Deanna Doss Shrodes

Leviticus 26:9-11 " 'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new."   Here is the final word from the Lord for me in these last hours of 2006. I need to be packing for vacation and cleaning but I simply had to reflect for a few moments on closing out the 2006 year. If there's anything I want to close my year out with, it's writing. Because, WHAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN. If every year was like this...my oh my. We have been so blessed. What a year of harvest. The final count at the church is 122 souls saved for 2006. We had a salvation and one rededication this morning in service. And onward we go. Of course the most important thing has been salvations, however there has been so much MORE. I see blessings in my family, in our church families, in our church as a whole. In my life personal...

Times change. Seasons change. Feelings change. But some things NEVER DO. Okay, so scripture tells us that the Word of God will never change, never fade away. Most things in this life you can't count on staying the same, in fact very few things. However today I'd like to share with you ten things about me that will NEVER CHANGE. 1) I love Jesus with my life , not just my heart. A lot of people can say they love something/someone with their whole heart, but does what they do with their life reflect it? 2) If I say I'll be somewhere, I'll be there. (If not, call 911 because something is REALLY wrong, such as...my pulse has stopped. ) 3) If I commit to do something, count on it. (Again, the 911 rule applies) 4) I'll always like pink. 5) I'll always savor my coffee and tea. (Not just in the morning but pretty much all the time.) 6) Writing to me is as essential as breathing. 7) Sunday School is a close runner up to that. If I couldn't write or tea...

"You shall not go out with haste . . . ." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.-- Just starting this last morning of 2006. It's 6:45 and I'm just quieting myself here with a cup of coffee getting ready to leave for church. And, getting ready to step into the invincible future.

Proverbs 4:18 says, "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." I know my path was planned ahead of time by God but I sure wish he would have told me about my schedule today last night. I planned on being at home ALL DAY doing nothing but getting ready for tomorrow's service (last minute stuff) and then cleaning and packing. No dice. But that's alright, I am used to leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Remember, it's all about keeping the plates spinning, and balls juggling! THIS I know how to do. Larry and Jordan had the men's golf tourney. Larry's team won which happens most times. Jordan did real good though. He's talented no matter what sport he tries. Got a call late afternoon to pick up Dustin from work...and to take him and Savanna for haircuts. Basically this took me 1/2 my day once I got on the road. But that's alright. Somehow despite being gone half ...

It was a beautiful day in Tampa today. Wednesday it was so cold I wore my leather coat all the way through our dinner out. Today it was so hot I wore shorts and a tank top. Upon coming home from riding my bike I couldn’t wait to get in a cool shower. I got all cleaned up and picked out some more summer clothes to wear. Here I am – above - sitting on my back patio on my swing. Also a couple of pics with Larry and Savanna by the lake in our backyard. We still had more returns to do tonight from Christmas. Returns and exchanges – after tonight they are OVER! I needed to take my Mp3 back before vacation to make sure I had enough tunes/podcasts to last me for a 10 hour ride plus exercising in the workout room. Also had to return Savanna’s sneakers and get a bigger size. She is a LADIES 7 and ½ now. That’s unbelievable to me for her age. She’s the tallest in the class and she also has larger feet to go along with it. All this means…she may just be the next Tyra Banks? Who knows. I...

"Wow, that's a lotta rest you're getting there, Pastor Deanna..." Yep, you're right. I'm unabashedly, unashamedly... RESTING . (Except for services this week, and any emergencies...and, knock on wood, we haven't had any emergencies this week so far.) For those reading who have never been aware of what we do here at NS this week...my husband and I close the office down from December 26 until January 2. Staffers only have to come in and be prepared for regularly scheduled services, necessities that can't wait like bank deposits, etc., and we are also on call 24/7 for emergencies. It is not our actual "vacation time" because we still prepare for and do services and "must do paper work" or things like our ezines, plus we stay on call. The only difference is, we don't keep office hours. But it's a wonderful gift we all have, to move at a slow pace and be home with our families, excepting these other few mandatory things. It...

