Geese? What's so great about geese?

hey yall...Went to the ladies jubilee at Alpine Baptist Church in Columbia, SC yesterday. It was their 9th year of putting the jubilee on. It was super packed! It was our first time going and It was great! The ride was not as long as I thought it would be, thank the Lord lol. It was one of the best if not the best ladies meeting I have been to. The theme was Hospitality. Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. ~Romans 12:13 There was some great singing and testimonies! The Lord moved and worked in hearts! The Ward family sang and played their instruments and wow were they good!! Very, very, talented girls! It was the first time I had ever heard them. The speaker was Mrs. Loretta Rolen (her dad is Preacher Milford Bittle.) Since the theme was hospitality she spoke about being others-minded. God wants us to be humble and if we are then we will think of others and not ourselves. She said real love will open your hands and your heart and also your home for others! True love is giving not getting. At the end she read a story telling about geese...I learned studies show the geese fly in the V formation because It is much easier flying together than apart. Pressure builds up under which pushes them up and helps them fly easier. When the main geese at the front of the V formation gets tired of leading and needs a break he will shift to the back and someone else will take his place. Have you ever wondered why they "honk"?? The geese in the back are the ones doing the "honking" because they are cheering the ones leading to keep on going! Such unity and encouragement!! When a geese gets hurt and needs to get to the ground and rest 2 other geese will go to the ground with it and stay and protect it until it is well enough to fly. They then catch up with the rest and get back in their place.  
 
That is the way our churches need to be...We need to back our pastor and cheer, or "honk" him on.  Considering he is the pastor and he is in charge, (under God) back him. He has your back so you ought to have his!! A major pet peeve of mine is church members who WON'T back the man of God (but think they own the church and the money lol) and all they do is put him and his decisions down...If you don't like the way he does things, find you another church. AND one more thing, if he is preaching the word and living right and you "disagree" with something you are the one in the wrong. You are the one who needs to get right. No church NEEDS "you" all the church needs is God, a faithful man of God and a few good saints but really all the church needs is God.If he is not there it is all in vain. No "family" should run the church...and I don't care how long your family has been members there. The tithe money aint yours and the church aint yours. The church belongs to God. It's ALL God's :) wow, don't know why I got off on all that! lol but getting back on track...So "honk" the preacher on! I'm sure he would love to hear someone "honking" him on when things get hard!

And when the pastor needs a rest someone needs to willingly step in for him and help. Just like when Moses's hands were falling Aaron and Hur stepped in and held his hands up for him because he no longer could. ((Exodus 17:12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.)) If only church people would quit thinking about their self and start thinking about others I believe the world would be a better place. This makes me think of a message I heard not too long ago about fanning someone elses fire. It isn't about me or you, it's all about the Lord! Reach out and cheer others on for the Lord. We are told to help carry one anothers burdens. Mrs. Loretta said a saying yesterday and I don't remember the exact words but it went something like this...when we start helping carry other's burdens ours don't seem quite as heavy. remember that saying..there is always someone worse off than you. Take your eyes off "your" self, pain, burdens, or problems and give encouragement to someone who needs it worse than you.

Yay for Fridays :))

well, I didn't write last night because I went to a youth service and we got home late. I am glad I got to be there! The message was about some things I have missed out...the world thinks Christians are missing out but really it's the world who's missing out on everything. Because Jesus is everything and he is ALL that matters. If you miss out on him you miss out on everything! So thankful I have missed out on somethings. And the greatest thing of all that I will one day miss out on is burning in HELL FOREVER! So glad I'll miss out on that! i love that song "Ive missed out on the heart ache of living my life in sin...  I have no regret for things that i've missed God's deep in my heart, the truth was and is everyday that I live I thank God for what i've missed!!"

I am glad i have Jesus with my on this journey and he will never leave me not forsake me <3 Glad i got to be there last night! I do not ever like to miss any oppurtunity to be in God's house...there is no better place to be! I hope everyone has had a great Friday! Mine has been pretty good...went to work today {I only work on Monday's and Friday's at the best tanning salon in pickens county ((Paradize Tanning)) ;) } and I got paid today which makes it an even better day lol came home and have been relaxing...

Right now I am listening to a live Church service ((check out www.stevebrownministries.com)) at North Spoon Baptist Church in Poplarville, Mississippi. Been listening to some good preaching and singing! great way to end a friday night if you ask me :)  Very, very, very excited about tomorrow...some of the ladies in my church are going to a ladies meeting in Columbia, SC at Alpine Baptist Church. i have never been but I've heard it is good!!! so I'm lookin' forward to it just not lookin' forward to having to get up at like 6 in the morning :// lol but i'm sure it will be worth it. :)))

First and foremost...

