The Messiah

The other evening Denbigh and I were invited to a most exquisite Christmas party at the home of the Mohon family. It was refreshing and beyond lovely. As we were departing, a gift was handed to us. That gift was Handel's Messiah. I have been in love with this oratorio since a friend played violin in it several years back. This year the Holy Spirit kept telling me to get a copy and I was just about to buy it off ITunes when the generous Mohons handed us the cd set. Marcus Mohon always has a great story (that is beautifully embellished to get you excited) to accompany everything. He was telling us how Handel composed the Messiah. If you know me, you know I had to study up on the story. What I read I know is the message the Holy Spirit had for me when He told me to seek out the Messiah (and was so graciously handed it by the Mohons)...

Over the last few months, I have been terribly discouraged, attacked, and beat down by the enemy. This enemy has been using Christians to do his work and I have become quite familiar with what I look like at the end of myself. All of this is on the tails of and in the midst of great spiritual victory and breakthrough. God has opened up many new avenues for me to minister. More cunning and hateful than our enemy is how powerful and romantic our Lord God is. I have sought out the Messiah and in no way found him wanting....

As I read the story of Handel, I was greatly encouraged. In the year before Handel composed the Messiah he performed what he believed to be his last oratorio. He was discouraged, knee deep in debt, and ready to hang it all up. If you are unfamiliar with The Messiah, it has been lauded as the greatest muscial score of all time. The opportunity to write this piece for charity was given to Handel with much support from a wealthy benefactor. Personal attack ensued him by the church for performing this religious piece in a secular venue. Church people were attacking him. (I read once that the only place Jesus ever got into a fight was at church with religious people. Irony.) The beautiful part to me is how Handel composed this piece in 24 days. A friend came to his door at the end of writing it and found Handel weeping uncontrollably. He said it was such a rich experience that he did not know if he had composed it while in his body or out. Years after it's inception there was an article written about the famed Messiah and it's generous composer who gave most all the funding to charity. It read:The Messiah has housed more poor, clothed more naked, and fed more hungry than any other score in all musical history. The Messiah did.

The church he attended called him a radical. You could find him there every Sunday on his face weeping. He was discouraged and beat down and that is the moment God used him to do the most powerful work of his life.

Read More about Handel

From Wikipedia

HO HO NO

I was just reading a comment about how the devil loves to play dress up and it made me think of Santa. This is something that comes to my heart and mind every year. Please do not be offended if you "do" Santa. It is just something we are personally convicted about and I thought we would share some of the reasons we feel this way. Mostly, I do not like the idea of lying to children - even in the spirit of holiday fun. Here is the post,

No Santa For Us

, from Justin Childer's blog.

Just FYI, in case you want to share instead that Santa is from a Catholic saint, the Catholic church says he never existed.

Another Great Article:

The Great Imposter

Real Ministry is Messy

December 13 from A.W. Tozer

Trials and Pain: The Sharp Blade of the Plow

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your
fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes
and rains righteousness on you.
--Hosea 10:12

The fallow field is smug, contented, protected from the shock of
the plow and the agitation of the harrow.... But it is paying
a terrible price for its tranquility: Never does it see the
miracle of growth; never does it feel the motions of mounting
life nor see the wonders of bursting seed nor the beauty of
ripening grain. Fruit it can never know because it is afraid of
the plow and the harrow.

In direct opposite to this, the cultivated field has yielded
itself to the adventure of living. The protecting fence has
opened to admit the plow, and the plow has come as plows always
come, practical, cruel, business-like and in a hurry. Peace has
been shattered by the shouting farmer and the rattle of
machinery. The field has felt the travail of change; it has been
upset, turned over, bruised and broken, but its rewards come
hard upon its labors. The seed shoots up into the daylight its
miracle of life, curious, exploring the new world above it. All
over the field the hand of God is at work in the age-old and
ever renewed service of creation. New things are born, to grow,
mature, and consummate the grand prophecy latent in the seed
when it entered the ground. Nature's wonders follow the plow.
Paths to Power, 31-32.

"Lord, make me a cultivated field. I suspect the price will be
high, but I long to bear fruit for Your glory. Do the hard work
of the farmer in my life today. Amen."

*photo from Vail, Colorado last week

Great Headlines

Austin Family Wins Home Makeover

This show has never failed to make me cry and you consistently see the people thanking God for their new home (as seen in this article). I want to run over there and see the progress!

