Deanna Doss Shrodes

My sister and her family just arrived from Baltimore to spend a little over a week with us! We are so excited and thrilled to have them here. We are going to have a Tampa "staycation" together. (Staycation for the Shrodes, and vacation for the Moraniec's) Actually Larry and I are taking a week's vacation from all things office related, emergencies and such (Pastor Trinity and Cathy will handle the office & emergencies) but for any Northsiders reading just know we will be there for all services , both Wednesday and Sunday. :-) My sister decided to fly in late last night (well actually in the early morning hours...they got here after 1 am...) and go with me this morning to the Go Girl Conference in Jacksonville. I am speaking there, and will be taking my life coaching group and Kim accepted my invitation to come along. She's excited that she will also meet another fav blogger of hers, Michele from Northside as well as my assistant/friend Cathy. She already fee...

As you know from my post yesterday, I'm going through something...not just everyday spiritual warfare but something beyond. The friend I have leaned on most is my dear friend, Pastor Tara Sloan . Some of you are blessed to know her as well. After seeing what I'm going through, and walking through it with me, as well as receiving calls from several other close friends in ministry about some of the same type of things, Tara just became totally fed up with the devil and his schemes against women of God, pastors, churches, and our nation, and decided to do something majorly earth-shaking about it! There have been times lately I've just needed to hear her voice or have her pray for me. She's been praying the power down in Chicago, and I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost coming through that phone line when she prays. But right now she's taking it a step further. She has decided to call a WORLDWIDE prayer meeting. That's right, I said WORLDWIDE , and I do mean lit...

Blogging friends... I can't get into the specifics on my blog, but for any of you who read daily and feel like you "know me" - whether you are from Peoria or Singapore, would you just please pray for me in a special way right now? Put me and my family on your prayer list. I try to be nothing but uplifting on this blog and encourage everyone but I also aim to be honest and I'm telling you, I honestly need your prayers. Many of you who are my personal friend outside of this blog know the details, but the details aren't important, just pray in the spirit that God would move upon my situation in a mighty way. I need a miracle. Yesterday. If you do read everyday or even a couple times a week, whether I know you or not, whether you ever commented or e-mailed or not, whether we ever meet this side of heaven or not - know that I do love you and pray for all who click on this blog. Thank you for lifting me and my family up. p.s. A special thanks to my longtime friend P...

I go back and forth in my life between wanting to have more children and not wanting to. Not that I have a choice. 1) We're both "fixed". 2) Even if we weren't, my husband would still say no. He has said no, period. No adopting. No foster care either. So, that's that. End of discussion. On some days it pains my heart that I won't have more children in my household. I say in my household because I have lots of spiritual children who don't live with me. That's my life...spiritual parenting. But every once in a wh ile when I hold one of our babies at church, like I am here (holding Joel & Sheri's son Dylan here when he was a baby, at one of our church dinners)... or when Michele's son Marcus flings into my arms for a hug after church as he is here in this picture below, well...it puts a pang in my heart that goes something like this... "ohhhh...this season in my life is fading...the kids are growing up...my house is going to be going thro...

If you've been reading the my blog for very long, you know that 2007 was a challenging year for me. Oh, some phenomenal stuff happened, the two most notable being my Africa preaching trip, and the Unstoppable Conference. Off the chain. Simply off the chain. God showed up...to Him be the glory. Other than those two amazing things, it was a year from the pits. I can't for the life of me imagine that it was from God. My son getting so sick and coming down with a near fatal disease? My husband having an operation and one year recovery? (Yep, he's still recovering...will be til' October) My car being totaled? And some other things happened, that due to their confidential nature (ahhh yes, the ministry) I won't mention. I thought 2008 was going to be radically different and declared it so even before it began. And so did some other people. Several people prophesied over me..."this is your year, Deanna!" I'm starting to ask, "my year for what?! ...

Just a reminder that no matter what is going on in your life, you can't afford NOT to take a break. Your marriage, your family, your church, your ministry team, your people desperately need a healthy, fully focused YOU. How does that happen? Times of refreshing, and taking care of YOU. Making plans to attend the Unstoppable Conference is a way to do that. Guaranteed you will find this to be a one-of-a-kind gathering that will bless you in ways you never imagined. If you want to know what others are saying about that, just go to the conference site and read the testimonies! For those of you who are regulars here on the blog, please take note, Pastor Tara Sloan is also a key speaker this year at Unstoppable! To register to share this awesome time with us , just go get your downloadable registration form here . Ladies, if you are living and breathing and involved in ministry in any capacity, I encourage you to make plans to be there. If you need a roommate to share costs, if you have ...

So the other night, my vision was keeping me up at night again. Scaring me out of my mind. Someone once said if your vision doesn't scare you to death when you lay awake at night, it's too small. Sometimes I honestly wonder why God gave me a vision for anything because I also know fear is not of Him, yet I do feel scared to pieces sometimes when facing the vision before me. So the other night this was happening, but I got up and started to read the Word. One night I was in that tossing and turning mode and God said to me, "It's like this Deanna...you can TOSS, TURN, OR TRUST!!!" I realize I'm called to trust Him, not called to toss and turn. But I can't trust Him without His Word. I don't know about any of you but the Word leaks out of me. I have to keep pumping it in to me, or I start to falter. Most times that means getting out of bed and going to the other room to read so I don't wake up Larry. So there I went the other night, out to read and be...