The Harvest Show

About a year ago, I felt God calling me to make a DVD of some of my songs, so I did. At that time, I felt as if God was saying, "send this to The Harvest Show", but I didn't.

Fast forward one year. It was the first of September, and I had not slept for two weeks. Literally, for two weeks solid, I woke up every morning at 3am. Finally, one morning, I said, "for crying out loud, God, WHY am I awake every morning at 3am!" The first thing that popped in my mind was The Harvest Show. It was as if God was saying, "I asked you to send your DVD to the Harvest Show, and you never did it."

That was a Sunday morning. Later that morning I went to church. Toward the end of the sermon, John (our Pastor) stopped, looked out at the congregation and asked this question, "what is it that God has asked you to do, that you have not done?" So, needless to say, I received God's message, and put the DVD in the mail the next day.

About a week later, I had an e-mail from the booking coordinator of the Harvest Show, asking me to come on the show and sing my songs. Yesterday, October 26th, I did that. I faced my fears, walked in faith, and was obedient to Christ by appearing on the show...what an honor to serve my Savior.

You can view that program by clicking here or http://www.harvest-tv.com/. If you're reading this after Monday 10/29, you may have to click on "archived shows".

If you're saying, "I've never heard of the Harvest Show", here's some info that they gave me about it:

COVERAGE
Generally speaking, the program airs at 9 AM (ET) then is replayed at 10pm and 2 AM Check your local listings to confirm. We have North American coverage of approx. 46 million homes via DirecTV ch. 321, twelve LeSEA stations, cable, and syndication around the country. Our Middle East Television (METV) satellite reaches 73 million homes in Israel and 15 surrounding nations on channel 24 on cable to Israel. Far East Television (FETV) airs LeSEA Broadcasting to approximately 4.3 billion people in Asia, Australia, all of Europe and Africa. Our European coverage is 78 million homes with the Wonderful Network, and 8 million homes in Argentina on Canal Luz. We also transmit on 5 shortwave stations to 1 billion shortwave radios on the planet.

Wow.

God also blessed me, IMMENSELY, this week as one of my devotions ran this past Tuesday as the "Encouragement for Today" daily devotion put out by Proverbs 31 Ministries . (Thanks Rachel) You can read that devo here.

I had not posted anything previously about The Harvest Show, because I didn't want to make it a big deal. Because if I made it a big deal, then it would make me nervous :-) I did, however, have a few people praying for me regarding that event, and I just wanted to say thank you to those who were covering me in prayer. I felt your prayers. Thank you.

Here is God

God. He can be so annoying sometimes. Constantly calling us out of our comfort zones, into territory that is "unknown" or "new" to us. Wanting us to trust Him.

Truly following Jesus is not always easy. By following Him, we sign over our life. We become a “slave” to Christ. We agree to go where He tells us to go, and do what He tells us to do. On the road to following Him, many times we come to a crossroad. A crossroad where fear meets faith, and we have to choose which way to go. Will we be fearful as we strive to fulfill the specific call of God on our life, or will we be faith-full. There’s a story that Max Lucado shares in his book, “Every day deserves a chance”, it goes like this:

“When ancient sailors sketched maps of the oceans, they disclosed their fears. On the vast unexplored waters, cartographers wrote words such as these: “Here be dragons.” “Here be demons.” “Here be sirens.” Were a map drawn of your world, would we read such phrases? Over the unknown waters of adulthood “Here be dragons.” Near the sea of the empty nest “Here be demons.” Next to the farthermost latitudes of death and eternity, do we read “Here be sirens”? If so, take heart from the example of Sir John Franklin. He was a master mariner in the day of King Henry V. Distant waters were a mystery to him, just as they were to other navigators. Unlike his colleagues, however, Sir John Franklin was a man of faith. The maps that passed through his possession bore the imprimatur of trust. On them he had crossed out the phrases “Here be dragons,” “Here be demons,” “Here be sirens.” In their place he wrote the phrase “Here is God”. Mark it down. You will never go where God is not. You may be transferred, enlisted, commissioned, reassigned, or hospitalized, but…brand this truth on your heart…you can never go where God is not. “I am with you always,” Jesus promised (Matthew 28:20)

Because we know that God is with us every step of the way, it makes it much easier to sign over our lives to Him, to go where He calls us to go, to do what He calls us to do. Knowing that it is “God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13
As God calls you to venture into unknown territory, write over the map of your life “Here is God.”

Bible Verse

There is a scripture that has embedded itself in my brain. I have learned the truth of this scripture, but I could never remember where it actually said it in the Bible. Does that ever happen to you?

