Transition--BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Designer Genes, LLC is relocating to Atlanta (finally) on June 12. After much prayer and fasting, God has instructed me to change the business from a women-focused business to a people-focused business!! He has given me 5 years with a focus on women, and my heart will be there, but we all know HIS Will has to prevail!!

I am asking that everyone attached to this group and its ministry pray for my son and me. If you cannot find the words to say, I have attached some prayer points on which I would like to focus.

Love you all!!
Thanks for believing in our ministry!!
GOD is BIG!!

PRAYERS:
•Ask God to strengthen us as we get settled in Atlanta.
•Ask God to grant us favor through Designer Genes and SOL Foundation. May God give us a renewed sense of vision and passion, as well as courage to lead others as God leads us.
•Ask God to bless my son, Giovanni, who’s going to spend the summer in Texas with grandma. First time he will spend so much time without mommy.
•Ask God to give us wisdom (knowing what’s right) and courage (doing what’s right, even when it’s hard).
•Ask God to bless our walks with God, including our daily time with God. May God give us listening hearts so that we may discern God’s yearning for ourselves, our family, and for the communities God calls us to lead.

PROVERBS 14:23
Empowering PEOPLE to take care of their FAITH, FAMILY, FITNESS, and FINANCES using His blueprint.

Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder
designergenesllc@gmail.com
http://designergenesllc.blogspot.com
404-200-7911

Meeting God in the Middle (Kirby Patterson)

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

We need to renew our spirit in Him everyday. We can't depend on Sunday sermons alone. We have to make the effort daily, because things happen daily. If we wait to be renewed only on Sundays, we will be so drained from the weeks events that we just ask God, "Man, just give me a miracle. Make it better so I can make it another week." But my question to you is, how can we converse with our closests friends everyday, socialize with people everyday, but are too tired to talk to the one we need most? The one that is ensured to be there EVERDAY. And we use the excuse, "God knows my heart. I'll talk to Him tomorrow." He feels neglected, just like we do when someone we care about doesn't communicate with us. How would you feel if He never came through for you? Didn't answer your prayers? Decided to take a break? But we take Him for granted, "Oh, it's God, He will be there tomorrow so I will just talk to Him tomorrow." That's where "Meeting God in the Middle" comes from. God can bring you to Him, but it's up to you to push to make the relationship stronger.

"Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can declare all His praise?" Psalm 106:1-2

There isn't enough time in a day to tell God how much and why we love Him. So why don't we try to tell Him a little bit everyday? He's so incredible! It's amazing how there are so many people praying to God for help, but He still has time for us. Yes, it is hard to trust a being that we can't see. But when we do, we realize that He is more than just our friend, because friendships end everyday. He keeps His promises. So why do we put more effort into people that aren't ensured to be there for us the next day? We take for granted what God does for us. Just to be among the living is a blessing. Don't take it for granted that you are here. It could've been you. Be thankful and fulfill your mission. It's a blessing for someone to look past where we are, our past and even the things we will do in our future, and sees where we will ultimately be.

We are striving for success, money, fame... desperate for it even. Let's be DESPERATE FOR GOD! Ask Him to take you, use you and change you. We should long to worship Him. Wake up every morning searching for Him, because if we do this, everything our heart desires will be granted to us. Stay strong! Don't let materialistic things take the place of the Almighty. Let's live in DESPERATION...for God!!

Thoughts

Sometimes prayer is not so easy. We ask, we seek, we wait, we hope, and we yearn to hear from God. Yet, many times, what we ask for does not come to pass and our prayers seem to be spoken into the void. But, that can be quite good. Have there ever been prayers that you are glad were not answered? Sometimes our short sightedness causes us to pray outside the will of God, and that is the problem. What would be a good prayer? We must primarily ask for #1God's will to be accomplished, not ours. This means that we must enter prayer by faith and accept, in advance, that what we are requesting may not be answered the way we hope it will. We must look to God as the wise counselor, the all-knowing Lord who loves us deeply and who hears our prayers, but has a divine plan and purpose (Jeremiah 29:11)for His creation that God will carry out. Therefore, we must not only pray for others, for forgiveness, for healing, etc., but we must also pray that we are moved into the will of God in every area of our lives so that our prayers might more accurately reflect the will of God.

Furthermore, we must ask the Lord to reveal to us anything that we are doing that prevents our prayers from being heard and prevents us from being in His will. We must seek forgiveness for our sins and conformity to God's purpose and plan. Then, our prayers will be more frequently answered. #2: Submission. When Jesus was praying in Luke 22:42, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the Father, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." Jesus did not want to go through the ordeal of the crucifixion and He asked the Father for a way out. His prayer was not answered the way Jesus requested. Nevertheless, He submitted His will to the will of the Father, and that is the key to prayer.
I must tell you that the words in this blog are meant as a part of my own personal healing in the hopes that I might help someone else. Until I submit to His will and learn from the situations He places me in, I will continue to experience the same cyclical and harmful life patterns.

