Countdown!

We are now counting down to the launching of Titus 2 In Action.  This is a blog which will be hosted by 6 bloggers who each have their own column.

Titus 2 In Action is a place to learn from other Christian's who are walking out their faith and are ready to share their experiences with others in order to encourage.  God created us to need each other for this very thing.  We are told to teach one another and to exhort fellow Christian's and that is what Titus 2 In Action is all about.

Come by on Monday, November 2, and see what you think.  We will be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  You will need to visit for two straight weeks to get the full effect and to read a sampling from all six authors.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Thankful Thursday #50

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband is the spiritual leader in our family. It is so great to be married to another Christian. I realize that this is a privilege! When I want to tell him what God is saying to me, he is right there to listen and encourage me because he understands what I'm talking about.

2) This is my 50th Thankful Thursday post, WoooHooo, YeeeeHaaaa!!! Let's all celebrate great numbers of participants and 50 weeks of thanking God for all that He has done.

3) I am thankful for the fall colors. I absolutely love the fact that I live in the south and we enjoy a magnificent display of changing color all around us.

4) I am thankful that I had the opportunity to go on three field trips over the past week. We went to the pumpkin patch, the zoo, and Yorktown. All great times.

5) I am thankful for God's word. You know, there are times when the enemy whispers lies to me and I start believing them, UNTIL I remember to turn to the Word and read what God has to say. That always reveals God's love because the truth will set you free!!!

I want to say, "Thank You!" to all of you who have participated over the past 50 weeks! You have all blessed me and more importantly you've blessed God for your willingness to give Him all the praise! I can't wait to see who will be giving thanks when we reach 100! Hey, the sky is the limit!!

Celebrating October

Here are three pictures of my house. The trees in my backyard are magnificent! I just love looking out my kitchen window and seeing this fantastic sight.

I had the opportunity to go to the zoo with my two youngest daughters last week. Here are a few pictures of what we saw and experienced. Fall is my favorite season.

This is one of my favorite pictures from this fall. My two youngest girls in my niece's wedding. Little princesses!


If you haven't taken the time to enjoy the change of seasons, now's your chance! Go outside and just look around. God loves color and He does an amazing job displaying His glory!

Psalms 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

Thankful Thursday #49

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband is my best friend and that we've been married for 17 years! We had a wonderful anniversary weekend. We had dinner out on Friday, and then brunch on Saturday.  We went to the fall festival at our church with the kids and enjoyed food, music, and fellowship.  Then home to put the kids to bed so we could relax together.  Refreshing!

2) I am thankful that on November 2nd I will be launching a new blog called, Titus 2 In Action. This is an idea that was God inspired! We will have 6 bloggers who will be contributing. Each blogger will have their own column. If you get the chance, stop by and sign up to follow so that you don't miss any of the great posts that will be there.  The columns will be: Parenting Pointers, Father Figure, Marriage Matters, Grandma's Gems, Digging Deeper, and Homemaking Helps.

3) I am thankful for the 5 other bloggers who have faithfully accepted the position as co-author of Titus 2 In Action! If you want to see who they are then hop on over to the blog.

4) I am thankful for my praise band. The members of the band are serious about the Lord and we are hoping to grow in the Lord together with an upcoming Bible study! How cool is that!

5) I am thankful for friends, both new and old. I've had the chance to meet some new friends this week and that has been delightful! Looking forward to nurturing these new friendships as well as continuing to nurture the existing friendships that I have.

6)  I have to list one more this week because I am so thankful for YOU!  That's right, if you are reading this post than I am thanking God for you today.  I am so excited that as of last week we have been consistently hosting over 40 bloggers on this Meme and that is something to get excited about!  Glory to the King!

Barnacles

The above is a picture of barnacles growning on the post of a dock.  If you've ever been near a dock, you've seen barnacles growing on something.  The interesting thing about barnacles is that they are alive and they are growing.  In theory they are serving a purpose.  But what are they really doing?  They are deteriorating the host.  Sometimes that host is a dock post, sometimes a boat that has been in the water for a long period of time.

If they are growing on a boat, you need to have it raised out of the water and the barnacles scraped off so the boat doesn't become weak and risk becoming unstable and damaged.

The Lord has recently taken me through a "stripping away" process in my own life.  I've been watching as He has taken most of my extra activities away - some were important and lifegiving to me (so I thought).  But what He was really doing was cleaning off the barnacles of my life because they were making me weak. Even though they were life giving activities (for a time) they needed to be cleaned away.

This was not an easy, or pleasant, activity that I've been going through.  But ever since God showed me what He was doing, I've had a peace about it.  As soon as I resolved to the fact that God was the one cleaning these things from my life, everything started to turn around for me.  Now I see a definite "new" path that He has me on and I'm excited.  But I will try to remember that in a few years, it may be time once again for a cleaning of the excess barnacles that will be developing on me.

In a way it's exciting because a ship that is sitting in dry dock instead of being used in the water won't have any barnacles, so if we have barnacles it means we are an active member of the Body of Christ!

Thankful Thusrday #48

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I'm thankful that on Saturday, October 17, Tim and I will be celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary! Now that's something to get excited about!

2) I'm thankful that we are getting rain. This has been a year with abundant rain here in Virginia and it's a refreshing break from the droughts in recent years.

3) I'm thankful that I live in a rural town. We had a business expo recently and it was just plain fun. We knew so many of the people who were there that it was a blast.

