PRC Life Banquet

Pregnancy Resource Center owns a part of my heart that I didn't even know existed years ago.  It is a place of hope and mercy to a world of hurting women and men. It is a safe place where a woman can go and share her pain, her fears and her hopes.  It is a place of hope because God lives there. He lives in the women that work and serve in this wonderful place. 


Its not your typical 9-5 job. No, this place is a calling. Its a place where you are going to get bruised and beat up..... your heart and soul. 
You are going to go home at night and cry for the darling high school girl who is afraid to tell her parents she is pregnant and thinks abortion is the only answer. You will rejoice when you see the ultrasound of twins as the young couple sits by with tears coming down their faces, scared to death. 
When you hear the women come in and call Greta by name and repeatedly thank her for changing their lives..... because she believed in them and she told them there might be a better way to live their life.
But always in love and never judging. Always with the mercy and grace that Jesus showed.


It is a place that will change you forever. You will not judge them because you know they have walked a road that you will never know. You have been spared the pain and neglect they have experienced. 
You will love them because that is the right thing to do and because you are called to love. 
It doesn't matter if they look like you, smell like you or speak your language. You will love them because they are Gods children, just like you are. No better and certainly, no worse.


We celebrate this place on September 16, 2010 at The Hilton Garden, Champaign.
Dr Tony Evans in our guest speaker. He is a gifted man and speaker who desires to serve Christ with his life. Want to join us?

so long summer.....

September will arrive tomorrow and I believe it will feel similar to the days of August.. at least initially.
It has been hot, humid and ....horrible?!  The three H's?  No, it has been at least the first two but never the last.  I save that word for January.
Yes, i am a fair weather person. I have decided I want to live in Colorado but i want the ocean at the bottom of the ski lift in winter (or mossy green slopes in summer.) Hey, what an idea!

I guess I am most recently learning to be content. Spent years trying to arrive at this destination and just when it looks like the train is pulling into the station, the track splits and we go a different way.

A poet once wrote, " As a rule, man's a fool. When it's hot, he wants it cool. When it's cool, he want's it hot. Always wanting what is not." 

Well, i am only guilty of half that sentence so maybe i am only half a fool?  No, guess it doesn't work that way.
1 Thessalonians  5:18 says, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

It is all about trusting God more and ourselves less. I only need to look back on my life and I quickly recognize the times he has protected, provided and cared for me. How many more times did I not even know what he had done for me. He is always looking out for my good.

So, i will go into this new month, with new expectations and new opportunities.
My high school ladies small group starts this month, our Sunday night high school ministry begins and the hubby and i will be serving there. There are new opportunities at PRC to serve. I am joining Bible Study Fellowship again with a new study of Isaiah and there are other opportunities I am part of.

God has plans for all of us this fall. Will we be content enough to catch his desire for us?
Listen to this statement by a young married husband to his wife recently, "How can we be God -conscious when we are so wrapped up in being Self- conscious all the time?" He was convicted of this thought and in turn stretching his wife in her faith. I love that picture of how we as believers are to encourage one another.

Pretty amazing thought though isnt it? Are we not so self centered and self conscious all the time that there is hardly room to focus our thoughts on God? Hello....... you talkin to me?!

Perhaps this January I will be so thankful and looking up that I will only notice the sunshine and snowflakes that will fall from time to time. Another reminder of Gods greatness and that he is God and I am NOT.

Priorities

The other evening I remarked to a friend that i really hadn't accomplished a whole lot that day.  I seem to carry around this mental to do list in my head and if I dont check off enough "stuff" then the day didn't count. Even when I write this it sounds ridiculous.

After I said those words to her I thought back to my day. Actually, it had been a fantastic day in the things that mattered.
In the morning I had walked with two girlfriends that I never walk with and we laughed and enjoyed the sunny morning. Laughter is always my preferred way to start a day.
I spent some time with God and asked him to direct my ways for the day. Cant go wrong there, right?

