Hearts in Service

Dan and I have spent the past three days at our District Prayer Conference. Pastors, ministry leaders, and men and women from around the Northeastern District gathered together for prayer, encouragement, worship and fellowship. We went non-stop from early morning until late at night, and fell into bed exhausted each night. But it was a good exhaustion. I felt like I was saturated at the end of each day and filled to the brim after hearing from the Lord in the different workshops, messages, and conversations. I came home with a full-blown head cold, and even though I can't breathe through my nose and there is a box of tissues and cough drops by my side, my inner-person has been rejuvenated! Some things I came away with:   Be bold - Don't be afraid to share my faith, live out my faith and lead. We need to lead by example.   Be enthusiastic - I have noticed a shift in myself the past few years where I have lost some of my enthusiasm for ministry because I've absor

  Isaiah 43:16-21 (HCSB) ~ This is what the Lord says— who makes a way in the sea, and a path through surging waters, who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick )— “Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The animals of the field will honor Me, jackals and ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people I formed for Myself ' will declare My praise. I've had the strange sense the past few months that God is orchestrating something within me in preparation for something He has for me to do. A preparation of what I'm not sure, but it's kept me a bit i

Philippians 2:3-11 ~ "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We live in a "me" society. Every commercial, every message says th

As I looked around the church yesterday during worship, I felt hope rise up in me. I have to be honest and say that Dan and I have felt fairly discouraged lately. Church ministry is such a rewarding thing, but it also can be a frustrating thing at the same time. It's been stressful the past few months as our attendance has been the lowest it's ever been. As we've tried to figure out why we know that it's not because anyone has left the church, but it's been a series of different issues. Some people were out because of serious health issues. Others were traveling. Some are getting older which makes it difficult. We've lost 4-5 young adults as they've gone off to college. Others are afraid to drive in the snow and since it always snows here...well, you see the problem with that. The majority of our men work at either the nuclear plant here or an aluminum plant and do shift work, there are sometimes weeks on end when they are working during church time.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ~ "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. I've known some very gifted people in my life time.  They have wonderful natural talent and everything they do seems to be successful.  Yet, according to these verses, without love, all the talent in the world means nothing.  The gifts mentioned in these verses are mostly external.  Speaking in tongues, prophecy, and faith that reveals itself in an outward action are all visible signs to those around us. But even with all those wonderful gifts, we can be doing them without love. We can be doing them for show or for affirmation or pride. The thing that truly makes the

I've been challenged and stretched lately, and I don't like it. God has been showing my weaknesses in ways that are uncomfortable and make me squirm. I have been challenged in my studying, my reading and in conversations I've had with my husband and others.  I often feel like I have a million activities and ideas buzzing around my brain, all vying for my attention. I have a number of different directions I try to go and I try to go those directions all at the same time. When that happens, I generally go nowhere and it's exhausting.  And I have so many demands on my time, but often, those demands aren't anything God has led me to do. They are activities that others want me to do and because I am an enabler and feel guilty, I give in to those demands. But more often, they are demands that I put on myself because I see a hole and think I have to be the one to plug it. I know where God is leading me and what He wants me to do, but I get sidetracked running down b

Today is Frugal Friday and I thought I'd share a recipe of an inexpensive meal that is tasty and stretches far. I spent the day studying, writing and working on a Bible study yesterday and by the time dinner rolled around, I was mentally tired and not in the mood to spend a lot of time making dinner. So I made a pot of hamburger soup. I never like the name of it because it doesn't sound appealing, but it really is quite good. It's also versatile because you can change up some of the ingredients. Someone asked me for the recipe so I thought I'd post it here. However, I make things up as I go so I'm typing as I remember what I did. Hamburger Soup 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. ground beef (depends on how much meat you like in it) 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 celery stalks, diced 2 carrots, diced 3 potatoes, diced 1 cup of frozen corn, green beans or peas (I used corn this time) 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes 2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce 1/2 cup red wine (optio

Living in an area of the country where we get lake effect snow means that the weather can be both interesting and unpredictable. One moment we have blue skies and a bit of sunshine and then within just a few hours there are whiteout conditions. Even now as I type this there are huge flakes coming down very quickly, and within 30 minutes we have gotten almost two inches of snow. And yet, an hour ago there were just a few flurries.  The weather is ever changing and storms come and go very quickly. So I've learned not to get too excited about a storm. It will pass, the sun will come out, and the snow will stop. That reminds me of when I go through trials. It's easy to get so focused on the storm that I forget it will pass and the sun will come out again. The trial may last a day, a week, or even a month or so. But eventually, the skies will brighten and it will be gone. I just need to have faith that the SON is there and He will see me through. I know the mini-b

1 Kings 17:7-15 ~ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and you

It was a very busy week and weekend, but a good one. Dan and I have been praying about ways to encourage our congregation. A few of our members have gone into nursing homes over the past year and we've lost a number of young people as they've gone off to college. So our numbers have shrunk a bit and it's easy to get discouraged.  Our church has been so good to us. They are generous, they make us feel loved and they give of themselves regularly. So we wanted to do something to show them how much we appreciate them. We decided mid-week to throw an impromptu luncheon for them after church yesterday. Someone teasingly said, "Terri really threw the luncheon since she did all the cooking." However, it was a team effort. Dan's money paid for the food and he did dishes all day long on Saturday while I cooked and Sunday afternoon as we cleaned up. It's definitely Team Groh! I'm thankful that we were able to give back a bit of what we