New Beginnings

Today marks the ninth month I have been without a job.  You can read what happened in an earlier blog, called " One Dark Day ".   Anyway, the reason why I mark this day is, the calendar is the same as it was last August, and I wanted to share my journey of  faith.  More than ever I cherish the cross, and "He's Been Faithful To Me," are not just songs, they are my realities. September 1st was the day I started filing for unemployment. I had never been in the system. One of my listeners did my claim.  Sharon had told me to talk to her. She had called this lady and she said that she would be patient and help me. I also went that day to get services from the Division of Rehabilative services. I had a case open with them, because I had a feeling that things would play out.  Sharon was working out of the Workforce building and had told me about the number of people she had been seeing come into Workforce that were in our age group. People who had work...

This is an odd title I know. "Learning to be single" for a married person. I was single 13 years ago. I didn't marry until I was 41.  I considered myself a successful single person.  At church yesterday, we have an awesome minister Nolan Wolfe, who preached. It was the climax to the youth revival. I wish more of the young people could have heard him. Including two nieces, one on my side and one on my husband's side. Both nephews.  He was 35 and single and very confident. I love to see that.  He was interesting. He said this and this sounds crazy, but when you think about it, it makes sense. He said that he was glad that God was a stalker.  When you think about what he said God did stalk us. We tried to run away and God followed  us, He wouldn't give up on us.  Learning to be single. At the age of 13 or 14, the girls and boys get interested in each other.  I am sure with society trying to make the younger girls look older and other things it migh...

I heard a song on the radio,"Gimmie that old time religion, that's good enough for me".  All of us have sang that song in church at one time or the other.  It's a good song to sing, because there is nothing like a good ol' Holy Ghost filled fire baptized saint that shares the love of Jesus. The Holy Ghost that is in you makes you love everybody, pray and care for those in need. When dying time come it's not a funeral where it's sad, it's a celebration of the person's life and a homegoing service.  That's the part of the old time religion I like. We have some people who take that song literally.  At the church they attend, it is steeped in tradition. The Holy Ghost can't get anywhere near the place, because it's good enough for me.  When someone comes up with a new idea about reaching souls or having something different in the church, you hear things like, it was good enough for my mom, or grandma never done it this way.  I remember co...

Memorial Day is to honor and remember our war vets. and those who died in the service of our country.  We also remember our loved ones who have passed on.  I will share some rememberances of things that me and my mom used to do on this weekend. We would go to the different cemetaries, Greenwood Memorial Park, where some of the family is buried, including my grandman and grandpa Thornton.  A lot of the Traynham family and some of our neighbors like Mr. Henry Millner.  Then we would go to Blue Ridge were some of the family is buried. My grandpa JL Staples and my grandma Marion Staples.  Then we would look around at the various crypts and other places to visit the graves of people we know and went to church with.  One year my mom and dad took the grandkids. Not that they will remember it but it was just something we did.  We know that those we visit aren't there. It was just something to do to remember them. We also started our planting of flower...

     Have you ever had a moment in time that the Lord lets you know that you are where you are supposed to be?  There have been a couple of moments like that this week.      Today I went to meet with some ladies about a radio program on the station I am doing some volunteer work for. As we sat at the table talking, I had that feeling that I am where I am supposed to be at this time in my life. These ladies I would have never met or connected with under any other circumstances, but the ones I am dealing with. When I was working, I stayed so tired, all I did was come home and go to sleep.   One of the ladies, I went to high school with.  Just us three sitting and talking about things and praying about things, was a lift to me.  We all want God to be in our thoughts as we formulate plans, we don't want to put together something and then ask God to bless, we want His imput from the ground floor.     ...

     Today a television staple, an icon, said goodbye to her audience. Oprah Winfrey starts a chapter in her life. No doubt running the OWN network and I am sure specials and movies. The world is her oyster.      I wish I could have had the same opportunity to say goodbye to my audience, last August.  Management is usally afraid to let an announcer do their last show for fear they will play "Take This Job and Shove It" or something simular.  Some people knew I was leaving, because I had went back to school. Some expected me to leave. When I went into the ministry, I was asked if I was going to leave. The Lord hadn't given me the green light yet. I wanted to leave after my mom died, but Matt panicked, he didn't know what to do, so I stayed.  I knew with going back to school, I would have to either fish or cut bait with WJLS.  I got my sign that my season was coming to an end in the middle of August.  So I began to seek th...

