She Speaks Conference

I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it. I’m about to lose control and I think I like it.

Lysa TerKeurst with Proverbs 31 Ministries is sponsoring another contest. This time it’s for a
scholarship to the She Speaks Conference in June.

http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

http: //www.shespeaksconference.com/

I would love to win this contest. I can tell you, I’m going whether I win or not, the money has already been earmarked, but I have a friend who is also writting a book. She has been through some rough times since her husband died , not just emotionally but physically as well. I would love to give her my earmarked money as a gift so she could come and experience this wonderful growing experience as well.

But whether I win or not I just can’t help but post my memoirs from last years conference in hopes that my story will help someone step out in faith.

Here goes:


2007 was the year that the Lord turned up the volume of my spiritual hearing aid.

It all began with what I considered a royal screw up. I’d made plane reservations to visit my friend Jackie in Naples Florida without confirming the date with her. Of course the week-end I’d chosen was the only weekend she wouldn’t be there.

As I rearranged my plans (with the help of Jackie this time) I was thrilled to find out that the new date coincided with her churches Women’s Conference. The speaker was a woman named Lysa TerKeurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries.

My life would never be the same after listening to Lysa talk about saying YES to God.

As the plane made its way down the runway returning me back home, I realized that my being in Florida for this weekend was indeed divine intervention.

Returning back home I was so fired up all I could think of was how I could raise the money to bring Lysa to my little area of the world to speak. I logged on to her website and as I maneuvered around I found out that Proverbs 31 was sponsoring a conference for writers, speakers, and women’s ministry leaders. The conference was called “She Speaks.”

My mouth began to salivate as I read the class descriptions. You see, for over a year I had
been attempting to write a book. God had instructed me one day to begin writing about something he was working on in me. I obeyed. The words began to flow rapidly onto the paper until I got to the ending…. I couldn’t seem to write a suitable ending to the story.

Listening to Lysa had inspired me and I had been revising and writing ever since I had gotten home, and finally I had the end! Now, maybe it was time to learn how to actually write a book instead of just flying by the seat of my pants!

But the price…how could I justify spending the money, not just for the conference but for a flight as well. Not to mention that I would need to take two days off from work. It became my daily prayer for God to provide a way if it was his will.

Every day I’d log on to the website and wonder what to do. A month later, I awoke on the morning of my 58th birthday to this message in my daily devotional,

“If you believe God is asking you to do something, you can’t wait for him to provide the means. Sometimes you have to step out in faith before he will provide. It’s called Trust”

And suddenly I began singing Happy Birthday to ME.


I placed a call to Proverbs 31 and began the registration process over the phone. The friendly woman at the other end of the phone caught me by surprise when she asked me if I would like to take advantage of meeting with a publisher. I froze. I took a deep breath and heard a little voice say “tell her yes”.

“No,” I replied I don’t think I’m ready.

That’s when God turned up the volume another decibel and I heard the words Lysa had spoken in Naples. “I can assure you, she had said. God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls.

I realized then, that God was calling me to take another leap of faith. Maybe it was to teach me humility when the publisher laughed in my face, or maybe it was to prepare me for something different. Either way, if I was going to follow God I had to follow his direction.

“Um, I think I’ve I changed my mind, I would like to meet with someone after all.”

Stepping off the plane in North Carolina I was a little frazzled as I began trying to find my way to the shuttle. Finally I took a deep breath and said, “Lord, you’ve gotten me this far, I will trust that you will guide me to the hotel as well.” I felt an instant peace. Then I spotted a lone female a few feet in front of me. “By any chance are you in town for the “She Speaks Conference.” “Yes” she said looking relieved. What a blessing to find a new friend to begin the journey with.

I only had one other item that was causing me a little discomfort. My roommate! This was another area that I was depending on God for. I would much rather have had a room to myself, but I felt a little nudge in my spirit when I tried to justify the extra cost of a private room. But more than the cost, God reminded me that this weekend would be about growing in Him and not my personal comfort.

