Let's Go!!!

our oldest grandboy
around 2009

"For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" [so be it] ascends to God for His glory." (2 Cor. 1:20)

          I wrote my grandson recently (yes, a real pen-and-paper, snail-mail letter), asking him to make his wish-list for his upcoming 9th birthday. (Nine years old! I can't believe it!!!) Visiting Lego Land is at the top of his list, so his granddaddy and I said, "Let's go!"

         This morning, at 21 days of prayer, Pastor Mark Pettus reminded us that Father God answers every prayer in one of four ways:

Go!

Slow!

Grow!

or

Woe!

As we submit our prayer-lists to Father God, may we trust Him to answer perfectly according to our good in the long run and His glory forever. And all the people said....

Amen!

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Saturdays - 9:00 a.m. DCST

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Hoot Owl Hollow

by Jill Glassco

illustrated by Ben Glassco

on sale now

www.deepseapublishing.com

$8.89

(click online store)
(next click buy book)

Read more...

Jill and Ben's New Book

My Phillip, our Ben, and me, 2008
Ben and Gabbi's wedding
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth." (3 John 1:4)

        As many of you know, Ben, our eldest son, beautifully illustrated my newest storybook, Hoot Owl Hollow. Before sketching the picture of Nonie Baskin, Ben prayed, "Lord, please, guide my hand." And God did!

Ben,   

      I thank God for the amazing talent He has given you, and I thank you for using your gift to serve Jesus. What an honor and blessed privilege to have my son as a companion in the work of the gospel. May the Lord Jesus Christ use the works of our hands to draw many children unto Himself.

                                        I love you,

                                              Mama

                                                                         

Hoot Owl Hollow

on sale now

www.deepseapublishing.com

$8.89

(click online store)
(next click buy book)

Read more...

True or False?

My Dan and Mandy
Wedding Day

"You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed." (Joshua 23:14)

          In 2010, when my Dan and Mandy's marriage crumbled into divorce, I cried out to the Lord with a broken heart, "I thought You said that You would make their marriage a watered garden, and now it's dead." 
          The Holy Spirit graciously guided me to chapter 37 of Ezekiel where God took the prophet to the valley of dry bones and said, "Son of man, can these bones live?... Prophecy over the bones... I will cause breath to enter (the bones) that (they) may live again."
           Seven months later, Dan and Mandy remarried, and today their garden is lookin' pretty green! All glory, praise, honor, and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ!

           Yes, it is possible to misunderstand or assign words to God that He never uttered; however, dear one, when you call to the Lord with all your heart and He answers, never stop believing what He says is true - even if it looks impossible! When God speaks, it happens, not one word fails, 100% of the time, guaranteed!

Join LIVE worship and prayer services online at:

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Saturdays - 9:00 a.m. DCST

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Valley of Loss

My Rebecca and me, 2001
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

"He makes my feet like hinds' feet and sets me on my high places." (2 Sam. 22:34)

         Born and raised on Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama and now planted on Double Oak Mountain in central Alabama, this ole girl loves the mountains; and my favorite allegory of all times is Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.
         In the late 1980s, when my Phillip's land and timber business went belly up, God used Hurnard's classic fiction to teach me that our loving Heavenly Father uses sorrows and sufferings to remove our ugly dross, refine His precious gold, and make us more like Jesus.
         When the publisher of my first storybook, The Schoolhouse, went belly up just as the book was released in 2012, our loving Heavenly Father led me to read again Hind's Feet's chapter 13, "the Valley of Loss." 
         There, the protagonist, Much-Afraid, for one black, awful moment actually considers the possibility of following the Shepherd no longer (pg.159). At the end of the valley, however, what the Shepherd had planned all along is very beautiful indeed. By way of aerial chair, the Shepherd carries Much-Afraid to the High Places - far above the point she had climbed before descending back down into the Valley of Loss (pg. 167-169).

         As we eagerly await Ben's and my Hoot Owl Hollow's availability at the online store of DeepSeaPublishing.com (next Monday, August 11th!), I feel like Much-Afraid seated by the Shepherd in the sky lift supported entirely from heaven above, waiting to be taken to places which have looked so impossibly out of reach (pg. 168).

