Tri-City Baptist Church in Conover

This message is to the sweet women of Tri-City Baptist Church in Conover, North Carolina.

Thank you for such an amazing weekend. What a beautiful group of women. Thank you for making me feel welcome and so very loved. I meant what I said when I left...I wish I could spend the next nine months in Bible study with you, getting to know the precious hearts I got a glimpse of over the weekend. God is about to do a powerful work in your midst. He made it so evident during sharing time. I can't wait to hear.

Thank you for the kind words you left me with on Saturday afternoon. Your words revealed answered prayer. I pray that your 30 journey with the Lord is already blessing you, and you are sensing His Presence and seeing Him at work in your midst.

I treasured every moment...especially our "cruise."

I did not have a camera, so I would love to post some pictures. Please send them to me at deuteronomysix@aol.com.

Psalm 40:1-3

I turned to the Lord, and He heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
He set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to my God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in Him.

Thank you again for inviting me to be a part of your weekend. My time with you blessed me beyond measure.

Wendy

Hidden Joy - LAST WEEK GIVEAWAY

Wow!!! I am so proud of us...of you. What an incredible journey you have taken me on this summer. Your stories, thoughts, and words of wisdom have blessed me beyond measure. Words cannot express what it means to me that you spent your summer studying Hidden Joy. There were so many times that your comments were direct answers to the prayers I lifted over the months and years of writing. Your words have been God's sweet gift to me. I hear His words all over again,

This is your life sweet child. This is why I allowed so many years of pain and suffering in your life. Hidden Joy, p. 166.

I pray that as we end our time together, you have been encouraged. If you are sitting in a dark place, believe with all your heart that the Lord has a beautiful redemptive plan to bring you out of your darkness into His marvelous Light. And not just bring you through to the other side, but to lift you up to a new place, singing a new song.

I titled Chapter Eleven A New Song because that is what God has given me...a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:3.

You are the "many" whom He was speaking of when He gave me this verse twenty-three years ago. Little did I know when I wrote Hidden Joy that the Lord would allow me the privilege of leading over 350 women through this story. I pray that even now He is forming your stories so that one day you will be the one who will lead many to "see and fear and trust" in the Lord. Many of you already have!!

I have spent many an evening in tears reading your comments... how God has used His Word as shared in the pages of Hidden Joy to speak into your lives. Your stories have not only blessed and encouraged me, but you have blessed and encouraged each other.

I ask one thing of you...that you would already be planning your next Bible study. It is imperative that you continue to be in His Word!! This fall I will be leading a Bible Study here in Charlotte. We will be studying the book of Proverbs. I cannot wait to begin!!

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this study. Karen True, who works with Jennifer Rothschild's ministry, womensministry.net, has invited me to journal our walk together. She will post the journal entries. Her web site is a wonderful resource for any woman who leads and/or teaches Bible study or works in women's ministry on any level.

I would love to share some quotes from you. Please share your thoughts on any or all of the following questions:

why did you choose to do this on-line study?

what are the benefits of an on-line study?

what are the drawbacks of an on-line study?

what is it like to be in fellowship with women in an on-line study?

did it help you grow as much as being in a traditional bible study?

share a specific way this study touched, changed, or spoke into your life.

GIVEAWAY

From the comments I receive, I will select a name and send you a copy of Hidden Joy to give away to a friend as well as a $20 gift card to a place of your choice (as long as I have it in my area!).

I was quite nervous to do this on-line study. It was my first and according to many of you, it was yours as well. What a great experiment. I am so glad to have shared it with you. Nancy Leigh DeMoss has approached me about doing this study in the future through her ministry, Revive our Hearts. I will keep you posted as to a date and time!

Let me close our time together in prayer:

Heavenly Father, Sovereign and Holy God, Savior and Redeemer, Mighty and Majestic Lord, Author of Life, Giver of Truth, my Strong Tower and Best Friend. I love You, Lord, and thank You for the gift of Your Word. Thank You that it is Living and Active, purposed by You to speak into my life each and every day! Thank You that You redeem us from darkness and despair. Thank You that You make all things new. Today we rejoice in this day that You have made...yes, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, give us each a new song, a hymn of praise to You. No matter our story, no matter our pain, no matter our struggles, no matter our hurt, bring us to the place of finding the hidden joy in our dark corner. Lead us to a place of perfect healing. Restore us to wholeness and use us to bring glory and honor and praise to You. Father, as we end our time together, lead us each to a new study, a new fellowship of women to continue our journey together with You. Thank You, Lord, that only You bring beauty from ashes!! We ask all this in Jesus' name. AMEN.

