meant To Be

Christmas Gift Suggestions

Christmas Gift Suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness. To your opponent, tolerance. 

To a friend, your heart. To every child, a good example. 

To yourself, respect. To all, charity.

~Oren Arnold

 Remember in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas- CHRIST is Christmas!

Jesus Wants The Rose- Matt Chandler

My family loves Matt Chandler. He is an excellent pastor who tries his best in doing what God wants him to do. Senior pastor of The Village Church; he has an amazing faith in God despite everything he's been through. He's been a huge inspiration to everyone who has kept up with him or just heard of him.

This is a clip of one of his past sermons that he did a while ago- I really encourage you to watch it!

A Little Busy

Hey Everyone! Been kind of busy with life lately but I promise you, I am working on a post! =)
I've been busy with my last year of school right now, helping out with the worship team at my church, piano lessons (learning and teaching), helping out my family, and I just started a job (a couple weeks ago and I'm really excited about it!)! The job is working for my Uncle Israel (he does realty) doing all the technical stuff. So I'm helping set up websites, learning more about Wordpress (which I actually kind of like and am thinking about setting up one for myself), learning how to get to a job on time (which also includes not staying up too late with cousins! =), and all the other little things that take up time. Right now I'm being trained in Chicago but then I'll do it from home once I get everything down. So those are some of the bigger things that are going on with me right now.

Hope you guys are doing great and enjoying the weather! Have a great weekend....

~Janai Marie

(Just something to make you smile!)

A Reminder.......

"This job has been given to me to do. 

Therefore, it is a gift. 

Therefore, it is a privilege. 

Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. 

Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. 

Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. 

In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness."
 

— Elisabeth Elliot

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I really like Elisabeth Elliot (wife of Jim Elliot) and am going to be looking more into her life soon. I know she was a woman of courage, strength, character, and a lover of the Lord and her family. Those already are allot of things I want to imitate about her that will take quite a bit of time! =)

It Gets Hard Sometimes. . .

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, 

always enthusiastic about the Lord's work for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."

-1 Corinthians 15:58

I really feel the urge to encourage all of you today....

Keep serving the Lord with a joyful attitude even when it gets hard and things get in your way or aren't going the way you planned. Sometimes it gets hard when we're in the certain positions that we're in. I very often find it hard being the oldest child in my family...I end up thinking or saying things like, "I did not sign up for this!", "Why didn't God let me choose which "number" I got to be in my family?" (FYI, I probably would've picked the youngest! =), "Why is it that I set the example for all my siblings?". I'm sure for all of you that aren't the oldest wonder why you aren't because you could do so much better and get all the things first and tell your younger siblings what to do and everyone will notice you more, etc., am I right? =)

But you know what? If we could see how God planned all the the facts and all the little details and how He put us in exactly the position we're in and how everything will turn out by the end of our lives...We wouldn't change one thing that's going on right now.

Stay strong not only for yourself but for your family, for us that are praying for you, the non-Christians because they are always watching us, and all the rest of your friends and family in your life! Keep in mind that you are helping to change lives for eternity...Which is a huge job that was entrusted to us by the most powerful king there ever was, is, or yet to come!

Little by little; 

 step by step; 

feeling like you're falling then rising; 

feeling like you're failing then conquering;

we can do this together but it takes every player of the team in order for everyone to win.

Stay steady and keep walking with Jesus!

Hope you all have a great and blessed week!

"Carry the cross patiently with perfect submission 

and in the end it shall carry you."
-Thomas á Kempis

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From Jasmine

Jasmine Baucham said that she...

 "wants to proclaim the gospel that has the power to quicken dead hearts, not the behavioral modification that turns virtues into idols and white-washes open graves."

I couldn't have said it better!

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Quote by R. W. Emerson

"To laugh often & much;
to win the respect of intelligent people & the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics
& endure the betrayal of false friends.

To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child or a garden patch.

To know... that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

-R.W. Emerson

Ignite Conference

A couple weeks ago, I went to a music conference called "Ignite" and learned so many things about worship there! For those who don't know, I play on the worship team at my church (I do keyboard, shakers, and. . . use to do singing. But then someone told me that I sang off key so. . . they took me off! =P =D) and so going to a conference like this was pretty neat!

They "skyped" with some other worship leaders, including: Travis Cottrell, Bob Kauflin, and Kristian Stanfill. Their main point/question was "how can we have a gospel centered life in order to have a gospel centered worship?" and "how can we glorify God in our worship?".

