Okay this is the last pondering of the day. At the women's conference last month I learned five truths from God. Thought I'd share those with you so that you can ponder them too.
#1 God loves me..........John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
#2 God has a wonderful plan for my life.....Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Psalms 39:16, Jeremiah 1:5, John 10:10)
#3 God will never abandon me....John 14:16-18 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
#4 God will always hear me when I pray.......Deuteronomy31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
#5 God wants to spend eternity with me....John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" And.....John 14: 1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
Friends we serve an awesome God! I pray these words are encouraging to each of you today. I pray that you get into God's word today and praise Him for all He has done and is doing today. May God be glorified! Be blessed..........and I am really done for today....until next time.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Pammi's table
This is my table for this year. My theme was shabby chic. Nothing matched and I like that. I collected most things from collectible places and yard sales. I put glass beads on my dinnerware cuz every girl needs a little bling. Together with a dear friend we made the napkins....each different and unique. 
Hope for the Heart table # 5
This table was done by one of my small group buddies...Linda Torrible. She did such a good job on this. It was her first year of hosting and she was a little nervous but she knew this was something she just had to do. She is very shy and I am so proud of her for doing this. I know tha she was blessed by it.
Hope for the Heart Table #4
This table was done by Jennifer Rollins and her mom Mary. I love the homemade ants on the table. She is so crafty. Every year she and her mom do a table using all paper or plastic items. It's amazing the tables that are created. Awesome!
Hope for the Heart Table
This table was done by my mentor and friend Cathy Byrd. She used the theme of hearts and hands. One of her favorite scriptures is...Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. Awesome! Lamentations 3:41
Hope for the Heart table #2
This table was done by my friend Kim Smith. The theme was using flamingos. Very tropical and very Florida-ish. Love it!
Hope for the Heart table #3
This table was also done by Kimmie Sue but our dear friend Nancy Stewart played table hostess for her. I love the bright colors in this one. There were up to 70 tables decorated at this conference. Too bad I can't figure out how to upload them all in one file. Oh well enjoy the few I put on here.
Are you seasoned with salt?
I know you are thinking....will this girl just stop for a minute. ":-) But it has been so long and I have been pondering so many thoughts..........so here we go with another thing that God has been showing me and blessing me with. I think I have told you before that I am a mentor mom to a group of gals in the local MOPS group....mother of preschoolers. We meet twice a month. I have 7--8 girls at my table and then I have up 10 girls that I mentor through the Steering/Planning team for this MOPS group. Somehow the honor of saying the blessing for each meeting has been given to me. I can honestly say when I started this group a few years back that I would have passed out if I had been asked to do this. God has really grown me in this area though and I now don't think of praying in public as something I dread but something I am called to do at times with His grace. The holy spirit is who gives me the words when the prayer is good and when it sounds all muddled....well...that's all me. Ha! Thank you Lord for your words.
Last week we met and I went to say the blessing. I was in one of my sillier moods. Can you believe that? I started to sing since I had a microphone. The girls didn't know what to think of my silliness so they just laughed along with me. :-) Good thing I really can sing but I didn't this week. However I did get their attention which has been extremely difficult this year as all the gals have really bonded. Another praise to God. Anyway as I said my prayer and asked God to bless our meal I also asked him to season our words with salt....to be mindful of His presence in our midst etc. I finished the prayer, went back to my table with my girls and was going to go get some brunch when one of my girls asked me "what does it mean have your words flavored with salt." WOW what an awesome question and what a great opportunity God gave me to mentor and point her to Christ. Most of us know that salt flavors things. Our words should enhance not take away. Our conversation together needs to be uplifting, encouraging to those we share life with. Women can sometimes gossip and this isn't a good flavor....it's sin and dilutes our salt. Salt also preserves. As Christians we live in a lost world with decay, evil, and sin all around us. We are the salt of the earth. We are there to flavor it....to witness to what Christ is doing in and through us. I told her I wanted all of us to be mindful that God is present with us. We need to watch our words and what we say. I was very humbled by this young ladies question. For a moment I got tongue tied....I know you are having a hard time seeing that in me...........but it was true for just a moment. Then I realized what a great way to share the message of Christ. God is so good and He gave me the words to say. I need to remember to stay in His word more and more because He is using what I learned to plant seeds or to water them. yeah! Thank you Lord for allowing this encounter to happen!
