Revival Time

 

 

 

 

New Testament Holiness Church

Annual Camp Meeting

June 5 – 12  7:00p.m each night

I look forward to camp meeting time all year.  It’s great to just set aside the cares of life and spend that week soaking in the presence of God.  Sure has a way of getting my priorities straight!

Come expecting great things from the Lord…. He never disappoints!  I’ll be looking for you!!

If you need directions e-mail me, or the address is 2393 VZCR 1222, Grand Saline 75140 if you want to google it.

See ya there!!

No Escape

 

In Psalm 139 David tells God  “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” 

Very comforting to think about, but I think my kids have taken it as a personal command for themselves.

If I’m in the living room, they are there….”MOOOOOMMMMM!!”. 

If I go outside, they are there……”MOOOOMMMMAAAAA!!”

If I try to leave, they come running……”MOOOMMM!!”

If I go to the bathroom and lock the door and get in the shower and cower in the corner; even there they are knocking on the door and rattling the knob……”MOOOOMMMMMAAAAAA!!”

I love my little blessings and am so very thankful for the privilege of being their mom…… now for the rest of the day I will be answering to Eunice or Gertrude or LouAnn, anything but mom…. let ‘em try to figure that one out!! 

 

 

True story:  I’m standing outside this morning five feet from the van looking at 2 new dents in the hood when Travis walks up. 

Him: What are you looking at?

Me: The car  (that I’m standing right in front of looking straight at!)

Him: What car?  Is mamaw here? I don’t see her car? What car?

Me: MY car…. right there….. the one I’m staring straight at!!!

Him: Oh

Does he do it on purpose just to drive me crazy???

Oh, Happy Day

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Travis made me a bouquet the other day!

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The boys opened their produce stand today.... so far they've made $25!!! Exciting times around here!

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I want to take a minute to brag on the teenagers at our church. Saturday night each one got up and read a passage of scripture and then took a few minutes to talk about what they'd read and how they applied it to their lives. As someone who stutters and stammers around when I lead testimony service I appreciate how scary it can be to get up and speak before a group.... but they all did wonderfully!! As a mom of little boys I especially appreciate the teenage boys we have that my boys can look up to. I expect they're not perfect ;)...... but they are always faithful to church, take part in the worship and are attentive to the Word....... and (from what I see) respectful to their mommas!!

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This verse has been on my heart today.....
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight ~ Psalm 19:14

Revelation

***first I just want to say how thankful I am for good friends who give me the benefit of the doubt when what I say and what I intend to say are two totally different things!!***

***also, no we're not in a time warp!.... I wrote this a few days ago and am just now posting it***

There's a little song we sing sometimes that goes "What Jesus has for you to do, nobody else can do". That's all I remember and in my 5 second search I couldn't find the lyrics online, but that's the important part anyway.

Some of my friends are starting a Mom's Heart group. It's a wonderful ministry and I'm really excited for them and for what God is doing. At the same time, for the last few weeks I've been feeling disconnected within myself. I feel I should be doing more with them, but at the same time don't really feel led to anything specific. Today I was out working in the garden and talking with God and it came to me.... I've been feeling disconnected because that's not what God has for me to do. I can't adopt their burdens as my own because this is something God has for them to do, all He wants from me is to just be a part.... not to be in leadership. I can still be excited for them (I am!), pray for them (I do!), and encourage and help and be involved as much as possible (dropping the ball here a little), but God still has something special for me to do and I'll never feel satisfied until I'm doing it. and truly i think this is the whole point of what they're doing... I'm just a little slow on the uptake!


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I got home before Brian and the boys last night and had about 20 minutes to myself. I was able to spend most of that time in prayer and lay a lot of things at Jesus' feet. It's not very often that I get to pray without someone climbing on my back or playing with my hair! How great is our God that He will meet us whenever and wherever we are!!



This morning I was doing my Friday morning ritual of paying bills and worrying about money. God always provides so one of these days I'll learn that there's no need to worry. I paid what I could, surrendered the rest to God and started cooking breakfast. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was a man coming to pay Brian for some firewood he wanted.... he doesn't have the wood yet and wasn't here to get it, just stopped by to pay for it. Seriously, why do I worry??





