All things work together...

Lord as more and more details emerge about this shooting in Va, there are so many things I don't understand. I thank you that during the times in my life when I felt my only way out was to end my life that You were there reminding me there was another way. That YOU were the only way! Thank you for protecting me from myself! I never had the desire to hurt another person but I knew the desperation and emptiness of just wanting to end it all yet at the same time I knew there was an answer. I knew YOU were the answer.

Right now Lord I lift those who are desperate. Those who are lonely. Those who are looking for someone or something to blame for their circumstances. Lord show them that You are their ONLY hope for any type of peace, any type of stability, any type of sanity! I pray that you will move across this country - as well as others - and begin to pour out your Holy Spirit like never before. Revive this nation to love You and obey You. In fact, revive this world! We need it Lord! Make YOU what we're desperate for!!! More than water, more than food, more than houses or land or anything else - JUST YOU!!

I love you so much Father and I thank you for the Divine Special Effects You have already painted into my life and I praise you for the plans You have for the ones that are coming! You are the Blessed Artist of my life and I just can't wait to see the Masterpiece you make of me! May ALL I say and ALL I do bring glory and honor to You and You alone! In the only name worthy of it all, the name of Jesus, I ask these things. Amen...

I AM NOT ASHAMED!!

Well I have to tell you that I received a comment on my blog today from another Country in which I was attacked both as a Christian and an American. First time for everything I suppose!

Let me just say to anyone who reads this that I am NOT ashamed to say that I am a child of God. I believe that Jesus Christ came to the earth, died for all our sins and rose from the dead on the third day so that every person would be granted access to heaven. I believe that if you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord and ask forgiveness for your sins you will be saved from eternal separation from God the Father. I believe that with all of my heart!!

Let me also say that I am so glad to live in the United States of America! I am privileged to call this my home. My grandfather and so many others gave their lives that I may have the freedom to sit here and claim Jesus as my Lord and that I may express my opinions in an open society!

I'm sorry for those of you who don't have that privilege and for those of you who don't understand what it means to be free. However, no country, no politician, no president will ever make you totally free. The only way to have true freedom is to accept Jesus Christ into your heart. Jesus said in John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Who is the Son? Check out Luke 4:16 - 21 "He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (emphasis mine)

If you don't know Him - it's not too late. He's waiting to set you free!

What a tragedy...

Oh my lands this tragedy at Virginia Tech is overwhelming to me Lord! It's close to my heart Father as my sweet niece Rachel prepares to leave for college this fall! Lord God keep your hand on her not just today but every day of her life! She loves you and wants to serve you with her life and I know that you will use her in a mighty way with everything she has been thru so just protect her Father.

For all the family's involved I pray that You will make yourself known to them in such a way that their peace will pass all understanding. Give every student there a clear understanding that You work ALL THINGS - even a crazed gunman - together for good for those who love you! Lord let them know that You are the ONLY source of hope, the ONLY source of peace and the ONLY source of joy at all times but especially in times such as these! Move in this town to draw those students close to Your heart Father. Move in this country to draw all of us closer to You! I love you Lord and I pray all these things in the only name worthy of honor, glory and praise, the matchless name of your Son Jesus. Amen.

One more thing...

At the Living Proof event this weekend we all shared some "PDLAM"'s with each other. It means "Please don't laugh at me" but...then you share some of your quirks. I'm gonna share a few of mine and I'd LOVE to have you share some of yours! This is REALLY fun!

I have to start walking up steps on my right foot. If I start on the left I feel like I'm going to fall over.

I can't go to sleep with dirty feet.

I sometimes count the number of letters in sentences. (45)

When I'm going to be in the bathroom a "while" at home I check the back of my bottles of shampoo or whatever to be sure it has EVERY letter of the alphabet on it. Did you know j is missing from a LOT of bottles? haha

I'm beginning to sound a bit OCD'ish don't you think? Anyone brave enough to share some of theirs? A woman behind me at the event said she can't stand to be the first to put trash in an empty trash can. She'll go all over the house to find one with something in it! FUNNY! My sister said she types while people talk to her. I've seen her do it too! Send me some of yours!!

Them bones them bones them dry bones

I'm in Ezekiel chapter 37 - bet you'd never have guessed that by the title haha - and boy did the Lord speak this familiar story fresh to me today! I kinda veered out of Ezekiel for a while - all those destruction prophesies got a bit heavy - but the Lord told me to get myself back there today and now I know why.

The story of Eze going into the valley and finding all those dry bones preaching at them and the Lord breathing life into them just hit me anew today. I've been those bones before. In the last 6 -8 months the Lord has been refreshing me, renewing me and strengthening me in all sorts of ways and I'm the kind of person who wants the same thing for everyone around me! I LOVE to share a party! But the Lord is telling me to party on with Him and I must admit it's been the BEST PARTY I've ever had!!

