Precarious Darious !

God has most recently blessed my husband and I with the raising of our Grandson, Darious Coleman, who will be two years old in August. Going through the testing of Crystal disappearing and both Ben and I coming together to raise a child *together* has been a tes tto our marriage, and a testimony to God's faithfulness in the realization that we are strong enough to endure this time, and most importantly, I see the strengthening of our relationship. Although I know both of us were looking forward to a time of 'just the two of us' , I have to praise God in his sovereignness, for it has been such a blessing to be given this opportunity to be an influence in his life and raise him as one of our own to grow in the Lord's light. Thank YOU God!

Letting the Holy Spirit Guide us !

The below devotional is so on target with Pete's message yesterday, I just had to share it. As we go into allowing the holy spirit to lead us through controversial political issues, it helps to know this bit of history. I can't help but think of the old saying "If you don't stand for something, you'll stand for anything". I took four (yes 4!) pages of notes yesterday, I'm going to put them on my LiveJournal - http://www.livejournal.com/lisaland

History Makers - By Sharon Glasgow

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’” Mark 16:15 (NKJV)

Devotion:
Many of our greatest history-makers followed the Holy Spirit’s leading.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus risked his life as he followed the Holy Spirit’s leading to an uncharted New World. He knew that he would be risking his life, but he had no real choice. The Lord put the idea in his mind, and he had to follow Him. He said that the gospel must be preached to every land to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, and Columbus felt time was of the essence.

King James, the King of England who gave us the first modern translation of the Bible, proclaimed in 1606 the authority for the three ships to set sail on charter by way of the Virginia Company. He wrote in the 1st Virginia Charter, “We, greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires to the furtherance of...Christian religion to such a people as yet live in darkness…”

John Smith, Reverend Hunt and Capt. Newport were among the group of weary travelers aboard those three ships who dropped anchor at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach in April of 1607. They felt God’s leading all through their journey. Upon landing, they suffered an attack from the Indians. Immediately Hunt led them into three days of prayer and fasting for repentance of sins and in preparation of dedication of the land to God.

They erected a cross on the land and prayed a prayer of dedication to the God who led them to it. After Hunt prayed and asked for God’s blessings, he read Acts 26: 17-18. While reading the scriptures he was overwhelmed by God’s Spirit to the point he was gripped with emotion. He raised his trembling hands and eyes to heaven and prayed, “From these shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only this New World, but also to the entire world.”

On this day in 1607 the first permanent British settlement in North America, Jamestown, Virginia, was established. God’s hand was upon this crew who followed the Holy Spirit’s leading to America.

As we celebrate our country’s founding principles today we should look at the sacrifices made by our ancestors for the freedom of our nation. Columbus, King James, and John Smith are just a few of those who’ve sacrificed for us. What are we doing to carry on their work? Let’s never take for granted the sacrifices made by so many for our country.

The Holy Spirit leads, guides and directs every Christian. It is up to us to follow His leading.

Teach your children about the heritage of this great country, and that when they follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, they to can become History Makers. Our future depends on it.

Dear Lord, Help me to follow Your leading and not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for I know it is the power that America and all countries need. Help me to be a leader for You. I don’t have the ability on my own, but through You I can do all things. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.


Application Steps:
Be ready to share biblical truths of God in your home, community, school and church anytime the Holy Spirit nudges you to.

Be diligent and determined to read your Bible. You will know God’s heart the more you read it, and the Holy Spirit will reveal what you need to do as you read.

Get on your knees and ask God to take full possession of your life, so that you can be at His disposal.

Reflections:
Are you faithful to follow the Holy Spirit in the small things? He may test you to see if you really mean business. As I reflect on this, I have to say, I don't know? It's not that easy to concentrate on the small things, so I'll have to think and pray on this one, I hope that I am. I know I allow him to take care of the big things, I am going to have to add this one to my conscious thoughts!

