Sword Sunday

One of the highlights of December was the privilege of meeting Dr. Shelton Smith. My husband is always looking for ideas and advice from those who have been down the "ministry road" farther than he, and Dr. Shelton Smith certainly has some experience! He is the current editor of the Sword of the Lord newspaper and an evangelist. Before taking the position as editor, he pastored in Maryland for 34 years! His church ran around 200 when he first got there, and the Lord allowed it to grow to over 1,500!

To be totally honest, (and you all know that "real" is my middle name) I was very apprehensive about meeting him. He preaches to large crowds often. Our church is not at all large. He is well known; we are most certainly not. He is popular; popular is a word that I would never use to describe my family. I expected Dr. Smith to be way above me in attitude and action, and I felt he had every right to be so. After all, I am only a "somebody" to the Lord, and that is fine with me! I was pleasantly surprised to find that he is absolutely not pious, pompous, or arrogant. He is kind, sincere, understanding and very humble.

My husband introduced me to him first thing Sunday morning. I managed a very weak, "Hello, I'm Valerie." I had had nightmares of introducing myself to him as the "Wastor's Pife", so I just left that part entirely. He smiled, shook my hand and said "I'm so pleased to meet you."

What?? Did he say he was pleased to meet me?? Yes! He did! I probably let out an audible sigh of relief! He was nice! Whew!

Terry had visited with Dr. Smith quite a bit on Saturday. He gave Terry some very practical advice on scheduling and other things. He encouraged Terry in the ideas that he already had. Terry had said that Dr. Smith was a very "regular kind of guy", but I was still intimidated.

Unfortunately, we had a rather low attendance that day. I was disappointed because anytime we have a guest speaker, I want them to meet our wonderful people. I also want the people to hear their messages or testimonies. Of course, I am equally disappointed when they aren't there on a regular Sunday, too! I can honestly say that I love our church people! Seeing them is the highlight of my week. They are why we relocated our family and they are, in essence, the reason we are in Hope, Arkansas. We are here to serve them. I was moved by Dr. Smith's testimony of how the Lord placed him as the editor of the Sword of the Lord. His Sunday school lesson and evening sermon were an encouragement to my heart. I wish everyone could have gotten that encouragement!

By meeting and visiting with Dr. Smith, my husband learned many good things that will enable him to be a better pastor to our people. I am thankful for the opportunity to meet a great man, like Dr. Smith. He isn't great because he is the editor of the Sword of the Lord, he is great because he has been faithful many years. My home pastor, Dr. Ken Graham, defined greatness as faithfulness. I agree with that definition.

After our evening service, I had the opportunity to thank him for coming. He was very gracious. He encouraged me to attend one of the Ladies' Jubilees. I hope I will be able to do just that in the near future.

Here are a few photos of the day:

Dr. Smith with one of our men, Mr. Eugene Bobo

Dr. Smith visits with Bro. Eugene.

Terry and Dr. Shelton Smith

Some of our family with Dr. Smith. If only I could get Lauren to smile! :)

I am thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord in full time ministry. In hard times and happy times; in thick and in thin, I would rather be in God's service than in any other occupation in the world.

Jeremiah 5:5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God:...

Update on our Revival

Well, friends and neighbors, I am sad to inform you that the Devil was alive and well at our revival meeting this past week. I suppose we should feel honored that he felt he should show up in the first place! Perhaps we are on the verge of seeing God's hand move in a great and mighty way.
I prayed that no one would contract a virus or ear infection during our revival, and that prayer was answered. I prayed that everyone would be able to locate their shoes, and that was answered. It's amazing how those little things can reek havoc on a revival spirit! However, the Devil made his appearance in other ways.
On a happy note, we were blessed to see one young man get saved! He stopped by our house one evening to talk to Terry about something, and come to find out, he wasn't in God's family! Hearing of his accepting Christ was really encouraging! I praise the Lord for the work He's done, and I pray we can see more done for His glory.
Bro. Green brought some tremendous messages. He is a very kind man, and we are blessed to be his friends. He gave us some very good counsel while he was here. I am so proud to have a husband with a teachable spirit! I want to be more teachable, myself.
Even though we had a break from school, I really didn't rest! I had lots of cooking and cleaning and laundry and practice to do, therefore, blogging was at the bottom of the list that I never completed each day! Thanks for your patience!
Also, thank you for praying for our meeting. Please keep our church in your prayers, if you think of us. I will do my best to post another chapter of my love story soon. God has been so good to me, and I love telling my story for His glory.

See you soon!

