Because He Gave His Everything
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This week, we’ve been talking about living with grace in our home. Learning to just say “okay”. Learning how to use WD-40, better known as GRACE, to loosen up a bit and not be so rigid in our expectations. Then we ended the week in learning how to find that Sabbath Space in our home.
We could focus on grace here on out, if we wanted to; which is technically what this chapter was about. But I want to focus on something else today. WHY we are able to offer grace. Because of Jesus and what He did on the cross. He gave His everything in order for us to walk in grace and offer it to others.
His sacrifice was the ultimate act of grace!
Today, I want to Praise Him! I want to shout His name on high. I want to thank Him, and bring all glory and honor to Him, for that sacrifice of grace.
I’m not sure if we will ever truly comprehend the price He paid to show us grace, until we meet Him eye to eye. The ultimate sacrifice of being scourged for our sins; of being nailed to that cross….FOR YOU AND I.
GRACE ….
GRACE …
GRACE …
Because of Him and what He did for us that day in Calvary, we CAN offer grace to those undeserving. There is no reason for us to think otherwise. He paid that ultimate price to give us the ability to love those undeserving, and offer them grace.
GRACE …. Because He gave His Everything!
The resolution this week calls us to cultivate a peaceful home where everyone can sense God’s presence not only through acts of love and service, but also through the pleasant and grateful attitude with which we perform them.
Next time something in your home calls for grace…and you don’t think you can offer it …. think of what He did on the cross for YOU and how undeserving you were for that sacrifice. Then extend the same kind of grace to others.
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Let’s Pray:
Jesus, we love YOU so very much! We thank You for the ultimate sacrifice You paid on the cross that day in Calvary. Jesus we would be lost without You; but because of You giving Your everything, we can face tomorrow and live eternally with You!
Thank You Lord. Some days there just doesn’t seem to be an adequate way to say thank you for the deep sacrifice that You paid. But Lord, my heart is full today; it is alive; and I am alive today because of You! I give You all my praise, glory, and honor.
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If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, please write to us so we can get in contact with you today to share the Love of Christ with you, and walk you through a prayer to accept Him into your heart. We love you! He loves YOU!!
You can email Robin Packer, our Intercessory Prayer Ministry Leader, at Robin@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com.
Robin will contact you and pray with you.
Thank you for joining us this week. I pray the blogs this week spoke to your heart, as they did mine!
We love you, and so does He!!
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Reminder… on October 1st, we will begin our brand new Online Bible Study, entitled “Winning Him Without Words” by Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller. If you are in an unequally spiritual marriage, you won’t want to miss this study!!
To sign up for this study, please send an email to: Womens@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com and we will send you all the details you need to get started!
Now jump on over to our Facebook Group for the daily activity!! If you do not yet belong to this group, and would like to, send us an email atGirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com with FB GROUP in the subject line, and we’ll be glad to add you!
Resolution for Women: Living w/ Grace Weekly Review
Resolution for Women: Living With Grace
“For the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
John 1:17
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I want to start this blog today by asking you what the word “grace” means to you. Think about that for a minute, before you answer. When you stop and think about that word, what pictures run through your mind?
When I think of the word “grace”, it reminds me of someone who has much poise. A soft demeanor. A soft approach. A soft voice. A soft touch.
It means a soft spoken word. Or a gentle word of encouragement.
There are a lot of meanings for the word “grace”. But this week, we are focusing on what “living with grace” means for our homes. For me, living with grace means my home is a place of safety; a place of encouragement; a place that allows you to drop your troubles at the door; a safe haven. It means a place where my husband can come home to, and not only feel peace, but see it, as well.
For me, it means being a gracious host when friends come over. For me, I want everyone to come into my home and feel a surrounding of peace they don’t feel elsewhere. So it’s important to me and my husband that we keep all obstacles out of our home, including people, who will not respect our peace.
When we first married, there was no such thing as peace in our home. I walked into a home with two teenage boys who knew no discipline whatsoever. They were allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted. Needless to say, that changed when I moved in. That did not set will with either one of them. We had a lot of struggles, disagreements, and some yelling and screaming fights! It was not pretty, at all!! Needless to say, there was no such thing as peace in our home!
