Another Goal, Another Dream

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C. S. Lewis

I spent 14 hours with C. S. Lewis (CD’s of some of his books) in all of my travels over the Christmas holidays. Needless to say, we bonded. As I consider this New Year, I was reminded to set another goal and/or dream a new dream.

2 Corinthians 5:6-9 says that we are to live our lives in belief and hope in Christ not by what the world shows us. And so our reality is really our future dream not what is going on around us. We would rather be in our future dream of heaven but this dream gives us the courage to live in the present world. So wherever we fall in this world/heaven area our goal is to strive in zealous pursuit of hearing, “Well done!” from our Heavenly Father God through Christ Jesus. (OK, I’m channeling my inner C.S. Lewis.)

For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. 2 Corinthians 5:6-9  

I have decided for my 2015 New Year’s resolution to strive for the “well done.” I’m setting this as a goal. I’m dreaming this as a new dream.

And, thank you C.S. Lewis, it’s not too late to pursue this.

It's not too late for you to dream this dream either.

There is no expiration date in pleasing God.

My Messiah

We hear the word “Messiah” used a lot around this time of year in carols and Christmas plays and sermons. So I did a little study on this word used in the Bible.

Messiah in Hebrew means anointed chosen one. Messiah is “Christ” in Greek. So all through the Old and New Testament our Messiah Chosen One Christ is sprinkled about. It seems everyone in scripture was talking about Him and looking forward to this special time of His rule and reign.

Some thought the Messiah Christ would be their deliverer king. Some thought He would be ordained for a special Jewish oriented purpose in an unmistakable political role. But all of the Children of Israel lived with a future hope mentality. I must say that most were a little selfish in their hope because they thought Messiah was just for their own people.

Now before I get all down on the Children of Israel I have to admit I’m a little selfish with my Jesus Messiah. After Jesus The Christ’s resurrection a new hope was introduced to the world: that He was for everyone. I’m so thankful.

I rest firmly in the belief that He was, is, and will be Deliverer, Lord, God, Savior, set apart, and ordained for me, me, me. See, I said I was a little selfish.

When I need to find hope I go to My Christ. When I need to resolve my sin I go to my Christ. When I need help in any of my life situations I go to my Christ. When I want to worship I go to my Christ. When I want to feel unconditionally loved I go to …..well you know what’s coming next. He is the all and supplier of everything to me, me, me.

I know I kind of sound like the seagulls in the cartoon movie, Jesus is “mine, mine, mine.”

Good news !!! Jesus the Christ is ,”yours, yours, yours.”

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God

1 John 5:1

So this Christmas, my Messiah can be yours too.

That’s enough to give everyone a Merry Christmas!

Come, Lord Jesus!

Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Rev. 22:12-13 & 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

I was subbing in a first grade class at my favorite Christian School. When it came to Bible time, I was to read from the Bible curriculum about the shepherds that came to the stable to worship the baby Savior, and the Wisemen who came to the house to worship the child Savior, and Joseph taking his little family to Egypt because of the anger of the king. Well, I got through the whole account of events and ended with, “And you can see how God the Father protected His Son Jesus Christ through this whole time.” And I closed the Bible curriculum book.

One little girl shouted out, “Wait, Is that the end of the story?” I know she meant, “Was it the end of Bible time?” but the Holy Spirit pricked my heart. An “Aha” moment reminded me that this is not the end of the story. We have been for centuries and are continuing to wait for the end of this wonderful story.

Jesus is coming again. We are waiting with anxious anticipation. Just like the Children of Israel waited with eager hope of the coming of Messiah, we wait. Just as the shepherds and eastern Magi rejoiced and worshipped the Messiah, the Emmanuel, the God with us, we will rejoice and worship again when He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Our Pastor Wade is taking us through Revelation but I raced ahead to the end of the Revelation from God in my Bible. Jesus ends our scripture by saying that he is coming soon. He said He is the beginning and end of it all. And John the writer of this Revelation ends by saying that he is anxiously awaiting that Day.

We haven’t come to the end of the story. So I shout like John of old;

Amen!

                                                          

    Come Lord Jesus!

