Hospitality is a matter of the heart and not the architecture

I am a reluctant renter.
Have been for years.
Our house is small, it has faux bricks that constantly fall off the kitchen walls and carpets that, well, let’s just say we have three kids under the age of six and leave the rest up to your imagination.
For years my small house has stunted my hospitality.
I’ve always loved to have friends over. I’m not awesome with a glue gun and I do not have any real furniture arranging mojo. But I’m generally comfortable in my own skin. And I love lingering over the last of the hot chocolate with friends and leaving the dishes for later.
Give me girlfriends, church friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins – I love to have them in my space.
But since my space has shrunk the last few years it turns out my hospitality has shrunk right along with it. I didn’t realize quite how much until our South African cousins surprised us with the news they were going to be coming through the DC area and were so excited to come and visit – and hopefully stay – with us.
I was elated for 5 minutes before the wave of embarrassed disappointment hit.
The teeny living room, two bedrooms and one bathroom all flashed through my mind. Then there was the not-so-small matter that we only have 4 dining room chairs and no guest bedroom. An inflatable mattress and sofa pillows were the best we had to offer overnight guests.
Five of them and five of us in our house seemed like a recipe for hostess hyperventilation. So I was relieved when they said they’d be happy to stay at a hotel. And astonished when my husband emailed them back and insisted they stay with us.
I was incredulous. I pointed out the obvious. Our. House. Is. Small.
Turned out, however, Peter wasn’t limited by the size of our house, because he had big hospitality in mind.
He said we should give them our master bedroom and we’d take the inflatable mattress in the playroom, even if it was only for a night. The kids could camp out on mattresses and sofa cushions in the living room. He was determined that our homesick boys would get a full dose of family. And that meant sleepovers included.
We made dinner a taco fiesta buffet and everyone ate anywhere they were comfy. We put our best sheets on the bed and fluffed up our favorite pillows for them. The boys rolled out their blankets and stuffed toys and plotted games and snacks and stories.
In the four years we’ve lived here our house has never felt as big as it did the week that the Vercueils visited us.
I learned that big hospitality has nothing to do with the size of your house.
Big hospitality is a matter of the heart and not the architecture.
Once I let go of the obsession with smallness, I was able to embrace the fun of squeezing as much big hospitality as we could manage into a week instead of worrying how it would fit into our four walls.
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe this holiday season has you hyperventilating at the thought of your house being exposed for all to see how small or cramped or imperfect it is.
May I suggest a mental shift? If you see your house as big and welcoming as you feel about the people you’re having over, so will everyone who walks through its doors.
The size of your house, my friends, is entirely in your own hands.
http://www.incourage.me/     

Diana Key - guest blog

Gettin’ Ready for Christmas

12 Dec

It’s official. Christmas is coming. It’s that time of year when we get to bring a tree into our home that was chopped down in the forest (I like to think that ours was chopped down by a handsome lumberjack) and we hang strands of little tiny lights and ornaments shaped like snowflakes on the branches. We get to bake cookies and go to parties and our friends send us cards in the mail. It’s wonderful! I absolutely love Christmastime.
And of course, no one has more holiday spirit than my sweet baby cousin Eva (pictured left)..
Bless her heart. Santa better bring her a puppy to make up for that.
Speaking of holiday spirit, a couple of weeks ago pastor Allen talked about preparing our hearts for Christmas. His message really spoke to me because I so often forget to cultivate my heart for anything really.  I allow fear and doubt and anxiety and feelings of unworthiness to grow within me and that really doesn’t leave room for much else. He said, “there’s no room in our hearts for God when we harbor bitterness and envy and selfish ambition.”  I wrote that down because I struggle with harboring these things in my own heart. It’s a fact that when my thoughts are focused on my worries, I lose sight of all of my blessings. And what’s funny is when I do the opposite of that and focus on my blessings, it’s hard to worry about anything at all. God did not create me to be someone who feels unworthy and worries constantly. He created me to live as a woman whose faith can overcome every worry. He created me to be really good at Super Mario Brothers and dancing the cupid shuffle.
So as we prepare our homes and as some prepare their cars, I’m looking at you minivan with the antlers and red nose, let’s prepare our hearts too. Let’s think about all the things we’re thankful for and all of the great things that happened in 2011. And for the next two weeks leading up to Christmas, I am going to post 3 things I’m thankful for.  Starting now.
1. Family & friends.
2. My job, work that matters.
3. Justin Beiber’s Christmas chart topper, Mistletoe.
XOXO,
Di

