Thanks!
1. We are going to Utah in March. It appears that it will be March the 15th through like April the 10th or something. Here's where we are going to be nuts. When we leave to come back home, we're going west. I know...I know, I hear what you're saying. "Um Lori, Georgia is east, not west." Well, we decided we wanted to visit a few places in California. So, we'll be driving west through the Nevada desert into Tahoe, down into Sacremento, stop by and visit Jeney (unless she has other plans or doesn't want the bombardment of a family of 6 visiting), turn down to drive over the Golden Gate and visit SF. V has all these places he wants to take us to. THen, drive down the coast and so forth or maybe we'll go to Yosemite. We haven't chosen yet. Anyhoo, we plan on stopping by the Refuge House of Prayer in Rancho Cucamonga, then maybe a swing by to see Bonni or maybe we can get her to meet us somewhere because we may already be quite fried by that point. We'll still have lots of driving ahead of us from this point. I wish we had the time to drive up to Washington state and Oregon, but that will have to be later. So far, these are just plans and I agree with John Lennon when he said life is what happens while you're making other plans.
So, there you have it. Anything posted here is subject to change at a spot's notice.
2. We are not going to Onething. We changed our mind because well, we would like to have something for all the kids, not just Trevor and Logan. SO....we are going to the leadership conference the following weekend. Trevor will be with us during the meetings, Logan will be in the Children's Equipping center, and Micah and Katie will be doing the tracks in the other building. Some friends of ours here are going to that instead and we just felt it was best after looking at what they are teaching on. THis is also good because now we'll be able to attend the family Christmas stuff. :)
Anyway, this is mostly for posterity's sake and the eyes of those that may be getting a visit from us in the spring. :)
On a different note, we are having friends, family, and anyone that doesn't have a place to go over here tomorrow. So what does that mean???? It means I have to go get crazy busy doing stuff to get ready. Turkey, casseroles, and pies...oh my!!!!
If I don't pop on here tomorrow, may you all have a truly blessed, joyful, and relaxing Thanksgiving tomorrow! A huge thanks to the Father for Who He is and alllllll that He has done! I love you, Lord! :)
Blessings and Peace!!! :)
Life is crazy, but good. I am in dire need of fellowship. Only going to a homegroup during the week with no childcare and your kids being the only kids there really makes me and the kids starving for fellowship! So, we have only made it to IHOP a couple of times because it is a long way away. We have visitied many places here and well, if you were from the South, maybe you can understand our predicament. We have been praying and visiting, but nothing clicks. And I desparately need fellowship, so I think I'm going to consider the women's Bible study over in Griffin that has childcare for homeschool children as well. It's a start and will help me to simmer down online. It's easy to be on here too much when you are in this place. It's not a bad thing to be on here, but it needs to be balanced more. Structure is good. :)
So anyway, that's really all I have to say.
My personal motto lately: I may not have all the right answers. I may be way off base in some ways, but I know that I'm in love with God and God is in love with me. I can trust His leading and rest in His love.
So, adieu for a few days. I may pop in on Thanksgiving to wish everyone a Happy DAY!!!
Verses that popped out at me today:
Psalm 41
Blessed is the one who considers the poor! [1]
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health. [2]
4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
heal me, [3] for I have sinned against you!”
5 My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
while his heart gathers iniquity;
when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me. [4]
8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out [5] on him;
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
11 By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
and
Psalm 32
Psalm 32
A maskil of David.
1 Blessed is the one whose lawless acts are forgiven.
His sins have been taken away.
2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord never counts against him.
He doesn't want to cheat anyone.
3 When I kept silent about my sin,
my body became weak
because I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night
your heavy hand punished me.
I became weaker and weaker
as I do in the heat of summer.
Selah
5 Then I admitted my sin to you.
I didn't cover up the wrong I had done.
I said, "I will admit my lawless acts to the Lord."
And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6 Let everyone who is godly pray to you
while they can still look to you.
When troubles come like a flood,
they certainly won't reach those who are godly.
7 You are my hiding place.
You will keep me safe from trouble.
You will surround me with songs sung by those who praise you
because you save your people.
Selah
8 I will guide you and teach you the way you should go.
I will give you good advice and watch over you.
9 Don't be like the horse or the mule.
They can't understand anything.
They have to be controlled by bits and bridles.
If they aren't, they won't come to you.
10 Sinful people have all kinds of trouble.
But the Lord's faithful love
is all around those who trust in him.
11 Be glad because of what the Lord has done for you.
Be joyful, you who do what is right!
Sing, all of you whose hearts are honest!
Oh how wonderful God is! I know I can trust Him with all the details...when this life is crazy and nuts!
Okay, be blessed with His peace! Here lately, I could honestly say I'd be nuts without it.
Oh wait... hee hee...
Nah...later!
THANKS!!!!
I have a question here. I want to pose this question here because first off, I appreciate and value this small group here.
