I was able to attend a women's retreat this weekend. The fellowship was wonderful. Good fellowship is better than chocolate! We were able to relax and get away from the every day things that tend to drag us down. We got silly and laughed our heads off. We shared things with each other that we wouldn't have had the time nor the opportunity to share in our every day lives. It was marvelous!

I thoroughly enjoy pictures. I have lots of picture albums and I have my hallway looking like a photo exhibit at the county fair. I don't have a really great memory and photos help me to remember good times. My pictures were taken during fun times. I didn't take my camera along to funerals or to the hospital when we were having family disasters. I didn't care to remember those times with photos, even though my brain remembers them.

However, even memories of rough times in my life are brought back when I look through my albums. As I review my life I think about good things and bad. If anyone asks me if I would go back and do things differently, knowing what I know now, I have to say, "No." All the things that I have gone through in my life have made me the person I am today. If I eliminated just one bad thing I might not have the wonderful relationship with God that I now have. I might not have the friends I now have. I might not have the family I now have. I wouldn't change one thing.

Nope, I haven't been working on the garden yet. This will be the week. (Don't hold me to that, though. My intentions are good but my willpower is often weak.)

Do you think sacrifices are too difficult to make? Here's one you can handle: "By [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Hebrews 13:15

Link to the 5/4/98 Bible study.

This last Sunday in church our choir (of which I am a member) did a special rendition of "Blessed Assurance." I somehow ended up being part of a duet during the last half of the song with bits and pieces of a solo (with my own microphone, no less). The thing is that I have an OK voice, but my ear is not good. I can imagine the note I want to hit in my mind, but my voice doesn't always follow. I can tune in with someone else (such as in a duet) and sing decently. However, when I have my own solo part I can't always hit the notes on the head. I can hear it when it sounds bad, but am not always able to correct the problem and it can sound pretty stinky.

So, to make a long story short, I told God that I wanted to be allowed to be used to minister to the listeners. I told Him that I needed His help. I have an imperfect singing voice and told Him I would give Him all the praise and honor if I sounded good. Well, you may have guessed it, the song sounded great. God took my voice and it hit all the right notes. I knew God was in control when I found I had no fear. My heart was beating normally, my palms were not sweating, and my face was not red. Now, there was the true miracle!! ;-)

I used to wonder why it was so difficult to have joy. The Bible tells us that we can have it. Joy and peace are wonderful things to have when things are falling apart around you. As humans, it is impossible to have them while we are going through difficulties. We get them from God. He is standing next to us offering us the joy and peace. He is holding them out to us and the only thing we have to do is accept them.

It is like a battery-powered car. You charge it up and drive until the stored up power is used up. It is the same with joy and peace. We use them up and need a recharge. We can get the recharge by plugging into the source. . .God. If we spend time with Him then He pours them out on us along with His overwhelming love.

So, what is the problem? Why aren't we continuously supplied with all that we need? It's time that is the problem. We think we don't have time to spend with God. If we think of it in terms of something we understand it might help. If someone gave you an immediate ten-times return every time you gave them money you would take the time to seek out that person to make money. If we spend a small amount of time with God the return is more than ten-fold. Think about it.

Don't ask if I have been working on my garden. The most I have done is look at it. I guess you might say that is a look in the right direction! Now I need to take a few steps in that direction! (All right, Kay, think "fresh tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, fresh tomatoes . . .")

Thanks for stopping by! I would really love it if you would sign my guestbook!

Link to the 5/11/98 Bible study.

Hey! I've got some good news! I've been accepted as a "Featured Page" here in Geocities! That means I get extra space on their server and I don't have to worry about filling up my space like I did over at AOL. Hooray!

I went and bought some tomatoes that were already started and planted them today. I have to get my faucet timer replaced. It froze up. I have soaker hoses in my garden and have timers on the faucets that allow the water to come on early in the morning for 15 minutes. It works pretty good, except it waters the entire garden, even where I have nothing planted. Well, I didn't plant anything there, but the weeds come up on their own.

We need to take a lesson from weeds. They continue doing what they are supposed to do. . .grow and send out more weed seeds. I might add, they do it very well. I feel like I live in the weed capitol of the world! Anyway, if we could be as strong-minded as the weeds and continue doing what we are supposed to do no matter what the circumstances, think of the possibilities. If we were able to stay on track with the things we need to do as well as the weeds do, we would be pretty much unstoppable.

Well, I guess that is enough chit chat. On to this week's Bible study! If you got something out of it be sure to come back next week!

Link to the 5/18/98 Bible study.

Wow, does time fly or what? I can't believe it is almost June! Sheesh! Did I fall asleep for a few months? I feel like I have missed something!

My youngest son, Casey, will be graduating from 8th grade next month. The next four years are going to be very busy for him and for me. I've already done the "high school thing" twice and know what to expect.

Already Casey has weightlifting twice a week in preparation for freshman football. He is also going to be in the band and we just got a schedule of practice and events for that. Since both the band and football programs take a lot of money to run, I will be a parent volunteer in the booster clubs.

I'm not really looking forward to the next four years, but will do my best to squeeze enjoyment out of everything I can. I have a choice to frown and grumble while I am doing some unenjoyable task or I can smile and praise the Lord and spread a little sunshine along the way. Either way, I will finish the task I have.

The second option will be much more pleasant.

I am only two months away from Vacation Bible School. God has blessed me by helping me come up with the program itself. I am in the process of filling in all the small details. Actually, some of the big details are still not complete. One of those is we don't have enough teachers, teachers' helpers, neighborhood canvassers, phone callers, and helpers in general.

 So far my faith is still holding strong. God will provide the necessary help. He is probably working on peoples' hearts as I am typing this. Of course, being a fairly organized person, I prefer to have everything done ahead of time. That would include knowing who the teachers are so they can be reviewing the materials and submitting requests for what else they need. My faith will be much stronger before it is all said and done, I am sure!

Link to the 5/26/98 Bible study.