The particular verse that I'm speaking of this morning is this, "Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do." (NLT) I knew the Word said this, and in fact, I've quoted it several times...I just couldn't remember where it was at. This morning, in my quiet time I ran across it. So I'm documenting it HERE. So really, this post is more for me than it is for you! Oh yeah, and it's Ephesians 5:17. Here's some other translations of it:

"Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do." (CEV) (I love that!)
"Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants." (The Message)
"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." (NIV)

Facing the Giants

I have the day off today. In fact, our whole family does. I arose early this morning because I needed some quiet time with God. So, I got up, got my Bible, got my coffee, and got comfortable on the couch, just in time for Will to come downstairs and turn on the TV. I certainly didn't get upset, but I did realize that my quiet time was going to look a little different than I had expected...and indeed it was.

Will, flipping thru the channels, landed on one of the most awesome movies I've ever seen, "Facing The Giants". We've seen it before, so we recognized that it was toward the end of the movie. If you've never seen the movie, basically it's about an underdog football team, and all they really have going for them is that they are fully surrendered to God...and that, of course, is enough.

We picked it up during the final series of downs as they were facing the Giants for the State Championship. We watched as they kept the Giants from scoring at the goal line. We watched the defense as they encouraged themselves by yelling "stone wall, stone wall..." We watched as the game came down to the final field goal attempt, and the coach was encouraging his kicker by saying, you go out there believing that God is capable of making this field goal thru you, you give that to God, and trust God to do the rest. He then does indeed make the winning field goal. (is that the right word, I'm a girl ya know)

Then, we watched as the coach wrapped things up in the locker room after the game, and as I watched, I couldn't help but cry, knowing the truth of what the coach was saying to these boys, and knowing that it's also true in your life and in mine..."nothing is impossible with God"

Important note to my Sistas

A note to my girlfriends:

I have to tell you that I'm not a "jean" person. You will hardly ever see me in jeans, they are not comfortable to me. I almost always wear either slacks or sweats. Even in highschool, when I was a size 4, jeans were not comfortable to me. I'm assuming that's why I was voted "best dressed" my senior year, because I always wore khakis or slacks.

I never wore jeans, that is, until just recently, my friend Angela recommended jeans from Maurices. So, the week prior to the Autumn Fest, I went there and tried some on. I could not believe how comfortable they were, and the sales rep was awesome! In fact, I still crack up as I recall coming out of the dressing room, and the sales rep asked, "how did those fit?" I said, "perfect!" She said, "Okay, then get a size smaller."

I thought she was crazy when she recommended that. But her reasoning was that the jeans have a certain percentage of spandex in them, and if they fit comfortably right now, then by the end of the day, you will be swimming in them. I didn't really believe her, but I took her advise because she told me that even if I wash them a couple of times and decide that I don't like them, I can bring them back. Well, I'd never heard of that! So, I took her "money back guarantee".

Anyway, all this to say that I love my new blue jeans! And if you're looking for some, I highly recommend trying Maurices jeans (now located in Terre Haute on Hwy 46 by the new Super Walmart)

Just a Little Talk with Jesus

This morning my scripture reading took me to John chapter 14. As always, before I read, I prayed, “Jesus, speak to me”. The first verse spoke to me. It says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust God, trust also in me.” This spoke to me because, there’s been something knocking at the door of my heart wanting to trouble me, and Jesus addressed that matter first thing. Thank you Jesus.

Then I went on reading, and what caught my attention the most, was the honest, “conversational” style that the disciples had in speaking to Jesus. It caused me to think, “do we have this conversational style with Him in prayer?” Because I believe that’s what God wants…a conversation. Here’s some of what I’m talking about...Jesus, is telling the disciples, “I am going to prepare a place for you, and I will come back and take you to be with me. You know the way to the place where I am going."

What I love is Thomas’s reply as he basically just says, “NO, no we don’t! Lord, we don’t even know where you’re going, so how could we possibly know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way…”

I love the honesty that Thomas comes forward with, and I believe that’s what God wants from us in our prayer time…honesty….where are we at? What’s going on in our brain? What’s going on in our heart? What’s troubling us? And bringing that to Jesus in our prayer time so that He can address it!

It might look something like this, “Lord, you say that you give us abundant life, and I’m not feeling that right now…why is that?” or “Lord, you say that you give rest to those you love, and I’m not sleeping, why is that?” Give God the opportunity to address the issue that is going on with you. “if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…” James 1:5,6

I know that some might think, “well of course they had a ‘conversation’ with Him. He was standing right in front of them!” but let me remind you, that as a born again believer in Christ, He’s even closer to you. Later in the same chapter, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, and how He will be with us, and even in us. Jesus says, “on that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” John 14:20

What’s troubling you today? What excites you today? Have a conversation with Jesus about that very thing, today.