GLORIOUS #3 & SOMETHING NEW

Day three of the 3 speakers we were blessed to hear this past week was Matthew Hagee. Matt is the 31 year old son of John Hagee. I doubt very much we would have gone to hear Matt preach had we not already been at this revival but boy, am I glad we did!!!

We were really impressed with him & his message. While so many son's of famous preacher's never rise to the level of their fathers we do not feel this is going to be true of Matt Hagee. First of all, he has the most piercing eyes that just captivate you. His message was on Pray & Praise and was powerful beyond words.

Since Randy Caldwell preached on Praise and Thanksgiving and then Matt on Pray & Praise it was clear to our group that God is telling His people (us!) that we must be Praying & Praising HIM on a daily, consistent basis.

Matthew has just written his first book, "Shaken Not Shattered" and we were blessed to get an autographed copy. I've been so busy since getting home I haven't even had time to start it yet . We were also able to get Perry Stone's latest book (hasn't hit the bookstores yet), "Angels On Assignment". Haven't gotten into it yet either. I'm sure I'll be posting about these two books as I get them read.

Our three wonderful day's in Eureka Springs and the 3 wonderful evening services, Perry Stone, Randy Caldwell & Matt Hagee, were just too unique and special to adequately put into words. The weather was beautiful, too. I am so glad the Lord allowed us to attend and that we had the company from various friends with us to share in the excitement and joy.

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Clothing Ministry

Judy, who started the Monday morning Bible Study in her home on January 12th, also had a burden for a clothing ministry for those in need. Our church currently had a ministry of baby clothes for new born and toddler mothers which one woman was doing all by herself. With Judy's leadership most of that Monday Bible Study group has committed to expanding the clothing ministry.

This is a picture of 4 bags of brand new items that had been sitting in my spare bedroom since September 21st around noon when I picked them up. Yesterday 7 of us meet with the lady who'd been doing the infant clothes, then met with the Pastor who showed us a 2nd, and twice the size, room that we can also use!!! The 5 of us stayed and worked, and I mean WORKED, as we began to go through things and sort out.

Please join in Prayer with us that this work truly turns into His hands extended to meet the needs of people. Not only their physical needs, but more importantly that they may see and witness the love of Christ and come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.

God is moving and addings lots of new adventures and blessings to our lives. I'd love to hear what new areas and work and activities The Lord is moving you and your groups into.

GLORIOUS #2

This wonderful, alive church in the middle of a cow pasture in a town with a 200+ population!!!!

Continuation of our fabulous time attending the revival at Harvest Assembly in Oak Grove, Arkansas.......

On Thursday our friend Don had to return to Tulsa, and three of my Bible Study friends, Debbie. Sandra & Norma also had to leave. Joining Mickey & I and Wantha Ann were a group of 9 (2 men and 7 woman) from our Coweta Assembly who came over in the church van. We met them for lunch at Grandma's Kitchen. Later we all went in the van to the 5 o'clock meal served by the woman of the church. Wednesday night they served turkey & dressing and tonight they served brisket. Nothing tastier than a church supper :o)



Our 2nd day of this fabulous revival (the revival actually began on Sunday but we didn't arrive until Wednesday to hear Perry Stone) the speaker was Randy Caldwell.


Randy has been to our church on two occasions recently where he spoke for 3 services. If you EVER hear that Randy Caldwell is going to be speaking anywhere near you I encourage you to go hear him. He is absolutely fantastic. A one of a kind!!!! His message was on PRAISE



"Praise him with the sound of the TRUMPET; praise him with the PSALTERY and HARP. Praise him with the TIMBREL and DANCE: praise him with STRINGED INSTRUMENTS and ORGANS. Praise him upon the loud CYMBALS; praise him upon the HIGH SOUNDING CYMBALS. Let every things that hath BREATH praise the LORD. Praise YE the LORD." Psalm 150:3-6



After hearing Randy's message on PRAISE I will never read or hear the above verses without playing in my mind this wonderful experience. Over and over again we are told (commanded?) to PRAISE THE LORD. In Psalms alone there are 79 references to our praising.

"And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40


I NEVER want the stones to have to cry out for me, but want to raise my voice and PRAISE my Lord.

Yesterday when we were sitting in the quiet and pristine beauty of the Thorncrown Chapel it came to me again that our Praise & Worship for our Lord comes in many different ways......the quiet stillness of the beauty and serenity of such a place but also in the raised, jubilant voices of many at a revival, or the beautiful blend of many voices singing hymns and spiritual songs.

