I Bow My Will in Worship...even when the ugly happens

Sometimes ugly comes into your life.  You don't see it coming and then...BAM!  It wags its beastly head at you and says, "Now what?  How are you going to handle me?"  And you stand stunned and reeling.  Your will rises up along with an angry fist and through a waterfall of tears and overwhelming pain that leaves your spirit breathless gasping for air, you think "I cannot bend...not this time...not to this"

Along with the beautiful, I've had some real "ugly" in my life this year.  My will wanted to get angry...and I did.  My will wanted to feel sorrow...and I did.  I am sure these eyes have never cried so many tears.  My will desired, almost more than anything, to see some kind of godly retribution for the pain and sorrow inflicted on the innocent, but that did not happen (Though, Lord forgive me, it did a thousand times in my mind).

For two weeks I have wrestled with this post.  I have asked the Lord to give me words...none came.  Night after night, morning after morning, I would sit with my laptop and NOTHING...except a constant theme that seemed not even remotely related to "bowing my will"  kept popping up everywhere I went.  I opened the new study our women will be starting to a random page and there it was.....life.  I read my Jesus Calling for the day...again...life.  I attend the Women of Faith and listen to Rick Warren speak about the testing in life we all face.  I listened to Lisa Tekeurst talk about how to handle the conflicts that will come to us in life.  I worship and hear ten thousand women sing about life in Christ...unfathomable love shown, hope for the lost, strength given to the weak, grace...undeserved...richly poured out, power to walk through the storms of life.  And then to punctuate His message to me. TobyMac's song, Speak Life,  shouts the message to me from my car speakers.  Hmmmm?  Could it be there is something He is trying to say to me?

I could not possibly write about "bowing my will in worship"...not when I had not bowed my will regarding the all consuming heartache in my own life .  Oh, that "ugly thing" kept coming up day after day, night after night...to the point of sickness.   I had this thought in my head that if I bow my will here to this evil thing...it wins.  And there is the lie.  My life had become a constant conversation about the sorrow in my life, the pain I saw in others and the hurt I felt myself.  And then one afternoon, I picked up my study book with a few moments to spare and read Angela Thomas's words.  Paraphrased, they go something like this..."I heard what everyone said.  I heard all the predictions of the devastation I and my children would be facing in the years ahead because my husband chose another path...and I thought...why, Lord?  This is not the way I planned my life.  This is not the life I planned for my children...all this brokenness...NOT in my plan."  In the midst of her hurt and pain, Angela heard her Father tell her that her job was not to heal her children or even herself.  Her job?  Her job was to stop focusing on the "ugly" in her life, bend her will and speak truth and good over her children.  She was not a healer, or a fixer or a hero...but HE was!

Rick Warren, still grieving from the loss of his precious son, talked with us at the "Women of Faith" conference about the ways God tests our faith during our lives.  As I listened to him that day, it occurred to me that many times these tests look pretty "ugly."  Testings of loss, of change, of pain, of delayed promises all can have "ugly faces" when we are staring at them straight on in the moment.  And yet, as bad as it looks, faith bows the will...like Abraham with his Isaac...like Moses leading a complaining, rebellious and ungrateful people to their promised land...like Paul in prison penning letters of truth and hope to the churches...like Noah building an ark because God told him to...like David writing Psalms of worship while running from a deadly enemy...like Job refusing to curse God when he faced the worst Satan had to offer...like Angela speaking life over her broken and hurting family, like Rick continuing to teach hope and faith in the midst of profound grief.  Faith bows the will even when it doesn't seem fair...even when we don't get it AT ALL.  That got me.  

What happened in my life this year was completely baffling.  It was beyond my comprehension and did not seem fair to those who were affected.  But this is what Rick said about faith:  

Faith is facing the future without knowing what will come next.
Faith is following God's leading without knowing where.
Faith is waiting for God's timing without knowing when.
Faith is expecting a miracle without knowing how.
Faith is trusting God without knowing why.
Faith is continuing to persist without knowing how long.

Can you see all the bending of will that is taking place in this walk of faith?  Faith is...and here is that "C" word AGAIN...a choice.  I can choose to bend my will in faith even if I don't understand...even when it doesn't seem fair...bending the will in worship is a conscious and determined choice to the "without knowing" part of faith. 

Please don't misunderstand me.  I am not bowing to what is ugly in my life...not at all.  Rather, in the midst of it, I bow my will in the matter to the only One who can make any sense of it...make any victory out of it.  I bow to Him...to Jesus as Healer and Redeemer in trust and allow the Holy Spirit to work His will.  Huge difference.

Life...I can spend this one life of mine focusing on all that Satan brings my way.  I can worship the ugly or I can bend my will against every justified human feeling I have and really LIVE with joy and anticipation for the future God has promised is ahead.  And my job?  My job is to bow it all...my life, my words, my attitude, my work, my times of waiting, my pain in worship to the ONLY ONE worthy of it. 

I love what TobyMac says in his song "Speak Life"...

 

I am asking the Lord to "lift my thoughts higher" so that my will might be in tune to His GOOD will.  To be honest my will is not so good...especially during the ugly times of my life.  What I can do is choose to speak life and then, you know what?  I may not win, but HE DOES!!! 

I don't want to leave you with the idea that a life of faith is bowing your will to a bunch of "bad stuff."  No way!  Living a life a faith, trusting God brings His good favor!  Listen to this:

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield;

     the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does He withhold 

     from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of Hosts,

     blessed is the one who trusts in You!

Psalm 84: 11-12

So my friends, this post is an exercise for me in bending my will, walking uprightly...putting an end to all the "worship" of ugly stuff and instead trusting that though I don't have all the answers, He does and I can rest in that:)   

Blessings to you...

