Deanna Doss Shrodes

Ephesians 4:25 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” Why do so many Christians lie? I guess the better question might be, why do so many Christians justify lying? Besides the obvious reason: sin. Why blog about this today? Well, it’s on my mind so, here goes. If you are somebody who actually cares about reading my blog today I encourage you to get a snickers bar and a coffee to last you through this one. You'll need it! My sister is getting married in a few weeks. Yesterday I was talking to her about everything from her gown, to her guest list. When going over the guest list we discussed that someone very important to us is not coming. The gave a whole bunch of reasons…timing not good…money, etc. but the real fact is, none of that is true. The reason they are not coming is that there will be certain people at the wedding they are not comfortable with. They would rather not attend because those people will be...

This is so exciting! I got carded tonight! (Do I really still look THAT young?) This made my night! The boys had Friday Night Live at the church tonight. Savanna spent the night at Molly's. Larry and T and I went to see a movie and then afterwards we went to the Green Iguana. When the guy asked for my I.D., I said, "ummm....you're joking, right?" He said, "no, I'm not." I could see he was serious and I said, "oh my gosh, I could just hug you right now!" He did not ask for Larry's I.D. (which I thought was humorous) but he did ask for Trinity's, but then again T is 10 (count 'em 10) years younger than me. This is awesome, just awesome. What a perfect "night cap"! :-)

Reading in my Utmost for His Highest today and it says... "Paul said, ". . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to "preach the gospel" was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength. If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony." I am a woman obsessed. How true. Unless someone has this call upon their life they cannot fathom the compulsion...the drive...the uneasiness during times it is not fulfilled. I like how Chambers makes the statement that it was ..."so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength..." How well I unde...

Today Oswald's devo says: "Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute "go" of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus...One thing you lack . . . ." From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing..."   Wow, how true this is. I am always forgetting that when I am really following Him I give up all rights to myself and abandon myself to whatever He is calling for at that moment. Sometimes I am ever aware of this and other times I am utterly clueness and need to be spiritually shaken and awakened. I have to stop and ask myself..."is ...

Today's Oswald Chamber's Devo said: "The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. Our Lord’s answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of "what was in man." If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death." I can definitely relate to this. God is like a surgeon who does what needs to be done in your life, no matter how much it hurts and even if there is no anesthesia available at the time, he'll go ahead and do what's good for you. remember back when I had my miscarriage and it was a painful mess, not only emotionally but physically. It was clear that enough had happened that I had, indeed, miscarried. However, everything in ...

Okay, now that I got it out of my system about my let down this week, I want to re-cap what's right about this week...our Friend's Day at church. If people missed it, they really missed it. Lots of newcomers came to our guest reception at 10 am, and enjoyed a continental breakfast. After an exciting “countdown” in the sanctuary, the service started with great energy and excitement. The place filled up quickly -- there were not many empty seats at all even though we recently added 62 chairs to the sanctuary! The service featured special multi-media clips, drama, and much more. More than anything we are rejoicing that four people committed their lives to Christ! Our hospitality room was packed at the conclusion of the service. All of our guests received brand new New Living Translation Bibles as a gift from the church as well as bookmarks that gave all the info about the church to place in their Bibles and remind them of what’s happening at the most happening church in Tampa B...

Today, Oswald says ..."Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, "I am here for God to send me where He will." Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be." So true. It cannot happen other than through His supernatural power. Enthusiasm alone won't do it, someone else calling you (besides the divine call of God) won't do it, nothing else will do. I hav...

The rocket took off. Wow, did it ever! I am so tired. I will be asleep by 9 pm. Savanna is spending the night at Morgan's, so that will be possible. Thank heavens for small blessings like that, that made my day easier. My whole day was spent at the church, weeding, cleaning, prepping for Friends Day. Bugs love me. They just LOVE me. I got about 20 bites on my legs, so many I can't wear a dress tomorrow. It will look awful. I feel like when I used to be on my grandmother's farm and all the mosquitoes would bite me up and I would have big red welts on my legs all the time. Pastor T says I need some special vitamin in my system that I'm missing that makes bugs go after me. I also encountered a 4 foot (at least) snake today as I was gardening. I was trimming bushes at the church...all of a sudden I notice I am about to cut a snake. I started screaming to the top of my lungs. It got up and hissed at me. I was going bonkers. Sean was laughing and said, "what is it?...

The ministry rocket is taking off for the weekend. Today is normally our day off and we try to make it 24 hours of rest, but today it was a 3/4 day off. I eeeked every bit out of this time that I could, being that it's all I have for the week. This morning I got up and was so zonked when that alarm rang. So tired from a busy week. I did not want to get up but had to, to get Savanna off to school. So I did. Then although exhausted, I decided to get a few things done. So I ate breakfast and headed off to do something just for me - nails, make a stop at K-mart to get candles, make a stop at florist to take care of finalizing getting money back for Dustin's flower order. Came home by lunch and by the time I was done with lunch I was so tired. You know I'm tired when it's noon and I am still sleepy because normally even when I get up tired, my day takes off like a rocket everyday and I'm good to go especially after a few cups of coffee. Not today. The bed was beckoning ...

