Louder Than the Voices

 Happy Saturday everyone! I was up way past my bedtime last night so it feels very early but lots to do today so I will get through my morning routine and hopefully get to bed early tonight and get a nap tomorrow. I am technically on vacation but there is work at the office that needs done and can't wait, so I will be there some today as well as in and out next week. I was pulled to stray away from James this week and maybe for the next few weeks as we prepare for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I am one that gets very set in my routines and so when God tells me to do something else, I question it sometimes but He put this verse in my mind first thing this morning and said, "This". so "This" is what we are doing. I love Thanksgiving, it is my favorite holiday, I feel it is the one that because of all the commercialization of Christmas, has at least been left alone to remain what it is; a day to be thankful. That all being said, I have a love/ hate relationship ...

 Good morning everyone, Happy Saturday. I hope everyone has had a good week. This has been another very hard week as we buried my friend and boss, Cathy Feltner. There have been some definite ups though as Robert got his first paycheck at his new job and I got to spend the day with my momma yesterday celebrating her 86th birthday and then today, my sister is coming and we are celebrating today too (which is actually Mom's birthday). We are digging into the last chapter of James today and again, I am amazed at how practical James is for our lives today even though the book was written very close to 2000 years ago (most scholars estimate it was written between 45-62 AD). So let's dig in! James 5: 1-6 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.   2  Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.   3  Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will ea...

 Good Morning everyone. I hope your Saturday is starting off well. I am running on lack of sleep and lots of tears. My first thought was to just skip this day altogether but that is not an option and truth be told, digging into my Bible is the best thing for me so we are going to look at the last verse in James chapter 4 this morning. 16 words, but big ones. I lost one of my best friends yesterday, it has been a long hard struggle for her with scleroderma and the disease had ran its course in her body and I knew she was getting tired. I also knew she knew Heaven was waiting and I know she knew it was her time to go. She was not only one of my best friends but for the past 10 years, she had been my boss. She was the one who could talk sense into me, talk me off a ledge and cheer me on when I was feeling full of self-doubt. She was the one that I would walk in her office and ask her a question because I wanted to see the look on her face instead of hear her words, because she was one...

 Happy Saturday! Happy first day of November! I have so many feelings this morning. It has been a good week though. My guys made it back from Texas and they had a great time visiting my father-in-law, but I am glad they are back close and my housemate has returned, lol. I had some challenges at work this week but got them all accomplished even though I am probably going to be at the office a while today; it's that time of year so that is nothing different than the past at least 10 years. I would rather work a bit on Saturday than start Monday behind. Robert starts his new job at 7 am our time Monday morning, he is taking his tools over today, which means my Irene the car gets to sleep in her garage tonight, lol. Life is good. God is great. Today we are going to delve into James 13-16. I know verse 17 is the last verse in the chapter but it is either going to have a study all it's own or go with the first couple of verses of Chapter 5, I haven't decided that yet but I think ...

 Oh my, it seems like every Saturday lately, I just look back on the week and say, oh my. We keep having roller coaster weeks and I just hope and pray this is not the new norm. This week tragedy struck our own community with the death of almost an entire family that a lot of people knew and loved, and then there is the fact that a 10-year-old boy was on a family vacation and in now the only member of the family left. These were God-fearing, live-out-loud Christians and all of us are very much left asking why. We know that God knows and it is not our jobs to know, but sometimes things are just very hard to accept. The high spot of the week is that we have been praying for Robert to get a specific job and he got it. As I said, so many ups and downs.  This week we are venturing into James 4:11-12. 11  Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister [ d ]  or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. ...

 Happy Early Saturday morning! I was gonna sleep in but my body said it was awake and I have a busy day so I thought I might as well get to it. My guys are leaving today with the RV and the dog and heading on a  road trip to Texas to see my Father-in-law. I am very excited for them but always a little nervous about my baby boy pulling that big trailer and all the crazy drivers on the road. Robert is a great driver but I have watched people be stupid on the road so many times, it's the other guy I worry about. I have been praying for God's protection and I am sure they will have a good trip and a great time. Today we are looking at James 4: 4-10. Let's jump on in. James 4:4 Highlight = friendship with the world means enmity against God. Explain = I think this verse is easy to explain. In a nutshell, can people tell you are a Christian? Do you show the fruits of the Spirit? I have never been a believer in isolating ourselves from the world, I always felt that was the easy wa...

 Happy Saturday everyone! Things have been super busy at work with the start of our LIHEAP season and I also run another program that is busy at this moment so it has been some long days this week. I have slipped on letting my Faithful and Fit site be all I want it to be but I am hoping it is still offering at least some daily encouragement. This week we are moving into the fourth chapter of James and we are focusing on the first 3 verses. So, lets get started. James 4:1-3 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?   2  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.   3  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Highlight = What causes fights and quarrels among you? Explain = I am going to ask ...

 Oh, it is Saturday. I am so thankful it is Saturday. I am thankful for another week God gave us. He put some doozies in our lives this week, but I really do feel like it was his plan. If you read my post earlier this week, our son, Robert, lost his job. I want to be mad about that, but I just am not. I am scared for him because it is scary not having a job but let me tell you the background here. 2 years ago right about now, Robert was having a hard time with alcohol and he feels so guilty about it, but he knows there were times he was drinking so much that he was drunk at work. He got really good at hiding it as long as he kept drinking. Anyway, 2 years ago this month, he tried to quit cold turkey and ironically, the symptoms of that made everyone think he was drunk. His boss sent him home, and yes, he should have fired him that day and didn't. two days later, he started having seizures. We spent some very long days in the hospital that weekend. For a time, in the ER, they told m...

 (Had a little detour while writing this morning's Bible Study, but I am back and this week's message is important, so here it goes).Good afternoon! I have not been so happy to see a Saturday in a long time. This week has been a bear, the emotions have been absolutely all over the place but as I look back, I have gotten a tremendous amount of work accomplished. I feel my staff is all trained for LIHEAP, which starts Wednesday, and I have to be out of town for a NEUAC board meeting, so I am glad they all feel confident. We got to meet with a State Senator and a US Representative this week. I love the relationships we are forming there and hope to keep things going there. And then we apparently have an unhappy person at our office who is trying to make sure everyone knows they are unhappy and creating chaos. I always find it ironic who God puts my Bible Studies to practical use.  This week we are talking about wisdom- good and bad. We are finishing up Chapter 3 of the book of Ja...