The greatness of God

I am so not good at this blog thing. I think my last post was back in April. Sometimes I feel like my life is just not that interesting. But, today on the way home from our first WOW session ( for those of you who may not know that is our womens bible study that we have on Friday mornings at Crosspointe from 9:30 to 12. We have several classes offered this time, one of which I am co teaching) and I was just overwhelmed with the greatness of God. I began praising Him out loud and I heard my kids in the back seat agreeing with me. So I asked Haley why she thought God was great her response was" Because He is God and He died on the cross for us because He really wants us in heaven with Him forever" and Darrens was " because he is powerful and because He makes somethings out of nothings" Hearing their responses gave me so must joy. It amazes me to watch my kids and their innocence when it comes to God. Haley has such a love for Him already and it encourages me greatly, and Darren just thinks that God is the biggest, baddest, super hero of them all! But, it also reminds me of my grand responsibility! How else are they going to know Jesus if they don't see Him in me and if I don't portray Him in my actions? I am so thankful for my children!

Snow much fun!

My family and I had lots of fun in the snow! Our day started off by coming up with creative ideas on how to bundle up. Who has snow clothes in the south! My mom found mine and my brother's old snow suits from the early 80's and we discovered that the rubber gloves you use in the kitchen work great over cotton gloves to keep their little hands warm and dry. We used Walmart bags and electrical tape to keep their feet dry. We did doughnuts on the 4 wheeler and used our garbage can lid to sit on and let the 4 wheeler pull us. We of course built a snowman, but not just any snowman. Our snowman reached 9ft 1in tall. It was crazy! We had to pull out the ladder. Later on in the day the top part of the snowman fell off and Haley said "Frosty didn't have a very good life" she cracks me up. After we put the kids to bed Mike went back outside and put the snowman back together for the kids. Darren woke up and looked outside. He said " Mommy the snowman came back!" He couldn't believe it, so I had to explain that daddy put it back together. I didn't want to give him a complex about snowmen. I have pictures but my laptop crashed and I need to have our camera's software to download our pics. Hopefully I will be able to get them up soon.

Stay Awake!

I recently read a book called Pilgrims Progress. I recommend this book to everyone. It is a little hard to read because it was written in Old English, but the message it brings is awesome! There are so many things about the book I could talk about, but one in particular that really stood out to me. The main character's name is Christian and he is on a journey to the Celestial City. On his way he was given a roll that would be his ticket to enter so he was to keep it safe. As he was going he came upon a place of rest, so he laid down and slept. After a while he got up and continued his journey. He felt for the roll and found it missing. He remembered the place he fell asleep during the day and he said " O wretched man that I am , that I should sleep in the daytime! That I should sleep in the midst of difficulty. How many steps have I taken in vain. How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread those steps thrice over, for the day is almost spent. Oh that I had not slept!
He was so upset with himself, for the trouble he caused himself. How many times have I taken one step forward just to take three back., because of some selfish desire. I was reading Mark chapter 13 when I came to verses 32-25 . "But that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the door keeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake-for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning-lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake."
How often can we be found asleep? I have a sense of urgency to stay awake, to learn all I can and to share what I learn. So I say to anyone who reads this Stay awake! Make sure you have your time with our Heavenly Father, get in His word, pray, and tell others what He has done for you.

Finally I've got it

I just wanted to give a testimony of what God has done in my life!





