Thanks to everyone....

I want to take this time to say thanks to all of you who have prayed, supported financially, and many other ways since Kelly has been in Serbia.

It has really been awesome to experience the care, love all of you have shown us since May 30th, and WOW the financial support you shared with Kelly to help her go on this trip was just overwhelming!

I really want to share some special thanks to:

Matt (aka "Thing 1") - you have been a tremendous backbone for me, the way you have continued to keep in touch have just meant more to me than I can even describe. God has grown me through watching how He has grown you during this time.

Regina/Jonathan/Philip/Sara - WOW is the best word to describe what your family has done for me. The prayers that you have lifted up daily have truly been felt and the support you've given me when I've seen you at church or the comments on blogs, e-mails, etc have just been things that have helped me stay strong these past few months,

Ellen Rice - your sweet spirit and support have been needed so much, you always call me at just the right time!

Mary Ann Dunlap - thanks my prayer warrior!

Pam/Mama - Thanks for the uplifting e-mails and comments.

Mike Davis - Even though we didn't get together to pray I know you've been praying and that really means a lot.

Calvary Baptist - thanks for your continued prayers, cards, donations, questions about how she's doing, thanks for your love

The Rock - thanks for loving my daughter and taking her in as one of your own and keeping her lifted up in God's hands.

Kelly's roommates at FMU - I appreciate the times I've received facebook messages checking up on me while she's been gone.

Ashley Brown - thanks for your text messages.

Jim and Becky Brown - thanks for your prayers and the way you've communicated with her while she's been there through her blog.

Andy/Beth/Erin/Richie - thanks for your prayers and for keeping up with Kelly's activities through reading her blog.

To My Sunday School Class - All of you have been extra supportive and have shown me so much love these past few months

I hope I haven't missed anyone but I'm sure I did. I didn't do so on purpose.

Thanks to all of you for EVERYTHING. God has really enriched my life through my daughter's service to Him! And each one of you were a part of that EVERYTHING!

I love you all.
In His Service,
Beverly

Did I Do that?

Instead of asking yourself did I do that, how about ask yourself whether you have "this" day done one thing because "He" said to Do It, or did you abstain from doing something because "He" said Do Not Do That.

It is crazy to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything "He" tells you to!

So think about your day, did you or didn't you?

Hands....

Awesome story I read in a devotional book today about our hands:

Hands are interesting things!

Each human hand has 27 unprounouceable bones, a palm, a thumb and four fingers. The proper bone count in each digit is 14, jointed so as to allow flexing backward, forward and sideways. Tendons and muscles are interlaced and bound together by fibers that give the owner a unity of action. A hand can do heavy work by holding levers and a hand can do delicate work by grasping a writing pen or embroidery needle.

Yet the human hand is no organ of "normal locomotion", rather it is essentially an organ of touch.
Other parts of our bodies can assist a speaker, but hands seem to have a language all of their own.

With our hands we question, we promise, we please, we dismiss, we threaten.
With our hands we express fear, joy, sorrow and surprise.
With our hands we say "I doubt", "I believe", and "forgive me".

Hands reach out in friendship!
Hands clasp in prayer!
And it's a wonderful thing when they can do both!

Look at your hands right now, what have they been doing? Have they been reaching out to someone in need, have they been clasped in prayer to God? If not, you can change how you are using them. Do it now, and help change someone else's life and maybe even your own!

I have a burdern......

My heart is very burdened. When I need to turn to the Lord the most with this burden is when I seem to run away as fast as I can. I've prayed for so many years and it just seems that God doesn't hear me. But I know without any doubt He has heard me, and I know that He will answer when He is ready, but I also know that waiting is SO HARD!

All you ladies out there who have a spouse that shares your love of the Lord and worships and prays with you I pray that everyday you are thanking the Lord for that blessing in your life.

You younger girls who have boyfriends, fiancees, that are on fire for God and wants to do everything in their power to honor Him, praise God for that guy and give him that support!

