Watch Night Service

Tonight, we will gather as a church family to usher in the New Year with praises to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This new year promises great hope for things unseen and not thought of. I am thankful to my God for His mercies on me in previous years that were not spent praising Him and His goodness.

BEAMS

In July 2006, my friend Tina asked me if I could come to BEAMS for just a day and help the bookkeeper with a few things in QuickBooks. Tina and I were members of the same church and before that we knew each other through our previous jobs. She was the receptionist at an accounting firm that my previous employer had founded and since retired from. In November of 2005 I had left my job of ten years for what I hoped was a much better position but which turned out to be only an avenue that God used to exit me from that job and lead me to work permanently as the BEAMS bookkeeper. What was originally supposed to be a consultation visit soon grew into a restructuring of BEAMS accounting and from that it became a calling on my life. I struggled with the decision from July until January; first I committed to a couple of weeks, then a month longer and then six months. By January I knew that I was committed to using my talents to help missionaries around the world have hardcover complete King James Bibles to give to new converts. Through the sacrificial giving of individuals and fundamental Baptists churches, BEAMS has been able to send out over 100,000 Bibles during the year 2007 at no cost to the missionaries. I must admit that this was a "promise" that I almost missed. I rejected it for months as I tried to direct my own path, the one that I had started and the one that I thought would receive approval from those around me. As I look back I thank God for His mercies, He never needed me to accomplish His work at BEAMS yet he offered it to me and then patiently waited for me to recognize that yet again He had been faithful to fulfill another promise. I had prayed for eight years that God would give me a job that I could use me talents, one that would bring joy to my life and that I would know that I was in His will. Never, and I mean never did I specifically ask Him to put me in a ministry, you see this would not have fit the mold of the job that I thought would meet with every one's approval. He still gave it to me. God is so good to His children even when we don't deserve it. I pray that I will never be as stubborn as I was for those eight years. I want to see God's plan for my life and to do that I must look up and not down at the path I am on.

In case you missed it - the path God had me on was leading me to BEAMS all along. It was no accident that I was trained as a bookkeeper by a 30 year retired CPA, that I met Tina and she was aware of my qualifications, or that God moved us from a church that we loved to Red Creek Baptist where BEAMS was supported, then that Tina took a job at BEAMS, that I had just completed a temporary position I had taken while I waited on the perfect job to come along and that Tina contacted me when they began to look for help with their accounting. There are more details that all point to God's perfect path but this post is already longer than I intended. Isaiah 55:8 reads, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD."

New Year's Eve

I'm enjoying a four day weekend before beginning a new year at work which is always the busiest for a bookkeeper. I think this blog could be a good way to reflect back on the events of the day and let God show me where we have been and where He is taking me. There is so much that my God wants to do for me, He has always been faithful to do exceedingly more than I ever hoped for. He has always been willing to bless me with all of His promises but too many times I simply would not accept them. I pray that I will look up to the heavens during 2008 and embrace every promise that He has made me. Most times when we are offered something new it is a little frightening. We like to be in control and know what to expect. We say that we want something new but our fear prevents us from having it. I want to let go of all fear and allow God to show me things I never knew about.

2007 has been a tough year for me. I have grown in the Lord which means that I have not been in my comfort zone a whole lot. I have seen events set into motion that ultimately will help fulfill more of God's promises. These events have tested my faith and my commitment to God but I trust that God will use each situation to bring honor and glory to His name and I praise Him that He is allowing me to be a part of what He is doing. I have a promise in Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Savannah & Kevin

It was the last week in October when I met Kevin at BEAMS. He was on deputation and had come to Gulfport to spend a few weeks preaching in some area churches in hopes of raising support before he goes back to Zambia, Africa on January 15, 2008. BEAMS was also responsible for loading and shipping a container to Kafulafuta Baptist Missions in Zambia, Kevin used the opportunity to pack a few items on the container before it was to leave Gulfport. Kevin was staying in our guest rooms on the grounds of BEAMS; we offer them to missionaries as we try to be a blessing to them and support their ministry.

Kevin was like family from the first day. Everyone at BEAMS fell in love with Kevin. He was unique in that he is a single man - most of the missionaries that stay at BEAMS have a wife and children. One by one, each of the staff came to me with the same question, "Have you thought about Kevin for Savannah?" Yes, I had thought about my daughter and our daily prayer during devotion at BEAMS; we had prayed for God to send her a "godly husband." It wasn't as simple as it sounds in print but God did make a way for the two of them to meet before Kevin left to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with his mom in Rochester, NY. He returned to Gulfport the first of December to visit a few more churches and they were able to spent some time together getting to know each other. Before he left Gulfport for the last time, the two of them agreed that they wanted to continue a relationship together. They bought tickets for Vannah to visit Kevin in NY during the New Year's holidays. That's where she is today! Only God knows how this will all develop but for now they really like each other and Mama thinks Kevin just might be part of one of the promises I have from God. A mother wants her children to be in God's perfect will. She wants God to do big things in the lives of her children. I have always asked God to use Savannah and I can't think of a bigger way to use her than if she should be the wife of a God called preacher that is taking the saving Gospel to people who have never heard the name Jesus.

