Youth Meeting

We took our youth choir to Zion Hill Baptist Church in Marion tonight and the only word I can say to describe it is "good."

They had a combined youth choir with all of the churches that came for the meeting and then our youth choir sang, followed by the Daughters of Faith, the Simpson family, and Brother Spears and his wife. LeAnna was able to give her testimony of salvation and it pricked the heart of another girl in the congregation and she came forward and got saved.

Her brother, an eighteen year old preacher boy, was about to shout the roof off. He was actually the first one to get up and preach. He did a good job and Harrison liked him a lot. Brother Spears was the second preacher that preached tonight. He was a member of the Hell's Angels when God got a hold of him. I could have listened to him preach and sing all night. The whole time he was preaching I was wishing a young man our family knows could hear what this man had to say. It was amazing! He was really good. He and his wife both had a really sweet spirit about them.

The church fed us a hot dog supper and then we traveled on back down the mountain. We had a great time. My heart is full from this week and I can't wait to hear what happened at the jubilee tonight.

We have our Mother-Daughter banquet tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to taking my girl and my mama. I know we'll have a good time. It's been a long week, but, boy, has it been refreshing!

Thursday Night Jubilee

We had another great night at jubilee. With all of these storms that have been taking place, God has allowed each night to pass with no storms around us. We've had gentle winds keeping us cool. It's been wonderful.

We heard music from Brother Zorn's family tonight. They use to be a trio, but then one got married. :) I knew I had heard Brother Zorn before and then when I saw his family with him tonight I realized I had heard him at a camp meeting a few years ago. We heard from the Phillips family and the Price family also. I've never heard the Price family. They were a blessing. They seemed to have a sweet spirit.

Brother Bob Cato preached first. I always like to hear him. He preached from Revelation 22. And Brother Williamson preached from all over the Bible. I always like hearing him too and tonight was no exception. He preached on everything. Mainly to teenagers and parents. I wish every teenager and every parent could have been there to hear it. The good news from tonight? One young man accepted Christ. Praise the Lord!!

Before we knew about the jubilee meetings, we were already scheduled to take our youth choir to sing at a revival. So tomorrow night we'll be in another meeting. I'm looking forward to it. I don't know who's preaching, but I know it will be good. I always enjoy going to this church. They have some good services too.

But if you're in town and can make it, stop by the Crossroad's Rescue Mission Jubilee and on hwy 18. I know they'd love to have ya. Services start in the morning at 9:00 at the Faith Baptist Church on South Post Road and the evening service is at 7:00 under the Crossroad's tent on hwy 18. Dinner on the grounds before that if you're interested.

I received an email wanting to know why I had turned off my comments. I decided to do that for a while. I've been so busy I haven't had a whole lot of time for blogging, facebook, or any other playtime on the Internet. So it's just easier to blog and not worry about comment moderation. I'll open it back up once everything settles down around here. In the meantime, you'll just have to enjoy reading. :)

Third Night of Jubilee...Only Two More Left

We had another great night at jubilee tonight. Last night we heard from Vintage Faith, and Missy and Amanda. Then we heard the Word from Kody Zorn. We knew it was going to be good when he broke out his harmonica and started playing and singing. He preached like a ball of fire and we really enjoyed him. I believe two people were saved last night.

Tonight our youth choir, Daughters of Faith, Missy and Amanda, and a man by the name of Chuck Compton sang. He sang one of my favorite songs, Did I Mention that I Love Him.

Several area churches had their Wednesday night meeting under the Crossroad's tent tonight. It was wonderful seeing a dozen or more pastors stand in support of the mission. Then Pastor Goodman preached on "Whatcha Givin' 'Em?" with his text from Acts 3. It was really good!! Love my Pastor. And the best part? Three more souls accepted Christ. That's a total of eight so far this week. Praise the Lord!

Jubilee will be going on Thursday and Friday morning at Faith Baptist Church on South Post Road and then again Thursday and Friday night under the Crossroad's tent on Hwy 18. Hope to see you there.

