Stand

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Eph 6:13

A good Christian woman, trying to live like Christ demands, must wear armor.  I hope you have some - does your armor look like this one?  Mine is pink and sparkly.  God did make me a princess, after all.  But there is one way my armor resembles this one.  It covers all of me!  When I wake up in the morning and put on my armor, I must be sure that I wear every piece of it.  God's word tells me to put on the FULL armor! 

*Sigh* I must admit... even as I'm writing this I've forgotten to bring my sword of the Spirit with me.  A 4-year-old girl who was supposed to be cleaning her room, was instead making more mess... and I did not show her an example of a gentle and quiet woman of God.

It brings me to the ground in sorrow and frustration when I forget to wear part of my armor.  That leaves me vulnerable to the enemy, unprepared for the next attack.  And then the weakness is discovered, and Satan finds me sinking lower and lower, less able to stand up to him.

I want to STAND!  I want to stand in readiness.  I want to stand in strength.  I want to fight so well that when all is done, and I don't think I could possibly stand one more moment for the extreme fatigue coursing through every muscle in my body, I still stand.  Because HE makes me stand.  His Word makes me stand.  I just have to choose to wear His full armor!!  Pink and sparkly, ladies.

-Kelly T

Wednesdays in His Word

Summer jobs.  Nobody really wants one but we all want the spending money.  So when I was in high school, I got my first summer job.  I worked at a Pool and Pond store.  I use the word store very loosely!  It was basically a greenhouse with a cash register, ponds full of koi fish, and me.  Boy was that a hot summer job.  It was a family owned business and I was left to man the store more times than not.  At the beginning of the summer it was somewhat fun.  I got to catch fish, get a tan and help the occasional customer.  As the summer drug on and the temperature started to rise, my attitude got worse by the day.  All I wanted to do was sleep in, paint my nails and watch TV.  Not wade around algae infested fish tanks and sweat to death.  And to  not have the owners son follow me around pestering me all day.  And I didn't want to deal with customers.  Quickly, the enthusiasm was gone.  The joy of the experience was out the window. 

Since working that job I have encountered countless numbers of employees in all types of jobs just like me.  Unhappy and incredibly lacking in enthusiasm for their job.  Everyone probably wishes they were anyplace else, working for someone other than their boss and dealing with no customers.  I get it.  I understand the lack if joy.  But when I went to that summer job, I was going for me.  I wanted the paycheck, period.  I did it selfishly.

In Ephesians 6,  Paul tells us to, "Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people."

Whoa!  That changes EVERYTHING!  Work for the Lord rather than for people!  If I had gotten up every day, gone to work each morning with that attitude, don't you think that summer would have gone by a little differently?  I was serving me.  I was serving customers and the owners.  I wasn't there serving my God.  Even now in my life, with my job being "mom" what a change in my mindset it is reading this verse!  On those days when it's frustrating, when it seems impossible to do anything right, I need to do it and do it enthusiastically!  This is an ah-ha moment!  Sisters, we have to change our attitudes.  We have to live, breath, work for HIM!  Not selfishly for ourselves or for what it will give us, but do it for our mighty Father!  Verse 8 of chapter 6 tells us that He will reward us for the good we do.  Sisters, don't get caught up in the earthly reward we get for working.  Our reward will be grand because it will come from God! 

Obedience!

Ah obedience a word that we love and hate all at the same time.  Today's reading I have read several times and can remember when I was younger hearing it and thinking it was pure torture.  I mean come on what adult can really understand what a teenager is going through, ha.  As a teenager I remember thinking my parents have no idea what I am going through and they are making all these rules just to make my life miserable.  Paul tells us different "Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth."  Eph 6:1-3 NLT

Obey your parents for this is right, it's not because God is wanting to make us miserable but he knows a secret that children and teenagers don't.  God knows that your parents have been through things and life experiences that will help get their children through life.  A parent tells a child not to go play in the street not because they are being mean but because they love that child and know that it is dangerous.  Then when the child obeys the parent and doesn't go in the street they are protected.  It may sound silly but its true. 

I also liked how it says to obey your parents because you belong to the Lord and He gives a promise with it life will be better and longer if you obey.  How many confrontations could have been avoided when I was younger if I just would have obeyed and honored my parents because they were my parents.  Growing pains!  Unfortunately I can't tell you how to get perfect children that will obey your every command, but I know that if we teach our children and teenagers God's word they will know the truth and if they see us living it they will be more apt to obey.

