Second Thoughts...

Spring is here.  Flowers are blooming, it is nice to sit out in the sun for a little while and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.  With all this just waiting outside the door, it is interesting how I can wake up in the morning and then my second thought is one carrying the weight of my circumstances for that particular time in my life, usually it contains all the fears of what might or might not happen.

Do you ever have to deal with your second thought of the day? Better yet...HOW do you deal with your 2nd thought of the day? 

I have recently been reading the devotion book called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.  It is an amazing devotion book written from the standpoint of God speaking into our lives.  On April 10th, the devotion was written using several verses one being Jeremiah 17:7.  What stood out to me the most was in the Holman translation, it didn't say to put our confidence in the Lord but that He IS our Confidence.

Jeremiah 17:7

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.

I read this, I then reread it again and again.  I began to talk to Father about this and began asking Him to show me daily how to make Him my confidence.  Personally, I am really tired of my 2nd thought being of the weight of circumstance that are really out of my control most of the time. Even if they are in my control and they cause my day to start of with fear, dread, stress...anything along those lines of thought....then I need to get alone with Father more, pray more, read the Word of God more until I "GET IT" that He is my Confidence.  My sub conscience mind would like for me to think otherwise because of past history.  I need Jesus to be my confidence, mine is full of sin and burdened down from life.  Thank God for the forgiveness He offered to me through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Through Him I have forgiveness of sins and can walk in a new life.  

I want to live my life fully and not miss something that God has for me because of a second thought that seeks to destroy the day that God has made.  Below is a quote from the April 10th devotion.

"While you were still living in darkness, I began to shine the lIght of My Presence into your sin stained life. Finally, I lifted you up out of the mire into marvelous Light. Having sacrificed My very Life for you, I can be trusted in every facet of your life."  

- Jesus Calling, Sarah Young

Dry bones

Have you ever been living a time in your life where you think you can not take another breath?  The pain of the day's emotions are so great they are like a tidal wave that that just keeps on crashing against your mind and body?  I have.  If I were to compare my story to other's, my struggles might not compare in the human reasoning.  However, as my sister-in-law Jada says..."everyone has a story and they are all important".

I was listening to a song on the Passion CD, Awake My Soul by Chris Tomlin.  The song intrigued me to read the passage of Scripture from which this song is taken and it really began to make sense to my heart.  Below is a breakdown of what my heavenly Father showed me as I began to study over this passage.   How He used this Scripture to give me comfort when things are seemingly out of control in my life.  Also, when those around me have difficulties, I can have better wisdom of how to pray for them.

Very Dry Bones - This is me sometimes when circumstances get so great that I can not figure out how I can take another breath.  Fear, pain, stress, depression... creeps in or crashes in like a tidal wave???

The Spirit of the Lord asked him - God drawing us into a conversation/relationship with Him.

Sovereign Lord - man's acknowledgement of who He is!


“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! - the important words in this verse to me are "hear the word of the Lord"....we must have a heart that is willing to listen to the Father.  Even in the toughest of times, even when our lives are so dry and brittle we  will fall apart if someone says one more thing that we don't want to hear.   To turn from the Father in our times of trouble, will only increase in a troubled heart.  



In verse 11...God begins to say "I will..."  
For me, there is so much peace when in my best days, my darkest days the Father says to me "I will..." and I can turn every emotion, thought, action over to Him.  He is the Sovereign Lord and I am so thankful for His great love for me...even me.  He loves me in spite of my short falls and mistakes.  He picks me up when I am down, He delivers me from my fears, He never leaves me nor forsakes me.  He is my all and all...He is the King of Kings!  The Prince of Peace!  The Everlasting Father!  The Almighty One! The Beginning and the End!  Praise be the to the Lamb of God...Forever and ever!


Ezekiel 37

New International Version (NIV)

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lordsays: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Do something big....

It has been a long time since I have written anything on this blog.  Once again, I am preparing along side of nine other people to go on a mission trip back to Beius, Romania this summer.  

During the preparation time for the mission trip, I encourage the team members to be in prayer to the Lord and to read the Word of God daily.  A couple of weeks ago while praying for the team, the trip, and the work we will do...I asked the Lord to do something great while we are in Romania.  Something that will impact our lives forever, so that we will never be the same. Then last week came.  It has to go down as one of the worst weeks in my life.  To look at me, my surroundings were all the same.  I was still sitting in the same house, driving the same car, if someone just looked at me, I was fine.  However, on the inside it was not the case.   

Things were happening that I had absolutely NO control over and could not do much to change what was or was to come.  Thankfully, God gave me Scott to be able to walk through life's tough times.  I am so thankful for him!  I kept asking God to take control of my fears, my anxiety and help me to trust Him.  Scripture is always my best friend and the Lord uses His Word to speak into my life and calm my heart.  Then came  Sunday morning and our youth pastor was giving the sermon that morning and God used the Word to give me overwhelming peace during the service.  

I asked the Lord on the way out the doors of the church, why did last week have to be so hard.  He spoke to me in my heart and said that I had asked for Him to do something big and did I think that it would come without any preparation in my heart, mind and soul?  However, you see....some of the things that happened last week are still there but I have to trust Him no matter what comes my way...the good, bad, ugly, beautiful, sad, happy and tough times.  All of it....I have to trust Him in ALL of it..I want to be obedient to Him even if I loose everything.  I want to see the lost come to know Christ and to have a heart that loves others more than myself.  Today my heart is full of excitement and humbleness when I think about what Father has done for me. A song comes to my mind that reminds me of my journey last week...

