Chrismas is over.....2012 is near...does it even seem possible.?????

Audrey Christmas Morning.....

Audrey Christmas Eve Night.....She always opens up pj's on Christmas Eve

Are you winterized?

Today I was going through some things and I don't think that I have ever shared this devotion that I wrote back last year here on my blog but thought it would be good to share again even if I did.....

….in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. Philippians 4:11-13

Over the course of last week I realized what the true meaning of winter was…watching on TV at the news at the states in the North and seeing all the snow they had gotten I just couldn’t imagine being out in it as we were here. I realized that if it helps to wear layer of clothes and get all bundled up before going out in the snow to keep warm. I am just thankful that our six inches of snow only comes as often as it does. To a lot of people in the North it is normal to wear several layers of clothing on any given day to just stay warm. It is normal to them to have to shovel the snow out of their driveway in order to get out, scrape ice off of their windows each time they get in the car, and all the other things that go along with snow, ice, and winter.

In our spiritual lives, we all have "winters" too and we have to winterize for them in order to face them. When winter comes it is a time of bleak and dark dreary days. We must face the fact that winter can be hard and trials are hard. Just like the season of winter, our spiritual "winters" can leave us discouraged, lonely, and depressed.

There are some things that can make the cold of our winter very intense. We need to winterize and guard against them.

· When we are going through trials and hardships, we sometimes tend to let our guard down and it's so easy for worldly influences to take over in our lives. It seeps through the cracks around the doors and windows just like the winter air. It may be the influence of friends, music, or just worldly thinking. It all can work overtime on us as we face trials in our lives. We've got to dig out the caulk and weather stripping and block those cracks and holes. Using God's Word is the best way to do this. If we have it in our hearts, it can help stop the winter air of the world from seeping into our lives. Psalm 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

· During the winter it is easy to develop a bad attitude. It doesn't take much at all for some of us. In comes the dreary days, the cold and chill, and drip...drip...we have formed those icicle attitudes. We become cranky and out of sorts with our family and anyone who we come in contact with. We also tend to complain more about anyone and anything.
When we are in the midst of a trial we sometimes automatically go into icicle attitude mode. We don't have any fellowship with anyone to help encourage us through our trial because who wants to be around us? We have to remember that no one else can fix our bad attitudes. Only we can do that. It's not easy either to adjust your attitude during a "winter" because the weight of that ice is bearing down on us. I've found that the simplest way to start working on adjusting a bad attitude is to take a step back and just remember who God is and who we are not."Be still, and know that I am God:" Psalm 46:10

· Winter can bring so many things along with it. Blizzards being one of the worst as the effects it leaves is so devastating. Circumstances in our lives can also be devastating. Bills mount up. Family members get sick or some might even die. Relationships get sour, and many other circumstances weigh down on us until we think we can't go on because we can't see what's down the road. I think that during these times we need to remember that God sees the outcome. He's our Potter and we are the clay.
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold Job 23:10

· Better bundle up because if you are going through a trial, then depression is going to come nipping at your heels sooner or later. Just like the dark and bleak days of winter have a depressing effect on us; trials seem to frost our lives with depression. The problem is that when we are in the midst of a "winter", it is so easy to just let it nip away at us. There's no easy way out of depression but keeping our lives in tune with God can help guard against it. Regular personal devotions and a time with God each day can go a long way in dealing with it. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17

Prepare Your Winter Emergency Kit

I am sure the people living in the North have to prepare for winter, the severe cold; in order to prepare there are things needed to endure the winter. As Christians, when our "winters" and trials come into our lives we must learn to prepare for them as well. Here are a few basic things we should have on hand.

· Non Perishable Food—Scripture –Memorized scripture can help more than anything.

· Extra blankets and warm clothing – Fellowship – Having fellowship with other believers strengthen us. We need their love, support, and prayers.

· Drinking water – Christ- The Living Water – Bottle water in a winter emergency is a must. We need it to survive. We need Christ and His Word to live. Relying on Him will keep us from a parched existence. Drink in His love, His promises, His blessings, and His strength. Looking to Him in the face of our trials and circumstances will help see us through our "winter".

