Praise Him Anyway!

Today I awoke to yet another rainy day in a string of less‐than‐desirable June days, and right away my energy and outlook (not email!) seemed sapped. But hey…we should be used to it out here…and if not, well…the Lord has prepared this day for us, so let’s rejoice and celebrate Him in it! (Ps. 118:24).

    If you’re anything like me (which one of me is enough!), then your week can often start off by the tone set emotionally, physically and spiritually from within you. If you don’t believe me, then take a moment to ponder the events of your past week. Let’s say the weekend was sunny, warm and you got to hang out with friends/family…maybe had a nice bar‐b‐q…went for a run…played some golf…went on a hike. Your relationships seemed to go without incident, and you went to church, heard a good message, sang songs that really connected with you…and you even remember the kind words your employer gave you the previous week about a job/task done well, or your kids seemed particularly appreciative and respectful of your parenting. Your spouse pays extra attention, and perhaps surprises you with some extra love and kindness…what a great weekend.  Monday rolls around, it’s still sunny and you’re ready to get on with a “good” start to the week, and you find that little voice within saying; “Praise God…what a great life I’m blessed with!”

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Making Amends

Dear Friends,

You have heard me talk about what I have been learning through Freedom Session in a few devotionals. A couple of weeks ago we were given two tools that I want to recommend to you. It is my hope that you will use these tools to gain your own freedom and, if you have children, to help them gain theirs.

The author of Freedom Session says that the word “can’t” means one of two things, either you won’t or you don’t know how. Let me say it again. Saying “can’t” means either that you won’t or you don’t know how. This certainly applies to making amends for what we have done.

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Can you Imagine the Potential?

Family after family walks into Centre Court with the mixed expression of utter exhaustion and cautious optimism. They walk through tables of paperwork and look for the calming and familiar face of Imagine Ministries leader Shirley Martens. They find her smiling face and their once cautious optimism begins to grow.

Their child runs into Centre Court where a hoard of bright neon green shirts awaits them. The volunteers filling those shirts range in ages, ethnicities and life experiences that can truly only be found in the Body of Christ. The child (and often their siblings) is matched up with a volunteer or two for the evening and they make their way to a coloring book, or a puzzle or some other low energy pastimes.

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Building Faith Muscles

Dear Friends,

Have you ever been convinced of something only to find out that what you thought to be true was really a misconception, a deception, a lie?

Please laugh with me as I tell you how I was lately deceived. Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned that I’m jogging now and hoping to get up to 45 minutes without a walking break. Well, my treadmill broke one day. I had already jogged for 25 minutes, so I quickly grabbed a hat and watch and started down the road – praying the whole time, of course, that no one would see me. After only 1 minute I was panting like …

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Don’t Waste the Waste

Dear Friends,

Its spring as I write this. And if you live in a farming community like I do, you will be smelling, shall we say, a nostril-cleaning, bone-jarring aroma. This aroma is attached to, and finds its source in, a substance as old as and as natural as the earth. There are many names given to this substance … let’s call it “waste”.

The reason why we always smell it in the springtime is because it is a necessary element in producing bountiful crops such as hay crops or raspberry crops or carrot crops.

Here’s the thing though. We don’t like smelling it. We don’t like watching as its spread on the fields. And we certainly don’t like thinking about where it comes from. Yet we depend on it for our own nutrition. How ironic – the very substance that we consider waste is actually for our benefit.

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