Tag: Karol Ladd

Strengthening the Family

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 We had a wonderful time at PWC last week with our guest Janee Harrell teaching about finding our identity in Christ.  It was a great lesson teaching us to be open, honest and real.  Also, this week Curt and I celebrated our anniversary.  Here’s a few thoughts about marriage that I want to share with you.

Our Anniversary Trip, climbed a mountain!

‎“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times – always with the same person.” M. McLaughlin

This week Curt and I celebrated 28 years of marriage!  Can you believe it?  I know you must be thinking that we got married when we were 12 years old by looking at our pictures, right?  Okay, at least I was hoping you were thinking that.  As far as marriage is concerned, the reality is every marriage has its unique set of challenges, because we are two unique people, with two unique sin patterns joining together to try to live life as one.  

It’s not always easy, but marriage can certainly be a joy and a blessing not only to you as a couple, but to your kids and your community.  It’s worth working on and fighting for, because God uses marriage as a foundational structure of society.  And who can deny that our society desperately needs good strong marriages today to help our next generation on their way?  Here’s a few important thoughts in strengthening your marriage that we’ve tried to implement in our home.

Forgive and ask forgiveness often.

Pray together every night before going to sleep.

Build each other up with words and kind actions.

Do not put down your spouse with your words.

Encourage each other’s gifts, talents and interests.

Go on dates together as often as possible.

Laugh together.

Look to the Lord (not your spouse) to meet your emotional needs.

Examine your own heart instead of always blaming your spouse.

One last thought, this week on Family Life Today radio I heard a couple share their story of how God resurrected their dead marriage to become a loving and vibrant relationship in Christ. They reminded the listeners that if we really believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, then why can’t we believe that this same God can resurrect dead marriages.  If you are currently struggling to hold your marriage together I want to first encourage you to seek God’s help and visit a Biblically-based counselor.  I also want to encourage you to go to the Family Life website ( www.familylife.com )  as a great resource.

Surround Yourself with Sharp People

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Jody Capehart, Donna Skell and Karol Ladd

   “Walk with the wise and you’ll be wise.  A companion of fools suffers harm,” Solomon

 Looking forward to seeing you this week at PWC, Tuesday at 12:00 at Prestonwood Country Club. Our speaker is Janee Harrell. You are in for a treat.  See you soon.  Here’s a little reflection from the writer’s conference Donna and I hosted this past weekend…

We never stop learning!  We grow and mature from life experiences, but we also learn from the people God places in our lives.  Surround yourself with wise people who encourage your growth both mentally and spiritually.  Solomon reminded us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  Who sharpens you?

This weekend I was involved in hosting the 4th annual Christian Writers Conference through Roaring Lambs Ministries.  It was a tremendous event.  Although I was a speaker at the conference, I was also a learner.  I was surrounded by wise and seasoned authors like Mary DeMuth, Jody Capehart, Mary Hollingsworth, Allison Botkke, June Hunt and Kerby Anderson.  This was an opportunity not only for fresh writers to develop their skills, but also for mature writers to grow.

Kerby Anderson’s message especially hit home with me as I learned the importance of understanding our culture in order to reach them with the message of Christ.  I was personally challenged to be aware of new avenues for sharing my message and to stay current in order to speak truth in today’s society.

Concerning our message, he told us to consider:

– Uniqueness: how are you different?

– Expertise: what makes you credible?

– Branding: expert or keen observer

If we are to be effective in sharing a message of truth to the unbelieving world, we must be intentional about learning, adapting and growing.  I encourage you to walk with the wise and surround yourself with people who will challenge you and help you see new potential and possibilities all around you.  Keep on Growing!

To learn more about Kerby Anderson go to www.Probe.org or www.Pointofview.net

My Fifty Sense

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The Big 5-0!

“If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.”  James Garfield

This past week I turned fifty.  Yes the big 5-0!  It honestly wasn’t so bad.  The highlight for me was on the day of my birthday I met with some friends in downtown Dallas to attend a luncheon for Sheila Bailey’s ministry.  After the luncheon my friends and I walked across the street to First Baptist Church Dallas.  I grew up in this church, and I first trusted Christ as my savior through it’s ministry.  I was also baptized and married there, so it holds many life memories for me personally.  But the highlight wasn’t just being there on the church grounds, the best part was that we went up to the prayer tower,  got on our knees and prayed together.  We prayed for our city, for our friends and for each other.  It was a great way to celebrate my fiftieth. 

I must admit I do love fun birthday cards, and there is no shortage when it comes to turning 50.  One friend gave me a card that read: 

                “In dog years, you’d be 350, but in Giant Redwood years, you’d only be about 3 ½….See? Turning 50 is all in how you look at it!” 

Well, the card is right. Perspective is everything!  I must admit I still feel like I’m 30, so I’m not going to let my actual age bother me.  I hope as I am getting older, that I am also getting wiser.  I’ve been pondering some of the truths I have learned over the years and am trying to apply to my life for the next fifty years.  So here’s my Fifty Cents (Sense) Worth of living with wisdom.

