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The Power of the Tongue {In the Church}
On Sunday morning we had a guest speaker at our church named Evangelist Rodney Warren. He often speaks at our church in our pastor’s absence and I enjoy listening to him because I always learn something. Which is a good thing because, well, that’s part of the reason why we go to church, right? For the past year or so, the Lord has been dealing with me on two fronts: my temper and my mouth. I have a pretty bad temper. Not an I’ll cuss you out or cut you kinda temper but an I will verbally cut you down to size and do my best to inflict as much emotional…
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Life {My Word for the Year}
I’ll be turning 40 in March, this has been a difficult thing for me to accept. Forty has always symbolized something I never wanted to be: old. please read that word with the appropriate amount of shuddering and nose crinkling I remember looking at the forty~something~year~old women of my youth and thinking they were looking at me with something that bordered on pity, mingled with contempt, and tinged with jealousy. And they looked frumpy. Looking back, I realize that was just my own youthful misperception of grown women. In reality, they weren’t paying me or my silliness any attention. As for looking dowdy, everyone in the 80s and 90s looked…
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Be Strong {Words of Encouragement}
I’ve gone back and forth over whether I should write anything about the tragedies in Connecticut and China that occurred last week… How do I respond to the senseless taking of innocent lives? What words of comfort do I offer to those who’ll be left with the physical and mental scars? There simply aren’t enough words to convey the sympathy that I feel for all of those who’ve been touched directly by these tragedies. I can’t begin to say I understand how the parents feel to lose their children in such a senseless manner, but I do understand the spirit of fear that grips your heart when you’ve been touched…
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Love {Advent Bible Study}
The focus of this week’s Advent study is LOVE. Love means to have a strong affection for anther arising out of kinship or personal ties. It also means to have an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. SCRIPTURE 1 John 4:7 {KJV} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. OBSERVATION When I first looked up “Love” in the Webster’s Dictionary, the first entry was for maternal love, the second for romantic love and a bit further down, the love God has for mankind. This struck me as wrong. I know…
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Hope {Advent Bible Study}
The focus of this week’s Advent study is HOPE. Hope means to anticipate or expect with confidence. SCRIPTURE Jeremiah 33:15 In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. OBSERVATION God promises His people that after their captivity has ended a righteous descendant from King David’s line will be born. The fulfillment of this promise is the birth of Jesus Christ, who is just and righteous. APPLICATION When I read this passage, I think of a new bud on a tree branch and all the promise that it holds. It represents new…
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Preparing for Christmas {Advent Bible Study}
Last week, I briefly talked about how God has been dealing with me about the ways I’ve been using social media for His glory. Specifically, the fact that I haven’t been. I’ve been using my spaces on the web to talk about style, food, photography and all sorts of other things… There’s nothing wrong with that, I believe that God wants us to have fun, but I don’t want that to be all there is to me. I firmly believe that I’m living at this time and place for a reason. God has a purpose for me. So I know it was nothing but God that lead me to an…
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The Bible in 90 Days: My Tips {#B90Days}
Deep breath in, deep breath out. Tomorrow begins the next session of the Bible in 90 Days and I’m more than ready for it. I pray that those of you who are reading along with us (whether you are in Group 34 or not) are ready. This isn’t going to be easy… Things that have never challenged you before will fight with you for your time and energy. But if you push your way through, I guarantee you will find your blessing on the other side. I’d like to offer a few tips that helped me through the process the first and second times: Pray before you start ~ pray…
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Read the Bible in 90 Days {#B90Days}
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be serving as a member of the leadership team for the next session of #B90Days, hosted by Amy at Mom’s Toolbox. #B90Days is a 90 day Bible reading plan that helps you read the Bible from cover to cover. Because of the intense nature of the plan, this should not be considered a Bible study but an opportunity to read the most life changing book ever written. As a member of the leadership team, my job will be to encourage the readers in my team through prayer, on Twitter and via our accountability group. I’ll also be posting words of encouragement here on my…
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Faith {In the Church}
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Giving Thanks for the Small Things {This or That Thursday}
Sometimes I get so caught up in the big picture that I miss the little things. For example, I took this picture using Instagram because I thought the light coming off the setting sun was just beautiful. In fact, I was so awestruck by the evening sky that I didn’t even notice the lone shopping cart until after I had posted the picture. And it made me think, how many times have I been so involved in the “big” things of life that I forget to give thanks for the “little” things? Life has no guarantees, in fact, Psalm 103:15~16 says: “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish…
