You Have to Love Technology

If you have been reading my blog this week you know by now that I have been enjoying General Conference in Tampa via Internet. Tonight was another incredible night and God used Bro. Dean to minister in the Holy Ghost about sacrifice and getting rid of baggage in our lives so we can benefit the Kingdom of God through our giving. I have been thinking about this for a long time and God knows how to drive the message home! Thank you, Lord for the message tonight all the way from Tampa.

Wonderful Day...In His Presence

What can I say about today except I have had a wonderful day in "His Presence"! No, I'm not at Tampa at the conference, but I have attended the services today and tonight. Ladies Day was great and I enjoyed hearing all the speakers and enjoyed hearing the praise and worship from the ladies, then tonight I enjoyed the Men's Ministry presentation, and Lighthouse Ranch for Boys. Of course, I'm always touched when the Boys Ranch is talked about, because Daddy and Mother gave five years of their lives to the ranch and it is such a great ministry to hurting teens. Then tonight Bro. Haney was very annointed as he delivered his heart to all of us!! God bless him for preaching what was on his heart! I want to be used more than ever before. Thank you Bro. Haney for preaching to me tonight! (I know he will never read my blog, but it makes me feel good saying it.) I felt the presence of God as he ministered and a new determination to be all that I should be. I love being able to "be at conference" via internet! I know I've said that in my other post, but I feel like I'm "part of conference" even though I'm so far away. Please be in prayer for the business tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow (or today). I guess it depends on when you read this post.

Ladies Day In Tampa

Since I did not go to conference this year I signed up to watch the services on line. I went to the "Pentecostal Music Association Service" before our service started last night here at home, and enjoyed it so much. I am at this very time watching Ladies Day! The theme this year is "Mighty Weapons". WOW...what a powerful service is happening. Sis. Sjostrand is speaking now on "You Are Not Alone"! The Word of God is our "weapon" and our "strong tower". I will go back and listen to the archives in the future. I'm so glad I am able to "be there" although I am in Texas and "it's happening" in Tampa! I love technology when it is used properly. Sis. Priscilla McGruder is now singing "Stand On His Word"! I am so proud of the ladies of the United Pentecostal Church and I am so glad to be a part of this great group of people. Thank you ladies for being used of God and blessing the hearts of women all over the world.

General Conference '07 Live Streaming

For those of you who are not going to conference I thought I would supply you with a link to "LIVE STREAMING" of the services at General Conference. If you would like to log on you may do so from this link. You can either watch with no charge, (56kb) or you can choose SUPPORT at the top of the page and choose which "speed" you would like to use. I will be watching as many services as I can since I did not go this year. I think it is wonderful to be able to "go to conference" in my robe! It's a lot more comfortable!! LOL!

Here's the link: General Conference Live Streaming

I've Got a Question

Do we all have a "guardian angel" and if so what happens to "our angel" when we die? Do the angels retire or are they commissioned to someone else?

Don't think I've fallen out of the bed and hit my head. It was just a thought I had yesterday and wondered what ya'll might think. Don't be afraid to answer! LOL! Whatever you say will not be counted as "law and gospel". It's just fun to let our imaginations go sometimes. Enjoy!

Blessed Day...In His Presence

Just a little reporting tonight before laying my head on the pillow. We had a wonderful Sunday! Both services were touched with the presence of Almighty God and it was so good basking in His presence, again. Tonight we had 3 different WAVES of the power of God flow through the sanctuary and it was heavenly. I watched our children join together to pray for one of the young boys, Ashton. I wish I would have had my camera to take pictures, but I didn't want to leave my place of prayer with the children to go get it. They were definitely praying "in the spirit" and I know all of Heaven stopped to listen and then later I know all the "great cloud of witnesses" peaked over the balconies of Heaven to watch as Mason received the precious gift of the Holy Ghost! Sis. Shahan, I'm sure, then grabbed one of the angels and started dancing as she watched her grandson getting the greatest gift ever known to man!! Thank God for His spirit that dwells in the hearts of those who have received Him. At the end of the service my husband baptized Howie, another one of our children, in the precious Name of Jesus! As you can tell, it was a GREAT night at Life Tabernacle!!

I just noticed I am on my way to 50,000 hits on my blog! I have just passed 40,000!! I can't believe I've had so many people reading my blog, but I sure do love it!! I told someone today that "blogging is about the most fun thing I have ever done". I love staying in contact with friends, family and "blog friends" some of which I have never met. Maybe someday I will get to meet you. I get so curious at times to find out who all visits my site, but I probably will never know, so I just keep writing and smiling about how great you all are! If you read my blog, yet you have never left a comment PLEASE write me so I know you are reading. I know I have a lot of friends that read it, because they tell me they do or I find out through another source that you are reading. I hope you all have a great week!! Keep smiling, keep singing, and let the cares of life roll off of your shoulders into our Saviors' loving arms. He wants to take care of you and He wants to lift your burdens so you're not walking around with "situations" weighing you down. God bless you all as you walk with Him!

