EPHESIANS  5:14-16

WAKE UP FROM YOUR SLEEP, CLIMB OUT OF YOUR COFFINS; CHRIST WILL SHOW YOU THE LIGHT! SO WATCH YOUR STEP. USE YOUR HEAD. MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY CHANCE YOU GET. THESE ARE DESPERATE TIMES!

Hi all I know its been awhile since I wrote again. I had some minor set backs, I dont know if I have ever mentioned this in my past blogs, but I have rods (which are a type of pins) that are in both of my arms and legs and for the past year to a year in a half the rod in my right arm started to move.

And in the past two months it became worse, it had moved right threw my arm and was right against my skin, so much so that I could actually see the tip of the rod, it was gross LOL.  I use my right arm to do my typing, and so unfortunately because my rod was getting so bad I had to stop moving it, so that meant I also had to stop writing!

Sadly the only way to take care of this rod issue was to have surgery, to put the rod back in its place. So I had planned to head back to the operating room once again, except this time I had a little hard time getting there LOL, I kept getting every flu, virus and chest cold that was around, and every time I put a date on the calendar to have the surgery I would never actually make it to the operating room and kept having to cancel because you cannot have surgery even small surgeries like this if you have even the slightest cold.

So after three cancelations, on April 3rd I finally made my way to the operating room, and ill be honest at first I was a little annoyed and upset about the date of the surgery. Because even though I knew I needed it right away and knew they had already canceled three times, it was two days before my nieces 2nd birthday party and even though they assured me I would be home the same day because of it being so minor of a surgery, I was still worried I wouldn’t be, because I had so many times in the past where they promised me I would be home the same day and yet never made it home the same day LOL. I also was worried my body needed another week to recover from all the flu’s and chest colds I had fought this month, because I felt my body was so warn out and weak that week and I just felt I wasn’t ready and was a little mad because I felt like GOD wasn’t on my side in this situation, because the rod kept moving closer and closer to my skin which is why they had to do it without waiting any longer, because the longer it stayed that close to the skin the bigger risk of infection and I just felt like every where I looked there was always something that wasn’t going my way.

But the good thing is none of this was painful in anyway, a little bit nerve racking and annoying, like I said but not painful LOL. And I was totally wrong GOD was on my side more then ever. The surgery went amazingly well, I will be honest I never felt so good so fast and recovered so quickly as I did then, and the timing ended up being perfect, because I not only got to go to my nieces party but I also was able to go to a concert that I would of never have been able to go to if it was the week I had wanted it to be.

So my point to all this is dont make the mistake I made, dont look at things, or situations with your natural eyes, look at them through GODS eyes, and when things seem like they are not going your way, dont get upset like I did, stay focused and believe that GOD knows something that you dont and trust in his ability and not your own. Deuteronomy 31:6 says:  Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your GOD goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The reason I am saying all this is because this week I want us to focus on trust and the reason I called this blog death being brought to life, is because right now we are all living in a world filled with evil and DEATH!!! but we have the option the ability to turn what is evil what is dead around and shine our light on it and bring it back to LIFE!!!. we have the ability to wake this country, this nation up and bring it back to LIFE!!

Which is why I chose the most perfect person to feature and interview on THE-BOOK-OF-ROO this week. Her name is Paige Omartian, or some of you may know or remember her as Paige Armstrong, she is a singer, song writer, author and inspirational speaker, and has published two books, the first one she totally wrote on her own and it is called wake up generation and it was released some time in 2012, (dont quote me on that one) I think it was in 2012 that it was released LOL, then she just released a second book just this month (I think) along side with her mother in-law Stormie Omartian and that book is called a book of prayers for young woman.

Paige Omartian arrived on the scene in 2005 ill explain how she got to where she is later 🙂 when she arrived  she was on the today show and was featured in a special christmas album by bath & body works for the make a wish foundation! is anyone realizing who she is yet??? LOL 

Maybe your a little out of touch on the 411 of the “christian music” or “christian industry”  world and yes some people may be offended by the fact that I used the word industry, but the reality is, thats what it has become in some ways and thats not necessarily a bad thing, christians are allowed to make their mark and make money too, as long as they remember not to allow it to become their GOD than they are good, thats my opinion at least LOL.