My question to you is.........are you seasoned with salt? Do your words lift up or tear down? Do you allow sin to water down your salt? Just thoughts to ponder. I pray that God gives you a thirst for His word.....so that you can be salt to others you come into contact with. Until next time be blessed!
Last week we met and I went to say the blessing. I was in one of my sillier moods. Can you believe that? I started to sing since I had a microphone. The girls didn't know what to think of my silliness so they just laughed along with me. :-) Good thing I really can sing but I didn't this week. However I did get their attention which has been extremely difficult this year as all the gals have really bonded. Another praise to God. Anyway as I said my prayer and asked God to bless our meal I also asked him to season our words with salt....to be mindful of His presence in our midst etc. I finished the prayer, went back to my table with my girls and was going to go get some brunch when one of my girls asked me "what does it mean have your words flavored with salt." WOW what an awesome question and what a great opportunity God gave me to mentor and point her to Christ. Most of us know that salt flavors things. Our words should enhance not take away. Our conversation together needs to be uplifting, encouraging to those we share life with. Women can sometimes gossip and this isn't a good flavor....it's sin and dilutes our salt. Salt also preserves. As Christians we live in a lost world with decay, evil, and sin all around us. We are the salt of the earth. We are there to flavor it....to witness to what Christ is doing in and through us. I told her I wanted all of us to be mindful that God is present with us. We need to watch our words and what we say. I was very humbled by this young ladies question. For a moment I got tongue tied....I know you are having a hard time seeing that in me...........but it was true for just a moment. Then I realized what a great way to share the message of Christ. God is so good and He gave me the words to say. I need to remember to stay in His word more and more because He is using what I learned to plant seeds or to water them. yeah! Thank you Lord for allowing this encounter to happen!
My question to you is.........are you seasoned with salt? Do your words lift up or tear down? Do you allow sin to water down your salt? Just thoughts to ponder. I pray that God gives you a thirst for His word.....so that you can be salt to others you come into contact with. Until next time be blessed!
Hope for the Heart 2009...just a bunch of girlies!
I am a member of Lynn Haven United Methodist Church. Our church host's an annual women's conference called "Hope for the Heart." This has a become a much anticipated event for all the women in our church as well as the surrounding areas. We have women attending from all over. I think this year we had women represented here from over 100 churches. Each year we host a guest speaker and/or a worship leader. This year we were blessed to have Babbi Mason and Donna Douglas. They were awesome and had us either crying our eyes out or laughing till we almost wet ourselves. (Yes God's word was/is that good.) :=) I am not sure who was the funniest among this duo. These ladies were good friends and it showed in their worship and praise of God. We all learned how to "boogie down" with soul searching gospel music. Truly it was an awesome sight to see over 500 women with hands raised high praising God with whatever rhythm God gave them. ;-0 Ha! It is a wonderful experience to worship God together with a bunch of women....or "girlies" as Babbi and Donna were fond of calling us. I love that term....girlies! Everyone should have their girlfriends or girlies to talk, laugh, cry, share with.This conference is on a Friday night and Saturday morning. As part of the conference weekend the ladies of our church are asked to host a table of eight for lunch on Saturday. I have been blessed to be able to do this for many years. I love it when I get a group of ladies at my table that I never met. This gives me an opportunity to share the love of Christ with those who may or may not know the Lord. I have been amazed at how God has blessed me with so many wondeful new friends. Anyway each hostess has her own set of dishes and she decorates her table with a theme. It can be any theme, elaborte, simple, silly, fancy...you name it...I have seen it all from china sets to plastic to paper dishes. If I can figure out how to post a few pictures of the tables I will in the next blog so you can see how awesome they are.