Shannon Litton: Do missions trips provide lasting change?

Do missions trips provide lasting change?

December 6th, 2011

Two girls in a rural Haitian orphanage with lunch (two pieces of bread brought by UN soldiers) and wearing new clothes recently given to them from a visiting missions team

I just returned from Haiti after 5 days doing video production work for an amazing organization, KORE Foundation. This year I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia and Haiti, seeing extremely rough conditions and unimaginable poverty. With each trip, I get a jolt of reality. While it’s not my reality, I’m faced with the reality that the majority of the world doesn’t know my life. The stats are staggering and we’ve all heard them:

• 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
• At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
• Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
• The average Haitian eats only one meal a day, meaning many do not eat.
• 70% of Haitians do not have electricity.
• 90% of Haitians do not have running water.
• 80% of Haitians lack adequate sanitation.

But as big as the numbers are, the statistics are hard to grasp. We don’t see it, so we can’t believe it. It isn’t until I see it firsthand as I did this week. I don’t get it until I see a child in an orphanage pumping water from a shallow, contaminated well and drinking water that is so dark you can’t see through it. When I hold an orphan who is very sick and has been lying alone for hours on a piece of plywood that is his bed. With no medicine available, no parents to rush him to the ER, he is alone. When I hold that child, I really get the statistic of 147 million orphans in the world. The one face makes the statistic real.

A tiny baby girl at a Haitian orphanage. At 8 months, she was nearly the weight of my newborn babies.

I’ve had these experiences numerous times in life. I come home and I hold my kids close. I give a little extra to my favorite causes. I am truly grateful for what I have. But inevitably, life takes over and I forget. I start to think about the things I want. I feel sorry for myself when I don’t have “enough.” I lose perspective.
I’m always grateful to have a fresh dose of a new reality. But I don’t want to lose it. I want to model for my children what it means to live a selfless life. I want to be grateful that I live a reality that most people will never experience.
How do you keep a perspective of gratitude when the world we live in fights to draw us back to selfishness and entitlement?

Giving Thanks

Hands down, without a doubt, we are all blessed beyond measure.  And the appropriate response to gifts and blessings is to give thanks.  Giving thanks is not only appropriate but commanded by God to us. 

Psalm 105:1

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

BCN Ladies are thankful for:

Forgiving Father, loving husband and amazing children

Family: husband, sons, mom, brother, sister

Home, walking trails

HEALTH

Church family who is an anchor.  Can’t imagine life without you.

Wonderful husband who is my best friend and cooks dinner

Church family, especially the teen group!

Close relationships with mom, dad and sister

Raised and grew up in the church

JOB & HOME

HUMOR!  Laughing gets me through the day

Friends & Family

Fireplaces and Air Conditioners

Pastor Alan, Pastor Jason, Chad, Lisa, Rebecca

Art classes, small groups

HEALING

PSALMS 136:1

OH GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD.  HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

Christmas Craft Night - O What Fun!!

O What Fun we had making Christmas Light Boxes!  And they are BEAUTIFUL!! Thanks to all the ladies that participated and yes, we'll do it again next year!

BCN Ladies participate in Race for the Cure

Thanks Miss Mallory Guthrie for inspiring us to participate in the Race for the Cure!  The most memorable and moving part of the day was to see hundreds of breast cancer survivors participating in the "Survivor's Walk!" The most fun part of the day?  Doing all of this with BCN Ladies!  We're already planning to do this again next year and DO IT UP BIG!  I can just see all of us wearing pink tutus!