Trusting God paid off again. My roommate was wonderful and a real blessing to share a room with.

And finally the Pièce de résistance was the conference itself. At the registration desk we were given a notebook chocked full of valuable information, outlines, and resources, maps, and anything else we would need.

From the pre conference opening to the closing speech and worship service we were inspired challenged and entertained. I have never seen so many wonderful, compassionate, funny and inspiring leaders all in one place.

Although I crashed and burned in my first attempt at having my book published, the experience was phenomenal. The two women I met with were professional, and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, despite my dismal failure at a book proposal.

I have been to many women’s conferences in the past, from business to spiritual growth, but this was by far the most amazing. When so many women are gathered in one place, estrogen permeates the room, but I can honestly say not once did I hear a single grumble or complaint. It was truly an encounter with the Holy Spirit.


For three days I walked around in awe. Each day exceeded my expectations. But sadly all good things come to an end and soon it was time to head home.
I wasn’t heading home alone. I now had new friends to hold in my heart, mentors from the Gather and Grow group to light my path, and a sense of God smiling at my obedience.
In my bible is a beautiful reminder of my weekend and what serving God is all about. It reads:

It’s about Personal Growth ~ Not Perfection
It’s about Experiencing God ~ Not Exposure
It’s about Helping ~ Not Hoarding
It’s about Obedience ~ Not Opportunity
It’s about a Calling ~ Not Comfort
It’s about God ~ Not Glory

As a footnote let me tell you that just a few days after I registered for the conference we received a purchase agreement on my Fathers estate. It had been on the market for 6 months. The transaction was closed just prior to the conference.

We Serve an Awesome God.

Cheering-My God Given Gift

With all the talk of cheerleading on the blogs the last few days, I decided to post one of my own special God Spots.


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

Blue and Gold Fight Fight!

No that’s not a cheer for the Michigan Wolverines but a cheer that I learned as a young girl sitting on the bottom bleacher of the football stands, watching the cheerleaders do their thing at my brothers football games.

I would come home from his games and practice the moves over and over again until I had them just right. It became a passion, it was in my blood.

Finally the time came when I was old enough to try out for a team. I wanted to be a cheerleader so bad I could taste it. I found a prayer written in a teen magazine one day and I would recite it over and over preparing for the big day.

Dear Father up in heaven, these words to thee I pray
Please help me do my best at tryouts today.
I’ve practiced hard and I hope my work will prove worthwhile
But if I do not make the squad please help me to smile
And congratulate my friends and happy be for them
For in a contest some must lose, and some are sure to win!

I just want you to know that prayer was so indelibly written in my heart that I still have it memorized 40 years later.

God blessed me and gave me the desires of my heart. I wasn’t the best cheerleader on my squad. Actually in form I was way worse than everyone else, but I was all heart and that must have outweighed the negative.

But never ever could I have known way back then, that cheerleading was a call from God.

I was twenty years past my cheerleading days when I was asked to coach my niece’s 8th grade cheer team.

In the midst of controversy over whether or not the girls could mount up in pyramids, I took over a squad of precocious pubescent girls that were grown up one day, and infants the next. Every year I said “no more”, and every year for 7 years God said “Do it again.”

Several years ago as I was out walking and conversing with God about a new organization he was asking me to begin. I stopped dead in my tracks when he put this thought in my mind. “I did not create you to be a leader.” Of course I immediately responded with my usual “I don’t get it God.” And then continued with : “Why would you have asked me to begin this group if I am not supposed to be a leader?”

He told me I wasn't to think of my position as being a leader, but rather a mentor. Hmmm!

I began to think of all the times I have been in a leadership position and I realized that I was always much happier and much more effective as a vice president doing what I could to help out the President and make her job easier, or as a past president mentoring to the incoming President.

My gift wasn’t leadership, God gave me the gift to encourage, and to be His Cheerleader and encourage others in their God given roles. He’d given me a heart to cheer for a purpose all those years ago.

