How much does a prayer weigh?

SPECIAL GROCERY LIST

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.

Visualizing the family needs, she said: "Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can."

John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family.

The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, "Do you have a grocery list?"

Louise replied, "Yes sir."

"O.K" he said, "put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries."

Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down.The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, "I can't believe it."

The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.

It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:"Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands."

The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence.Louise thanked him and left the store.

The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said;"It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs."

This was an email I got today, just thought you might enjoy it!

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Is We Friends?

Friends don't let friends die without Jesus and go to Hell.

Have you heard about the "Last Lecture" Randy Pausch the guy who got diagnosed with pancreas cancer, given 3-6 mos to live, and gave an inspirational lecture about living your life to the fullest. He died last week.

He was a Unitarian Universalist. UUA Here is a quote from there "About us" section of their website... "Unitarian Universalism Association of Congregants is a liberal religion with Jewish-Christian roots. It has no creed. It affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and tries to provide a warm, open, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion."

I looked all over that site, even read their recommendations for calling a minister. I looked at a list of qualifications to be a minister. I didn't see ANYTHING about accepting Jesus as your savior. The closest I found was a general statement of "Love your neighbor." As a matter of fact it stated that their minister should no be bound by any creed or religious belief, but instead free to openly state his opinions.

The sad thing about this whole thing, is how he inspired millions, and yet what would he say to us now? At this very moment. I much suspect that he would beg like the rich man in hell who begged for someone to be allowed to be raised from the dead to warn his loved ones that Hell is real. (Luke 16:19-31)

The bible tells in Philippians, "Do not be deceived, God can not be mocked." You can make fun of God all you want to here on earth, and because He is a very powerful God who knows how to restrain Himself, He may not do a single thing to you, while you are here on earth, but we all live eternally some where...

Where will you spend eternity? Is we friends? Lets be better friends. Let me tell you about my friend. His name is Jesus, and many years ago, He died on a cross just because He wanted to spare you from your sins. You see, we are all sinners, we have all sinned and failed God, but God sent his only son, Jesus, to earth to take our sins on himself, and be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. All that you have to do is ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.

Just repeat this prayer, Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my life, forgive me of my sins and help me to turn my life over to you, and your plan. Amen.

If you read this blog and accepted Jesus into your heart for the first time, please comment me, I would like to get in touch with you and send you one of my books to encourage you to grow in God.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Ps. I didn't take that picture.

I love my church!

I love my church, there are two wonderful ladies I sing with... We blend so well... Here is a picture of us singing on Sunday. Their names are Edie (on the left), Glenda (in the middle), and Me...

Oh BTW... I am not just giving the singers extra time. We use a CD. We need a piano player, or a guitar player... Know any willing to play for free?? Shoot me an email.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Farwell BOW Award...

Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog this week and commented. I was honored to have been chosen.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

BFF & E

My BFF and I went to get our nails done... Well we got Mani's and pedi's
(manicures and pedicures). Here we are sitting in the pedicure chairs... drinking our Starbucks... (we went to see Sam at work).
Here are my toes finished with the nice little free flip flops... awww
She went for the pink, and I went for the red.
See our little toeses!
Thank you BFF Andriea!!!
I appreciate the treat!
tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Juliannah's new glasses

Isn't she a door bell? (code for adorable) They are actually red, but I guess with all the red around her, they look brown.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Crying over Monk-Monk

Crying Over Monk-Monk

When I was about 10, I was still very immature in many ways. One of those ways was my stuffed monkey, Monk-Monk. I loved Monk-Monk. My grandmother, Mama Dunk, gave him to me when I was about five for a Christmas present. I can still remember opening the box; he was in a shoebox. Never again… I thought. He was too precious to be in a mere shoebox. You have to understand, Monk-Monk gave me something I had a hard time finding anywhere else - unconditional love. I would lie in bed at night, and tell Monk-Monk all my woes and cares (as many as a 6 year old has) and he never judged me or argued with me. He simply listened, and I knew he loved me. Most importantly, he never made fun of me like most of the kids at school. He loved me.

My sister, Shannon, and my cousin, Terry, loved to tease me. Their favorite thing to do was mess with Monk-Monk. It would devastate me. They were so mean that once they hung him up in a china berry tree, suspended by fishing wire. Also included was a shoe of mine, a shirt, and well... some “unmentionables.” I would of course, as any good princess would, run to my grandmother, Granny Jones, and whine about how horrible they were treating me. That was only the tip of the things they did to Monk-Monk, and every time I would complain about how mean they were, Granny Jones would always tell me the same thing, “If you just ignore them they will quit.”