But soon, that changed for the better. It took my husband and I agreeing that we would never allow that kind of strife in our home again! No matter what it took! It took both of us praying, A LOT!!! It took us both coming to the conclusion that we did not, and would not allow satan to destroy our home environment!
Grace in my home now means we forgive quickly. We move forward. We respect each others privacy. We respect each other…period!! We take care of our home, instead of allowing things to get so out of hand, it’s complete chaos trying to get over all the mounds of “STUFF” that got left undone!! We strive to do whatever it takes to make others feel comfortable in our home. We WANT others to enjoy being in our home, not having to get out quickly because the strife was so thick you could cut it with a knife!
It took a lot of work, but over time, we made it happen.
Grace, by definition, is “favor or kindness expressed to the undeserving. There were times in my home, I did NOT want to extend grace to those undeserving. I was mad. I was bitter. I was hurt! Today, there are still times I struggle with things that happened when we first got together under one roof. But overall, I know I have to show God’s grace to others, because of the grace He showed me when I was so undeserving of it.
Offering complete grace to the undeserving in our own ability, is not possible. But, 2 Corinthians 12:9 says,
‘My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’“
It’s during those times, when we struggle to offer grace to those undeserving, when we are weak and don’t have the ability to do it on our own, that Jesus’ grace flows through us!! Praise God!!! We CAN offer grace because He says we can through Him!!! AMEN!!!
Priscilla says, “Dispensers of grace are women who resolve to put candles on the table instead of sulking in the dark.” I love that!!! It means letting go of past hurts, and choosing to move forward and offering grace to those who don’t deserve it. That my dear Sister in Christ, is going to offer you peace like you’ve never experienced before! It’s revolutionary, as Priscilla says!
Showing true grace to others means making others feel accepted; no longer holding onto offenses; being grateful; no longer being critical; allowing others to walk freely around you instead of on egg shells; showing them Christ in all your ways.
“Give them a break.
I know they don’t deserve it.
But neither did you.
Grace came anyway.”
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Let’s Pray:
Father, we ask You to check our hearts today and see if grace lives there. If not Lord, instruct us on what we need to do to let go of whatever it is that is keeping us from walking freely in the grace that Christ showed us, and help us to offer it freely to others, even those undeserving. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!
Your Assignment:
Think about a home that you have entered where grace was prevalent. How did the home feel? How were you treated? If you could do one thing in your own home to extend Christ’ grace to others, what it would be? Please leave your comment below.
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Reminder… on October 1st, we will begin our brand new Online Bible Study, entitled “Winning Him Without Words” by Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller. If you are in an unequally spiritual marriage, you won’t want to miss this study!!
To sign up for this study, please send an email to: Womens@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com and we will send you all the details you need to get started!
Now jump on over to our Facebook Group for the daily activity!! If you do not yet belong to this group, and would like to, send us an email at GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com with FB GROUP in the subject line, and we’ll be glad to add you!
Living Intentionally to Offer His Grace,
Resolution for Women: the Discipline Dealer
Priscilla states that “we” are to be the one who establishes goals in our children “right from the start”, to put a specific plan of action in place, so they are aware of and know their boundaries and ground rules. OK, so how many of us made this plan when our first child was born? How many of us had this plan in our household when we were growing up?
As I studied in God’s Word this week in preparation for this lesson and asked Him to guide me with what to share with you here are some of the things He gave me.
Parents should refuse to leave their children at the mercy of their own foolishness. Instead we should take every effort to prepare and teach our children the skills of self-control, respect for authority, consideration for others, and submission to God.
This training involves teaching, leading, correcting.
In one word “discipline”.