O Heavenly Father, thank You that You are worthy to be trusted in Valleys of Loss. Today, I pray for my blog followers who are walking in difficult places. Please be the lifter of their heads and hearts, help them to trust in You, and Lord, please, do beautiful things at the end of the valley. (One more thing, Lord, please use Hoot Owl Hollow to minister to many, many, many children and their families.) In Jesus' name I pray, Amen and Amen!
         

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Nothing Will Be Impossible to You!

Our friend, Steve Patterson
Skiing backwards - barefooted!

Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing will be impossible to you. (Matt. 17:20)

          Yesterday evening, Phillip and I had a blast boat riding on the Coosa River with our new friends, Steve and Becky Patterson, and watching Steve do some amazing, seemingly-impossible water skiing tricks.

          Recently on Christian radio, I heard Dr. David Jeremiah ask the question, "If you were ice fishing, would you rather have a lot of faith in 2 inches of ice or a little faith in 2 feet of ice?"
          Common sense tells us that a little faith in 2 feet of ice is much safer by far. The point being that it is the OBJECT of our faith - the Lord Jesus Christ - not the amount of faith we can muster that moves mountains. I can BELIEVE in something till I'm blue in the face, but if it doesn't serve God's will or purpose, then it "ain't happenin', y'all."

Dear ones, faith the size of a mustard seed in Jesus Christ is full steam ahead! Faith the size of a mountain in ANYTHING else is a no-go. Who are you trusting and believing in today?

Join LIVE worship and prayer services online at:

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Monday-Friday - 6:00 a.m. DCST

Saturdays - 9:00 a.m. DCST

Sundays - 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. DCST

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Rise Up, O Church of God!

Liberty Chapel in Secrets of Shiloh
(actually Altadena Valley Presbyterian)
Painting by Donny Finley

Church of the Highlands, Greystone Campus
(my church home)

Frison Chapel A.M.E.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault." (Eph. 5:25-27 NLT)

            On this third day of 21 days of prayer, Pastor Layne Schranz encouraged the universal church of Jesus - the Bride of Christ - through Eph. 3:10-12: 

"God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was His eternal plan, which He carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can now come boldly and confidently into His presence." (Eph. 3:10-12)

and prayed for Christ's church through Eph. 3:16-19 that:

"God will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fulness of life and power that comes from God." (Eph. 3:16-19 NLT)

Rise up, O church of God!

Have done with lesser things;

Give heart and soul

and mind and strength

To serve the King of kings.

Lift high the cross of Christ!

Tread where His feet have trod,

As followers of the Son of Man

Rise up, O Church of God!

Join LIVE worship and prayer services online at:

www.churchofthehighlands.com

Monday-Friday - 6:00 a.m. DCST

Saturdays - 9:00 a.m. DCST

Sundays - 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. DCST

RISE UP, O CHURCH OF GOD. William P. Merrill

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Call the Lord, Now!

My Rebecca at 7 months
1982

Jesus says, "Call to Me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own." (Jer. 33:3, The Message)

  21 Days of Prayer

August 3rd-23rd

Join LIVE worship and prayer services online at:

www.churchofthehighlands.com

Monday-Friday - 6:00 a.m. DCST

Saturdays - 9:00 a.m. DCST

Sundays - 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. DCST

"God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!

Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!

Glory down all the generations!

Glory through all millennial! Oh, yes!"

(Eph. 3:20-21, The Message)

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Love Well

Stephanie and Lila

"My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God." (1 John 4:7)


         Babygrand's beautiful, Honduran cousins are visiting Alabama this week. Yesterday, they lovingly rubbed his little head until their infant loved one fell fast asleep.

         O Christian, let us look for ways to 

love one another today!

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18)

Stephanie, Johanna, Lila, and babygrand

cousins

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Courageous

Our little buddy fishing at the
Coosa River family farm

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

          Last weekend, friends from Nebraska visited our Coosa River farm. Their normally reserved, little five-year-old road the 4-wheeler, jumped off the dock into the river, and even ate "pigs-in-a-blanket" (hot dogs wrapped in cheese). Was it the southern, country air that brought out his "courageous"? Naw - it was his fun-loving Uncle Ben that was with him everywhere he went.

