Start your day with Hello Mornings….

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Are you looking for a way to challenge yourself to walk closer with the Lord? 

Consider joining the Hello Mornings Challenge for the summer session.  This is a 13-week challenge to maximize your mornings, via online accountability groups…

If you like the Facebook arena, there are groups set up on the registration page for your time zone. If you are short on time but still want the chance to participate there are Twitter groups as well for the different time zones.

The 13 weeks is a focus on your walk with the Lord, challenging yourself to get up early…and that is a relative term based on the events going on in your life…exercise, pray, and study the Lord’s word.

Registration is open until Friday, May 3th.  It is only open to 150 women throughout the United States and overseas.

 Perfection is not a requirement. Just a desire to meet with God in the morning and a commitment to checking in with your group.

There is also a free Bible study for all HelloMornings participants, Meet Jesus, a walk through the book of John.

If you would like more information stop by Hello Mornings Blog and see what is happening, but don’t delay in registering. 

I am one of the Coach’s for this session and you can sign up under my name on the registration page: http://register.hellomornings.org/melissa-donovan/  if you desire!! 

Columbine Students Father 12 Years later

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COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. 

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!


"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
- Darrell Scott

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can. 
God Bless

2 down 4 to go…..

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December 4th just shortly after noon, my oldest Son asked the Lord to be his savior!!!  The Lord blessed me by giving me the opportunity to share the scriptures with my son and without prompting he said that he was a sinner, that he wanted to have eternal life, he asked forgiveness of his sins and asked the Lord to be his savior.

Which then meant an interruption in the school day as we went to the store and purchased a new bible and cover and of course a celebratory cake!!!

Sunday School Studies

Pin It We have started a new semester in Sunday School.  Last Semester we took the elective course which was a survey of the New Testament.  This semester most of the church is studying the Gospel of Luke.

Last Sunday was Luke 1:5-25 with the theme of Hope in God.....Do you recall the story....The elderly couple, Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, that were righteous before God and obeying him in all, yet had no children. ( I would love to know somehow, how old they were!!) Zacharias and his wife were also extremely faithful in their prayers to God to be blessed when it was His will. The angel appears and tells Zacharias that he and his wife will be blessed with a child and Zacharias responds...."How shall I know this?...."

The couple was blessed for their faithfulness to God in word and deed....however it was Zacharias that actually was punished for doubting the Angel's words....  it is easy to read the story now, hundreds of years after the event and go well duh...of course it was true, it was an ANGEL you silly...who would ever think and Angel wouldn't speak the truth.....  But how like us to give up so easily when our prayer is not answered immediately! How many of us stay the course for days, weeks, months, years for prayers to be answered....I know I have wavered on issues that have been important to me, I have prayed for a time and then other things seemed to come to pass and then I get back around to that particular issue again and it is picked up and prayed over again for a time......

I liked what Matthew Henry's commentary had to say: "Prayers of faith are filed in heaven, and are not forgotten. Prayers made when we were young and entering into the world, may be answered when we are old and going out of the world. Mercies are doubly sweet that are given in answer to prayer."

Stay the course, keep each other accountable for praying, we are in this together..."Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"  Matthew 18:20....


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Today we discussed Luke 5:17-26 the story of the friends who brought the cripple on the stretcher to see Jesus, through the multitudinous crowds and lowered him through the roof.  The cripple, his sins were forgiven and he was healed to the point of getting up and walking, carrying his stretcher away AND glorifying God as he spread the good news.

Faith in action....Faith...believing in what cannot be seen....When we believe it creates steadfastness is us, hope in God, trusting....and out of that comes action.....

It was the friends who had the most Faith and it was that Faith that put into action with such pressing need, such urgency, at all costs to get the cripple into Jesus' presence.......  Matthew Henry's online commentary...puts it this way..."In applying to Christ, we must be very pressing and urgent; that is an evidence of faith, and is very pleasing to Christ, and prevailing with him." 

Are we all seeking the Lord, urgently, pressing, at all costs, or are we saving it until after we have the laundry done, the children feed, the family room picked up the bathroom cleaned....after everyone is down for the night....

It is interesting that in all the real life examples that were brought up in class today, everyone of the showed evidence of Faith, there was no lack of it in each and every instance.....how many times when the trials arise do we  immediately turn to God and say Thank You and pray for Him to work it out....Or do you turn to your friends first and remember to pray later.....

What do you do when the answer doesn't come back that you want???  We talked about that today as well...someone talked about someone who had Leukemia and had been praying and had not been healed..was a Pastor and had given up on praying but his wife had not....and how he had finally gone back to church grudgingly to give another sermon, in the midst of tremendous physical pain....and it turned out to be one of the most memorable days of his entire life.....but God had not cured him of his disease.....

What do you do when you can't pray....the tragic loss of a loved one, it is not that you lack the faith, you just lack the ability to pray for yourself anymore, your mind is numb and barely functioning, you can pray for others but praying for yourself is just to overwhelming in the circumstances......  Make sure that you are always in contact with friends who will stand in the gap for you.....I know during the weeks of waiting after I had found out that Corban had died and waiting for him to be born..... I couldn't pray, I was crying out to just hang onto God, to just help me make through each day...but I could pray for others, it gave me something to do, to focus on because the rest of me was mush...lol.... 

It was the prayers of others that helped me to make it through, I couldn't even acknowledge the half of them, but they really made all the difference between this world and heaven!  So, have Faith, work on building it daily, seek Him urgently, passionately, fervently!!!