It's Jubilee Time!

We had the first night of the Crossroad's Rescue Mission Jubilee Monday night. Our choir sang, the Rochester family was there, and we heard some great preaching.

The rescue mission has been hit with some hurt recently. Hurt that has been based on man's opinion instead of the Word of God. I believe tonight was an encouragement to Brother Rocky. He needed it.

The message was "It Ain't Over Until God Says It's Over." His text was from Rev 21:1-6. And the best part of the night was a young man in the youth group accepted Christ. He's coming to church with his uncle. And then there were others saved after the service. Not sure how many so I can't really give an accurate count. I know there was definitely one lady. And then two others raised their hands, but I'm not sure if they went forward. I would hope they didn't deny the Holy Spirit. How sad for them if they did!

I'm already looking forward to tomorrow night. Vintage will be there singing and then the preacher coming is a young fireball. It'll be good!!

Best quote from tonight:
"When you fall in love with Jesus, you'll stop your criticizing the work of the Lord."

A Beautiful Resurrection Day!

We had a beautiful Resurrection Day. My niece came over before Sunday school. She's been attending our church and it's been a blessing. She's going through the police academy right now and will graduate in May. We're very proud of her.

Anyway, our day started out nice. The morning service was wonderful. Pastor Goodman preached a great message. The church building was so packed we were in "over flow" mode. Which is always a good thing, right? We had a couple join our church this morning and we are so blessed to have them as part of our congregation. Then tonight we had lots of singing and some popcorn preaching from the preachers in our church. It was phenomenal! Alters were full both services with hearts touched and changed for the better. I know mine was.

We've had seven saved this month at church, plus a couple saved at home. Resurrection Day was a new day for them this year!! Amen.

Although we have a wonderful man of God behind the pulpit at Faith that we love and trust, I don't want to give him glory for what's been going on at our church. He wouldn't want that either. I am convinced that without his humbleness and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit it would be different circumstances. But I do want to give GOD the glory for what we are seeing at our church. He is good. He is worthy of the praise.

This week our church will be supporting the Crossroad's Rescue Mission Jubilee. They've faced difficult times recently, but we are amazed at God's blessings He has poured out on the mission and the staff through it all. We are excited to take part and you are welcome to join us every night this week on Hwy 18 in Shelby. Just look for the Crossroad's Rescue Mission camp meeting tent! You can't miss it. There is some good music lined up and best of all, some terrific preachers!! Hope to see you there.

Good Friday

KLM Contest Winner

KLM had a contest back in March and Jessiee was the winner of that contest. We had her photo shoot yesterday and got some great shots. Jessiee goes to our church, she's a beautiful girl and Hannah and I had fun with her and her friend, Dustin.
I haven't edited or loaded all of her pictures yet, but here are a few and there are more loaded to KLM's facebook fan page.

Thanks for entering the contest, Jessiee. You were a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy your pictures.

Baby Love

I took pictures of my great nephew Monday. I enjoyed it so much! He is such a little darling! How can you not love sweet little faces like this one? And those precious little toes, too?

*sigh* I love babies.

Harrison's Birthday

Harrison turned eleven this past Monday. He was on pins and needles all day long. He wanted me to make tacos so I did that with all the fixin's and Spanish rice. His Maw Maw and Grandmother came over to help celebrate. He was excited because he knew he would be getting some birthday money to go with what he has been saving for his iPod Touch. He also wanted me to make his cake so I did. It was a double decker chocolate devil's food cake with chocolate icing, chocolate dollops, and chocolate sprinkles. That's what he wanted so that's what he got. He had his Maw Maw bring chocolate mint ice cream and banana split ice cream. He definitely has a sweet tooth. He inherited that from his dad, for sure! lol Anyway, when he gathered all his birthday money plus what he had been saving he had enough for his iPod. So Tuesday when I finished the house I clean I took him to pick it out. His daddy loaded it for him with some fun apps and videos and he's been having a ball with it ever since. As a matter of fact, his brother and sister have been having fun with it too. I'm glad you got the iPod you wanted, Harry. I'm proud of you for being so good at saving your money. You're awesome!! :)