Random thoughts about me ...  I am crazy about books, especially non-fiction.  My new favorite thing is Zumba.  I really like coffee and tea.  I like passionate people. Even if I don't like their views, I would rather be with someone intense than someone phlegmatic. Eeuk!  I thank Jesus every day for caller ID.  Sitting in my jacuzzi is my favorite nighttime pastime, except being with Larry.  I don't know what it's like to not be creative.  I like wearing colored nail polish because I think it's bolder.  I believe in making a statement in everything we do, even if we don't say a word.  I love suddenly feeling the anointing.  You Alone is probably the worship song that has been so much a favorite of mine for so long. I love listening to James Taylor and rarely get tired of him. Tonight I was listening to Your Smiling Face in the car and it still...gives me a smile on my face. :-)  I love that every day...

Today was colored with purpose, projects, mundane things, important things, all kinds of stuff. Blending together to make as good a day as any. First, I love it when a message comes together. Mine did today, for 2 Sundays from now. I'm preaching a message on Sunday, October 1 called, "Don't let anyone talk you out of it!" It's about Ruth. It's going to be power packed. The more I study it, the more I hone it, the more I go over it, the more it is like a FIRE shut up in my bones. I am ready to quit studying it because honestly I keep getting more things the deeper I dig into it, and it could be a 2 hour long message if I keep going and looking for every single angle in this text, so I need to stop I guess and just pray. I have had the message churning for a long time but it just came out on paper today. A powerful day...we are in for a powerful day. But lest I skip ahead........ This Sunday will be a blockbuster. It's our friends day. We have been working...

Today, Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest writes, "We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been." I guess I'm where I should be in one regard, that I do instinctively and immediately turn to God when I feel any confusion or crisis of any sort. I guess I have lived long enough on the planet to know that NOTHING else satisfies, NOTHING else will help me get through, bring joy back to my heart, or rectify the problem in any way. God and God alone - that's the bottom line. Today was a mixture of a day - a real blend. Good things going on with staff, and planning the service for Sunday, and I have also done well this week with my weight and gone down some more...steady, slow but su...

Today in My Utmost for His Highest , Oswald Chambers said, "We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?" I do realize that everything that happens in my life has been through God's approval. There is no circumstance I'm in that He didn't say, "alright, let it happen." So, He knows what is happening and how I'm going to come through it. It seems like all I have been doing lately is taking the kids for check ups, taking myself for check ups, going for dentist appointments, getting cavities ...

 Larry got the latest Nicholas Sparks book, "At First Sight" it for me (and how sweet of him) while we were away. I was looking forward to delving into it and devouring it. He knows I love most anything by Sparks. I don't normally read too much fiction. Only a few select authors. Most of it is not worth my time and quite honestly I've found truth is stranger (and much more interesting) than fiction. Well, I read the book in 2 days and I was sorely disappointed. What a  crappo ending.!!! Please people, spare yourselves the time and do not read At First Sight . It will needlessly jerk you around for all 277 pages and then leave you with a horrible bang at the end. You just don't need it, trust me.

"The LORD came to him the second time, even as he appeared to him in Gibeon. And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which you have made before me: and I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually." ( 1Ki 9:2-3 ). Here the Bible is referring to the prayer of dedication of Solomon. When the Temple was ready, he prayed this prayer of dedication, asking God to keep watch over the house all the time. If the people would get into crisis, when plagues would come, if in battle, or whatever would happen, they would just seek the Lord in the house and He would meet their needs. And so God said, "yes, I'll do that." I just have to believe God will do that for me too. I just have to believe if He did it for Solomon, He can still do it for me. I am realizing more and more, things happen on a regular basis - things I see coming, things I don't. T...

We spoke at Keith and Joy's church this morning for their pastor appreciation day. What a good day. They have such a great church with great people and no surprise there -- it's a product of them, a true reflection.  We spoke about being people of honor and how to honor your pastor and their family. Basically saying everything every pastor would like to say, but usually can't...(at their own church.) They seemed to be very appreciative of it. Even Joshua and Kaleb told Larry, "wow -- that was awesome." I think it meant a lot to the kids to hear us tell the congregation what PK's sometimes go through and what they need. Although they have a very honoring church and always have been, a refresher is always in order, and new ideas a good thing. Sherri did such a great job of organizing the whole thing as she has for the past 16 years. They just went to two services, so we did both services, then went to lunch with them at an Italian place that was really good......