I met with an amazing group of women for lunch and we spent 2 hours being transparent and honest while encouraging each other in our journeys through life. I am always filled up when i leave these women because they love Jesus and yet we are so different from one another.  I learn so much from them.

I communicated with a sweet friend who is on a new adventure in another country and I have the opportunity to encourage her and be blessed by her friendship.

I had the blessing of skyping with my parents for over an hour and we always laugh and enjoy the feeling of being much closer than the 1200 mile separation that exists.
 My daughter called me (no, she didn't need money) on the phone and my son and I skyped the hubby/dad and enjoyed a few moments of togetherness.

How on earth could I say to my friend that I had not accomplished much that day? All the things that mattered I had accomplished. The relationships in my life are what matter most. I know this but I have always been so go, do, create, check off orientated that I still fall into my old habits.
I need the reminders from Gods word to slow down and not miss the opportunities he allows me to share in. One of my favorite verses is "Be Still And Know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Be still in worrying, trying to figure it all out. Let God be God in your life. He is not just your friend, he is your GOD. I don't know any other relationships that can match that description and i have some amazing female friends:)!
Why do we relegate him to a small area of our life? Why is he not invited to fill us with the Holy Spirit all the time, fully and completely?
I think if i did ask that of him every day i would have better relationships and I would know I had accomplished much on that day. My heart would be overflowing with gratitude and joy.

        
                         "Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it and be glad."

Gungor "God is not a white Man"

The land of OZ ?!

lemons in Italy

Dear Dorothy,

Hate Oz, kept the shoes. Find your own way home.

signed, Toto

This is a magnet on my fridge I picked up in where else but...... Kansas. It makes me laugh and yet how much truth is there in it?  Maybe more than i would like to admit.

I love the shoes( blessings) but not so much the place( the discomfort). 

The truth is God cares more about my character than my comfort.  Most days I am grateful for that. When I am weak, he is strong...just like the song so many of us learn as little children. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong.

Jeremiah learned this early in his life and lived it well. He knew God was the most important relationship he would ever develop. He wasn't concerned about his comfort or security. He feared chasing the wrong thing, the things without any eternal value. 

God tells us in his word, Miss anything else, but don't miss my voice. 

That is what i am fearful of sometimes. I don't want to miss his voice...... more than anything else in my life..... don't let me miss my God calling to me.

"what a waste it would be to take these short, precious, eternity charged years that we are given and squander them in cocktail chatter when we can be, like Jeremiah, vehemently human and passionate with  God."     Running with the Horses - Eugene Peterson

So...each day i must decide what to do with what God has given me. Okay, somedays it doesnt seem like much, both from a look in the mirror and a look around me :)

Somedays may feel like exile. New surroundings, new friends, new schools, new jobs, new weather....whatever it is, this is where God has placed me. This is my only chance to live by faith, today.

God has placed me among his land and with people he loves. Will i love them too?

Scared, confused, fearful, afraid of rejection.... the list can be long. But, the good news is, God knows our lists and he is so much bigger than our dumb (lets face it) lists.  He has gone before us to where he has just placed us. This is a fact and one we forget.... all the time.

I am going to live by that good news today and experience abundant life.

the journey of uncertainty

I am in a new house, a new neighborhood. I don't recognize the new sounds and my dog doesn't recognize the new smells. I keep driving to my old house in my old neighborhood... where some of my dear friends are. I miss the familiar.
It is a time of big change in my family. The daughter is in Nashville, her junior year of college. The son is a senior in high school. The husband has taken a job in another state. A state that is unfamiliar to us. We are east coasters and the midwest is very different. He has gone farther west....untamed territory. A boy from New Jersey! Into the wild west, oh my.

So i am holding it together here.  I have ended my job as Director of Volunteers at Pregnancy Resource Center. A place I love. The women there are my sisters They have taught me so much about life, grace and mercy. They do not judge, they simply love as Jesus loves. I miss them very much. I will go and see them this week and figure out a way to be of service to them and the girls that come with in so many needs and hurts.