Protest of Victoria's Secret Spreads

As you all know, I have been boycotting Victoria's Secret and the mall! I am glad to see that others are willing to stand up to Victoria's vile ways.

Has Rocky Balboa Been Born Again?

I'd tell you that this is for my husband, but I am secretly a huge fan of Rocky!

Copper Mountain, Colorado

The Village at Copper

We have the blessed privilege to go to Copper Mountain, Colorado this week courtesy of Current Elijah Ministries. We anticipate a week of blessing, encouragement, prayer, great food, and joy! Please be in prayer for us as we travel and hear from God on our retreat.
May God pour out His blessing and favor on you this Christmas season!

Fireside

“It's the national addiction: warmth on chilly winter nights, innocence on Saturday afternoons, the essence of hearth, home and blissful abandon.”
~Patricia Linden

My First Book Review

"It's like having breakfast with a good friend."- Marge

Thanks, Marge. You encourage me.


Just found this review on Barnes and Noble:

a God-lover, A reviewer, 11/03/2006
Both convicting and encouraging at the same time!
What an amazingly honest and refreshing devotional book! Stephanie shares both her victories and her struggles through this insightful, Holy Spirit driven guide for better intimacy with God. Don't be without this book!!

Fall Color

Denbigh took these photos at my parents house. Enjoy.

A Blessed Thanksgiving To You

"in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NASB)

Mourning

A year ago today my brother passed away.

Today, in God's sweet and beautiful irony I was allowed to minister to a family who lost a husband, father, brother, and friend who was near the same age as my brother. Pray with me that this sweet family finds complete healing in the arms of our tender Savior.

But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the lifter of my head.
Psalm 3:3

Celebrate with Beth Moore

God has been teaching me more and more about Himself through prayer in the last few months. More than anything, the Holy Spirit has used the words of Andrew Murray to bring the hammer down in my life and reveal my responsibility in the relationship. Andrew Murray prayed for 5 hours each day. He believed that what was accomplished in the spiritual realm was the only thing effective and nothing he could do in the physical realm could accomplish what merely asking God could do. He said, " If you want the power of Heaven called down on earth, You have to call it down." That is your blessed ability. We seldom choose it.

On Monday I was telling Denbigh that I felt like God was wanting me to focus specifically on prayer during the next couple months and ask Him to do some specific things. As I showed up to hear Beth Moore speak on Tuesday, you will never guess what she was talking about. Yes, prayer. Specifically, she issued an 8 week prayer challenge to us. Don't you love God's subtle nudgings. 8 weeks. That's a couple months, right?

Here are my notes:

"My Father will give you anything you ask in my name." - John 16:12
"In my name" is not a spiritual formula for answer. God is saying to call on the power of all the He represents, all the power He has, all things He has created. The Name is a summation of all that He is.
"Until now you have not, . . .but you're about to."

We have to come to celebrate complete joy in answered prayer.
*Shake up your prayer life! We are to be experiencing profoundly productive prayer lives.
Phil. 4:6

8 Week Challenge

1. We could use a change in our approach to prayer.
( Grant us a fresh infusion of Holy Spirit power and insight in our lives)

We have to get over approaching prayer as a discipline. We put it in the 'should do' category. We should clean the garage. We should eat better. We should pray. "We shoulds" rarely happen.

The biggest lie is that when we choose God that the fun is over. That this is a purely sacrificial, martyr like pose. When we choose to do the thing and go entirely over, it will be the ride of our lives.

2. We could use a change in our approach to God. John 11:41
Adopt this phrase. "I know that you hear me."
The disciples asked to teach them to pray like that. The thing that made Christ's prayers so different was that He Knew the one who was listening. There is a God and you know Him!

Second thing to adopt: Exodus 15:11 " Who is like you, O Lord, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?"

3. We could use a change in our approach to Scripture.
John 15:7 and 1 John 5:14-15
wish in John is the Greek word Thelo. Will in 1 John is the word Thelema. They are from the same root word. How does our wish become His will? The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to shape the will of God in our minds. Interact with the Word.
The 'ma' at the end of thelema is result oriented. Once our wish is in God's will it brings about result.

4. We could use a change in our approach to a divine 'no.'

We have to keep praying even if we are afraid that the answer we get will not be the one we want to hear.

Part of the joy of giving is seeing the recipient react. We rarely react or even notice when God answers us. We should act like we do when we receive gifts from people. If God takes an action, He is looking for a reaction.