Be courageous, Christian! Lord Jesus will never leaves you nor forsakes you. He's with you everywhere you go.

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Judging a Book by It's Cover

Front cover of soon-to-be-released
Hoot Owl Hollow

"May the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)


           Tah-dah! Hoot Owl Hollow's cover is designed, and the edited, formatted manuscript is off to the printer! I know the old adage is "you can't judge a book by it's cover", but what do you think? 

Release of 

Hoot Owl Hollow

coming soon!

         After graduation from Auburn University, Dr. Andrea Elliott leaps at the chance to work at a thriving veterinary clinic in Atlanta, Georgia; but the country girl soon regrets her hasty decision. When she finds an ad for a veterinarian in a rural community in the North Georgia, Mountains, she escapes the city and meet unforeseen challenges, adventure, and the greatest encounter of her life in the mysterious, hidden valley of Hoot Owl Hollow.

          I invite you to not simply read Hoot Owl Hollow but to apply it to your life by means of thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter. These pages take you to Scripture verses related to the chapter's theme and offer valuable personal application of biblical truths.

Read more...

Precious Moments

My adorable babygrand

"Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged..." (Prov. 17:6)

           My sweet daughter-in-law returned to work this week, so I'm enjoying "baby duty" until daycare begins next Monday.  

Precious moments.

          Got kids? Got grandkids? Got parents or grandparents? Treasure the times spent TOGETHER.

"There's nothing sweeter than a newborn baby against his grandmother's cheek." ~ Beth Moore

Read more...

Pets and their People

My granddog, Gabe, and our Dan

"Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Gen. 1:26)

         "In the water" isn't one of our granddog, Gabe's, favorite places to be. But wherever his Dan goes, he longs to follow. 

Oh, that we would follow our Jesus, our Shepherd, with equal devotion and unwavering loyalty.

Read more...

Childlike

L-R  my niece, Virginia, my Ben, and my Rebecca, 1986


"Let us purpose to stay simple, trusting, and childlike in total dependence upon God for all our days." ~ Pastor Larry Stockstill             

                Years ago, my dear mother quietly slipped behind a wire fence, snapped this shot of her grandchildren on the other side, and captured the essence of "childlike" - loving, sweet, and inquisitive.

           The Bible tells us that Jesus called a little child to His side and set him on his feet in the middle of the crowd. "Believe Me," He said, "unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. It is the man who can be as humble as a little child who is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven." (Matt. 18:2-4, J. B. Phillips New Testament)

O Christian,  are you childlike in faith today - trusting Jesus over all you see and feel?

Read more...

Wise Women

My mama, 1940s
Yosemite National Park

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels... She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." (Prov. 31:1,26,30)

"Wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul." 
~ Corrie Ten Boom

"They come and go so quickly

Spring and Fall...

as if they had not really

come at all.

Perhaps

we could not take 

too much of beauty,

breath-catching glory,

ecstasy without relief;

and so...

God made them

brief."

~ Ruth Bell Graham

"Keep reading the Bible and don't worry about understanding everything. Eventually, it will go right past your mind and into your spirit." ~ Evelyn Baskin

"If there were more study of Genesis instead of so much argument about it, its truth would be clearer." ~ Dr. Henrietta C. Mears

"Life comes in seasons, and some seasons are awful hard. Ain't nothing you kin do 'bout that, but yer attitude in the midst of the pain is yer choice. The secret is to stay saddled up close to Jesus ever'day.  Talk to Him and listen to what He's got to say by stayin' under His word and goin' to His church. Then, even when ya got troubles, them troubles ain't got you." ~ Nonie Baskin of Hoot Owl Hollow

"Things will look better in the morning - they always do." 

~ Verna B. Watson, my mother

"Let the hope of heaven empower you to live well in this broken world that is passing away... If this world were all there is, it would be tragic beyond description." ~ Sarah Young

"Behold, the bondservant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to Your word." ~ Mary, mother of Jesus

O Christian, "Know that wisdom is like honey for you; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off!" (Prov. 24:14)

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