Taste & See Coffee House

Taste & See

Coffee House

is just around the corner. We have closed on a building at 111 West Broadway in Stafford, Kansas and are making plans for renovations. It is an exciting time as we have waited on God since August of 2009 to show us His place, His plan.

Like many others you may be asking,

"When will you be open?"

Well, the best answer we can give is,

"Whenever God says it is time".

We learned through our 16 month waiting period on the building that you don't tell God what, where, when or how when it comes to HIS VISION. He tells you. And one of His favorite phrases to His people, even from the scriptures is

"Wait on Me."

(Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 40:31, Acts 1:4, James 5:7 to name a few.)

So, just as we waited on Him for the building we now wait on Him in the planning process. Yes, at times we will become weary and perhaps even frustrated when it moves too slowly for our liking but God will be faithful. He will remind us what He has already done and that He has not finished doing great things. And it is here in the waiting that we will watch with expectation for the next thing He will do. And it is in the waiting that we learn to trust that His timing, His plan is best. It is here that He reminds us that His timing will give us opportunities to

'tell stories on Him.'

The other question you might be asking is why name it

"Taste & See Coffee House?"

Why not something like Good Beans or Higher Grounds or even Java Jungle? For one thing those were already taken but the truth is that God didn't give us those names. He gave us Taste & See. If you go back to the Vine Press page of lovelybranchesministries.org and hit the Archives link you can go to the August message where it talks about being a lovely branch of righteousness. There you will find the foundation of the name of our coffee house which is also our basis for the Lovely Branches ministry in Stafford County, Kansas and beyond.

The ministries' mission statement (which can be found at the website's home page under "Our Mission" is:

Daily Abiding In Christ
Abounding In His Love
Offering Hope
All To The Glory Of God

These four simple statements are packed with magnificent truth when lived out

in your daily life. Christ is

The Branch of the Lord (Isaiah 4 & 11) as well as

The Vine (John 15).

When we seek to daily abide in Him as The Branch of Righteousness, we supernaturally abound in His love, offer hope to others and bring glory to God. In doing this we are day by day growing to be more like Christ and producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Our hopes are that many will see Christ in us. (Yes, this is a tall order but it is one directly given to us by our Lord. So even though we will fail more times than we care to admit it is really just a matter of obedience for each and every follower of Christ.). Essentially, the goal is that others will taste of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and see how really good Christ is. It is there that we hope they do more than just make the Taste & See Coffee House a local refuge. We hope and pray they will make Christ their eternal refuge as a result of what they "taste and see" at this place of grace.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the [one] who takes refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8

[photo taken by Adrienne Minnis, Lovely Branches Ministries resident photographer.]

Commissioned

I'm kind of a wordnut. Since there is no official definition for wordnut (simply because there is no such word) I will give you my own:

"one crazy about words, one who enjoys looking at definitions and origins."

Now I could call myself a wordsmith but that would make me a liar, defined as "one who lies".

Wordsmith is defined as:

>an expert in the use of words.

>or a person, as a skilled journalist or novelist, whose vocation is writing.

Even though I certainly can't take claim to the first definition of wordsmith I would love to claim the third, using my reasoning that I co-write messages and blogs for Lovely Branches Ministries. However, due to my misuse of words and phrases on many occasions, (many can attest to this) whether verbal or written, I can't even take claim to that.

So I stick to wordnut instead of wordsmith. Just because I enjoy researching the deeper meaning of words doesn't mean I'm an epxert at it, oops I mean expert.

So, where in the world is Edna going with this you may ask? If indeed you have traversed this far with me.

Commission, the Great Commission to be precise. Our main message on the Vine Press page, "Ready, Set, GO" was about our call to the Great Commission from Matthew 28:

‘Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, GO and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’

No, you will not find the word commission in this profound command from Jesus but you have the principle of commission written all over it.

Below are a few of my thoughts (in green) when I looked up the definition of commission at merriamwebster.com (in blue).

Origin - Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin commission-, commissio act of bringing together, from committere. First Known Use: 14th century

As true followers of Christ we, together with Christ, are on a mission to disciple (train in truth) others, so that they might be fully equipped to follow Him themselves. As mentioned in the Ready, Set GO message it might be referred to as the Great Co-Mission. This is no solo mission, sweet sister. It is one we do in and through Christ.