In 2009 is when I heard of Paige Omartian, I seen her CD wake up featured on itunes and started listening to some samples of it and right away fell in-love with it and at the time she was not married yet and like I said earlier her name was Paige armstrong.

I listened to this girls CD thousands of times even brought it in to some of my surgeries with me, and always felt there was a connection, I even said to GOD one day boy I wonder if this girl has ever been sick because I dont know I just could feel her spirit through the wording in her songs that she had gone through something, I never figured anything out though, up until 8 months ago.

8 months ago I decided to do some research on her because I was praying about featuring her on my website, but wanted to get to know her better before making the decision to contact her, and so I did and to my surprise I found a video on youtube of her as a young girl sharing her story on the today show. 

Her story or at least part of it LOL, is that as a young girl I think around 11 years old she got the shock of her life, she was diagnosed with cancer and would end up spending an entire year in and out of hospitals and ended up needing 14 chemo treatments and a major surgery on her leg.

During that time of course there was a lot of heart ache and sorrow but in sorrow comes joy.  To make a long story short, during that time Paige was blessed to have the opportunity to get a wish from the make a wish foundation and her wish was to go to a professional studio and record her own song!! which is how she got on the bath & body works CD and from there her dream of a career in singing  and writing and speaking and showing the love of JESUS to all the world came true.

And GOD recently blessed me by getting the opportunity to interview her, in order to get ahold of her I had to go through her publisher and boy GOD was really guiding my hand through that email, LOL, because I had no clue what to say or do LOL, I never talked to a publishers before and still am learning the ropes of how to go about these interviews and as ive told you all before I never finished school so am still learning to not get intimidated by speaking to big important, intelligent, people like that and so I had no clue what to do other then share my heart and thankfully she responded and took me serious and did not take me as some goofy fan or “groupie” whose just trying to get a famous christian artist/authors attention, but took me as a writer and helped me get my story, she even sent me a free copy of paiges book, which was really sweet of her 🙂

and a little advice to everyone out there dont do like I did dont get intimidated by someone just because they have a fancy title, we all have a calling and no matter if your someone like me and may be dont have a fancy education dont let that stop you from fulfilling your dream!!

One of my first questions to paige is how old she was now?? as I said earlier when her life dramatically changed she was 11 years old, boy how time flies because she is now 22 years old and married!!!!

I also asked her how she felt when she first found out she had cancer? was there ever a time she felt discouraged? or disappointed by GOD and life?

here is what she said: Absolutely! When I was first diagnosed and battling cancer, I thought God was punishing me. I didn’t know what I had done wrong and I kept asking God, “Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?” I was 11 years old and my hair was falling out from the chemotherapy treatments and I was in a wheelchair from my surgery. My entire world felt like it was falling apart. But so many people were praying for me during this time and encouraging me with Scripture telling me that God loved me and had a plan in the midst of my pain. I began to feel the Lord with me during my hardest moments… I felt Him carrying me. I realized that He wasn’t punishing me but loved me and had a plan even when I couldn’t see it. Romans 8:28 has since become my life verse… It says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I have experienced the promise of this verse firsthand in my life. God has brought so many blessings out of the worst thing in my life. I learned that He will always make something beautiful out of our pain if we’ll let Him.

I (Jackie Yafanaro( felt and still feel very connected to everything paige talks about, and have experienced and felt a lot of the ways she feels. I even seen a video on youtube once of her talking about her looks and how she was a little ashamed or embarrassed of her leg because it had a huge scar and how GOD spoke to her and encouraged her to stay strong and not be embarrassed.

If anyone knows what its like to be judged by their looks it is me!! LOL but again when the devil is trying to use things to discourage you, to bring death, you have to do stand up and change that and speak life and like page says wake up and realize thats a trick from the enemy, and remember to keep telling yourself im beautifully and wonderfully made in CHRIST.

I also asked Paige how long she had to deal with being sick? when did the cancer go in remission? I also told her there are many people who read my blogs who are just like me and her who are battling sickness and fighting to live each day and I asked her in her words what she would say to encourage all of us. heres the replies to both those questions.

