There are several catch phrases that I have used with my children since they were tiny.

Examples:

• “Life is HARD. Get used to it.”
• “Life’s NOT FAIR. Get used to it.”
• “Don’t just SAY’Yes, Ma’am,’ DO ‘Yes, Ma’am.'”

As well as many Biblical principals that I repeat often:

• “If it’s not immediate obedience, it’s disobedience.”   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Kids: “But why?”  Me:  “Sometimes, it’s just because I said so.”
• “Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.'”
• “Be careful the company you keep. (Using a saying a Pastor friend says.) ‘If you’re hanging with monkeys, you’ll swing from trees.  If you lay down with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas.'”

The first one in this second list has come back to bite me this week.  I have realized recently that if I don’t like the idea I tend to argue, rationalize, suggest better ideas, etc.  God is gently reminding me HE doesn’t need my help or suggestions; HE wants my obedience, even if I don’t like the situation or understand any of what’s going on.  Just obey.

I expect it of my kids.  God expects it of me.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbeverly.k.riley%2Fvideos%2Fvb.1400175678%2F10202353166376087%2F%3Ftype%3D3&show_text=0&width=560

A lot has happened since I last posted.  I’ll make no promises here about my schedule for posting, as my focus now needs to be on my books, but I plan to post more regularly.

My main focus as of late has been in helping some ministries get off the ground and trying to make a difference in DeSoto County, MS.  A couple of years ago I was at a human trafficking awareness conference in our area that was being put on by Express Missions International ( http://www.expressmissions.com ) and met a man who was talking about God calling them to start a safe house for those rescued from human trafficking in our area.

They were expecting it to take a long time for the paperwork and non-profit status to be completed, but it took a very short amount of time, and 51 South Foundation was born .  51 South houses those rescued as well as provides the necessities of food, clothing, toiletries, etc., and also coordinates counseling, rehabilitation, and job training.   ************  http://www.51south.org/           FACEBOOK: http://www.51south.org/

Not long after 51 South began to organize another group call R3 the Movement (Reach Rescue Redeem) began to gather their paperwork to file for their non-profit status.  R3 actually does a lot that I don’t even understand yet.  Some of their main functions are to support 51 South by providing the essentials in the form of a backpack full of goodies when the girls/ladies are rescued. (This is where I come in, but more on that later.)  R3 also is a voice in the community as well as in the government:  bringing awareness, coordinating internet safety classes, and promoting legislative measures to help the victims as well as to inhibit and kill the machines feeding the human trafficking industry.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING is quickly overtaking Drug Trafficking as the largest source of illegal income WORLDWIDE.  It’s renewable/reusable, you don’t have to grow/acquire more. . . . . It’s gaining momentum and has to be stopped!!!

These organizations are making a difference right here in our own backyard.  Once rescued, these ladies have nothing but the clothes on their backs.  That’s where I come in.

Previously posted on my Facebook NOTES

by Angie Fleener Walthall on Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:05pm

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These are not my words. However, as I always say, I thought the message too good not to share.

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ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING:

I received this story in an email from my mother:

Read this LET IT REALLY SINK IN . . . THEN CHOOSE:

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John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’ He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.  

Seeing his style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’

He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today:

1) You can choose to be in a good mood or . . . 

2) you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.’

‘Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or . . . I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.’ 

‘Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or . . . I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

’’Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.

‘Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘It’s all about choices . When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.

*You choose how you react to situations.

*You choose how people affect your mood.

*You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’

I reflected on what he said. Soon Thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.  After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins. . . . Wanna see my scars?’ 

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. 

‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or . . . I could choose to die. I chose to live.’  

‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked.

He continued, ‘ . . . the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’

‘What did you do?’ I asked.

‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything. Yes, I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity!‘ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’  

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude . . . .

I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything. 