The man that predicted the end of world was on the news yesterday, saying he calculated it wrong. The end is supposed to be October 21st.  I hope no one is listening to this. "No man knows the day nor the hour that the Lord is coming", "In an hour that you think not, the Son of Man will appear".  The Bible is fulfilling itself daily.  Like it or not this man is being used. In the last days there will be scoffers who will say , where is the promise of His coming?  The more this man predicts the man the skeptics will doubt that Jesus is coming back. He thinks that God is using him, but he is being used by a sinster power, that will cause people to doubt if Jesus is coming back.  Jesus is coming back, and we need to be ready. All of the people who gave this man money  and did his bidding, need to read the Bible for themselves.  There are many things that point to the return of Jesus, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, signs in nature as well a...

Today is one of THOSE days. You know the kind of days where you just don't feel like you matter in the scheme of things.  Everything is YOUR fault. People come at you and tell you you should  have done this, or you shouldn't have said that.  Maybe I should or shouldn't have done whatever, but it's done now. I mentioned on the air Sunday, that we are in a spiritul battle. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalites, against powers and the rulers of the darkness..  We have to pray. After that message, I have been attacked.  I wasn't surprised. I got some unexpected calls, about the music I played.  I've been reading and studying for some classes at church.  I seem to get discouraged easily these days. I guess it's because I have had so much tied in to who I was on radio, I am still trying to figure out who I am.  I know who I am in many ways, a compassionate, caring, hardworking person. During THOSE days, I try to th...

    As you know, school is out for me, until August. This is the first time since I was 19 that I haven't had to go to work.  This begins a new phase in life, staying at home, taking care of the house, running around with friends and relaxing.  I think that the Lord wants me to learn how to be content in whatever state I am in.       After 27 years of getting up around 3:45 to 4:30 AM, it is a pleasure to sleep til 6:15 AM.  I get Matt off to work and sometimes I turn the TV up and go back to bed and listen to TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer and others. If I don't go back to bed I read, work on projects, like the radio broadcast for our church, during school, I had homework to finish up. There is always something to do. I don't feel guilty about it either. I have paid my dues to the working world, it's time to rest up and see what God has in store for me.      Something happened in December and January. I would apply f...

     Matt and I just took a test to see what our spiritual gifts are.  You sort of know, but you want to see what an analysis will come up with. Matt has the gift of mercy, helps, leadership.  Where he works he needs these gifts. This was on a military blog site and we just took this for fun.      Mine came out shocking. Pastor, Faith Music, Teaching Encouragement and a few others. Pastor, that is the scary one. Up until a few years ago I didn't believe that women should be pastors.  I really think the test said that, because I tend to want to take care of everybody. Sometimes I see the youth and the kids at church and I just want to encourage them and help them.  Also I am the oldest child, there is something about being the oldest that makes you want to take care of everybody. To make sure they don't make the same mistakes you did. To encourage them, to nurture them.      Being a pastor is hard work an...

I was reading "The Gospel Greats" newsletter in which Paul Heil talks about the possibility of the Lord's return on May 21st.  I am sure you have heard this on the talk and news shows.  We have had those predictions before. Remember "88 Reasons Why Christ Will Return in 1988"? There have been others as well. People miss the point. Jesus is coming back for His church.  We can fuss and fume about the date. The fact is He is coming and we need to be ready.  The Bible says 'He will come like a thief in the night". You don't know when a thief is coming to rob your home. It happens and it happens so fast that its hard to process all of the information of what has happened. We need to be ready to meet the Lord at any time.  Are you ready? We must do a little self-examining here; have we repented of things we have done? Have we obeyed God in doing our best? There are other questions we can ask ourselves. The main one is, "are we ready?" When ...

I did the "Lets Have Church", broadcast this morning on WWNR. It is different being on the other side of the microphone.  When I prepare the broadcast, I type a semi script so that the person can follow it and cue up my songs and have them ready when I call for them.  The studio at WWNR is very different from the way I am used to . You are actually in the studio with the person running the control board.  The is a clock in front of you and a cough switch, so if you have to cough or sneeze it mutes the sound. I can see the time myself and know how to pace my speaking. I always bring extra music, just in case. Murphy's laws states that if anything can go wrong it will and since we are doing spiritual warfare you always are on guard.  I timed this at home, but when you are doing the broadcast you add in things as the Holy Spirit leads and you also forget things.  I always acknowledge my dad and remember my mom, because from very early on they helped and encourage...

I said on my FaceBook status that I miss radio. I do in one sense, because for a while it was fun. I went to a lot of concerts, was MC at a lot of events, I got to interview a lot of the artists I played.  I loved promotions, planning contests for radio. I don't miss what it had become. A series of voice-tracked music and commericals.   Local radio for the most part is gone.  Those in the business say its not, but it is. Remember the snow storm in 2009?  One of my teachers was late one morning. He had sit on the interstate for two hours, because of a tractor trailor accident.  He said all he could find on radio was canned music. No local news or traffic reports of any kind. I know if there was such a thing as turning over in ones grave, Joe L Smith is doing flips. If you watched shows like "the Waltons" radio was THE source for everything in the community. Now there are other ways to find out information. What radio hasn't figured out is how to stay up with...

