Deanna Doss Shrodes

Serious prayer requests? I've got 'em. I'm sure you do too. Matters of life and death in people's lives. Children's futures. Marriage and family needs. Inner healing. Asking God for justice. I am reminded, we don't always know how God is going to answer, but we need to be faithful in letting Him know what's on our heart. A while back I decided I wanted to take my bike to some local places I needed to go, and be able to lock it up. Sometimes I'd rather take my bike to a local store or a friend's house than take our car.  So I purchased a bike lock. My kids thought it was funny that I got one that had letters rather than numbers. I hate remembering numbers. I'm an alphabet kind of person.

"See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10 Walking well worn path I've trod daily for almost a month, I've learned many things. Some of them I haven't wanted to learn and would have had a holy-freak-out okay maybe an unholy one if you would have told me prior that I'd be learning them. Years ago when going through a challenge that preceded major learning and growth in my life, someone asked me, "Could you have learned this any other way, Deanna? Would it have been possible by reading a textbook, or listening to someone else's experience?" No, it wouldn't.

I've been concentrating on these the past five months or so: 1) Limiting "work on me" to one big thing at a time. I used to try to work on everything about myself at once that needed an overhaul, and it didn't go so well. I'm learning the value of one-thing-at-a-time. There are issues in my life that need major work that I haven't even started on yet. The past five months have been an invaluable lesson I will never forget, most of it focused on one area. When mastered it will hopefully be something retained for life. I get to choose who I'm going to be. How great is that? 2) Being kind to me as work on me. Every day I notice the parts of me that still need work. I don't like those things about myself. But I know they didn't get that way overnight and they aren't going to change overnight. I could hate myself. Talk trash to myself. But what good does it do? It just makes it worse. I'm a human being, with faults and f...

"Depression hung over me like a black cloud...and it was hard to find my way out at the time..." These were my words during a sermon a few years ago and afterwards a lady rushed up to me and said, "you mean YOU were actually depressed? Because I can't even imagine that. You seem so...together... " Truth be told, all of us go through hard times. And all of us have rotten days. Me included. I happen to be having a good day today. But a while back I was having an absolutely horrible day. And because so many people seem to think people like me never have bad days like they do, I got the brilliant idea, "I'm going to video record my bad day!!!" Yes, I know that's kind of bizarre but I have a passion to share transparently with people.That's why this blog is about transparently leading and relating from a faith perspective. So I did what was for me, a courageous thing. I recorded scenes during 24 hours...even waking up in the morni...

Are you waiting for something to be restored? I understand. I'm waiting too. I heard the story of a preacher who was awakened one night by the enemy. Evidently a few demons were trying to mess with him and they started shaking the bed and actually moved it across the room. He commanded them to stop in the name of Jesus and they did. But after thinking about it a moment he said, "Hold on...first, PUT IT BACK in the name of Jesus!!" The demons put the bed back in it's original position, and left. Then satisfied that things were restored to their rightful place, the preacher went to sleep. For a while now I've been saying to the enemy PUT IT BACK IN THE NAME OF JESUS. Permission to be perfectly honest here? Sometimes I struggle between saying put it back, and the fact that some people say it may be time to accept a new normal. There are people who would counsel people in this situation to grieve the past, accept the loss, and move on. If moving on...

  " You must do the thing you think you cannot do!" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt “Take it out! Take it out!”  This was my urgent plea last Friday when my dentist put a night guard in my mouth for the first time. I thought I was going to throw up! Gag! Yuk! I hated it.   I seriously thought I could not stand it for one more second.  I drove home thinking, “I don’t want to keep this thing in for a second let alone eight hours a night. They advised me to wear it during the day for a while to get used to it. I listened to their instructions and started wearing it a few seconds at a time, then a few minutes, and kept increasing the time. I also listened to the wisdom of friends who also wear a night guard and told me to press on, that I would get used to it. Well, I’ve worn the night guard every night for the past three nights and amazingly I’m at the point where I can’t imagine what I ever did without it! It helps tremendously.  I realized aft...