Christmas: Press Pause

Last week my sister and I were going over all the things we have to do before Christmas. I think we tell each other so that we can remind ourselves of anything we may have forgotten. Halfway through our lists I said, “Let’s just pause a moment and celebrate the birth of Jesus on earth…moment’s over.” We laughed at my little joke but I silently promised myself that I would take a moment to worship the Emmanuel Jesus Christ Son of God.

Then my week got crowded. I thought that I would take the time to concentrate on the words of our Christmas program at choir practice but ended up concentrating more on the notes of the music. At night, I addressed Christmas cards, wrapped presents, and decorated my house. Then, of course, the Christmas parties have started. By Thursday I realized that I had not taken a worship moment. Oh, I did my Bible study but worked it into the busy schedule any old how.

On Thursday I was asked to substitute in the elementary library. It was there in the middle of all the little books with the kindergarten group that I got to pause and celebrated Christmas. They had been so busy for weeks practicing for their school Christmas play and I was supposed to just show them the movie, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” to give them a little break in their high stress practice schedule. Easy money.

And the movie just reinforced what was going on in my busy Christmas or bust life. Charlie was coerced into directing the school play and no one was co-operating. Lucy made Schroder play “Jingle Bells” until he got it right. Snoopy was decorating his dog house for a best lights display contest. Finally Charlie Brown asked if anyone knew the real meaning for all this hoopla about Christmas. And thank you Charles Shultz cartoon creator because he let the whole movie stop as Linus quoted Luke 2:8-14

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

"...That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

And I stopped and listened and worshiped. The kindergartners did too. Then after the movie as they colored a Christmas tree, they began to spontaneously sing loudly. And it wasn’t “Jingle Bells”, or “Rudolf.” It was “Silent Night”, “Joy to the World” “Away in a Manger”, and one Christmas hymn after another. The singing kept going and didn’t stop until their library time was over. I was the worst substitute librarian ever because I threw library etiquette and decorum out of the window and sang just as loudly with them. They didn’t sing because they had too, or because these songs were in their play. They sang because they wanted too. They worshiped in their kindergarten way and I worshiped with them.

I pressed “pause.”

I took the time for my heart to really look in the manger and worship the baby,

the “God with us” baby.

And I sang loudly.

“Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

Sin, Yes, I Really Said That

My bible study magazine has me studying 1John 3:4-9. And I must say I am very uncomfortable with this study. I don’t disagree with what John wrote under God’s  direction. I’m just feeling the guilt and conviction with it’s confrontation. I don’t say the “sin” word anymore. I don’t make emphatic statements about what is right and wrong anymore. I guess it’s our culture and the “politically correct” nature of our society.


Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 


This passage in the Bible is all so black and white. It’s all so either/or. No gray. No sometimes or most times. You are a child of God or you are of the Devil.

If I have sin or disobedience to God’s word as a habit or practice in my life I’m really not acting as a child of God but a follower of Satan. And, oh my, that’s a little harsh. And the word “sin”, I’m not comfortable just throwing that word around.

The Apostle John certainly has no problem with this cut and dry definition. He unblushingly calls it like it is. No sugar coating from him. Oh no. This makes me squirm and have to take a look at my daily practices.

What am I practicing on a daily basis? What is my life pattern? What are my habit sins?

Thankfully Jesus is the sin destroyer. He breaks the power of cancelled sin as Charles Wesley so elegantly wrote in his wonderful hymn. He came for this very purpose. He changes daily sin habits as we follow Him instead of the Devil. He births us as His child.

I’ll still struggle with sin but because I’m a child of God I don’t have to make it a practice. The Holy Spirit’s constant conviction won’t let me continue without making me very uncomfortable in my sin.

And if I am comfortable with clearly disobeying God daily, I have to take a good long look at just who I am following.

                                                     I made this all about me because
             I’m not comfortable preaching at you but if the life pattern fits, well.………..



                                                                         SIN

                                                                  There, I said it.
             
                                                       Now don't make a habit of it.

Thanksgiving

Here is what another Prince of Preachers says about celebrating Thanksgiving:

“And this is what Thanksgiving should be for us – thanking God for His blessings, both past and in the present. As you gather with family or friends this Thanksgiving (or even if you are alone) pause to thank God for His blessings to you. Remember: He has given you everything you have. The Bible says, ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father’ (James 1:17.)

