Deanna Doss Shrodes

Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

Well I started the weight watcher journey two years ago and have kept the weight off but not without incredible struggle many days.

So today was Larry's officially start date on the program, and I'm answering a million questions about point values and everything else.

Anything is easier when you are doing it with people you love. So now I won't be the lone voice saying, "uuuhhhhh...do we HAVE to go to Golden Corral?" (I hate that place now that I'm weight conscious...) Yeah! Lunch is about to get a whole lot better. Today we ate at Subway. 7 points baby! 7 points! I think I'm going to be able to get my bikini out again in a few weeks now that I have some help to stay on track.

Today is my day off for the most part. I am coming to the One Conference tonight, our youth group (Oasis) worship night... because first of all, I want to see my boys as they lead in worship, and second because I want to support the youth ministry. Of course I want to worship the Lord too, but honestly if it wasn't our youth group and our boys, I'd be taking my day off fully until midnight tonight. And, I'd probably worship the Lord by sitting in my jacuzzi tonight and looking up at the stars - talking to the Lord. :-) There will be time for that later, when I get home tonight. For now, I'm glad I'm here, getting ready to go in to the service and enjoy the evening watching these incredible young people and experiencing God's presence  Can't wait to see what is around the corner next ~ one thing is for sure, we are growing...this family is growing!

I had grandiose plans of all the things I'd do earlier today with my day off...places to go and things to…

Yesterday I was cleaning in preparation for a leadership meeting at our home. When I came to clean behind the sofa, I found a box of Fruity Pebbles hidden there.

Why would Fruity Pebbles be behind the sofa?

Being a Mom and knowing my children as I do, I instantly realized, they were there for a purpose. Those Fruity Pebbles were not just there by happenstance. They were there so that hopefully...only the one that put them there would know they were there! The hider of the Fruity Pebbles wanted them all to themselves and was undoubtedly tired of sharing them with others. I have my thoughts on who hid them, but I found the whole thing too humorous to even go there. I just put them back up in the pantry and will let them find out when they go behind the couch, that someone found them.

I got to thinking that many Christians have a Fruity Pebbles behind the couch mentality. Some people think the more they hoard the more they will have...the more they keep the more they will prosper, bu…

Here I am with the love of my life at Sunday night's pastor appreciation reception. 


Don't we look happy?

We are.

"Don't let an arrow pierce your heart unless it first passes through the filter of Scripture." Erwin McManus, Pastor of Mosaic Church.

So the bottom line is this. If someone says something negative, don't ever let it enter your heart until it first goes through a Biblical test. Is it true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report? If not why are you concerning yourself with it? Ignore it.

If God through His Word speaks something to you that resonates with what the person said - take it before the Lord and make it right. But if it doesn't, let the filter handle it.

I have a filter on my jacuzzi and it keeps all the scum from taking over and makes it a continually enjoyable environment that I like to be in. So the scripture is a filter for our lives. Why do we take in so many things that people say, but God doesn't? 

Let God's filter handle things for you so you can keep your environment a pleasant one. That's how Jesus lived...everything was Word-fil…

If you learn only methods, you'll be tied to your methods, but if you learn principles you can devise yourown methods.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Okay, so I'm thinking tonight...what exactly are the principles of Deanna Shrodes? What are my values that shape my methods? Just a few that come to mind  (I'm writing these myself, by the way -- not copying these from somewhere else.  They are what I have formed in thinking hard about life and leadership and what it's about.) :

Anything worth doing is worth doing with enthusiasm.

There is nothing more important than the foundation of one's character.

When you are a person of character, truth always comes to the surface eventually, even when people attack you - so stay the course.

Invest an incredible amount of time into your marriage. It's the one relationship that will (or at least should) transcend your life when friends and kids come and go, so nurture it.

There are three important keys you can't do without in order…

Today is the first day I've ever disagreed with something Oswald Chambers says. In his devo today he says... I respectfully disagree.
"Is your response, "Oh, but I have a special work to do!" No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, "a servant [who] is not greater than his master" (John 13:16 ), and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. "Pray the Lord of the harvest," and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer."

I believe we are called to the person of Jesus Christ. Of course! But after being called to Him in an intimate personal relationship, I believe He speaks to us and shows us his specific and perfect will for us. I believe God is a detailed God who orchestrates the details of our life from the very foundation world. I believe he knew I would be here in 2006 and He placed me…

Today was the pastor appreciation day/reception at our church. We have the best church in the world. That's all I can say.

We are so blessed and we thank God for our precious people every day.
I can go on and say so many other things and perhaps I will blog all about it later, but right now I'm just winding down for the night...we have just read the last of the cards from the people, I've tied up loose ends at home, and I need to get to sleep...(it's 1 am) But I'll just say...it must be hard for other pastors when they come to the realization that the best church in the world is already...taken! 

Thank you Jesus, for giving it to me.

Well, yesterday was my day off and thank God for it because today actually ended up to be a lot of work --- more than I bargained for. I did sleep in but then it took off like a rocket with so much to get done for tomorrow. It was kind of stressful for me because I did a lot more on my own than I wanted to. (Larry did do some things, just not as much as me...I was desperately longing for help. Somehow admist it all I did take time to cook and healthy meal and exercise. I determined...being upset w/people, nor busyness will ever make me fat again.)

I had to pick up the slack of a few things that were done wrong this past week at the church...re-fix all that stuff...pick Savanna up...make it to an appt...go to the store and pick up cups for class tomorrow (they ran out and no one took the initiative to replace them or even tell me, so thank God I checked)...bake some goodies for my class...return some phone calls that had been waiting since Thursday...finish cleaning, ironing, prepping…

Today Oswald Chambers devo says: "Then the eleven disciples went . . . to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them" ( Matthew 28:16 ). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. Jesus says, "Come to Me . . ."— that is the place to meet Jesus— "all you who labor and are heavy laden . . ." ( Matthew 11:28 )— and how many missionaries are! We completely dismiss these wonderful words of the universal Sovereign of the world, but they are the words of Jesus to His disciples meant for here and now.

