Abba's Girl

If you want a copy of this prayer to print, e-mail me and I will send it as an attachment. Heavenly Father, We lift up all those involved in the Mexican Drug Cartels from the top of the organization to the lowliest position as well as all people they have bribed and have on their payroll. We lift up prison officials and guards as well as drug dealers and drug users, we know all these people are involved in something that is sin to You. We thank You Lord through Your resurrection power each one of these people will repent, and each one will be born again and baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. We pray they are also infilled by the Holy Spirit. We ask You to call them by name and draw them into the Body of Christ. You know them by name, You love them, Your Son died for them. We pray they reverence You and walk humbly in Your sight and hate evil. We pray for their smuggling tunnels to become unusable. We pray for the kidnappings and executions in Mexic...

The books are in large envelopes with bubble wrap all ready to go to the post office. Paula, I need your address. Prayer points are coming along regarding the drug cartel and the problems they cause. I saw my woodpecker, he's grown up now still pecking at other birds, still does not want to share the food. Kind of reminds me of when you visit a church and sit in " some one's pew", maybe this is unique to the Episcopal Church. The owner of the pew will stand in the aisle and stare at you until you move over a bit and they can squeeze in or they decide to huff away to another pew. Another thing unique to the Episcopal Church from what I can see when I visit other churches, you must arrive early to an Episcopal Church if you want to sit in the back. The woodpecker has become territorial, are we like that in ministry at our churches? Do we consider it my ministry? If we do, we are destined to fail. There is no mine about it at church unless you are 2 and in the nursery. ...

I read a story in the Houston Chronicle which really made me angry. A police chief and his body guard were executed in Mexico. The chief was honest and fighting a drug cartel. Certain areas of Mexico are very dangerous because of drug cartels, we all have a sense of the corrupt govt in Mexico, but every year officers are killed trying to fight huge crime down there. For once I was angry and sinned not, I thought Lord what is the most effective way to pray. I think we need the Lord to give us specific prayer points to pray against the drug and violence caused by the cartels. If anyone feels led to do this, let me know and I will send you what the Lord gives me as an attachment so you can print it. I want to pray against the cartels and all the crimes associated with them for several reasons but the 2 main reasons are - the drugs end up in America and the violence will be here before we know it. This type of violence used to only be found in Columbia and now the demonic tentacles are spr...

Had a bit of a medical drama with my father yesterday. He's ok and back at home. My mother called a few minutes before I left for work to tell me she was taking him to the acute care center. I must say the winds were knocked out of my sails, he's been so much better. I got into the car and How Great is Our God was playing on the radio station ( KSBJ ) I listen to, then His Love Endures Forever, so I praised the Lord on my very short commute. I did keep 1 hand on the wheel and 1 eye open. Next we had donuts at work, I don't like them and we rarely have them, but these were chocolate covered cake donuts, I do like cake donuts and I do like chocolate. They were miniature donuts so I ate not 1 but 3. Karen brought me a gift bag of Arbonne skincare products. We took them all out and went through them, I never did get it all packed in the bag again, kinda like folding a road map. At lunch I did very well. After lunch, I returned to the office and Kathy brought home made cake in...

It’s my birthday eve…I will be 47 on Wed. To celebrate my birthday and 100th blog (I got this idea from Stephanie when she had a 100th blog giveaway) I am giving away 3 books, which I will mail to you. You must post a comment and I will enter your 1st name in the drawing. There will also be a grand prize drawing which is a wristband to the Beth Moore Siesta Fiesta in San Antonio, August 22 – August 23. If you want to be entered in both drawings let me know in your comment. If you are not interested in the Siesta Fiesta mention that in your comment, I will enter you in the drawing for a book. I am giving away: Get Out of That Pit Devotional by Beth Moore The Healing Touch by Norma Dearing Under Healing Wings by the Rev Dr Jack Sheffield The Final Quest by Rick Joyner Beauty for Ashes by Joyce Meyer and I will post the winners Thursday. I will most likely not make it to the post office until Saturday, but don’t fret I will mail everything 1st class. Originally, I got a blog address so I ...

