Friday, January 4, 2013
Need to know Basis
Who receives this post?
Would like to know, as I am committed to writing again.
I do not want to burden anyone, nor do I want to write to an unknown reader (at this point)
So - let me know who you are while I refresh my Blogging practice.
Best,
Susan
Monday, September 5, 2011
Red Corvette
So as an empty nester expressing longings for her nestlings just yesterday, I am somewhat embarrased that a two-hour ride in a '77 Red Corvette this afternoon brought about such gladness. Progress? I think so!
Only the Lord.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
themes
There have been some lately.
Trusted souls reminding me that writing is a good activity for me.
We are empty nesters.
I think about my former nestlings alot.
I am getting better at not thinking about them.
A return to blog will be a perfect place to stash a few unrequited prayers and thoughts.
Trusted souls reminding me that writing is a good activity for me.
We are empty nesters.
I think about my former nestlings alot.
I am getting better at not thinking about them.
A return to blog will be a perfect place to stash a few unrequited prayers and thoughts.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
On Women's Ministry
God made certain that women would play many important roles in the Scripture narratives. So it stands to biblical reason that women would play many important roles within the church community as well. In Matthew 28:10, the Angel tells the “Marys” that they should not “be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him.”
What an honor to be either one of those Marys and be the first recipients and reporters of the best news the world has ever known!
John 4 tells the story of the Samaritan woman. An unlikely convert, her name is not known to us, but her sins are known. She was like many women today who are affected deeply by a world that devalues women by legalized abortion and the sexual revolution. Jesus met her at her exact point of need, forgiving her sins and healing her shame, compelling her to go and tell that she had just met the Savior.
The Women’s Ministry at Christ Church at Grove Farm is committed to meeting women at their exact point of need, and sharing the good news of Jesus’ unfailing forgiveness and love for them. We do this in a deeply relational way, and in fact in every way we can. We create events where relationships can happen and we study God’s word where relationships are transformed. In between these two, are 1000’s of phone calls, text messages, facebook updates, hand-written notes, boxes of Kleenex emptied and prayers earnestly offered one for another. How could we respond otherwise to such a good and gracious Lord? The God of the Universe was pleased to involve the Mary’s in early evangelism, and the sexually broken Women at the Well as a Press Agent, it is incumbent upon us, fellow women set free by the Savior to so delight in the work and joy of serving the Lord.
What an honor to be either one of those Marys and be the first recipients and reporters of the best news the world has ever known!
John 4 tells the story of the Samaritan woman. An unlikely convert, her name is not known to us, but her sins are known. She was like many women today who are affected deeply by a world that devalues women by legalized abortion and the sexual revolution. Jesus met her at her exact point of need, forgiving her sins and healing her shame, compelling her to go and tell that she had just met the Savior.
The Women’s Ministry at Christ Church at Grove Farm is committed to meeting women at their exact point of need, and sharing the good news of Jesus’ unfailing forgiveness and love for them. We do this in a deeply relational way, and in fact in every way we can. We create events where relationships can happen and we study God’s word where relationships are transformed. In between these two, are 1000’s of phone calls, text messages, facebook updates, hand-written notes, boxes of Kleenex emptied and prayers earnestly offered one for another. How could we respond otherwise to such a good and gracious Lord? The God of the Universe was pleased to involve the Mary’s in early evangelism, and the sexually broken Women at the Well as a Press Agent, it is incumbent upon us, fellow women set free by the Savior to so delight in the work and joy of serving the Lord.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
SUPER-CHARGED VALENTINE FROM THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE
In the commercial world, if there is a season of love - it is certainly right now, when many a heart is perched on the edge of excitement waiting for a remembrance from a special someone. My heart though, is feeling task-oriented. I am snowed in this week, going through baskets of piles and piles of baskets in my office. I keep finding greeting cards, that but for their kind and well-meaning sentiment I simply could not throw away. Many of them were funny sayings about growing older (I just entered my 50s), and the “keepers” are the precious ones from my husband who picks the perfect card every time and then adds his own lovely words. His words are so important to me, my wifely heart needs them, believes them and trusts them to be true.
I am a lover of words. I enjoy thinking about them. I use a lot of them for better or worse, possibly more than the purported 30,000 female used words per day (as opposed to the reported 15,000 words used by males). God, the originator of words, the author of the very first word, used the power of his Word to speak the world into being. Now that’s power!
