Walk to Emmaus

Wow describes this experience in my life! I left for my walk less than 48 hours after I returned from Mardi Gras where I had only had from 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night on a blow up bed in a gym with about 75 other ladies. My friend, Kimmy picked me up on Thursday at 5:00 PM, I had to say goodbye to my watch and my phone until 5:00 PM on Sunday. I had no idea what to expect but I was excited and a little anxious. I had been out of town and was leaving again hoping that I had left nothing undone. So here I go for 3 days not knowing anyone or anything that is going to happen. The first night was hard, I had a hard time going to sleep thinking of all the things I should be doing. Finally I just decided that I had to give it all to God and go with this. As far as I could tell there wasn't anyone that I could bribe to let me use their phone. On Friday morning I jumped all in and I am so glad that I did. God showed me more things about myself that He wanted to change, He brought new friends into my life and overwhelmed me with His love and grace. It was one of the most valuable times that I have had with the Lord. It was youth camp X's 100! Those of you who know how much I love youth camp can understand this.
I cried on and off for what seemed like hours (who knows because I never knew what time it was)I was so taken with God's goodness to me! I would like to reflect right here. What would our devotionals, church services, outreaches, time with friends and family look like if we didn't have a watch? I was very convicted of how I have restricted God's voice in my life by the next thing that I need or want to get on to. I am trying to just chill and enjoy His presence more.
This weekend had tons of surprises. I love surprises!!!
It was full of God changing my thinking to better thinking, His thinking.
I came home with a new gratitude for Jesus and all of the great people He has put in my life. It was overwhelming that I had friends who love me so much that they would make this happen for me and my friends and family who wrote me letters of encouragement. I came home feeling so humbled and loved. I will be doing this for many others!
My next blog will tell of a more specific work that God did in me...don't miss it!

Mardi Gras 2012

I've got 3 blogs on the inside of me right now so I am going to be doing one a day for the next few days.
Mardi Gras was once again an amazing experience. I've lost count of how many times I have been on this mission to take Jesus to the people. The first time I went I was 28 and young!
I felt prepared, we had just come off of a 21 one day fast with our church family and it was amazing all of the things that God did in us as a church. I had grown closer to Him and to the body of Christ.
So off I went to Mardi Gras with a team of about 130 people from accross the states. I sat down on the plane next to a couple about my age who were traveling with their 24 year old twins. Their conversation existed of what drinks they were going to get this partying started with. Ed may be the only one that knows this about me but this is one of my pet peaves in life. People drinking with their children. Maybe it's because I was raised in A.A. (my Dad was an alchoholic) from the time I was 6 years old. I know that alchohol can be a real trap for people.
I just decided to get out a book and read because I was agitated with these people. About 15 minutes before we landed I finished my book and got out my itenerary for the weekend. The lady next to me asked if I was on a group trip and what would we be doing so I told her with some reluctance. I told her that I really have a heart for collage age students who might get in over their heads. I like to be the Mom of the street! She told me that she really admired that and proceeded to tell her children to turn around and look at me. When they did she said "if you find yourself in trouble this weekend, look for this lady". They of course were thinking, yeah right! She was very genuine and kept telling me that she really appreciated me going out there.
I had to be faced with ugliness on the inside of myself once again. I had judged her and here she was being so complimentary of me. I realize that I am so far from who Jesus is and trying to re-present Him to the world is challenging for a person who is far from perfect. I love how He never gives up on me and is continually comforming me to His image even more, He still wants to use me!
I had a great time and if you want to hear some of the stories go to Ed's blog, it's on my page.
I did get to be the Mom of the street to many young people. One guy that stands out was Edwardo. Good looking guy who was dressed in a towel and taking pictures with all the girls. I got in conversation with him and told him that he needed to respect the girls and treat them right. He laughed and told me that they needed to respect him also. God showed me that he had a praying Momma so I just asked him if she was. He was shocked, looked me in the eyes and said, yes she is. I left him with "you better think about that!" It was so fun being the Mom of the street. I believe that maybe some kids made better choices and thought more about the people that love and care for them.
We met a girl named Adrian who I was chit chatting with when Ed interupted and told her that he hoped she didn't think he was weird but God was showing him that she had experienced a lot of pain and rejection. She began to weep and tell us that her Dad had died 2 years earlier and the pain that she was in. We got to pray for her and hug her. What a privilege.
Thank you God that you use imperfect people to show your love.
I am always forever changed when I get out of the church and to the streets!

Awakening 21...Never thought I could do it!