Cherri

I Bow My Pain

The most beautiful person I ever met was in her 60s and suffering the effects of Parkinson's Disease.  Her name was Charlene Shurtz.  She was the grandmother of my daughter-in-love, Jen, who is married to my son, Tyler, and my son-in-love, Jonathan, who is married to my daughter, Kaley.  (Yes, siblings married siblings, so I am doubly blessed:)  The very first time I met Charlene, the first thing I noticed was the dancing sparkle of joy in her eyes.  Looking back, it seemed  her body could not hold such joy, so it had no choice but to radiate from her beautiful blue eyes.   Her sense of humor was mischievous.  I remember her gift to Jen at a bridal shower of a nightie that was anything BUT dour, and Jen's reaction of "GRANDMA!!!"  Charlene's impish and delighted smile lit up the room:)  When she was in town, she and her daughter, Kathy, would invite me to lunch and honestly, I would treasure and still do the moments I had just to be in the presence of such a great example of faith.  Charlene bowed her pain in worship.  She never let her pain or discomfort keep her from enjoying a beloved granddaughter's bridal shower or spending time with friends and family.  And the truth is...you cannot fake that kind of inner peace, exuberant joy and lavish love for others.  She could have been discouraged, felt sorry for herself, embarrassed of her failing health and "checked-out" on living life, but I am certainly thanking God she didn't.  She has been my beacon now for years.

And isn't that what bowing your pain in worship ultimately does???  Doesn't it provide hope and promise to those who follow behind us?  Over thirty years ago I had a difficult miscarriage.  I was rushed to the emergency room and to make a long, sad story short...I spent the night listening to babies being born while I lost mine.  Nothing went easy or normal.  Two days later when I came home, I was a changed person. I remember thinking I would rather have physical pain any day than this deep, aching, heartbreaking pain of loss and grief.  Thirty years later would I change my life?  If I could, would I sweep away the pain I felt during those dark days?  Never.  Not for a million dollars.  Through the years, time after time, the Lord has brought across my path young women who are in the midst of the pain and loss of a baby, and I know their pain...I can still feel it.  I know what to say and what NOT to say.  I can tell them you WILL make it through.  Is my pain of miscarriage worship bowed to the Lord?  It is my sweetest worship given every time another precious woman reeling from such a great loss comes my way. I bow it again and again with a grateful heart for the value He has given to the pain I endured.

I had to smile at the "carrot, egg, and coffee" analogy Linda gave in this chapter, "I Bow My Pain."  I'll give a quick synopsis here:  A young woman told her mom the pain in her life was so unbearable she was thinking of just giving up.  Her mom took her into the kitchen, filled three pots with water and placed carrots in one, eggs in another and ground coffee beans in the last and then set them on to boil.  Twenty minutes later, she pulled the carrots and eggs from the water and placed them in bowls and ladled coffee into a cup.   She asked her daughter what she saw and her daughter said, "Eggs, carrots and coffee."  The mom asked her to really take a good look at the carrots and eggs and the daughter then noted the carrots had become soft while the eggs had become hard.  The coffee on the other hand had become rich and flavorful.  This wise mom went on to explain that all three had faced the same adversity...boiling water...but each had reacted differently.  The carrots had been strong, but came out weak.  The fragile eggs became hardened, but the coffee had changed the water! 

So then the question is:  Which are you?  Carrot, egg or coffee?  I thought and thought about that question.  I remembered past difficulties, pressures, worries, painful experiences both physical and emotional and I came to this conclusion:  I go in a carrot or an egg and sometime during the "boiling process" praise God!  He turns me into coffee!:)  I wish I could remember one time that I went in ground beans and came out coffee...but I can't.  I usually have my "carrot" moments:  "I can't do this...This is too difficult...I quit!" And I sometimes have my "egg" moments:  "I am done, Done, DONE!  I don't care anymore!  Forget it all!!!"  For me, all of this carrot and egg stuff is "grinding the coffee beans" to get me to become the coffee that I truly want to be.  The older I get, the shorter my carrot and egg processes are and the more quickly I surrender, allowing the Great Coffee Maker in the Sky to have His better way with me and my life.

I never saw my friend, Charlene's, carrot or egg moments...she was always, always coffee around me.  I am pretty sure if Charlene where still here, she would tell us she had plenty, but she found bowing her pain in worship to be far richer and more satisfying then allowing circumstances of pain to turn her weak or harden her heart.  I know there are many more "Charlenes" out there in the world, bowing their pain in worship each day, and I also know that these people are put into our lives to point the way...to show it IS possible to live a life of faith, hope, love and promise even in the midst of pain. 

Let's face the truth:  pain is an absolute certainty in this life here on earth.  None of us will escape it. It all comes down to the "C" word again...choice.  What we choose to do with our pain will define us and our lives for years to come.   We all know someone who has been weakened by the pain in their lives and they retreat from really living.  They try to make their lives "safe" so that pain won't be an issue...or so they believe.  Others are hardened by the pain.  NO ONE gets in too close.  They close themselves off to sympathy, empathy and, at times, even love in the false belief that they are protecting themselves from  pain.  Whether you retreat or slam up walls...pain will seep in, over run your retreating footsteps or crash through walls.  But there is a choice to do something different...

Surrendering our pain to God gives Him the open door to comfort, give strength and turn our pain into something valuable, something that someday we will look back and find worthy of our sweetest praise.  

So what to choose?  Carrot?  Egg? or Coffee?  For me the real miracle is that I might go in a carrot and even morph into a hard-boiled egg, but sometime during the process I make a choice and come out coffee:).  I always knew there was something deeply spiritual about coffee!!!  

Worship in the midst of pain????  Absolutely.  Maybe tremulously like a soggy carrot at first, or haltingly, barely lifting a hand through the cracked surface of a protective facade, like a seemingly impregnable over-boiled egg, but ultimately we worship with a rich fragrance that fills the air near us and beckons those around to come near and share the comfort and the goodness that is our Lord.

Love to you, my dearest "coffee" loving friends!

Cherri

I Bow My Times of Waiting

Waiting has never been one of my best attributes, in fact, I am flat-out lousy at it.  However, I can say this...I was WAY worse when I was young...like 40:).  When I read Linda's chapter on bowing our times of waiting and what that DOES NOT LOOK LIKE, I saw myself as if looking into a nice, newly windexed mirror.  But I am definitely not alone down through the ages as Linda reminds me...for instance, there is Sarah...

Sarah really messed things up, didn't she with her inability to wait?  Her consequences still reverberate down through the generations. I think just about every woman on the planet can, at some time in their lives, identify with Sarah...especially if you are married...ESPECIALLY if you have children.  We are by motherly nature:  fixers.  So here is my transparent moment:  Hello, I am Cherri.  I am a recovering fixer.