Front row: Kaylah Shockley, Joanie Walker

Back row: Amy Williams, Angie Landers, Rebecca Metzger, Summer Bartz, Kim Clark, Mallory Guthrie

Guest Blog - So What Does Baseball Have to Do With Women?

In honor of America's favorite pastime and that one of the teams playing in the World Series has been my hubby's favorite team since he was a little boy and that I try real hard to love things that he loves...I am posting a tribute to baseball, on this our women's blog.  Thanks to Focus on the Family for an incredible blog and GO CARDS!

Joanie

http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2011/10/19/why-baseball-is-more-than-just-a-sport

The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

For our first recipe here at BCN Kyria, I thought we should start out with something sinfully sweet. You know, since we're good Christian women and all . . .

It's The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings.

Have you tried them before? If not, go immediately to your nearest grocery store and buy out all their butter, because that is the main ingredient for this yummy dessert. Oh, and you'll need some Mountain Dew as well. That's right. I said Mountain Dew. Sounds a little strange, but it's just the kick these dumplings need.

Here is the recipe for her delicious apple dumplings. Trust me. You'll never be the same.

GUEST BLOG - Rebecca Metzger - God's Faithfullness

When Joanie asked me to blog, I said of course!  What a great opportunity to share a testimony about God's promises and his faithfulness to me, right?  Well, putting it on paper has been a lot more difficult than I could have imagined, but I'm grateful for the chance.

Erik and I were married in July of 2002.  We were already in our mid-late 20's so talk of children had already begun and we were ready!  I could never have imagined how difficult it would be to get pregnant.  Year one went by, then 2.  Year three I had surgery to remove endometriosis, and was sure that would be the end of our infertility.  Year three came and went but still no pregnancy.  Pressure was mounting from everybody.  We prayed constantly for a child. During this time, Erik received a promise from the Lord that we would have children.  Not a child, but children!  The Lord did not give me that same promise, and as more time went on, I began to lose faith in the promise. 

That 3+ years felt like an eternity, but I found myself pregnant and we could NOT hold it in.  We felt that after all that time we were going to shout it from the rooftops that our God had answered our prayer and kept his promise.  We threw a party and told everyone about how God had answered our prayers, and looked forward to the blessing of this baby.

Nine weeks into my pregnancy I went for my first prenatal visit, only to find out that our baby had no heartbeat.  I stayed in denial for a few weeks, convincing myself that it was just too soon to hear the baby's heart and that I would leave my next appointment rejoicing.  I miscarried at 11 weeks, and the result for Erik and I was devastation.  We named our baby Hope and gave it back to the Lord. 

In the fall of 2006, I got pregnant.  We were thrilled but cautious.  I remember Erik praying with me and telling me that we would have to trust God, lay it at His feet, put it in His hands, and not live in fear.  I praised God for every little sign of my pregnancy, including the morning sickness!   On the night of Thanksgiving, I started to have familiar signs of a miscarriage.  We went to bed feeling numb.  During the night it got worse, and there was no doubt in my mind that I was losing the baby.  In the morning my parents came in and prayed with us.  I was angry and tired and really didn't see any point in praying at that point.  My dad prayed confidently in the blessing of our baby.  I remeber him asking me, "why are you so quick to believe that lie?".  I could not believe his faith!  I felt so sad that he was going to be disappointed.  I thought maybe he didn't understand what was happening to me.  How could I explain it?   I just listened without any faith in the words coming from his mouth.  We wondered how we could go on hoping for something so hopeless.  A few days later my dad called me and said the Lord had given him a verse for me.  It was Phillipians 1:6, be confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it...