We are almost halfway through our 21 day fast so I felt it was time to share some of the things that God has done in me during this time. Let me get this out there....I AM A HORRIBLE FASTER! God is so good! I began to pray about this fast months ago when Ed first presented it to our church. I wanted to hear what kind of fast He wanted me to do. I felt it was a Daniel fast. Ed shared with me a few days later that God had spoken to him to do that fast also. I was thinking to myself "Thank you Jesus, because it was going to be super hard if he was going to be fasting sports or tv and could eat everything in front of me!"
The week before the fast you would have thought I was on death row. All I could think about were my last meals. I can tell you that I had no focus on God that week! I realized I am a food addict for sure. I guess all of the Weight Watchers meetings I've been to had not revealed that to me yet.
We started the fast on Sunday and left for Colorado that day to visit Ed's family. Side note: last summer while we were there I fasted one day as I was getting ready for a mission trip and had called a one day a week fast until we left for our trip. I had already had to explain to the kids of the family about this. Now we are back and fasting again! I know they must think we are religious nuts, but the fact is I avoid fasting almost at any cost!
Now on to the great part...Ed had explained to our church that fasting was just pushing the reset button on our spiritual lives and it has done that for me big time. The food part has been easy, I am loving getting my focus off of things that don't really matter and putting my focus where it belongs. I don't care that my house doesn't look perfect, that all of my laundry isn't done, that my guests are not having a five course meal when they come or that I havn't been able to sleep late. I havn't missed my tv shows at all or felt the need to just mindlessly crash at the end of the day from exhaustion. I feel exilerated, refreshed, encouraged and I have a great anticipation of what God is doing!
There is a new level of excitement at church, a lightness and I am loving it! It is so fun doing this together with my church family and thousands around the world. There is more info and resources at www.awake21.org
One thing that is standing out to me right now is: When I make room for God He will step into that space. I'm realizing that there are a ton of spaces in my life that need to be filled with Him. I am getting rid of the business of my life and God is removing some for me! For the last 3 years I have been in charge of the yearly auction for the Boy's and Girl's club, this year I had to miss a meeting and they moved me to decorations which will take very little time and is more in my giftings! I can't wait to see what God will do with the space that I open up to him.
There have been challenges for sure, opportunities to get distracted with things that don't really matter, opportunities for fear to come in, like on day 1 when we were flying out in a horrible wind storm! I am not going to be distracted, I am growing and I love seeing others around me grow.
I believe that this is going to be one of the best years of my life to this point. We have 2 new grandbabies on the way, I will be going to Mardi Gras in a month to minister on the streets and then end the month with a walk to Emmaus. That is just the first two months! Wow!
Make a new space for God today, you won't regret it!

I Don't Want to Waste a Miracle!

Ed has been preaching on "Miracles in Motion" the last few weeks at our church. Last week he was talking about how God does miracles for us so that He can use our miracle in other people's lives. If we hang on to our miracle then it is wasted. That gave me the push I needed to share my testimony of all the miracles that God has done for me in my 50th year of life. I have been blessed with 2 new grandbabies and a grand niece that have brought me so much joy. They are amazing little miracles along side Will our 3 yr. old grandson. Seven years ago we kind of started over when our kids moved out and we sold our home and started leasing a Garden home. It was nice and I loved it but it was really crowded with all of the family events. Then we had a leak under the slab that caused us to basically have to pack up the whole house for a remodel. During this time, Ed took me to St. Martin for a birthday trip. It was so wonderful and I forgot all the stress at home. Our house was supposed to be fixed when we got home it wasn't. We had not been looking for a house at all but Ed had picked up a home facts sheet at his hair salon of a house that we both loved. When we found out that there was not a timetable for our home to be fixed we started to pursue the house. When I prayed about it God told me that he was going to give Ed wisdom and for me not to worry about it. That was hard! We could not come to a total agreement with the owners and Ed left it like that. Things were getting worse where we were living. We both we staying sick because of all the construction going on. Finally after about 5 days of no talking about the house I decided to look at it online and it was no longer available. I nearly freaked. I called Ed and he told me to drive by and see if the sign was still in the yard. It was gone! I was so disappointed! The day before I was praying about it and God spoke to me and said "you are not even ready to move yet, you are not totally packed" so I went home that day and packed our office the main room that was not ready to go. So now I was all packed and going to have to unpack in the same house. I threw a bit of a fit to Ed and he said "you don't have it that bad, there are people in Haiti who are living in tents that are getting ready to be blown away". He was right. The hurricane was headed there within a few hours. That really put my life in perspective. God has given Ed a lot of wisdom! Ed called our realtor who just told him that they decided to go a different way. What does that mean??? I couldn't beleive that someone else was going to get my dream house. Ed got ahold of the owner, we met with him that afternoon and worked out a deal and started moving the next morning. What a miracle!!! God had it all in motion but I couldn't see it. Oh yeah, that's what faith is! What is really special about all of this is all of the unique things that only I could appreciate about this house. It had just been totally redecorated and upgraded to my taste and desires. One of my gifts is hospitality and it has tons of entertaining room! There are things like an excercise pool. Swimming is my favorite exercise. I only saw this house one time in person and nearly everyday there is something that I thank God for because it is something special for me. That is what makes this miracle so wonderful is how it reminds me how personal God is to all of us. This is not a life and death miracle, it is a love miracle. When I felt hopeless and stuck, God showed me His love for me once again through His wonderful provision for me! Last year Ed gave me this scripture and told me that it was going to be our verse for the year. We both memorized it and quoted it alot to each other during the year. I can say with all that is within me that it is true in my life.
Ps 40:5
O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.
Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
I would never come to the end of them.
God's goodness to us really is too numerous to list. I could go on and on. I don't want my miracle to be wasted on me, I want you to know that God has no favorites! He wants to do the same for you, He wants you to know that you are loved and He is thinking great thoughts about you also!

