Love and Humility, Part 4

By Jerolyn Bogear

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Romans 12:11

Zeal is not a word we use much in our present-day language. The definition for zeal is: "fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor." Desire is "a strong want;" diligence is "never stopping till you get the object of your desire."

Fervor is another unusual word. It means: "Intense heat."

So according to this verse, we are never to stop diligently pursuing the desire of our heart (the Father) and to maintain a spiritually intense heat in the process of serving our Lord.

In our instant gratification, short-term society, we have a really hard time with long-term commitments. Often we become tired or bored and take our eyes off the goal. If it takes too long to get to the goal, it just doesn't seem to be worth it. Too many other things in our life can be achieved quickly and with less effort..... But those things are empty and worthless.

Serving the Lord -- done with passion for Him and accomplished through His strength -- is the only worthwhile thing we will ever do on this earth. The Master has called us to fight and work and serve and love. Are we going to get tired? Yes. Are there going to be disappointments along the way? Yes. But our goal is not in this life, but the next. We must press on and fight the good fight.

Then Paul uses verses 12-21 to tell us just how to serve the Lord. We serve Him through joy, patience, prayer. We help the needy. We treat our enemies different than the world. We laugh with the happy, and cry with those who are sad. We keep the peace. We live and love in humility.

So march on with zeal and fervor. Never back down from your calling -- a servant of the Almighty!

Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson

From Jerolyn Bogear

Ladies,

Here is a wonderful article on Spiritual Direction that reflects a lot of what we are doing in our groups. Just really interesting to read it from a different perspective and learn about how maybe we can improve. Enjoy.

Valuing Your Group - An Article

From Jerolyn Bogear

Hey Ladies,

Here is a great article in steps to value others in your group. Talks about many of the principles that I have referred to as you step out to lead your own group. I don't model all of them well, but continue to work on it. Hope you will, too.

"Adding Value to Your Group Members"

Where is our heart during worship?

by Joanna Clark

I've been thinking and praying a lot lately for our church; in fact, Joe & I both have. Joe has taken some steps of faith in challenging and encouraging other men to be part of the "solution" to the issues and challenges facing our church. It got me thinking, as well as some of the reading I've been doing, about how we even enter into our home church. When we have our own quiet time with God, it usually is a pretty personal experience. I mean, it's just me and God in those moments. I pray that He would guide me, teach me and show me what He's wanting to work on my heart about. BUT...do I pray that before walking in to church on Sunday morning? Do I put that much personal attention into my "Sunday worship experience"? Or, do I instead attend it as if it's me walking in on someone else's worship experience and quiet time with God? Are we attending a "preview" of what the pastor is learning in his quiet time? Is that how God meant our Sunday mornings to be spent? NO, I don't think so at least. So then I asked myself how can we make it more personal, how I can invest and learn from it?

And it takes me to the heart of the issue, which is the heart! Where is my heart at on Sunday morning? Sometimes I feel like it is right where it should be, open and ready for whatever it is that God wants to teach me or have me experience. But, other times sadly to say, it is closed up and wanting to watch and criticize someone else's experience. Well, if my heart is closed to what God may want to teach me that day, then of course I am not going to think it was a great sermon on Sunday morning. And, it may in fact be not a great sermon anyway, but the point is - if your heart is open to what God wants to teach you, then He can in fact teach it to you through anyone or anything. It is our responsibility to make "church" a personal experience. Yes, our pastors are responsible for tending their sheep, but as mature believers, we cannot pretend to be little lambs who can't find their way...it's a balance and takes work on each of our parts. But if we are not doing our best to make every day a day where we strive to honor God and allow Him to speak into our lives, then why are we surprised when we don't feel we are learning anything? Go figure!

And I'm talking about our entire church/worship experience. To me, a "worship service" is whatever your Sunday church experience includes...singing/praising, sermons, serving in nursery, setting up or tearing down. All these things are part of our worship experience because we can worship God in any and all of those aspects of a Sunday morning church experience. So, if we invite God to meet us there, meet us where we are at, He can (and wants to) teach us and use us at each of those experiences.

