REST

"Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires of your heart". How true that is. We go and go and go and go. And rest eludes us until we forget what it means to truly rest. I have found that when I rest in the truths of my Heavenly Father's word, I find true rest. I find strength for my weary mind, I find answers for questions I have been pondering, I find peace.
Now, these things I am mentioning are not new truths, however, I think we need to be reminded from time to time that HE is the one that will give us the rest that we need. We think that we can conjure up a perfect situation for a restful time: a good movie, a good book, a good nap. But, HE alone provides true rest for our souls. HE gives a contentment and a sense of satisfaction that only being with HIM can give...and it is personal to each person.

• Delight--He provides a sense of happiness to you and to me that gives each of us a love for HIM over and over and over again.
• Desires--what do we want in our lives that could be more than a more intimate relationship with the One who gives us true life?
• Heart--a heart relationship with Jesus--the author and perfector of our faith--the ONE who saved us -- you and me -- and gave HIMSELF up so that we could be free!!

I encourage you to rest in HIM today. Spend some time with the ONE who really loves you so much that He cares about the desires of your heart -- so much that when you delight yourself in HIM, your desires will become HIS desires.

TREASURELAND and Women

I am so convinced that God put me in my church to serve Him. And there is not a doubt in my mind that His reason for adding me to the body of believers at Colonial Heights Baptist Church is to work with women primarily. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is my area of ministry. But, I also know that God can allow us to step out of our comfort zones of ministry and serve in other areas from time to time. Like, He has allowed for me to serve in TREASURELAND some, and each time that I have done so, I have been blessed beyond measure.

Last night was not an exception to that rule -- with so many children and with new teachers, some of the rooms were kind of full and a bit ambitious. Yet, one could walk through the halls and still hear Jesus being taught to the children. There was peace in the halls and not one young person working in the rooms seemed to get anxious -- they all enjoyed themselves immensely. I was so impressed with a young man named Matt who worked so hard to bring 12 people from another church to serve in our church so all of our adults could go to the service!! He even brought his mother to work. I also got to watch my son John tenderly hold the new babies -- a job he so loves to do. What a privilege to spend time with him in this way.
God is so good to allow us to set aside time to watch what goes on in special areas of our church. I would not trade for anything that time last night. The room of four year olds was so wonderful -- mostly boys, but so enlightening as they talked in depth to me about such intelligible things. I am truly impressed!!
Diane Wentworth is such a woman of wisdom and knowledge. God has done great things through her ministry at Colonial Heights. Thank you Lord for her hard work!!

Memorizing Scripture

Today, I received an e-mail from my Sunday School teacher reminding me of a challenge that he had placed before our class this past Sunday to memorize scripture. I was so excited because I know that finally there is a man who has the passion to do this....and one who will hopefully hold everyone accountable for scripture memory. Don't get me wrong -- this will not be easy for me -- I could memorize anything when I was a youngster, but now? It is so hard.
When we went to a DiscipleNow weekend that our son Joshua did the music for a couple of weekends ago, the testimonies we heard the young people declare were mostly that they were so touched and convicted by the speaker's quoting of Romans Chapters 1-8. That was amazing!!
We freeze at just quoting one verse and he quoted 9 chapters of scripture to those kids...and that was what they remembered most about the weekend. I just love the way God's word impresses and the way His word stands out!!
So, my verse to memorize will be:
"Psalm 63"
Whoever would like to join me in memorizing this Psalm, it is the Psalm of Holy Longing.