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34  

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

 “. . . choose you this day whom you will serve. . . . As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15  

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Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

I’ve come to realize over the last few years that I’m what I’ve come to call a “once-and-for-all” kinda girl.  I don’t like the things I have to do over and over and over and over, which I’ve come to realize is the majority of things in life: bills, laundry, dishes, cleaning up the living room, vacuuming the floor, pulling weeds, cleaning the toilets, and unfortunately the list goes on and on and on. . . .  I would rather be able to do something very well once, tie it up in a nice package with a beautiful bow on top, and put it away, knowing “I’ll never have to deal with that again.” Yet, very few things in life afford us such a luxury.

God teaches me so much, even through the mundane, every day stuff, that much of the time is the stuff that I hate doing.  He’s constantly reminding me: 1) that this world is not my home, 2) it’s never going to be perfect here, so don’t waste too much time trying to make it perfect (b/c even if it seems that way for the moment – it will NOT remain that way in the long run), and 3) the only thing tied up in a neat little box with a beautiful bow is the fact that I’ll be in Heaven with Him one day because of the price that Jesus paid for me on the cross – and the rest of the stuff will be insignificant then.  The only thing that matters in this life is LOVING Him and LOVING others.  The greatest commandments according to Jesus when asked  ³⁶  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40

So I’m trying to learn to keep my priorities straight.  Sure we should be good stewards of all the nice things God has provided for us, but remember that  we are stewards, not owners/masters (sole person owning and in charge of property) or slaves (held against your will, made to work without compensation).

So be a good steward, take care of what you have until directed to give it away or share it with others in order that they may know the Father’s Love as well.  But don’t let what you are to be a steward of become your master.  Sin comes in many forms and when God confronted Cain BEFORE he killed his brother Abel HE said, “⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)   If he had obeyed, maybe term “Raising Cain” would have a positive connotation.

Even in doing good/lawful/okay “stuff” we can go overboard or have it work against us. “¹² All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” (I Corinthians 6:12) I usually put this particular scripture selection in context with foods I shouldn’t eat.  I’ve learned recently that I am lactose intolerant.  I love many things that contain milk.  It’s Biblically and worldly permissible/lawful for me to eat/drink things with milk in them.  HOWEVER, and this is a HUGE HOWEVER, it is NOT profitable for me AT ALL.  I gain no nutritional value, and actually lose the value of anything else eaten along side of it.

So in conclusion:

1 – There are very few “Pretty Little Boxes” in this world – don’t get stuck in a rut of trying to make more

2 – Be a good steward – BUT don’t let the STUFF master you

3 – Not every ‘good’ thing is going to be ‘good’ for you, much less profitable

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

Did you ever wonder “Why in the world did God create a mosquito???” or “What was He thinking when He decided to add gnats, flies, roaches, tics, fleas, termites, or any other pest you’ve encountered to the list of ‘THING I THINK I’D LIKE TO CREATE TODAY’???”  Other than feeding frogs, aardvarks, and armadillos (or “enchiladas” as my niece calls them), what possible purpose could they serve in God’s BIG PICTURE?  After years and years of pondering this, seemingly less than life-altering question, I think I may have an answer, and believe it or not, it was life-altering to me.

We’ve heard and said over and over again that “This world is not our home.”  We’ve also heard and quoted verses like “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”(Colossians 3:2),  and also “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal./For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:20-21)  Though I may be wrong, I’ve come to the conclusion that the mosquitoes causing us grief, flies disrupting our meals, gnats invading our picnics, termites eating our homes, tics tormenting our pets, fleas biting our ankles, ants in the sugar bowl, weevils in the flour, roaches just totally grossing us out, are some of the ways God set up as reminders that “THIS WORLD IS NOT YOUR HOME, so DON’T get too comfortable.”  And uses them to tells us, “Remember why I saved you and left you there, rather than bringing you straight home to be with ME.  Go be about MY business as long as I leave you there, because as long as you’re still breathing you still have a mission and a purpose there on earth.”