Faith and works.
Oh no!
Oh yes! :D
We all know the James perfect religion being one that takes care of widows and orphans in their time of need and keeping oneself untarnished by the world.
But I have a question rumbling around about the whole faith and works thing. It seems to me that we all do a pretty fine job of working at things, whether God is involved or not.
So, let's see:
Faith Works:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[d] works, and I will show you my faith by my[e] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[f] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[g]And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
And pure religion:
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
I'm in a world of pondering here, but let me just ask this question:
If a ministry is called to do something like produce Christian media and they also have a secondary ministry where they go out and feed the homeless once a month and give them bags of goods such as clothing and food and various things, should they prioritize the good things they are doing for the homeless to the people that are interested in learning more and becoming a part of their ministry or should they just keep the main focus of producing Christian media as their main and most upfront objective? What would you think of them if you saw no outreach links on their website and they didn't advertise it like crazy? Would you tell them that they need to do that so people will see you are authentic? Would you think a ministry is NOT authentic if it has no outreach at the time? What if God never tells them to reach out to the poor in their community, but to keep doing what he has told them to do? I know it wouldn't matter what anyone thinks, but I came across this and found myself pondering someone's strong accusations against a ministry that on the surface doesn't appear to be doing all the good works that people like James Robison is doing or Joyce Meyer or FEed the CHildren, but in their hearts, they are doing what the Lord led them to.
Thoughts?
All comments screened. :)
Just typed up a whole entry and accidently hit a key and poof, it was gone.
Ah...just as well.
So, let me go back to simple.
Has anyone got a good, encouraging Christian based book that they could suggest? Hopefully I will either already own it or the library has it. :)
Now, I don't want to type anything up. It was amazing...just amazing.
John 6 (NIV)
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Water
16When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." 21Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. 22The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.Jesus the Bread of Life
25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" 26Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'[c]"
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[d] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" 61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit[e] and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
70Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been reading this the last two days. But today, these have really stood out:
28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
And then further on down:
65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
It really makes me consider a lot of things. Mostly, what and why and how I do what I do for God. It all starts with belief. It shows that a person, any of us, can do the lip service of saying Jesus is the one we follow, but we may still not truly believe. Of course, this is one of those things that only God can make the final judgment call on. I think this may be one of the reasons why we see such complacency or compromise in the church. If we really believed, would we be living like that? I am just pondering and thinking to myself these things. Why are things the way they are? What should I do about it all? etc...etc... I know that the main thing I am to do is love and focus on the Lord. Jesus only did what he heard and saw the Father doing.
No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled Him.
Man, that statement can either bring peace to your soul or piss you off like you won't believe! The Words of God truly are death or life to the ones that hear depending on their heart and where they stand on things.
As for me and my soul, I love the Lord! So, it's like a sweet morsel of yummy goodness to my soul!
V has to drive down to Macon tomorrow. I've tossed up the thought of the kids and I riding down with him, but I think we'll just hang out and do school work.
I have this awesome cd playing over and over in my head. Yes, it happens. We met a guy named Nate down in Orlando last weekend and he gave V a cd of the worship at his church. His exact words to V when he gave it to him were, "Try not to drive off the road listening to it." Man, it is so good and really draws me in. How much so? Well, here's a story about it.
Last night, V was leading worship for our homegroup and that meant he had to get there on time. We are typically punctually challenged and working on a recovery for it. So, I decided that I would stop by McDonald's on the way. I really don't like eating there, ever. However, it's the only place to go that wouldn't take forever while ordering, typically. I had the awesome worship cd from Ignited church going. I drove up to the window, placed the order, and paid. I then drove up to the second window and proceeded to receive many bags from the manager that was working the window. Meanwhile, the incredibly awesome worship cd is still going. It's like 30 or 40 mins long. :) He would hand me a bag and I would be like some glazed, doe-eyed person putting them in the seat next to me, one bag after another. Then, the manager says, Okay, have a nice night! I said, "Oh, I didn't get my son's fries." He looked at me like there was something terribly wrong with me or that I could possibly be lying. He questioned me and then went and got another thing of fries. I then thanked him and started to pull away. I got around to the other side and realized we were missing two more things of fries! I went back in and boy, they were really messed up then. Well, I got back in the car and started to drive away and tore into my hoki fish sandwich. I think that may have been my last one ever. I ate and turned up the incredibly awesome worship cd. Then, I realized I was thirsty. Guess what? They forgot to give us our drinks! I'm almost halfway where I was headed by now. I was frustrated.
Sure, they were lacking a bit in their service, but I certainly wouldn't have had such a large amount pass me by had I not been lost in the wonder of worship.
He said be careful not to drive off the road, but he didn't warn me about not getting a fast one pulled over me while going through a drive thru! HA!
Okay, stomach is feeling a little better now. I bet it's the fish sandwich! :)
G'night!
