GOOD DEVOTION

I received this devotion today from Jennifer Rothschild. She is a popular speaker. She is also blind. I love that verse in John she refers to about the seed. We have to die in order to produce. Hope you enjoy!

From Jennifer: Who are You in this Story?

I've heard the "Good Samaritan story hundreds of times. I've been familiar with the beloved parable for over 40 years, and most times I hear it, I ask, "Who am I in this story?" Am I the Priest, the Levite or the Samaritan?" Of course, the goal is to be the Samaritan. He was the one who crossed the bridge of prejudice, expended his time and money and risked his safety and comfort to help someone who was left for dead. Throughout my childhood and early teen years, my goal was to be the Samaritan because people are broken and needy, and I must help them.Snob or Samaritan?During adulthood, I became more aware that I didn't want to be one of the religious snobs who looked the other way, ignoring the dying man lying on the side of the road. I wanted no part of their spiritual elitism. So I've continued to ask myself, "Am I the Samaritan in the story, or am I the Priest or Levite?"Read the story in Luke 10:25-37 again and ask yourself, "Who am I in this story?" I did that recently and I felt the deep awareness of who I really was in the parable. I was not the Levite, the Priest or the Samaritan.The Fourth Man For the first time, I realized I was the fourth man in the story. I was, and am, the man beaten and left for dead. I had never even considered that I might be him in all my years of hearing the story. At first blush, identifying with the broken, needy man in the story doesn't seem to make me spiritually elite, does it? But never recognizing that I was that man showed that deep down I was just like the Priest and Levite--spiritually elite. I've always been that man, but my own pride hid my true identity.Shipwrecked on GodI've falsely assumed and hoped that God needs me more than I need Him. He needs me to fix the broken and help the needy. I never saw myself as the one who was broken and needy who needs God, needs healing and needs help. But, oh the freedom of brokenness! Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (Jn. 12:24)To truly bear spiritual fruit, you must be broken and recognize you need God far more than He needs you. When you and I realize our total dependence upon Him and our condition without Him, then we are ready to give out of our own emptiness and serve out of the abundance of what we have received, not achieved.Perhaps we could all benefit from experiencing what Vance Havner meant by being "Shipwrecked on God, stranded on omnipotence." So ask yourself today, "Who am I in this story?"

WILLINGNESS

This word has been on my mind this afternoon. All God needs is our willingness and He takes it from there. This is a simple devotion, but very powerful if put into practice in our lives. Hope you had a great Mnoday!

A Miracle in You

The story is well known. A very large group of people, over 5,000, were following Jesus one day. They were listening to His teachings. The day was getting long, mealtime was past. Jesus and His disciples began discussing the question of feeding the crowd. Andrew spoke up saying, "There's a little boy here with a lunch of 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish."

Jesus replied, "Tell everyone to sit down." Then He took the lunch, gave thanks to God and gave it to His disciples to pass out to the people. When everyone had eaten and was full, the disciples gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers! A miracle was performed that day on the hillside because one small boy gave the little he had to Jesus.

How often we too possess a potential miracle. But, unlike the little boy, we do not yield it into the hands of Jesus to bless and use.

Have you ever felt like you have no talents? Or the talents you once used and enjoyed now seem lost somewhere in the busyness of jobs, car pools for the children, grandchildren, meals, diapers and dirty laundry?

Just as Jesus took those few loaves and fish and fed a multitude, He can also take our willingness to be used and touch other lives through us.

The little boy could have thought it absolutely pointless to ever offer such a small lunch when there were so many to be fed. He could have eaten the entire lunch himself and never known what a miracle was missed.

Let us be challenged by this small boy to offer to Jesus our talents, no matter how small WE feel they are. Let us not deprive ourselves, or others of seeing Jesus bless and use them.

I Love You Girls!!!

Sister June

WHAT A TIME WE HAD!

What a wonderful weekend. We've shared tears, laughter, the Word, encouragement, and ourselves with one another and it's been great! I'm so thankful for every lady who came and received this weekend. That's what it was all about.