The whole point...we were made to PRAISE & WORSHIP HIM.

One more day of revival to yet share with you AND some other new, exciting news!!!

God is definately on the move in our lives. I trust He is doing so in yours.

GLORIOUS

That is the only word I can think of to describe Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

Mickey & I went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to be close enough to attend a revival in Oak Grove, Arkansas, population 346!!!!

Wednesday night Perry Stone

Thursday night Randy Caldwell

Friday night Matthew Hagee

Oh Wednesday we were joined by these 4 woman
Sandra & Debbie

Wanta Ann & Norma

and our friend, Don (sorry no picture)

Please go to Sandra's blog to read her wonderful insight about the event and the beautiful banner of The Lion of Judah in this church.

The 7 of us had a wonderful meal, provided by the woman of the church, at 5 p.m, then stood in line for about 45 minutes to get into the church at 6:30. The service began at 7 and there were many standing upstairs around balconey rails for the entire service.

Hearing Perry Stone lived up to my expectations and then some.

I have been counting the days every since I knew I was finally going to get to see & hear Perry in person. What a man of God and what an insight into the Word.

Thursday morning Don headed back to Tulsa with a stop to visit his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. We headed out for breakfast and saw the girls car at this eatery so we joined them. After breakfast we decided to go see..............

Thorncrown Chapel rises forty-eight feet into the Ozark sky. This magnificent wooden structure contains 125 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass. It sits atop over 100 tons of native stone and colored flagstone. The chapel's simple design and majestic beauty combine to make it what critics have called "one of the finest religious spaces of modern times."

Us sitting inside.

Wantha, Norma, Debbie, Susan & Sandra.

Mickey & I inside by the entrance door.

This separate Chapel is also at this site but was not opened. Weddings are held here.

Wantha Ann stayed with Mickey & I and the other 3 gals had to head back to Tulsa :o(

I have so much more to share and will continue tomorrow!!!

BRIEF BLOG BREAK & A BLOG LINK

Lots of exciting things going on in our life that I'll be sharing with you after a brief blog break. Can you tell I'm excited? I AM!!!!!!!

Thanks for the wonderful comments on my previous post. I'm so thankful that we, The Church, are waking up and taking a collective stand. United in voice and prayer and sharing the information is the answer.

I want to link you to America's Right blog page for this article by Randy Wills titled "The Cause Behind The Curtain". It is a long piece but so worth the read and says exactly what so many of us have known in our spirits but Mr. Wills lays it out in such an excellent way.

GOD BLESS YOU!

TO TAKE A STAND ........ or NOT

My blog is first and foremost an avenue to share my faith. Secondly, it is a place to share our family happenings and lives as a future record.

Increasing, over the past year, I have found myself taking a political and moral stand on many issues. I had never been particularly interested in politics in my past years. As I have seen things unfold, especially since 1-20-09, I have been compelled to speak up.

I do take a political stand on my blog because I am of the generation who let O'Hair take prayer out of school because we Christians sat back and said, "Oh God won't let that happen." WRONG...it did happen, because as Christians we did nothing. I vowed then and there that I would not and could not ever again not speak up for my God, my country and my beliefs when they were being attacked.



As I see more and more pictures like this,


and read about 50,000 Islams gathering on the Capital Hill (I posted about this here) I MUST speak out.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing."

This is what happened

The U. S. Supreme Court issued two bans. One in 1962 and the second in 1963. Both bans were the result of lawsuits against the teaching of religion and religious practices in public schools. Basically stating that organized prayer in schools was a violation of the separation of church and state. It was decided that publicly funded schools were an extension of the state, and that organized prayer or bible readings were a form of proselytizing. The bans not only banned mandatory prayer in schools but also banned the daily reading of bible passages. The lawsuits were supported by several organizations but the most outspoken supporter for banning prayer in schools came from Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of American Atheists, Inc.

&
ROE v. WADE
Decided January 22, 1973

"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Psalm 11:3

Please stand with me to defend and protect the foundation upon which our Nation was founded.

Speak out & most importantly PRAY!!!!!!

A BUSY WEEK

Last week was another very busy week.. We had Stan for lunch on Sunday as I fixed a roast with all the trimmings.

..

We had Aric & Oksana with us Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday as their dad, was out of town on business. Here they are ready for school. We enjoy having them with us. The big time consumer is so much time driving back and forth twice a day to Tulsa for school and then the time difference, 45 minutes to an hour, between the school times starting and ending. Really ends up eating up the day.

