Five Benefits God intends for every one of His children...

OK here are the five benefits we are learning in Bible Study this week that God wants for each one of His children.

1. He wants us to know and believe Him.
2. To glorify Him.
3. To find satisfaction in him
4. To experience His peace.
5. To Enjoy His presence.

Without going into this entire week's Bible study (because its around 20 pages long) and you just meditating a few moments on these benefits listed above, would you please share with us some of the ways you personally experience these five benefits.

What a way to grow in the Lord by hearing how God is growing and teaching others!

I am praying for you as God leads you what to share with all of us and I pray for God to use you to teach me even more....through your experiences

Our Two "Peas in a Pod"

Ok for those of you who read this blog and don't know my daughter and son-in-law and didn't get to attend the wedding.

Here is one of the wedding photos from her beautiful wedding/reception.

"Our two peas in a pod"

Matthew & Kelly Brown (May 2nd 2009)

We love ya'll.........Mamma and Diddy

So that you may know Him......

Let me share my new memory verse with you that I'm learning this week:

"You are my witnesses, declares the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed nor will there be one after me". Isaiah 43:10

Let me pick out a portion of this verse that God has laid on my life heavily (that you may know me). Yes Lord, that is exactly where God is taking me each day. I DESIRE to KNOW Him more than I did yesterday and God is paving some great paths to help me do that. (my Tuesday night Bible Study group---oh man what a class!!!!) and one of the most recent is I'm going back to Bible College (soon, haven't actually started yet but the plans are in motion as I seek the right place where God would have me to go.)

.....so I may KNOW Him....yeah
if I don't know Him then I can't share Him, I can't teach about Him, I can't show others how to know Him and love Him and receive Him.

What about you "You wanna KNOW Him.......

Bondage...is it holding you?

We've started a new Bible Study last week and God has taught me so much in just one week. Whew! It's so exciting....

How about this one word bondage? Anybody know what this word means?

Well for anyone who doesn't, it means "slavery" We are a slave to something that we are holding on to, hand cuffed to, chained to that we don't want to give up so we can be in complete surrender and service to our Lord Jesus.

If you sit down and really do some deep thinking about this word and what things in your life you are in bondage to, you might be very surprised at some things that are keeping you a slave. I did some soul searching during this week's Bible Study and especially last night as I was sharing with a friend God spoke to me and said "Aha Beverly there's one thing" and I said no God are you sure and again He said yes.

He showed me one area in my life that I was holding back from giving to Him to control, instead I've just been trying to keep it in my pocket and deal with it in the way I saw and felt best and now He is showing me oh no, give that to me too and watch how I can "release" you.
Here's an example to help bring it to some simple terms: think about when you have air in a water line and you have to turn on a valve to relief the pressure on the pipes so everything can begin to flow properly again. Hey ya'll its the same with God, when we give Him the stuff backed up in our lives, He can relieve our pressures, and release us from the captivity of bondage and we can be free.

I don't know about you but I can use a pressure relief valve daily, and my valve is Almighty God.

I don't wanna be a Christian who is held captive by bondage, instead I wanna be a Christian who is HELD by my God and helping me to be an effective Spirit filled woman who wants to learn all she can about Him, serve Him, know Him, believe Him, Glorify Him, experience Him, enjoy Him, witness for Him, take a stand for Him boldly. I wanna be able to always recognize what's missing so with Him He can help me fix it.

Bondage can be broken....and He can be the one to set us free from it.

How about you today, are you in bondage? is there something you have that is holding you or are you ready to let Christ hold you?

Here's all you have to do to let Him "Hold" you and "release" you from the bondages you may have:
1. acknowledge you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself
2. acknowledge that Christ is the Son of God and only He can save you
3. Believe His Crucifixion was for your personal sins and His death was in your behalf
4. Give Him your life and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.

Four easy, simple steps to be released from bondage and to "Be Held".

Remember those times when you were growing up and being held by your mama who comforted you when you were needing some love, Well you know what God wants to hold you like this every day, every moment! Won't you let Him......

Talk about faith....WOW..should've been with me tonite

Tonite I was called to go meet a friend who needed to have a listening ear.

The faith this lady exhibited was yep that's right AWESOME!

