Our God Is An Awesome God
Our God Is An Awesome God - just wanted to share this "God Story" with you before you read your mentoring moment for this week. Yesterday, at our luncheon, Kathy Wilson spoke on Mary's Heart and how God wanted that intimate relationship and time with us more than our service. Once we are in that one on one relationship with Him, He will show us where our service should be and it will flow from us. I wrote my mentoring moments a month ago and had no idea what Kathy would be saying yesterday. There was one thing I knew; I had ask God when I was doing these weekly mentoring moments what He would want me to share. As I listened to Kathy speak on Sunday, I was thinking, God You are so awesome. You aligned the mentoring moment being sent out this week with everything Kathy has just spoke on. WOW - that confirms to me why I should "lean not on my own understanding, but in all my ways seek God and He will direct my paths"!! He certainly knows our needs Ladies and is caring for us in everything. Below is this week's mentoring moment.
“THE LORD WANTS OUR SALUTATION BEFORE OUR SERVICE”
SALUTATION – A gesture or utterance made as a greeting or acknowledgment of another’s arrival or departure.
WHEN LIFE IS “TOO BUSY” IT IS A SIGN THAT THE WORLD’S ACTIVITIES AND LURES ARE EDGING OUT GOD, AND WE’RE HEADING FOR A COLLISION WITH SATAN. WE MAY NOT HAVE TIME TO EVEN GIVE GOD A GREETING OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT!
THERE IS AN OLD SONG TITLED – “TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY”
TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY, SPEAK OFT WITH THY LORD; ABIDE IN HIM ALWAYS, AND FEED ON HIS WORD. TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY, THE WORLD RUSHES ON; SPEND MUCH TIME IN SECRET, WITH JESUS ALONE. BY LOOKING TO JESUS, LIKE HIM THOU SHALT BE.
I WILL INSTRUCT YOU AND TEACH YOU IN THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO; I WILL COUNSEL YOU AND WATCH OVER YOU. PSALM 32:8
“HAVE A BLESSED WEEK!”
Chris Unkefer
Mirror Mirror...In search of Fabulous -By Kim Dent
Mirror Mirror on the wall
What IS Fabulous...after all?
Is it skill or beauty?
Wisdom or Grace?
Is it a certain size or age
Or just a pretty face?
Can I find it in an outfit or a certain style of hair?
Can I buy it on the internet,
Can I win it at the fair?
What does fabulous look like,
Mirror, help my eyes to see!
Can fabulous be searched for...even in me?
Is it loud or is it quiet,
Courageous or humble.
Does it ever question?
Does it ever stumble?
Can fabulous be found within a broken shard?
Can fabulous still be “fabulous” when life gets so hard?
Mirror, mirror tell me
If you are so keen,
Can fabulous lie hidden
Or is it always to be seen?
What does fabulous look like?
Mirror help my eyes to see!
Can fabulous be found...
Even in me?
Prayers For An Unknown Sister
Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to me, and I will answer you.
And I will show you great and wonderful things
which you do not know.”
I am a “show me” type of girl. I am not prone to blindly accept things that I don’t understand. Raised in a conservative Baptist church, my first experience hearing someone ‘speaking in tongues’ during my college years left me wide eyed and wondering, “what in the world was THAT!”
Fast forward about 19 years. The tragedy of 911 brought me through the doors of a Spirit filled, Bible believing Church. I attended a weekly women’s bible study where we began a series on the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” At the culmination of the study, there was a time of prayer for anyone who desired to receive Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues.
Now, In my heart, I wanted to experience this gift. But in my head, I was afraid that the Holy Spirit would cause me to blurt out unintelligible words at the grocery store or my PTA meeting! I voiced this struggle and was quickly assured that The Holy Spirit is gentle and allows us the choice of when to use our prayer language. So I said “Yes” and we prayed a simple prayer for me to receive this special gift of speaking in tongues.
My experience was not dramatic. Little by little I noticed new words that I did not understand begin to flow quietly from my lips during worship. Soon I was happily singing and speaking my new Holy Spirit language in my personal prayer time.
