Are You an Overcomer?

When I think of the word overcomer several things pop into my head.  Mainly, people in history that have had to climb HUGE mountains in their life and have endured to the end.  Moses, Horatio Spafford, Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela, Louis Zamperini.

But the reality is, in some small ways we are all overcomers.  We all have things in our lives or times in our lives that we have had to push through.  The human spirit compels us to just keep moving and not give up.  What a gift from the Lord that is!

So, YES, I am excited about the new Kendricks Brothers movie, OVERCOMER, that is set to be released in movie theaters August 23.  I am a sucker for feel good movies and love when we find one that is family friendly.  Not an easy task in this day and time, for sure.

OVERCOMER is about a high school basketball coach whose team faces some hurdles and leaves him without a job.  He agrees to fill in as the school's track coach, a sport is is unfamiliar and unimpressed with.  There he meets a young student facing trials of her own and in the end learns a lot about what we allow and should allow to define us as a person.

Cool bonus!  On the Overcomer website you can find a parent guide, family devotional and a sports team devotional as well!  You can also download posters and more!  Grab your family or a group of friends and make it a special outing and then time of good discussion.

ABOUT KENDRICK BROTHERS PRODUCTIONS

"Kendrick Brothers Productions is the company of brothers Alex, Stephen and Shannon Kendrick that exists to honor God and share the truth and love of Jesus Christ through movies, books, curriculum and speaking. By blending engaging stories with doctrinal integrity, the Kendricks seek to encourage and inspire audiences with resources that positively impact their lives and strengthen their faith, families, and personal relationships."  (Facing the Giants, War Room, Courageous)

“As people are walking out of the theater, we hope that they begin to ask questions about where their identity is found, because too often we find it in our circumstances, in our titles, in what other people are saying about us, in our jobs, in our positions or awards. Those things can be taken away,” said Stephen Kendrick.

“I hope moviegoers will realize their salvation is about much more than just having a ticket to eternity. They were actually given a brand-new identity.

Thanks to FlyBy and Provident Films,we are able to give away two FREE ticket codes to see Overcomer.  Just leave me a comment here on the blog of who you would take with you to see it.  A random winner will be chosen on Friday!

Website - https://www.overcomermovie.com

FB - https://www.facebook.com/OvercomerMovie/

Twitter - @overcomermovie  https://twitter.com/OvercomerMovie?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Insta - @overcomermovie  https://www.instagram.com/overcomermovie/?hl=en

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):  Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway.  Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again.  Winner is subject to eligibility verification.  No Canadian winners please, Fandango does not reach to our Canadian friends.

Blessings,

gMovies Review and Giveaway

Do you watch a lot of movies in your house?  I admit we do.  We are not TV kind of people.  There is just too much out there that we do not want in our homes and the commercials, well, don't get me started!  So our Friday nights are full of streamed movies and oldies-but-goodies, family-friendly shows.

But you even have to be careful with movies. What's ok for one person is not always ok for another one (which is why we are always hesitant to share which movies we watch). We have a device that takes out choice language but because it relies on closed captions, it is hit-or-miss sometimes.  Plus, as parents we have to take the time to preview movies before we will allow the younger kiddos to watch them. And that, my friends, takes up valuable time.

gMovies may have just made my life easier!

gMovies is a movie streaming company that is family friendly. Think the Christian version of Netflix! Over 300 movies and TV shows can be accessed immediately with streaming from your iPad, Andriod, or PC, with new selections being added monthly.  Whether you are looking for action, adventure, sci-fi, documentaries, or comedy, gMovies has something for you.

The neat thing is there are no contracts and the service only costs $4.99 a month.  Hey, that's equal to a few rentals a month!  Powered by UP, known for their uplifting entertainment for families, my readers have been given access to a two week free trail so you can try it out, too!

Simply go to-https://vod.gmovies.com/gmovies/secure/signup?productid=38 and enter code: FREETRIAL51

A lucky reader will also be able to win a FREE six month subscription by entering the rafflecopter below!



What do we think?
Well, the timing of this review was perfect.  We are currently on the road so we are pretty limited in what we can watch and what we could bring on the road.  Being able to pull up gMovies has been a huge convenience plus offers the peace of mind to know that the kids safely have pretty free range in choices of what to watch.  Our coverage has been a little spotty, so I did notice that a few movies seemed a little jerky occasionally, but I am willing to bet that is simply due to our location and should not be a problem for you.

The site is easy to navigate and you can search by theme or title, as well as by popularity!  If you know what you want to watch simply type it in.  If not, you can scroll through most popular to get some ideas.

Some of my favorites in the kid's section have been the Davey and Goliath series, the Sugar Creek Gang series, our new favorite, the Friends and Heroes series, and a great collection of the the Torchlighters series. You also will find some great Christmas classics offered - bring on December!