I did not go to the doctor that week, I wanted to let "nature take its course", and delay the inevitable.  When I felt like it was over, I called my doctor to let him know what happened.  He asked me to come in just to get checked out.  I  told Erik not to come with me.  I knew what they were going to tell me and didn't think there was any reason for him to be there.  They took me back for an ultrasound,  which I felt was completely unnecessary, and asked me a few questions about my previous pregnancy.  I remember looking away from the monitor and willing myself not to cry.  I heard her say "good news" and even laugh a little.  I looked at her in shock, wondering if maybe I had just won a car, and she pointed to the monitor and said "there's the heartbeat".  I could see it too!  A beautiful tiny amazing miracle heart pumping at 156 beats a minute!   Through my tears I said "thank you Jesus", and the tech raised one hand to heaven and said, "yes, thank you Jesus".   I cried myself out of the hospital, through the parking garage and to my car.  I called Erik who was driving at the time and told him to pull over.  He started shouting Praise God!  Praise God!  He says he shouted so loud and cried so hard it gave him a headache.  Now that's pure joy!

It's awesome to look back at a time when I had to have so much faith in God, only to realize how little I really had.  I'm so thankful for the people that God has put in our lives who were able to have faith when we couldn't.  Together, Erik and I learned so much through the trials which ultimately brought us closer to God.  We need to remain humble in our walk with God , trusting that He is in the midst of doing something great all the time.   It may not make sense to us, but in the end God's wine is always best and he often blesses us with a double portion.

We thank God for our miracle baby Beau and the very best of His double portion, baby Will.

GUEST BLOG - JoAnn Glover

There are many things running through my mind as I sit down to write something for the WM blog.  I have two paragraphs written from a couple of weeks ago but this morning I am moving in a different direction.  I took the day off to spend time with the Lord.  I have been reflecting on a tough year.  So many things have happened; so many lessons learned…learning.  This morning I believe I will share a lesson on forgiveness, changing the way one thinks and as always, prayer.   

My beloved step-dad of 33 years died the week before Christmas.  He was the only grandfather (on my side of the family) my children knew and he was a good one.  He and my mom married following the death of both of their spouses and after seeking council from Pastor Reed at First Church of the Nazarene, who gave his blessings.  We have wonderful memories of great times together.  We loved him and he loved us.  But, for a reason we still do not know, two of his children were against the marriage from the beginning.  Mom and Al were both Christians, both dedicated to the Lord and active participants together at First Church.   I could not have picked a better spouse for either one of them.  They had a good life together, loved one another, worked together for the Lord, and were happy. 

I thought perhaps the resentment against my mom had dissipated after they were joined in marriage, but it did not.  There were many things that happened throughout the 33 years where that root of bitterness reared its ugly head.   As a last deed when Al was on his deathbed, bank account numbers were obtained, online banking established in mom and Al’s names and money transferred from their joint account to the two children’s private accounts.  I am trying to think of a softer way to say this and am trying hard not to make this about “what they did” because other than the root of bitterness taking hold of one’s heart, that is not the point.  But here is the point.

Once this information was learned, what was I going to do with it?  How would you feel knowing your mom was provided for and then oops, no she’s not?   I immediately knew the devil was going to try to get a foothold, ah a root of bitterness in my own heart.  But for the better part of one whole day I allowed those bad thoughts to take hold anyway.  I wanted to react like they do on TV…I wanted to “get them”.   But as the sun went down and the Scripture kept repeating in my mind, “let not the sun go down on your wrath” and as those unhealthy, unhappy feelings gripped my heart, I wanted to be rid of them.   

First, I learned that it doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you have served the Lord.  Satan is a roaring lion going to and fro throughout the whole earth seeking whom he may devour.  He was after me!  One of the benefits of spiritual maturity (old age) is to see with spiritual eyes.  I knew what was happening.  I knew the Lord could take it and turn it around, but I myself had no idea how he would get this out of my heart.  I just knew he would if I asked Him.

So, when the family went to bed I had a talk with the Lord.  First, I asked Him to give me someone in the Scripture who had experienced this kind of betrayal.   This is funny now because there are so many, but I could not think of one person in the Scripture who had had this happen to him and that is just what I told the Lord.  [I always look to the Scripture for help and for examples and they have always been there, but not this time.  Oh how the devil blocks your mind and keeps  you from thinking rightly.] 