My Firstborn

He always had questions and always had that precious smile on his face. He still does. My first born son. I have learned how to be a mother with him. And I have learned so much about life with him. God has taught me so very much in the things I have encountered through the years I have spent with this precious young man. It is just like God to give me a perfect example of the way I am in my heart in physical form...my son.
My son is such a passionate young man -- full of life and so tender. He loves people and cares about his family. He will do anything for anyone. He truly love me, too. For that, I am eternally grateful. I so appreciate and adore the relationship my son has with his earthly father -- I really believe that he wants to be just like him.
One thing that I desire, though, is that my son would go a bit deeper in his walk with our heavenly Father. I know he knows HIM -- I was there when he accepted Him and drew Him into his heart -- but I would love to see him walking each day depending on the Father for his strength.
My prayer for my son -- Lord -- preserve his life according to your word and keep him in your right hand of protection. I know he is yours and I know that he loves you -- would you cause him to love You more and more today as you draw him closer to you. Thank you for my precious boy.

Learning to Imitate

I remember a few years ago when God woke me up in the wee hours of the morning to just ponder. I was really overwhelmed in my spirit about my little girl, Kate and He kept bringing some of her actions to my mind...over and over and over....so this is what I remember that He said to me in a story form:

Once upon a time, there was a young couple who had three children. They were a bit crowded in their small home because their family had grown very fast -- in fact, faster than "they" had planned. After having two little boys, the young couple were blessed with a little girl...all three children in the span of 4 years. The last two children were 16 months apart.
However, this little girl and her mother proved to be quite a pair...and the young mama begin to notice things about her little girl. For one, the little one would do things just like her mama -- some good and some not so good! And this habit has carried on until this day.
One thing the mother did was eat her salad with no salad dressing and then would dip her fork into the dressing as to not get many calories on the salad. To this very day, this little girl prefers to eat her salad this way.
When crossing the street at Target, this little girl could be seen holding her arm across the person she was with -- protecting that person from danger -- just like her mama still does.
Oh-- a habit that the mama used to do-- hang her unmentionables on the exercise bike in the bathroom. It was so funny one night when she walked in her room and saw her little girl's tiny unmentionables hanging right beside her mom's. Several years ago this mom became a fanatical "spin" student and loved to exercise this way. Today this young daughter is a spinning instructor at her college fitness center and makes extra money this way!!
The list could go on and on...a very favorite is this::one of this mom's favorite things to do is to spend time with the Father at night -- what a blessing to see her daughter doing that very thing in her own room at night.
My question is this?
Is this something this mom did? No...this is a gift from God above and a lesson that we are all to learn from Him. We are to imitate Him. He is the only one to be imitated.
God gave me Kate to show me the importance of being a good example -- she is such a precious young lady but only because HE made her that way and she is living for HIM. We are to
imitate the One who is worthy of imitating.

Marriage

I am thinking about my marriage right now...I am so blessed to have been married to a wonderful man for almost 27 years -- and he is my one and only. What have I done to deserve such a gift from God? As I am thinking about marriage -- I think about why God has allowed me to spend time on this earth with someone like my Ted and as I reflect on these past years I know that I have become a better person because of my life with Ted.
Ted has only completed me and made me appreciate what it means to work hard, to be content with what God provides for us and to humble myself before the Father. I guess what I am trying to say is that God has given me a husband that is so much like Himself that I have not realized that fact at times because I am always so preoccupied with myself. Isn't that the way we are so much of the time?
My prayer will be that my son Joshua as he prepares to marry Lydia -- will be this: Father, please help Joshua to model his life after you first, and then after his daddy...because what a wonderful example you have given him -- Praise you, Lord!!

Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day!! Happy Heart Day to ALL!! What a great time to think about what true love really is...and how loosely we all use the word "love". I love ice cream...I love to read...I love those earrings...but what does it really mean to LOVE?

You know, we really do not have the capacity or ability to love within ourselves. But, God can give us that ability. He can cause us to love with His love...and that is my prayer for Ted, for myself, for John, Joshua, and Kate. I pray that God will cause each of us to love Him more and more each day and as a result, He will put in us a huge desire to love each other that is so BIG that we cannot begin to imagine where we can love the way we do.

So, Happy Valentine's Day -- and ask God to "cause you to love Him more"!!