Welcome to Summer...

Hello my friends,

I'm sorry it has been so long since I've updated my blog. I can hardly believe we are about to enter July! Wow, I'm very excited for the fourth, it's a favorite holiday for me.

D.I.G. has begun and we have had two meetings so far. It is going well and we are all working on learning the new study material. It is very challenging and time consuming, but I know that it is worth it!

We had twelve ladies the first week and are expecting the group to be around seventeen next week. I am thankful for Kassie's help in leading the group and for Jolene our hostess.

Evelyn is doing much better and she has been on her own now for three weeks. I am working in our family's woodshop making and assembling gardening baskets. I am still looking for work though and have sent my resume to a couple of people. Please pray that God's will is done.

I continue to look for ministry opportunities and have emailed an organization asking information about their volunteer program. I will update you on that in the future.

I am excited to share that we have almost reached the maximum amount of campers that we can have at our camp this year! This is fantastic news! I am excited about the week and have much work to do to prepare. I will be getting music together and planning my cabin devotions over the next few weeks.

Yesterday, I went to a neat place called Nuevo Mexico authentic Mexican grocery store. It was a fun time for me as I was able to practice my Spanish with the store manager and buy some things that I miss from Mexico. :)

Have a blessed day!

-Amanda Marie

Delighting In God

I'm really excited to tell you all about the plans that are being made to start a ladies' Bible study called D.I.G.(Delighting In God) this coming June. My accountability partner, Kassie, and I are making the preparations to begin a study on Romans using Kay Arthur and David Arthur's Inductive Bible Study program. We especially wanted to start a group that was serious about studying the Scriptures. Meeting once a week to encourage each other to be in the Word all week long, not just at Bible study, through accountability. Kay Arthur's studies take much time in and meditation on the Word of God. We continue to get ready for our first meeting as June quickly approaches and are very excited to see what God will have us to learn individually and as a group through the study of His Word.

What's Coming in Summer 2009???

1)SGBA Camp 2009
I applied for Camp this week and if counselors are still needed, I will be going! We will have a meeting next month to prepare for the week and then camp will be held at Michindoh on the dates of July 13-17th!

Pray for the campers that will be attending, that God will open their hearts and save their souls!

2)Missions Trip??
I am praying for an opportunity to go to Mexico this summer on a short term missions trip.

3)Caregiving
I will be staying with Evelyn for the month of May and then we will probably see if I am still needed at the end of that time. It is possible that during the summer, if she is doing much better, I will still be checking in on her from time to time.
Please pray that Evelyn will soon be able to return to church.

4)Teaching
I am now on the rotation as a Jr. Church teacher at Thornville, so I will be taking my turn again in the months to come.

Although most of these things are liable to change, I wanted to give a quick snapshot of what I'm anticipating my summer will look like. :)

Thank you for your prayers!
-Amanda Marie

With this moment I want to PRAISE HIM!!

Arriving home from church this evening, I am just filled with the excitement and joy that comes when God moves! I am so thrilled to tell that God is working in the hearts of the youth in our small youth group and truly blessing us. We are still praying for our youth pastor and his family as they have all been sick and unable to be with us. We are also thankful for our Sunday school teacher stepping in to teach the lessons on Wednesday nights. Our group has been studying Don Whitney's book, "Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health" and it is so convicting. We are once again touching on the subject of Godly Sorrow and asking the question:
"Do I truly mourn over my sin?"

Our times of prayer and fellowship have been so sweet and I am praising God for His hand in our lives!

-Amanda Marie

That's My King! S.M. Lockridge

I've seen this video various times over the past year or two and it is always an encouragement! Enjoy!

Recommended Reading...

Our Sunday School class has been going through this book by John MacArthur and it has been fantastic! We have been studying the fruit of the Spirit and will be going into the section on I Cor. 13 next week. Check it out at www.gty.org !

-Amanda Marie

February/March Conferences and Retreats Part 3

My final entry for this little series of Special Weekends, I wish I would have done this the other way around because now in April I'm forced to try and remember the beginning of February! :)

Our first Youth Retreat in many years was held at Michindoh where we have our annual summer camp. We love this camp ground and the staff is always really kind and helpful. We went for a quick overnight stay and had so much fun. We enjoyed fantastic food, a fun hayride under the beautiful stars, making spam sculptures, and playing broom ball on the ice!

Along with all the activities we were also enormously blessed by the messages presented to us by Dan Armstrong. We were challenged through God's Word to identify
and overcome the idols in our hearts. Idols that are not necessarily in a physical form, but rather are evident in our sinful heart attitude. What is an idol? Anything that takes the place of God in our lives and anything that we are willing to sin against God to get.

We were each given a notebook and time to talk to God one on one and confess our personal idols and to raise our flag of surrender and ask God to become more beautiful to us than our sin. We studied James 4:1-7 in which we are given the steps to overcoming idols.

James 4:1-7
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

Dan emphasized the need to be truly broken about our sin and not to just feel remorse, but to express genuine Godly sorrow. Until we are truly Broken and Humbled we will not be Changed!

Nothing about the fight to Love God more than anything is easy and that includes the fight to get rid of the idols in our lives. However with God's help, It is possible!


James, Heather, Rebekah,and I were given the opportunity to lead worship at the Retreat and the song, "Give Us Clean Hands" quickly became the theme song for the event.

This song is taken from Psalm 24: 3-6,
"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah"


This is the group of girls that I was able to lead in a short devotional on Friday night. The Lord was really working in my heart during the time that I was preparing for this and showing me where I needed to be changed.

Overall this Retreat was a HUGE blessing in all our lives, we had a wonderful time and I am so thankful!





- Amanda Marie