You know, I really could not make this stuff up if I tried!

Yesterday was a day. It was good starting out but soon turned into not so good. But God, once again and very plain to me, showed me who was in charge. And it's really funny becasue I had JUST told someoneelse who is going through a really rough time to just pray and put her faith in God and that very same day, guess who forgot the advice she was giving.

The battery light in my car has been on and off for a week now. I had the battery replaced last week and the light never went off. I knew that I was driving to Macon this weekend for the basketball game so I was going to actually have it checked today when I got off. I left work and went to pick the boys up from their dads. As we headed down Slappey to go pick up Bri, my radio started acting funny. It was going on and off and I was mad. I just had that radio replaced last year so it sould have been fine and all I could think was I guess I will have to go have that checked tomorrow too. As I approached Slappey and 8th Ave, all the lights on my dashboard lit up like a Christmas Tree. I knew immediately what was about to happen.. it was going to cut off. MY full gas tank gage went straight to empty and as I looked to my right I saw O'Riley Auto Parts. There was NO traffic ( and it was 5:35) in the lane next to me so I whipped into the parking lot before the car shut down and as I pulled into the space, the car died. WHEW... at least I made it here is all I thought. With the boys in tow, I went in and asked if they would come check it for me. I explained about the battery light and he went to check it. Alternator is DEAD as a door nail. Great I thought, its almost 6, I have to pick Bri up and I have no car. So I started dialing and no one was answering the phone. Just my luck I thought as I could feel the tears swell up in my eyes. The man at the parts store must have seen me too because he asked if he could take me somewhere but I told him no I would find someone.

I got someone to bring Brianna to me and finally got in touch w/ Melinda to come and get me. Thank GOD I have the best boss in the entire world! I was able to go get one of the company cars so that I could get around. But now figuring out where to tow this car was an issue. There is a man at church who works on cars but I didn't have away to find his number at that point and Melinda didnt have it either. So I decided to take it to my house and if I had to tow it again, so be it. As we waited for the tow truck, kids sitting and irritated, and me sucking up tears because I KNOW this is gonna be a tad bit expensive, was still thinking. Brianna looked up and said " didn't you say you needed to talk to Mr. Patrick about fixing the car?" Yes Brianna. " Nash's daddy Mr Patrick"? Yes Brianna. "Well there he is." I looked up and he was walking into the auto parts store. I jumped out of the car and went to talk to him. Not only could he fix it, his shop was around the corner so it was alot closer so we had it towed there.

I had issues w/ my car once before on my Disney Word trip and God sent my angel "Dan" to help me. And once again, He didn't let me down.

Philippians explains is simple and plain: " And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

The car issues are simple ones. They can be fixed, but I was the one that needed the reminding again. There was no need to get upset or stressed. When I said my prayer, the stress should have gone away. God will always do what He says He will do. We may not get everything we want, but we sure get way more than we need!

I hope you have a blessed weekened. And really remember who is in charge! Love you all and until next time Lord willing....

God blessed me with a wonderful family growing up. I realize that not everyone has that and I don't take it for granted. I could tell you story after story about things that happened, good and bad, but honestly how I saw things always seem to work out. Now thats not to say we were perfect because we were far from that. As a matter of fact, my younger brother and I use to fight and argue all the time. Thank God time and age has changed us. My sister is a bit older than me so she was gone before I hit middle school but even thoguh we are not as close as my brother and I, I was pretty proud to say I had an older sister in the military. But as blessed as I was and AM to have my family, do you realize that the families we have here are temporary? Think about it: I have been divorced, so my family changed at that point, my parents died so it changed again, my brother lives in Hawaii and my sister in Florida so again.. change, we fuss and fight and don't speak anymore. And although we are still family... at some point, things change and family on earth could be no more.

But then you have your church family. Your spiritual family. And yes, all the things that can happen to your immediate family can happen within your church family, but the difference is that because Christ died for us, we as a family have the chance of spending eternal life together. That relationship we have with each other, through Christ is the strongest bond we could ever have, even stronger than our relationships here on earth. Rick Warren said " The moment you were spiritually born into God's family, you were given some astounding birthday gift: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance." What a wonderful thing.

As Christians, we have differences, we don't always agree or like what our other Christian family is doing, but lets not let those differences keep us from pushing each other to the ultimate goal.

