January 23, 2012

FOCUS

So, here I am, a pastor’s wife?!


Whether you have been one of us for 2 weeks, 6 months, 2 years, or 65 years, we all have need of TRUTH spoken to us which render us: hope, grace, encouragement, and life transformational insights. We pray that you will receive just that (and more) through our various 2012 writers. The Heartline entries include timely insights into several scripture passages and life-applicable topics.


God bless you as you join us in gleaning!

WORDS TO INSPIRE


GOD’S WORD- Eternal Truth


“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ Isaiah 55:8-9

A little girl who comes into the house with mud on her shoes cannot hide her tracks. The mud must be removed. My sin leaves tracks, sometimes in my own spirit, that usually affect those around me. Several Sunday afternoons ago I was well on my way to a pity party. None of our children had called even though we had not seen them for some time. Instead of reaching out to help someone else who might also be lonesome, I felt very sorry for myself. Turning to study for an upcoming Bible lesson sent me to a verse I’d never noticed before. ”So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.” I was amazed at the timing and the message. Yes, I have many years. Come to think of it, I do rejoice! “And expect some dark days”--- lonesome days can feel like dark days. I can expect those, wise King Solomon said. A prayer for forgiveness for my attitude changed my perspective. God’s Word, His words, changed dark to light. And then, as if to accentuate the message, I came upon this word in Psalm 118, “Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous.” My house had not been joyous but I want it to be.

And again, last week, a deep disappointment sent me searching. Amy Carmichael helped this time. I read and re-read the Words of God she had chosen and the words of her own writing. In time my thoughts turned from hurt to a prayer for forgiveness. God’s Word changed dark to light. Today news came that a dear friend, someone much younger than I, one who has touched me deeply, is dying from cancer. I am sad to my core. But I am not “losing” a friend because I know her destination. God’s Word, through His promises, changes the darkness of sad news to hope.

“’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Sometimes I want to stay in my dark closet. I think I have a right to be hurt; sometimes I find it difficult to believe God would forgive me again. Yes, even in my gray years such challenges continue to come. A dark closet is lonely. I need Light! His Light is the cure for my dark times. My distorted thought, my sins, are known to Him. “His ways are immeasurably higher than my ways” reminds me of my need and God’s resolution. I John 1:9 is another revelation of God’s way, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Our God is awesome! His conviction is a gift. His forgiveness is a gift. He, the One who is exalted above all others, sends Word that He will abundantly pardon—that means again and again. We can be cleaned and “go out in joy and be led forth in peace.” (Isaiah 55:12)


NEEDS OF THE REAL WORLD

HOW CAN GOD USE SOMEONE LIKE ME?!
( Mistakes and all)


First of all when I think of all of the mistakes that I have made as a Christian woman it overwhelms me so badly that I feel like I am in a locked cage. That is why I cannot concentrate on my mistakes

I have to remember that He is working with my imperfections to do what His will is. It has taken me awhile to understand this. With my nature I am a planner, organizer and a total detailed woman. So of course, I then am the planner or the doer and God is pushed out of the situations many times. I am always pushing myself out of the way and stretching my arms up to the heavens and asking God to forgive me for getting in the way and then quickly stepping aside in order that God can control the situation.

God is in situations even if I am trying to order it because He is sovereign. But I do think that sometimes I get in the way and it really does slow down the process for the Lord to work. God is sovereign. Absolutely nothing happens without God knowing. So, when I make the mistakes and are not a good example of Christ or I disobeyed Him He can use the situation to accomplish what He wants with out me. But, we are to be used of God. We are called to be Ambassadors for Christ. So if I am constantly getting in the way I am not pushing forward for Christ I am in the way.

I John 1:9 comes to mind, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The slate is clean and we can go on. Be careful that we do not sit in the mistakes and disobedience so much that we are no earthly good for the Lord to use.

When I sit and think of all of my mistakes then I am concentrating on the wrong and myself. I am not listening to the Lord and His leading in my life in order that I may be used for Him in a certain situation.

Sometimes, as I have experienced there is nothing we can do in situations and then too we must stretch out our hands and say Lord I am here if you want to use me please do, but I can’t see how anything in this situation is useable. We then are empty of what we are and God is now in control

So let us not concentrate on the mistakes that we have made or wrong doings or disobedience. Let us concentrate on asking for forgiveness and leave it at the cross and continue to be used even though we don’t think we can be used. Always remember that God is Sovereign. He doesn’t want our perfections He wants our availability even in our imperfections. He wants us.


CHECK IT OUT


Reading the biography Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God – The Life Story of the Author of My Utmost for His Highest by David McCasland affected me deeply. I would like to share some of it with you.