Thursday morning I had the privilege and honor of joining 3 other woman, and the mother and grandmother, of an almost 5 year old girl. Her name is Erica and her autoimmune system has been attacked with HST. We met at her home to pray for her, that God heal and raise her up. We know God not only hears our prayers but answers prayer. Thank you JESUS who paid the price for our healing, as well as our salvation.

The Coweta Fall Festival began on Thursday evening and ran through Saturday. We went down on Friday evening, taking Stan with us. This is small town America at it's best......food booths, carnival rides, several blocks of Main Street (in our case it's actually Broadway) blocked off. Cars parked everywhere around the main blocked off areas and people milling up and down the entire midway area. I had Corn on the Cob on a Stick and Mickey & Stan each had a Corn Dog. Food always tastes so good at a fair. They were choosing a teen, Miss Fall Festival, and a younger Miss Fall Festival. Two girls from our church were running in the teen contest.

The big event for us was the prayer tent. The Ministerial Alliance goes together and puts up a prayer tent. People sign up to pray around the clock in the tent for the entire Festival. The main prayer is for EVERY church in Coweta to be filled and over flowing and many brought to the Kingdom of God.

I forgot my camera...again!!! But this is a picture of the tent 2 years ago and it is the same tent. The special thing this year was that since Friday night was the start of the New Jewish Year, and Rosh Hashanah, they had a man & woman who were blowing the Shofar in the tent. It was wonderful.

Saturday from 2-5 was a car show held down the street at the First Baptist parking lot.

The two cars in the center of this shot belong to friends of ours, Mike & Trish. Naturally we had to go down and vote for them!!!

This is a 1932 Model T and Mickey was born in 1932!!!

Wonderful specimens of 76 years of age wouldn't you say????? MY GUY sure is :o)

Saturday night we had the joy, and privilege, of celebrating our friend, Don's, 72nd birthday. We had a wonderful meal at a new Ol*ive Gard*en near us.

Then we came to our house for his Birthday cake and ice cream. Isn't it adorable? No.....I did not make it. The Adult Singles of our church were making creative cupcakes of all kinds, and a few cakes, to sell Sunday at church as a fund raiser for Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets. I called the lady, who's house they were baking at, and asked if I could come and select and buy a cake ahead of time. It pays to know the right people, in the right places!! :o)

Here's the honoree and his lovely wife, Barbara. You who are faithful readers know that Don & Barbara are L-O-N-G time, forever friends and wonderful Christian Brother & Sister to us. Love you guys and Happy Birthday Don!!!

Thank you Lord for such a wonderful, busy week.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY #7 - Rosh Hashanah - Feast of Trumpets

Spiritual Sundays is something I enjoy participating in. Please go here to read other Spiritual Sunday posts.

HAPPY JEWISH NEW YEAR

Saturday September 19th was Tishrei 1 of the Jewish New Year, which is also Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets. It is also the year 5770 on the Jewish calendar.

"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever." Exodus 12:14

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feast of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts."
Leviticus 23:2

"And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations." Numbers 10:8

I praise God for our Jewish roots and that we are grafted in by the blood of the lamb, JESUS!!!!!

We just finished celebrating Fall Festival in our little community of Coweta. Amid all the food and rides is a prayer tent sponsored by the various local churches of the Ministerial Alliance. One activity in the prayer tent Friday night was the blowing of the Shofar!!!! Prayer goes on in that Prayer Tent the entire time of the festival from Thursday 5 p.m. through Saturday 11 p.m. praying for our community and salvation of souls.

Some day we will hear THE trump of God and "For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, THAT we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep, For the LORD himself shall decend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD." 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

HELP!!!

Blogger will not let me down load pictures!!! The button that says, "download pictures" will not highlight. Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone tell me what to do or how to fix this?

Your help will be very appreciated.

Addendum: Bob's comment was the answer and it worked!!! Thanks Bob. I still can't post the pictures on the regular blogger but at least this is an alternative that works. What a great blog world we have.......so willing to help one another :o)

2nd Addendum!!! - Jill's answer was it!!! Thank you Jill. So simple and I couldn't see it.

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY

Are you aware: This rally will be taking place on the Washington Mall 1 week from today?

I am all for the right for free assembly in our nation. It is one of the liberties bestowed on us as citizens of the United States. I just want to be sure everyone is aware this is taking place.