Even if you are going through hard times, thank God for His presence with you. Most of all, thank Him for Jesus Christ, who gave His life so you could have the greatest gift of all – the gift of eternal life. Have you accepted that gift? If not, make this a day of true thanksgiving by opening your heart and life to Christ.” – Billy Graham

Leave it to Billy Graham, the master of evangelism, to direct our thoughts to the core of thanksgiving. We don’t need to ever forget the primary reason we are thankful.

For God so loved the people of the world

that He gave His Son Jesus Christ

to die for our messed up selves

so that whoever accepts, believes, and receives

his gracious pardon and forgiveness

will be restored to fellowship with the God of creation

forever.

This is Thanksgiving on the grand scale. It goes past families eating together. It even goes past the American Pilgrim historical initiation of the holiday. It goes back to God and what He did for you and me.

Jesus loves me.

Jesus forgives me.

I’m thankful.

His Love Endures Forever

Psalm 136:1-3

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love and mercy endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love and mercy endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love and mercy endures forever

I can’t think of a better way to enter this American season of Thanksgiving than these verses.

Listen to what Charles H. Spurgeon has to say about these verses:

“Thanks is the least we can offer and this we ought to freely give. The inspired writer of this Psalm (song) calls us to praise Jehovah God for all His goodness to us and all the greatness of His power in blessing us.

We thank our parents,

Let us praise our heavenly Father.

We thank others for gifts we receive,

Let us give thanks to God, the giver of all

‘Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever,’ is the sweetest stanza anyone can ever sing. What joy there is in this love and mercy, mercy with Jehovah God, enduring mercy, mercy enduring forever. We are ever needing it, trying it, praying for it, receiving it: therefore let us forever sing it.”

Thank you Pastor Spurgeon, prince of preachers. I couldn’t say it any better.

Give thanks because His love for us endures forever!

Poured on Us (Not Ice Water)

Yes, I have been following “The Ice Water Challenge” on Facebook. Many of my friends have had ice water poured on them. And, OK, I admit it; it’s funny to see their reaction. Even the manly I’m not gonna let it get to me men have screamed and danced around a bit. So ladies we’ll let you do it too and not think any less of you.

We Christians have something being continuously poured on us. In fact it has been poured on us so much and we don’t scream and dance around. We might even take it for granted. It’s time to take a moment and enjoy the stream drenching us. And if we want to scream joyously and dance around it’s OK.

Think about this (No, REALLY THINK ABOUT THIS.):

1 John 3:1

·         See, experience, and be aware of !

·         the wonderful, greater than we can understand !

·         agape love !

·         the creator of the universe, our Father !

·         has poured and lavished on us !

·         that He would treat us as His dear children and call us by that name !

·         this place as His child is assured; it defines us; it is what we are !!!

(I know, overuse of exclamation marks. But I’m really really excited!)

And this is being poured on us continually. We are being saturated with love from God every minute of the day. This knowledge makes me want to praise and scream joyously and dance around. But I won’t do it in front of you. Sorry, I know you want to see me do it.

We should, however, live a little more joyously. We should live up to our heritage as a child of God. We should let His love define us.

God’s love

Is being continuously

Poured

On us

Until He Comes

The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.         1 Corinthians 11:24-26

This was the passage of scripture My Pastor Wade used last Sunday as we celebrated communion or The Lord’s Supper. I say celebrated because this time we actually celebrated at this breaking of bread ordinance of the church.

Other times we were instructed to focus on His death and what it means to Christians. And there is nothing wrong with that. It brings me to humble tears to remember that Jesus would do this for me so that I can have a relationship eternally with God.

But My Pastor Wade had us focus on the end of verse 26. “Until He comes” This is victory. This is the promise of the ultimate victory over sin in the world. I have victory over sin now but, let’s face it; we live in a broken world. No matter how we go through life there will be disappointments, pain, tragic accidents, wars and unease throughout the world, death, persecution, and on and on with things that challenge our victorious stance.

