March 2010

Life

Simple

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In This Issue:

A Note from ~BBBB~

Photo of the Month Tonya Nash Rose Shackleford Less is More Home Décor Chic Virtue Jason and Adrianne Kid Creative Sequoia Community Calendar

~Life Simple~

The cover of this month’s issue is a picture of flowers my son picked for me during an afternoon walk. It is gifts like these that mean so much to me because they come from the heart. At the end of the day, it’s the simple things in life that means the most to me.

My husband and I were married at a fairly young age. We didn’t have a lot of money but we knew that God had something greater in store for our future. My engagement ring was very simple. I think the diamond was like an eighth of a carat. A couple of years ago, I lost the diamond in my ring while cleaning. This made husband’s day. He had been plotting ways to get me a ring with a bigger diamond. I, on the other hand didn’t want another one. I wanted to wear the one he gave me when he proposed. However, I relented and he bought me a new one. Travis knew my heart and that it was wrapped around my original ring and so for Valentine’s Day, he had the diamond replaced and presented it to me during dinner. It’s amazing how something so simple could mean so much. Special thanks goes to the following contributors of this month’s issue:

Our Heavenly Father GO Ministries Angela Hall Tonya Nash Rose Shackleford

Be Blessed!

~ I don’t write what’s safe. I write what’s real. ~

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© 2008

Taking Authority is the founding organization for the Stop The Violence Movement in

Albany GA. For more information on this awesome movement, please visit them on the

web at www.takingauthorityonline.com.

~For every problem you talk about, always suggest a

solution because without a solution, you become apart of

the problem.~

A Community of World-Changers Committed to Challenging Real Life Problems

Join Us!

http://go-dosomething.ning.com

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April 1, 2010 GO Ministries will take our cause one step further by launching our

~Driven to Inspire ~tour.

GO Calendar

March 1, 2010

GO Audition Sign Ups Begin

March 6, 2010

Victory Tabernacle Church

3250 Sylvester Rd, Albany, GA

Women's Soup 6:00 PM

Bridgett Mack - Guest Speaker

Inspirational Stage Play ....."When Good Ain't Good Enough"

Victory Tabernacle Church

3250 Sylvester Rd

Albany, GA

July 25, 2010

6:00 PM

Also Coming this Summer to...

Americus, GA~ TBA

Macon, GA ~ TBA

Dothan AL~TBA

M.A.D.v Explosion

Victory Tabernacle Church

3250 Sylvester Rd

Albany, GA

October 2, 2010

6:00 PM

“Reach Out and Make a Difference!”

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In the photo: Angela Hall and son Jeremiah

It doesn’t always take a trip to the park or movies. Sometimes the

best childhood memories are made when you are simply relaxing

and cuddle with mom.

~Bridgett Mack~

Photo of the Month

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Orzo Stuffed Peppers

2 Cups Orzo

¾ cups Blue Cheese (divided)

½ cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

½ Cherry Tomatoes cut into quarters

½ cup chopped Spinach

¼ cup finely chopped Parsley

2 cups Beef Broth

Red and Yellow Bell Pepper (washed with tops, seeds and insides removed)

Thinly slice ends of bell peppers so that they will sit

upright in baking dish. Add orzo to beef broth. Cook for

only four minutes and remove from heat. Remove orzo

from broth into separate bowl. Add tomatoes, spinach,

mozzarella, blue cheese and mix. Pour beef broth into

baking dish (so that it will cover ½ inch of bottom of pan)

Spoon mixture into bell peppers and place in baking

dish. Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove add

remaining blue cheese and bake for additional 15

minutes.

Quick Minute SolutionQuick Minute SolutionQuick Minute SolutionQuick Minute Solution Are you tired of your Aluminum foil tearing, snapping and losing it’s ability to

roll and tear properly? Well, the answer to this problem has been right under

your nose. Take a look at end of your foil container.

You will see a press n lock tab. All you have to do is press the perforated tab in

place and there you have it….

A smooth rolling foil container!

Yum-MEEE!

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GO Ministries “Bringing Families Closer Together One Production at a Time”“Bringing Families Closer Together One Production at a Time”“Bringing Families Closer Together One Production at a Time”“Bringing Families Closer Together One Production at a Time”

www.goproductionministries.org

Kids 4 Christ ( A performing arts club for kids)

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The Christian Mommy Writer

Please meet Mrs. Tonya Nash. I met her six years ago at Christian

Fellowship Church in Warner Robins. I have found her blogs to be

just as sweet, informative and inspirational as her personality.

Tonya A.K.A. “The Christian Mommy Writer” is a military wife and

mom who dedicated to reaching the hearts of others through her

writing. Let talk to Tonya…

LS Mag: You named your blog "Reflections from a Christian Mommy

Writer". How did you come up with that name?