A task or matter entrusted to one as an agent for another;

Gotta love that word entrusted. ;0) Paul in 2 Timothy 1:14 tells young Timothy, "Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in you."

That word entrusted in the Greek is "paratheke" meaning a deposit, a trust or thing consigned to one’s faithful keeping; used of the correct knowledge and pure doctrine of the gospel, to be held firmly and faithfully, and to be conscientiously delivered unto others.

As a follower of Jesus Christ you too have been entrusted with the truths of God's Word. And like Paul and Timothy you are called or commissioned to pass them on to others.

a fee paid to an agent performing a service;

You might be scratching your head on this one. "God doesn't pay us" you might say, "for performing a service for Him." I beg to differ my dear friend. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." That word rewarder (in the Greek once again) is "misthapodotes" meaning one who pays wages, a rewarder.

Oh my Goodness! (Here's where the wordnut in me starts to really come out.) God truly does pay us, spiritually speaking, when we perform a service for His kingdom. We know it as a blessing. When we are obedient God blesses our obedience. Let me give you a personal example from yesterday. (I will make this short since I've already used more words then I should be
allowed to use.)

I started my morning with God leading me to Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is approached by God in a vision. God asks Isaiah, in simple terms, "Who will go on my behalf to do my work?" After much trembling and repentance Isaiah says to God, again in simple terms, "I'm the guy. Send me."

This passage, coming on the heals of the the Ready, Set, GO, message sent me to prayer. "God help me to be faithful like Isaiah. Show me those I can minister to." Not necessarily an easy prayer to pray for you never know where God might lead you. But just the same I was compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray it, with much trepidation.

Fast forward a few hours. I'm in a Hutchinson book store aisle looking for a book when a young woman next to me asked about Frances Chan and his book "Crazy Love." At which point I got excited about her interest in this book. (Go to crazylovebook.com and see why.) I eagerly tried to help her find it. Another gal in the same aisle heard our conversation and responded with "I got that book for Christmas. Is it good?" I responded "Oh my goodness. Is it good!?!" Thus, what ensued was a conversation that started about Frances but quickly led to talking about God and His Word. As one of the gal's mom joined us I found myself encouraging these sisters in Christ in various ways. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a quiet person, yet in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "Edna, you might need to tone this down a bit. Not everyone in the store is a believer. They might boot you out of here." I considered that was probably my flesh speaking. And yet there was another voice who encouraged me to be faithful at all costs. That was probably the Holy Spirit speaking. ( I have to admit I am more prone to obeying my flesh voice instead of the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.) However this time I obeyed and I walked away rewarded.

By that God orchestrated encounter I felt God's good pleasure for being faithful to encourage these women. I felt rewarded by the blessing of their desire to know God at a deeper level and especially blessed by these new relationships with other sisters in Christ. (Kala, Elizabeth and Sarah, email me. Next time we will find a cozy little table and sip some coffee while we visit, instead of standing in the aisles.)

So, now I encourage you, the one reading this blog. If you have trusted Christ with your heart, soul and life then know you have been entrusted with His truths. And as His agent, together with His Spirit, you have been commissioned to go on His behalf. Imagine the rewards and blessings you'll receive, just for being faithful.

posted by Edna

Who Is Jesus, Really? Check out the video below by David Nasser entitled "Why Jesus?". If interested in joining our study starting January 20th go to the Rooted & Grounded page at lovelybranchesministries.org for all the details.

Know Thyself

As we close this study out let's take a look at a few key words from our lesson this week:

HEART (pg 91) Proverbs 4:23 says
"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life."NASB

I especially like it in the New Living Translation:
"Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life."

We learned early on in this study that the "heart is desperately wicked, hard to understand." but there is so much more to this thing called the "heart" of inner man.

Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness describes the heart this way:
Heart in scripture is used in various ways. Sometimes it means our reason or understanding, sometimes our affections and emotions, and sometimes our will. Generally it denotes the whole soul of man and all its faculties, not individually, but as they work together in doing good or evil. The mind as it reasons, discerns, and judges; the emotions as they like or dislike; the conscience as it determines and warns and the will as it chooses or refuses - are all together called the heart.