Here are some things that discipline should be:
- Discipline should be consistent. Personal feelings should not sway our efforts to be consistent. A parents “no you cannot” has meaning only if that parent is consistent, never permitting the child to ignore it. (I have some friends that have been “the discipline dealer” parents since their daughter was born and now at 1 yr old when they were at the hospital when my daughter was having surgery this past June, I experienced the statement that Priscilla made on Pg. 224 how one year olds are able to respond to expectations and discipline-Kinsley did just that and I was truly honored to see at such a young age that she “knew” what was right and wrong for her). If we aren’t consistent in our teaching how will they know when we are serious in our instructions today vs. tomorrow – we can’t be wishy washy, one day do it this way tomorrow something else.
- Discipline should be positive. Discipline is not all negative. The steady patience of a positive parent can shape strong character in a child.
- Discipline should be effective. Discipline demands example. God gave a perfect example and a high compliment to Abraham when he said of him, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord”, Genesis 18:19. This good father led by character and example. Joshua admonished Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” then he added the strong words, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” Joshua 24:15. He was a successful disciplinarian because he was successful in self-discipline. When we plant biblical principles in the hearts of our children we know they will be further away from disobedience and rebellion.
If we will instill an awareness of God’s presence in the first several years of our child’s life they will develop a sense of right and wrong, and they will be less vulnerable to the undesirable influences in the world. In order for our child to be a responsible person, we must train them to be responsible with chores, homework and personal duties. Learning to be a responsible, productive member of the family and the home is important as it helps prepare our child for the responsibilities of their adult life.
- Discipline should be individualized. Wise parents should not compare one child to another. Children are individuals, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each child finds security in being loved and accepted. Even when the child is punished, he must sense that it is because he is loved. (Hebrews 12:5-6 says; And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.)
- Discipline should be rewarding. Seeing our children grow into Christ-like living productive adults is a reward of carefully patterned discipline. The Bible says that children are a heritage of the Lord, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, are the sons of one’s youth; Happy is the man who has a quiver full of them, he has not been put to shame, Psalms 127:3-5. Solomon said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6.
Discipline consists not only of words and acts of correction, but also it involves instruction and exhortation to good deeds and thought. Parents who give to their children the security and joy of a home where love surrounds them, and whose words of teaching and guidance are demonstrated daily and fully in righteous, patient, unselfish service both in and out of the home, are those who truly discipline their children!
Being a discipline dealer takes much time and effort and being one yields children who are responsible, respectful, compassionate, considerate, humble, selfless, generous, gracious – out and out children who are a joy to be around when they are young and when they are grown and gone from our nest. **and remember ladies even when our children do leave the nest they still need our guidance and we still must live the examples in front of them when they are adults so they can see it was not just something we did while they were young but something they will carry on to every generation to come**
Something Priscilla stated in this lesson for us is “don’t feel burdened to be perfect” in order to sign this resolution.
We all have room to grow and learn; and praise God we are learning together and teaching each other.
We haven’t done things perfectly but lets resolve to do them purposefully!
Let’s Pray:
God I pray that each one of us will fully demonstrate to our children how to love YOU and that we will train them to respect authority and live responsibly. In your name I pray Amen!
Your Assignment:
If you have yet to make a specific plan of action in training your children in the way of the Lord make an appointment on your calendar and do so, and then put that action into place. If you already have a specific plan in training your child/ren please share with all of us so we can learn from the wisdom God has shown you.
Reminder… on October 1st, we will begin our brand new Online Bible Study, entitled “Winning Him Without Words” by Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller. If you are in an unequally spiritual marriage, you won’t want to miss this study!!
To sign up for this study, please send an email to: Womens@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com and we will send you all the details you need to get started!
Don’t forget to stop by Craig’s blog to see what the guys are up to with The Resolution for Men.
www.adversusmundi.wordpress.com
Now jump on over to our Facebook Group for the daily activity!! If you do not yet belong to this group, and would like to, send us an email at GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com with FB GROUP in the subject line, and we’ll be glad to add you!
Love ya’ll, Beverly
Resolution for Women – Weekly Overview “Fulfilling My Husband”
Happy Friday!!! 🙂
Here is this weeks video blog!! 😉
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Have a GREAT Weekend Everyone!
See you on Sunday!
Resolution for Women: Need a Little Peace and Quiet
What does honoring and loving our husbands look like?