Why do we, as living, breathing miracles of God who have been restored from the deepest pits act like we are over it. We should still be praising Him!!

Isaiah 40 We should gain strength in the wait. The problem is that we generally focus so much on the wait that we lose strength.
The reason God does not grow tired and weary is because He has complete understanding. He is building up spiritual strength for you when the wait is over.

** I hope I can explain this part correctly:

Matthew 16:19 (NIV)

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

better translated as

Matthew 16:19 (Amplified Bible)

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven."

We tend to look at this verse like witches casting spells. (She said if she could bind and lose that she would have been married in 6th grade:)
~ The way the Greek is best translated is to say "Whatever is loosed on earth has already been loosed on Heaven." This is saying that there are storehouses of things waiting for us. There is more than we can ever think of to ask.

Psalm 31:19 The key of this storehouse is the fear of the Lord. The way God's will in Heaven will be on earth is by prayer. Ask and keep asking. Relationship takes place. God's commands are written on the tablets of human hearts. God has no bigger concern than what happens inside you.

5.) We could use a change in our approach to our anointing.
1 John 3:18
Antichrist in Greek is antichristo. Anti means against. Christo is the anointed one. Satan is against the Anointed One. The enemy is after your anointing. It is where your power is.
Our anointing is the word chrisma. The enemy wants to take your effectiveness from you.
Your life is profoundly effective. It is real and not counterfeit. You have what it takes. It is in you.

"Ask in My name with the power of all I have done and am."

Ask.

A Faithful Remnant

I met them... the faithful remnant, the anawinn in Hebrew, ragamuffins in the vernacular (from Brennan Manning).


Warmth. Kindness. The love of the Father. Deeply tender pastor.

That is what we experienced at The First Baptist Church of Santa Anna, TX. I wish I could convey to you what this experience was like for us. It was refreshing to see a group of people who were not about the business of the church. They were simply being the church. Beautiful.


(I hate having my picture taken)











Our speaker Robert Barge from Wherever Ministries. He was challenging, convicting, and wonderfully down to earth. I took several pages of notes. Here are some highlights:

* If you have ever blamed a minister for your lack of spiritual growth, you might need a personal revival.

There are 2 prodigals in the story of the prodigal son. One went to live in open sin and his heart yearned to return to his father. He was restored. The other was the older brother who was there physically and yet worked begrudgingly for his father. He learned nothing of the compassion of his father and seemed to only endure relationship with him. It never says if their relationship was restored.
~ Grace is conditional. The condition is that it must be received.
The privileged of God often begrudge grace given to others even though we have been with the Father the entire time. (ouch) Are you begrudgingly working for your Father and your heart is far from him?
-----------------
This is not all we were called to. We are called to complete abandon. We are often so proud of what we give that it hides what we don't.

Most of us are living so below the line of our calling that a godly person would have to backslide to fellowship with us. (ouch again)

We are commanded to ask for daily bread!!

Some of us have to get mad before we will think...(despising prophetic utterance)

If we wait until we are comfortable doing what we are called to do or until we are fully equipped we will never be of any use to the Kingdom of God.

Repent. Believe. Come. Follow Me.

Are you practicing what you have learned in Scripture?
Let go of whatever you are holding onto. Listen to the still small voice of your Father.

----------------

Deny yourself is not saying to deny sin, but the one who craves it

How can I be of any good to the Father's kingdom when I am so wrapped up in mine?

Take up your cross daily (a deadly proposition). It indicates humiliation, suffering, and death. It means to be ready for anything that man might throw at you. This road cannot be turned away from. It ends in death.

When is the last time your commitment to Christ led you to sacrifice anything?

-------------------------------------
What we did apart from Church:

Santa Anna is a town of about a thousand people. That always means your accommodations will be interesting. We were not disappointed. We arrived behind a Tahoe with a huge dead deer strapped to the back on a little shelf attached, I assume, specifically to hold dead deer once you kill them. We are met by Ginger, a truly unique and nice woman. This establishment was once a Texas Ranger station and each room is named after an ex-ranger. Our ranger was Ranger Miller. There was a lovely (creepy) picture of him in our room always looking over us. I tried to get Denbigh to take it down and replace it with a picture of Chuck Norris (Walker Texas Ranger). I thought that might make some people confused and that made me laugh. I have an odd sense of humor. We took in the sights and discovered some lovely shops and eateries. We visited nearby Brady,TX and saw our fabulous friends Reece and Kallie who treated Denbigh to birthday lunch. We had dinner with some other friends from Bangs, TX. Those lovely people are Brandon and Joanie Fagan. We were struck by the kindness of many of the people there who kept doting on us. We were particularly struck by Ray and Betsy Jones. Kind and godly cannot even begin to touch on what we saw in these people. We love them.