Hurricane Katrina Changed My Life!

This morning I am reflecting on Hurricane Katrina and how it affected my life in a most amazing way! I was listening to some conversation about New Orleans and the comment was made that the people there probably still have their hand out. When I heard this comment it hurt my heart. You see I have personally gotten to know and love some of these people and they have changed my life forever. My story with New Orleans began over 20 years ago when I went to Mardi Gras on an outreach with Scott Hinkle. That's when my life with God really took off! Getting out of the church and on the street with people that He wants to love has made me love Him all the more. I have since been to Mardi Gras many times. Back to Hurricane Katrina. When it hit, our city was privileged to have several thousand refugees come here for shelter. The night they came my Sister Carrie and daughter-in-law Lacey and I headed out to a Midnight training with the Red Cross. I could not believe that after all the seeds I had sown into New Orleans that the people were coming to me! I was so excited. In the next few months we worked hard at the shelter but we also got to know some of these precious people. One lady that I will never forget was Charlene. Charlene had quite a story to tell. She was a single mother of a huge family all who were grown except for a teenage son. Her house made it through the Hurricane so all her family came to her house. There were over 20 of them. Then the levy broke. They escaped out of the house with children floating on mattresses. They made it to the bridge where sniper shootings were taking place and then on to the Superdome where they heard rapes going on during the night and then they were bussed to Lubbock. Charlene stood out because she was still grateful even after all that they had been through. She was trusting God. Charlene and her family were moved into some government housing apartments and many of them began to get jobs. Carrie and I would go and pick up anyone who would go to church with us. During that time 17 of Charlene's family members got saved. Five of them were teenagers. Her daughter and son-in-law got saved and their marriage was put back together. Charlene was seeing so many answers to prayer in her life. It was so fun to go and visit with her. This experience gave so much more to me than I could ever have given to them! One day I was in Wal-Mart with Carrie and saw a fellow Christian who began to complain about these people coming to our city and eating up our resources. Carrie handled her graciously, and got us out of the conversation. I think that she could see that I was about to beat up this old religious lady and it wouldn't be pretty! Later I realized that you can't have love and compassion on people if you are not willing to be involved with them. Charlene went with me on a ladies retreat to New Mexico, she was like a kid! Now, you must know that before this Hurricane Charlene had never been out of New Orleans and she was 50 years old! She was anxious about going to the mountains but I reassured her that it would be ok. On the ladies retreat God really ministered to her. She got up in front of about 600 women to share her testimony of how good God had been to her and she also thanked me, her new best friend, Miss Connie. I cried as I watched this strong woman who had been removed from everything she knew, show her gratitude to God. (I told her later that if we were going to be best friends she couldn't call me Miss Connie anymore!) A few weeks later Charlene and her entire family were moved to Houston because the people in the apartments were threatening them. You see they didn't like these people coming and getting resources that they thought they should be getting. I was so sad! Charlene and her family were only part of my life for about 4 months but they have made a lasting impact on me. I cannot wait to reconnect with them in heaven!!! So the Bible is true when it says God will repay you if you help the poor.

Prov 19:17
If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—
and he will repay you!
All of the pictures are of Charlene's family who gave their lives to the Lord.





If you notice there are no qualifiers on this scripture. They don't have to be deserving or jump through our hoops. It doesn't even matter if they have their hands out! We are doing if for the Lord if we do it for them. My Momma has always told me that no one can take from you what you give to them. According to this scripture you are not even giving to them, you are giving to the Lord and He is deserving of us giving our all!

32 Years and Counting

It's been a long time coming and so much has happened in the last 7 months! Ed and I just celebrated our 32nd Anniversary so I thought I would start with that. I love this man more every year. The week of our Anniversary he told me that he wanted me to go with him to visit 2 ladies we know. One is a sweet widow in our church and the other is a friend who is fighting cancer. The morning of the visit he got up and went and bought flowers and a card to take to each of them. I met him and we went off to our deliveries. Both ladies were so touched, it had probably been a while since a man brought them flowers. I was reminded once again why I love this man so much...he loves and cares for people! He is my favorite ministry partner and I am so blessed to live life with him! Today he left early for a breakfast meeting before I got out of bed. He came home a little while later with our grandson Will in tow.
He had gone by and surprised Will and picked him up for donuts and hitting golf balls.
I am so grateful for his passion for God, our family and others!
I have also had the blessing of 3 wonderful babies in my life in the last 5 months! My great neice, Karsyn, my grandson Reed and my granddaughter, Allie. There are allready so many wonderful memories being made with these sweeties!