Before reading this book, the only thing I knew about Oswald Chambers was that he was the author of the famous and well-loved devotional My Utmost for His Highest. I enjoy reading biographies of great Christians since their lives can be encouragements for us Christians living today. This book took me into the lives of Oswald Chambers, his parents and siblings, his wife, his child, and his many friends living for Christ in another time and place. He and his wife “Biddy” (Gertrude) were godly real life examples of Christians who lived and died within the past century. Oswald died in 1917 in World War I at the age of 43. His wife Biddy died in 1966.

He lived a life full of the Holy Spirit, which was the source of his joyful service. He refused to worry. He lived a “restlessly restful” life, as he liked to say. He did not value mere money and personal influence. Christ was his life, as the Apostle Paul said of himself.

Oswald was born in 1874 in England to a loving Christian family in which his father was a pastor and later, an evangelist, and his mother always cheerfully trusted God to work out whatever difficulties came to them. Oswald spent most of his happy boyhood in Scotland, but the family moved back to England later. Oswald gave his heart to Jesus Christ at age sixteen and grew in faith and service to his Lord. His schooling and career path was unclear for a number of years, as he was initially interested in serving God through art. He had a gift of art and music. His father favored more practical pursuits for Oswald, but Oswald did have two years of art schooling. He was also an astute learner of literature, philosophy, and history. Although he was offered a scholarship to continue his study of art, he decided not to accept it, as he observed moral problems with the study of art. Through various people, he felt God was leading him into the ministry of teaching God’s Word. Over time, he taught at three theological or Bible training schools, as well as teaching through Bible training correspondence courses. Part of his gift of teaching was his own “insatiable hunger for knowledge”.

Oswald had a spiritual “crisis of surrender” for four years from the ages of 23 to 27 (years 1897 – 1901). According to what I understand from this book, the crisis was due to the fact that he had not fully given himself to the Lord and had been relying on man’s high esteem of him and his obvious gifts in teaching and preaching God’s Word. Though on the outside, he seemed to be his usual likeable and outgoing self, inside he knew his sin and he struggled with it greatly. It seemed to me that he was trying to get closer to God, but was relying on his own efforts to do so. The praise of men kept him from God. Finally, he gave up his fear of what people would think of him and humbly repented and asked God to live in him. Clinging to the verse Luke 11:13 (“If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”), he asked the Holy Spirit to live in his life.

This spiritual breakthrough in 1901 changed his life forever. Though many aspects of his life appeared the same on the outside, one difference that some noticed was that before, on occasion, he could be caustic and bitter. He didn’t always accept criticism without defending himself. After this spiritual crisis, he was able to hear criticism without defending himself. Also, afterward, he exhibited tact, compassion, and love to a much greater degree. This was the time at which he put himself fully in God’s hands and trusted Him for his future in however God wanted to use him. One of his mottos was to “Trust God and do the next thing”. He felt that the one great crime for a disciple of Christ was worry. “Whenever we begin to calculate without God, we commit sin”. Instead of worry, his practice was to bathe the entire situation in prayer and then wait to see what God would do.

He was blessed with a pleasant personality and he loved people. People were drawn to him. He wrote, “Ever since I learned not to teach any consciously as an aim, men seem to come in many ways to me.” He was a man with “an energetic, inspiring personality”. He prayed every morning for others and prayed for an anointing from God. This gave him “such a skillful touch with souls”. The author wrote, “He was such a gloriously unconventional man.”

Besides teaching at the theological training school and the other Bible training colleges, he worked under the auspices of the Pentecostal League of Prayer. In exercising his duties and calling, he would travel to various parts of the world (England, Scotland, Japan, and America) and preach and teach God’s Word. Oswald led many people to Christ.

On May 25, 1910, he married Gertrude (“Biddy”) Hobbs, whom he had met at his brother Arthur’s church five years previously and then got reacquainted with her 2-1/2 years later when her mother asked him to look after her on the ship they both were taking to America. At this time, he wrote, “Life was always interesting in the providence of God.” In marriage, Oswald and Biddy were united in service to the Lord and in love for each other. They trusted God to lead them and to provide for them. A blessing to so many students, they opened their hearts and home to everyone in hospitality. They gave to anyone who asked for help. On May 24, 1913, their daughter Kathleen was born. What a blessing she was to them and all the students at the Bible college!

When World War I began on August 5, 1914, several Bible school students left for the war. Oswald prayed and struggled with how to handle responsibilities to his family, his country, and to the college. After this time of prayer, Oswald decided to join the war effort as a chaplain in the Y.M.C.A., which supported the British army. Since Egypt wasn’t in the combat zone, the Y.M.C.A. gave permission for his family to come to Egypt too.

