FTD

F T D FOR CHRIST

Fret Not!
Because of evil doers......
Trust!
....in the Lord, and do good.
Delight!
Yourself in the Lord
Commit!
Your way to the Lord.

Psalm 37's A pleasant bouquet for trusting in the Lord!
Becky

GENESIS

We just finished a 22 month study of the book of Genesis, of which I receive a fairly complete understanding of just how much God did at the very beginning!
One of the things that impressed me the most though, was found in Hebrews 11:23, where the author tells us that "by faith Joseph when he was dying , made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones." Now, why of all things would the author mention this out of all of Joseph's accomplishments?
Because Joseph remembered Abraham, and his own Father Jacob, (whom God later called Israel), and how they asked to have their bones carried to be buried in the promised land. They made their sons promise to bury them in the promise land, and even though Moses never got to go in, Joshua carried Joseph's bones in!
How cool is that?
Records for Joseph to learn from, and for us to treasure.
God's gift to us for everyday!
22 months in Genesis and I could do it all again!
Becky

JELLYBEANS

One year for homecoming, Tara and I counted out 1300 orange and white jelly beans for our homecoming lunch. We were cheerleaders and decided to do this as part of the spirit encounter week before the big game.
This was an amazing fete in itself too!
A much more amazing fete is answered prayed!
Paul tells us that the fervent, effectual prayers of a righteous man availeth much, and will produce much, which is an amazing thing in its own right too!
Becky

SALVATION

The Sherwin Williams Company has for its logo, a can of paint pouring red paint over the earth, with the caption reading "Sherwin Williams: Cover The Earth." I'm figuring they can reach a good many people all over the earth with their paint.
Now, it's up to the people to do something with the paint!
In a like manner, when the red blood poured out of Jesus Christ, and His nail pierced body, it poured out all over the world covering all mankind!
I'm figuring He can reach a good many people all over the world about salvation.
Then it will be up to the people to do something with the gift of salvation?
Becky

HOMESICK

When I went off to North Carolina to junior college, I became so homesick, that I wanted to come home in the worst way! I called my Daddy and pleaded with him to let me come home, but to no avail. This 'ole Florida girl just wasn't use to those North Carolina winters or being away from home for so long either.
Daddy, being the wise man that he was, told me to give it one semester, and then we would see how I felt. Of course, by then, I was a cheerleader and on the gymnastics team, and loving Montreat, so going home wasn't even an option for me!
You know, God has placed within us a desire to be at Home with Him in Heaven too! Unfortunately, for us, we can't go Home when we want to, but we can make the best of our lives on this earth while we are here, and
when it's time for us to make the trip, we'll be the first to know!
Becky

THANKFULNESS

As I sit here tonight, and look out at The River, and watch the Painted Buntings at the feeder, I marvel at how gracious God has been to me. Even after all these months, I can look back and see how He has watched over me through David's the careful saving of money. Even though David didn't have a relationship with the Lord, God used him to take care of me, and through his careful financial planning, I am able to live comfortably. God knew this ahead of time, and still loved him enough to wait until a few days before he died to reach his heart.
What a compassionate God we serve! He paid my electric bill for a year. He paid for me to go back up to Cherokee, this summer. He wanted to make sure I was taken care of, after he died, and I reassured him that I would.
I can't tell you how blessed I have been by the body of Christ that has come out of the woodwork to help me. Neighbors; friends; deacons; elders;.....too many to name. God has sent me these angels unaware!
I spent thirty seven years with the only man who could put up with me, and God took that part and worked it together for good, right at the end.
He has now blessed me with the leftovers that David provided for me, making it possible for me to exist and be content!
Thanks be to God for His faithfulness!
Becky

STINGING NETTLES

When I was a little girl, I stepped in a patch of Stinging Nettles and must have been bare foot, because I remember screaming out from the pain, and my brother Chris coming out of nowhere and carrying me to safety! He was my knight in shining armour!
When we step into satan's stinging barbs, God steps in to rescue us too when we call out to Him! He seems to come in out of nowhere....never early; never late! Always right on time!
He is our King in Glorious Armour!
Becky