The point was driven home last week while I was getting my hair highlighted. One of those precocious pubescent girls I mentioned ended up being my hairdresser.

The conversation that day centered on her own precocious pubescent who was doing many of the same things her mom had done while under my charge.

I remember feeling quit vindicated. Then the topic changed and we began discussing “God Stuff.”

Before Christmas she had told me about her nephew who did not believe in God, and how much anxiety she was having because she wasn’t feeling confident enough to speak to him about it.

My advice to her was to remember that there are people who reap and people who sow, and people who prepare the soil by praying so that when the time is right the seed can be sowed and nurtured. Maybe all God was asking of her right now was to pray. And I gave her one of my favorite quotes from one of my own mentors. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” God will let you know when the time is right. It won't be easy but He will give you the strength and the confidence when He's ready for you to witness verbally, I added.

As I sat in the chair this time, she told me how God had put one of her fellow hairdressers on her heart, who also didn’t believe in God, and how she was feeling led to continue to witness to her.

I left the salon that day doing the Praise Jesus dance in my heart (an expression I’ve stolen from Lysa T).

Who would have thought that all those years ago when I was pulling my hair out in frustration that it was actually a time of cultivation?

God was preparing the soil so I could continue in the role He placed me in 20 years before - to be an encourager for my friends walk with the Lord.

Isn’t our God wonderful? I’m so glad he has plans for me. I’m so happy for all the chiseling God was doing when I didn’t know why I had to go thru some of the “Junk”.
I’m so grateful that he has turned our times of tolerating each other into times of rejoicing and sharing our faith.

I just wonder how old I have to get before I quit underestimating the power of God.

Quit Spinning Your Wheels

I was in the middle of my quiet time with Jesus yesterday morning when I felt led to pick up my pen and begin journaling. When God speaks I don’t really know what I’m supposed to write but he just begins wielding my pen.

After reading Lysa T’s blog today regarding skinny girl vs fat girl I decided to post yesterday’s journal entry.

Quit Spinning Your Wheels

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)

Lance Armstrong was a seven time winner of cycling's most prestigious race. Three years before he won his first Tour de France, a race that calls for amazing endurance, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and given less than a 50/50 chance of survival.

It must have made getting back on the bike difficult, in more ways than one.

Can you imagine how different Lance Armstrong’s life would have been if he hadn’t listened to his heart. If he hadn’t had the courage to believe he was destined for greater things.

What would his life have been like if he had been content to ride a stationary bike through life? What if he had been too comfortable in his indoor setting to brave the outdoor elements that he would most likely endure on his way to achieving his goal?

He could have settled for just being a little more physically fit by continually spinning his wheels on the stationary bike of life.

On his stationary bike he might have pumped the same amount of revolutions, or increased the cycle’s tension to get the same cardio workout, but he never would have gotten to where he wanted to be. He never would have tasted the Glory.

I believe our churches are filled with stationary bike riders today. They put in their time each Sunday to do their work-out. But in truth they are only spinning their wheels because they have yet to brave the elements in order to get where God wants them to be. They have stayed indoors- in their comfort zone, instead of listening to the voice of God calling them to Glory.

Glory is a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior of our souls. We come to Glory by laying our own personal agenda aside and following God.

We can’t assume to know where God is leading; we must listen to his voice. But so many voices compete with Gods each day it’s hard to decipher which one is His. The only way we can know God’s voice is to know his very heart and we do this by delving into his Word and reading and listening to it on a daily basis.

I like to use a dieting and exercise analogy.

When we exercise, our hearts beat faster and we breathe harder. Although its good for our bodies, it’s not easy to get our heart beat up to the maximum rate and sustain it.

But as we cut out the calories and increase the work out our muscles mass increases and endorphins are released giving us a euphoric high. It helps us endure.

The scales begin to show our weight dropping. Sometimes, we get discouraged because we’ve stayed on program but the scales don’t show our hard work. We have reached a dieting plateau. Our bodies have gone into a fight or flight mode to protect us. But eventually our body rebounds and the pounds begin to drop again.