As a Y.M.C.A. chaplain, Oswald came to serve the soldiers and strove to bring men to Christ. Everyone there realized that half of the men would be killed when they shipped out to battle. The men were ripe for hearing God’s truth. So, Oswald first started a nightly prayer meeting, which grew from just a couple men the first night. Then he added a midweek service, a Sunday service, and 45-minute nightly talks or lectures on Biblical topics that related to the issues that were on men’s minds. “Soldiers whom no one could accuse of being religious turned out night after night to study the Bible”.

Oswald and Biddy worked tirelessly for God among the soldiers for two years. Oswald became ill with appendicitis in October, 1917, developed a ruptured appendix, had surgery, and developed blood clots in the lung and died at age 43. It was a huge loss to all. In our day of modern medicine and in our practical mindset, it seems to be such a tragic waste. But, this too was in God’s hands and was used for His glory. His sermons and lectures were transcribed by Biddy into written format, and books were published, For three years, Biddy labored on the daily devotional that she titled one of Oswald’s often-used phrases My Utmost for His Highest.

Now that the background of Oswald Chambers’ life has been presented, the rest of the report will contain some more of Oswald’s statements and two of Biddy’s statements. Their lives as Christians have inspired and encouraged me to try, with God’s help, to live more as they did.

Their lives had no contradiction between what they believed and how they lived.

When Oswald and Biddy were faced with the unknown future, they would pray and wonder what God was going to do.

Oswald had a deep, settled peace in his soul. He felt the purpose of prayer was to get in step with God. He would ask Him and then wait.

From a letter to Florence, one of his sisters (1907):
“I feel unspeakably at home among men now [that] I know God.”

“One of the blessed things about this life is that a man carries his

kingdom on the inside, and that makes the outside lovely.”


From a letter to Biddy after their engagement, Oswald wrote:

Be patient and so utterly confident in God that you never question His

ways or your waiting time.

I am so amazed that God has altered me that I can never despair of

anybody.

Criticism of others kills spirituality every time.

To a friend, often he would write: “Be absolutely His!”

The author wrote, “Chambers had a rare capacity to trust matters to God in prayer and wait for Him to move.”

When Oswald got to Egypt in October, 1915, in his diary he wrote, “I am watching with interest the new things God will do and engineer.”

From his diary in 1916, “in any dilemma produced by providential circumstances, the temptation is to yield to ordinary common sense rather than wait for God to fulfill His purpose. God’s order comes to us through the haphazard.”

Chambers emphasized “discovering God’s will through what he called ‘the haphazard circumstances of life’”.

Oswald said, “The one right thing is to be a believer in Jesus Christ”. “To me (Biddy), he is always that preeminently.”

Biddy, upon leaving Egypt 19 months after Oswald’s death, wrote, “We thanked Him, for the abiding fellowship with the one who had lived before us the Great Life of believing in Jesus Christ”.

From Oswald Chambers’ book, Shade of His Hand, here is a quotation: “There will come one day a personal and direct touch from God when every tear and perplexity, every oppression and distress, every suffering and pain, and wrong and injustice will have a complete and ample and overwhelming explanation.”

I hope that these excerpts from the book have given you a better understanding of what kind of Christian man Oswald Chambers was. I thank the Lord for him and his wife Biddy and all they did for their fellow man on behalf of Jesus Christ. May they encourage us all to live for Him and serve Him in whatever we do for the glory of God.

HELPFUL HINTS FOR HOME

What's It Like To Be A Pastor's Kid?


Once in awhile as we have been raising our three sons, I have asked them questions like “What’s it like to be a pastor’s kid? Do you like it?” They have had no complaints, really, and most of the time they have said that they don’t know what it’s like to not be a pastor’s kid!

Are there special precautions we should take in raising pastor’s kids? Should we do anything different than other Christian families?

The common complaint of some pastor’s kids is that they were in the church every time the doors were open. To be honest, yes, my family is at church most every time there is something happening. But I honestly feel it wouldn’t be much different if we weren’t a pastor’s family. In just living a life to honor God, my family would be a vital part of a church family. Where we can take precaution is, in stating why we are going to church tonight. It’s not because we are the pastor’s family. I can think of only a very few occasions where I have told my kids that we need to be there because we are the pastor’s family.

