Deanna Doss Shrodes

This is the fourth post in this week's marriage series. Tomorrow I will be posting all of the questions that have come in this week, with my answers. Keeping your priorities straight is easy for the first few months of your marriage. It happens with ease because you are in the honeymoon phase and everything is new and exciting, and it is your heart’s deepest desire to make your marriage work. But after the months and years go by, and especially after you have children -- it is often easy to get into a comfortable pattern. Many couples and particularly parents who have been married for a while relate to each other more like brother and sister than husband and wife or lovers. How often have you heard an older couple call their spouse "Mama" or "Papa" or "Mom" or "Dad"? Nicknames like babe, sweetheart, darling, and the like go by the wayside as spouses begin to relate more to one another as parents than a duo that is united by romantic love. Ot...

This is the third post in this week's marriage series. Last year I blogged about a sermon series at Relevant Church here in Tampa where they did the 30 day Sex Challenge for married couples. There was a huge media blitz about this and people everywhere were just shocked at the thought of 30 days straight of married sex, let alone among Christians! Even CBS news interviewed the pastors of Relevant about this bizarre suggestion that married people should have sex 30 days in a row. Before hearing about Relevant's series, I had seen a TV show about Charla Muller , a wife who gave her husband Brad the gift of sex every single day for a year to celebrate his 40th birthday. This was a completely radical thought to many people and in fact Mrs. Muller had friends who didn't want their husbands to hear about her gift, because they were scared to death their husband would suggest that they do the same thing! I read stories like this and I wonder, "what's the fuss?"...

This is day two of the marriage series. You can see yesterday's post here. God desires that we be "one," not only physically, emotionally and financially , but spiritually. When God unites a man and a woman in marriage, He desires that we become one in all things. There is a lot of spiritual warfare involved in marriage. Two things go together very strongly in this equation: prayer and sex . God tells us to make sure we are fulfilling each other sexually, abstaining from sex only for a very short time to devote ourselves to prayer .  I realized more than ever the importance of this a few years ago when I was working on a project at the church one night. Larry came in and asked me if I was ready to leave and eat dinner. I had been working with another church member in the sanctuary for several hours on a project and I told Larry I was hungry but couldn’t leave until we were done. He volunteered to go down to a local restaurant and pick up some takeout and bri...

Marriage has experienced an assault in in recent days like never before.  One of the accusations leveled against those of us who propose upholding the sanctity of marriage is that we haven't been too successful at marriage and in fact over half of all marriages end in divorce. While we should not hand holy matrimony over to those who wish to change it, we do need to acknowledge that indeed married couples in today's day and age need a lot of help. It's my prayer that in this blog series, some of you will be inspired, blessed and strengthened in your marriages or future marriages! One statistic that makes me very alarmed and sad is that 85% of all divorces happen for "non-severe" reasons, meaning that serious tragedy or abuse was not involved. The overwhelming majority of people simply get divorced because of selfishness and at least one person in the relationship wanting their own way. Much of what I'll share with you this week are things Larry and...

Tomorrow begins the marriage blog series. I felt in my heart that inviting your questions or suggestions for specific issues/topics would open the floodgates and sure enough it already is... (see comments under yesterday's post ). This does not include private e-mails that I get at PastorDeanna@aol.com . Some of you may undoubtedly be shocked by the content of the questions. Let me just say that these topics are on the mind of not only the general population but many Christians. And they deserve answers. As promised, I will fearlessly answer them, boldly and forthrightly from scripture as the foundation. Again, if you are uncomfortable with any of the topics, feel free to check back in here at the blog once the series is over. I'll be blogging on this topic for at least a week. By the way, if you are reading this on facebook (it's automatically posted each day from my blog to my facebook) you will have to come to the original post at http://www.deannashrodes.com/ to see al...

As I prepare to kick off the marriage blog series on Monday, I"m inviting readers to send any questions or issues my way that they want me to address. Some of you have said, "I"d love to say a few things on my own blog but with family or church situations, I can't." Well, I can. And I'm happy to say it for you! :-) I am going to answer questions or address issues with no holds barred and I don't have to worry about losing my job, or my family and friends. Anybody who really cares wouldn't be upset with me for speaking truth. As the great theologian Dr. Suess said: "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Also, if you have a question for Larry, send it my way too and I am going to ask him to help me out with anything my readers would like to know from the male perspective. I"m volunteering him for this, btw, and haven't even asked him yet so...hmmm....that ...

