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Showing posts from 2014

Secret Pal Blessings - friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life

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Proverbs 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life Last night was our Secret Pal Christmas Fellowship at church.  We are Baptist, and Baptists like to eat, so there is always a fine selection of food at our fellowships, hahaha!  We Baptists have some great cooks! Our Secret Pal Christmas Fellowship serves several purposes. As mentioned earlier, it is an opportunity to indulge in some good food and fellowship around the tables. Our Pastor’s Wife, a lovely woman with a great sense of humor, always has a great devotional prepared for us. We reveal to ourselves to our Secret Pal, hoping that we haven’t done anything to tip her off to our real identity, and we give her our final gift of the year. We complete new Secret Pal forms, and turn them in to a wonderful loving lady, who collects the forms through the middle of December, mixes th

God's Grace is Sufficient!

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At a Crossroad in Life Grace, God's Grace, is always sufficient.  The problem lies in my definition of sufficiency.  Sometimes I mistake my wants for needs and that causes me to doubt God's sufficiency.  It is not that God has failed to meet my needs; but that I have mistakenly categorized my wants as needs!   2 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)  -  And he [Jesus] said unto me [Paul], My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness . Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Today my husband has been out of work for over seven months, I lost my job last Wednesday.  We are totally dependent upon God, and upon God's Grace, for whatever comes our way.  Please pray for us that we can trust God to provide for us as we look for work. Thanks! Mary  ;-)

Think Before You Speak or Write!

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Written by Carisa Stahl Set a watch , O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.   Psalm 141:3   In days gone by a lot of communication was done with the mouth. In the days we are living in much of our communication is done with our fingers on our phones or computers.   Out of the five ways listed above I have texting and email, and Mary allows me to blog on her blog. Do I always watch what I say with my fingers? I'm sure I do not.  Once we say something via the above ways of communication it's out there forever, able to be found in ways we could never dream of.  Not only do we need to make sure what we say is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind but if it is all of those is it really something we want the whole world to know?   I've seen Facebook used for written sparring with very nasty, hurtful stuff said. Would the involved people act that way if they were face to face? I feel that very few would hav

Eating Yellow Flowers – Making Smarter Food Choices

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Meadow of grasses and wild flowers  © Copyright  Duncan Lilly  and licensed for reuse under this  Creative Commons Licence By Mary Carol Poggemann We live in a rural community and I drive about 15 miles through farm land (and new housing developments) to get to work and to church.  This morning’s drive was a little foggie, a light mist permeated the area, but it didn’t really hinder visibility.  The mist, and the light rains of the last few days, has greened everything up.  The grass is growing like crazy and little wildflowers dot the country side; it is just lovely! I pass a couple of farms where they have horses out in the yard and I noticed something today that I’ve never thought about much; but, today it struck me and I need to share it.  That’s what blogs are all about right???

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Written by Amy Stahl- a devotion given at a ladies meeting in July 2013. Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” When Mrs. Woodfield asked me to speak she asked me to speak on the first part of this verse,   "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD." Without going into a lot of details these last few months have been a time in my life when this verse has had a lot of meaning for me. I turned 30 in May. When I was in my early 20’s I thought I would be married and have a few kids by the time I was 30. Well meaning people often say things like,   “You don’t’ have a boyfriend?” “Such a sweet girl like you, we’ll have to find someone for you.” My reply is, “I would rather be single the rest of my life than marry the wrong one.” To me being “be still” means being content where God has me now. Everyone’s life is different. Everyone is in a different season of their life. My season is being single. Eccles

lose weight, get healthy, stay focused on God

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Mathew 4:4 (KJV)  - But he [Jesus] answered [Satan] and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. I’ve come to have great respect for those that blog daily and do it successfully.  It takes quite a bit of effort to come up with something honest, useful, witty, and entertaining to share on a regular basis.

Sunshine and Raindrops - A Matter of Perspective

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Sunshine or Raindrops A Matter of Perspective Matthew 5: 45 - (KJV) - That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Do we ever get tired of talking about the weather?  One person loves it, another hates it, and one person just doesn’t have an opinion.  God gave me some inspiration in today's weather.   Please join me to see what God shared today...

Showers of Blessing

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Showers of Blessing Ezekiel 34:26 (KJV) – And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. I was tempted to complain about the rain this morning.  I say tempted because God quickly reminded me that, even in this rain, I have plenty to be thankful for.  Check out some of the reasons I am grateful for the rain on my blog!  I am grateful for the rain because...