The life of a writer can be really rollercoasterish (I'm aware that's not a word) and if you let it get to you, it could put you permanently between a case of Prozac and a dozen donuts. Lucky for me Dunkin Donuts is less than a mile away. Remember yesterday when I talked about there always being a next? Well, I know what I'm talking about, from experience. They say a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. I think that works for a woman too.  I'm sure there's always a next. As sure as Chick-fil-A has the best iced tea... As sure as this presidential election has shaped up to be the lamest ever... I'm confident, absolutely sure , 100% positively certain there is a next. Are you breathing? Then there's something for you to do next.  You're never, ever through. Even when you die, you're not through. No, that wasn't a typo. You aren't through when you're physically dead, because you will live forev...

  1)     Define the emotion. What am I feeling? Why do I feel this way? 2)     Recognize the source. When did I first feel this way? When have I felt this way before? 3)     Uncover the lie What feels true about this?          What do I believe about myself? 4)       Embrace the truth Jesus, bring truth and light to this place. Lord, what is it that You want me to see, hear and know? Jesus, come into this place of pain. I take time to write out everything (for my eyes only) about any situation I'm feeling an overwhelming negative emotions about.  Maybe you have some things like that too. When you uncover the lie, you are pinpointing anything you've come to believe about a past situation that is not in line with God's Word.   When you embrace the truth, you are zeroing in on what God tells you about the situation , versus the lie you have believed....

"Don't you ever tell anyone what you just told me..." These were the words my husband Larry spoke to me after I revealed to him the details of a word I received from God while I was in prayer. Larry knew it would be dangerous for me to share, at the very least professional suicide. I never have spoken of the details, but I am going to share in general terms today because I believe somebody reading this needs help to move forward today. I saw injustice in a situation and I desperately wanted it resolved. By the looks of things, evil was winning. I was so disheartened. This was not the kind of thing whereby I could just speak up and see a change happen. I'm willing to speak up when necessary but in this case, all of the courage on my part would not change things. It was the kind of thing where God had to speak to many other people and create a change that came from Him, not from people. During that time my house was filled with teens and the evenings were so no...

Surrendering your schedule to God is so important for two reasons. First, the most important thing we do in all of the roles we carry is to point people to Him.  Second, seeing the hand of God move in hearts and lives makes the mundane or difficult things we go through worth it all. Tuesdays are very busy days for me and my working day doesn't typically end until late as I'm doing a full day of ministry stuff and coaching.  On Tuesday nights I always have a meeting with my boss Kathryn to give a report on all my job seekers and assignments. Last night I called and she  said she was still on the phone with a client, and asked if I had the flexibility in my schedule to give her 30 minutes grace. I was thrilled because I realized I could squeeze in time to ride my bike at sunset. I said, "Can I have 35 minutes because my bike route takes exactly that long..." She said, " take all the time you need, you're doing me a favor..."  I was pedaling along...

Years ago when I was first starting out in the ministry an older minister took me aside and sternly said these exact words: "Deanna, if you're ever going to be successful in the ministry you're going to have to learn to suppress yourself." I knew what the word suppress meant but just to get a fuller picture I went home and looked it up in the dictionary.   Sup·press     [ s uh - pres ]   verb (used with object) 1. to put an end to the activities of (a person, body of persons, etc.): to suppress the Communist party. 2. to do away with by or as by authority; abolish; stop (a practice, custom, etc.). 3. to keep in or repress (a feeling, smile, groan, etc.). 4. to withhold from disclosure or publication (truth, evidence, a book, names, etc.). 5. to stop or arrest (a flow) After this comment was made I quickly decided to suppress anything that person ever said to me again by stopping it ...