So this whole of inner man is desperately wicked, and yes very hard to understand because it encompasses absolutely everything about you, your thought processing, your emotions, your will. It's all wrapped up in this thing we call the "heart".

And yet God has been gracious not to leave our hearts in this condition of desperate wickedness.

Ezekiel 36:26 states, "Moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."'NASB

Acts 15:8-9 "God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith." NLT

Romans 10:8-10“The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart. And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. NLT

Our hearts, by faith in God's good grace, through Christ's work at the cross and the grave can be made new. Now that deserves a great big THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

Of course, once these hearts of ours have been made new we easily find out they still have tendencies to stray. God is in the process of transforming these hearts of ours from the moment we give the whole of our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ to the day we stand before Him in heaven. So in this transforming process we are encouraged to "watch over our hearts" which leads us to our second word.

STEWARD (pg 92) We are called to be good stewards of these hearts of ours. We read from our study that the word steward comes from the old English word "ward", keeping charge of something and "sty" meaning pigsty. Seems quite appropriate when you consider some of the yucky emotions that flow from these hearts of ours. I like how Proverbs 4:23 says to "guard" our hearts. it means to protect it, to protect the treasure of God's word which has been planted in you. We can easily hear Paul's words to us which he also stated to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20, "Guard that which has been entrusted to you."

That takes us to the next word CHOOSE (pg 93, #2). For in guarding we are choosing. Every time a negative emotion threatens to take you down for the umpteenth time you can choose to go back to God's word, the only place of absolute, unadulterated truth. We sometimes prefer to let ourselves seep slowly into the pit of emotional nothingness but we know there is no joy, peace or hope there. Run to His Word sweet sister, to get God's voice of trust. You may have to run there over and over and over again before you sense God's peace and strength but don't give up. God's word makes it clear in the New Testament that perseverance is absolutely necessary in getting through our short lives here on earth. We've heard it said many times, "life is hard". For that very reason we need to cling to that which gets us through. At the end of this long race called life is our God waiting with open arms. Until then choose to persevere.

DEPEND is our next word (pg 93, #4). For when you are choosing to run to God you are learning to depend on Him, to trust Him. Colossians 1:29 tells us "For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." To some degree this seems contradictory - I need to depend on His power and yet I am striving. I can't tell you that I comprehend this verse completely in its complexity but I can tell you that when I look at it in light of our emotional struggles I come up with this: Depending on God is sometimes extremely difficult. When I am in the middle of an emotional funk it takes effort on my part to get up off my lazy spiritual behind and seek Him. My will is involved here as God's power pushes me toward Him and His word, to rest at His feet and allow the "power which so mightily works in me" to begin to take hold of my emotions. God does His part but there is a part we play as our wills need to be surrendered to Him in our day by day emotional struggles.

Question 4, page 94 asks why has God given us these "muddled emotions." First we have to understand that when man was first created in the garden his emotions were pure and undefiled, until sin crept in for the very first time. Sin corrupted a beautiful and perfect inner man, a perfect heart. So our emotions are first and foremost effected by our sinful nature. Throw in the deceptive culture around us and the lies of an enemy of your soul and our emotions become "muddled". In fact, sometimes they are downright maddening. However, it is in the amazing gift of our emotions mixed with faith that we truly understand God's love for us. Let's close with this descriptive passage from Ephesians 3:14-21, the New Living Translation. Do more than just read these words. Meditate on them, sweet sister. Let them seep deep into that emotional heart of yours. In no time your heart will be singing His praises.

When I think of all this,
I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources
he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.
Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is too great to understand fully.
Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power
that comes from God.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us,
to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus
through all generations forever and ever!
Amen.

Mixed Up Emotions

Sheep, one of many, many animals God created. And out of all those He created he chose to use the sheep to compare His children to. Because our study this past week focused so much on us being God's sheep and Jesus being our Shepherd I googled "characteristics of sheep". What I found from Answers.com was quite telling. This animal is pretty wacky in its behavior and as the ladies from both the morning and evening class looked over the list they found it quite easy to see the similarities. See what they shared (in red) next to the characteristics in gray:

They are of a gregarious nature...meaning they love to be with the herd, they are herbivores. Sheep must have a leader (shepherd) and must be told what to do and where to go, other wise they'll wander off and get lost.

