February 14, 2011March 28, 2015Leave a comment

Hello wonderful PWC ladies. Today we are featuring another devotional written by one of our ladies. Her name is Carmyn Sparks and you can read her bio at the end of this blog. I’m thankful for the gifts and talents you all are sharing through PWC. Remember to RSVP for the upcoming PWC luncheons on February 22 (Prestonwood Country Club) and 23 (Cottonwood Creek church in Allen).

Here’s Carmyn’s devotional: 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind.”

What is the root of fear?

Amy Carmichael says “when we are downhearted or fearful or weak, we are saying by the way of our fear and timidity, ‘After all, the Lord can’t be absolutely trusted.’”

Does God send this spirit of fear?

And if He does not send it to me, where does it come from?

I can will to will to will to choose by my glorious God ordained freedom to refuse it! How can that be?

I have a Savior who willingly gave His life for me that I might receive “everything (not just some but all)” pertaining to life (my outer physical needs) and to godliness (my inner spiritual needs)!

The One who redeemed me, created me. The One who created me knows me inside and outside! His Father in heaven is my Father in heaven!

My Father has never once failed Christ…..He will never fail me. He loved and led and guarded Christ all the days of His life on earth…..God has loved, and led, and guarded me all the 62 years of my life.

Is God unchanging, does His faithfulness fail when I am fearful? My answer determines my trust.

Yes, God has, God is and God will continue to love and lead and guard me all the days of my life.

Holy Spirit, I look to you now and pray from this foreboding shadow of fear that covers my mind for Your power within to set me free.

The reality of this shadow is the Presence of God’s light.

I unquestionably believe Your Word.

I choose to submit my fears to the Son and courageously resist this fear of darkness believing it must be swift to flee at the sound of Your Word.

Fill me now with a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind to discern the Truth of God’s Word.

Grant me courage and grip my heart with the perfect love that drives out fear. Can I trust God today?

Yes, I absolutely Trust God, therefore, I have no shadow of doubt that I now can emerge from this darkness of fear.

May I be a light to dispel others’ fears wherever I go today as You go with me.

Carmyn Sparks has been involved in women’s ministry for 30 years teaching church and home bible studies; speaking at retreats and seminars; and leading discipleship classes. She has served with Search Ministries; worked with Community Hospice of Texas serving on the advisory board as well as facilitating hospice training programs. Her heart’s passion is to share the redeeming grace and mercy of God’s transforming love for others no matter their past or present stories. She has published serveral poetic works in various anthologies by the International Library of Poetry. Carmyn lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband of 40 years, Hal. They have three married daughters and six grandchildren. Her life’s message is Jude 21 “Stay always within the boundaries of God’s love where He can reach and bless you” in order that His Son, Jesus Christ be glorified.

Before, During, After

February 5, 2011Leave a comment

Last week at Positive Woman Connection, I asked our members to consider contributing a devotional for our blog in order to encourage one another. Several of you have submitted devotionals. Here is our first submission by my friend, Lola Moret. I like her style of writing about before, during and after she came to know Christ. She calls it BDA. Here’s what she wrote.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!” II Corinthians 5:17

Before:

When I was a toddler we did not go to church but my mother would talk to me about God. I did not like Him. She would wag her finger in my face and growl, “God will punish you”. My brother and I were too familiar with being punished. God was just another authority figure whose job it was to hurt me. Look at what he arranged for his own son. During this time I kept a big list of promises to my future children in my heart. God certainly was not in the promises.

During:
All I wanted to do was to grow up, get out of town, land a good job and find a nice husband. Check, check, check, check…asked and answered. My husband and I tried church for awhile, but not for long. Problems resurfaced for me when I had my sons. I knew I was not going to beat them, but I did not know much else. I felt afraid, overwhelmed, stressed and frustrated about parenting. When the boys were old enough to start pre school, I “decided” to send them to a Christian preschool. I laugh because I thought it was my idea, but now I can see clearly that God started to make me aware that he took care of me all those years even though I ignored and even scoffed at Him.
The transformation was not instant On the first day of school the pastor’s wife invited me to Bible Study and I wanted to run away fast. Instead, God started me on a new plan had me say “yes”. I could not believe I said that!! I squirmed and eye rolled through a lot of Bible Studies at that little preschool, trying to figure out how to quit. Eventually I realized that I felt good when I was with the Christian women, I felt safe with them, there was peace that I never felt before.