Stress - The Tongue that Kills

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Proverbs 15:1 – (KJV) – 15 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but A Stressed Tongue Must be Tamed! grievous words stir up anger. Stress can be a killer.  It will eventually kill you and/or your relationships.  Stress contributes to health problems, mental and emotional problems, and relationship problems. I need to be especially aware of some of the symptoms and side effects of stress.  Stress can manifest itself in many ways.  Sometimes I experience pain; stress grabs me in my neck and shoulders and sometimes in my jaw (because I clench my teeth).  Sometimes, stress affects my stomach and bowels and rears its ugly head causing digestive issues.  Stress can do wicked things to our minds, our bodies, and our soul.  Not to mention our ears, and our mouths.  Yes, I said our ears and our mouths! One of the first places I notice stress is in my ears; when I’m stressed out I hear everything with a critical ear.  I hear criticism, perhaps even where there isn’t any, and reac

Wash Me And I Will Be Whiter Than Snow

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© Copyright  John Brightley  and licensed for  reuse  under this  Creative Commons Licence . Psalm 51:7 - (KJV) - Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.   This morning’s commute was like riding through a winter wonderland.  There was a light frosting of snow on the trees and bushes.  Not enough to make driving too miserable but I did need to slow down so I wouldn’t find myself slipping and sliding all over the country roads I travel to and from work. The roads were just a little slippery, and the snow was blowing off the trees and housetops making little snow storms along the route; but, really, all things considered, it was just beautiful.  I found myself thinking about how the roads looked yesterday.  They were clear of snow and ice and easy to drive; but they were also dark and dingy, unremarkable in appearance, and they lacked luster. Then I had a funny thought!  I thought to myself that this must be what we look like

Gardening!

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Written by Carisa Stahl Please pray for Mary, she had a tooth pulled today. We have gardened a lot over the years and have tried various things. Today's post is about our plans for this year. We've been busy planning our garden and working toward starting plants. Chuck set up 3 shelves with a florescent lights above each one- the top light does not show in this picture. A friend of Nathaniel's brought him 10 trays (for scrap metal) that a local fast food place was throwing out. They are perfectly fine except for looking grungy and 10 trays is exactly what fits under the grow lights. The top light does not show in this picture. Jeffrey and I worked on modifying Styrofoam cups to start seeds in. There are  six slits cut in the sides of each cup- 3 from the bottom and 3 starting below the rim and going half way down. Then you mix Styrofoam peanuts with your seed starter mix and put that in the cups. This helps

Seeds of Doubt and Needless Worry

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Seeds of Doubt Needless Worrry Written by Mary Carol Poggemann It occurred to me today that I allow Satan to sow my garden with seeds of doubt. Sometimes, more often than not, I live in a world where I don’t have all the facts. And in those times it’s all too easy to let my negative thoughts run wild. Doubt is the first step toward being disobedient to God; He did not make us to doubt but to Trust and Obey. When we disobey, the doubt takes over our lives.

Gossip Kills – Deceitful Meat

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Written by Mary Carol Poggemann God has a lot to say about the people who we eat with, those that we spend time with, our associates, our co-workers, and our friends.  He cautions us to be careful and to “consider diligently” what is before us; but, that caution doesn’t apply just to the food before us, it also extends to the ideologies that are before us. Proverbs 23:1-3 (KJV) - When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. Have you ever sat down to dinner with someone who started out friendly and cordial; someone you thought a friend; but by the end of the meal, you were sick to your stomach?  You were not sick because of the food set before you; you were heart sick because of the poison that spewed out of your friends’ mouth during the meal. Discontented people try to make others as miserable as th

Don't Be Like A Skimmer Bird

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Written by Carisa Stahl Recently while visiting another church the pastor showed a picture of a skimmer bird. They feed from the surface of the water. He said the picture reminded him of a quote in the front of his doctrine text book in Bible college. "The surface of the Bible is skimmed  but the depths are ignored." Too often that quote is too true, even with pastors preaching sermons. Sometimes we read our Bibles more than at other times. Sometimes we read it because reading our Bible is what a "good Christian" is supposed to do but it is not really our hearts desire.  Not only should we be reading our Bibles but we should be studying it, memorizing, and meditating on it.  I remember a big question in Bible college, "How much (quantity of verses) should we be reading? One answer has stuck in my mind, "If you don't have time to read a whole book a chapter is better than nothing. If you don't have time to read a whole chapte