We were given some wonderful scriptures to read to help us “get the picture” of what it looks like in 1 Peter 3:1-5.
The main part of these verses this lesson focused on for us is verse 4. “Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
I think of it as “my recipe” for my marriage.
To be “gentle” means to be (humble, considerate or meek). Priscilla says simply put “we are being asked to be kind to our husbands”.
So how about it? Can we resolve to be kind? What are some ways we can proactively show kindness to our husband? Here are just a few that have been part of my list for a while that I thought I would share with you today
- Leave him alone while he is doing his business in the bathroom
- Don’t cut him down, especially in front of others
- Encourage his hobbies
- Do things with him that he likes, even when you don’t
- Don’t get upset when he wants to take a trip with just the guys
- Don’t move his belongings around without discussing with him first
- Leave electronic devices at home or in your purse when you go out for dinner
- Make a date night with him at least once a week, even if its just popcorn and movie after the kids are in bed
- Honor him in front of the children and others
- Treat him as if God stamped on His forehead “handle with care”
Do we truly go “out of our way” to find out what our husband likes. Don’t wait for him to tell us, look for it, he will love that we took the time to truly find out without him having to tell us.
To be “quiet” does not mean you are supposed to be silent, instead we are to be a living, breathing expression of the Word of God. Quietness has more to do with the state of our hearts than the quality and volume of our words.
Our lesson taught us we are to try and lighten the load for our husbands. This means for us to figure out how we can make or help our husbands day “just a little bit easier”, as this will help him to feel more confident because he knows we’re not here to tear him down but to build him up.
When we say “I do” that means we are becoming a team “together” and that means we are to be his “helpmeet”. When we show our man that we want to “serve” him then he is much more likely to reciprocate the same back to us and our family.
Many times its “our words” in much of our day that speaks in our relationships….when sometimes we just need the power that is reflected in the two words “gentleness and quietness” to take the lead.
Earlier in the week as I began this weeks study of fulfilling my husband I had decided to ask my husband a question…I wanted to find out what he thought about how I fulfill him? Am I doing a good job at it? Are there some ways I can do better or fulfill him more than I do today after 33 years of marriage?
And ladies this is what he told me…are you ready for this…
He said “everything you do for me or with me is just perfect the way I like it so I don’t think there is anything you need to do better or different”
That made me know at least I know I am on the right track with fulfilling my man…..but I know all the outward stuff he sees or hears is probably supplying/fulfilling him but what about my inward thoughts….do I do the same on the inside or am I yelling at him when he doesn’t do what I think is the right thing, if I am, then I am not fully fulfilling him and I need to work on my thoughts too.
Let’s resolve to honor and love our man like God has taught us to in His Word!
Let’s Pray:
Father, teach us what each of us need to do or change in our lives/marriages to ensure we are fulfilling our husband and help us to accomplish it Lord, for when we honor him we are honoring You.
In Your name I pray Amen!
Your Assignment:
Think of one thing you can do to be proactively kind to your man and DO IT!!!
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After you have commented below, go back to our Online Bible Study Group on Facebook to see what our Daily Activity is. If you do not yet belong to our OBS Facebook group, and would like to, please send an email to: GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com
We’ll send you the details needed to get you into this group!
Don’t forget to stop by Craig’s blog to see what the guys are up to with The Resolution for Men.
Resolution for Women – Chapter 10 – Fulfilling My Husband
Happy Labor Day Everyone! We are all celebrating Labor Day today, so all we are posting today is your reading assignment for this week. We hope you all have enjoyed this awesome weekend, and had plenty of time to enjoy your families, and relax!!
We’re ready for Chapter 10 of The Resolution for Women, this week! It’s all about fulfilling our husband. This is going to be a great chapter!
Here is your reading assignment:
September
3rd — NO ASSIGNMENT! Enjoy the holiday!
4th: Marriage Proposal – Megan
5th: Hopes and Fears – Kelley
6th: Need a Little Peace & Quiet – Beverly
7th: Week Overview — Christi
That’s it for today! See you tomorrow!
Resolution for Women Chapter 9 Overview
What an amazing week!! 🙂
Enjoy Your Labor Day Weekend!
