Will next year be better?
Will life be easier?
Will all my dreams suddenly come true?
Will the trials and storms be few?

Will my prayer life flourish?
Will I find joy in His Word?
Will I desire a closer walk with Him?
And develop a hatred for sin?

Will my relationships be sweeter?
Will I be content in life?
Will I make everyone proud of me?
Will they remark on how different I’ll be?

I find this all can be possible;
The power lies within me.
The future is mine alone to change
I hold the key to my destiny.

M.D.M

Church Bulletin Bloopers

1. Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa!

2. Announcement in a church bulletin for a national PRAYER and; FASTING Conference: "The cost for attending the Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

3. The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

4. Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall - Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

5. Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.

6. The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

7. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

8. Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

9. Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

10. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

11. Next Thursday there will be try outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

12. Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.

13. The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: "Break Forth Into Joy."

14. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

15. A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

16. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

17. Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

18. Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

19. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

20. Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.

21. The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

22. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

23. The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind.
They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

24. This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

25. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

26. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

27. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

28. The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

29. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

30. The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge, Up Yours!"

I want to join the unemployed.

Seriously.

I QUIT!!!

There. I finally got it off my chest. Even though it doesn't really count.

Sigh. Oh Well.

Lovest Thou Me More Than These?

Bekki's most recent blog title was "His Strength Is Perfect".

I'm finding that to be so.

A couple weeks ago, I found myself praying for God to "show me myself". Always a dangerous prayer. The last time I prayed that, it rocked my world. I mean, who really wants to see themselves as a petty, selfish individual who cares more for their desires than anything else?! Well, He did it again. Though I am relieved to know that I must be "growing Spiritually" because what the Lord showed me is totally different from what I would have imagined. You always hear preachers saying that if you do not overcome a particular obstacle, God always brings it back around in hopes you do overcome it the next time, right? So on the flip side, if God shows you something new about yourself, then you must have overcome something that you've been working on and He decides, "Okay, time for a new one!" and WHAMMIE! He blindsides you with something else to work on.

Well, we recently had Bro. Carlson, an evangelist from Oklahoma City, come by and Jesus stepped all over my toes. From the Get Go, I knew God was dealing with me. The first message was (and I don't remember the title) asking what our motivation is. Basically, why do we do what we do? Is it in self interest or is it to further the Kingdom of God? I had no clue yet, what God was asking me but I knew He was preparing my heart for something.

The next message was God telling me what I needed to give up. And I sat there stunned because there was really nothing "wrong" with what I was doing! Not really. Okay, not all of it. Some of it, my Pastor doesn't like but I still didn't see the "sin" in it. I thought it was just his opinion and his preference. And the rest, there was nothing wrong with it! But I acquiesced and told God, "Okay. Whatever." Definitely not with the right spirit! And over the course of the next day, I "talked myself" out out of the conviction that God had given me the night before. So easy to do when you don't truly pray about what God has given you.

And God came back and ripped me apart again. Bro. Carlson came back and preached along the same lines again saying that someone (ME) was ignoring what God was trying to tell them and was rebelling again Him. Now that scared the snot out of me because I'm sitting there going, "But I haven't done anything yet!" Yet what God was seeing was my heart, my intentions.

And the revival pretty much ended that way. So God sent someone to tell me (if that revival was for anyone, it was for me) what He wanted me to give up. And over the course of the next couple days, I realized that, even though what I was doing and enjoying might not have been sin, per se, God wanted to see how deep my love for Him is. Is it deep enough to give up a dream of mine that I've held on to for over 15 years? Is it strong enough to keep bitterness out of my heart towards Him? Is His love enough for me? Is He enough for me? And the last night of the revival, I prayed what Bro. Carlson told us to pray. That God would give me Grace to be able to obey Him. To give me peace about the whole situation.

And while I would like to say that I've leaped over that obstacle and conquered that desire...I've not.

Because I happen to pass one of the "objects of my desire" twice a day, 5 days a week. :) Jen might realize what I'm referring to. And like I said earlier, if you're not praying about the instructions that God has given you, it's so easy to let it fall. To mean nothing.