My prayer is for my church to have a fresh wind blown into it in such a way that all around will want to come see what the big deal is! I want everyone in our church to be so close to the Lord they can feel His breath, hear His heartbeat! God please bring a fresh wind to Hickory Grove. Please give our pastors such a fresh Word that they will be amazed at how You're working in them!! I love you Lord and I want my family to join the party You've started in my heart!!! You've taken off my shackles Lord and I KNOW You wanna do the same for them!!

Let's get some praise on...
"Take these shackles off my feet so I can dance. I just wanna praise You, I just wanna praise You. You broke these chains now I can lift my hands and I'm gonna praise You, I'm gonna praise You."

THANK YOU FATHER!

Where do I begin?

I'm gonna try to sum up my weekend with the Lord in as few words as possible. Yeah right! ;-)

We spent the weekend at the Living Proof Live event in Columbia, SC in James chapter 1. Now, as soon as she said to open up to James I looked at my friend Melissa and said "UH OH!" Boy was I right! God did NOT fail to send out His Word and it did NOT return void. WOW.

Her basic theme for the weekend was what the point of my life was? How can I consider the trials I face pure joy? What is my purpose? No small task to answer those questions! God grants each of us one life and he marks our lives by seasons and those seasons are colored by different trials. Then our trials are assigned divine tasks by God. Tasks that evoke a test of faith, expose a need for new wisdom and they reveal the courage it takes to reach victory. If we're courageous enough to persevere we will be greatly rewarded!

We then moved into learning why we get caught in the cycle of temptation and addiction. We are in bondage due to the cycle of distractions which lead to addictions and eventually our destruction! The enemy knows our Achilles heel and he uses the same lure over and over because we don't have the motivation to TRULY be finished with whatever sin tempts/distracts us. Most of us hear the word tempt and we automatically relate it to sexual temptation but we are tempted in so many other ways. Tempted to eat more than meets our physical need, tempted to listen in on that conversation that is not edifying or encouraging, tempted to say it even though it's just a "joke", tempted to take it even if the boss won't ever miss it, all KINDS of temptations. The enemy knows where we've blown it before and he always takes the easy way out to snare us!

Finally we talked about how God is the Great Artist who is painting our lives with the colors of our trials. He's adding His own "Divine Special Effects" (DSFX) to our lives so that when we get to heaven we can look at our story or portrait or poem (whatever masterpiece you want) and see His almighty Hand in EVERY STROKE, EVERY DETAIL. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (think Hebrews) and when we obey God's Word they are cheering like crazy. When we're not the other team gets a score! We gotta dig deep in the Word ladies! God is longing to have a relationship with us that is so personal that we'll KNOW His voice, we'll KNOW His smell, we'll KNOW His Hand! Open up His Word and DIG ya'll! It's there just waiting for us! Treasure beyond measure!

One more thing and I'll try to wrap this up. There's so many things that I didn't even begin to touch on - these were the highlights! However, at the end of her sessions she talked about Revelation 7:9-12. In these verses there is a great multitude "that no one could count" from all nations around the throne of the Lamb crying "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Now, up to this point Beth said that the angels (obviously) don't "get" salvation. They don't get why God goes to all this trouble for us - especially when we disobey - because they do not have the need for salvation. Their role is much different than ours. Anyway, after they hear us saying this - well let me just put the Word here. "All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" vs 11-12 THEY FINALLY GET IT!!! They finally understand why He does what He does for us!! Does that just tear you up? If it doesn't - well sister - you better check yourself!! haha

I'm sorry for going on for so long about this but I just wanted to share with you how AWESOME the Lord is and how much He wants to have a relationship with you. He loves us so much and we just don't get it sometimes. I pray that each of you will dig deep in the Word. I pray that you'll fall in love with Jesus. I pray that God will become real to you. Not just some kind of insurance policy to have when you've got a trial going on but the Artist of your life who is painting you, molding you, creating you into His divine masterpiece! My sisters, that's what He wants most! Oh I pray you get that!

Love to all and if you get the chance please go see Beth Moore or do one of her studies for yourself! I PROMISE THAT IT'S NOT ABOUT HER! She's an incredibly gifted teacher but it's her MATERIAL that matters! NOT HER!! I know she wouldn't mind me saying that about her either. After all, she is MY best friend! haha

Boy oh boy...

Well my friends, I had me some time with the Father this weekend! Oh my goodness His presence was so thick in that place that NO ONE wanted to leave! We all just stood there after the worship music ended. He showed up and showed off!

I'm TOTALLY exhausted and need to get myself and family ready for worship tomorrow but I PROMISE to blog EVERY detail soon! Let's just say this...I'll NEVER be the same!! He's worth any change I need to make!
Love to all.