ANOTHER WORD FROM GOD

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I prayed for some direction about leading a Beth Moore study at my church (see coincidence post).
Further affirmation came this morning as I was reading through the introduction to A HEART LIKE HIS. On p. 7 Beth writes "Make the group meetings a priority. Hebrews 11:6 says,'Anyone who comes to him must believe he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him'. This study offers you the opportunity to earnestly seek God."
I just completed an online Bible study by Kelly Minter called NO OTHER GODS. One of the exercises for the last week of study was to read Hewbrews 11:1-40 slowly and thoughtfully and "pray that God will show you something new in this reading. Then write verbatim a verse that stood out to you.'
The verse I wrote on p.171 of that workbook is Hebrews 11:6

AN ENCOURAGER FIRST, A RUNNER SECOND

My husband Ernie ran his first marathon (26.2 miles for you non runners like me) when he was 50 years old. He is now 56 and will be running his next marathon in Nov. in San Antonio. In 6 years he has run almost 20 Marathons so you would think his main running focus would be on his training and bettering his performance. But it is not. Ernie is an ENCOURAGER and would rather help new or less experienced runners achieve their dreams. He has a "harem" of women that he runs with every day, some faster, some slower. Some better than him, some not. The point is , he does not care. He wants each woman he runs with to reach her full potential. He takes it as a CALLING and I love him for that.

Yesterday, Ernie helped Julie and Cathy celebrate their birthdays with a 5:30 am run before work and chocolate cakes for each. He calls Julie JLO because she likes BLING, and because purple is her favorite color, he decorated her cake with purple frosting. His nickname for Cathy is runway model and he used pink frosting for her cake.( I baked the cakes but Ernie decorated them!).

I am posting a picture from the celebration yesterday. Cathy is on the left and Julie is on the right. The Chippendale in the middle is my wonderful husband. This is not his usual attire. In fact he created the outfit the night before to give his friends a laugh. Hope you enjoy.

EVERYONE NEEDS THEIR OWN SPOT

SO GLAD YOU CAME BY TO VISIT MINE.

PULL UP A CHAIR AND STAY AWHILE.

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT

The title of this post comes from a saying that my friend Hope uses. Other times she will say ODD or GOD? Either way it is about us being receptive to God when He is telling us something. My friend Sheryl says that when we hear the same thing over and over that it is probably God trying to get our attention.

Today as I walked into church Randy said "I need to talk with you. We want to start a Beth Moore Bible Study here. Do you know someone who would lead it? Or would you want to lead it? And which study should we do ?"

Wow. All this on my way to sing in the choir. I told him I would think about it and get back to him.

As I was sitting in the choir I asked God to give me some direction. Was this something He wanted me to do? What study should it be?

After we sang our anthem Todd got up to preach from 2 Samuel 7:8-17. The headline in my Bible for this section of scripture is GOD'S Promise to DAVID. Todd said that we make our best choices when we are walking WITH God as David was. He said that David had a heart for God.

Wow. I had my answer. I will be facilitating Beth's study A HEART LIKE HIS but God will be leading it.

WHEN DEATH BECOMES BIRTH BY MAX LUCADO (DELIVERED BY LINDA PEEL)

My father in law Shirley Peel died 8/8/08 at the age of 94. This is the message that I shared at his funeral yesterday.

One Saturday several weeks ago, I was reading a weekly e-mail devotion by Max Lucado entitled "When Death Becomes Birth". If you are not familiar with Max, he is a minister in San Antonio TEXAS as well as a prolific author of Christian books and Bible studies. While I was reading, the phone rang with the news that Shirley's blood pressure was dangerously low and we needed to come to the hospital right away. To me the timing of the phone call and the arrival of that e-mail from Max was a "God Moment".
Shirley did not die that day. He recovered enough to return to Sayre Christian Village and I tucked the devotional away in my memory.

On Friday August 8th Ernie called to tell me that his father had died. Just like that Saturday in July, I thought about God's perfect timing. Shirley's wife Anita was born on August 9th and now, after being apart for almost 20 years, they would be together to celebrate.
Ernie and his sisters have graciously allowed me the privilege of sharing Max Lucado's Devotional as part of the service today.

WHEN DEATH BECOMES BIRTH

Heaven enjoys a maternity ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery room doors. "He'll be coming through any minute!" They can't wait to see the new arrival. While we are driving hearses and wearing black, the angels are hanging pink and blue streamers and rejoicing. Just as we on earth don't grieve when babies enter the world, the hosts of heaven don't weep when we leave it. Dread of death ends when you know that heaven is your true home.
Max says "In all my air travels I have never seen one passenger weep when the plane landed. Never! No one clings to the armrests and begs 'Don't make me leave. Don't make me leave. Let me stay on and eat more peanuts." We are willing to exit because the plane has no permanent mailing address. Nor does this world.
Phillipians 3:20-21 says : But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

It is right for us to weep, but there is no need for us to despair. Shirley had pain here but he has none in Heaven. He struggled here but he has no struggles there. You and I might wonder why God took Shirley home but Shirley doesn't. He understands. At this very moment Shirley is at peace in the presence of God.

NUMBERS

10,000
This number comes from the hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness".
...blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!...
I have just returned from Beth Moore's LIVING PROOF LIVE weekend in Louisville and if you attended you already know about blessings. How about seeing Beth dance up a storm while singing "take these shackles off so I can dance?" If you did not have the privelege of attending let me tell you that she was praising, teaching, praying, laughing and dancing while wearing RED and BLACK. Way to give a SHOUT OUT to ULCARDSFAN. Thank You BETH.
I was blessed by attending the event with my dear friend Karen and spending time with her laughing, eating, and reminising.
I was blessed by being able to visit with my parents before heading back to Lexington ( and bringing homemade sourdough bread and chocolate chip cookies home with me).
I was blessed to return home to a husband and a daughter who were glad to see me and three dogs who greeted me like I had just returned from a one year absence!
I was blessed by a card that had come in the mail while I was gone from Preacher Kim. I expected the check to reimburse me for the LPL shirt she had asked me to pick up. What I didn't expect was a card on which she had written such sweet thoughts that it brought tears to my eyes and a CD she made called "Tub Tunes". Thank you Kim. I "Love you to the stars and back" too.

398
This is the number of days between the time I ordered my tickets and the actual event.

100
This is the harvest I am expecting-- 100 fold. I am a woman of means and substance and I plan to be competently competent and become like the sower of the seed (GOD'S WORD) in Luke 8:8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.

7
This is the number of Beth's teachings to reach MAXIMUM IMPACT ( 100 fold harvest)
Treasure the wonder.
Protect your heart.
Expect the test.
Dig the roots.
Stop the choke.
Retain the WORD.
Press forth to your 100-fold harvest.

4
This is the number of kinds of hearers of the WORD (LUKE 8: 5-8)
AND the number of KY. SIESTAS that I met at my hotel and in the
Lifeway bookstore at the event (Hey Amy H., Katie, Karen, and Tracie).




2
This is the all too short number of days I got to spend with Beth

1
This is the number for our Almighty, Everlasting, Healer, Redeemer God
who loves us so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice so that we
would be able to spend Eternity with HIM.