Sometimes I feel like just giving up, because I feel so alone, but then I get a boost of encouragement from reading my daughters' blogs (click here), my friends blogs (click here) & (here) and it gives me a renewed strength to keep my chin up. I just pray that one day before I go home to the Lord that I will get to worship with my husband, have prayer with my husband, share my love of my Jesus with my husband.

I love all of you who have prayed for me over the years and even now and I pray God's blessing on your marriages, relationships as God continues to grow each one of yours.

Resuscitation......

God needs our hands, our hearts, our minds and our practical skills for Himself. All of us are trainees for His kingdom.

We are all God's instruments to "massage a heart" or "dislodge obstructions", but sometimes it's in the spiritual sense not the physical.

Are we over-looking some important things:
----a heart to heart talk
----a hand in hand walk
If we distribute these small things in time of need God will take over with a spiritual heart.
Kindly deeds are life-giving.

Can you lead someone just a little closer to LIFE!

I know of someone who needs this life right now, am I going to reach out to them? You KNOW IT!
What about you do you know someone who is in need of a new life, are you going to resuscitate them and give them new life?

Prayer request....

My husband just found out today that one of his friends "Steve" has just been told he has brain cancer with no idea how long he has left to live.

Please pray for Steve, his wife and family as God shows them all His power, His answers, His peace and comfort.

Do we shy away?

As I was thinking about that long list of things I shared yesterday that we did while on vacation, I started thinking about all the people I passed each day and whether or not they know Jesus as their Savior, and I thought about OK so why didn't you try to find out.

I have no excuse for not doing so. My God is never ashamed of me, so why was I.
Just because I was on vacation and wanting to get away from my normal routine was no excuse, no reason, for not sharing Jesus with others.

I had a platter of people provided right before my eyes and yet I refrained.

Some of the pitiful excuses I could use is; not wanting to be rejected, not wanting to be yelled at, worried my husband would be upset with me and embarassed.

I need to be as bold somewhere like "Disney" as I am in my own hometown. The rest of the world needs Jesus too, not just Rock Hill, and even though I may have presented Jesus in my life in public by things like praying for my food when I eat, or people seeing me reading my Bible, it's not enough. I need to be asking people if they know him, and if not, do they want to.

We all I'm sure at times in our life tend to shy away from sharing Jesus "all" the time, "every" day, "every" moment, but we don't need to. If we expect to reach the world for Jesus we need to be sharing with everyone, all the time no matter where we are! I missed many opportunites that were placed in front of me just to have some much needed time away with my family. Think about how much more fun it could've been if by sharing Jesus there could've been a saved soul in the process.

Lord I thank you for the opportunities you placed my way and forgive me for not taking what you gave and trying to reach a soul.

You never know what day a person's last day may be, so we need to make every moment count and share Him so that others may Know Him!

Maybe you were wondering....

Maybe the ones of you who are regular readers to my blog have wondered where I have been, and why you haven't seen any posts this past week. Well it's because I've been on vacation....to Disney....and I've had no computer access either....

We had a very busy time. Here's the very brief rundown.

Tuesday
--We arrived at 1:30
--checked in at resort
--headed over to Epcot
--Rode "Soarin, Mission Space, Nemo
--hopped over to Animal Kingom for dinner at Rainforest Cafe
--hopped over to Disney and rode, It's a Small world, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
--back to room

Wednesday
--headed to Animal Kingdom
--rode Everest Expedition (Marty wasn't feeling good afterwards)
--Saw It's a Bug life 3-D show
--Marty and I watched the Nemo Musicalm while Kevin went to ride Kahli River Rapids
--headed to Hollywood Studios
--rode Great Movie Ride
--Kevin rode Star Wars
--back to resort to eat dinner
--Marty went back to room and Kevin and I headed off to Disney for some
--Space Mountain
--Snow White Adventrue
--Peter Pan's Flight
--Haunted Mansion
--Splash Mountain
--Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
--Pirates of the Caribbean
--Fireworks Show
--Spectromagic Electric Light Parade
--back to room

