It just occurred to me, that my life changed, took on a different direction, discovered a relationship like none I had ever known before or since, at an event much like I will be leading worship at this Friday and Saturday.
This weekend is the Wabash Valley Ladies Unity Night. I don't know why I'd never thought of this before, but tonight I was reminded that I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at an event much like this one.
I was in junior high and my parents were going through a divorce. My mom and aunt took me to a Dallas Holm concert. Dallas sang and spoke to us. As he sang the song "Rise Again", my heart began to fall in love with Jesus. At a time when my family was shaken, Jesus got my attention and reached out for my hand. I'm so glad I grabbed hold.
My prayer for the women at this event is this:
"open their eyes to see what you do. To see your zealous love for your people." Isaiah 26:11 The Message
Oh that each woman would know the amazing, unconditional love that Jesus has for each of us. Regardless of where we've been, what we've done, how much of a mess we've gotten ourselves into...HE loves us. He loves you, and He's reaching out to you. Chasing after you.
Take it from one who's life was changed and at event much like this....This is so much more than an event with a great speaker. It's an event with a GREAT SAVIOR!!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Married to my High School Sweetheart
Due to the fact that I've been called to a ministry that serves "in front" of people, I sometimes get asked for a "bio". Evidently, people want to know who that is standing up in front of them. :) It's a high honor to serve in the way that God has called me, but being in front of people didn't come naturally to me. That's another story for another time.
Anyway, recently I was asked for a short "bio" on myself, and as I typed these words, "...married to my highschool sweetheart..." I stopped and thought, "what do people think when they read that?"
Because God forbid it conjure up some idea in their minds that we live in some fairy tale land where we fell in love at 16, and have danced around with birds chirping love songs over our heads ever since. Because God and these walls of our home as witnessess, know that's not the case.
God has blessed me with a Godly man, who now more than ever, desires to live out the life that God has called him to live and in the way that God has called him to live it. And I do too. But it hasn't always been that way for him, or for me.
We've struggled with God, and we've struggled with each other. To paint the image that our life and relationship is perfect, would deny the truth of the times during intense arguments where I've muttered, "I hate you" under my breath. ouch. Of course I'm much more mature now, and no longer say I hate you, but something like, "I hate it when you act like that."
We are blessed in the fact that we don't argue much. We really don't. But oh when we do, it seems like the world is falling down around us.
We started dating when I was a junior in high school. We broke up for several months sometime after my graduation. (Denny's 18 mths older than me.) But when we got back together, we stayed together.
On the day of our wedding, I was 19, he was 21. So young. And yet, I am SOOOOOO thankful for God giving Him to me. I think my favorite thing about being married to my highschool sweetheart is that we literally grew up together. We've learned how to be grown ups, together. (hold the jokes friends) ha. We've learned to be responsible together. We've learned that credit cards can get us in trouble. We've wrestled through how to raise these kids of ours. We've learned to fight...and make up. But to give off any impression that we live in some fairytale land where we've done everything perfectly would be far from accurate. :)
I am so glad that God chose us for each other. I love my high school sweetheart more than words could ever express. I can't imagine a more perfect match for me than Denny, nor would I have wanted to do all these years with anyone but him...and sometimes the birds do chirp over our heads, but other times they drop a load. :)
Anyway, recently I was asked for a short "bio" on myself, and as I typed these words, "...married to my highschool sweetheart..." I stopped and thought, "what do people think when they read that?"
Because God forbid it conjure up some idea in their minds that we live in some fairy tale land where we fell in love at 16, and have danced around with birds chirping love songs over our heads ever since. Because God and these walls of our home as witnessess, know that's not the case.
God has blessed me with a Godly man, who now more than ever, desires to live out the life that God has called him to live and in the way that God has called him to live it. And I do too. But it hasn't always been that way for him, or for me.
We've struggled with God, and we've struggled with each other. To paint the image that our life and relationship is perfect, would deny the truth of the times during intense arguments where I've muttered, "I hate you" under my breath. ouch. Of course I'm much more mature now, and no longer say I hate you, but something like, "I hate it when you act like that."