After:

Eventually, some truths started to penetrate my stubborn head such as: God is good and the sacrifice of Jesus was for my salvation, not some cruel murder planned by an evil father. Even though I misunderstood and avoided God for years, He welcomed me back with the same love that He would have given me if I never strayed.
Praise God for His infinite love and patience.

Lola Moret has lived in Dallas on and off for 20 years and is the mother of three grown sons. She is joyfully following the Lord’s will for her life and co-leads a Bible Study at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship. She is also an ecology artist at heart and enjoys creating a wide variety of items from repurposed materials.

O Glorious Day!

January 31, 2011Leave a comment

A Joyful Bride as the doors flew open

It was great to be together this week for PWC. Many of you were blessed and intrigued by the story of Joy’s wedding and the song that was played called Glorious Day.

Here are the words to the hymn written by J. Wilbur Chapman (1859 – 1918):

One Day (Glorious Day)

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men; my Example is He!

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified, freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day!

One day they led Him to Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!

And one day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose; over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord forevermore!

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day my Beloved One’s bringing
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified, freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day![i]

Just as a bride lives in anticipation of her wedding day, so we ought to live in anticipation for that glorious day when we see Him face to face.

Guest bloggers start next week! We have already received several devotional submissions for our blog from our women who attend the Positive Women Connection. If you would like to submit a devotional send it to Karol@karolladd.com. It will need to include a Bible verse and be about 500 words in length. A selection committee will review it. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

[i] Hymn by j. Wilbur Chapman, Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, TN: Convention Press, 1991) no. 193.

Bring a Friend

January 15, 2011Leave a comment

Stop and think – who do you know who could use a positive word of encouragement? Now invite that friend to join you at the Positive Woman Connection Luncheon next week. The topic is all about having a new perspective in the new year.

Tuesday, January 25 at Prestonwood Country Club in North Dallas 12:00 – 1:00 RSVP to Donna Skell

dskell@roaringlambsministries.org

Wednesday, January 26 at Cottonwood Creek church, HWY 121 in Allen, 12:00 – 1:00 RSVP to Sandy Prowant at prowant@cottonwoodcreek.org

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Demonstrating Thanksgiving

November 22, 2010Leave a comment

This past week we had Positive woman Connection oneweek earlier than usual due to the holidays this week. We had a wonderful time. We get together early next month as well, so mark your calendars for Dec 14 in North Dallas or Dec 15 for our Cottonwood Creek location. Have a blessed Thanksgiving. Here’s a little thought about demonstrating Thanksgiving to your kids:

Our own example offers the most effective teaching tool when it comes to teaching gratitude to our kids. We can try to pound the lesson of thankfulness into our children’s hearts and minds, but when we demonstrate a grateful heart with our words and actions they catch the lesson and keep it. So how do we demonstrate gratitude? Here are three ideas to get you started:

1. Tell your kids how thankful you are for them. That’s right, be specific and tell each child several of the qualities you really appreciate about them. It’s something our kids need to hear (as opposed to nagging all the time) and they need to experience how it feels to be on the receiving end of kind and grateful thoughts. Although we assume our kids know how thankful we are for them, they need to hear it specifically expressed now and then.

2. Speak in a grateful way about the rest of your family members (that means your husband as well as your extended family) behind their backs. Instead of complaining about aunt Nancy’s conversation skills or her awful sweet potato casserole, talk about how thankful you are for her gifts or talents or character qualities. Let’s demonstrate to our children how to look for the good in others, rather than what is wrong with people.

3. Take time to stop and thank the Lord for His blessings. When you recognize God has allowed something good to come into your life, take a moment to say, “Kid’s I just want to stop and thank the Lord for His kindness.” Then ask the kids to join you in prayer as you thank the Lord. Even when things aren’t going so perfect, you can always thank God for His presence and His help in time of need. I’m reminded of the story of the ten lepers. Ten were healed, but only one came back to say thank you. I want to be like that one who said thanks.

This week, take some time to allow gratitude to fill your thoughts and hearts and to overflow from your mouth. Most importantly demonstrate your thankfulness by reaching out and helping others. You are never so beautiful as when you are living a grateful life. Show others what a thankful heart looks like as you celebrate this week with family and friends.
I’m thankful for you! Keep shining His light.