When we live our life obeying God's word and teaching this to our children then ultimately their obedience is not just to us but our heavenly Father.  It's not about getting them to follow all the rules we lay out because we say so but teaching them and helping them to grow in the Lord.

This Week's Reading

M-6:1-3

T-6:4-6

W-6:7-8

Th-6:9-10

F-6:11-13

~Missy D

A Marriage Made Like Heaven

At the end of Ephesians chapter 5, we are told that our marriages are like "Christ and the church."  I have often read that and thought how cool it was that God designed marriage to be an illustration of Christ's love for the church.

However, today in my reading I was corrected in my thinking.  My study Bible explained that the marriage relationship was compared to Christ and the church because Christ's beautiful, perfect relationship with his church is OUR illustration, OUR example of what our marriages should look like.  Christ loved his church unconditionally, allowing himself to be murdered - brutally - because of his deep love for his bride. 

I am embarrased that I have believed that our human, imperfect marriages could've been my example of Christ's love.  Especially the way the world treats marriage - not even as sacred anymore and certainly not a commitment or selfless love.  Christ longs for people to see his love for his church and mold their marriages more in THAT love!

I am more deeply in love with my husband the longer we are married.  But when I read this passage and think about Christ's love for his church, I just long to go deeper yet in the love of our marriage.  Praise you, Jesus, for knowing exactly what we would need to live and prosper on this earth!  Yours truly are the words of life!

-Kelly T

Wednesdays in His Word

Growing up as a little girl, I believed the books I read.  I wholeheartedly believed in the love of fairy tales.  There was a handsome prince that rode in on a white horse and would save me from the evil stepmother.  He would see me and feel deeply in love despite the tattered clothes.  We'd ride off together to the most beautiful cabin in a forest where birds sang all day every day.  Our love would grew by the moment and fill a house full of perfect children who sparkled they were so clean.  And of course, we would live happily ever after, with no effort at all.

Even writing that I get tickled.  Life is not a fairy tale. I didn't wear tattered clothes and I didn't even have a stepmother, much less one that was evil.  I live in a very non forest town and would probably would have avoided any fella who came near me on a horse! I do have a child, but trust me, she is far from perfect and rarely sparkles.  The only part that really does exist is that love, that sort of fairy tale love.  Only it wasn't created in childrens storybooks, but in Gods  book. 

In Ephesians 5 (the message version), it instructs the prince of your life to "go all out in your love for your wives."  Paul speaks of this love that is "exactly as Christ did for the church-a love marked by giving, not getting".  Sounds like fairy tale love doesn't it?  But it isn't.  It is how love was created!  It is what marriage should be.  As a woman, and not the husband, all I can do is give this same kind of love to my spouse.  You get what you give.  How can I hope to receive this amazing gift of love without giving it as well?  Seek your true fairy tales of love sisters, it does exist! 

-Andrea W.

What are you filled with?

What are you filled with?  Sounds kind of like a funny question, have you ever thought about what you are filled with?  We live our lives filling ourselves up with lots of different things from what we listen to, read, watch or even the people we are around.  The reading for today from the New Living Translation reads:

"Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰ And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul tells us we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit and what comes out of that, singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, and making music to the Lord in our hearts!  I don't know about you but that sounds like the way to spend a life.  What we fill our lives with will determine what comes out of us.  If we fill ourselves up with a bunch of junk then that is what will come out of us.  The junk that we fill ourselves up with will ruin our lives, but if we fill ourselves up with the Holy Spirit our life will be a blessing to others and bring glory to God. 

Dont' forget the last part of the reading either, "give thanks for everything to God the Father" He is our Father who has blessed us with so much don't forget to tell Him thanks!  Have a great day and make it a great week!

This week's reading

M-5:18-20

T-5:21-24

W-5:25-27

Th-5:28-30

F-5:31-33

~Missy D

The God Thing

When the hubby and I lived in Oklahoma, we worked with some inner-city kids.  I can remember when some of them came into my house - suddenly it was like it was a circus.  They infiltrated every room, playing on the beds, running around the backyard, and.... what?!... are they getting food out of my fridge?!  I recall with shame the horror I felt at their "rude" behavior.  It seemed to me that these children needed to learn that when you go into someone's house, there was a certain way to act.  Most importantly, you always ask before eating someone's food!!