We must learn to use the powerful tool we have: The Tongue. We need to be speaking those things that are not as though they were. I went back to my favorite (The Message Bible) and found this written: "We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!" (Romans 4:17) I love that with a word, He can make something out of nothing. Is that a testimony or what? Even better, He gave me the same power! WHAT?!! YAY!

#3: Praise. God is awesome! We hear this, but do we KNOW this? I have experienced both sides of the spectrum, and I know that I have power to "speak those things." I am very careful with my heart now because of this very principle. Proverbs 4:23-27 tells us “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts. Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you (A PROMISE!!!). Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust (A COMMAND!!!).” #4:PURGE!!! Take inventory of your lives and hearts and leave anything behind that is outside of His will. Relationships especially will hinder progress--no matter what kind they are.

I love you all, and I can't stop thanking the Lord for allowing me to share with you!

25 Easy ways to find extra cash by Brooke Stephens

from the June 2009 Issue of Ebony Magazine

1. Brown Bag it--save the $5 to $12 for lunch

2. Buy Generics--try Costco or Sam's and save 25 cents by buying store brands

3. Use Coupons--coolsavings.com, coupons.com, smartsource.com (I love double coupons)

4. Garage Sales--clean out your closets and storage!!

5. "Stay-cation" vs vacation--skip this year's cruise and opt for a local attraction

6. Smoking--just quit! save $4 to $5 a day and live longer!

7. Barter--swap services like babysitting and haircuts

8. Library--It's free--books, movies, magazines, and newspapers

9. Water--get a filter and refill bottles at home instead of buying bottled water weekly

10. Regular gas--unless your car manufacturer insists, all cars are calibrated to run off regular

11. Manicures/Pedicures--do them at home once a week and go to the salon when they offer midweek discounts

12. Movie matinees--get there before 6pm--get 1/2 price

13. Dry cleaning--wash sweaters in Woolite and iron your own slacks

14. Cosmetics at the grocery store--yogurt for moisturizer, egg whites
for facial mask, Witch hazel for astringent and cucumbers or tea for nourishment

15. Phone bills--internet based services like Vonage, Skype, etc...can lower monthly bills by 25-40% CELL phone providers offer pay-as-you-go

16. Theater discounts--corporate discounts, unions, etc offer up to 50% or more discounts

17. Prescriptions--if there is no generic version of your medicine, check online for 30% savings

18. Balance Checkbook--avoid NSF (insufficient funds) charges

19. Unplug appliances, TVs, Cell phones, chargers, and computers--they draw electricity even when off

20. Lightbulbs--change to CFLs (compact flourescent lightbulbs) reduce energy costs up to 75%

21. Extended warranties--skip them on appliances...it's a gift to the retailer..most come with a one-year manufacturer warranty

22. Health clubs--employers may offer discount packages, try YMCA

23. Cable service--eliminate premium channels and save $40 a month (hey, you still have ESPN!)

24. Online bill paying--mailing dozoens of checks can cost lots in postage, so automate the recurring bills or go ONLINE!

25. ATMs--use your own bank's ATMs or get cash back at grocers or drug stores.

SMART MOVE!!--carry only cash you need daily!!

SMARTER MOVE!!---TITHE!!--Give 10% of your income to the church where you are being spiritually-fed. The tithe goes to bringing people into the KINGDOM. In my life, it is not optional! I am reaping the harvest of incorporating this in my life.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)

Tiffaney K. Draper,
Founder and CEO
designergenesllc@gmail.com
http://designergenesllc.blogspot.com
404-200-7911

I found this on Girlfriends in GOD~I think it will help us ladies!!

May 12, 2009
In His Eyes, Part 2
Mary Southerland
Today's Truth

Psalm 139:14-15 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (NIV).

Friend to Friend
God can set you free to be all He created you to be. A healthy self-image is not rooted in pride and it does not exalt self above others. In Romans 12:3, Paul clearly says, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Success comes when we learn to accept God's evaluation instead of our own, when we give Him permission to make us what He created to be and when we begin to understand who we are in His eyes. How? Let's look at six steps we can take to understand who we are in the eyes of God.

Step one: Check the label.

Step two: Embrace the plan.

