I have so missed just sitting down and writing from my heart. I'm very excited about the website, and I pray that you will certainly go there, http://www.womenwhopray.net/, for you will be blessed! The Lord has so opened the opportunity to me -- He has given me the platform I asked Him for -- and He's let me stay in my home to do it! I go by fb -- womenwho pray -- to the uttermost parts of the world. I chat, pray, encourage, and received encouragement from my many new sisters and daughters -- and some sons -- around the world. It is an amazing experience, and I can't express in words all that is going on. My son, Ted, is the creator of the website, and he has answered my prayer to God and request to him, for a more user-friendly website, taking him examples that were shared with me by a friend.
This year, 2011, has been a memorable one, and it is only in the 5th month! My mother went to be with the Lord on Feb. 26, 2011. That in itself would have made this year memorable. However other things have happened! I am now Mimi to five granddaughters, as Kailea was born March 28th. Now, I have 5 dumply darling girls. After raising their fathers -- my three sons -- this has been a thrilling experiennce! I have the blessing of seeing them often, and that is a great thing for me.
I have also had my first public speaking engagement for Women Who Pray Ministry. My name was even on the Marqui, which was a breath-taking experience for me. Will I speak anymore publicly? Only God knows! I have been invited to Fiji, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Knowing my husband, my missionary work will continue to be from here in my dining room. He lets me do a lot, and with his blessing, I'm up way before daylight every day, and sometimes up after he goes to bed -- praying on our free conference line. I also spend time while he's here on my laptop, chatting, praying, encouraging...as well as enjoying comments and loving on my family and friends on fb, sharing pictures, etc., with all who would like to see. I laugh a lot -- with comments from family and friends.
Today, I'm thinking about some wonderful blessings that may seem small, but they are humongous! I am having Bible Study -- and it's Beth Moore's Believing God one at that which is wonderful -- and I am sharing the time and fellowship with one of my best friends in all the world from high school! I thank her for the invite, and she thanks me for coming! We are having a wonderful time and planning to be together at an upcoming Women of Faith conference. We meet again tonight and I'm excited like I am every time. So funny! I love just being there -- being ministered to by Beth Moore -- but the Lord has had me minister to the group and they have ministered to me. They want me to stay in their group. Icing on the cake, Lord!
Last night, I had dinner with two old friends. Funny how we say that, we're all the same age, but our friendships have been lengthy! One grew up with me in church -- we were back and forth in each other's house -- in choir, at church camp, BTU, SS, and all the church activities -- as well as visiting with parents who were friends. Her dad as the asst. teacher with my dad the teacher of their SS class. My memories of her are all wonderful. We began dating our husbands at the same age -- 15 -- and we've both been married almost 42 years..my anniv. is May 31st, and hers is in June. Our story of connections just goes on and on with us, like parallel lives. We know the same people and have been friends with the same people but not at the same time! LOL! The other one at the dinner I met at a church camp first, she was the other girl's friend in high school, and then she moved to my high school. She was Tim's nurse in recovery years ago. She goes to the church where I was the guest speaker. We were as if the years had not separated us -- loved on and laughed ourselves silly! What a mighty God we serve!
Yesterday, I had just blogged on my website about OUR TENT, and how our past, present, and future are are simply a door away from each other. We can actually look into our past and bring good memories forward and leave bad memories behind. We can delete them just like our computers -- you know -- trash them -- never to be haunted with anymore. We also can look forward, and allow our faith -- the substance of things hoped for -- create our future! If we don't want some things to happen, we can declare by faith what will happen in its place. We allow the Word to transform our thinking, and we don't dwell on the dark, evil, remose things -- instead we allow the Lord to create in us a clean heart -- and out of the issues of our heart, we speak! So God!!! We truly are created in His image, and we most assuredly were created for His pleasure. Just think how much we enjoy watching our children and grandchildren act like us! We may be surprised at times at how well they act badly just like us -- that they are truly little chips off the old block -- but most of the time even when the behavior is not appropriate, if it's like one of the parents or grandparents, we chuckle even if silently or behind closed doors. God so loves us! He loves us just like we are! As a parent, we understand that!
Someone said to me recently that they thought nostalgia went with getting older. This person said that they were too busy to be nostaligic. I was reminiscing I guess about the memories of my childhood and family, or my parenthood with my three sons, or something -- like I find myself doing all the time. Is it nostalgia? Or romanticism since I'm a writer, and live through what I write about. Or, is it the Lord who has brought me to a place of making so many connections -- between my past, my present, and my future -- and with many in my tent. I'm seeing a beautiful tapestry from His view, that quite frankly I could not see years ago! It might just have something to do with age...the Lord does connect the gray hair with wisdom! You think!!!???? Awsome!!!!!!! :))))))!!!!!!!!!