Ray Jones and Denbigh













The Bird Cleaning Station at the end of our accommodations ( and the mountain!)












Our room and beloved Ranger Miller's star.













The old and gorgeous opera house turned BBQ joint in downtown.


















A view from our room.



Altogether lovely.

Off to Santa Anna

Denbigh has been home less than 24 hours and we are off again to lead worship for a revival in Santa Anna, TX. We have been exceptionally busy and we are praising God for that. May we stay busy as long as He will allow us to be fruitful.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and minister.

*Pray for much rest, anointing, and fruit for us.
*Pray for a new guitar for Denbigh (his received an enormous crack in it during his travels to Maine this week. We believe it was dropped in transit). They are around $1,500.00 +.
*Pray Denbigh has a fabulous birthday on Tuesday the 7th.
Think of him when you are voting.

We return Thursday.

A Book In Hand

My first set of books arrived via UPS today. Those words appear terribly calm as I write them. I am not calm. I am an author. I must now think of how I can live a more eccentric daily existence.

The 93 page devotional is for sale at a cost of 10 dollars. Stop by and pick up your copy.

You can also order them online.

Patina on Barnes & Noble

Patina on Pleasant Word Bookstore

(I feel like Bob in the movie What About Bob when he goes sailing for the first time. He keeps telling everyone, " I am a sailor. I sail.")

I am a writer. I write.

I'm For Sale!!

I haven't received my first allotment of books yet (they should be here anytime), but I did see that the book is already showing up for sale in a few online bookstores. It is quite exhilarating. I can't wait to have the book in hand. I will have a book release party. Excitement.

I am a writer. Writers write and people read it. This fascinates me. I am one of those people.

This is terribly interesting.

Thanks be to God who uses the foolish and the weak in spite of themselves. May He receive all glory!

Patina on Barnes & Noble

Patina on Pleasant Word Bookstore

California

Here are a few pictures from our little bit of time sight seeing - of course, the Hollywood sign.

I found that the area of Hollywood and Vine and Sixth Street in Austin are almost identical. The local/eclectic people could have easily been transplanted there from our lovely/unique capital city. I actually could not tell the difference.

I was on the lookout for Audrey Hepburn's star..and somehow got distracted by a pizzeria. I love how Johnny Cash reads the Bible on cd ...so I took this photo of his star.

Wedding!

Casha & Coleman, may God pour out His Spirit on you as you strive to honor and cherish one another.

It was a lovely wedding and reception. The dinner was lovely and the flowers exquisite.
















Flower girl...
















This moment got me! This man Loves his daughter more than any I have ever seen and it was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever been privleged to be a part of.















This is my nephew, Cooper, doing the twist with Denbigh's brother, Brice.














Nana is one of the most elegant and classy women I have ever known. She was beautiful. I had this picture taken for my WONDERFUL husband so he could have a photo of his beloved grandmother Cherry, wife, and baby girl on the way.









*On a sidenote: I learned the value of honoring those around us. I think this will require an entire post...stay tuned.

Leaving On Jet Planes

The Cherry family will be covering America coast to coast in the next few days. Denbigh is headed to the east coast of Maine to lead worship at a four day event with Voddie Baucham. I (and the baby in the belly) are headed to the west coast to Los Angeles to attend a wedding. Keep us all in your prayers. Pray anointing, spiritual fruit, and protection over us. Thank you. May the God of all peace bless you and keep you (and us).

Momentary Stolen Joy

This evening, the publisher called and said they had the first copy of Patina laying on their desk. I will have a copy in my hand in a week. I think I am in shock that this has actually occurred. I wrote a book. Some small part of me is waiting for some catastrophe to happen and me to never see this book. By the end of the evening, I had actually managed to become discouraged and depressed. I keep reminding myself that if the devil can't stop me, he will atleast try to steal my joy. This is how you know you are doing what you are called to do . . . attack. The funny thing is that you never totally grasp that in the moment. You just feel beat down. You feel like no one actually loves you and all your work is in vain. You feel empty. You keep asking yourself why people don't encourage you and you take the martyr's pose. Truth is, it doesn't matter. People are not meant to satisfy. God alone satisfies. It is hard to be this honest. I just told God I was feeling attacked and asked Him to satisfy the emptiness that resides within. I asked Him to encourage me. Now, I am poised to listen. I am poised for joy and celebration. I wrote a book. I am still in awe.