A Good Day

Nothing out of the ordinary has happened today, which is a "good day"! Sometimes we wait until something happens that is "extraordinarily good" to report to everyone on how great God has been. I just want to say that God has been great, TODAY!! There is not a day that goes by that He is less than great. A lot of times, it's all in the way we view our circumstances as to whether we see Him as being "great". If something happens good to us, our finances are taken care of through a miracle, or we received a healing, or a relationship is mended by an unusual means, or we have a prayer answered, we then say "God is great". It's in the bad times of life that we sometimes forget to proclaim that "God is great". We must remember.....HE never changes! HE'S always the same! HE'S always great! So, I just wanted to report that GOD IS GREAT today even though nothing happened "out of the ordinary". When things "seem" mundane that's the time we can bring glory to Him, as we focus just on His goodness, not the "miracle" He performed for us! I love to forcus on HIM because, "GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.....ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD". He can't be anything else, because He's GOD!

Oh, by the way......to us, miracles are just that....miracles, but to God miracles are just "ordinary". That's the realm He lives in......because He's God! That's what makes it so incredible to be one of His children. He loves doing things for us in His "ordinary" way.

I better go for now. I hope I didn't confuse you by my ramblings tonight. My mind is going 90 miles an hour about this subject. It's really strange, because I haven't been thinking about much of anything tonight until I sat down to write a "hello" to my friends. Maybe this little thought will help someone through their day.

In Return for Photo

Rachael sent me the picture of Scarlet standing at the altar and since everyone has enjoyed it so much, I thought I would give you the link to her Portrait Studio. Thank you Rachael for letting my husband and I enjoy a little of our grandkids through "pictures". Anyone reading my blog, feel free to go check out Rachael's Studio.

They're not always perfect!

I just thought I would share this picture with you. This proves that my grandkids aren't always PERFECT! LOL! I know Brenda will kill me when I see her, but this is my blog so I'm going to post it anyway! LOL! Lord, help me!!

Thank you Rachael for sending this to me! I'll give you a hug when I see you. LOL!

Happy 35th Anniversary

Thirty-five years ago today I married the man I had loved since I was 12 years old! I know 12 is young, but from the time I saw Wendell he was the one I had eyes for. I will not go into our life story today, but I wanted to wish him a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! "Wendell, we are having a wonderful life together and as you always say, "We are still on our honeymoon". I'm looking forward to MANY more fun-filled years with you. You've made my life beautiful and I thank you for loving me!"

Hurricane Hit

I have a lot to be thankful for this morning. A hurricane hit the Texas/Louisiana coast in the middle of the night UNEXPECTEDLY, and Jonathan and his family are doing FINE! I wanted to give a praise report this morning. Thank God for His protection even when we are hit with the "unexpected storms of life".

Grandparent's Day

Sunday was Grandparent's Day and we were so excited because we had all four of our grandchildren here with us. We were also invited to the Kindergarten Class to be with Alayna. All the grandparents were invited if they had a grandchild in the class and we had a great time. Savanna was here visiting so she was also there in the class with Alayna. We were served Diet Coke Floats by the girls and given cards they had made. Sis. Janet read all of the reasons why the kids loved their grandparents and Bro. John had all the kids go to their grandparents and pray for them. It was so special!! Yes, I did shed a few tears. Savanna was standing close to me and I could hear her praying, "I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus." No money can buy the sincerity and love of a child! Alayna and Ashlyn brought me a bouquet of roses and gave Papa and me a card with a picture of her and Ashlyn. Great memories were made Sunday and I will always have them tucked in my heart. Thank you Kindergarten teachers for such a sweet day.

Incredible Weekend

Yesterday's services were absolutely so awesome that there are hardly any words to express the glory of God we had in both the morning and evening services! Jonathan and Brenda, Savanna and Scarlet, were here with us for the weekend and it was so wonderful having them home for a few days. I know their church missed them, but we really appreciate them "letting" them be home. Jonathan preached for us and was greatly used of God! Last night in the service a lady who has been coming for awhile prayed back through to the Holy Ghost and it was marvelous seeing her renewed after many years. The neat thing about Helen receiving the Holy Ghost on the night Jonathan preached is that in 1975 Wendell and I were holding a revival in Redlands, CA and when I needed to go to the platform to sing, or play for the service I would hand Jonathan, my baby, to the couple sitting behind me. That couple was HELEN and her husband Don! Isn't God GREAT? Anyway, there were so many great things that happened yesterday and I'm so thankful God knows "when to show up"!

Bragging Time

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, THIS SUMMER HAS BEEN ONE OF THE BUSIEST SUMMERS OF MY LIFE! Those of you who have been following our travels know that we have been gone a LOT, and if we weren't out of town, life has been busy in general. After a very busy day, today, I walked into my house and could smell that it was being cleaned. It was a wonderful welcome! Brenda, our "daughter" was cleaning my house from "top to bottom"! There have been many times I have walked in and she was busy doing something for me. She has always treated me with the greatest of love and respect and I just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU, and say I LOVE YOU, Brenda.