Prayer Blanket
Women Who Pray
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Women Who Pray has a new website!
Beginning, May 5, 2011...
All new blogs are found at http://www.womenwhopray.net/ . Visit anytime! God bless you!
All new blogs are found at http://www.womenwhopray.net/ . Visit anytime! God bless you!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Decently and In Order
Order in the court! I order you to stop in the name of the law! Let's get this place in order!
What is order? Though we hear this word, and most of us know what the lack of it means in our lives, sometimes it's just hard to nail down the definition. We may find it easier to define disorder.
We can go into our kitchens each and everyday, and there's no doubt we recognize when it is not in order. The counter tops are full of items from the cabinets, the sink is full of dishes, there are crumbs on the floor, and the table may never have been wiped off from the last meal. When I was a teen-ager, and the daughter of a working Mom, if I wanted her to hear a word about anything I had to say, or about going anywhere or buying something new, I knew the kitchen must be in order when she walked in from the carport.
If it was in disorder, or disarray, my mother would show by her countenance, that she was not a happy camper. That same woman, with furrowed brow and words of discontent and disappointment at the disorder, would have entered a spanking clean and shiny kitchen with a song in her heart, and a skip in her step. That's how disorder affected my mother.
I visited other friends' houses over the years, where there did not seem to be the same house rules. All households are not alike. Disorder in some homes is the order in the house. As a young mother, I was not as neat as mu mother, and not as messy as other mothers. My temperament is such that a little messiness doesn't bother me. If all are getting along, and I can walk through the house, I might not notice the clutter.
The Lord has been working on me over the years. I get more done when I have a schedule. If I begin my day with somewhat of a pattern, with things I do every day, and with a todo list, I might not get it all done. I get much more done than had I not had a plan. I've always heard that the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord, but I only recently realized that's the then part of the if/then clause. Proverbs says, Man makes a plan, and the Lord orders his steps. That means, it's on me first. I plan, and then God re-routes things to right them.
Most of my young adult life, I was a night person. Some nights after my children and husband were asleep, I would talk a long time to my sister on the phone. We talked about good things: children, husbands, events, and the Bible. (Today, I would be chatting, it's quieter and still friendly, like texting on the cell phone). We were president and vice-president of Mothers On the March, a pro-life/-pro-family organization during the late 70's and early 80's, lobbying the capitol and calling press conferences. Needless to say, the late nights made me tired, and from the moment I awoke, I was running after my day. I never could catch up!
Then, in 1989, I returned to college, got my degree in education, and in August of 1991, I began teaching Middle School -- 6th-grade to be specific. Where I had had so much time, to read, crochet, pray and study my Bible, talk on the phone, or study for my education classes, I now was placed in a routine of doing the same thing everyday. This was foreign to me, and needless to say I began to really pray about how to do this, and still maintain my place as wife, mom, keeper of my house (which I liked), and have time to do what I enjoyed. Having a teammate at school, and making friends with women doing this balancing act, I began with my crashcourse in time management.
Also, I now had my own money, so to speak. Other than selling homemade candy or cookies at Christmas, or selling tupperware for two years, or working for a chiropractor for awhile, I had been a homemaker for 21 years. The working woman/wife was new for me, and I wasn't very good at it to begin with. My prayer life was waning, my mothering was also, and I was snapping at my husband because I was tired. There was no doubt about it, I needed order in all this confusion of roles.
At first when I prayed, it was like Heaven was made of brass, and my prayers were not being heard. I shared with my mother, and she asked, Have you prayed about it? I knew that it was sort of hit or miss praying as I go, but I wasn't finding time to really pray. Then Mama shared with me that the same had happened to her when she went back to work, and she began rising earlier, in order to have her quiet time.
I battled this to start with just because I was a fowl of a different nature than Mama. I was a night owl, not an early bird, and by all that I had read you are either one or the other, and there's no changing it. Well, a lot those people knew. As the need got heavier, I determined to discipline myself to wake up earlier. If I could study when I was 39-41 years old, making Magma Cum Laude, while receiving my bachelor degree in education, I could indeed rise earlier. It took awhile before I realized what had happened. With the same determination, I began rising at 5:00am. To this day, I arise around the same time. I am an early bird. Catching the worm is not my quest, but spending my time praying the Word is.
After teaching awhile, and watching my administrator lead a meeting, I began learning much about order. I had already learned classroom management, so I did fine in the classroom. It was with the adults, that things could be testy. I found that while some teachers were very quiet and orderly, listening to their leader, others were very disorderly, disrespectful, and just plain unruly. More often than not, it was younger teachers, grading papers, talking and laughing, smacking gum, and even punching each other playfully. I found myself moving closer to the front, in order not to be distracted. I was not considered much fun.
