WORD up!

Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Joshua, although they are a bit better formatted than former efforts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. I’m not sure of the condition of the world at the time of this publication. But at the time of its writing, summer 2009, things are looking increasingly bleak with the economy and unemployment, there is a renewal and increase of racism, and godly principles of living being disregarded. Are these the first stages of birth pains? The last? God only knows. And He is very busy these days. Stay strong and very courageous. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming to deliver His people and judge the wicked… Stacey Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 15 of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the...

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Lynnette Bonner and the book: Spring Meadow Sanctuary CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 11, 2012) ***Special thanks to Lynnette Bonner for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Born and raised in Malawi, Africa. Lynnette Bonner spent the first years of her life reveling in warm equatorial sunshine and the late evening duets of cicadas and hyenas. The year she turned eight ...

I felt the call upon my life last year to sign up for the Crown Financial Bible Study.   So, even though this is a seemingly chaotic season of new beginnings where I will begin teaching Sunday School and start back up with Bible Study Fellowship and continue my mid-week Bible study while still trying to fit in time to get to the gym, I signed up for Crown at its first offering after I felt the call.   I know that my obedience is key.   Because of the season, I am expecting God to show up mightily and teach me just how I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!   (Including memorizing all of the Scripture required to complete the course.)   Hallelujah! The first meeting is for record-keeping, passing out the books and getting introduced to the study.   You receive your first homework assignment at this preliminary meeting.   After two weeks pass to complete the assignment, the first meeting of the study takes place.   And I am an...

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Robbie Cheuvront and Erik Reed and the book: The 13: Fall Barbour Books (September 1, 2012) ***Special thanks to Sharon Farnell for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Robbie Cheuvront is the worship/associate pastor and an elder of The Journey Church in Lebanon, TN, and cofounder of C&R Ministries with Erik Reed. He is also a songwriter and formerly tour with BNA recording artists, Lo...

Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Joshua, although they are a bit better formatted than former efforts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. I’m not sure of the condition of the world at the time of this publication. But at the time of its writing, summer 2009, things are looking increasingly bleak with the economy and unemployment, there is a renewal and increase of racism, and godly principles of living being disregarded. Are these the first stages of birth pains? The last? God only knows. And He is very busy these days. Stay strong and very courageous. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming to deliver His people and judge the wicked… Stacey Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 14 of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the...

Every Bible is different. There are so many to choose from, it may seem like a daunting task because there seem to be too many choices to make the proper decision in many cases. There are not just different translations, there are different styles of Bibles, too. Each has its own unique set of features designed to draw the student into a distinctive study situation. I have several different Bibles for very different purposes. Here is a brief description of a few of my Bibles and what I use them for. First, my NIV Study Bible has been my flagship tool for many years. It has a soft leather cover that I love to feel in my hand. It has extensive margin notes that are helpful when doing more intense study to link passages together throughout the Bible. This is the Bible I use for BSF (it is especially useful on Challenge questions that allow you to reference other passages). Recently, I’ve found this Bible increasingly difficult to use because of the small print and my diminishing ...

Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Joshua, although they are a bit better formatted than former efforts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. I’m not sure of the condition of the world at the time of this publication. But at the time of its writing, summer 2009, things are looking increasingly bleak with the economy and unemployment, there is a renewal and increase of racism, and godly principles of living being disregarded. Are these the first stages of birth pains? The last? God only knows. And He is very busy these days. Stay strong and very courageous. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming to deliver His people and judge the wicked… Stacey Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 13 of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the...

I can’t believe it’s over!   What an incredible experience.   I’m ready to do it all again so I might retain even more.   The little bit of group discussion we have after watching each tour video is great, but isn’t enough to solidify everything presented.   I think I need to budget to buy the DVDs so I can watch them with my husband and we can discuss them.   Maybe that will help me to gel what I’m learning. Our Heavenly Father has a heart for the needy.   Am I trying to justify myself and my lack of involvement with the needy like the expert in the law in Luke 10:25-29?   Do I simply throw money at the “problem” and not get my hands dirty?   I have thrown money at the “issue”.   I have participated in feeding the homeless.   But what am I supposed to do?   Dr. Tackett told a couple of stories that brought me to tears.   The first was about how he was an outcast when he was young:   picked on, talked about, made...

Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Joshua, although they are a bit better formatted than former efforts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. I’m not sure of the condition of the world at the time of this publication. But at the time of its writing, summer 2009, things are looking increasingly bleak with the economy and unemployment, there is a renewal and increase of racism, and godly principles of living being disregarded. Are these the first stages of birth pains? The last? God only knows. And He is very busy these days. Stay strong and very courageous. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming to deliver His people and judge the wicked… Stacey Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 12 of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the...

Do you love your job? I admit I don’t always love it, but for the most part, I am truly blessed in my work. This session’s title says a lot: we were created to create. I didn’t fully grasp the idea of that until I took this tour. It is the cosmic battle that has taken this sphere and turned it into something boring, ugly, utilitarian and negative. God’s intent is much different. Dr. Tackett outlined seven economic principles in this tour on Labor. First of all, all things belong to God. I am learning this same principle in the Crown Financial Bible Study. Don’t you love it when God orchestrates your exposure to a certain lesson through various sources? I figure I really needed to learn this principle. Now that I’ve memorized 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 with the Crown study, I am praying that I never forget it. Second, God has given us the privilege of being a creative steward over His creation with “ownership” rights. This means that we have management authority over God’s pr...

Get ready for the newest edge of your seat novel from Kristen Heitzmann. The Breath of Dawn (Bethany House, 2012), a story of romance and suspense, is sure to keep you reading well into the night! "Heitzmann weaves a many-layered tale... keep[ing] readers entertained and wondering when the next bit of drama will occur." --Publishers Weekly   Here is my review of this wonderful romantic suspense read: First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Kristen Heitzmann and her publisher for sending me a copy of "The Breath of Dawn" to review for them. I am truly grateful for this generosity. I really appreciate the time, effort and expense it takes to make a reviewer copy available to me. Kristen Heitzmann’s latest standalone novel, “The Breath of Dawn” is the most recent thrilling novel chronicling the lives of Rick and Morgan Spencer.   It’s been many years since I’ve read “A Rush of Wings” and “The Still of Night”, but I remember...