Hearts in Service

  I sat through a 6-hour online conference yesterday and as always, it helped to keep me encouraged in our ministry here. I came away with fresh energy, fresh ideas and a renewed excitement to serve the Lord in the place He has called us to be. But I also was reminded once again how easily I am led down the path of busy instead of stopping and staying focused on the Lord. As humans, we are very easily divided in our devotion. Even for those of us in full-time ministry it's quite easy to replace spending time with the Lord with activity. How often do I read a few verses in my Bible, throw up a few hurried prayers so I can get on with the task at hand? In the story of Martha and Mary in Luke, chapter 10, the problem wasn't that Martha was attempting to serve a meal, but Jesus saw past her service and revealed what was at the core issue. She was undivided in her focus on what God wanted for her. She had replaced relationship with frenzied activity. She had become so intent on the ...

  “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” ~ Plato   I haven't done a Frugal Friday post in a long, long time. I'm trying to get back on top of our spending and thought this would be a good way to start. We generally don't spend money on frivolous things, but it's easy for it to slip through our fingers if we aren't careful.  Between all the travel I've had to do and the fact that our car bit the dust, we've increased our debt some. So it's time to tighten our belts and get on top of it again. Dan and I have learned to be content with what we have and don't have a lot of "wants." It's a lot easier to learn to be frugal when your desires match your pocketbooks. :-) I actually enjoy doing my best to save some money because I like a challenge. So challenge on! Here are some ways I've saved recently. $ Today was such a good day and I had a friend over for tea this morning. It was nice to fellowship and laugh with someone. I...

I've spent the majority of this week working on ministry items which included participating in an online conference. So needless to say, I'm a little tired of staring at a screen.  I have multiple projects that need to get done so I really would like to start working on those over the next few weeks. These days are zipping by and it's hard to believe that January is almost over. My sewing room is a mess and I would like to organize it better, including moving a larger work table into the room. I have our old dining room table and I'm going to see if that works in there. I also have boxes of pictures sitting around that I brought home from my mom's house and need to find space to display them. I have a box full of my grandmother's writings and genealogy research which I'm going through so I can get a package off to my uncle. My grandmother was in the middle of writing a book and it's fascinating to read the few chapters she had done. Emily has her own apa...

The Road goes on Ever ever on Hill by hill Mile by mile Field by field Stile by stile The Road goes on Ever ever on I'm struggling with lack of motivation this month, as well as struggling with continued sadness over the loss of my mom. I'm feeling lonely as this pandemic keeps going. The cold, gray days stretch on and on.  I celebrated my 59th birthday on Monday, but it wasn't the normal joy-filled day. My mother always sent a gift and special note and I was missing that. My son has been struggling with his own bout of depression and that has caused concern and stress.  And yet, no matter how I feel, life goes on. I have work to do at home and Nathan needs our help with situations he is facing. I have church work and district work to do as well. I have orders to fill. So I get up, get dressed, and move forward. I keep on keeping on down the road that the Lord has placed me on. I know that spring will be here before long and the sun will shine again. I know that grief will ...

I struggle through these drab winter months. Either everything is dreary and gray or a blanket of unending white. The days are dark and the nights darker. And for this woman who needs a bit of beauty in her life these months are always particularly difficult. I crave sunshine, flowers, and warmth. But one thing I do that helps me get through is try and find a bit of beauty in everyday things. I know some people roll their eyes when I say that, but my artistic side needs to see some beauty because it's what brings me joy. It is what inspires me, and it is what helps me create.  So I see beauty in a freshly made loaf of bread. Beauty in $4 flowers from the grocery store - beautiful and yet, frugal. Beauty in mixing and matching fabrics together.   Beauty in the handiwork of past generations. Beauty in God's handiwork; jewel drops of water. Beauty in handwritten notes of encouragement; both given and received. The beauty of discovering new truths in God's timeless Word. I have...

They say time flies when you are having fun and while things haven't felt fun lately, time has definitely flown. It's hard to believe that it's already January 18th. This month sped by and has been a full one. A trip to North Carolina to clean out a house. Meals, ministry, business, and family. Two friends from our previous church passed away and Dan will be officiating at the funeral of one of them this week. We've had weekends full of football (ugh) as well as celebrating my father-in-law's birthday with him. There have been meetings and housework and coffee with a friend. I've had good days and bad days. The depression and anxiety struggle is a challenge and there have been days when I want to stay in bed all day long. And yet, there are things that need to get done so I don't give in to feelings. I'm thoroughly sick and tired of Covid, politics, and opinions. I'm thoroughly delighted with some books I'm reading and podcasts I've listened ...

Last night I dreamed that myself and friends had been kidnapped by a woman and were sitting in a living room. We were allowed to get up and walk around and some were performing normal activities to try and let the kidnapper know that she wasn't rattling them. In my dream, I felt God nudge me to ask her if I could pray for her. And I did. I prayed that God would bless her and help her with whatever issue was going on in her life to cause her to resort to kidnapping. And then I woke up.  Weird, huh? I have all kinds of wacky dreams, but this one made me think about prayer. And more specifically praying for those who want to cause us harm or who we perceive as our enemies. Do we pray for them? And I'm not talking about praying that they would no longer cause us harm or that God would take them out. I mean do we pray for their lives and that God would heal their hurts. That He would reveal Himself to them. Pray that He would show up and encourage and bless them that day. That's...

I am mentally and physically tired. Some of that is because I just returned from a trip down south to clean out my mother’s personal effects from her and my stepdad's house.  On the way home I heard the news about the storming of the Capital Building in Washington, D.C. and I was horrified. In fact, as I started to read reactions to it I had to just turn off all news and social media. It was a despicable act that occurred and it sickens me. However, the thing that upsets me more is the hypocrisy that I see coming from people. And it saddens me that people just can't see it. The definition of hypocrisy is  the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. It's especially disheartening when Christians are doing it. I have seen posts by Christians calling the other side "morons" or making derogatory statements about those who vote differently. And yes, I see it from those who aren't Christians, but we ar...

When I was a child I had a tendency to daydream. The teachers in my classes would often catch me staring out the window, my thoughts far away from what was going on in the front of the class. There were so many times I had no clue what was going on because I was lost in thought. One teacher would periodically call out, "Terri, eyes forward!" It would disrupt whatever pleasant thoughts were going on in my head at the moment and pull me back into what was happening in the room. As an adult, I often find myself getting distracted or lost in my own thoughts and being pulled away from the task at hand. The distractions are not bad activities, but they do keep me from staying focused. Each year, I pray about a specific topic or word to focus on. This year as I've reflected about things, the words, "eyes forward." keep popping up in different things I read, conversations I have or messages I hear. It's happened enough that I'm starting to realize that they are ...