Someday Jesus will settle it for good. Until then we will continue to remember how He gave us forgiveness and victory over personal sin by His death, burial, and resurrection. Then one Day He will come to relieve this world of forces that physically and emotionally tear us apart. This will be the final victory. “Until He comes, until He comes, until He comes”

Since Sunday I have been acutely aware of prayer request people have given to me. And I have prayed with a renewed victory. Yes, we will have the need to seek and ask our Christians friends to pray vigilantly for the reminders of our broken world and how it heartbreakingly affects us. We will seek God’s merciful hand. We will seek His comfort and peace. We will seek His protection. We will seek His healing. We will come with broken hearts. We will ask, “Why me? Why my family?”  We will urgently make our request. The renewed victory is …..until He comes.

 No More Night  Words & music by Walt Harrah

The timeless theme, Earth and Heaven will pass away. 
It's not a dream; God will make all things new that day. 
Gone is the curse from which I stumbled and fell.
Evil is banished to eternal hell.

No more night. No more pain.
No more tears. Never crying again. 
And praises to the great "I AM." 
We will live in the light of the risen Lamb.

Until He Comes (It’s my new battle cry.)

Trust Test

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the peace of God guarding my heart and mind as I trust Him. Well, this week was my test of trust in this promise from God. When the doctor calls at 6:30 PM and leaves a message to call the next day you get to spend a whole night wondering what could be wrong.

Then with several miss-communications and a possible surgery thrown in for good measure, I was left with the choice to stand by The Word or eat my words. 

I must say that the trust issue was thrown at me several times. Thankfully and shakily, I put the guard of God’s peace over my heart and especially my mind. And I didn’t try to think of all the diseases I could have. It turned out that the doctor had a good diagnosis for me but I think that it was all a design to see if I will really stand by what the Bible says.

King David of the Old Testament wrote a lot about trusting in God’s protective hand in the Psalms. He was pursued by armies of the King who were commanded to kill him. When he said he trusted in God to protect him, he really did have to trust. He had enemies that threatened his life daily so he had to trust daily.

In Psalm 9:10 David wrote; “Those who know Your name trust You, O Lord, because you have never deserted those who seek your help.

It means:

·         Those who clearly understand  from experience

·         And know God by everything we can know about His character and reputation

·         Trust and submit with confident security for our well-being according to His plan

·         In a Holy God who is in charge of overseeing our lives

·         Because we know that He has never ever failed us, never ever let go of us, and never ever left anything undone

·         So we can urgently inquire and search for His protection in all situations

That is a confident trust. That is the trust we should have as we go through our lives encountering all kinds of what we would call “enemies.”

And sometimes we will get the little trust test. We don’t have to be blindfolded and fall backwards into the hands of mere co-workers. We get to fall into the hands of the God of creation who is holding everything together and still cares about each of us individually.

I passed the trust test this time.

If I stay submitted to His care

I can pass the test the next time too.

Like David, I trust the Lord God who has never ever let go of me.

All Of This Brings You Glory

I have been going along in life pretty secure that I’m supposed to glorify God. It is the chief end of man – To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I learned that and agree with that creed.

But I was a little “iffy” on what exactly that meant carried out in my daily life. I can find scriptures that glorify God, I can sing songs that glorify God, and I can pray prayers that Glorify God. I just didn’t know how to carry out my day glorifying God without the things I just listed. How does one make toast and glorify God? How does one go through a work day glorifying God? Do I sleep glorifying God? I don’t mean to sound trite and sarcastic. Really, I don’t.  I don’t want to make light of my chief end. I just wasn’t very clear on how to produce the product even though I knew what the product should be. I knew how to do it but not how to be it.

This all was brought about by a chance observation by My Pastor Wade in one of his sermons and a song we are learning for our choir Christmas presentation. My Pastor Wade said we should be teaching this catechism to our children. One of our Christmas songs (In The Highest by David Moffitt, Sue C. Smith, and Krissy Nordhoff) states:

God of wonder, God of light,

King who welcomes shepherds in,

You have cried the tears we cry, and You have walked where we have been.

Battered by this world of woe, we come weak and we come scarred,

Clinging to this simple hope that You will take us as we are.

And all of this brings You glory.

Cry? Walking? Battered? Weak? Scarred? This brings Glory to God? And how will we teach our children to cope with these things as they glorify God?

 So off to my research library I went.

The great missionary, Andrew Murray, wrote, “How can we glorify God? We cannot add to His glory or bring Him new glory. But we can simply allow His glory to shine through us by yielding ourselves to Him, that His glory may manifest itself in us and through us to the world.”

