Deanna Doss Shrodes

I got on my scale this morning when I woke up and I had lost another pound and I exclaimed out loud, "yay for me!" Yep, I celebrate myself. You have to. The Bible says David encouraged himself in the Lord and sometimes you and I need to do the same. I'm not down another pound due to the 50 day challenge/fast. (We're coming down to the wire -- 11 more days ) but I usually gain weight on a Daniel Fast. I know, I know it sounds crazy. But the truth is, I tend to go a little crazy when certain food groups are off limits. It's hard not to eat more, much more of what you CAN eat, to compensate. I realize this challenge we're on is NOT a diet. It's about getting closer to God, period. But I'm just saying, while on this challenge it's hard for me not to gain because of the temptation of over-compensation. I do much better strictly on WW flex points program than I do anything else, especially canceling out anything but "certain food groups." I

The Boston Globe just did a story about Brooke White and other American Idol contestants who constantly talk back to the judges, and therefore, do themselves no favor with the public. I couldn't agree with the article more. In fact, the behavior of Brooke White and some other contestants has really been irritating me to say the least. When this season of AI started, I was really crazy about Brooke, in fact I was rooting for her as well as a few other people. But at this point I can barely stand to watch her sing. And when she gets that pouty puppy dog look on her face as the judges are giving her feedback, as well as that glossed over look in her eyes, I just want to snap off my TV set. But I don't. Because usually David Archelete hasn't sung yet! (LOL) What in the world did Brooke think she signed up for anyway? It just blows me away that these contestants don't realize they are shooting themselves in the foot by talking back to the judges. The judges are industry ex

It's raining. Something it hasn't done for weeks since I started walking three miles a day or more. I'm tired tonight but committed to walking three miles no matter what the weather. I'll go to the gym in my neighborhood instead if that's what I need to do. I plan to come home after working out, shower and maybe just do some reading tonight after catching up with the kiddos. I'm so tired. Had a long day at work, nothing bad, just lots of catching up to do from Sunday and stuff like that. I came across an excellent blog post today by a guy named Jonathan Herron who is a pastor in Ohio. This man wrote an incredible post called, "A Pointed Observation" and it's about pastors, encouragement and criticism. This guy really knows how to break it down. At first I was just going to tell all my pastor-friends to check out this post but then I realized, many people who aren't pastors read my blog from all over the place and really, it's church peo

Well it was a rough morning for me with music/worship. Things just didn't jell. Quite frankly it made me wish I was on drugs. (Legal ones of course - LOL.) But I'm not on any drugs. So I do things like walk 3 or more miles a day to deal with my anxiety when a day like today happens. It takes the edge off. Thankfully Teeb came up and redeemed everything by preaching a great sermon and it was a good day. I realize God CAN move and do something even when the worship doesn't click or connect. Believe me I know He doesn't even need a band or vocalists to accomplish anything. He's God. However, I often wonder...if things went in the natural - in the human sense - like they were supposed to every time - how much more WOULD God move? It's a question that I'm constantly wondering about. Vito and Pat walked through the doors just as SS was ending. (They are friends of ours from our church in MD.) How awesome to see them. It instantly made my day. We miss them so mu

We’re back from fine arts. Jordan received superior with invitation and advanced with both his short sermon and drum solo. So he’s headed to Charlotte, NC to compete. We’re proud of him, and of all the kids. They all did a fantastic job. It’s been a long tiring weekend as fine arts weekend always is, but worth it. Although Larry and I don’t stay with the kids and stay up all night or anything it’s still a long weekend for me in getting back and having so much work to do in prep for Sunday. It’s not that we procrastinate and leave things til’ the last minute, it’s simply that (as most pastors realize) there is no way to get it all done during the week. There are always loose ends. I feel like my life many times is all about "loose ends" and "picking up dropped balls" and "catching stuff that falls through the cracks..." I think every pastor's wife could give a hearty AMEN to that. It's sort of in our job description, but I'm not complaining in

