God is a Dream Giver

Healing Place had the honor of having Pastor Steve Robinson of Church of the King speak at service this weekend.  What a great sermon, perfect timing for me.  Thought I would share my notes because this message applies to everyone, and that includes me and you! The sermon will likely be available online at Healing Place if you want to hear the entire message.

God is in the Process…  (Pastor Steve Robinson – September 4, 2011)

God is in the process… If you don’t put yourself in position for a miracle, you’ll never receive one.  It’s not about your personal benefit.  Christian life is a journey.  It’s about progression and growth.  You need to know that God doesn’t expect perfection, but He does want progress.  We’ve gotta grow just like Jesus grew.

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. (Luke 2:52)

Three points about God-sized Dreams:

1.  When God gives you HIS Dream, it’s most likely going to be bigger than you can handle or accomplish.  God is the Dream Giver.  Abram was certainly not able to fulfill on his own the dream God spoke over him.

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation.  I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.  All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”  (Gen 12:1-3)

2.  Delays are always inevitable.  Tips:

• Don’t take matters into your own hands. Sarai didn’t wait for God to provide the miracle.  She began to doubt.  It was many years BEFORE God provided the answer to His promise, His dream for her.
• Wait for the Lord’s anointing.  Don’t go it on your own. WAIT!  Sarai took matters into her own hands.  Bad idea!
• God wants to build character INSIDE to sustain you when He does bring your dream to fruition.  God was building something inside of Sarai and Abram for His perfect plan.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.  (Gen 16:1-2)

3.  God’s timing is PERFECT!  God has a set time and God makes it happen.

• Stop fighting the process of God and let Him do things His way.
• Serve another persons God Dream until God makes yours come forward.

The LORD kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.  She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened AT JUST THE TIME God had said it would.  (Gen 21:1-2)

Don’t give up if God has given you a dream and you have not seen it happen yet. Stay focused!  If you don’t have a God dream, it begins with giving your life to Christ.  When you do that, God will breath His dream right into your life.  Every dream begins with a step of faith.

Sparkle Pledge July 23, 2011

Our Sparkle Tribe gathered together July 23, 2011 to celebrate one of my favorite events of the year: Sparkle Pledge.  During June and July, this amazing group of girls studied, shared, read God’s Word and learned about purity.  We discussed things like dating, what to look for in Mr. Right, filling up on the right things, purity, quiet time, and so much more. This final event for the summer was an all out celebration of 22 girls making a decision to live a lifestyle of purity.  I love it!  Family and friends came from different places to join in the fun and support these young ladies.

As each family arrived, we had them take a family photo with the backdrop created by our Leaders-In-Training.  We visited for a little while, blessed the food so carefully prepared the night before, and made a dash for the table.  Smiles and laughter filled the room as chocolate covered strawberries & pretzels, sandwiches, fiesta dip and Darelle’s famous rainbow cupcakes were quickly consumed.  First the parents & caregivers pledged to the girls to stand by them and walk with them in this journey. Some girls received rings while others received necklaces and still others received bracelets.  Next the girls pledged to their parents and to God to make purity a priority in their daily lives and to strive to be what God has created them to be.  What precious girls they truly are!  Finally, the girls and their parents had a few moments together as they and their mentors signed certificates to seal the deal.  Erin closed out the afternoon, and we headed downstairs to the backdrop for a quick group photo.

Those girls simply radiated Jesus to everyone around.  Such joy for me to see them so happy and proud.  They really sparkled!  What a great time we all had.  I’m looking forward to what God has in store for these amazing girls, and for our fall events.  So precious!  Until then, enjoy some photos of Sparkle Pledge 2011.

Oh, and before I forget… A special thank you to Eric Velarde for taking all of these amazing photos for Sparkle.  And I’m so grateful to all of the amazing leaders we have. Without each and every one of you, Sparkle wouldn’t be what it is today!  Love you!

Click here to view photos

Sparkle CHAT.LIVE

On Thursday July 7th, Healing Place Church Online hosted a Chat.Live Event interviewing me on my recent book, Sparkle.   If you were unable to attend, my dear friend, Elizabeth Demarest, hosted the night, and we had a great time.  I thought it might be helpful to answer some of these questions we received from the chat in a post.  What a blessing it is to have such wonderful Pastors (Dino & DeLynn Rizzo, Dan Ohlerking and Jason Laird) and an amazing house (Healing Place Church) to serve under.  Thank you for the opportunity to share my heart with the HPC family!

Here are the questions and answers:

How can we use this book to help sons choose a godly girl in the future?  Great question! As a parent, I suggest reading everything you can get your hands on.  As conversations come up, you’ll be equipped in what a godly young lady looks like and can direct your son.  Use it as a conversation started. Tell him “you know, I was reading in this book this or that.  What do you think about it?”  I believe the more you open the door of communication with your student (son or daughter), the more opportunity you have to speak into your child’s life.  Be their biggest cheerleader, and they will come to you for advice, I promise!

