Beth Moore /LPM Blog Discussion Group

I wanted to let everyone know that the LPM blog is holding a discussion group on Beth's new book "So Long Insecurity, You've Been a Bad Friend to Us". Tomorrow, Feb 9th there will be a roll call on the blog. On Feb 11th we will begin our reading assignments and the first week's discussion questions and this will continue for each Thursday for nine weeks. I picked up the book and am looking forward to participating. God has used Beth Moore's writing to give me such insights into what makes me tick and more importantly what He doesn't want ticking in me anymore :-). The Lord has begun such a work in me, and I know He will continue as His Word tells us. I'm sure before He began this work in me that I would not have blogged about participating in a book discussion on insecurity... I may have participated in the discussion but not openly. It was hard at first putting myself out there with what seemed like my endless hangups and problems, but God gave me the courage to step out of the shadow of my insecurity and let His light shine in. It has made all the difference in my life. I pray for His light to shine on all of you as you draw near to Him and let His healing hand touch you. (A link to Beth's blog is the Woman2Woman blog and BTW, Amazon is selling Beth's book for $12!)

Resist

I apologize to those of you who are keeping up with www.therammells.com for posting the same entry, just thought I'd post it here as well for those who may not visit my other blog. Here is a blog I posted last week.....hope you all are well.

Deep breath in.....now let it out.......Ok first let me say a big ole’ THANK YOU to our friends for letting us use their beach house to get away for a couple of days. The Lord never ceases to amaze us by using His people to love on us and take care of us. Austin has worked non-stop since returning from our Christmas break, and a get away was very much needed. And unfortunately in order for him to stop....we have to leave town. We just got in last night, and are already in lazy mode.

Ari crawled into the bed with us about 5 o’clock this morning. Not able to go back to sleep, I felt the Lord drawing me to His Word, so here I sit.

I was thinking about the way He challenged me this week, and wanted to share it before my mind got too distracted. I am participating in the women’s Bible study on Thursday mornings “Anointed, Transformed, and Redeemed”. The book is broken up into those three titles, and each is written by three different authors (Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Kay Arthur). We just finished the Anointed section by Priscilla and wow was it good. I try REALLY hard to stay on track and do the work every day, but I have to get up early in the morning to get it done, and, well, I’m not a morning person. So I was having to do a couple of days worth this one morning, but the timing of it was of course so God. The title for this particular day was “Opposition to the Anointing”. The first sentence that jumped out at me was about a little over halfway down on the first page. It says “We have an enemy. He seeks to divert us from the course set for us by our Father. Once we are saved, our enemy cannot destroy us, but he will work hard to distract us.” Now, I knew this, but it was pretty fresh on my mind for I had just experienced it hours before reading this. On Monday afternoon Austin and I were able to spend some time together...working, but together. The day for him had been pretty stressful and he was a wee bit grumpy and edgy. Knowing this, I ignored the invitations that were presented to have my feelings hurt or argue. I just let him vent...we all need to do that. I apologized for how aggravating his day was, and tried to love on him which helped for a few minutes. But after about 3 hours of being around his stinky attitude, he made a comment and I just whipped out my white flag of surrender and let the enemy have his way with my thoughts. I get so caught up sometimes in my own feelings that I forget about the battle I am in. Most of the time I feel like the attacks on me are to not only distract me from being the wife that God has called me to be, but to distract Austin as well. Not long after we moved here I was warned that the enemy would do anything and use anyone to take control of the Church. At the time I was having some health problems, and fighting anxiety and depression. When I heard this warning, I knew immediately that my issues were distractions that caused Austin to take his eyes off of the flock and focus on me....he was using ME and I didn’t even know it! Once I was able to convince my mind that what I was feeling was a ploy from the enemy, my symptoms went away. Understand, that I firmly believe that Ari and I come before Austin’s job, but I also have to remind myself that his job is VERY important. I love you all dearly, but I do have to pray a little harder about having as strong of a passion about you as Austin does. It’s just in him...and that passion takes him away from us a lot, so at times I resent it. It’s been really hard for me to find that line, and I’m still searching. I just know that the Lord has convicted me and always shown me when I’m getting in the way of what He is doing. It’s pretty amazing how often I fall for the same trick over and over again. I am aware, some times more than others, that our battle goes beyond us as a family. God has called Austin to shepherd, and that has proven to be quite the fight! At times I feel ill equipped not knowing what my role is in this battle. The weight of the responsibility can be a bit heavy. I get so wrapped up in my own feelings that there are moments where I feel like we’re alone. But then I look to my left and right and see the godly men and women in leadership that God has surrounded us with who are just as engaged in this battle. And then I turn around and see your faces...each fighting your own battles, but ready at any given second to help me lift the weapons that may be too heavy for me or to throw a shield up to protect Austin from a blow that he didn’t see coming. This “First Lady” is quite humbled.;)

God is doing some really awesome things at Hardin, and you better believe the Enemy is on the prowl. The challenge from this lesson was to RESIST...don’t go looking for a fight, but when it comes to you engage in battle, and stand firm against the attacks made by the enemy. We can walk in confidence because he is already defeated!! As Priscilla stated “You do not have to succumb to the bark of this dog....there’s no bite in him”.

