My Passion

For those of you who may not know me, my passion is women's Bible study. There is no feeling quite like taking the Word of God to the People of God and being able to interact with that group. And after it's over to know that God was there and He blessed it! I love my WOW ladies here at the church, but now I am also blessed to be able to do this through a community Bible study. On Wednesdays from 1:00-2:00 I meet with ladies from the community to discuss whatever the Lord has in mind for us.

Last Wednesday was my first time with this group, and boy was I nervous! But today...oh, today was wonderful and God was awesome. We talked about Ruth after having discussed Naomi last week. Ruth has some wonderful character traits for us. Loyalty - humility - self-starter - patience - hard worker - bold actions! We talked about how we can be both - Ruth or Naomi - given whatever kind of day we may have had. And that we can live with both! Real life - real problems - real situations - real God. Now that's a passion worth our time!

Much Needed Girl Time

This weekend was so much fun! Ten of us girls headed to Folly Beach for a WOW Bible study retreat. The time with these nine wonderful women was everything I hoped it would be - fun...fellowship...sharing...caring...Bible study...relaxing... peaceful...we watched movies (chick flicks)...ate great food...snacked ALL the time...sipped on wine...stayed up until 3 AM...watched the sun rise...laughed... cried...hugged...cared.

It never ceases to amaze me how ten women with such different personalities can gel so good together. We each have our own likes, dislikes, causes, talents, strengths, weaknesses, irritating habits and caring hearts; we agree, we disagree, yet we remain true to each other all the same. Brought together by Bible study, kept together by love. A feat only God could accomplish.

Encouraged in Heart

Today is the day to post our second memory verse of the year on the LPL Blog. The last few days I have been searching and asking what my next verse should be, and this morning something came to me. The main word I heard was "mystery." See Drew is going to a 16th birthday party for a friend from school, and it's going to be a murder mystery set in the 1920's. He is having such fun finding clothes to wear for this. He dressed up last night in one of K's old suits and looked fabulous! So this morning, I remembered reading a verse about Christ being the mystery of God, and I started searching for it. Sure enough it's in Colossians 2:2-3, "My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

I want you to notice that it also has the word "encouraged" in there. See this week in our Can We Talk? Bible study, we've been studying the tongue. One thing that jumped out at me during this week's readings is that we should be encouraging one another. You know how themes seem to come in multiples. As I left the preschool area a few minutes ago, I heard our director giving a parent encouraging words about their child. Don't we all want that - for our children for ourselves?

Now let me be the first to say that I don't do near enough encouraging - coworkers, spouse, child, friends, etc. It's too easy to get wrapped up in self and all "I" have to do that encouraging falls by the wayside. So it's now become a goal with me to be more of an encourager and less of a discourager. I'm hoping to stop and think more often BEFORE I say something rather than after!

So I believe this is the PERFECT scripture memory verse for me over these next two weeks...and the rest of the year. I pray that this doesn't just get into my head, but that it also gets into my heart!

The Redeemed Will Sing Forever

I just finished my walk at the Creek. It was so invigorating this morning. I'll be honest some days it's just a drudgery. I'm not quite sure what makes the difference. I listen to my music every time unless I run into a friend to walk with. I think a lot of it is my current state of mind...of course. Sometimes it's the music that just happens on my I-pod or ones I pick. For my last pick this this morning I listened to this. It is absolutely wonderful. Go out to I-tunes and download it for yourself or get Travis Cottrell's Ring the Bells CD - it will only improve your state of mind! You know how silly I am, but this morning I could almost feel the redeemed "walking" beside me...angels hovering above me saying, "You know it's true." Tears came to my eyes...Salvation's song - Jesus saves! This You Tube version cuts off the end of the song, but it goes, "The redeemed will sing forever, the redeemed will sing forever, the redeemed will sing forever...Jesus saves!" Let's join the song.

Back in the Saddle Again

Y'all! What fun Bible Study was tonight! We had a great group of people and the most fun talking about what we were thankful for today. Everyone had such great stories from their day. From the rising of the sun (that beautiful sky) to the rising of the moon (almost full and beautiful), from dining with a stranger to being thankful for our families and friends! God has blessed us so, hasn't He,Girls!

We are just beginning Priscilla Shirer's Can We Talk. I can't wait to see and hear about the experiences of each person over the next 6 weeks. I'm ready to dig into the Word myself. I'm still striving for that year of Re-purpose...where I focus more on Jesus and less on the "stuff" of Bible study. What good is it to me if I grudgingly go to class each Thursday? Girls, this is going to be F U N - Filling, Unifying and Nourishing! So let's make a pact to read God's Word, see what He has to say to us individually and share our love as we gather each Thursday. Don't worry about getting it perfect...the Perfect One is what we are after! Let's get started!

Transcending

Powerful...Enough said!

Happy Epiphany!

January 6 - Epiphany 2009...
...Thoughts rolling through my mind

I moved the "wise men" to the manger scene this morning. Time to put up the baby food jar Christmas tree for another year. I'm really surprised my aunt has not called to wish me a happy Epiphany. My prayer this morning was for God's light to shine in my life...and that I don't have blinders on, but see it!

Who goes to these horror movies? (just saw a commercial for Unborn - YUK) Is there anything good on TV anymore? What happened to Chuck this week? I've seen House...guess I'll try Biggest Loser.

Went to 10th grade (rising 11th grade) curriculum night where they gave parents PSAT and ACT scores, career counseling info, college requirements, websites, scholarship information, high school graduation requirement...I believe my brain is fried! It didn't seem this difficult when I was in school. But that was a looooooong time ago!

Sorry this is such a random post. I have been so hyper the last two days - must be hormones (and a tad of caffeine)! I haven't been able to go to sleep right away, so I think I'm about to hit the wall tonight. Maybe that will mean a good night's sleep.

Not only am I getting tired...but my battery is getting low. Better go.

Peace out!

The Collards are Cooking!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. K is cooking the collards outside,and I have the black-eyed peas going inside; the roast is in the crockpot and the tea is steeping. It's going to be a good day!