4) I'm thankful for supportive friends. God has really blessed me with some of the closest, most loyal friends I could have ever asked for.

5) I'm thankful for answered prayers. Recently, I was in my truck with my youngest and realized I had to drive 15-20 miles and my tank was on E. The gauges were freaking out and I thought, "I'm going to run out of gas!" So, I prayed and asked God to be my "I Am" and to be my fuel until I made it to the gas station. Do you know what happened next? My gas gauge went up just enough that the light went off and I made it safely to the gas station! WOooHOo! Today - Miracles are taking place because God is AWESOME!

The Noticer - a book review

Have you read any good books lately? I recently finished reading The Noticer, by Andy Andrews.

It's a novel about a young man named Andy and an older aloof gentleman named Jones. Jones, not Mr. Jones but just plain Jones, carries a peculiar beat up suitcase with him. There's not much else that is really concrete about him. He's always in the right place at the right time to shed a new perspective on otherwise dark situations.

While each chapter is a unique encounter by Jones and a needy individual (aren't we all needy!), you feel compelled to keep reading as you are sure that the next chapter will shed some light on who this man, Jones, might be. At the end of the book you find out that... WAIT! If I tell you this part you may not want to read the book.

This book had me staying up too late and pushing aside my regular chores!

My favorite chapter is chapter 6. Jones meets up with Willow Callaway, an older woman who has outlived her husband and one of her children. She is saddened by the changing world around her and she has really lost sight of her usefulness. Jones, being the wise man that he is, shows her that she is not only useful but needed desperately. It's a feel good chapter that left me warm and comfortable with the conclusion.

This book is well written with an exciting story line that will keep you reading until the last page!

After finishing the book I realized that sometimes we can have a new outlook on life by simply changing our perspective.

If you haven't read a copy, you can purchase it on Amazon.com. This book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Thankful Thursday #47

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband still enjoys taking me out on dates. It is really special to date your husband, it is time well spent.

2) I am thankful that we live in a free country. It is such a privilege to pray in public or even to display our religious beliefs in public.

3) I am thankful that my children are growing into nice young people. It has been a great thing to walk alongside of each one and watch God's hand in their development.

4) I am thankful for special friends. Where would life be without them? I think that it is particularly neat that we can connect far and near through the internet!

5) I am thankful for God's grace. Knowing that He has forgiven my offenses (over and over) allows me the opportunity to pass along that grace to others. I guess that's why they call it the circle of love.

100th Follower Celebration!

I LOVE this song! It speaks volumes to me as a writer, and a Christian. (For some reason you have to click on "listen in Youtube" but it's worth it!)

I am celebrating today because I have over 100 followers on this blog! Praise God! My 100th follower is Cora from Inside the Life of a Pastor's Family. If you get a chance return the favor by visiting and following her blog. She is a pastor's wife with a precious heart.

Thank you all for coming alongside of me with the support of my blogging. You are all special to me and I treasure each one of you!

Working Together

If you read my Thankful Thursday list this week you noticed that I was thankful for my local church. The people there really make me feel like I'm at home by genuinely showing love and care to me and my family.

Just this week I found out that there is a local church in duress. The leadership of this church apparently cannot get along and there have been hurt feelings and hurt people. My heart is grieved.

What will happen? The leaders will probably part and go their separate ways. Unfortunately when there is a change in shepherds like this some of the sheep will leave and some will stay, but some will also scatter. Not a desirable situation.

What causes this kind of thing to happen in our churches?

James 4:1 "Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn't it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body?" (CEV)

'How can this happen to pastor's?' You might be wondering. I have wondered the same thing. But then I am reminded that they too are human and they too have a sinful nature to battle.

Now the burden sits with the church people; have we really been committed to pray for the church leadership? I only pray occasionally for my pastors - now it will be habitual.

2Thessalonians 3:1 "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you." (NKJV)

Even the leaders of the New Testament needed the prayers of the brethren. How much more do our pastors and church leaders need our prayers today!

I want to encourage you to pray each day this week for your church leaders - and if the Lord gives you a scripture for one of them give it to them in love. We all need to be encouraged and loved.

Thankful Thursday #46

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband stood beside me on Sunday as we watched four of our children being baptized. It was a proud moment and I was grateful that we had weathered the test of time and how proud I was to call him my husband and the father of my children.

2) I am thankful that four of my children were baptized on Sunday! It was such a proud moment for this Mom to realize that her babies are growing up and learning to love God in their own hearts. I look forward to the future knowing that they are committed to serving God with their lives.

3) I am thankful for the cooler weather. I am fair skinned so playing in the sun on a hot day is usually met with sunburn and regret! But playing outside in the fall - now that is my favorite thing to do, and my favorite season! I look forward to the changing of the season's with the colorful fall foliage.

4) I am thankful that my article titled, "From Rejection to Acceptance" will be published in the next issue of The Voice of Grace and Truth. This is a bi-monthly 20 page Christian newspaper. Since the trauma in my family life (my dad's stepping into heaven) I haven't been able to get back into writing. As a matter of fact, I had completely forgotten about submitting this article to them last year! God is so special to nudge me with this publication.

5) I am thankful for my church family. I have searched for a very long time to find the place that God wanted me to call "family" and I believe I've found it. This church is also our children's school and wow, they are precious to us. We do believe that they truly love us and are concerned about our well-being. There's no place like home. *smile*