Following the Holy Spirit is not a matter of feeling, but faith. We don’t follow feelings but God’s promises. Your faith grips Gods heart into action and when He sees you living in faith battles are won and history is made

Power Verses:
I Corinthians 2: 9-10, “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (NKJV)

Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, an in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. “(NKJV)

God Moments

I was reading a really great article today on "faithbooking". This is what I've been doing for several years that I call "scrapbooking my soul". Anyway, they suggested these topics, and I like them.. so I'm hoping to take a look at these and perhaps write something kthat speaks to the "God Moments" in my life. All it will take is going back through my journals, God does so much it will be fun to highlight the Best of the Best God Moments ! Here are the topics, just in case you want to do the same (okay, so probably no one is reading this, but hey, who knows?):

Amazing Rescue—a moment when God guarded you, healed you, rescued you, or made a way out for you.

Holy Attraction—a moment when God led you toward a healthier path, enabled you to resist a temptation, or inspired you to take the high road.

Unearned Blessing—a moment when God gave you an unexpected blessing or an underserved gift.

Revealed Truth—a moment when God spoke to you through the Bible, inner peace, wise counsel, or a God-inspired message.

Valuable Adversity—a moment in which God sustained you in a difficult time or made you stronger through the test of adversity.

(God Moments, Alan D. Wright,Multnomah Publishers, 1999.)

I love my husband..

I haven't mentioned it yet on this blog, but I do love my husband Ben Copeland. He encourages me every day, and as we get older, I thank God that he brought Ben into my life. Although with seven kids we have been through a lot in just 6 short years, it feels like a lifetime. It seems that the earlier years of my life are such a blur and that my time with Ben has been twice as long. I don't know if that is because we've been through so much.. with four teenagers in the house at the same time, and now raising our precious grandbaby Darious, we seem to move through seasons in our relationship much faster than I moved through them in the past. Does that make any sense? Well, it does to me anyway. Ben sent me this picture yesterday, as he is and always has been a big weather buff, and I rely on him to tell me what the temp is going to be, and help me determine what season I should dress for ~ here in Texas, it can snow in February and be 90 in December, so having a reliable weatherman for a husband is a big plus! They are not easy to come by you know. Or great men, and even better husbands. Once more, I am truly blessed!!

Meeting him was DEFINATELY one of my God Moments !!

The Heart Thang

This is a Guardian Angel that Debbie sent me before my heart cath before tomorrow. She also got me a willowtree Prayer Angel. We had such a wonderful day yesterday !! Ben and I and the boys went over to Hector and Debbie's, had lunch, then Debbie and I went out in her convertible ... man oh man the weather was B-U-TiFULL ! We went to Stonebriar to Kirklands (one of my FAV Places!!) so that I could pick up an inspirational print to match the other two I got Saturday.. now I have ... Hope, Love & Faith .. well, I've always had those, I just now have them in a gorgeous print on my wall :)

I'm a little apprehensive about the double heart cath tomorrow, hopefully it won't be toooo painful. I am trusting God, he knows what he is doing, and believing that he will be glorified through all this. He has me in his hands, I am his daughter, and he loves me !

Names in the Wall

A few weeks ago, we held a special service where we went out to our new building at Bent Tree and wrote the names of those we wanted to hold up in prayer, or most importantly, that we hoped would come to know Christ. Ben and I put all of our children's names on the wall as we pray for them continually, and we have a few that have not come to know God. I also added scripture to the wall ... I also added my life verse from Isaiah 61:1 - The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. I first came to know this verse during Beth Moore's study Believing God. That study grew me leaps and bounds in my faith, and deepened my trust in him.

Friday the 13th, What a GREAT DAY to Start!

Well, here's the first day in starting my blog. I have been really putting some thought to this, as I want to be able to keep the things I journal all in one spot, and I really feel that this may be the place where I can land, and keep up with all the thoughts, prayers, interesting information, jokes & such that I receive each day. I also have a terrible memory, so I'm hoping that by starting this blog I'll be able to remember all the things I want to remember. I'm excited about being able to get all this out there and lose all the paper trail. Here we go :)