I Received a God Wink This Morning

Do you remember times when you have been pondering something -- praying about it faithfully -- and God just steps in when you least expect it to give you a nudge forward? I love those times because they are confirmation that I am heading in the right direction, and in the words of Stormie Omartian, they give me "light for the step I'm on" right now. I have been praying about a women's event, a time when women of God might worship together, pray together, and hold each other in our brokenness. I have also been praying about a promise He gave me a few years ago that hasn't come to fruition. Well, this morning, I heard a message loud and clear, and it came through Ruth Graham on Life Today. There is so much brokenness in our world, and yet, there is very little transparency about our pain. God has given me a heart for women, especially mothers, who are struggling with brokenness in life ----- broken by disappointment, broken by Satan's attacks on their children, broken by loneliness, broken by crumbling marriages . . . it matters not what it is. It only matters that we must all know we are not alone. But for us to really know we are not alone, there must be two things: first, we must learn that God is our Father, and He is our Healer. He is always available to us, and we must seek Him first. Second, we must be transparent enough that we can allow others to love us and pray for us when life seems impossible. Just yesterday, as I walked into work, people asked the normal question: "Morning. How are you?" And of course, my answer was, "Great!" And don't we do that all the time? We give the automatic response that we've been trained to give: "Wonderful." But the truth is that we are often not wonderful, and we must let others know when we need their prayers and support. Now, I am not suggesting that we need to tell our stories to every person we meet or spend our time at work focusing on our pain. However, there has to be a balance between telling nothing to anyone and telling everything to everyone. Sometimes when the question comes, we need to trust God enough to say, "You know, I'm not fine today. I could sure use your prayers." I want to close with some things Ruth Graham said this morning on LifeToday. God used her to speak to my heart, and maybe something she said will speak to yours. "Transparency ministers to people. People can't identify with perfection." "God wants to build on our weakness." And finally, "Our security comes from Christ." And she is right on the money. This morning I will place all my trust in Christ, and I will love others in a way that allows them to be imperfect, just like me, and it will be a very good day.

What Breaks Your Heart?

It is early in the morning, and I need to get ready for work, but I want to ask you to pray and ponder with me: have you asked God lately to break your heart for what breaks His? I have been praying that since June after studying Kelly Minter's Nehemiah Bible study with a wonderful group of women at Trinity Methodist Church in Conway. Nehemiah's heart was broken for the city of Jerusalem and its people, and God enabled him to do the miraculous. God is still in the business of doing the miraculous today when we give Him our hands and feet and ask the question: what is it, God, that breaks Your heart? What would you have me do? If you think, "Well, I can't do anything by myself," you may be right. But one person -- with God -- can do the impossible. And the other question we must ask is this: God, what are you already doing in my community, my workplace, or my world that You would have me join? Often, God is already at work around us, and when we ask these two questions, He will be faithful to direct us to the work He has in store, and He will give us the supernatural ability to make a difference. So ask yourself: God, what is breaking Your heart today that should break mine, and what would you have me do about it? Please pray this with me in the coming days -- every day. I believe a mighty move of God is coming in our community . . . healing rain.