Ed got to dedicate my great nephew, Brayden and Allie to the Lord. I love seeing my generations serve and love God!
One more big event....I celebrated my 50th birthday. How can it be??? Time goes by too fast. I can look back and say that God's love has never failed me through the good times and the bad, He has never disappointed me and my hopes are high in him! My bithday pictures...

I titled this blog 32 years and counting because I can truly say that I am trying to live a life that counts!

Black Friday Bonding

As is my tradition, I hit it out again this year for some fun shopping on Black Friday. This was the earliest that I can remember getting out there though! I would like to digress now to the year when both my sisters and I drug our elementary aged girls out for a Black Friday find. We got to the store at about 7:00 as I recall. It was a very cold day and the fellow shoppers were all staying in their cars to keep warm. We were so grateful! My sister Chrissy decided to get out of the car to throw away some donut trash and it caused a mass exodus from the other cars. We of course had to follow suit. We stood in the cold for some time to get in the store and recieve our cheesy free gift. The girls were not happy to say the least. They were still talking about it this year. Chrissy, in her defense has never been much of a shopper and had no idea of the mahem she could cause.
Back to 2009, my niece Staci agreed to go with me to Target where we wanted to get a coveted 32 in Flat Screen TV for a mere $246.00. We both slept a couple of hours and then met at the store at 3:00 AM with our supplies. I brought the blanket and she brought the lawn chairs. There were already about 100 people in line when we got there! Staci began to unfold one of our lawn chairs which was very confusing. I couldn't figure out how this chair worked, it looked like a mini-bed. Finally Staci realized that it wasn't a chair at all but a fold out table. About that time the line started to move so she folded up the table and ran to the car to put it up. The target guy moved us to the other side of the building where we perched for the next 2 hours. Part of the adventure is the new friends that you make in line. We were surrounded by some very excited talkative people. It was quite fun! The line began to move for real and 3 preppy little soroity girls ran past us all for the front door. The whole line started yelling at the cop "They cut in line". Yay, they were stopped at the door and they looked very mad that they had been stopped but justice had been served. When we got in Target it was a free for all! I was trying to get a basket to get my TV but people were running everywhere so I grabed it and pulled it behind me. Somehow in all the craziness I ran over my own heal with my basket, and incurred my first Black Friday injury. Staci started getting the TVs and I was trying to put them in the basket, as I was lifting the TV to my basket, it had a run away and I missed the basket totally. I was so focused that I didn't even pee in my pants! We finally secured the TVs and just pulled aside for a moment to regroup. I looked over to where a bin of $5.00 PJ's were and there was a sight that could have made me the You Tube video of the day. A lady was fully bent into the basket with her whole crack exposed! Oh how I wished I would not have seen that! Later in the day I was at Pennys getting some boots for my niece. My sister, Carrie had now joined me. There were women everywhere. I had put my boots in a chair next to me and they fell upon some ladies feet. I reached down to get them and I was face to face with a sea of hairy legged women. My husbund does not have this kind of hair on his legs! My Sister just looked at me very straight faced and said "That was unfortunate"! A few hours later I met up with my daughter Denae and son-in-law Chris. Chris was a newby to Black Friday. He said the whole thing had kind of been a disappointment to him because he thought we were going to have more time to hang out together during the shopping.
Actually, that has been my favorite part of Black Friday over the years, it's been the memories that I have accumulated with many different family members and friends, it's the bonding that takes place that is the most fun to me even though I did get some great buys also. I am so thankful for my family, they make my life so fun, I know that they are very proud of me that I kept myself under control and did not laugh too hard this year. Black Friday ended for me at 10:00 AM. I was starting to see spots and get disoriented so I decided I better hit the bed. It was also the time where people come out shopping looking good. I can tell you that I looked far from good with my hat hair and wrinkled clothes! Bring on more Black Friday Bonding!

