Perfect Example

I just want to applaud Beth for doing exactly as she did. This blog was designed to keep us in touch with each other and the goings-on in our lives. She did just that!! She and Michael needed some prayer support so she went to the very place that she should expect to receieve it.

I hope you all are continuing to take seriously the charge to prayer that we have as believers.

We are called and told by God to "pray without ceasing".

I don't know about you but if I were to keep my mind in a constant state of prayer and praise it would leave a whole lot less room for other things like....worry, anger, jealousy, fear, resentment, bitterness, insecurity, etc...

Now, wouldn't that be something??

I might just be a bit closer to living filled by the Spirit of God.

Anyway, our sister and brother in Christ have asked for prayer so let's stand with them!

We've been talking about transparency and being real with each other. This afternoon a situation presented itself at our house. Right after I thought of my Lord and Savior for help, I thought of you all. Some of you got a very vague text message from me asking for prayer and I knew you would answer. Here is the story.

This afternoon, Michael came home with a very black cloud over his head. For those of you that do not know, he is a high school baseball umpire. A baseball coach that Michael had ejected from a game recently has decided to get even and make false accusations against him at the state level. These accusations are things that you and I, who know Michael, would laugh at because they are so preposterous and out of the realm of sanity. But the State Association does not know Michael like we do and they tend to believe crazy things.

When he first told me and I saw how mad, hurt and discouraged he was, my first thought was pity for myself because I was going to have to be the one to glue him back together. But then it hit me like a brick. We don't have to take this! As I look back, I can see that recent things that have shaped our circumstances are not in response to anything we have or have not done. I am convinced it is Satan's meddling. He gets a kick out of watching us squirm as he pokes and prods us. I am not going to go into all the details of the series of events, but this just explanation just seems to fit to me.

So, once I realized what I needed to do, I sent out my message and dropped to me knees in my bedroom. I got mad. I told Satan to GET OUT! Peace fell over our house. I felt strong. Michael calmed down and Katie slept though it all.

I know this is not over. Thank you for being part of our support system!!

The Gills

Sunday's class

Can someone give me a synopsis of what we went over and how far through the book we are??

Donna and I had kids church duty upstairs and missed out!!

C

Ava's PURR-fect weekend

Turning 5 is BIG fun!

Ava's actual birthday is not until St. Patrick's Day but we celebrated early with a shared party on Saturday.

There were many of Ava's favorite things: friends, swings, see-saws, cupcakes, cheese puffs, cookies, crafts, and pretty presents.

She insisted on wearing her crown....and I couldn't say no.

It even matched her outfit.

We praised God for holding off the rain and letting us enjoy the awesome playground.

I can't believe my little girl is turning five.

You are such a delight to your daddy and me. We are crazy about you! Your love your daddy's stories, my nail polish and lip gloss, your sister's company, and being Zeke's little mommy.

You also adore animals. You ask us all the time to have one.

We finally broke down and rescued an 8 month old kitty cat from the pound.

She is sweet, frisky, and loving just like you.

I will never forget the moment you saw her and realized that we could keep her. It was priceless and seared into mommy's memory. Thankfully, I captured it on film.

Her name is even fitting for you to own her. Her name is Belle. Just like the princess in Beauty and the Beast.

We had an wonderful weekend and we love watching God teach you and draw you to Himself.

I pray that I live out my faith for you and ask for God to minimize my failures in your eyes.

You are my mini-me.

You are breath-taking and I want more than anything for Jesus to be the love of your life.

You will always be our baby girl.

Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone-
Just wanted to share a couple of websites that Hal and I like for sermons. www.sermonaudio.com is a great place for sermons from people like Charles Spurgeon and R.C. Sproul. www.oneplace.com is another great site for more modern speakers like Dr. David Jeremiah, Alister Begg, and Ravi Zacharias.
Thanks!
Leigh Anne

We need to do March (and maybe February) birthdays. I can't remember if we celebrated February with breakfast...I am thinking not! Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion for a good Sunday morning to do breakfast and celebrate some old folks :>) ha ha!

I am good for whenever.....let's talk and plan it!

A

Community Prayer Blitz

All,

We will be having our community prayer blitz on March 21. Meet at the church at 4:30 for details, then depart around 5:00 to head to our areas of the community. Should last about an hour. Childcare will be provided by the church if needed. This will be another great way to grow together and continue our prayer for revival in our community. If anyone is intereseted, please let me know and I will add you to the list!

Thanks,

Jon

Happy Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday to Michelle Martin!! Who turned a certain age Yesterday March 3rd.