God is really moving in her life through her trials right now. Here she was calling on me to hear her struggles and trials and to help her understand the why's about all of it and WOW was she ever lifting me up to hear what God is doing in her life.

Here's what she said to me that is getting her through her trials. She said the Lord showed her in His Word "I have a future for you", and she is holding tight to that promise and continuing to remind herself often during the day of what God showed her.

You know that each of us have trials that we are facing and hardships we are going through.
Are we going to God's Word to find "the answer" like she did and like she found?

Thank you Lord for allowing me to listen and share with her tonite and thanks for how You spoke to me through what you've taught her these last few days.

Friends helping friends. Ain't that what it's all about. God you teach us so we can help teach others. I love you Lord!

X-Ray of our heart....

Have you ever wondered what your heart looks like?
I don't mean the physical heart, I'm talking about the spiritual heart.

Have you ever wondered if you could go into the hospital and take an X-ray of the inside of your heart, what it would look like.

The place where everything you say or have said or do or have done is stored. What would the X-Ray look like?

Would it be clear nothing there to clog it up, all sin confessed?

or would it be clogged up with pits of black spots covering it up? Is it completely full of black spots of unconfessed sin? is it half full?

What is keeping us from getting a clean clear X-Ray. Jesus is waiting on us to come to Him for forgiveness.

We want a good clean X-Ray at the doctor when there is a problem with our heart don't we?

What about for Jesus? Do we also want a clear one?

No we can't take a physical X-Ray of our heart to see what it looks like spiritually, but we know personally what it looks like and feels like. If it doesn't look like it should what are we doing about it?

"If Only" I had....

Have you ever said those two little words "if only"......
You hear people say "if only I had said that instead"......"if only I had done that instead of this".....
"if only I had not gotten angry".....if only, if only, if only........

I talked a little bit about these little words last night at our Bible Study but you know what in doing more thinking today I had to really search more in my heart about these two words, and here are my thoughts.

Why do I think these two little words can change something?
These two little words keeps me looking backwards at things I no longer have control over instead of looking forward at the future things that I can affect by my decisions and choices.

These two little words keep me caught up, unfocused, unplugged, wastes my thoughts, keeps me at a barricade that hinders my growth.

I have made mistakes, made bad decisions and choices and maybe you have as well, but you know what? These two little words don't have to be the end of everything.

We need to think of these two little words as a computer virus, once it gets into your computer it messes everything up, "if onlys" do the same we can't get past the virus and move on if we continue to let the virus fester up in our thoughts all the time.

So how do we get rid of these two little words in our life and move on? We need to move our thoughts from "what was" to "what is".

We need to totally get rid of these two words from our vocabulary, our mouths, our thoughts and instead use words like "next time I will".

When we stop saying “if only” and start saying “next time I will” then we begin to push back the barricade of regret. We instead begin to move forward, and hold onto what can be in our future. We begin living in a way that is productive and working our lives the way God needs them to be rather than allowing defeat from our past "if onlys".

God will guide our way!
First John 1:9 says that "if you acknowledge your sins and failures (the things you have said and done and now regret), God will wipe them out as though they never even existed, and guide you every step of the way toward a promising future".

If our life is dominated by “if onlys,” let's throw those two little words away and let God teach us how to say “next time I will.”

After all my thoughts when I returned from Bible Study last night on these two little words I'm truly going to "try this" and watch how God can change me by changing these two "little words", and I challenge each of you to try the same and I hope to hear from you as to how God changes you by changing two "little words" in your life.

Another Hill..........No

OK today was 21.5 miles at the MS Walk.
It was a killer day. Erin has two big blisters. I have 4 baby blisters but one is between my toes. Yep you can say it "Ouch" is the correct word.

Probably 3/4's of todays route was all hills. We are praying for "no hills" tomorrow and Sunday.

Our calves were spasming on the last 1/2 mile of today and finally is beginning to settle down.

Maybe rest tonite will help clear that up. I know that I'm gonna lose three toenails as they are already purple and very tender.

Okay but beyond all these bad sounding details of today, We have 19.5 miles to walk tomorrow

Pray, Pray, Pray (did I say pray) We sure would covet those prayers being lifted up. We start walking at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

We love all of you and if there is anyone who is reading this blog we can still accept donations up through June 30 2009. You can visit the National MS Society website and do a search for our chapter Mid Atlantic and then search for my name and you will see instructions on what to do.