I really hope our church keeps growing next year at the same clip it is now! I really hope I reach my next weight loss goal. I really hope Whitney Houston really goes through with her divorce from Bobby Brown. I really hope Cold Stone Creamery keeps their "sinless cake batter" flavor. (it wasn't there last week. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?) I really hope my husband stays on weight watchers with me. (He's doing so well. He was a fine man before...but look at him now!)  I really hope I can be a part of changing many lives in this coming year. I really hope to be in the best shape of my life in 2007. I really hope I get enough sleep with Dustin having his own car and all now. I really hope I make some major strides in writing this year. I really hope Rosie O'Donnell gets fired from The View and any other network show where America has to put up with seeing her face or hearing her anymore. I really hope Sawyer and Kate stay together on Lost . If e...

Today in My Utmost for His Highest (Oswald Chambers): " . . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3 "These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children , being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must ...

The best part of Christmas day for me is...relaxing. Having a little bit of time off. I love work, but the older I get and the more I work the more I grow to value down time. When my kids were babies, they never slept. They were up every hour or two for the first few years of their life. We never slept it seemed. Now they are making up for lost time. They all LOVE to sleep and I'm so glad about that. For the past few years we have had to wake them up and say, "Aren't you wanting to come get your Christmas presents?" It's not that they don't love Christmas, they just also really love to sleep. We didn't get rolling on opening Christmas gifts til' 9 and we took it slow and enjoyed it. The kids were very surprised at everything and have been sharing with their friends all day about their presents. I made their favorite sweet rolls and they ate them sitting around the Christmas tree opening their things while I sat on my rocker and drank my tea. I...

at the Shrodes home! And I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!!! We had a great day in the house this morning at church. A packed house, and we have added 90 more chairs to the sanctuary in just the past year. It's amazing. God is so good! We are getting ready to break through our next attendance barrier. Tonight was Christmas Eve communion. It was much nicer with five staff couples, we had three communion stations, one couple greeting, and one got to take a break every 30 minutes. So we all had 2 and 1/2 hours of serving, and 1/2 hour rest. It was good because standing and serving that long can get difficult on your feet, especially dressed up. After praying and taking communion together as a staff, we exchanged gifts with those who couldn't go to dinner with us, then went to dinner with the rest and exchanged more. So we headed home and I've been putting the finishing touches on everything for tomorrow morning. As I can't wake up to any mess without bein...

I need to sit down and blog just to give my legs a rest. A few minutes ago I sat in the jacuzzi for about 20 min. I have literally been standing/walking all day, getting the cooking, church work, and housework done. I have cooked several meals...and I am still not done. Waiting for the next load of laundry to get done so I can finish getting the boys clothes ready for church.  Oh well, that 20 minutes was absolutely delightful. Larry had Chris Botti on the CD in the jacuzzi for me. When I was done I sat on my swing to dry off and our sliding door was open and I could smell the pumpkin pie I was baking, and I could hear the Amy Grant Christmas special in the family room. I sat there looking at the lights and swinging on my swing and just thought, "what a beautiful night." Thank you, Lord! While there I just took time to talk to Him about tomorrow's service. Jordan bought Savanna a dress for Christmas and gave it to her today because he wanted her to wear it tomorrow...

I had to investigate this thought recently when reading a book, Confessions of a Pastor by Craig Groeschel. He didn't talk about Pentecostals in the book, however I began to think about it from the viewpoint of my experience. Often I have leaned toward the thought that if you're really praying you are on your face before God, deep in fervent prayer and intercession, not multi-tasking, not doing anything else, just going after God 100% to the exclusion of everything else. Now I'm not so sure... Oh, don't mistake, I think that's still important! And obviously especially as a Pentecostal pastor, I want to spend times doing just that. But I realize I have been too hard on myself about the amount of time I spend in prayer. Prayer, Groeshcel reminds us, is simply communicating with God - talking to Him. I do that all throughout my day. I ask Him constantly what to do about things, how to proceed, what to say to people. When somebody is talking to me, I try to listen ...

