Wedded Bliss?

If you have been married for a few years, you know that it takes work and sacrifice for a good marriage. Being a wedding photographer for over 30 years, I have had the opportunity to hear a lot of wedding sermons. One in particular I will never forget. The scripture was a familiar one; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
The difference in the message that day? He told all of us that were married ,to put our name in the place of love. Barb is patient, Barb is kind, Barb does not envy......and so on. Ouch! What an eye opener for me! It got me out of my self-centered thinking really quickly. I encourage you to try this when things aren't quite how you thought your marriage should be,or if you are just having a bad day. It will humble you and show you who Jesus wants you to be. But also, make you realize that change starts inside of you, through God's love and the Holy Spirit. And now these three remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love- 1 Cor 13:13

The rest of the story..:)

Are you comfortable?

Pastor Shannon told me today that he prays continually to God about his comfort level. He does not ever want to be comfortable!  So what does that look like for you? It is easy to think about comfort when it is 100 degrees out, crank on the AC, right?  But I don't think that is what he meant.  I think he is talking about being lukewarm in our faith. The last book of the bible called Revelations talks about this in chapter 3 verse 16. It says "So because your are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Wow, that does not sound good.......I lived a lukewarm life for a long time, chasing money to get stuff, and I would drive home late at night and think.....isn't there something else to this life?  How about you? Do you feel that sometimes too?  That is God. Plain and simple, calling you out of your lukewarm state into His service!  One of my favorite books,"A Million Miles in a thousand years" is about doing something remarkable with your life. About getting out of that lukewarm state and making your life an awesome story. That's why I walked my first Relay for life last year, that's why Steve and I did our first 5 K last year, that's why we are going on a mission trip to France in 16 days, that's why I said yes, when He called me into ministry. I am not saying you need to do these things, but could God want something better for you? Oh yeah.....He sure does. But Barb.....I need this job, I am scared, what will everyone say?  Yep... I did think I needed the job.....I am still scared, and yes, they will talk, but the journey God will take you on, will make you forget about all of that. (Pastor Shannon told me that would happen too =) You see, God's story is much better than anything else we could do on our own. Trust Him, get out of your comfort zone, pray and ask Him to start opening doors for a new story for your life! You will never believe what will happen! Always remember......I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  

Jesus knows about my bug

 I really don't think I understood obedience until Tuesday night. I had the opportunity to attend annual conference for the Evangelical church this past few days. It was filled with information, and inspiration. I met many God fearing men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving God.  They have given up earthly things for heavenly things,  and as I listened I began to realize what God wanted me to do. Of course I had a plan.....:)..but it was not God's plan. For the past 6 weeks I have asked God to help us get out of debt, because it is a burden that you have to focus on and I didn't want anything to distract me from serving God. I asked God to once more bless my business this summer with enough work to satisfy the debt. But God had another plan, He told me to sell my car.......the car I had saved up for and wanted my whole life, my convertible beetle. Okay, this was not easy to hear.....I think this is how sanctification works, God carves away the sin in your heart. He promises us in Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. This is a verse given to me many years ago by Donna Barner, and just recently by Pastor Shannon at my church. I knew this verse, but did I really believe it? As I sat there at the conference I realized that  another force was at work in my heart also....the enemy. Satan was loving this, dragging me down, making me start to question why I wanted to go into ministry, it was not pretty. But then God to the rescue!  Pastor Dave asked me what I thought of the conference so far, I said I was struggling......."Oh no you are going to make it through this, we need to talk right now", he said. So we did, and I cried, and he told me about how much God loves me and what obedience looks like, that it is not a sacrifice, but giving in to God who knows me so well, and loves me beyond what I can imagine. He told me about his grandson Jack that sang Jesus loves me, to him a different way, he sang "Jesus knows me, this I love" . That pretty much says it all. The bug is up for sale as of last night, and I am okay with it. And guess what happened the last day of conference, Pastor Duane, head of missions came up to me and offered me a job producing promotion pieces for his missions trips......wowzer......plans to prosper you and not to harm you, that is God's promise, I just needed to be obedient. =)

The perfect design

How do you define life?  When does it start? According to God's perfect design it starts at conception. A student of mine emailed me this amazing video of a child growing from conception to birth, if you thought life started at 1 week or 2 days, perhaps this will change you mind.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=fKyljukBE70