My verse of prayer for YOU this week...

When Joe and I got married almost four years ago we had both come out of a messy, mired-filled pit, broken but changed (Ps. 40:1-3). At our wedding reception we laid out little 2X3 cards at each place setting which we had purchased from Abbey Press. The poem served as a testament of where we had been and how we could possibly be blessed in where we were going....

HANG IT ON THE CROSS

If you have a secret sorrow,

A burden or a loss,

An aching need for healing...

Hang it on the cross.

If worry steals your sleep,

And makes you turn and toss

If your heart is feeling heavy...

Hang it on the cross

Every obstacle to faith,

Or doubt you come across,

Every prayer unanswered.....

Hang it on the cross

For Christ has borne our brokenness

And dearly paid the cost

To turn our trials to triumph...

Hanging on the cross.

~Lisa O. Engelhardt

This card is now on my bulletin board in my office at the college and I was again drawn to it after reading a comment from a fellow blogger (forgive me I forget where) last week referencing Beth Moore from her Bible study group. She quoted Beth with this statement:

"You can not amputate your history from your destiny...allow it to complete it's purpose".

Both this poem and statement is like a fine piece of chocolate wouldn't you say? I feel someone out there needs to read these words this week. Savor it. Indulge in it's thoughts. Let it carry you into this new week!


This week the verse I am praying for all you blogger friends is from Hebrews 12:1-3 (NLT)...

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

but for more insight, read it in The Message version:

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

I pray Lord, for each of my friends in this blog ministry Lord. I pray that she will press on in her testimony of grace. I pray she will be free of any strongholds that are preventing her from the purity of Your presences in her day. I pray my friend (your name) will be focused on You Jesus in this week. I pray most of all she will be You to others, especially those who do not know You personally. I pray that no matter what my sweet blogger friends have endured or are about to endure this week, that you Lord, will be their strength, that you will carry them when they need to be carried, hold them when they need comforted, and walk or run beside them in this race of life! I pray that each friend fulfills Your purpose and plans in this week. Bless my blogger friends Lord. Amen.


Have a sweet week!! Be blessed!!


His Maidservant~Pamela

What kind of passion burns inside you?

I do not mean to offend but...



You know the story of Jesus in the temple when He showed His righteous anger at what had been occurring in His Father's house-right? You find the story in John 2. In reviewing it I paused to reflect on our own churches. How many out there fit the "cookie-cutter-model"? You know...the same kind of congregation, maybe with the same required dress code, maybe even very similar types of worship styles to the same God on Sunday mornings but with a people so very different or should I say indifferent to each other? Judgemental? Legalistic? Maybe even controlling?

If Jesus walked into your church today...what would He see? What would He hear? What would He experience?


Mark Batterson in his book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy day" encourages Christians to live more foolishly and with a child-like faith. Has your "caution-alert" siren just gone off? Hang in there with me...



Sometimes being "foolish" in the worlds eyes is just the opposite in God's. Look at David when he danced over the return of the Ark of the Covenant to it's rightful place. His wife found him to be foolish, God called him a man after His own heart. What about Noah and that ark? People laughed at him and called him crazy-they later drowned. Or Sarah pregnant in her 90's? Imagine the talk. What about the wise men following a star, or a man hanging on a cross for the sin of others? All things the world would see as foolish but God sees as faith. "A childlike faith that believes in limitless possibilities" as pen by pastor Batterson. That's the kind of faith I want.

I know you have read and heard John 2:16&17 multiples times but read it in the New Living Translation:

Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”

Yes. Powerful, deep words. For you see, God's house is not limited to the building we call church. God's house is each and every believer. We each represent a brick that builds His house. We each are vital to His kingdom work. We may claim a different faith denomination but we claim the same God. We may serve in different capacities but we are laborers for the completion of His house.


Do you want to see this project complete? I do and the only way it is going to happen is if we allow a passion for God's house to consume us. Then we follow His lead in His kingdom work. Serve. Minister. Introduce Jesus to others. Live foolishly out of a compassion for the one who hung on that cross and has given you more grace and mercy then you deserve.

Be passionate for God's house friend-foolishly passionate.

Jeremiah 23:18 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

For who has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?