Back to School fears....God's TRUTH

Are you like me as time draws near for the first day of school? Part of me is so ready for my kids to be back at school...to have a routine again...to have time to myself again. But the other part of me will miss the lazy days, trips to the beach, movies in the middle of the day, lounging by the pool, staying up late playing games, and just plain being together.

Tomorrow, my little Lauren (almost 16) will be a junior in high school and gets her license in less than a month. My baby Bo will be entering 6th grade, middle school here in North Carolina. I can hardly believe that I am the mother of a middle-schooler and high-schooler. Really, girls, I don't feel that old!!

Time has gone by so quickly. It seems only yesterday I was pushing them around Target in the shopping cart...Lauren in her princess gown and sparkly shoes and Bo carrying his Bob the Builder tools.

As tomorrow presses in on me, I feel my heart pounding...especially with Bo entering middle school. What brings me peace is knowing they will not be alone. My heavenly Father promises me that He will never leave them or forsake them. He promises He will be with them every minute of every day...

He knows when they sit and when they rise (in every class, with every teacher);
He perceives their thoughts from afar (their fears, their temptations, their sadness, their joy).
He discerns their going out and their lying down (as they process all these new things in life);
He is familiar with all their ways.
Before a word is on their tongue He knows it completely...

Where can they go from His Spirit (to class, to lunch, to practice, to a party)?
Where can they flee from His Presence?... Psalm 139

How GREAT is our God!! How precious are these promises?

When I wonder about their schedule, their teachers, their friends, I read further...

All the days ordained for them were written in His book before one of them came to be!

He is in control. Our God, the Author of Life, the Blessed Controller of All Things, the Sovereign God of the Universe, is in control.

Heavenly Father, I praise You as the Creator of every good and perfect gift...the greatest of those gifts is my children. Thank You for Your promises in Psalm 139. Will You keep my mind fixed on those promises as I send my precious cherubs, Lauren and Bo, to school tomorrow. Father, please hide Your Word in their hearts so that when they need to recall a Truth, it will be there. Will You make it their greatest desire to please and obey you in all they say and do? Father, will You teach them in the midst of pressures at school and with peers to trust in You with all their hearts and lean NOT on their own understanding and to acknowledge You in all their ways. Keep Lauren and Bo pure by leading them to live according to Your Word. Give them thankful hearts. Clothe them in humility and teach them to put others first. Father, will You grow them in wisdom, and stature, and favor with You and with man? Teach them to say, "This is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it," no matter what their days may hold. I ask this all in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. AMEN.

I pray this prayer for all of our children!

As the tears fall from my cheeks, I am so thankful for you, my friends! I know that I am not alone. If you have kids going back to school, I would love to hear your thoughts and prayers.

Hidden Joy - Chapter 10

Thank you for blessing us this week with your thoughts on Chapter 10 and your stories. It brings such joy to my week to see God at work in your lives. We have ONE week left together. I am really going to miss meeting you here each week. Thank you for your faithfulness on this journey.

Don't forget to share with me what God did through your prayer time this past week. Did you experience Him at work in your prayers?

Max Lucado writes a powerful story that I share in this chapter:

Max Lucado tells a wonderful story about an elderly woman who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century. Because she was a wealthy yet frugal woman, the townspeople were surprised when she decided to be among the first in the town to put electricity in her home.

Several weeks after its installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked her how her electricity was working. She assured him that it was working quite well. He then asked her to explain to him why, if her electricity was working, that her meter showed scarcely any usage.

"Certainly," she answered, "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles, and then I turn them off." Hidden Joy, Chapter 10, p. 153.

She had tapped into the power but did not use it. Her house was connected but remained unaltered by the incredible power available to her!!

Friends, I wrote this chapter because that is how I lived for years and years after knowing Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I had surrendered my life to Christ. I knew Jesus lived in my heart. I knew the Word. I prayed. My heart was connected, but it was not altered by His Presence.

