Walk Peacefully with Me

This past week the Lord has grown me in so many different ways that I have found myself questioning him and asking, "God, what are you doing?" As I was sharing with a friend at work about a situation I was dealing with, she shared the following devotion with me which I hope will inspire each of you:

Walk peacefully with Me through this day. You are wondering how you will cope with all that is expected of you. You must traverse this day like any other: one step at a time. Instead of mentally rehearsing how you will do this or that, keep your mind on My Presence and on taking the next step. The more demanding your day, the more help you can expect from Me. This is a training opportunity, since I designed you for deep dpendence on your Shepherd-King. Challenging times wake you up and amplify your awareness of needing My Help. When you don't know what to do, wait while I open the way before you. Trust that I know what I'm doing, and be ready to follow My lead. I will give strength to you, and I will bless you with peace.

The Lord knew I needed this devotion. While I have found my ministry work this week to be challenging, the situations to which I was ministering were even a bigger challenge for those involved. I must not ask God why. Instead, I must ask him how and when if I am truly committed to serving Him as He calls me. I'm thankful he has considered me trustworthy enough to do His work this week, and I shall wait patiently for what is to come next. I desire to walk peacefully with Him and know disobedience would not bring the blessing of peace He desires for me.

Please, Don't Tell Me

Husbands and wives share everything.....and if you are married you know the word everything is all encompassing. We share our hearts with one another, our clothes, our bed, bathroom time, etc. I firmly believe a husband and wife should be best friends, and I am blessed beyond measure to know my husband is my best friend. We know each other better than anyone else and, after being together 20 years, we only have to look at one another to know if all is good or if something is wrong. I can't imagine not sharing everything with my husband but there are and continue to be times that I do ask him not to share everything with me.

I thank the Lord every day that He did not create me with a "need to know everything about everyone" personality. I have enough chaos in my own life to fulfill all the chaotic needs any one person could have. In fact, I'm the exact opposite and that has served me well in ministry. I can't tell you how many times people have privately talked with my husband and, assuming he has told me about their conversation, come up to me and start talking about it only to find out that I knew nothing of it. Or there are times when people will ask did you know about this or that with so and so. I'm always taken a little aback by this because it's gossip alley. Sometimes I do know what they are asking me about, however, gossip is not something I want to be a part of so I politely say no.

I was feeling torn about how I was handling these situations and decided there was only one way to resolve it. I went to my husband one day and said, "Honey, please don't tell me anything personal that people share with you". He asked me why, and I explained to him that if I didn't know about these situations or events then I wouldn't be lying when others asked me about something.

More importantly, God already knows the details of all our lives, and I am just as comfortable praying for unspoken requests as I am praying for known requests.

Blessings to you all!

Obedience and Faith

We have experienced many times in our life when faith was all we knew we had when we felt God calling or telling us something we needed to do. One of our biggest leaps of faith to date has been when God called Manley to the ministry. Manley gave up a full-time job to join what his co-workers termed "The God Squad". We take that reference as a compliment and are proud to be a part of God's Squad. We are now at another one of those points in our life where we feel God working and we hear him calling us. He's specific in this calling, relentlessly giving us confirmations we try to ignore sometimes because we are afraid. However, we are in prayer that we can be obedient and faithful.

God is calling us to simplify our lives. He is a big God and if you know us then you know this is a big calling. We have been termed the super couple and accused of being so active people aren't sure how we do it. Actually, we don't think of ourselves as being any busier than most of you are, and we know a lot of you are busier than we could ever fathom. The calling isn't going over well with our kids so we are still in prayer that God will bring them along with us. The calling to simplify has some significant impact on our lives and will create uncomfortable challenges for us. The great thing about it though is that we see God laying the way for us to be lights in a dark place and that is exciting.
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Please pray for us to follow God's will, pray for our children to have peace with the calling to simplify and pray for God to continue walking before us in this path we are to follow.

It feels good to be back blogging!

Divine Appointments

If we listen carefully when we are out in the public, we will more often than not hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us. If you are like me, you are always hesitant to respond because surely God would not use me to minister to someone, especially an absolute stranger. Believing God could surely not use us, then not allowing God to use us, has two effects. First, it robs us of a blessing and secondly, it deprives the other person of encountering God through us.