The Lord showed up in a big way this weekend, of course I knew He would. The praise and worship team did a wonderful job, they were so in tune with the Holy Spirit. Jack and Anna Marie were anointed, their messages full of Scriptures and testimonies from other conferences and what they see God do at Christ Healing Center in San Antonio. (They take prayer appointments Tues through Thurs, no counselling, all prayer, donations accepted but not required.) People are so hungry to hear the Gospel preached in love with boldness and clarity, we need something more than a positive message, we need Jesus and His resurrection power. We need to not only believe in God, we need to believe Him...how do you believe Him? You know His word. (Buy Beth Moore's book Believing God or do her Bible Study of the same name.) Church is not supposed to be dreary or a positive thinking experience, it's supposed to be alive with the power of Christ and His message. Anna Marie and I prayed with several peop...

I have whined to my husband and cracked jokes about being overweight and no longer enjoying exercise. As I have done the 1st 3 days of No other gods homework, I have decided in my case I must call a spade a spade…not only is food an idol because I eat when I am bored and when I am stressed instead of turning to our Lord, it oppresses me. I feel crummy because I weigh too much. If I were at the correct weight for my age and height, I would feel better. In letting food become an idol, I am also guilty of gluttony. (Not a word we hear much these days.) As I sit around in a lazy way blaming it on the heat, etc I am also guilty of sloth. (Another word we hear infrequently.) I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings; I am not pointing fingers at anyone. I am talking about me. Sure I had a season for several months this year, in which I sat for hours at a hospital and ate from a vending machine or cafeteria, but I could have squeezed a little exercise into my day. Food choices would not have be...

For all of you who began the Siesta Study – No Other Gods…how excited are you? I think the study is going to be very convicting. I am looking forward to discussing the homework with my small group in 2 weeks. I certainly want to rid my life of idols and sin because I want to be the daughter He called me to be. I want to be more effective in ministry as I pray with people. Here are 3 verses from the Bible pertaining to idolatry and sin: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. I will be in Round Rock, T...

Yesterday I had my annual check up at a specialist's office, mammograms and ultra sound. I left work at 1:20p expecting to return by 4:00...HA! The mammograms began on time. Memorial Hermann Southwest had 1 ultra sound machine down, as a result I was still sitting in my little seersucker robe and jeans at 4:00p. I finally made it through the ultra sound and then had to go to another building to see my doctor. They instructed me to take a shuttle. I went outside and headed toward the shuttle stop, I saw people about to faint in the heat. I thought forget it and walked over the the doctor, the walk was about 2 blocks, it was 101 surely this means I burned an extra calorie! Saw the doctor, received a clean bill of health, and then walked back to my car which was about the equivalent of 6 blocks from the doctor's office. More exercise in the massive Memorial Hermann parking lot. The Lord blessed me in the rush hour traffic and I made it home in time to host Bible Study. It is so g...

It’s time to say goodbye to an old friend, my 1990 Kenmore washing machine, we bought it just before our friend’s baby Blake was born in January of 1990, which is how remember it’s age. It has sprung a leak which my husband says cannot be repaired. He is going to buy a new washing machine this week. (I hope it’s not my birthday present, I want a reel mower.) The machine is old and outdated, but I know how to work it in a comatose state. No thinking involved. That’s how bad habits or besetting sins can be in our lives. Maybe we think about them and repent and then sin again, maybe we lug them around like an old friend, maybe we have swept them under the carpet and never think about them because it’s not like we are out there murdering people. But sin is sin is sin is sin. The Bible tells us: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. (Newsflash - they aren’t a secret!) If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do wha...

One day last summer my friend Anna Marie (she lives in San Antone) and I (I’m in Richmond) were reading the Bible and calling each other back and forth to discuss the passages. Our husband’s were out of town and we had all day to ourselves. (Thank goodness long distance is no longer expensive!) I decided to let the Bible fall open and read whatever was before my eyes, I was going to call Anna Marie back with the great revelation. Many times when I have just let it fall open, the Lord has led me to a passage that speaks to me about a situation in my life or the situation a friend is in at the time. I looked to see where the Bible opened….would it be the Old Testament, 1 of the Gospels, an Epistle? No it was open to the table of contents. We laughed so hard. I think God must have laughed too. I think sometimes we are just too serious. The Bible speaks of joy; I take that to mean the Lord intends us to be filled with joy. The Bible speaks of laughter; doesn ’t that mean we should laugh a...