And finally, the results begin showing, and people begin to take notice of the new you.

Exercising our faith is much the same.

As we begin to read the bible we begin to inhale God’s very words to us. But inhaling Christ isn’t any easier than physical exercise.

As we start our morning workout we begin breathing in Gods words, and as we do, he begins pinching off the fat in our lives. He takes a little bit off over here, and adds a little bit to us over there. He takes away a night out with the boys, and he adds a weekly bible study.

Sometimes we come to a spiritual plateau and suffer a set back. But as someone once so aptly spoke, “a set back is a set up for a come back”.

As we endure the exercise, we develop spiritual resolve. God releases his Godly endorphins and we receive a spiritual high called JOY. Even in the grueling workout called life, where we experience bountiful blessings one day and a devastating blow the next, we can count it all Joy. The more joy we give the more joy we get back. The more joy in our lives, the more people take notice of the new self, and the more spiritual fruit we begin to produce.

Will 2008 be the year for you to quit spinning your wheels? Isn’t it time for you to get out of your sweat suit and get into your spandex and go for the Glory?
Isn’t it about time to put on the new self?

Loving Father, thank you for creating in me a holy temple in which the Holy Spirit may abide. Forgive me for the clutter which I have allowed to accumulate, squeezing out your holy presence. Make new my attitude Lord, so that I may be able to put on the new self and always produce good fruit for your kingdom.

Blogging 101 - What I Learned Today

I have been having a ball since I had my foot operated on in November. With my leg encased in a Christmas red cast, my lack of mobility confined me to my overstuffed living room chair.


It was there that I became best friends with my laptop computer and I began logging on to the blog of one of my favorite authors, Lysa TerKeurst.


She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, but to be honest it was her Give Away contest that kept me coming back at first…then it was too late.


With a healed foot (Thank You Jesus), I am now able to move about freely but I have found I have developed an addiction, and I’m hopelessly hooked on blogging.


You wouldn't believe the amount of time I have spent reading comments and checking out other blogs and then going back to mine hoping to see a message waiting. I feel so voyeuristic, and some days I feel as if the blogging police will come and knock on my door and handcuff my computer.

I begin each morning by grabbing a cup of coffee and crawling back into bed to spend some quiet time with the Lord before starting my day. Lately, I’ve had to apologize to God over and over when I find myself rushing thru my quiet time with him so I can log on to the computer. My addiction has gotten so bad that I thought I would have to start looking for some kind of patch I could wear to stop.

I was all set to go cold turkey, when Lysa dangled the carrot - this week she’s giving pointers on how to become a published writer.
This morning along with my cup of coffee, I brought the lap top computer back to bed. I wanted to be ready as soon as Lysa posted her blog for the day.


Today Lysa asked us to go to the blogs of 3 certain woman and then leave a comment telling her something we learned.

As usual I had too many thoughts to leave in a comment box, so instead I decided to post my comments to this blog.

If you clicked over from Lysa’s blog, you’ll understand my comments. But if you’ve stumbled on to my blog by accident do yourself a favor and check out Lysa’s blog then you'll understand why I feel so old.


What I learned from reading today’s blog posts:

1. Lysa TerKeurst- http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

I learned that I am so old enough to be your mother. People used to ask “Do you remember what you were doing when Kennedy got shot” Well Lysa you weren’t even a gleam in your Pappy’s eye yet. (But you’re probably too young to have heard that expression too.)


2. Marybeth Whalen- http://www.marybethwhalen.com/2008/01/balancing-motherhood-and-writing.html
Even though her perfect day sounds perfect to me, God directed me to her side bar. Under the heading “Momtourage” I clicked on “Mourning Into Dance” and then clicked “Hands” I don’t even know who’s blog I was on but it was the exact thing God was working on with me this morning during my time quiet time.

