What fears are swirling in your mind as you begin your week? Is it the paper that is due in that difficult class? Is it the overwhelming workload left on your desk from Friday afternoon? Is it a difficult conversation with a friend? Is it a hard relationship at home or an uncertain doctor’s appointment? Whatever the fear is, one thing is certain: in the mind of the fearful one, it can seem like an impassable mountain.
Missions Wednesday: Saudi Arabia
Imagine living in a family where becoming a Christian means persecution, and often death. Imagine living in a society where you are the only Christian and there are few Bibles, few avenues for fellowship, and hardly any Christian places to worship your Savior. It’s hard to think about isn’t? Especially hard when many of us pass multiple churches on the way to our own church, or when the local Christian bookstore is not too far, or when we have unrestricted internet access to some of the greatest resources for our own growth. Imagine living in a country where Christians weren’t even allowed to get to you.
Goals for 2010: Making My Time Count
Like many people I made goals for the upcoming year. I can’t recall ever making goals for the year before, at least as a believer. But I find myself saying “I want to work on that” a lot, so it seemed only right to make a list of said things, if only to have something to pray about and reflect on next year at this time. As I prayed and thought through the list, I found a recurring theme—time management. Most of my aspirations for my growth this year stem from my own lack of time management and self-control.
Missions Wednesday: Turkey
Will You Mentor Me?
A biblical mentoring relationship is a choice—for both parties involved. While we see the mandate in Titus 2 for older women to train the younger women, the latter must be willing to receive the discipleship. Often, as younger women, we stay only in the waiting position. We see the command for older women and hope that they will see us at church and resolve to find us and mentor us. It’s not wrong to hope for that. In fact, it is a very good thing to hope for that kind of a relationship. But we can take that hope and help make it into a reality. We can take steps to foster relationships with older women, seeking their advice, desiring their help, and wanting their friendship.
More Thoughts on Haiti
Throughout the day we have been seeing updates from various Christian organizations saying they have yet to hear from many of their staff in Haiti. For many of them they are in the poorest places in Haiti, and in the world. And they chose to be there. Many of them left the comforts of America to live among impoverished people. And they chose to be there. Many of them have now lost their lives, buried next to the very people they were seeking to bring the Gospel to. And praise God, they chose to be there.
Disciple Now Reflections
My husband and I just finished up a Disciple Now weekend with the youth of our church. For those of you unfamiliar with DNOW (and I was until I married a youth pastor), it is a weekend conference for youth put on by the local church (or at least in our case it was). Usually you bring in speakers and then break up into small groups at homes hosted by church family. So I spent the entire weekend with three amazing high school girls from our youth group!
Missions Wednesday (on Thursday)
We had the privilege of being apart of a short-term missions send off for my parents pastor while we were home. I left the service with a strong desire to go with them. I realized that by the sheer prayer and acknowledgment of this family’s trip my heart was stirred to love the nations. I think that this is what we are supposed to feel. We see people go, we hear about the need, and we want to do something (either go or send). Primarily for my own benefit, and Lord willing your benefit as well, I am going to post brief summaries of countries every week, in part to stir in my heart a love for the nations. I am also doing it to prepare these summaries for the children at our church. So stay tuned. I pray that you are educated, engaged, and encouraged to love all nations and desire them to come to faith in our Christ.
Just One of The Many Reasons...
...I love the Jesus Storybook Bible! I am currently serving as the children's church director at my church. Which basically means I plan the schedule and pick the curriculum, which I love to do! At our church we want everyone to love their Bibles, including children. What better way than to take them through the entire Bible, right? So I prepare questions for the teachers to ask the kids after the story. Usually they are related to the details of the story, but I try to include heart related questions to help them think through applying Scripture to their own lives. I usually finish reading the stories wanting more. I love, love, love them. They are so Christ-centered and true. And it captures the entire story of God's redemptive plan in easy-to-understand language for kids. Our story this week is about Jonah. So here is one of the many reasons I love this Bible (and hope you do to!).