Deanna Doss Shrodes

Last night I brought a message at Celebration about how to comfort others and I decided I'm going to to condense it and share it in parts here on my blog.  One of my favorite sayings is, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."   It's easy to miss the pain of others. We have to train ourselves to take time to notice. It’s one thing to not notice it, to be unaware. It’s quite another to be aware and dismiss it, or attempt to invalidate it. Dismissing a person's pain is one of the worst things we can do. When we dismiss or try to invalidate other’s pain - it wounds them all over again. Do you want to help or hurt people? There’s only one choice. (If you don't care or don't respond to it - you have made a choice.) We can hurt people all over again or we can be part of their healing process. Many of us say nothing because we fear saying the wrong thing when someone is in pain. We need to push past our...

I've never written about this before. Photo Credit: fotologic, Flickr My closest friends know, and I have shared it before in one message that I preached. But I've never written about it openly. I was encouraged by a mentor many years ago when it first happened to not make this issue a focal point. Applying my mentor's wisdom, I kept my God-given message the main thing, and prevented this from becoming a needless distraction. Many years have passed now. I can briefly reference this for a purpose, yet not allow it to over-ride my life's mission. If if you are a pastor and you're a woman, Florida is seriously the place to be. It's a mecca of sorts for women preachers. So progressive. I'll never move. This is my eleventh year pastoring here and nobody has ever given me a bit of a problem as far as being a woman in leadership. At the same time, I work very hard at what I do, have steadily proven myself for well over two decades, and don't expect s...

Unforseen, rare things happen to me. They just do. Can you relate? When my family went tubing this week, I was preparing to go down the hill and I asked the employee who was helping us if anybody ever goes over the berm while tubing. "Oh no...not to worry...that never happens..." Famous last words. This is why it's very hard for me to trust people. Anybody. Anyone but God. I was tubing down a lane all the way to the right. My husband was at the top of the hill when he witnessed my tube flip over the berm, to the right and head down a hill...one that wasn't an actual tubing hill. I wasn't supposed to be there. I instantly realized it and my heart was struck with fear. Ever been in a scary place that you never planned to go to, and yet there you were?

Writing unhindered! Oh yes! This week while we've been in the Berkshires, and even while in travel, I've enjoyed writing. It's been so nice to do my favorite thing (aside from family) without distractions. Usually I have to fit writing around the rest of my work life. If I don't get up early or stay up late, it wouldn't happen. It's been amazing to have a week where I didn't have to fight to do it. One day I have a dream of taking a writing trip. This would be something I'd do by myself, otherwise I wouldn't end up writing. It would turn into something else no matter how well intentioned or valuable. (There is great value in marriage or family activities.) So yesterday was a one month celebration for me, of my new blog, Adoptee Restoration . In just 31 days it exceeded all the dreams I had for the beginning. I am so grateful to everyone who has read there, and been part of the conversation. I've been blogging here for almost 7 years, most...

Writing down who God is and what He does, is beneficial to me. It reminds me of what I have to cling to when everything else is uncertain. Sometimes I make lists about God. Then I read them and re-read them. It helps me.  

So, here's all we had to concern ourselves with, here in the past 24 hours... I sat in front of the fireplace and wrote to my heart's content in the quiet, while occasionally glancing out the window. Love the change of scenery while I write. Jordan was king of the mountain. Savanna made snow angels. We stayed in this beautiful place. We watched two movies last night. Made dinner, did the dishes, tidied things up, sunk down into a bath. Slept. That's all folks...  

Today's our last day in Boston before we head to the Berkshires.  We had a fantastic day yesterday, painting the town with Lou and Nina Zinnanti. They've been showing us all the hot spots of this beautiful town, and been so gracious. Savanna found this necklace for me. Since this is what lots of my friends have called me for umpteen years, it was just perfect... Plus it was 50% off. How could I not justify wearing the wonder, at half the price? I want to point out that this is my first Wonder Woman purchase. All of the other stockpile of memorabilia  that fills my home and office comes from friends, co-workers, church members, etc. over the years. Shout out to all who have given me everything from WW pajamas to lunch boxes to mugs to you name it. Then, I also found a phone case, for me. I got a new phone back in August, when I was at Ormond Beach and forgot that my phone was tucked into my bathing suit top and spontaneously decided to run and jump in the waves. Y...