3. Lisa Whittle- http://lisawhittle.blogspot.com/2008/01/from-lysa-terkeursts-blogto-mine.html
Same scenario. After reading what Lisa had to say I clicked on her side bar of previous posts and went way back to one called “Divine Encounter” and again found something God has been putting on my heart to write about. Nice story. But the main revelation I came away with was for the book I have already written. Perhaps instead of 1 book I have 2 or 3. Maybe that’s why I was having so much trouble deciphering which theme I wanted for my main focus.

4. Mary DeMuth- http://www.wannabepublished.blogspot.com/
Well let’s just say as I visited her blog I was treated to a grande` size cup of humility to go with a super-sized slice of Humble Pie. Boy do I have some work to do!

Now if you don’t mind it's time for this old geezer to go put some Ben-Gay on my decrepit joints!

A Pillar of Cloud

“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way
and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
Exodus 13:21(NIV)

I received some troublesome news last week when my good friend Abby called to tell me she had just been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. The news left my stomach tied in knots as she told me how she had carried her burden alone for several days, not wanting to spoil Thanksgiving for her family.

For the next few days my mind was continually occupied with concern for her prognosis, despite the fact that she had told me she was feeling at “peace”.

Eight years ago as I sought treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Abby along with our mutual friends, had felt that same concern for me. It had never been clear why my friends were more concerned about my diagnosis than I was, but today as I replayed Abby’s announcement in my head, my thoughts paused on her words “at peace”, and I finally understood.

Peace is a reassurance of just how intricately God is involved in our lives. When our world is full of uncertainties and unknowns, God steps in and gives us His peace. I remembered having that same peace as I battled my cancer, a peace that can only come from God, His special gift. It is a peace that tells our innermost being that he is in control and that he’s got our back; a peace that Paul says transcends all understanding.

Before Abby ever received her disturbing diagnosis, God had surrounded her with his peace.

I recalled her story about the day she had heard the news. She had decided to spend the day at a shopping mall an hour away from home and left early that morning in order to be there when the stores opened.

As she headed south on I-75 towards her destination, the weather began to change. In an instant she found herself in a total cloud of a steamy rain/fog mixture and she was unable to see more than a few feet in front of her. The semi tractor trailers surrounding her vehicle further contributed to obscuring her vision as their tires sprayed the rainy mixture onto her windshield. Their giant frames often veered into her lane.

With her heart beating rapidly and her white knuckles clutching the steering wheel, she began to wonder if she would come out of this predicament alive. She knew that just ahead were curves that she would not be able to see. “Help me Lord”, she prayed silently,


A few minutes later the fog and clouds suddenly cleared and the pavement dried. Relieved to have weathered the storm and to have arrived safely at her destination, she thanked God for his protection.

Walking out to her car later in the afternoon her cell phone announced that she had a message waiting. It was the doctor’s office calling. Returning the call, she heard her doctor’s voice saying, “I have some bad news.”

As I listened intently to Abby’s story I couldn’t help but visualize the loving arms of God surrounding her as she learned the news and suddenly the words of Exodus 13:21 popped into my head. “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

In my NIV Life Application Study Bible the notes explain: “The pillars of fire and clouds were examples of theophany-God appearing in a physical form. In this form, God lighted Israel’s path, protected them from their enemies, provided reassurance, controlled their movements, and inspired the burning zeal that Israel should have for their God.”

God is still in the business of guiding people’s paths today, and I believe he did that in a special way for Abby that day. For he knew that ahead of her she would find curves that would leave her wondering if she would come through her storm alive; and semi’s threatening to crush her along the way.

But God went before her in a pillar of cloud that day to remind her that she has been surrounded with His peace and to give her the reassurance that He will be with her for whatever comes her way.

What a faithful God we serve, a God who pauses from the business of running the universe and reveals his love and goodness just when we need it the most.

Father, thank you for being a God who knows just what we need even when we don’t know we need it. Thank you for being a God who heals, a God who comforts and most of all a God who loves us more than we can ever know. Help us Lord, to always remember that in every cloud that enters our life, you are there in its midst.