A little while later, when Andrew and Mandy (our other "daughter") got to the house she jumped in and started helping Brenda, and before I knew it the house was CLEAN! THANK YOU Mandy for helping. You had already been busy at the church with the wedding and I know you were tired from a long day and also from little Ashlyn fretting as she cuts more teeth, yet you took the time to help me. I LOVE YOU!

I could write a lot more about these two "girls", but I won't. I will let "few words" speak my heart tonight even though it is full and running over.

I really haven't fallen off the cliff! I just haven't "stopped" since arriving home. I will be posting as soon as I can. It might be after the weekend, I'll just have to see. I trust you are having a great weekend!!

We're HOME!

Just to let everyone know that we made it back! We are so happy to be home! I will post about our return trip later. I think I'm going to go get some sleep. I'm TIRED!

On Our Way!

We are sitting at the airport in Halifax waiting to board our plane. Just think, we will be HOME by this afternoon!! I didn't get a "wink" of sleep last night. I just couldn't go to sleep and I had to get up by 3:30 this morning so we could be at the airport early enough to go through security and Customs, so I think I will sleep good tonight!! LOL! Well, I'll go for now, it's about time to board. Please say a prayer for us while we fly through the friendly skies today. Love you all! HOME SWEET HOME......here we come!

Halifax Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend here in Halifax with the church family at Calvary Tabernacle and Pastor Gratto. Friday night was a rally that Bro. Elms ministered in and then Sunday morning was a "Friend's Day". It was a great success with 30-40 visitors in attendance. After the message there were several first-time guests in the altar, praying with tears streaming down their faces!! Thank God for a move of the Holy Ghost! After lunch Bro. Gratto took us down to the "waterfront" and just as we were driving up to it we were SURPRISED to see that the QUEEN MARY 2 was docked! Wow! We had no idea that it was anywhere around. We had seen it when we were at Bar Harbor, Maine three years ago, but now here it was again! Bro. Gratto had never seen it. We couldn't get a good picture of it this time, because it is guarded very closely, but we did get a picture of the top of it. Another great happening this time was we got to meet Chris and Suzanne Miller (Bro. Gratto's daughter and son-in-law). Daddy and Mother had told us about Suzanne many years ago and Mother had written Suzanne a few times after leaving Nova Scotia. She told us "what a sweet girl" Suzanne was and they were so thrilled to receive a wedding invitation from Suzanne and Chris. Suzanne is deaf and had met a young man from Houston, TX who is also "hearing impaired". Chris attended Bro. Kilgore's church. Chris told me he knew Jonathan and Andrew from TBC so we had some more "common ground". Then, after church Sunday night, I was showing Chris and Suzanne pictures of my family. When I got to Ronda and Nathan's picture, Chris kind of jerked, and I knew he was trying to figure something out! He looked at me and said, "BRO. HURST?" I said, "Yes, do you know him?" He said, "YES, I do! He proceeded to tell Suzanne that "Bro. Hurst was the Texas District Youth Secretary when he was attending youth camp and that he is a GOOD PREACHER"! LOL! Talk about a SMALL WORLD! I enjoyed my time with them so much. Suzanne is very good at reading lips so we got along just fine! One thing that was cute was when she wanted to tell me something real fast, she would grab a pen and paper and WRITE IT! We were also happy to see Bro. John Grotto and family come into the service Sunday night all the way from PEI! They were taking advantage of the holiday and came to see the family. Today, Bro. Gratto gave us his car for the afternoon and we went back down to the "waterfront" to see more scenery. I have posted the pictures here.

I know this has been a long post, but I wanted you to understand the "connections" that we have here in Nova Scotia. This is the last of the beautiful pictures of our trip to PEI and Nova Scotia, because we will be flying out in the morning for HOME! We are looking forward to being back in Texas with our "church family" and our sweet family. What a great group of people we have and we appreciate them for allowing us to be a part of the Kingdom of God in other places.

To our wonderful saints: When we go anywhere to minister, YOU are major contributors in whatever way God uses us. Your prayers and support give us strength. You are wonderful and we can't wait to see you!

Peggy's Cove

We stayed at the hotel just about all day, then Bro. Gratto picked us up to have dinner. We went to the Lonestar Restaurant and it was really good! Yes, it was a Texas theme and they served good MEXICAN FOOD and had BIG glasses to drink out of! You don't know how to appreciate a BIG glass unless you have been drinking out of glasses that are not much bigger than a juice glass! LOL! Bro. Gratto has laughed at us a lot because we ask for "heavy on the ice" when we order a drink. In Canada they use about 4 cubes of ICE when they serve you anything to drink, and we have not found one place that serves UNSWEET ICE TEA. It's fun getting to experience the different cultures. After eating dinner with Bro. Gratto he needed to go to the church and offered his car to us so we could go site-seeing. We headed to Peggy's Cove about a 40 minute drive from Halifax. It's a little fishing village with a Population of 40! We also visited the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial where there were 239 lives lost when the airplane crashed into the ocean just off the coast of Nova Scotia. It's very sobering to visit this site. Peggy's Cove is one of the main attractions when you come to Nova Scotia. It is beautiful and I wanted to share with you the photos we took. I wish you were all with us so we could enjoy the scenery together!