Speak to me, Lord God. Thank you for allowing me to do something that you placed in my heart years ago and I never thought I could do. Thank you that you teach, lead, encourage, and love with a steadiness that rivals all. I love you and I throw off everything that hinders me from basking in your unspeakable joy.

el retazo

El retazo, the remnant.





rem‧nant  [rem-nuhnt]
–noun

1. a remaining, usually small part, quantity, number, or the like.
2. a fragment or scrap.
3. a small, unsold or unused piece of cloth, lace, etc., as at the end of a bolt.
4. A surviving trace or vestige: a remnant of his past glory.
–adjective
5.remaining; leftover.
( a small part or portion that remains after the main part no longer exists )

Why are definitions so intriguing? You can tell a true logophile by their love of definitions. The richness it communicates cannot be shared by trying to capture something in a single word. I love this definition number four. A surviving trace or vestige: a remnant of his past glory.

In the past few weeks I have beheld the remnant. I have seen miracles among God's people that have brought me to my physical knees to worship. This past Sunday I was privaleged to look on as 2 of my friend's saw their children be baptised. One was a foster child and my friend wondered what she had to offer him. God knew. He had a specific plan for this child in her arms.
That was Colleen.

My other friend, Kyna was blessed to watch her first born dipped into the watery grave of the baptismal to rise in newness of life. It is seemingly impossible for me to explain the mother she is. I am in awe. Her daughter has a grasp on the Holy Spirit and a desperation not to be seperated from Christ greater than most adults I know. Kyna has fulfilled the Scripture that says to talk about the things of God when you get up and when you lie down. She has been picked up from the pit and formed into a godly mother. It is a beautiful thing. I am not sure I have seen this done in such a powerful way before.

As I watched her emerge from the water through my own tears, I saw it. The mark. The anointing. The call. One set apart from her mother's womb. He knit in a ministry to Himself when He formed her innermost parts. I wait in anticipation to see what God does with this life.

--------------------------------------------------
Baby Update:
She now has more clothes than me thanks to my mother. Here is her newest outfit. Don't you wish it came in your size?

Come Out Of Her!

Reading revelation Chapter 18 the other day I saw something I had not noticed in my reading before. I have read these few chapters about the wickedness of Babylon several times and studied it at church. I grasped that Baylon was being described as a harlot who lured men into her iniquity. This time in reading it, something in particular struck me. It is Chapter 18, verse 4.

"I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;"

COME OUT OF HER! I think in my other translations it said "come away from her" or something not quite so posing. This time the extreme sexual nature of these chapters was standing out to me. God was not just saying to His people to get on their camel and come home. He was saying for them to take their "male part" out of her and quit making her wickedness fertile with their seed. Come out of her! These people, God's people, Us were/are having grotesque sexual relations with the woman who has been with everyone. This is not Hosea's prostitute. She makes Gomer look like Mother Teresa. This woman was not merely defiled. She is the great defiler. She is not simply under God's wrath. She is the embodiment of everything that incites it. We choose to take the most intimate parts of ourselves and place it in the darkness of everything God hates for our momentary pleasure. Come out of her so that you will not participate in her sins and receive her plagues. All of this for you to ask yourself this:

In what way are you allowing yourself to intimately engage with wickedness?

from Galatians 5
immorality, impurity, sensuality,idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these

© Stephanie Cherry 2006

Revelation 18

Alamo City Christian Fellowship

We loved being there on Sunday night. Denbigh led worship at their Greenhouse gathering. It was excellent. The worship was already thick in that place long before we ever arrived. We were embraced by an overwhelming sense that the Holy Spirit was well pleased to dwell there.
We loved it!

(My spanish word of the day: el efecto invernadero - meaning greenhouse effect)

GHWG.blogspot.com

Alamo City Chrisitan Fellowship

Have You Seen My Toes?

