Louder Than the Voices

 Happy Saturday before Easter! We have had a wonderful three night revival at our church in preparation for Easter. We have had great messages, 1 from a young man that has become family in the last few years and 2 from people I have known literally my whole life. Growing up, there were three boys that lived next door. Thankfully, I was a huge tomboy and normally, wherever they were, there I was too. We had such a good childhood and we spent as much time at each other's houses as we did at home. One of those "boys" preached last night. It is funny, you know how you see those memes of people all grown up, but what you still see is that kid? That's me but it is in a good way. Our dad's are both gone, mine has been for over 45 years, and Jon's just a few years, but I couldn't help but think about our "cloud of witnesses" last night that was looking down watching me leading singing, and Jon preaching. I could see our dad's saying, "our kids a...

 Good morning all! Hope you are having a good weekend. I am looking forward to this one, it is going to be busy, but should be good. Our local high school musical is on our schedule for tonight, but lots of things in between. Work has been hard this week but I believe I got many things accomplished. This has been one of those weeks though where I have spent time feeling like I don't fit in. I know that sounds funny when someone has been someplace for almost 26 years, but it happens and I have had some mind battles with it. So, I turned to God and asked what am I doing wrong? There were a couple things that He pointed out that I really was having a bad attitude about, so He redirected me. And there were a couple things that He truly told me, to just keep going. I want to share a few verses He led me to. Let's start out with 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. Highlight= God's special possession. Explain=...

 Good morning! Happy Saturday! It is already beautiful outside and I am excited to get to do a Family day today. We are St. Louis bound after while. I had some real heart to hearts with myself this week and realized I had let some backsliding come into my health life, so I decided to do a devotional on just that. Today, we are going to look at Psalm 1:1. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. Highlight = walk, stand and sit. Explain = this is a progression, it isn't about people, it is about patterns. When you walk, you start doing something, when you stand, you linger in it and when you sit, it becomes part of who you are. This is not sudden failure, it is slow drift and it is harder to notice. Apply = This week I realized that snacking had become a serious problem in my life. I was letting a couple snacks fit in my workday and here lately, it seems like I was nibbling stuff every evenin...

Happy Saturday! Today is "projects at our house" day. At the beginning of the year, I set a schedule in place to work at Mom's one Saturday, Robert's one Saturday, our house one Saturday and then have a fun day one Saturday. I am so excited about the work that is getting done! Before I go to bed tonight, the mess that my garage turned into over the winter months is going to be cleaned! Andrew and I added a bit to my stairwell project last night, I have two more pieces for it coming this week, Andrew needs to put the new light switch in, and then it will be the way I want it. I am loving what I have so far. So, this week was one of those weeks that something was heavily debated on facebook and it brought me back to the book of James. I know I have given a devotional like this before but I think outside of the gospel message itself, that you will have eternal life if you accept that Christ died for you and rose again, conquered death and went to Heaven to prepare a plac...

 Good morning! Hope you had a good week. I can honestly say mine hasn't been bad, and I have gotten a lot of work done but I have spent the week feeling very behind. We were in the process of moving my office last weekend and I have a thing about messes and working when there are boxes and stuff just sitting around me. I get distracted. So, I was already behind on my work but when the guys moved my desk on Monday, I had to spend the rest of the day getting my office unpacked and back together. I knew that was important to my productivity. I am getting ready to head to the office today and try to get a better foothold on things there. I almost broke my promise I made to myself to stop working on anything ERBA related on Sundays. I didn't and there were times this week, I regretted it but we made it and that is all that really matters.  I thought it would be fitting to do our Bible Study on Matthew 11:28-30. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you res...

 This week has been one of those life-changing weeks for me. This was my third year of going to DC and advocating for the program, and more importantly our customers, that I love. Every day, I thank the Lord that He lets me do this job. I thank Him even more that He led me to it and showed me what I was made for. When I was looking for a job, I answered a blind ad in our local paper. Actually, Andrew was the one who found the ad first. I wish I could remember it word for word but they were looking for an energetic, kind person for office work. Andrew thought it fit me to a tee. 2 weeks later I was working in the Olney outreach office as the Assistant Outreach Worker. 3 days in, a person came in and needed help but the way our pots were set up at the time, we couldn't help her unless she had already received help earlier in the year. When I asked why, I was told, "those are the rules", well, I realized right then that someone needed to change that and I started wanting to ...