The angels rejoice!!!

Just when one begins to wonder if their labors are of value, God sends along a blessing to reassure one of His promises.
I am overjoyed to tell you of my Sunday's events. As many of you know, my husband pastors a small church. I have been filling in for the Children's church on Sunday mornings, since our BJU girls have gone for the summer. On most Sundays, my group consists of my own two children and our assistant pastor's daughter. Don't get me wrong. It is my joy to teach my own children and know that they are getting God's Word brought to their level. (side note: I have been using the Beth Moore, Jesus the One and Only study for kids - it is great!)

Well, this past Sunday, my kids and our assistant pastor's children were going to be gone to camp and trips with grandparents. My first thoughts were to just not have the children's church and enjoy my husbands sermon. I discussed it with him and he suggested I get something basic about salvation for these 2 little boys that have been coming as a result of a dear lady in our church bringing them.
Ladies...this was a goose bump moment for me!!
I had taken these 2 little boys over to the building to teach them. It was just me and them.
I started with the birth and ended at the resurrection. I mention here how these boys NEVER heard of Jesus until a couple of weeks ago when they started coming. I had transitioned to a flannel graph story about the narrow way and the broad way, having them help me put up the pictures.
As I was working with the younger one, I heard the older boy praying. I was not prepared for what I had the JOY of seeing. Please know, I never mentioned praying and asking Jesus into your heart. This young boy of 7 with eyes closed and faced positioned upward was praying. These were his words," Jesus, I love you. I want to go to heaven. I am sorry for the bad things. You are God. Please forgive me." Honestly, I was shocked. I asked him what he did and he said that he wanted to go to heaven with Jesus. I tried not to question what he did, because of him doing it on his own. We went to our craft of putting crosses on a paper with popsicle sticks. He then walked over to the flannel graph of Jesus and put his fingers on it and said, "I just love you Jesus."

Could it be???? I thought. Did this child just enter your kingdom? I say a hearty, "Yes"!
Is it not childlike faith that He requires of us. How much more childlike could it have been?
Did the angels rejoice? A thousand times over I am sure.

Please pray for this little boy.
I thank the Lord for ALLOWING me to have the privilege of witnessing this whole event.

The simple things

I don't know about you all, but sometimes I fail to enjoy the simple things in life because I focus on the drama.

My recent list of simple things:

1. Putting a puzzle together with my husband and kids

2. Going out for an ice cream cone and always knowing Jonathon won't finish it.

3. Staying up late watching a movie with my husband.

4. Grilling

5. Taking pictures

6. Sitting on the porch.

7. Seeing Jonathon try out his new skate board.

8 Running Erika all over town looking for those ridiculous" webkins".

9. Having dinner with family

10. Rootbeer floats from Sonic!!

I am fully convinced that God wants us to enjoy this life. I am thankful for a father that took a day off each week. I am very thankful for a husband that sees the need for making family memories.

This is the day which the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Let me know some of your "simple things".

I know all too well that you may be in stage of life right now where things are hectic and stressful. Trust me, I know how it can be. NO! Don't trust me...TRUST HIM!!

Just stuff - nothing profound today!

I must first say that I just realized that I have been married 16 years as of about 6 hours ago. I am horrible about remembering dates. Don't think horrible of my husband...he is the one that actually remembers. On his behalf...he bought me a whole set of Calphalon pots and pans. He also drove me to Dillard(1 1/2 hours away) for me to get some pictures of some colonial houses and to go to this wonderful restaurant.Shhhh...next week both of my kids are going to camp ..5 hours away.
That transitions me into my most recent thoughts and concerns. I have a daughter headed into pre-pre teen years. I can already see the change in her starting to reveal itself. Any advice for the time I am heading into????

I love the passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9... I have always applied this to the rearing of my children. In fact, Deut. is an awesome book of the Bible. If you have been floundering around for a book to read, check it out.

Back to my thought...I found myself alone the other night and the Lord impressed upon my heart to go into each of my children's rooms and pray for them. I confess that many times my prayers are shallow when I do pray for them. My spiritual eyes were opened for a brief moment this week how satan is out for my kids.

Ladies....pray for your husband and kids!! You can do nothing more for them that would be more valuable.

Well, since it is my anniversary... let me get to that husband of mine!!

There's something about that Name

On Tuesday nights I started a Beth Moore Bible study titled " Jesus, the One and Only".
We are 2 weeks into it and I have been so blessed. This past week we were to read over the passages concerning the birth of Jesus. I thank the Lord for giving me a "moment" of seeing Him in a whole new light. How many times since childhood have I read or heard read about his birth, but going through this study and gleaning from Beth Moore's explanation of the passages has given me a fresh look.

Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain.
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there's something about that name.

I really believe that the more we see ourselves as wretched, undeserving sinners, the more we see how beautiful He is. I really want to be in love with my Lord.

New info listed on blogsite

I have added some features to my site:
Favorite websites (in the right hand column) and good "reads"(scroll down to the bottom of my posts).

The one site provides a spiritual gifts test. This may be used to give you a better idea of your spiritual gifts.

The BJU site was just given to me by a friend. This can be used for Bible study. It will give you extensive info. on the passages you may be studying.

Plugged In - My former pastor's wife showed me this site a few years ago. You can check out any movie you may thinking about renting or going to see. It will give a very detailed listing of elements in the movie. It has saved me $$. I check every movie before I allow us to spend money on it.