Today we are in Orlando all day for AG Fine Arts FestivaI where Jordan and members of the youth group are competing. I needed to get up at 5 am for such and we needed to leave at 6:30 am. Needless to say this NEVER happens to me but either the alarm did not go off or I slept through it. We sprang up at 6:26 and were out the door without really “getting ready” like we normally do. Suffice it to say I felt yuck, but there was nothing we could do. Larry and I simply don’t believe in being late. We ended up being early anyway because their time to compete was changed. The kids are staying at a hotel but Larry and Savanna and I are staying with our friends Pastor Gary & Tammy Rice who pastor here in Orlando. They graciously offered their home and wanted to spend time with us and of course we love spending time with them. Jordan did an INCREDIBLE job on both his sermon and his drum solo. I can hardly wait to see if he’ll place this year. Last year he placed 3rd in state for sermon. I did

Right now I have a few friends who have stepped up to help me in a very tight spot I find myself in and I can't thank them enough. I am not at liberty to share all the particulars here but I will just say that some friends have come together to help me in a very special way. At the top of the list is Tara Sloan , who came up with the solution for my friends to get together to help me in the first place. Sometimes the world feels so cold. Stuff happens and suddenly you just feel numb and frozen inside. Friends who truly have your heart have the ability to bring warmth back into your life and turn your world right side up again. " 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! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?" Eccesiastes 4:9-11 Obviously I'm not laying down with my friends (lol) except f

Just a pet peeve that's on my mind today that I'd like to point out... parents who expect the church to raise their children...or create a miracle to undo the mess they made. I'm all for ministries in the church that minister to specific age groups or needs - children and teens among them of course. But we have to be careful that as parents we don't expect the church to do our job for us. Years ago when my husband went into the church where he was first youth pastor in Clayton, NJ, one of the deacons approached my husband after he had been YP there for about six months and he said, "Pastor Larry, I have a concern. My son has been coming to your youth group for six months, but he's still not serving the Lord. I have an issue with that." He was upset with my husband personally and felt that he had failed him somehow, as the youth pastor. Well, my husband was young and perhaps shouldn't have said such a strong word to a deacon, however it was just what f

Got this from my friend Pastor Leanne over at Musingsnstuff . I haven't done one of these mindless surveys in a while and need some zone out time desperately, so here goes. What is your name spelled backwards? Annaed What did you do last night? I cooked supper, walked a few miles, watched American Idol, and spent time with Teeby. What was the last thing you downloaded to your computer? A preaching podcast to listen to on my next walk. Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery? No. Last time you swam in a pool? Wow...it's been a while as far as a pool. Can't remember...I do the beach more than the pool. What are you wearing? Black pants, pink shirt, silver jewelry How many cars have you owned? One. And only. She was incredibly special. Type of music you dislike most? Screamo Are you registered to vote? ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY! To not vote or be registered to vote is an absolute slap in the face to all the sisters that went before us and worked so hard for the right to vote. D

"You can do anything if you're willing to deal with the response. I'd take what anybody would dish out for the right to be myself." ~ Whoopi Goldberg I picked Savanna up from school early today and took her to the dentist. While we were in the waiting room I picked up a MORE magazine (I really love those!) and started reading and there was this quote by Whoopi. I immediately identified with what she said, although I don't condone everything about her lifestyle, I think there is truth to this particular quote. We can do absolutely anything if we are willing to deal with the response. I think most people live their lives in fear or they are not real simply because they have fear of responses. Others don't have a fear, just an intense dislike for dealing with responses. There is nothing wrong with that, it's simply their choice. Take my husband for instance - he can "deal with" a response anyday - he's a strong man. However most times he ha