1. timid, fearful, easily panicked [We have a tendency to let things frighten us quite easily.]

2. dumb stupid, gullible [We are quite easily swayed by the wrong things.]

3. very vulnerable to fear, frustration, pests, hunger [We are weak and are easily discontented or troubled.]

4. easily influenced by a leader, by the shepherd [A pastor's (earthly shepherd) words are held in high regard which is why we need to be discerning about their words, are they biblical or not.]

5. stampede easily, vulnerable to mob psychology [We have a tendency to go with the crowd, even if the crowd is not going the right direction. Again we need discernment.]

6. little or no means of self-defense; can only run [Our only defense against the forces of evil is the Holy Spirit. There is no "self" defense, only "Christ" defense.]

7. easily killed by enemies [Again susceptible to enemy attacks which as a Christan can be quite prevalent because we belong too Christ.]

8. the shepherd is most effective, calming influence [We know our Savior's tender calming voice and its influence on us in difficult times brings peace.]

9. jealous, competitive for dominance [Even God's children can get caught up in competition within the church. This is pride and we know how God feels about that.]

10. constantly need fresh water, fresh pasture [Our need for God's Word through His Spirit is constant. It is what we should thirst and hunger for.]

11. have very little discernment in choosing food or water [Again we are easily swayed if we aren't grounded in what His Word is. We can sometimes choose things that are not necessarily spiritually healthy for us.]

12. best water source is early morning dew [Early morning time is best time to spend time with God. As a side note: several gals mentioned their quiet times with the Lord are either during kids nap time or later in the evening. It was agreed that God will and does arrange our times with Him depending on where we are in our lives. What's important is that we are at least getting some intimate fellowship with Him in His word at some point in our day.]

13. perverse, stubborn - will insist on their own way , even eating poisonous
plants or drinking dirty water [Yahh. This would be God's children. No need to say more.]

14. easily "cast" - flipped over on their back, unable to right themselves
will die of starvation if not turned over by shepherd; helpless [Only our Shepherd can get us back on our feet when we've been knocked down.]

15. frequently look for easy places to rest [We like the comfortable life.]

16. don't like to be sheared, cleaned [A good spiritual scrubbing is uncomfortable and sometimes painful but necessary and beneficial.]

17. too much wool can cause sheep to be easily "cast" [When we carry the burdens of life instead of giving them to God we can be easily brought down by the enemy.]

18. creatures of habit; get into "ruts" [We are very easily stuck in our own ways and old traditions and sometimes are not willing to step out of those old ways to follow Christ.]

19. need the most care of all livestock [We require a lot of upkeep. God is such a God of grace for He never pushes us aside. He always cares for us.]

20. need to be "on the move"; need a pre-determined plan, pattern of grazing [We get accustomed to our to do lists and daily agendas. God has a way of taking us out of our comfort zones by bringing unexpected events into our lives.]

21. totally dependent of shepherd for every need [Whether we know it or not we are dependent on God for absolutely everything. And I do mean everything.]

22. need "rod and staff" guidance [We definitely need God's gentle but firm prodding to get us to move and when we stray He gently uses the crook of Hi s staff (hand of reproof and discipline) to bring us back. Again a God of grace.]

So little lamb, did you find yourself anywhere in that list of characteristics? I sure did. Look at the verses below, which you will also find on page 85, #3 to see God's perspective:

Isaiah 53:6
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

Jeremiah 23:4
Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord have spoken!

Jeremiah 50:6
My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray
and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.

Psalm 100 was not mentioned on Thursday but it is one that keeps coming back to me since this study:

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

What a great picture of our Good Shepherd, the One who protects, guides, watches over, provides and supplies all our needs. He could easily cast us aside and yet does not. His grace is awesome and we should do as the psalmist does above, be reminded of how good God is to us, even in our all our mixed up ways.

We finished our study focusing on Psalm 119 (page 85, #4) Take the time to read through that this coming week. Yes, it is long, really long. But worth a thorough going over. You will see that the psalmist deals with lots of personal emotional issues and yet at every turn he always brings himself back to his personal anchor - the Word of God. Sometimes classifying it as statutes, commandments, precepts or testimonies, his point is clear - God's Word is his foundation, his treasure of life.