Entering the room with my voice, had been a part of my temperament. Talking to my neighbor while the teacher was talking to the class in Sunday School had been my habit. I began to hear that little voice inside me saying, Did you call this meeting? Have I given you the authority to speak today? Of course, my answer was, No.
I guess I would have to call this my crossing over or my passage to the wise/mature stage. It had been many years since I realized it was not all about me. I now knew that it was about Him and others. I didn't have to compete to be heard. I didn't have to be right all the time.
1 Corinthians 14 says the Lord is not the author of confusion. It also says, Let everything be done decently and in order. Order means regular arrangement or fixed. It also means a condition in which freedom from disorder or disruption is maintained through respect for established authority.
I recognized it in my classroom. I was the authority, given the right to teach in my job description. Students had the right to learn. Therefore, disruption and distraction were not allowed in my classroom. It was my responsibility to maintain order. Students refusing correction or discipline received demerits, silent lunch, etc.
When I recognized this same authority as an adult, both at school, church, or any place where we gathered for a purpose, I moved from one level to the next in understanding. I recognized the leader, who was given the authority for a given time, and I submitted to that leader.
Picture the conductor when he/she steps in front of the orchestra or symphony. All sit up and look only at that leader. To do otherwise, is to be left behind when the music starts, or to be caught off guard -- to blurt out or not be in harmony. Choir directors direct the choir. Only when all are alert and start and end on time, and do not hold notes too long or too short, only when practiced to perfection, does that choir or orchestra receive the standing ovation.
Only good followers become good leaders. The disciples were students following the Christ. The Apostles were the students that became teachers. You must follow the leader in order to lead. Many times people want to lead when it's not their time. They must wait their turn to lead; they must first follow the leader.
Good daughters become good mothers. Good sons become good fathers. Good students become good teachers. You must be an apprentice to ever be the master. Such is the law of order. When we come into a place, unless we are given the authority by the leader, we should not speak or pray louder than the leader. It does indeed cause disruption and distraction. Only the leader knows the purpose of the meeting, and it is the leader's responsibility from beginning to end.
Many children are not being trained to follow the leader. They speak when it is not their turn. They are not listening to the voice of the leader. Young parents of today need to practice not just telling their children to follow their direction, but making their children follow their direction. It is up to the parent to begin this training, and then children will be successful with their teachers, and by following the leader, they will be good leaders.
Let's commit ourselves to follow the leader -- instruction and rules wherever we are -- and to set that example before our children. Let's then require our children to follow that path, training them in the way they should go.
What is order? Though we hear this word, and most of us know what the lack of it means in our lives, sometimes it's just hard to nail down the definition. We may find it easier to define disorder.
We can go into our kitchens each and everyday, and there's no doubt we recognize when it is not in order. The counter tops are full of items from the cabinets, the sink is full of dishes, there are crumbs on the floor, and the table may never have been wiped off from the last meal. When I was a teen-ager, and the daughter of a working Mom, if I wanted her to hear a word about anything I had to say, or about going anywhere or buying something new, I knew the kitchen must be in order when she walked in from the carport.
If it was in disorder, or disarray, my mother would show by her countenance, that she was not a happy camper. That same woman, with furrowed brow and words of discontent and disappointment at the disorder, would have entered a spanking clean and shiny kitchen with a song in her heart, and a skip in her step. That's how disorder affected my mother.
I visited other friends' houses over the years, where there did not seem to be the same house rules. All households are not alike. Disorder in some homes is the order in the house. As a young mother, I was not as neat as mu mother, and not as messy as other mothers. My temperament is such that a little messiness doesn't bother me. If all are getting along, and I can walk through the house, I might not notice the clutter.
The Lord has been working on me over the years. I get more done when I have a schedule. If I begin my day with somewhat of a pattern, with things I do every day, and with a todo list, I might not get it all done. I get much more done than had I not had a plan. I've always heard that the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord, but I only recently realized that's the then part of the if/then clause. Proverbs says, Man makes a plan, and the Lord orders his steps. That means, it's on me first. I plan, and then God re-routes things to right them.
Most of my young adult life, I was a night person. Some nights after my children and husband were asleep, I would talk a long time to my sister on the phone. We talked about good things: children, husbands, events, and the Bible. (Today, I would be chatting, it's quieter and still friendly, like texting on the cell phone). We were president and vice-president of Mothers On the March, a pro-life/-pro-family organization during the late 70's and early 80's, lobbying the capitol and calling press conferences. Needless to say, the late nights made me tired, and from the moment I awoke, I was running after my day. I never could catch up!