Today is Savanna's birthday. Can't believe my little girl has grown so much. Larry wrote a special tribute to her on his e-zine today and it was so heartwarming. Maybe I'll soon get him to post it on his blog if he has time. We made a video of some of our evening and then she wrote an e-mail to a few people and I decided to copy and paste it here for you to see: So what do you normally do on your birthday? Well, I'm totally different arent we all? When it isn't my birthday I have a terrific day but today was especially great because I had lots of fun. The first great thing that happened to me was at school. They announced my birthday on the intercom and the whole class cheered even when it isn't some one in the classes birthday no one cheers! Then I read to the kindergarteners and I won for the best book and reader! Then I went to the office and I got a birthday pencil and card from my principal and also my principal sang happy birthday to

Friday was my day off and believe me if you know anything about me you know that in order to be ready for my upcoming week and especially for the sake of the anointing on Sundays, I desperately need that day. On Friday I met Rosemay (my doctor/friend/church member) for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. It was good. I had a yummy salad and french onion soup, sans cheese and bread. :-) We talked until we were talked out and then I went home and shared the rest of the day/evening with Larry and the fam. Saturday was life c oaching, my small group for mentoring. Always a good time of dealing with real life stuff, and moving forward to new levels. Susan took a photo Saturday and I'm sharing it here. Candy was the only one missing but everyone else from our current group was there. I am amazed at how different ones are coming along. It also blesses me so much when they share different resources with one another to help each other out. With a team effort, much is accomplished that we could never

This was the word I shared this past week in my e-zine devotional to my church women. It seemed to strike a chord with them. I got quite a few e-mails in response from ladies saying they have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt on this. Either they have lived in denial (and are now out) or someone they love is in denial. My heart breaks for them -- I understand and my prayers are with all of you who read this today and in some way are coming out of the darkness into His glorious light. - Deanna A grown daughter was on the phone expressing her feelings to her father about hurts and even abuse that she went through as a child. Instead of facing up to the issues and answering to them directly - when the woman was done pouring out her heart, all the father had to say was, "So, you still got snow and rain?" It was if she had been saying nothing important. He didn't want to deal with it or acknowledge the reality of what this woman had gone through. Moments later

This is sooooooooooooooooooooo hysterical. I got it from my son Dustin. Enjoy!

Man, I just eat up everything Perry Noble writes. I love that guy. Never met him but I'm crazy about his writings. Here's another great post, this time about vision. How do you know if your vision is from God? Great question. Here are a few suggestions: If you feel confident that you can accomplish what is in front of you with no problem at all…then you didn’t hear from God. If no one is angry at you…then you didn’t hear from God. If you don’t have to ask anyone to sacrifice to make the vision come true…then you didn’t hear from God. If religious people are not steaming at you, blogging about you and/or leaving your church…then you didn’t hear from God. If you have the money in the bank to do what God has asked you church to do…then you didn’t hear from God. If every step is perfectly designed and nothing happens to totally throw you off along the way…then you didn’t hear from God. If someone doesn’t try to talk you out of what you are about to attempt…then you didn’t hear

Larry is going to be hosting America's Prayer Meeting tonight on CTN (Christian Television Network) which is local channel 22, also on Sky Angel and Direct TV. If you have either one of those you can see it all over the country, yes in all 50 states. He'll be on here on the east coast from 12 am - 3 am, and of course on the west coast that would be 9 pm - 12 am. If you are up that late, tune in! I'm proud of him. He's a good man, a man of God - yes, a pastor...but an even better husband.

Today I was reading an an article by Andrew Leonard entitled, "The Great Depression: The Sequel" and among other things, he says: "A record number of Americans receiving food stamps. Gas prices at an all-time high, and staples such as milk, eggs and bread costing a prettier penny every week. The average number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits reached its highest level in two years last week, while just this week, construction spending fell for the fifth straight month and manufacturing activity shrank to its lowest level in five years. Real estate values are even plummeting in the Hamptons, and hedge funds started off 2008 with their worst quarter ever." There is no skirting the fact that indeed finances have gotten progressively tighter for everyone in America over the past year and that has not extended just to individuals but to organizations. I know of one mega church that stopped their building program for a while because of the recession a