Since my husband is a pastor, it is very easy for me to "let him do all the work". He has a boldness like none I've ever seen when it comes to asking strangers if they have a personal relationship with God, and can easily provoke such conversations without intimidating the other person. It's one of the many things I love about him. He's both fearful and fearless. Why does this matter? Today, the Holy Spirit led me to boldly step out of my comfort zone and what a blessing it was.

My mom is an antique dealer. She has never been the type of dealer that went out "picking". Picking is when you go to people's homes and buy items in their homes to resale for a profit. Some pickers get leads on people wanting to sell items, and other people make cold calls at homes of interest. Today, she was invited into a home to see if she might have any interest in their antiques and asked me to ride along for her first picking experience. My oldest son Trey went with us as well.

When we arrived at the home we immediately wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. The home was a combination of two barns that had been moved to the property many years ago and were joined by a center part which was added. It was very rustic and while the home itself was unique, the junk around the yard was intimidating. We went in and knew at that moment we were in a picker's heaven. It only took about five minutes of looking to know we needed some help. I called my husband to bring his truck and trailer because we would be filling them up. Mom got a lot of great items but none of the stuff compared to the ministry opportunity God led us into.

The young lady selling the items was doing so because her mom was in hospice and her father was in a rest home. One was dying and the other was unable to care for himself. While we were waiting for my husband, the young lady began to share her parent's story with us. The more she talked the more her tears began to flood her face. We listened intently, empathetic to her situation, because four years ago we had stood in her shoes as my dad was lying in a hospice bed dying.

I felt God leading me to ask about her mom's salvation and she said her mother was a Christian. I then felt God pushing me more and telling me to ask her about her salvation. The entire time I felt God nudging I also felt Satan making me doubt myself and my abilities. I ignored Satan and listened to God and am glad I did.

She shared with me that she believed in Christ but that her faith was being tested by the trial of her mother and why God would allow her to suffer so much. She had cancer tumors on her spine that had actually broken her spine and she had not eaten in three weeks. I was able to share with her that it is always difficult to understand why God allows suffering of our loved ones but that we must have faith of the greater plan which we do not yet know. The most precious part of this moment was when I asked her if I could pray for her and she said yes. My mom, son, the young lady and myself all joined hands in the front yard amidst clutter, thunder in the background and the threat of rain. I prayed for this young lady and her situation, quoting scripture (if you know me then you know this was a total God thing because my memory is horrible) and asked God to give her a peace that only He could provide. I'm not sure which of the blessings I received today was the greatest. All I know is I am grateful and humbled by each of them.

Today was a divine appointment. It was not about picking or about antiques. It was about God sending us to minister to one of his hurting children, and trusting us to be obedient to his calling. I am so thankful God chose me to be his messenger today and that he sent me with my mom and son. Had he sent my husband with me, I would have never had the boldness because I would have once again, let him take the lead and do all the work.

I am the woman who walks by his side but must also walk with the Holy Spirit when your pastor is not by my side.

A "PK" Moment

We have a wonderful friend who has lovingly cared for our 8 year old son Gray every Thursday this summer. He looks forward to his time with her and her 9 year old son. He and Gray have become quite good buddies and look forward to their time together each week.

Yesterday Gray proclaimed to his friend that he knew what they were going to be when they grew up. This is where Gray reveals he is a PK. His friend is going to be a stripper and Gray is going to be his manager. His friend asked, "What is a stripper?" Gray told him a stripper was someone who took their clothes off and everyone gave them $20 bills, and they could make a lot of money that way. Gray then also shared that because his last name was Palmer, and Palmer's are famous people because everyone knows them, it would be best for him to be the manager.

Our wonderful friend upon hearing this story asked Gray how he knew what a stripper was. He is 8 years old...right? I have to keep reminding myself of this because I'm thinking he's closer to 20 right now. Anyway, he proceeded to tell her that his dad and mom told him about strippers. Gasp! Let me assure all of you right now that we have not talked to Gray about strippers, ever. Also, should he ever mention to you that he's been to Hooters with his dad, it's another conceived notion in his mind. He's never been there either with us or anyone else but it is a story he loves to tell about us.

Oh how Satan does love to have a hayday with PK's (and their parents). When my friend texted me at work to share this story my response back to her was, "I don't know if I should say I'm sorry or laugh". She's great, she said she was cracked up. I thank the Lord every day for friends like her who instead of freaking out over what her child learned from another (and she probably did freak a little), she just takes it in stride. She is one of those friends that loves on my children and does not judge them for their faults, and I am forever grateful for her and for God placing her in my life. Sending love to my friend....she knows who she is!