Be "Wowed" Every Day

It's hard to know where to start tonight. This conference was so full . . . full of worship, full of joy, full of God's presence. I hope I can be coherent as I share my heart and some of my notes from the sessions. Last night Joyce reminded us that if we live amazed, we will never be without hope. It reminded me of a piece I read with my students about the stunning nature of our universe. God created this incredible galaxy, and we should be surprised and amazed every day by its beauty and His face in all that we see. Here are a couple of points she made about being amazed: 1) We shouldn't get too comfortable in our churches that we lose our reverence for God. After all, we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! 2) Make a big deal out of everything God does. Sometimes He is using us in incredible ways, and we don't even get excited. Be amazed! 3) Continue to be amazed by God's grace. Grace meets us where we are but never leaves us where it finds us! And then this morning . . . BAM! Chris Caine. I will never be the same after hearing her message. I'll try to give you the highlights! 1) The promises of God have no expiration date! They do NOT go out of date. You can hold onto hope when you remember that! 2) God's promises are real and everlasting. Emotions and hype will never fuel hope for the long term. We must find our hope in His promises. 3) Faithful = full of faith! We must be faithful in our relationship with Christ, not just a "rusty-dusty" Christian, taking up space in a pew. 4) God cares about the details. I know a person who is very dear to me who would argue that point, but he is wrong, and I am right! God cares about every detail that matters to us, and He can do the impossible. 5) One of our greatest mistakes is putting a due date on what God is not ready to accomplish yet. He knows His perfect timing, and He will accomplish His will in due season. Don't rush Him or attempt to manipulate Him. **This was a big point for me. God birthed a dream in my heart quite a few years ago, and I am in the waiting stage. I know that God is preparing me so when He adds the final ingredients to make this thing happen, I will be ready! Bam! (Thanks, Joel Osteen, for my new favorite word!) 6) Impossible is where God starts, and nothing is too hard for Almighty God! 7) Jesus is strengthening the wombs of our faith so we will not miscarry or abort God's perfect plan for us. I love this analogy because, as a mother and grandmother again just recently, I get it. We surely didn't want our new baby Harper to come too soon, any more than I want God's plans for me to come before I am spiritually ready. 8) The gap between God and us is a "hope gap," and it is full of light. God has no dark side; He is light. He is trustworthy, even if we don't always understand what is happening. Wow . . . and that was just this morning! Chris Caine spoke with passion and authority, and I could have listened all day. FYI to my friends back home: I purchased 27 of her sermons, so get ready! Study time is coming, my Manas! Joyce Meyer ended the day and the conference for us in typical Joyce style: forthright, passionate, and full of object lessons so we can never forget the messages of the weekend. Hope is the anchor of our souls -- the thing that causes us to step out, putting the promises of God into action. We must step out so that God can meet us where we are. He is often waiting to move until we take a step toward him, signifying our hope and faith that He is dependable. Imagine an anchor with HOPE written down the center. When we allow the world and its darkness and people with negative spirits to pull us away from our anchor, God can use that same anchor to draw us back into hope. But friends, we MUST know God's Word if we are going to live with hope. We must read the stories of those who have run the race before us and are now in the stands, cheering us on. We must know scriptures about hope, hiding them in our hearts to keep us strong against a very negative world. Just as God asked Abraham to step out of his tent and look at the stars in the sky (to be reminded of God's promise of descendents), we must "step out" and see what God has in store. Looking at ourselves and our situations too much is like staying in the tent; we lose sight of what God has promised and what He is going to do. Like Abraham, we must hope against hope; our feelings will often convince us to do otherwise, so the lesson is clear: we must listen to God's voice, not our fickle feelings. And my favorite points of all . . . We need to go on a fast: we need to fast pity. We cannot live in a pity party and be the powerful people God expects us to be. Every time we are tempted to say, "But you don't know what I've been through . . .," we must choose to stand up in God's power and say instead, "My hope is in God, and I will be powerful, not pitiful!" And finally, we are anointed for HARD. Don't you love this? I love to be a victor in life, especially when the battle has been hard, and I'll say it again: we are anointed for HARD! We can go home, go to our jobs, and go into our communities and be stable. We can enjoy this journey every day, sharing God's light in a very dark world. Why? Because we serve the God of the impossible, and He has anointed us for HARD! That excites me because if God has anointed me, what more could I want? God bless and stay in hope. I will be sharing scriptures of hope in the next few days, so keep reading. Love you all! Jean

God is so good, and His planning is impeccable!

