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.