Hearts in Service

  What a head-spinning, tiring, exhilarating, crazy, joyful week I've had. For the first time in a very long time, I've felt that I was working once again in the lane that God has set me in and it was a wonderful sensation.  It started with a woman's retreat for our district. We had 133 ladies in attendance and it was an opportunity for them to come and hear from our session speakers, International Workers, as well as get out in nature and a camp setting to hear from God.  I had different prayer stations set up around the camp and that seemed to go over well. In fact, I had a college student say to me that she was excited to go through them because normally at events you sit and listen, but never get an opportunity to participate. Then she said that she felt it was good practice for those who were uncomfortable praying because there was enough direction through the guided stations and they could go at their own pace. I thought that was great insight from a 20-something-ye...

The past 6 days have been busy and when that happens I often forget to slow down and take some time to enjoy each moment.  I'm working on a district-wide retreat for next weekend and while that naturally makes my life a bit crazy, I do want to take time to be thankful.  I'm thankful for the following reasons. 💓 I'm teaching a Bible study on the Gospel of Matthew beginning tonight so have been putting the last minute touches on that. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to teach God's word.  💓 I have a class I'm taking this year on mentoring. The first one is this Saturday and is 3 1/2 hours away. I'm thankful that the timing of the class this year is allowing Dan to come with me. Instead of being all day long which is what last year's class was, this is only 3 hours so he is going to find something to do while I'm in my class. I'm thankful that I'll have him as a traveling companion this month.  💓 I had to update our health insurance...

  Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001?  I do. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news about the planes crashing into the World Trade Centers. I was standing on my back porch and hanging clothes on the line and the radio was playing in the background. I heard the radio announcer say that a plane had hit one of the towers.  Because initially, I wasn't paying too much attention I thought it was a small plane. Then a few minutes later, another plane hit the second tower. That caught my attention and I went and turned the television on. The images and news coming over the screen forever changed our lives.  I watched in horror as people threw themselves out of these skyscrapers to get away from the flames.  We lived 30 minutes away from New York City and could see the smoke rising in the horizon.  I knew people who worked in the towers. I felt sick and spent most of the day glued to the set. Days, weeks and month...

  Philippians 2:14-16 ~ "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.   A few years ago, I was teasing one of the teens at church about complaining about something and shared this Bible verse. However, it made me realize how often I fall into this same trap myself.  I know that complaining and grumbling is not honoring of the Lord and yet, so often I do it anyway. I fall into the trap of letting negativity pour out of my mouth. I was convicted of this just yesterday and want to stop my need to complain. This may be something you struggle with as well.  As a follower of Jesus, we are asked to surrender every part of our lives to Him which includes our attitude and our mouth. Would our families,...

I have never handled stress particularly well. I find that my emotions get in turmoil and that I struggle with feeling anxious. When something stressful happens and I feel out of control, I really struggle. The more chaotic things are, the more anxious I become. I may appear calm outwardly, but my thoughts are lik e exploding fireworks; loud and constant and making it unable to focus on much of anything. As I sat and spent time in prayer this morning, the Lord reminded me of the truth found in the following verse.  Psalm 46:10 ~ “Be still, and know that I am God!      I will be honored by every nation.      I will be honored throughout the world.” The word be still is from the stem of the Hebrew word, rapha, which means to let go, give up, to release. As I let go of control, I can learn who God is and begin to understand who really is in control.  When I am frantically trying to control a situation or do it all in my own strength, I...

It's been a very busy week around here. I was up at 4:00 a.m., not because I wanted to be, but because I just couldn't get back to sleep.  It's that time of year again and it's been a busy week canning and preserving.  I've also been busy in the sewing department, filling order, creating inventory for my Etsy shop and making things for a local store where I am a vendor. I've been busy readjusting to a different eating schedule with Nathan's new job. Not an easy thing, especially as they keep flip-flopping his work schedule.  I've also been readjusting and re-evaluating my ministry schedule. This one has been mentally exhausting as I work through my people-pleasing and fear of others' reactions. It's also been a busy week as I work on an upcoming district women's conference. It's been a productive and tiring week on so many levels. It's the beginning of a new month and this is the month when things ramp up in my district and church min...