His Maidservant~Pamela


P.S.
I wrote this post last weekend and have been mauling over it all week. Then later in the week I came across a similar topic to what God laid on my heart here at "At the Well...In Pursuit of Titus 2". I encourage you to go visit if you have not been there already.

ABC's of the Word

Hey Ladies! I am new to this but is seems like so much fun! Forgive me if I do not do this completly right. Pam at Grey Like Snuffie is the host of "ABC's of the Word" every Thursday. This week we are to find a verse with an "A" word.

In my personal Bible study I am doing by Beth Moore, Believing God, I read this verse last night while waiting for the girls at gymnastics:

Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do AMAZING things among you." ~ Joshua 3:5

Listen to the Beth Moore version:

"If you set yourself APART to me, I will distinguish Myself to you in ways more wonderful and miraculous than you have ever imagined."

Gotta love the message for us today from this piece of scripture--amazing--apart--two totally separate and different words give us such a powerful message of what we can count on from God when we do our part. I so want to see Him and hear Him and to know Him-don't you?!?!?!?

Blessings!

His Maidservant~Pamela

YOU ARE CALLED

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ~1 Peter 3:8&9

YOU ARE CALLED. These three words are so powerful. YOU ARE CALLED. Soak it in. Believe it. YOU ARE CALLED. When it becomes truth for you, live it.

YOU ARE CALLED to live in harmony with those around you. YOU ARE CALLED to be sympathetic, to love, and to be compassionate to those who cross your path this week. YOU ARE CALLED to live humbly, to be humble in your actions. And here is the tough one...YOU ARE CALLED to be kind even when you have been wronged.."do not repay evil with evil, insult with insult".

YOU ARE CALLED.

As I was looking for verses to pray over each of my family members this week and a verse for my blog family (that is you!), this one, for God's reason which I don't fully understand at this point, this verse He has chosen for me to pray over you this week. No matter what lies ahead-in the good and in the bad-remember YOU ARE CALLED to live out all these things. Be a blessing this week friend.

You are indeed a blessing to me.

His Maidservant~Pamela

Do not grow weary....

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ~ Matt. 11:28

Something has been weighing heavily on my heart. I bring it to my blog in hopes that you will take the time to pray in this for me. I believe the greatest thing we can do for each other is to pray for each other.

Our women's ministry in my church is void of anything. I cherish the friendships and spiritual connections I have developed here in blog land. I cherish the sharing of the spiritual, the sharing of our hearts, mind and soul. Several years ago, God laid it on my heart to be involved in the women's ministry. My husband is on the church leadership team (called deacons or elders in other congregations). It seemed only fitting from a female perspective, this wife should follow suit.

My heart is ecstatic over what I have found in my God throughout the years. I don't want to keep it in. I want to share it. I want other women to be as motivated and excited about this relationship with our Heavenly Father as I am. But this ministry seems dead. There are some wonderful godly women in our church and yet...they are only in the pews. There is no Titus 2 ministry occurring. If we host a women's Bible study, maybe five will attend (we average around 250 in services each Sunday). My heart is trying to grow weary.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ~ Isaiah 40:29

So I continue to seek His face in this. The longing in my heart for this ministry will not go away. Some days I wish it would. I have to and will continue to prod forth. God has a plan. I must seek it out. This journey He has taken me on, carried me through, has grown in my heart such a profound desire to lead others to Him. Despite the resistance I may experience along the way, I am determined not to be overcome by the weariness that tries to knock at my life's door.

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. ~ Isaiah 50:4

Pray for this ministry and my leadership of it. I felt God instruct me that it is time to extend out of our church walls with this ministry. A few of the ladies agreed. So the women's ministry team (which is only about two of us now) will be hosting Beth Moore's Esther Bible study as a community Bible study. We have opened two session, one in the evening and one during the day to be flexible and not during typical "church times". As of last week, only five church ladies had signed up. The advertisement for this study went out in the local paper Wednesday and will continue throughout this month. Pray God will send the right women from our community and church to this. Pray for growth. Pray that He will also send me another partner who is just as called, just as excited about sharing God to others.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ~ Galatians 6:9

There are a lot of people out there that need to know our Lord like we do. We are His missionaries, His light in this cold dark world, his maidservant to complete His kingdom work. There is a harvest out there and we need to be busy in it.

I cherish your prayers my friends.