I do find it interesting that for the first time in many years President Obama did not observe The National Day of Prayer on May 6th this year in the White House. Go here for Washington Times article.

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ISLAM ON CAPITOL HILL

2 0 0 9

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH....The objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam's majestic spiritual principals as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet Muhammad (PEACE BE UPON HIM) of Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslim to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin. ON THIS DAY....

The Athan will be chanted on Capitol Hill, echoing off of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and other great edifices that surround Capitol Hill

Thousands of Muslims from all races, creeds, colors and ethnicities will gather for the sole purpose of prayer

Bonds of friendship will be formed between those in attendance, both Muslims and Non-Muslims
Muslim youth will experience tours of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.

The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America's capitol.

A DAY OF ISLAMIC UNITY...

Jummah prayerCapitol Hill September 25, 2009
ISLAMONCAPITOLHILL.COM

OUR TIME HAS COME

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The above is copied directly from their website which is highlighted above.

CONSTITUTION WEEK

The tradition of celebrating Constitution Week was started many years ago by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

In 1955, the DAR petitioned Congress to set aside September 17-23 annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week.

The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congree and signed into Public Law #915, on August 2, 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Constitution Week is commemorated September 17-23.

Let us all do our part in reminding America that the Constitution is a living document that guarantees the freedoms Americans enjoy.


Honoring our beloved Constitution has stood us well for these 222 years.

At this time in our history, when some of our elected officials are disregarding The Constitution, let us lift our voices and our prayers in unison that our nation not fail to abide by it.

A GODLY MAN

Mickey & I attended the funeral of a most Godly Man Saturday.

His name was James (Jim to us - Jimmy to his family) Blackwell. He was 63 years old and he & his wonderful wife, Barbara, were married 46 years and had a daughter & a son. We knew the entire family, except the daughter who lives in Arkansas.

Jim had been ill for many, many years and yet all the times we were every around him you NEVER heard him complain. Everyone at the funeral had the same 2 things to say about Jim. #1 - "I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone." & #2 - "You couldn't be around Jim for 5 minutes before he found out if you knew Jesus and would tell you about him if you didn't. " Barbara was a wonderful wife who never left Jim's side and was faithful, caring and loved him deeply.

It was a joyous funeral as so many spoke the above truths about Jim & Barbara. The music selections were perfect for Jim - "Amazing Grace" - "If You Could See Me Now" and "I Can Only Imagine". Yes, we could SEE Jim now and we could only IMAGINE what a joyous homecoming he had.

Funerals always put things in perspective for us humans as we are forced to recognize and realize our mortality if only for a brief moment. This one made me so keenly aware of something else......what will be our legacy? What will people be saying about us and the lives and testimonies we lived for our Lord and Savior? It is certainly something we need to ponder.

The funeral was held at the church we use to attend several years ago. It was such a joy seeing so many of our friends from that Body of Christ and getting their hugs. I so look forward to the time we will all just be Brothers and Sisters in Christ without the barrier of various brand churches!!! Jim, our friend, we'll all see ya there in Heaven at the throne of God!!

ALIYAH

Aliyah means = People returning to Israel

This is a wonderful book I read several months ago and just now getting around to sharing here on my blog.

I have been walking through a time of learning more about our Jewish roots. What an exciting walk this has been ...... and IS! I am far from finished and enjoying every minute of it.

"Aliyah" is the history of God calling forth His people from the various parts of the world where He had scattered them due to their disobedience. This could not, and did not, occur until after Israel became a nation in 1948. It started then and is continuing unto this day.

The thing that moved me the most about reading this book was I came to realize the love God, the Father, has for the LAND itself. The actual, physical land. Because God made man from the dust of the earth that very dust/land is most precious to HIM. I have always understood that the land belonged to the Jewish people, because God had given it to them, but I did not understand, until reading this book, how important it was to God to have his creation back on THIS very soil.

If you are interested in our Jewish roots I would highly recommend this book.

Hands & Hearts....for HIM!!

Posting today on Hands & Hearts......for HIM!!! frugal blog.

Please come by and visit there.

Have a wonderful, blessed day.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY #6 - The Tapestry of our lives

Spiritual Sunday again. Go here and visit the other blogs who are posting on this Sabbath Day.

I love the way, and ways, God chooses to speak to us.

One of the ways I have seen God speak to me is about the Tapestry of our lives. He has given me an insight of the beautiful tapestry that He, and He alone, is working out. That beautiful tapestry is not only my individual life but the bigger picture of other lives as well.

