Stop for a Moment

December 21, 2009Leave a comment

It was wonderful to see you all last week at my home. I hope you are having a good week and that you have a very Merry Christmas.

This past week we received the sad news that my father-in-law passed away. Funeral services were this weekend in Memphis . It was a sad time, and yet the family certainly felt lifted up through the prayers and support of friends. His death just before Christmas serves as a reminder of the brevity of life. We are mortal. We are also fleshly , and everyone of us needs a savior.

At Christmas we focus on the baby Jesus, but let’s also center our focus on the fact that Jesus came to this earth as a gift to mankind. We are poor and needy, maybe not physically or financially, but we are all poor and needy spiritually. Because of our debt of sin, God lovingly sent a savior to the world. Yes, our debt was paid by Christ’s blood on the cross, and He lovingly invites us to believe in Him and be saved.

Let’s take some time to stop, take a deep breath and reflect on what is really important during this season. Thank the Lord for sending his Son to this world as payment for our sin. Death not only reminds us of our need for a savior, but it also reminds us of how important it is to actively love the people around us. We do not know how much longer we have on this earth. Loving God and loving others should be on the top of our list of things to give at Christmas and all year through.

I’m reminded of I Corinthians 13:

“ ¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

The passage goes on to describe a Christlike love:

“⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”

So let’s generously give the gift of love! May we reflect His love as we offer our gifts to others this Christmas.

Christmas Joy

December 14, 2009Leave a comment

Hello my dear friends! I’m looking forward to seeing you Tuesady at PWC. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, go ahead and do so today. 972-380-0123) I know we will have a delightful time together.

Here’s a devotional thought for you to reflect on this week.

JOY, JOY, JOY! We see the word everywhere during this season. I’m especially in tune with the word JOY because one of my daughter’s name is Joy. And yes, everytime I see something with the word Joy on it I’m tempted to get it. We have JOY pillows, JOY hand towels, JOY Christmas ornaments, and even JOY cookie cutters! It’s ironic that although this season is supposed to be the season of JOY, so few people seem to experience it. Between family issues, past hurts, anger, unforgiveness, busyness and a bit of self-centeredness, JOY seems to be a rare commodity.

Of all things, this week we celebrate the Advent week of Joy. As Christians, we can find our joy in the Lord and in the fact that He sent Jesus to this world as a gift to pay the penalty for our sin. There is lasting and true joy IN THE LORD. As we turn our faces toward Him and consider His lovingkindness and goodness toward us there is a great joy that no one can take from us. Now there may be some things that are clouding your joy that you need to consider in your life. This is the time to give the gift of forgiveness. This is the time to cast your cares and worries on the God who loves you. This is the time to get rid of the sin which robs you of your joy. Find your joy in the Lord this Christmas season.

There is great joy in serving others as well. One tradition I started just recently is going downtown to help out with Operation Care. This is a giant Christmas party for the homeless in downtown Dallas. It is an incredibly beautiful gift of love to the people in our community. Hundreds of volunteers help literally thousands of homeless people, some of whom are bused in from surrounding cities. If you live in the Dallas area consider helping out on Saturday, Dec 19 at the Dallas Convention Center. Go to www.operationcaredallas.org to sign up as a volunteer and for more information.

Joy to the World the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! May we proclaim His love as we experience a joy that no one can take from us. I hope you have a wonderful week of enjoying family and more importantly drawing close to Christ.

Desperate for Love

December 7, 2009Leave a comment

Hello dear friends! I hope you are doing well and feeling well during this month of Holiday festivities. I look forward to seeing you on December 15. Please be sure to RSVP to Donna Skell at: dskell@roaringlambsministries.org

Be sure to watch my Holiday Show at: www.webtv4women.tv

Here’s our weekly devotional. God bless you and looking forward to seeing you soon.

This past Sunday we celebrated the second week of Advent and reflected upon the theme of Love. God’s love was demonstrated to the world through the gift of Jesus Christ. God loves us because He is Good, not because we are. Let us take time this week to thank the Lord for His dear love for us and to consider the power of His perfect love in our lives.

Deep within every individual is a need to be truly and sincerely loved. Our hearts long for the satisfaction of true love. We tend to search for love in a variety of places, trying to satisfy the longing in our hearts through temporary pleasures which only bring temporary satisfaction.