So, it was something like "Humility brings forth humility" and as far as I know, there's not a verse that says that. However, I got the jist of where I was to go. The subject was clear. In the Bible I was looking at, the words "humility" were in bold letters, too. So, I started talking about humility. I told them about how when I think I'm actually being humble is often when I'm not....things like that. Now, what was interesting was the more I spoke on humility, the more the crowd dispersed. They left one by one. They made it clear that they didn't want to hear anything of it. I didn't take it personal, which is often something I do and have to ask God for help on. While I was making my points, that same lady that was talking in the back is now up front and starts pointing out some book that this girl has sitting next to me. It really didn't make sense and was interrupting the flow of what I was saying. The book had hebrew letters on it and made it difficult to understand what she was saying. Then at the same time on the other side of me, the black lady was saying how she liked to call God, Al Shaddai. I said "El Shaddai, you mean?" correcting her and she said no! AL SHADDAI!!! After that, everyone started to get up and leave. I just quit talking and then we all left the building.
As I was walking out, the ground below was gravel and I saw pictures of things the church was doing on the walls. I walked into their sanctuary and saw presents and gifts on the ground. I pulled a card out of my purse to give to someone. I heard the name, Karen. I heard the last name, but can't remember it now. I was going to write her a note, but woke up right after that.
The end.
- Music:Eljah Streams
I have clutter everywhere as I have been tossing things like trash.
I'm tired.
BUT! I'm happy!
Tiny thoughts while dinner finishes:
Parents do affect their children's views, whether they are positive or negative. Whether you think you are pushing your religious views down their throat or not, they still want to do what makes mom and dad happy. It's a natural element of being a kid.
All that being said, I still asked the kids if they felt like we were shoving our views down their throats and they all said no, well, the ones that could comprehend my question. I am sure we have influenced them and I can assert that I think that's perfectly fine. Why? Because I am their parent. Parents are to be an influence on their children. It's idiotic to say that we can influence our children in all these other nice and good ways, but when it comes to religion...we have nothing to do with it. Um, wrong. When I was a kid, my parents would say they want us to make the decision for ourselves in regards to what we believe about God. Guess what? I was confused. I couldn't figure out what was up and what was down b/c it all had something appealing about it. We all want everyone to go to heaven, as Crowder and Loretta Lynn sang, and nobody wants to die. But in the big scheme of things, it's just not truth. And well, I am sure that some won't like my opinion and frankly am past the point of caring. I just find it interesting with all the totalitarian tolerance pushers, the only ones they want tolerated are themselves. Have a different view and they are all intolerant on you. The very thing they accuse you off is what they are doing themselves.
It's always interesting to see how the cookies truly do crumble, huh?
Okay, little thought over. I need to check on the rice.
Oh, BTW, my daughter is absolutely heavenly! :) I plan on taking some pictures tomorrow of the kids at their swim lessons. :) They are doing great!
I prayed a prayer recently about the amount of time I spend on the internet. I asked the Lord to help me control my time there. Well, I will be sure to be more careful about what I ask for in the future.
Okay, lots of things to pray over anyway....like a scary health care bill that seriously needs to die! Pray people!!!!
Okay, off hubby's work laptop. I'm tired, anyway. Lots going on this week. V's bday is Saturday, too!
Night all!
I signed up today to go on a Mom's retreat with some friends from our old church. Things are finally dying down there, a bit. The less contact, the less weirdness. I'm really looking forward to going. It's up near Nashville. We're taking my van so Virgil is going to have an interesting weekend of hanging out with the kids. They probably won't go many places, but that's okay. I'm the only one going without a nursing baby. That will be the first in a long time. :)
Things are going okay. We've been going to a church in Milledgeville, which is like an hour and 15 mins one way. I think we're going to start going there and rotate it out with IHOP up in Lawrenceville. Nuts to some, but tis what we feel is right right now.
Swim lessons this week. That keeps us busy. They continue for 2 weeks.
I'm also getting rid of tons of junk and going through stuff. That means one thing, my house is a mess right now.
PIano lessons are going well, just need to keep the kids from loosing my stuff.
Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
That verse has been on my mind a lot lately. The main thought I have been having is this. Be careful of just assuming you are walking the narrow way.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Amen.
Okay, time's up!
Eternity is in the heart of man, filling him with longing. But we know not what we long for until we see the breathtaking God. This is the cause of universal restlessness. -John Piper
Well, talk about the phrase that broke the camel's back! My friend, Shawna, said that to me the other day after I had a complaining session with her about everything in my life and WAMMO! I was immediately convicted.
Man, it's so true. I could elaborate more, but people need me.
I will say this, it helps bring more clarity to Philippians 4:8-focus on what is good, lovely, and of good report. Think on THOSE things!
Oh Lord, You are the Potter and I am the clay, come...have your way.
Ah well, off to finish what quiet time I have left.
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