Yesterday was my daddy's birthday and today is my sister's birthday and I thank God for both of them. And I know that because of what my parents believed, how they lived and the fact that God has given me a chance to make my own life right again, not only did I have the chance to be blessed with my physical family, I know they will and are a part of my spiritual family too and I will see them again!

Last weekend we went to Thomasville to see where we placed in the State playoffs. We went into the game in 4th place and ended up going to State in the 3rd place seat. Not too bad. Problem: the last game my daughter did not play. Now mind you, she is a freshman who made the varsity team. Not many freshmen do that so she is very lucky. She HAS played games but she is of the mindset that she HAS to play all of the games every single second of the game. And when she doesn't.... OH MYYY you would think the world is going to end. This past weekend was no exception as she sat and watched but I saw her expression and I knew it was NOT good. She had this sour look on her face, never cheering as her team went on to win, showing very poor sportsmanship and I knew that when the game was over, I was going to have to speak to her.

Game over, we win and I walk over to the locker room and wait on them to change andtake her to the side. She is so mad she won't even look me in the eye but I explained to her that her attitude could be seen on her face and it was not good. If she wanted to play then people were watchng her INCLUDING the coach and if her attitude was bad, then she would never have to worry about playing again. That it was the coach's team and she could do what she wanted but that she was not going to always have her way. Now I won't lie, my words were a little stronger than that because, well, she had an atttude and it was rubbing off in her conversation with me! Ittook me a good 45 minutes to even get her to go out and sit with her team after the game but she finally did and seemed to be better by the end of the night.

Next day, I am on th phone w/ someone who really ticked me off and even through the phone, he knew I was hot! My whole attitude changed when I got mad and I didn't want to talk anymore. So I hung up. I was getting my hair done then and as I hung up she was done and she handed me the mirror to see my hair and as I looked I literally stopped in my tracks and what I had talked to Brianna about came back like a brick. My madness, my irritation, my attitude was ALL over my face. As I left the shop, I called back to apologize but the scar was already there.

God's word says be thankful for everything. We have no control over every situaton in our lives, like I explained to Bri, but we have to maek the best out of those situations. If we have the right attitude, God will work it out for us. We do not need to spend our days looking at all the negative because our blessings might pass us by. Our attitude should be the same as that of Jesus.... kind, loving, postive and forgiving. So we have a choice... we can have a bad atttitude, being anger and bitter or we can be humble to God, being positive with the right attitude.

I hope you all have a blessed day! We go to Macon this weekend for State playoffs.. say a prayer!! Until next time... be blessed!

I fuss at my daughter all the time because she has very bad study skills. She has always done well in school, but up until high school, she never really had to study. I explained to her and she is learning the hard way I'm afraid, that sometimes you have to put in the work if you want to make the grades.

Timothy 2:15 "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly handling the word of truth."

The Bible is no different. In order for us to be able to teach anyone anything about God, we must first read and understand it ourselves. Growing up, I learned alot of Bible scriptures. Actually in Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes, we had competitions on how many Bible scriptures we could remember. But Timothy says to " study" not memorize. We have to devote our entire minds and souls into correctly learning and understanding God word. We have to study for God's approval, not man. We are not trying please the world, but God alone. And after we study, we should not be ashamed or have any fear when it comes to God's word. His word is true and ther is no need to be embarrassed about anything it says. And last, we are to use God's word for the intended purpose...to teach the Word correctly and honestly.

Like I tell my children,the more you study, then people can't just come up to you and tell you something and you take it for their word. If you are studying all the time, then you have the knowledge and wisdom to make a good decision. The Bible is no different. There are alot of people in the world, who twist and turn the Bible into what THEY want it to be for their own selfish purposes. God has given us a great gift in the Bible and it is up to us to strive and learn as much as we can.

I hope you all have a blessed day! Its going to be nice... until next time Lord willing....

A few weeks ago at church, my 9 yr old came out of his class, straight up to me and had this look on his face. He said " Mommy, my brain hurts from seeing him on the cross". OK, my mind goes into overdrive at this point and I look and him and say " HUH?". He repeated it and I said " Did you watch a movie or something" because at this point I can only think of one movie that would " make his brain hurt" from seeing it... " The Passion". So I went down to his class to see exactly what he was talking about. I was pretty much right.. they had listened to a song and seen some clips of when Jesus was hung on the cross. I think, as his teacher said, we teach our kids to color Jesus on the cross and it's all rosy and pretty and as they get older, that's what they think it was like. But truth be known, it was very painful and Chris endured alot so that we couild have eternal life.

