Last week a good friend of mine gave me some sad news. Her dear mother needed a pacemaker. I was disturbing to hear that this wonderful woman who loves God with all her heart needed some help keeping her heart beating properly. However she, her family and friends have a Peacemaker. He is the One who created all that is including this sweet lady and He is in control of what is happening now. This lady who has loved and served God for many years is relaxing in the peace that only God can give during this storm in her life.
 
No matter what God takes you to He will provide a way for you to make it through. Oh, how I wish I would have learned this powerful truth earlier in my life! To some extent I believed it but I am very sad to admit that for several years as a young adult I never even gave God the chance to be true to His word.  Problems arose and I would say a prayer. Then I would go about my day and begin to orchestrate things as I saw fit. I thought yes, I am beginning to get this taken care of. Then another storm would hit and I would cry as the disciples did. The storm is raging. The disciples in the boat ran for their Lord, asleep in the back of the boat. "Lord, we are drowning; help us!" You remember the story well. He arose, the Mighty Man who made the sea. "Peace, be still!" He called and the winds and waves obeyed. Better yet, He calmed the winds and waves deep within the heart of each man in the storm. That's our Lord--He's the Peacemaker. We are in this boat we call life. God gave us this life to live for Him. We are still here on earth because He has something for us to do. He wants us to live according to His plan and He has huge blessings for us along the way. When our willful attitude kicks in; when we try to orchestrate things to suit ourselves we miss out on the huge blessings He has for us.
 
As I've grown to trust Him more and step out in faith I see His provision in more detail. He is constantly with us. I know in our minds that most of us who are His children believe that He is around but do we believe that He will provide. Many of you may have heard the statement "You believe in God but do you BELIEVE God."  How sad it is that we ask Him for help then jump in and try to handle it ourselves. We are cheating ourselves of huge blessings. There is tremendous joy of seeing our Heavenly Father at work. The next time you face a challenge in your life be it big or small take it to the true Peacemaker just as this dear lady has. Leave it there and see Him work! God will use you in mighty ways.  I wish you all His Peace. Keep Him at the helm of your boat.                                                

 

I recently led a prayer retreat for the WMU ladies of my church.  As a young pastor's wife (I'm in my thirties, so I can still claim to be young!), I must admit I was stumped over how to lead these seasoned ladies.  After much prayer, my husband and I did a Google search on prayer retreats and were directed to Request By Prayer: A Prayer Retreat Guide, compiled by Beth M. Moore, J.K. Laslene Glymph, and Yvonne Frederick.
This guide was complied following the South Carolina Baptist Convention's first statewide Women's Prayer Retreat held in February of 2009. 

The guide is composed of three sections:

Section I - The Central Role of Prayer in the Life of Jesus Christ

Section II - Having a Personal Prayer Retreat

Section III - Planning a Corporate Retreat.

I was led to focus on Section I and adapt the format the fit into the setup of our retreat.  Section I has four chapters.  Those four chapters are a walk through the prayer life of Jesus.  Who better to model our prayer life after? 

Chapter 1 is Jesus' Personal Prayer Life, Chapter 2 is What Would Jesus Pray?, Chapter 3 is What Jesus Told His Disciples to Pray about, and Chapter 4 is Jesus' Teaching on Prayer.
I found the study to be so well-received by our WMU ladies that I am now leading a four-part study on Wednesday nights on the very same topic to a group of young ladies within our church.
A point taken straight from the guide: "His prayer life was active, alive, consistent, effective, and vital to His public ministry.  If Jesus needed such a prayer life to communicate with the Father, how much more do we?"

The proceeds from the sale of this guide support ministry projects for women through the Ministry to Women, South Carolina Baptist Convention.  Contact information: 1-803-765-0030, lasleneglymph@scbaptist.org
 
Review by Kristi W. Cook
Wife of Dr. Jay Cook, pastor, First Baptist Church, Pascagoula, MS

 

Diane has been attending the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Orlando this week. To view a live stream of the meeting click here  http://www.316networks.com/sbc10/                                                                           For News Coverage of the events  go to  http://www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc10/newsroom/

 

I'm sure that she will return home tired but inspired as we women often do after the busyness of ministry. You will hear from her again next week but until then; go out and have fun with the Son while you show His love to others!