Thursday
--headed to Hollywood Studios for some
--Backlot Tour (that includes Catastrophe Canyon)
--Kevin rode Tower of Terror
--Stunt Car Show
--Great Movie Ride
--Disney the Man
--Picture of Kevin and me on Ant from (Honey I shrunk the Kids)
--Dinner at Sci-Fi Dinner Theater
--hopped over to Epcot to try and ride Test Track, but wait was too long
--rode Spaceship Earth
--hopped over to Disney to try and find Kelly a blanket
--Marty and I hopped back to Hollywood Studios to see the Fantasmic Show and Kevin stayed at Disney
--back to room

Friday
--headed to Universal Studios for some
--Jurassic Park ride
--Teradactyl flyer ride
--Kevin rode Dueling Dragons roller coaster
--ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe
--rode E.T. Adventures
--watched Terminator 3-D show
--rode the Jaws ride
--Kevin rode "The Mummy"
--went to the Fear Factor Live Show
--toured a show about an ancient ruins
--Kevin wanted to ride Increbile Hulk Roller Coaster (but wait was too long)
--dinner at resort
--Marty and I back to room
--Kevin went to Disney and did stuff again

Saturday (we parked hopped to do some things we didn't get to do on other days or wanted to do again)
--Animal Kingdom (Kevin Everest Expedition)
--Kevin rode Dinosaur
--toured through the Maharajeh Jungle
--hopped to Epcot
--Kevin and Marty rode Test Track
--rode the Universe of Energy
--hopped over to Hollywood Studios hoping Kevin could ride Rockin' Roller Coaster but it was broke down, so we
--saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show
--tried to ride the Toy Story Mania 4-D (but wait was 95 minutes)
--hopped over to our resort for Kevin to play drums with the band, ate dinner there then,
--hopped over to Disney
--Tried to see the Monsters Inc. show but about half way into the computers malfunctioned and we had to leave
--rode Carousel of Progress
--rode Stitch's Great Escape
--Watched Disney's Philarmagic 3-D show
--Rode Haunted Mansion
--Kevin rode Splash Mountain
--Kevin rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
--all rode Pirates of the Caribbean again
--watched the Fireworks show.
--me and Marty headed back to resort
--Kevin stayed and watched Spectromagic Electric light parade again.

OK then we got up Sunday morning for breakfast and left to come home.

Whew ! what a week! were you tired just from reading. what if that was your feet!

Oh and this list was just a portion of the things we did, there were more things thrown in there too, like some reading, studying, some TV, sleeping you get the picture.

Let me quote Dorothy "There's no place like Home"

Getting Ready for the Rain...

What an awesome service we had at church today. Our pastor was on fire with his two sermons he gave us today.

This question he asked us "Are we ready for the Rain". Here are some thought provoking points he gave us during these sermons:
--God will send the rains in our life when He is ready.
--Have we prepared ourselves for the rains He will send?
--The drought of spirituality has hit our churches, the churches are dry and parched!

In order for us to experience showers of blessings and the rain that Jesus will pour on our lives we must:
1. Recognize our sin
2. Repent of our sin
3. Return to God

When the rain comes in our yards what happens? Weeds begin to grow. Well the same things happen in our lives when we let sin in.

We need to get the weeds out of our life, expose the weed (sin) so it doesn't come back into our life. Pull it up from the root so it can't come back!

If we fail to tend our garden (our heart) we will have weeds. But we can do some weed control. It's called prayer, reading the Word, asking God's guidance to help us control those weeds that keep cropping up.

When we tend our gardens (our hearts) it will produce fruit instead of weeds.

What about it? what's in your crops? Weeds or fruit?

Are you locked out or locked in.....

Do you feel sometimes that your prayers can't seem to get going in the morning? You sit and think how do I pray today?

