No Guarantees

This morning at church Kenny reminded us that we are not guaranteed to see tomorrow. Tonight that truth became a reality for me.

We met Mike this past summer when he worked with Jeremy to replace our roof. Slowly we became friends with him and his wife. Just recently Mike decided he wanted to straighten up his life and start going to church. He decided to try out New Hope because once when he needed $5 for gas he stopped into the office and they gave it to him! So he called up Jeremy and asked if he could pick him up the next Sunday. He's been twice. He was going to go this morning, but slept in too late. I have no doubt in my mind that it was the enemy at work. This evening Mike was killed in a car accident. It doesn't seem real to me yet. I believe he was around 31 years old. Left behind a wife, Mandy, and a one year old son, Michael. Please be in prayer for them. He is also the son of Les Hughes, who goes to New Hope.

There is no guarantee of tomorrow. Don't put off making a decision about Jesus. Don't put off reconciling your relationships. Live today as if it were your last, because you never can be sure when that will be...

Life's Two Teachers

In his book, The Divine Mentor, Wayne Cordeiro writes about life's two teachers...wisdom and consequences. He says "Wisdom teaches you the lesson before you make the mistake. On the other hand, consequences demand that you make the mistake first. Only then will it teach you the lesson. Wisdom puts up the fence at the top of the cliff; Consequences visits you in the hospital when you're in traction...after they've scraped you up from the cliff's bottom." I would rather learn from wisdom.

There are so many books out there, and so many of them sound good! But there are also only so many hours in a day. So I ask you...which books have given YOU the most wisdom so far on your journey? (The Bible is a given). Please comment with the title, author, and general topic.

Here's my list...although it was very hard to pick just a few!

1. "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman - marriage/loving others

2. "Captivating" by John & Stasi Eldredge - a woman's heart

3. "A Woman After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George - overall Christian living

4. "Every Woman's Battle" by Shannon Ethridge -purity

May you seek after wisdom and be spared from learning the painful lessons of consequences.

If I Lost it All

In my life right now it is pretty easy to have faith. I have a husband who loves me and loves God. My kids are healthy. We have more than enough resources to provide for our needs. We are surrounded by people who love and support us. Life is good.

But sometimes I wonder..."What if, like Job, it was all taken away? What would happen to my faith? Would I be still be able to trust in God's promises and praise His name?"

I just heard this song, which echoes my thoughts, and it gave me "God bumps". I hope that if I lost it all I would still be able to lift my hands and worship the One who gives and takes away. But honestly, I hope I never find out the answer to that question...

Heroes

Last month Jeremy and I began watching the first season of Heroes. We got hooked quickly and are now on season 3! The show is about ordinary people who discover they have supernatural abilities such as being able to fly, time travel, regenerate, read minds, generate electricity, walk through walls, etc... Each character goes through a process of discovering what their ability is and how to use it. Some like their new powers, some despise them, and some crave the powers of others. Then comes the decision: to use the power for good or evil. To become a hero or a villain.

While it would be cool to have some of these abilities, God gifts us in different ways. We are each gifted and shaped through our natural talents and our experiences to perform a unique function in the body of Christ. But similar to the characters on the show, we sometimes need to go through a process of discovery and developing our gifts before we can be used effectively. Do you know what you have been gifted to do? I believe Satan tries to make us believe that we aren't special and don't have a valuable part to play in His-story. And if we do discover our gifts, he tries to distract us with busyness or divert us toward worldly pursuits. What defines us is less about what we've been given and more about what we choose to do with it. Will our gifts and abilities remain undiscovered and unused? Will they fall into the hands of the enemy? Or will we use them to bring glory to God and become heroes to our families, our children, and our community? That is a choice we all have to make.

"The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. In this way we are like various parts of the human body...each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body...let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't" - Romans 12:3-6 (The Message)

A New Year

What do I hope the year 2010 brings? Growth. I want to grow in many ways: spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I want to be able to say at the end of the year that I am a more godly woman than I am today. Here are a few things happening this year to move me in that direction:

Beginning next month I plan to join a women's bible study. Although the meetings are only once a week, the studies involve daily homework and time in the Word. I've never done anything so in-depth and look forward to learning through the study and the women in the group.

After years of praying for a mentor I finally have one! I had been waiting on God to bring someone into my life, but now I see that he already had. The key was realizing that I had to ASK if she wanted to enter into that type of relationship. All this time I had been waiting on God, when really it turns out He was waiting on me. I look forward to the wisdom, insight, and encouragement the relationship will offer and am grateful for her giving her valuable time to invest in me.

Physically speaking, I plan to continue being consistent with my treadmill workouts. I have an added incentive to get in shape by June...my husband and I are going away for a week for our 10-year anniversary! That I've been married for nearly 10 years is hard to believe, and is also worth celebrating!

I also want to focus my time on relationships this year. Spending daily quiet time with God to refresh and fill me up, going on dates with my husband, playing with my kids, and staying connected to friends and family. I suppose I'll have to find the time for all my other responsibilities too, such as the cooking and cleaning, but I will not let those tasks become more important. I want to become a woman after God's own heart.

Melt me, Mold me, Fill me, Use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. This is my prayer.

Joseph's Lullaby

Since becoming a parent, this has become one of my favorite Christmas songs.

I hope you've had a wonderful day celebrating the fact that God is With Us.

A Voice in the Wilderness

There are many charities in the world caring for people. But often when I am asked for money I wonder what my money will be used for. Will it go directly to the people in need, or be spent on salaries or marketing? This is one charity that has captured my heart and I can trust to use my resources wisely...A Voice in the Wilderness.

A few years ago, on an Emmaus Walk, my husband met a guy who does mission work with his wife in Haiti. They started a non-profit organization to help the children in Haiti, gathering support from churches and by word of mouth. The newsletters I have read are eye-opening and heartbreaking. The couple goes to Haiti once or twice a year and are very hands-on in their ministry, seeing the need with their own eyes. The following is a brief summary of the work they support there.

Feeding Program: The program provides children with one bowl of rice & beans every weekday. And some of these children take that one portion of food home to share with the rest of their family. The lucky family in Haiti eats one meal of rice & beans per day. Others eat "mud cakes" to stay alive.

Education: After feeding the children, there are a few teachers who educate the children...teaching them about Jesus, and how to read and write. The teachers get a meager salary, and choose to work even on their "days off" because of their devotion to the children.

Medical supplies: A few times a year they ship a container of medical supplies. Many things that we take for granted such as soap, vitamins, Tylenol, pills to kill the intestinal parasites they get from drinking the water, and much more. People will stand in line all day to get these items. (In my mind there would be nothing worse than watching my child suffer and being able to do nothing about it. Kids there die all the time from starvation and illnesses we consider to be minor. In fact, many don't even name their children until their 1st birthday because the mortality rate is so high.)

The thing that amazes me the most is that the Christians in Haiti have a stronger faith than many of us. They are forced to depend on God for their needs. And they are THANKFUL for what they receive. They live with a real HOPE of what is to come. When I think about the things I whine and complain about it makes me ashamed. Every time I read about the conditions other people live in it reminds me how blessed we all are and how much we take for granted.

If you want to learn more about this ministry, receive their newsletter, or make a contribution you may write Liz and Dewaine Seese at:A Voice in the Wilderness, 99 Cypress Edge Drive, Blairsville, Georgia 30512