Praying Together -Better than a Morning Jogg

Wow! I was blown away by the great time we had this morning on the Morning JOGG, (the joining of girfriends interceding for girlfriends prayer line).  Every component that was suppose to be in place was there.  Imagine a group of good friends wake up to the smell of coffee and breakfast.  While still in our pajamas we gather on a plush sofa and begin an uplifting and encouraging conversation.  Umm! Warm, wrapped up in our blankies, with our hot coffee or choco, our bagel or whatever we like to eat in the morning, just enough grogginess so that when it's over we can get a few more winks of sleep in, (and you know that's the best sleep).  But what moves this girlfriend-get-together several cuts above the average is when we share the great praise reports of how God showed up and out for us.  We lay down our concerns and questions in the form of prayer requests at the foot of Jesus.  And as we all get miffed about how the enemy of our souls is trying to mess up our girlfriends' lives, we enter into spiritual warfare with songs and praise and prayer.  We're refreshed, we're renewed, we're aware of the fact that We are stronger together. We singularly file into our day knowing that we are more than conquerors- WE'RE LOVED!

If you want to be part of this, you can. Here's the link for the numbers: ministries.publishpath.com

It May Not have Been Your Fault but Now it's Your Responsibility

Tamar in good sisterly fashion went to her brother Amnon's house to make him some food because he was sick.  What she didn't know was that she was being set up to be raped by him, (2 Samuel 13:1-22). It is said that women are most frequently abused by people they know, but who would ever think of your brother raping you?  Well that's what happened to Tamar.  As you can only imagine, that left her in complete despair.  Even after her other brother, Absalom found out about it and avenged her by killing Amnon, Tamar was still left with the shame, despair, brokenness and damage to herself esteem.  She was a walking wound! I imagined she wasn't good girlfriend material.  She probably didn't act in ways others expected a king's daughter to act, probably didn't demonstrate great Christian character and probably could be described as having a bad or nasty attitude from those her didn't know her history.  She was no longer the Tamar she knew herself to be, she was now infected with pain. 

Know anybody like that? Our churches are filled with people who have sustained terrible interruptions to their good lives.  We do not know everybody's history. We don't understand the hidden pains people carry from day to day.  But if we look beyond our own feelings for a minute, we can see pain in people's behaviors. Do you think that might attest for so many injuries we all sustain in church? We have all been hurt in our lives by one person or another especailly in church.  Even though we may not have been responsible for the injury, we now carry it.  We're responsible for it now. We do not have the right to throw our attitudes and misbehaviors on our sisters and brothers in Christ because we hurt. We don't not have the right to be a carrier of pain.  It is our responsibility to get healed!

How's your attitude? Jesus tells us to come to Him all who are burdened and heavy laden.  He said He would give us REST,(Mattthew 11:28).What are you going to do about your hang ups, your issues, your pain?  Go to God so you can have a great life and become a carrier of love.

Finding Balance in Life

Have you ever had very good ideas and good intentions but, for some reason, you're not able to balance the many "projects" you have going on in your life?

Let me know your thoughts.

I for one, have had an ongoing goal of finishing some projects around the house (i.e. painting a few rooms, finally unpacking items I've have in storage boxes for nearly 3 years, and establishing a workout routine). I even have the goal of building my friendship base.

I believe that it is important to prioritize these projects in order to keep first things first. I've experienced less stress in my life when I am willing to allow the lower priority things to slip in order to focus on the important things in life such as my quiet time with the Lord.