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A Weekend in the Word

I’ve been meaning to tell you for several weeks now that our daughter, Abigail, has been participating in Bible Drill this year. Along with being able to locate books of the Bible, she had to learn 25 Bible verses, the references and location of 10 key Bible passages, and she had to be able to recite the verses when a few words of the verse were given, or when just the references were given. She has worked really hard, and we’re so proud of her!

Our whole church’s Bible Drill Team passed the “church” drill, and went on to the Associational (or “local area” for those of you dear non SBC friends) drill. And every one of them passed that drill and made it to the State Bible Drill – which is quite an accomplishment. Abigail “won” at the State level! (I’m struggling to learn my 24 verses for the LPM Scripture memory challenge. But if my 10 year old can do it, SO CAN I!)

While she was “in the Word” at the State Bible Drill, I was “in the Word” in Lebanon, TN, speaking at a Spring Luncheon for the ladies of Fairview Baptist Church. It was the sweetest time of fellowship! The ladies did an amazing job of decorating individual tables. Take a look at these: (btw, I took pictures of the tables, but not of any of the ladies. By the time they came in, we were visiting, not posing for pictures!)


While the ladies and I were fellowshipping over God’s Word in the luncheon, God’s Word was being read non-stop for 24 hours a day in a Bible reading marathon in this church’s sanctuary! It was an incredible thing to wittness. They started in Genesis on Wednesday, and someone was standing in their pulpit from that point on, seamlessly reading the Word of God.

They signed up for 15 to 30 minute incriments, and where one left off, the other came right beside and started reading. I love God’s Word! I sat in the sanctuary before the luncheon started listening to someone reading, and even in those few moments, God spoke to me and touched my heart as I listened to His Word being read. It felt wonderful to know that I was about to get up and go share a message from God’s Word while His Word was being read aloud right around the corner.

They even had a church member who was in Israel call in while we were there and take his 15 minute turn reading the Word from the very place it originated! It was a very powerful day in the Word of God – sandwiched inbetween Friday’s preparation for Bible Drill and for the message God had me share, and Sunday’s day at church. It was a great weekend in the Word!

And by the way… I know I write a lot about Abigail these days – I guess it’s because a lot of my activities are centered around her activities – where my husband’s activities are more centered around our son’s activities. We do lots of things as a family, but when it comes to extra curricular activities, it’s kind of a “divide and conquer” kind of thing. If James had a blog (… well, he does, but he hasn’t written a post yet), he’d probably talk more about Nathan and football and conditioning practice and percussion and fishing and Star Wars and Wii games, etc than he would about Abigail’s emerging adolescence. 🙂

However, Nathan is gearing up for 7th grade football, and they start practicing in full pads after May 2nd. So I’m sure that in the future, there will be plenty of posts about our son, and about what this mom is learning as she watches her son knock about and get knocked about on the football field.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

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Sweet Sunday Scripture – The True Secret to Survival

Straight from Psalm 62 (Amp) ~ How would you fill in the blanks? Whatever it is that you need, He is!

“For God alone… from Him comes… He only is… only upon God… from Him… He only is my… He is… with God rests my… He is my … is in God… in Him… before Him… God is… God has… Power belongs to God…”

What else is there to say? No matter what we… God! He IS, He CAN, He DOES, and He WILL! A men! 🙂

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You and Your Girl, and me and my girl,

and God’s Girl Pearl and her girl…


You and Your Girl was one of the most valuable conferences I’ve ever attended! Vicki Courtney spoke straight to the heart of moms and daughters with some incredible messages about guarding our hearts. Both Abigail and I were convicted, challenged, educated, and blessed by the whole event.

God’s Girl Pearl (my dear friend Christy) and her daughter (Abigail’s dear friend) made the weekend even more fun for us. We picked the girls up a little early from school on Friday afternoon.

And headed for Elizabethtown, KY. For some reason, about half of the pictures we took of the weekend centered around the hotel’s luggage rack! (Apparently, we don’t get out much!) So, here we are with some mom and daughter “luggage rack fun”…



Some of the things I loved about You and Your Girl were:

*The continual pointing to Jesus Christ as the greatest meeter of our needs and filler of our lives.

*The consistant message to both moms and daughters to stay engaged in a “conversation” together as we navigate these teen years.

*The teaching on Proverbs 4:32 about guarding our hearts and exactly how to do that.

*The individual sessions for the girls, according to their ages and the things they are presently facing.

*Vicki Courtney’s “real-ness”, as she addressed the issues she has, or is dealing with as the parent of teenagers.

*The sweet time of prayer and committment between mothers and daughters.

We moms were given a Proverbs 4:23 bracelet for daughters and one for ourselves. At the end of the conference, Abigail and I knelt together at the “altar”. I got to speak some words of love and encouragement over her, then we put our bracelets on and prayed together. (And of course, tears were involved!)

When I asked her how long she wanted us to wear our Proverbs 4:23 bracelets, she said “4 weeks and 23 days” – so, we’re wearing them for 51 days – reminding us of the special time we spent together at the conference, and reminding both of us to guard our hearts.

When I asked Abigail to tell me the biggest thing she was taking away from the weekend, I had an idea of what I thought she would say. But her answer surprised me. It went something like this: “I didn’t learn anything new – it was all stuff you’ve been telling me. But I learned that I’m not the only one hearing it from my mom, and you’re not the only mom telling these things.”

Because of what Abigail saw and heard on Saturday, I now have more “credibility” in her eyes and ears. I’ll be so grateful for that in the years ahead!


It was an incredible conference, and I would encourage every one of you moms to take your pre-teen/teenage daughters!

And as a weekend bonus: on our way home, we’re sure we saw the “real” Mater (you know… from the movie Cars)!

Have a great weekend! 😉

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In the News

Headline: Christian students censored at Nashville-area school
Pete Chagnon – OneNewsNow – 4/23/2009 7:00:00 AM

The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit on behalf of students and parents against the Wilson County School Board in Tennessee.

Lakeview Elementary School students wanted to display posters that referenced God and prayer, but school officials said they had to cover up those references before the posters could be displayed.

The posters were hand-drawn by students and announced voluntary activities such as the “See You at the Pole” prayer event.

Nate Kellum is with the Alliance Defense Fund. “Well, Christian students shouldn’t be censored just for expressing their beliefs. They do not check their constitutional rights upon stepping [through] the schoolhouse gate,” he points out. “And yet that seems to be the philosophy of the school district here that they are selectively censoring their speech because, in their opinion, religious speech is inappropriate.”

Kellum says the school is arguing that the posters cause an Establishment Clause problem, and that some students might be offended if these religious students were able to express their beliefs.

He adds that ADF is merely asking the court to abolish the policy and allow the students to practice their First Amendment rights. Kellum expects a decision by Monday.

This is the situation where we’re believing that God CAN move mountains! My daughter made the above posters. This is the stand that my family has been called to take.

Without giving any other details, could I ask you to join us in praying for the Judge over this case? Please pray that the Spirit of the Lord would hover over him, and give Him wisdom and discretion. Pray that He will base his ruling on the upholding of the Constitution and on obedience to God rather than being swayed by the pressures of man.

Thank you so much! I’ll be back soon with that You and Your Girl post! 🙂
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15 Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity


1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It “In.”

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. Finish All Your sentences with “In Accordance With The Prophecy.”

7. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

8. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

9. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is “To Go.”

10. Sing Along At The Opera.

11. Go to A Poetry Recital And Ask Why all The Poems Don’t Rhyme?

12. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

13. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream “I Won!, I Won!”

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much!

Hope this made you smile today. 🙂

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