Thursday, November 17, 2011

Covered In Prayer, Prayer That Heals

The lady on the Doctor Oz Show who shared her testimony of healing from stage 4 breast cancer was so on target! You have to surround yourself with people who will stand in belief with you and create that atmosphere of expectancy! In 2003, when I was told I had another stage 4 cancer, my church family, High Praises Church, stood on the Word of God with me and covered me in prayer. In 2004, the doctors handed me a report that stated "Healed" and I was cancer free. I don't understand what the season we spent away from High Praises Church was all about except that we did learn a very important lesson that perhaps we would not have learned if we had not actually walked it out. I don't believe it was simply misfortune that I would come to yet another battle with the breast cancer when I left High Praises Church. Once that covering.. that umbrella of hope and belief was no longer present, the enemy saw opportunity. Then while I was back in treatment and lost my hair, I bought into the lie from the enemy that if I returned to High Praises Church with a bald head and obviously back in treatment, people would lose faith because they had watched God work that miracle in my body and they looked on as I stood on the platform with my fellow choir members and Pastor Chris and testified that I was healed and would live and not die and proclaim the promises of God. I cannot express in words how thankful I am to be back at High Praises Church. This past Sunday, the church honored our music minister with beautifully spoken and truthful words about him and his amazing wife. Danny and Wanda Knight are the real deal. Both times I was admitted to the hospital this year, I knew sometime during the day to expect Danny. I'm not one who believes our pastors should be on a leash or holding our hands to cross the spiritual street and I don't need them to feed me... I study the word, spend time in my prayer closet, and pray..I nourish myself which is how I learned God's will concerning healing. God directed our path back to High Praises, the only church I had ever been a member of, a charter member at that... the church where I was saved and Baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I know the prayers of the righteous heal the sick as I've lived it and I am a walking testimony that by His stripes, we were healed. Praise God for my church...a church open to the Holy Spirit, who would never intentionally grieve Him...where the anointing flows. I'm thankful for a church where there is freedom of worship and where the Spiritual Gifts are free to operate. I'm thankful for a pastor who brings me Chic-Fil-A to the hospital because the food is more of a threat than the illness and then sits bedside with an open transparent heart. Pastors today are more "rock star" than pastor...not intending to be rude but we all have a devil to fight and there's no time for games. People are 'ankle deep in belief' because pastors are ankle deep . Life is hard and the enemy is seeking who he may devour. My heart grows more and more with concern that pastors are so wrapped up in proclaiming man's imperfection that there's no teaching on seeking righteousness. I know I'm far from perfection but I also know the more I seek Him, the more I find Him and He is perfect. Jesus declared it was finished from the cross and that included sickness. He wants us to have everything He accomplished for us and I will not let that go in vain. I am healed!

I'm covered in prayer, prayer that heals.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Local News Article About The Son's Film: "Pre-Do: Foresight in 20/20"




 — Caleb Suttles has always had a lot to say.
These days, the 18-year-old Clemson University freshman works at the on-campus television station, CTV, and the university’s video production department. But before he was a college student, he was still working with a camera.
He’s liked photography since he was in elementary school.
“At my grandfather’s house, I’d always get him to pull out his VHS and we’d record stuff,” Suttles said. “I would sit there in front of his video camera, and I would talk about anything. That’s just something I never outgrew.”
It’s that passion, the desire to say something important, that pushed him to create the documentary film, “Pre-Do: Foresight in 20/20.”
It’s a two-hour film where he interviewed 50 local people — in nursing homes, law offices and at local charities — and asked them about what regrets they had in life.
Only some of those 50 interviews are captured on the film. But some of the people he’s featured on the film include former 10th Circuit Solicitor George Ducworth; Kelly Jo Barnwell, the director of the Jo Brown Senior Center in Anderson; and Anderson University Economics Professor Miren Ivankovic.
The purpose of the film, Suttles said, was to learn now, what others have learned later in life.
“This was an idea I had in the 10th grade,” he said. “I thought about it after I kept hearing a lot of adults say that they wish they knew then what they know now. I want to know now what I’ll need to know in the future.”
The film became a project that he took on his senior year at the Montessori School in Anderson.
He started interviewing people in August 2010 and finished in August 2011. He showed the film in a premier at the school. On Dec. 3, the film will be presented for its first public screening at the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Anderson.
Already, people have found the film through his website and on YouTube.
Andrew Hammett, a 28-year-old Anderson resident, is one of those who’ve already watched the film after hearing about it through a friend. After watching it, he contacted Suttles and told him he would like to help him promote the work so that more could see it in the community.
Hammett sent out press releases to the local media and helped Suttles schedule the public screening of the film.
“I was pretty impressed with the work, especially with the effort it took,” Hammett said. “I really enjoyed how it evolved. I thought it tied nicely with the theme that things aren’t looking great for people younger than 30. Maybe we need to think about that sort of stuff.”
It certainly has made Suttles think.
He interviewed people who’d given up on their dreams, the dreams they had as children, to fight in wars, to raise children or because their dreams weren’t accepted by others. Some had found happiness in new goals, but others were left with a sense of regret.
One man he interviewed wanted to be an interior designer, but was discouraged from that career because it wasn’t socially acceptable for a man to work in the field at the time.
“It was amazing to see how willing people were to tell their stories,” Suttles said. “What I learned is that most of us never outgrow what our interests were when we were young. You have to hold fast to that. I think a lot of people let go of it.”
So he intends to do just that.
He said he’s always pondered life’s big questions, something that might be a result of growing up in hospital rooms as his mother, Angie Suttles, battled cancer. He was then encouraged by his teachers at the Montessori School of Anderson to continue asking those questions.
And he is determined to ponder those questions in film as a documentary film maker. He’s already thinking about studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga., and he’s working a new, shorter film.
In his dorm room at Clemson University, he has a mini-studio set up. He has a desktop computer, with a video camera and a tripod. And at his parents’ house in Anderson, he has one wall painted as a green screen — a bright green background that those in film and television use as a backdrop.
“Life is short,” he said. “I enjoy seeking the truth in life and what life can be.”
Be sure to join us at Mellow Mushroom on December 3rd at 12:00pm upstairs for a free viewing of the documentary. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Life In A Day

"Life in a Day" - An Impressionist Journey

My son and I participated by submitting our 'Life in a Day' clips - he with friends in Florida and me in Chattanooga, Tn for the National Dragon Boat Ladies Club Crew Division Race. Thousands of clips were submitted and though ours were not included in those among the final cut, we were excited to have taken part. It's a beautiful work of art with mankind as the subject and it is sure to open your heart to your fellow man. It is an incredible film and I hope you will take a little time out of your day to watch "Life in a Day." 

http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

NEED MO MO'S!


With a simple 'Mo,' men can raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.


Register at www.movember.com, men start Movember 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health. 

At the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas celebrate their gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Movember party or attending one of the infamous Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, for Movember.  



www.movember.com


So, yo...wear a mo!