Then, in 1989, I returned to college, got my degree in education, and in August of 1991, I began teaching Middle School -- 6th-grade to be specific. Where I had had so much time, to read, crochet, pray and study my Bible, talk on the phone, or study for my education classes, I now was placed in a routine of doing the same thing everyday. This was foreign to me, and needless to say I began to really pray about how to do this, and still maintain my place as wife, mom, keeper of my house (which I liked), and have time to do what I enjoyed. Having a teammate at school, and making friends with women doing this balancing act, I began with my crashcourse in time management.
Also, I now had my own money, so to speak. Other than selling homemade candy or cookies at Christmas, or selling tupperware for two years, or working for a chiropractor for awhile, I had been a homemaker for 21 years. The working woman/wife was new for me, and I wasn't very good at it to begin with. My prayer life was waning, my mothering was also, and I was snapping at my husband because I was tired. There was no doubt about it, I needed order in all this confusion of roles.
At first when I prayed, it was like Heaven was made of brass, and my prayers were not being heard. I shared with my mother, and she asked, Have you prayed about it? I knew that it was sort of hit or miss praying as I go, but I wasn't finding time to really pray. Then Mama shared with me that the same had happened to her when she went back to work, and she began rising earlier, in order to have her quiet time.
I battled this to start with just because I was a fowl of a different nature than Mama. I was a night owl, not an early bird, and by all that I had read you are either one or the other, and there's no changing it. Well, a lot those people knew. As the need got heavier, I determined to discipline myself to wake up earlier. If I could study when I was 39-41 years old, making Magma Cum Laude, while receiving my bachelor degree in education, I could indeed rise earlier. It took awhile before I realized what had happened. With the same determination, I began rising at 5:00am. To this day, I arise around the same time. I am an early bird. Catching the worm is not my quest, but spending my time praying the Word is.
After teaching awhile, and watching my administrator lead a meeting, I began learning much about order. I had already learned classroom management, so I did fine in the classroom. It was with the adults, that things could be testy. I found that while some teachers were very quiet and orderly, listening to their leader, others were very disorderly, disrespectful, and just plain unruly. More often than not, it was younger teachers, grading papers, talking and laughing, smacking gum, and even punching each other playfully. I found myself moving closer to the front, in order not to be distracted. I was not considered much fun.
Entering the room with my voice, had been a part of my temperament. Talking to my neighbor while the teacher was talking to the class in Sunday School had been my habit. I began to hear that little voice inside me saying, Did you call this meeting? Have I given you the authority to speak today? Of course, my answer was, No.
I guess I would have to call this my crossing over or my passage to the wise/mature stage. It had been many years since I realized it was not all about me. I now knew that it was about Him and others. I didn't have to compete to be heard. I didn't have to be right all the time.
1 Corinthians 14 says the Lord is not the author of confusion. It also says, Let everything be done decently and in order. Order means regular arrangement or fixed. It also means a condition in which freedom from disorder or disruption is maintained through respect for established authority.
I recognized it in my classroom. I was the authority, given the right to teach in my job description. Students had the right to learn. Therefore, disruption and distraction were not allowed in my classroom. It was my responsibility to maintain order. Students refusing correction or discipline received demerits, silent lunch, etc.
When I recognized this same authority as an adult, both at school, church, or any place where we gathered for a purpose, I moved from one level to the next in understanding. I recognized the leader, who was given the authority for a given time, and I submitted to that leader.
Picture the conductor when he/she steps in front of the orchestra or symphony. All sit up and look only at that leader. To do otherwise, is to be left behind when the music starts, or to be caught off guard -- to blurt out or not be in harmony. Choir directors direct the choir. Only when all are alert and start and end on time, and do not hold notes too long or too short, only when practiced to perfection, does that choir or orchestra receive the standing ovation.
Only good followers become good leaders. The disciples were students following the Christ. The Apostles were the students that became teachers. You must follow the leader in order to lead. Many times people want to lead when it's not their time. They must wait their turn to lead; they must first follow the leader.
Good daughters become good mothers. Good sons become good fathers. Good students become good teachers. You must be an apprentice to ever be the master. Such is the law of order. When we come into a place, unless we are given the authority by the leader, we should not speak or pray louder than the leader. It does indeed cause disruption and distraction. Only the leader knows the purpose of the meeting, and it is the leader's responsibility from beginning to end.
Many children are not being trained to follow the leader. They speak when it is not their turn. They are not listening to the voice of the leader. Young parents of today need to practice not just telling their children to follow their direction, but making their children follow their direction. It is up to the parent to begin this training, and then children will be successful with their teachers, and by following the leader, they will be good leaders.
Let's commit ourselves to follow the leader -- instruction and rules wherever we are -- and to set that example before our children. Let's then require our children to follow that path, training them in the way they should go.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Hope
Hey, as I speak to you, I want you to pretend that I am sitting here at your kitchen table, sipping coffee, and enjoying our warm friendship. You have invited me over because you have been going through some tough times and are feeling depressed…in fact, desperation has begun to take hold. You are very relieved to know that someone has come to help…your name is Hopeless.