It reminds me of the song, "The Heart of Worship" written by Matt Redman. The story of how and why he wrote the song is great! He was at a church where the pastor felt that the congregation was not where they needed to be and not contributing, so he asked the question "When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?” They got rid of all music and sound system as their church sought God. This led Matt to write the song. It's explained in more detail at http://www.crosswalk.com/1253122/.Some of the lyrics say:

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longingjust to
bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart… / I’m comingback to
the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus...

Is it all about Jesus? Are we there to serve Him, praise Him, learn from Him and grow with others? Or, are we there to seek some kind of feeling induced by someone else's quiet times? Like I wrote earlier, we can view it as a bad sermon or a great sermon, but it's up to us to truly seek God's heart through that message so that it can still speak to us and teach us something. So, as we try to include God in our lives, hopefully daily, we need not forget about Sunday! Just because we go to church doesn't mean we don't need to include Him in that day as well.

Love and Humility, Part 3

by Jerolyn Bogear

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ~Romans 12:10

When looking up the Greek meaning for "devoted," it is not just a loyalty or friendly kind of action. Rather, a devoted love is like the love of a parent/child or a husband/wife. It is being devoted to one another to the point of sacrifice.

Christ demonstrated his sacrificial love in the greatest form possible and he did it for friend and enemy. How then can we be devoted to one another in our lives on a day-to-day basis? What are our sacrifices?

Probably the greatest sacrifice we can without actually dying is of our time. The most important one is taking the time to pray for one another. Lifting each other up to the Father -- standing in one another's stead petitioning His grace, mercy and guidance for that person. I could ask nothing greater of those who care for me.

But then we can perform acts of devotion in a physical way -- a phone call, and note, running an errand, standing by them in their grief or celebration, offering a smile, a word of support, a listening ear, praying together, sharing God's revelations. Are we taking the time to offer these acts of love?

We can look at this backward too. Devotion and honoring others above ourselves may be through an act of receiving love. It takes humility to let others know we are struggling and need help. Receiving help demonstrates that you love those giving it.

And Again I Say Rejoice

By Joy

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4). God has been weaving this verse into my daily life the past few days, and I absolutely am catching His drift. It seems most of us women in these groups are struggling, and I am in no way insinuating my struggles are greater than those of someone else. Mine pale in comparison to the real struggles that some of my dear friends are having. With my constant prayers being wanting to start a family and wanting to keep my job, God has been reminding me that I am to rejoice in Him no matter what. As Francis Chan stated in Crazy Love, God commanded this twice in the same sentence, just in case we didn't get it the first time. No matter what. Even when the pregnancy test comes back negative again. Even when I have to sub in a scary school with scary kids. I get to praise Him again and again. My life is not about me, even though I certainly act like it is, and I have the honor to exalt Him in all that I do and all that He does. It is a paradigm shift for many of us. Instead of pouting about all that is wrong, praise what is right. Praise the trials. Praise the pain and struggle because we know that God is pruning us to grow more than ever before. I don't know if God will give us our child right now the way we want. But I do know that He has put this passion and desire on my heart, and I do know that He will fulfill His promise. And I rejoice in that.

Love and Humility, Part 2

by Jerolyn Bogear

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9b

Do I really hate what is evil? The Greek word for "hate" means to abhor or to be in horror of. Does evil horrify me? I think I have become desensitized to the horror of evil. It is so prevalent around me I would either have to walk around with blinders on or move to an isolated property in the mountains to escape it. (Okay, the second option wouldn't be so bad:)

Evil is not going to go away until Christ returns and the enemy is forever cast away. So if I am going to be a follower of Jesus Christ and live with Him as my Lord, then I cannot tolerate the things that are contrary to him to exist within me. And the best way to do that is the second half of the sentence -- cling to what is good. I love the Greek for "cling." To glue together, cement, fasten together. I must grab onto what is good and right with all my might like we are stuck together with glue -- or better yet, cement. I want to be so held together with good that it would take a jackhammer to separate us.

So what things am I to cling to? "Good" things are:

1. of good constitution or nature
2. useful, salutary
3. good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy
4. excellent, distinguished
5. upright, honourable

Today, these are the things I will choose to align my life with. I will sincerely love all PEOPLE, but abhor anything that is EVIL to God and cling with all my might to those things that are HONORABLE and UPRIGHT.