I'm in love with a new blog. It's called, "Stuff Christians Like" and is written by a guy named Jon Acuff who's a PK. If you have been raised in the church, you will soooo in incredibly identify with this site and if you are a pastor or pastor's wife, well, let's just say you'll find it extremely entertaining. Evidently somebody is talking to this guy already about a book deal and I can see why. I'm alternating between shouting amen and falling off the couch reading his posts. His insights are hysterical and so true. My two favorite posts so far are one he wrote about people who feel good when they see the pastor's kids mess up. There are people who are actually glad when that happens because for some reason it makes them feel better about themselves or their kids. Sad, but true. My other fav is one he wrote called "Using Let Me Pray About It as a Synonym for No" . It's about people who, when you ask them to help/do something, t

It's cold here in Tampa Bay right now. Nippy to the point where I was wearing two sweatshirts to walk last night when I got home from work, and tucked my hands inside the sleeves as I walked as my nose turned red. It's kinda nice. I didn't sweat even though I walked real fast and didn't feel all yukky when I got home though it was still a good workout. I have been walking about 3 miles a day, every day but Sunday. (Here's another photo, from one of my recent walks in my neighborhood.) Spring break is over for the kids now and it's back to school...back to "normal life" at least until the summer hits... We went to the office yesterday morning and were in the rhythm of our 50 day fast -- today is day 24. We are almost half way there. I must say this is probably the longest it's ever really felt like I'm on a fast. (I've done the 50 day one several times as has Larry.) Sometimes it's easier than others, for some reason. Pastor T has sa

Photo of my sister Kim & I, at her wedding, October 29, 2006 From time to time here on my blog I introduce you to people who are special in my life. One person I have referred to several times and posted pictures of, but I've never done a whole blog about her, til' today. She is my sister, Kim. She's a faithful reader of my blog every single day without fail. But more than that she's a loyal sister who loves me and stands by me, always. So Kim, this post is dedicated to you. K - you're kind , most of the time. I say most of the time because although you're an extremely nice person, you are very protective of your family and close friends and will half kill anything or anyone who tries to hurt them. You are very loyal and this is something I greatly admire about you. I - incredibly resilient , after all you have been through in your life, you have come through a masterpiece. What you have come out of through your childhood and not only survived but th

Temperatures are down in Tampa today - love this weather for sleeping! I get such a good night's rest when it's like that. I'm tired, SO tired right now as we've had such a full slate today but it's all COOL! This will be a quick post because I desperately need sleep. We had a good service this morning - God was in the place. Gotta love that. This afternoon we went to Olive Garden (and ate veggies) with John Torres and his new girlfriend who came from West Palm. Lovely lady...we're real happy for him. He said it was important he have the approval (besides God) from three "P's. (His P arents, the "little P eople" --his kids, and his P astors!) We approve. She seems like a great gal. We had fun talking and laughing over zucchini and eggplant. :-) Tonight we had newcomer's night at our home. What a packed house. The family room was crammed. Praise the Lord, great 'problem' to have. Some great new people have become a part of Northsid

Cathy (my assistant) and I left this morning for Ruskin where I spoke today at a fantastic church... Destiny Church , pastored by Jerry and Linda Lubrano. I just love them to pieces, and their women's director, Wendy Ranney is a delight. Their women's ministries (called the Women of Destiny) had a ladies tea today with the largest turnout ever, and it was wonderful. The tables were absolutely exquisive, and they asked Cathy and I to judge the tables and select a winner. Oh my! I did not want to do that, because the choice was so difficult. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone's feelings who had worked so hard to do a table. But they really wanted two impartial judges and since Cathy and I do not know the women, they asked us. We did judge the tables but the did not announce who the judges were, which was nice. :-) (Anyone who may be reading this from Destiny church...shhhhhhhhhhhh....the secret's ours!) Linda (Lubrano - pastor's wife) wore a tiara during