As emotionally mixed up sheep we can rest assured when life throws us a few curve balls that our Shepherd's Word to us is our anchor. Like the Psalmist let's seek to also make it our treasure. Now that's not a baaaad idea. (I just couldn't resist.)

P.M.S.ing

I love that initial verse for this chapter 10 lesson:

"If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place." Proverbs 24:10 MSG

or even better in the NLT "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small."

That really was the heart of our lesson as we ventured through the various verses in the first section (pgs 73-75). We need to realize that it's in those moments of sudden frustrations, whether they come from monthly hormonal changes or from sudden circumstances that our hearts will reveal who we really are and what amount of God's strength we have built up over time.

Proverbs 27:19 (pg74, #2)states:
As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man. NASB


When you look into a still, clear watered pool you can see a perfect reflection of yourself but as soon as that water is disturbed by the smallest thing the picture becomes disrupted, distorted. The same is true of our hearts. As long as life is going along just fine with no ripples we are fine but the moment our little world gets jolted by even the simplest things of life, like someone cutting in front of you in traffic, the kids spilling milk at the dinner table or the checkbook not balancing we find ourselves disrupted and frustrated. Our words and actions become indicators of what lies in our hearts.

Jesus said this clearly to the pharisees in Matthew 12: 34-35 (pg 75 #4)
"You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. ESV

So the question we must ask ourselves is "What is my heart in abundance of?" What have I stored up in recent years in my heart? Is it the good things of the Lord by being in His Word, praying, spending time with other sisters in Christ, listening, watching and reading the things which are beneficial to me? Or have I become the world's student, taking in all the unhealthy ungodly teachings the world has to offer through various forms of media?

As Ezekiel 36:26-27 (pg 75, #5) states:

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." NASB

Even though this passage is directed to the Israelites eventually becoming believers in the Messiah it is absolutely true of all people who give their hearts in trust to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas in many biblical passages the idea of a heart of flesh might be indicative of a sinful heart this particular passage's phrase heart of flesh is referring to a teachable, moldable heart. One that is no longer hard and rebellious toward God and His ways, but one that has been changed into a tender, appreciative and obedient heart toward the God who has saved them. It is a heart that continues to change or transform as one seeks to grow more like Christ everyday. This is where the heart is not only being transformed but being filled daily with the good things of God. This is where we as women of God want to be so that the words that flow from our mouths in those hormonal periods or the trying circumstances of life is truly an abundance of a God filled heart.

In the second part of our lesson (pgs 76-79) we see how our moods can leave us feeling blah or lackluster. You know, those days when you just don't want to do anything. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a time of resting your body and mind, however we need to be in tune to what is going on in our hearts and minds at various times whether they are due to our cycle or not. If we are not careful we can use our "time of the month" or other emotional or physical pain as an excuse to be lazy, grumpy or unkind to others. We as believers are without excuse. We have God's word to instruct us as well as God's Spirit dwelling within us.

Besides seeking God in prayer and study of His word, making the decision to serve another sister when you are in one of your down moods is a great way to beat those blah feelings. Something truly does happen when we decide to fore go our personal pity parties and get up off the couch and find someone to bless. Visit a friend, make a phone call, fix a meal or dessert for someone else. The possibilities are endless. And you will find that not only do you come away with your spirits uplifted but you have lifted someone else's spirit as well.

When we survey the passages in proverbs where Solomon spoke of women's behavior (pg77. #8) we find they are not very flattering. I especially found the Proverbs 24:25 in the New Living Translation interesting.
"It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic
than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home."

We as women spend a great deal of time making our homes and bodies lovely. We have to have the latest fashions and will spend all kinds of money, time and energy making these both as lovely as possible. (All very commendable if done in a balanced manner.) Yet how much time to we spend in working on our inner beauty, on letting Jesus transform us from the inside out by abiding in Him daily?

The Lovely Branches Ministries is based on this principle from John 15:4-5.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

As we fellowship with Christ (the Vine) through His Word and prayer and then seek to live in obedience to that word, the Holy Spirit, which is an example of the life giving sap which flows from the Vine to the branches (those who have put their trust in Christ), will help us grow into the likeness of that Vine. Overtime we begin to produce fruit, the kind of fruit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.

