So my friends have posted this on theirs blogs so I thought I would give it a try. 

25 things about me that you may or may not know...

1.   I have 2 wonderful sons and 1 daughter-in-law

2.   I attend the best church in the world - Celebration Church of the Northwest

3.   I am blessed to have the best friends

4.   Tea is my favorite drink, period.

5.   Beans, fried potatoes with onions and corn bread is my favorite food

6.   I am a part-time student at Oral Roberts University

7.   I am the 7th child of 7 children - I'm the baby

8.   My natural hair color is brown but I'm always changing it

9.   Reading is a passion - The Bible, tea books, novels

10.  I want to be a writer but don't know if I have the talent

11. I played clarinet and violin in school and took piano lessons

12. I am the Christian Education Director at my church

13. Every year on President's weekend I visit my Aunt Peggy in Phoenix

14. My goal is have finish my bachelors and then get a master's degree

15. I would really love to own a tea shop

16. I wish I had more time to bake - I love to bake desserts

17. My sister Wanda is an awesome - she is making me homemade bisquits 

18. I have 2 toes that are webbed together - family trait

19. I was born in Casa Grande, Arizona

20. Tennessee is where I would love to live

21. Blogs have become an obsession - Thanks Gayle

22. I love teaching

23. I hope to redesign my backyard into an English Garden this year

24. Can't stand curry

25. I hope to go to New Zealand and Australia with my cousin Annie this year

Well this has been a lot harder than I thought. Hope I haven't bored you too much.

Have a blessed day!

Frame of Mind

What has your "frame of mind" been lately?

Worry, fear, anger, sorrow, regret, helplessness? So many things have happened in the last year, even the last few weeks, to cause just about everyone to focus on one of those feelings at one time or another.

Our frame of mind is important. What we focus on has a huge impact on our reality. Huh? That's right, what we focus on has an impact on our reality.

Matthew 15:17-19 (The Message Bible) says, "Don't you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes."

So how does something get in our heart? Well, it's what we focus on. What are we reading, listening to, watching on tv, speaking to our families? Is it life or death?

Proverbs 18:21 (The Message Bible) says, "Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit-you choose."

Several years ago I had to give up watching certain TV shows before I went to bed. You see I don't go fall to sleep very fast. It takes me a looong time. Hours sometimes. So I am usually trying to clear my mind so that I can relax. Unfortunately my mind is thinking about the last thing I have just watched or read. If that is Law & Order or CSI then I am focusing on rapes, murder, and death. Not a good thing to be thinking before I move into dreamland. When I realized this I stopped watching those shows and instead started focusing on good things. Reading my Bible or another good book, thinking about my boys, my family, my friends, my church and Jesus.

The Bible says in Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Think about that a minute. Whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, honorable, just, worthy of praise. Have we been focusing on those things lately. I know I haven't much but I intend to change my thought process. We need to change our focus. When we change our focus our hearts will change, and when our hearts change then we will give forth words of life and not death.

Think on Life not Death. Speak words of encouragement. Keep your Hearts pure. Think Jesus.