Resigning your love story

  Just as every other girl in the world does, I have dreamt of my    wedding day and my special prince for years. Being loved and loving in return like that is one of the greatest desires in my heart and now that I am old enough for marriage my heart aches for that special day to come. I often wish God would hurry thing along in that area of my life but I know a commitment like this is life long and takes years to prepare for so I wait for the Lord’s timing.

    Every girl wants a romantic love story. She wants her husband to come sweeping her off her feet in a whirlwind of mystery and romance. But what many fail to realize is that God is the greatest romantic of all time. He takes delight in making our dreams come, allowing things to happen out of the ordinary and enabling us to live that dream. Our life is like a book. Every season of life is a new chapter with God penning every line. He is even now writing out our love story, every day is a another step towards the alter.

    What we do now as single women will be carried into  our marriage. The baggage we develop, the emotions we give away, the people we date (or court) will all effect our relationship with our husbands. Choose wisely when making big decisions for you never know who your husband is or when he will show up on the scene. Use your life as a single woman to write a love letter to your husband, building a legacy that will honor him when you are married.

     Freely resign your love story to the Author of love and watch as He writes the sweetest story you could have ever dreamed. 

                   “For I know the plans I have for you",” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.”” Jeremiah 29:11

"For the glory of God!"

Every Orphan's Hope

I pray that as you watch this you will have an open and ready heart for whatever God tells you.

 

  "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 

~Psalm 126:2~

  This is why EOH does what they do, to bring the joy of God to those hurting children. Through Every Orphan's Hope God is turning tears into laughter, heartache into peace and sorrow into joy. Daily He is transforming and renewing lives through people like you. Please pray about how God wants you to help and if He so leads, take that small step of faith on behalf of the children.

"For the glory of God!"

When the flesh says no

    My thoughts are distant, I’m struggling to stay focused on the sermon but my mind keeps drifting. As our pastor continues on I strive to bring myself back to the present but my mind is filled with thoughts of my upcoming trip, it is hard to keep myself attentive. Quiet thoughts keep mocking me, telling me I cannot do it, that I shouldn’t even try, impressing upon me the pain of parting from my family, the fear of being alone in that country and away from my family so long, scaring and weighing me down.

    In these quiet times as I sit and contemplate my trip, that’s when Satan attacks me with the afore mentioned thoughts till I feel I cannot do it and just want to give up and stay home, which is exactly what he wants me to do. I strive to overcome such thoughts and focus instead on what God is going to do through this trip and all that follow yet it is hard. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.  In my heart I eagerly cry “yes Lord, I will go!'” But my flesh says “No! Don’t send me! I can’t do that Lord, I can’t handle being gone that long.”

   In the midst of such thoughts I hear that familiar gentle voice whispering to my heart, “My child, what is this you are saying to yourself? Surely I have been with you in the past from your first breath even until this present moment and will continue to be so even into eternity.You can and you will do this and you will do it for Me. I have chosen you for this special mission in life and I will give you the strength and courage to carry on even when it feels you cannot go any further.”

     Oh me of little faith! When will I yet learn this lesson and rely not on my strength and will power but His!?! Though I cannot see the future, in times like these it enough for me to know that He can and that He will not lead me astray. Truly I can do all things through Christ and in Him I will never find myself falling short of what I need to fulfill His present command.

           “For no word from God will ever fail.”  Luke 1:37

“For the glory of God!”

Angels on duty

   I am convinced that God's angels are always on duty in our lives and are more involved in our day to day busyness than we think. It seems to me that we see and interact with them more than we realize. I believe these angels do not always appear in their angelic form, but quite often take on the appearance of a human to come to our aid in times of need. Most often these “angels” appear during a prayer for just the help they bring.

   Whether in a strange man whose stature nearly exceeds 7 feet suddenly showing up and offering much needed guidance, whose  piercing eyes make you uncomfortable under their gaze and who upon receiving help for you stands a distance off watching over you until you are safe again, than disappears into the airport corridors to not be seen again. Or a white haired elderly man showing up at a time of fear, whose very presence supplies you with peace and reassurance, a man who stills your hearts fears with just a glance at his kind face, who stays near watching over the situation until it is solved, supplying you with a feeling of protection and of God’s immanent presence. It might even be so little as a friendly greeting or a smiling face in a time of insecurity and fear. I firmly believe all such instances were angels appearing on the scene to reassure, encourage, embolden and bring me peace.

     God is true to His promises to never leave us, never forsake us and never ignore us. To always guide, protect, reassure and comfort us, supplying us with such in our times of need. Be careful how you treat those who show up in unexpected and leave just as suddenly, you never know when you are in the presence of an angel.

“For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;  they will lift you up in their hands…” 

Psalm 91:11-12

“For the glory of God!”

Wake up

     “Oh I’m sorry, he passed away,” came the voice on the other line. In the silence that surrounded my aching my heart I could but utter one question. “Do..um..do you know if he…if he was saved?” Silence. Finally, “I don’t know. But I don’t think so.”   As the weight of these words sank in, all my held back tears overflowed. Amidst my tears one thought kept coming back to my mind, “what more could I have done to make a difference in his eternity? 

