Notes from Nicole

If you have ever been around small children and you needed to say something to another person that you didn't want a child to hear you have probably spelled out the words. "Hey honey, do you want to go to the i-c-e c-r-e-a-m place later?" or "I think we will head to D-i-s-n-e-y next year, what do you think?" Now, this can only work for a short period of time. Most children begin learning to spell by the age of five or six, sometimes sooner if you have a genius for a child! I have older children now so spelling doesn't work, but I still use it around my dogs. "I might go on a w-a-l-k later, do you want to go with me?" It is pretty funny how some words just feel more secretive or ominous when we spell them out. I probably committed writers suicide by even using the word Sin in my title, whether I spelled it out or not. Adults and children alike do not like to talk about or even listen to a sermon on sin, am I right?! I mean how many of us w...

I am one of those people who you might call "directionaly challenged" or I may be lacking in my "sense of direction" gene. Whatever it is it all boils down to one thing.....I get lost a lot! I know that we are in the age of GPS and I have one on my phone and everything, but sometimes when I get behind the wheel of my vehicle and I'm singing to the radio or talking to my passengers I lose all sense of where I am supposed to be going. This happened a few years ago when a couple of my friends and I decided to go visit a mutual friend in Hartselle, Alabama, sir! I had never even heard of Hartselle before so I was already nervous about finding the place. We printed out the hard copy of the directions AND we had the GPS programmed, no problem. We made it to Hartselle without any issues and I thought to myself, "Wow, I did it. I drove to a place I have never been before without getting lost!" Now, getting home was a different story. I know, I know, re...

I have been a member of the Methodist faith for about 15 years now. I grew up in the Pentecostal faith at an Assembly of God Church. I thought Lent was something that only the Catholics did-which according to my southern Pentecostal granny-God rest her soul, "Didn't believe the same things we did!" So Lent was a term I may have heard once or twice growing up and then never thought any more about it; that is until I started working for the United Methodist Church. I found out that Lent is a time of personal sacrifice in order to mirror the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert. It was supposed to be a time of reflecting on what Jesus had done for us when he performed the ultimate sacrifice on Black Friday-laying down his life for all and then rising again on Easter. As I learned more and more about the customs of Lent and about where they came from I was intrigued and humbled by some of the "things" I heard people were sacrificing. One was giving up coff...

How many times did you utter the phrase, "Can you hear me now?" and then laugh about it after that Verizon wireless commercial became very well known? It was one of those things that became a catch phrase for people to use when talking in casual conversation or even in their workplace. I just wonder how many times God has asked that same question of us, "Can you hear me now?" I am sure that in my lifetime God has wanted to get out His heavenly megaphone a time or two and shout into it-"Nicole, can you hear me now?" It's like that with parents and their kids sometimes, isn't it? We don't always hear what our Father is trying to tell us. In my bible study the other night we were talking about hearing the voice of God and one of my friends said that she heard a voice as clear as day. She was going through a terrible time in her life and she was sitting in the stillness of her home and she heard a man's voice speak a clear message that w...

One of the things that I notice in scripture, especially in the New Testament are the phrases “My prayer for you…” or “I will pray for you…” These words are spoken by Jesus himself or one of the apostles. In reading about prayer and trying to be more aware of my own prayer life I have realized that by saying “God, your will be done” is not the same thing as actually letting His will be done. Saying it through gritted teeth and secretly hoping that whatever His will is will not hurt too much is not truly asking for God’s will to be done in my life. In the book “Quiet talks on Prayer” by S.D. Gordon he says this about praying to God; “He comes down to the highest level we will come up to and works with us there.” Wow! So, I guess the real question is: How high am I willing to go in order to meet God and His will? Prayer is the connection between us and God. Jesus made that possible. Before Jesus died on the cross God seemed further away from the world. But when He chose to sacrif...

I am not sure if you have heard of Dr. James Dobson? He is a very encouraging speaker and author. He has a book titled, "The Strong Willed Child." He has also authored many other books as well, but this is the one that sat on my nightstand for several years! I have a child whom I have always said could be the poster child for the Strong Willed Child-she has a will of steel!!! I remember that I realized just how strong willed she was when I had told her not to say "poopy-da****" anymore because it wasn't nice word and if she said it again she was going to be in trouble. She looked me right in the eye and said it with such a daring attitude that at first I wasn't sure how to respond. I quickly recovered and got a bar of soap out and stuck it in her mouth (hey, it worked for the kid on A Christmas Story, right?!) She say there with that defiant air about her and did not cry or even flinch. When the time was up she took it out of her mouth and went on...

How many times have you heard someone say, "I just can't believe what (insert name) just said or did...and they call themselves a Christian??" Maybe it has been said about someone you know. Maybe it has been said about someone in your church. Maybe it has been said about you. Maybe you have been the person that has said it. So, what is the proper "Christian behavior" anyway? I mean, do you have to dress a specific way, worship in a specific church or read a specific translation of the Bible? These are all questions that I have asked myself. Maybe you have asked yourself too. It would be so much easier if there was a "Christianity for Dummies" manual, right? But God never said it would be easy. Jesus proved that it would never be easy to live among all people and be a living witness to those who do not believe. There is a pop song and there is a phrase that talks about someone loving all of "your perfect imperfections." When I f...