I can remember as a child, hoping and wishing and sometimes being satisfied, but often being disappointed. If I dreamed that something good would happen at an event or get together with friends, I would be so disappointed because my dream and the outcome did not agree. Female…yes! Romantic…for sure! Did I believe in a knight in shining armor? Looking for perfection in me and my man? You can count on it! I had no idea that I was setting myself up for failure! I was full of false expectation.
I remember when all of that began to change. I had a sick child in the hospital, and the doctors were not finding the cause of the problem. I was sitting in the cafeteria of the hospital, moping and with the miseries like everyone around me. Hopeless and helpless! No one understood how I felt. It hurt sooo bad, watching my child hurt. I felt invisible, like no one could see me. There was no one to help me.
Then, I heard about as audible a voice as I’ve ever heard say to me, “What are you doing? Why are you moaning and moping around like the other parents in this room, as if you have no hope? “
I looked around and realized that no one was there that I could see. However, the assurance, the peace of that Hope that is in me, continued to talk to me. He said, “Get up and give these people hope.”
I knew that my Lord was speaking to me. Very much like the voice that says, “Better take an umbrella when it is going to rain” was this voice. When He says, “My sheep hear my voice (he’s speaking of His followers – those that know Him as savior and Lord). As a Christian, a follower of Christ, and as a believer that He is alive today and lives in His followers, I knew that my shepherd was speaking to me.
I did indeed get up. I talked and prayed with two different women that night. One of them was a young woman, who was supposed to have gone home that day. Her baby had all of a sudden developed fluid around his heart. I was able to share with her my hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. That night, she prayed to receive Jesus, now the hope of her salvation. Then, we prayed for her son’s healing.
The next morning, she came early, with her baby boy in her arms, to find me before they left for home. The fluid had miraculously disappeared from around the baby’s heart. How clear it was to the two of us that God had set up that divine appointment. Our God had done so much! He had awakened me from my hopelessness, allowing me to share my hope in Christ with a stranger. He had caused her to have to stay one extra day, in order to get saved and for her baby to be healed.
Now, I’m here to give you hope. If you abide in the Lord, and His word abides in you, you will ask and He will give you your requests. If you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart. Whatever things are lovely, pure, good, and of good repute – think on these things. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Love hopes all things. Rejoice in the Lord always. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy – it is he who comes to steal our joy. Guard your heart! Make a joyful noise to the Lord. Serve Him with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Put on the garment of praise, and the spirit of heaviness is gone.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sisters
I have been marvelously blessed with sisters. My two older sisters, Gloria and Carole, were 10 and 8 1/2+ years when I was born. Beth, my baby sister, is 16 months younger than me. Mother was only 18 years old, when Gloria was born, but she was 28 when I came along. Mother always said that she had 2 families, each with 2 daughters since there was some distance in age. We sisters, however, for the most part have been close.
We all live in the Metro-Atlanta area. We have been here for each other through the good times and the rough times. Ups and downs are all part of this wonderful thing we live -- called life!
I'm the 3rd daughter of a man named Ted. I looked like him and I was named for him. I was even asked as a young girl, exactly how was I related to those pretty Moore girls...all had darker hair than me...I was redheaded, and freckle-faced like my adored Daddy.
Gloria was the one I modeled myself after. She was very dramatic and I loved acting like her. As a married woman with children, she was like our 2nd mother. She would be caring and bossy just like mother. I knew I'd better mind her, lol! We were the best of friends during the days we lobbied the capitol as Mothers On the March, and when we had weekly Bible Study together.
Madelyn and Caroline are Betsy's daughters. 
Sandra and Emily are my prayer warrior buddies. Sandra calls us the 3 musketeers. We have prayed everyday for almost 8 years on the telephone. Sisters in Christ are real sisters!
I have had the most wonderful time talking about sisters. My mother always wished that she had had a sister. She loved her one brother to pieces, and, where Mama had 4 daughters, Uncle Bill had 5 sons.
As I complete this blog, feeling very warm and fuzzy about my three sisters, their daughters, and sisters in-law, girlfriends who are like sisters, as well as sisters in Christ, I end feeling another blog coming on...about what?....cousins....LOL!!!
We all live in the Metro-Atlanta area. We have been here for each other through the good times and the rough times. Ups and downs are all part of this wonderful thing we live -- called life!
I'm the 3rd daughter of a man named Ted. I looked like him and I was named for him. I was even asked as a young girl, exactly how was I related to those pretty Moore girls...all had darker hair than me...I was redheaded, and freckle-faced like my adored Daddy.