Murfreesboro Trip, 2011

For the past several years we have taken our youth to the camp meeting held at Middle Tennessee Baptist Church, where Brother Tony Hutson is the Pastor. Every year it is always a blessing and our youth group comes home fired up. This year was no different. They brought back a sweet spirit and four people were saved in our Sunday morning service with one saved in our evening service. Praise the Lord! We left our church around 9:00 am Thursday morning and headed up the mountain. It took about all day in the bus. Around thirty-five of us were able to go with around ten coming up Friday on a van. We had a great group. The bus did not get there in time for the Thursday service so we checked into our hotel, had some free time, ate pizza for supper, and had devotions. Three of our preacher boys took turns bringing the devotions and did an excellent job.

After devotions, the kids gathered around for prayer, asking God to open their hearts and fill them up during the meetings.

We celebrated Caleb's birthday. He and his family just moved back here from Alabama just in time to go to the meeting. His birthday was Thursday, so his mom had a giant birthday cookie to enjoy.

After the birthday celebration they were given free time again. A couple of the kids sat at a table testifying to one another. Then a few more came around and joined in. And then a few more, until almost all of them were crying and testifying. It was a beautiful time and I was so proud of them. Dana and I were watching from a distance and had some private, one on one chats later with a couple of them. It was such a blessing.

The Friday morning service went until around 11:45 and we were dismissed. We had lunch at a mall where the kids could choose what they wanted, then back to the hotel for free time and naps, and back to evening services which let out around midnight. We were EXHAUSTED Saturday morning. But they were all up, packed, and had the bus loaded by 8:30 am. Services started at 10:00 and we left after lunch on the grounds to come back home. We had a scary moment on the bus when we found out there were storms ahead of us. We did go through hail, but the Lord helped Brother Chris get us through it! We heard Eleven preachers in that short amount of time we were there and it was worth every single minute! We heard some of the best sermons up there! So here's some pics from the services.

People praying before services began....

Brother Spears, Brother Thomas, and Brother Hutson laughing at Pastor Goodman while he was preaching on being "cool." It was hilarious.

There was a lot of praising the Lord!!

We also heard some fantastic singing while we were there, from the choir and other groups.

I was thrilled to find out the Simpson family was going to be there. We heard preaching from Brother Simpson and got to hear their family sing several songs.

The music was really good, but the preaching was the best part! I didn't get all the preacher's pictures, but here are a few of the ones we heard. And did I mention the sermons were really good!??!

Of IFB Churches and Birthdays

I only saw a portion of ABC's 20/20 episode on IFB churches. The portion I saw was about one church and a girl that had a pitiful story to tell. Not sure what the rest of the episode was about. But I found stupidity in the episode that they would link all IFB churches together with this one church, as some tyrannical cult. Can you say liberal media? IFB churches claim fundamentalism, meaning we stand on the fundamentals of the Bible. The "I" in IFB simply put is for Independent. Basically, that means we are not governed under sects, conventions, or committees. We are each our own. Just because a church claims to be IFB, doesn't mean we are all alike or do things like that one church. If the story I saw on 20/20's Saturday episode is true, they should have featured that church and that pastor all on their own instead of linking all IFB churches together like that. It was ridiculous. What a crock! And that's all I have to say about that. Except this...Someone had mentioned in Sunday School that a portion of the episode criticized us for believing the entirety of the Bible. I sure do believe that. But not because I am IFB. It is because I am a CHRISTIAN and believe the HOLY BIBLE is God's WORD! The Bible is true from beginning to end. Some will accept portions of it and some will accept all of it. That's up to the reader. There will come a day when everyone will realize that the King James Bible is the Holy, WORD of God. It is not man written. It is God-breathed, AMEN! And for those of us who are living right, doing right, and trying to live for the Lord, we don't have to like what is being said or done against us, but we can rejoice in knowing that God is on our side. Matthew 5: 10-13 "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a more pleasant note, it is Harrison's birthday today. YAY! He is now eleven. Harrison is a great kid with a hilarious sense of humor. He keeps us in stitches sometimes. He is growing in the Lord and I am amazed at some of the things he says and some of the discernment he has in certain areas of right and wrong. I'm proud of him and the young man he has become so far. We will celebrate tonight by having the grandmothers over. He wanted tacos, Spanish rice, and chocolate cake. So I have to get busy on all of that soon. Happy Birthday, Harrison! I sure do love you a whole lot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had a great time in Murfreesboro, Tennessee this past weekend at Brother Tony Hutson's church. I'll have a blog post and some pictures to share with you about that trip soon.