Help I Need Somebody, Help Not Just Anybody

I’m looking for honest feed back.

Oh Oh, is that what I really want?

What started out as enjoyment , to occasionally write a short story or poem, has become a passion. The more my faith in Christ has increased the more I feel led to write of the dealings and meaningful conversations I have had with my dear Lord and Savior. But there is a small problem.

A few months ago I was discussing my new passion with my brother. He laughingly related a comment one of his professors had made to him. It seems my brother was using the word “I” too much in his paper and his professor wanted him to restructure some of his sentences.

OUCH. Those words stung because I find myself doing the same. My goal is that my writings reflect God, and that His words become mine, but I just seem to be sticking out all over the place.

It’s been a growing concern. Especially if I really feel God is calling me to write.

So, Monday night I asked my bible study group to pray that God would increase and I would decrease.

I’m not sure it’s having any effect on my writing, but God has been laying some pretty heavy things on my heart.

It has to do with a vow of poverty, and I just don’t know where God is going with it. And it’s not the first time I have felt this nudge.

If I may take a minute to explain. … I’m not a wealthy woman. I’m a middle aged woman. My husband died 14 years ago leaving me a monthly pension, enough to supply my needs not my wants. Last year, I received a small inheritance that I was hoping to invest for my retirement years. But 5 months ago God asked me to leave my job as a receptionist to stay home and begin writing. (The receptionist job had been supplying my wants) Knowing I had the pension and now a small inheritance made it easier for me to say yes, but now I am feeling led to give it all away.

Perhaps the next step for my life won’t be revealed until I obey.

Is God saying “Luanne if you want to be a writer or speaker so bad than this is what you have to do?”

I wonder if God is trying to increase my dependence on Him.

It’s not a matter of my obeying, but more about how to obey. The closer I grow to God, the more he has opened my eyes to the greed and the waste of our precious gifts and resources.

Someone once said that the final judgment won’t be God asking what I did wrong, but rather what did I do with the gifts God gave me, like in the parable of the talents.

Did God give me gifts so I could live more comfortably than my neighbor? Do I take it a step further to find out who my neighbor is?

My question to anyone reading this blog isn’t whether they think I am a nut case for giving away my inheritance. My friends have already weighed in on that fact and are a bit concerned. But they think from a worldly view, and God isn’t speaking to them, but to me.

What I’m looking for are people who have had a similar nudging from God, and whether or not they just waited for the phase to pass, or did they take a bold leap of faith and follow God. I’m looking for stories of both failures to respond, and faith leaps. I'm not looking for "attagirl" pats or "What are you thinking" but rather ... This is what I did and this is what happened etc.

Again, I’m not asking that you tell me to rethink my decision. If I fall flat on my face in the endeavor at least I erred on the side of God. My belief is that God will never allow us to do anything that he can not turn into his glory. But how can I truly love God and allow a child to starve because I'm saving for my future. Don't I need to trust God for my daily manna?

Thanks,
Luanne

Child-like Faith

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-3 (NIV)

Whats your vision of God?

Yesterday, during his message, Father John asked us that thought provoking question.

He suggested that if we could change the way we envision God, perhaps, we could change our behavior. He asked us to think about the different “God views” we had read earlier in the service. In the first reading from Exodus we saw God portrayed as a stern judge; and in the Gospel readings we saw Jesus as a Good Shepherd, and we saw God symbolized as a woman who had lost a coin, and also as a rather over indulgent, yet forgiving father in the story of the Prodigal Son.

While I have envisioned God in many different forms, something happened during the service that made me experience God from a completely new point of view.

As the service was drawing to a close, a small girl not more than three years old, managed to make her way to the aisle and proceeded to run up and down and all around casting her cares to the wind as she alluded her visibly embarrassed father who was pursuing her. She darted thru the congregation as she silently sang, YOU CAAN”T CATCH ME! Heads turned and most of us smiled as we watched the scenario play out. Some fidgeted in their seats at the audacity of that family to not have their child under control. “How dare you interrupt my time of worship!” their body language seemed to say.