The Lord answered immediately.  My mind was flooded with people and examples far worse than my mother’s.  First, He said, what about Joseph?  His own brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery.  What about Sampson, Delilah betrayed him; David betrayed Uriah, a man that had been loyal to him from the beginning, from the times when they had hid in caves together; what about Absalom, David’s own son?  And then He said this, “What about me?  One of my own twelve, one who ate with me, saw my miracles, even that one betrayed me.  And what about my own Jewish people?  I came to give them life, but they turned on me and crucified me.” 

So now I am weeping and calling to mind how these same people reacted to their individual betrayals.  I won’t take the space here to record all their words but they all forgave.  I will record the words of Jesus on the cross, Father forgive them.

So now, Jesus is changing me, changing my thinking, asking me to forgive them.  Wow, this is hard; harder because they did it to my 84 year old ailing mom who needs sitters to care for her and money to pay for the sitters.  My mom who always loved and prayed for them and tried so hard to make them love her.  But that part was Jesus’ business; He would take care of my mom.  I was the one standing in need.  It was me with sin in my heart.  It was me who needed to forgive and be forgiven.  I said to the devil, I am not about to let you get me after all these years.  I will not let this root of bitterness take hold. 

So I turned back to the Lord and asked for one more thing: Lord give me a different way to think about them.  What I am thinking is mean and unkind and vindictive.  How should I think?  Help me to think like you.   And so He did.  He showed me Al and the love he had for his children and how much he wanted them to spend eternity in heaven.  He reminded me of their mother, Jeanette, who had died so young but was there now in heaven and wanting very much for her children to join her.  He showed me the eternal need; He gave me eternal eyesight.  He told me Al wanted me to pray for them, forgive them.  I saw people standing outside the gates of heaven discussing how the devil had won them.  One was saying, “he got me with lust”; another, “he got me with greed and bitterness”, and on it went, people naming ways the devil won them and I saw how senseless and stupid it was.  How we just give a place to the devil in our hearts and lives and let him take over.   

And now I was ready.  He had answered my prayers.  He had given me examples, powerful examples, from the Holy Scriptures and he had changed my way of thinking.  I was ready to let the Lord cleanse my heart of all those unkind thoughts; ready to start praying for them.  More than that, I wanted to pray for them.  And so before I closed my eyes to sleep, I obeyed the Lord.  I let Him cleanse me, let Him set me free and I prayed and am praying for their change of heart too.   Oh How Great is Our God!  By His power He changes the heart.  He changes the mind.  He forgives and restores and fills the heart with His precious Holy Spirit.  How Great is our God!  Praise His name forever. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

The Adventure of a Lifetime

The Adventure of a Lifetime

In the Beth Moore Bible study “Filled to the Measure” Beth talks about having the adventure of a lifetime if we will only seek and allow God to fill us to the measure.  This study has moved me to tears on several occasions, first in that I had to ask myself “Do I truly want God to fill my life, to fill my entire being with Him?”   I have asked this question of myself before and submitted all to God but once again, I asked myself the question and allowed (and still allowing) God to search my heart and fill me.  After hearing Beth Moore’s “hairbrush” story, I asked this question with just a little trepidation.  As I continued to dig deeper into this study I knew that I could not do anything other than ask God to fill me to the measure.  As for the adventure part it seems as if I have been on this path for the past couple of years.

In November of 2009, broad changes were brought to the world of financial aid in higher education. These changes resulted in me and thousands of other people losing our jobs.  On a November Monday morning, me and 13 of my coworkers called in for what we thought was a normal Monday morning conference call to hear someone say that our jobs were eliminated, effective immediately. I remember the sickening feeling in my stomach as I thought of sharing this news with Clyde and knowing that we would now cope with significantly less income.  I remembered back to July 2005 while attending a national financial aid conference in New York when a rep from this company approached me asking if we might have a conversation about me coming to work for them. Weeks later, the same person flew to Nashville to begin those conversations and a few weeks later I was flying to Boston to meet others in the company.  They made it clear that they were not interviewing me for a position but wanted me to come on board, the sooner the better. I accepted the position and for the next four years I loved what I did, believed in the purpose and earned not only a great salary but nice bonuses for a job well done. All of that came to an end with a phone call.

