When you serve the Lord together, your hearts knit in a special way. A church God allowed us to help restart in 2004 held special memories for us. God allowed us to purchase a building for it! Memories with the ladies, decorating for different events. You grow to have a special place in your heart for each person. God was faithful!
Read MoreThis is profound on every level. God is with us and is mighty to save! What is remarkable here is that this great God who created the universe – will save and rejoice over YOU with joy!
“GOD take delight in ME?”, yes, YOU!
Have you ever had a season of life, or a circumstance where you felt like God just wasn’t around? Or maybe you faced a problem that was too big and you felt like you were all alone? Or maybe sin was so dark and present in your life or in the life of a loved one and you struggled to see the hand of God anywhere? If you haven’t ever felt that way, I’m so happy for you. I, on the other hand, have felt all of those things. Was God absent from my life? No way. He was right there, probably closer than I could have ever imagined. But in that darkness, I couldn’t see Him. I want to share with you what I learned in those times.
Read MoreAs the wife of an evangelist, most evenings I find myself sitting in a church service somewhere in this wonderful country of ours. I often tease that the Lord let me marry my husband because He knew that I needed to be in church every night! Because we’re in church so often, I’ll tell you a preacher’s wife’s secret; sometimes my mind wanders. (Insert gasp here!) It was one such evening, that the thing that caused my mind to wander was a word--fervent! I’m not even sure why I gave the word a second glance, but later that night, I grabbed my concordance app to see how many times the word was mentioned in Scripture. The answer is seven. Seven times the word fervent is mentioned in God’s Word--fervent in spirit, fervent mind, fervent prayer, fervent heat, fervent charity. It’s such a descriptive word, it just evoked a mental picture to me, so I looked up the dictionary definition.
Read MoreA few months ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The diagnosis came as a surprise as no one in our family ever had it. Although not life-threatening, the disease is and will continue to be life-altering. The “what about? what abouts?”set in. I have given my condition to God for whatever He wants to do with me. My doctor referred to my Parkinson’s diagnosis as “later in life onset.” In fact, the day this article is due to come out, September 5, is my 75th birthday. Therefore, I may not live long enough for the symptoms to get real bad. So, instead of saying”why me?” I say “why not me?” I am not a young mother with small children. Of the many side effects of my medicine is a desire to spend money! So, now I can blame it on the pill.
Read MoreWhen you think of emptying yourself do you truly rid yourself of your wants/desires and allow God His deserved place as head of your life? This is something I’d never really given a lot of thought to until I started really studying His word. Asking God to fill me with His Spirit to be number one above all my wants and needs.
Read MoreAccording to tradition, when an Eskimo hunts a wolf, the first thing he does is coat his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds layer after layer of blood. He then puts his knife in the ground with the blade up. The wolf follows his nose to the source of the scent and begins licking it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more vigorously until the edge is bare. Harder and harder the wolf licks the blade. His craving for blood becomes so great that he doesn’t notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue. Nor does he recognize when his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His tongue has become desensitized. His appetite continues to crave more until in the morning light the wolf is found dead in the snow.
Read More. KEEP YOUR MIND IN CONTROL… verse 6a – In other words, don’t be too worried or
dedicated to the problem or situation. Paul was reminding us to not worry about
anything. Yes, nothing at all! I know this can be really hard to do, especially when it
involves marital and family problems, sickness, and problems at church which can often
be difficult to ignore. I, myself, have had the tendency to rethink things too much. I put
too much focus on the problem or on the person creating the problem. I often have to
be reminded to not get too emotionally attached to the problem or to someone that I
feel has offended me. We cannot allow these problems or thoughts to take over our
minds and reside deep in our hearts. If we do, we will soon find ourselves having to deal
with the issue of anxiety.
Read MoreSometimes it rains big rains that make us want to curl up and hide from everything, or sometimes little rains that throw a wrench into our life plans. We all know that we have a big God who can do anything and if we are doing things the right way, we go straight to Him and ask Him to change or fix our storm. But the truth is, sometimes there isn’t a quick answer. Sometimes it even feels as though God has gone silent. We know He isn’t a heartless Father; but for more reasons than we can possibly know, sometimes the rain continues and no end seems to be in sight.
