Joining In Is a Good Thing by Debra Clopton

Hi Everyone Debra Clopton here posting late !!!! Wow God has been busy in my life. But even so there are moments where I can get discouraged...maybe its just me but I don't think so :) Life is just built that way. WE have ups and we have downs. THANK goodness for a wonderful church family who can lift you up, give you things to get involved in, be there for you when you need them and you be there when they need you.

I urge each of you if you don't have a church family that you find one. Don't just go on Sunday and leave, but jump in and get involved with the people--claim it for your own and you will be amazed at how it will bless you!!! But also how you can bless others. I spent yesterday with about 40 youth playing volleyball in the horse arena at our church (Cowboy Church of Leon County) and there is just no way not to feel uplifted after that!!! Yes I'm using a few exclamation marks cuz I'm excited :) If that wasn't enough to get my "happy" going then I stayed and went to the women's Bible study after that...yes I had to rinse off outside at the faucet because I was really covered in sand but the ladies still let me come. It was awesome. SO the moral here is don't let a bad moment, a bad morning, or any other thing Satan throws your way discourage you from joining in at your local church. Someone there needs you and you need them. Hey, and if any of you are in the Centerville area on Saturday May 15 stop by our church for a benefit we are having for Willie Perry one of the dear men in our cowboy band who is fighting lung cancer. Its going to be a great day of music, a roping of some sort--check out Cowboy Church of Leon County's facebook page to get all the details. There will be many silent auction baskets and some great BBQ. I'm just sayin...come have some fun--and do a good deed at the same time :)

Also, keep your eyes posted the 2nd book of my Men Of Mule Hollow series hits the shelves June 1 COWBOY FOR KEEPS I hope you grab a copy and enjoy !

Until next time, live, laugh and seek God with all your heart!

Debra Clopton :)

God is Good All the Time

Hi Debra Clopton here--I've recently begun going to a Cowboy church. I wrote a little about it in my last post but felt compelled to write about it again. You see the church was begun 2 years ago on Easter Sunday. I wasn't attending yet, but they say that there was four inches of snow on the ground and twenty people. Twenty faithful people who had a dream or vision of what they wanted to do for the Lord. They wanted to reach out to a group of people in their surrounding community who didn't know the Lord or who may have been needing something different to renew their spirit and their drive for the Lord. I too needed this. I began attending a couple of months ago saw the vision for what was happening there myself. And I wanted to be a part of that. The tiny church that had begun with 1 man's vision and 19 others who wanted to help him had services Easter Sunday in their new church building. It's a lovely metal building, decked out with cedar and tin walls, pine cabinets in the huge kitchen, concrete floors a stage where Tuffy Loftin the pastor and the Unbroken Circle Band bring a wonderful message for the Lord. There are pine benches (hand made by members and metal chairs) there is an original wagon decked out in one corner and behind the building is a rodeo arena. Beside the building there are five Sunday School rooms each separate but joined by a plank sidewalk. When I look at the new church I imagine my Mule Hollow :)it would fit right in. I actually use the description of the inside of the church in one of my upcoming books (Jan 2010 Her Forever Cowboy). Anyway, this Sunday as I said they had their first service in their new large building. Two years after they began in a town of less than a thousand and there were about 280 in attendance! It was a beautiful uplifting sight to see and be a part of. God is using the Cowboy Church of Leon County and I can not tell you how much it is renewing my spirit to see the smiling faces I see there and the friends I'm making there.

It's a wonderful thing to be a part of...if your spirits need renewing join in somewhere and catch the vision. Not to be preachy but yesterday in his sermon Tuffy said something that hit home with me. He said--in cowboy terms--In our life there should not be nothin' to steal your joy. (Nothin')He said and backed it up with scripture that as a Christian we should be four things. Peaceful, Joyful, useful, and powerful. I hope that if your spirit needs renewing you will remember John 20:19,John16:22, John 10:10 and that you will have peace and joy and find a way to be useful and powerful for the Lord and in doing so that your spirit will be renewed. Remember God can do wonderful, powerful things through only one man's vision. Do you have a vision today?

I know in terms of my books that when I came up with the idea of Mule Hollow I didn't see the longevity of the series. Yes I saw 3 maybe 4 books. It took reader after reader coming back to buy the books and my great editor who picked up on the vision and encouraged me to keep going as long as God led me. Well He is still leading me and readers are still embracing my town. I love that I get to bring my wacky, funloving town to life in each book and I pray that God continues to give me the words to bring some joy into the day of those who pick up one of my stories. God is good all the time...

Blessings,
Debra Clopton