After catching my breath and wiping away a few tears, I sent letters to two institutions in TN offering consulting/temporary staff assistance.  Rhodes College in Memphis immediately called and after only two months of unemployment I had a seven month contract for employment. The pay was considerably less and the travel far less fun and exciting but I had a job.  During my final month at Rhodes, I received a phone call from a company based in Atlanta asking if I would be interested in coming on board with them beginning August 1^st.  My first assignment would be at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.  They estimated that I would be needed for one month. However, once there, the assignment continued to be extended and ultimately lasted three months. I shared at our women’s retreat in February 2011, how the assignment developed into a nightmare and ended with my self-esteem shattered and a piece of my identity falling to pieces.  In November of 2010 I filed an application to receive unemployment, a frustrating and exhausting process.

Although unemployed and still somewhat reeling from the Johns Hopkins experience, I loved staying home, having the luxury of taking care of our home, spending time with my parents and my grandchild.  But reality was never far away and I knew that I needed a job.  On a Monday morning in June, I received a phone call from MTSU asking me to consider a proposal to lead a call center for eleven weeks which would be staffed by 10 grad students. These students would fend phone calls for the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid during peak registration and I would offer assistance as they answered the phone calls. I reluctantly walked through this door believing that God had opened it for me.  I tried to be thankful but I questioned God about this “opportunity.”  While working this temporary assignment, MTSU asked if I would be interested in a fulltime position in their office and with no other prospects in hand, interviewed for the position. This past Friday, they called and offered the position to me. I am to give them my answer this week.  Again, I asked God, “Why this job with a salary less than half of what I was making a couple of years ago?” “Why a job that is 45 minutes away?” I had hoped for a prestigious opportunity that involved the pay, travel, challenges and excitement of previous positions. I have struggled with pride and being thankful and contented.

While all of the details I have shared so far are important to the adventure, they are not the adventure of a lifetime.  The adventure of a lifetime is that after the first job loss, God moved my heart to lead the women’s ministry of our church. I was scared to death and gave Him every reason why I was not the person to do this. He also led me to write two letters of restitution which brought responses of grace and forgiveness. After the Johns Hopkins nightmare, God showed me that “I was a treasure, A Sight to Behold” which became the theme for the Women’s Retreat in February 2011. During my days in the MTSU Call Center, I fell in love with the now nine students that I worked with. We laughed together, ate huge lunches together and one amazing day, God opened the door for me to share Jesus with five of them. I don’t know why He chose a moment in time when only five and not all nine were in the room but He knows and I can with confidence leave that with Him. And there have been other God opportunities, too many to include at this time.  I am realizing that I have to make choices; I can choose to be discontented where I am or I can choose to allow God to take me where He wants to serve His purposes.  A new adventure will begin the first week of October when I will begin working in the Office of Financial Aid at MTSU.  I am just waiting to see where this God given adventure will take me and will keep you posted but one thing I know for sure, when I travel with God, I have the Adventure of a Lifetime.

Thanks so much for allowing me to share my journey.
Joanie

GUEST BLOG - Aubry Maxson

Because it's really good stuff and because I want it to be part of our blog archives and because you might have missed it the first time...here is Aubrey's blog post. And did you know that you can make comments on our blog?  If you like it, let's us know! 

AUBREY'S POST
Recently I have felt a prompting to focus on the nature of God.  I don't think it's coincidental at all that when I focus in on something, it's as though my senses become heightened to that one object or concept and I begin to see patterns and deeper connections that I previously passed by or overlooked.  It starts to pop up in sermons, Bible study, songs, and conversation with friends - like pieces to a puzzle.  That's when I know that I need to listen to the message and I get excited about how things begin to fit together. 

