Choosing or Refusing / Mrs Hannah Hon

Mrs Hannah Hon

Pastor's Wife

Grace Baptist Church

Columbus, GA

Choosing or Refusing

I love Pinterest, and I love to look at all the wonderful DIY projects. My husband always takes a deep breath whenever I tell him that I tried something new off of Pinterest, and with good reason, as there have been many failed attempts compared to my few successful ventures in the fantasy life of my Pinterest boards.
One such failed attempt took place at the first church my husband pastored, at a ladies’ fellowship where we were attempting to make some really cute Turkey Cookies that I had seen online. As I had gone to the store earlier that day, in search of the different things we needed, I caught myself substituting pieces that the recipe called for, for more inexpensive parts. The more money I saved the better I thought my choices were for this project and I became excited to think that I would be way under my budget. As we began to assemble the “turkeys” it became quickly evident that my choices to save money lead to a slew of turkey cookies that resembled more a turkey apocalypse then they did a traditional and sweet, Thanksgiving turkey. The episode will forever be in my book as one of my biggest Pinterest fails due to my poor choices.   
We are faced with choices to make each and every day, choices to walk with God, to pray, to witness, to raise our children for the Lord, to work on having a Christ-centered marriage. The smaller, daily choices add up and soon produce the end results of what we see in our lives daily. Philippians 1:10 says “That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.” It is important that as face each day that our choices be based on Bible principles, that we choose the more excellent choices. So what does that mean for us each day?
Choose to walk with God each day! James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…”   If we are not spending time in Gods word each day, we are missing the whole point of the day! It is in this quiet time each day that I find the strength, understanding, wisdom, and needed refreshment to do what needs to be done. Choosing to walk with the Lord, choosing to start my day with HIM, must be the first choice I make happen. The Psalmist said in Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire
in his temple.”  Are you choosing to spend time in his word? Set that time aside now – plan now to read his word today!
Choose to spend time in prayer with him. 1 Chronicles 16:11 “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually” Not only should we spend time in his word, but seek his face in prayer. For many Christians, their prayer life consists only of quick prayers like “Lord bless my day…” to get started, or the occasional “Lord bless this food…” before a meal. Daily we miss the power for the day that is found at the feet of Jesus. This is giving to our Savior out of only our small abundance of time – if you are only giving to him out of your abundance, what have you really given him except your leftovers? There is power in prayer and if we would but stop and take the time to enter into our prayer closets we would see the difference speaking to an almighty God makes in just a short time.
Choose to be a witness! Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Sharing the good news of salvation should be a choice we pursue to make as frequently as possible. We live in a world that is lost and dying and time is running out! I am just as guilty as the next person of allowing myself to be oblivious to the lost around me as I set out to get my needs accomplished, whether at the store, or out with my family, the gas station. We need to make a conscious choice to present the gospel at every opportunity, and the go in search of those opportunities. We need to choose to be a witness. 
Choosing to read his word, spend time in prayer, be a witness, is just the tip of the iceberg of hundreds of choices we make each day. Eventually our choices will add up and our life story will be written, we will stand before the Lord and have to give account to the choices we have made with our lives. I sure would hate for my life to be a series of bad choices that, to the Lord, looked like a Pinterest Life Fail! Instead I want to hear the words “Well done thou good and faithful servant”! To hear those words, I must seek to make choices that are honoring to Him! Choose to live for him, don’t refuse the blessings of what he is offering you today! 

PURITY / Mrs April Holman

Mrs April Holman

Deaf Pastor's Wife

Lighthouse Baptist Church

Lebanon, IN

  PURITY
Scripture:  Proverbs 4:23
II Corinthians 2:10
Mark 7:21-22
Psalms 40:1-3
Ruth 3:18 