Tonya: I wrote down several names that described what I wanted

my blog to be about and what I represent. Some of the names I

chose were already taken. I finally came up with Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer, because

that’s exactly what my blog is…Reflections from a Christian, A Mommy, and a Writer.

LS Mag: What inspired you to start writing?

Tonya: I’ve always liked to write and looked forward to writing papers. My teachers used to make

comments about how well written my papers were. My interest for writing actually took off when I had

to write a mini sermon for a church I used to attend. After that assignment, I continued writing on that

topic and later branched off to write about other Christian related topics. I enjoy writing about Christian

living, military life, and mommy-hood.

LS Mag: How long have you been writing?

Tonya: I kept a journal and wrote in it a lot during college. It basically was a reflection of different

thoughts and prayers I had at the time. In 2002, I graduated with a master's degree in public health and

started writing a monthly column on different health issues related to diabetes. In 2008, I increased my

focus on writing. We had recently moved to a new base and it was a great time to start a new beginning

in a new career field. I started taking writing classes at the local community college and I also became a

part of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writer’s Guild Apprentice Program. Since then, I have had several

articles published in Military Spouse Magazine and various online websites.

LS Mag: Have you found writing to be a stress reliever as a military wife

and mother?

Tonya: I have found that it is sometimes easier to write about what I’m

feeling versus trying to verbally communicate my thoughts. Whenever I

would blog about the frustrations of parenthood or the stress of

deployment, I would get great feedback and encouraging words from

people all over the world.

LS Mag: What message do you hope to project through your writing?

Tonya: It is my desire that those who visit my blog or read my articles will

find inspiration and encouragement.

LS Mag: How has military life influenced you as a writer?

Tonya: Life as a military spouse has given me a unique perspective on the

world. I’ve had a chance to meet many people from diverse backgrounds. The nice thing about writing is

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that it is a portable career, meaning that I can write no matter where we live in the world. I’m not limited

to one location and I can write from the comfort of my home.

LS Mag: Are there any books in the future?

Tonya: I have a few ideas up my sleeve. ☺ Right now, I’m working on a book that describes how to walk

in the blessings and perfect will of God without falling into deceptive traps that Satan brings along the

way.

LS Mag: How can readers subscribe to your blog?

Tonya: Readers can visit my blog by going to http://christianmommywriter.blogspot.com. On the left-

hand side of my blog on the “Keep in Touch” section, there is a link in which readers can click on to

receive my blog posts by email. Persons can also choose to receive my

posts through their RSS feeder by clicking on "Posts" in the "Keep in

Touch" section.

LS Mag: Please feel free to add additional comments or thoughts.

Tonya: I would like to encourage people to pray for military families.

We face a unique set of circumstances that often causes us to be

separated from our extended families and even our spouses for long

periods of time. Times of separation due to deployment can be hard for

military spouses because you have to take on the responsibility for the

entire household, which can be a very heavy weight. This can be

especially stressful when your spouse is deployed to a war zone.

I also would like to encourage people to not only pray for military

families, but follow up on your prayer with action. If you know

someone whose spouse is deployed, cook dinner for them. Invite them

over to your home. Offer to babysit their children for a couple of hours

so that they can have a few hours to themselves. These little acts of

kindness can go a long way and make a huge difference in the lives of

military families. http://christianmommywriter.blogspot.com

Life Simple would like to say a special thank you to the men and women who work to serve

and protect our country.

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Community Calendar

March 1, 2010

Wahsega 4-H Camp Registration

Regular Registration at Cooperative Ext. Office

Hurry Spaces are Limited!

Questions? Call us at 229-924-4476

GO Ministries Open Call to Stage Play

For more info please call 229-942-5125

March 6, 2010

Victory Tabernacle’s Women’s Soup

3250 Sylvester Rd

Albany, GA

4:00 – 6:00 PM

Bridgett Mack – Guest Speaker

March 20, 2010

4-H Volunteers needed

Project Achievement

For more info call 229-924-4476

April 15-18th, 2010

Stop the Violence Hoop-fest

For more info please send an email to takingauthority2010@gmail.com

Join Us on Sundays Victory Tabernacle Early Prayer 9:00 AM

3250 Sylvester Rd Sunday School 9:30 AM

Albany, GA 31709 Sunday Celebration 10:30 AM

Eddie Adams, Pastor www.victorytabernacleofalbany.com

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Less is More Home Décor

Please accept my deepest apologies for not taking accurate “before” pictures for this

month’s Less is More. I didn’t think about

featuring this bargain find until after I had

already made the home improvement. The

before picture is actually one that I took when

we first put our house on the market. It’s been

cropped to focus on the mantel above the

garden tub.