Lord, open my eyes and transform me.

Love and Humility, Part 1

by Jerolyn

The FAM1 was talking a lot about humility this last weekend. In light of it being 40 Days of Love, I've chosen to share a few posts on Romans 12:9-16. Go figure, I just "happened" to be there in my personal reading and God stopped me dead in my tracks. So I'm just going to go phrase by phrase. Please weigh in on your thoughts.

Love must be sincere. Romans 12:9a

The New American Standard says, "without hypocrisy." The Greek translates it as a love that must be "unfeigned, undisguised." When I see the word "hypocrisy," I instantly think about the Pharisees and Jesus' diatribe against their hypocrisy in Matthew 23. I do not want to be accused of that kind of love. Neither do I want to practice it.

I want my love to be "true" or "genuine" -- sincere. I was looking up the original meaning of the word, "sincere." You may have heard the story before, but the original meaning is "without wax." Often pottery makers, bricklayers, marble artisans, etc. would fill cracks in their creations with wax to cover the imperfections. The problem was that when the product was under heat, the wax would melt and the imperfections would be visible. Sometimes even the integrity of the piece would break down.

Is our love for others "without wax?" Are we living sincerely with everyone -- no hypocrisy? It's a question that takes some pondering. Who do I not sincerely love? And what is the evidence of my insincerity? Insincerity will eventually surface -- especially when the heat is turned up in the relationship.

I know that not everyone is easy to love. But I must surrender my biases and allow the love of Christ to fill me with so much love for others that I don't need wax. My love is truly genuine and sincere and complete.

Lord, fill me now. Let there be no room for insincerity in my heart. Teach me to love as You love and use me as Your vessel to love others. Amen.

Sacrificial Love

by Joanna Clark

I've been having a hard time sleeping lately...which usually means something is on my mind, or, God wants something on my mind and is trying to get a hold of me :) Last night, I finally got back up at 12:00 am and did a couple e-mails since I was laying there wide awake anyway. About 15 minutes later, I went back to bed. I was praying and talking to God about being a mom and the love relationship we should have with our children. Felicity has been weighing heavily on my heart lately. Mainly because she is so smart and quick sometimes, that I often have these really high expectations and am pretty hard on her when she messes up...just like any normal kid would mess up. It's not fair of me and I know it, so I've been trying to work on it. Anyway, so last night I was asking God to help me to love Felicity with the kind of love He has for us, His children. I want to show her not only my love, but be an example of Christ's sacrificial, selfless love as well; that He would shine through me (and Joe) to help her better understand who God is and how much love He has for us! I know that I love my kids soooo much! However, there are times where I start doubting myself as not being a good enough mom, not showing my kids enough love, etc.

About another 15 minutes in to being back in bed (about 1am), I hear that sound, that barking/wheezing coughing sound and instantly I run for Felicity's room! There she is knocking on her door (bless her heart! She knows once she's in bed, she's not supposed to leave her room, so she was knocking!) while she is crying and gasping for air (so it seems at least). I pick her up and try to calm her down because crying only makes it worse on her lungs. Joe gets her inhalers, etc. I'm sitting in her bed rocking her back and forth; she's crying and barely able to speak enough to say "mommy, it hurts so bad! when will it stop? why does this happen to me?" I litterally well up while writing this because it is just so sad to see your baby in so much pain and not be able to do much for her. She gets so scared, thinking she really can't breate, which in fact, I think she can, her airways are just a little constricted at the moment and crying makes it so much worse. Anyway, in the midst of her unable to barely speak, she manages enough breath and energy to say "I love you mommy!" She did that twice to me...I was just in awe of her love for us! Why is it that God has to teach us important lessons through our children? It really stresses the term "faith like a child". She was just clinging to me crying but also making sure I know that she loves me! I kept saying it over and over to her and couldn't bare seeing her like that, so helpless and upset. But there she is trying to show it right back to me. I really felt God saying to me, "You do love your child; don't doubt that"...I've never wanted so badly to take her pain upon myself!! And there it was - a moment where God is using me to show His love to her, just like I had asked of Him, BUT He was also giving me a glimpse of His love for us by how I felt and by how Felicity was showing me love. I get (understand) love, or so I tend to think, but didn't expect to get such a lesson on it at 1am in my daughter's bedroom!