I battled cancer for a year – basically living in the hospital that whole time. I received 14 chemotherapies overall and a major surgery to replace five inches of the bone in my right leg. I was pronounced “cancer-free” after my 14^th chemotherapy. You can imagine how incredible it was to hear those words!

Keep fighting for the precious life the Lord has given you. As I always say, if you’re still breathing, there’s a reason you’re here. Satan wants to discourage you, making you feel as though your life is not worth living. But remember: that’s only because He’s scared of how influential your life will be if you live it for the Lord. Every day is a gift and Scripture says that we should make the most of every day we’re given. When we truly surrender our life to the Lord, our life is no longer our own… which is the most beautiful thing! God has breathed a purpose and mission into each of our hearts and when we seek Him, He shows us how to live it out.

I also asked paige the how different does she feel her life is now from back when this all began? and I also asked her the one thing I know were all dying to know the answer to, WILL PAIGE OMARTIAN EVER RELEASE NEW MUSIC?????

here was her response to both those questions:

For one, I have hair. And, I can walk! I am very grateful for that. 🙂 The Lord has done so much in my life since I had cancer that I hardly know where to start! I live in Nashville now, I used to live in Pennsylvania. I also get to write and speak and make music as my job – God has truly given me the desires He placed in my heart. Best of all (and biggest change!) is that I’m married now, so I live my life alongside my husband and our cute little dog. I’m currently in a very new season in my life, but I absolutely adore it!

Yes! I am working on writing a few songs and hope to record them soon. I don’t feel that God is calling me to focus on being a full-time artist right now but to create songs that support the messages that I write and speak about. So for now I’ll be doing music more on the side. I’ll keep everyone posted on what that will look like and when it will be released!

My favorite song on Paige Omartians wake up CD is called “the story song” so I was interested to hear what her favorite song was, I usually ask most of the artists I interview that question because I like to get an understanding of how their connected to the songs, because we can all write a bunch of words on paper to make a good sentence or story, but to connect to what you are dishing out, to poor your heart and soul in to it, that is what makes it powerful, at least to me anyways LOL.

here what song is paiges favorite and what she said about the song:

Probably my song, “Apathy”. When I wrote that song it was like a release in my soul. It was a message that had been building up for so long that I was about to explode unless I got it out there. The way the lyrics came together with the music really displayed the fiery passion in my heart to shake us out of our apathy and into our life’s calling.

My final question to Paige Omartian was what is a scripture verse that she loves and that inspires her?  She chose Ephesians 5:14-16 which is the scripture I have at the top of the page as our main scripture verse for this blog because I also thought it was perfect for what I also wanted to base this blog on, which again is about death being turned around life being breathed in to all of us. 

Because yes thats what GOD does for us daily, if anyone knows this it is I, I have had death spoken over my life more times then I care to think about, and when I say death im not just speaking about our physical bodies, im speaking on every aspect of our life.

wishbone day is in less than two weeks, and for those of you who dont know what that is, it is OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) awareness day and its on may 6th and I am putting together a video for it, so I was going through old pictures of myself and different memorabilia type things that my mom has saved of mine and looking back at how sick I was and thinking about all the times the Doctors not only said my physical body would be dead, but also how they didnt know if mentally id be able to speak, or think, and that more then likely if I could do those things I still would have some type of learning disability on top of the OI because of the Hydrocephalus and that I probably would never be able to read or write, or do anything an average kid would do, and they for sure were not thinking of what I could or not as an adult because they for sure thought id never reach adulthood.

But GOD breathed life in to me and I stood on the book of life and not death and stood on his promises and believed that OI COULD DO ALL THINGS THOUGH CHRIST!!! and that not only gave me a physical life but a natural one too, and all those words of death that were spoken over me those words were what died, I not only have survived, but I have witnessed and showed the love of JESUS to many people around my area, I have sang at churches, I have met famous people, I have met bill clinton even, I have received all A’s and different awards in school, I have learned computers and how to run websites, I have learned to sow, I have learned to paint and do many other crafts and I have learned to write and am now stepping out in to that field.

DOES THAT SOUND LIKE DEATH OR A PERSON WHO CANT DO THINGS IN LIFE??? I THINK NOT, NEVER LET SOMEONE INTIMIDATE YOU OR BELITTLE YOU, OR SPEAK DEATH OVER YOU, NO ONE HAS THE ABILITY TO SPEAK DEATH OVER YOUR LIFE BUT YOU!! SO CHOOSE LIFE BECAUSE I PROMISE YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT

Romans 10:13 for those who call on the name of the LORD shall be saved.

