The Best Advice

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying.  He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion.  He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”  ~ Samuel Chadwick

Today, I could probably give hundreds of examples  where God was waiting for me to turn to Him and ask for help.  The best advice I can give my children (and everyone else) is to pray about it.  Whether it is because something is lost or they are trying to make an important decision and everything in between.  God WILL help you in your time of need.  He will lay on your heart peace or discontentment regarding whatever matter at hand. 

When I was a new Christian and learning to trust God more, He continually increased my faith by responding to by breathe prayers.  The ones that you mutter in the moment or say in a desperate plea.  He still does this.  I vividly remember looking for a very important document that I thought I had left in my car.  I searched my entire car.  Went back into my apartment (at the time) and searched my desk and piles of papers.  I went back to the car and searched again.  After the back and forth numerous times, I sat in the front seat of my car and was about to give up.  I said one of my first breathe prayers as a believer, “Lord, please help me find this document.”  As the last word came out of my mouth it was as if I felt his hand lift my chin and my eyes fell upon the document safely tucked into the visor.  I wept.  All the back and forth was done in my own strength and will.  The moment I turned to Him, He heard and answered my prayers.

My four year old son came in from playing outside to ask for help to find some chalk.  I was busy and brushed him off.  I told him maybe later.  He came in the house about ten minutes later with a big smile on his face and said, “Mommy, I found the chalk.  I prayed to Jesus and He helped me find it.”  Later that day I wept again.  I praised God for increasing my four year old son’s faith with a piece of chalk when I wouldn’t give him the time of day.  The best advice I can give anyone, is to pray about it.  He is willing and waiting to hear from you no matter how big or small your issue is.

Warmly,

Jill

Prayer Plan

Luke 11:1  Lord teach us to pray.

Do you pray?  Hopefully everyone can say yes to that.  Are you intentional about praying?  Well, I pray when I need something, want something or am desperate about something.  Still, most people can relate to that.  Intentional means to do something on purpose; deliberately.  Do you deliberately pray?

For my family, we pray at meals, on our way to school, before bed as well as when we do devotionals.  We also pray if something “pops up” and we need to turn to the Father for guidance, wisdom, comfort, etc.  

After a recent sermon at church we were convicted that we needed to be more intentional with our prayer life as we seek to teach our children to rely fully on God.  We took our pastor’s advice to actually plan out our prayers.  Of course, this does not mean that if we have dedicated a certain day to pray for someone and something that we don’t add that to our prayers that day.  I typed up our weekly prayer list and made a little flip chart so it is easy to remember and the kids enjoy keeping us on track.

Sunday- Pray for our schools, teachers, administration and board members.

Monday- Pray for missionaries serving internationally and stateside.

Tuesday- Pray for our family that lives outside of our house.

Wednesday- Pray for leaders of our country and other leaders.

Thursday- Prayer for our friends and neighbors.

Friday- Pray for our family, our needs, daddy and mommy’s jobs and our future.

Saturday- Pray for our church, pastors, leaders within and those who work there.

Warmly,

Jill

2013 Goals

Happy New Year to everyone!  After traveling, sickness, and now a kitchen remodel, Jill and I would like to tell you how excited we are to be on this journey with you this year. I love change!  Christmas time is my favorite but when January rolls around I always seem to be ready for it. I love setting goals for my year ahead. I'm one that is more driven when I have specific goals. I like to tangibly see something and then hopefully implement. As I have been doing my quiet time the past few weeks I asked God to give me vision for the year. As I continue to pray and mediate, these are a few things the Lord has and continues to show me for this year:

1. Dream Big. Stop limiting God by my inability to see more. I have always been a big picture girl. Love to lead through projects, teaching and speaking but I am learning that God is even bigger and I need to not shy away from the really BIG dreams floating around in my head!

2.  Pray for those persecuted. So many followers of Jesus Christ are being persecuted. I need to sacrifice more time in prayer for those Brothers and Sisters.

3. Discipline. If I am honest, I can always make time for myself if I need to. I don't always, but when the rubber meets the road, all my needs are always met. The Lord has really been working on my heart regarding devoting more time to studying/reading His word. For me, that means getting up earlier than my children. To break that down my sweet baby girl loves her  6am wake up time. Am I willing to obey?

4. Watching my speech. Amazing what a Proverbs study brings to light. So many areas for improvement in this category.

5. Seek wisdom from wise women. I'm grateful for great mentors in my life. I'm making it a priority this year to be intentional to spend time with them.

6. Make my health a priority. Healthy eating, exercise regularly and more family active time.

7. Foster an avenue to serve a church/para church organization that loves orphans. This is an area of my heart the Lord is giving me great love and passion for. So, I dream big and pray.

8. Be a loving and gentle wife and friend.

9. Pray for my church. I am so blessed to have my church. Our pastor said last week "we make much of Jesus around here". Yes we do.

10.  Make teaching Jesus an even deeper priority to my children. They are my most precious gift. I don't want to waste it.

11. Tell. People need Jesus. People need hope. I need to tell the Good News to a world that is searching for truth. Someone was kind enough to tell me.

So.. those are just my top eleven!   I pray the Lord will radically shape my life and your life this year. I know the two things I must do - discipline myself and pray. Today, I leave you with this. Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope with profess, for he who promised is faithful".

We have a great Hope!  Let's live this year with confidence in our great God.

With JOY,
Leeanne