Be careful what you pray for!! I didn't think God would get me out of bed at 1am to help me show my love and His love to our sweet little girl, but He did. It's funny how so often we want our prayers answered immediately, and then there are those that we think will be a process and it could be a while til we see His answers. But not that time, nope...God was ready to answer that prayer right then and there. She woke up fine this morning, so we'll see what tonight brings, but it was in that panic moment that God and Felicity taught me a little something about sacrificial love.

My God, My Protector, My Provider

By Joy
As I have spent time thanking God for all He has done in my life, two themes are prominent: His protection and provision. I am just realizing how much influence He has had in my life without me even knowing it. He has protected me from physical and emotional harm as well as major debt.

He has provided me with one of the strongest women in the Lord I know, my mother. I watched her faith never waiver every day, and her life has been anything but ideal. She married my father at 19 years old. He was the only man she had ever been with and loved. She did not know at the time that he had drug and anger problems that were generational in his family. Through the 11 years of their marriage, my father was overtaken by these demons, and my family was the target of his anger and perversions. My oldest sister, especially, received the brunt of his negative attention. Being a baby when things got bad enough for my mom to leave with nothing, my sister watched me like a hawk to make sure my father didn’t do anything to me. But with all that my father did to the family, God held us together. Because of God’s protection, and my mom’s complete surrender to Him, He provided us with places to live and families that basically adopted our family and helped take care of us.

Growing up with my father popping in and out of my life, I never felt like I needed or missed my dad. God provided spiritual fathers for me my whole life. Matt even asked one of them for his permission to marry me. This man was my volleyball coach and youth pastor. His wife was/is my spiritual mentor and high school small group leader. They have 3 boys, and I was their adopted daughter. I was able to see what a real man of God looks and acts like. I learned the qualities of a powerful husband, wife and marriage from them. God provided me with an earthly example of His divine design.

3 months after Matt and I married, I was cooking breakfast one fine Saturday morning, trying to be a good wife. Using our new knife set from a wedding gift, I cut my thumb so badly that I severed my tendon and nerve. This was the beginning of my cooking with a knife accidents (I’m clumsy). I had job as a physical therapy aide at the time (another provision from God as I was just out of high school), and it came with insurance. My insurance took effect one week before the accident. And because I worked for a hospital, my $11,000 surgery bill turned out to be only $500 out of pocket. We were young and newlyweds with big dreams of going to college together. God’s provision and protection is so evident in this story.

Well, I think this might be part one of my protection and provision story. There are just too many stories to share, and each of them was at very pivotal moments in my life. Bottom line, THANK YOU LORD! You are my protector and provider, and I put my trust in You!

Reading Guide Resource

by Jerolyn Bogear

Here is a great site for Scripture reading guides.

http://www.youversion.com/

"Discipline My Body"

Joanna Clark

So instead of recapping what this great devotional said, I'm just copying the link. Please go to it if you have a minute: http://proverbs31devotions.blogspot.com/2010/04/discipline-my-body.html

Basically, in a nutshell, it discusses how most things we desire in life are really hard and take a lot of work. We have to discipline ourselves, much like training for a marathon, in order to actually make it happen. Things like getting out of debt, losing weight, honoring our husbands...anything really. It definitely spoke to me in regards to many things in my life. It was funny though because the key verse is 1 Cor. 9:27, which was also referred to in Sunday's sermon. I thought "wow, when God really wants to teach you something, He will remind you of it until you get it"..."okay, God, I get it...I've got a lot of hard work to do!!"

"I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be
disqualified." I Corinthians 9:27 (NLT)

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of us have things that we really need to work on training ourselves at. So, I'm assuming this could speak to any of you like it has to me. And, we are all in this journey together, so let's encourage one another to put as much effort into training as we can. I'm praying for each of you as I struggle through it too :)

Open the Gates

by Jerolyn Bogear

The other day at rehearsal, Kaleo gave a devotional about living as a reservoir or as a channel. Are we just filling up with God's love and His Word and hanging onto it for ourselves? Or are we flowing with His love to others?

