I’ve been on here every day. I read what all my friends have to say, I miss them when they aren’t here. I love reading their thoughts. I love to pray for them when they ask for prayer. Then I come to write………and…………blank. Nothing seems relative, insightful, witty, worth putting in black and white. It is a good thing I don’t have to write for a living. I would go hungry. I guess that is what they call writer’s block. Communication is not my strong suit. Relationship is not my strong suit. I am much more comfortable in the confines in my own home. But, God calls us to relationship. So, how do you all do that? Corporate worship is a good beginnng, but Sunday School and small groups bring it to a more personal level. My small group keeps me in the Word, keeps me active, keeps me from crawling into my corner and withdrawing. God knows that I have to work hard to step out of my box and talk to people. It really is much easier to fold my arms, tuck my head and walk directly to where I am headed. So to tell you that I accepted an appointment from the Greater Muhl Chamber of Commerce as an Ambassador just scares the beejeebers out of me. Now, I must tell you I am doing the Beth Moore study, Stepping Up. One night last week in the chapter on Psalm 122 the study asks, “How is God using your town or city to equip you to be a humble servant?”…..then…….”How is God using you in your town or city?” I didn’t have an answer that night, I left it blank. The next day I got the telephone call from the Chamber. How could I tell them anything other than yes? God is stretching me—–so those of my friends reading this—–I need prayer. Prayer from you, prayer by me, and my personal relationship with God will be all that gets me through stepping out (or up) of my box and being an Ambassador. Whew…..God sure has a sense of humor.
Winds of Change September 14, 2008
As I sit here listening to this tremendous wind we have howling around us today that phrase keeps coming to mind. There are so many storms that blow up in our life. Bro. Ray talked about this morning that we must perservere. Pray for those affected by Hurricane Ike, pray for those affected by the storms of life. They can all use our prayers.
Isaac July 3, 2008
Yesterday I just kept thinking about Jacob and what he and his family must be going through. Last night the Patriarchs Week 3 was about Isaac. Beth Moore talked about Abraham taking that 3 day walk to place his son Isaac as a sacrifice out of obedience to God. Can you imagine all that would be going through your head in that 3 days? Can you imagine raising the sword over your head to kill you own child? I wish I could say I was that obedient, but…………..whew………………..my child? Are you sure God? Did I hear you right? My child? Beth also made a statement “We will give him most of what we love, but we won’t give him what we love most” God will give us tests in our lifetime, but each test has only OUR name on it. No one else has to take my test, I don’t have to take your test. Through doing that, He may just be trying to prove to us that we can pass the test. Prove to ourself that we have the faith we need. Beth also said that even in our most trying tests, obedience is not the hardest part, but keeping the faith is.
So, the family I spoke about yesterday, their hardest test is going to be keeping the faith. We have to be intecessors for them. We have to continue to lift them up and pray for God’s will in Jacob’s life and their life. Please do that with me.
For Jacob July 2, 2008
Each one of you that read this……….pray for Jacob. Pray for his mom, dad and brother too. Send them an ecard. You can go to www.vanderbiltchildrens.com. Click on Send an ecard. Click on the card you like, fill in his name, I always click that I don’t know his room number, type in your name, message and they will deliver a card to their room. I honestly cannot imagine spending 3/4 of my child’s life in a hospital with them, surgery after surgery, medicine on top of medicine. What strength A must have. Tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday. She is healthy. I am thankful. Remind yourself you are blessed today.
Patriarchs June 6, 2008
First and foremost, let me thank you for your prayers yesterday. I felt them, and it helped me through a really difficult day. Praying friends are so AWESOME, and always, ultimately, God is good.
Today, let me talk about Patriarchs. If you have not signed up for the study at church, please consider doing so. This was one of my all-time favorite studies I have done. I can’t wait to start again. It taught me a lot and as always, with a Beth Moore study, you hear things the second time around that you missed, or it just wasn’t meant for you to retain the first time through.
Abram (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob. Genesis. Very interesting. Sarai (Sarah), Hagar, Ismael, Joshua, Rebekah, Esau, Leah, Rachel, Dinah, Tamar, and it goes on. All flawed people. God loved them. God loves me. As quoted in Beth’s introduction, if God talks about it, then he means for us to talk about it too. God knows the way of mankind and I think for the first time I realized that God intended to lift me up for His glory just as he did these people in this study. To quote from Week Eight: “God purposes to use every second of a devinely ordained wait to build us into the individuals our future demands we be. One of the most peculiar and exquisite experience of faith is realizing that while you haven’t seen answers, or the way you should take, you’ve learned how to see the light of God himself. Right there in the blindness of your own circumstance”. And in Week Nine “God will never lead you anywhere you can’t ultimately be productive to the glory of His great name” Whew, I tell you, this really is a great study. You learn history, you learn more about individuals, and you learn just how much God is committed to us.
Come join us at Second Baptist Church next Wednesday night and begin the study of The Patriarchs. Hope to see you there.
Send ‘em to me…………. June 5, 2008
I could use your prayers today, right now, right where you are. Send ‘em my way ladies. (or gents)
Great Banquet May 3, 2008
As I attended the Thursday night service for the Great Banquet, I stood there looking around and just became more enamored with how awesome God is. We all have chances for divine encounters, sometimes those come back around for us, sometimes that one brief moment in time will be all we have. Thursday night, the group included young girls from our church that will be the future of 2BC, my daughter and her friend, a girl that my daughter used to ride to college with, the mother of my son’s close friend, my “diet pepsi” friend that went to banquet same weekend as me, a girl who used to work at the clinic, a young man my husband had coached in basketball when they were in the 4th grade, and a golfing friend of mine I had lost contact with over 15 years ago. I had a brief moment to share with her about God, and then she was gone again. All these people are from different areas of western Kentucky. We all share stories that date from this week to years ago. None of our lives will ever be the same as those first encounters…..All these lives brought back in contact because they felt the Holy Spirit telling them to attend this banquet. They will leave this banquet weekend and touch even more lives that just perpetuates God’s word going forward. Just by attending Thursday night I left with a renewed sense of awe for such a mighty God!! I pray for each of those attending and thank those people who continue to share their message of hope and love of God to others.
Lord, I Want To Be A Paperclip………….. March 21, 2008
Week 5. The Process of Prayer. I too was like Jennifer Kennedy Dean said she used to be. I thought prayer was made up of 2 parts – my request and God’s answer. A prayer list prayer life. Prayer is a process. During that process we are brought to submission to God. He in turn weans our hearts from the things we desire to learn to fasten on Him – like a paper clip to a magnet. During this process God’s truth takes on a deeper meaning. We are connected to Him. We delight ourselves in Him. When we delight ourselves in God, He becomes the desire of our heart. Delight is translated from a Hebrew word meaning “soft, moldable or pliable”. When we delight in the Lord He molds our heart to match His. As our hearts change, so do our desires. As this is happening we also realize that we cannot “know the desire of our heart unless we know the heart of our desire”. Then in the process of our prayers, we change, because God is shaping our heart like His. Our prayer stands in the gap and brings God’s will to be released on the earth. We bridge that gap for each other as we pray. We also connect to each other through the prayers – like a paper clip to a magnet. Lord, I want to be a paper clip.
Prayer thoughts March 14, 2008
Wednesday night during discussion of “Live A Praying Life” the question was asked………are prayers answered when you have more people praying? What do you think? Do you think one prayer spoken by one person is enough, or do we need “numbers” of people to pray for a prayer to be answered? Or is it greater that a prayer will be answered if more people pray for it?
