365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 181 & 182

We had family in town yesterday so I wasn’t able to use my computer in the morning as usual. We went to church together and both my hubbie and I were delighted with the topic being “encouragement”. Some people just have a negative attitude and are critical about everything. They tend to say negative things that really don’t need to be said at all. The sermon was about encouragement and how we should go and encourage others. I especially loved the story our pastor told about another pastor who was working at starting up a church in a 3^rd world country. For two years, he prepared sermons for each Sunday and nobody came. But every Sunday, he would look up the hill and would see a cross at the top of the hill. This cross helped sustain him through these two years. He decided to climb the hill to the top. At the top, he found a hotel and the cross was on top of one of the buildings. He went inside to talk with the manager. Let’s just say the manager was not in a very good mood. “What do you want?” he asked gruffly of the pastor. The pastor told him about his trying to start a church and preaching every Sunday with no one showing up and that the cross on the top of the hotel helped him. The manager broke into tears and told the pastor he had in the time since he put up the cross always received negative comments about it and this was the first time he had received a positive one. The pastor ended up preaching at the hotel and his ministry flourished. He was in need of encouragement himself but gave encouragement to this manager and God blessed his ministry. Some people have the gift of encouragement but all of us are capable of sharing encouragement with others. So go encourage someone today with your smile, hug and kind words.

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 31

Merry Christmas! It has been a wonderfully relaxed Christmas morning. My kids are the not normal! We are up before them. They weren’t even in hurry up mode once they got up. We had our traditional special breakfast. This time my daughter helped me make a new French toast recipe using Nutella. It was delicious. My son said he loves me when I produced his own carton of egg nog which he proceeded to drink straight from the carton.

My thoughts keep going back to last evening and the sermon Pastor Graham Baird gave for the Christmas Eve service.  We have heard the nativity story over and over again throughout our lives but God in his infinite wisdom showed me once again that we can be shown new things from the same thing we have heard or read over and over again. Our pastor told us in his humorous way of what happened to him recently when his car broke down again. The story goes like this: Car breaks down, disheveled looking man comes by and says he can fix, starts to fix, wife of man says needs to get cough syrup, pastor walks wife to Walgreens a few blocks down and buys the cough syrup because she has no money, man drives car over to Walgreens and it is running spectacularly. Couple walks away and goes and starts to camp out under an overhead bridge. Pastor who just wanted to get home, knows God is up to something so goes over and gets couple and takes to motel. At motel he prays over them and woman ends up in tears because she said she hasn’t been prayed for like that since she was a little girl. Pastor was not in the mood for interruptions or unexpected things coming up; he just wanted to get home to his family but God led him down another route that provided the light of Jesus for this down and out couple. Pastor connects his story to the part in the nativity story when the wise men come and worship the Jesus and than because of a dream decide to take another route home. God will put things along our path that will be kind of like a detour sign. Follow the detour sign and let God do his thing! Just like the wise men, this will happen to us throughout our lives. God will put a little detour sign up and we must follow his light and the new route he is taking us on. May the love and light of Jesus guide your steps.

Matthew 2:11-12 The Wise Men went to the house. There they saw the child with his mother Mary.  They bowed down and worshipped him.  Then they opened their treasures. They gave him gold, incense and myrrh. But God warned them in a dream (detour sign) not to go back to Herod. So they returned to their county on a different road.

365 Days of Prasie Challenge-Day 358

It is always so fabulous to finally get to a place where you know and are at peace with the direction God wants you to take. I have been researching the options on becoming a Christian counselor and have been going back and forth between the conflict of the secular route vs the biblical route.  The question hasn’t been about which route to take as I know that it is the biblical route, however, the path to take for schooling for this has been muddled.  Going the route through the NCCA (National Christian Counseling Association) or AACA (American Association of Christian Counselors) was bugging me and so I have been praying and prayed especially last evening after researching more and feeling more and more confused. So the Holy Spirit worked on me overnight, I laid in bed this morning and let random thoughts come to me and than over pouring a cup of coffee discussed my confusion with my hubbie and had the “Light Bulb Moment”. The school through the NCCA tells you that if you are not already a pastor that to counsel under the authority of the church you will need to be licensed, credential or ordained.  It sounds like a simple fix that they could help you with. I have finally concluded that being a pastor and having that seminary education of a pastor is a part of being equipped to truly counseling others. The word of God says we are to build a foundation of faith with Jesus being the cornerstone.  I have to build a foundation not just of my faith but education and wisdom through the right schooling. I know now that just being a licensed minister so I can counsel is not the right foundation. It feels like cheating. I have to lay the ground work of my counseling ministry with a strong education in the word of God. The NCCA and AACA have some great looking programs and courses that I may ultimately take on but they are not the cornerstone. So, now I will be researching finding my cornerstone and going to seminary. Thank God it’s the weekend where I will have plenty of time to tackle this. Thanks be to the Lord for making my path fully clear. You are amazing!

Isaiah 28:16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:  See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;  the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 353

I learned recently that our former pastor asked the front desk ladies to not tell anyone who was to be teaching the sermon on Sunday. He wanted people to come not to hear him but to worship God. It is funny because I have often felt that little let down when I get to church and see that it is not the senior pastor speaking but always, without fail, I end up enjoying, learning from and being inspired by the sermon no matter who is doing the talking. The truth is our Lord is up front speaking to us through the temperament and life experiences of the speaker. Considering how very unique each and every one of us are, it is a great blessing to be able to hear from different pastors and other believers in the worship experience. Nate Stratman was passionate, funny, engaging and very inspiring.  Thank you Lord for this gift of your words through the lives of all who share, teach and witness.

Romans 1:25 Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.



365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 276

I really liked what our pastor said in his sermon yesterday. He said Jesus had a mission statement: Seek and save what is lost. As followers of Christ, we have this as our mission statement as well. Our pastor is leading our church to really take the gospel out of the church and to where the people are. A church can't wait around for people to come to it. You have to go out and be where the people are and communicate in a way that they will be responsive to. It's exciting to see our church breaking free from the church of our past that hasn't been working and really work at doing what Christ wants us to do. Jesus didn't wait for people to come to him. He traveled all over going to the people. I am thankful to our pastor who will help lead this church to take the gospel to the people.

Ezekiel 24:12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.