Needing a Break, and a Revival

We are taking a week long break from school this week. Let me say, I need it! I am convinced that when all of my children are school age, my homeschooling life will be easier. Having to educate two children, and keep watch over two toddlers, is taxing, to say the least. If you add being a Pastor's wife into the mix, then it's nearly impossible.Motherhood and homeschooling have done something very important for me though. They have kept me on my knees before the Lord. I'm not saying I'm a super prayer warrior, I'm just saying that I need the Lord's help to mold and train my youngters for Him. I need His help to educate them. I need His divine care and guidance to be a Pastor's wife.
I have needed a break, and I'm glad I'm getting one. I have also needed spiritual refreshment. My husband preaches many wonderful and convicting messages from the Lord. But even Pastor's need a re-fueling once in a while! I don't care how much time we spend in God's Word, we still need the spiritual renewal that only a Man of God can provide. Notice, I said "man of God", not a preacher. Any man can preach, but few are true men of God.
I am so happy that our break coincides with our revival meeting. I scheduled the break at this time on purpose, but I had no idea how desperately I would need the preaching that we've had so far.
We are having Bro. Tim Green preach for us this week. He's been a friend of my husband's since he was 15 years old. He is a great Bible preacher, but he is also a man who walks with God.
I hope and pray I can report back to you on Thursday that we have seen souls saved. We have already seen a cleansing work of the Lord on some hearts - mine was the first one- and there have been others.
If you think of us this week, please pray for Grace Baptist Church, the city of Hope and the state of Arkansas, to experience revival. From the there, it could spread to our entire nation.

It could happen, but only God can do it.

Welcome to my Home...

I had my first ladies meeting/fellowship at my home this past Saturday, June 21st. It went really well. The ladies all enjoyed the food, so that was good. If you haven't made these Apple Dumplings, then please stop what you're doing and go make them! They are absolutely delicious! My friend, Pamela, recommended them to me. She said "Valerie, if you make these, everyone will so love you." Well, I want to be "so loved" so I made them. And you know what? I think it worked! I get a lot more smiles and hellos now! ;]

Anyway, while my house looked decent, I stopped my ladies meeting preparations and ran around my house at a frenzied pace, snapping photos. Come on in, and welcome!

The entry way from the carport. The view as you enter my kitchen from the above entry way. I recently painted above my cabinets and put this apple border on. I love it!! I love red in my kitchen! It's so cheerful! The walls were already red, I just did the green beneath the border. Okay, Terry did the green beneath the border, and I did the border. I gotta be real here.To my left(not pictured) is my laundry area, sink and the stove and fridge are on the right.The living room. I just got these end tables when we moved in!! I've never had end tables before! Yay!The hallway. Not much to say here. :) To the left of the entry way is the school room. It used to be a carport, but a former pastor closed it in. I love this room! Sorry it's so dark!Another view of the school room. It needs some decorating. I've got more to do there.The dining room! I had it set up for the ladies meeting.
My bedroom. I love the wood paneling in this room! The pastor that closed in the carport also added this room, the dining room and another bathroom. What a great guy!

This is the master bathroom. It has two sinks! The shower is in another room.

Laci's room. It used to be a blueish-gray color. Now it's PINK! Maybe a little too pink, but oh well. I plan to do some kind of border or something in here eventually, just to break up all that pink! But until then, you better keep your shades on in this room!

Lauren's and Leslie's room...once again, it's a work in progress!
Mitchell's room is very unique. Two walls have a deer type paneling, and two are wood grain. I didn't know that printed paneling existed! Live and learn!There's also another bathroom down this hallway. I didn't get a photo of it.

This is the other view of the entry way. You can see it's a "catch all" type room. If I don't know where it goes, I put it in here! :)
Ah, yes! The best photo of them all! What good is a house if there aren't any people around to make it a happy place? Here's a photo or two of our ladies meeting. Your first look at some of the sweet faces of Grace Baptist Church.

Here we are doing what I love the most! Eating!! I had a great time...I think everyone else did too!

We Made It!

Hello all! Thanks so much for your patience while I get my new blog up and running. There are still many things up in the air. For one thing, I'm not sure if I like this look, and another more important thing, we're not sure if we will keep this Internet service. We have 15 free days to try it. After that, we're bound by a contract for two years! I hate being tied down like that. So, in a few days, if I cease posting, you'll know it's because we had to ditch this Internet service. I'm not sure at this time what else is available.
As for the church, we love it!! I'll try to post photos soon. Everyone has been so kind and gracious to us. We feel as though we've known these people forever. We have jumped right in to our duties here. We've been able to see one of our teens, Britany, graduate from high school. I started doing Super Church last Sunday. Terry had to attend the funeral of Miss Faye, one of our members today. She had been in a nursing home for years, so she wasn't able to attend church must lately. She was 96 years old! One of our ladies recently went to visit her and when she left she told her "I'll see you again soon." Miss Faye replied "Up there." as she pointed to Heaven. She was prepared to see her Lord. Still, there will be folks saddened by her absence down here!
I just wanted to post a little update and let you know we are all alive and well. We had a fairly smooth time moving, if you can even speak about moving in those terms. We had a near collision on I-30 when some debris got into the road and vehicles ahead of us stopped suddenly. The Lord protected us, however, and no harm was done! Another great blessing is that Terry and I are not headed for divorce. Our marriage has survived, by God's grace, yet another move! If you have moved even once, and you aren't perfect, then you know that moving can be a huge stress on your marriage. We are rejoicing that it's over, and that we still love each other! ;]
It is hard starting over again. I am so blessed that everyone so far has been very patient with me learning their names, and such. My first ladies meeting will be on June 21st here at the house. I have gotten some great game ideas and recipes (thanks, Pamela! ;] ) from various sources on the Internet. I am looking forward to visiting more with our ladies, but I'm nervous about pulling it all together, too!

It's so great to be back! I've missed you all!


Your Friend in Hope ~
Valerie