Of Revivals and French Press On Nails

We took the teen choir to Brother Boone's church Tuesday night. Man, was it good! First of all, the kids did a fantastic job singing. It was like 200 kids were in the choir. I was so proud of all of them. The visiting evangelist was Brother Sam Delaney. He's preaches in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but he's originally from Ireland. Loved his accent! He preached on the three little pigs of Christianity. The Phifer Pig, the Fiddler Pig, and the Practical Pig. It was something else. I'd love to have that on DVD or CD. I got some pictures of the kids singing and I might post those when I have more time. After the service, Pastor had us drive the kids to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and fellowship. It was fun. Brother Mark had us rolling with some of his jokes and "Su Wong" was requested. So I did "Su" for some of the employees at DQ who got a crack up out of her. I have never gone to have my nails done. Can you believe that? I think I'm probably the only woman I know that hasn't. LOL But Mander bought some press on French nails and I thought they looked great so I decided to get me some too. I put them on last night and I have to say I don't like how they feel. It's so unnatural. They're pretty. They just don't feel right. I guess it'll take some getting use to because they're not popping off anytime soon, I'm afraid. I did exactly what the directions said to do and these things are GLUED ON! So like 'em or not, they're there. 'Bout the time I get use to them they'll start cracking and popping off. lol It's about 6:30am right now. The birds are just-a-singing outside. So sweet. Can you imagine how God would feel if we all woke up like that each morning? Psalm 98:1 "O sing unto the LORD, a new song, for he hath done marvellous things: His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory." I'm excited about this weekend. I'll fill you in more on that later. But yay, yay, yay!! It's gonna be a great weekend!!!

Staying Public

We've had some steller services at Faith. Another person was saved in the morning service Sunday and it was wonderful. If it makes us this happy when someone gets saved, can you imagine what goes on in Heaven? The response to my April Fool's post was great. Y'all are good sports. I did have someone at church tell me they were near tears and when they got to the bottom they wanted to kill me. I'm sorry, Mrs. Carolyn. You know I love you. :) If I EVER have a bad day like the one in that post, I doubt I'll blog about it. Just sayin'.... I've also received some very kind comments and responses to Thimble Thoughts going private. After some pretty good reasons as to why I shouldn't go private I've decided to keep it public. To be honest, there are people in my personal life I really do not wish having access to my blog. Not to mention annonymous comments that are either, not very nice, or people trying to cause trouble. And then there are websites that like to critique blogs like mine. Blogs where people like to talk about all the "wacky" things IFB people do and say and how they live. And their response to *us* becoming upset over that fact is that, what we're putting on the Internet is out there for anyone to read so we shouldn't get upset when they talk about *us.* And you know what? They're right. We shouldn't. I mean...we're out there. It's up to us how much people know about us, our families, and our beliefs. So if we put it out there, why should we be upset when people talk about *us.* People will always find something to talk about. And if you hand it to them, you can't very well get upset. If you don't like it you have to take steps to change what information you give them or just learn to ignore it. When you're living for the Lord there will always be *that* crowd out there that doesn't understand. That's Bible for ya. There are Pharisees that will claim Christianity and yet they will do everything BUT live for Christ or they'll strive to do things to impress the people that do everything BUT live for Christ. It is easier to go with the flow of the world than it is to die to self and live for Christ. See, that's Bible too. The spirit is willing...but the flesh is weak. I recently found out about this site and while I was reading, I literally became obsessed with what was being said. I found what was being said about me. It wasn't too, too bad. Much nicer, I suppose, than what was being said about my other IFB bloggy friends. One person really surprised me, though. They claimed they knew me and said some very untrue things. And I have to admit that the people that brought Thimble Thoughts to *said site* in the first place started taking up for me. I mean one guy nailed it to the wall with something they said and that person, as far as I know, never came back to rebuttle. It was great. I'm sorry, that's my flesh speaking. Several things I read made me want to join and *GIVE THEM A PIECE OF MY MIND* for some of the things they were saying about my friends. Friends I know in real life and friends I know through blogging. But then I got to thinking...what good would it do? They feed their need to talk about *us* through angry fundamentalists. I was sharing something the Lord showed me to some of these bloggy friends that have been "eaten" up on this site and had read these things already themselves. For one thing I hoped to encourage them. And for another, the Lord showed me that *we* don't have to worry about them. HE will worry about them for *us.* Here's what I shared with my friends:

"2 John 1:8 says, "Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward." When you're dealing with the Internet, it is very easy to lose sight of those things we, as Christians, believe in and stand for. Not that it makes us weak, but some of the things out there don't exactly give us spiritual strength. *said site* being one of those places. If anything, I find my flesh becoming quite weak there. So it was good I disconnected myself from their site and plunged further into the Word and Christian blogs that uplifted, encouraged, and fed my spiritual needs. And I know that we are to be in the world and not of the world, but there's no reason for me to be on *said site*. I don't have to be there and I don't believe God wants me there either. It's kind of like walking into a bar to witness to the patrons, if that makes sense. Then reading over more of 2 John, verse ten popped out and reaffirmed that *said site* and all those other places like that aren't just bad, but they are a SIN to go to as well. LOL I know what you're thinking. A sin? Really? Yeah, a sin. Verse 10 says, "If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him NOT into your house, neither bid him God speed." Now, on that particular site you have Mormons, JWs, Catholics, athiests, agnostics, people that claim Christianity and just want to sow discord and such. And everytime I go to that site, I'm inviting them into my house!! And it is clear we are not to do that. But that's what I've been doing. And I had to ask forgiveness and ask the Lord to help my nosy-self stay off that stupid site."

If they come here to Thimble Thoughts, they are inviting me into their home, or wherever it is they may be at the time. If they want to read what I have to say, so be it. But just like I don't have to go to their website, they don't have to come to my blog. And they don't have to like what is said on my blog, just like I don't have to like what is said on their website. :) Now, do I have something against Mormons, JWs, Catholics, athiests, agnostics, people that claim Christianity and just want to sow discord and such? Not personally, no. How can I? I once walked in the same darkness they walk in today. I Corinthians 6:9a, 6:11 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?.... And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Hey, these people need prayer. These people truly need Jesus. I certainly can not speak for all of them, but I can tell you now, that *said site* has some bitter Christians and professed unbelievers on it that *we* are not to have fellowship with. The Bible does warn us of having fellowship with those that are not like minded and preach not the gospel *we* preach. I can be friendly to them. I just can't be FRIENDS with them. To you that have come here and are members of *said site* you are always welcome to be here, where the cause of Christ, the name of Christ, and the love of Christ will be high and lifted up and you will always be treated with mutual respect. To Sisters that have been mocked, abused, cursed, and hated by *said site* I want to encourage you to stay away from *said site*. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

May I PLEASE Start This Day Over????