We’ll be back on TUESDAY!! 🙂
Resolution for Women: Mercy Me
How many times a day or week have you found yourself asking these questions:
- Lord what is it that You want me doing?
- What do you require of me today?
- What jobs in the church do You want me to serve in?
- What ministries can I be of help in?
- What church do I need to attend and be a part of?
And wait there is that BIG question that we always get around to asking……Lord what is Your WILL for my life?
As we learned in today’s lesson God’s answer to His will for us is found in Micah 6:8 .
“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”
In this book of the old testament God used Micah to prophesy to the people who had fallen from Him. Amongst the people, there was corruption, idolatry, violence and the belief that personal sacrifice satisfies divine justice. Even with all that was going on with these people and the impending judgment for their wickedness, God was still reaching out for the “hearts” of His people.
This is the place He has always reached out to capture. When someone or something can penetrate our hearts “it sticks” whether it is something good or bad it is in there solid, and in order for God to capture our heart we must allow Him to penetrate it and then we will know His will for us.
In this verse and in your life God has BIG PLANS for you…he said so, so why do we continually ask Him what His will is for us. He has told us already….(act, love, walk)…these are clear visions from His Word of what He wants us doing right now today not in the future, He will take care of the future stuff when He is ready but for now lets do these things that His Word has described for us:
- Act justly – God is telling us to do what’s right, so in order to do this we must ask a few questions to ourselves (Do I owe anything to anyone? Do I tell the truth? Have I treated others as they should be treated? Do I have unconfessed sin in my life? Am I living a moral life?
So after reading these few questions can we truly say we are acting justly or do we need to mend some things in our life before we can say “yes I do”. Priscilla stated a woman’s primary interest is seeing justice done, seeking solutions that are fair, reasonable, objective and most importantly – are expressive of the love of Christ.
Maybe we should sit down and make a list of things we need to make right—then make them right—God can’t bless us further until we obey His convictions and change our life to live justly.
- Love mercy – this means that we must have a hearty interest in doing things that bless and impact others lives. We MUST seek other people’s needs above our own. People have many needs as we all know but the first need we want to meet is their spiritual need “to know Christ as Savior” then we can help meet physical needs or material needs as God shows us.
Do we give of ourself to others only when it is convenient to us? Do we live our day in such a way that we say I have to take care of me and my family before I can help someone else? Do we keep mental records of what people deserve from us? If this is our way of thinking then we haven’t learned what to “love mercy” really means.
Proverbs 31:20 shows us the perfect example of what we should be doing to “love mercy” to others, it says “ she stretcheth our her hand to the poor; yea; she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.”
Being merciful and loving to others should be our way of life, no matter where we are or what we are doing in our life, that is His will for us.
- Walk humbly – to live in complete dependence upon our Holy Lord, He deserves the glory and honor.
We must admit that walking humbly doesn’t fit too well in our society today. As we are all aware everything that goes on in our lives is “public” knowledge now. We post a status on Facebook or Twitter to tell everyone what we are doing, we post the latest pictures of our children/grandchildren/vacations, our lives are open for the whole world to see and know about us. It’s not the old days where what happens at home stays at home, nope the world sees all and knows all because we are the ones telling them all.
We seem to care more about what others think, did they hit the “like” button on our FB status, than what God thinks about what we did in our day today and if what we did was something that brought glory to Him and not ourself.
How can we walk humbly with God, if we aren’t walking with God to begin with in our life? We can’t begin to serve others if our lives aren’t where they need to be yet.
We can’t learn these three aspects of what God’s will is for our life until we practice them each day. (act, love, walk). As we come to this last day of study for this week and at the point of signing the resolution we must make ourself aware of what the Holy Spirit is compelling us to do concerning this lesson and how He wishes to use us. Here are some ideas that came to my mind as I was studying of ways I can act, love and walk…
- Cook a meal for someone sick
- Make cards for people at a nursing home
- Mow someone’s grass
- Offer to babysit for someone
- Volunteer at a library to read to children
- Tutor children
- Write letters to first time college students who have left home to go off to school
- Clean up the trash in your city
- Stand at an intersection and give out bottles of water to people on a hot steamy day
These are just some things that God brought to my heart as I studied today’s lesson that I intend on acting upon. My opportunity to know God’s will has been in front of my eyes for a long time, I’ve never needed to ask God what His will is for me, it’s all around me, I just need to act on it and He will continue providing other things that His will is for me as I show my obedience to doing the ones He has already presented to me now.