Guess What......

OK here is a test for all of you. Can anyone guess what this is?

Complaining / Pouting....what does the Bible say about it.

In our Bible Study this week Day One was about pouting.....

What do you do when things go wrong? What do you do about it? Do you just accept it and move forward or do you complain?

Sometimes it is easier to be a whiner but it's not a beautiful character trait. The Bible gives us some help to understand why we shouldn't complain and pout.

1. Complaining Can be a Sign of Being Ungrateful

From day to day there are times when we find ourself complaining even about the "smallest" of things (like "I asked for extra ice in my tea mam"). When things don't go the way we want we start complaining and whining.

Complaining shows an attitude of ungratefulness and bitterness. Complaining tests God’s patience.

1 Corinthians 10:10 - And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
Job 10:1 - I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

2. Complaining Sometimes leads to Disobedience.
3. Also after complaining then comes the pouting.

The more we complain the more we lose sight of the many good things that God does in our life every day. This will lead us to an attitude where we lose faith in God and we can cause others to lose faith too.

Psalm 106:25 - They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD.

We need to be Keeping a Positive Attitude as much as possible, not let "things" bother us to the point of complaining/pouting.

Things will go wrong in our life. We can spend our time complaining, taking our eyes off of God, or we can find a way to make things better. We can remember all the things God has provided and blessed us with and not only will we be happier, but we will be a positive Christian example to everyone around us

Ephesians 4:29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

I have to admit I have had my share of complaining and pouting in my life, but I'm sick of it.
God has really shown me for about a year now how to rid my life of both. No I'm not completely there yet but I've made tremendous progress and intend on doing everything I can to get rid of it forever. I want to make "positive" influences on others and let them see Jesus in me, so that they will want Jesus in them.

I know that I will not be able to completely rid myself of complaining and pouting because I'm human and Satan somehow finds a way to show his ugly horns in all our lives.

But I can say "I'm giving it my best", Thank you Lord for what You are teaching me and how You are leading me.

In Case you miss him...

Kelly I thought I would post a picture of your sweetie pie in case you miss him and wondering what he's been doing since you got married.


Here he is doing his favorite thing:

What does it take?

So what does it take to move on.......

50 Mile Walk....

Just a reminder to all of you that I will be participating in the 50 Mile Challenge Walk next weekend (our walk starts Friday May 29th) We will walk 20 miles each day Fri/Sat. and 10 miles on Sunday.

This is to raise money to help find a cure for MS (Multiple Schlerosis).

Many of us may have someone in our families who have MS (I do, my sweet sister-in-law).
Many of us may someday have a family member that has MS.

If we find a cure now, then we won't.

Please remember all of us "walkers" who will be out hitting the pavement to try and help this cause.

Pray for our knees and "feet". This is a very tough challenge, but nowhere near as hard as the challenge of having MS and not being able to do everyday things that all of us enjoy.

Looking around the house...for Kelly

I was sitting around the house today thinking WOW it seems so quiet.
I'm so used to Kelly being home during the summer when she gets out of college, but guess what? not this summer!

Because she is now married and is living in her own house with her great husband.

I started looking around for signs that she lived here. 99% of her belongings have left our house and are with her now, and all I have are pictures, memories, closet doors with paint on them, a wall in her room with all kinds of sayings/quotes/etc. written on it, a self-portrait of herself she painted in college this year and gave to me, a few knick knacks here and there.

But, she is not here......I am so exicted for her and the life God has now given her
But I miss her so.........I cry at least once a day......then God gives me joy......

Kelly I love you so much and I will pray for you every day.

God, thanks for allowing "Me" to be her mother.

Satan makes me sick.....

Why does Satan think he can control everything and everyone? I'm sick of him...

He finds all kinds of ways to slither into people's lives from the smallest of things and many times people don't even realize it's him, he is so conniving, so sly, so sneaky.

That's why we have to be on the mark, ready, set, GO! and rebuke him when he comes anywhere close to bringing us down. As Barney Fife would say let's "Nip it in the Bud"

Don't let Satan control you.....give your heart and life to God and give Him control and watch Satan see "another one snatched away".