     I first met Mr. Roger in September 2011 while doing volunteer work at Turlock Residential retirement home. 92 year old, World War II veteran, all Mr. Roger wanted in life was to die so he could go to heaven and have all his suffering come to an end. Yet he was not open to God.  Though I tried for months to witness to and change Mr. Roger’s heart, as far as I know nothing ever changed. If he died with the same heart he had while living, then Mr. Roger is not with the Lord. I loved Mr. Roger as a grandfather so it breaks my heart to think about this. In my heart I keep repeating my question over and over trying to find an answer for myself. Yet I know there is no answer. We will never know what we could have done but we will always remember what we did do. 

       When I left for Kenya in October I never would have dreamt that Mr. Roger would pass away in that short of a time. Yet when I returned he was gone and I only just yesterday heard about this. I visit the retirement home nearly weekly in an attempt to bring love and light to these people’s lives, yet after being snapped at by Mr. Roger I have let myself get carried away in my nervousness to witness again,now I’ll never have that chance with him again.  Mr. Roger’s death is a wake up call for me. It is a reminder again  we never know when our last day will be so I need to make the most of every opportunity I am given to change the lives of others. 

     We are missionaries wherever we are at the present time. We need to treat life as a mission field, constantly seeking an open door for evangelism and service to others.  We make the difference between life and death in this world. That is a heavy burden to carry but we must not let ourselves chicken out, we must be bold and vigilant. Let us go forth in the name of Christ to change this world for Him!!         

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”

Isaiah 43:10

“For the glory of God!”

Stand strong under persecution

    “….I would lay down my life just to be by your side!”
–“Always forever”, Phil Wickham

Early this week on the other side of the globe, in an Iranian court, a trial was taking place to determine the life or death of Saeed Abendini, an American pastor under persecution for his Christian beliefs. Arrested in late September while starting numerous house churches, Abendini now faces death sentence for his work. At the close of the trial he was severely beaten and thrown back in prison to await his death.

  What is life without Christ? Is it worth it to abandon your faith just to live another few years? Obviously this man and others around the world don’t think so. They obviously believe life is nothing apart from Christ and living without Him isn’t worth living at all. They truly live out their faith and believe without a doubt that their life isn’t theirs but Christ's. As that song says they truly prefer dying in this world rather than dying in the spirit.

   “Are we willing to do the same, to live our faith to the fullest extent of the 

word even to the point of death??” 

      America has painted the picture that life is all about riches, prosperity and happiness when really, there is no true happiness apart form Christ and living for Him. If we only confess with our mouths but do not live out our faith how is that genuine faith? Even though works does not save us it does prove our faith. Therefore, since “faith without works is dead,” what better way to shine His light and show Him to the world than through our works?  

    Brothers and sisters let us ready ourselves to stand bravely in the face of persecution for it is only to those He counts worthy to endure that He brings such trials.  Let us strengthen ourselves in Him, girding ourselves with the armor of God to be tested and proven worthy even unto our deaths!

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” 

James :2 14, 17

"For the glory of God!"

Be a miracle!

       You hear the rain pattering on your window as you slowly open your eyes. It’s 6 am, you shiver against the cold and pull your robe tighter around you. With a full belly and warm clothes you head off to work. At the end of the day you come home to your cozy home and warm bath. You sit down for a filling meal and enjoy a relaxing evening around the fire with your loved ones. At bedtime you lay your head down on your pillow and sleep the night away in comfort and warmth.  This is America.

   Across the globe children wake up too, but theirs is a different kind of day. 

   The first thing this child hears when she opens her  eyes at 5am is the rain leaking into her house. She shivers as she gets up to boil water for her bath, yet she thanks God for the roof over her head and the worn out clothes that she has.  As she sits down to the only meal she will receive that day, she is grateful she has sustenance to fill her belly for the time being.  Her day is long and hard, with very little play. By night fall she is exhausted. She lays down on her worn out mattress and tugs the thin blanket tighter around herself. As she drifts off to sleep one last thought floats through her mind. She is scared and hungry.

    In the same town another child is going to sleep as well, but unlike the first, this child must find shelter before the rain comes again.This child woke up this morning to the cold rain on his face and mud forming under his makeshift cardboard bed. All day he has frantically scrounged around for scraps to eat. Tonight his belly is empty. He is lost and alone, hurting, confused, scared. When at last he finds shelter it is merely an overhanging roof. He lies down on the cold ground, wet and bitterly hunger. An abandoned orphan left to starve in the streets. This is Africa.

   Billions of children around the world are orphaned each day. Abandoned and neglected they are left to starve in the streets. These children are in serious danger and they need help. YOUR help. We are the future for the children of the world, how we respond to their need determines whether they survive. Please be a helping hand to these children, a miracle in their life! There are plenty of orphan outreaches throughout the world, pray about where God wants you to help and DO SO. If you use your financial or physical means to serve these children, the least of these, God will bless you effort! Don’t take for granted what you have. You have it for a reason…so GO!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18

"For the glory of God!" 

http://everyorphan.org/