We know that God has placed us here and has gone before us. He knows the trials ahead and he has covered us with his grace and mercy. We trust him for this new adventure though it doesn't come without moments of loneliness and uncertainty . It is not fun to be apart as a family and I covet our times together.

I took this picture in Tamorino,Sicily

I love adventure and i know God has something for me to do in our new community. What is it? He has prepared me with all he has taught me here these past 15 years, through people he brought into my life who have taught me, loved me and held me accountable. Surely he will not leave me with nothing to do. I pray he shows me where he wants me.

I love my sisters and brothers here and i pray God provides a way to stay close to them. These are the people you raise your children with, you share your joys and sorrows with. They know you and love you anyway. You laugh and cry and you pick each other up when one stumbles.  A precious, beautiful gift from God, that is what this kind of friendship is.

"I will go where you go. I will serve where you serve." Chris Tomlin

Even when the rain falls, even when the flood starts rising, even when the storm comes, i am washed by the water . Even when the earth crumbles under my feet. Even if the ones I love turn around and crucify me, I wont ever let you down. I wont ever fall as long as you're around me.....by Need to breathe

I love these words, gentle reminders to me that the storms will come but I am his and he will always be with me.
I have an audience of one and must remember that each day i will choose to please man or please God. I cannot serve two masters. But i struggle with this.

Let me be wholly devoted to you God.  Let me sing praises to your name. "How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God , and all will see how great is our God. Name above all names, worthy of our praise, all will see, my heart will sing, how great is our God."

In the quietness of the day may I hear you calling to me. May I stop and listen to the whisper because that is where you are. You are a gentleman, never pushing yourself on us, but gently calling to your children," come and sit and rest".

morning thoughts

Many mornings I wake up with the prayer of Jabez on my lips. It is from 1 Chronicles 4:10 and goes like this, "Bless me indeed today Lord, increase my territories, and may your hand be upon me. Keep me from evil, that i may not cause pain."
A simple prayer by a man who was devoted to God and wanted to glorify God in every aspect of his life.
I have never been one to pray a memorized prayer so i am careful with this prayer. I usually pray it like this," Bless me indeed today Lord and may your face shine upon me and give me peace. Increase my territories and may your hand be upon me. Keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain."
It has become a time for me to reflect on who God is, his power and his ability to direct my life if i seek him every morning. An acknowledgment that he has plans for me, people he wants me to connect with and that he wants to bless me INDEED.

It is not a magical promise, but a recognition of who God can be in your life if you want to live the life that he has planned for us. It has helped open my eyes to opportunities because i am praying that he will increase my territories. I am asking him to give me more. More opportunities to share Jesus and be Jesus to those I meet.
It is also a reminder that our relationship with God is meant to be the most intimate relationship we ever experience. Have we experienced that relationship with the God who created us and knows everything about us including how many hairs we have on our head?

Proverbs 16:3 says, "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."  I love this verse and it is perfect for me.
 How many times do we commit our works or plans to God but they are just that, our plans. "Okay God, I am going over here. Come on, lets go."  It sounds ridiculous but isn't that what we do... daily? I do. This verse tells me that if I will commit my plans to him, then he will take over and he will fix my thoughts on what is correct, just, good and pleasing to him.
GOD will establish my thoughts. Hallelujah! Really, i mean that. I really want my thoughts to be established by God because his thoughts and plans are so much better for my life.
I will walk over the cliff every time if left on my own. I am so thankful that Jesus who lives in me is establishing and directing my days.
I only have to tap into him every day ........ or he will become silent. Prayer is my lifeline to my savior. So easy and yet so under used. Lets ask to be "blessed indeed" today.