· Emergency Candles, or Flashlights – God’s Guidance- The electricity may go out because of the weight of snow and ice on the power lines so we always need a light source to have on hand. God's guidance is our light source. We can't get through our daily lives, let alone our "winters" without following God's direction and leading. Staying sensitive to God's leading will keep us going in the right direction and will help us to see a little more clearly.

We will all have "winters" in our lives, but choosing how we deal and prepare for them can make all the difference in the world.

Audrey- 14 yrs old - New Pictures!

Prayer!

Today as I was coming back from lunch I was listening to the radio and not even sure what channel it was on but the topic was prayer. How much do you pray? That sentence was kind of convicting. The man said you know we all say that we pray and we may do it going along about our day. Some are sitting at desk working and some are in a bucket 100 ft in the air doing their job but they can still pray he said but I don't mean this as a simple question. How much do you really pray? I know you may be thinking well my prayer goes through weather I am up in a bucket 100 ft in the air or weather I am sitting at a desk it makes no difference, those prayers can be powerful but I do believe when the scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14 states If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. The man on the radio said this scripture to me means..do you seek him? do you get on your face? do you praise him even when things might not be just going the exact way you want them to?

When I heard this it became a little convicting to me. There have been times I have spent hours on my face before the Lord and I can look back and those were times I was seeing things happen that I was asking God to do. I really begin to think about Prayer meetings...a few years back my friend was choir director at a church we were attending at the time she called prayer meeting on Monday Nights there was probably 20-25 people in the choir and out of that many people there was only about 4 counting myself and my friend that was truly faithful in coming every Monday Night to pray. This wasn't a 5 or 10 minute prayer there were some nights we were there 2, 3, and even sometimes 4 hours praying God came down and we seen results from those prayer meetings. It seems now everyone has got to busy in life to worry about prayer. If we get 10 minutes in a day before we start the day or before we end the day we think that we have done a great job. Where as the concern gone for the lost people in this world? are we to worried bout self to worry about those that are hurting, or dying and going to hell.

You know sometimes I suspect that people believe in prayer, they know the promises God has made, they have even read and heard stories about answered prayers, but they still use prayer sparingly. In my own opinion I believe that most of the time the reason this happens is that many doesn't understand how prayer works, and may believe that it doesn't matter weather they pray or not. They either believe that God's gonna do, what God's gonna to do anyway so why waste their time? or they take prayer as their last resort and after everything else has failed, they'll pray a little bit, but in their hearts they don't view prayer as making an impact on the decisions they make everyday.

In the book of Daniel we can read Daniel didn't pray that way. He prayed three times a day, he prayed in his room, in the lion's den, he prayed for wisdom, guidance, and he prayed that God would forgive the sins of His people of Israel and return them to their homes. Then if you read on in Daniel you will find him struggling in prayer for 21 days because he is troubled by a dream that he has had. Would Christians today have a hard time praying for 21 days straight? It is something to think about. We ought to always pray and not give up. In Daniel 10:12 it reads.....Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

When you pray you turn loose the very powers of heaven, you have the power to battle the very forces of the darkness, and angels are willing to fight to answer your prayers.

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Hebrews 14:1 - when you pray angels are at your beck and call.

Why should we pray and not give up? so many times we pray for our loved ones and we think that it is doing no good at all and we begin to think well why should I continue to pray....
We should always pray and not give up, not because God is hard of hearing, or not because he need to be pestered into answering our request, and not because he doesn't want to answer our request. He teaches us to always pray and not give up because when we pray, our prayers carry weight. Every time we pray we unleash more and more power from the throne of God. Every time we pray for that loved one to get saved it puts more and more pressure on them to listen to God. Sometimes we may pray for our friends that are going through struggles, every prayer we pray imparts them more and more power from God.
Prayer is not a passive act on our part it is an aggressive, active ministry.
We may have all heard the phrase PUSH Pray until something happens and sometimes if we can just remember this simple phrase it will be a reminder to us to pray more.

Just a little of what is on my heart today...Pray it is a blessing to someone be blessed!!!!

Heaven sounding sweeter everyday!