With all that said I wanted to share with you a constant struggle I have every year when this conference comes along. My struggle is with girl cliques. Do you know what a clique is? In Webster's dictionary one of the definitons of clique is.......small, exclusive group of people; coterie; set. Now I don't just struggle with this area of life at this conference but have struggled with this all my life. I have never liked when cliques form because they leave people out. As a child the teachers thought there was something wrong with me.........about 4th grade.....my parents were called because they said I never hung out with a group of girls. I didn't have a best friend and I was very content with my own company whether it was reading a book or just hanging out. I did on occasion get involved with whatever activity was going on at the playground like volleyball, softball etc. But I rarely followed the crowd. My parents asked me why I didn't have any friends that I hung out with. I remember telling them that I didn't like that people were left out of the groups....so I intentionally left myself out so that I could be friends with everybody. Such a simple concept but one that I find hits me in the face every day. You see at this conference I want to hang out with my girlies or my chicas as I call them. I just want to be one of the girls. What's wrong with this anyway? This year I had this thought........this year I am just going to be one of the girls. I am going to hang out with someone and just enjoy myself. After all this conference is for me. Do you see how many "me, myself and I" are in that statement? So I struggled all day Friday afternoon as I set up my table for the luncheon. I prayed and prayed for God to reveal to me what I should do about this. But until I got my answer I decided I would just continue to do what I have done in the past and that is to just befriend everyone. This was Friday night. Saturday morning I ran into a friend from a Sunday school class and the first thing she said to me was.....I hate clique's. HELLO! Was that from God or what? She said she struggled in this area for the very reasons I do. Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with hanging out with your girlies. Some people are more comfortable in a group then they are alone. I totally get that but I have been one of those girls on the outside looking in. I have been made to feel like I don't belong if I don't say the right thing, live in the right house, have the right clothes etc. It is not a good feeling to feel excluded regardless of the reason. We are all different and yet we are all children of God. He loves all of us and he calls all of us to love one another. In the bible in the book of Mark chapter 12 verses 28-33....The Greatest Commandment.................. One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." WOW! Is God awesome or what!! Anyway.......later on I talked to my mentor (if you don't have one of those.......get one) about what I had struggled with and how I felt God leading me. She affirmed that it was right to reach out to those who are not from our church and make them feel welcome. We had over 260 women from other areas there. WOW! Some of those ladies came alone, didn't know a soul and needed a helping hand, a smile or personal touch. As a woman from that church I felt............. no I knew I needed to reach out to as many as I could. I met some interesting sweet people. I say all this to open up your eyes to step out of your comfort zone and reach out to those in your areas of work, play, church...whatever it may be. As women it's okay to have our girlies....it's even good for us to have those to whom we confide in and share with. But there are also times when it's good to reach out. Make sure whatever group(s) you are involved with aren't closed groups....we have to be open to the lost. Don't just be one of the girls...........be a woman of faith for Christ and let Him use you. Until next time be blessed.
A little child's trust
Hello fellow bloggers! Wow it's been almost a month since I last wrote down my thoughts. It's not that my thoughts have lessened but I haven't made the time to write them down. I have had several pondering words/topics that I have wanted to share with you but until today.....just haven't made the time. Sorry about that. The topic for this blog is the trust of a little child.
As most of you know I have been blessed with 8 grand kids. Praise God for those little blessings! They are the icing on the cake and I adore them all so much. They are also so different and yet they are the same in that ......they do things kids do....cry, eat, sleep, play and find the world so full of wonder. To watch a child play and how they see the world is such a great experience. I love how they are like a sponge with any and all things you teach them. Sometimes they are taught bad things by what they see us do. This is a huge responsibility....one I didn't think of when my kids were young.........but now take very seriously with my grand kids. I want them to see a grammy that has tons of unconditional love for them and always leads them to Christ by my actions as well as words.