I was reading in Chambers My Utmost For His Highest today and he says... "Have you "renounced the hidden things of shame" in your life— the things that your sense of honor or pride will not allow to come into the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light? Then renounce it as soon as it comes to mind— renounce everything in its entirety until there is no hidden dishonesty or craftiness about you at all. Envy, jealousy, and strife don’t necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kinds of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3 ). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame." I can honestly say at this moment in my life, I have no feeling of bitterness or hate for anyone in the world, no jealousy or strife beyond breaking up the sibling rivalry with my k...

So Larry and I took the weekend off in Tampa and we are in Lakeland for the weekend. We are preaching at Keith and Joy's church on Sunday for their pastor appreciation service. We decided to make a whole weekend of it and get away together. So, we came to Courtyard Marriott to stay for a few days. Last night we met Keith and Joy for dinner at Carrabbas and hung out with them a little bit at the church and hotel. Today we are just taking the day for ourselves. Nothing to do but sleep, make love, shop, go to dinner, sit by the pool, get in the jacuzzi, watch movies, surf the net, and do all of it all over again. :-) Fun, fun, fun. I am enjoying this day so much. We decided not to get out of bed til' 11:30. Went to lunch, shopping for a little bit, then Larry wanted to sleep a few hours. I read an entire book sitting by the pool, then got in the pool about 1/2 hour, got out and dried off, then went in to the gym and worked out for 45 min. Wow, that felt good! Now he's STILL s...

Okay, so I was driving down the street yesterday and I see a church sign that says, "Christ Centered Activities Here." And immediately I thought, "what in the heck does that mean?" Every single place I step into, there's a Christ centered activity going on. That's because I'm there, and "in Him I live and move and have my being." When I'm sitting in my jacuzzi, it becomes a Christ centered activity. When I'm salsa dancing with a bunch of ladies from church, it's a Christ centered activity. When I'm working at the office it's a Christ centered activity. What goes on in my bedroom every night is a Christ centered activity. That's because I'm a Christian who is in love with Jesus Christ, and He is working in and through me no matter what I happen to be doing at that moment. Whatever I do, I do it to the glory and honor of God, whether something way serious, or something completely hilarious. God is the author and fin...

Wowwee! I tried something new tonight. It's called Zumba, and it's sooooooooo way fun. It's a dance/exercise class that combines salsa, merengue, hip hop, belly dancing, reggae and more. It's an hour and 15 min. of incredibly high intensity exercise. It's so cool, such an incredible work out, and so fun. There were like 10 people there that I knew, and it was a blast. To check out Zumba, and see what it's all about go to www.zumbaflava.com . One thing I did discover. The next time I go to Zumba I will have a new sports bra. Carmen Torres warned me 2 seconds before we started..."Uh, honey, I hope you have a very good bra on because if not, GET READY." She was right. :-) I have lost so much weight since the last one that I bought, it wasn't worth wearing it so I just wore a regular one...oh well, gives me an excuse to go shopping this weekend. Tonight I'm going to sit in the hot tub for a long time before I go to sleep because I'm thinking i...

Monday is my most tired day of the week (recovering from Sunday) and Wednesday is my busiest day of the week. I try to come home earlier, to have just a little time before church on Wed. night...sometimes it happens and sometimes not. Some days things are too crazy to even come home. Today I came home early to get a few things done, that otherwise wouldn't get done - since we are going away for a few days. Larry also has to do the America's Prayer Meeting show tonight so he needed to get some sleep before going. I need to go scrub down the bathrooms, and get dinner in order, but before I do, thought I would take a five minute breather and blog. We worked at the church last night until about 11:30 pm if I recall, that was the last time I looked at the clock. The stage looks fantastic. By the time I got home and cleaned up a few things and went to bed, well let's just say that I never made it up for my early morning bike ride today. Getting out of bed was the last thing I w...

Today I was reading in Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest , (my favorite devo) and he says, "There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion, and the way out of it is not simply to say that you should not be confused. It is not a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of God taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you."  I am learning more and more that we serve a God who takes us through. Years ago I used to pray that God would just keep anything negative or any confusion away from me completely. As Oswald says, that's really not a realistic prayer. It is true that where there is confusion there is every evil work, however...let's be real, there is evil work all around us. Ours is not to be exempt from having to face any of it, but on the contrary, having the power to go through it. This morning I g...

Many of you are probably familiar with Lifetime television for women. It's one of my favorite channels, and one of my husband's least favorites! He says that on Lifetime, "the guy is always wrong" but I don't think so. If he'd watch it more, he'd see that's really not true. On a day off, one of my favorite things to do when I'm a little stressed and just need to zone out, is to watch a little Lifetime TV.  One of their signature shows is Intimate Portrait , a show that features a different famous woman every time. If you go to their website to see the show described, it says that the show "delves into the personal lives of the women being featured, showing their personal perspectives, their ups and downs, heartaches and happy endings." While I'm not exactly famous, (yet!) this blog is my intimate portrait. It's about my personal perspectives, my ups and downs, my heartaches and my happy endings. It's about what I'm c...