Cactus Flower

I recently heard conversation about a pastor who said basically that he doesn't sit down to pray any more and wanted to change up the traditional mid-week prayer meeting at his church to not include any sort of small prayer groups or an open public request time.  Why?  His reasons included some of the following - God's almighty and will do what He wants regardless of my constant nagging, group prayer times are mostly gossip sessions, public request opportunities often get long and detailed with one or two hogging the time.  Wow!  Whoa!  Okay?  No Way! So is group church prayer out of date?  Does prayer make a difference for God?  Or, can we change an infinite God's mind? 1.  Is the traditional group prayer meeting out of date? Maybe!  In our little Brazilian congregation on Wednesday nights we have a short devotional Bible study and a time for spoken praises and prayer requests, then we divide into small groups for a period of joi...

When I was a little girl, my family would sometimes go to West Virginia to see the old relatives of Granddad Mullennax and Nanny Granny.  I have some vague, scattered memories of some of those trips.  I think most of remembrances have to do with Aunt Alma's house in Clarksburg.   I remember driving into the town going down a long hill like you were coming out of the mountains.  I can remember the beautiful old houses and a big church.  I'm pretty sure there was a big white house across the street from Aunt Alma's house.  And I remember playing in somebody's attic, maybe hers.  And I can recall some big dinners with a table full of all kinds of food. Aunt Alma wasn't really an aunt.  I think she was a cousin of your Grandma Beckner.  But that is what we called her, and we called her husband, Uncle Forest.  Another vivid memory I have is of all the family men playing cards around a big table.  Uncle Forest liked to play cards, an...

2016 was an incredible year for the Atha household.  We have seen God's hand working in our lives all through each of the 365 days.  Listed below in chronological order are our top ten blessings of the year, in my humble opinion... ESL Students I was remembered by all my little ESL students.  This one even brought a cake! God brought students to my door this year after Byron and I decided going into the big city was just not working out with that long bus ride.  Needing the money to help pay off a debt, I began to pray.  I very specifically asked God to bring them in and that each would be a good fit.  BTW, the debt was paid off before the end of the year.  Our Sweet 16 Our youngest turned 16 this year and yeah, he's a guy, but this year he has blossomed and bloomed in so many ways.  Little whiskers on that chin, more outgoing, more finese with more instruments, and more mature in Christ.  Byron and I are very grateful for...