I wanted to share some of my notes I got from there with you--

From Bob Kauflin:

• Practice so much, you can focus and glorify God on Sunday
• Have a "undistracted excellence"
• Performance- Worrying about what man thinks
• Worship- Worrying about what God thinks

3 Labor Points from Bob K.-

• Labor to understand the gospel. Never assume you know it (because even though you've heard the gospel when you got saved, there's always something new to learn about it).
• Labor to be effected by the gospel
• Labor to live the gospel

From Travis Cottrell:

• We have to have a "happy- to- do- it" attitude because most likely God has called us to do what we do
• How high can we lift God; how low can we go?
• The gospel has to be alive in us (for others to see it and know that what we got is genuine and real)
• Own your "walk" (with Christ)
  

From Kristian Stanfill:

• Our job (on stage) is to disappear and make Jesus appear (I love this one!)
• You have to be a great follower of Jesus in order to be a great leader to the people
• They want to be led by "real" people. (In other words, if you're the one who talks to the people; don't be afraid to tell them you have struggles and Kristian says to actually confess it to them. . .)
  
• Be prepared
• Know who God is or else you can't lead

Here are some other good quotes I heard while I was there--

"Don't let the busyness of worship; take the heart out of worship"- Eva Carr

"Bible: not the suggestion book; it's the direction book"

"Good is the enemy of Great"-Daniel Doss
What he was saying here is if you do worship or anything else in your life that you really aren't paid or obligated to do, and you just say you're "good" at it. . . don't, because there's always room to improve in whatever it is that you do. One of the instruments I play is piano so if someone came and said about themselves, "Oh, I'm good. I've been playing since I was 5 and now I play in a band [or for church or whatever]...I'm good.", that's great! But don't just be good; be great. Work towards excellence in whatever you do. I know that sometimes we just can't (full-time job, school, family, other responsibility's) but also don't let "excuses" get in the way either. Okay, enough of my sermon... =)

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him"- John Piper

A Poem

One of my most encouraging friends, Sarah, writes these great poems that she'll post on her blog. Here's one I particularly like! I love the truth in it!

Titled "How it is/ How it should be". . .I really encourage you to read it--

Click here

The Essence of Destiny. . .

"The Essence of Destiny-

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Choose your words, for they become actions.

Understand your actions, for they become habits.

Study your habits, for they will become your character.

Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny."

Activated! Part 5- Lauren Piekarski

I've known Lauren Piekarski (15) for a while now (about 8 years or so). I was around 10 and she was around 8. And ever since I have known her, there's always been one thing I've admired about her and that is that she is not afraid to speak up about what she believes. Even when it's not absolutely necessary that she does, she does it anyway no matter who she's talking with or what the conversation's about.

If someone said, "I have a boyfriend! And. . . (blah, blah, blah)", she says, "Is he a Christian?. . . Is he "the one"? . . .Then why are you with him?". I love that about her!

If someone was talking inappropriately- right away, "You shouldn't say that" or "Hey, watch it!". She does it playfully yet getting her point across. Not like a old-fashioned school teacher with a ruler in her hand, but with an accepting spirit that lets you know, "Hey, just don't say that alright?".

If we're Christians ("Little Christ"), we need to remember that we knew what we were doing when we repented of our sins and asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives. We knew that we would be following Jesus. And you know what? Jesus was never hesitant in speaking what he knew was right! Jesus knew that, in the end, they wouldn't be the ones he would have to answer to when asked why he didn't speak what was right. So to be like Jesus and live up to our "name", we need to be studying the Bible and speaking what we know to be true. If we don't. . .who will? How will anyone know what is right or wrong if we (the "Christians") aren't telling anyone because we're "scared" of losing friends or our positions or being called names or. . .you name it.

You know, Lauren probably doesn't even know that I've noticed that about her. . . and that I like it. Can you imagine how many other people that have been impacted by her example? How many people that aren't saved have watched her and knew that something was different?

When I grow up I want to be like Lauren. . . Because she isn't afraid. . . Are you?

A Young Boy's Hope. . .

"I don't want to just be a soldier in God's army. I want to be a general."
-Noah Botkin (13)

How many 13, 16, 20, or even 50 year olds do you see wanting to be a general in God's army? I had never thought about it until I heard young Noah say it!
It's really neat to see young men, like Noah, have a vision for wanting to do something with their lives and be an example for others to follow.
I wonder if many people we know can (and will) say the same about us? It's makes me realize that there are more people watching me than I know of and that I need to be a Christ-like example to them. Hope you keep that in mind, too. Because as a team, we can show the world what Christian teens look like when they are generals on a mission for Jesus!

Blog Button

Okay, I've made a blog button for Teen Impact (finally!) and. . .here's how it looks:

So if you have been encouraged here, put this blog button on your sidebar so others can find this blog and be encouraged too. Here is the code:

<a href="http://impactteens.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt60/junefuentes/The_Cross-2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Teen Impact" /></a>

Just copy and paste this code into your side bar. When others click on this it will link directly to this blog. This is also on my sidebar in case you'd like to see how it looks. If you need any help installing this really simple button, feel free to ask!

You can also find this blog on Facebook, click here.