Is that where you are today? Do you want to move from that place to a place of incredible power? Tapping into that power...the power of the Living God that resides within every child of God, requires ABIDING IN CHRIST.

We hear those words all the time. But what do they really mean? Abiding in Christ means connecting with and passionately pursuing Jesus Christ in your life.

What words describe your relationship with Christ? The words Scripture uses are longing, yearning, hungering, and thirsting. When we hunger, yearn, and thirst for something, we want it above anything else. I am a Texas girl, and when I have a craving for sweet tea, it is all I want! I can hardly focus sometimes until I have tea in hand in the Chick-fil-A drive through. In that moment I desire it above all else.

What is the one thing you desire in this world above all else? Happiness? Peace? Wisdom? Joy? Rest? Healing? Hope? Long Life?

Sweet friends, do you know that ALL of these gifts are found in one person...that person is Jesus Christ. If you have Christ, happiness, peace, wisdom, joy, rest, healing, hope and long life are already yours.

You will never receive the fullness of these gifts without pursuing Christ above all else. I desired physical and emotional healing and God graciously gave me both. As wonderful as they were, they were not enough. ONLY GOD IS ENOUGH. HE IS OUR ALL IN ALL - THE STRENGTH OF OUR HEARTS AND OUR PORTION FOREVER.

As you abide in Christ, He gives you the capacity to appropriate His Truth and make it relevant to your life. You learn to hear His voice and sense His leading. When you need deep insight from His Word, He provides. When you need an added measure of understanding, He provides. When you need direction, He provides. When you need hope, He provides. When you need answers, He provides. God gives His Spirit without measure. Hidden Joy, p. 154.

In fact, Ephesians 3:20 says, He

is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.

The more you abide in Him, the more He continually pours Himself into you!!! I invite you to begin abiding today! For the next 30 days, commit to spend a few minutes (or more) with God each day. If you already have quiet time with the Lord, lengthen it or go deeper in it. Before you begin, pray and ask God to reveal Himself . Look for Him to be at work. Ask Him to make His work evident in your life. Wait expectantly!! Journal your experiences. I would love for you to share what God does over the next month.

This week's assignment: Read Chapter 11, A New Song, and complete the questions in the study guide located in the back of the book.

Hidden Joy -Chapter Nine

Can you believe we only have two weeks left after today? How I have loved spending the summer with you girls. You have blessed and encouraged me each and every week. Thank you for sharing your stories, your struggles, and your hearts. Your comments reveal that the Lord has been busy at work in and through His Word this summer.

Today our topic is PRAYER.

Every day you and I have appointments...salon, dentist, doctor, job-related, church-related, school-related, the list is endless. Have you ever thought of your prayer time with the Lord as an appointment? It is. It is an appointment with Jesus. Every day we should consider it our privilege and honor to spend time alone with Him in prayer.

If I am honest, I don't always treat my prayer time that way. I hurry through it or I dutifully complete it or I put it off until tomorrow.

As I examine Scripture, I am moved by Jesus' intimate communion with His Father. I long for that kind of intimacy with my Father. There have been times in my life...times of desperation, when I have experienced that kind of prayer. But I don't want to be desperate to experience that kind of intimacy with my Father. The good news is, we don't have to be.

Our Father is waiting to to meet with us, to hear our prayers, to fulfill the longings of our heart. But to receive the fullness of what He has to offer, we must bring the very depths of our souls to Him in prayer. So, for this next week as we study Chapter 10, "Abiding in Christ," I challenge each of us to pray this prayer EVERY DAY before our feet hit the floor...

Lord, create in me a hunger to pray. Fill me with a desire to sit and soak in Your Presence. Make it the longing of my heart to know the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. I invite You to do mighty works in and through my prayer time with you.

WATCH OUT, GIRLS!!! With this prayer, we are inviting God's supernatural activity into our lives and into the lives for whom we pray. I trust that He will blow us away!

I can't say this enough. Scripture makes it very clear that the determining factor for experiencing the abundance of God's supernatural blessings, His Presence, and His Power in our lives is obedience.

Sitting at the foot of the cross, alone, with our Father in prayer is an act of obedience. Early in our relationship with Christ it is a duty, a duty with which we must comply. Then it is a discipline, a discipline we must learn. Then it is a habit, a habit we must cultivate. Then it is a hunger, a hunger we must satisfy. Finally, it is a desire, a desire that then becomes the longing of our heart.