This weeks chapter is entitled “My Heart”, finding and knowing God’s will is really pretty simple. It starts, and ends with our heart.
Let’s do God’s will and do it without any reservations, let’s keep our eyes and hearts open and resolve to be available!
Let’s Pray
Dear God, I thank you for showing and explaining to each of us that Your will is already planned out for each of us and that as we are obedient to act, love and walk you will show us specifically where to go and what to do. In your name I pray, Amen.
Your Assignment:
Ask God to show you things He wants You to do in this next week in order to act, to love and to walk in His will, and more importantly when He speaks, OBEY and do it!
Now head on over to our Online Bible Study Group on Facebook to see what our Daily FUN Activity is. If you do not yet belong to our OBS Facebook group, and would like to, please send an email to:
GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com
We’ll send you the details needed to get you into this group!
Don’t forget to stop by Craig’s blog to see what the guys are up to with The Resolution for Men.
The Resolution for Women – How do you Heal an Unbroken Heart
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom Shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I, Send me!
Isaiah 6:8
Wow, what a week to have me blog for this chapter! I just came back from a life changing trip to Nicaragua. This wasn’t my first mission trip though, in fact, last year I went to Guatemala with all intentions of going back. God started working on me way before we left on August 11. I signed up to go to Guatemala then a Proverbs 31 She Speaks conference was scheduled in the same month – due to financial reasons I had to choose one or the other. I chose Proverbs 31 as I felt like God was working on me to expand my personal ministry and begin writing or speaking. So….I registered for the conference. A few weeks later at church I see where my own church is taking their first independent mission trip to Nicaragua! Immediately God let me know that I was supposed to be on that team – so I cancelled the conference registration and joined the missionary team. My wonderful husband had given me the conference money which I now needed for the mission trip and I was able to raise the rest without issue. Yes, God was at work. When I almost raised all the money needed, the people at work asked me how much more I needed, I told them $125 – they raised $82 for me. I talked to our pastor taking us, his records had me only owing $80 and I had just received $82! I preface this story telling you this so you understand how from the very beginning, when I was asking God to show me what ministry activity I was supposed to participate in – He was there – setting me up the entire time.
With that resolved, Like Priscilla in our story today, I now prayed for a broken heart – for the biggest, cracked, shattered, brokest broken heart because you just can’t heal one that is unbroken. I truly wanted to FEEL the pain, I wanted to understand, I didn’t just want to go through the motions. I needed to be broke. Does that make sense?
The first 5 days of our mission trip were spent in a village called Salinas Grande. It is on the ocean and is built around a salt mine. It was about 8 miles of dirt roads, Many houses were lean-to’s wrapped in black plastic, some were block but were open to weather. People rode horses and yes, we saw many horses with make-shift wagons (piece of flat plywood) that they would ride multiple people or things on. Most had electricity with mostly 1 lightbulb hanging for light. However running water was not an everyday gift in most houses. People went with buckets and containers to get their water; sometimes on bikes, sometimes on horses, sometimes walking. Oh yes, the heart was breaking already. Thank you Jesus. How can we have so much and they have so little? Why God?
We met a 90-year-old beautiful, precious woman at one of the feeding programs. She was manually hoisting the water from a very deep well with a bucket and pulley. Our guys tried to lift the water to see how she managed, they could not lift it far! God, she’s 90 and happy, I said. This is life for her; but why? We all have clean running water into our homes – and this elderly sweet lady had to drop a bucket into a well for hers? More heart break….I gave this woman the biggest hug I could possibly give. There is no language barrier with a hug! And the GREATest news…..We had a person on our team who dealt with water pumps at work and we were able to give this her running water at the flip of a switch. No more pulling her water up with a 10 gallon bucket!