It is difficult for me to wait on a checker who is as slow as molasses in January as my mom used to say.  Peter and I stood in line at Walmart...the express line for 30 minutes as the checker kept trying to put through a credit card that her register would not accept.  She would look up every once in awhile smile and say, "Have patience, please." As time went on, she began joking about how she has lots of "patients."  "Look at you in line" (smile smile smile).  "You are all my patients" (smile smile smile).  I think I gave a gratuitous fleeting smile, but that is truly all I could muster.  I don't think Peter could even lift the corners of his mouth.  For the life of me, I don't know why she kept trying that same card, but eventually the machine had had enough and just locked itself up.  So then she had to call for a manager to unlock her machine and give her some help.  But, of course, Mr. Manager was no where to be found.  Finally, I thought..."I know what will get us out of here...the self-check line."  Have you ever tried one of those?  Oh My Gosh!  Peter and I froze one register because it could not sense the paper towels we put in the bag.  "Please put your item in the bag."  So I picked it up and put it down a little harder.  "Take unidentified item out of bagging area."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!  So I take the towels out.  "Please put items back in the bag."  And then just like our happy checker's machine...this one froze too.  So we moved onto another register.  We managed to freeze this one as well, but a young man who worked in the area solely to unfreeze machines walked over and waved his magic badge and Viola! register healed.  I want one of those badges.  We walked out an hour later with some pretty soft ice cream, questionable popsicles and of course our problematic paper towels. 

Linda writes we get in the way of God when we get impatient with waiting and try to fix things ourselves.   I think I can accurately say many times we get in our own way as well...much like my dear husband and me during our Walmart fiasco.  I have found waiting to be a skill that needs practice.  I could have practiced a bit in line with our comedian checker...but we had ice cream and that changes everything...nobody messes with my ice cream.  But seriously, we could have handled it differently...with grace. 

Years ago as a young wife and mom, I was disappointed in Peter and his spiritual leadership in our family.  I had a picture of what it looked like and he was not coming NEAR the ideal.  I tried to "help" him by getting him books on how to be a "great spiritual leader."  I told him about programs he could listen to on Focus on the Family.  I bought devotionals by the stacks for him to use in the evenings with the kids and I.  And still he refused to be the man I knew he could be.  For years I devoted myself to forcing, coercing, manipulating and even pleading with the most emotionally charged words I could muster in an attempt to "help" Peter become the spiritual leader I envisioned.  One day I spent some time with my friend, Nancy Robinson, who was a pastor's wife.  I knew here I would find a sympathetic ear for my dilemma and maybe some new ideas.  So she listened to my very sad, dramatic tale of spiritual neglect and then when I finally had spoken my last word, she looked at me with a smile and said, "Cherri, you make a very poor Holy Spirit."  I was stunned.  She went on to explain to me that many times God is working in the lives of people we love and because he does not work on our time schedule, or it doesn't look like what we envisioned, we will push our own agenda and cause a "miscarriage of what God had been trying to birth in that person."  I understood miscarriage.  I'd had a devastating one and realized full well the death that miscarriage brings to a newly formed and developing life.  Nancy went on to say that what I say and do can delay what the Lord wants to do in Peter's life.  It won't derail it by any means (thank goodness I don't have THAT kind of power) but my "fixing" wastes valuable time. 

I began to see that I was a "spiritual abortionist" in my family.  Ugly ugly truth.  I wish I had learned this lesson once and for all.  That I could say I applied this to all relationships in my life, but for some reason I felt my children were exempt.  I could tell stories about some really stupid choices  made as I navigated raising my brood of six, but I won't waste your time.  What I will tell you is that God would not let allow me to keep it up.  Eventually, He taught me the lessons of waiting, listening and obeying and now...when it comes to relationships in my life...I am big on waiting, listening, and obeying because I have seen the value of it.  He has shown me over and over He is trustworthy and I CAN wait.

Linda writes there are three reasons we do not wait and get in God's way:

1.  We only know part of the story.
2.  We are prompted to fix a problem because we care
3.  We are prompted to fix in order to protect ourselves.

And then she asks the question:  Which of these do you most identity with?  And I had to write "All of them" in big bold letters.  At different times in my life I have instantly come to a conclusion, worked out a solution to "fix" and then found out I made matters worse because I had NO CLUE what was really going on.  I rushed ahead with my assumptions...bad idea.  With my children I have jumped into fix because I cared...loved them with so much of my heart that I wanted to fix issues:  real and imagined...bad idea.  And in the case of Peter, many times, if I am to be really honest, my fixing was to take responsibility off of myself.  Back in those early days, I didn't want to be responsible for my own relationship with God.  I remember one time reminding him that if he did not lead me spiritually, he was going to be in BIG trouble when he got to heaven.  I had envisioned standing near as the Lord reprimanded Peter for not leading me as he should have, and I got some sense of satisfaction out of that thought.  But now, at fifty-six, I can say with all honesty I am so grateful Peter did not take on a responsibility that did not belong to him.  It forced me to seek God on my own and, through some difficult times and circumstances, my own roots have grown deep in the Lord.  I treasure my sweet relationship with my Savior.  Truly Peter was being led far better by the Spirit than I was in my arrogance and pride. 

Here's what gives me great joy...Sarah..."By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised." (Hebrews 11:11 ESV). She is mentioned in Hebrews' "Faith Hall of Fame"!  She was not a perfect woman or follower of God  but even with all her mistakes, eventually she got it....she believed!  JUST LIKE ME!  And girls, that just makes me smile:). 

What if we saw these times of waiting...the short waits..for slow checkers, slow drivers, slow internet connections, slow coffee baristas and the long waits...for lives to change, inspiration to come, prayers to be answered as times given to God in faith as worship?  This could change the way we react in our times of waiting.  It could be just the fertile ground we need to enrich and grow in our lives of faith.   Waiting=Worship...what a wonderful and encouraging concept!

We are imperfect waiters for sure, but we grow in our faith, we grow in our trust, and we grow in our ability to wait, to listen and then to obey.  And we like Sarah triumph over our mistakes and say with David, "But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, 'You are my God.  My times (and my husband's and my children's and all those who I care about) are in Your hand..."  (Psalm 31: 14-15 NIV)

Love to you, my faithful "Hall of Fame" sisters!!!