Read MoreSo, we know the areas in which God does not give us strict guidelines. But what about the areas He does give specific instructions? Like fellowship with God, prayer, church attendance, tithing, soul winning, faithfulness, purity, godliness? Are these things important to us? In the last few years, I've had multiple conversations with people who told me that God would understand why they chose not to tithe to a local church, or go to church because we now have livestream (a great tool when there are no other options or because of sickness, but not a substitute for fellowship with other believers, Hebrews 10:25), or that soul winning wasn't something for them because they are shy, or that Bible reading and prayer is too time consuming and God would rather that they were doing something more “meaningful”, or that watching an R-rated movie was okay because it was with their spouse and they skipped all the bad parts, etc. These weren't people “of the world”. They were born again Christians. People in churches of like-faith. According to the Bible they are playing a dangerous game. Isaiah 33:31b says, “...for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”
Read MoreLadies, would you agree we are a busy people. The busyness of keeping house, cooking, taking kids to practices, church and the list could go on and on. If we aren’t careful the day will get away from us without giving any thought to God. I love the verse in Psalms 46:10. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. There are tremendous benefits of being still. When God created us He gave us five senses, I want to look at three of those senses. When we get to the place where we can be still there are some wonderful benefits.
Read MoreJesus is in the middle of His famous sermon, “The Sermon on the Mount.” The verses here are so well known that you may have them memorized. As a missionary’s wife I think of this topic very regularly. I often ask myself “Am I showing the light of Christ to those around me?”
Read MoreEvery day when you wake up, get ready and are about to leave your home for the day. Do a heart check, if your heart is right with the Lord, you will know if your outfit that day is modest and pleasing to the Lord or not. Also, ask the Lord to guide your words for the day and your thoughts.
Read More“You’re not good enough.” “Are you sure they would even miss you if you were gone?” “God is being unfair to bring this trial into your life.” These, and countless more, are LIES that Satan whispers in our ears. In recent days, I’ve heard from several ladies and teen girls about how Satan is working on their thought life. As I listen, I am reminded of my own personal struggles with Satan whispering in my ear causing me to let my own mind run out of control with worry and fear. Lest we feel like we are alone in this struggle, we can go back to the very beginning of time and see how the Devil works.
Read MoreLadies, don’t we all just want to be loved? Is there anything better than knowing someone loves and accepts you? Isn’t it a delight to know that someone is eagerly waiting to spend time with you? Doesn’t it feel so safe when you can speak freely and know that the person to whom you are speaking is really hearing you and wanting what is best for you? Some ladies reading this today may say, “Amen” to these thoughts. Others may say, “I wouldn’t know. I have never felt that!” If you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a Heavenly Father who truly, deeply, and passionately cares for you just like that! Just imagine if we could really see and understand how much the Creator of the Universe loves us. I think we would be unstoppable! What could discourage us? What could possibly derail us? What could draw us away from Him if we were fully aware of His intense love? But why is it that some of us don’t feel that love from God as much as others? Is it because we are less lovable?
Read MoreMany times, Christians are really not experiencing the joy of serving Jesus, because they are not serving His children. In Matthew 25:42-45, Jesus says, “For I was an hungred, and ye game me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him saying, Lord when saw we thee hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?” And now for the topic of our devotion…verse 45, “Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
Read MoreA young lady came to me upset over a health problem which caused her loss of energy, frequent pain, and feelings of defeat. In addition, she did not have money to take final exams, and she is to have surgery when she returns to her home state this summer. She wanted to feel better, have money for finals, have money for surgery, was fearful of surgery, and wanted to know where money would come from in the fall for school—and wanted all these answers now! I wanted to say, “Whoa! Slow this horse down, woman!” Knowing her health situation, I suspicioned that her particular physical problem was playing a part in her mental and emotional well-being.
Read More“Approximately 1 in 8 couples are affected by infertility in the United States. That’s about 6.7 million people each year who have tr
ouble conceiving.” This shocking statement is from fertilityanswers.com and is echoed over and over again in any google search.
Have you heard the statement “God meant it all for good” ? I find that sometimes, these statements that are meant to bring comfort can bring a feeling of disappointment because what we face as ladies just does not feel like it belongs in the category of “good.” Many times we find ourselves lining up in the category of pain, hurt, brokenness, unfulfilled dreams, or perhaps even anger. God in His wisdom and mercy has given us several examples to learn from, some of which we will look at in the book of Genesis today.
Let’s start with how music affects us physically. Have you ever heard a song that had a fast beat to it? Often we call it a “toe-tapper,” because the fast rhythm makes our body react in a happy, go-lucky way. Here’s a question to ponder: does the music you listen to affect your body in a positive way? If the music you listen to causes your body to react in a worldly manner, is it truly Christ honoring? One of the three aspects of music is the rhythm. Is the rhythm so prominent in the music you listen to that it overwhelms everything else?
Read MoreThe thought of a Christian feeling worthless and unworthy is a lie from no one other than the devil. He’s been a liar from the beginning and he’s trying to stop you from doing God’s will for your life. Resist the devil by putting on the full armor of God.
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