As my fluency increased, I began to notice repetitions of words when I prayed. I had no idea what I was praying for in the Spirit, but one particular word began to be repeated within my prayer language... “Galia” Sometimes spoken as if I were encouraging a frightened child and, at other times, I sensed I was defending someone or warring against something. The word “Galia” consistently remained within my prayer language. I wondered what it meant so I called upon the Lord to show me.
God disclosed the mystery 6 months later while on a mission trip to Ukraine. A young woman came up for prayer following a conference on the gifts of the Spirit. Through the interpreter, she told us that she desired to receive the gift of tongues. I smiled, remembering my own request a few months earlier and marveling at His timing & the miracle that I was here now, praying for this unknown sister. I asked the interpreter to tell us the woman’s name.
She replied in broken English.....”Her name is GALIA.”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, May we operate in the fullness of your Spirit every day we live! May we never be so grounded to the world that we miss the blessings reserved for those who soar with your Spirit. You are such an amazing God! Amen.
-Kim Dent
What Are You Serving Your King?
This morning, as I was getting my coffee creamer out of the fridge, my nose was
assaulted by a very disagreeable or more accurately, DISGUSTING odor! I am not
good at using the leftovers before they “go south” and today the culprit was a lone
piece of chicken hiding way in the back behind the milk.
I dug out the smelly poultry and quickly dumped it down the disposal and followed it with
a lemon chaser to be sure the stink was completely gone.
I settled in for some time with Jesus. I love how The Holy Spirit uses object lessons to
teach me truths in His word. This morning He decided the recent “chicken incident”
would coincide nicely with Malachi 1. (I can hear you saying “WHAT?” hang in there
with me...)
Here’s the scoop: Malachi was the last of the OT prophets. The temple had been rebuilt
for almost a century and the people were, once again, losing their enthusiasm for
worship. The sins that had led to the downfall of Jerusalem were rearing their ugly
heads once again; Contempt for God’s name, offering false worship and leading others
into sin. Oh and let’s not forget that they were also breaking God’s laws by offering
diseased and imperfect sacrifices on His Holy Altar. (smelly leftovers) Added to that list
was the sin of calling evil “good”, keeping God’s tithes and offerings for themselves, and
becoming arrogant hypocrites. Ouch!
OK, Before we shake our heads at the Israelites,let me ask you; Have you ever gotten
tired of waiting on the Lord? Ever lost your zeal for living the sanctified life? Ever fallen
back into the same old sin you were sure you had been delivered from just last week?
Have you ever worshiped or spent time with the Lord out of duty and obligation? This is
simply serving Him the dry leftovers of a heart that has lost it’s freshness in the
dailyness of life.
Come on girls, confession time. Have you ever had one of those days you just don’t
FEEL like cooking something new and creative so you warm up the old leftovers from
last week? While this may be occasionally acceptable at our family dinner tables, it is
NOT acceptable to our Holy God who commands us to love Him with our whole heart
mind, soul and strength.
Listen to God’s words in Malachi 1:6-7 (italics mine)
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the
honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD
Almighty.
“It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’“You place defiled food on my altar.”
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the LORD’S table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals
for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals,
is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! (husband) Would he be
pleased with you? Would he accept you?” Says the LORD Almighty.
Chapter 5 of Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love” is entitled “serving leftovers to a Holy
God.” I can’t help but see the correlation here. The days that I am too busy, tired,
depressed etc. to serve Him my very first and best worship are days that I am choosing
to serve Almighty God that smelly chicken in the back of my fridge. My heart hurts as I
realize that I have done this to the Lover of my soul.
So, sisters...What are YOU serving your King? Is it your very best and freshest or are
you dragging out the leftovers?
Leftovers are never OK with God. He desires our whole hearts. Fresh and delivered
piping hot to His holy table each day. Yet, in His grace and mercy, He understand that
we are but dust and we do grow weary of the waiting. So God made a way for us to
revive our tired hearts to restore the freshness that the world would seek to destroy.
Jesus said “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28)
May we serve our King Jesus a beautiful, fresh and authentic platter of praise with a
delicious and heaping side of honor every day we live!