Cherri

I Bow My Work in Worship

You gotta love the Bible.  It breaks ALL the rules.  As a writer I am always careful of absolutes such as "all," "never, and "always."  But the Word of God uses absolutes ALL THE TIME.  Rejoice always.  Give thanks for all things.  Love never fails.  Whether God is addressing our words, our attitudes, our thoughts or our actions...it is always emphatically.  So there is no surprise this week as we read about worshiping with our work that He tells us:  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  BOOM!  That is pretty all inclusive from sunup to sundown. 

As I read this chapter I had to wonder what my life would look like if everything I worked at was done with all my heart and given to the Lord in worship.  I can tell you it would look a darn sight different than what has been evident.  My job at the moment is ministry assistant to Women's and Family ministries.  I LOVE my job!  I look forward to going to work.  I love the people I work with, and I completely enjoy the work I have the opportunity to do.  

But what if I had my friend Paula's job as a hospice worker?  Paula sits with the dieing and gives comfort and support to those who are facing imminent death, some of them in unimaginable pain.  Would my attitude be so joyful?  Paula's is.  When she shares about her job, you can hear the compassion and love coming through her words.  She sees her job as ministry...a kind of heavenly midwife.

What if I had my friend Cathy's job at her retirement manor?  Cathy french braids long, grey hair, helps her clients bathe and dress, decorates for dances, and perhaps the greatest gift of all...she listens.  Cathy says there is a "story behind every door" and she truly enjoys listening to life stories of love and loss, of trial and triumph.  She continually calls herself blessed because of her work.

What if I had my friend Lynn's job of stocking shelves in the wee hours of the morning at a local grocery store?  She continually looks for opportunity to serve God by serving others in her workplace.  Lynn has been an inspiration to me as she sees opportunity for service and mission in her job.  

What if I could revisit my mom days...all of the cooking and cleaning, refereeing, teaching, the continual and non-ending everyday tasks of motherhood and homemaking?  Would I see a woman who saw her everyday tasks as worship?  Not often.  Back then the idea never occurred to me that what I was doing day in and day out could have been worship given joyfully to the Lord.  I certainly did see motherhood as a joy (sometimes), a gift (sometimes), as valuable and precious...everyday, but worship?  Not so much.  I think it was because so often I did it awkwardly, with a ton of "off key" moments.  Who would want that????  

I am in awe of a Lord who speaks to us with great compassion and tells us to bring our weaknesses and even our sin to Him...that He will take it.  Load it up..load it on and in those moments of humble submission...we worship...giving all of our "off key, off beat, tone deaf" worship to Him...and He loves it!  Who?  Who is like our God?

I spent two days attending the Global Leadership Summit that comes out of Bill Hybels' Willowcreek Church in Illinois.  If you get the chance to attend next year in August...jump at it. (For more information about this summit click here:  http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/) For two days I listened to speakers who encouraged their listeners to work "as unto the Lord."  Each speaker had their own perspective, but in the end it all came down to this:  As you work in whatever tasks you have been given, do it with passion and a great attitude, remembering that this is your ONE chance to work for and serve the Lord and others.  I left there pondering all I heard about being a positive influence in the work place.  Whether it is in your home or at work, there is incredible power in a godly influence.  I considered how we are given opportunities to influence and bless others everyday and in the process we have the opportunity to worship "in word and deed."  There is a great difference between work and work seen through the eyes of worship.  We act differently, speak differently, think differently.

I received a great lesson in the difference between seeing your job as "just a job" and seeing your work as serving and blessing others.  Recently I traveled with my eighty-two year old mom to South Dakota.  She hates to fly.  It is difficult and even fearful for her.  During our trip, she had no less than six different wheelchair attendants as we traversed airports.  Out of those six two stand out clearly.  One was a woman who treated my mom as a task she needed to complete, one that she did not appreciate taking up her precious time.  She was abrupt, hurried and annoyed and my mom and everyone else near her felt every ugly attitude.  The other was a man, Manuel, who treated my mom with value and kindness.  He asked her about her trip, smiled and assured her he would get her to the gate on time.  He made sure she was comfortable and ready to board the plane.  He changed my mom's anxious and fearful mood into joy and laughter.  I wish we could have taken him with us:).  The other four attendants ranged from complacent to cordial.  Manuel, out of them all, was the only one who saw his job of wheelchair attendant as something worth doing with joy and a positive attitude.  It was obvious the others were simply working to get off at the end of a shift.

I am finishing this post after going to church this morning.  The teaching was on the absolutely stunning, crazy, shocking love Christ has for us.  We read from Colossians 1:15-23, an amazing passage describing the "supremacy of Christ" and His great love and sacrifice for us.  It occurred to me while listening this morning that if we "got it"...if we "grasped how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ," maybe worshiping Him with all the work of our hands would become second nature.  

One life...that is all we are given.  Twenty-four hours in every day...and we have the privilege and honor to worship with as many of those hours as we like.  What a thought!!!  Well, girls, I had better get going.  I am making tacos tonight as unto the Lord!

Love you, sweet things!  May you "know the Love that surpasses knowledge" and "be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God," so that worship will flow gracefully from your lives!

Cherri

I Bow My Attitude

All of my life I have wanted to live in the country.  I have prayed and dreamed about living the country life.  Never in my imaginings did I ever believe I would actually live my dream.  But this year Peter and I bought a beautiful place out in the country through God's good grace alone.  He made it so obvious it was He making this home happen, it could not possibly be denied.  Oh, my gosh!  Was I ever thankful.  I was filled with gratitude until...escrow wanted another $1000 two days before closing and then another $1400 the day the house absolutely HAD to close.  I was filled with gratitude until...the homeowner's insurance was cancelled after only a month in the house because of a fire in the hills near us.  They now wanted triple what they had quoted us in the beginning.  I was grateful until...the enormous koi pond on the property began to have a traumatic fish die off.  Did you know that fish need oxygen?  Yes, indeed they do...and I thought all they needed was water and a handful or two of fish food. Poor things.  Peter and I eat fish not watch them or take care of them.   By the way, it has gotten better...this is for all the koi lovers out there:).

My attitude was pretty bad.  Not only did my grateful attitude morph quickly into ugly, but when my attitude turns south, because I am a word person, I think of all kinds of things I could say.  An entire dialogue goes through my head for days...I lose sleep and the "peaceful country living" is a dream once again.  