A Cup of Coffee

One of my favorits things in life is enjoying a good cup of coffee. I drink it purely for the taste and comfort!Yes, I am a decaf. drinker! I take seriously not being brought under the power of anything. A friend of mine gave me this when I was going through a difficult time this past year.
Enjoy the read!

A Cup of Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups--porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain, some expensive, some exquisite--telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice -looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...and then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups...Enjoy your coffee!
The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything they have.

Welcome!

I want to thank those of you taking the time to comment. I am aware that some of you may be new to this "blog world". Don't feel badly, I am also!

Just a few hints: anyone is free to place a comment. Just find the word "comment" at the bottom of my writing (post). You can't "mess" anything up. Try it! it's fun!

Thoughts on II Peter 1:1-8

My apologies to my ladies Sunday school class for having to go through this twice.

I was really taken by this passage this week. Please let me share with you a few basic thoughts.
So often we rush through the scriptures and fail to see some wonderful promises.
Verse 1 - our faith was given to us as a gift. Do you realize how BIG that is? If not, imagine not
having your salvation. Our salvation came by the faith that He chose to give us.
Verse2 - Do you want GRACE and PEACE to be multipied (abundant) in your life? We would all
say a resounding ,"YES!". Guess what? We can have that through KNOWLEDGE of
God. This is why I strongly urge you to move pass a simple devotional book and onto a
deeper study of God's word. Allow God to speak to you personally and not always
through someone else's thoughts on Scripture.
Verses 3-7 - Check out all the awesome stuff He gives us...go ahead.. see all the things you can
list.
Verses 5-7 - Whenever I used to look at these lists, I used to see which ones I already had and
which ones I needed to work on. Let me take some pressure off of you. If you have
the Holy Spirit living inside of you. You already have these things. Just allow them
to be lived out through your life. Make the CHOICE to allow these traits to be your
fruits. I think as a women we try to make these changes ourselves thinking that we
can somehow add to our spirituality. How silly. All that does is set us up for the
potential of pride to reign in our hearts. "Hey, look what I have accomplished!".
Ladies it is not what we accomplish. It is what HE accomplishes THROUGH us.

I must quit here. I don't want to loose anyone due to lengthy posts.
What are your thoughts on this passage? Agree? Disagree?

oh - just one more thought...vs 3 - Ladies we have a calling...to glorify Him and live a life of virtue!!

Start this week with that goal in mind!!

A Few Good Men

Today's comments are a tribute to the men in my life that are living out the words of Psalm 78:4-6. Take a moment to look up those verses as you are also drawn to thoughts of fathers.

Yes, my desire is to see women become the woman God intended for them to be. But, I would be remiss to not mention the need for godly men. The older I get the more I am convinced that godly men are far and few between.

I am extremely thankful for the strong, godly father that I was blessed to have. Yes, I am a daughter of a pastor. The character trait I have admired the most has been his faithfulness to serving the Lord. I would then say his humble spirit. In a day where I see many in ministry just trying to make their way up the ladder of "ministry success", my father never fell into the trap of wanting a "big name". He faithfully served in the ministry God had called him to. He truly followed God's call as opposed to "getting his name out there".


I am the women I am because of his love and discipline!

I have been given a double portion! I have also been blessed with a godly husband with the same traits as my father. I can say that my children's father is full of integrity. He is honest to a fault!

I must admit that he is the "better half". God was definitley looking out for me when he allowed me to meet Jeff Bartlett.

I also have to mention my father in law. On many occassions, I have heard my husband talk of the prayer life of his father. This was part of the molding of my husband and my childrens father. He has given an example of staying faithful to his wife.

I pray that my son will take all of the heritage that he has been given and become a man like his daddy , grandpa and dadaw!

Kindred Spirits

A special thank you to those who have been my "kindred spirits".



I can look back over my life and see how God has placed certain women in my life to "sharpen me". They say if you can count on one hand those that you can name as special frineds that you are blessed. If that is the case, I have been blessed.

To name them all and descibe them would take too long. So, to my "kindred spirits" (and you know who you are), some going back many years and some just freshly picked, thank you for being my friend. I know you have been given to me by God to help mold me into the person I am today.



Now, enought of that mushy stuff!!



Did anyone see the Glenn Beck show last night? It was awesome! When it was over, I felt ready to go out and witness to the world. For those who didn't catch it, he had Tim Lahaye, Jerry Jenkins and Rosenberg on. The title of the show was "The End of Days". These men represented Christ and his coming back so well. I have always been so proud to be a Christian, but last night I felt like yelling from my rooftop.



Ladies, we need to get serious about telling others. I often use the excuse that I am just around Christians and that is my husband's job. This should not be the case. This is the "Bigger picture".

I think once we get a good look at it, it will affect those around us.

First time for everything!

Ok...so now what?!

Starting a blog site has been a desire of mine for about a year now. It wasn't until a friend of mine challenged me to start with her, that I actually put action to my desires. I asked myself, "Why a blog?". This was my answer back to myself, "I want to meet other christian ladies who long to have a real, yet transparent relationship with Christ".

A few years ago, I found myself at a crossroads in my spiritual life. I wanted more. I started talking to other ladies about their walk and found that we all faced struggles, yet felt like we couldn't share those struggles for fear of others not thinking we were "spiritual". I have since seen many other ladies coming to this realization. We have many ladies out there now who have been willing to be transparent in order for us to learn from them.


So, let's see who is out there!!!