May. 24, 2009
NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN'S DAY
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Monday, May 25the is NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN'S DAY. Please take the time to look at the flyers and posters of missing children that may come in the mail or be posted on the bulletin board of a business or store. You never know when you might have a missing child living in your neighborhood. Please consider the reality that there are hundreds of thousands of children missing in the United States. Mothers and fathers all over this country are fearfully and anxiously wondering where a precious child is tonight. Please add missing children to your daily prayers. Somewhere, there are children who are in dangerous and even tragic circumstances, taken away from a parent or both parents to only God knows what situation. These precious ones desperately need our prayers and God's protection. |
May. 11, 2009
Children Truly Are A Blessing!
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Yesterday was Mother's Day and yes, I realize it has come and gone, but this morning I still bask in the warmth that comes with the knowledge that my children are all safe and secure. Two of them are adults, married and living their own lives. One is a teenager and still at home with us. Mother's Day has an extra special meaning for me because for many years I did not have the blessing of being with 2 of my children on this day, or any other day, for that matter. For me, Mother's Day is a day of thanksgiving, it is a day of rejoicing in the realization that God has restored to us, something absolutely wonderful. He has restored us to each other. Never again will I take family for granted. I understand, all too well, that families can be separated, sometimes forever and sometimes for very long periods of time. It was with great joy that I sat with my 16 year old daughter and my 39 year old daughter in church services this Mother's Day. Thank you, God, for your love, your compassion and for your blessing to me in the lovely form of children. |
May. 1, 2009
A Woman's Special Calling
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I am so glad God made me a woman. Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God. He created them male and female." In bearing God's image, you and I do so as a woman. And, as a woman, created in God's image, He has a plan for us. I believe God created every woman with a special calling. This is exciting stuff! I can get hyperactive just thinking of all the possibilities that being a woman with a special calling from God might entail. It is easy to see myself jumping from one thing to another in an attempt to find that special calling. The reason I can easily visualize this about myself is because several years ago, I became excited when I learned God had a plan for me and I frantically began a search for my special calling. The frantically searching part is where the rub comes in. Have you ever noticed when you search for something you can't find, you will invariably look in all the wrong places? You will look where you 'think' the lost article might be and not consider all the other possibilities. Well, I was certainly looking in all the wrong places for my special calling. It was only after I quietly and humbly offered myself to serve God, wherever He might wish to send me, then waited and listened for what He would show me, that He began to show me a calling. I began diligently praying that God would show me where He might use me and present me with opportunities to serve Him. I was astounded at how quickly those doors began to open and at first was shocked at some of the opportunities that He presented to me. I thought there must be some mistake at first, but eventually God showed me He doesn't make mistakes. He had specific spiritual gifts He had given me and specific people who needed to hear my testimony. This was tremendously humbling for me, and still is. My question always seems to come back to, 'why would God want to use me. What in the world do I have to offer anyone?' I don't necessarily believe that God puts us in every circumstance we may find ourselves. I think that my own choices (often bad ones) landed me in particular places at particular times. However, I believe that there is always something tremendously important to learn in each situation and in every place we may find ourselves. God may prolong a situation in our lives so that we may learn what we need to learn. I am quite certain He did that in my life. I was required to endure a heartbreaking situation for many years. At times I thought it would never end, but it did end and I will be eternally grateful to my loving heavenly Father for all that He taught me from that period of my life. I am humbled and completely grateful for His forgiveness and pardon of sins committed during those times. I truly know that God never left me during that time. He has allowed me glimpses of how He turned events around to bring about a joyful and spiritually productive ending to that particular period and usher in a new beginning. I can see now how I was allowed to go through certain things because they were spiritual life savers for me. I believe God has issued a special calling for me to use that experience to minister to others. I feel driven to tell others all that He did for me. I feel that I must let others know that God truly never leaves or forsakes us and that there is no situation so ugly or painful from which God can't create something beautiful and useful. God has a special calling for you, as well. No matter who you are, or what circumstances you come from or may be in at the present time, God still has a plan for you. There is someone who needs exactly what you have gained from your life experiences. Someone may be desperately waiting to hear how God has led you through your situation and the changes He has made in your life. Each of us has a story to tell and no matter how deep into the pit your experience may have taken you, God was always there in that pit with you. When you are ready to find the spiritual treasures from your experience He will eagerly reveal them to you. But, when He begins to reveal the great and wonderful things to be learned from your time in the pit, you will need to hold on tight and be ready for the 'ride of your life'. It is then that your eyes will be opened to just how involved God is and has always been in your life. It is then, you will begin to understand that the Great God of the universe does indeed have a plan and a purpose for you. It is then, that your life will begin to have true meaning and you will experience a joy you never knew you could experience. It is then, you will know that you as a woman, even with all your emotions, your baggage, your harmones, your 'stuff', were truly and wonderfully created in His image for a special calling He has planned only for you! |
Jan. 6, 2009
Finding Treasures in The Ashes
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Over the past several years I have had a number of opportunities to give my testimony. It would have been easier, after the first time of writing out my testimony, to have simply used the same notes the next time I spoke, but for some reason I always felt the need to write out my story again. Though of course the general facts of the story never changed, after the first few times of writing the facts over again, I begin to notice that I was learning something new from my own story each time. I noticed that each time I prepared my material I learned something that was not only healing for me, but something new that I could bring focus to as the point of my story for others. I am quite convinced that God has used each re-writing of my testimony to show me just how much He was with me every step of the way through a horrifically painful period of my life. I believe through each trip back in time He reveals to me just where and how He answered my prayers during those very difficult years. To be sure, we should spend time in repentance over sins and mistakes, meditate on why a certain event may have occurred and what we may have done to cause it. But after repenting and correcting any wrong behavior we should not continue to be immobilized because of regret. Negative life experiences can be like finding treasures in the ashes. The ashes are those experiences that have caused the pain, heartache, regret and guilt, and the treasures are the things we learn from the experience. It is much like digging through the cold ashes of something that has burned and finding beautiful treasures and precious gems that have actually been refined and made more beautiful by the fire. We should not allow a negative experience or trial to pass without asking God to show us the treasure He has for us in the ashes. Good things can come from bad experiences but we have to be open in order for God to bring these things to our awareness. We need to be determined that our trials and negative experiences will make a positive difference in not only our lives but in someones else's life, as well. We can do the latter by sharing our testimony. We glorify God when we glean everything we can from a bad experience and use it for personal, emotional and spiritual growth. When we are determined to turn our negative life experiences into something positive we are truly finding the treasures in the ashes. |
Dec. 15, 2008
A Conversation With Mary
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Wouldn't you love to have a conversation with Mary, the mother of our Savior? I am sure I could ask her dozens of questions about what it was like to carry and give birth to the Savior of the world. I simply can't imagine what she must have felt! Any mother is proctive of her child, born or unborn, and yet that protective feeling she must have had would have been incredible. To have the responsibility of the nurture and upbringing of Jesus Christ would have been overwhelming. Matthew 1:23 says "See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated 'God with us' ". The act of naming your son "God with us" would have been a totally humbling experience. I am sure some of Mary's own questions to God would have been something like, "why me Father. How did you come to choose me to bring your Son into the world!!! " I am positive Mary spent great amounts of time on her knees before the throne of God. I am anxious for the day when it will be possible to sit with the mother of Jesus and ask her all the questions I have for her. I can hardly wait to hear about her feelings, thoughts, and the delightful stories she will be able to share of Jesus as a child.
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