Thursday, October 2, 2008

I had a good birthday celebration yesterday and it ended with my husband and daughter taking me out to dinner after church. It is a privilege for me to serve with our teen department at our church and we divide up into tables. I lead a table with 4 teenage young ladies (11th grade girls) and what a blessing it has been to serve with them. The Beverly twins made me a birthday cake (yum, it was very good) and I received lots of well wishes and hugs. I also got a nice gift from a really good friend (Patty Fletcher) and she is always thinking of others. God gave her the "gift of giving." I enjoyed my day and as my friend, Yuri would say, "it was all about me." This morning in my devotions I got a chance to really understand the value and importance of prayers. In I Timothy 2: 1-7, Paul stresses the importance of prayers and the 4 main components of prayers being supplication, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks. It is very important that when we pray that we have the faith that God will answer those things for which we are praying for and to give him the thanks before he answers our prayers. I am so glad that God does not always answer our prayers according to my measure of faith. Sometimes I believe I would fell miserably if my faith in my prayer was the only thing that God looked at before he decided whether or not to move on my behalf. That is why it is so important that Christians pray for one another, to lift up one another in prayer and to encourage each other in our faith. I am so in love with Jesus Christ and I am so glad that he loves me! Last night at our Teen meeting, the message was on the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In our table discussion after the message, I wanted my girls to understand how important it was that we not look at our relationship with Christ as a chore or duty but to fully understand that as Christians, we must love Jesus Christ and fall in love with him more and more each day. To just "do go" as one of my ladies stated is not enough. We must desire to serve him out of our love for him and this is accomplished by abiding in him. We must stay in the Word for the Word to stay in us. I am understanding this more and more each day with my walk in Christ. The more I abide in his word, the more I love him and see how his mercy and his grace is the abundance in my life. I really enjoyed the devotions this morning and it gives me the strength I need for my day. Jimmy and I are going to Rachael's volleyball game this afternoon and my step-son, Nick is going to come. I am very thankful that Nick stays involved with his younger sister and that his loves is evident for her. If anything were to happen to me and Jimmy, I would want Rachael to know that she can always turn to her brother and sister for the love, support, and comfort that she would need. Nick will soon be 28 and he is dating a school teacher, Melissa. We love them and look forward to many memories with them. Nick is a hard worker, very smart, and has a sweet and humble personality. He can worry too much though and we have to help him find peace at times with things but he always has good intentions. I do wish he would find a good KJV Bible preaching church to attend and as his stepmother, I have expressed these desires and prayers for him. I know that Nick is saved and I know that he loves the LORD. Sometimes we lose our way but I cling to the verse in Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Nick knows the truth. I love him dearly and pray for him daily. Kelli is my step-daughter and she turned 23 this year. She lives in Charlotte and we don't see her that much. Kelli is a private person and much like her father in personality. She has a lot of his features and is a beautiful lady. She works hard and is very ambitious. She knows what she wants and goes after it. We always thought that she would be the one we would have to "push" out of the nest and then help support. She proved us wrong BIG TIME! She went to college at UNCC and in 4 years, she a degree and continued to live and work in Charlotte. She has never looked back since leaving home for college and sometimes we have to remind her that she still has family back in Lexington. We are very proud of her and again like Nick, we express to her our desires that she get back in church. They were grounded in their faith as children by their acceptance of Christ, the faithfulness of their mother to take them to church, and I believe that God will bring them back to that foundation. Jimmy and myself had to accept our responsibility in not setting the examples before them that we should have in their childhood, and we have sought their forgiveness. When your lost and living for the world, you never value the importance of setting the examples for your children. My dad used to coin the phrase, "monkey see, monkey do." I never liked being referred to as a monkey but I get the gist of what he was trying to say. ?" That's why it is so important to instill in our children at the youngest age possible, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We have to be the "example setters" as my husband would say. We must give them an example to follow. And as parents, we must never stop praying for them. I Thess. 5:17 Pray without Ceasing. I hope I did not "rattle" the cage too much but part of my blogging is to be honest. One day when God calls me home, I want my family to know the true feelings, desires, longings, and legacy that I pray I will leave with them. I've made plenty of mistakes in my past and I'm sure I'll continue to fumble my way through things in this world but the difference is that in 2001 I obtained the Pilot for my life, Jesus Christ!