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Shopping Cart Pile Up
This blog is about being transparent. At least it is for me. And in all transparency, I am not okay right now. A functioning member of adult society? Yes. Okay? No. But in the spirit of being a functioning member of adult society, I had to take a trip to the grocery store to get food. Since I was only picking up the bare necessities for my week, I wanted one of those smaller shopping carts. For one thing, they are cute. And I figured it would stop me from going overboard with the impulse snack purchases. When I rounded the corner, I was delighted to see that there were…
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Good News For New Beginnings
The first Sunday of the new year has rolled in. Dripping with promise. Untapped potential. The year is wide open. Many of us are gun shy on decreeing and declaring what the year will hold. 2020 met us with unusual circumstances so our hesitancy is understandable. But on this first Sunday of 2021, I logged off with a little more hope. Pastor introduced the sermon series for 2021. This year will focus on “Making Your Mark.” We will journey through the book of Mark and study the life of Jesus. Ultimately, the hope is that we gain valuable insight on how to live our lives by studying His. Now traditionally,…
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When Life Gives You Lemons
When life gives you lemons, what do YOU do with them? Some folks make lemonade. Others frown at the lemons. Some reject them. Stomp them as they are rolling around on the ground. And then there are the really special folks. You may know these special folks. When life hands them lemons, they get busy. They make lemonade. Lemon meringue pie. Homemade salad dressing. Facial tonics. They zest the rind and use it in icing. And then try to find other uses for the remainder of the lemons. No part left behind. Life has handed me some lemons in 2021. I know that we are only three days in. Trust…
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Before You Leave Here
When you are raised in the church, New Year’s Eve is not New Year’s Eve without a watch meeting. We gather together to bring in the new year with praise. We thank God for all that He has done. We celebrate the fact that we have arrived at the beginning of a new year with brand new mercies. The pandemic has altered the way that we gather together but we were still able to meet through the wonders of technology. Pastor challenged us to assess ourselves before we left 2020 behind. Ready for the FIRST sermon recap of 2021? Well, ready or not, here it is. 1 Corinthians 16: 5-9…
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New Year’s Eve 2020
How are you spending the last day of 2020? When I was in my teens and early 20’s, my friend and I had a yearly ritual. We always sat down to recap the events that had taken place in the last year. Without fail, we would be amazed at what had happened in just 365 days. Sometimes, we would write down things that we wanted to leave in that year, and then we would burn them. (I been deep and grown for a long time…LOL) While we no longer sit down together and go over the year’s events, I still do it with myself. This year, I decided to put…
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Take A Seat
Ummmmm…someone come check on Fitz the cat. He is currently nestled in his carrier case staring at me. He is waiting on a ride…to my mom’s house. <cue dramatic music> If you have not ever read the blog, then you have no clue that Bible Study Mama is not a big fan of Fitz. I have mentioned before that I had not ever pictured myself being a cat owner. I come from a dog family. Before I adopted Fitz, I consulted the cat owners that I knew. One in particular told me that I needed to make sure that I did not only pull out his carrier when it was…
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Unpredictable
Life is so unpredictable. Typically when people say that they are referring to sad moments. Dark times. The icky parts of life. But tonight, I had an unpredictable moment that put a smile on my face. And it was very timely. See, it had been one of those days where I was getting hit with one issue after another. You know the unpleasant unpredictable things. After playing phone tag with a variety of people, I realized that it was getting late in the evening. I still had not prepared dinner. I rolled off the couch and opened the pantry to see what I could rustle up. Voila! I had potatoes.…
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Rise Up and Stay Up
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 I would not classify myself as a runner. Not even a little bit. I am a walker. I like to mosey along and check out the scenery when I…
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Final Sunday of 2020
Whew! We made it to the last Sunday of 2020. When the first Sunday of the year arrived, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed. It was all about 20/20 vision. I had so much excitement. I just knew that this year was going to be a year of triumph for me. And it was. Just not in the way that I expected. When March rolled around, the world changed for all of us. Although COVID-19 had been on the scene for months, new panic and concern stepped in. Businesses were closed and so were the doors of the church. Well, the physical doors of the church were closed. We…
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For To Us A Child Is Born
It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth, To touch their harps of gold: “Peace on earth, goodwill to men, From heaven’s all-gracious King.” The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, Edmund Sears Merry Christmas! Country shepherds were out in field minding the business that paid them. Quite literally. They were tending to their flocks of sheep. When out of nowhere, an angel of the Lord stood before them. A majestic sight and unlike anything they had ever seen before. Their natural reaction was to be afraid. The angel assured them…