With that being said, let’s begin. This month’s

changed only cost me four dollars. I found the

cutest peel and stick letters at Wal-Mart. It only took a few quick measurements, lining

and mount and Voila a whole new look was created!

Got a “Less is More” Tip?

Send in your before and after pics, tips and ideas to

lsmagonline@yahoo.com!

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The Month of March Around the World Learn how to say March in different languages!

Do you have an article of inspiration, photo, home and beauty tip or idea that you would like to share?

Do you know of a business, organization or business who deserves a

moment in the spotlight? We would to feature them!

Please send your submission to Life Simple at lsmagonline@yahoo.com.

Deadline for submissions are March 21, 2010. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Become a Subscriber. It’s Free!

Send your request to lsmagonline@yahoo.com and type “Add Me” in the subject section of your email.

Help Us Reach 1000 Subscribers by May 31, 2010

Marzo Mars

März

Março Март

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This month’s Chic Virtue features Jason Hargrove and Adrianne Carter who

will be getting married on March 6, 2010.

Jason and Adrianne are the perfect example of Chic Virtue and Christian Love.

Congratulations to this beautiful couple!

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gÉ gÉ gÉ gÉ UxvÉÅx bÇxUxvÉÅx bÇxUxvÉÅx bÇxUxvÉÅx bÇx

`tÜv{ `tÜv{ `tÜv{ `tÜv{ IIII? ECDC? ECDC? ECDC? ECDC

Classy Elegance

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Kid Creative

Check out these fabulous designs created by Sequoia of Maryland using her Harumika Set purchased from Wal-Mart!

GREAT JOB SEQUOIA!!!!!

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Friends and Gossip Don’t Mix Gossip is like fire. Gossip is hurtful and never builds up, but always

tears down. Today, I am happy to announce that I am recovering gossiper.

That’s right; I was, but I am no longer the best gossip queen on this side of

heaven. I had to learn the hard way about gossip. I received a message

directly from God concerning it. One that I didn’t ask for, but one that

brought about many revelations in my life.

So one day, while sitting in church, our pastor was giving a lesson

on gossiping. I knew I was fixing to hear about myself. Pastor came with it:

“What you say about someone else, you say about yourself. So if you say

that person has backslidden, take a look in the mirror. If you say that

person has a nasty attitude, take a good look. If you say that person on your

job is lazy, well….” And on and on he went.

I sat there…heavy. I felt as though I got beat-up. Every word that came out of his mouth was hitting

me in the face. I felt guilty and ashamed. What was I going to do? How was I going to ever stop talking

about folks? I had to adjust. I knew I could seek God on this and he would deliver me. He was my only

answer, and I had some very valuable lessons to learn from it. Let me explain.

About eight months after I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I met this girl named

Carnie. Our backgrounds were somewhat similar in the sense that we were both wild and crazy, we both

had had drinking problems, we both had struggled through our relationships with our unfaithful

husbands, and we both had been saved by the grace of God.

Carnie and I bonded instantly. We spent endless

hours together…talking about people. If we weren’t

together, we were on the phone with each other…talking

about people. We shared secrets, dreams and intimate

details of our lives, but always managed to include

someone we knew into our conversation to exemplify

how much better we were.

The whole time we were friends, I was carrying

around a dark secret…I was constantly gossiping about

Carnie behind her back, and I couldn’t stop. I gossiped

about our different parenting skills (exemplifying my

skills), my submission towards my husband and her lack

of (exemplifying my wifely role), weight and working out

(exemplifying me taking care of my temple), my spend-

thrift habits and her frugal ways (no exemplifying here!).

What was I doing?

Trying to make myself look good, that’s what I was

doing. I was trying to portray myself as a stellar

performer. I put myself on a pedestal thinking I was so much better than her. I’m not a competitive

woman, but I made her a competitor. Yet everything I said about her, I could have said about myself.

Ouch!

However, God was fixing to twist some things in our strangling relationship. That brings me to

lesson number one: you reap what you sow. See, while I was doing all this talking about her behind her

back, she was doing the same exact thing to me. When I finally met Carnies’ friends, they couldn’t “believe

I was Rose. Carnie described a completely different person” than what was before them. I knew so much

about her little circle of friends because we talked about them all the time. Yet at that time, I didn’t catch

it. I didn’t connect my dots.

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But how could I not know? We were gossiping about everyone, to include each other. Really, if

you’re gossiping about your best friend, why would you think she wasn’t doing the same? Spirits attract.

Some of you will understand that, some of you may have to seek God for guidance; regardless, spirits

attract like spirits. It’s the old saying…birds of a feather flock together. Hopefully that clarified it.

