Our pastors' wives were challenged, renewed and enjoyed fellowship at a Beth Moore Conference especially geared for ladies who are thrown into the fish bowl of ministry. This is the three of them only FIVE rows from the front! Great concert by Travis Cottrell. One of them was VERY excited!

Overcomer

I don't know about you, but if Satan can get my heart and mind focused on fear and worry I no longer live victoriously; my attention is not longer on my Savior, but my focus is on my circumstance(s).
How about you? Do you live a life of fear?
There is a wonderful book by Elyse Fitzpatrick entitled, "Overcoming Fear, Worry, and Anxiety." Here are a few nuggets of truths from this valuable book.

OVERCOMING YOUR WORRY

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus...Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:6-9

Do you see Paul's steps for overcoming worry? The first is to PRAY WITH THANKSGIVING about all your concerns. He is not asking us to pretend we do not have problems! Our focus is to be on prayer. The next step is to learn to control our thoughts.
There are 8 filters through which we should judge our thoughts.

1. TRUE. Is what I'm thinking true about God, particularly His fatherly care for me?
2. HONORABLE. Do my thoughts honor God? Do they reflect the knowledge that He is wonderful, kind, loving, wise, and powerful?
3. RIGHT. Are my thoughts holy, righteous, or just?
4. PURE. Do my thoughts cast doubt on God's goodness or the truth of His promises?
5. LOVELY. Do my thoughts flow from a heart filled with tenderness and affection for the Lord?
6. OF GOOD REPUTE. Are my thoughts of good repute? Are they grounded in faith?
7. EXCELLENT. Do my thoughts cause me to be fearful, or do they fill my heart with courage and strong commitment to virtuous living?
8. PRAISEWORTHY. Would the Lord commend my thoughts? Would they bring Him glory?

Paul tells us to" practice all you learned..." That means we are not going to get it right the first time or even necessarily the 10th time; therefore we must be disciplined to practice these truths.
Paul encourages us to work at this by giving us a precious promise. It is our reward! He writes, "The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, and the God of peace will be with you."

What would you do to find the peace of God and know that the God of peace is with you?
Have a blessed day.

Condolences

We are praying for First Baptist Maryville and to the family of Fred Winters.
May His grace be sufficient for you and his power made perfect in you through these difficult days.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18

Welcome

This is the beginning of our new blog that we pray will be a blessing to those who take the time to visit. Each of us long to sit and chat on our front porches with a glass of lemonade as generations before us did, but finding time to connect with one another is difficult with our fast paced world; therefore, it was decided that it would be fun to "connect" from our "front porches" via blog world.
Welcome. Come on in and sit for a long or short chat and discover the lives of other women in our church family. Leave a sweet comment and encourage one another.
Enjoy your time here and come back for a visit.