Diane Markins

You might just say that I’m a Christmas junkie. My parents got me hooked as a toddler and my addiction never subsided. Growing up, our little home was decorated to the fullest extent of its capacity with shiny, colorful ornaments. The anticipation for The Big Day was perpetuated by my mom, who loved Christmas as much as any little kid.

There are too many good things that won't happen if we are not praying. And there are also terrible things that will happen if we don't pray. I wrote this book because I saw too many people being destroyed for lack of knowledge about this subject [spiritual warfare].

There is nothing new about the spirit realm. It’s been a part of the Bible since the words were written. We know that there are unseen activities going on around us. The devil and his minion demons exist. They are up to no-good all the time. The mission: “to kill, steal and destroy like a roaring lion.” That sounds about as scary as any horror movie, especially when applied to your own life and loved ones, right? But there's more...

We put our 5 bedroom suburban house on the market. Bought a falling-down 1950’s 2 bedroom house in the ‘hood - that we promptly named Casa de Vida - House of Life as God imprinted His desire to give ‘life to the full’ indelibly on our hearts. It has been an adventure!

"My plea to you is this: We mustn’t brush this reality aside, thinking that what we don’t know won’t hurt us. What we don’t know absolutely will hurt us, and hurt us in powerful ways.” No wonder Mark Batterson endorses Jack Graham's book!

Unfortunately, in my willingness to sacrifice for others I am not being a steward of myself. And if truly honest, not really sacrificing. I am doing the EASIER and LAZY thing. Serving myself takes a great deal of effort.

Pastor and mega-author Francis Chan wrote the forward to Love, Skip, Jump by Shelene Bryan. He said, “Don’t be another person who wastes his/her life by trying to save it. Join my friend Shelene in doing something.”

Like a lot of Christ following parents, I had heard of the Awana ministry before, but in 2011, the way I viewed Awana totally changed. I was shocked by what I found out, and it totally changed our lives.

[It may sound crazy but there are many parallels between choosing/ brewing a good cup of tea and your faith.] ...if you offer up the biggest parts of yourself, then it is going to turn out the best. It is just more expensive. It will cost you more to have a faith like that.

The pastor left his sermon manuscript in the pulpit. When the janitor found it, he couldn’t resist the urge to read it. He was impressed, until he stumbled over a note in the margin: “Argument weak here. Start yelling!”