As many of you friends know, I founded a ministry, Pastoring Partners , for women in ministry back in 1998. Through this ministry countless women worldwide have been encouraged, and empowered for ministry. To God be the glory, great things He has done! An update on the Pastoring Partners web site has been a long time coming. Those of you who are regular readers, I apologize that it's been so long overdue for an update. But finally, it's ready! I spent my day off today from church ministry getting the final touches on the PP site to get it ready for upload. (Special thanks to Teeby who fixed the glitches in uploading it...he's my Superman.) Although the web site is all new and updated, our message boards remain the same. Here ministry women all over the world find a place where others understand...where they can connect. To check out the new site, go here . Special new things to note are podcasts from me as well as a link about our Unstoppable Conference for women in mini

Well,apparently there are a whole lot of people upset for one of two reasons: 1) American Idol contestants sang shout to the Lord, which in some people's eyes was inappropriate, period. 2) They left Jesus out on Tuesday night, to the offense of many Christians. Apparently they have heard loud and clear about outcry #2 because they did a reprise of the song on last night's results show, and they put the word JESUS back in. Thank you, idols. (Never thought I'd be using the phrase "thank you, idols." Ha ha!) Anyway, it wasn't their decision of course, it was obviously the producer's decision. If you want to read about some of the controversy over the two versions of this song, and the whole fracus in general, just go to http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2008/04/09/american-idol-jesus-controversy/, or google it and you'll get a zillion things coming up. My point remains, whether they left him out or put him back in, He's still THE

Everyone's buzzing about the fact that the contestants sang "Shout to the Lord" as the finale on American Idol last night. I was stoked about it myself, until a few moments ago... Why? A pastor just pointed out to me...(can't believe I missed it!) they left out one important word in the song...JESUS. No kidding, they left out the name of Jesus. My gosh, HOW could I have missed that? I guess I was just too spellbound by the fact that the American Idols were actually doing a praise and worship song on national TV before countless millions. For the record, the lyrics are supposed to be, "My Jesus, My Savior, Lord there is none like you." This was strategically left out. I know, I know, there are all different religions represented by Idol. Brooke is Mormon, and I'm sure there are many other religions represented, but still...just another example of our PC society. Make no mistake I do think it's great that they chose to do that song. What a song

It's Fun Friday, but aside from working out and cleaning a few areas of my house, I just need to REST. I am going to preach in Ruskin on Saturday and then Sunday is it's usual race against time. I seriously need my day off in a bad way. One thing I really don't like in ministry is having to justify the importance of my day off to some people. Now, many people if not most are great about it. But there are always a few people who really don't understand and usually they are some of the closest people to you. What they don't understand is why you need the time to yourself, away from all things church...and yes, even away from your friends there. I have found myself in the situation of explaining this so many times... "But it's just a cookout..." "it's just the movies..." "it's just going out for coffee..." "it's just coming to our place..." People think as long as it's a relaxing activity or something recreat

This was my "cup of coffee" ezine devo that I sent to my ladies yesterday morning...thought my readers here on the blog might be blessed by it...especially if you are dealing with some "sore spots." Matthew 12:20-21 “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.” NIV So, what’s up with this verse? Jesus has not suddenly taken up working in a greenhouse or making candles. When he’s talking about bruised reeds and candles, he’s talking about people. Bruised reeds are people who have been hurt – in all different kinds of ways. You can be hurt by life’s disappointments that come along as a result of living in a world where the “rain falls on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). You might be hurt by something intentional that someone did, or even something unintentional. The good news is, whatever the case, Jesus is more than enough to handle it. I’

Really, nothing can compare in life to the love of your kids. Okay before ya think I'm gettin' all unspiritual here, yes I know nothing compares to the love of Jesus, and of course in my life it's God first, and Larry second. But one's offspring...yep, their love is like no other. I'm just sayin'. I'm getting to the point where two of my kids are going into young adulthood and it's such an interesting place to be. It's fun, adventurous, and downright scary sometimes. At times I just cry out to Jesus, "please, just let me get these kids safely to adulthood." It's not easy being a Mom but any of you who are Mothers already know this information. We all have our ups and downs as parents, walking the tightrope between discipline and love. Sometimes they've been so mad at me and I've responded with the famous line so many Moms have said..." that's okay , hate me now. You'll thank me later." Such a hard place

