Hearts in Service

I Samuel 1:24-2:2 ~ When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there. Then Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the Lord!     The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies;     I rejoice because you rescued me. No one is holy like the Lord!     There is no one besides you;     there is no Rock like our God. Do you make empty promises? "God, if you will just give me what I want, then I promise to ...

Have you ever felt the presence of God so clearly that it removed all doubts in your mind? Have you felt peace flood over you and just rested in Him? I have felt this recently.  We have seen God's hand on us in every single step of this move and I am amazed as I reflect on all He has done. In fact, there are days when I feel like I'm forgetting something, or surely there must be some little thing that I've overlooked. But no, there really isn't anything. My feeling about ministry is that there is an ebb and flow that happens and right now things are flowing well. My role is so different here than it has been in any of the previous 4 churches we have been in. Some of that is because it's a bigger congregation. The church has a long one hundred year history. We've always been in small churches of 40 or less people which required both Dan and I to wear many hats. This one has deep roots and well established roles and programs. Dan has a well-define...

We've been in our new house for approximately 10 days and are starting to get settled. I still have boxes everywhere but are getting things put away. I've been to the bank, the doctor's office to get established, grocery shopping and to different places in our new area. I'm also starting to get to know different people in the church. This week we went to lunch at one couple's home and today I went to someone's home for coffee. Anyone who knows me knows that I plunge in wherever I am and get to work. I love being in ministry and in each church we have served in I've rolled my sleeves up and gotten busy. I'm like that energizer bunny that just keeps going. So it's very different for me to deliberately wait and observe for a bit before jumping in. I'm recognizing that at this point in my life that my role is going to involve training other people rather than doing it all myself. There are moments though when I feel like I'm sitting here...

"To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world." Can one make a difference?  How can I change the world?   How in the world can just one woman with three children or five children or no children (just fill in the blank) do anything worthwhile in my little corner of the universe? By realizing the power of one. One wave, hitting a shoreline over and over again, eventually causes erosion. One ray of sunlight can brighten a room. One note can start the Hallelujah Chorus. One word can turn into two and then four and then an entire book. One lone lighthouse can save hundreds of lives. You just have to start. One step. One smile. One act of kindness. One word of compassion. All it takes is helping one person, who in turn, helps another and then another. Before you know it, the power of one has changed the world. The Star Fish Based on the story by Loren Eisley... I awoke early...

Many times in my life I have said that I want to follow God's will and yet, more often than not, I have tried to impose my will upon Him. But I've lived long enough to know that if God is leading me then I need to follow even when I can't see the end result. We had our first service yesterday in our new church and it was a good morning. The people were welcoming and Dan was encouraged. I came home, put my head down on my dining room table, and wept. Why? Because it was different. Different style of music, different people, different order of worship, and different role for me. I felt like a fish out of water, gasping for air. Change is hard, and I know that I'll come to embrace this new everything , but for now I feel loss. And while I don't like the emotion, I know that it's a normal part of grieving. But I also know that God called us and we chose to be obedient in following even if that means that everything is different. As a teenager I made a vow t...

This week has been a blur - one massive emotionally and physically exhausting week. The beginning of the week found us saying goodbye to dearly loved friends, saying goodbye to our son, packing a truck with much needed help and cleaning a house. A friend supplied us with a meal for our last night there. Then we made the 5 hour trek to our new home where we were greeted with help unpacking the truck. We also received meals for the first two nights we were here. There is still so much to do, and so many boxes to unpack, but it's actually starting to feel like home. We fall into bed exhausted each night but we have been sleeping well and each day sees a bit more progress. I'm cooking for the first time in our new house tonight.  Dan had his first board meeting last night and came home encouraged and excited. I've been able to get some district work done which is helping me to feel like things are getting back to normal. The weather was perf...

Empty promises.  "I promise that I will...."  "I swear that I will...."  "I vow that I will...."   These words pour so quickly off the tongues of people nowadays and yet, are very rarely kept.   People make wedding vows and then get a divorce at the first sign of trouble.  Politicians swear to uphold the laws of the land and then end up convicted of some wrongdoing.  Children promise their parents or parents promise their children and those promises are never kept. We all make resolutions at the start of a new year and usually break them by February. As Joshua looked back over his life he was able to say, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed." Joshua 23:14 (NIV).  God kept every single one of the promises He made to Israel.  Not one was broken.  We serve a ...

It's been a very quiet New Year's eve and now day. The turkey is ready to go into the oven, laundry is in, and a trailer has been delivered to our house to start the process of dejunkifying (yes, I made the word up) our shed and household items. Today we will be enjoying some things like a turkey dinner, board game, and football, but the final days before moving are upon us. It's weird to start the new year by packing up our life. This whole process has been a neat way to see how God has met every single need we had from big ones to silly little ones:  Stephen found a roommate and a place to live that is only 3 miles from his job. Roommate turned out to be the son of a friend. God provided financially for all the unexpected expenses that happened between preparing for a move and helping our son move. We saw an advertisement on the news one night about a once a year electronic disposal event taking place and were able to get our things there ...