Ironically, I sat down with this book to read the next chapter with a bad attitude.  Tomorrow I have to pay..in cash...$500 to the insurance company to keep our insurance.  I am stewing over that and have had more than one "mind conversation" with the agent I will be handing over the money to.  In the midst of this "conversation," the Lord reminded me...you better get going on reading the next chapter for the blog.  So I put the conversation on hold and picked up the book.

FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD...REALLY????  I saw the title, "I Bow My Attitude," and thought..."Oh, Lord, You are a sneaky Guy.  You totally set me up."  I had to smile.  What love...what personal care.  I knew He was answering the call of my heart to love Him better, to worship Him in truth, to be obedient and pleasing to Him.  

Once again I realize worshiping with my attitude is a choice.  I was humbled by the stories Linda tells of others...Corrie ten Boom in the Ravensbruck concentration camp, the young wife whose husband was killed in Iraq, the mother whose daughter was rebelling against her and the Lord.  We would look at these precious sisters and not give a thought to their complaining or bad attitudes. Their situations deserved bad attitudes...they were entitled to them.  And yet, they CHOSE NOT to stay in attitudes of disgust, anger, fear and sorrow and be grateful.  

Linda gives a description of an old woman who overflows with thanksgiving...  "She has a beautiful smile and a contagious laugh.  Her strength is drawn from the River of Living Water, and she whispers to her Lord with a confident intimacy that entices me.  An attitude of gratitude flows over her because she has developed a lifestyle of giving thanks in everything--it has become a part of her very nature.  She no longer has to tell herself, 'Remember to be thankful.'  Her thankful spirit is a by product of years of walking with her God.  This is the woman I want to become."  Me too.  

Today I'm pulling out my "gratitude journal" I use at Thanksgiving and write...Lord, thank You for this home.  Thank You that we can still be insured.    You provide for us and we can trust You.  Thank You that the fish are not dying any longer and we are learning a new skill...how to take care of a koi pond, and thank You for the delight our grandchildren take in this pond.  

Colossians 2:7 makes a beautiful prayer specifically to make us into grateful followers and lovers of God:  Lord, I pray that my roots would grow deep down into You and that my entire life would be built on You.  Then my faith will grow strong in the truth You have taught me, and I will overflow with thankfulness.  Lord, I desire to be a thankful daughter, not a grumbler, fretter or complainer.  Help me to make gratefulness a natural part of who I am and not a something I need to remember.  Amen and amen!

Praying that the Lord would bless you with hearts filled with gratitude!

Cherri

I Bow My Words

My daughter, Aimee, has been asking me to take the Myers-Briggs Personality Test for some months.  While I was on vacation this past week, she texted me and once again asked me to take the test.  Exasperated, she typed...IT'S ONLY FOUR QUESTIONS.  Four questions I can do.  So one evening I answered the four questions and found that I was an "ENFP"-Extroverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Perceiving.  One sentence in the description of "ENFPs" was partly spot on:  "Words are their best friends."  The only thing I would add to that is "and at times their worst enemies."

I have had some of you ask for the internet address for the personality test, so I am editing this post to include these fun links.  Here they are.  Have fun:)  www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html.
 For a little more fun, you can check out which Disney characters are the different personality types at http://myersbriggs.tumblr.com/post/42976102270/disneyyoungprofessionals-the-16-types-i-just


This week's chapter, "I Bow My Words," is so underlined and highlighted, the sentences left over feel special:)  Controlling my words has been an ongoing issue with me since as far back as I can remember.  My father used to say that "Cherri can talk a mountain lion out of a tree."  I'm not sure exactly what he meant by that but I do know more than once he wished I would just stop the talking.  

I had a wonderful epiphany this week thanks to Linda.  I had known that spoken words could be used in worship, but I had never in my life considered that NOT talking, in obedience to God, could be worship.  Linda writes...

"When I put a watch over the door of my lips and don't give advice to my husband or adult children, I am worshiping my Father.  When I weigh my words on the scale of wisdom and remain silent, God is well-pleased.  It is far easier to talk than walk my worship.  When the words are bursting to come forth, and I wait for God's timing, my words bow in worship before my God." 

That is an awesome thought to me.  In the past ten years or so, God has been teaching me the beauty of the not spoken word...especially in my dearest relationships.  There are moments when I "hear" Him..."Don't say it, Cherri.  Don't do it.  Wait.  Be patient and let ME work."  It has been a wonder to behold as I have watched the Lord heal broken relationships and hurt feelings, correct wrong paths, give wisdom and guidance all without me speaking a syllable.  I love to think of those times of self-control and obedience as worshiping the Lord!  That part of the chapter made me smile:)

Here are just a few more of my favorite parts of this chapter...

I want the three questions Amy Carmichael asked herself routinely about her own speech to become my own.  Is it kind?  Is it true?  Is it necessary?  Mentally asking myself these questions will probably bring my daily word count down significantly.

Most of us know that our words can be used for good in the lives of others.  We know that we have the power to encourage and motivate people, but I had to think about how often I let opportunities to encourage slip by simply because I am not thinking about using my words to encourage.  It truly is a mindset.  One of her exercises in the back of the book was to write down a list of at least five positive statements that would bless someone else.  That small exercise helped me to remember the next day to speak them out loud.  

This past week I was talking with my mom and she said to me, "Your husband deserves a medal, Cherri."  He had been taking care of my dogs, my plants and all of my responsibilities while I took the granddaughters on a week long trip.  You know, she was right.  It didn't dawn on me until I thought back on my mom's comment that I very rarely encourage the man God has specifically given me to encourage.  We have been together for so long now, I guess I figure he knows.  What a thought...that so often I waste words or use words wrong and even hurtfully and neglect to say the words that need saying.  So one of my tasks this week is to write out a list of "25 Reasons Peter is Great" and give it to him.  It will be good for me to sit down and take some time to really appreciate him.  I thought this idea from the book was flat-out brilliant.  I will probably use it over and over.

So that is what I got from this week's chapter.  How about you girls?


Also I thought you girls might enjoy this great song by Hawk Nelson aptly titled...

I Bow My Life

It never fails.  EVER.  It doesn't matter which study is chosen for the Women's Bible study at church, which book ends up as our Bible study book through the summer, what message I listen to at my church or even when visiting another while out of town...EVERY TIME He gets me.  Every time it is something new.  In Hebrews 4:12, the writer explains this phenomenon very well:  "For the Word of God is living and active..."  