Never in my life have I witnessed such an extreme attack on the sanctity of marriage as I have seen in the last few months. It seems that the enemy is accelerating his attack to an alarming degree upon holy matrimony in our nation and an unGodly agenda is being forced down the throats of Americans at a rapid fire pace. I for one am not content to just hand over holy matrimony to the world to do whatever they want with it. Marriage is a sacred, divine institution that belongs between a man and a woman exclusively and must be protected. For those who say, "well, heterosexuals aren't doing so great with the marriage issue...they are failing at a 50% rate." Point noted, we need to do better. But that doesn't give people license to turn holy matrimony into perversion and do whatever they want with it. This issue has always been close to my heart, at least as long as I've been a married woman. Larry and I, together and separately have ministered on the issue of marriage...

I'm very proud of this young woman...she's got it together. She is standing against the tidal wave of compromise when it seems one of the world most popular pastors has just been swept away by it. Jesus help us! (See all three videos to follow...I don't have to expound here folks...the videos tell the whole tale. Watch and pray!!!) First video when he was still standing against the tide: Second video after political correctness and compromise set in: Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly...

Today is our baby girl's birthday. Our precious baby girl that we waited six years to have. When she was born my life changed forever, in fact I felt in many ways, life just started for me. Having a daughter is such a wonderful thing. It is indescribable! In fact on her birth announcement we included the scripture, II Corinthians 9:15 ~ "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" Today she is twelve and I am so proud of her. She performed her first fine arts human video Sunday and did such a good job. She and Jordan are both in the large human video and to see them together is just amazing. I believe they will go to nationals. Tonight we will have her family birthday dinner. Casey will join us and we have plans to go to Kobe..what is usually the place for Shrodes family birthdays. Unless she changes her mind that is, we will be there. I will post photos later.

Yep, my Starbucks certificates for a job well done !

Well folks, if you oppose taxes, the bail out, or abortion, you are evidently being profiled as a terrorist. People who believe this way are on the watchlist of the federal homeland security. The initial report I was given is here. I also went and checked it out further and Fox News Report confirms with this . My friends, this is real as crazy as it might seem. If you want to read more about it simply google "homeland security report" or "homeland security report radicalization" and I found a plethora of info backing up what would seem to be upon first glance a crazy report. I cannot be any more disheartened about the downturn our country is taking. Stop the insanity!!! Nothing would shock me next... Even so Lord Jesus come.

I'm tired. Fantastic day today at Northside. Phenomenal! Couldn't be any better. Today was youth day and the kids led worship, and presented their fine arts entries. Larry preached a powerful message, and if I may say so looked hot in his "professional underground" style of dressing. I was thinkin', I like it, I love it, I want some more of it. :) I don't think I've ever seen a more powerful human video than what the kids did today. EXCEPTIONAL. I was impressed and I'm not one to be easily impressed. Had a great lunch at Moe's with a bunch of very special church members and friends...followed by me going home and crashing in bed with all my dress clothes on...(too tired to take them off) and slept a little too late because by the time I woke up it was almost time for the newcomers to arrive at our house for tonight's newcomer's meeting. I was racing around putting finishing touches on when they got here. First thing I heard fr...

"All coaching is taking a player where he can't take himself." Bill McCartney This morning is my life coaching class that I lead at the church. Isn't it interesting...I now do coaching in the church...and outside of it in my job as a career coach? Who'da thunk it?

Statistics show that most of the things we worry about never happen . I've known that for a long time but still fail many times to act upon that knowledge. Yesterday I learned a few lessons all over again. I sure hope I'll remember it for next time but it's one of those things that doesn't come easy for me. One of the most important core values I have is a standard of excellence and personal work ethic. As I've gotten my feet wet in my new [additional secular] job, I've had some stressful moments of learning new software, company protocol and procedures, and all kinds of other stuff. I'm the type of person who always wants to do something not only well but uncommonly well and as my resume states, "Leading by example, I consistently demonstrate the ability to take on new challenges and achieve objected outcomes on time, every time." Nothing is more important to me than that, with the exception of integrity. The past few days my boss [at secul...

"No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals." -Brian Tracy

I'm getting ready to make up for the fact that I haven't done one of my mega posts in a long time and also tell you what's going on in my life... Often we hear people talk about "guilty pleasures." I don't have any of those. Not one. Far from being selfish in this matter, I simply realize that to keep the insane pace that I sometimes live at, requires me to do nice things for myself as often as I possibly can. Some things I am able to do for a short time each day, others once a week or month, and others only once or twice a year. One of the major mistakes most women make is not putting themselves on their own "to do" list. We do so much for others, and if we don't nurture ourselves we won't be able to sustain the pace many of us live at. People ask me, "how do you do all that you do?" Quite honestly, most of those people know different parts of what I have on my plate but none of them really know it all. If they did I assume ...