I sure wish I could turn the clock back a few hours and start this whole day over!!! It's only a little after 1:00 and I'm really wishing the day was completely over. It started with me waking up to Bruce coming in from work. In the wee hours of the morning Wednesday, he was at work when he gashed his arm open needing ten stitches. He's fine. But let me tell ya, it's gross. I couldn't be a nurse to save my life. Anyway, he comes in this morning from work and told me he had pulled his stitches out. Apparently his work glove was the culprit and his supervisor ended up taking him back to the hospital for restitching. Nice, huh? I got up shortly after making sure he was all right. He was. So I went to check on Harrison. Harrison was running a fever last night with sore throat, coughing, and sinus congestion. He was not feeling well at all. And this morning his fever had spiked to 103.5 and climbing. So of course I gave him Tylenol, along with his Robitussin medicine. After he takes it he tells me Bruce had already given him a dose of each before he went to bed. So within a matter of an hour he had two Tylenol and four tsps of Robitussin. Next thing I know he's sleeping heavily on the couch. I was a little worried about him, but he seems to be doing all right. Just sleeping it off, I guess. Hannah told mom she'd clean her house today so I took her over there. Mom's been out of town so needless to say I was shocked to find her door wide open and alarm going off. I called the police and they were on their way. Apparently I got there just when it happened. I saw someone running across her back yard and jump in a truck on the side road. They sped out of there but I called the police again to tell them know what happened. One police went their direction and another stopped in to check things out and take a report. I was afraid to leave Hannah there by herself but figured if the cops were hot on their trail, she should be all right. Plus she knows how to use mom's gun if she needs to and the officer said he would come by a few times today. I called to check on Harry. He was fine. Justin said he was still sleeping but ok. I told Justin not to leave him alone and to check on him periodically to make sure he was all right. Then I just sat in the car trying to regroup my thoughts. When I was finally ready to move on with the day I started backing out of the driveway. I saw Hannah waving to me on the front porch and I waved back. Next thing I know I've hit something. What was it you ask? Remember that police car that was hot on the thief's trail? Yeah....he stopped at mom's to let me know they caught the guy. I didn't see him pulling in the drive when I was backing up. I HIT THE COP CAR! I thought for sure I was going to jail. He was really nice about everything, but of course had to fill out ANOTHER report. By now I'm in tears. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and give up. And what was my husband going to say about the tail light on our car? Oh, and Hannah wasn't waving goodbye. She was trying to tell me about the cop car. Now that all of this was over I wasn't sure if I wanted to go grocery shopping or just go home and crawl back in bed. But onward and forward I went. As I'm on one side of the highway I see, on the other side of the highway, a truck pulled to the side of the road that looks just like Justin's truck. But no, I told him not to leave Harrison so that couldn't be him. I decided to stop at the house and check on Harry and sure enough....Justin's truck is gone. There was a note on the table saying Harrison was fine and that he had some errands to run before work. Harrison WAS fine, but now what about Justin. So I hop back into the car and head up the highway again. There was his truck, but he was no where in sight. I traveled on up to the next exit and found him walking toward the gas station. He had run out of gas. So we ended up having to buy a gas can and gas to fill his truck enough to get it to the gas station. Everything was fine. So after we were finished with his truck and he was on his way I went to the store. Now, this is where I'm near a total breakdown. Everything is going great in the store...that is until I pick up a jar of salsa and knock another jar off with my arm. It shatters and splatters all over the place. And now I have salsa all over my canvas tennis shoes. LOVELY! I get someone to help me and they insist on cleaning it up but I can tell they're a little miffed. Wouldn't you be? I finish my grocery shopping and head to the register. I pull out my coupons and don't you know that eleven out of seventeen coupons had expired??? *blush* I just know she thought I was trying to pull one over on her. After hearing my total I go to write a check and guess what? The checkbook is in Bruce's bill drawer at home. Are you kidding me????? Oh yeah. So I decide to put it on the credit card. Uhhhh....that ain't happenin' either. I used the credit card yesterday online and left it sitting on my table next to the computer. So I threw my hands up in the air and walked out of the store, crying all the way to the car. I sat in the parking lot for about twenty minutes sobbing. And this is where it gets comical. Everything, except Bruce getting stitches Monday and Harrison being sick last night has been a total fabrication in honor of April Fool's Day. I've actually had a great day and you've just been had! :)