Yesterday, I happened to look down at the floor and I noticed something. I can no longer see my toes when I look straight down. I was explaining this to Denbigh and he couldn't believe I couldn't see my toes and then he got distracted talking to the baby in my belly. This led me to an attempt to photograph my vantage point. I have found that the decreased blood flow to the head makes it quite easy to amuse myself. I actually enjoy this aspect of pregnancy. I laugh all the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On to more serious matters, I do not pray enough. I am praying. I love praying. I am praying and probably look great if I compared myself to some people, but I am not praying as one who has lived through the fire and been delivered from the lion's mouth. I pray as one who merely believes. I am desperate to pray as one who trusts, as Andrew Murray says, that my prayer calls upon the power of God Himself. (God, help me pray more boldly and trustingly. Let me know you more intimately.) Everywhere I turn I get hit with it...it's Andrew Murray. It's Beth Moore. It's Marcus Mohan. It's the HOLY SPIRIT! All I keep hearing is my sweet Savior saying..."We have been through the depths of hell together and I heard you. Ask me again. Ask me for them. Ask Me for your neighbors, for wrecked marriages, for your pastor. Ask Me. Praise Me for how I have already answered you." One thing I like that Marcus quoted on Sunday was that we will achieve nothing if we do not learn to interact with the person of Jesus everyday. Let us weep, cry out, & surrender to know Him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stole this from Justin Childer's blog:

Demand #6: Listen to Me

From What Jesus Demands of the World by John Piper:

"Page after page of the New Testament Gospels pile up reasons to turn off the television and listen to Jesus."

Godly Legacy

Denbigh and I have started working on a Legacy album to preserve the legacy of what God has done for our families throughout the generations (like the stones Joshua set up in Joshua 4). We have been going through some wonderful old photos and I thought I would post a few. Here are a few of Denbigh's paternal grandparents, Nana and Granday (Delmon and Jean Cherry). They had a powerful spiritual effect on my husband. It is one I hope he passes along. Granday was dying of cancer last year and still witnessing to people from his death bed.

You Have Not Glorified

Conviction and repentance have come to my house this week. I have been shown 3 ways in which I am not pleasing in my various studies. I do these things, but not on the levels that God has and is calling me to do them. Things in my life are shifting toward a more thankful existance. I thank God that He never allows us to become stagnant in His Word. As I look at the amazing things that have been accomplished in my life by the Mighty hand of God, I am ashamed of how little I have loved, prayed, and praised.

You do not love.
You do not pray.
You do not glorify.

"But the God in whose hand are your life breath and your ways, you have not glorified."
-Daniel 5: 23

"And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'...
-Matthew 21:13

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
-John 13:35

"Praise and Prayer

7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD,
the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the LORD has done for us—
yes, the many good things he has done
for the house of Israel,
according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
8 He said, "Surely they are my people,
sons who will not be false to me";
and so he became their Savior.

9 In all their distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old."

-Isaiah 63:7-9 (keep reading this chapter on your own)

*photo of Cape Grace, South Africa
What I am reading: Beth Moore's Daniel Bible study & Andrew Murray's The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer (2 pages into it, I was convicted of my lack of prayer)

The Wisdom of Tenderness

This book is an absolute Must Read. I bought a copy for my brother the minute I finished...and I took 9 pages of notes from it. I am sure you will hear more about it.

Synopsis:

Brennan Manning believes that all changes in the quality of life must grow out of a change in our vision of reality. Calling into question the prevailing vision of God as a remote overlord who alternately purveys judgment and blessings to his creatures below, Manning shows how this distorted image of God leads to a spirituality that is shallow and ultimately in conflict with the message of the Gospel.

Rooted in the author's compelling grasp of God as a loving parent, The Wisdom of Tenderness gently invites us to embrace the unfathomable mercy, grace, and love of God. By relating to God as a loving parent with the heart of tenderness, we can develop a spiritual life that allows us to let go of worry, stop organizing everything as a means to an end, and begin to live fully in the awareness of God's infinite grace and mercy in each moment. As we come to accept the tenderness of God, our hearts will begin to open, our minds can discern truth, and we can more readily see the divine in others.

A profound exploration of the challenges of Christian living, The Wisdom of Tenderness leads readers to a greater experience of compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation, and reverence.

The Reality of Appearance

John 13:35
(Amplified Bible)

By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].





This is one of my favorite Scriptures and it brings forth a powerful question. If the only distinguishing characteristic of a disciple is love, would your position be apparent to others?

Would they recognize you by your love?

One of Life's Great Paradoxes

"One of life's great paradoxes is that it's in the crucible of pain and suffering that we become tender. To these elements must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, and the willingness to remain vulnerable. Together they will lead to wisdom and tenderness."
-Brennan Manning, The Wisdom Of Tenderness