Last night, on the way home from work, I started imagining myself in that beautiful building, just for once! And that would be it! Really! Then there would be the one coming up soon, too. No harm done!

Elder Pixler happened to be visiting last night. :) He didn't say much but closed with this, "You can't play with God. The Lord wanted to tell someone that tonight." And while that be a pretty general admonition, I heard it reverberate in my soul.

And while the things that God asked me to give up, might not be sin, they are now sin for me. It made me look at myself and realize that there might be more things that have too strong of a hold in my life. If it hurts so much to let it go, then it might be a weight that will keep me from Heaven. It shames me when I think of all He gave up for me. And I have to remind myself that nothing He ever asks of me is worthy to compare what was asked of Him. It also humbles me to think that even in my hard-hardheadedness, there must be something genuine in my heart for him to send not one, but two preachers by to speak to me!

Workin' at the Car Wash, yeah...

Or not? yeah, I don't think I'd ever get a job at a car wash.

Word of advise, take extra quarters!

Yeah, it's not cool when the machine thing stops when you just finished spraying the pretty blue, purple and pink wax foam all over your car and have no way of washing it off! It was pretty interesting.

So, the moral of the story, children, is to take extra quarters when you go to wash your car!

Toodles! - Ditzy Today

Who Am I?

Should I be Me or Someone more interesting?
Should I be Me or Someone more...elegant? Eloquent?

Should I be Me or should I pretend to be You?
Would you like me better then?

Would I be more accepted if I tried to be like Them?
Would my presence be welcome if I pretended to be one of Them?

Should I change from Me to You or Them just to win your heart?
If I change from being Me, how will I know who I am?

How will God find Me...?

If - by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!


I remember having to memorize this poem in the...7th or 8th grade and thinking, "Man, that's a good one!" but the significance of it weighs heavily now that I've grown older. I'm actually choking up right now and if someone asked me to recite it, I'd probably burst into tears and leave that same person bewildered and confused. Sigh. I'm a tad emotional at times.

So...how do you do it? Keep your head when everyone is blaming you? Or dream but not let dreams rule you? Or meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat them both the same?

Is it a learning process? Will the lesson ever be fully learned? Is Life the cruel and heartless Teacher?

Hmmm...I wonder what my "grade" would be right now. Yeah, I'm probably failing. lol Who knows?

On The Lake!

The weekend before last, our youth group packed our camping gear, a ton of food and a guitar and headed to Lake Texoma. It's always interesting to see what will be talked about during our campfire "Let It All Out "sessions. This year the subject was...Marriage. Sigh. Enough of that already! Anyways, fun times! Enjoy the pics!


Lake Texoma

The boys and Dad at the swimming hole...

On the rocks..hehe

This was...Sunday School, I guess? Fun times.

Tito and his "ghetto shades" snoozing in the shade.

Albert napping. Who else would complain about being

bored at the beach but these two?!

Feed time...

Washing dishes was not a fun part of the weekend, let me tell you.

The "harmless Uno game"

Hacksack w/a volleyball...just before they wacked

someone's truck door with the ball. Niiiice.

Ummm, yeah. I don't know what he was doing here.

We were some little pyromaniacs all weekend!

Definition of Barbeque : the grilling of the meat!

The "painful Uno game". Whoever lost the game,

got "zapped" by the insect killer wand thingy!

It was soooo much fun driving/piloting (???) the boat!

Too bad is didn't go all that fast. lol

So we all agreed that riding the tube was the coolest thing since...

umm...I dunno. The coolest thing. Even though there were fish in the water. lol

Arsenio

WIPEOUT!!!

Jen and Lis

Hollywood

Definately Not Hollywood lol

We had waaay too much fun that day!

You think?!

Okay, deep breath here.

You know what I hate?! When someone who (...how shall I say this?) has many lbs. on them tells me that I need to lose weight, or work out more, or stop eating my McDonald's!

I mean, "Hello?!"

Something Dark and Dangerous takes over in my mind...