He is Holy. He is worthy of our VERY BEST!
I”m heading to the “grocery store of His Word” now... I hear His mercies are new
(FRESH) every morning! I need to stock up!
Let’s Pray...
Lord, Forgive me for the times I have served you the leftovers of my weary heart. You
deserve all of my praise and all of my heart and my obedience. I know that you are
willing and able to revive me when I am tired. I know that you are more than enough for
me. I know that you desire truth in the inmost places and that means you want my
authenticity which is precious to you. Help me to never serve you leftovers. I need you
to draw me deeper so that every day will be a new adventure with you. I desire for each
day to become a brand new menu of praise for You! I adore you, my King.
In the creative, inspiring name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
-Kim Dent
Little One
Give praise to the LORD, proclaim His name;
make known among the nations what He has done Ps. 105:1
make known among the nations what He has done Ps. 105:1
On January 6th I had the privilege of meeting my newest granddaughter for the first time. What a joy to finally hold her! Yet it was with great concern that we observed her way-too-tiny frame. Her big brown eyes captured my heart immediately.
The chances to hold her were few because she was again admitted to the hospital. When we talked to the pediatrician at the hospital, he guessed her age to be about 4 1/2 -5 months. She weighed about 8 lbs. The basic diagnosis- failure to thrive. We felt so helpless. Needless to say when we left that hospital room, our hearts were very heavy with concern for her health. We had to put her in God’s hands.
We returned home, my daughter-in-law tried to find a family that was going to Ethiopia to take special formula for her but there was no one going for a couple of weeks. She checked into a shipping company who told her they could ship it for a few hundred dollars. However they were honest with her, telling her it would most likely sit in customs until some government official decided to release it- no guarantees!
The thought crossed her mind, “I wonder if God wants to do something special here?” My verse to her was that our God was a God who can do more than we can even imagine. I think He really wanted to show us
So “randomly” she Googled “sending formula to Ethiopia”, having no idea of what she would find. Up pops a website, www.intothestreetsofethiopia.com, a Christian organization that sends formula to Ethiopia. Jodi called them and they immediately put out an urgent email and FB message asking if anyone was going to Ethiopia. Within 24 hours an attorney from Arkansas was on his way with $525 worth of formula donated by his family’s pediatrician. You have to understand this formula is special and comes with a hefty price tag.
The next hurdle was finding someone over there that could go to the airport to meet him rather late at night and get the formula; he was only passing through. Again God answered prayer! God faithfully worked out all the details and she has been getting the formula for 2 weeks.
God is so amazing! While we were there, we met a young mom who is patiently- probably impatiently by now- waiting for her embassy appointment. Chrissy has graciously gone out of her way many times to visit our little girl and make sure she is getting her special formula and that everything is being done properly. Even though her appointment has been delayed, she has been a God-send to our family! Please pray that she gets her appointment soon and that everything goes smoothly for her. She has blessed us so much.
Somehow, when I think of what God has been doing for our special little one, I am reminded of the sparrow. In the eyes of the world, she is just a little girl that really doesn’t matter. BUT to God and our family she is special and He knows every hair on that small head with the big brown eyes and He is taking care of her until we can bring her home.
We just received a weight report and she is now 10.5 lbs!!
To be continued....
-Margaret Slabach
-Margaret Slabach
Don’t Feed the Wildlife
As I stood at the crest of the hill, God’s beauty lay before me. It was as if God was painting a beautiful masterpiece just for me. The sun was beginning to rise and the sky was splashed with vibrant color. Standing alone with my God that morning, I marveled at who He was. Wanting to get closer to this breathtaking sight, I began my descent down the hill towards the sunrise, singing and worshipping to my awesome God. Birds joined in with their sweet melodies as I
walked along. God’s glory was all around me. Along the roadway, families of deer had emerged from their forest hideaways but seemed oblivious to the beauty that lay before them. Their focus was on eating at that moment and the stranger passing by.