I was raised in church. When I was a little girl my dad was the music minister at a church, my parents worked with children doing a puppet ministry, working with youth. We went Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and everything in between. If we weren't in church there was probably something wrong. All this church going you would think I got it right? I can remember when I was about 7 or 8 going to my parents and telling them I wanted to be saved, so they prayed with me. My dad took me to the pastor of the church we were going to so I could speak with him and get things ready for baptism. I was shortly after that baptised. I continued on with my involvement in church. That was a constant in my life, but I began to learn to play church and continually live in sin, never coming to a place of true repentance. When I was 19 I went on a summer trip with my college group. I heard a sermon "Why spend one more night with the frogs?" Like I said I was 19 so I knew what was best right? No, I was living a life that was very displeasing to God. I was convicted that night an rededicated my life. Things went well for a while, but quickly I got back in the same rut. There were so many times in between that I would fall under a conviction from the Holy Spirit and I would go through the cycle of "worldly sorrow" cry, ask for forgiveness etc.. But I never would truly repent.I don't think I really understood what that was. I was constantly trying to figure out what my purpose was. I got married in 2001 to Mike and started having kids in 2003. This is my purpose right? To be a wife and a mother. To be the perfect wife and raise godly children? My daughter Haley was 8 months when I got pregnant again. I had a miscarriage, but then got pregnant again. My second child Darren was born Jan 2005. Shortly after Darren was born I fell into a deep depression. I have always been known as the loud funny girl who would do anything to make people laugh. I couldn't seem to find joy in anything. I went to the doctor and was put on medicine. That still didn't fix things. I wasn't happy being married or being a mother. I began to take a bible study in Aug. of 2008 called " Freedom for Mothers" It was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to give me ideas on how to raise my children, keep the house clean, be a good wife. No it dealt with flesh! God began to open my eyes. HE began to show me what was wrong with me. I was no longer content with the way I was living. I started asking God to show me His will for my life.We had a women's conference in October that I went to. Life as I knew it was about to change! Cheri Holcomb was the speaker. She talked about our mandate from God in Matthew chapter 28:18-20. We are to go and make disciples of all nations. This is something I have heard all my life, but for some reason this time it was different. I went to the alter and began to pray. I wasn't sure what I was to pray so I went back to my seat, confused. I knew God was doing something and that it was significant I just didn't have the answers yet. When I got home I began to tell Mike about the night and he looked at me like "here we go again another emotional story with no real meaning" anyone who knows me can tell you that I am extremely emotional, it is how I thrive, what i base my decisions on. If you read my previous blog it explains who I was. Anyway, when he looked at me like that my first response was to get defensive, but God said "NO, these are my words let me say them for you". So I went about my nightly routine, got the kids in the bed, and then went to my room and began to fold clothes. Mike and I began talking again, but this time he was listening. I didn't feel like I was seeking his approval, I was just speaking my heart. That's when God broke me. Things started to make sense. God showed me I was seeking approval through Mike, family, I am a Sunday school teacher, I help in Awana's , I, I, I. I began to hear myself and I heard this small voice say " I have already accepted you" I began to feel a peace that I never had before. My kids hadn't been sleeping well at the time, my marriage was awful, but I heard Him say "your kids haven't been sleeping because you have been battling me. Stop fighting me and I will fix your marriage, I will stop the noise in your head, I will be your constant friend, I will calm your fears, I will give you peace, joy and rest. As I sat there and poured out my heart,I looked up at Mike. It was like he was looking at a new person. He was, I no longer struggle with self worth. I am a new creation in Christ. Through my obedience to God I no longer need medication to feel "normal" my kids are more calm, my marriage is better and I am even seeing God changing Mike! I have started going through discipleship with Tracy Payne, and Cheri Holcomb. God is calling me to a new level. He is taking me from selfish to servent. My life is a total 180 from where I was last year.I look forward to each new day!

Silly Women

This my first blog so please bare with me. This morning while I was driving to work I was listening to AM 640. Nancy DeMoss was the speaker. Her message really spoke to me so I wanted to point out a few things in hope it will also speak to you.

God never intended we should taste of the knowledge of evil, that we should know it for ourselves.. He wanted us to take His word for it. The desire to see for ourselves began in Genesis 3. For some reason women lack the descernment of truth. Eve for sure lacked discernment and was decieved by the serpent.1 Tim 2:14 states that Adam was not decieved that he ate the fruit knowing the truth, but that Eve was decieved. This is not saying that satan does not tempt or decieve men, but that they happen in different ways. 2 Timothy 3:6-7 reads: For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins, and lead astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of truth.We see the enemy targets women. There are five characteristics of women that the enemy targets for deception.

"Weak Women" The word weak means little. They are spiritually little and spiritually immature. They are weaked willed, gullible, foolish women. They are not gounded biblically in thier thinking or in thier lifestyle. These women will easily fall to false teachings. They are prone to temptation. It does not mean they are intellectually weak or they are not smart. They lack wisdom.

"burdened with sin" They are loaded down with sin. They have not dealt with sin God's way and they are extremely overwehlmed. They are carrying around the guilt of unrepented sin.

This is an area in my life that God has been dealing with me.It is time we as ladies truly deal with our sins God's way. There is no need to carry around the burden of guilt or shame. It seems we are stuck in the motion of "worldly sorrow" we know we are doing wrong and we are truly sorry. We even get broken hearted about it, we cry over it, but are we really repentant? I will have to save this for another blog.

"lead astray by various passions" These are our lusts, our strong desires of any kind- power, control, knowledge, attention from men. This causes you to do things you would'nt normally do. Instead of allowing God to lead they allow thier desires to lead them into sin.

"always learning" forever getting information, we always have to have the "NEW" . This generation loves novelty. I am so guilty of this. The new diet, excercise program, self help book, Oprah, Dr. Phil. If it is traditional, something we have heard, we don't want it. we want something fresh. It goes back to Gen 3 when Eve was tempted by knowledge. We have such curious natures, and that leaves our minds open to anything. It is not always good to have such an open mind. That leaves us vulnerable to falshoods. We need to be so careful to guard our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says, above everything else, guard your heart. It is where your life comes from.

"never able to arrive at the knowledge of truth"

always learning,but they never arrive to the one truth that matters. They have the knowledge, but do not know the truth. They prefer something that suits them better. In 2 Tim 4:3-4 it says, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears htey will accumulate for themselves teachers that suite thier own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths"

I want to encourage you to instead of being lead astray by your various passions, being burdened by sin. Let the Spirit lead you to holiness, to goodness, and to the truth. Pray that you are and will not be decieved. Get to know His word. That has made the biggest difference in my life. I have started memorizing scripture. This is the challenge, let us not be known as those weak, silly women, but as a follower of Christ!