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ~Romans 10:17

This picture has me thinking about the different things i listen to...and I am not only talking about music (although music can have a huge effect in a person's life.) We all hear many words, voices, sounds, and things everyday. It doesn't have to be making sound for us to hear it. Right now I am sitting at the table in my kitchen and all I hear is the dishwasher running lol.But i am totally not listening to it, I am tryin' to zone it out ;)

 What we listen to is what we will then think about... I heard a message last year about listening to the wrong voices....the preacher who preached this message said "if we listen to the wrong voices we will make the wrong choices." #wisewords! I totally agree with that. My greatest desire is to obey God and do what he wants me to do, so I must make sure I am not listening to the wrong voices. This wicked world is full of soo many voices and none of them point to God. I am one of those people who I feel like I need to talk to someone about troubles or worries etc. but I sometimes fail to remember the only person I really need to talk to is God! He is the greatest counselor and his advice is always right! Listen to HIM! Other people you talk with or articles you look up on google (yes i do this lol) to answer your question are not always the best advice. I used to love looking at magazines to help me know the latests trends or how to tell if my crush really likes me or not (lol) etc. but I try to stay far away from those now! All because if I read it I know i will "listen" to it and then do what the magazine article says. The things we let enter our mind can control us if we are not careful! That is why we should only listen to the Bible. Make those other voices, sounds, influences, and words just be noise...you can hear it just don't listen to it! There is a big difference between hearing and listening.

I looked up the defintion of "listen." Listen means to pay attention; heed to. It also means to make an effort to hear something. Heed means to regard, take notice of, to attend to, or to observe. It is very important that we pay close attention to what the Bible says and then do it! If we aren't listening to the Lord and what he says then we can not obey him.

My moma put the picture above on her facebook earlier today and I thought I should share it here on my blog. His word is an essential part of a Christians life! I LOVE my King James Bible and thank the Lord for the freedom to have and read his word. Without the word we would have no hope!

*Make sure you are listening to the right things! Listen to HIM, he will never lead you the wrong way!  :))

G.L.A.M. and Iron friends :)

Girls Living Above Medorcity...

We just started this Bible study at my church and it is amazing! We call the class G.L.A.M. This was our 3rd week and we still have not gotten through chapter one...lets just say our girls have lots to say ;) which means we have lots of "discussions." Myself, and 2 other girls and our Preacher's wife are teaching the class. Although since we are doing Reba's Truth Search we have not really done any teaching yet. After we finish the 6 lessons we will begin to teach our own lessons. We have the class each tuesday night at 7pm. There are 8 preteen/teenage girls. The great thing about Reba is she can get on each girls level no matter their age! I am loving the class and the Lord has been teaching me and helping me along the way. I wish when i was a younger teen that someone would have told me all the things we are learning in the class but I am so thankful the Lord has let me get to be apart of it now and help be a teacher!!


What we do is...first we watch one of the Truth Search DVD's. There are different 6 lessons and then we have workbooks that go in depth about each lessons. Reba Bowman is the speaker and she does an amazing job and she is a great speaker! Lesson one is about friendships. Do you have "Jello" friends or "Iron" friends? I told the girls tonight that our friends can make or break us! We  must make sure our friends sharpen us...

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. ~Proverbs 27:17



Tonight one of the girls asked if it was okay to be friends with someone who went to a "biker church" not exactually sure what that is <lol> but i think what she basically meant was is it okay to be friends with someone who doesn't go to the same kind of church...we ran out of time so not everyone got to give their oppinion. My sister also asked something along the same lines...her question was if you have a friend who does not go to church and you have a friend who does go to church but you know it is the wrong kind of church, which should you be better friends with?...my thoughts were: good question. it is very hard when you are a true Christian and you go to public school. It is like the world surrounding you and you are alone smack dab in the middle trying to fight it off while they are trying to push you to be just like them. I know this becasuse I went to public school.
      I started out in very small Christian sc
hool and i felt like I fit right in. My 2nd grade year my mom homeschooled me and my brother Josh. the next 2 years i went back to Landmark. My 4th grade year they raised the prices so high we couldn't afford it anymore :/ So my parents
had to decide what to do...Homeschool or Public school?? they decided public school so off to Liberty Middle School i went...not knowing a soul at that place i had no friends!! At that school unlike normal schools they started kids in middle school at 5th grade! I had been VERY sheltered and I learned just how sheltered i had been during my first week at public school. I had to persay..."grow up" very fast there to know what the other kids were talking about. I have never been a really talkitive person especially back then but it was hard for me to make friends. It still is today but I am alot more friendlier now than i was as a 10 year old little girl. Don't get me wrong i LOVE to talk and i really do have lots to say but when i meet new people words just don't come to my mind which leaves me speechless! But moving on...Somehow I made it through middle school in one piece and {FiNaLlY} made it to high school!!! this summer it will be 2 years since i graduated and as i look back I truly wish I had done some things different. Not necessarily my grades (although if i could go back i would have tried for all As) but some choices i made. Like I told the girls tonight I didnt have many "friends", i look back and I realize I pretty much had no friends. Yes i had people I sat with at lunch and laughed my head off about the stupidest stuff! but i had no true friends. I actually only still talk to ONE girl that I was good friends with in school and i hardly ever even talk to her. I had one other friend who i considered to be my BFF and even up til my 1st year of college i still considered her to be but she was not the best influence on me and my my my how the Lord showed me that during my freshman year of college! Some choices i wish i had made differently are how i chose my "friends" and how I stood for Chirst. I did not get saved until the end of my junior year but I thought i was saved the whole time so i claimed to be a christian...