Step three: Be yourself.
We should always be looking for something new to learn, an area where we can grow and changes that need to be made. Sit down with your mate or close friend and ask for a realistic evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses. Constantly search for gifts and abilities and then take one of those abilities and work on it. Don't be afraid of change. It is a sign of life and of growth. Change what needs to be changed, accept what you cannot change and quit whining about it! I know so many women who wasting so much life trying to be something they were never created to be -- kind of like a hand trying to be a toe. We need to stop questioning God's design and kicking against the plan. An old man from the mountains of North Carolina, who was known for his extraordinary wooden carvings of dogs, was once asked, "How do you take a block of wood and create such beauty?" The old mountain man replied, "Well, I just take my knife and carve away everything that doesn't look like a dog." Learning to see your self through the eyes of God is like "carving away" everything that is not part of the original design -- God's plan -- and then learning how to accept what remains.

Step four: Guard your mind.
Scripture is very clear on the point that the mind is the main battlefield in spiritual warfare and is especially important in the battle of discovering who we are in Christ.

Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinks within himself, so he is."

Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

We are bombarded on all sides by the media, family and friends, co-workers and even enemies. They all have a certain identity that they want to assign to us. We have a choice. No one makes us feel inferior without our permission. We will become what we allow our heart and mind to dwell on. An old saying says it well. "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair." In other words, it is impossible to avoid destructive thinking entirely. We will be tempted. We will have negative thoughts and temptations, but we do not have to allow them to dwell in our mind. God has given us a "garbage disposal" for the mind.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
We once lived in Miami, Florida, a place where ships come from all over world. However, before a ship is allowed to dock, an inspection team goes aboard with one assignment. Find every bit of contamination on board that ship. If contamination of any kind is found, the ship must be quarantined until it is cleaned up and inspected again. Then, and only then, is that ship allowed to dock. We need to control our thought life in the same way.

Step five: Control your tongue.
Our words either build up or tear down. Scripture tells us not to curse others because they are made in the image of God. So are we. We need to apply this truth to our own life. As a mom, I constantly warn our children about the danger of critical words. I want them to learn how to encourage others with their words as well as have a healthy picture of who they are. One day, while standing in front my bathroom mirror, I began talking to myself about something stupid that I had done. I didn't notice that our son, Jered, was quietly standing in our bedroom door where he could hear every word I said. "Mom, who are you talking to?" he asked. Oops! I sheepishly replied, "I was talking to myself." He thought for a moment and then offered a convicting observation, "Boy, if I talked like that, I'd be in big trouble!" I was immediately reminded of the words in Psalm 141:3. "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips."
In our own lives, we need to stop putting ourselves down and in the lives of others, we need to encourage and look for reasons to praise God. We must learn to celebrate the good in each other. Words are like seeds. What we plant will grow. If we sow destructive, critical words, we will reap a life that is negative and critical but if we sow words of truth, we will reap a life of peace and purpose, knowing who we are in His eyes.

"Dear Father, help me to bridle my tongue, so that on judgment day, I will not be found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon!"

Step six: Be Patient
Weeds spring up overnight but it takes years for a mighty oak to grow. Today, you can take the first step toward gaining a new perspective of who you are in Christ. Our Father says it this way in Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns."


Let's Pray
Lord, I want to know You more and learn to see myself as You see me. Please help me recognize and guard against anything or anyone who would chip away at Your truth working in my life. I believe You love me and cherish me as Your daughter. Help me to walk in that value and worth and then lead others to do the same. I praise You for validating my very existence as part of Your heart's plan. I love You, Father. I pray all of these things in Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Here is your assignment for the week. Read Psalm 139 at least one time every day. In your journal, write each verse in your own words. At the end of the week, set aside time to celebrate who you are in Christ. Have a praise party -- just you and God -- or invite a few friends to join you in celebrating your identity in Him.

A Special Note about Physical Fitness!!

I found the following excerpt from https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-exercise.html
Please read it and pray on this as well!!

First Timothy 4:8 informs us, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Notice that the verse does not say that exercise has no value! It says that exercise is valuable, but it orders priorities correctly by saying that godliness is of greater value. The Apostle Paul also mentions physical training in illustrating spiritual truth. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). In 2 Timothy 2:5, he says “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules.” “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

So, clearly there is nothing wrong with a Christian exercising. In fact, the Bible is clear that we are to take good care of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Ephesians 5:29 tells us, "After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it..." The Bible also warns us against gluttony (Deuteronomy 21:20, Proverbs 23:2, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, 2 Corinthians 10:5). At the same time, the Bible warns against vanity (1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 31:30; 1 Peter 3:3-4). What does the Bible says about health? Be healthy! How do we achieve that goal? By engaging in moderate exercise and eating reasonably. The God who created us has also given us the biblical pattern of health and exercise.

I am also a proud supporter of SOLiD Projects (FB group SOLiD Projects) Summer Upgrade. I encourage you all to check this out and Upgrade your physical bodies with me!


GOD is BIG!!
Tiffaney K Draper

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.