Thank you Lord for not giving up on this world and continuing to knock on people's hearts, so that we can see Satan defeated once again...

Joy regardless......

Does everybody know what this is? Yep you are right. It's a Smile.



Why don't we see more of them?
Its easy to do just curve the corners of your mouth upward.
There should be joy regardless of what you go through and face everyday.

We all know that we face hard times, tough decisions, difficult tragedys but God has given us something called a "smile" that helps us move past all the sad so we can be glad and joyous and leave all things in His lap to handle and get us through.

I have two friends that whenever they send me an e-mail, text message or comment on my blog or facebook they always end it with :)smiles. Thanks to you two for keeping me pumped up!

A smile brings joy, also makes your face prettier. We may not always feel like giving one or having one but just try it and you will see how much better your day gets as each moment goes by.

"Proverbs 17:22 - A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

The Happy Couple....

For the ones of you who read this blog and either don't know or have never met my daughter (Kelly Leanne) and her husband (Matthew James). Here is a picture of the happy couple. Mr. & Mrs. Brown

They are on the way home from their honeymoon. Pray for their safety and every day of their life together.

Empty Nest....

Ok so I know it's time for me to move on now that my daughter is "married"

So what do I do with the "empty room" hmm....

Well the Big Day Came and went.....and God got the glory yeah!

Big news everyone.

I officially have a son-in-law now Whoo Hoo! Matthew James Brown. Welcome my son to our family.

At Matt and Kelly's wedding yesterday God was glorified, God's name was praised and "Two" yes two souls got saved, after Matt shared God's Word and gave an invitation to receive Christ. How much better could it get! The only thing better "heaven".

Saturday May 2nd was just one of the greatest days of my 48 years of life.

I praise you God for bringing these two together the way You planned it from the very first moment. You have been at the center of their relationship from day one and have led each moment and grew them exactly where You wanted to take them, and I know You will continue taking them down Your paths.

Thank you Lord for giving me Kelly Leanne and now for my new son Matthew Brown.

What is God trying to say through this?

Ok it's becoming one of those weeks where you have SO much to do and it seems like all the "little" things reach up and bite you.

Wedding week and you think all will go well huh? Smooth as silk, all things just slowly move right in place....not!

OK Marty came home tonite and he has a flat tire!
OK Kevin came home tonite and he has a flat tire!

So tell me what ya'll think is the message in this?

What is Heaven and Hell?

Two great basic points shared by my future son-in-law in his sermon today. Not that we don't already know this but there may be someone who is reading this who these two statements just might hit home and help them make a decision to follow Christ.

You ready, OK here goes:

Heaven is where "He" is
Hell is where "He" Ain't

What to write about hmmm.

As I was sitting here tonite trying to decide what to share in bloggy world.
I just thought hmmm.....

So busy in my life right now and so many wheels turning in my head I can't get focused.
So here's what is going on in my head...

• quiet time
• wedding
• wedding music
• wedding programs
• when will tuxes be here
• pick up wedding rental stuff
• vacation next week
• work
• worrying
• smiling
• crying
• empty nest feelings
• new family member
• dress
• wondering
• cut the cord? hmm.. (might be a long one to cut all the way to Conway)
• college degree
• her new home (how excited for them)
• when wedding over searching schooling for myself
• 50 mile walk coming at end of May
• new Bible Study next week (whew! what does God have for me?)
• remodel the empty room in my house (that was just emptied out last weekend)
• trip to Colorado
• trip to Memphis
• trip to Maggie Valley
• trip to Hilton Head
• my son dating

ok, ok my brain is overloaded.....I have to stop now....

I'll come back later when my brain has had time to rest!

What do you think that brides do?

Have any of you ever been around a bride about to be married? Whew is one word I can think of.....

She has a lot to do to get ready for that day (and so does the Mamma)
Here is a list of some things she works on in preparation for that day:

1. dress selection
2. hair style
3. wardrobe for honeymoon
4. reception
5. ceremony specialties
6. wedding invitations
7. bridal showers
8. bridal portraits
9. music selection

and oh so much more......she wants to make herself as beautiful as she can for her groom because she loves him so much and wants to please him with herself and everything concerning the wedding.

The Bible uses the image of the bride and groom to describe the relationship between Christ and the church.