THE DEVIL

Allen drove over from Aiken today, to see how my enclosed porch turned out and to have some of the crabs that I had steamed. I was going to a luncheon at one o'clock, so I just picked some for She Crab Soup, while he ate his.
As I was opening up the crabs, to get to the "good stuff", I had to clean out all the nasty lungs ,or "devil," as it's called, before I could get to the edible stuff. This is important to get this nasty stuff out too!
Just as important is to get the "devil" out of our lives on a daily basis!
Cleaning him out daily with a good dose of God's word usually keeps him away, and it's sweeter than honeycomb and healing to the bones!
Becky

CRABS

Today was going to be my ice cream social for my Sunday School class, so I purposely didn't schedule anything extra for today. I had lots of cleaning and setting out to do, and you know me, I want everything to be just so, so when the phone rang last night at about seven o'clock and some friends from church told me that they had taken the crab baskets out of the water and left me two dozen fresh crabs in the refrigerator downstairs, I went into panic mode! .....I knew I had to steam them soon! I called Herman and asked him what I needed to do, and he told me where David's crab pot was. He even drove over to the house, and brought it up for me!
(It's a huge pot!)
First thing this morning, after breakfast, I started the water boiling and went down stairs to get the crabs. I tried to pick the crabs up, but they were too heavy, and since JD was working next door, and saw me struggling, he came over and took it upstairs for me, and even put them in the pot for me. Then the spout of the juice container wouldn't unscrew and he unscrewed that too.
I'm telling you, God has been watching over me with these crabs and on this day of all days! Of course He watches over me all the time, cause He knows I'll get into all kinds of messes without Him!
Praise God for His faithfulness!
(and a good batch of crabs to eat!)
Becky

END OF AN ERA

As I watched the news tonight with shots of Atlantis and its final touchdown at Kennedy Space Center, I misted up somewhat, if I do say so, because I thought of all those years where I could go outside and actually watch the shots going up from "Cape Canaveral", when I was growing up in Mount Dora, and oh, that sonic boom when it reinterred the earth's atmosphere was something else! It's sad for me to see this era come to an end too, because I can still recall being in Asheville, when they walked on the moon, and at the same time, still remember being in the eighth grade when John Glenn orbited the earth for the first time!
I thought mankind had gone off the face of the earth when John Glenn made his move! Little did I know what was in store for us.....
Even with this era coming to an end, and as sad as it makes me, I can still trust in my God that He has it all in control. When we have to end things, He is a constant, and never changing or never ending!
One day, when He comes back to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we will live with Him forever and ever.....world with out end.
Amen and amen!(Talk about a sonic boom then!)
Becky

SPLENDOR

This time of night, there are always two mourning Doves that come and feast off of the bottom of the feeding tray of the bird feeder on the porch. All the other birds just make way and give them complete range.
They are so sweet standing side by side on the feeder; nibbling out of the tray together....... One will bow down and nibble food while the other looks out for prey, and then the other will eat, while the other one stands on look out! It is so cool how they will watch out for each other, even while they're eating!
It's at this time of night, and early in the morning, when I stand in awe of all of God's creations and how He has created them in a splendid manner.
Of course, what else could a splendid God create, but splendor?
Becky

GOD FIRST

Scripture tells us that our God will have no other Gods before Him, and that's okay with me, and probably with most everyone else too, but what most people don't think about is that when God says no other gods before Him, He means NOTHING!!!! That means our children; our grandchildren; food; clothes; our homes; our jobs....anything that will take priority over our love of God! That's a tough pill to swallow, I know, but there's a reason He told us that. When we place Him first, He blesses us, because we are His, and because He honors our obedience!
I love this Sovereign God of mine and I wouldn't want Him any other way.
Yes, I love chocolate! I love my children, and my grandchildren! I love my home, and I adored my sweet husband!
Grandmother had a little placque in her trailer over her bedroom door that read "GOD FIRST".....I now have that in my kitchen window, as my reminder too!
There is nothing that could take the place of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Becky

STAND AMAZED

Growing up, my generation learned a lot about God by the songs we sang. We sang about God in all the songs we sung, so the information we received was pretty accurate and on the mark......"A mighty fortress is our God; a bulwark never failing..." That He is too!
Today's youth all seem to sing straight to our Creator God, which is wonderful, in itself! "O Lord My God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made...."
I stand amazed at how much I learned about my Savior just from songs, when I was growing up!
I imagine....
He stands amazed at how much we learn from the songs we hear too, as we are growing up!
Becky