This fruit has the potential to cause those around us to desire and hunger for that same fruit. As sisters abiding in Jesus Christ we want others to "taste and see that the Lord is good; to make God their refuge" just as we have. (Psalm 34:8)

So I encourage you sweet sisters seek to be a lovely branch of righteousness, one reflective of the mighty Branch of Righteousness, Christ Himself. (Isaiah 4:2 and Jeremiah 23:15)

We closed our lesson Thursday talking about the fear of God. We all agreed that the fear of God is not a cowering dreaded fear but a reverential fear. Fear of a God who is in loving authority over us. One who has our best interest in mind, always. Yet One who will, as any good parent would do, deliver to us a loving disciplinary action on occasion intended to grow us to maturity.

Consider Proverbs 31:30 -
"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

Let's keep our focus on God and His work on our hearts so that the abundance of our hearts is one that reveals our fear and reverence for Him; that we might become over time, lovely women of Christ, from the inside out, even on those crummy hormonal days.

Scattered

Overwhelmed as defined on dictionary.com is:

1. to overcome completely in mind or feeling: overwhelmed by remorse.

2. to overpower or overcome, esp. with superior forces; destroy; crush: Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.

3. to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as flood waters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge: Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.

4. to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything: a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.

5. to overthrow.

Lesson eight is titled “Scattered”. It focuses on the concept of being overwhelmed. On any given day we can feel the pressures of life and feel that scattered or overwhelmed feeling.

Breaking our lesson into two different categories I gave two different word pictures this week:

Section One (pgs 58-59, #1-4 ) Managing Your Moods

Imagine you are in a boat in the middle of a lake or the ocean being hit repeatedly by waves. These waves slowly begin to fill your boat with water. As you quickly try to to bail water in an effort to survive you find your boat is taking on more and more water. You are quickly realizing that the boat is sinking and you are at risk of drowning.

This first picture is reflective of the times in your life when circumstances pound you either suddenly or gradually. They are beyond your control. It is easy at these times to feel that sinking sense of being overwhelmed.

The ladies at study Thursday described overwhelmed as being weighed down, drowning, heavy, no control, overburdened, very consistent with the overwhelmed definition listed above. This must be how David felt as we look at Psalm 38:8 (pg 59, #3)

"I am benumbed and badly crushed. I groan because of the agitation of my heart."

We have talked a great deal about David throughout this study. He was a man overcome with many emotions. Whether his circumstances are different or similar to ours, we can certainly relate as we read his heartfelt cries to God in the midst of the pain he dealt with through enemy threats, friend and family betrayals. He may have been the chosen king of Israel at one time and “a man after God’s own heart” but that did not mean life was a piece of cake. His trials were heavy and therefore so was his heart. He understood well the sinking feeling of his circumstances. He understood "overwhelmed" to the point of feeling crushed. As did Job and many others in the Bible.

How did these great men (and women) of God get through? Let’s first look at the second part of our study, our second word picture, before we answer that question.

Section Two (pgs 60-61, #5-8)

[This one is very personal to me for it came at a time a few years ago when I was very busy with family, job and church activities. Crying out to God at feeling so overwhelmed he spoke very clearly to my heart.]

Imagine holding a dinner plate piled high and heavy with food. God's words to you are “My daughter, when you fill your plate with all your plans it becomes gluttony. When you fill it with my plans it becomes a beautiful feast.”

When God spoke these words to me years ago I knew right way what His message was. If I pile my plate (daily schedule) high with everything I think is good without a thought to His purpose and agenda then I am going to overdo it. I am going to make myself sick. Where as, if I allow Him to dictate what goes on my plate on a daily basis it would be a delicious array of opportunities I will enjoy partaking of. It will be a healthy and appetizing meal.

That’s what the second picture of overwhelmed is all about. Where our first picture was of circumstances outside our control this one is very much within our control. We get to choose how much we put on our plate, every day. We find ourselves easily frazzled (scattered) when we continuously seek to add more and more to our daily lives, not even considering what it is doing to us and those around us, let alone not even considering what God thinks about the whole mess. (As a side note here. Don’t assume for a minute that your activities are okay with God just because they "feel" okay to you or fit in with the ideals of those around you. Sometimes we can even find ourselves justifying our activities because they are church or ministry related, or because it’s good for our kids to be involved in so many good activities, or we need to step outside our family role to meet certain needs. Seek God’s wisdom. He knows your circumstances. He knows your family’s needs and He knows what the future holds. Get His counsel and follow it. All else could land you in some consequences you never had planned for.)