I don't get to see my "grands" very often but when I do I make the most of it. I also enjoy sending them packages and cards throughout the year for any holiday possible. I know that they get a kick out of it and I know that they think I am "crazy grammy." Ha! Did I mention my grand kids are very smart too? ;=) One of the things their grandpa and I do is take silly pictures (as posted above this story) of us and send them to them. I figure they might as well have a still shot of a pose they see us in all the time in person. Ha! To quote one of my grand kids....grammy is so silly.
Recently my oldest grand girl has had many tests done on her little body. Let me back up....she went for her well baby check and they found blood in her urine. They asked her mama if she noticed anything wrong with her or if my grand daughter complained of any stomach pains etc. The one thing my daughter noticed was that when she pooped it floated. Weird I know!!! Who would have noticed....I am not sure I would have. But my daughter being so smart and all did....Praise God. So since last year our little girl has had many blood, urine and stool samples taken. Recently about three weeks ago she went and had an endoscopy and colonoscopy (<---sp)....plus various biopsies were taken while she was out. This was very difficult for her parents to watch but with God's grace they made it through the testing with flying colors. The doctors thought she had ciliacs (<--)disease or cystic fibrosis. I am happy to report that the tests were negative. Yeah! However they did find out that her pancreas is not working like it should. She is taking medicine for this that she does not like and can't swallow whole. Her mama has to open the capsule and sprinkle it on food and my grand daughter has to swallow it WITHOUT chewing. Her mom says she chews ice cream so this has not been fun for them. Now to current day....last week she had a bunch more blood work done because the doctors think she may have Shwachman Diamond Syndrome. We will find out the results in 5 weeks. Through this whole ordeal there has been much prayer as well as some tears. We know that God holds her in the palm of His hand and that He knows what is wrong. We trust but the waiting is really hard. I say all this because I have been very concerned for my little sweetie and worried (as only a grammy does too much) about how this will effect her later on in life. I asked her mama if she was scared after all the things that have been done to her. She relayed to me that she had asked my grand daughter this very question and that she just looked at her mama funny and said....no....should I be? Bless her little four year old heart! That just about did me in. She trusts that her parents who love her so much are doing everything possible....even painful things to her that they are looking out for her....that they love her. I find this so awesome!!! And yet I am reminded that ALL of us are to come to Jesus as a little child. In the book of Mark in the bible chapter 10 verses 13-16 it says this............People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.....................What does it mean to come to God like a little child? Have you ever thought about it? Children are so trusting. They will jump right into your arms from a high place and never worry that you won't catch them. They will do what you say without questioning. ( why most of the time) They love life. As a parent you do all you can for their benefit. Even discipline is for their own good though it hurts. And our love for them should be unconditional....just like Jesus love for us....is unconditional. Jesus asks us to follow him, to trust that He alone knows what's best for us. Sometimes that path is very painful...it's hard to understand what is going on or why things are happening like they are. But God is faithful and He is with us. He is doing a good work in each of us. We just have to trust Him. I still stand amazed at my little grand daughter's trust for her parents but I am so heartened by it as well. God is doing great things in the lives of this family. May God be glorified!
I hope this story encourages all of you to trust in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ more and more. Here's a poem I wrote back in 1991 about children.........back then I didn't know I was writing this for my grands.....
As most of you know I have been blessed with 8 grand kids. Praise God for those little blessings! They are the icing on the cake and I adore them all so much. They are also so different and yet they are the same in that ......they do things kids do....cry, eat, sleep, play and find the world so full of wonder. To watch a child play and how they see the world is such a great experience. I love how they are like a sponge with any and all things you teach them. Sometimes they are taught bad things by what they see us do. This is a huge responsibility....one I didn't think of when my kids were young.........but now take very seriously with my grand kids. I want them to see a grammy that has tons of unconditional love for them and always leads them to Christ by my actions as well as words.