I am ready to make prayer time with Him my desire. No longer will it be a duty or a discipline or a habit. It will be a hunger, a desire...the longing of my heart. Will you join me this week?

This Week's Assignment: Read Chapter 10, Abiding in Christ, and complete the questions located in the study guide in the back of the book. If the Lord tugs at your heart with Questions 4 and 5, be intentional with your prayer above. Use it to hear His voice and see Him at work as you commit these areas to Him. If God has laid some of the prayers offered by the women in this study on your heart, give those to Him. Share with us what you hear. See you next Wednesday!

It's NOT What You Say, It's What You DON'T Say

Wow, ladies, I was totally blown away by the response to my devotional for Proverbs and my post last week, "I Choose NOT to be Offended." In one sense, it made me feel better that I am not the only woman out there who feels offended by the words of others. But it also saddened my heart to think so many of us feel that way.

Surely this is why our heavenly Father directly addresses this in His Word...so many times! He created our very beings. He knows our hearts; He knows our flesh. He knows our hurts. Below are some powerful TRUTHS from Proverbs Chapter 17 and 18:

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife

He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

A cheerful heart is like good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

He who answers before listening - that is his folly and his shame.

An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

There are so many more nuggets of Truth in these two chapters. I encourage you in a quiet time to read through them. When I am offended by another's words, my immediate reaction is to lash back...to let them know they hurt my feelings...sometimes even to hurt back. I want them to KNOW they hurt me, hoping they will then feel bad and apologize. Friends, that rarely happens. What usually happens next is that they get defensive and then a battle ensues.

For some of you, when you are offended rather than lash out, you withdraw. The real word for that is you pout. I have been known to do that as well on occasion. You don't speak your words out loud, but you might as well because your face and behavior says it all. You are punishing the person for their words with the "silent treatment."

Don't get me wrong, silence is good when it is "godly silence." Silence without pouting. Prayerful silence. Silence that considers the offending words in light of the reality of your own hurting heart and the offender's true motives. Godly silence asks the Lord to reveal Truths from His Word you can speak over your heart. It takes your eyes off of yourself and the offending words and places them on God.

Oh, when I write you this please know that I am writing these words to myself. What I am learning on this journey is that allowing the offender's words to anger me quickly turns into a quarrel which then turns into strife which is then SIN in the eyes of my God. Greater harm comes as hurtful words pour forth from my mouth.

I invite you to join me this week and put these Truths into practice. Let's examine our words. Let's ask ourselves what are our motives...do we speak to get even...do we spout off words to heal or to hurt...will our words draw people to the Lord or away from the Lord...will our words drive wedges in a relationship? These are difficult questions but ones I think we must answer to CHOOSE not to be offended.

Please share your stories with me this week. They will serve as such encouragement as I work on this area in my life.

Let me pray for us:

Father God, thank You for Your Word. Thank You that is is LIVING and ACTIVE meant for us today. Father, will You help us this week to put a guard at our mouth? Through the power of Your Holy Spirit will You convict our hearts to think and pray before we speak? Keep our hearts focused on You and not on ourselves. Give us ears to hear other's words through Your Word. Father, thank You that in You ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE...even taming our tongue. We ask this in the Powerful and Effective name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Hidden Joy - Chapter Eight

Stop right now. What were the last words you spoke to your husband? your children? your roommate? your friend? your co-worker? Keep these words in mind.

Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Luke 10:40

When we are preoccupied with earthly things like tasks, rules, duties, and lists, it leads to nothing but disappointment. No one can accomplish the tasks we set forth. No one can meet our standard of perfection. Consequently, we often end up completing the tasks ourselves, which in turn leads to anger, bitterness, and resentment. Sound familiar?

Tell her to help me! Martha demanded. Luke 10:40

Do you realize the boldness in her words? Martha, sister of Mary, child of God, told God what to do!!! As my friend Renee Swope says, "She got bossy with God!"

This is the very first story in the Bible I could really relate to...for I am Martha in so many ways. I know what it is to become irritated, angry, and demanding...to feel totally out of control with my emotions.