My intentions were good - attempting to teach these kids how to "function" appropriately in society.  But as I look back, I realize that those were not necessary lessons for young kids from inner-city Oklahoma.  They were not acting out of rudeness or disrespect, they were acting out of cultural understanding.  It was part of who they were and how they grew up to have a "my house is your house" mentality.  Surely God would've preferred me to just let it go and love them right through their differences from me.

Ephesians 5:15 & 17 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise... Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."  Paul says to "be very careful" when choosing how to live, and to figure out what God's will is.  I must be cautious about making quick decisions that seem to be the right thing to my human mind (after all, Proverbs 3 tells me that I should not lean on my human understanding).  Instead, I want to seek God in all my decisions and then wait for His leading (an hour? a day?  a month?  just wait and listen, dear one!).  Then, and only then, will I have full assurance that I am not just choosing the "good" thing, but the God thing!

Love and Grace to you, my Soul Sisters!
-Kelly T

Wednesdays in His word

With the scorching temperatures, I have been dreaming of Autumn. I love that time of year.  I also love Halloween.  I love the ghosts and goblins, and most of all the haunted houses.  We have a love/hate relationship.  I love being scared and screaming but hate it at the same time.  The darkness that surrounds you.  The unseen noises that creep around you.  The tall frightening ghouls that linger in the dark. 

A few years ago I helped work a haunted house.  We toured during the day so we could have a good lay of the land.  We were able to see the goblins hiding places, the sweet old men that wore the scary mask and the levers that blew air at you to send you into panic mode.  So as night fell on that haunted house, the spooks weren't quite as spooky anymore.  The illusion of the haunting wasn't so haunting anymore.  The light exposed the mysteries.

Sisters, we are living in somewhat of a haunted house.  When we lived in the darkness, the ghouls were frightening.  Our surroundings caused fear and disillusionment of reality.  Once we become alive in Christ, we are surrounded by light! 

Ephesians 5 describes it perfectly, "For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.".

We no longer have to stumble around in the dark!  We no longer live full of darkness.  No more creepiness from the shadows.  No more mysteries.  No more fear.  Live in the light sisters!  Seek Him in every moment of every day and you will never be in the darkness again!

~Andrea W. 

This week's reading
M-5:3-5
T-5:6-8
W-5:9-11
Th-5:12-14
F-5:15-17

Our dialect

You'll never guess what I just found out? Intriguing isn't it? Unfortunately it's phrases like this and what tends to follow that can get us in trouble, especially us girls. I'm talking about gossip. Now I know that everyone wants to know what's going on and most the time you are just passing on information, but I caution you of what you pass on to another person. There are lots of things you may find out in life and even be true but you don't necessarily need to pass it on to someone else. I am a person who likes to be in the know and unfortunately that has got me in trouble. I have to remind myself, "Missy you don't have to know everything that's going on!" Gossip though is so intriguing and tempting of course that is why God warns us against it. A good friend and I have a code word, if one of us starts gossiping we say the code word. It then stops the conversation and we move on to something else.

In our reading today I liked the Message version especially v 4, "Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect." (Ephesians 5:4 MSG)

Wow not only does it say not to gossip but that we, as followers of Jesus have better uses for the language. We have better things to talk about then what is going on with Suzy and Dan or what Jane was wearing. It goes on to say we need to have a dialect of thanksgiving. So Sisters let's have a dialect of thanksgiving and not talk silly. When we have things to say let them be uplifting and encouraging to those who are listening.

This week's reading
M-5:3-5
T-5:6-8
W-5:9-11
Th-5:12-14
F-5:15-17

-Missy D

The Hightest Form of Flattery

You know how that old saying goes - "Imitation is the highest form of flattery."  Or, if you have children, imitation can be the greatest source of regret to you as you see your own bad behavior mirrored back to you in them.

The first time I heard my son use the slang word, "Dangit," he was not even two years old yet!  Oh how that hit me hard.  It is not as if I was worried too much about the word itself, but something so foreign out of his mouth obviously came from one source - this lady who he spends his whole day with, watching, listening to and learning from.  Children long to be like their mommmies and daddies.  It is a scary and huge responsibility that we have been given to model gentle, loving, appropriate behavior!  But, when one of my children imitates something good that I've done, it leaves me feeling tickled.  It brings me an overwhelming understanding of their love for me.