The most beautiful prayer in the world came as a pattern for us when Jesus answered the disciples prayer "Lord teach us to pray" click here Luke 11:1-4

Dead prayers come when we try to "pray" instead of "talk" to God. When we become formal it's like we are strangers. Why does our prayer life sometimes seem dead?

We need to ask ourself if we are really asking or are we just going through idle motions, concentrating on our problems instead of listening for His solution.
---which door are we knocking on? His door or our own?

****are there days when you feel "locked out" or "locked in" and you can't find the key?
Then try being honest with God - tell Him where you are at - unlock yourself for Him and watch him unlock you.

Countdown to Kelly....

OK all I have a countdown clock on my blog counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds until my precious baby comes home from Serbia!

I can't wait to see her. I got to talk with her this morning and it was great!

Keep praying for her in these last 20 days for God to show up and show off! If you have been reading her blogs you can see how she has been able to share Jesus, so the balls are rolling, let's wait and see where they land!

Are you a Gaius? or a Diotrophes? or a Demetrius?

Hmmm. you may be asking what in the world do you mean by the title of this blog.

Well I am asking which one of these people do you represent or identify with in your daily life. These men are written about in the book of III John.

Gaius was a commendable Christian. He lived in the Truth, he had genuine hospitality for traveling pastors, he was generous, a great friend, he followed Christ, loved others.

Diotrophes was a cantankerous Christian. He tried to run the church, he was filled with pride, he was a gossip, he did not reflect God's values, he is the kind of person that gets into the church and slithers around to cause problems.

Demetrius was a consistent Christian. He lived the truth, loved the truth, he had high regard for the truth. There have been some scholars who have said of Demetrius that you can take the Bible and place it beside him and his life like the Bible shows consistency.

Well think about your life you live every day. Are you a Gaius? (generously giving to others) Diotrophes? (looking out for yourself and others) or a Demetrius? (loving the truth, being consistent)

Think about this situation: you hear a knock at your door and it's unexpected company and you are immediately thinking oh my goodness, my house is dirty, there is laundry everywhere, dirty dishes in the kitchen, let's hide and maybe they will think we aren't home.

How we treat others reflects our true values and what is really important to us.
Do we see people as objects or inconveniences or as a unique creation of a loving God? and which is more important to God, a person or our dirty house?

The most effective way to demonstrate God's values and Christ's love to others is to invite them into your house no matter how it looks, open up your home and your hearts and touch others with your love!

You never know who that person may be (hey they may not know God as their Savior) so if you don't help them today, they may not have a tomorrow)!

So which of these are you? or which do you wanna be?

What is the most important decision in your life..

I've just been watching a sermon on the internet from a church in Conway SC "The Rock" and I tell you what that pastor told it like it is.

click here to listen to this sermon: http://rockc3.com/content.cfm?id=213&category_id=3
Q&A - 6/22/08 Plank_Eye_Piggy_Pearls_And_Problems_With_Judging.wmv (84.32 MB) Stream

Here are some great points Kevin shared that we need to stop doing:

***get rid of the crud in your life that's dragging you down.
***stop throwing rocks at other people when you've got a plank in your own eye

Pull that plank out of your eye and He will help you live without it.

Oh we make many other decisions throughout our day
**what we want to eat
**what we want to wear to look our best
**how much money we will spend on something new

What about the single most important decision of your life not just your day!
Have you made it yet? Have you accepted Christ yet? What are you waiting for?

He is waiting on you to say Yes! why not do it today so you can live with him tomorrow.

Oh Happy Day!

Happy 4th of July everyone.

I hope all of you enjoy your families today. We wish Kelly were here with us as we do our usual 4th things, cookout, fireworks, etc. But she is in Budapest/Serbia. We are thinking of her though and praying for her. Her boyfriend Matthew is coming up to spend the weekend with us and we are very excited to have him.

Everyone enjoy this day God has given you and look for the special things God has planned for you today and give Him praise and honor as you find them.

Love you all.

Church Sign message I saw....

