Hearts in Service Blog

Are you a giver or a taker?  What do I mean by that? Let me give you some examples.  ► Do you freely give of your time, money, talents, and spiritual gifts to your church body or do you take of the programs of the church without offering any help?  Or even worse, your help is in the form of criticism? ► Do you sit and listen to a sermon each Sunday that took a lot of prayer, energy and hard work in expectation of what God has to say or do you sit without really listening or viewing it as a critiquing exercise?  ► Do you take for granted having a place to worship and choose to withhold your tithe or do you cheerfully give?  ► Do you give encouragement to those who need it or do you choose to be silent, even when you know someone is discouraged?  ► Do you read another person's blog and offer words of encouragement or do you read without leaving a comment 99% of the time?  ► Do you expect God to bless you without offering anything to Him...

I spent the afternoon in the emergency room yesterday for diverticulitis . I had a flareup four years ago and ended up in the hospital for 5 days so I recognized the tell tale tenderness in my abdomen and stabbing pain in my left side.  I wanted to get the antibiotics started right away before it progressed to the point where I needed hospitalization. As I sat there waiting for the doctor, who was surprisingly pleasant, I realized again how blessed I am.  I am blessed by a husband who even though he was tired from spending all day Saturday fasting and spending time with 11 teenagers and a Sunday morning of preaching and visiting, willingly came with me.  I am blessed to have a soul mate who loves me.  I am blessed that I chose wisely when picking a husband.  Not growing up with a father in my life, meant it would be very easily to look for love in the wrong places.  Yet, God protected me, and provided me with a wonderful spouse! I am so looking forward ...

I have never done this in the 5 years I've been blogging, but this is a worthy cause so I thought I would post it here. The teens in our church will be participating in a 30 hour famine through World Vision. For those of you have may not know, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.  They work in nearly 100 countries around the world and serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. Emily is trying to raise enough money to feed a child for a year as part of this famine.  She, and the other teens participating, as well as the youth leaders and Dan will be fasting from noon on Friday until 6:00 p.m on Saturday.   They will also be participating in a service project during this time.  I'm so proud of her and the other teens.  I know it is going to be extreme...

For those of you who have asked, I have some great news.  Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World is now available on Kindle.  You can either click on the photo or the title in this post to go to the Amazon Kindle page. Thank you so much for all your encouragement.  Again, if you have started reading the devotionals, I'd love it if you would leave me some feedback on the Amazon page.  The more reviews I get, the better it is for the book. 

Raising children in today's world is difficult.  They are being bombarded by things that most of us have never had to face.  There are things pulling at them that would cause many adults to stumble.  They are being exposed to things at a younger and younger age.  It's a scary world out there. I was reflecting on my children and thinking of some of the things Dan & I have done right in raising them.  Don't get me wrong.  This is not a "Look at what great parents we are" post.  We mess up on a regular basis.  I lie awake many nights, saddened at things that have come out of my mouth.  I must apologize to my children at least 20 times a week.  Trust me.  I am all too aware of my weaknesses. But today I want to focus on the good things we've done and the things we've done right as parents. We talk about God's word.  What does it say?  What does it mean for this situation?  We wrestle with different issues in lig...

♦ A 9 hour car ride, round trip, joined by a friend. ♦ 310 women, lifting their voice in praise. ♦ Chatting with friends I haven't seen since last year. ♦ Meeting new friends. ♦ Praying with someone over a concern. ♦ Hearing powerful speakers.  ♦ Laughing. ♦ Crying. ♦ Pouring out my heart to God. This described my weekend, as I went to our district's annual Spring Refresh Woman's Conference.  I so needed the time away and even though I'm exhausted, it was a wonderful weekend.  It was truly a time of spiritual refreshment and made m e all the more thankful for the many ways I am blessed . This week I con tinue to count blessings #1 57 2- 1580.    ♥  Stephen getting an A on a very difficult paper and with a tough professor. ♥  The enjoyment of sewing. ♥ Birds outside my window. ♥ A night out with my husband.  ♥ The look and feel of new fabric. ♥ A great conversation with a store owner about my new book. ♥ My son's p...

Note: This is a repost from a few years ago, but I still feel the same today! Revelation 7:9-10 ~ After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Racism.   Nothing breaks my heart like hearing fellow believers spewing hatred about other races. I'm pretty sure it breaks God's heart too. How it must sadden Him to hear His children destroying one another with their tongues. Dan & I actually had a Christian gentleman come up to us one time and say that he felt sad that his grandchildren were growing up in a country where whites were becoming the minority. :-( I have noticed that when some Christians comment on sin in a Cau...