This week has been a challenging week for me.....Audrey went in on Tuesday morning and had two of her wisdom teeth cut out, and it has been a difficult week for her of pain. As a mom you hate to see your child in pain and not be able to do anything for them.
There have been a couple of deaths connected to the church family this week as well and it is just sad makes you realize how much sweeter that heaven sounds everyday....

Sunday Gary sang a song "What a Day that will be" along with the choir and that song has been on my heart all week just because of the different things that have went on in my life this week....Here is a just a little bit of the lyrics.....
There will be no sorrows there and no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no more pain, no more parting over there, and forever I will be with the one who died for me what a day glorious that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace, and when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day glorious day that will be.

This morning as i got up and to start my day there was a scripture that was on my heart....it was Ps. 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod, and your staff they comfort me.
After reading this verse this morning I sit and just started thinking about different things in my life.....there are some things that we can learn from this verse alone. Accept the reality of the valley.....There will be valleys in life. Days when the sun doesn't shine as bright, when things can only look gloomy or sad to us. We all wish to have that mountain top feeling everyday but that just isn't even real to think it could happen. There are several things that could get us down in a days time, but don't be surprised by them valley's are inevitable. there are a few things that we need to make sure we don't go into one of those is self-pity, don't tell yourself that you are the only one suffering so much, everyone else is happy and I am going through a tough time. I have learned in these times that I catch myself feeling this way to snap out of it and realize there is someone in life that has things a whole lot worse than I do. ....Don't fall into the trap. There will be persecutions and problems in life. Everyone goes through them one time or another. Some more. Some less. Some deeper, other not so deep. Some long, some shorter but we all face them. Life can't always be smooth, and we can't always have that mountain-top happy feeling. God is not to blame he is with us through it all even in the valley. So we need to stay strong and walk on. There will be difficult days and difficult times but we just have to accept the reality of being in the valley. John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. We need to watch how we respond in the valley. It will either make you or break you. Don't focus on the valley but focus on the one that is with you. I have learned that in these times that prayer is what gets me through. Just as in this verse it says 'I am not afraid, because you are with me". We are to keep on walking even though it is difficult.
Sometimes when we are going through diffcult times we ask "Where is God?" and really we know that answer he is right there with us through it all....We can go back to the story of the footprints and remember that he is carrying us through.
Pray this can be a blessing to someone!
Everyone have a blessed weekend!

Missing my Dad today......Wanted to just post pictures of my Dad some days it just seems like he has been gone overnight and some days it seems like it has been forever since I got to see him....November 13, 2011 will be three years since my Dad moved to Heaven.

My Mom and Dad's Wedding 1973

Hudson Family 1975

Family Picture 1977

Me, Jamie, Tab with Dad and our fish in 1978

Dad

Family Picture 1979

Family Picture with MaMaw & PaPaw McKinley and Tammy 1979

Family Picture 1985

Tab, Joni, Me, Jamie and Dad with our fish in 1986

Dad - 1990

Family at Old fashion Day at church 1990

Tab, Mom, Dad and Me at our High School Graduation 1993

Tabitha's Wedding Family Picture 1993

Jamie's Wedding Family Picture 1995

Dad and Audrey 1997

Mom, Dad, and Audrey 1997

Audrey, Kristian, Mom, Dad, Taylor, and Josh - 1999

Mom Dad and the grandkids 2002

Mom and Dad 2002

Dad playing with one of the girls dolls 2005

Dad and Audrey 2006

Mom and Dad 2007

Dad and Hannah asleep 2007

Mom and Dad 2006

Dad and the grandkids Sept 12, 2008

Missing my Dad today......Wanted to just post pictures of my Dad some days it just seems like he has been gone overnight and some days it seems like it has been forever since I got to see him....November 13, 2011 will be three years since my Dad moved to Heaven.

I may lean but I will not fall!

I haven't wrote a blog in a while but the Lord has really been working in my life in many things...been so busy with church activities, work, and just things that I haven't taken the time to share what I feel like I need to share this has been on my heart today and pray that it blesses someone.....