Any of us who are Christians are engaged to Jesus. We awake every day waiting and preparing for our wedding day that will happen when our groom "Jesus" comes to get us and takes us to His home.

Think about the lovely bride when she is given her beautiful engagement ring, she wants to show it off to everyone, she is wanting to make the statement to say "hey I belong to someone". Well as believers of Jesus when we accept Christ as our Saviour and get baptized we too are making a statement of our commitment to Him and also saying "hey I belong to Him".

A bride sweet talks about her groom, she wants to spend "all" her time with only him and one of the best things for her is that he "chose" her and nothing makes her any happier than knowing that.

To know that Jesus "chose" us, man what could make us happier (to know someone wants us) WOW!

OK another thing a bride has is a countdown calendar counting down to that final day. She just can't wait until the day arrives to begin her new life,with her husband to be, the one she has longed for, the one she wishes to become intimate with.

Well for us Christians (the bride of Christ) we are also anticipating that day when we will be united with our groom, but until that moment we just need to stay faithful to him and continue to say (Rev. 22:20 "Even so, come Lord Jesus). Our wedding day will come, just hold on and one day we'll meet Him on that aisle.

For any of you who have never accepted Him that special wedding day will never come for you. You don't wanna miss this special day, it will be nothing like the typical wedding day that all us brides plan for. So what are you waiting for, receive Him now, and your wedding day will come for you too!

Here's her new home....

Well in 13 more days here is where my baby will be spending her days.

Her "new" home..

Another Precious moment for me....

Well when we got the last boxes unpacked, furniture unloaded and placed where it goes, washer and dryer installed, dishes washed and put up, at Matt and Kelly's new home there was one last thing that needed to be done. Check this out...


Yep that's right she let me install the "special" bear light switch plate in her new home. It's been with her since day one of her birth and I'm so excited she's letting it stay with her now. It really made my day to be able to place it in her "new" home where she will spend her life with her husband. My soon to be son-in-law.
Oh how sweet a moment this day was for us. Our little baby has grown up. And in 13 more days she will be married! WOW....this moment seemed like it came way too fast.....

A Precious but sad Moment for me tonite....

What a hard time for me tonite as I was packing and loading up the car to move all Kelly's belongings to her new home in Conway SC. She and her soon to be husband have now found them a place to live and we are beginning to move their stuff in tomorrow.

As I was getting down to the last few boxes and stuff there was one last thing left to take down that she told me she wanted and you can see it in the pictures here. On the back side of the plate I had written her birth date, her name and Love Mamma and Daddy.

This is her special light switch plate that I put up the day she was born and has been in her room since that day March 10, 1988. And now it's the last thing I took down from her room to take to her new home. I know it will still be about 16 days until she is actually living in her new home but she will have one special piece of her "old" home in her "new" home.

Kelly I hope you continue to use it and enjoy it the rest of your life and maybe one day even use it for your children.

I love you Kelly!

Go Cougars....

Giving a shout out to York Comprehensive High School Choral Program as they are down in Orlando Florida this weekend in a choral competition.

You go get em' guys, and come home with that trophy!

Giving Thanks.....

Wanted to give a shout out to you yes "you" the one who opens her house up to us each week for us to study God's word and get to know Him more.

And to your family who endures putting up with us and allowing us to have you for several hours.

It is just awesome the way God has moved in your home and each of our lives since you started these little sessions.

I can't wait to see what He has for our futures.

We love you and thank you!

10 days.....and now on his way home

For the last 10 days my soon to be son-in-law has been in India teaching and sharing Jesus.
He is on his way back home, and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to hear about his trip and all that the Lord did while He was there.

Thanks God for the last 10 days and what you've done in and through me too as I've continually prayed for him. You've changed me by using him.

My God you are an AWESOME God!

30 years ago I took mine.....

30 years ago I was taking my wedding portraits around this time of year and now tomorrow morning I drive down to be with my daughter while she is getting hers taken.

I am so looking forward to spending this time with her and seeing my beautiful girl during her "moment".

Can't believe the time is almost upon us....what 22 days left......whew I might need to go ahead and stock up on some kleenex....tears of joy though! I'm really excited for her and the life God has in store when she becomes Mrs. Matthew Brown....

Love ya my sweetie and ready to spend this great time with you tomorrow!