Just a few weeks ago, my oldest daughter celebrated her 16th Birthday!   For a Mama, it is very difficult to see your first born baby girl all grown up!  I am so proud of her though!     Where most girls would want to have a big party, invite all of their friends and celebrate “Sweet 16”, she didn’t.   She wanted to have what is called a “Purity Luncheon”.  She invited Ladies in the church and her Grandmother and Aunts to come and have lunch with her.  She asked them to bring along a letter that they had written, giving her advice on staying pure until Marriage.  It was such a sweet, touching and an emotional day.  So many ladies came to the luncheon, each one touched, that she chose them to ask advice from. Each lady came bearing a letter of advice.  We went around the room and each lady openly read their letter to her.  Our Pastor’s wife gave a devotion.  There were many tears, of course, but so much good advice to glean from.  My daughter learned so much from these ladies.  This was so good for her and I am so glad that she has a tender heart to want to seek advice and learn how to stay pure.  Her Daddy and I gave her a Purity Ring to wear so she will never forget this day and her promise to the Lord.  As we left, my heart was so full! 
Some things I would like to pull out and focus on that deal with Purity.  
1. Purity all starts in the HEART.  We need to guard our HEART.
a. Proverbs 4:23 says, “KEEP thy heart with ALL DILIGENCE; for out of it are the issues of life.” We are in a day and age where Satan will do anything he can to destroy our heart!  Through our eye gates, our ear gates, so many things that he can send his arrows of temptation to strike us straight in the heart; so many things that can distract us from serving the Lord.  We must GUARD our heart!!!  
b. We cannot be Half-hearted in the things we do for Him.  We must serve Him and guard ourselves WHOLE-HEARTEDLY.
 
2. We must guard our MIND.
II Corinthians 2:11 says, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. “
               Again, we cannot allow Satan to get that foothold in.  What affects our minds will affect our hearts.  We have to be oh so careful what we watch, what we listen to, where we go.  

3.  We must keep our hearts tender to what God has for us.  
a. Philippians 4:8-9 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are TRUE, whatsoever things are HONEST, Whatsoever things are JUST, whatsoever things are PURE, whatsoever things are LOVELY, whatsoever things are of GOOD REPORT; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things.

b. We must THINK on the good things…ON PURPOSE! It’s like an army who builds a Wall or a Fortress around their camp to keep the enemy out.  We must ON PURPOSE keep that enemy out!  The Fortress or wall we build is PRAYER.   Deflecting the fiery darts of the wicked!  

I have shared with my daughter on multiple occasions some of my past.  If you have ever heard my testimony, I had a very difficult upbringing.   I was adopted at age 2 because of a terrible incident that took place with my parents.  My Uncle and Aunt adopted me.  My Uncle was very kind to me, but my Aunt was very cruel.  For the next 19 years of my life I would experience mental, physical, emotional abuse at her hands.  I spent a great portion of my childhood in a basement by myself.    I did not have anyone that I felt I could trust to ask for advice. I did not have anyone to teach me about Purity.  So when I turned 18, I sought to find love on my own.   Boy did it get me into trouble!  I wasted the next 4 years of my life.  I spent 2 years in a “home” for troubled girls and women, I spent all that time hating God for everything that had happened to me.  At age 22, only through God’s Grace, I was adopted by a loving Godly couple.  Shortly after that I went to Hyles-Anderson College where I met my husband.   In 2003, I was a Pastor’s Wife, I had 2 children and one on the way, I was a soul winner, but I had NEVER been saved.  I was interpreting a sermon for the Deaf when God convicted me so strongly I could not continue to interpret.  I ran out of the church, followed by my Mother, who led me to the Lord.     
I tell my daughter all the time I wish I could take back those wasted years.  But I can’t.  My life verse is Psalms 40:1-3 which says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
I believe the Lord allowed me 19 years of abuse so that I could help someone else who may be going through the same thing.  Our God is SO GOOD!   I never want my daughter to experience that horrible pit or the miry clay. I never want her to make the mistakes and experience the heartaches that I did.

If she will just keep her heart as tender as it is right now, and guard her heart and mind, She will keep her purity.
She shared a verse with me just today that she found.  She was writing a book report for school on the book of Ruth.   Ruth 3:18 says, “Then said she, sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall:……..”

Yes, little girl, sit still and let God move!   Be still and know that HE is GOD and HE knows what is BEST for you!  He makes all things beautiful in His time!

Don't FREAK out REST in His hands / Mrs Claudia Heppen

Mrs Claudia Heppen

Pastor's Wife

Frankfort Baptist Church

Frankfort, IN

Don't FREAK out REST in His hands!!!