I Have Sinned

I thought that title might get you! September-October was about the craziest month I have ever experieced! We had the fair, where I worked selling corn dogs about 12 hours a day for 10 days. During that time we also had 2 weddings and 2 funerals. To top it off I found out that I am having 2 new grandbabies! Wow, I think I experienced about all the emotion you can experience in that short time period. I was in serious need of a break, just a place to be able to relax and not feel any pressure.
Our church gave us a vacation for Pastor Appreciation and the only time we could go before the holidays was the next week so we had to purchase a last minute vacation that wasn't going to cost a fortune. I found Las Vegas. We had never been there before and I thought there wouldn't be that much we would want to do so it would be a good place to relax and rest. Boy was I wrong! I loved it! The hotels were amazing. I have never seen such beautiful buildings. My FB friends gave me all kinds of suggestions of things to do. I did mot of them, we were only there for 4 days and there was still so much to do.
I chose a hotel off of the strip because I didn't know what to expect there. It was wonderful but it was a few miles away from everything. We decided to be adventurous and take the bus instead of renting a car. The bus ride included having to take a change bus at the station. We got to ride with the locals on the first bus and then joined the tourists on the second bus. All of this could take up to an hour and a half to get to our destination! The first night we were at the bus station at Midnight waiting for our bus, we were a little tired and cranky and this cute little couple from Canada came over to visit with us. I asked how they met and they began to tell us all the details of meeting a huge party weekend. He said she had another boyfriend that she had been with for 5 years and that had just gone sour. Her heart was broken. There was anther man standing a little ways away and he walked over sat with us all on the bench and said "I know how she feels". It was crazy. Ed started to talk to him and I kept talking to the young couple. They were not married and they were just traveling around the states in an RV. I told them how Ed and I had met at a high shcool party and they wanted to know all the details. I began to share with them how that we didn't have sex until we were married and now we have been married 31 years and are more in love with each other than ever before, we have 3 kids and will soon have 3 grandkids. Their faces softened and their response was "that is so sweet"! Ed went right into telling his testimony of how he got saved right after we started dating and how that changed everything about the way his life was going. They all were really listening. About that time the bus pulled up. It was so neat to see God use us even when we were dead tired and on a vacation from life. The amaazing thing was how invigorated we both felt! We had another opportunity later in the week to give a teenage boy, who was sitting behind us on the bus some money. He had been on the phone telling someone how he didn't have enough money to get to his destination and he said "Jesus Christ" in the course of conversation. Ed looked at me and said "you're going to have to give him some money". He knows what a softie I am, I already had it in hand! He moved back to sit with Dustin and gave him the money and told him that we are parents and we heard his dilema and we would want someone to help our kids. Ed expressed our belief in teenagers. We love them! He then began to go on to say, I heard you say "Jesus Christ" in your frustration and I want you to know that He heard your cry and has answered and He loves you. The kid was so taken aback! Dustin's tone changed and he began to share with Ed the frustrations of his life. The bus stopped and we had to get off. What fun we had!
Now to the "I have sinned". We were in the Planet Hollywood hotel and there was a little brewery called Sin City Brewery that had t-shirts that said "I have sinned".
I really wanted to buy one but it was pretty skimpy. The thought came to me that we should all be wearing those shirts. Not because we had a beer but because hours before I had gotten mad at Ed, acted hateful and not shown him love. That's what really breaks God's heart is when we don't love, not the outward things but the inward things. I have sinned and I have repented. I am so grateful for a forgiving God and a forgiving husband! Our lives can begin again today because of that mercy and grace! I wonder how I would be looked at if I wore a I have sinned shirt every day yet it is the truth. I am not a perfect wife, mother, friend, daughter or Pastor's wife, I am just a sinner depending on God's grace. Thank you to my great church for sending me on an amazing vacation!

Taming the fat!

Ok people, I am posting tonight because I need some accountability! I am headed to youth camp in a few weeks and there is no way I can keep up with the kids or the schedule at my present out of shape, fat self. Sooo I started back to Weight Watchers on Friday morning at 9:30 AM. I even stayed after to get a 45 minute pep talk from the teacher. I need all the motivation I can get at this point. After I stepped on the scales I wanted to kick myself! There it was in black and white and on my book. They might have well just screamed at me you are fat woman! The funny thing is that I actually have a really good self image. That seems to be part of the problem. I think that I look like I have a perfect body. I just look at someone whose body I admire and in my mind I can see my face on that body! Amazing feet I know! LOL! Please help me blog friends and give me some encouragement. If you have any tips for me they are welcomed! If you would like to come join me in my class that would be even better. It's a mommy and me class. It's going to take a lot of motivation, I mean I watched the whole season of Biggest Looser and that didn't oust me off the couch! I don't have a good before pic but I will post that ASAP!

Married and loving it!

This last week Ed and I had to go to court with someone, while we were waiting a divorce was being settled. It was so sad to see the investment of 2 lives being reduced to cars, stuff and who's going to pay what. It really made me glad that Ed and I have done the things we have done to invest in the future of our marriage. I want to encourage you to take a date night, go on an overnighter with your spouse. Turn off the TV and talk or play games. When the kids are gone you will be glad you did. I'm tired of the bad rap that marriage gets! I am loving it! The last 2 weeks Ed and I have been preaching about Marriage on Sunday morning. It's been a challenge and a lot of fun. He really is my best friend. I have so much fun with him and he always pushes me to do things that I'm not sure that I can do. Mostly he has challenged me to believe God for huge things and to do amazing exploits! I find that I have a tendency to get comfortable, just enjoy things the way they are. Not Ed! He always sees more and greater. Thank you honey for allowing me the privilege to minister right beside you! Thank you for believing in me. I love my life. It is so cool to see God love and change people's lives through us!
July 15, 1978 Can you believe that dress? I showed no skin whatsover. LOL!