So now, every time you’re bitten, bothered, or simply grossed out by the pests that surround us in THIS world, think, “What do I need to be doing to reach people for the NEXT WORLD?”

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

 “Now it shall come to pass, if you . . .”  (Deut. 28:1a)

Moses obeyed God and was used as the deliverer of the Children of Isreal out of Egypt (book of Exodus).  He lead them through the wilderness to find the Promised Land.  God set him up as a leader and an example for the Chilren of Israel.  He was their example to follow and to learn how to walk in faith and obedience by watching his actions as a leader.

At the end of Deuteronomy Moses is about to die and getting ready to hand the reigns over to Joshua as God had commanded. [ ¹ “Here are the words I spoke to all of the people of Israel. ² I said, “I am now 120 years old. I’m not able to lead you anymore. The Lord has said to me, ‘You will not go across the Jordan River.’ ³ “The Lord your God himself will go across ahead of you. He’ll destroy the nations that are there in order to make room for you. You will take over their land. Joshua will also go across ahead of you, just as the Lord said he would.  ” – Deut. 31:1-3]  He knows he’s not going to the Promised Land with them, because God had told him so when he disobeyed him in Numbers 20.

As one of his last acts of service to the Children of Israel he gather the elders of the people and he and them together “¹ …. commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. ² When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. ³ Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God. ⁸ And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.” – Deut. 27:1-8  [emphasis mine]

In the rest of chapter 27 he lists cursings for not obeying God.  In chapter 28 he goes on to tell them of blessings for obeying God, with more cursings listed for disobedience at the end.

There are a few points I’d like to make here:

1 – God’s grace covers ALL our sins: past, present, and future.  Though we are completely forgiven, we are not always completely sinless.  We forget the grace that covers us, and begin to dwell on how bad we are capable of being.  (II Peter 1:5-9)  Even though we are forgiven, God does not take disobedience lightly – especially disobedience of the leaders of His people.  Disobedience causes a rift in our relationship with HIM, and makes it difficult for us to hear when HE speaks to us.  (James 3:1)

2 – God wants to bless us, but our obedience is a factor in whether we receive blessing, cursing/discipline or natural consequences for our actions. Scripture is filled with “If . . then” statements regarding obedience/disobedience and the results of each.

3 – WRITE IT DOWN!!! – Learn it, post it on the wall, put it on your bathroom mirror & the visor of your car . . . If you know you have trouble learning God’s principles, or if you know there are certain things God is trying to teach you, “set up some large stones” & “write very clearly” on them as reminders.  Drill it in until it is written “on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 7:3).  I used to be very good at this, but since the brain tumor it has become more of a struggle.  But I’m determined to keep trying.  As I’m learning through the Chronological Bible Discipleship (Iva May), the opposite of “Remember” is not FORGET.  It is “Dis-memeber” – to take apart.  Through CBD I’m learning the WHOLE Story of HIS-story in chronological order, and this is helping me “REMEMBER” better, when I can relate something I’ve learned or am learning to a timeline.  And if I can’t remember the whole thing I know where it fits in the story so I can go back and refresh my memory. CBD has helped me more than any other “Bible Study” I’ve done in my whole Christian life.  Find what works for you then make a life long habit of it.  If you’d like more info on CBD then go to: http://www.ivamay.com/.

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

6) Micah added his nose to Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D Glasses and stapled his ears to his camo hat.

7) And as you can see – as Aaron so aptly put it, Micah added “GUTTERS” to his 😉

We had a great time making our costumes, and even more fun eating free food because of our efforts.  Any retail market that has the audacity to give away free stuff is gonna make boo-coo’s of money – because people associate ‘FREE’ with: 1) good times, 2) good value, and 3) good feelings.  All of which make for REPEAT cutomers, and that’s always good for business.

If you would like to see our other photos, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/motherof2angie?sk=photos#!/media/set/?set=a.1810180020916.2088448.1432441977.  Dad, however, opted out of the photo shoot, so there are none of him in the album.