Ding Dong Principle



This book inspired me as a Christian (a Jesus girl) not to be afraid to go on a mission for God. Whenever I thought about going on a mission trip before, often times my first reaction was I’m too afraid.  

God always reminds me of this scripture …

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV 

So armed with God’s presence and promise 

I found the courage to go to Guatemala in the Fall of 2013, which led to the courage to sign up for violin lessons in the Spring of 2014. 

Recently, God told me in a vision that I’m going to go back there to teach violin to the orphans in Guatemala, helping children escape poverty and violence with music.   Sometimes language creates a barrier, but with music there are no barriers. 

Reading about Corrie Ten Boom and her missions in this book, I saw with Gods help she moved mountains!!!  

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.~ Philippians 4:13 NLT 

This promise is for us- so We can too! 

~ Angela Lipe- Pattengill 

Enjoy this Worthy thought: The Ding Dong Principle 

by Corrie Ten Boom “Tramp for The Lord”

One day a young girl, who had repented and received deliverance from lust and impurity, came to see Miss Corrie who was presently visiting and speaking at a church in Holland, the young girl goes up to Miss Corrie afterwards and says” Even though I have been delivered, at night I still keep dreaming of my old way of life. I’m afraid I will slip back into Satan’s grasp. 

 Miss Corrie tells the girl “up in that church tower, there is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope, after the sexton lets go of the rope the bell still continues swinging, first the ding then the dong. It gets slower and slower until there’s a final dong and it stops. I believe the same is true for deliverance”.

The young girl says “you mean even though I sometimes have temptations, that I am still free, Satan is no longer pulling the rope which controls my life?”

Miss Corrie says “the purity of your life is evidence of your deliverance and you should not worry about the dings and dongs, they are nothing but echoes. The demons know that even though they have to flee at the name of Jesus, the demons will not leave without given their clapper one big swing leaving behind the vibration of ding and dongs on their way out scaring us into thinking they are still there. 

But if we grow fearful over the remaining echoes other demons can come in and take their place. 

The bible promises that after we confess and denounce our sins, God cleanses us from them by the blood of Jesus. Indeed, He says your sins I remembered no more. (Hebrew 8:12) 

When we hear the dings and dongs of our past life, we need to remember that through Jesus sacrifice on Calvary, Satan can no longer pull the rope in your life, the sounds of the vibrations may still echo, but they will grow less and less and eventually stop completely.  Satan cannot return as long as you walk in obedience. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” 

Haven’t you learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and He lives in you, and your own body does not belong to you. For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give Glory back to God, because He owns it. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19,20

“However, this does not prevent Satan ( or his demons) from standing outside your house shouting through the window saying “we’re still here!” But Hallelujah! We know Satan for who he is -the prince of liars. He is still not here he has been cast out. 

So whenever you hear those old echoes in your life; one of those ding and dongs, you need to remember to stop and say “thank you Jesus you have bought me with your blood and sin has no right to sound off in my life.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom 

I encourage everyone to get this great book! 



The Right Energy

The atmosphere around us is our energy field. What is released out into our surroundings can either positively or negatively affect us.
I tell my children that when they listen to a song that has bad lyrics or a bad television show or movie they are affecting not just themselves but also the atmosphere of our home. I recently tested this when I felt that I could watch a scary movie on television. It was far from the other movies I used to watch, it was not even that bad in comparison to some, but afterwards I could not shake that movie. It only confirmed that I, like David want to not look with approval on anything that is vile. I want nothing to do with evil. I don’t want any crazy plots stuck in my mind or head for days. I believe those types of things can not only release stuff into our atmosphere but they can also be a foothold for the enemy to develop a stronghold in people’s lives.

Do you agree? What are your thoughts on this? What are ways that you protect your mind and atmosphere?