I've had some disappointment and heartache this year.  Kind of a string of disappointments, one after another.  Every year has its ups and downs, but this one in particular has had one big bump after another.  I don't know about you, but I discovered that I can only get knocked down so many times before I get really wary about getting back on my feet.  That's when the doubt starts to creep in.  I start to think negatively and begin to look for the next thing that's going to go wrong.  I question what I am doing to possibly cause these things.  And then there's the usual, "Why me?"

There hasn't been anger at God.  Just confusion. I thought that my prayers and plans were normal and appropriate.  I thought my dreams and expectations were going to come to pass.  But God shut doors or detoured my path time and time again.  In my confusion I have come to some realizations.  There's been an awful lot of focus on me in those plans, prayers, dreams, and expectations.  And while what I hoped for wasn't necessarily wrong, they were my plans, dreams, etc.  During one especially disappointing day, I caught myself repeating over and over, "Is this about me?" and then everything was quiet and I felt God's very real response - "This is about me."

A friend recently introduced me to the singer/songwriter Laura Story.  I listened to her testimony on YouTube and was struck by a few lines in her amazing song Blessings.  She talks about trying to reconcile her knowledge that God is completely powerful and completely loving but He hasn't healed her husband who is still suffering from the effects of a brain tumor.   Laura sings about how we pray for blessings that we think are good and appropriate, like prosperity, health, etc. but sometimes God gives us what we need and not what we want.   He doesn't cause the trial, the pain, the hurt.  This world, this life does.  But He doesn't necessarily wipe it away.  She says she is learning that perhaps sometimes He lets us stay broken (even uncomfortably) in order for His light to shine out of all the cracks inside of us. She talks about a blessedness that comes in waiting on the Lord and a deeper intimacy with Him that comes when we walk through a dark valley.  There is a reliance on God's word that we only know when everything else fades away.  Even though things aren't unfolding the way we thought or desired, we are still receiving His blessings, His love, His peace.  She sings about deep thirst and aches that the world doesn't satisfy and how these are longings that remind us that this world isn't our home.  Whew!  Powerful stuff!  Definitely convicting stuff.

That immediately takes my focus off myself and instead puts it on God's plan for me and ultimately His purposes and glory.  When I feel as though I can't see or feel Him and I am absolutely unclear about how to proceed, I focus in on the nature of God.  I counteract those doubts with what I know to be true about Him.  I know that I'm a child of God.  I know He loves me with a deep and everlasting love.  I know that while He may not eliminate the pain or the trials that this world throws my way, He will walk with me.  He is the giver of perfect peace.  He is the provider of grace for each day.  It's then that I start to see the blessings He is pouring out.   It's then I begin to feel excitement about His plans.  If my plans (which I thought were pretty good!) aren't going to come to pass, what does He have in mind?  If His will involves a "waiting time", what does He desire of me in this delay?  These things are easy to pray and much harder to accept and actually live out.   I am prompted to pray that I will not only be open to His plans for me, but that I will have His strength to walk along the path where He leads. 

Beth Moore excerpt from Filled to the Measure (hairbrush story)

Ladies,
Thought you might want to see the excerpt from our current Bible Study, Filled to the Measure.  After I watch this video I have to ask this question, "What would God do in my life if I would allow Him to Fill Me To The Measure."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtk5WgzZcYA

Welcome, BCN Women!

The long-awaited blog has been birthed. We will add more bells and whistles to the blog and make design changes along the way, but at least now we are up and running.
Just click on the "follow by email" link in the right sidebar, and you will be able to sign up for emails when there is a new blog post.

We're so excited to have a place to share our walk with the Lord and our day-to-day lives. This blog is a place to see what is going in our women's ministry, share recipes and photos, recommend favorite reads and give book reviews, find out what events are happening when and where, and much much more.

We look forward to beginning this journey together!