We are blessed in the fact that we don't argue much. We really don't. But oh when we do, it seems like the world is falling down around us.
We started dating when I was a junior in high school. We broke up for several months sometime after my graduation. (Denny's 18 mths older than me.) But when we got back together, we stayed together.
On the day of our wedding, I was 19, he was 21. So young. And yet, I am SOOOOOO thankful for God giving Him to me. I think my favorite thing about being married to my highschool sweetheart is that we literally grew up together. We've learned how to be grown ups, together. (hold the jokes friends) ha. We've learned to be responsible together. We've learned that credit cards can get us in trouble. We've wrestled through how to raise these kids of ours. We've learned to fight...and make up. But to give off any impression that we live in some fairytale land where we've done everything perfectly would be far from accurate. :)
I am so glad that God chose us for each other. I love my high school sweetheart more than words could ever express. I can't imagine a more perfect match for me than Denny, nor would I have wanted to do all these years with anyone but him...and sometimes the birds do chirp over our heads, but other times they drop a load. :)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Maren's Heart
We took Maren to see a pediatric cardiologist at Riley today. Here's what we found out, she does have a heart. ha. (just kiddin' Maren)
She's now had three or four EKG'S, two chest x-rays and blood work testing several different things, and the doctor said from all the tests, the heart itself looks like it's in good shape. Yay. He wants her to come back in a couple of weeks for a stress test to make sure that there's not any "electrical shorts" happening outside her heart while she is exercising.
He also stated that if you look at a physicians manual for chest pains in a child Maren's age, typically the heart is the last cause, oddly enough. He said most often, chest pains in someone Maren's age is caused by an onset of asthma, or something gastro-intestinal.
So, still checking things out. Thank you SOOO much for your concern and for your prayers.
She's now had three or four EKG'S, two chest x-rays and blood work testing several different things, and the doctor said from all the tests, the heart itself looks like it's in good shape. Yay. He wants her to come back in a couple of weeks for a stress test to make sure that there's not any "electrical shorts" happening outside her heart while she is exercising.
He also stated that if you look at a physicians manual for chest pains in a child Maren's age, typically the heart is the last cause, oddly enough. He said most often, chest pains in someone Maren's age is caused by an onset of asthma, or something gastro-intestinal.
So, still checking things out. Thank you SOOO much for your concern and for your prayers.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
This is the Kind of Fast Day I'm After
To be honest, sometimes I post things before my thoughts are even complete on what I'm posting. That's what I'm doing today, I'm sharing some thoughts that may not be tied up nicely by the end of what I'm writing here.
Going into the first of the year, I felt very strongly that I needed to fast. Denny and I have started the year like that a couple of times in the past. We would fast the first 21 days of the year. So, I started out doing that again this year. I actually started it on Monday, January 3rd. On that day, I did not eat, and I prayerfully considered what God wanted this fast to "look" like. You know, do I go without food for one day, three days, seven days, and then what do I do? Do I then go into the "Daniel fast"? Which you can google if you'd like to see what that is. After one day of fasting, to be honest, I felt God's presence more than I had in a long time, but I still could not settle on a direction of what this fast should "look" like. Because I couldn't "settle" on a direction, I went ahead and ate the 2nd day, but kept praying about the fast. THEN, I had this thought, "maybe this isn't supposed to be a food fast at all, maybe this is supposed to be a complaining fast." Meaning, for 21 days, I'm not going to complain. At all.
So, I told my co-worker, Cathy, about that. Later that day, I said something to her that one might consider a complaint and I quickly followed that up with "shoot!! I am not supposed to be complaining!!" Then a little later I said something again, that one might consider a complaint, and I said to her again, with disgust, "ahhhh....I am NOT suppose to be complaining!!!" Which she replied, "you suck at this fast!" Her words exactly. That TOTALLY cracked me up!!