***By the way, I started this blog on Friday morning (1/29) and am just finishing it on Tuesday (2/2). I’ve read it and reread it a hundred times...still trying to get over my insecurity!!

Life Experiences

As I have shared with some, I experienced the shock (and really how can that be?) of a crisis pregnancy when I was 18. My freshman year in college and already very busy with work, school and trying to have a social life was all brought to a halt when the line of the test turned blue. During this time my parents had just divorced and my world was already upside down I cried out to God to save me from this reality. I was devestated. My family was devistated. The Lord in His provision taught me about His love during this time when my pregnant belly squeezed into the desks at school and went through the changes that reminded me of how different life was for me now. He taught me during those days to rely on Him and His perfect love while revealing my sins to me. For a fleeting second, the daughter of a volunteer at the Crisis Pregnancy Center pondered the suggestion of a man to abort the baby. I quickly banished the thought and privately considered adoption. While adoption is a noble thing, I knew then as I know now I wouldn't take that route. After the difficulties of having a child at 18, there has never been a moment's regret in my decision and the life I have watched grow and influence my life for the better. I believe as does every parent that my daughter is special, but beyond that, she is a precious gift that I never deserved. Every time I look at her my breath catches and I think that I must be the luckiest person alive. My mother was the volunteer who administered my pregnancy test as she had for hundreds of young girls, only this time it was so personal. You can see why I am so devoted to the Crisis Pregnancy Center and the lives it saves and touches, for my daughter's is a life that was saved and touched by it.
My opportunity to give back has been throughout my career as a nurse and particularly as a labor/nursery nurse. Each life is special and each baby is special, I see them as my little girl who has brought me so much joy! My journey is just beginning with the training starting in March at the center in Gastonia and hopefully will provide the opportunity for me to be the voice of Christ to the women and girls who we see who are not so different from myself at that age, confused and looking for someone to help them make the right choice. We are all to be diciples for the Cause. " They were beaten and told no more to speak of the name of the Lord. And they ran from the Counsel (Peter and John) rejoicing that the Lord had seen fit for them to suffer dishonor for the Name of Christ." (from Acts) How can we do less?

Provision

Well, here it goes. I told Keri this morning I wanted to start posting but did feel a little intimidated by the whole prospect. I enjoyed Junction so much this morning. Thank all of you who came and made it so special. I was definitely out of my element as I delivered my talk this morning but I did feel the Lord's provision even as I testified of his great provision in my life. I love all of you and thank you for taking time out of your own life to invest in mine. I am looking forward to getting to know those of you I met for the first time today.

In Christ Alone,
Jane

The Rammells

Just wanted to let you know that I've taken over the blog on our family website. www.therammells.com If I know you are reading then maybe I'll be more disciplined about keeping it updated, so let me know!!

Keri

While grocery shopping last weekend some portabella mushrooms jumped out at me and I had to put them in my cart. Austin has created a couple of fabulous meals with them, so I was hoping he would be proud of me for buying something a little out of the ordinary for me and make something with them or at least tell me what to do with them. But as the week went on, the mushrooms still sat in the refrigerator, so I went on the hunt for a recipe and found this one. They were super easy to make and really yummy. I will be making these again. Happy Cooking!!

Traditions

First of all just wanted to share a few pictures of Ari with you that were taken while we were in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time with my family and made some great memories while we were there. The other kids in the pictures are my niece and nephew (Elijah and Evie).

Ok...the last picture is totally random, but I wanted to share it with you. Ari fell and busted his lip in the nursery a couple of months back and his loosened his tooth just a bit. We brought him to the dentist and were told that there was no root damage. The tooth tightened back up, but it turned gray! This lasted for a few weeks, and now his tooth is back to almost it's normal color. Can teeth bruise?

Alright, sorry...now on to my post...I absolutely LOVE this time of year! On top of the fact that we celebrate our Savior's birth, I just love the sounds, the smells, the lights...all of it! However, it is such a chaotic time, and all of the activity seems to make the holiday pass before we can even really enjoy it. I told Austin tonight that I would love to just clear our calendar for the whole month of December. Nice thought, but more than likely not ever gonna happen.

Now that Ari is old enough to really understand what Christmas is about and enjoy the traditions that we celebrate, I want to start some traditions of our own with him. This is where you come in...I need some ideas. One thing for sure I will be doing first thing in the morning is making some kind of a calendar or chain that counts down the days until Christmas day. The poor child wakes up everyday expecting to see the promised drum set sitting under the tree! He's having a hard time understanding the difference between Christmas time and Christmas day. :) Ok, so let me hear it...what are some things we can do?