Merry Christmas Blessings

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Wishing your family a wonderful and joyous holiday season. Praying that you find the joy in Jesus that our family shares.

The birth of one small child in a stable on a starry night in Bethlehem is the reason for the season of joy!

Share it with someone you love.

 

 

Its Not About The Bunny....

It is all about a cross and a Savior that gave His life for mine!

Have a Blessed and wonderful Easter Day today

The Space Between

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” ― Mother Teresa

What an Awesome Morning, He is Alive!!

Enjoy my favorite song

Phillips, Craig & Dean
Revelation Song
lyrics

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Have a blessed day in the house of the Lord, Leslie

~The Birdcage ~

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town.

One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response,

Pastor Thomas began to speak.....

I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming
toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, "What do you have there, son?"

"Just some old birds," came the reply.

"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a
real good time."

"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?"

"Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll take 'em to them."

The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds, son?"

"Huh?? !!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister."

"They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"

"How much?" the pastor asked again.

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, "$10?"

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a
grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly
tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"

"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.

Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and buse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"

"And what will you do when you are done with them?"

Jesus asked. "Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.

"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.

"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!"

"How much?" He asked again.

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life."

Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit.

 Thank you to my friend Teresa for sharing that wonderful story on our forums
 that we would be so inspired.

Until you spread your wings..

 

 

~ Touched by the Love of Angels ~

May angels rest beside your door,
May you hear their voices sing.
May you feel their loving care for you,
May you hear their peace bells ring.
May angels always care for you,
And not let you trip and fall,
May they bear you up on angel's wings,
May they keep you standing tall.
May they whisper wisdom in your ear,
May they touch you when you need,
May they remove from you each trace of fear,
May they keep you from feeling greed.
May they fill you with their presence,
May they show you love untold,
May they always stand beside you
And make you ever bold.
May they teach you what you need to know
About life here and here-after.
May they fill you always with their love
And give you the gift of laughter ♥ ♥ ♥

 

 

Inspiring Poem "I Can"

This inspiring poem was shared by my friend Pam Jano from the website Homeschool Hop a wonderful community for spirit-led homeschool moms I found recently, these ladies are truly a blessing to me daily, so much info, freebies, fellowship and wisdom located here. We are working on the Thanksgiving unit studies, hand writing and memory verses this week. I love the groups on this site, so many women of all ages, races coming together for the greater good of educating their children and encouraging each other. Just what Jesus would want us to be doing, showing his love to all. Join us at the Homeschool Hop today!!

Thanks again Pam!!

Up Up and Away

Just how far do you think a drifting balloon will travel? Is it even worth the try?
My husband and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching vacation bible school at Woodlawn each year now for several years. For 3 yrs now we have let our 3rd graders let go of balloons in a little mini-ceremony in our church courtyard. Each balloon is tied with a string that has a tag with the instructions to please call or email if found so our children will know how far the balloon may have traveled. The ABC's of how to become a Christian are also on the card A=Admit  B=Believe C= Confess, so that if someone finds the card and is not saved they may come to know Jesus. We explain to the kids why we let the balloons go and pray for whomever may find one of them.
Our balloons have traveled as far as Georgia and Tennessee and we delight getting emails all summer from our church secretaries. This year our "Balloon ceremony" was on June 29th 2010, and we received this email from our VBS director today. It gave me chills to read it and know that God's hand was already at work, even thru a small bird.
~~~~~~~~

Hi,

 My name is Dawn Doty and I live in the northern part of Durham, NC.  I am married and have two children, ages 22 and 17.  The 17-year old is going to be a senior in high school and the 22-year-old attends the School of Engineering at State.  We are a Christian family and love the Lord very much.

On July 1^st, my husband and I spotted a long, white string with a card on it in a tree near our driveway.  We could see that a balloon had popped, but the string was too high in the tree for us to reach it, even with a ladder.  We were wondering how we could get that high up in the tree when all of a sudden, a robin flew into the tree and started pulling on the string.  He sure did like that string because he came back several more times to pull on the string.  After about a half hour of the robin playing with the string, the string fell to the ground and we were able to read the card.  We were amazed to find out that the balloon had been released in Conover, NC, which is quite far from Durham! 

The fact that the balloon had been released so far away, got stuck in a tree in our yard (of all the trees and yards it could have gotten stuck in!), and a bird – the robin – helped make the string and the card fall to the ground for us to see, was evidence to us of God’s work.  What would be the likelihood of all these things happening by chance?  I think God told the robin to loosen that string so that we could read the card and think about God, and how the balloon came to us, and about the child at a vacation Bible school class who released the balloon into the air. 

 Even though there are many miles between us, this shows that those who truly love Jesus are never far apart in their hearts! 

Thank you and God bless, 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are heros??

Hero's= Parents

Thru thick and thin, better or worse my parents have stuck it out for the long haul of over 45 years. I love them for the fact that they are my parents, nothing sugar coated, just ordinary people with extra ordinary love for each other and us.

Glue= Jesus Christ

Without the glue..............nothing can stick together!!

My father is dying with liver cancer that has metastasized to other places in his body now, but knowing that he will sit at the feet of Jesus is the glue that is holding me together now. My grandmother will meet him at the gate and hug his neck so tight, she would be so proud of him now. Once an alcoholic, cancer brought him to the cross after many years of prayer and planting of seeds that grew into years of service to the kindom of God.

~~~Leslie~~~

Child of God

Daughter of grace

Up Up and Away

For the second year in a row at Vacation Bible School we have done a "balloon" sendoff for whatever grade we have been teaching. This year was the 3rd graders turn. We picked red balloons this year so they were easily seen in the sky as they flew away. Attached to each and every balloon was a card with our church's name, phone number and website http://woodlawnbaptist.org plus the ABC's of how to become a Christian. Our hope is that someone would find the card and come to know Jesus as their personal savior. Last year the 2nd graders sent off the balloons and a lady in Georgia actually found one of the cards in her yard and called back to tell us.

After a short prayer, all the kids and teachers let their balloons go and we all watched from the church courtyard as they went "up up and away".

~~~Leslie~~