Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

This scripture woke me up this morning. When our natural body is wounded, the whole body goes to work restoring and healing the wounded part. We do not seperate it and cut it off from the rest of the body, but our whole system goes to work and surrounds and protects the wounded part and the healing process happens.
We are the body of Christ. When we see the our brother or sister is taken in a fault or is wounded in some way, we must do the same. We cannot afford to critize and cut off the member, but we must rally around them with support and resources. We must love them and surround them, never gossipping about them, thus cutting them off from the love and support they so desperately need, but ministering TO them.
I feel this strongly this early mornig.
God has awakened me several times this week with thoughts about our realationship with each other, about true friendship and true love. I have been convicted for myself and heavily burdened for people I dearly love.
We don't want to create a culture of gossip for ourselves and our family and friends.
It causes us to walk the low road where we create shallow relationships. Ones that lack loyalty, trust and support. There can be no trust, no feelings of safety, no love. It binds us with low self esteem and depression and isolates us.
We need to get off of this road and start creating a circle of love and support for each other. We need to become the kind of friend we want others to be to us. We need to show the kind of love that can listen and empathize, but then go on to give sound, Godly advise. We don't want to use our friendships to vent, but to share our struggles, not to find someone to sympathise with us and make us feel better about what we are doing, what we are tempted with, or how we are feeling ( especially when it involves others), but to honestly be looking for sound advice that will help us be overcomers. We want to be the kind of friend that will help our friends overcome instead of helping them wallow in anger, hurt, jelousy, etc. This just leads to gossip fests and a downward spiral. Be the kind of friend that is trustworhty, the kind that people feel confident that thier business stays confidential at all times, the kind of friend that will tell it like it is when your thinking is off course or your emotions are out of control, ( in kindness of course), that will pray and encourage and love. Don't be the kind that will try and pull down to your level. Let's build a strong foundation of love, safety, loyalty and trust for our brothers and sisters. Let's show our girls how to be Godly women not ugly, gossipy, bitter, nasty young girls. This is the will of God and if we obey His word, then our lives will be blessed and enriched. If we become this kind of woman we will attract others of like mindedness. We will grow in grace and Godliness. Let's walk the high road.

PS Just a side note: The more we can get our minds focused outside ourselves and on helping others, the happier we will be. Self absorption is misery. Don't live your life where everything you do is to gratify something in yourself. Sometimes even the good things we do is self gratifying because it makes us feel good about ourselves. That is fine to a degree, but it is best and much more enriching to make pleasing God and loving others our goal and the rest will fall into place. Just a thought.

I know this is kind of a jumble, but it is early and I wanted to get some of my thoughts down before I got up and started the day and forgot about what I was feeling. I hope this can be a blessing and an encouragement to someone.
I have lots of other thing rambling around in this head, but it will have to be another post. I've been thinking to do a series of post about what it means to be a christian. Maybe I will, and this could be the first in the series. (Don't gaossip, be true. Search for truth not a rason to justify your actions and feelings)

Alyssa's baby shower. I would like to thank everyone who came and made Deidre feel special and loved.
It was a riot! Sorry Sara, the picture of you was too good to leave out! I'll take it off if you really want me to though. Mindy went away with just about every prize. Gini, I am glad you finally won one though after all your hard work. LOL Lisa, Thanks for being a good sport and participating in the "poop" tasting contest. It's people like you that really make it funny. All of this and not one good picture of the baby!

Author unknown
If you are ever going to love me; love me now.


While I can know the sweet and tender feelings from which true affections flows.
Love me now while I am living.


Do not wait until I am gone.


To have those sweet words chiseled in marble on ice-cold stone.
If you have tender thoughts of me, please let me know now.


Not when I am not there.

This was a cool sight from my window this afternoon. The snow plows were having a hard time with the corner so the neighbors all went out to help shovel and tell them where they could make piles. This is such a neat neighborhood.

Sis Nona Freman has lived alife full of faith in God. She is an amzing woman. I fyou have not heardof her or read any of her book, you should do so.
Please keep her in your prayers as she recovers. The link below is a video of her preaching. She is in her 90's.
http://pentecostzone.com/videos/id_24/title_the-%E2%80%99power-dimension%E2%80%99-part3-nona-freeman/

The kind of friends you want to attract, is the kind of friend you must be.

Star
This one's for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMGl48ADBk

My kids hate to see me get out my camera. I think they are afraid the might get "posted"! One of my sons thougt he would be funny and get me back. Enjoy the shots he got of me.
PS I used to be able to see without all these aid!
PS#2 I love the magnifying glass that John bought for me!
ps#3 Thanks, son. These are great. They really make me laugh!
ps@4 Lexy loves my magnifying glass too. She calls it Tina's mirror. She likes us to make things bigger with it.



Happy Birthday , John!!

Yesterday we celebrated John's 26th birthday. All the family came over after church and we had a roast beef dinner. Happy birthday, John. I hope you have a wonderful year. I pray the will of God be done in your life this year. I would love to see you singing more if that would be God's will for you. You have such a wonderful voice. Mark preached a very good message last night about doing something this year of eternal value and Pator King and others have said don't waste time trying to do what you're not good at, but find what you do well and do it with all your heart. I know you are passionate about singing, you are good at it, and would love to use it somehow. Don't let it slip away from you. Pray and ask God to open doors for you to use this wonderful gift for the glory of God.
I am very proud of you. You have been faithful to God, your church and your family. We love you very much!!
Back to what Mark preached last night, I want to be involved in something of eternal value this year. I have a few ideas that I am thinking about and am waiting for God to give some direction to me. If you think of it, I'd appreciate it if you said a prayer for me to find my niche in God's kingdom.

Here is a neat site for daily Bible reading online. Follow the plans and you will have read the Bible through in a year.

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/today/

New Year's day was a very nice relaxing time spent with family. We had a sit down dinner ( a first in a while) using the china and all. It was nice in spite of the plastic table and chairs and the crowded kitchen. The price you pay for using the dining room as an office. After dinner the girls did the dishes and then we just visited and played games.Kenny spent the night and went to work with the guys this morning. I had such a nice time with just my family. I love you all very much and love spending time with you all. I hope this year is blessed for you all and that God has His way with everyone of you.

I have just spent some time going over some of my old post, trying to see where I've come from and where I am going. I came across the 2 articles that I have linked below and thought they were worth reading again coming into this new year.

Dealing with critisism
http://holmessellshomes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-05-03T13%3A31%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=1

Leadership
http://holmessellshomes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-09-01T08%3A01%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=1