God’s same breathtaking power of speaking into being is also brimming in what I would call Super Charged Valentines from the God of the Universe. He says to us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jer.31:3) and “You are a love letter, written on our hearts from Christ to all who see you (2Cor. 2:2-3.) If that is not enough he promises he will make us shine like stars in the universe in contrast to a dark existence in a world of empty struggle (Phil.2:5.) Being loved, loving and shining like stars is incredible but how about having a divine Fragrance? God says that …in Christ we will always be led in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere (2 Cor. 2:14.)
I am an empty nester. My world was rocked when my children left for college. I have a career, I have a strong marriage and I have a support system. But the heart of my struggle when these two children left became, “Who am I really, and what did it all mean?” I have fought despair and loss on what at times felt like a grand scale. But God has shown me again and again that this present reality is not all there is and there IS the underscore. My longing for something to last forever is my longing for His everlasting love. I have questioned my value to my family and the Kingdom, as I looked for it in opinions of others and performance of my children. But God is telling me that I am a love letter that He is writing in and through me….allowing Him to do that, has been an arm-wrestling match not worth watching!
There is a new, albeit intermittent Peace in me that is growing. Shining like the stars and triumphally processing do seem to go nicely together and I can smile inwardly at recent moments of shining entrances both in word and deed that I know He was the orchestrator of, to His glory. The fragrance part is beautiful allusion to the very air we breathe in and breath out, filled with the Glory of God in us. Sort of the “There’s something different about you” kind of thing.
So friends, I have just “overjoyed myself” reading these phrases both bold in type and intent spoken through Scripture. The near heart-stopping picture God paints of the relationship He is all about with us, sings of permanency, transparency, obvious ownership, victory and it smells good too? I am thinking that standing overwhelmed and even stupefied at the vast selection of Valentine’s at our local card store is not where I will be found this holiday. I am encouraged once again by the boldness of God’s love for me and empowered to share that love with those he places in my life.
It’s what He does.
Susan
I am a lover of words. I enjoy thinking about them. I use a lot of them for better or worse, possibly more than the purported 30,000 female used words per day (as opposed to the reported 15,000 words used by males). God, the originator of words, the author of the very first word, used the power of his Word to speak the world into being. Now that’s power!
God’s same breathtaking power of speaking into being is also brimming in what I would call Super Charged Valentines from the God of the Universe. He says to us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jer.31:3) and “You are a love letter, written on our hearts from Christ to all who see you (2Cor. 2:2-3.) If that is not enough he promises he will make us shine like stars in the universe in contrast to a dark existence in a world of empty struggle (Phil.2:5.) Being loved, loving and shining like stars is incredible but how about having a divine Fragrance? God says that …in Christ we will always be led in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere (2 Cor. 2:14.)
I am an empty nester. My world was rocked when my children left for college. I have a career, I have a strong marriage and I have a support system. But the heart of my struggle when these two children left became, “Who am I really, and what did it all mean?” I have fought despair and loss on what at times felt like a grand scale. But God has shown me again and again that this present reality is not all there is and there IS the underscore. My longing for something to last forever is my longing for His everlasting love. I have questioned my value to my family and the Kingdom, as I looked for it in opinions of others and performance of my children. But God is telling me that I am a love letter that He is writing in and through me….allowing Him to do that, has been an arm-wrestling match not worth watching!
There is a new, albeit intermittent Peace in me that is growing. Shining like the stars and triumphally processing do seem to go nicely together and I can smile inwardly at recent moments of shining entrances both in word and deed that I know He was the orchestrator of, to His glory. The fragrance part is beautiful allusion to the very air we breathe in and breath out, filled with the Glory of God in us. Sort of the “There’s something different about you” kind of thing.
So friends, I have just “overjoyed myself” reading these phrases both bold in type and intent spoken through Scripture. The near heart-stopping picture God paints of the relationship He is all about with us, sings of permanency, transparency, obvious ownership, victory and it smells good too? I am thinking that standing overwhelmed and even stupefied at the vast selection of Valentine’s at our local card store is not where I will be found this holiday. I am encouraged once again by the boldness of God’s love for me and empowered to share that love with those he places in my life.
It’s what He does.
Susan
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