No matter how small you think someone is, most females tend to be somewhat sensitive about their weight. (and I stand to be corrected on that) There are some Awesome Women who are very comfortable in their own bodies and I applaud them, seriously! BUT, why is it not okay (universally) to tell an overweight person that they need to lose weight, or joke about their weight or "rolls" but it's okay for an overweight person to tell someone else that they need to lose weight or say something like, "Yeah, you need to hurry up and tighten up that belly!"

Once again, Something Dark and Dangerous threatens to creep in...

Can we not learn the concept of the Golden Rule? Treat others as you would like to be treated?

It works the same for say, an outfit, or shoes! If you would not like someone to tell you that yours are ugly, why tell someone that their shoes look like someone's grandmother's? Hypothetically speaking, of course! (Not the first part of this ranting and raving session, that really did happen!)

I just don't understand Life and What is Accepted. Because, I think that my view of What Should Be Accepted is vastly different from others. Maybe I'm just not normal. Me and my fat self. LOL

Anywhere...But Here

The wind in my face,
The breeze in my hair
How I long to be anywhere but here!
The sand in my toes,
The sun on my nose
Oh! To be anywhere but here!

Or the be on a plane
Far south is my aim
Heading far, far away from here.
The colors are so bright!
And music fills the night
How I only to be anywhere but here.

The stones are so grand;
So proudly they stand
In a land far away from here.
A land by the sea
Where ancients roamed free
Far, far away from here.

I realize I'm just dreaming
Just staring at the ceiling
But my heart has bid me adieu!
How I long to be there
It doesn't matter where,
As long as I'm far away from this room.

The Loss of Hope

For why should I continue hope
Which disappointment borne?
And why continue I to dream
Which vanishes away come morn?

- M.D.M -

Someone once said that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train. Now I am not a pessimist, even though I am often accused of being one. I rather think of myself as a realist. In a pessimistic mood right now. ☺ But I think the train headlight thing is a pretty accurate description of my life at this point. Ever have a "quicksand moment"? Where you are struggling to get out of a bad situation and your attempt at freedom serves to only bring you that much closer to total destruction?! Okay, so that's a bit dramatic but really. The harder you try to "fix your problems", the worse they get. Hmm. Life is like a box of chocolate - that's what Mama Gump said. I don't like chocolate.

New Topic - Say that someone has a problem with uhmm....shopping. They are always purchasing something new to flaunt. That person can choose to stop purchasing things but what makes them do it? Why do they feel the need to surround themselves with new things? Yeah, maybe we'll discuss the why's later. I just wanted to pose the question.

So yeah. I've decided to "fast" from shopping. Not that I was referring to myself in the paragraph above. Of course not. ☺ Anyways, Jen has agreed to be my consience. From August 2nd - August 27th, I am not buying a single article of clothing, no Must Have pair of shoes, no acccessories, no...anything. Sigh. Okay, well food and neccessities of course. We shall see how this goes. maybe after all this goes down, I'll bare my heart and write the Reason I Shop. I had a Moment of Self Evaluation last night on the way to Wal-Mart. Dangerous stuff. Anyways. That's all for today folks!

♥ShelleyDianne

Ahem...

So I changed my blog. I get bored with stuff easily! I'm not like Jen, Elissa and Rhonda who can socialize online like nobody's business! I'm kinda like, "Hey! How are you?!" Okay...well. Nice talking to you!" That's about the extent of my blogs. No lie. Oh and don't e-mail me...I have (hold on...let me check) 1282 messages in my inbox. I hate e-mail! I'm not any better at texting either.

So...I changed my blog. Now I have a place, an online space...for which to post my poetry! Whoo Hoo. But hey! It's different, right?! No? Okay, but it's my blog and since I decided I want to post my poems, songs and just plain ramblings...by golly, I shall!

Soon!
♥ Shelley Dianne

On the Road Again...

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

Well, hello there!

Finally! I can type/talk as much as I want to and won't have to see people's eyes glaze over or have people fall asleep during one of my ahah! moments! I don't know why my friends do that...