The Gulland Family Update

The Latest Breaking News and Random Thoughts from the Gulland Family

May 12, 2007

Do You Have Mountain Moving Faith?

This was sent to me in the Fresh Manna emails that I receive from a pastor at our church. Enjoy!



Mark 11:23-24 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Mountain Moving Faith Author Unknown

A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary. Unfortunately, the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built.

In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had "mountain moving faith." They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.

At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen".
"We'll open next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too." The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door.

When he called "come in", a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered. "Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We're building a huge shopping mall. We need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge if we can have it right away. We can't do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly."

The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with "mountain moving faith" on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week.

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May 11, 2007

Happy Mother's Day (Early!)

I knew that if I didn't post this now that I would most likely forget and then be wishing I would have taken the two minutes on Friday night to have gotten it posted.

The best thing that has ever happened to me next to making Jesus my Lord and Savior and meeting and marrying my best friend, Ed, is that I am a mom. I love being a mom to David, and I love learning alongside him. I count it a privilege and an honor that God picked me to be David's mama (as he so affectionately calls me these days).

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers and mothers-to-be. I am thankful to say that I have a step-mom in my life that I am privileged to call mom. While she will never replace the mom that I lost so many years ago, God has sent her to me to fill many voids that happened after my mom's death in 1985. I am honored that my step-mom, Mary, calls me her daughter and that I can call her mom. When I introduce her to people, I introduce her as my mom. When I introduce my step-brother and step-sister to people, the step-portion is nowhere to be heard. Even though we are not biologically related, they are my brother and sister. I am proud to say that we have gelled as a family unit and that we care for one another deeply.

While reading an e-zine that I receive on a weekly basis, it had this acronym for mother:

M: Mentor, Manager, Mediator, Messenger, Mender

O: Organizer, Opinion-maker, Organist, Overseer, Ombudsman

T: Taxi Driver, Target, Teacher, Teammate, Truth-teller

H: Helpmate, Historian, Heroine, Housewife, Healer

E: Encourager, Entrepreneur, Enabler, Enforcer, Edifier

R: Rescuer, Remodeler, Rewarder, Referee, Restorer

Be blessed and have a wonderful weekend celebrating your moms and being moms!

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May 08, 2007

First Kiss

I got this picture as an email attachment from my father-in-law and laughed so hard that David called from another room, "Mom, what is SO funny?" With his comment I thought that I should post it on my blog, so I could help the rest of you to laugh. :-)

This was the copy that was attached with the picture:

So, it's your first kiss and several questions might come to mind:

Is it the right time?

Is anyone watching?

Does your partner even want to?

Is your breath fresh?

Then. . .you lean in and just go for it!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength." Proverbs 17:22

I am believing that this will help your heart to be cheerful. Lots of love to you all! Steph

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The Good Napkins

WARNING TO MY MALE READERS: You may not wish to read this, although, you may find it just as funny as my female readers. You decide if you want to take the chance. :-)

THE GOOD NAPKINS

My mother taught me to read when I was four years old (her first mistake). One day, I was in the bathroom and noticed one of the cabinet doors was ajar. I read the box in the cabinet. I then asked my mother why she was keeping "napkins" in the bathroom. Didn't they belong in the kitchen? Not wanting to burden me with unnecessary facts, she told me that those were for "special occasions" (her second mistake).

Now fast forward a few months. It's Thanksgiving Day, and my folks are leaving to pick up my uncle and his wife for dinner. Mom had assignments for all of us while they were gone. Mine was to set the table. When they returned, my uncle came in first and immediately burst into laughter. Next came his wife who gasped, then began giggling. Next came my father, who roared with laughter. Then came Mom, who almost died of embarrassment when she saw each place setting on the table with a "special occasion" Kotex napkin at each plate, with the fork carefully arranged on top. I had even tucked the little tail in so they didn't hang off the edge!!

My mother asked me why I used these, and, of course, my response sent the other adults into further fits of laughter. "But, Mom, you said they were for special occasions!!!"

Isn't it easier to just tell the truth?!?!?!

Pass this on to your girlfriends who need a good laugh!

Life is too short for drama and petty things, so kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly!

***The entire portion of the post above was sent to me by a friend. It was TOO funny not to post. I hope that you had a GOOD laugh!!! I know I did, so THANKS Nellie!!!***

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