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FALL SWAP

My doorbell rang this afternoon. It was a huge box and Hannah yelled, "it's your Fall Swap."
Excitement was in the air and I had tons of help opening my box.

Dawn, I love everything. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and providing a table arrangement that I needed. Everyone will see this table as soon as they walk in!


First of all the address label even had candy corn on the border. OVER THE TOP!

Inside my box was the most beautiful Fall Basket which contained..................................








Fallen leave placemats

Acorns and pine cones to decorate my table

Lil pumpkin to put by my door but I put it on my table

magnetic Lists for shopping galore!!!!

These pictures are a little dark but my basket put together this table in no time flat!

Love it Love it. Thank you Dawn. Blessings on your Fall.

Valentine Swap Arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today the mail truck pulled up and dropped off my Valentine Swap gift! Merritt, thank you, I love it! It is just so exciting to get a box with your name on it in the mail.

The packaging was so cute with the handcut Valentine on top.

Inside was adorable. I love ribbon.

Someone must have told you how much I love red. I am putting a picture in that red frame pronto. Also, I have been looking for a pen all day and I love the one you sent. The candy is a special treat. Thank you, Merritt. Love to your family and Happy Valentines!

Thank you, Donna!

Hannah delivered my blog swap gift today. It was from none other than Donna Graham. It was a perfect gift from her and I am thrilled. It is everything I need to bake cookies and then a sweet Christmas jar to put them in. I will definitely make some memories this Christmas with JesseRuth and AnnaPreston as we bake these cookies. Then I am sure that Shugie will just have to sit down and have tea and cookies with both of them.

Thank you, Donna! I love you and Merry Christmas!

CONGRATULATIONS, DENISE!!!!!!!

Denise,

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!! JesseRuth and I had so much fun thinking and talking about the new baby. What a blessing from God to your family. We are thinking of your whole family and we love you. Give Maddie a kiss from JesseRuth.

Love,

Glenda and JesseRuth

James 4:11-17

This lesson is short but important.
James makes clear the characteristics of conflict.
The first sign or characteristic that may be evident in unproductive conflict is people speaking against each other unnecessarily. Verbal disputes from an uncontrolled tongue can create conflict that causes wounds that are slow to or never heal. James urges Christians to not speak evil against each other and to love each other.
The second sign is a person or group that has taken matters into their own hands and has not asked God for direction. Conflict in a church, home or relationship can easily come when we get weary and have relied on our own skills and craftiness rather than depending on God and seeking His guidance.
Thirdly, conflict can be evident if we absolutely know the right thing to do but simply choose to do the opposite.
If you are in the middle of conflict sit down and just think if any of these elements are behind the conflict. If so, ask God to give you wisdom and direction and He will.
Look at these scriptures:
2 Corinthians 12:20
1 Peter 2:1
Matthew 7:1
Luke 12:18-20
2Peter 2:21
Until next week may your days be filled with God's peace and joy.

James 4: 1-11: CONFLICT!

James is writing to Christians and addresses a topic that is common in all of our lifes.............Conflict. Unfortunately, it is just part of being human and we all encounter it every day. In this passage we will look at three C's of conflict: cause, consequence and cure.

CAUSE:
James says the cause of our conflicts is our own pleasure and it wages war in our life (James 4:1). The greek word for "pleasure" is "passion". "Passion" means "desire". There is a huge trend today that encourages everyone to find their passion. I can not help but think when I read this passage that finding our passion on it's own can be a great source of conflict in our lives. Because once we find it, we have to protect it, often. Unless we seek what God has gifted us for and ask what He wants to use from our lives we might be finding ourselves sitting in the middle of unnecessary conflict.

Read Romans 7: 18-20. Paul talks about wanting to do the right thing but his actions would be something totally opposite. I can testify. There would be times in my life that I would be talking to someone and know that God was making it clear to me to keep my mouth shut but I would just be sitting there and my mouth would open and out would come empty words. So many times when I would do that, the conflict would just go on and on.

James continues to say that our lust or desire cause conflict (James 4:2). It seems so often that we intentionally take matters into our own hands when we want something so much.
I Peter 2:11 says lust wages war with our soul. Conflict is caused from being envious, wanting what someone else has. I can assure you that we will take nothing with us when we die. If material things are what we are envious over we will find ourselves in endless turmoil.

Finally, a great cause of conflict is being too busy and never once asking for direction from God.

CONSEQUENCE:
Consequences of our conflicts is that we do not receive direction because we ask God with the wrong motives (James 4:3). We ask according to what we want so we can lavish ourselves instead of getting on our faces before God and asking what He wants.

Secondly, a consequence is being friends with the world instead of God (James 4:4). Who do you want to be friends with? Godly friends are a great support and encouragement and are a must to growing in Christ.

Lastly, James says that a consequence is making God jealous (James 4:5). He breathed life into you and He jealously looks upon you as His precious child.

CURE:
The cure for conflict is found in verses 7,8 and 10. Submit to God, come near to God, humble yourself before the Lord. In other words, get on your face before Him. In doing that you will resist the devil, He will come near to you and He WILL lift you up! It is a promise.

I have encouraged all the ladies to spend some time before the Lord in prayer this week and to come back and share how it helped in their lives and conflicts. I encourage you to do the same and don't be scared to share it with us! Also, feel free to let us know if there is anything we can pray for you!