So what can we do, whether our boat is sinking from those ominous waves of circumstances or from plates being piled way too high with too many activities? You can cry out to God as David did in Psalm 61:1-2 (#6, pg 61),

“Hear my cry , O God, Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock which is higher than I.”

David’s cry to God was a cry of humility. He knew he was at his wit’s end. He knew he needed the One who was higher than Him. He knew God was his immovable, steadfast and strong Rock. Just as Christ is the Rock referred to in Psalms 18:2, 94:22, Isaiah 26:4, 1 Corinthians 10:4 and 1 Peter 2:8 God is also the rock here in Psalm 61:2. As we read on in that same passage we see God is also our refuge, strong tower, tent, shelter. We see this again in Psalm 27:4-6

The ONE THING I ask of the Lord—
the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the Lord’s perfections
and meditating in his Temple.
For he will conceal me there when troubles come;
he will hide me in his sanctuary.
He will place me out of reach on a high rock.
Then I will hold my head high
above my enemies who surround me.
At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,
singing and praising the Lord with music. NLT

I believe David is speaking here of God’s divine presence. He was not a priest, the only one at that time allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle or temple where God’s presence dwelt. Yet David spoke of such an intimacy with God, an understanding of God’s divine care. This can only come through a personally intimate relationship with God, a place of choosing to enter into God’s divine presence through prayer and worship.

I am especially struck by the first few words of verse 4, “ONE THING I have asked of the Lord…..” They remind me of the words of Jesus in Luke 10:41 after admonishing Martha for her busyness and frustration over Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet instead of helping in the kitchen, “only ONE THING is necessary and Mary has chosen the good part which cannot be taken away from her.”

While Martha was so overwhelmed with so many things Mary knew the ONE THING which was better. It was to sit at Jesus feet, to be in His divine presence. This is such a perfect picture for us as women where we can run to a place of refuge, shelter, and peace. We can choose the ONE THING which is better and that is to sit at the Master’s feet, to step into His divine presence when those overwhelming circumstances come at us, whether they come unexpectedly from other sources or from our own hand. We can stop and seek Him.

In fact I encourage you to return to Psalm 27. Here in verse 8 we can like David say,

When You said "seek My face", my heart said to You, "Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”

What more can this mean than to seek His presence? To make it your heart’s cry to know Him better, to know His heart, to be in His presence with a heart full of worship.

This is the place to be sweet sisters when our lives are scattered, when we are overwhelmed. Step into His presence and worship Him. This is where you will find the peace you need when the waves hit unexpectedly or you are tempted to fill your plate too full.

The Doldrums

Imagine being at sea. Not in some glamorous cruise ship with deck chairs and midnight buffets. No, this would be an old ship. The hull is patched tight with tar and pitch. The decks are rough wood, worn smooth by the daily scouring of salt water and the constant tread of bare feet. The sky is brilliant blue, cloudless. You are surrounded by the smells of saltwater, fish and sweat. It's hot, for the sun is high and there is no wind. The big canvas sails hang limp from the masts. There's no breeze, not even a stirring of air. The sea is becalmed, still as glass in every direction. All around you the sailors are unnaturally quiet. They look restless, but oddly listless as well. The captain paces, stopping periodically to squint up into the sky. It's the dreaded doldrums. For four days your ship has been trapped in a calm. No wind to move you forward. No currents to drift you along. Water is being rationed and your mouth is dry as cotton. The only thing your ship can do is wait. Wait and pray for the wind.

For those in our Thursday study you will recognize that paragraph taken from our book, Managing Your Moods by Women of Faith. The author's description of the doldrums was so well described that you could almost feel you were there. It gives a perfect picture of those times when we, again as the book describes, are in "seasons of waiting, dry spells, and times of dullness". We can at times, absolutely out of the blue, find ourselves in the doldrums, an emotional state all its own.

The ladies shared today their definition of the doldrums. Carrie mentioned a word which has become a family favorite. Mumfy - the state of feeling discontent, listless, at loose ends. I absolutely love that word. Think I will add it to my "funky word" vocabulary list.