CONSTRUCTION

I had the best example from the body of Christ helping me this past week.
I found myself in a situation where the air conditioning company who works on my house was trying to install a new unit upstairs, and a new man was working and he seemed to be trying to sell me a completely way too expensive new unit. I had an uneasy feeling the entire time he was here, and asked JD to come in and give me his opinion on what I was looking at, since he was an elder in my church, and was building the porch at the time. The young man wasn't too thrilled with JD coming in, I could tell, but he came down a little bit in his price range, which caused me to think again in my using them in the first place!
JD offered to find me someone who would save me $2000.00 on the unit, so I chose to go with him. I was so grateful to have JD standing by that day . It's nice to have the sound body of Christ to count on isn't it?
I know I wasn't prepared for that, but he stepped in and asked those questions that my David would have asked.....
I thank my God in all remembrances of you......
Becky

THE MIMOSA

Mama had the prettiest Mimosa tree in our back yard, when I was growing up, and I loved to take the blossoms off and pretend that they were my own powder puffs, while patting them on my face!.....Infact,a Powder Puff Tree is what I always called the Mimosa Tree!
The seeds from that tree would spread everywhere though and get all over the yard, and before you knew it, little powder puffs would be sprouting where they weren't wanted! It was a tough adversary for a Mother who was a Master gardener too!
We have another tough adversary in the devil, because he roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he will devour. He doesn't care who he attacks either, or how, but he WILL eat you up and spit you out, and never think twice about it!
Like the Mimosa Tree, the devil can come in attractive packaging, but the damage he can do.....
Well,....... the juice just ain't worth the squeezin'!
Becky

ATTACHED

Throughout the day, I would often see Grandmother Bouterse stopping and picking up all kinds of odds and ends off of the floor of her trailer, so it wasn't strange to see her with threads and pins attached to her blouse, when she found them.
She would tell me that this was how we were to attach ourselves to the word of God.....She'd tell me that I needed to pick it up all the time and keep it on me!
Good advice!
Becky

I'M SARI

I had lunch with Angela yesterday, while in Aiken, and she told me the neatest story. Seems a mutual friend of ours is spreading the gospel to Muslims in India, and she and her son are doing it in a most unique way.
They are creating jobs through jewelry making, and somehow incorporating the gospel message in this ministry, and yet the neatest portrayal of understanding came to these women, when they brought an extra Sari into the meetings, and they gave them to the team leader. They were told that this was the old person, and when they came back, the leaders had stitched them into the most elegant scarves, which represented the new creature in Christ!
The old has gone; the new has come! They were able to get a visual picture of their old lives and a new life in Christ through this!
What a picture to God's faithfulness!
(and to think I taught Allen tumbling all those years ago!)
Becky

CUCUMBER SALAD

I make a delicious Cucumber Salad, that has cukes; spring onions; vinegar; sour cream; a dash of sugar; bell pepper, and celery in it. It is so cool and refreshing, but what makes it so good, is that you have to marinate the cucumbers in ice cold salty water for fifteen minutes before you mix everything together!
You know, we are no different either.....
We can look pretty good on the outside, but unless we immerse ourselves in the word of God, on a daily basis, we will be as a sounding brass, or clanging symbol!
Out of the wellspring of the heart, the mouth speaks!
Becky

SMOKIN'

It is so smoky out on The River tonight. It has been that way all day, everywhere around the low country, due to the fires burning in south Georgia. The smoke has been drifting up from Georgia, and making it almost impossible to see.....and breathe!
I felt like I was going to suffer a heat stroke just going from my car to the store, today, because it was so hot! The heat, on top of the smoke has made for some very harsh days here in the low country!
There will come a time, when our eyes will be clouded from the truth too!
The anti christ will do his best to smoke out all the believers that are left on earth, and direct their allegiance to him. If they don't have their GPS (God's Plan of Salvation) firmly established in their hearts and minds, they will find it hard to see and breathe too. They will have some harsh days, no matter where they are!
As for me.....well, I plan to be in a smoke free environment, living with a King!
Becky

CHOICES

When I was growing up, it seemed like if I had one birthday party I could go to, I had several to choose from! I was always having to make decisions about which ones to go to, and it wasn't fun! Some decisions are easy and some aren't! Some are hard and quite difficult for us to make. If we allow God's word in our lives, then that's one easy decision that is made for us already!
King David made a very unwise decision with Bathsheba, and he tried to hide it, but when Nathan, the prophet confronted him,he repented before the God he loved so much.
He knew the choices he had made were wrong and that he had sinned against God!
In the book of Judges, we are told that God chose 700 men from 26,000, who were left handed, who could throw at a single stone and never miss! I mean, God chose left handed men, and not right handed ones to prove a point!
Even God makes choices!
We make choices everyday when we choose to keep sin in our lives or not.
We can choose Jesus or not too.
That choice is a no brainer if you ask me!
Becky

