|
Latest Video
 | | Every Step |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Empowered to Forgive:
You Hurt Me! But God Healed Me!
 | | Kim Hardy |
What do you do when your emotional pain is still raw? What do you do when your pain is inflicted by someone in the church?
Like every pastor's wife, I have had my share of pain. I remember one pastor's wife said she had so many scars on her back that I could play tick-tack-toe on it. Although it made me laugh, it also reminded me of my many scars from twenty five years of being in ministry.
I especially remember one painful situation in particular because it came from an unsuspecting person. Let me be honest for a minute: The worst kind of pain for me is when it comes from someone who I least expect.
It was Easter Sunday some years ago. And because I was the worship leader, all week long I had been praising and practicing resurrection songs, so I woke up in a resurrection mood. I was ready and prepared to have an encounter with God.
Well Sunday arrived and after I finished leading two songs, we then took a few minutes to greet and meet.
I'm not sure why but I quickly left the stage to get something. At that moment I noticed our musician leaving the piano to greet me... so I thought. I extended both my arms to give her a hug, but she did not respond in kind. She said: "I'm quitting...and today is my last Sunday!" She then looked in the direction of two other members who were her friends, which gave me the indication that they knew why she was talking to me.
So there I was...I couldn't catch my breath. It was a Judas moment I didn't see coming. Even though I can normally sense a church storm brewing a mile away...but not this time. Easter? Really? 
Because I only had about a minute or so to go back to the stage, I didn't have time to go through my normal routine of boo hooing in private. As hard as I tried to not allow the musician and her friends to have the satisfaction of seeing my pain, the floodgate of tears burst through anyway.
Although I was emotionally bleeding, I realized I had one more song to sing. Thankfully, a song the musician did not have to play because I was singing from an instrumental track. But of all the days, why did it have to be a solo. I never felt so alone in my life. I could not run into my husband's arms for comfort. Or call one of my BFF's to vent.
It was just Jesus and me. I remember praying a quick prayer to God: "Lord, help me! I'm grieving. My heart is aching. I'm angry. And I'm tired of being hurt in ministry"
The song I had chosen weeks before Easter was ever so appropriate. The song was entitled: It Wasn't Easy, But It Was Worth It by CeCe Winans.
As the music played, I closed my eyes and sang to God. Every word I sung, I felt empowerment. Even in the spaces between the words, I felt no space between me and God. I felt His sweet presence in my suffering. As well as I sensed God speaking into my soul to remember: Just as he was empowering me to sing, He was going to empower me to forgive.
A couple of days later, I knew I needed to try to reconcile with the musician. The pain was such that I knew I had to put it in a letter because my emotions were everywhere. I only mailed one letter, but it took four or five re-writes before I felt it was God-honoring. I asked in the letter if she and I could meet in person and discuss what happened. She contacted me some days later and we talked for some length. We didn't agree on everything, but we reconciled.
After that meeting, she was still not our musician, but she will always be my sister in the Lord.
As I said earlier, every pastor's wife has experienced her share of pain. Although the memories never go away of the people who have hurt us, I pray we will all remember God has the power to heal us!
From one PW who has been healed more times than I can count to those of you who need a healin'! Come on sister! Let Him who is our Jevhovah Rapha heal our pain!
What do you think?
Join me in the Devotionals or forum and let's talk about the process of healing and forgiveness. The Forum is a safe place where our Dr. A and other minister's wives are the only people who can see what you write.
|
|  | |
Strengthened By Grace Life Well Lived
Week 7 
Frame It Up: Emotional Resilience
 | |
Kristianne Stewart
|
Do you have a friend that seems to overcome in every area of their life? They handle life stressors with such ease, they just seem to gracefully bounce back from any situation. Emotional resilience is the ability to rebound from stress induced emotions and situations appropriately. It is our ability to function productively within our lives and
respond to life's situations. There are times in our lives when we are all faced with stressful situations and traumatic events but we must maintain the flexibility and balance in our lives. One of the keys to building emotional resilience is to work on it with
everyday life stressors. For some, this is our overwhelming strong emotions triggered in a particular situation or with an individual that somehow leads to the end result of
unchecked anger. It those situations, you may not even know the reason for the discord but you always know what your reaction was. We all have a touchpoint that may lead
us back to a "pet sin". Identifying the areas of weakness, owning up to your part in the process, seeking repentance, and then avoiding the occasion will make you stronger
and build your emotional resilience.