Thought I would post something humorous this morning.

A woman about my age and I entered Walgreens at the same time after work, she did not head for the moisturizers like I did. A 20 something man entered the store just behind us. He stared at me, I stared back (I would normally look away, but was impressed to stare), he stared at the other woman, she didn’t notice him. He looked back at me, I stared back at him and he began to follow the other woman around the store. A cashier called a manager to the front of the store. As the manager approached the front of the store the man ran out with bath products he had stolen. I was shocked; it was broad daylight in Richmond, Texas... The other woman missed it all, she had no idea he had followed her around the store and no idea he stole shower gel and such 3 feet from her. She was walking around in a fog, we’ve all done it. For safety reasons we shouldn’t. But we also don’t want to be in a fog and miss what the Lord is doing in our lives and around us. We also don’t want to miss or ignore prompti...

Have you ever read the annual skin cancer articles in wormen's magazines? I do every year....I don't know why I do this, I suppose because I am a native Texan, fair complected, and have spent years out in the sun and on the water. I look at the pictures of skin cancer and think, thankfully nothing on my body looks like that. About 30 minutes later, I look at a large freckle or mole on my arm and think - did that always look like that?A seed of worry tries to plant itself in my mind. If I let it, I will be frantic to get an appt with a dermatologist. (I am not suggesting that we ignore suspicious spots or growths on our skin!) Worry is a sin...I remember how flabbergasted I was when I first discovered that fact. I thought wow, many women in my mother’s family worry about everything. I take after my father’s side and rarely worry. That side of the family tended to have other types of sin….such as control instead of worry. As I read some of the verses pertaining to worry in the bo...

We had a brief little rain shower yesterday, towns around us received an inch or more of rain, I had hoped we would receive an inch or more. The ground is very hard around here and cracks are starting to show in my yard where I have not watered. Our hearts can become hard when we let the cares of the world or bitterness and anger choke out the Word of God. Just like soil during a drought, our cracks begin to show. If we have told everyone we are fine, we will not be able to keep up the façade for long. God knows the truth, no matter what we tell people. When we become hard hearted and bitter, for whatever reason we make it very difficult for the Lord to work in our lives. He is still there, He is still knocking, but we miss His voice and His message, we tune out the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we begin to isolate ourselves from other Christians when we really need them. It’s hard to pour out His love if we are not receiving it. The Bible has a lot to say about our hearts, here are a few ve...

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. I had to laugh at work on Monday; though part of me wanted to cry, of course an attack came after my post on love. 1 coworker is on vacation, another was stuck working out a problem for a client and it took just over 4 hours, the problem was from the pit of Hell, none of us have ever seen anything like it. Since she could not take calls or clients, I took more calls and clients than usual. Some were very nice people and some in the natural were not so loveable. Years ago, I would have “vented” over it, isn’t that a nice way in some cases to describe griping, whining, and complaining. Since I had meditated on love verses Monday a.m.; I was able to behave in a godly way. I didn’t have nasty thoughts or “vent”. I was able to smile. I will admit to praying no one else would come in after 4:45p because we close at 5:00p. Am I ever glad my commute is less than 10 minutes because I didn’t arrive home until 6:...

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. I John 4:9-11 God’s love is not a revelation to Christians, but the lavishness of this love is hard for our finite minds to grasp. The Bible has a lot to say about love. Here are a few verses: Eph 5:1-3 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. PS 32:10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love ...