Happy Birthday Denae!

Today we are celebrating Denae coming into this world and changing mine forever! I don't have one bad memory of Denae's birth. I had her an hour and a half after I got to the hospital with no drugs or anything. (I had babies wonderfully easy!) We already had our wonderful boy Jeff when we decided to have another and I asked God to give me a girl. He answered! She has been a joy to me from the day she was born. One amazing fact about Denae..when we would go to get her shots she would laugh. The doctor and nurses couldn't believe it. She has always had a great laugh and made those of us around her smile. Other memories of when she was just a toddler were of her trying on clothes and mentioning how adorable they were. I have so many great memories of my times with Denae. Some of the best are in ministry, on the streets of Hollywood, servant evangelism, Disciple Now, and Youth Church. She has always been a leader and now I am getting to watch her be a Mom and what an amazing Mom she is. I thought it was appropriate to post a pic of her and Will since Mother's Day is on Birthday week. Denae, I am so proud of you and so blessed to be your Mom! I love you and you are still a great gift to me 27 years later!

Saying No to Myself...What???????

Ed has been preaching the best series on prayer until last Sunday.(LOL) It was about breakthrough prayer and how you have to live in self-denial to have breakthrough. It was funny because he was preaching his heart out and was very anointed but he was getting no response from those of us in the audience. He finally said "I can tell y'all aren't real excited about this." On the inside I was screaming "No kidding, who wants to say NO to themselves, not me! We really don't want to hear this, we want to hear that this Christian life is easy." My thoughts went on like that. In reality though I want to see breakthroughs in my life and the life of my church, my friends and family and those who I meet everyday. So I say YES to saying NO to myself! Last week I was flying on a free pass my wonderful friend Mitzi gave me and I had to tell myself no quite a bit. I really have not been a fan of flying. I am not going to let that stop me though. I was flying on the 2 busiest days of the week so it was inevitable that I would get bumped off the plane. I had decided that if I got delayed there would be a purpose in it. The first day of flying I had only had 3 hours sleep and was leaving for the airport at 5:00 AM when I noticed my Shack book sitting on the nightstand. I felt prompted to take it, there was going to be someone who needed it. I didn't not get to my destination on the first day and had to spend the night in Orlando. I took that book out everywhere I was all day, sitting next to a lot of people and no one ever mentioned it. The next morning I boarded the plane and pulled it out again. This was my last flight before I arrived. The guy next to me began to ask me about the book. Yea!!! He then went to sleep. He woke up as we landed and God told me to give him the book. You would have thought I gave him a million dollars. Success!!! I was on a 24 hour detour for one man. Not what I would have chosen. On the way home I had to fly through turbulence all day. (Hate it) I got to Dallas and they informed me that I would have to fly to Albuquerque and then go to Lubbock. I didn't want to do it but it was my only option.
I was the last one on the plane and had to squeeze between two people who obviously did not want me there. There was an older lady and I tried small talk with her but she snubbed me. The ride was rough. We got close to Alb. and the captain came on to tell us that their were wind gusts up to 65 MPH! So it would be really rough. The lady next to me freaked out, she was so scared. I knew then that I had been sent on this flight to help her through it. I HAD TO FORGET ABOUT MYSELF AND MY FEAR! We had every kind of turbulence, side to side, bump bump and then big drop. Yuck! I had to pat her leg and tell her that I had been in God's hands all day and he had taken good care of me and was going to get us through this. We started coming in for landing and she had a second panic attack about wind shear. As I was trying to calm her I look below out her window and see the remains of a small plane crash. Not good for flying moral! I just started asking her all kinds of personal questions to distract her from that sight! We landed safely and she was so grateful that I had been there for her. 14 hours on planes was not my idea but it was God's and it was good! I am reading a book I would highly recommend "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day". It will change your thinking!!! I'm starting a new saying...NO TO ME!

I'm remebering!

I have been refreshing my memory of the Passover today, God has really been speaking to me from it. I'm going to try to write a blog a day leading up to Easter.

The passover is celebrating the time when the Hebrew children were not killed during the 10 plagues of Egypt. They had to put aside a lamb to be slaughtered and put the blood over their doorpost, eat the lamb then their houses were passed over, their children were spared and they were able to flee Egypt. This is all accounted in Exodus.

The first night of the Passover is the Seder. There is a lot of ritual to the Seder but the purpose is to recount the Passover. The children are very involved and are encouraged to ask questions. Games are played to encourage the children to learn. It is an all night party of remembering!

I want to have that kind of memory about what Jesus has done for me! Every year at Easter we watch "The Passion". It causes me to remember. Let's take some time to remember.

I am so grateful for what Jesus has done for me. He has taken all of my sins!!!