OK, I daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word?) submit to the heavenly Father’s plan for me. I yield to His will not mine. I get that. That clears up the dailiness of glorifying God. That’s gonna be tough to do but it is required. His glory should shine through us to the watching world.

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought with a price (*Christ Jesus paid it with His earthly life): therefore (*honor, value, and submit to Him as God, Savior, and Lord) glorify Him in your body, and in your spirit (*with all of your substance), which are God’s. (*a command, not an option)

*The comments are mine.

John MacArthur says, “That’s the meaning of existence. God made us because He wanted to display His glory. We are display windows from which God wants to reveal His glory to the world as they pass by us.”

(I can explain that to kids. We are a window. When people look in our window they should see God in all of His Glory. So we must keep our window clean. I can even visually illustrate this. Whew.)

We are to live with conscious and even unconscious commitment to being His display window. When people watch us living our lives, they recognize that we are pointing to a God we trust absolutely and believe in wholeheartedly.

So we live, walk, cry, laugh, fall down, get up, sing, make toast, work, and play.

And all of this is aimed at glorifying God.

And all of this brings Him Glory.

My Personal Security Guard

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Philippians 4:6-7

I was watching a mega-pastor on TV last week. His sermon was about guarding your heart. He gave all the ways his congregation should guard their hearts. I’m sure his people left thinking, “I’m going to guard my heart this coming week!” I was left thinking, “I haven’t done a very good job of guarding my heart, mind, and life so far. I’m not too sure I can follow all of this pastor’s directives without some help. I need some help with this because I’m pretty sure I can’t do this by myself.” I felt vulnerable and insecure. I felt left out there in this “cruel world” alone.

When I studied Philippians 4:6 and 7 and dug around in the verses I found (thank you, Jesus) that I have help. I don’t have to take the full responsibility of guarding my heart and mind. I don’t have to feel like the world is pounding me and I have to be “Rocky” and fight back all by myself. I have my own personal security guard.

My body guard is the peace of God. While this doesn’t sound like a very strong protector in our language (it made me think of the “peace, love” hippie movement) nothing could be farther from the real interpretation. This guard over the Christian’s thoughts and being is a military sentinel who actively dispenses whatever defensive or offensive fight techniques that are required to protect me.

Suddenly I feel secure. I feel safe. I have peace within whatever outward troubles may besiege my life. This is a divine peace in the middle of the warfare in my life.

I was asked to pray for a family that is really going through a “war” situation. While I felt helpless in their seemingly hopeless situation these verses kept resounding in my heart. In Christ Jesus this family and I can let our request be made known to our wonderful loving Father. And where we feel vulnerable to whatever is thrown at us, we have our personal security guard to take over. God will guard our heart, thoughts, feelings, and yearnings with His peace. It’s a force field around us.

Now that is protection.

I don’t face this awful stuff alone.

I am secure from any hostile attack.

I have peace from God Himself.

I have peace in Christ Jesus.

That is my personal body guard.

Stay

My neighbor is training a puppy for a family with two little girls. The puppy’s new family is so excited to have this addition as long as the dog is trained. Well Fancy (that’s the dog’s name) has got a long way to go before she will be ready to follow the rules of her new household. She has become quite the escape artist. She has found numerous ways to get under or through my neighbor’s fence. And she doesn’t come back every time you call her yet. 

She has learned a few things though. I found her down the street the other day and called and called and every time got near her she would run some more. But when I said, “Fancy, stay.” she sat immediately down and didn’t move. She got that one rule right. Fancy let me pick her up and carry her home. She knows “stay.”

Stay is what Jesus asks us to do and like Fancy we have a little trouble with it sometimes.

John 15:9-10

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide (stay) in my love.

If you keep My commandments,

you will abide (stay) in My love.

Yes, we need to be trained to follow the word of God and stay there. If we truly love our Lord we will keep His commands. And if we stay and follow His commands we will love Him more and see His love for us.

Sometimes we are the escape artists. We stray away from obeying God’s word. We know the right thing to do but we want to have it our own way. We can get into all kinds of trouble (like Fancy.) And it won’t be as much fun as we thought. Yes, Fancy has been stung by a wasp, scratched her tender little tummy, and almost hit by a car on her escape adventures. But Fancy will learn that she will be loved and cared for if she just stays obedient. And if we learn to obey the same will be true for us.