I've read Pride and Prejudice," by Jane Austin, AT LEAST a dozen times.  I KNOW the storyline...Elizabeth and Darcy will fall in love even though Elizabeth is stubborn, Darcy is stuffy and pompous, her sister, Lydia, makes things look pretty impossible through her ridiculous flirtatious stupidity, and Elizabeth's family is "beneath" the illustrious Darcy; but, in the end....love will conquer all:).  I love this book.  It is so familiar to me I can quote the dialogue.  But never once in all the years I have read this novel has it "changed" me.  Entertained?  Absolutely.  But the same Cherri closes the last page that opened the first.

Not so with this Bible we hold in our laps...it is living.  I can read one verse and it can slay me or at the very least slay something in me that needs slaying.  This study is no different...not at all. 

I began this chapter "I Bow My Life" with anticipation.  I love writers like Linda.  She's practical.  I love that fact that she points in a direction and then gives you practical ideas on how to get there.  Nothing is more frustrating than to have a teacher give you profound principles of...whatever...parenting, finances, or Christian living and then drop you like a hot rock.  I can't count how many times I have read a book or listened to a speaker and agreed with their thoughts and was left pondering...so now what?  How do I get there?  What should I do?  When should I start?  I NEED the practical.  And Linda delivers.  In this chapter it was more than I was anticipating.  

I was blissfully reading along when I came to "Lorraine's story."  Lorraine talks of giving herself 98 percent to God.  She had saved that small 2 percent back.  I mean, really, 98 percent sounds pretty darn good to me.  Many times I was thrilled with a 98 in school.  It looks good on paper...98%...WOW!  Except not in the area of living life for our God. Lorraine mentioned her life "box" of 2 percent.  I, too, have a "box" stuffed to the brim with (at the very least) 2 percent of my life...my worst fears and anxious "what ifs." He had been pealing back the lid on that box before I got into this study, this week He pretty much kicked the lid clean off.  Lorraine's words, "God, I am sick of holding onto this 2 percent.  It's making me miserable.  I give it over to You, Lord. My life is yours, nothing held back. Do with me as You wish," terrified me.  Was I ready for this?  Shouldn't you be ready for this kind of surrender?  What if I'm not ready...then won't I just fail?  Maybe I should wait until I'm ready.  Really?  Was I ready to get married?  to have a baby?  Heaven knows the answer to those questions is a resounding "NO."  If I waited until I was ready, a childless spinster would be writing this post.  And if I wait until I am ready to surrender ALL of me life, I can tell you exactly when it will be...as I take my last breath.  I don't need to be ready; I need to be obedient.

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father and I, too, will love him and show myself to him." (John 14:21)

What commands are His????

Thank goodness Jesus, Himself, answered this question so it would be crystal clear...

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.  Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked of Him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one is this: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

Last time I checked "all" meant ALL, everything, 100 percent.  Anything less is not "all."  Including almost all...like 98 percent.  

Lorraine ends her story with these words:  "Relief washed over me.  All my anxiousness was in my Two Percent Box...and that box was now gone.  Oh, the sweet peace that comes with complete surrender to God, the joy of releasing my wrestlings to Him.  To this day, I've never regretted surrendering my life completely to Him."  Don't you love that God allows us to be beacons to others?  Lorraine is a beacon to me.  

This week I have prayed every single one of the prayers of surrender that are in this chapter.  I have written them out in my journal...including the words of the beautiful hymn "Take My Life and Let It Be."  I will surrender my life over and again if I have to.  The benefits to complete surrender are too magnificent.  I love how The Message interprets John 14:21:  "The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that's who loves Me.  And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him." How I need Him to be plain to me.

Surrender...the hardest easy thing we will ever do. "God helping you:  Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering." Romans 12:1~The Message. Let's surrender it all as an offering to the God we love.

Love to you, my friends!

Cherri

Expanding My Worship Experience

Have you ever had a worship experience so wonderful you thought..."I AM SO DOING THIS AGAIN!!!" And then the next time you do your best to replicate the EXACT SAME experience and...not the same at all.  I have been in this place.  I will have a rich time of worship and praise all by myself...a certain song hits me and I feel His presence in my worship.  The next morning, I play the song again and it's still a nice song, still with great, meaningful words but no incredible moment.  It reminds me of those "camp experiences" that many of us talk of when reliving our youth with the Lord.  Or the "retreat experiences" that can happen when you are away for a weekend just you, the girls and God.  But what if nothing happens...no emotional high, no cataclysmic experience...what then?  

I was at a women's retreat a over twenty years ago where this exact thing happened...nothing.  My heart went out to the worship leaders as they tried to bring us into a "worship experience" that would be life changing and memorable.  You could feel the tension in the air...and it was not holy tension...nor was it evil.  It was just the fear of unmet expectations...all of us feeling the "what if He doesn't come?"  All of a sudden one of the ladies spoke to the group that we needed to get on our faces...then He would come.  So down we went...and still nothing.  The evening was memorable, that is for sure.  I don't think many of us who were there have forgotten it.  I was grateful for a mature Christian woman who finally walked to the microphone and spoke some wisdom to us.  I don't remember her exact words, but I do know that we walked out of that room knowing two truths:  1.  God is still God when you don't get goosebumps during worship and 2.  He was not angry or disappointed with us or our worship; He just had other plans for us and we weren't listening.  We were desperately trying to recreate what we had experienced before.  We had no idea that there are so many wonderful facets of worship and a never-ending list of venues He wants to use to bring us joy in our worship. 