So many times, over the years, when I have looked at my life from my perspective all I have been able to see is the back side of that tapestry. What I see is a bunch of tangled threads, lots of knots, and seemly totally out of place colors and threads that are anything but beautiful. In fact it can be a real messy looking piece of work.

The reason I'm sharing these thoughts today is the realization of this principal brought home to me afresh and anew.

As many of you know, last October 9th my husband had open heart surgery in Oklahoma City. That morning our wonderful Pastor and his wife showed up at the hospital to pray and support me & our kids and to pray with Mickey before he went in for the surgery. That very mid-morning they had an interview with a young couple about a position in our church. That afternoon, the first people to visit Mickey, besides our family and our pastor, was another couple from our church. We were totally surprised with that visit. Four couples involved that day in this story.

Fast forward 10 months to see what God apparently had in mind that we had no idea of!! This young couple is dealing with a situation in their lives and pm Friday, August 21st we gave a helping hand by moving the young man into our 5th wheel as a place to live. Of course our Pastor and his wife are in this picture. On August 27th this couple who visited have offered him a job. 4 couples who on October 9th, 2008 had no idea what would be taking place bringing our lives together in August, 2009.

Where is this tale going with the 4 couples involved? I have no idea. But HE knows.

HE knew us all while we were yet in our mother's womb. HE knows the very hairs on our head. HE knows the number of our days. All we have to do is trust HIM and watch HIM work on our life tapestry. Sometimes, just sometimes, HE gives us a quick view of HIS wonderful work. We exclaim,

WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!

THE EVENT - Cry Out America

Friday, September 11th, was the big day of groups coming together in County Court Houses across our great country to Cry Out for America. The event was held at noon to 1:00 p.m. in the various time zones.

Ours was held at Wagoner County Court House in Wagoner, Oklahoma around this pavilion on the grassy area to the West of the building.

This is taken shortly after 11 a.m. as the various helpers began to arrive. We have been having rain almost every day but we had prayed that it would not rain until later this day.....and God answered our prayers with a beautiful, bright, sunshiny morning and noon hour.

Before the program began anointing oil was put around the perimeter and each of us participating in the program were anointed with oil.


The group from our church decided to wear red so this is a shot of some of that group but not all by any means.

At exactly 12 noon Carmel Field, the Wagoner Country Coordinator began the program by explaining that this was the 2nd year of this movement and how it was started by just one woman. Encouraging us to do what God leads us to do & places on our heart.

First on the program was a scripture reading and invocation by Pastor Joe Cicchino of Vision of Love Fellowship, Onita, Pastor Cicchino and his wife use to live in NYC and had personal experience with the World Trade Center and knew people who lost their life on 9/11/01.

A picture of some of the crowd.

Deborah Reed sang a special song she had composed, "Only One God".

Antonia Nozicka sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and then lead all of us in singing "Amazing Grace" & "Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus".

I read II Chronicles 7:8-22 and talked about how these scriptures applied to us in American turning away from God's principals that our country was founded on, just as God's people in the O.T. had turned away from God's commandments back then. My prayer focused on Repentance.

Pastor Gary Rogers, First Assembly of God, Coweta gave readings on revival and prayer focused on the Salvation of non-Christians.

Another view of the crowd in the pavilion.

Bro. Cecil "Butch" Ashlock, Jr. , from Open Bible Fellowship, Wagoner, gave interesting and inspiring quotes by our early founding fathers showing their love and dependence on God in forming and estaslishing our Republic.

Then Bro. Butch and his wife, Flo, blew their shofars. Oh, what a glorious sound, the trump of God that we all hope to hear soon!!!

Carmel Field closed the meeting with prayer and played a song about the youth rising up to serve God and a Prophecy by Evangelist Kim Clement.

It was a lovely service, in a lovely setting, on a beautiful day with about 60 in attendance. We know that God does not despise small beginnings and that God always uses a Raiment to accomplish His plans and purposes.

It made Mickey & I proud to be part of this nation wide event and occasion. I thank those of you who joined us in prayer during that hour on 9/11/09.

After the event Mickey & I had the pleasure of taking our Pastor Gary and his wife, Paula, out to lunch and had a wonderful visit and time.

GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!!!

Addemdum: I am so thankful to live in a State and a County that has not outlawed our Christian Faith. Read my post PROUD TO BE AN OKIE.