I really like The Passion of the Christ. Brianna watched it when it came out and I made her think enough to ask questions. The same with my son a few weeks ago. Now I am not saying let your 2 yr old watch the Passion, that would be a bit much, but consider what we do let the veiw or listen to. Cartoons that are NOT like the ones we grew up on, songs that, yes, even my 8 yr old knows word for word, magazines, pictures, you name it, they have either seen or heard about it. So why not teach them about Christ the same way? That is the one thing we do not need to shelter our kids from. I mean they need to know the truth about the cross. How in Matthew 27, Jesus was spit on and called names. That they made a crown of thorns and pushed it on his head until he bled, that they beat and tortured him, that they actually took real nails, and banged them into his hands and feet and hung him up to die..... and NOT for any crime he had committed but because he loved us SOOO much, that he gave his own life for us.

As I sat in that room where Christian's teacher showed me what he saw, I cried. I cry everytime I watch that movie and I have seen it alot, so I imagine his little brain was really working too. He did ask me questions, in his own time as he thought about it and I answered everyone as best I could and showed him in the Bible where it talked about it. It upset him to think that they killed Jesus for no reason and I THINK he understood why Jesus chose to do it.. and he seems ok.

The Bible says " train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Not just training in everyday life. How to cook, clean and be nice to everyone, but also Biblical training. Making sure they have the knowledge and training that God wants them to have in order to grow and learn and be able to teach their friends about Christ.

I hope and pray you all have a blessed rest of the week. Tonight start the Region tournament for basketball for Brianna. She' a bit under the weather but we are going just the same. Have a wonderful day and until next time Lord willing....

I am not perfect. Surprise. I make lots of mistakes and not always the right decisions. But they are mine. Lately, well for a while now,I have been kinda doing my own thing and I think it has thrown some people off. My favorite saying is (well I have 2 actually) is.." it's not about you". I realize that life is not about me. Our goal in life is the teach other about Christ, to make sure that anyone who does not know about God learns and goes to heaven. In the middle of that though, life happens and we are suddenly thrown off track. A few weeks ago in our Wednesday night class at church, we did this prayer thing. Everyone was seated at tables and we went around and prayed and talked to God whoever we do it. Now I am not nor have I ever been big on " formal prayers". I tend to do more talking to God like He is sitting right beside me. But there is no right or wrong way I guess. Anyway, on this particular Wednesday night, I guess it all kind of got to me. This whole writing thing just kind of came to me one day and I kept it up, but if you have noticed, it has not been muchof it going on as of late. That night at church, I realized that whatever fire I had when I started the whole writing thing had somehow gone away and I am really not sure why.

I know Satan is a powerful being and we definately under estimate his power. Right when we think things are going good, and that we finally have it all figured out he finds a way to knock us down and make us THINK we cannot do or ever do any better. Now I am smart enough to know that God is way stronger than Satan can ever think of being, but I am also human, and life tends to get to me.

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone and to be perfectly honest, I knew when I made the call, it would not go well.. at least in my head anyway. But let me say this, and I hope it won't be taken wrong but it's not about you, any of you actually. This time it's really about me if that makes sense. There are times I believe we as individuals have to figure out our own issues, with God's help of course, and the rest of us just kinda have to be support, not really knowing whats going on, but making sure we are there when needed.

There are alot of things I am unsure of in my life but one thing I know for sure, the one thing that does not change is that God is good and He only wants the best for each of us. That is what I hold on to when things don't always seem to make alot of sense.

Okay, I know this is sort of babble and may not make any sense but hey.. it's Monday, what can I say : )

I hope you all have a blessed day. The snow in SW GA was beautiful Friday, I got lots of pictures.. hope you did too! Stay dry today and Lord willing.. we will talk again soon!

I finally picked up a copy of The Shack last week. I am almost finished with it, but let me just tell you, if you have not read this book, you need to go buy two copies.... one for you and one for a friend!! It is absolutely wonderful and so on point to me with the Bible. I am not going to give any part of this book away, it is seriously that good, but I will say this, as I have before, God's love is forever, even when we don't feel like we can love or trust Him.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1).