So, all week I have been seeking God, and to be honest, I have been finding Him, just not regarding the fasting information...until this morning. I sat up and took notice as I began to read what God says in Isaiah 58 (The Message):
When we fast what we should be after is more of Jesus in our life. More of Jesus in our circumstances. And when we "get" more of Jesus, we "become" more like Jesus. As He lays His heart over our heart, we become concerned over what concerns Him. We reach out to people that He wants us to reach out to. We lend a helping hand where He calls us to lend it. We give where He directs us to give, we begin to move as one with Him in the direction that He calls us to go, within every area of our life including our marriages, finances, and relationships.
Maybe as you read this you feel that you too want more of Jesus. That you want to be His hands and feet in this world. There are so many ways that the Lord might direct you to give. One way He has directed our family to help people in poverty is through Compassion International. We, just last week, sponsored our 2nd child. Her name is Patricia. And the Holy Spirit has already begun to entangle our heart with her.
Denny is a children's advocate for Compassion. So he gets information fairly frequently on children who need our help to be released from poverty. Children who need us to be Jesus to them. We recently received information on three children who need sponsors. Children who are waiting on someone just like you to reach out and help. Again, there are many ways you can help the poor, but if you feel like God is calling you to help one of these children, please leave a comment here with your contact information, or send me an email at melissa.milbourn@gmail.com. Would you please prayerfully consider these children:
You can change a child's life for just $38/mth. If you're interested we will give you more information on the child, and how the program works. And we would need to know by January 13th.
Or if you're the one who feels down and out right now email me and I will pray for you.
Going into the first of the year, I felt very strongly that I needed to fast. Denny and I have started the year like that a couple of times in the past. We would fast the first 21 days of the year. So, I started out doing that again this year. I actually started it on Monday, January 3rd. On that day, I did not eat, and I prayerfully considered what God wanted this fast to "look" like. You know, do I go without food for one day, three days, seven days, and then what do I do? Do I then go into the "Daniel fast"? Which you can google if you'd like to see what that is. After one day of fasting, to be honest, I felt God's presence more than I had in a long time, but I still could not settle on a direction of what this fast should "look" like. Because I couldn't "settle" on a direction, I went ahead and ate the 2nd day, but kept praying about the fast. THEN, I had this thought, "maybe this isn't supposed to be a food fast at all, maybe this is supposed to be a complaining fast." Meaning, for 21 days, I'm not going to complain. At all.
So, I told my co-worker, Cathy, about that. Later that day, I said something to her that one might consider a complaint and I quickly followed that up with "shoot!! I am not supposed to be complaining!!" Then a little later I said something again, that one might consider a complaint, and I said to her again, with disgust, "ahhhh....I am NOT suppose to be complaining!!!" Which she replied, "you suck at this fast!" Her words exactly. That TOTALLY cracked me up!!
So, all week I have been seeking God, and to be honest, I have been finding Him, just not regarding the fasting information...until this morning. I sat up and took notice as I began to read what God says in Isaiah 58 (The Message):
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after; a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call THAT fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, Here I am.
If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down and out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places...This is the kind of fasting he's after. How well am I doing these things? There are many that I'm not doing well. So I go without food, but my heart is corrupt? What good does that do? He is after life change. Do I have a heart like His, am I concerned about the things that concern Him? That's what I need to ponder.
When we fast what we should be after is more of Jesus in our life. More of Jesus in our circumstances. And when we "get" more of Jesus, we "become" more like Jesus. As He lays His heart over our heart, we become concerned over what concerns Him. We reach out to people that He wants us to reach out to. We lend a helping hand where He calls us to lend it. We give where He directs us to give, we begin to move as one with Him in the direction that He calls us to go, within every area of our life including our marriages, finances, and relationships.
Maybe as you read this you feel that you too want more of Jesus. That you want to be His hands and feet in this world. There are so many ways that the Lord might direct you to give. One way He has directed our family to help people in poverty is through Compassion International. We, just last week, sponsored our 2nd child. Her name is Patricia. And the Holy Spirit has already begun to entangle our heart with her.