My journey as a mom has taught me boundless truths about God's love for us, his children.  This is yet another.  Ephesians 5:1-2 says to "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children. and live a life of love."  I long to imitate my God more than anything in this life.  This verse goes on to say that Christ was a "fragrant offering" to God.  Oh how I desire to be such a good imitator of Him that my fragrance wafts up to Heaven's gate.  Picture it with me, dear Soul Sisters.  There He is - our Father.  He closes His eyes, breathes in deep, and slowly a smile spreads across his face as He says, "Aaaaaahhhhhhh.  Kelly has been acting like me again.  It smells of her love for me this morning."

Send up your fragrances today, my sisters!  Let Him know how desperately you love him and how you long to be just like your Daddy!

-Kelly T

Wednesdays in His word

Last night I was laying in bed holding a flashlight while my husband performed surgery on himself.  Alright, that's a tad dramatic, but he did have needle in hand attempting to remove a deep splinter.  Under bright lights I got a good look at his hands.  They were covered in callouses, small cuts and of course a splinter.  His hands show a lot of work.  From hard yard work, to mundane tasks around the house, and the daily work of being a police officer.  They aren't perfect hands or even soft to touch, but they are what I call, manly hands.  They are honest, hard working, giving and loving hands.  

My husband has Ephesians 4:28 hands....Paul tells us if we are a thief, quit stealing.  Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need."

He has chosen to not have perfect manicured hands.  He has chosen to be a worker.  He has chosen to get up every day, even when he doesn't want to, and give everything he has to that day.  I am blessed to be married to a man with Ephesians hands.  What do your hands look like sisters?

~Andrea W.

This week's reading:

Mon-4:21-24

Tues-4:25-27

Wed-4:28-29

Thurs-4:30-32

Fri-5:1-2

New Life!

The reading today really hit me.  This is from the Message Version:
     "My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything - and I do mean everything - connected with that old way of life has to go. Its rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life - a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you."  Eph 4:21-24 Message

This is the first time I have read this version but have read other versions before it always says to put off your old ways and put on your new ways.  It takes effort to be different and live for Christ.  There is no miracle that happens as soon as you believe in Christ you think like him, act like him and have no problem with sin.  If you are thinking that way you will be setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.  It takes work.  You have to make a conscience decision to put off the old and put on the new.

What really hit me today was how this version said "we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything - and I do mean everything - connected with that old way of life has to go."  "Get rid of it!"  Now that we know the truth we have to live like it.  We shouldn't hold on to little things no matter how little they are if they are ways of our old self.  We are a new creation!  The only way that we can put on the new self and live a life after God's own heart is if we make the decision to put off the old self and seek the Holy Spirit that dwells within us to live a "God-fashioned life". 

Sisters I pray that we will all make the decision to put on the new and live a "God-fashioned life" for it will be far greater than anything we could ever imagine!

Have a happy, fun and safe 4th of July!
~Missy D

This week's reading:

Mon-4:21-24

Tues-4:25-27

Wed-4:28-29

Thurs-4:30-32

Fri-5:1-2

Choosing to Smell Like God

Eleven days ago, on a Tuesday morning, we almost lost my new baby niece.  God has big plans for that sweet Josie Christine, because he placed some awesome doctors and nurses in her path who worked to get her little heart beating again after it had stopped.  However, that Tuesday, and the following day, we still weren't sure if she would live.  They were some of the most hopeless days I've ever known.

On the second day of her life, as I left the hospital to return to my sister's house, Christ reprimanded me.  He opened my Bible straight to Proverbs 3:5 and gently spoke to me... words that I already had written on my heart, but God knew I needed to see them written on the page on that day.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."

The message was very clear and I was ashamed of my lack of trust.  MY understanding was that things were dire.  MY understanding was that I may not watch my niece grow up.  MY understanding was that she may have lifelong problems as a result of her post-birth experiences.  But those thoughts were not of Christ.  He was telling me to believe Him.  He was reminding me that of utmost importance in that moment was to make HIS glory known.

And suddenly I felt His hope return.  Christ offers us hope when the world can not.  Hope that - thank you God!! - He will always lead us in triumph!  He will always give us chances to spread the fragrance of Him to those around us.

In Ephesians 4:17, Paul is quite insistant with the Ephesians that they should no longer think in such futility as the world!  The thinking of the world says there is no purpose for what my sweet Josie went through.  The hope of Christ says, "Aaaaah, my child.  Shine my glory, and let them breathe it in.  It is so very sweet."