You Deserve to be Cherished

To my sweet daughters, it's been way to long since I last wrote to you. Whenever you read this, if you think back in time, you'll remember how busy we were when I wrote this to you. My neglecting of your blog is only because I have been showering you with my time. :)

As I've mentioned before, I have been praying for your future spouses since before you were born. I often wonder about them. Who are they? Do we already know them? Are they living a good life or is life difficult for them? Most of all, I pray that they are growing to be God honoring men. I pray that they are growing to be fully devoted followers of Christ, just as I pray that for you. I believe that if they are fully devoted to Christ, then they will treat you like gold! The Bible is clear on how men should treat their wives, therefore, they'll treat you as God intends a husband to treat his wife.

Recently I was reading Ephesians 5:22-30 and couldn't help but think how much the secular world frowns upon this idea of marriage. Verse 22 says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord." It goes on to say that the husband is the head of the wife. I think so many non believers get stuck on this idea that wives are to be submissive and take whatever the husband dishes at them. I, however, don't think that's what scripture is saying at all! If you read on in verse 25, Paul says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Husbands are to be equally respectful to their wives as wives are to their husbands. Most of all, what scripture is saying through words like, "as to the Lord" and "as Christ," is that marriage is to be GOD CENTERED! A marriage is set up to fail if God is not the center. Although marriage has been fairly easy for your father and me, even with God as the center, it won't always be easy, but it will be good. That's because God is perfection and will bless your marriage if you honor Him.

Another key point that I don't want you to miss is found in verse 27, "So that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." What I'm about to say is extremely important! If you are dating a young man and he is not living for Christ, run! If he pressures you about anything, run! If he says the only way you can prove your love to him is by sleeping with him, RUN FAST! A true, good man will TREASURE you and RESPECT you. A true, good man wants nothing more than to meet you at the alter completely cleansed and pure because he loves God and he loves you and wants to honor you both.

Finally, I conclude with a short, simple verse that I think says it all. Verse 30 says, "Because we are members of His body." What I think Paul is saying is that husbands and wives treat each other as the Bible says because we belong to God. God lives in us and wants nothing more than to have our hearts! I love you!

"For Such a Time as This"

It’s been quite awhile since I posted a blog for my sweet girls. It seems I’ve had trouble managing my time well and have been so busy keeping up with all that I’d like to “keep up” with. Rest assured, loved ones, that just because I don’t get something written on the blog for you, you’re never far from my heart and mind. Today I want to talk to you about God’s plans. I’ve been attending my Women’s Bible Study and we’re currently working through Beth Moore’s study “Esther.” I’m only half way through it but it has weighed heavily on my heart how God calls us for “such a time as this.” Sometimes God will call us to places, physical or emotional places, because He is going to need us in that place to accomplish His work. For Esther, it was as queen of the Persian Empire. She was chosen to be queen by the king after a lengthy process during which she found favor in the king’s eyes. As an orphan raised by her cousin, Mordecai, she hid her identity as a Jew from the king at the request of Mordecai. To make a long story short, Mordecai upset the king’s “right hand man,” Haman, by not bowing down to him. Haman then convinced the king to put to death all Jews in the kingdom. You see, God placed Esther in the royal family “for such a time as this.” She alone could convince the king to spare the Jews. This was not an easy task for Esther, but God equipped Esther and placed her just where she needed to be.

There will be times in your life where God will put you in a place “for such a time as this.” It may not be as influential and weighty as Queen of Persia, but none-the-less as important. When God places you in these places, they may be really tough places, but rest assured, God will equip you and guide you every step of the way and through the process, GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED!

By the time you read this, the following event will be a distant event in the past, but I want to share with you a time just a couple of years ago that God placed me somewhere for “such a time as this.” Our family spent 5 years at a church that God called us to so that we could accomplish His will for us during that period of our lives. A lot of wonderful things came from that church. We grew in our walk with the Lord in our time there and it’s also where we met some of our closest friends and, most notably, our “extended family,” the O’Malley family. It was a quaint little church of about 200 people, give or take 50 people, depending on the season. A few years into our time there, God called me to be a part of the staff. Dad and I had no doubt that was where God wanted me. My time on staff started out beautifully. God was teaching me so much about Himself and myself and I loved having a part time job after being out of the workforce for so many years to be your mother full time. However, after about 4-5 months after joining the staff, God began to open my eyes to some things that just weren’t right with the pastor. What followed was 1 very difficult year, but I had to trust that God had a plan for me and called me there for “such a time as this.” Although the church was God’s church and his Hand was most definitely at work in the lives of the people there, the problem still needed to be addressed. I believe with all my heart that the pastor was a very broken man that needed God’s healing, however, he was resistant and blinded to it and was surrounded by people that had enabled him to continue in a destructive path for a very long time. Although many people had been deeply wounded by him, there had yet to be a time that anyone truly stepped up and spoke out against the entire situation. God not only empowered me to speak up, but He also empowered a group of people around me to also speak up. Together, and with A LOT of prayer, we followed God’s gentle urging and spoke up because God had called us “for such a time as this.” We did what God called us to do and then we stepped back to let God do what He needed to do. It was NOT an easy time for me, but God directed me to TRUST Him and move on.

You will experience times in your life that will be difficult, hurtful and painful, but remember that God has you exactly where He needs you to be. He has called you for “such a time as this.” I promise you that whatever the situation may be, you will walk away stronger in the Lord because of it.