Women of Promise

  Leaving a Legacy: What My Father Taught Me Through His Death The line of people stretched almost completely around the small, quaint country church that hot evening in June.   By the end of that night, close to a thousand individuals would walk through the wooden double doors of Fairview Baptist Church in rural Greene County, Tennessee. They filed down the side aisle lined with stained glass windows, waiting patiently to shake my hand, give me a hug, whisper small condolences or share a memory.   Slowly, they made their way across the front of the church to offer similar comforts to my husband, eleven siblings, brothers-in-law, and grandmother. After passing the casket and spray after spray of beautiful flowers, the majority of these kind folk found a seat in the hard, wooden pews (some chose to stand in the back and foyer) and waited for the line to end, so that the memorial service could begin.   It started over an hour later than scheduled, to allow for the ...

       I'd like to encourage you to come out to our Wednesday night Bible studies, if you do not already do so!  We are very blessed with teaching leaders who really dig into the Word of God each week.  The teaching and fellowship with our church family is such a needed boost to my heart in the middle of busy weekdays.  It is a reset of my  spiritual focus, and I am so very thankful for the studies that the teachers bring each week.  This week's devotional is not written by me, but I found it to be a wonderful extension of our recent study in the book of Job, led by Brother Tyler on Wednesday nights. I pray that it will bring a greater love and trust in our Creator God to your heart, as it did mine.      " The Parable of the Teacup" There was a couple who used to go to shop in beautiful antique stores.  One day the woman saw a beautiful china teacup.  She picked it up to admire it and was startled when the teacup...

     Everything worth having requires effort.  Healthy bodies, healthy marriages, or healthy lifestyles   do not just happen without intentionality, work, and cultivation. The same is true of a deep relationship with Christ.  It requires a focused, intentional effort on our part to start and maintain a lifestyle of learning and loving Him. While all of our salvation is secured in Christ, and His work only, there is an element of our faith that requires us to act.        Revelation 2:1 speaks of the church at Ephesus and commends them for their patient endurance and not growing weary in the work of the Lord.  This tells us that living out the calling of the gospel in our lives is not always easy!  Now, all along the way God offers us His strength and tremendous blessing.  We will see the benefits of this effort!  However, the church at Ephesus was doing all the right things, but had lost their "first love."  ...

       Life is so uncertain. We never know what is going to be thrown at us. All the self-help or parenting books in the world, cannot truly prepare you for that feeling  that comes when you actually experience an event. The truth is that all of us experience anxiety, fear, grief, and sorrow.  It is part of our fallen nature. Adam and Eve did not know fear or anxiety until they disobeyed in the Garden. Ever since, humanity has been crippled with the effects of sin, deeply imbedded in each heart from birth.      Satan has so many lies that he wants us to believe.  One such lie is that we will always be controlled by our fears and anxiety. He wants us to think that we will always be consumed by grief.  He wants us to believe that God is not enough.  Somehow, someway, we have to do something or find some magic potion that will help us "snap" out of our circumstances and finally have joy, money, and satisfaction.  These are ju...