Thank you to all you ladies who participated and supported the retreat in so many ways. Some of you were brave enough to perform and wear pj's. Obviously it would not have been a good time without you! Others were behind the scenes running the projector and sound, serving and cleaning, registering, setting up and preparing. Thank you Simon and Paula. We value your comments!! (LOL) This would not have been a success without all of you. Thank you to all those who just jumped in and took care of things. I so desperately wanted everyone to be able to just "come," but that just couldn't be. Thanks for giving of yourselves.

I believe this is the first of many gatherings like this for us ladies...and I believe it will only grow from here. If you didn't get in on this one, you won't want to miss the next one. I can see God uniting us for His purpose...and that's exciting!

I love you, girls, and enjoyed so much spending my weekend with you! I'll be getting pictures up on the blog as soon as I can.

Sister June

WHAT A NIGHT!

Well, Crossroads Idol is over and the "Cheeseburgers" from the Tyler COG are the winners. What a line up of "talent." We heard "Gloom, Dispair, and Agony," "My Bologna," and something about a "bird of paradise!" There certainly was a load of talent displayed tonight! Thank you to everyone who participated! You were wonderful!

There's still time to get in on the fun. Tomorrow morning we begin @ 9:00 with prayer, followed by Meet & Greet from 9:45 - 10:15, then the Word with Sister Terri @ 10:15. The pajama fashion show will follow (see, you don't even have to get dressed!), and then a catered lunch. I hope I will see all you ladies there!

Sister June

A DREAM

I had a dream last night that I was advertising a ladies function and Billy Graham was coming to speak. It was the night before and I realized that I had not invited him and didn't know what I was going to do! Can't imagine what was on my mind when I went to bed last night!!! I promise you, though, that Sister Terri has been invited and is coming. She's already told me that the Lord has given her the Word for the weekend.

I have had another dream, though...and I believe the Lord is allowing it to begin to come forth. It has been my dream that we at CWC would sponsor events that would attract the community and minister to them. You may think I'm crazy, but I've checked to see what it would cost and IF some of the big name women speakers would come to our church (Beth Moore, Chonda Pierce, Jennifer Rothschild). I believe in it, girls! The Lord didn't allow us to build this size of a building for just us on Sundays and Wednesdays. We have capabilities beyond that and I believe the community has needs beyond that. So, I believe this weekend is just the beginning of the fullfillment of that dream.

I am rejoicing in my spirit to overflowing. I can hardly contain it and I don't know that I want to. It feels so good!!! (Sorry - had to pause here. My spirit is so full of gratitude and God's presence is so great as I write this that I can hardly stand it.) God has been doing so much in my life lately. The quote on the blog today says something to the effect that we run to God when our foundations are shaking only to find out that He is the one shaking them. That has been so true in my life lately... and although I didn't like it at first, I am thankful for it now. One day I will share it with you. He is a GREAT God - greater than what we can imagine or deserve. Although this is for "fun" - I know He's going to do something WONDERFUL this weekend. I hope you're planning to get in on it.

I'll see you later!!

Sister June

IT'S LESS THAN 24 HOURS AWAY

I can't believe retreat is TOMORROW! I'm so excited! Can you believe I'm still getting phone calls, text messages, e-mails, ..... about people wanting to join us.

I hope you're registered and ready. If not, you just need to be there. Everything is falling into place and I believe we are going to have a terrific time!

Watch for pictures soon. I'll be adding them to this blog.

See ya tomorrow!

I'M BACK

I apologize for not posting the past few days. Someone added a satellite to the tower I get my signal from and wolla...I had no internet service. Of course, I didn't find out until last thing Friday afternoon - so who's gonna work on it then??? You've got it - no one. So...I just got my service back this evening.

Of course...it's not that I've had a lot of time to post. The retreat plans are coming to a climax and we've simply been buzzing around here. We have over 60 women registered. That is SOOO exciting!!! ...but it's sure kept me going - buying food, preparing prizes, making videos, ordering t-shirts and giveaways...and the list goes on.

I sure hope you've made your plans to be there. Sister Terri shared with me that that Lord has really given her a Word for Saturday. She wouldn't tell me what, though!! I can't wait to hear what the Lord has to say to us.

If you haven't prepared a talent or picked out your pj's - you still have time. It's gonna be great. See you ladies tomorrow night.