Some of my favorite movies are ones with Madea (Tyler Perry). Whenever I need a serious cheering up, I just pop in one of those DVD's and laugh my head off. I'm so crazy about them all it's hard to pick a favorite but Diary of a Mad Black Woman would probably get my pick as an all time fav. The interesting thing is, the character Madea really is a wise person. She's not just so likeable because she's funny but because she's been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and she's wise. For all the hysterical moments in those movies, there's a million things from Madea that'll preach... Sometimes I wonder if she gets some of her material from T.D. Jakes. No kidding, sometimes it sounds like one of his sermons, verbatim... I was wanting some laughs and looked up some Tyler Perry clips and found this one. In it, Madea is giving some of her words of wisdom and compares people and relationships to trees. She's not the only one who does... Prove

We are doing a 50 day challenge in our church and part of it is fasting for 50 days in some way (Daniel fast, one meal a day for 50 days, or a delicacy fast is what our people had to choose from this time) as well as increased prayer and reading the Word. Each day Larry and I send out a devotional that our people receive each morning. Here's the one they got today and I thought I'd share it with my blog readers as well. Here we go: God’s love is unconditional but it’s about one of the only things in the Bible that is. I’d have to comb through the entire thing to see exactly how many things come without condition but let’s just say there aren’t many others if any! Except for His love just about everything else comes on a condition. Time and again God says IF you do this, THEN I’ll do that. The Bible is full of tons of other “IF YOU/THEN I’LL’s”. Pastor Ed Young talks about HNL’s (what he calls “hole ‘notha level’s) If we want to go to a new level, if we want to live at a n

Okay, so it's 1:50 am and I'm just getting ready to go to sleep but I'm still feeling too awake to put my head on the pillow just yet. I need to let my head clear. I have been sitting here bawling. Not for a bad reason though. I've been after Dustin to take time to watch I am Sam with me. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. Tonight he agreed after he got off the phone with Casey he'd watch it with me but it was late when we started. We sat there on the couch together and watched it and I boo-hooed my head off as I normally do. :-) At least Dustin appreciates it with me. Jordan says, "Mom, I don't know why you're crying. That message of that movie was nuts. They should have never given him that kid! He clearly wasn't equipped to handle her..." (Um, some days I don't feel equipped to handle my kids or much else...) Dustin understands why I find the movie so heartwarming, on so many levels. But his practical analyzations are fu

"A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!" Proverbs 15:23 Today I got a word from the Lord through my dear friend, Pastor Tara Sloan , pictured at left. It was very personal and had to do with other people, not just me...so I'm not sharing the word here at least at this moment. But my point today is this... A word in due season when God prompts you is so important. In a recent post I shared about how Cassandra and Sharon also e-mailed me with a word one day, not a "thus saith the Lord" type thing as Tara did, yet a very timely word of encouragement. Cassandra felt an overwhelming urge from the Lord to go to her computer and write it at a certain moment and that moment was really crucial to me. Don't ever hesitate to SPEAK when God gives you an ENCOURAGING word. Don't hold back and don't be too busy to share it! You have NO IDEA how you will change someone's day or their life!!! The other day I was going about my

It was a rainy today in Tampa - torrential downpour, all day. Even as it was raining outside, the Lord was raining upon us with His presence. Mallory led worship today and did a great job as usual. I preached today, and my message was the second in our new "MORE" series. My text was Revelation 3:14-22, about the church of Laodicea, the main point being verses 15 and 16: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I spoke of two areas of lukewarmness - our personal relationship with the Lord, and then our zeal/service to God and others. When talking about mediocrity, I used a funny clip I found YouTube called Profiles in Mediocrity . It's a good one to use when you're preaching about people having passion for what they do, and doing it right. I also had a little skit with Pastor Lindsay, Joel, and...Savanna! Today