Since that time God has met me in my worship in a myriad of different ways and places.  One time my sister, Joni, and I pulled over at river during a road trip we were taking.  We were not expecting Him there, but Oh, the sweetness of it...there He was!  And our worship continued as we drove down the road.  I have worshiped in the car, tears streaming down my face barely holding onto the wheel because my hands were aching to be raised in worshipful awe. Praise the Lord, He must be my co-pilot:)!  There have been times when I have put on my "Worship Music to Clean By" album on my ipod and sang and danced and worshiped while I dusted and mopped and washed dishes.  I'm sure it looks pretty crazy, but it really doesn't matter, does it?  One moonless night clear up in the Sierra Nevada's, I looked heavenward and saw the Milky Way.  Did you know that the Milky Way actually LOOKS milky????  And the stunner for me was knowing that all those trillions of specks of "dust" were planets and stars and other galaxies...vastness that just for a moment hit my heart with complete and utter awe.  What a Creator!  In the midst of a starry dome like that, who wouldn't lift their hands and declare:  "YOU ARE MAGNIFICENT!"  It wasn't twenty minutes of worship; it was one sentence shouted but the splendor of that night remains with me still.  On one Sunday while I was visiting my sister, we decided to take a Bible and hike to church.  We weren't sure where church would be that Sunday, but we prayed that God would show us.  We hiked for four hours and then heard a rushing coming from down the mountain.  We followed the sound some 400 yards off trail and found our church:

This was the view from our pew:)

 We flipped open the Bible we had packed and found ourselves in Psalm 104.  Imagine how we felt when we read these words:  "He makes the springs pour water into ravines; it flows between the mountains" and "The birds of the air nest by the waters;  they sing among the branches" as our only choir was the mockingbirds, bluejays and other birds calling back and forth and singing in the treetops.  We ended our service with the last verses of this chapter..."I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live.  May my meditation be pleasing to Him, as I rejoice in the Lord.  But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more.  Praise the Lord, O my soul.  Praise the Lord."  Amen!  We had definitely been to church that morning:).  These are all lovely, blessed times of worship, but if we take off the masks and be transparent for a moment, we have to admit there many times in our lives when we are not "feeling it."  I know I have.

I was blessed to have a wonderful and wise mentor in my twenties, my friend Dee Cosola.  One day we were having a conversation about worship and the truth that there are those days when...let's be honest...we don't feel very worshipful at all.  She reminded me of a verse in Hebrews:  "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess His name." (Hebrews 13:15)  What Dee told me that day changed worship for me.  She agreed that sometimes we don't feel like worshiping God, but the Scriptures tell us to praise Him "continually."  She said that she believed that when praise becomes a "sacrifice of praise" is during those times we don't feel like it...when it seems there is not a lot of praiseworthy life stuff happening...in fact, just the opposite might be going on.  If then, in those moments, you can lift your hands in worship and praise, that is fruit of your lips, a sacrifice given solely and only to God and for no other reason than He is just that...your God, the great I AM.  

Expanding our worship experiences can take us down so many different paths.  I am excited to hear where God has taken you.  What are you doing to open the doors to being "expanded"?  

Love you, my friends, and I hope you will feel comfortable to share your thoughts and experiences with us!!

Cherri

My Soul Finds Stillness

Hello girls!

The Lord is so good!  I am much like Bev mentioned in this week's chapter.  I am decidedly NOT an auditory learner.  I learn far better by seeing what I need to learn than hearing it.  I think that is why so often the Lord teaches me through object lessons.  This week we had a birthday party at my house for my little one year old granddaughter.  She gave to me the perfect object lesson for one of the primary verses we used in this chapter:  Psalm 131:2-"But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me."  By the end of her party, Adley was spent.  Her day was napless, and she had more than her fair share of birthday cupcakes.  Her sugar high had crashed, and she was feeling every bit of her fatigue and low blood sugar.  Adley was pretty much inconsolable...except with her mom.  All Adley wanted was her mom to hold her.  Once in Kaley's arms, Adley found peace and was able to relax.  What a picture!!!!  

The next day as I read this passage, I could not help but think of my little Adley bug content in her mom's arms, cuddled up close to her.  That is what I can experience with God!  That is what you can experience with God!  Why in the world do we let such peace slip though our fingers each day????  Are we crazy????

I found it interesting that on page 53, Linda writes;

 "I am tired, but not from physical labor.  My tiredness comes from the frantic pace of life around me.  Yours likely does too. As I look at my friends and myself, I fear we are becoming nervous, anxious, overactive people who don't know how to be still.  We rarely give our full attention to anyone or anything.  We're always thinking ahead to the next thing that must be done, the next person we must talk to and check off our list.  We do the same with God.  We hurry our "quiet time," which is anything but quiet.  Our bodies sit, but our minds race.  Ready to get on with the day, we hope our moments with God win His approval."

I wrote next to the passage:  "Whoa!!!"  These words hit too close to home and even in this week.  I found myself getting on with my devotions so I could get on with my day.  There was no time to "crawl up into the lap of God and rest like a weaned child."  I had things to do!!!

What I loved about this chapter is that Linda made it clear this was a common ailment for those of us who truly love God and want to go deeper in our relationship with Him.  She also made it clear that this kind of fast paced loving of God was unworthy of Him and counterproductive to our lives.  What an epiphany!!!  The SOLE purpose of all my rushing is to be productive and not lose a moment to idleness.  Some years back, my oldest granddaughter, who was all of four or five years old at the time, asked me why I was "rushing all the time."  Obviously,  this has been an issue in my life for quite awhile.  There have been  those wonderful moments when I have entered into some sweet times with my Lord and I think "I will never go back to that frenetic way of life again."  But somehow...someway it sneaks itself back in:(  This, though, I know is true...once you have experienced God on a deeper level, you crave it for the rest of your life, and I believe God will not let us rest until we find out way back to His loving, peaceful arms.  

One of the practical ideas that I will be using this week is having a notepad and pen next to me as I worship and the minute one of those Oh, so important thoughts hits my head...as I know they will...I will jot them down quickly and get back to focusing on Who is truly important.

I am bound and determined to grow in my worship.  I so want to please Him and to bring Him joy and pleasure.  I have got to wrap my mind around the truth that my most fruitful time is on my knees worshiping the God of the Universe who is worthy of my time and devotion.

Love and a worshipful, restful time in His arms this week:)

Cherri

Introduce Yourself!!!!

Hello, my friends!!!

Let's get to know one another!  I am certain you are all busy ladies, but can I ask you to take a few moments to introduce yourself to the others who will be joining us this summer on the blog? Let's do something a little different and have some fun:)  Along with giving a short bio of yourself, tell us the best piece of advice you were ever given about marriage, parenting or relationship with others in your life...Boss?  Mother-in-law?  Teachers?  Difficult Neighbors? 