I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.
3 I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
I will have no part in it.
4 The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.
~Psalm 101:1-4 NIV

~XXOO Michelle Bollom
© RestoredMinistries

Marvelous Light

 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ~ 1 Peter 2:9 ESV

I woke up yesterday and as soon as my eyes opened and I heard the phrase in my mind, “I have called you out of darkness and into My marvelous Light.”  I first thought, hmm that must be a song stuck on my mind.  All day the phrase stuck with me and kept coming up so I decided to do some searching.  I came across the scripture above.  I thought well that is a great promise and I will add that to my spiritual toolbox.  Then I remembered that I had a dream the night before about this boy that I don’t really know and his name kept coming up in my mind.  I was not sure if this was a prompt to pray for him or what, so I went to my Name book by Dorothy Astoria.  It lists over 10,000 names with their meanings, origins, and spiritual significance. (Spiritual Significance includes the Bible Verse or Life Verse  for each name.)  God likes to speak to me in my dreams by giving me names or faces of people I either know or don’t know and usually when I reference the book I get a great big ole God Promise that I have been needing as an answer to either a prayer request or situation or sometimes for someone else for encouragement.  So right before bed I decided to look up the name and WHAM… this was the verse.

I’ll help the blind walk, even on a road they do not know; I’ll guide them in directions they do not know. I’ll turn the dark places into light in front of them, and the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I won’t abandon them. ~ Isiah 42:16 ISV

BOOM! Right there God had given me a great big ole promise that confirmed the awakening phrase and Promise I had from 1 Peter 2:9…

So you might be thinking, what in the world does that mean and why it is so exciting that I had to blog about it… well let me back up and share what had happened just a few days before. ( It is long but worth it!)

I woke up Monday to immediately having a call from a dear friend and got news that she had lost her mother in law suddenly overnight.  I had just visited her mother in law 4 days prior.   I was grieved for my friend and her family over this loss.  I then was rushing to get my kids packed up for camp and my teenage son can sometimes really frustrate me and I just lost my cool.  I raised my voice, screamed at him, and yes, I am human; the flesh took over and I even dropped a few curse words.   Feeling horrible, I apologized and we headed out the door for lunch before drop off.  The lunch choice out of convenience and someone else’s opinion was not a good choice, lunch stunk…ok I actually said it SUXed, and I even joked with my kids that it was a big ole X for Sux because we are never making the mistake of eating there ever again. 

Sidenote: People close to me know that I am a foodie and I just can’t stand to have food remorse when getting bad food.  I know it is such a trivial problem when many are suffering greater tragedies… but it does bother me.  Most days I can shake it off, but today I didn’t.

 I dropped the kids off and ran a few errands.  Ok I ran around nonstop in search of things I needed and kept striking out.  That is rough when you live in a big city and with the traffic it turned into hours and hours of chasing down a few items, which I struck out on one, and then the one I did finally locate was more than I wanted to spend, but I had to have it, and then got home and it did not fit! It was too small, but by that time I was exhausted and just crammed the items in the too small bag and thought I would soon be calling it a day.   Nope, I had then had one issue after another.  I had 20 plus emails to respond to, a printer jam, a defective brand new ink cartridge, without a spare, a lost document that was very important that my CPA had to have, and all the while I got a friend request from a friend thinking they set up a new Facebook account only to find out they had been hacked and I was receiving message after message about some Pepsi Lotto I had won.  I had to block, remove and notify people of the hacker and was just about spent as my husband surprised me by getting home early.  As he walked in and asked me how my day was, I just lost it.  I said, I am overwhelmed and have had one issue after another, please give me a minute and I will be right in.  My husband is awesome.  He quietly leaves me and as I break down into a pity party sobbing and crying and telling God I just don’t know what to do, I feel overwhelmed, confused, what am I supposed to be doing, why is everything so hard… Blah Blah Blah…. You know the kind of moments.    I felt bad that my husband that never gets home early had surprised me so I dried my tears and went in to my husband and rehashed over my entire debacle of a day to him.  He just smiled and hugged me and said it would all be ok.  

I could not sleep that night.  I tossed and turned from midnight to 2 am.  I was so unsettled.  I got out of bed and my husband thought something was wrong.  I usually get like this when something big happens so it tends to put him on alert.  I just replied that I am somewhat unsettled so I am getting up to read and pray and hoping to calm down.

 Well, before I started to read I checked my phone and saw a Facebook message from a friend whose child is battling leukemia.  His wife shared a beautiful story how a stranger had approached them to give them hope after they had an 11 hour day full of chemo and hospitals and suffering and pain for their little guy.  They shared how the stranger was a survivor and cancer free now and he was able to show the little boy his scars from chemo ports and how his hair had grown back.   I immediately started to cry.  I was ashamed at how I fussed and fumed and cried over my crappy day and my day was nothing compared to the trials, tests, and sufferings they are experiencing and they could see that the stranger that brought them Hope in the midst of a really hard day was a blessing and I could recognize that it was God with skin on sent to them to comfort them and bring them Hope.   But yet I cried and sobbed to God about how hard my day was and wanted Him to send me someone with skin on to comfort and bring me hope and He had… Lots of things He tried to show me, but I could not see them…yet. 

