Thriving or Surviving

Well, we are now back in Hampton, VA. While making our way from the west coast to the east coast, we made a little detour to our much loved city, New Orleans. The purpose of being there was to look for a house to rent (which we plan to do for 1yr). God blessed during that time and we were able to find our new home. Now the desire to be in New Orleans is even greater knowing we have a place to call home (we have not had a home for over a year). Just thought I would share with you a little praise report.

As we are awaiting our time here in Virginia, we attended two conferences this past week. From these conferences, I've titled my blog for today "thriving or surving." Why? you may ask...well, let me explain it. The first conference was actually a marriage retreat. The first night of the conference, Pastor Kenny Baldwin (Crossroads Baptist Church) preached a phenomenal message asking us "is your marriage thriving or just surviving." He talked about how many christian marriages today are just surviving (i.e. mundane, lifeless, hanging on, unhappy marriages). God's intend for our marriage is to thrive (i.e. prosper, flourish, be successful, grow vigorously). Then, he gave us a few principles to help our marriage thrive. It was great and open up the door for us (Brent & I) to stop and just re-evaluate our marriage from God's perspective (not man's). The second conference was the ICWE (International Conference on World Evangelism) conference in Fairfax, VA. During the conference, Mrs. Becky Calvert (Fairfax Baptist Temple) had a ladies session titled "Women in the Ministry: Surviving or Thriving?" She reminded us that as women in the ministry that we have a high calling (laying treasures in heaven). With that, our road sometimes get tough (real tough). So, she gave us some tips for not only surviving life in the ministry, but thriving there. It was just what I needed...because even though God is really good to us (me), I was just at a point in my life when things were just tough (crying my eyes out tough) and I felt like was just doing what I needed to get by (going through the motions). Both were great encouragements to my life (right now)..God knows what you need & when you need it. Praise His name!

Oh, here are a few prayer requests: pray for a smooth transition time for me & my family (kids are very confused right now), more financial support to come in & for a building to rent (for church service).

**By the way, if you would like the notes from either messages, just email me and I will send it to you,