I have been impressed with the movie choices.  My kiddos do tend to roll their eyes at "dorky" or "poorly written movies" in the name of Christianity, but we have been able to find several that everyone was pleased with.  While many are God themed, others simply have a good message attached or are just plain "family friendly." I challenge you to find another place that offers that.

Enter the rafflecopter now for your chance to enjoy 6 months free of gMovies!  Thank UP!

a Rafflecopter giveaway<

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Linking up with-

O is for Oh Shoot!

We get a lot of questions about our thoughts on TV and movies. And I am usually hesitant to offer too many thoughts.

Everyone is different and everyone is convicted in different ways.

But we are ALL called to the same standards by God.  

Unfortunately they are far different than the world's standards in many ways.

And so we are very careful with what those in our family, kids and adults, watch.

For many reasons.  One being the language in so many shows.

Have you seen this video?

WOW!  It made a huge impact on our family. We have always told our kids "trash in, trash out."  And we have always told them that we pick up what we hear because we become immune to it.  And we have always told them that once you hear something (or see, or say something) you cannot get it out of your head.  Or heart.   And for the most part I think they hear us and take note. But there is just something about a visual that seems to make more of an impact on us.  This is such a case. Watching that family get hit by all those paint balls made me cringe.  So too, should every bad word I hear.  Or that my kids hear.   I want them to cringe.  I want them shudder.  I want to protect them. Can I from every bad word?  Of course not.  I cannot, nor would desire to, control every aspect of their life.  But while under our care and in our home, TV and movies are one thing we remain in control of. For us that means limiting what we watch.  Yes, we are one of those Andy Griffith, Little House on the Prairie and Daniel Boone watching families. But because we also have a TV guardian on our TV we are able to watch other shows that are a little more current.  As my mom used to say, the kids can't go to college only having watched Veggie Tales! (Though it seemed like a good idea at the time.) So yes, we restrict our TV and movie time, but we also enjoy movie nights on Fridays as a family.   Minus the bad language. If you take nothing else from the video, take this- every word has impact.  I would encourage you to start while your kids are young to protect them from bad language.
Blessings,  

"... 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. "  Phil. 4:8 *Please note, this is NOT an endorsement of VidAngel, nor have we explored the company or their services.  There are some movies they talk about in their "behind the scenes" video that I am not sure why you would want to watch, regardless of whether the bad language or anything else was taken out.  This instead is just a post of my personal experience and why we avoid TV and movies with bad language.
We are still blogging through the alphabet with my friend Marcy at Ben and Me!  Hope you can join us!

Dinner and a Movie

Our family question of the week was if you could only pick 5 movies we own to keep, which five would they be?

I have long since stopped recommending movies to other families. Just too risky! Either our conservative family favorites will bore you to death or send you into a fit of giggles, or maybe, just maybe you would shake your head in concern, being even more conservative than us. (it could happen!) Too often in the past I have seen a movie recommended by a well intentioned family only to find that their convictions were just different from ours. Because of that, we have seen some movies I just wish we had not.

What I do recommend it a great site called PluggedIn. It doesn't solve all your problems, but it has helped guide our family on many a family movie night. What I love about the site is that it usually sticks with just the facts, no opinions. You know...these are the violent scenes, this is the spiritual content, this is the language....

The language! Oh my!
I know we are sticks in the mud concerning profanity, but really! Is that a must!? There are more than a few good movies out there I would love for the kids to see....but the language...no thanks!

Insulation...not isolation!

I know, before you even say it...they will hear those words somewhere else. Yes, but NOT in my house and NOT by my choice. As my oldest has said before, once those words have entered your ears, head and eventually your heart they are hard to delete from your brain. At the very worst, you begin to see them as not a big deal anymore.

"...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." Phil. 4:8

While all the movies we watch may not by definition glorify the Lord (Cars, Finding Nemo, Christy, to name a few ;) I pray that by our choices, we are! So, for now, we tend to stick to classics, old series (be careful, we tend to have long term memory loss about what we watched as kids), and movies previewed by mom and dad.

Stuffy...maybe. Safe...yep! I will admit, it used to be a harder call, but now, not at all. God is good about convicting us slowly sometimes so we can wrap our brains and hearts around His desires for our families.

Oh, and one last thing, we eat around the coffee table often on Friday nights while we watch our movie. (poor CJ gets to watch about 30 minutes before we cheer, turn it off, do devotions and put him bed. Won't he be surprised one day to see how long movies really are?!). Two of our favorite easy family movie night meals are breakfast burritos and nachos. No recipes, surely you can make those!

What do you eat for a fun family meal? And what 5 movies did you pick to keep?