Gold Nuggets

Developing one key attribute can bless us with surprising treasure. Ready to get truly rich? Join me in discovering this gold from a lesson recently taught from the book of James. It will take 35 minutes for this mining adventure, that will lead to a life changing golden nugget.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/7tcOtu3UIGQ  Enjoy!

(If you would like a slightly higher resolution than what Youtube offers, email me and I will send you the Zoom download.)

Marvelous Mentoring Made Easy

Women enjoy sharing life’s challenges and joys with other women. Questions come to mind when we entertain the thoughts of having a mentoring relationship.

1. What makes mentoring relationships special?

2. How do we even begin to find a mentor who can relate to us?

3. If I’m asked to be a mentor, what do I do? It may be rewarding but parts of it sound scary!

4. What do helpful mentoring relationships look like?

During our Covid-19 time, I was interviewed by the Ladies of Life Director, Kristin Milks, on the subject of mentoring. She says that she gets more questions about mentoring than any other topic. Join us as I answer the questions listed above along with a few more. 

Our Zoom meeting was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P-xLZF87tQ&feature=youtu.be .

Grab a cup of coffee or tea to be entertained by our 32 minute conversation.

May we all experience the blessings of meaningful mentoring.

New Life at the Age of 82

My mom had been recently widowed after 62 years of marriage and I was getting ready to make another trip to MD to help with maintenance on her home. Just before leaving, God prompted me to take a tract (brochure) that I had had for years on the trip. The term “tract” is such a “Christianese” term, “Tract?... where’s the land?”

On my last evening in MD, I gave the brochure to my mom, along with these words which I had not planned, “Mom, I have already lost dad; I don’t want to lose you too. I would like you to read this brochure.” The cover read, “Are you Good Enough to go to Heaven?”. Inside it read, “This is the most important question you will ever ask yourself. Most people respond, Well, I am not that bad, I have never murdered anyone.” Then the brochure said, “Let’s see how you stack up against God’s 10 commandments. First commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” It gave an example of a Father who bought a TV for his family. He came home from work the next day and said, “Hi kids, I’m home.” The kids paid no attention to their father because they were glued to the TV. The children were worshiping the gift rather than the giver of the gift. The brochure asked, “Do we do the same thing with God? Do we worship the gifts God has given us (our jobs, our family, our talents) to the point where we start to worship the gifts more than the Giver?” The gifts become our gods.  

The following morning, my mom initiated a conversation about the brochure. The evening before, was the last debate between Clinton & Trump. (Just goes to show that God can redeem anything!) My mom told me she only had time to read the first commandment in the brochure before the debates started. She said, “Instead of continuing to read about God, I chose to cast him aside to watch the TV debates. I already sinned.” Because of the TV example used in the brochure and God’s perfect timing, it was the first time I had ever heard my mom say, “I sinned,” or seen her have any conviction of sin! Just to be clear, I am not saying that watching TV is a sin. But, isn’t it awesome to see how God’s timing worked? I told my mom to read the rest of the brochure and let me know what she thought.

A few days later, my mom called and brought up the brochure!  She said, “I read all the commandments, and I wondered how anyone could be good enough to go to heaven.” My spirit soared as I saw her understanding! She said she was so relieved to see that the propitiation of the blood of Jesus covers our sins! Did she just use the word “propitiation”… a seminary word?! I had shared the gospel with my mom about 100 times before that moment and for the first time, her heart was really hearing it, like she had never heard it before. I wondered whether or not my mom thought that Jesus’ blood covered everyone on earth and we are all forgiven? So, I said, “That’s right mom, for those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. To receive Jesus as Lord means to follow Jesus as he becomes your boss, your leader, your guide. Is that what you would like to do mom?” “I believe so”, was her response. l said, “We can do that in one of two ways. You can just talk to God yourself or I can help you with what to pray to God.  But, that will only work if you truly believe what is prayed to God. She said, “Well, I am new at this. I believe I will need some help. I would like to write down my own thoughts so maybe we could do a combination of the two ways.” I thought to myself… perfect!

After two weeks of playing phone tag and various other distractions we finally connected. She told me that she had written out her prayer a week ago! My mom prayed the sweetest grace-based, Jesus-following salvation prayer.