I don't get to see my "grands" very often but when I do I make the most of it. I also enjoy sending them packages and cards throughout the year for any holiday possible. I know that they get a kick out of it and I know that they think I am "crazy grammy." Ha! Did I mention my grand kids are very smart too? ;=) One of the things their grandpa and I do is take silly pictures (as posted above this story) of us and send them to them. I figure they might as well have a still shot of a pose they see us in all the time in person. Ha! To quote one of my grand kids....grammy is so silly.
Recently my oldest grand girl has had many tests done on her little body. Let me back up....she went for her well baby check and they found blood in her urine. They asked her mama if she noticed anything wrong with her or if my grand daughter complained of any stomach pains etc. The one thing my daughter noticed was that when she pooped it floated. Weird I know!!! Who would have noticed....I am not sure I would have. But my daughter being so smart and all did....Praise God. So since last year our little girl has had many blood, urine and stool samples taken. Recently about three weeks ago she went and had an endoscopy and colonoscopy (<---sp)....plus various biopsies were taken while she was out. This was very difficult for her parents to watch but with God's grace they made it through the testing with flying colors. The doctors thought she had ciliacs (<--)disease or cystic fibrosis. I am happy to report that the tests were negative. Yeah! However they did find out that her pancreas is not working like it should. She is taking medicine for this that she does not like and can't swallow whole. Her mama has to open the capsule and sprinkle it on food and my grand daughter has to swallow it WITHOUT chewing. Her mom says she chews ice cream so this has not been fun for them. Now to current day....last week she had a bunch more blood work done because the doctors think she may have Shwachman Diamond Syndrome. We will find out the results in 5 weeks. Through this whole ordeal there has been much prayer as well as some tears. We know that God holds her in the palm of His hand and that He knows what is wrong. We trust but the waiting is really hard. I say all this because I have been very concerned for my little sweetie and worried (as only a grammy does too much) about how this will effect her later on in life. I asked her mama if she was scared after all the things that have been done to her. She relayed to me that she had asked my grand daughter this very question and that she just looked at her mama funny and said....no....should I be? Bless her little four year old heart! That just about did me in. She trusts that her parents who love her so much are doing everything possible....even painful things to her that they are looking out for her....that they love her. I find this so awesome!!! And yet I am reminded that ALL of us are to come to Jesus as a little child. In the book of Mark in the bible chapter 10 verses 13-16 it says this............People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.....................What does it mean to come to God like a little child? Have you ever thought about it? Children are so trusting. They will jump right into your arms from a high place and never worry that you won't catch them. They will do what you say without questioning. ( why most of the time) They love life. As a parent you do all you can for their benefit. Even discipline is for their own good though it hurts. And our love for them should be unconditional....just like Jesus love for us....is unconditional. Jesus asks us to follow him, to trust that He alone knows what's best for us. Sometimes that path is very painful...it's hard to understand what is going on or why things are happening like they are. But God is faithful and He is with us. He is doing a good work in each of us. We just have to trust Him. I still stand amazed at my little grand daughter's trust for her parents but I am so heartened by it as well. God is doing great things in the lives of this family. May God be glorified!
I hope this story encourages all of you to trust in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ more and more. Here's a poem I wrote back in 1991 about children.........back then I didn't know I was writing this for my grands.....
His Children
Children are a blessing from birth that God has given.
To cherish with a loving heart through life that we are living.
Their little faces bright with promise give us joy each day.
They see the world as wonderful in their busy days of play.
In life, God has given us many wondrous things.
But best of all it is His children and all the joy they bring.
Children are a blessing from birth that God has given.
To cherish with a loving heart through life that we are living.
Their little faces bright with promise give us joy each day.
They see the world as wonderful in their busy days of play.
In life, God has given us many wondrous things.
But best of all it is His children and all the joy they bring.
Until next time be blessed!
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