our3blessings

Good post! My husband has difficulty with his boss doing this, but he continues with faith! His boss will laugh and mock us for being so involved in church. He calls us names, pretending to be joking, but anyone can see that there is underlying bitterness with his perception of Christians as being "goody-two-shoes". ::sigh:: One day the Lord will overcome!

My prayer for your nephew and all who are over there are ascending! Enjoy your time spent with him!

Me!!!

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Dan%2...atest%20scandal Do a quick search and you will find many things that this man has done that are very unethical.

May God bless all of your hearts! Our relationships with our spouses are so very similar! I have to remind myself that if I took away or changed any part of my hubby that he wouldn't be the same man I fell in love with. Thank you for responding!

Oak, I believe you do belong here if only to help share your experiences and I'm sure you have an excellent testimony, or that you will one day soon! You said that you are barely a Christian, well, let me tell ya something, A Christian is a Christian no matter what. We all struggle, we all have many failures in life. That is what Jesus is for. He is holding your hands now. We want you here and so does God! I have often felt that I am not intellectual enough just like you. I have done many terrible things in my past. But we are forgiven. I am learning so much by just reading these posts! It takes much time and much patience, but I know that you can achieve much by staying! God bless you, Oak! Please do not leave! I need others like myself here as well!

That is awesome!

I just gotta vent a little. I wasn't sure where to post it, so I hope this is okay. Tomorrow is payday for us. I know, weird day for paychecks. lol Anyway, we have been struggling financially for about a month. Work was just in a slump. Well, now the slump is over, and we are needing to play the catch-up game. We are still behind on some things and we really need to get caught up asap. My children't birthdays are coming up-one in Oct, in Nov., and in Dec, as well as Christmas. Well, hubby just called and informed me that he stopped at Cabella's and bought himself a pair of $50.00 boots for hunting season. ARGH! I mean, c'mon, now I am going to have to short myself groceries again. I was so looking forward to being able to actually buy some real food instead of eating from the bottom of the freezer. Well, God will provide! I gotta keep on looking up! I'm sorry about the vent. I feel better already, just writing it out. It seems so petty now. lol There are so many people who are worse off than we are. I am so thankful for what we have. Praise God! Thank you for letting me gripe!

I used to be able to love with everything in my being. I went through a phase for about 10 years where I closed up my heart and I struggled to even want to touch anyone. I think I had just been hurt so much by the world that I wanted nothing to do with anyone anymore. Since about 4 years or so ago, things have been so much better. I have delved deeper into His word, prayed longer and more often, began to really feel like I know Jesus so much better.

I was going to add that I had been having some terrible and strange dreams of the world ending at the time. I was so frightened, until I was immersed, and cried my eyes out to Him for forgiveness of my sins.

I feel like I didn't completely accept Jesus until the night I was baptized. Our preacher at the time was over for a home Bible study, and I decided it was high time I did something to actually show my love for God by accepting His son and washing away my sins with baptism.

I can't believe...I FINALLY found someone who likes By the Tree. Those guys are friends of mine...at least Chuck is. I think everyone else from the original band is gone. Did you ever see them live with Kevin? LOL That's so awesome! My daughter says she wants an autograph! LOL I probalby shouldn't have been reading this with her standing over my shoulder! :sweating: Meg saw them live, but she isn't sure which one Kevin is. She is like me-terrible with names! Hahaha

Third Day, Sonic Flood, Newsboys, Reliant K, Switchfoot, Chosen Few, Jars of Clay, By the Tree, and Mercy Me. Some of these are faves of my teenager. I really like Third Day, Chosen Few, and Mercy Me the best.

I forgot! My father-in-law calls my all my children "Turkey lips". I have no clue why! And my step-father-in-law calls my son "Fat-boy" and my hubby "Fat-man". Even though my son is thin as a rail and hubby .... well let's just say he used to be thin. lol My neighbor, who is an "adopted" grandma to my children, calls my youngest girl "Schnicklfritz".

I was baptized when I was 21 years old. I didn't feel saved until then even though I had prayed to God since I was about 14. And there were many times after that point where I questioned my salvation. I fell and fell pretty hard for a while. I came back to God about 3 years ago, and just recently began feeling truly saved because of learning more about grace. Praise God! He is so awesome! :il:

I think he probably is, but thankfully, it's not my call.

Probably because most people can't handle the truth. It's sad, but I think true for the most part. They like making excuses. JMO of course.

My teen daughter thinks we are so mean because we will not "buy" her a car when she gets her lisence. If she is to drive our vehicle, she must also earn that priviledge. It's so sad that most teens do have things just handed to them without any responsibilities.

Beautiful sketch drawing!

Amen! Just sharing that my dad recently accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized two weeks ago. His first time in church since he was a young boy was last Oct. 26th. He only attended because my son asked him to come since it was his birthday that day. Glory to God for this wonderful new life for my dad! He has changed so much in this past year that it amazes me every time i speak with him. Yes, gentleness works wonders! God does all the rest! Praise Him!

I will be praying for your friend!

I was away on a family retreat when this was posted. I just did not see it until now. I will pray for them. :hug:

I don't have a problem with students having to earn money for a "fun" trip. However, I still don't see why it's necessary for the church to organize this...or why they must solicit funds from "secular" sources. I have to earn money for things I want to buy. But I don't go around asking ppl I don't know for money. If they wanted to do something for a trip, have them do a parent's night out at the church and offer childcare. This way, the people of the church are the ones giving to the cause and the students are still earning it. Or they could just as easily babysit out of their own homes, mow lawns, etc...to earn money for themselves. I agree, it shouldn't just be handed to them. BUT I STILL DISAGREE WITH FUNDRAISING FOR MINISTRIES THOUGH. If the church agrees to do a mission, then they should give sacrificially to support it. Period. I'm not sure if I'm understanding the MOPS thing entirely...but...if the church committed to taking on this ministry and supporting it, then they should step up and do so. That would be like telling missionaries we would support them, and them making them do fundraisers to survive. If the church isn't going to go the distance with the ministry, they shouldn't agree to in the first place. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your situation. I see what you are saying about supporting a ministry. I guess I just don't quite agree with the teen situation though. I figure it to be providing a service for the community to do car washes etc. by handing out tracks or something to promote Jesus and spread the Word. Kwim? That's okay, I still think you are awesome, Tess. You give great advice and are kind in doing so! :il: Okay, think of MOPS as similar to a boyscout troop. Would it be okay for the church to ask them not to sell popcorn and such? Probably not. Because that is part of how they earn their own money to do things. Kind of like MOPS in that respect. We can't expect the church to hand over money for women of the community to do crafts, eat brunch during the meetings etc. This is more of an outreach type of ministry if anything. We accept all mother's of preschoolers in this group and minister to them on a small scale. We have speakers once a month with discussion group following. It is Christian based, but not necessarily a preaching session, Bible study, or doctrinal discussion. We just provide resources for the women. Does that make more sense? I don't know how else to explain it. Sorry. lol