Happy April Fools Day!

This seems to have been some sort of holiday for me in the past. I used to love practical jokes. Now I don't have much creativity for them anymore. I thought I would share some fond memories of past days. My favorite done to me: Ed let me sleep late and took the kids to school. Lance was in 1st grade. I was woken up by the phone ringing and it was the school nurse telling me that Lance was in her office with chronic halitosis. I was thinking "OK what do you want me to do, bring a toothbrush?" She went on about the severity. Finally I said "Do you want me to bring a toothbrush?" She said "No this is very severe, he is going to have to go to the dentist". I was stunned but said OK I would come pick him up and hung up the phone. While I was getting ready my sister, Chrissy called and said April Fools! It was so good, I did not recognize her voice at all!!!
The best one I have done. We had just gotten our first Suburban. The kids were in elementary school. I was still learning to back and park. I had to run get gas before school and there I was at the 7-11 when the revelation hit me that it was April Fools Holiday. I called Ed from the pay phone and told him that I had backed into the pump and gas was spewing everywhere. He was panicked and kept saying CONNIE!
I finally said April Fools and he hung up the phone. When I got home Denae informed me that Daddy threw the phone and broke it! The rest of the story.....vengeance has finally come to me many years later. A couple of weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart (which I hate and try to never go there). When I checked out, I ran into a friend who works in customer service. She told me that the sheriff had just called there to say that there was going to be a gang shooting at one of the Wal-Marts today. She then went on with chit chat. I was thinking lady, there is no time for small talk, I've got to get out of here! I started out the door and many people were coming in and I wanted to shout "GET OUT" you are in danger! I restrained from causing a riot in case my information was bad. I found myself walking to the car profiling everyone in the parking lot and basically everyone who goes there looks like a gangster!!! I could not believe the fear that I was feeling. I have purposely been a lot more dangerous places to minister. I got out only to find out later it was a hoax. Ed felt like God had finally smacked me for all the things I have put him through. LOL!
There is a point to this long April Fools message and that is....I could not believe the urgency that I felt wanting to tell people to save their lives as I left. I was very convicted that I do know that people are going to Hell and I don't have that kind of urgency to keep them from going there! I have seen my true colors. Anyway, we are starting a campaign at church called Won by One. I am going to win some!

What is God Saying to You?

A few weeks ago I had lunch with a few ladies that I don't know well from another church and I asked them the question "What has God been saying to you?". They were stumped. I really like to hear what God is saying in other places for 2 reasons. First, it is really cool to hear that God is basically saying the same thing to the church as a whole. Secondly, I love to give people the opportunity to share what God is saying to them, it builds our faith. It helps us to be ready to minister to others.
Basically what God has been saying to me is "GET READY! The church's best time is about to begin. We cannot be distracted by the fear that is consuming our world or we will miss our great harvest." I am more excited about what is about to happen than when I've gone to Mardi Gras or Hollywood or any street where I have ministered. I can see that this is is going to be the easiest time to share God's love with people.
I have had such a peace during all of this world craziness. I know that I have been prepared for this time. Ed & I have had to live by faith since we have been married. We are not rich but GOD has always provided more than we can imagine! Yesterday I was reminded of a word God gave me the last time I was at Mardi Gras. Another Pastor told me that God was going to give Ed a car. It didn't happen right away so
I forgot about it. Two and a half years later, Ed's car died. It was right before Lance's weddding so we just waited to do anything about it. We came back from Lance's wedding and Ed was given a wonderful car! For years now God has been having me meditate on all the scriptures that say Don't worry, God is going to take care of me. God's grace is new every morning. He will take care of us.
There is nothing more fun to me than joining together with other believers and seeing God use us.
Now I want to pose the quesiton to you "What is God saying to you?"

Few Words

My son-in-law Chris told me that he doesn't read blogs with too many words so this is for him. Chris, Denae and Will have stayed with us for the last 2 weeks while their new house was painted and I enjoyed it so much. Our lives are so busy that we don't get to see them as much as we would like to just hang out. I feel so blessed to have the best kids (including their mates), I love who they all are as individuals! Chris, Denae and Will left yesterday and I've got to tell you that Ed and I were sad last night. Our house was really quiet. This morning we missed our good morning Hi! from Will. Now I would like to extend the invitation to Jeff & Lacey and Lance & Olivia to come hang out a couple of weeks with us. It would be great fun and bonding!

