Becoming Un-entangled. Thank you Beth Moore!

Last night, I had the privilege of hearing Beth Moore speak at Shoreline Church.  I got to go with several women I attend church with, and serve with at The Fellowship at Scofield Farms.  This is some, but not all of us:  

L - R: Brooke, April, Carol, Terron, Donna, & me.

I was also lucky to run into several friends from other churches: Amy, Leece, Lisa, Sheila, it was good to see you there.  I know there were other friends there that I didn't actually get to see, but considering there were approximately 5,000 in attendance, there was no way to see everyone I knew. (Sorry Tisha).  Also my new friend Mary Anne Kent from Northwest Fellowship was one of the ladies offering an opening prayer.   

Admittedly I was still kinda frazzled from coordinating logistics for the evening for the ladies at church for most of the week.  Yes there were lessons learned from that process. Friends had told me during the week to relax.  I jokingly told them (to relieve stress) that I'd relax when the program started.  As it turned out, that's exactly what happened.  

Even though I forgot to take a notebook, there were several take away's that I will remember... partially because I put some of them in the comments after I checked in on my Facebook page:

     "I love the Lord because..." [fill in the blank and make sure you tell others so they can know Him too]

     "It ain't gonna kill you."

     "He never 'entangles' us"  to which my friend Katy replied: "No. He doesn't. He ENJOYS us!"

I also amused (and semi-impressed) myself when Beth referred to Daniel 5.  Because we completed Beth's study on the Book of Daniel last fall, I knew exactly where she was going with it.  I also knew where she was going with the reference to Hebrews 12:1.

The major take away from the evening was a realization that there are some things I've been holding on to that entangles me from time to time, and I needed to, in the words of the over-played and cheesy song from Frozen, "Let It Go".  I think there is a part of me that kind of realized this, but since no one had actually said anything about being "entangled", it was easy to push it aside and ignore it, especially since some of it deals with family history. 

I know there are some things I still need to work on; and that will be the case until I go home to heaven; but last night brought progress and growth.

Thank you Beth for allowing God to work thru you!

Karma, Predestination, & Revelation

I spent this morning judging a science fair at River Oaks Elementary.  There are some smart kids at that school  This morning there were some nervous kids as well.  It was fun and interesting.  I was told that volunteering at the school was good community service and would bring good karma.  Sometimes I think karma is attributed to things that aren't necessarily done for karma.  I decided to look up the definition of karma and what I thought it would be was confirmed.  What surprised me was the list of synonyms.  It includes "predestination".  I think I was surprised because it didn't occur to me that a term from Buddhism and Hinduism could have a synonym from Christianity.  However both are tied to destiny.  It's just that the destiny comes from different sources, each accepted by some and rejected by others.  Needless to say this was a revelation to me.

The other revelation in my week was beginning Beth Moore's study of the book of Revelation with the Women's Bible Study I lead at The Fellowship at Scofield Farms.  While I had expected to learn from this study, I was still surprised at... well, basically how much I didn't know or understand.  I am so thankful that Beth Moore has done a lot of the hard work for this study.  I'm going to have to work hard enough to keep up and continue to learn from this study.  I'm really looking forward to learning more and exploring what it means to me. Thanks be to God, and Thank You Beth Moore! 

New Year, New Blog

So it's a new year, and since I haven't written in a while (years ?!?) I decided a new year was as good a reason as any to restart this blog.  I also realized I needed to start writing again.

Last year (or two) brought some changes for me.  The most important thing is that I started attending a new church, The Fellowship at Scofield Farms.  Not only did I change my membership to the church, after much prayer (and a little disbelief), I agreed to be the Women's Ministry Leader.  It still amazes me that God used me to start at women's ministry. It's been challenging, but very educational and fulfilling.  I admit it had been awhile since I was involved in active ministry, and it was long past due. We're starting off this year in the women's Bible study with Beth Moore's study of the Book of Revelation as well as attending An Evening With Beth Moore at Shoreline Church at the end of this month.  I'm excited to see what God will do through me in this ministry in 2015.  

Until last July, my sister Brenda was stationed at Ft Hood in Killeen, TX, about an hour away from me.  It allowed us to spend more time together than we had in years.  It also allowed her to help me redesign my back yard.  The pictures are on my Facebook page one of many albums. She got promoted (finally!) and is now serving as the Area Leader of the Army Reserves Center in Columbus, Ohio.  Better her than me.  I hate cold weather, which is why I live in Texas.

Another major event in 2014 was being able to reconnect with old friends at my 30th High School Reunion at the end of September.  Pictures from the weekend can also be found in my Facebook albums.  It was really good to catch up with old friends from the Marion High School Class of 1984.  Thanks to the planning committee for a great weekend!

I guess that's enough for now since it it my intent to write more frequently.