Everybody join me in singing:
happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Michelle, happy birthday to you!!

Do you get the Sunday paper?

I am working through the Women's Ministry Team to put together "Envelopes of Encouragement" for some of the clients (for lack of a better word) of the Bartow County Women's Resource Center who live in the Housing Authority properties. These envelopes are intended to let these women know that someone is thinking of them and wants to encourage them. We plan to fill 50 envelopes each month with coupons, scripture cards, and anything else that we can think of from time to time that will be an encouragement to these women. These families probably wouldn't wake up on a Sunday morning and decide to come to CFBC, but this is a way for us to reach out to them from our church and other local churches and give them an opportunity to get to know us better. We'll use this opportunity to invite them to preschool activities, VBS, and other church events. To get started, though, we need more coupons than I have at home right now. If you get the Sunday paper and have coupons that you don't use, please consider bringing them to church and putting them in our coupon box. I don't actually have our coupon box ready, yet, so I'm not sure where it will be located. You can always just bring coupons directly to me! You do not have to clip the coupons unless it's convenient to do that. Any contribution helps! Thanks, Deana

Meet the Abells!!

Ok, when Scott Barkley set up a blog for our class, before he started teaching his own class, he did some "biographies" of some of our classmates. I am going to attempt to do that now, so we can get to know each other a little more personally. I am NOT as good of a writer as Scott is, so please look past all of the grammatical stuff and runon sentences,etc etc........

Beth and Greg Abell:

Beth Abell is 30 years old and was born and raised in Bristol, Tenn. (Nascar Country). Beth loves singing and reading. Frank Peretti is one of her favorite authors. Greg Abell is 34 years old and was born in Atlanta and raised in Stockbridge. Greg enjoys golfing, basketball, and video games. He served our country in the Marines (active duty for 5 years). I (Craig) thank you for your service Greg!! They both accepted Jesus at the age of 8!! (Greg's story is very cool!! Ask him about it sometime!)

Beth and Greg met in Beaufort SC while Greg was stationed there. They have been married for 9 years! They have 3 little boys! Christian is 7, Luke is 5, and Eli is 2. Greg has been working for Shaw Carpets in Calhoun for a year and a half and Beth is a stay-at-home mom, with all of the duties that entails!! (There is not enough pay for that job!!)

Currently, life is going very well for the Abells and if asked they would tell you they are blessed! They are thankful for a job that provides! They are ecstatic that God has led them to a church family that is growing! Another joy in their life right now is that Beth is one of the newest members of the praise team and we all will be seeing her lead us in worship soon!!

As with any family there are areas of concern for the Abells that they are praying over and for. I (Craig) wanted to mention some of those so that we as a Bible Study Class could join with them in lifting those concerns up to our God!

The Abells are praying for wisdom and guidance in where to send their children to elementary school next year. They had some problems with a local school this year and as we all know the elementary years are vital in providing a foundation and LOVE for learning in all children! They are asking God to lead them to the right school and teacher! They are also praying for a schedule change for Greg. Working night shift with a family is not fun and they would love for Greg to be able to get moved to day shift. With the boys at home, Beth is not able to attend a Bible Study she once was a part of, and feels that God has been telling her to start her own Bible Study in her home for women in her neighborhood!! (WOW!!) She is praying for guidance in this endeavor and praying for the women that WILL be attending that study!

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know the Abells a little better and any errors in this posts are mine, not theirs!! I hope everyone in our class will put these concerns in your prayer journals so WE as a class can be prayer warriors for Beth and Greg!!

The Treasure Principle

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion this week in bible study!! A big thanks to Michael and Derrick, who had a spirited debate that helped me more than either of you will know!! For me personally, since the church was having trouble in December, God has been beating me up about this topic. It was a very good study and I got a lot out of it.
For me, it was hard to join either side of that debate, because while I agree with Michael that a certain percentage is not "required" or commanded, I agree with Derrick that for me personally, if 10% is not the minimum I give, then I feel I have sinned against God. And to "keep it real", I have not been giving at that level, and have asked forgiveness. Before we started this study, I couldn't have even told you what mine and Donna's gross salary was. That is tough to admit, but there you go.
In the future, I will be remembering that it is God's money, and I am just the manager. (Of course, I would fire someone that was managing my money the way I have been managing God's money, and therefore, He has been on me about this!!)
Craig

Test Successful!!

Make sure that you accept the invite from google groups. Make sure that anything from google groups is a safe sender in your email and NOT going into your spam folder!

Testing the new email system

This is only a test. Had this been an actual post this writing would be filled with something no doubt inspiring and uplifting. This is only a test!