Today will be a busy day. I have a lot of housework to catch up on (I may post a pic, my husband cooked for my parents and left town and a mess in the kitchen.) as well as adding a few more bags of mulch to the flowerbeds, and a graduation party to attend. We had a bit of a sprinkle, if the ground is a little softer, I will try once more to move the Asparagus Fern. I decided to transplant it to a terra cotta pot on my porch. I maintain my position, we must plant the Word of God so deep, nothing can kill it. I should be reading the Maffetone Method, but I am blogging. The book was recommended by Annette, her blog is fabulous, http://www.annieseyes.blogspot.com/ I have gained lots of weight this year and am finally interested in knocking it off, I am just not motivated to walk and bicycle in the mornings which I did for years. I need prayer to be disciplined and motivated. I’ll be right back, 1 of my dogs; Penny just ran through the house with a squirrel in her mouth. (I love the doggy d...

I used to tell people I had the gift of truth as a license to say what I wanted to say at any given time. As we see below, there is not fruit called truth or a gift called truth. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. We can be right on an issue, but still need to keep our mouths closed. I shudder sometimes when I read what the Bible has to say about our words. When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. Reckless words pierce like a...

I looked outside this morning and a young Red Bellied Woodpecker came skidding in for a landing at the bird feeder. He didn’t want other birds around and kept trying to scare them away from the feeder. The mature birds looked at him like he was a twerp. This happened the other day with another young bird. The woodpecker made noises, flew a couple inches up into the air, and jabbed the birds with his beak. It reminded me of the Body of Christ when we peck at each other over matters that are not related to salvation. My former church has a contemporary service and a traditional service, when I scheduled prayer ministers (people who were serving others) some prayer team members refused to attend one service or the other because they hated the music, or it was too early or too late. They lost sight they were there to serve others. Christians fall out over is there a Rapture? Is the Rapture pre-trib, mid-trip, or post trib? Christians argue about wine or grape juice at Communion. Churches s...

This does not happen often, I have nothing to say…no opinion to share, nothing to blog about… I could blab away with fun stuff, but instead I think I’ll pray for my blogging sisters (and brothers if there are any brothers): Dear Lord, I thank You for these wonderful Christians I have met through blogging. I thank You for the prayers they have prayed on my behalf as well as for my father Charles. I know I probably won’t meet most of them on earth, but I will dance with them on streets of gold as we worship You in heaven. Thank You Lord that we cannot be shaken because we are rooted and grounded in You. I pray You are our consuming fire, that we serve You in reverence and obedience, always in awe of Who You are. I pray we always have Your words to testify about You and Your love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I pray we seek and treasure Your wisdom, we seek Your word and sow it deep in our spirit. I pray our words are Your words. I pray we live in Your resurrection power. Lord, You kno...

Since my father was hospitalized for 5 1/ 2 months this year beginning in early January, I never got to the big spring yard clean up. I didn’t prune, our shrubs are shaggy…some will remain shaggy because birds have nests in them which I do not want to disturb. I suppose I should name this post: It’s still a jungle out there… I left an asparagus fern in the ground all winter that popped up in a flowerbed; it had berries so I left it for the birds. Two weeks ago, I began to dig it up to transplant it. I could not dig it up to save my life. I normally don’t use poisons in my yard, but it was hot and I was desperate, I drove over to Home Depot and bought Round Up. I cut the fern back and sprayed it…I sprayed it a lot. It began to die. I thought yes, and tried to dig it up again on Memorial Day. I could not get it all. Yesterday I went out to water, I almost fell down in shock, that darn thing is sprouting green again and growing. See picture to the right.... I thought that's how deep I...

My husband came in the other day as I was writing some notes in a workbook. He asked if I was grading my Bible Study group’s answers. He was serious. I said no, there are no wrong answers unless you accidentally look up the wrong passage. I explained we might not always agree, but the point was to grow in the Lord not be right. I also told him, we discuss our answers, I don't grade. (Can you imagine grading your Bible Study group's work?????) That got me to thinking…which may or may not be a dangerous thing…how many of us are set back on our walks with the Lord because someone legalistically tells us we are wrong when we are new Christians and just beginning to know God and His word? I have friends who were turned off by that type of treatment by mature Christians, or someone was patronizing to them when they asked a question at Bible Study. One of my friends was kicked out of a Bible Study at a large Baptist Church in Houston because she missed 2 weeks in a row when her father...