  • Focus on loving God more, and focus on myself less.
  • Serve more, and demand less.
  • Love more, and get annoyed less.
  • Seek God’s direction more, and seek my own agenda less.
  • Care about eternal things more, and get upset about temporal things less.
  • Give more, and keep less.
  • Listen more, and talk less.
  • Learn more, and eat less.
  • Choose joy more, and choose bitterness less.
  • Encourage more, and complain less.

 

Most importantly the older I get the more I am amazed at God’s greatness.  Let us all pay attention to the way He works, the way He comforts, the way He loves and the way He reveals His mighty power in our lives.

Psalm 36:5-9

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
       your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
       your justice like the great deep.
       O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
       Both high and low among men
       find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
       you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
       in your light we see light.

The Happiest Place on Earth

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Red Carpet Welcome at Joni & Friends Camp

In my opinion, there’s no happier place on earth than Joni and Friends Family camp. 

The special needs campers are truly happy. Yes, they define the term “happy campers.”

The camp counselors are filled with joy as they serve the campers.

The parents and siblings of the campers are quite honestly blissful as they are offered the rare opportunity to relax and enjoy enriching fellowship and camp activities. 

Joni and Friends camp is a ministry outreach of Joni EarecksonTada, who herself is a quadriplegic since a diving accident when she was a teenager.  She wanted to create a place where families can take a vacation and enjoy the beauty of camp, while their family members with special needs are lovingly cared for by the camp counselors.  I visited one of these camps in southeast Texas this past weekend, and I must admit the joyful memories will linger in my heart for a long time.

Love abounds at the Joni and Friends family camp. All pretense is gone and in its place is a sweet innocence, a genuine care for others and a bountiful supply of serving hearts. I was particularly impressed by the camp counselors whose compassionate and upbeat attitudes looked past the outward appearances and touched the souls of the campers with the love of Christ.

Human perfection is highly over rated.  In a culture that seems to elevate the bright and beautiful, I was reminded of the beauty of simplicity and the power of sincere love.  Most importantly I was reminded that it is our imperfections that keep us aware of our need for God and for each other.  Our weaknesses and challenges point us toward a perfect God and build the anticipation for the day when we will have a glorious new body in Heaven.  Until that day, let us learn from our special friends to focus on what really matters in life – loving God and loving others.  

Please pray for Joni as she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is now undergoing treatment.  For updates you can read her blog at: www.joniandfriends.org

The Joy of Anticipation

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Hello my positive women friends.  I hope you are having a wonderful summer.  We had a great meeting last week, with our guest teacher Kathleen.  We learned about trusting God through the difficulties.  It was a powerful lesson.  I hope you will join us on the fourth Tuesday in July as we hear another wonderful guest teacher.

Joy's Wedding Portrait

This past weekend I hosted yet another wedding shower for one of my friend’s daughters who is getting married in July.  Yes, this certainly has been wedding season around the Ladd house.  The thing I love most about the bride-to-be is seeing the joy of anticipation as she heads toward her big day.  It’s interesting in the Bible we see the illustration of the groom and bride used as an analogy of Christ and the church.  As followers of Christ, we are His bride and we too should be living in anticipation of the day he comes to bring us home. 

Can you imagine if a bride showed up at her wedding and said, “Oh goodness, am I getting married today?  I’ve been so busy with other stuff in my life that I haven’t really prepared.  And oh, is that the groom?  I’d kinda forgot what he looks like.  I’ve been really distracted you know.”   That seems ridiculous doesn’t it?  Yet we too must examine our own hearts and consider if we are so distracted and busy about the stuff in our lives and not thinking about Heaven.

Jesus told his followers to lay up treasures in Heaven.  He told his followers to remain watchful and to be ready for the day He returns.  He used the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids to teach about the importance of being prepared.  If you recall, five of the bridesmaids were foolish and unprepared and five were ready.  He ends the story by saying, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. You can read it in Matthew 25:1-13.

This summer as I have observed precious brides (including my daughter) as they were getting ready for their wedding day, there were certain attributes I noticed in their joy of anticipation.

  • Their resources were spent wisely as they saved and invested for their wedding.
  • Their thoughts were consumed or dominated with wedding details.
  • Although preparation was not always easy, they knew it was worth it as they looked forward to their wedding day, and they knew that soon they would be married.
  • They desired to be exceptionally beautiful for their groom.
  • They chose to forsake all others as they were fully devoted to their husband-to-be.

Now I want you to read back over that list and think about how the same joy of anticipation relates to our preparation for being in Heaven with the Lord. Are you living for that Day or are you living with your eyes on the here and now.  There is great joy in our life here if we live in anticipation of the day we will meet Christ face to face.  Live for it! Be consumed by it! May we continually set our hearts on things above and draw close to our bridegroom in love.

Here are Jesus’ words found in Revelation 22. A beautiful invitation for us to be His bride.

 12“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

 14“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

 16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

 17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Dear friend, if you have never accepted His invitation to be a part of his family, I encourage you to place your hope and trust in him today. Jesus  loves you as a bridegroom loves and cherishes his bride. Call 1-888-Need-Him to talk with someone about a relationship with Christ.