The children were beautiful. They would come to the feeding programs at lunch time and get a nice hot lunch. These are funded by missionary teams through Open Eyes Ministries. They would come up on bikes or walking with their empty bowls and spoons and for some, this might be the only full meal a day they get. Can you feel my heart shattering…..being totally broken. And I prayed for this! I needed this! The ladies would cook over their fires, no stoves for them, preparing a big bowl of rice, a big bowl of beans, and a big bowl of some kind of meat and vegetables and we would serve these beautiful little people. We’d play with them – they loved to play ‘football’ (soccer), we had some doing the hokey pokey with us and a translator – All God’s people, but living a different kind of life.
We went into a pastor’s home for a sewing ministry – the young girls were learning how to sew and were making school uniforms to help furnish uniforms to the children at schools that didn’t have the money for them. Someone in ministry had gotten them Brother Sewing Machines to work with – they looked so out-of-place in this pastors open house with chickens and little biddies running through it – they even had a couple of green parakeets running around – but they were happy. It was HOT and there wasn’t much air running through the house, but here these girls sat learning a trade because someone cared. Amazing Grace! God is so good! The navy blue skirts they made had perfect pleats. I stood in awe. I had to donate to this ministry. They were working so hard to give back and they didn’t have enough themselves. —-crash, shatter—-bang…
I know this is getting long-winded, but I have to tell you about the final straw! We went into the schools to teach lessons to the children. We taught Honesty, Optimism, Integrity, and on the last day we took them the gospel. I had the opportunity for the first time to stand up in front of this class and teach them about taking Jesus into their hearts, asking for forgiveness of their sins, teaching them that their slate would wash clean, and they would be new. In my class, I had 22 students and a teacher pray the prayer of salvation! Oh be still my heart! Further shatter…..completely broken – emotionally exhausted. We had 94 total give their hearts in the school that day!
I will end by telling you that I left Nicaragua with a shattered, broken, destroyed heart. God made sure that it would never be the same again. Even as it healed, the remnants of the cracks would remain. I now know that my heart is in ministry for the lost. For those that do not know Jesus Christ. I am on a life mission to be part of the groups that change things in the world for those are less fortunate, and many times lost. I won’t ever be the same person after this trip. God used it to change me so I in turn could change the lives of others. I’m thankful to Jesus for shattering my heart. For showing me the way. I pray that if you have never had your heart spiritually broken, you pray for it. Pray that God takes it and shatters in it pieces. The beauty of what you feel afterwards will change your life as it did mine.
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Let’s Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for breaking my heart. Thank you for allowing me to share my broken heart with others; allowing me to be a vessel for you. Bless each one that reads this blog today and each one that doesn’t. I pray that you will work in our lives, in our hearts, and mold us and shape us to be missionaries to the world – starting right here in our own towns and cities. Thank you for the running water, the electricity, the way of life we have here in the USA. Work with us so that we can take some of our wealth, spiritually and otherwise, to other places in the world, blessing your children there as we are blessed. We ask these things in your name, Amen.
Your Assignment:
Perhaps you’ve been burned when trying to reach out too drastically, people have taken advantage of you or misunderstood your motives; but when you to go minister Christ’s love to another person, what is your real reason for going? What’s a better way to evaluate your success than with measurable, feel-good results alone?
After you have commented below, go back to our Online Bible Study Group on Facebook to see what our Daily FUN Activity is. If you do not yet belong to our OBS Facebook group, and would like to, please send an email to:
GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com
We’ll send you the details needed to get you into this group!
Don’t forget to stop by Craig’s blog to see what the guys are up to with The Resolution for Men.
www.adversusmundi.wordpress.com
With Big Hugs and a Big Heart,
<3 Kelley
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Resolution for Women: Underneath It All
Our Memory Verse
“out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”
Luke 6:45
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I am sure that all of you have seen a picture of a crack in the earth when an earthquake is about to happen, if not, here is a picture of one when it hits.