This sounds so cutesy doesn’t it? But it really hurts me to see how far some Christians will go to justify sin. They know they are living in disobedience and they seem not to care. I’ve even heard several people say, “Yes, I know God said not to do this but it makes me happy. Doesn’t God want me to be happy?”  That is not cutesy. And it’s not funny or cute when we choose to go against what God has said in His word. And it’s not going to keep you or me happy to continue living in known sin. OK that’s all I’m going fuss.

Our father God has given these instructions in his word so that we may have joy. And when Fancy has learned how to obey she will have a family that will love her dearly and she will be happy.

John 15: 11

These things have I spoken to you that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

I want all the joy that Jesus can give to me.

I want the full allotment.

And you and I can have it all from God if we will just

STAY

Proverbs Thirty-Wonderful Woman

Friday night I had a dream that turned into, well, this blog. I dreamed that I was sitting happily at a women’s conference waiting for the guest speaker to be announced and, low and behold, the hostess of the event announced that the guest speaker was me! I had no idea so I had nothing prepared. As I wound my way to the podium I was trying to put something together in my mind and provide correlating Bible verses because it was a Christian ladies conference after all. I was trying to remember what the theme of the conference was too. And as I was going up the stairs to the platform (Yes, this conference kept getting bigger and bigger in my dream) I noticed that I didn’t have on shoes! A dream analyst would have a field day with this.

I woke up panicked and stressed, heart pounding, pulse racing, fear of public speaking in place, and still trying to put this speech together. It was truly a night mare. Sorry nonexistent conference folks. Anyway, now I had this prepared speech and nowhere to give it. So here it is…..

"Thank you, ladies, for allowing me to speak to you. And thank you, (insert name of hostess), for that introduction. I know you women took valuable time to come here today/tonight.

You live busy lives every day. You (insert activities here) and your daily activities don’t stop even when the rest of the house is asleep at night.

After your busy day as you are helping the kids with the homework, your husband comes in from his busy day breezes by you and asks, “What’s for supper?” Yes, he is sometimes clueless. He has a well-organized home with happy healthy kids but doesn’t really know how it happens.

Well, ladies, give him a break. It just means you are a Proverbs thirty-wonderful wife and mom. The woman from Proverbs 31: 10-31 was just like you or maybe you are like her:

·        She lives to make her husband a success – vs. 11-12

·        She does what she has to do to craft a beautiful home – vs. 13

·        She is always available with healthy meals that everyone in the family will like – vs. 14

·        She gets up early to prepare everyone in the household for the day – vs. 15

·        She makes wise financial decisions for the family to live comfortably within the income – vs. 16

·        She tries to stay fit and energetic to accomplish all the activities assigned to her – vs. 17

·        She stays up late to make sure the household runs seamlessly – vs. 18

·        She makes sure everyone is appropriately clothed and  in correct sizes – vs. 19

·        She makes time to extend support and be involved in helping others less fortunate – vs. 20

·        She is always thinking ahead making sure the family is prepared for every seasonal change – vs. 21

·        She even finds the time to make herself look effortlessly great – vs. 21

·        She makes sure her husband has time for his “buddy” activities and his God given ministry – vs. 22

·        She celebrates her friends and neighbors and cares for them – vs. 24

·        She is not worried about how the family will fare in the future, she has prepared for any special event – vs. 25

·        She keeps her children learning and meeting their potential plus she is an active member of her church sharing her God given gifts and talents – vs. 26

·        And she makes sure her household thinks it all comes together naturally so they won’t be stressed – vs. 27

Your husband and children have every reason to realize what a blessing you are but sometimes they forget.They may not always realize the effort you are putting into their lives because you really are doing it out of love. But God is aware of all the little or big thankless jobs you do because you are a committed Godly wife and mother.

Let us pray:

Our dear Father, bless these wives. Bless these mothers. God, I pray that You will honor them for all they do. And I pray that they don’t forget to always give the glory to You. Amen."

(Applause, applause) Sit down and breathe a sigh of relief. Now where are my shoes?