His Maidservant~Pamela

Having A Bad Day

I'm having a bad day. I should have known better when I journaled "Lord, make me a loving considerate, and compassionate wife and mother". I lost it with my 9-year old when she started crying over her clothes this morning. Grief. She is the kind of kid that couldn't wear socks with a seam when she was younger and now she only will wear sweats or shorts because "jeans bother her legs"? WHAT? What girl does not like a pair of good fitting jeans? Old Navy has been good to us over the years but when she enters middle school I fear for her fashion sense. And God forbid if we buy her a shirt with long sleeves-"too tight on my arms". She is this dainty little thing...nothing is too tight! But I love her. I failed her again this morning (I prayed for God's forgiveness already).

Then I went to pick up my Beth Moore Esther order at the Lifeway store on a local college campus. They were at chapel so I had to wait. Made some errands to buy valentine gifts....found nothing.

Went to a local hospital to show a new clinical instructor around and the educator seemed to attack anything I would say. She is new there and to us. I finally just clammed up. I asked the new clinical instructor if I had said something wrong and he was clueless as to what I could have said to get the reactions we did from this person. So I pray for her. Who knows what is gong on in her life.

Then to end it all...Go to my daughters last game of the season that she is cheering at to find out her coach BENCHED HER!! She and another cheerleader went to sonic after practice and before the game. They got back 10 minutes late (Emma says she misunderstood the time they were to be back). The coach wouldn't let them (or the other girls they bought for) eat their food and told them to practice some more before the game. Not only did she have to sit out for the first half but she and her friend was not allowed to cheer on the floor between the third and forth quarter. My daughter is the one that does the cartwheels and is thrown up in the pyramid. NOPE. BENCHED. Just a bit dramatic (and the coach is related to my daughters dad-where is the family support???). Grief. Suppose I need to pray for her too but I don't want to.

I feel like a gremlin is inside waiting to explode out (and not the cute kind). WHY? I don't like feeling this way. God has been so good. I have been memorizing my scripture. I have been trying to live honorably and just. Then today I have been hit with nothing but negativity. And now I have a headache!

So I pray. There is somehow peace when I pray... is that so like our Lord?

A co-worker stated there is some things she just doesn't pray for herself because of how she gets hit with it later (like my prayer for myself this morning-instant failure). She said she instead will ask her friends to pray those things for her. Will you friend? Pray I will be loving, considerate, and compassionate wife and mother. Pray this negativity will not win out and steal the joy God has been giving me.

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. ~ Psalm 141:2

Yes...our prayers for those who cause us grief and our prayer for those we love are an incense to our Lord. It pleases Him.

So I continue to pray. What else am I to do?

His Maidservant~Pamela

Live an Active Faith!

Hello Friends! How did last week go? Did you experience God in the unexpected? Was He in the uncertainties of your life? Did you experience any of those God-ordained moments I have talked about in previous post?


As I sit and try to reflect back on last week and where I saw God I feel blinded. My mind does not allow me to remember well. I know I missed God in some things. Our pastor is encouraging us to stop every hour we are awake to reflect on God and thank Him or Praise Him. It really should not be too much to ask of us considering all God has done for us. Right?


So what might we encounter as we walk through this door into a new week? What adventure awaits us? Is satan on the other side of this door waiting to attack? Have you prepared your heart and mind for that? What is God calling you to do for Him in this new week? How might you grow your faith and lose a little more of the unwanted things in your life?


This week I want to challenge you to continue to look for those God-ordained moments. May you be encouraged in this by John 15: 16&17 (NIV):

You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is what I command you: love one another.

God chose you. He picked you for His team. Now play to win this week! Produce fruit-take on the challenge God has set before you to demonstrate Him in your life. Live out your faith in love, not just for your answered prayers but so that you can honor Christ with your life. I challenge you to remember God every hour!

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ~ Micah 6:8(NIV)

I'm saying it again-this week make your faith active. Act justly (honestly, fairly). Show a little mercy (compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender), and walk humbly (marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful).


How appropriate that with these thoughts ahead of me for this week, I find my my chosen memory scripture in next Sunday's scripture for our adult Sunday school class....

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ~ 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

But it's the Message version that really speaks volumes:

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

I will pray this scripture not only for my life this week but for yours also-that you will remember God each hour and live your faith!!


His Maidservant~Pamela