Denny is a children's advocate for Compassion. So he gets information fairly frequently on children who need our help to be released from poverty. Children who need us to be Jesus to them. We recently received information on three children who need sponsors. Children who are waiting on someone just like you to reach out and help. Again, there are many ways you can help the poor, but if you feel like God is calling you to help one of these children, please leave a comment here with your contact information, or send me an email at melissa.milbourn@gmail.com. Would you please prayerfully consider these children:
Pogiri from India
Birthday July 5, 2003
Miriam from Peru
Birthday: April 12, 2004
Ocen from Uganda
Birthday November 26, 2001
You can change a child's life for just $38/mth. If you're interested we will give you more information on the child, and how the program works. And we would need to know by January 13th.
Or if you're the one who feels down and out right now email me and I will pray for you.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
I Saved Two Lives Today
Home alone, I heard a LOUD KUR-THUD come from upstairs. So loud that I seriously almost ran out of the house because I thought there had to be an intruder. And then, for some reason, this thought came to mind, "I bet the crazy dog was trying to drink the goldfish water and knocked them off their stand." So instead of fleeing the house, I ran upstairs, and that is exactly what had happened. I ran into Maren's room (they are Maren's fish) and the bowl was on the floor. Water and rock from the bowl were everywhere, and the dog was licking her chops.
I thought, "If she ate those fish, I'm going to hurt her badly." Ha, I totally forgot about the whole "don't repay evil for evil" concept in that moment. After I tossed the dog out of Maren's room, I began to look for Cosmo and Wanda, and I found them...totally lifeless. No flip flopping or nothing. I couldn't believe how much I cared for these fish all of a sudden, when up to that point I couldn't have given a flip flop about them. So I gave them mouth to mouth, and started yelling "stay with me!!" kidding. I hurried up and put them into the bowl, and RAN to the bathroom and began putting water back in, and as soon as the water hit them, they began to swim. YAY!!!! So far, so good. I hope they make it through the night and survive the stress of all that!
Right after that happened, and things calmed down, I was reminded of an analogy that I heard someone use just recently about how fish were made to swim, and when you take them out of the water they can't do anything. And they related that to our God given gifts. That's the way we are too. When we operate within the realms of how God has gifted us, we swim beautifully, just as the fish do in water. But when we operate outside the way God has gifted us, we tend to struggle within that, and often lose our joy. I looked like the fish out of water the time I tried to teach the three year old class. LOL. I was not really operating within the realm of what I'm good at, or how God has gifted me. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't good for the three year olds either!!
If you're struggling with knowing what your "gift" is, then send me a message. We have "gift tests" at the church that I can hook you up with.
I thought, "If she ate those fish, I'm going to hurt her badly." Ha, I totally forgot about the whole "don't repay evil for evil" concept in that moment. After I tossed the dog out of Maren's room, I began to look for Cosmo and Wanda, and I found them...totally lifeless. No flip flopping or nothing. I couldn't believe how much I cared for these fish all of a sudden, when up to that point I couldn't have given a flip flop about them. So I gave them mouth to mouth, and started yelling "stay with me!!" kidding. I hurried up and put them into the bowl, and RAN to the bathroom and began putting water back in, and as soon as the water hit them, they began to swim. YAY!!!! So far, so good. I hope they make it through the night and survive the stress of all that!
Right after that happened, and things calmed down, I was reminded of an analogy that I heard someone use just recently about how fish were made to swim, and when you take them out of the water they can't do anything. And they related that to our God given gifts. That's the way we are too. When we operate within the realms of how God has gifted us, we swim beautifully, just as the fish do in water. But when we operate outside the way God has gifted us, we tend to struggle within that, and often lose our joy. I looked like the fish out of water the time I tried to teach the three year old class. LOL. I was not really operating within the realm of what I'm good at, or how God has gifted me. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't good for the three year olds either!!
If you're struggling with knowing what your "gift" is, then send me a message. We have "gift tests" at the church that I can hook you up with.
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