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:8
Light It Up:
Anytime, Anywhere, About Anything
How should I pray? I remember asking God this many years ago as a new believer. I felt comforted by the fact that even Jesus' disciples probably had the same question. It
just wasn't the how to pray that bothered me, but when and where should I pray? I sought the advice from my Godly mentor who shared with me that I needed to start
praying to God out loud in my home first. Just start an ongoing conversation with Him. As I grew in my faith, I began to pray to God whenever I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to. I found by bringing a situation to God first and waiting for Him, I could clearly see how He would want me to respond.
Keep a prayer journal or make a note next to scripture in your Bible. Writing in my prayer journal allows me to see how much I have grown in the Lord and how faithful He
is to me. I can pray specifically for people and record how God has answered those prayers. I have learned God is the author of my life story. He can rescript my "predictable endings" to His "glorious beginnings".
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
Strengthened By Grace 19 but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer. 20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! Psalm 66:18-20
Agape,
Kristianne
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Have you missed one of our mailings? Check out our Archives! |
|
|
It's Coming!
|  |
|
| | | |
Sanctifying The Sewage
| | Kristianne Stewart |
10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring. James 3:10-12
If you live in America today it is highly unlikely that you will suffer the physical affects of water deprivation. True dehydration with cracked lips, mouth open trying to speak but throat choked closed on the brink of death from lack of fresh water. The reality is that fresh water is a scarce resource in many parts of our world today. The problem is not just supplying the world population with safe drinking water but providing a continual source to millions of thirsty people. A revolutionary water reclamation project commonly referred to as "Toilet to Tap", provides fresh drinking water to millions of  people worldwide from sewer water. Yuck! Safe drinking water from our tap originating from our flush? The thought causes an immediate internal repulsion. Followed quickly in thought with how do they do it and are we drinking recovered sewer water? The water purification process is not unlike the process of sanctification where we grow in God's grace, free from the bondage of sin. It is when as Christians, we don't just linger complacently in His grace but grow in His grace. We are led by the Holy Spirit to a life of holiness as we submit our entire being to God. This is in direct conflict with a culture placing the pursuit of our happiness over our holiness. On our life path, our footstep should fall within the one Jesus has left for us as He leads us. God has also given us free will by which we make choices sometimes moment to moment as to what we expose our spirit to. What we see, do, hear, and speak can be an "a-salt" of our senses. Without continually renewing our mind with God's purifying words, we quickly go from flowing spring water to the salty seas. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always
learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:6-7
Could that be a woman you know, full of small groups, Bible studies, godly friends, a good person? But when temptation hit they faltered, fell, and succumbed to the enemy. The media, technology, the people around us can become an intricate sewerage system rapidly transporting polluted thinking with such velocity to our spirit, we struggle to not drown in the volume of filth.  Sometimes this sewage will seep into our spirit exposing the corrupted culture we live in and how difficult it is to be culturally aloof to the sin around us. As women we can allow our emotions to override God's truth. We might know grace and mercy but never allow it to completely saturate our spirit and when doubt comes we are spiritually squeezed out and rung dry.
3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one
another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7
Renewing our thoughts is part of sanctification. When we believe and trust in Jesus, our lives should be transformed, our thoughts, actions, words like water will undergo a purification process. Much like the sewage water that first undergoes a microfiltration
process, we should allow God's word, the Bible to filter our thoughts. As the filtered water undergoes a second step of reverse osmosis, improving the drinking water by forcing it through a filter so do you when you used to think this way, you used to act this way, but now you are turning away. The final purification step is a high intensity ultraviolet light combined with hydrogen peroxide that destroys any remaining organic compounds. The end result is clear drinking water for our spirit as we yield to the Holy Spirit and live in the light of Christ. The ultimate purification of our thoughts.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daily Devotion for Women - Now online
 We now have a one year Daily Devotion written by Minister's Wives for minister's wives. We will post a new one every morning at 4:30 a.m. You can click on the book for more information or you can
|
Check out Our Events Page
- Get more info and links for Lifeway Events or add your own event.
 
 | Bok Center, Tulsa, OK, September 27th - 28th
|
 | |
FBC Tulsa,
September 26th - 27th, Early Registration ends July 26th
|
|
|
Check out our online Store!
|
|
|