God loves us through all of our doubts, our fears, the times when we think He is not there, when we don't believe. It's unconditional. There are so many times when I think I am about to break down because things that come up seem so unbearable to me. I believe in God, but sometimes, yes, I have issues with if He really is listening to me becasue I mess up so many times and I wonder if He ever gets tired of me. But the verse (and the book, The Shack) say it so well .." His loves endures forever". When nothing else in the world seems right, when you think that you are on your last leg and that is about to be cut from under you too, remember that there is not one thing in this world that can last longer or is stronger than His love for us.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Don't forget, be a blessing to someone!! Lord willing, we will talk again soon!

A few weeks ago someone in our office received a letter. Now I have only been working here 7 years, so I do not know this person who sent the letter but I found it very interesting. Seems that when he worked here, he was not the nicest person in the world. His attitude was bad and as he explained in the letter, he was just at a bad point in his life. For whatever reason, he left here and moved on, but not without thinking about this place it seems. As the letter went on, he said that he had finally come to a better place in his life and that place included God and family. He apologized for how he had acted so many years ago and even enclosed a check for some snacks he hd gotten out of the machine when he was working late one night that he had not paid for.

Like I said, I don't know this man but I couldn't help but think about a TV show that I really like " My Name is Earl", where Earl basically has a list of all the bad things he has done in his life time and he is going back trying to make them right. The show is really funny, and I guess I really have never thought about it, until the letter showed up in the office.

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).

Seems to me all he was asking for was forgiveness. It took alot for him (In my opinion) to even sit down and write the letter. He could have gone on with his life, putting it all in the back of his mind and not caring at all. As far as I am concerned, he did exactly what he was suppose to do. But forgiveness is a two way street ya know. You haev the person asking for it, but the receiver has a duty also. God commands us to forgive. Not always an easy task I know. It took me a longtime and I mean a LONG time to forgive some folks in my life for things that were done to me. And there are times that I remember (and I think thats okay) but I try really hard, not to let it consume me like it use to.

If we cannot forgive people for the petty (and sometiems not so petty) things they do to us, how can we expect God to hear or listen to us when we ask for His forgiveness?

I hope you all have a blessed day! It's gonna be a good one.. until next time, Lord willing

"The only way to help yourself is to help others". I read that the other day. Seems an easy task right? So why is it so hard to do? God is very clear in His word when He says that we are to help and serve others. We are to not make it about us, but the world around us. Our lives should be lived making sure that others get to know Christ and  living our lives so that they see Christ in us. I am learning that the quickest way to end a pity party, is to find someone who needs help. We always talk about wanting to be happy. Well seems to me that the happiest Christians, are not the ones loving in big houses, driving fancy cars, trying to outdo each other daily.. the happiest Christians and most fullfilled Christians are the ones that have found joy in serving other people.

Galatians 5:13-14 "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Lets make it not about us anymore!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day. Be blessed and until next time Lord willing !

We are still studying Nehemiah in my Sunday school class, and I must say I am really enjoying it. It's amazing how a book of the Bible that seems so uninteresting can teach you so much. Nehemiah centered everything he did around prayer. It seems that when he started his journey, he prayed, when  he spoke with the king about help, he prayed and throughout the entire process, he knew who he needed to be getting advice and help from. At the end of class, someone made a comment that kinda stuck with me that whole day...and its one of those things that you KNOW, but it takes someone actually saying it again and in a different way for you to go " hmmmm, I really need to work and think on that." But the comment was (and this is not word for word so excuse me) but when we pray to God, we have to really make sure we are praying right. All of us are sinners and it says in Isaiah 59 - " But your iniquities have separated you from God; and your sins have hidden His face from you so He will not hear you."

I mean REALLY read that..... " your sins have separated you and He will not hear you"

Alright, we have ALL sinned and fallen short of God's glory, we all know that. So when we pray, like Nehemiah did in Nehemiah 1.. he acknowledged the fact that #1, God is almighty and all powerful, the one and only. #2, that he, Nehemiah, his family had sinned against Him by not obeying His commands and he asked for forgiveness. Then, he began to ask for help.

God word is true and He loves each and every one of us, but in order (and these are my words) for Him to hear us and answer our prayers, we have to confess to Him daily when we do wrong. Now I have no clue if this is the "big sin, little sin" kinda deal where one out weighs the other as some people would like to think, but it plainly says that sin separates us from God so if we are separated, it stands to reason that during those times, He has a deaf ear when we pray. NOT that He doesn't love us, but is waiting on us to come and ask for forgiveness. And to be honest, even though like I said, I knew this, I never really thought about it like I should.

I pray you all had a wonderful weekend and a great rest of the day. Lord willing,we will talk again soon.