Psalm 116:7 (msg) "I said to myself, "Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you've been rescued from death; Eye, you've been rescued from tears; And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling."   I am SO ready for some vacation time, I can't even adequately express it with words. It has been a physically and emotionally exhausting few months. Fortunately, most things are lining up as far as getting work done that I'll be able to really do that. As far as "Christmas" it shouldn't be so difficult, for any of us, but let's face it, many times it is! Although it's about the Lord, it's also evolved in our culture to be something where certain expectations are there, even aside from the gifts, as far as gathering with people, entertaining, doing all sorts of things. People talk about the commercialization but for me it's more than that that sometimes overwhelms me, it's the activities that I have to be prepar...

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 (msg) Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don't skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! All of the gifts are wrapped...except mine! Larry will do those whenever he wants. After making supper tonight and eating together, I decided to wrap everything left til' I was done while the guys were cleaning the kitchen. I got it all done and feel so much better. I do have some more things to buy for Jordan and Larry tomorrow, but I will come right home and wrap those and be done, done, done, done, done. Yee-ha!!! I love Christmas time, but I do stress a little bit until all the preparations are done. I'm just a "list" type person who has a little angst unt...

Romans 3:21-24 (msg) The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. I was sharing with an unchurched person the other day and gave them this verse, in this version. The miraculous gift - the pure gift - is Him and the LIFE he offers to us. Why anyone would not want it, I cannot understand. I am incapable of living this glorious life without Him, for He not only GAVE me this life I'm living, but He makes it POSSIBLE for me to ...

Proverbs 22:11 God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship. (msg) It always amazes me how some don't understand why pastors spend the most time with people who support them. Sometimes in leadership you encounter jealous or offended people who don't understand. They say, "Why isn't the leader spending all this time with ME that he or she spends with others? Why am I not invited to do more things with them?" Could it be that the pastor has chosen to spend the most time with leaders they can actually trust? I think of how Moses backed away from his detractors when they became disloyal. The detractors didn't understand it. Why was Moses backing away? It wasn't rocket science or anything. Leaders tend to spend more time on people who allow themselves to be led, and are pure-hearted, and...speak well of them. I'm not currently dealing with this, although I have at times over the years. I was readin...

If you were independently wealthy and could do anything in life, what would you do? The same thing I’m doing now. Except I would spend a lot of that money on book publishing. What one thing about you would people really be surprised to know? I once played on a sports team. (soccer) And no, I don’t like playing team sports, in fact I detest it.   But I do love being on a church pastoral team. What is your least favorite way to spend a day? Housework – but I try my best to find ways to make it fun. What was your favorite TV show as a child? The Partridge Family. Be honest…if you have children, do you have a favorite? Honestly they are all my favorite in some way, not just saying that to get out of this question! Dustin is my favorite because of his obedience. Jordan is my favorite for his affection and tenderness. Savanna is my favorite because I can do girl things with her, and enjoyed our time together so much from the day she was born. What is your idea of t...

II Thessalonians 3:5-7 (msg) "Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don't permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed you how to pull your weight when we were with you, so get on with it. We didn't sit around on our hands expecting others to take care of us. In fact, we worked our fingers to the bone, up half the night moonlighting so you wouldn't be burdened with taking care of us. And it wasn't because we didn't have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious."   Today we had the last staff meeting of 2006. Then we celebrated by going to staff lunch at Five Guys, and then Coldstone Creamery. Yes, we really "blew it out" today when it came to the fat quotient in our diet. Wowza. I don't want to think about it. :-) I had a special holiday flavor ...

First let me start by saying, it has been such a warm weekend. I was actually wishing I had worn lighter clothing today. Today it truly felt like a tropical Christmas, at least IMHO. I'm thinking about wearing a tank dress to the office tomorrow if the weather's the same! Well things were pretty crazy today from start to finish. I was prepared. Despite a busy week going 90 to nothing, I would say that I was totally prepared for this day, but many things out of my control happened. In looking back I said to myself and to Larry, "H ow could I have changed this or that?" (I can control myself so that's always the first thing I look at changing the next go round.) Well, I can honestly say, there's not much I could have done to prevent the things that went wrong today. I could change myself all I want and the things that happened would have still happened. I even gave myself lots of extra time before church to get things squared away and I was at the church ...