 I saw several more people asking for prayer in the wee hour of the morning on Facebook.  I prayed for them all, and read God’s word for the next 4 hours.  I was shocked to find out that my husband’s alarm had gone off and he was fixing to leave for work and I had been praying and reading God’s promises for that long.  He seemed shocked too and convinced me to go rest so he got me settled back to bed and my alarm set since I had Bible Study that day and was hosting at my house.   I fell asleep for about an hour and then awoke and went about my day.  I felt at peace, I was tired, but encouraged.   I shared with a few of my girlfriends my frenzied day and night and some God lessons and verses I came across and the beautiful story of God sending the man to bring hope to my friends and their son.  We had an amazing study that day and I felt the day would be awesome.   The afternoon brought some obstacles that at first got me so worked up I started to have that breakdown feeling again, so I paused, unplugged and grabbed His word again.  I read chapter after chapter of His promises.  I felt the peace return and everything worked out and had a great night’s sleep that night. The next morning is when I awoke with the phrase in my head about being called out of darkness into Marvelous Light.  I felt like it was a turning point kind of day.  I had many plans for the day, but God quickly rearranged my day and had something else in mind.  I spent several hours on phone calls trying to get copies of the important document and even when the outcome was not in my favor I still did not lose peace or Joy.  I kept clinging to God’s Promises and knew God would work it all out.    The clouds were parting and I was seeing past my darkness. I started thinking about this quote I heard.  “If you put your light out there, you are going to attract some Big Bugs” ~ Clarice Fluitt.  I laughed and knew that God was using that quote and the verses on light to confirm that He has this and everything else I will face in His control.  I need to get my mind off the darkness whatever that is and look just straight on to His Light. Then I heard another quote by Clarice…..” Don’t weep like a heathen without Hope.”

God has a great sense of humor and I just love “Jehovah Trixter” when He uses someone to speak to my heart right at the core and tell me “Snap Outta It” (insert Cher accent there).   Light Bulb moment! Aha Moment, whatever you call it, I got it.

I had let stupid stuff upset me and was allowing the enemy to rule me.  I was weeping like a heathen without Hope and that was not who I was.  I have Christ, I have Hope.  I also knew that if the devil doesn’t use someone with skin on to attack you he will use your own mind.  That is exactly what had happened.  I had allowed fear and worry and the enemy to take over my mind.  I instantly thought of  this promise.

⁵ [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasoning’s and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),~ 2 Corinthians 10:5 AMP

Here it is again in a simple translation….

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. ` 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

And just to make sure that I got the point, God confirmed this promise to me, my dream person that night took me straight to the name book and that was the verse listed.

I know this verse by heart; it was a main tool in my toolbox at one time, so when did I misplace it and allow the enemy to wreak havoc with my mind again?  I know how powerful God’s Promises are and I know this stuff, I thought this seems silly but God was showing me what I needed. That I had allowed my petty circumstance to make me focus just on the darkness instead of His Light. Then I was brought back to the 2 promises that He showed me in 1 Peter and Isaiah and I knew I had got the lesson! I got the reference!  I had been given my Hope, My God with skin on moment……

He has called me out of darkness; I have been and seen a lot of darkness.  I have been in the trenches of deep depression, loss of loved ones, poor health, cheated death, chaos, and addictions.  I have been a heathen that sobbed without Hope before.  I am so grateful that He has not just called me, He has picked me up, restored me, and brought me into His Marvelous Light.  I am no heathen no more.  I have the Hope of Glory, I have Christ living inside me. I have the promise that when I am spiritually blinded by my flesh, He will help me walk.  Even on a road I do not know.  And there it is again… the promise that He will turn the dark places into places of light.  He will level out the rough places and He will Never abandon me.  What a glorious Promise! These Promise are for you too.  Run to the Light Peeps!   Not just any ole light, to His Marvelous Light.

Believe His Promises more deeply!  Hold your face up to the Light, even if in some moments you just can’t seem to see past your darkness.  Cling to His Promises. Refute those lies of the enemy by declaring the light of His promises over your darkness.   Light On`  XXOO~ Michelle Bollom