Sometimes in life it takes your world getting darker and darker before you can see who the day star in your life is, he is the only one that can bring you out of the wilderness that you are in.
I once heard a story of a man that had an old barn on his property the barn had been there since he was a small child and the man wasn't very young at all. He had always admired the barn, and one day as he was walking around he noticed that the old barn was leaning he stopped and thought about how old the barn was, it had stood through many storms in life, it had been through the bitter cold in the winter, to the hottest days of summer. It had been through tornadoes, and even hurricanes but it was still standing just leaning a little. He took some strong pine lumber and propped the barn up on its leaning side so it would not fall. As the man begin to leave the barn he stopped one more time to take a look and was reminded of his own life and how through many times in his life he had been on an emotional hurricane, how storms had come and gone in his life, how many times he had leaned toward quitting, giving up, going back to the life he once lived but was reminded through those times the Lord propped him up on his leaning side.
I believe God puts people in each others lives to prop us up at times just as he did in the bible for example God put Moses in Aaron life to prop him up....Aaron had a leaning problem..Just when he would start leaning Moses would remind him that he was a chosen one of God.
Then in Ex 17 Moses had his hands up it was almost like a funnel. As long as Moses held his hands up Israel would not be defeated but as soon as he would let his hands down they would be defeated. As long as his hands were up the battle was being won. When his hands got tired Aaron and Hur one on one side and the other on the other side and they held his hands in the air for him (Ex 17:12But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.) If you think about this it could come to realization that some of the people that you are propping up today are going to be propping you up tomorrow. This was the case with Moses and Aaron.
God put Jonathan in the life of David to prop him up to keep him in line. We need friends in our life that can sense when we are in trouble or making the wrong decisions that will stand up and tell us that we need to be doing differently. I am thankful that the Lord has given me a friend in my life that does that to me. When we go through our weak times we have someone to encourage us to stand up, keep going, do not fall, do not turn back to the things of the world. We need good friends that are willing to prop us up on our leaning side.
Just when you think I cant take it anymore, I am going to lose it, I am going to fall Jesus knows and the Holy Ghost will prop us up on our leaning side.
God knows what you are facing, he know what you are fighting, he knows when we are fearful, he knows when we are falling and he will prop you up on your leaning side during these times.
You may lean but you will not fall.
If you lean on Jesus no matter what you are going through, no matter what you are facing, no matter how bad you might think that you feel He will prop you up on your leaning side.
You dont have to throw in the towel, you don't have to quit, you don't have to give up. Maybe all hope is gone in some situation in your life could even be your marriage, and you are leaning toward the negative things in life, or maybe just having a weak season that we all have from time to time. he will come running to prop you up on your leaning side during this time.
Just remember what he said in his word I will never leave you nor forsake you!

My Devoition today!!! Caught In The Storm

Have you ever been caught in a storm? Stormy weather can cause some very intense feelings and reactions in us.

1. Stormy Weather Can Cause Fear –
In Matthew 14:22-33 is the story of Peter walking on the water. A storm came up while the disciples were in a ship and they were afraid when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Jesus told them Who He was and then Peter, one of the disciples walked on the water too--well, at first. When Peter looked around and saw the storm, he was afraid.

Maybe you are in a storm in your life too. It's natural to be afraid. Here's Peter, one of the disciples who learned at Jesus' feet and even he was afraid, but look what it says in Matthew 14:31 after Peter began to sink and called out to Christ.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him,
and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

I know when we study this verse we usually focus on the "little faith" part but I think that first part of the verse deserves to be focused on as well. Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught Peter. When we call on Jesus, He's there for us. I also love that next verse in the chapter (vs. 31).

And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Did you notice that? Jesus caught Peter and was with him until they were come to the ship. It doesn't say that Jesus stopped the storm and then they went to the ship. It says that when they reached the ship, that the wind ceased. Sometimes we are going to have to go through the storm. Sometimes the Lord will take the storm away, but other times we have to weather it out.

Another part of that story that I think is interesting is the fact that Jesus is the One that sent His disciples to the ship and told them to meet Him on the other side of the water in the first place. Verse 22

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get
into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side,
while he sent the multitudes away. Matthew 14:22

Jesus knew His disciples were going to be in that boat when the storm came up. He sent them there. We may question why the Lord tells us to do something or where He has sent us, or even the things that we have to deal with because it may not be smooth sailing. We may question why the Lord is causing storms in our lives when all we want to do is to serve Him and obey Him. This story shows me that sometimes we can be right where God wants us--right where He told us to go--right in the center of His will and we can still have some storms come up. What we can take comfort in is the fact that the Lord knows all about those storms and He's there with us through them.

