For His Service

Madeline and I got up a little bit earlier to watch parts of the Royal Wedding.  Kate's dress was beautiful...what an amazing ceremony! Sunshine John-Michael Later I took a few photos of my two youngest playing outside with our deaf puppy, Olivie'.  Sweet memories.. I am so thankful for my family. sweet, sweet Olivie' Ephesians 3:14-20 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 1may have power, together with all the believers, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all w...

There were multiple tornadoes last night in Alabama and Georgia.  Alabama was hardest hit, but lives were lost in both states.  Governor Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency for several counties in the northwest portion of the state.  Emergency officials said over 100 people have died in five states as a result of the storms which moved across the south, including 128 in Alabama and 13 in Georgia, but officials are concerned that number may rise as the brunt of the storm moves through the state.  Please remember to pray for those who lost love ones and who have work to do to repair their business and homes. Isaiah 40:18-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope i...

This beauty was in my garden this morning.  We don't see Rose-breasted grosbeaks very often.  What a TREAT!  See how he has a parrot-like bill?   You can read more about him here.  Grosbeak

Last night I spoke to around 60 ladies and told my story.  For many years I have spoken on stage to a mixture of children and adults..but not usually about myself. :)   I can tell you it is much more nerve-racking when you are!   Anyway, here is a little from my talk: Noah at 4 After  6 months of trying to have a baby and not having success,   we went and saw a fertility specialist. …Remember, “ Rachel can fix this…”…   It was temporarily successful, as I lost a “healthy baby girl” ..as the geneticist told me… at around 13 weeks.   I was devastated.     I remember crying, sobbing in the closet. Again… questioning God’s goodness…”How could you?”   (Anger…tears… wailing…)   why wouldn’t a loving God do this for me????     Here I was trying my best to be a godly,woman… Why was God still fighting me?   That’s how I felt.     Then, about this time, Noah, my   3 year old seemed to h...

I learned fairly early that God creating us to look like Jesus is often painful.      I had a lot of lies to undo..and time takes TIME.     Fairly early in my Christian walk, I acted like a spiritual 2 year old, I was often so hurt by the hurt God allowed that I didn’t want to talk to Him, I would pout... but where did that really leave me? On my own,   I had no truth, no real truth apart from God.....that can take away the despair.   Anyone can mask pain with over eating, over drinking, over spending, over sleeping, etc. There is no lasting comfort apart from God. I had to remember the truth… God required such intense suffering of His own perfect son..whom He loved... to accomplish a holy purpose,   and He had a purpose for me in the pain he allowed in my life... Of course the Bible tells what that purpose   is.... to make us look like Christ. Look at this. A carver created a duck out of a block of wood.   How did he do that? ...

Mark 16 Jesus Has Risen 1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. [ a ] ...

The older I get..the harder it is to stay in shape.  So, I took up running.  I plan on doing a 1/2 Marathon in November;  it will be my 2nd 1/2 marathon.  My hope is to work my way up to a full marathon by my 45th birthday.  I figure if my dad can run his first 5K (little over 3 mile race) at the age of 66.. then, I can run a full marathon at the age of 45.  We shall see!  Now, off to plant more sunflower seeds, lantana, verbena, and others to try to coax the humming birds to staying in our yard!  

Today is Good Friday, the day that Christ chose to go to the cross to bear your sins and my sins. It is good for us... good that He would choose to be beaten, mocked, and killed...that He would choose to have all of the world's sins placed on Him and have the Father look away from Him (breaking His relationship for the Father for the first time).. .. Amazing Love. Amazing Grace. Please take time today and reflect on the Gospel...the Good NEWS! Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” We have all sinned.  There are no perfect people..no one is without sin.  No one's sin is uglier or prettier than another.  . Read Through Romans 3:10-18 for more information. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Because of our sin, we are not in right relationship with God.  He can not look upon us.  He can not be with us. We can only know...

One of my sweet friends gave us her two tickets to the 42nd Annual Dove Awards. They will air on Easter on the Gospel Music Channel. The Dove Awards were held at the Fox theater ...here in Atlanta.   We didn't get home until after 1:30 am.  The lack of sleep was worth it.  Chris Tomlin started the awards show with a GREAT performance.  We saw Mary Mary sing next. We also saw Kenny Rogers and Point of Grace perform  a song together.  A Christian rapper named LeCrae had a high energy performance. All of the female Vocalist of the Year nominees came  together on stage to sing Sandi Patty songs: Those nominees were Natalie Grant, Francesca Battistelli, Janet Paschal, Laura Story, Britt Nicole, Audrey Assad and Kerrie Roberts.   That was truly beautiful!  There were many more singers... and Chonda Pierce, the comedian who entertained us was soooo funny.   http://www.chonda.org/home.html  (check her out ...

$800.    That's what we got  as a trade in on our 2000 Town and Country mini van.  Apparently, they too thought that 11 years and 150,000 miles was all anyone would ever get out of it.   It still have leather seats in good order, new tires,  ...but I suppose that is all I could say that was good about the van.... So, we now have a Honda Odsseey  2007 with less than 40,000 miles.  We will see if we are able to get 150,000 miles out of it.   Here is the photo of it! On another funny note...John-Michael make us all laugh when he put on his big brother's pj's and can around with his entire body inside the pj's... crazy kid...

Sarah's turtles are finally coming out of my pond to sun. They are the funniest things. I love how they stick their back feet up in the air to get "extra sun".  So sweet.  Enjoy the photos!

Before you jump to the conclusion that I am saying Christian are "brainless" sheep, read this post completely.  If you still aren't sure, read this post:  Are Christians brainless? Why does He call us SHEEP? ( The Bible makes reference to sheep no less than 220 times).   A few of the more notable passages that come to mind are the 23 rd Psalm, Isa. 53:6 and John 10.  There are many references to His People being sheep. So why not something more powerful, like a ram or horse? Why not something more graceful and valued, like a prized bird? Well, God chose to use the word sheep to identify His followers, as we are "His sheep." Our shepherd, Jesus, is leading the way, so let's look at the facts about sheep-the  nature of  sheep.  Let's look at the facts about sheep- *Sheep aren’t intelligent . Sheep are not known to be smart or cunning animals when it comes to safety; rather, they are susceptible and tend to wander away from the pro...