by Tina | Apr 18, 2016 | Devotional
It’s not all about you! One of the quotes that has changed my life since reading the book, “The Purpose Driven Life”, by Rick Warren. In fact, Dan and I felt the book helped us each so much we personally gave it to our family members and children. If you haven’t read it, I would recommend it!
Well, God has used this phrase many times in my life since reading the book, when someone says these 5 little words to me, it makes me think, and think hard about the selfishness and pride I can exhibit and harbor so often!
This picture is from a Women’s Conference I went to last week to talk about Days for Girls and things that are going on at GECHAAN. It is fun to see women come together, encourage each other, and learn together. This is not what many women experience out there in the real world though, is it? Unfortunately many women don’t experience this in the church either!
I have been fortunate to have many women who have input so much positive into my life. They have encouraged me, answered my questions, gently chastened me, and loved and prayed me through my teenage years, young married life, and raising boys, and then teenagers. They have prayed me through life and are currently still praying us through this missionary journey.
In this world of crazy, all-about-me thinking, I think we have forgotten one very powerful gift. The gift of women lifting each other women up. We all have our own thoughts, personalities, and passions. Why do we feel the need to downgrade others if we disagree on one aspect of family life or child-rearing?
There is power and life in encouraging a mom who is trying to keep her head above water, and feeling like she’s drowning. I believe that we all can benefit from strong women friends in our lives. Women who speak truth to us and who we know we can tell anything without fear of judgement.
My point for today is this: Are you nurturing those relationships? Do you have younger women that you encourage and do you have older women who encourage you? We are all in this same boat of womanhood, isn’t it better to do it together? I think so!
by Tina | Apr 8, 2016 | Devotional
Today has been a hard day. Let me show you why. This is a two month old baby boy, his name is Ramon. He is so dehydrated and malnourished I don’t know if we are going to be able to help him. About two hours before Ramon came to the hospital, I was helping hold down a three year old boy, Destiny, that got hit by a motorcycle. He was scared, hurting, in shock, and I think he also had a concussion. He screamed and cried, and it broke my heart. He didn’t understand we were trying to help him.
I thought about a conversation I had with a friend this week about how God longs desperately for our loved ones to know him and trust him even more desperately than we long for this to happen.
Jesus made it clear that not only does God have compassion on sinners, but He desires that we have that same compassion. He wants to turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh that long to love God and make His love known to the world.
I believe we serve a God of deep emotion, of incredible passion, of intense feeling. God reacts, He gets intense, He shows us His feelings and His heart. What I believe is in the deepest place of God’s heart is an intense, burning, passionate love for people. All people. Everywhere across this world, including right outside our front door.
When Art and Dorothy came to Nigeria to start GECHAAN, their philosophy is we save people’s lives, then we can introduce them to Jesus. Dan and I have that same philosophy. I believe that God is more broken-hearted about the numbers of children dying because of lack of knowledge then I am. I believe that God is also saddened by the lack of Biblical knowledge in His children. This week we have had our AWANA training for the next group of churches that would like to start AWANA and minister and disciple the children God brings to them. I truly believe that if we help this upcoming generation of leaders and the current leaders in Nigeria with education and empowerment, that we can make a difference with God’s help. He wants it even more than we do, doesn’t He?
My thought for today: As you go through your day, take some time to ask that God would give you a heart of compassion for the lost. Let’s pray that through this heart of compassion He will move to become a part of what God is doing to take the gospel to hurting people around the world, but first start with your neighbor.
by Tina | Apr 1, 2016 | Devotional
We have these truths in the Bible:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalms 46:1
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint from Isaiah 40:31.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. Ephesians 3:16
Colosians 1:11 Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.
Life can be hard and Jesus calls us to hard things, like dying to ourselves and forgiving. Letting go of our own sinful desires and weaknesses and then living in victory?
Lately I have been so much more aware of how I have let Satan dupe me through the years and believed THE LIE.
Dan and I have believed for a long time now that if Satan can make Christians ineffective then his job is done. He can sit down, have a cup of hot coffee and read a book. He doesn’t need to do anything else. We Christians will take care of that for him!
I know that I have not realized the power that is available to me (through no power of my own) but through His grace and a decision I made years ago. I am a Child of the King. That’s it. Period! We go through life with so much fear. We are afraid to speak the truth, fear for ourselves, our children, our country, fear of dying, fear of “being different”, fear of rejection – so many fears! I have lived life in fear for far too long! I was not as effective as I could have been had I realized the power that is within me and realized the lies I was believing as Satan was whispering them into my ear.
We have infinite resources in Christ, including His mighty, incomparable power! The longer I live on this Earth, the more I realize that I was personally under the illusion that I needed to be totally and fully in control of all situations. Guess what We have NO power in and of ourselves. This is an illusion! The only power I can claim is the power I have through Christ. I am not in control of anything! I listen for His wisdom, look for confirmation, and move forward. He has this, I don’t have to!
Isn’t that awesome! I am a free woman, a happy woman and in love with the Jesus who saved me and freed me.
My point for today is this: Do you truly realize the true power that is available to you as a Christ follower and are you tapping into it or are you still believing the lies of our enemy?
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