2.Stormy Weather Can Cause Worry - n Mark 4:35-41, the disciples were out on the water in a boat again. This time Jesus was with them. As a matter of fact, in this story, Jesus was sleeping. A storm comes up on the water, and the disciples began to worry that they were going to die. The wind was blowing. The ship they were in was full of water and they were worried about their safety. The disciples went to Jesus and woke Him up and basically asked Him if He cared if they died or not.

And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow:
and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that
we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the
sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have
no faith? Mark 4:38-40

It's so easy to question God's care when we have that water rushing in on us and we feel like we can't keep our head up above it. What's so sweet is that we can give those worries right over to the Lord because we know He's the one that is capable of calming our waters and our storm. We can have that faith in Him because He is always in control whether we can see it from our view or not.

3. Stormy Weather Can Cause Change.

The story of Noah's Ark is found in Genesis 6-9. Noah definitely had some raindrops falling down all around him and God was wonderful in preparing a way for Noah and his family to escape the flood. We always hear about that provision part of the story and it is a wonderful story of God's plan and protection. But can you just imagine what it must have been like after God safely carried them through the flood and for Noah's family to step off of that ark and look around and realize that they were the last ones standing? Talk about change! Everything they had ever known was different. Their lifestyle would be different. The land and earth itself was different. The whole make up of the entire world as they knew it was different. All their friends and all the people they had ever known aside from their family was gone. I know I would have had a hard time adjusting.

Change can be rough. In my personal life there was a time that change was very difficult for me. My Dad was dying of brain cancer and on July 14, 2008 we carried him to see his doctor in Birmingham for the last time that day the doctor told us that three months would be a long life for dad. Mom was already over tired and drained from taking care of Dad day in and day out and the nights as well....Well as we were leaving the Doctor office that day at Kirkland clinic I will never forget as we were walking over the bridge at Kirkland clinic the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to move in with Mom and Dad to help take care of Dad I just ignored this because this is not what flesh wanted to do. Me and Audrey was living in Shadow Lake Apts. and everything in our life seem to be going good at the time and I remember coming home and saying Lord please don't make me do this I struggled with it and decided if it was meant for me to do it that the Lord would just send someone to tell me. On Sunday, July 27, 2008 there was a brother visiting the church that particular Sunday and he come to me two different times in church and prayed with me that morning and said different things each time. After church we were all talking and he come up to me and said Sis Amy, sometimes we don't understand the message or the words the Lord is giving us to give someone else but through obedience we just have to know that it is what the Lord wants us to do I have come to you two different times today during service to tell you what the Lord has given me to tell you and it just didn't make sense to me and I can't leave today without sharing this with you and the Lord has told me to just tell you to go home....I begin to just weep because I knew this was exactly my answer to what I really needed to do. You know sometimes we doubt things that we really know the Lord is telling us to do and we just want to know for sure that it is him and if it is he will make himself real in the situation and he did in mine.

Sometimes the rain falls on our lives and the storms come up and rage for a time and after a while the storm quiets down or comes to a standstill and we stop and look around and there is all this change. Then that change sets in. Not to say that change is always bad. Sometimes it strengthens us and improves our lives, but that isn't to say that it's always easy for us to go through. This change in my life was hard and it has been over three years now and it is still hard..... Change brings about a difference in our routines and even the little things along with the big things are not the same anymore and it can affect us.

I'm so glad I have the Lord to lean on at times like that. I know when I'm feeling that change that comes with the storms that there's always something that God can show me to remind me that He's still there. For Noah He gave that reminder in the form of a rainbow.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it,
that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God
and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Genesis 9:16

I may not look up and see a big colorful rainbow in the sky. It may be that I have to actively look for that reminder of God's love. I may have to search God's Word, dwell on His promises, and seek Him in prayer, but in the end, He'll give me that rainbow of comfort. The Lord will let me know that He is still in control.