After several minutes the little girls feet slowed, and as she grew tired her father caught up to her, lifted her into his arms and held her close as he took her back where she belonged.

I believe God directed those tiny feet yesterday to teach us a lesson on our view of God.

How closely our lives resemble that child, I thought. How often have we strayed from God and in that moment of freedom, run aimlessly thru life as if to say to God, “NANANANANA YOU CAAN’T CATCH ME? Around and around we go, trying to fill our soul with all the material things that the false Gods of this world have promised would make us happy. Finally, in our weariness we slow, and our hearts call out “Catch Me Daddy.” Only then is God, who has steadfastly been pursuing us, able to sweep us into his loving arms where we were meant to be all along.

Just as that visual was settling in my mind, God brought a different thought. Just suppose, he whispered, that little girl wasn’t running away from someone, but towards someone. I imagined Christ, white robe and all, laughing as he ducked in and out of the congregation calling to her, “COME AND GET ME!”

It never crossed the little girls mind that she could fall face first into the baptismal font and drowned, or that she could become lost in the crowd. She never thought for one second, that her father would not be there to save her. No, she just ran shamelessly towards her goal, her goal to be free.

Isn’t that what Christ does with us? Doesn’t he invite us everyday to leave our comfortable surroundings and chase after the dream he has put in our heart, “the prize for which he has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14) Yet instead of chasing after God and following with reckless abandon, we concentrate on the things that could happen if we step out in faith, we clutch the things of comfort that we must forgo to live the life he wants for us. We’ve lost that child like trust to believe that God has a better plan.

What is God calling you to, today? What is he asking you to put aside so you can follow?

I pray that we may always have the faith of a child to believe what we cannot see, and that we may be humble enough to admit we cannot do it our own way, and to find joy in our dependence on God. And finally I pray, that we don’t become so caught up in our own idea of worship that we fail to see other ways God may call us to honor Him.
May we become child-like, so we too may inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Father, help me to always remember the lesson of the little girl you showed me today. Let me boldly chase after you and follow the dream you have put in my heart. And when I grow weary, help me to always remember that I can find rest in your fatherly embrace. Amen

My Grandmother

My grandmother Carrie has always been an inspiration to me. She became a widow at the ripe old age of 39 and remained so until she died at age 101.

As a little girl I looked forward to her visits. She was a quiet, unassuming woman and I adored her. She had a way of making each grandchild feel as though they were her favorite, even though I’m sure it was me she liked best.

Growing up I shared her love of sewing, growing flowers, playing cards, writing poetry and short stories and I even shared her shoe size. But it wasn’t until I became a widow myself at the age of 44 that I could identify with her pain of going thru life without her mate.

I wish she was still alive. I have so many things I’d like to know about her journey thru widowhood. My grandmother wrote with a great deal of spiritualness and I’d love to know about her relationship with God and whether that relationship came about because of her struggles.

Someday I’ll see her again and thank her for inspiring, and blessing my life with her writing. I’ll end this post with my favorite poem of hers.

I Heard It Too

I walked along the garden path
I heard it in the breeze.
I heard the voice of Jesus
In all the swaying trees.

I heard it in the buttercups,
In the leaves and in the grass
In all the tiny raindrops,
In the laughter of a lass.

I heard it in the moonlight
And I know that it is true
If you’ll listen for His Kindly voice
You can say I heard it too!

I heard His voice on the mountain top
In the ocean and the sea
I heard it in a robin’s song
It meant so much to me.

I heard it in a baby’s cry,
In the chapel when I pray;
In every tiny candle
that burns from day to day.

I heard his voice when I was tired,
In the clouds that roll so high;
In the planes that circle o’er us
In the stars up in the sky.

I heard it in a mother’s sob
When things did not go right
A soothing loving whisper
That made her burdens light.

I heard it when kind deeds were done
And I know that it is true
Just stop awhile and listen
And you can say “I heard it too!”

Carrie P Smith

May 16,1957