One of my favorite hymns

Report Cards

I was doing some cleaning yesterday and came across some old report cards that Brian's mom had filled out for him. Let me just say that I now know for sure where the boys get it!!

• Does work neatly??? needs improvement
• Completes work required??? needs improvement
• Is courteous??? needs improvement
• Responds well to correction??? needs improvement
• Shows respect for authority??? needs improvement

I don't know if I should feel reassured because he did turn out to be a fairly decent man..... or overwhelmed because it looks like I may still be fighting the same battles when they're in high school!!!

Guess that's just all the more reason for me to Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding!!

Slow Fade

Take a minute to listen to this song..... the video deals with infidelity but just listen to the lyrics





I've talked with several people recently about this. The thing is no one ever goes to bed one night on fire for God and wakes up the next morning just to turn their back on Him. Sometimes it seems that way from the outside looking in. In truth it's a slow process of gradually letting go until you look around one day in shock at what's become of your life.

I was going to give a personal testimony, but I think I'll hold off on it for now. But for anyone who's on the brink I will say, as hard as it may seem sometimes to hold on... making up ground you've lost is much harder.

And for anyone on the outside watching someone slip..... Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Galatians 6:1
People who are struggling don't need our condemnation, telling everyone else about their faults won't help them, and you never help anyone by ignoring them. Love, compassion, support, direction, encouragement..... that's how we'll help each other win the race.

Loving Jesus

I think if you ask anyone who claims to be a Christian they would absolutely say that they love Jesus. There are a million e-mail forwards and Facebook status updates that we all copy and paste to prove our love for Him.... right??

But lately I've been thinking about what it really means to Love Jesus. Do I really love Him the way I should?

Jesus said in John 14 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." and "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me". So, if I love Him I'll keep His commandments..... the flip side of that is if I don't keep His commands I'm not loving Him.

What are His commands?
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another.

His command is to love.... love God and love my neighbor. But love is more than just saying I love or feeling like I love. Love is doing, it's action. Love is serving, it's putting others ahead of myself.

Matthew 25:34:46 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.


I show my love for Christ by serving others, not by just telling everyone that I love Him, but by my actions. It's not a noun, it's a verb... not a feeling, it's actions. And then the feelings will come, but we can't wait until we feel love to show it. If we do that we'll lose out.


I Corinthians 13:4-7 defines love: Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

In plain English, here's the NIV version ...Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

That is what love is.... and when I live those actions then I am loving Jesus.


In case you're thinking I'm some holier-than-thou who never messes up and always shows the perfect love of Christ....no! I fall.... a lot more than I should. I thank God daily for His grace. The thing is we can't use His grace as an excuse to never try. Yes we'll mess up, but when we do we must dust ourselves back off and try again. Strive to enter in at the strait gate, but if you mess up don't give up. Thank God for His grace and forgiveness and try again.

Odds and Ends

As if this child wasn't adorable enough.....









Now he's snaggle-toothed!!

Can you just see the mischief??? There's a reason I have gray hair!





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Brian woke me up at 4:44 Saturday morning to tell me he thought we'd caught some pigs. Sure enough, right outside the bedroom window I could hear all kinds of snorting and squealing and banging around. When the sun came up this is what we saw.....

It's hard to see, but there are ten of 'em in there, and he saw a couple more hanging around the cage when he went out later that morning. They've been coming up behind the house for several years, but in the last few weeks they've gotten bolder and started coming in the yard. When they rooted up my flower bed I'd had enough!!

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And just in case there was ever any doubt that I've lost my mind......







Peas....... nine rows of peas....... nine LOOONG rows of peas!



And they're going to seem a lot longer when it's 95 degrees out and I'm picking them all by my lonesome.



Potatoes...... they're not so bad.... only two rows and dig
them once and you're done.


See the beautiful cattle panel trellis?? I'm going to try to train my cucumbers to grow up it.... never tried that, we'll see how it goes!!








Anybody up for some yellow squash?? Zucchini??
I think I might have gotten a teeny bit carried
away!









Don't forget the tomatoes..... ninety some-odd tomato plants!!!

Fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce......






And then there's the cantaloupe, okra, corn, pintos, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce.... and who knows what all else.



Dear Lord, If you'll just get me through this summer I promise to never again claim to be lazy!!!