My heart is full. And yes, I am nervous when I think of the possibility of my little girl living so far from me. But for now they are only dating and I think that is wonderful. Pray for them that God will speak clearly and that they will obey His leading. Pray for us as a family that we will seek God's grace to embrace all that He wants to do in and through our family. I want to enjoy all of His promises.

My Kids

Josh, Briony, Noah, Isaac & Seth


Vannah, Noah, Isaac & Seth

My Girls

Last January, after much prayer and leading, I offered a new Sunday School class to the young women in our church. In the previous months, many young families had joined our church family and my heart was burdened for these young women that were attempting to begin a walk with God. Most of them had very little discipling up to this point and almost everything about the Christian life was new to them. Some of the things that they had been taught was not always in keeping with our beliefs at Red Creek Baptist Church. My desire is to create an environment that encourages these young women to grow in the Lord using the Bible as a guide. I pray that they will strengthen one another by praying for each other and becoming sisters in Christ. God has given us each other to help us grow. These young women want to grow and I am priveliged to be there for them.

The class started very small. Savannah, Jamie, Amanda, Korey, Carmen, Allison, Julie & Candice are our current members. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with these young women each Sunday. My role as teacher has held me to a higher standard than I once set for myself. They are watching me and listening to my every word; it is an awesome responsibility to teach. Sadly, this is the first time for some to come together with other women and discuss the things of God. They are hungry for instruction. Praise be to God, I have already seen tremendous growth in these young lives.

We began by learning what the Bible teaches concerning the women's role in the church and in the home. The topics are endless; I've lost track of the outlines that I have started at the beginning of the week, only to have God change my direction by Sunday morning. I do try to be sensitive to the Holy Ghost and allow Him to guide the direction of the class each week. My life has been full of both good and bad experiences that have proven to be an effective teaching tool for these young ladies that face the temptations from Satan and failed attempts at living a holy life. They respond to my honesty even though I always refrain from sharing graphic details of my past sins and disappointments. The details are not important but how they affected my life and what I have done to move past them is very important. People just want us to be real with them and allow them to be real. Most of these young women have not been raised in church and even the ones that have been in and out of church did not have a consistent godly influence in their lives. God has blessed me to be able to share my life experiences with these women; somehow redeeming those mistakes rather than them being all in vain.

Promises

I thought I would give this a try. I sometimes like to write down my thoughts but I usually don't share them with others. Maybe this blog will help me to keep track of the many changes that are going on in my life. I hope to look back at these posts one day and see the hand of God on the events of my life and know that He was in control all along.

I am married to the man I love more than life itself. After dating for seven years, Noel and I were married on August 4, 2000. It has taken us many years to get to a place where God can use us. I thank Him for a husband that loves Him and wants his family to serve Him. We live in a small town and our life revolves around our family, home and our church. God has blessed us more than we will ever deserve. Noel is a wholesale distributor for a snack cake company and I work as a bookkeeper for a Bible distribution ministry. I'll share more about BEAMS in a later post.

I am the mother of two grown children and the grandmother of three boys. Josh is 29 years old, Savannah is almost 25 years old, Noah is 8, Isaac 4 and Seth 2. Josh and his wife Briony along with the boys, live in Wasilla, Alaska where they work in the music industry. The boys are home schooled. September 2002, when Noah was 3, the family moved to Wasilla. Unfortunately the distance does not allow us to see each other much. Actually I have only seen the whole family one time; shortly after Seth was born and one other time when Josh and Noah made a trip home to Mississippi in August 2006. Life doesn't always seem very fair but God knows what is best.

Savannah is a graduate of USM and she works as a sales consultant for a cell phone company. She has been out of the house for two years now but she attends church with Noel and me as a family. We love our church and look forward to hearing the Word of God preached by our Pastor, Scotty Rayburn. God has blessed our lives and it is very humbling to see how He chooses to use us to accomplish His will. He is faithful to His promises and this mother has already enjoyed a great many of those promises; I look forward to seeing how He will use my children in the future to fulfill the promises He has made in the Bible. I hope you will check in often to find out what He is doing in and through my life and the lives of those I love.