One day after Granny and I returned from a trip to the store, sure enough, as we walked in the door, there dangling above our heads, was Monk-Monk, suspended from the door chain by his neck. I was devastated. Absolutely mortified that my beloved was treated so… I ignored it though. I went straight to my bed, and cried myself to sleep. It took all the strength I had, and I probably prayed to God for more, to help me not go get Monk-Monk down. But guess what? Granny was right! That was the last time they ever tortured Monk-Monk.

As I was thinking about this, I was struck by how Granny didn’t punish them; she taught me how to deal with it. I think she realized something important; I can’t control others; I can’t make them not tease me; I can only control me. I can act (consider their actions and respond), and not react.

There will always be bullies and there will always be someone to irritate you. Will you act or react? Will you choose to,

Always do for other people everything you want them to do for you.

Matthew 7:12

Or are you going to go cry over Monk-Monk?

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

P.S. What do you think of my new blog? My bff helped me customize it some.

Stitch Rippers

Here is a new Microburst! that will be in the second book. I wanted you all to be the first to read it. If you saw yesterdays post you will know that even though I wrote this several months ago, it ministered to me all over again yesterday... God is cool like that...

Stitch Rippers.

Any of you sew? Got a Grandmother that sews? Have you ever seen a Stitch Ripper? It is a sharp pokey thing with a small razor blade in it that you can use in sewing to rip out seams if you have sewn them wrong, or just changed your mind. Recently I have felt like someone has been using one on me. Lately I have had a lot of things going on. Let me name a few:

· Trying to start my own photography business

· Attending college to get a Psychology degree

· Home schooling my two oldest kids…(12 & 11)

· My two youngest in public school

· My boys in Wrestling

· All four of them in Junior Bible Quiz (shameless plug)

· My husband working 2 jobs, so I am almost a single mom

Not to mention trying to get a book published...

Stress stress every where, and not a place to hide! Sometimes I feel like I am being ripped apart at the seams. Then, I realized, I am being ripped apart at the seams, but it is OK, God will sew me back together and probably let some bad stuff fall out in the process! After all, Psalms 139:5 says

“You hem me in, behind and before….”

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Ever had one of THOSE days?

I put a picture of my bubble bath... Cause I could use one. I was playing with my blog last night, and the night before i was supposed to receive the BOW award... I completely erased all my widgets... Nice huh... I don't even have anything saying I belong to the AG blogs... lol

Now that was bad enough, but then, remember the pics of the broken laptop? I am still using that and it gets worse every day, but I can't buy another one until I get my student loans, August 25th... Well, I guess my laptop got a virus or something, and just quit working. Quit. Kaput... Nothing. I was finally able to reformat the hard drive, and at least get it operable... Thankfully I didn't loose my second book, MICROBURSTS! 2 which is a work in progress.

Ok on a final note my BFF just started blogging. Go Andriea! I am so proud of her! Please go check it out, and welcome her to the world of blogs! Oh and btw... I am not sure that friend of hers is so smart... But I know she prays. (she is me)


tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Guess What?

I have been awarded the BOW (blog of the week) award. The BOW is also a double innuendo to elude to the fact that we bow to our God. Part of the award, is the permission to post the above button on every post I make this week.

I also had the awesome privilege of designing the button, so the nifty things is on the left is Juliannah, and on the right is Tymothie. God is sooo awesome! Oh, and a huge thank you to Jenni Weiss of the Big Weiss Blog for nominating me.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Wedding Shoot?

No!!! She is entirely tooo young. However this was so cute, she is holding my wedding bouquet from 14 years ago. I never let them play with it, so for her to get to hold it... She thought she had just been crowned Miss America.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

Nana... need I say more? There is a critter pic coming...

Nana thought it was cool, but the cat, not so much...

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6

When you get the keys to your kingdom... be sure to make a spare set...

This is dedicated to David Railey... About 3 years ago, when the announcement was made that we would be leaving our position as youth pastors, to be seniors, David (who was visiting our church that day) leaned over to me and said "When you enter your kingdom will you remember me?" Well I laughed and said of course, but he forgot to tell me to make a spare set of the keys to the kingdom.

When we first got to that church as senior pastors, with in the first week, on a Sunday, Q locked himself out of his office (accidentally) and had to call a locksmith to come open it... lol

That was bad enough, but then, two years later, after we left that Church, and accepted our current position as senior pastors at Shebly Christian Fellowship, Q locked himself out of his office. Yes I am telling you the truth. Yes, this just happened, this last Sunday. Blessedly he had his bible, and sermon notes with him, (since it was rt before service). It was soooo funny. Another blessing, the former pastor Bro Rod, had an extra set still, and lived near by.

We got to meet brother Rod and sister Bonita... lol. Nice people.

tGbtg Amen,
DaNella
Proverbs 3:5-6