As little girls, I was closest to Beth. I was only 2 years ahead of her in school, and we had many of the same friends. She cheered with several friends of mine in higschool. The times we were not close would be when I was in highschool with her still in elementary, or when she was highschool with me in college, or when I married and she was in college. Our children are friends, and with me retired, I hope our grandchildren will have times to play together.
Gloria was the one I modeled myself after. She was very dramatic and I loved acting like her. As a married woman with children, she was like our 2nd mother. She would be caring and bossy just like mother. I knew I'd better mind her, lol! We were the best of friends during the days we lobbied the capitol as Mothers On the March, and when we had weekly Bible Study together.
Carole, though much closer to Gloria's age, was more of a big sister. She could be bossy, but she was home longer with us, and she took Beth and me places. We visited her in N.C., the summer after my 7th grade year, staying about a month. We also visited her when we were older and she lived in Columbus. We also lobbied the capitol and did Bible Study together. She and Tom also camped with Tim, me, and Frank. Great times! :)!!
We spent a lot of time with each other when Beth and I were in our late 20's and early 30's and Gloria and Carole in their late 30's and early 40's. We did birthdays with the couples and Mama and Daddy. We also had birthday parties together for all our children. In the 1970's, Daddy ran our for office, and we campaigned across the district doing bakesales to raise funds.
We also participated in Stop ERA, and began MOM (Mother's on the March), and we helped defeat the ERA in 1982. What a precious memory that was with at least 1,000 of us Moms and our children.
We also participated in Stop ERA, and began MOM (Mother's on the March), and we helped defeat the ERA in 1982. What a precious memory that was with at least 1,000 of us Moms and our children.
This picture is when Mama and Daddy are both still healthy. It seems like a long time ago.
Here we are at Daddy's 60th birthday. Yes, we all have the same hairdo! LOL!
My three sons are each close in age to at least one of the children of my sisters. Gloria was actually pregnant with each one of us. She had 7 children, and we all had 3 each. Timothy is closest in age to Carole's youngest daughter, Betsy. Ted is just 3 months younger than Gloria's 4th son, Andrew, and less than 2 years older than Gloria's twin daughters, Mary and Rebekah, and Beth's daughter, Aly. Frank, my baby boy, is 3 years younger than Beth's middle son, and 2 years older than her youngest.
For several years, Mother lived with me, and the only times I saw my sisters was on special occasions. They came to my house to be with Mother, when I was out of town. I was working full-time as a teacher during that time. The caretaking years were hard for all of us. Since Mama has not been here, we have had the opportunity to renew our relationship as sisters. Also, now that I'm retired, I have been able to see each one more often. How great is that!
We attended our cousin Jim's son's wedding in 2010. When school started August 2010, instead of teaching, I began keeping Lili, my youngest granddaughter, and on Tuesdays for the first three months, we ate breakfast and lunch with Carole and her husband, Tom, and their youngest grandchild, Mia.
Gloria and I spent time in Helen for her birthday in 2009.
Beth and I are in my kitchen in NSB, FLA. We spent time with Melissa and Diane (bff) while guys went to the Turkey Run, on Friday after Thanksgiving 2010.
I'm the only sister who had no daughters, but there are many daughters among my 3 sisters. Gloria has 3, Carole has 2, and Beth has one. Since this is about sisters, I've only placed the sisters on this blog.
Here are Carole's daughters, Kathy and Betsy.
Below are Kathy's daughters, Rachael and Kymalee.
Madelyn and Caroline are Betsy's daughters. 
Here are all 3, Madelyn, Caroline, and Amelia
After her 4 sons, Gloria had twin girls Mary and Rebekah, and then, last but not least, Saralynne. Mary has 3 girls and Rebekah has 3 boys Both are really enjoying this motherhood. Saralynne is their doting auntie.
Audrey, Sloane, and Gabby are Mary's girls.
I didn 't have daughters, but my son, Ted, has 2 daughters, Ivey and Lili . After having all sons,granddaughters have been a blast!
Along with sisters, we have sisters in-law. Melissa has been my sister in-law for soon to be 42 years, but we have been sisters for around 25 years. I'm sure most of you know what I mean.
Melissa is my husband Tim's sister, but she is Beth's husband's brother's wife. So, we have the same sister in-law. People love to tease us about this one.
We also have friends who are close to us like sisters. Diane is my bff! She and I are beach buddies, as she lives in FLA.
Vickie is our friend. She works for my husband and she and her husband are like family.
Sandra and Emily are my prayer warrior buddies. Sandra calls us the 3 musketeers. We have prayed everyday for almost 8 years on the telephone. Sisters in Christ are real sisters!
I have had the most wonderful time talking about sisters. My mother always wished that she had had a sister. She loved her one brother to pieces, and, where Mama had 4 daughters, Uncle Bill had 5 sons.