Each week I will try to have up a post asking a new question for you girls to answer.  Please feel free to enjoy this blog.  I would love to hear from you and I am sure the other girls would as well.  After all, this blog is entitled TOGETHER we are one wise woman:)

Have a blessed week, Sisters!!!

Cherri

PS  Just hit the  "comments" button at the bottom of this post and type away!  I will try to get a comment up asap just in case you need an example.

My Worship Awakening

Good morning, my blog sisters...

I have talked with some of you and found that many have yet to receive your books.  That really is no problem since this is pretty much a "no rules blog."   What that means is that you can start anytime and comment on any week we are addressing or have addressed.  Anyone who has entered their email address in the "keep up by email"  for this blog will receive an e-mail alert whenever there has been a new post or comment.  We can discuss back and forth over the weeks as the Holy Spirit leads.   I will put up an "Introduce yourself" post sometime today so that even those who have yet to receive their books can interact with us a bit.  We have some friends joining us from outside the state this summer, so it would be wonderful to get to know each other a little better.   Look for this post sometime today (hopefully:)

This week's chapter, "My Worship Awakening," is worthy of at least a couple of posts.  This morning what is on my mind is the "ABCs of Worship" exercise she encourages us to do.   I'll be honest with you...I thought this morning for devotions I would "zip" though this because I had what I thought was limited time to accomplish it, so I sat down, Bible opened to the A section in my concordance ready to do some devotions on the fly.  But the Word has a way of changing you...it's powerful like that...even when you aren't expecting or looking for it.  That is exactly what happened to me.  As I began to go through my concordance looking for words that would describe God...all of a sudden, it got personal.  It took all the way to...C.

I started out with some that came quickly and easily to mind:  A-You are almighty, great and awesome.  B-Beautiful and beloved, but then came C...You are the Creator who says to Your creation, "Cast all your cares on me."  That just got to me.  The Creator of ALL THE UNIVERSE bends down to me so that I might cast my cares on Him!  And then D-A divine Deliverer who delights in His people...in me!!!  I sat back in wonder.  My Lord is divine and I am oh so...NOT divine and yet this Divine One delivered me from all my sin and then goes beyond deliverance to delight in someone who is as undivine as me???!!!!  For cryin' out loud!  Four letters in and I found myself in awe and adoration for the God I was worshiping.  I had gone into this time of worship halfhearted and in a hurry, but now I found myself wanting more...more time...more letters:)  I found out one amazing truth this morning...God will more than meet you half way when you have even that smallest glimmer of desire and give Him a moment.

So here I sit writing to you girls thinking to myself, "It will all wait...all the stuff I thought I NEEDED to get to this morning."  Anytime I am in a "worship funk" I think I will pull out a sheet of notebook paper or one of my journals and begin with A-You are God...and see where the Spirit leads me in worship.

There is so much more to talk about for this week, but this was on my mind this morning.  I hope you have a wonderful, worshipful week, my blog sisters!!!

Love to you....

Cherri

My Thristy Soul

Hey sweet blog sisters!

Let's get this summer blog rolling!!!  This week I thought I would throw out a couple of quotes from the first chapter of our blog book, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, that really spoke to me personally.  Please feel free to add your thoughts on these quotes as well as adding your own for discussion.  So here we go....

"I longed for intimacy, ecstasy and a deep relationship with my Bridegroom, but as the years passed and life became hectic and complicated, I settled for serving the One I loved.  My loving Bridegroom walked the earth, searching, calling, bending down and tenderly whispering to my heart in hopes of slowing me down long enough to embrace Him...I was too busy doing good things for Him."

I spent a good part of my life "doing and doing"...always at church or at my children's Christian schools.  I was so busy doing "good" that I had no time for devotions or anything more than a quick prayer in time of need.  I was always on the go and I felt pretty proud of myself and all I accomplished.  AND THEN..."when we place more emphasis on loving others than on loving God, we are headed for spiritual and physical exhaustion."  That would be me...completely spent...and I mean COMPLETELY.   In a very sick and twisted way I had turned what I thought was serving and worshiping God, into serving and worshiping myself and others.

I also LOVED the quote from C. S. Lewis..."in the process of being worshiped...God communicates His presence to men."  I don't know about you girls, but I want God to communicate His presence to me.  There are times I NEED to know  He is with me, guiding  and loving me along life's path.  I need to know I am heading in the right direction.  I need to hear His voice direct me...help me know what to say and even more importantly in my case, what NOT to say.  I know if you are joining us this summer on this journey learning how to make worship of God a lifestyle, you are every bit as serious as I am about your desire for His presence in every area of your life.

I know this for sure, my friends, if we ask God to make us into true worshipers, lovers of Him first and then of others, these are prayers He is anxiously waiting to answer.  This is going to be one wild and wonderful ride this summer!  I can hardly wait to hear from you...

Love to you, my searching sisters...

Cherri

Summer Bible Study Blog...Satisfy My Thirsty Soul!!!

Hello, my sweet friends!!!!

It is that time of year again!  I am excited to get started on our study for the summer!  This time we will be studying through Linda Dillow's, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul: For I am Desperate For Your Presence.   






 Satisfy My Thirsty Soul is a book that will draw us into closer intimacy with God through worship.  Linda will guide us through twelve weeks of learning to make worship of God a lifestyle rather than simply something we do during devotions, Bible study or Sunday services.  The questions for the weekly study are in the back of the book so there is no need for extra materials.  She does have a worship journal available, though it is not necessary... 



 The book, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, is available a Amazon for $10.75 and the journal for $8.99.  It is also available at Christianbook.com for $10.49. and the journal for $8.19.  Local Bible bookstores would be happy to order you one if they do not have it in stock and will usually have it to you within a few days.

This study will begin on Monday, June 10 and last throughout the hot summer vacation months.  The wonder of a blog study is that it goes wherever you go!!!!  I will post every Monday to start the conversation on the chapter we are addressing that week.  PLEASE feel free to comment and post your thoughts and insights...this is not a monologue blog:)  We learn so much from each other and what the Spirit is speaking to us as individuals.  Many times your giftings and past experiences give you a new and different perspective than others have...this is exactly why we NEED each other!

Please join me on the blog this summer as we grow closer to the Lord and to each other. 

Blessings on you, my dear sisters!!!!  I pray your summer will be blessed with His presence and that your soul will be satisfied!!!

Love to you....

Cherri