I saw the analogy more as a reservoir with a dam. We do need to take time to sit with the Lord, listen to His voice, study His Word, meditate on the rhema for our lives. But then we need to go out, open the gates, and let that infilling pour out to others. It doesn't happen accidentally. We must make an effort to open the gates.

I was reading today in Ephesians 5:1-2.

Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Are you taking the time to let your reservoir fill up? Not just through a cursory reading and checking off the to-do list. But really spending time pouring over the Word of the Almighty and listening for His voice in your heart. Then and only then will you be able to open the gates and have something to give to others. He is our source and we are His hands, feet, and heart to others.

Love you all and love being on this journey with you.

A Lesson Revisited

By: Laura Hechel

I wrote this in my journal in April of 2008...two years ago...and was reminded of it just this morning through a chapter in A Woman After God's Own Heart that has a message about being your husband's helper. At our last meeting, we tossed around ideas for controlling our words and actions around our husband. I light-heartedly call this my "Five Step Program".

April 14, 2008
I am being called to be a Proverbs woman - and that means there is a strong call on my heart to "...speak with wisdom and faithful instruction." (Proverbs 31:26). I am brought back to James 1:26 - a verse that God often brought to me during the Fruit of the Spirit study (note for today: THANKS JEROLYN for leading that study!). "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." Worthless. Meaningless. Useless. A facade. A fake. A sham. In chapter 3, James speaks of taming the tongue. It occurred to me that I need to set my standard and devise a plan or I will never tame my tongue! As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it for a crown that will not last; but we do it for a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." So HOW am I going to tame the tongue?

1. Memorize scripture - especially verses about speech and the tongue. (Ephesians 4:29 & Proverbs 13:3 are good beginnings)
2. PRAY - for forgiveness (1 John 1:9), for wisdom (James 1:5), and for others (Matthew 5:44). Peter talks about being clear-minded & self-controlled so I can pray (1 Peter 4:7)...so, in praying, I must be sure my words and actions are in line with the Spirit or my prayers may fall flat.
3. Distance myself from engaging in gossip & slander. Always. (Proverbs 14:1 & 26:20)
4. Consider my words and the TONE carefully before I speak...and speak only things that build others up. (1 Peter 4:11 & Ephesians 4:29) Side note: verses 25-32 of Ephesians chapter 4 is especially helpful in providing a tangible way for believers to train themselves to follow God's will. To simply resist the temptation to sin is not enough. We must do the exact opposite of our sin. If you lie, speak truth. If you steal, work for what you want. If you slander, speak only good things about others from now on.
5. Write letters to God when I am really upset, rather than slandering that person to someone else or ripping them apart in a verbal confrontation. Use the formula David often uses in the psalms...pour out my heart, my hurts, my trials and tribulations...then change focus and end the letter with God's truth, His faithfulness, and His instruction.

Fast forward to today. Honestly, there is a reason I was reminded of this entry today...for the last year, I have become lazy about controlling my tongue. I have reverted back to my obnoxious days, almost all of it now directed entirely at my husband. Today, I am reminded of two things I had lost sight of: I am forgiven, therefore, I must forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15). If I claim to love my husband, I should live it. "...Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs....It always protects..." (1 Corinthians 13:5&7).

Action vs. REaction

by Laura Hechel

Jerolyn asked me to share this experience, so here goes...

