May the Lord our God be with us... may He never leave us or forsake us, May He turn our hearts to Him, to want to walk in all His ways. 1 Kings 8: 57 & 58

My good friend, the late Ann Youngblood Crowe, used to say,

Based on Psalm 5...Those who love and are kind, patient, caring, forgiving, praying, etc., and know to take our mess of lives to God. We cannot fix most things, but with God’s help, we have a better chance if it is His will for us. Ask God to listen as we need His help! We can take our royal…

Let’s seek the Lord with all of our being! Many of us are close to having our final exam! We have so much for which to be grateful; however, we all have rough times in our lives and we wonder why. It is a mystery but God is continually with us and that is His promise. Seek our Lord yesterday…

The days have been glorious the last week of April and first of May in our Monroe!

“Today is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it!” The late Irene Cole taught us that scripture and it keeps reminding us to be glad!  May we enjoy our work before us today, approaching it as if God is the only One for whom we are working.  This way, our work brings us joy and …

How exciting the Olympics have been in South Korea, just kids all over the world seeking their best and striving for excellence in their winter sport!  It makes us feel well about our world!

We are in full swing for 2018, with Super-Bowl Sunday between the Patriots, seeking their sixth championship, and the Philadelphia Eagles at 5:30pm on NBC! The Eagles’ Coach is Doug Peterson, a former ULM great quarterback. We are so happy about Doug’s accomplishments.

Happy New Year to all Ouachita Citizen readers.  We are blessed! As Psalm 46 says, “He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.”  

“Because of God’s unbelievable gift of His only Son, Jesus, the Christ child, we have peace that is beyond understanding even when we hurt; in believing in Him, we have joy that cannot be taken away. We can have His kind of love that lasts always. We have nothing to fear and everything in wh…

We Americans find ourselves in an unbelievable situation that we don't understand after the Paddock-Mandalay Bay Hotel massacre. My friends at Oncology Associates have posted a great message: "When we are in a situation that is too hard to stand, it is time to KNEEL!" We ask for help from our Lord!

In the book of Galatians, God gives us attributes of Christian living. This is one of Dr. Frank Hoffmann’s favorite scriptures. The fruit of the spirit includes:

Wow! THE BEST IS ON THE BAYOU!

The highly athletic, arduous, dangerous, yet totally amazing sport is mountain climbing. Our own Dawn Rivers Sarasin, daughter of Loretta and Jack, and step-daughter to Patti Rivers, is simply the most talented and stunning climber of whom we know. Her chalet is in Verbier, Switzerland, so h…

Love is patient and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, and alway…

Speaking of life's challenges, Rosemary Upshaw Ewing always says, “This too shall pass!”  

Life can really be a challenge or it can be fun and fabulous, depending on how we perceive it! When we face disappointment and loss and we all do, it is so easy to get “turned upside down” if we don’t depend on God to see us through...but we have to know, trust, and seek Him! We can’t do it …

Let's strive to be a blessing to our family, friends, church and community! Writing now at the courthouse as while waiting for jury service.

We are so blessed with cool breezes and the beautiful sun sets and fabulous flowers in Northeast Louisiana and all are gifts from God! The late Irene Cole would say, “We can’t explain how the flowers grow and leave God out of the equation!”

We are laughing out loud thinking how great it is to hear and read one's obituary ahead of time. Dianne Cage, thank you for the best surprise I’ve had next to Pat Anderson.

For we are convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor death, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God! Romans 8: 38-39.

“Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest.” From Matthew for I have come to save you, not to judge you.

Finally, whatever is true, honest, just, lovely, and of good report, think on these things and the God of peace will be with you both now and forever more. Philippians 4: 8-9

Great news for opera lovers in North Louisiana:

Super Bowl 51 Sunday and it is cold and dreary outside and it caused me to think about all the things for which I have to be grateful...such as four really great grands through the late Elton Upshaw, the Rosemary and Randy Ewing family, six top notch grands through the Pat Anderson family an…

As we begin the new year with Jesus, the Christ, He gives us new life that no doubt or opposition can suppress. We can count on Him!

What a fabulous beginning of New Year, 2017, for the Mark Anderson, Marty and Ronda Herlevic, and the newlyweds, Ainsley and Dr. Vincent Herlevic. The wedding programs were beautiful and very readable, tied with satin ribbons and set the tone.

Christmas 2016 has been fabulous but difficult to dress with 80 degree weather outside!

Let us praise our God of unlimited miracles, eternal hope, unconditional love and great faith this Christmas 2016!

What a great Thanksgiving, 2016, has been for all of us! We need to say thank you to those who made the event so special and memorable to us, Patsy and Sam Butler, formerly of Monroe and now Fort Worth. It was exciting as Pat got a 10 point deer and the friends and food were fabulous as we g…

“Today is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.” Reminds us of late friend, Irene Cole,  who taught us that verse.   

Fall decorations are gorgeous in Northeast Louisiana. See photo of Diane Mears’ front steps in Union Parish... perfection! The Lord is smiling on Diane’s creativity.

Thanks be to God for some beautiful and cool fall 2016 days. Quoting from a Facebook friend:

Lord, we are not certain of what will give our suffering friends true hope, but You can and You do! Some situations appear beyond hope to us, but never to You! You are there with us through life's disappointments and tragedies and we seek your kind of hope. We ask as author Lynn Eib did, "to…

Life’s restoration and regeneration comes from the grace and mercy of our Father who gives us new hope because of our deep belief in Him and the unseen. Sometimes we are unable to hold on to Him in tough times, but the Christ holds on to us!

We've had two weeks of the best Olympics of 60 years for the United States teams and champions in Rio with 121 medals: 46 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze. We got to watch from our homes! Now that is fabulous! Our Final Five Gymnastics Team won it all with Simone Biles' best ever talent!

Sharing with all today an adapted scripture with which we are all familiar from the book, Messenger, by Peterson, The Way of Love from 1 Corinthians 13...

Wednesday last, we  had an exciting visit with 14 1/2-year-old Seth Ward of West Monroe who has an incurable Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare neuromuscular genetic disorder, in which he will lose muscle function in his heart and lungs.

One of my closest friends, Patsy Mock Butler, who is originally from Monroe, LSU Pi Phi, and now lives in Fort Worth, treated me to a night at Sage where we enjoyed Sea Bass served on lobster risotto with fresh sautéed spinach! Dessert was a fabulous creme brûlée with a toast of champagne. H…

The Lord's promise is to be with us even when we stumble around trying to figure out our situation without Him! When we choose to walk with Him and trust in Him, He watches us and wants our persistence rather than our perfection! Thanks to Him who continues to forgive us. Adapted from “Jesus…

One of our favorite scriptures is from Galatians 5: 22-23...

We have awesome news! As Dianne Cage said last week in her column, all great things have connections to Monroe and today, we say, "The Twin Cities."

From Matthew 6:26… Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for our heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't we far more valuable to Him than they? The doves, sparrows, blue jays,  orioles, cardinals, and redheaded woodpeckers  in our yard truly speak of God's fabu…

God is good and His abundance surrounds us with our family, friends, flowers, birds, stray cats, foster dogs and yard plantings that are growing faster than we can trim! All the trees on Rosie’s Row at Neville are making it because of God's gift of too much rain!

"When the times get tough,  the tough get going!" So many "toughies" live in our community! The flood of 2016 is a reminder of that. Remember, few of us can get going without God in our lives!

Pat Anderson continues to amaze me when on Saturday morning we were just talking about wisdom and he said, "true wisdom is when we finally understand the magnitude of God!"