2013 Summer ROMANIA MISSION TRIP

This year's team has already begun preparation for Romania!

June 26th - July 10th

Pray for us as we prepare to go to the foreign mission field.  For some of us, it is like going to our "home" mission field.  This will be my fourth trip to Romania working with www.remm-ministry.org. For me, Elijah and Nehemiah it is a place where we have friends and people we love.  There is so much work to be done for the Lord in Beius, Romania and I am thankful the Lord has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing there.
 

Daves Family 2012 Year In Review

Picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

the greatest high...

With a title like "the greatest high"...you might wonder what in the world is she talking about.

The past two months of my life have been filled with working with the Akins family to start a ministry called "WOW Kids OutReach".   In my last post, I talked about a few prayers that changed my life and our family working WOW Kids is due to one of the prayers.  I asked for more training and wisdom for taking teams to Romania, Father's answer was to work with WOW Kids.  So, through prayer, Scott and I obeyed the Father once again and said "Yes" to Him.  We are now 5 weeks into the ministry.  Saturday afternoons are filled with the Music Camp, Tuesday and Thursdays are filled with the afterschool program.

So....my greatest high has come at the end of the days when we are in the projects helping others.  I find that I get tired but am filled with overwhelming joy in the midst of what seems like ciaos at times.  I know that in the ciaos He will make all things calm, if only in my heart.

Prayers that go straight to the heart of the Heavenly Father...

Prayers that go straight to the heart of the Heavenly Father...

At times in my life I have wondered if the Father is hearing my prayers, even thought when I prayed it would take forever for an answer to come or did He even hear me at all.  It is said that "hind sight" is always 20/20.

In hind sight, I will share 5 of my most life changing prayers...mind you they have always been short and to the point when I prayed them.

Age 20 

Prayer: "Lord, get me out of this relationship.  I know I can't be in this and follow You."  

Answer: He gave me strength to get out of the relationship that night.  

Age 22

Prayer: "Lord, if this is real then please don't let this feeling go away tomorrow."

Answer:  Scott showed up at my parents house to pick me up and I felt just as excited to see him the next morning as I did when I went home the night before.  One a side note:  We got engaged 3 months later, married one year to the day from when we started dating and will be married 23 years next month!

Age 41

Prayer:  "Lord, I can't imagine that You are pleased with us living our lives this way.  Going to church on Sunday morning, night and Wed....there has to more to life than the way we are living it?"

Answer:  The answer to this prayer was already in the works...we as a family have always been active in our church in many areas of leadership.  However, through studying the Word of God, my heart had been stirred and I was beginning to not be comfortable to just keep going they way I was going.  Scott and the boys had been going to a weekly prayer meeting....a real prayer meeting...they were really praying weekly and it was changing our lives.  God began "cleaning house" in each life.  When the men in my family prayed....God was listening and He was answering prayers.  These things together caused our hearts to be stirred and the fast track to getting closer to the Father was about to come quickly...he brought us a 15 yr old boy...Jordan Clark.   

Age 42

Prayer:  "Lord, how can him being with our family make a difference over the 15 years of the neglect and lack of Your teaching?"

Answer:  Instant answer in my heart...heard His voice clearly... "You teach him to love Me, teach him My Word,  I(God) can do more in the three and a half years he will be in your home than the 15 years before."

Jordan had been in our children's choirs at church when he was in 4th/5th grades.  We had taken him home several times and knew little of his home life except he had a dad and moved around a lot when there was not enough money for rent. Then his dad passed away, and his mom had left the family 7 years prior.  He was left as an orphan.  Scott and I, through prayer, knew we were to be the ones to take him to live with us.  However, God told us it was to make him a part of our family, to give him a home...not a house.  So many people would say that "oh, you all did a wonderful thing"  in the midst of the battles it didn't feel "Wonderful" at all.  Let me share something with everyone who reads this post...God does not ask you to do something for someone else and leave your heart out of His work...When you surrender to follow Him, no matter the cost, He is going to do a great work in your heart.  You will love Him more, know Him more, trust Him more, depend on Him more, and I will say again....LOVE Him more!  I had never taken in a 15 year old child before and  I probably did numerous things wrong but this I do know... I have taught him that God is great...God is good and He loves Jordan and me more than we can ever imagine.  He never leaves us alone.  He is exactly who His Word says He is...You can trust Him! 

Jordan is now in his first year of college .  He will have been a part of the Daves family for four years on this Nov. 24th....his birthday!  We filed for custody of him on his 15th birthday.   I am very proud of my son and thankful that God saw fit to bring him into our family.  

Age 45

Prayer: "Lord, I need more training for taking mission teams to Romania.  I want to be fearless in sharing Your Word and telling others about You."

Answer:  Go work with the Jack and Kara Akins in the ministry they are starting in the inner city  projects.

So, the ministry of WOW Kids Outreach was born when two families joined together for one purpose...to take the Gospel to a people who are covered in darkness and to share the truth and love of the Father with them.