I remember many years ago when I was just coming into adulthood lamenting about some things  I had to do, somebody quipped to me, "Deanna, all you HAVE to do is live, die and pay taxes." I know it might seem odd, but I'm a very analytical person who really started thinking about that statement. What does a person have to do, really have to do, in life? I don't have the full answer to this question yet but one thing I do know for sure, we all do some things we don't have to do. I believe we still do them for a myriad of reasons and one is because we are afraid of the new. New represents change. And change is something that scares many of us. The interesting thing about change is that it has the possibility to make a way for us where there seemed to be no way. Change can bring healing, wholeness, a new lease on life. But it often requires a very deep examination of what we have been doing versus what we might want to think about doing. In my experienc...

So many people get frustrated by all the needs they see around them and think, "I can't do this.  I can't handle all this -- I can't make a real dent in the needs in this world.  I give up." Here's an important truth.  God never asked you to do what you can't do.  He asks you to do what you CAN do.  His power is there to handle everything you can't do, and it will kick in at just the right time...trust me.  Better yet, trust Him! I can't help everyone.  But I can help someone.  So I reach out to help that someone.  And you know what?  God enables me to do more than I thought I could do .  And before I know it I've usually helped a few people, not just that one. When I started out I may have thought I couldn't really do anything at all of significance.  Looking back I see God helped me do exponentially more than I ever thought possible. We are unlimited, really because God is unlimited. God never asks you to do what...

A new study has revealed that emotional pain hurts as much as physical pain. Last year I was expressing to my boss a situation in my life that was stressful and she asked me the question, "Where do you feel it in your body?"  I said, "excuse me?"  Nobody had ever asked me that question before.  Kathryn reposed the question: "Where do you feel it?  Where in your body do you specifically feel the pain of this situation?"  I had never thought of it that way before and upon stopping to think about it, I realized that when I focused on this particular situation I could definitely feel negative effects in different parts of my body.  She went on to explain to me how powerful this connection is. Of course this was not news to God, although it was news to me.  He created us to respond this way -- some of us are just catching up to figure it out! There are toxic situations in our lives that cry out to be changed.  Our body talks to us (through...

If there's one thing I've learned about weight loss it's that there are so many variables as to why the scale might be up or down on any given day. For instance, I might not have eaten as many calories on one day but if I've had too much salt, the scale can be up a pound or two.  This happened a few weeks ago when I stayed totally on program but also had a few pieces of bacon that day and the scale reflected it for a short time.  "That time of the month" can also reflect on the scale.  And sometimes it's not anything particular that I could ever figure out or narrow down, it just is what it is, at least for a day or two.  But here's something I know to be truth and have come to believe and now DO..and that is, if you keep doing what's right, it will catch up with you!   This is true in weight loss or anything else in life. Last week could have been a very frustrating week for me.  Although I was biking 1 hour a day every single day, and weed...

Something happened  yesterday that made me giggle and also blessed my heart, incredibly!!! We had a first time visitor who is here for baseball camp -- he is trying to get into major league baseball and currently here for that purpose.  He is from Charlotte, NC and after the service he met me in the hospitality room where we greet visitors and share refreshments and conversation. He loved the service and was very eager to talk to me.  Several Celebrators were also there with me to hear this conversation and they found it a blessing as well.  He said... "You know Pastor Deanna, this was an amazing service and it reminds me so much of my church back home in Charlotte, only on a smaller scale but I'm telling you, you guys remind me SO much of my church it's uncanny." I said, " what's the name of your church?"  And he said, "Elevation Church."   He said, " You guys are Celebration, and we're Elevation.  You call your people, ...

Napkins for last night's event -- I thought they were cute!  So for years now I've led women's events. I've not only announced the events but basically "babysat" women in the days leading up to the event...reminding them, calling them, e-mailing them, and holding registration while my team of leaders also market the daylights out of the event, trying to get as much participation as possible.  There's nothing wrong with any of that -- nothing at all.  In fact I advise people to do it!  But I'm really excited about what happened last night at Celebration Church. We're in a new season at CC and I did a little experiment.  (Years ago I would have never done this, convinced that it would have been me and two or three friends sitting in the sanctuary by ourselves on the night of the event.)  I wondered, "just how much of a new season ARE we in?"  I made a personal decision with this event (didn't tell anybody) that I was going to just ...