We need to be conscientious of how the attitudes about ‘church’ are formed in the minds of our children. If Dad is at council meeting or visiting, I would often say ‘Dad is working tonight’ instead of ‘Dad is at church tonight’. I didn’t want my kids to see ‘church’ as something that takes their father away from home. Be cautious of telling your children they must behave or dress a certain way because people at church expect them to. Shelter your children from the small or big conflicts that occur in church families. In the times in our ministry where we have had conflicts, our kids have been absolutely clueless that anything is going on.

The part about this that pricks our conscience is that our kids are very likely to have the same attitude about church that we do! Do we talk critically about people and events after church? Do we wake them up Sunday mornings with a joyful attitude, saying ‘This is the day! We get to go to Sunday School today!”

Let your church family become part of your family. At one point when we were contemplating a move that would take us away from our families, a seasoned pastor’s wife told me that God had always provided aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins in their church families. I have found that to be true. Encourage your children to visit after church. Have people into your home. ‘Let people in’ to your daily lives. Let them see that you aren’t perfect or on a pedestal.

Share the blessings of ministry with your children. In ministry, we get a window into people’s hearts and lives that other people don’t get to see. With respect to confidentiality, share those answers to prayer, the changed attitudes and lives, the miraculous provisions and the special conversations with your children. It may plant seeds in their hearts for where God may lead them in the future.

Our oldest left for AFLBS this fall, and we can tell he misses his church family. He asks about it often, and he chose a church in the Minneapolis area ‘because it reminds me of our church’. He didn’t have the choice whether to grow up in a pastor’s family, but hopefully he will see it as a gift from God.

IDEAS THAT WORK

NEW BEGINNINGS


That’s what we think about this time of year. What are your goals physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally? Consider sitting down with a pen and paper. Ask the Lord what is on His mind for you.

I recently was working out at the local health club and noticed a posting from one of the members. She is a woman in her sixties. In addition to her workouts at the health club, her physical goals also included a walk or run in a competition one time each month. She either met or exceeded her goals each month.
That was an inspiration to me!

I had heard it said, “If you do not have goals, you shoot at nothing.” You have more of a tendency of moving towards your goals if you write them down. Just ideas but will you…

Physically – Join a health club? Find a walking partner or walk on your own? Sign up for a water aerobics class?

Spiritually – Set aside time with the Lord each day – not just quality time but quantity too? Read directly from the Bible? Use a new devotional? Attend a new Bible study? Learn how you can serve Him in your local church, area, or in the world? Increase your prayer life?

Mentally – Challenge yourself to learn new things? Memorize scripture?

Emotionally – Take time with others to encourage them? Accept love from others? Trust in the Lord?

Bottom Line – Seek total healing in all areas of your life? Be realistic. The Lord will give you strength to accomplish what His goals are for you.

The Lord so desires for us to have an abundant life - all unseen things that add up to total health.



John 10:9-11 …“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly…”

HERE'S WHAT'S COOKING

Morning Glory Muffins



Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 apple - peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup raisins
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons toasted wheat germ

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly oil 18 muffin cups, or coat with nonstick cooking spray.


In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, apple butter, oil and vanilla.


In a large bowl, stir together flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in carrots, apples and raisins. Stir in apple butter mixture until just moistened. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.


In a small bowl, combine walnuts and wheat germ; sprinkle over the muffin tops.


Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed.




Raspberry-Glazed Rosemary Chicken


Ingredients
1 tablespoon crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 cup raspberry preserves
1/2 teaspoon honey mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


In a small bowl, stir together crushed rosemary, sage, and oregano.


Rub one side of each chicken breast with herb mixture. Place chicken herb-side up in a baking dish, and pour broth over the chicken.


Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.


Place raspberry preserves in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat for 20 to 30 seconds to soften. Stir in honey mustard and rosemary.


Spread about 1 tablespoon of preserve mixture over each breast. Bake 10 minutes more.

TOGETHER THROUGH PRAYER


Lord, we’re here again and we continue to really mess up. You already know all about our mistakes, Lord, but you know and we know that communication…two-way communicating…is essential. Oh God, I am so sorry – in your grace extend your forgiveness to me once again. Cleanse me and make me clean, O Lord my God. Let the blood of Jesus wash me clean.


God says: You are my daughter; I forgive you because of the sacrifice made my Son on the Cross of Calvary. I invite you to continue on this journey, this faith walk. Move ahead with Me leading the way.


Lord we want to walk with you in faith, but admit that we sometimes wonder how You can love us – mistakes and all. Keep us aware Oh Lord, that it is through problems and failures, weakness and neediness that we learn to rely on you. Remind us that we are truly victorious by living a life deeply dependent on You.


Keep coming to me, my child, and learn from me, for I am gentle and you will find rest for your soul.


We love you Lord, hallelujah because Jesus is interceding for us. Amen.