Listen to the cry of my heart after one of these outbursts with my children from Chpt. 8, p. 118:

Did I really tell my children that they made my life miserable and that I did not want to be around them ever again? Yes, I did. Mommy of the Year, I am not. Incredulous at how easily I lost control, I began to weep. "How could this have happened? How could I have ever let it get this far?" I knew exactly how. I was tired, exhausted, and running on empty. I had not sat with the Lord on a consistent basis for quite a while. I had not been filling my heart with the things of God.

Is this where you are? Are you depleted? Do you need a strength outside yourself to make it another day as a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend? Listen to Jesus' words words...

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Quiet time is NOT about checking off another task on your list. It is about abiding in Christ...experiencing intimate union with God. The God of the Universe LOVES you and desires to spend time with you!! I DON'T WANT YOU TO MISS THAT, SWEET FRIEND. The God of the universe wants to spend time with you!!!

When you commit to that time, when you set time apart to be alone with Him, He will show up. He promises us that when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him!!

Commit to some some time with God today...5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes...whatever you desire. As you begin your time with the Lord, invite Him in. Pray a prayer like this prayer of David from Psalm 25:4-5:

Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your Truth and teach me for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.

Or pray this prayer from Psalm 119:18

Open the eyes of my heart that I may see the wonderful things in your law.

I would LOVE to hear how God blesses your time with Him. Please leave me comments this week and share your experiences. I am praying for God to do big things...to make Himself very real as you reach out to know Him more!!!

Those of you doing the on-line study, will you share your answers to Questions 2, 3, 5, and/or 7. If you chose to do what was asked of you in Question 8, please share how the Lord showed up in your time with Him.

This Week's Assignment: Read Chapter 9, Prayer, and complete the questions in the study guide located in the back of the book. See you next Wednesday! I will be praying for you.

Let me close with the prayer from the Study Guide:

Lord, please draw me to Your Word daily. Your Word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Father, as I commit to spend time with You, help me to hear Your voice. I commit my thoughts to You and ask that You would fill me with Your Truth as I seek You each day. Help me to tune out anything that conflicts with the Truth You desire to speak to me. Give me ears to hear and let Your Word dwell in me richly. Give me discernment to understand all You have to say to me. I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. AMEN

You Hurt My Feelings

Welcome to all of you who read my devotion and are visiting my blog for the first time from the Proverbs 31 website, http://www.proverbs31.org/. I am always so thankful to make new girlfriends!!

This devotion grew out of a weariness from continually feeling slighted and hurt by people's words. I always saw the worst in people's words rather than the best. Perhaps it came from past hurts, perhaps it came from a self-centered heart...I really am not sure. But one thing I did know, I was tired.

How precious it is that the Lord would use my 15-year-old daughter to speak a powerful Truth into my life. She caused me to look inward and ask WHY do I allow people's words to hurt me.

I looked to God's Word for direction. I prayed Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Friends, beware of praying that prayer!!! For the Lord was faithful to answer it in ways that pierced to the depths of my soul. As I continued to search His Word, I realized that my sensitivity was because I often made everything about me. I looked for ways to be offended...inserting motives, creating scenarios, drawing conclusions. That is what was so exhausting!!!

Can anyone identify with me???? God's Word tells us,

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Wow, those words hit me hard!! My actions...the way I received words...the way I harbored them...the way I responded to them did not bring about the righteous life that God desires. My self-centered attitude pointed people to me and not to Christ!!

Choosing not to be offended brings glory to God. It is not easy!!! It takes surrendering your heart to God's Spirit. It means turning your eyes from yourself to your Father. It means listening before you speak. It is SELF-CONTROL.

David prayed in Psalm 141:3,

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.

We can expand that by praying for the Lord to set a guard over our heart. Romans 12:1 says,

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

Friends, this is not easy. I continue to struggle sometimes with how I receive words. But the struggle is now in my heart and my mind...not so much in my spoken word. I made the decision to hold my tongue and speak Truth over my heart. It is now between the Lord and me. I see God doing a new thing. Baby steps...every day...every conversation. Transformation will come because God is faithful.

I would love to hear from you. f you have verses, spiritual guidance, or words of wisdom on this subject please share your thoughts by leaving a comment on my blog.

If you want a great resource to help with TAMING YOUR TONGUE, Proverbs carries a book entitled Taming Your Tongue. Visit our web site at www.proverbs31.org to order a copy.

Sweet Blessings to you!