My mom is now eagerly reading the study bible I sent her as she daily spends time with Jesus.

I have spoken at many Christian events that mothers and daughters attended together. I thought that was something I would never experience. Now, my mom and I will have an eternity together at the biggest Christian event ever – Heaven!

Marvelous Myanmar Missions (An Excerpt from my Letter to my Prayer Team)

Dear Precious Prayer Team,

"I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done." Psalm 9:1

Prayer warriors, I wish you knew how many times I thought of you while I was on the other side of the earth. My thoughts were of great gratitude and marvel of all God was doing through you. 

On this trip I served and roomed with a missionary that has been in the field for 30 years in many different parts of the world. She said that in all her years of watching women be taught, she has never seen a group that was engaged as much as these women. They were hungry for truth from the word.

They took down notes like they were placing pieces of treasure in their journals. They read every scripture outloud together as it was taught. Many surrendered their lives to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They said they now understood Lordship and Repentance as the Grace of Jesus rescues them from a Buddhist infested nation. They were bold to witness as one lady went to another village one evening after our sessions to share Christ with her new salvation bracelet! She was not waiting till the end of the conference to spread what she was learning! They slept on hard concrete floors for 6 straight nights, with all kinds of flying and crawling insects. They welcomed us with the warmest appreciation that you could have imagined. 

One of the first things I told them, was about you - my prayer team that was praying for them! They asked for our picture so that they could pray for us daily. I felt so unworthy of such an honor. They were extremely poor, but they were some of the riches people that I have ever meet. They were like sponges that soaked up the living word. Two of them women turned their lives over to full time missions. This means that like their pastors, they will lose their jobs (most worked in the rice fields that surrounded this area). That is what happens when you share the gospel in their environment. Christ is truly everything to them when they become followers. The test of their commitment comes quickly! They are stronger because of that test. Once more I went to teach, but I came away the student.

 Your prayers opened their hearts as these new believers went from milk to meat quickly. You have to grow up fast in a country where they stone your church. It will be an amazing day in heaven when we all watch those you prayed for receive their crown of life! 

 My heart is full and yours should be also. As the Lord reminds you, continue to pray for the women of Myanmar. 

​"​Then our mouth was filled with laughter,and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

    “The Lord has done great things for them.”  Psalm 126:2

I am eternally grateful as You all are the most Vital part of any missions team!

Waves That Rock Us

My dad died a little over a week ago. I was celebrating my 30^th wedding anniversary on a Christian Alaskan Cruise when I got word of his death. You can imagine the mix of emotions in that situation.  What makes my dad’s passing hardest is that he refused the existence of God and refused Jesus even in his last days.  He would use the name of Jesus, but only in vain in the form of a curse word.

        

As a daughter, how do I deal with all of this? The same way we deal with all of life’s challenges. We press hard into the one relationship we know that is rock solid – the relationship that we have with our heavenly Father. The day before I got news of his death, I took notes from Dr. Charles Stanley, who was the keynote speaker on our cruise. He shared that God has given us a lot of promises in the Bible and we need to live our lives relying on those promises. Then Dr. Stanley taught that with all those promises, the one thing that God did not promise was “understanding.”  That really struck me. The way to handle life’s challenges is not to try to “understand” them, but instead we need to rest in the promises that we do know. 

These are the promises in which I am resting from Matthew 11:28-29:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

God in His grace allowed me to be on this cruise full of Christian teaching and music as I received word of my dad’s death. After I received the news in the afternoon, I attended a concert that night where a saxophonist played, “It is Well with My Soul.” It was like God was playing that just for me. I had related the story behind that song to my Bible study class several years ago. The writer of the hymn (Horatio Spafford), had lost his son, his business, and most recently, his four daughters had tragically died at sea. I can’t imagine the pain from so much loss. As Spafford later sailed over the location where they believed his daughters were drowned at sea, he went down to the bottom of the ship to get as close to them as he could and he penned, “When sorrow like sea billows roll; it is well, it is well with my soul.” I, too, was at sea with the ship rolling in the sea billows, and the words went straight to my heart. I did not find understanding, but what I found was so much better. My burdened soul found rest and I could truly say, “It is well with my soul”. The ship gently rocked me to sleep that night, and I slept like a rock as God my forever Father was and is faithful to his promises.