As I complete this blog, feeling very warm and fuzzy about my three sisters, their daughters, and sisters in-law, girlfriends who are like sisters, as well as sisters in Christ, I end feeling another blog coming on...about what?....cousins....LOL!!!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Ask Means What Lord????
After studying a while one night, only a few weeks after Franklin was born, I found in my Strong’s Concordance that the Greek word for Ask was aiteo (pronounced ahee-the’), which means “a demand of what is due.” In other words, when God’s Word says, “Ask anything in my name, and I will do it,” it means to “demand what is due.” Boy, was that heavy! In my church and in my denomination, that was close to blasphemy or heresy. I mean, “to demand of God” was unheard of!
About 2:30 a.m., my precious baby, who was screaming at the top of his lungs, awakened me. As I leaned over to pick him up, I heard my Lord say,
I said, “Lord, what if I can’t meet their needs right then when they ask me?”
Finally, about midnight, I went to bed, saying,
“O.K., Lord. You’ve got to reveal this to me! I’m very confused. I know that if your Word says to demand what is due, that it means what it says, because I believe that the whole Word is Truth! But, Lord, ‘to demand of you’!”
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Illustrations by Beth Switzer in Teddi's book, The Inner Woman of the Heart |
“Teddi, Franklin is demanding what is due! He is your child, and he is hungry. Does that make you angry?”
I answered, “Of course not, Lord.”
He said, “Neither does it make me angry when you demand what is already yours from me. You are my child just as Franklin is your child, and, it is my responsibility to supply all your needs, just as it is your responsibility to supply all of Franklin’s needs.
I have equipped you to meet your children’s needs, just as I AM equipped to meet all your needs.”
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| Another illustration by Beth Switzer from Teddi's book, The Inner Woman of the Heart |
Wow! What a revelation! The next day He continued
to explain to me that when my older sons, Timothy
(11½) and Ted (8), say, “I’m hungry, what’s for
dinner?” that I was wrong to feel anger or
resentment. They are only demanding what is due.
It is my responsibility as their parent to supply their
needs.
In fact, He said, “Meet all your children’s needs but only give them the desires that will not hurt them. I mean that as you delight in my WORD, I will place my desires in your heart. So, as your children learn the WORD, I will place my desires in their hearts.”
I said, “Lord, what if I can’t meet their needs right then when they ask me?”
The Lord said, “I do not ask you to do anything that I have not first equipped you to do, or provided the means for you to do it. Your children’s needs are your needs, and I shall supply all your needs by my riches in glory just so long as you obey my WORD.”
THE DOER OF THE WORD REAPS THE HARVEST!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
LOVE
Love the Lord your God with all your heart! Love your neighbor as yourself. Let the older women teach the younger women to love their husband and their children…that the Word of God no be blasphemed. Love your enemies. What a strange word is this word LOVE.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote for us 13 books of our Bible, wrote for us the Love Chapter. Beth Moore, a precious woman of God, who ministers through her conferences, books Bible Studies, etc., was here in Atlanta last April. In conclusion, she gave her audience a charge to memorize it. To memorize this chapter, just like I memoized Psalm 91, I must pray it every day. So since that day, we women who pray daily the prayer blanket have prayed 1 Cor. 13.
Paul begins by declaring to us that regardless of all the wonderful things we do, without LOVE, we’re nothing. Then, beginning with verse 4 and continuiing through the beginning of verse 8, Paul gives us the character traits of LOVE:
When we read the love chapter, we wonder, we have to ask the question, Do we love anyone? Are we patient and kind with everyone in our life? Are we patient and kind with anyone 24/7. I mean, it’s easy to love someone who loves us back. It’s easy to love affectionate, appreciative, encouraging people, but haven’t we been told we are to love the unlovely? The Lord said, in Matthew 5, 46, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?” Stranger and stranger is this word LOVE.
Love is a fruit of the Spirit. Or is it a fruit? Years ago, I was shown a Truth in the Word that has blessed my socks off! The one sharing this mystery with me was an evangelist, and he said there should be a colon after love in Galatians 5: 22-23. He said it should read: But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Love, I believe is the fruit of the Spirit, and the other eight are characteristics of Love. 1 Corinthians 13 backs that up. We can take all the things that love is, and we can lay it side by side with the 8 characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.
As we read more in the Word about fruit, the Lord says that we are not to only bear fruit, but He has so planned for us to bear much fruit! He tells us that the way we are to know each other – the body of Christ or the brethren – is by our fruit. A good tree can’t bear bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t buy good fruit. We are even to know the brethren -- other believers -- in one scripture it says, by our fruit, in another, by their love.