My husband had even tried to warn me of our relentless friendship; he evidently saw something I

did not. I knew he wasn’t fond of Carnie. I felt bad about it, but I wasn’t going to give up my buddy. In my

own mind, I affirmed that I didn’t dictate to him who he should hang out with. So I ignored my husband’s

comments and suggestions about her. That’s lesson number two! Sometimes ladies, our husbands can see

and sense stuff we can’t. In all our years together, there have been two individuals that my husband

preferred I didn’t hang out with. He’s been on the money both times. “He’s right! He’s right! He’s right!” I

shout to you now. Sometimes, you need to listen to what your husband says. It’s not always, “oh, he just

don’t want me hanging out with her” or “he just doesn’t want me to have any friends.” Take heed to what

your man has to say about your friends; they are a reflection of you!

So as time went on, Carnie and I continued secretly condoning each other. Then one day Carnie

asked to come over at dinner time, which

struck me as odd (we both had kids to

feed), but the desperation in her voice

concerned me. I told her to come on,

worried that something was terribly

wrong. When she got to my house, we went

outside where she proceeded to tell me she

was concerned about my salvation. I

thought she tripped and bumped her head

for real.

My desire to have a prosperous life

disturbed her. I was a new babe in Christ at

that time (and growing), but for her to be

concerned really ticked me off more than

anything. She’d been consulting (and embellishing, I have to assume) the other circle of friends about my

desire to be wealthy. I guess they built her up to have enough courage to let me know that the bible says

“money is the root of all evil.” However, being the scholar that I was at the time, I knew the bible said “The

love of money is the root of all evil.” I didn’t love money; I used money. We all do. However, I’m a pretty

forgiving person, so, I let it go.

The following week my children attended her children’s birthday party. I found out through a

mutual friend that Carnie had blatantly mistreated my child. Then it was confirmed by another

attendant—not one of my friends, but hers. Carnie denied any wrong doing, but in my heart, I knew

better. My child was going through her terrible two’s at the time, but both bystanders claimed my child

had been perfectly behaved (probably cause I wasn’t there.)

You can talk trash to me all day, but don’t mistreat my child. I think my anger outweighed my hurt.

I needed time. My time, in turn, caused Carnie pain. She didn’t need a friend that could put a friendship on

hold the way I could. At that point, it was over. Our friendship terminated.

However, once again, I am a very forgiving person. I forgave her and moved on. In that move,

something amazing happened. Despite our friendship ending so abruptly, I can say with confidence that

God was in it. God took her place because He filled her shoes as my new best friend.

Over the next several months, my praise and worship was taken to another level; something that

probably would not have happened had we still been friends. God also revealed answers to my many

questions in regards to me and Carnies’ friendship.

God did not approve of how we treated each other with our gossip, but also with the amount of

time we were taking to do it. He had to intervene. Also, being friends with Carnie was holding me back; I

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stayed a babe in Christ instead of elevating my relationship with God. So although I couldn’t see back then

what I see now, I didn’t have to. God saw and resolved through His measures what was right for me.

Over the years, I have seen Carnie while I have been out and about. We speak and catch each other

up on kid stuff and recent events in our lives. We even had an event that brought us together along with a

few other mutual friends. We were cordial to each other; no hard feelings on my part. At the end of the

party, we hugged and parted ways.

I had no way of knowing what was coming later on that

night. I had a nightmare. I dreamt that I had drank

poison. I was terrified of drinking the poison, baffled at

why I would do such a thing and who on earth would

give me poison to drink to begin with.

Suddenly, God revealed to me that the poison

represented Carnie. I was shocked and confused. How

God? I couldn’t figure it out. Poison? That’s deadly! Why

would she represent poison? She wasn’t that bad of a

person, was she? I couldn’t rationalize any of it

because, in my opinion, that was severe. How could I

process something like that? Maybe my mind was

playing tricks on me? I didn’t know. I stayed in prayer about it….for months.

Early one morning, God exposed what I needed to know. I knew He would. I, of course, wanted it in

my timing. God, of course, gave it to me in His perfect timing. And it took a couple months! God dropped

in my spirit that had I continue my friendship with Carnie, it would have killed me spiritually. I would

have become spiritually dead. Wow!!

Understand that both of us were committed to a church. Both of us were saved. Both of us loved

God. Both of us were devoted to building up the Kingdom by way of our team ministry. However, God had

a plan and that plan involved both of us growing in opposite directions.

I can only speak for myself how my relationship and trust in God has expanded over the last few

years. Carnie and I’s break-up in friendship equaled my progression in God. So I tell you about my

friendship, or lack thereof, as a tool to use, by way of another point. Who is in your life and why? Are

those people building you up or tearing you down? Ask God if there is anyone you need to cut from your

intimate circle of friends? Your spiritual life depends on it. *

By Rose Shackleford

“Who Gossips To You, Will Gossip of You”

Turkish Proverb

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I Don’t Strive to Be Rich.

~I Strive to Live Blessed~

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Psalms 31:16