I received a text message last month asking if I would write a devotion for this month.  As soon as I read the message, I began to freak out and so many thoughts started running through my mind.  Lord, there is no way I can do this, Why me?, I’ve only ever written one devotion in my life….  It took me a whole day and a half before I responded and said yes ma’am, I will.  
Why did I let myself get so freaked out.  One, I took my eyes off of Jesus and let fear set in.  2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Joshua 1:9 “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”  These are some of my favorite verses and yet in the midst of my freak out mode, I neglected to rest in His hands and keep my eyes on Him.  Just like Peter did when he came down out of the ship and walked on the water to go to Jesus.  As soon as he saw the wind violently blowing, he was in freak out mode and started to sink. 
Mrs Claudia Heppen Pastor’s Wife Frankfort Baptist Church Frankfort, Indiana
Don’t FREAK out REST in His hands / Mrs Claudia Heppen
Circumstances can be frightening sometimes.  When you just spent 20 years as a submariner wife and then the Lord calls your husband to pastor a small church, when you are a new pastor’s wife and you hope your doing things right, when both of your children are at college and empty nest sets in.  All these things can put you in freak out mode and cause you not to rest in His hands.  When fear takes over, faith is driven away.  But when faith reigns, freaking out has no place.
I’ve been praying the Lord would give me what He wanted me to say and to be a blessing to at least on lady.  I don’t know what Gods plan is for you my dear sister in Christ but I do know that He allows things to happen for a reason that we can’t see in the times of our hardships or freak out modes.  He allows the things to happen so we can grow and be an encouragement to someone who may be going through something similar.  To be a Light for Him.  Being in the ministry is hard.  Harder than I thought it was going to be but God is preparing YOU and me.  Preparing us how to not and how to handle certain situations.  Trials stink but we must never forget that Jesus was in the boat during the storm and calmed the seas when He was ready.  Just like in our trials or freak out modes, Jesus is right here, sitting next to us, in the same boat!  When He is ready, He will calm those storms or freak out modes when He is ready. 
In closing, the Lord laid on my heart this song.  O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free:  Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

For the Most Part / Mrs Mindy Holeman

Mrs Mindy Holeman

Pastor's Wife

Grandview Baptist - Woodburn

Woodburn, OR

I trusted Christ 19 years ago and every day since then I have "for the most part" trusted God with my life. I say "for the most part" because I believe there were times when I could not see God's hand in my circumstances. I didn't question whether God was there but rather if he was doing what was best for me or my family. I wondered if my prayers were being heard or if they were hindered by some unknown sin of mine. Regardless, I didn't have total faith. I didn't have that childlike faith I was supposed to have. The faith that I teach my girls to have every day. Trust God! He knows what He's doing! Why then do I wonder? Why would I try to take circumstances into my own hands when the way gets dark and I can't see the outcome.

 What is true faith and why do I fail Him when it counts the most? He has never let me down and yet I fall on my knees and beg for him to work things out "according to MY will". I say in my prayer, "Let thy will be done", but in my heart I am saying, I have a will. I have expectations! I want you to answer THIS prayer, THIS way. He may even let me have my way for a little while. He may allow me to twist and bend circumstances to meet my own expectations. He may slam the door on those plans that I have so diligently worked out. We are human so we bang on that door and beg God to open it again. All the while, God is watching us struggle with our faith. He is hearing us beg for our way but longs for us to trust his plan. Sometimes I feel like a 3 year old with the tantrums I give to God. Have you ever taken something from your child because it wasn't best for them? Did they throw a fit? I imagine that's what it looks like from Heaven when I don't get my way.  

The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In ALL thy ways acknowledge Him, and He SHALL direct thy paths. 

If you read this again you would see that 42 times I have used the words I, me, my, or mine. As Christians we are to have faith. This faith is in God, NOT in ourselves or in the circumstances we have bent and molded to satisfy our plans. Faith in God is trusting that He sees the bigger picture. Faith is acknowledging Him. Faith is knowing that when our hopes, our dreams and our plans fail... That the God of Heaven loves you and He alone knows what's best. We don't have to understand...

We just have to trust.