I wish so badly I would have spoken up when others degraded him or other christians. I wish I had made it ALL about him then like I am trying to do now. I wish I had had a backbone back then. I wish I would have tried harder to witness and bring up Jesus to others in school. I wish I had known then what I know now! I looked like a Christian on the outside; i wore skirts (still do today) everyday and I read my Bible at school but I did not always act or talk like a Christian should. I guess that is why this GLAM class is so important to me...I don't want the girls to look back and wish they had done things differently. there are SO many pressures so many different things pulling at ALL the young people in the world today! Everyone wants to fit in and 99% of those people will do whatever/ ANYTHING it takes to be popular and to have "friends."

      In January some of my church went to a Youth Conference in Georgia (which was amazing!!!) and tonight my lil sister reminded us of a testimony that a young girl gave...she had recently went through a very scary surgery and she was thanking God for being there for her...She also said how NONE of her "friends" from school were there for the surgery or came to see her as she recuporated! Next she pointed to her youth group sitting around her and said "these were the ones there for me..."those were her TRUE FRIENDS.

A friend is someone who will be there not just someone to gossip to at school or on the playground. A real friend will lift you up and will make you sharper for the Lord. In the end it won't matter who had to most friends anyways...If I just have 5 true friends in my life I'll consider myself a very blessed girl. I am so thankful to say I do have some Iron friends, not many but i do have a few! Lastly i am SOO thankful I have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother! His name is Jesus! Even if i had 0 friends here on earth I would still have HIM. I am glad Jesus is always by my side and he is my best friend <3

I know all that is a little scattered but I just spoke from my heart ;)  I will talk to yall tomorrow!

bare with me : )

       Hello world wide web! My name is Megan and I am very excited about this new blog I am going to "try" to do lol Let me just start of by saying i hope you like the title (and i'll get into why i chose it later) because it only took me a day and a half to come up with it ;) I have so much i want to blog about but at the moment I am totally clueless about what i should start with! So yall please bare with me...i'll eventually get somewhere.

     For starters i'll tell yall about myself. I am 19 (less than 2 months til my 20th b-day and i'm devistated to leave the teen yrs) <<haha>>. I am a CaRoLiNa GiRl and we really are the best in the world!!! Born in NC but South Carolina has my heart because this is where i grew up. "I got that southern accent" and i would not trade it for any other accent!lol I am going to school to be a dental assistant and I work at a tanning salon. I LOVE to laugh so if yall know any good jokes i sure would love to hear them! My favorite place is CHURCH! I love and long to be in God's house as much as i can. I want to make this blog about HIM and give him honor through it. When i think about where i want to be in 5 years or even just 3 years i always picture myself getting to go to church just about everynight! i sure would love that. I thank the Lord for my church Cannon Mountain Baptist Church in Picken, SC. Hopefully later i'll explain how God led me there :) but i'll just say for now he has a specific place for all his children to be and i am so happy i know i'm right where he wants me.

    Above is the most recent pic of my family. I am the one in the pink dress...I have been blessed with a larger family, there is 6 of us. I can not imagine being an only child...it is just unthinkable in my mind. I can not imagine how boring it would have been growing up by myself without my little brothers getting me into trouble all the time. ;)) My parents are named Brian and Holly and I am the first of their 4 kids. I have 2 brothers (Josh and Caleb) and one sister (Manda.) We have no family around us so we are pretty much all we have. God has been working in our home over the past months and i am so thankful for that and i hope he will continue to because we do need it!lol I don't know what i would do without my family <3 Just a few minutes ago I found out about a 16 year old boy who died in a car accident and as i began to think about and pray for his broken hearted family, tears filled my eyes when this thought came to my mind...{{That could be us.That could be our family having the cops come to our door}}.... My youngest brother, Caleb is also 16 years old and it could have been him in that car wreck. I just want to thank God that it wasn't but no one knows when their time is up. We must be ready to mee the Lord at anytime! That could be my family next week or it could be yours.

            Don't take the ones you love forgranted!  John 4:14 says, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (KJV) Sometimes my family drives me CrAzY!!! But I wouldn't trade them for the world! 1Corithians 13:7 says love endureth all things...that means if you love someone you will put up with somethings. well it actually says ALL things so if you love someone you will put up with it all.

**Don't take it forgranted. you might have it today but that doesn't mean you will still have it tomorrow.

       
       Well i hope yall enjoy this blog...might not be able to write everyday but i will try. If yall want to know anything or want to have me write a blog on something just let me know :)