THIRST QUENCHER

When I was a little girl, and wanted something special to drink....something that would quench my thirst, Mama would always get me a glass of Coca Cola, with plenty of ice in it!....Nothing else would do! It had to be Coke!
Not Pepsi!..... Not 7 UP....Not even water! Just ice cold Coke!
Of course Coke was new to me back then, but it hit the spot, and it was "the real thing"!
Now, when I'm an adult, and I want something to hit the spot, I will still get a Coke, but if I really want to quench my thirst, I will drink from God's Living Water, because I know it's truly "The Real Thing"!
I don't need ice with it, nor do I get thirsty again after drinking it!
Besides it's sweeter than honeycomb and healing to the bones!
Becky

HARDINESS

I called Jim Bradin today, to come see about taking our flag down from the dock. It had become so ragged, and I knew that the boy scouts did a great flag disposal ceremony, so he came and took it for me. Jim told me that all the nylon flags he received, always tore on the white part of the flag......How odd!
I looked up the history of our flag, and found that in a round about way, the white part of the flag is suppose to represent purity and innocence. The red stood for hardiness and valor, and the blue represented the Chief! The stars represented the heavens which man was to strive for, and the stripes were to signify a sign of vigilance and perseverance of justice!
It sort of hit me that only the white stripes were tattered.
Think about it though......
What is being torn to shreds in our land today?
Purity and innocence!
Exactly!
The winds of free will have been whipping through our society and shredding our innocence and purity.
I hope the red and blue will hold up better than the white!
Becky

HARDINESS

I called Jim Bradin today, to come see about taking our flag down from the dock. It had become so ragged, and I knew that the boy scouts did a great flag disposal ceremony, so he came and took it for me. Jim told me that all the nylon flags he received, always tore on the white part of the flag......How odd!
I looked up the history of our flag, and found that in a round about way, the white part of the flag is suppose to represent purity and innocence. The red stood for hardiness and valor, and the blue represented the Chief! The stars represented the heavens which man was to strive for, and the stripes were to signify a sign of vigilance and perseverance of justice!
It sort of hit me that only the white stripes were tattered.
Think about it though......
What is being torn to shreds in our land today?
Purity and innocence!
Exactly!
The winds of free will have been whipping through our society and shredding our innocence and purity.
I hope the red and blue will hold up better than the white!
Becky

ONE DAY

The only crown He had
was a crown of thorns!

The only throne He had
Was a rugged cross!

One day, this suffering servant,
Will wear The Crown of Crowns
and sit on The Throne of Thrones,
When He comes back to Reign Forever
As King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Becky

ALL THINGS POSSIBLE

I love it when God allows me to get a glimmer of what's going on, or when the Holy Spirit somehow enlightens me as to what I need to be doing.......That sorta thing is just so cool!
Think about this.....
There were two condemned thieves on those crosses at Golgotha.
One chose to reject Jesus Christ.
The other one, somewhere in that six hour span of time, was given a glimpse into who the man, Jesus Christ, truly was. This was his "Aha" moment, when he realized that Jesus was the Son of the Living God, and that he needed him!
He knew Jesus had a Kingdom and that He was a King, and he also knew that he wanted to be with Him, even though he knew that it looked absolutely hopeless by earthly standards.
Sounds like us today, doesn't it?
Remember though, "with Christ, all things are possible."
Becky

JUST LIKE MANNA

When I go to the grocery store for milk, I often reach in the very back of the shelf to get the carton with the latest expiration date. I like to choose the ones that are the freshest! That's okay to do, because spoiled milk is not good to digest!
One thing that isn't good to pull out of line, is God's word. We should never pull out of scripture just what verses we want to use, and leave the rest behind, just because we don't think they will be good for us. All of God's word is God breathed, and divinely inspired and will refresh us, but if we take it out of context and use only part of it, we will be soured in our thinking!
Talk about going bad!
There are some things you have to look for the freshness date on, but with God's word, you can be assured that His word falls fresh and new every day.....Just like Manna!
Becky