In the past two weeks when I've traveled to and from work everyday, what a way God spoke to my heart.

I saw last week a church sign message that said "How well do you know God's Word"
and this week their message says "How do you respond to God's Word'

Talk about God hitting you square between the eyes. Well let's think about it?
How do we?

God is showing me more and more every day how much I want to know His word. I just have to be the obedient one and go to it because He is right there waiting on me all the time to open His Word. And then I can respond to what He shows me. I'm glad God continues to use little things like this church sign to help keep me obedient.

Are you confused?

Tonite I received a phone call asking if I could come to church to help counsel with the kids at VBS. They were going to have a time of decision and needed as many counselors as possible on site in case there was a lot of response.


The pastor gave them the information they needed about making a decision to receive Christ, he told them a prayer they could pray if they wanted to accept Jesus, then when he asked them to raise their hand if they said the prayer it was amazing to see the number of kids that raised their hands. Us counselors who were waiting in the wings to be ready were in awe to see the number of kids who raised their hands. We were thinking we don't have enough people, we need help.


All those kids came forward and we took them back to the counseling area and when we got back there one of our deacons asked them again this question: "How many of you accepted Jesus and have been baptized before tonite" about 3/4ths of them raised their hands.


They are so confused about the real decision they are wanting or trying to make. Many of them came forward because their friend did, many came because they just wanted to get up and go somewhere, many came because they thought they would get something to take home, many came because they didn't really know why, many just said he said if I said the prayer and I did so I came but they also told us (I've said that prayer many times).


The biggest reason we see kids so confused about the topic of "being saved" is because they are not taught about Jesus or salvation in their home and many times these kids who come to VBS don't attend church but a few times a year so it's like fresh and new for them each time they come.


You know what, kids are not the only ones confused about salvation adults are too. Many don't understand that you only have to ask him into your heart (one time and only one time).

Many think they are going to heaven just because they are good, many think God will not send anyone to hell. Oh the reasons I have heard over the years would astonish you.


But how about you, the one reading this right now. Are you confused or do you KNOW the Lord as your Savior, do you know if you died right now where you would spend eternity?

If you think you have made that decision in the past but your life has not changed, there is not fruit growing, then maybe you need to have another talk with God.


Or maybe you've never made a decision at all. How about today, right now, don't die without Christ, He is knocking on your heart and wanting to come in. Won't you let Him?

All you have to do is ask him. Here's a prayer you can say to Him:

Dear God, I have sinned against you. I want forgiveness for all my sin. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. Father I give you my life to do with as you wish. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life an into my heart. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen

That's all there is too it. Oh but now that you've made that decision. Tell someone about it, make it public about the decision you have made. Go to church, tell the pastor, tell him you want to be baptized, then find a church and begin serving God and watch your life CHANGE!
Oh, what things God has in store for you.

No need to be confused any longer there are answers out there for you if you just seek God and let Him answer your every need, with the first need being "salvation". If you want to see God's kingdom the first step you need to make is a decision to accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

I hope you will let me know so I can pray for you!

Opportunities don't wait.....

I was talking to my mama today on the phone and she began sharing with me about someone she asked today if they were "saved" or not. He told her "No" he was not. She asked him if he died today/tonite does he know where he would be and he told her "yes" I will be in hell.

And she asked him is that where he wants to go, and he said "no" but then the conversation ended there. I guess he didn't want to hear anymore.

We all need to "seize the opportunity" to ask others about where their life stands with the Lord - because that opportunity may not ever come for them again. Today is the day to reach out and lend a helping hand and in these cases give an opportunity for salvation to someone who is lost.

Don't be shy about asking people, don't run from this question, be bold! Share what God has given you, don't you know there are others who want Him but don't know what to do. It is up to us to help them find Him.

Jesus was not shy when He hung on that cross for us, He willingly gave himself for us.

Let's willingly give Jesus to others and maybe, just maybe, that opportunity will turn into another saved soul.