I am taking time in the last 24 hours to come away...take time to rest...take time with Larry...take time to talk with the Lord.

Yesterday I slept in as long as I wanted to, (my voice came back!), and then relaxed. Went to get my nails done. They had Click playing and I had already seen it. I read a fitness magazine and talked to Mai. For the first time she asked me for di…

Well, back on September 19 I blogged about a potential health situation in my family that had me upset although I didn't go into details. I'm happy to blog today with the results. Praise the Lord, Larry DOES NOT have cancer. To say I'm relieved??

Last year Larry had skin cancer. It took me forever to convince him in the first place that something was wrong. I saw some spots and talked to him about it. He didn't want to do anything about it. He's so stubborn about his health but friends have since told me, most men are this way. I have to drag him to the doctors for anything. He always says, "people are fine, then they go to the doctors and find out they're sick." We know that's not true - they were not fine in the first place! But whatever. Sometimes a woman just knows things. Intuition.

He kept putting things off. Finally one day I went to the library to get a book and it had nothing to do with health...it was a leadership book. I brought it home…

Someone once said that the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. I would agree with that. I usually regret the things I didn't do more than the things I have done that caused me shame. Of course I didn't relish feeling shame! Certainly not. But what I am saying is sometimes, things that I did not act upon were more upsetting.

As for me, I want to wake up every day "fully alive" (not just going through the motions) but eeeking every drop of wonderfulness out of each day and enjoying the moments.

Last night I worked for a while on the computer and thought I would probably just drift off to sleep because it was so pitifully late...my family had been asleep for hours, but lo and behold, my prince had been waiting for me the whole time, patiently...and I found him as I tiptoed in and slid into bed. It was a delightful surprise but I said..."uh...can you get the baby ready for school?"

This morning I slept a half hour lat…

Today, Oswald Chamber's devo said: "The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30 )."

So we got all the copying done today on my bookorders to ship out .

There is no bike ride in the morning because I have Zumba tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. I am so ready for my day off. It'll be a bit different this week because the kids are off, but I'm still claiming some time to myself. Because they are off, I will definitely sleep in.

Chambers is right, you do find God in the ordinary. I find out how my relationship is with him when I am not in the spotlight and just doing tactical work. Many times doing that type of work I truly feel His presence surr…

Today's My Utmost for His Highest devo says:
"You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, "I suppose I will understand these things someday!" You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the "wise and prudent." "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . ."  John 7:17 Wow, that is power packed!
It's so true. I've said for a long time that I have notice how many Christian self help books women read without ever changing their lives. They just read and read. I have always tried to guard myself from doing that. How true that we can read a b…

What a whirlwind few days. First, cramming all of my work into 3 days before retreat. I'm still catching up on the laptop as we travel. But I'm getting ahead of myself... 

After cramming as much as possible due to missing Thursday as an office day, I took off for women's retreat. It was awesome. Our ladies loved it. Two were filled with the Holy Spirit. We took our biggest group ever! My speaking went awesome, and we sold out of all the products, with 27 orders to mail. I never lose the wonder that people want to hear what I say and read what I write.

It was just a delightful thing most of all to be away with our ladies. God has brought us so many wonderful people to the church and I love being with them. So much of what Larry and I have prayed for is coming to fruition. The DNA of the congregation has changed so much and the "winners" we have prayed in are ever evident! I'm enjoying seeing the changes more each day. So much of what I have hung on and believe…

I'm getting ready to leave for a women's retreat in a few moments...I might not blog for a few days unless I get internet access from my laptop...so all of you who read my blogs might get a rest these next few days...I know you'll miss me! :-)

Writing this is a real labor of love this morning. Last night Savanna Rose decided it would be fun to paint all of the computer keys with white out...not realizing first of all it was incredibly stupid but second, some of the keys are stuck. And don't work. Fortunately, Dustin is a computer whiz and figured out how to rig some of the stucks keys for me so that when you press control and another key, that key works. It's pretty crazy. My son can do everything from jimmy up a stuck computer key to even trace e-mails for me from people who think I can't track them down. (look out...!) ha ha! I'm serious, people wouldn't believe what this boy can do. The C.I.A. should hire him.
Anyhoo, Larry will get a new keyboard to…

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

There are so many things I want to do. So many things I have yet to do. So many more things on my "blue leaf" I created. The blue leaf is ever beckoning...ever calling me to finish the blue leaf list in the next decade. I had a list of things to accomplish by the time I was 30. I accomplished them all, with a few years to spare. I pushed on through some more goals to 40...and now with the next decade in front of me, I have many things yet to do. I am feeling more adventurous than I have ever felt in my life. I have no fear of venturing, only thought as to how whatever I do may affect others. I'm not wanting to do anything unGodly nor irresponsible, but even things that still fall within what I see as safe boun…

"We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed." ~ Oswald Chambers

God shows me time and again how the difficult places mold me into who He wants me to be. Reading this devotional today reminded me again of why it is so important to stay ever close to Him. Being in ministry is an up and down rollercoaster all in one day, all the time. You hit a snag of wonderfulness and two seconds later you can deal with a serious problem.
Last night at the Women's Ministries About Face night of ministry, one of my leaders asked me, "How do you handle the people's problems? How do you shoulder all these burdens?" I told her that it is not knowing or hearing people's problems that is difficult. Although I hurt for and sympathize for people (because we are family), I do not feel "taxed", upset or overwhelmed that they have s…