Only God’s love can satisfy our hunger. He alone loves completely. He is gracious, compassionate and full of mercy. He knows us better than anyone can know us, and loves us with reckless abandon. We can’t say that about a person or a thing or a pleasure. This week let us focus on the One True Love, the Lover of our Souls. And let us consider the love He demonstrated to us through sending His son Jesus to die on the cross on our behalf.

I want to encourage you to spend some time this week contemplating Ephesians 3:16 – 21:

^16”I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

No Replays with God

November 22, 20091 Comment

It was great to be with you last week dear friends. We had a wonderful lesson from Philippians 2 about living with humility and serving and honoring others. A great lesson as we approach the holidays. I look forward to seeing you in December.

Here’s a devotional that may help you make it through the football games this week! Read it and see what I mean!Football season is in full swing (or should I say in full punt) and there is excitement in the air as the week of Thanksgiving is upon us. There is certainly no shortage of games to watch this week. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad to be able to watch the instant replay of the action, because I somehow seem to miss a lot of details while the play is happening. Replays are not only helpful for the audience, but sometimes even the officials need to check the replay to make their determination.

I’m glad there are replays when it comes to football, but I am also glad that God is not in the replay business when it comes to believers and sin. The Bible tells us in Psalm 103:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

I’m thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning and that he is not holding onto what we did in the past. Now we may experience very real consequences to our sin, but as believers in Christ God has removed our sin from us. In I Peter 1:22 we read, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. “ Since we have been cleansed from our sin through faith in Christ, we must not replay our sin constantly in our minds – God doesn’t do it and neither should we. But let’s take it a step further, we also must be careful not to keep replaying other people’s sin against us. We must forgive, as we have been forgiven. We need to stop replaying in our minds how someone hurt us.

Just as our sin is done, gone, and removed from us through the blood of Christ, we must demonstrate this same type of forgiveness toward others. So this Thanksgiving as you are watching the replays in a football game or reruns of an old movie, remind yourself that God does not replay your sin and neither should you. Don’t replay the sin of others either. Give thanks this week for God’s mercy toward you as a follower of Christ, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

In the Midst of Difficulties

November 9, 2009Leave a comment

Hello Positive Women!

We had a tremendous meeting in October with a lesson based on Philippians 1.

Next week we meet again learning about the topic of humility. I entitled this lesson, “The Surprisingly Delicious Flavor of Humble Pie.” Come find out why!

See you Nov. 17 at Prestonwood Country Club or Nov 18 at Cottonwood Creek in Allen or Nov 19 at First Baptist downtown Dallas. You won’t want to miss this powerful lesson. Now here’s a devotional to ponder as we approach Thanksgiving.

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I know that for some people it is difficult to celebrate and be thankful. We can’t ignore the fact that many people have lost their jobs and are struggling financial. Others are struggling in difficult relationships or with a wayward child, and some are dealing with the loss of a loved one.

This past week, here in Texas, we had the terrible and senseless loss of 13 lives at Fort Hood. Our hearts go out to the families of those who were slain and our prayers are with those who are still struggling with injuries. At times like these it is easy to think there is nothing to be thankful for, and yet even in the midst of difficulty, tragedy and loss there are some things for which we can give thanks.

In my own life, my dear mother was sadly killed at the young age of 55 during this time of year. Certainly we do not give thanks for the terrible loss, but we can be thankful for God’s comfort and care. The Bible says, “The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them and delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:17,18)

In our situation, we thanked God for providing wonderful people to come to our side and comfort us. We thanked God for the blessing that my mother’s life was to all of us, and how she blessed so many people with her godly heart. We thanked God that many people turned back to God as a result of my mother’s sudden death, because they too saw the brevity of life.

God’s Word offers us strength and comfort in times of difficulty. Just this morning I read Psalm 107:

¹ “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

² Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

³ those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.

⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.

⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.

⁷ He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.

⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,

⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

We may not understand why the Lord has allowed trials in our lives, but we can trust His unfailing love. He is our provider. Look to him and seek His help through your pain and struggles. Like the Psalmist, we can thank the Lord for His unfailing love in our life and thank Him for His care for us each day.