Table of Grace with Pastor Dreama

"Catch for us the little foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom" (Song of Solomon 2:15, NIV). Good morning y'all. I just wanted to share a funny story.  Earlier this week my husband came into our bedroom and informed me that he may or may not have heard a mouse in the kitchen. He apologized for having to leave and not being able to deal with the critter. I think  I am pretty self sufficient around the house...except when it comes to mice. With them, well...I'm a big chicken...a scardy cat...a whimp. But someone had to get this critter out of the house. So I found and set a trap. Then woke my 15-year-old son...to open the drawer where the mouse may or may not be hiding. I waited, not so patiently, for AJ to stop grinning and open the drawer. I know he was secretly hoping the darn thing would run out of hiding and scurry up my leg or something equally humorous to him and mortifying to me.  So I stood there with trap i...

I don’t know how to say this gently – and in the past I've been accused of being too blunt so I've made a few tweaks here and there. But not today. Today I have to be brutally honest. Some of my FB family and friends will get all bent out of shape. Some will scream “It's about time they admit it” and then really get ticked off when they read the post. Either way, I'm okay with it. I have to be. So before I even get started, let me just say – the best line of defense I can come up with is we’ll have to agree to disagree. But I'm just doing my job. My thought this morning is this: Christians are what's wrong with this country. Yes, you read that right. Christians are the problem. And here's why: 1) We've become too politically correct. 2) We've allowed the word “from” to be used when the word “of” is recorded in history regarding religious rights. Stop sending cute little pictures asking “Should children be allowed to pray in school?” In...

"Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9, ESV). Have you ever had day when blah  best describes how you are feeling? A day when you're not sick, not tired, not overly stressed...just... blah ? That was me this morning. I wasn't running late. I wasn't too far ahead of schedule. Nothing jumped out at me as being wrong. I was just feeling blah. So, as a counter measure, I started counting my blessings.  Being thankful for materialistic things, for my family, and my current life curmustance - you positive thinkers know the drill. But halfway through,  a thought occurred to me: What if all these things were stripped away. What if all I had was my relationship with God? Would my current relationship with Him be enough to sustain me? Have I put enough of His word into my soul to get me through?  Don't get me wrong, its a good prac...

Photo Credit D. Kelly @ Hardy Co., WV REFLECTION "Continue to trust in God and do what you know is right. Some people have not done this, and their faith is now in ruins" (1 Timothy 1:19, ERV). IMAGINE THIS ​West Virginia’s country roads make driving challenging. We get all the elements: rain, snow, ice, fog, heat, hail, sleet; we get traffic jams caused by tractors, coal or poultry trucks; and we have to be on the lookout for our wildlife. The most challenging, of course, is weather related. Consider our random foggy days.  As the above picture shows, within a few feet, lines of vision range from completely clear to a blanket of thick fog.  But since these country roads lead us home, we’ve learned to navigate them with the knowledge that any particular day could quickly become an interesting drive. And so is real life... There are times when a situation is completely out of our hands. Times when we find ourselves totally dependent upon someone e...

"God already knows our deepest thoughts" Romans 8:27a (ERV). Photo Credits: D. Kelly, Grant Co., WV                  REFLECTION “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Judges 16:19-20 Matthew 26:41 2 Timothy 2:22 Exodus 2:12 Genesis 39:12 Romans 8:26 1 Corinthians 10:13 IMAGINE THIS It came to mind. That thing I don’t like giving in to. Yet, time and time again…it has won. Somehow overpowering my good senses Alluring me to give in. And sometimes…I do even though I have learned it to be a poor sport. Because after I give in – after it wins – My ‘Christian’ label is mocked. It mocks my weakness – condemning me – and I feel lost...

"Oh star light. Oh star bright...Lord help me pray this prayer just right" Dreama Kelly, Your Life Coaching WV - Beyond the Mirror 1 Timothy 6:6-8 (ESV) "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." + + + I was driving into the office this morning and my heart's desire came to mind. I started to pray about it and stopped.  What if He says " Okay Dreama, here ya go. " and I don't like the consequences? What then? How can I get the contentment and peace that I have now back?  So, before the prayer came out of my mouth I stopped and rephrased it and here's why: It is too easy to set our eyes on something that we want, or think we want, and then pray for God to give it to us. And if we're persistent enough, He may very well allow us to have it...but maybe more as an...

Photo Credit: Z. Rexroad @ Pendleton Co., WV Winter Week 2: “ Echoes of a Broken Life” REFLECTION “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come…shall be able to separate us from the love of God…” (Romans 8:38-39). A DEEPER LOOK Read Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Psalm 34:18 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 Proverbs 3:5-6 Isaiah 57:15 Romans 8:37-39 2 Timothy 2:12-13 1 Peter 2:9-10 IMAGINE THIS Life didn’t always look like this.  Sometimes it was better, sometimes worse.  But there was always one unbroken remnant of me: Faith in God.  Faith that someway, sometime, He would get me through…somehow. Life almost shattered me, even tried to separate me from Him.  Ah but it didn’t understand that only through my brokenness, could His healing hand work. It didn’t under...