     When I woke up this morning there was a song in my head. Mike Payne had a song out in the 1990's called "Working Like The Devil For The Lord". I remember playing it and some got upset about it, using the Lord and the devil in the same sentence.  When you sit down and listen to the Words, as Christians we need to be about our Father's business. I'm working like the devil for the Lord I'm gonna pray like I've prayed Walk like I've never walked Talked like I've never talked Preach the Word to everyone I won't stop til Jesus comes I've working like the devil for the Lord.   At the end of the song, there was a place where Mike was leading someone to the Lord. I remember feeling the commitment in the song. You see, sometimes we as Christians get a little lax in our responsibilty to win the lost at any cost. The devil is never lax in his way of spreading, discouragement, pain and havoc among people.  We need to be on out job at a...

     On Mothers Day a lot of messages are given on the Proverbs 31 woman.  She is a good woman. A lot of women hate her, because they feel like they can't like up to her standards. I remember speaking on the Proverbs 31 women. At that time I was only somewhere around 24. I had never been married. I wasn't even sure what life was all about. I had high ideas on the wife and mother I wanted to be. I was going to "Have it all".      Years later, I look back and I could cringe at what I said.  It sounded good, but was sort of unrealistic. The Proverbs 31 woman is a composite of many women or a husbands being very proud of his wife. Actually if you read Proverbs 31 starting with the first verse, The words of King Lemuiel, which his mother had taught him. wise words from a mother and how to act, and what type of woman he should pick. The Amplified Bible says, an intelligently capable woman, The King James says a virtuous woman.   Bo...

My mother Helen Smith was a True Mother, a strong courageous woman. She was my best friend and my rock.  As Mothers Day approaches, and her birthday, I find myself missing her really badly. My mom was a praying practical woman.   She helped raise the neighborhood of kids.  There was a family that lived behind us, the kids used to come over all the time.  The didn't have a car, we did. I cannot count the number of times she drove the boys to the hospital, for the cuts and scrapes that boys have.  I know because I was the one that rode with her. While she drove, I held a damp cloth over a cut, until we got to the hospital.  When the baby got sick, and the mother brought their hospital card and the baby over for my mom to take to the hospital. I held the baby while she drove.  When we would have lunch, whoever was at the house ate too.  We didn't have a lot of money. My dad had a regular job and worked at night as a janitor to make sure we had...

     I looked at the pictures of Kevin Spencer's birthday party . It was awesome.      Kevin and I go back a long way. I haven't had contact with him in a few years. I played his songs.There are songs like "Picture This", that remind us that we will see each other in heaven.      Turning 50 is one of those milestones in life. The stuff you used to laugh about in our parents is happening to us. Like when it's getting ready to rain our knees hurt. For the ladies, we can't wear those three and four inch heels anymore. I thought it was funny in my last few years at the radio station,that Sis. Helen and Sis. Dorothy Osborne could handle the steps better than I could.  My knees are bad. That comes from wearing three and four inch heels climbing those steps. I should have been lke some of the women on TV, and wore  tennis shoes up the steps and changed shoes there.      Life started over for me...

     I thank God for the people who have prayed and encouraged me in the last few months.  Some days have been difficult and others have been wonderful, because I had a confirmation that God was carrying me through those dark days.      God is at work in my life. As a potter molds the clay to what he wants it to be, God is molding me into the servant He wants me to be.  I had BIG plans for a high powered career in radio.  Then it was to go on tour with some of the groups, one time it was to work on the 700 Cub.  Now it is whatever God wants. It was hard realizing that since God allowed things to happen as they did that He has a greater plan.  There was a song that I used to play, "When God Has Another Plan". It tells the story of Joseph and how God had a plan that he didn't see. When God has another plan, go on and just say yes. I can't remember all the word but it was always a blessing. Now there is another song that I ...

     I was watching the news this morning as they reported on the death of Osama Bin Laden. People crying, singing the "Star Spangled Banner", Chanting "USA." I couldn't help but thank God as tears welled up in my eyes. I thought this day would never come. Then my mind goes back to September 11, 2001......      I was wrapping up my airshift when I heard the news.  As I said before, the brain does not always comprehend what it is seeing or hearing. It is like a bad dream, you think you will wake up and its all a bad dream.  My sister called me and said that my aunt had called my mom, because her son was working at the Pentagon at the time the plane hit it. We got on the air and asked people to pray for the country.  Churches began to call in and say they would be open for prayer. Matt is a Desert Storm vet. He began to pace and say things like I need to be there. I need to see and be a preacher and a recruiter.  As soon as I...