II Timothy 1:6 (msg) And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. Tonight we went to the Ruiz family's house for dinner and enjoyed a great Spanish meal. Isa made salad, roast pork, yellow rice, and cheesecake. So good!! The conversation and time spent together was even better. What wonderful people. Savanna decided to stay the night with Chelsea, so it was just the guys and I coming home. The pictures above are of Chelsea and Savanna when Chelsea spent the night a few weeks ago and then Larry took the girls to the Ybor Christmas parade. The city had actually brought in snow for the parade and then they had ice skating. They had so much fun!!! You know, some pastors don't spend very much time with their people, and I have never understood why. I "GET" to do this! How incredible. It is my privilege to do life with o...

Yesterday on our day off, Larry and I went Christmas shopping all day until we were too tired to shop anymore and then we went to see The Pursuit of Happyness . It was really good. Right in line with my belief that if life does not give you the circumstances you want...create them. Extremely inspiring. Life truly is what you make it, despite what circumstances may be thrown your way. Dustin and Jordan went to see the movie just a few hours before we did, then Dust went to spend the night at Steven's and Jordan went to spend the night at Keith's because they went surfing early this am. Savanna spent the night at Morgan's. So...that made it nice for Larry and I because not only did we have a date at the movies last night but we had some time to ourselves both out, and at home. :-) Which is ~ always welcomed and taken advantage of. "Maximize the moment" is my motto, or at least one of them. Today we slept in but I have had to get my teaching ready for tomorrow mor...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for neighbors...would you be mine? ~ Mister Rogers It was a busy day in our church eighborhood today. It was a good day. Nothing "WOW" to report, just an all around good day with a ton of stuff to do. I got all but one initiative done, so I still have some loose ends to wrap up Saturday, but we'll get there - no problem. Finished our message and powerpoint today for Sunday's "It's a Wonderful Life" message. I feel good about it. Planned out sermon series for the first few months of 2007 and working on the rest of the year. We should have that done by next week for the upcoming year. I am very close to having the 2007 church calendar done. What a bear this year. It's 11 font, and 6 pages, count em, 6 single spaced pages! I know, that's crazy. Things are so busy because we have so many ministries on the move now, doing so many incredible things. No complaint here! I'm just tryin...

1) How old do you wish you were? I’d like to stay right here where I’m at right at this moment. Although I know life has to move on, I’m loving where I’m at! Every day is a treasure.  2) Where were you when 9-11 happened? In my bedroom, at home. As soon as I heard about it, I hit the floor and started crying out to God. I went back and forth between speaking in tongues and then the next minute yelling, 3) What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Usually bang them with my hand real hard at least once and then walk away in disgust.  4) Do you consider yourself kind? Yes, most of the time. 5) If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? Or if you have a tattoo, where and what is it? I don’t have one and never will. I believe as we grow, we change so much. I’m a totally different person at 40 than I was at 20. And that’s good, believe me. Well, a tattoo is permanent. I wouldn’t want to have permanent anything. I like to change my hair color every month at...

We did the piano and vocal today for "Breathing Room." It's a very simplistic, "unplugged" CD. But I believe it will really minister to people. Keith and Kristina and I had a long day with Barry (his Dad) and got so much done it was amazing. Barry was amazed at how quick I bang things out. That's good or bad, I guess, depending on whether you like the CD! Keith is finishing the cover now and Barry is going to mix the CD this week. And I'm just...waiting patiently. Can't believe we did this at Christmas. The time is flying. Time flies when you're having fun! That's something I do well. I believe everything we do should be fun or we shouldn't do it. Now before you say, "Some things have to be done, and they are not fun, and you just need to face it..." I don't agree with you. I'm the person who does my housework while blasting T.D. Jakes on the TV (I Tivo him) I don't want to just walk around non-chalontly doing...