This morning we got the kids off to school and then a phone call came from someone in Pasco County weather advisory, telling everyone to stay inside -- that there is a serious tornado warning. Right after that, a really bad thunderstorm started. Thank God we had just taken Maddie out to go potty before the torrential downpour! (lol) This photo is an actual picture taken this morning by the Tampa Tribune, and is from the storm going on right now. Provided no one gets hurt or their property destroyed, this really isn't a bad thing. Families can spend some time indoors together and we sure do need the rain! So far I have heard of no injuries or deaths, praise God. On a personal level, it gave Larry and and I opportunity to snuggle. We went back to bed for a little bit once the call came. Now we are working on our laptops at home in the dark, listening to the rain pelting the roof. We could turn the lights on but it's rather calm and serene just sitting here in the dark. Larry j...

Before I share about a special Easter gift I received I just want to ask you friends reading this to pray for me this morning. I cannot share all the details but suffice it to say I had one of the most horrible mornings of my life. (Some of you might say it's because of a great service yesterday, the enemy's attack, etc.) Perhaps that is correct, I am not sure. At any rate, I am just heartsick and forcing myself to go through the motions today of my work, and everything I have to do today. Truth be told at this moment I want to give up and run away from life despite anything that happened at church yesterday. By the way, I'm not being melodramatic, this is also not PMS nor the change of life. :-) We need a miracle within the next two months, specifically. Thank you for praying. Besides some of my unchurched friends coming to our service on Easter and the salvations that occurred, the most special thing to me on Easter was a gift that my daughter Savanna gave me. I thought...

We had a great one and trust all of you reading did too. We had a packed service this morning. I couldn't even sit in my usual spot...every seat was filled on the front row. No problem! I gladly moved. Had a TON of first time guests. The follow up tomorrow is going to be insane! I don't think we've ever had so many first timers at church. It was amazing. The choir was on fire! Larry preached a message called, "Almost!" Lots of people raised their hand for salvation. Choir was smokin' hot , did I mention that?! A great day all around. We had a bunch of people over for dinner after church. The menu was spectacular ...here's what we had in case you're interested in drooling over the thought of it...lol: Fruit & Cheese Plate Ham Fried Chicken Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce Potato Casserole Fully loaded mashed potatoes Spanish Rice Creamed Corn Macaroni and Cheese Coleslaw Strawberry Shortcake Layered Brownie dessert with frosting and nut...

Had a good Fun Friday off with my babe for the most part. The phone rang off the hook and I had to share him a little bit, but he's worth every bit of persevering and waiting for. I really expected interruptions with it being Easter weekend anyway and had braced myself for it. The thing I tell myself each week is, "oh well, next Friday is another fun Friday!" Today we did have lunch with Savanna and Dustin which was nice, and Larry went with them this morning to see Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D. Not a lot of time to blog today because we are getting our house ready today for Easter and tomorrow we'll put the finishing touches on at church. It's going to be a great weekend. I'm so excited! By the way, I have a major update coming up here on the blog after Easter. Stay tuned... much love to all my peeps.

My day started bright and early this morning with a meeting and other sundry things that I needed to get done. Things have been so busy with getting ready for Easter Sunday and so many other things on my plate. I'll share more on this in the coming week or so...I promise. However today was a welcome diversion for a few hours as I spent some time this afternoon with one of my friends and church members, Candy Rivera. We've had this on the burner for a long, long time and finally today was our appointed time. We had lunch and then went and did a little shopping. (I got an outfit for Easter. Yay! Can't wait to wear it. Candy is so expert at picking out clothes -- she would make a great host for "What Not to Wear".) In addition to that she is one of the funniest people I know...a person it's impossible to be with and not laugh a WHOLE lot. As is common with Candy, many funny things happened today (we actually had a few people in the store say, "WHAT are you l...

Very busy day from sunrise to sunset today. I'm exhausted. No energy to blog at the end of the day...I have just been busy with several projects, rehearsals, Easter, and more. GREAT service in Fusion tonight. I've really hit a rhythm with this current series and I'm loving it. Terrific choir practice tonight and we're ready for Sunday. Didn't go with Larry tonight to the TV studio to do the show because I just have too much on the agenda and need to get a few hours sleep tonight. I miss my guys...keeping the bed warm for Larry for when he gets home. We haven't spent a whole lot of time the last two days and have pretty much just passed each other in the halls at church and slept together a few hours a night. I know it's going to be a busy weekend with Easter but despite having a crazy Saturday and Sunday this week I am looking forward to some quiet time with my family on Friday. No one really has any clue what I have on my plate right now. I just need to fin...