Well, the Joyce Meyer Women's Conference is all it was advertised to be and more! The music is amazing; we have worshiped with Darlene and Fuzed Worship, and we have listened to the sweet voice of Kari Jobe. It's been exciting and it's been fun, but the most important thing is this: God is here. He had a Word prepared for each and every one of us, and I am hearing Him loud and clear. Last night, Joel Osteen gave us all a new word: Bam! He used an extended metaphor about cooking, saying that we cannot isolate the steps of God any more than we can isolate the ingredients in chocolate chip cookies. (Anything with chocolate works for me! :)) He reminded us that God is constantly adding ingredients to our lives, and even when life is seemingly good, it will get better when God says, "BAM! Here's a new ingredient for you!" Maybe that ingredient is a new challenge, or a new relationship, or a small victory. Maybe it's a new thing God needs us to learn, and He puts just the right book or person in our path to teach us that new thing. Either way, He "bams" us with the next thing He has in store, and God always has something fresh in store when we are faithful. Joel also said that God's calling is irrevocable on our lives, and, according to scripture, if we will pitch our tents in the land of hope as David did, we will see amazing things happen. Joel was an encourager and a strong reminder of the power of hope. And this morning, it got even better! Dave Meyer spoke about our country, giving us a hard and important word. I will share that later . . . I think I feel a letter to the editor coming on! But then came Joyce. And true to form, she had a Word from God. Here are her high points, and the first was written just for me . . . and maybe for you! 1) We must live in a prison of hope. Wow, this has been a word I have carried since 2008, when I talked to the Horry County School District about being a prisoner of hope for children. The Tenacious Life has big plans around this theme, so keep watch! We must be prisoners of hope, expecting and anticipating great things from God. Hope is a favorable and confident expectation, the happy anticipation of good, and hope releases joy! 2) "Together we can make a noise that's going to give the devil a nervous breakdown." When believers gather together to worship and praise almighty God, we shake the foundations, and hell cannot prevail against us. There are over 26,000 women at this conference, and we are making great noise in this city for God. 3) We must DECIDE to be hopeful, even when we don't feel like it. This CAN be done but only with God's power. 4) We can be catalysts in our families and communities and workplaces, turning things around for others. When we are hopeful without fail, we are contagious! 5) According to Romans 15:13, we must have joy and peace IN BELIEVING, that we might overflow. 6) Being a prisoner of hope releases us from other prisons in our lives. That's going to be a teaching at an upcoming study of mine! Get ready! 7) What God gives us, He expects us to give away. We must share our hope with others, and we must share from the riches God has given us. 8) We MUST get over being mad at others or mad at ourselves. Lack of forgiveness is a prison that destroys our hope. 9) We can have double blessings for former trouble, but double blessings don't come to the double-minded. We must set our minds to do what God expects and keep them there, not just when it's easy but when life gets hard and ugly. That's when others can see that our hope is in God because we could not do that by ourselves. Finally, I came here anticipating a Word from God, my Father, about what He expects from me. I came to worship and fellowship, and I came to be still before God. Some of the songs I have not known, but rather than get frustrated, I have used the words of the songs to pray to God. I have used the time --- in the midst of 26,000 --- to get still in my seat before God, to pray as though no one else was around, and I have felt His presence. He is good, He is mighty, and He is faithful. God is still in the business of saving lives, and I pray that some small detail you have read here will reach into your heart as it has mine. Look for more tomorrow, as I am sure He is not finished with us yet! Blessing from St. Louis! Love in Christ, Jean

Anticipating a Word from God

Good morning! This is just an update to let you know what's happening. Ann and I (from The Tenacious Life) have taken a sabbatical of sorts from the website. Ann is in two new ministry jobs and is going to seminary, and I have changed jobs as well. My family has grown like crazy, and life has been wonderful in a very hectic sort of way! Anyway, I am going to return to the blog this week with my trip to the Joyce Meyer Women's Conference in St. Louis. I will be posting the big points from every teaching, and I hope to share some pictures as well. Watch the blog and check my Facebook page. I am counting on great things from God in the next three days! I will be praying for wisdom as I try to compact the messages into a blog format. I will also be praying for you: that you will read something you need to hear at this very moment. Keep an eye on the blog, and have a blessed day! Jean