Coming to the bottom of the hill and rounding the bend, I started my ascent up another small hill. I noticed a sign up ahead of me and, as I got closer, I could read the words written on it in bold print – “PLEASE DON’T FEED THE WILDLIFE”. I immediately laughed out loud because only the day before had I seen many well-meaning people throwing bread and crackers to a group of deer that had ventured near. How ironic I thought that this sign was at a place where few people gathered. I understood the necessity of the sign as the park’s rangers didn’t want the wildlife to become dependent on people for their food and sustenance.
Continuing on my walk, the Lord impressed upon me the importance of a sign like that for the animal world. But in our world where we live as Christians, God doesn’t put up signs like that. In fact, he wants us to do just the opposite. God wants us to “FEED THE WILDLIFE” – those who are unbelievers, who don’t know God and who don’t have a personal relationship with his son, Jesus
Christ. God wants them to become dependent upon Him not only for their food – their daily bread – but everything else they need as well. God tells us in His Word to “feed the hungry” and those who are living the WILD LIFE are hungry for more than the world has to offer. So as you get ready to start your day, remember to pack some extra “bread” because you may run into some “wildlife” who are hungry and you’ll have just what they need.
John 6:35 – “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
-Ann Ford
walked along. God’s glory was all around me. Along the roadway, families of deer had emerged from their forest hideaways but seemed oblivious to the beauty that lay before them. Their focus was on eating at that moment and the stranger passing by.
Coming to the bottom of the hill and rounding the bend, I started my ascent up another small hill. I noticed a sign up ahead of me and, as I got closer, I could read the words written on it in bold print – “PLEASE DON’T FEED THE WILDLIFE”. I immediately laughed out loud because only the day before had I seen many well-meaning people throwing bread and crackers to a group of deer that had ventured near. How ironic I thought that this sign was at a place where few people gathered. I understood the necessity of the sign as the park’s rangers didn’t want the wildlife to become dependent on people for their food and sustenance.
Continuing on my walk, the Lord impressed upon me the importance of a sign like that for the animal world. But in our world where we live as Christians, God doesn’t put up signs like that. In fact, he wants us to do just the opposite. God wants us to “FEED THE WILDLIFE” – those who are unbelievers, who don’t know God and who don’t have a personal relationship with his son, Jesus
Christ. God wants them to become dependent upon Him not only for their food – their daily bread – but everything else they need as well. God tells us in His Word to “feed the hungry” and those who are living the WILD LIFE are hungry for more than the world has to offer. So as you get ready to start your day, remember to pack some extra “bread” because you may run into some “wildlife” who are hungry and you’ll have just what they need.
John 6:35 – “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
-Ann Ford
Roots...
Looking out the window this morning I immediately noticed the small burrow of dirt in the garden. It stood out in irritating contrast against the beautifully manicured flower garden. Two long stems of tangled roots were exposed and laid bare within the dirt spewed hole...no doubt the remains of a rabbits dinner the night before! As I think about roots I realize that, underneith the lovely magnolia tree and the vibrant white and red geraniums, twisted and enmeshed below the tall whisps of acacia grass and dancing tiger lillys are the true reason for all this beauty. The stark, unlovely, tangled mess of dirt clumped ROOTS!
No one would choose to sit and "ooh and ahh" over a display of roots, yet without them there would be no growth, no flowers, no trees, no beauty to behold, no tiny green shoots of hope in the spring. I think about Jesus.. "He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2".....OH but He is our root! Apart from Him we have nothing. He is our life source and we,surrendered and connected to Him, are the beautiful display of His glory...His flower garden!
Today: Seek out and appreciate the vast array of beauty in everyone you meet and within yourself....and thank the ROOT of it all, Jesus!
Blessings!
Kim Dent
No one would choose to sit and "ooh and ahh" over a display of roots, yet without them there would be no growth, no flowers, no trees, no beauty to behold, no tiny green shoots of hope in the spring. I think about Jesus.. "He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2".....OH but He is our root! Apart from Him we have nothing. He is our life source and we,surrendered and connected to Him, are the beautiful display of His glory...His flower garden!
Today: Seek out and appreciate the vast array of beauty in everyone you meet and within yourself....and thank the ROOT of it all, Jesus!
Blessings!
Kim Dent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)