Jeremiah

I am reading a book titled Running with the Horses, author Eugene Peterson. The book is not new, just new to me.
It is full of reflections on the life of Jeremiah, the prophet.
Jeremiah complains to God about the wickedness he sees.  God answers him with, "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses." Jeremiah 12:5
Was Jeremiah going to give up when the going got tough, or was he going to pursue excellence?
Jeremiah paid attention and for over 60 years he did the will of God.  He lived life with passion, fully devoted to the things of God, without any attempts at self promotion or improvement.  He was Gods man.

Eugene says as he was growing up he found the pressure to abandon the conviction that life is an adventure for the belief that life is a contest.  Thankfully, he was unwilling to do that.  He wrote,"Some people as they grow up they become less.  As children they have glorious ideas of who they are and what life has for them.  Thirty years later we find they have settled for something grubby and inane. What accounts for the exchange of childhood aspiration to the adult anemia?
Other people as they grow up become more.  Life is not an inevitable decline into dullness; for some it is an ascent into excellence.  It was for Jeremiah."

Those words are meaningful to me and a great reminder of Gods purpose and plan for me.  He says in Jeremiah 1:5 "Before i formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born i consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Is there any doubt God has plans for all of us?  Will i follow him all my days like Jeremiah or will I trade it in for a stumbling walk through the dark woods of life? Oh, i pray not!

Our music minister said, "How we live our days is how we live our lives." Hmm, interesting because many days i waste away grumbling and complaining.  How many days have i wasted doing that over the years?  The good news is I don't have to do it from this day forward.  I only have today, right now to live as I am called to live.

So, I want to run with the horses from this day forward. I think I decided it many years ago after a heartbreaking loss in my life.  The decision was before me.....how will you live your life from this day forward.  It was clear and I have thought about it almost everyday since.
It was a mountaintop experience for me that came from being in the depth of darkness.  But in that darkness i could still sense the calling of the Holy Spirit on me.  I knew HE still walked with me, actually HE was carrying me and so I knew Joy. Joy in the midst of heartbreak but a joy that cant be described by anything of this world.
I knew then that I wanted to run with the horses, I just hadn't read the book and wasn't really familiar with Jeremiah's life.
 Oh my, there is so much to learn from these characters in our family history book, what we call the Bible. :)



"The world needs Christians who don't tolerate the complacency of their own lives."
unknown

One of the kids easter eggs.....love it.

a little early or late.... but pretty awesome

Does this happen to you?

While texting my daughter this morning i meant to write the word praying and instead it came out prying.  I had to laugh.  I told her what had happened and she got quite a chuckle too.  How many times had i been guilty of that?  Maybe i was prying and used the words," i will pray for you" instead :)

Often i intend to write the word  good and it comes out GOD. This always catches my attention and i go back and read what i was writing. "It was a GOD thing"....hmm, most good things are God things are, aren't they?

I think God uses these little moments to remind me who is in control. He shows up when i may not even be thinking of him. I love that. I want him to keep showing up and reminding me that he loves me. That he adores me. That he longs for me to come and sit at his feet and enjoy his glory. To know that all is well and I am safe in the arms of my father.

Here I am....all of me

I love that song, "Here I am , all of me. Take my life, let it be consecrated all to thee." That is what i desire to be to my Lord. I want to live that way.

15 yrs ago almost to the day, we moved from the east coast to the midwest. The land of corn, the land of the children of the corn as far as i was concerned. It was strange, weird and the people were, well, just too nice. :)

We arrived with a 2 yr old and a 6 yr old. Wow, now we have a junior in college and a senior in high school( as of tomorrow). Where has it gone?  Yes,  it does fly by.  i have enjoyed every stage of it and everyday has been a joy(almost).
God has blessed us with some wonderful friends here, a few disappointments in that area as well. Hopefully we learn to forgive and love unconditionally.

God has shown me so much while here in Champaign. He has taught me to trust him with all things and that he as a wonderful, glorious plan for my life as well as my loved ones. He has provided Godly people to walk by me, to hold me accountable and to pick me up when i fall down.