Almost four years ago, my family moved to Sacramento. Within the first week, I met a woman and her son in our apartment complex. She eagerly pursued a friendship with me and I was desperate for social interaction, so we became fast friends. I learned that she lived with her boyfriend, their son and her two dogs just a couple of buildings down from me. I learned she had been previously married, subsequently divorced and never wanted to be married again. I began to pray for a witnessing opportunity, for a window to share my faith with her. One day, we were sitting outside on the sidewalk while our children played and I mentioned I was in a Bible study at Capital Christian Center. Immediately, she responded with an excited, "I'm a Christian, too!! I go to Adventure Christian church in Roseville!" Confused, I wanted to address the hypocrisy of her current living situation and how the prevalent sin in her life was damaging her witness as a professing Christ-follower. But something in me told me that now was not the time. Every time we met up, I struggled with biting my tongue. As believers, we should hold each other accountable! It was Biblical for me to "restore her gently to the faith". But every time, something in me told me to wait. I prayed often about the situation...for God to convict her, for God to check my heart and remove all fear if it was standing in my way, for God to bring about yet another opportunity to speak with her about her beliefs...And it happened. One day, at the park, we got in an intense discussion over raising our children to know the Lord. The discussion ended amicably, but in disagreement. After some intense (read: obsessive) thought over lunch, I decided to call her to clarify my beliefs, which I felt I had not adequately articulated to her in our original discussion. I prayed before I called. She continued to disagree with me over the phone and lecture me on how I should raise my children. However, she did acknowledge that Christians can have different beliefs and still get along. To back her point, she stated that her pastor says things with which she doesn't agree, but she still attends his church and respects him as a person. I stopped the conversation right there. "Wait a second!" I said. "What kinds of things does your pastor say that you don't agree with? Because if he's saying stuff that's not scripturally based, you should NOT be there!" She responded by stating that her pastor believes that Jesus is God and that she KNOWS Jesus is NOT God because Jesus himself said he was the SON of God. At that moment, everything became clear to me because the Holy Spirit prompted me with, "THIS is the conversation I need you to have. GO FOR IT!" We spoke for over an hour about who Jesus was (and is). Jesus did indeed say he was the Son of God. He also stated he was the Son of Man. But his most "blasphemous" claims were that he WAS GOD, a concept that is difficult to grasp, but pivotal to the Christian faith. God gave me verse after verse after verse to reference to her. The conversation ended as friends...but in disagreement. We have remained friends and we eventually did have the discussion about her living situation. But I learned something very valuable that day: My REaction to visible circumstances can be scripturally-based...but that is radically different from having actions that are Holy Spirit-driven. If I had barreled forward to have the discussion about her living situation, I never would have had the opportunity to address the heart of her faith issue.

We play no small part

I've been reading this great book! Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life. Living in your sweet spot. It is, to say the least, a very good book! I'm only partly through it, but so far I've gained so much from it. I thought I would just share a snipit of what God has been teaching me through this book, as well as some digging into the scripture he shares in it. Something I've been struggling with is finding a job, something I feel called to do in which God would be able to use me. Well, He will use me most when I am doing my best with what He has gifted me in. Still, I'm searching for it, but I know that He has gifted me with abilities and passions that He desires for me to use, as does He for you as well. Lucado says "You play no small part, because there is no small part to be played"...if I find something that seems like a not so great job, but I am using the gifts God has given me and I'm allowing Him to use me and work in me, then it doesn't matter what kind of job it is. No one else can do exactly what God purposes me for. We are each made so uniquely and creatively that no one else can fill our role. He continues to say "If you aren't you, we don't get you. The world misses out." And, I think each one of us is so worth knowing! The Message version of Galations 6:4-5 says "Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life."

And the other thing that I'm learning with that, is that more is not always better! In my last job, the opportunity for more money became appealing, but all the details that went with that promotion meant I wasn't using my gifts anymore; my talents and passions about the job were being replaced with other responsibilities which did not make me a lovely, or loving, person. When God presented a way out, I took it - less money and all! Then down the road, God provided a new opportunity for Joe, which was right up his ally; such an awesome fit for Joe's talents and giftings - less money and all! God is good...ALL the time!! If we keep our eyes fixed on what's important (not money, not greed, not promotions that might lessen how effective we are for God), He will bless us, provide for us and protect us. I know that God will continue getting us through this tough season and I need to keep praying for His will to be accomplished in us. And with praying that, I need to be open to how He wants to do that...whatever job He sees as best for His giftings in me!

Joanna

Online Magazine - Christian Women Today

Here is a wonderful site of many Christian articles for women.

http://powertochange.com/experience/women/

"Consecrate Yourselves"

Yesterday the Lord directed me to Joshua 3. This is the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan. Verse 5 says, "Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." Then here is what I had written in the margin several years ago, and it really spoke to me again yesterday.

"Be prepared. Heart tender and sensitive to God's leading. Keep building the relationship with the Lord so you know His voice when He leads."

We don't always understand what is going on in our life. Neither do we know what tomorrow will bring. But in the meantime, what we can do is consecrate ourselves. Set yourself aside for the sole purpose of obedience to His holy leading by being with Him in complete surrender.

Jerolyn