And next is a picture of the sheer devastation after the earthquake has hit full force.
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These pictures are what came into my mind as I was studying this lesson. As our lesson stated, “the cracks are merely symptoms of a more serious condition that is underneath”.
The only way to remedy complete and utter disaster by this thing called “our tongue” is to address the foundation, structural issues that could possibly cause an eruption. Our lesson states that controlling our tongue is a quest.
As we continue on this quest to determine how we can uncover what is hidden we will begin to see that “the cracks” are actually symptoms of a much deeper, more difficult problem that we must fix in order to be the blessing to others like God is wanting and asking us to be.
I Love what Priscilla says on page 122, “Our mouth is like a barometer, it will tell us and others whether we are truly immersed in humility and surrendered in obedience to God or if we are housing a malnourished spirit that stubbornly refuses to yield to the wisdom of God’s own Word”.
She tells us we need to take inventory of our tongues track record and use that as an instructive way for us to uncover what is hidden within, and here is the list of questions that she gave us to use as our inventory check list:
- Are we always quick to offer an opinion into conversations at every opportunity?
- Are we constantly critical and demeaning in our spoken sentiments?
- Do we frequently find ourself quarreling with our spouse or being divisive among others?
- Does gossip continue to come easily for us?
- Do our words often reveal a doubtful, skeptical outlook?
The words we use on our lips are just like the first picture in this post “they reveal what is going on in our foundation”
Here are some tongue facts for you that I thought you might enjoy knowing:
- Our tongue is the strongest muscle in our body.
- Our tongue is the only muscle in our body that is attached only on one end.
- 50% of the bacteria in our mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.
- Every person has a unique tongue print.
Our tongue may be a small part of our body, but it can cause huge devastation just like in the second picture in this post. We use this tongue to demean others and then in another breath we use it to praise our Lord. With the most powerful muscle in our body, we can either say negative things, degrade someone, cut someone down, or we can build up, edify, encourage and uplift someone. Our Words have power and those words come from our tongues. We have the ability to control how that muscle is used whether it will be used for good or bad but often we let it move unrestrained and without much thought and that is when the cracks start appearing in our foundation.
Over the past few years I have truly sought out how I speak to others, and God has used many things in my life to change “my tongue” and one of them sometimes has been “silence” and another has been to “listen”. When I make exerted efforts to do both of these, I begin to find what is “underneath it all”, I find where my cracks are beginning to surface, and how He is using these two tools to change my foundation, to help repair what is there so that no eruptions come forth.
Priscilla tells us on Pg.125 as we soak in His Word we can expect to have a deep reservoir filled with all the treasures needed to help temper our conversations with wisdom, kindness and humility. She also reminds us that its not just about watching our mouth, but watching our heart and that any lasting change we make in controlling our tongue must start at the base, the foundation, down where the cracks are forming.
One great verse that Robin gave us weeks ago when we were doing the study on our words and it has stuck with me since that day and is posted at my desk at work and other places is “Set a guard over my mouth Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips”. Psalms 141:3 NIV…..this verse gave me a foundational structure to help me build this new work God is doing in my life and this week of lessons has taught me how I can be a blessing to others (with my time, my concern and my full attention) and to do all those well I need good ears and a good tongue…..so yep these are areas I am working on giving to HIM first so I can bless others with them next…
Your assignment for today: Take the tongue inventory test talked about above and “Before signing your name to the “My Blessing” resolution, consider what changes you may need to make in order to be the person who is “quick to listen and slow to speak” make those adjustments and when you are ready to commit it to God, then sign your name on the dotted line.
Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord, I praise you for this little member of our body “the tongue”. It can destroy but it can also build up and I pray for each of us that we look for where our foundation is cracking within our tongue and show us how to get it repaired so that each of us can use this little muscle to be a blessing to others. Amen.
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Now it’s time to go back to your Facebook Online Bible Study Group to see what your Daily Activity is!! I’m guessing it’s going to be a fun one!! If you are not currently in one our FB OBS Groups, and would like to be, please send an email to: GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com, and we’ll be glad to add you!!
Love ya’ll
Beverly