He has opened doors so i could learn more about him and his glory. He has provided leadership roles for me because i was obedient to say yes when asked to do something out of my comfort zone. God is always faithful, isn't he.

Obedience seems to be an important word in this faith journey. If we are obedient to him, we get the blessing. He rewards us because we show our love and faith in him by our obedience. We learn to trust him. In this world where people let us down all the time, God is faithful. We can trust him in ALL things ALL the time.

A quote i have clung to goes like this. " I do not fear failure, but what i do fear is success at things that do not matter".

I want to do the things that matter for eternity. I have tried to say yes to Gods best for me. Where does he want me to serve, to be successful ,so I may bring him glory.
After all, as a believer my number one goal is TO BRING GOD GLORY....every day and in all things.

sitting in the oral surgeons office

Yesterday i took my strapping, healthy 17 yr old son to the oral surgeon to have his 4 wisdom teeth removed.  We were the only ones in the office.  Hmm a few minutes of peace and quiet perhaps.

Soon to arrive were three sets of the older generation, the korean war men and their better halves. The best generation according to Tom B.  Some came in quietly, patiently waiting to be helped. Others came in telling jokes and being as corny as my father in law( trust me, he's corny).
One sweet lady was remarking on how her children keep moving her to different nursing homes. She was having trouble remembering her address. Can you blame her?
another was talking about "going to the boats" every chance they get. Funny, it took me a minute to realize she was talking about the gambling boats.

A popular subject seemed to be cell phones. there was a sign that said,please turn off your cell phone. This seemed to put the one lady who had a phone into a complete tizzy. She was so concerned about turning it off and missing a call she was expecting but was also concerned about breaking the rules. Aah, what to do?
I was taking notes(of these happenings)  ON my phone while she was percolating about what to do. My phone was on vibrate so i figured i had followed the rules. Right?

What i began to feel was a sense of caring and concern among these strangers for one another.  They didn't know each other and may never meet again. But they shared a bond. A bond of a generation that knows the feeling of being left behind. They are ignored by the younger generations. What do they have to offer anymore? This is how they feel.
A veteran told my husband he feels like a hamburger wrapper sometimes. That wrapper is really important to you initially. You wont buy that burger without it, but once you get the hamburger, you crumple up the wrapper and throw it away.  Do you ever think of that wrapper again?  No, of course not.
My parents commented to me recently that they hope their new pastor isnt too young. I asked why and they explained their concern of being ignored if he was in his 30's. They said people walk right by them and don't even see them. My parents are healthy,vibrant 70 yr olds. Wow, does this really happen? Apparently.
Have i felt this at 48? Yes, if i am honest.
Will my son feel like this someday? Will he be the one telling the jokes?!

The question i ask myself is , do i do this on a daily basis? Do i walk by the person who's eyes are downcast or maybe even looking at me? Do i notice the person who is lonely or even has a smile to share with me?
If i pray on a daily basis for God to increase my territories and bless me indeed, how can i continue to ignore the possibilities he is putting in front of me?
Today i will try and see his hand in this journey he has put me on.

I will try and notice the unloved, the lonely, the depressed and the generation that feels they are unnecessary.  They are necessary and they are extremely valuable. Lets remember them today and love them while we still have them.

Hebrews 10:24 Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Here I go

I am going to start a blog. Not with any expectations that anyone will read it.  It is more for me than anyone else really.  My husband has encouraged me to write everyday... so hard to do. Maybe this will help me. He is a very good writer.

I like to encourage people in their lives. In their journeys of faith.  In their day to day living. What's it all about anyway? What really matters?

I truly want to live a life of significance. I want to run with the horses( Jeremiah). I want to succeed at things that matter, not things that don't. I want to run this race well and finish strong. 

I fail more often than not. But i keep getting up because i know he loves me. :)

HE is God. My rock and my redeemer. The lover of my soul and protector of my heart. He loves me. I don't deserve it, but he loves me anyway. 

Thank you!