Theresa shared a list of things that came to her as she did her lesson this week: burned out, listless, weary, faint, weak, burdened, thirsty, dull-hearted, unresponsive, to name just a few. (It's the teacher in her.)

When we looked at the word, dull or dull hearted, as referenced in Jeremiah 10:21, Acts 28:27 and Hebrews 5:11-14 (#3, pg 51) we see three different words in Hebrew and Greek.
bawar - stupid, dull hearted, unreceptive.
pachuno - render the soul dull or callous.
nothros - slothful, lazy, without energy.

The doldrums at times are a time of dullness, when life just seems blah. In fact, Elizabeth described it well Thursday evening when she said, "when things just aren't moving along in your life." We feel spiritually lazy, weary and our hearts can become quite dull because of the eerie calm of the moment.

Interestingly, many gals in the study, including myself, felt the scriptures referenced in the first part of the lesson really didn't match what we personally felt this emotion was all about. At least not until the author began to describe her philodendron plants. All of her other plants needed constant attention to survive, but her philodendron was virtually indestructible. "They even bounce back if you forget to water them for a week or so." She compared this to herself in those times when she neglects the spiritual needs of her heart. When we neglect our relationship with God we can experience dry spells, or as she referred to it, drought.

That word drought reminded me of a wonderful passage from Jeremiah 17:7-8, just preceding our verse from previous weeks on our deceitful hearts. It reads:

Blessed is the man (woman) who trusts in the Lord
and whose trust is the Lord.
For he (she) will be like a tree planted by the water,
that extends its roots by a stream.
And will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green.
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
nor cease to yield fruit.

When we as women have rooted ourselves in God's word, in His truth, in His grace, in His love through prayer, study of the word, fellowship with other committed believers our roots go wide and deep. So grounded in fact will those roots be, that as the years and circumstances of life go on we find ourselves stronger at each new season. So that even when the doldrums or drought comes, those times of listlessness, dullness, complacency fall upon us, we can turn to the One who will once again strengthen us. Over time we will find ourselves growing in steadfastness, much like the tree of Jeremiah 17:8.

These dry seasons are bound to come. When they do, we can take the wonderful council found in Isaiah 40:28-30,
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who WAIT on the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

That word wait in verse 31 can be easily interchanged with the words, trust or hope in, depending on the version you read.

When I think of the dreaded doldrums, waiting is a key word to me. Last week we shared a great deal about how God knows our needs and always comes through for us. But we all have to admit that God doesn't always answer our prayers or unmet needs as quickly as we would like. I mentioned this last week in the blog on worries that if God knows you have an immediate need He will meet it immediately. However, sometimes God answers in His own good time and own good way, depending on what He knows is our deepest need. He knows what we need in the deepest parts of our hearts and will at times withhold giving us what we ask for so that He might do a work in us and in others.

There was a time in my life where God placed me in a "waiting room". For many years I cried out to Him a heartfelt prayer which He was, in my thinking, way too slow to answer. One day in prayer, I once again cried out, asking why He was taking so long to answer something so seemingly good. His answer, spoken clearly to my heart was, "Edna, if I had answered that prayer according to your timetable, in your way, you and I would not have what we have today." That blew me away. Still does, quite frankly, as I ponder His loving ways. He knew all along that those times of crying out to Him were times He would use to grow me, to set my roots deep, to intensify my relationship with Him.

Sweet sister, those seasons of waiting in your own life are times when God can do work in your heart. Those doldrums you dread so much are a tool in God's hands. He wants you to "choose" Him at these times instead of your own thoughts of what you think is best. And you must be very careful in these waiting seasons to not let your thoughts lead you from the doldrums to doubt to discouragement and from there even into despair. Let your mind rest on Him and His goodness, His faithfulness by going to His word, even when your moods and emotions tells you otherwise.

We finished today's study with words from David in Psalm 27:13-14 (3(, pg 53):

I would have despaired if I had not believed
that I would see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord.
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
yes, wait for the Lord.

I encourage you to write that passage down and post it somewhere in your home where you can refer to it often. In fact, just put it to memory so when those dreaded doldrums suddenly appear you have truth to run to. Something which will help you become rooted and grounded in your God and His truth.