Speaking of love, John, the beloved disciple, tells us, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4: 8). We love Him because He first loved us, He who loves God must love his brother also (1 John 19 & 21).
There are so many precious promises regarding God's love. 1 John 5: 3 says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. Verse 4, Whatever is born of God, overcomes the world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
In order to keep God's commandments, we must abide in His Word, hiding it in our hearts that we not sin against Him. Abide means to stay. Therefore, we seek the Secret Place of the Most High, abiding in His Word every day, so that He gives us the desires of our hearts.
Fruit trees bear fruit. Inside, there are many seeds, each representing a tree with fruit. When we internalize all this, meditating – eating the Word – then that Love grows in us, molding and making us in His image. We are now, living epistles. We abide in the vine – the LOVE – Jesus who is God – and He abides in us, and we ask what we will and it will be done for us!
Very important to note is that if we plant a seed, we expect the kind of the tree to reproduce itself. In the Garden, in the beginning with Adam, plants and animals, including man, reproduced after their kind. In other words, if I plant squash, then, apples are not going to come up. In order to reap apples, I must sow apples. In order for me to reap love, I must sow love -- which includes all the characteristics in this chapter.
Now, that I know this, I must share what I know. The Lord declares to the elder women in the Church to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children and describes how.
If I say I love my husband, am I patient and kind 24/11? Am I not jealous or boastful or proud or rude? Do I not demand my own way? (this hurts) Am I never irritable? Do I keep no record of being wronged -- thinking no evil? (this probably is the bog down in all of us -- for if we are not forgiving and forgetting as our Lord does, we are holding up our on answers to prayer). We must never give up! We must never lose Faith! We must always be hopeful and endure through every circumstance!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Time
Make time! Take time! Time out! On time! Behind time! Have time! Mark time! Time time American time! Over time! Out of time!
Today was the fourth day with snow on the ground, and for us who live in Metro Atlanta, it is not the norm during the winter. I've listened to all the voices around me, as we've gone from enjoying the wonder of the beauty of snow and enjoyed playing in it ...to being extremely stir crazy, doing without our mail and garbage pick-up -- things we do indeed take for granted. Unusual for this area, the temperatures have remained very cold and the melting snow and ice today has refrozen and there was more slipping and sliding today than yesterday.
As all this unfolds I am reminded of the first words I heard when the snow first blanketed us. Be still and know that I AM God. God is still on His throne, and all is right with the world. As the voices have changed from voices of wonder to voices of complaint and unrest, I hear the Lord say,
"Just like Israel. After I answer their prayers, they mumble and complain. Did you not say, I need more time with my family. I need time to clean my house. I need time to read a book. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to study my Bible." Have I not heard you and answered your prayer? Have I not given you four days, and many of you have tomorrow -- 5 days. Five is the number of grace! Grace to you, my children. You ask, and I answer..and you still murmur and complain."
If you place your hand into this water, it will not displace the water. Yet, your hand is in the water. Time is like this. You must make time to do anything that you need to or want to do. If you stop doing anything you've been doing everyday, it is hard to fit it back in. You will wonder how you ever had time for that activity. If you want to spend time with God, you must set aside and make your divine appointment with him everyday. What a wonderful thing...time. We pray, "Lord, redeem the time. In Jesus' Name Amen and Amen!"
He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Today was the fourth day with snow on the ground, and for us who live in Metro Atlanta, it is not the norm during the winter. I've listened to all the voices around me, as we've gone from enjoying the wonder of the beauty of snow and enjoyed playing in it ...to being extremely stir crazy, doing without our mail and garbage pick-up -- things we do indeed take for granted. Unusual for this area, the temperatures have remained very cold and the melting snow and ice today has refrozen and there was more slipping and sliding today than yesterday.
As all this unfolds I am reminded of the first words I heard when the snow first blanketed us. Be still and know that I AM God. God is still on His throne, and all is right with the world. As the voices have changed from voices of wonder to voices of complaint and unrest, I hear the Lord say,
"Just like Israel. After I answer their prayers, they mumble and complain. Did you not say, I need more time with my family. I need time to clean my house. I need time to read a book. I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to study my Bible." Have I not heard you and answered your prayer? Have I not given you four days, and many of you have tomorrow -- 5 days. Five is the number of grace! Grace to you, my children. You ask, and I answer..and you still murmur and complain."
If you place your hand into this water, it will not displace the water. Yet, your hand is in the water. Time is like this. You must make time to do anything that you need to or want to do. If you stop doing anything you've been doing everyday, it is hard to fit it back in. You will wonder how you ever had time for that activity. If you want to spend time with God, you must set aside and make your divine appointment with him everyday. What a wonderful thing...time. We pray, "Lord, redeem the time. In Jesus' Name Amen and Amen!"He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
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