I hope you enjoyed this blog I know its long I apologize but before I end I have just a few short announcements.  First of all id like to give a shout out to a friend and follower of THE-BOOK-OF-ROO her names Michelle, her and her zumba class took up a collection and sent THE-BOOK-OF-ROO a very unexpected but extremely appreciable large donation so thank each and every one of you, very sweet and kind of each of you.

GOD is continually not only speaking life over me but also this ministry that I am building and every time I start to doubt things he does something to prove me wrong and encourages me to keep moving forward, id like to just touch on one last thing though because I love my readers, my family and my friends, but id like to make one thing clear that I think some people are getting confused about.

I am not doing these interviews to try to get these artists attention because im “sick little Jackie” who loves christian music, and im not doing it to be a “groupie” LOL and yes I may look up to some of these people but as much as I love music, singers, and authors, none of these people are my idols I only have one idol and his name is JESUS!!

and I just want to make it clear the reason I am contacting these artists is not for anything other then, there are things the LORD has given me, has imparted in to me,  that I feel him guiding me to write about that has to do with these people and their songs and or books, and so that is the reason, why im doing this, it isn’t about benefiting me its about benefiting GOD and obeying him and sharing the words he has placed in my heart for people.

Like I said WISHBONE DAY MAY 6TH GET YOUR YELLOW ON MY FELLOW READERS AND ALSO DONT FORGET TO BUY OI CAN DO ALL THINGS BRACELETS YOU CAN BUY THEM ON MY FROM THE-BOOK-OF-ROO FACEBOOK PAGE AND IF YOU DONT HAVE FACEBOOK THEN YOU CAN PRIVATELY EMAIL ME AND ORDER THEM THAT WAY, YOU CAN WRITE ME FROM HERE OR AT MY ADDRESS thebookofroo@gmail.com DROP ME A LINE THERE STATING HOW MANY YOU WANT AND YOUR ADDRESS AND ILL SEND THEM OUT TO YOU. THEY ARE $5.00 EACH 

ALSO REMEMBER PLEASE KEEP DONATING TO THE-BOOK-OF-ROO THE MORE YOU DONATE THE MORE I CAN GROW THIS IN TO THE VISION I KNOW GOD HAS SHOWN ME EVEN IF ITS $3.00  ANY DOLLAR COUNTS RIGHT NOW AND IS SO APPRECIATED, THE DONATE BUTTON IS LOCATED AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE, AS OF RIGHT NOW WE ONLY DO PAYPAL, BUT IM WORKING ON A BETTER SYSTEM AND IT WILL BE UP SOON, BUT FOR NOW JUST CLICK THE DONATE BUTTON, IT WILL BRING YOU TO PAYPAL WITHOUT EVER LEAVING THIS PAGE, IF YOU ARE A PAYPAL MEMBER ITS AS EASY AS 1,2,3. GOD BLESS KEEP SHINING AND MORE IMPORTANTLY KEEP SPREADING LIFE TO ALL THE WORLD AND GLOW LIKE GOLD BABY!!!!! HOPE YOU ENJOY THE BLOG AND VIDEO FEATURING PAIGE OMARTIAN AND THANK YOU PAIGE FOR NOT ONLY ALLOWING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY BUT ALSO FOR TAKING THE TIME TO GUIDE ME AND GIVE ME ADVICE AS I TRY TO ACHIEVE A SMALL PORTION OF WHAT YOU HAVE, IN HOPES THAT JESUS BE JUST AS PROUD OF ME AS I KNOW HE IS OF YOU 🙂 AND THANK YOU HARVEST HOUSE AND GLASS ROAD MEDIA & MANAGEMENT AND REBECCA SEITZ FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN

WELL THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY IN THIS WEEKS BLOG, THANKS FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE A PIECE OF MY HEART WITH YOU ALL  AS ALWAYS GOD BLESS LOVE YOU ALL AND MORE IMPORTANTLY REMEMBER JESUS LOVES YOU 🙂