The Replacement

I have been too busy to blog but this one is worth the time! Ed has been out of town this week. I had to do some things at church tonight and I took Will with me. As you can see, Ed has not been missed! This last one really made me laugh because he knew his microphone was not on and he was trying everything he knew to get it on. I think he is going to be a worship leader because he loves worship. When he comes to our house the first thing he does is turn it on if it's not allready on. Ed has turned on the sound system at church and played it for him and danced around the room with him. He was pretty frustrated with me because I could not get it on! He kept going to the sound board and pointing. I lifted him up with me while I was trying to get it on and he wanted to move some buttons himself. I'm pretty sure that if I would have let him, he could have gotten it going.
Here are some pics of my new office. I'm not quite moved in yet but soon!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

We have had a wonderfully amazing few weeks! God has been so good to us! Most of you know that we pioneered a church 2 years ago. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. There is nothing quite like having to set up and tear down your church every Sunday. We also have been officing out of our house and that has gotten old. There are 2 of us trying to share one office. (To be honest, I took over the office a long time ago and Ed goes to Hastings with his laptop to work and study). Our church has grown to the point that something had to be done. Our leadership agreed that we could rent an office. Ed was out with a realtor looking at space and asked the realtor to check into us leasing the Bergman Building. Here it is:

Now go back 6 months...every time we drove by that building for the last 6 months Ed would say "I think our church should be in there". I would respond every time "Honey, we can't afford that building". Well Ed got a hair brained idea to go forward even with the discouragement I had given him. To make a long story short, we will be having our first service there on February 1st. Everything has come together so fast that I still can't believe it! It is a wonderful building at one of the most visible locations in our city. The owner, Gerald has been so kind to us and shown us so much favor! There have been so many miracles that it would take 2 pages to write them all down. Let's just say that God has been faithful to us and we are living our dream! I am getting to decorate my office and that has been a blast. As soon as I get it done I will post some pics! My thought to leave you with... DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS! Joseph was tested by the promise God had given him by all of the junk he went through to get there. THE PROMISE IS WORTH THE TEST!
Ps 105:17-19
17 He sent a man before them —
Joseph — who was sold as a slave.
18 They hurt his feet with fetters,
He was laid in irons.
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the LORD tested him.
NKJV

Christmas Reflections

I had the best Christmas this year! We did a few things differently and they made Christmas a lot more special to me. First, my dad who has everything he could ever want told the whole family not to buy him anything this year. We decided to go together and give money to a youth ministry that he supports in his city. It was really neat because it came up to a pretty good sum of money with all of us pitching in! Secondly we usually do a gift card exchange with my sister, Carrie's family and all of our neices and nephews. This year we gave of ourselves instead. We gave a service or something that we made and played our gift exchange game with those. It was great! I got a beautiful scarf that Drionne made and Ed got an unbelievable car wash from my niece Staci. I am going to get to give myself to cleaning Jeff and Lacey's house. (she hasn't cashed in yet) It was really fun to see the creativity that everyone had. My new daughter-in-law, Olivia leaned to crochet from the internet and made 2 really pretty scarves. On the card she said one was for them and one was to give away. Way to go Olivia! She took it up to another level! After we did that gift exchange we headed to UMC to give away gifts to children and to nurses.
What a bummer to be in the hospital on Christmas. The hospital visit was fun. I think the people enjoyed us coming but the best part to me was experiencing it with all my family. I am so proud of my kids!!! Our kids have always gotten on board with crazy ministry ideas that we have and now they are leading us. As you will see in the pictures, Will was leading the way in his Christmas pj's. (A side note, I cut back on my giving to Ed this year and told him to do the same. When I opened my gift from him, it was travel bags. One of them had a hotel reservation to Dallas in it. I was so excited! What a great idea, a gift we will enjoy together. My man is the best! He spoils me rotten!)
For those of you keeping up, the poop walk continues!

Denae had opened a present from Will and told him to come give her a hug!

Cousins. I love these people!

Jeff and Will

Hospital Group

Will leading the way

Me, Olivia and Lance getting ready.

One of the patients gave Will a balloon

Chris noticed this tile that some children had made. It really touched us all. I believe God wants to use us to help the world! Happy New year!!!

A Christmas Story you will love!

I love Christmas stories! I have books and books of them. Well I have one that I want to share with you that happened with Parker. Parker is not even 2 yet and he is the son of Gordan and Ruth who were teenagers in our youth church and now are fantastic leaders in our church. Well here it is...
Ruth took Parker to a store this week and it was really windy and cold. She was hurrying in to get him in a basket and Parker started pulling on her hand. She turned to see a 3 year old boy and his old grandmother sitting on the bench. The boy had on a very thin hat and was quite cold. Parker had removed his hat and put his new hot wheels car in it and was handing it to the little boy. The little boy asked if he could give Parker a hug and of course Ruth said "yes". Then the grandma told Ruth that she had been sitting there praying that some how her little grandson would get a Christmas present. She then asked Ruth if she could give her a hug. It really brings tears to my eyes as I write this because memories are coming back to me of Gordan and Ruth going to Hollywood with us to minister on the streets and also going on late night outreach right here in Lubbock on Friday nights. Now as adults they are ministering to youth and kids. Can you imagine what kind of man of God Parker is going to be? This is really what Christmas is about! God is with us and He is with the world through us. I am so proud of you Gordan, Ruth and Parker!
Here they are.