Spiritual Growth Category
Preparing for Storms – Part 1
Posted on August 16, 2023 Leave a Comment
Personal Preparedness Storms in life come in all kinds of ways. They can come personally, or as we saw, in a fire ravaging a whole Hawaiian town – or in the form of a tornado, a flood, or a war. But personal storms can come from a job loss, an illness, a divorce, or a […]
Becoming a New Wineskin
Posted on August 15, 2023 2 Comments
Jesus Discusses Fasting in an Interesting Way I hope this new series will encourage and inspire you to investigate and be hungry for more of the Lord. As I prepare for a new school year and my interactions with people and with God’s Word, I’ll post about specific topics that I hope will enrich your […]
GATS Brazil Trip – Part 9
Posted on August 10, 2023 Leave a Comment
Wrap-Up & Team Picture If you’ve read all the posts until now, thank you so much for your interest in our trip. After writing all these posts, which originally were to share with you what happened, I came to see more seemed to happen after I got home. One thing we did after every service […]
GATS Brazil Trip, Part 8
Posted on August 9, 2023 Leave a Comment
Ramifications, Part 2 When God brought the Hebrews out of slavery from Egypt, He gave them the Law, and one of those provisions was called the Nazarite vow, which is detailed in Numbers 6. Samson’s mother lived as a Nazarite from the time the Angel of the LORD told her she would have a son. […]
GATS Brazil Trip, Part 7
Posted on August 8, 2023 6 Comments
Personal Ramifications Sometimes, you want to change your life, but you don’t seem to know where to begin, or how to do it. When I finished my M.Div. at the end of 2021, I really wanted to re-consecrate my life, as I had done so in 2000, when I stopped watching all secular television programs. […]
GATS Brazil Trip – Part 6
Posted on August 3, 2023 Leave a Comment
Revelations I grew up in the fifties and sixties. Yeah, we played outside or inside, but our main entertainment was television. And since I am a redhead with very pale skin, I couldn’t play outside in the summertime like all my friends. The older I got, especially in junior high and high school, I started […]
GATS Brazil Trip – Part 5
Posted on August 2, 2023 Leave a Comment
Cocooned with God The night after I got home, I coughed out of control for around 10 minutes. When I woke up the next morning, my hearing had tanked, my voice was totally gone, and my sense of smell had disappeared. A week later, I went to the doctor who diagnosed me with bronchitis. My […]
GATS Brazil Trip – Part 4
Posted on August 1, 2023 1 Comment
The Challenges of Returning Home It was a challenge to get home in so many ways. Monday was a very long day. We got to the airport around mid-afternoon. My flight wasn’t going to leave until 11:00 p.m. or so. We couldn’t even check in until 5:00 p.m. After check-in, I was by myself for […]
GATS Brazil Trip Part 3
Posted on July 28, 2023 2 Comments
Afternoons With Faculty & Students One of the reasons this special GATS only trip was put together, was to get the students and faculty in-person. GATS is a totally online seminary, except for the doctoral program, which has an in-person “Intensive” twice a year, in order to fulfill certain accreditation requirements. For the master’s program […]
GATS Brazil Trip – Part 2
Posted on July 27, 2023 Leave a Comment
Wonderful Healings Brazil is a country of extreme darkness and extreme light. When we got there, our leaders told us “Don’t ever watch any television down here, especially in the evening. It’s not like TV in the U.S.” The intimation here was that your eyes could see something not suited for your viewing. Television is […]
Donna L.H. Smith 