Is this book about purity from sex before marriage?  Another great question!  Yes and no. I believe purity is a lifestyle, not just a decision to save sex for marriage.  Yes, waiting for your husband/wife for life is part of it, and there are parts of the book that discuss this topic.  However, there’s much more.  I intertwined my story of hope through my own teen pregnancy throughout the book, along with practical tips for teens today.  Sparkle talks about so many different areas. There is nothing on the market that I’ve seen that talks about all of these areas in one place.  It’s an easy read too.

Can you give us a real life example of how purity is freedom?  Can popularity and purity really go together?  These two questions were asked separately, but I believe they tie together.  Yes, I know a girl in our EPIC Student Ministries that is a walking example of purity and popularity.  She is a precious 18-year-old girl named Angela that lives a lifestyle of purity. She may be beautiful on the outside, but it’s her inner beauty that attracts everyone to her. She is free from guilt, condemnation and shame because of her stand for purity, and you can see that when you are around her. She has no regrets for her decision.  She was so liked by her peers in school that they elected her Home Coming Queen last year when she was a senior. She made a huge difference on her campus and everyone knew that she stood for purity.  It didn’t stop them from liking her for who she was.  In fact, I think it drew others to her.  She is a precious and free young woman respected by everyone she knows.  Great example of freedom!

Do you talk about how girls dress in the book?  The book doesn’t necessarily have a “this is what you should or should not wear” section.  I believe when reading this book, the changes you see on the outside come from the changes on the inside. There is an entire chapter about loving and respecting yourself and what real beauty is which talks about how you see yourself.  When you discover your real identity then clothing changes will likely occur.  If not, you always have your Dad to tell you “Go change. You’re not walking out of this house like that!”  I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard my husband tell our girls that when they were teens.

What is the Sparkle Tribe?  The Sparkle Tribe is a girls only connect group at HPC geared toward living a lifestyle of purity.  We have great outings and talk about all kinds of things.  This summer, we took the Sparkle book and used it as a guide for 7 weeks and will follow it up with our annual Sparkle Pledge. The pledge is a celebration of the girls decisions with their family where they receive a ring, bracelet or necklace to remind them of their commitment.  It’s a great group.  The whole idea behind the group is to inspire discussion between the girls and their parents in the area of purity.  A girls best teacher is and always will be her parents.  We just want to walk along side of them.  We’ll be kicking off an awesome Mom’s group too.  More info coming on that in the next few weeks and in the Connect Group Menu.  You can find the Sparkle Tribe on the Connect Menu at http://www.healingplacechurch.org by selecting the Highland Campus and searching for middle school girls groups.

Getting our Sparkle on before the shoot!

If you are a leader in your church, why not start your own Sparkle Tribe?!  Email me, and I’ll give you all the info you need to start one up.  It’s super easy and loads of fun!

How do you explain staying pure to your child?  I believe it begins by what you live.  You know the phrase “actions speak louder than words” is so true.  What you live speaks volumes to your children.  The rest just comes in conversation.  Every student is different.  Some have lots of questions; others just don’t want to talk about it.  My suggestion is to talk with your child.  If you don’t, I guarantee someone else will and probably already is.  You want them to have the truth.  Pray about it, and God will give you the words you need.

Chat.Live was so much fun.  I’m looking forward to our next one coming up this fall when we will have some of our girls from the Sparkle Pledge share their thoughts on purity.  Until then, get a copy of Sparkle and share it with someone. I’m believing God’s awakening purity in students, parents and leaders everywhere. I’m just honored to be along for the ride and have a front row seat.  Blessings!

Servolution: Serve Others

What would we be without “others” in our lives?  They help us, encourage us, challenge us, strengthen us, walk with us… Others can also be dangerous if not chosen well (Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” -1 Cor 15:33), but for me personally, others have been and are very valuable. Now I’ve had my share of hurts from a few, however, without the majority of the others in my life, I wouldn’t have made it to where I am today. Others have guided me and taught me. They’ve picked me up and brought me places. They have helped me in many ways. Honestly, they’ve just served me.

Here’s one “other” in particular that inspires me: Pastor Dino Rizzo. Servolution (if you haven’t read Pastor Dino’s book, I highly suggest it) is April 16th-23rd. Through Pastor Dino and Servolution, I’ve seen so many great stories unfold. Stories of healing, restoration, rebuilding, and so much more. Serving/Outreach gets us out of personal benefit mode and helps us to focus on others, not on me me meee! (Oh, yes! You can be a part of this. You don’t have to be a member of Healing Place to attend or live in a particular area. Out of state? Have your own personal Servolution right where you are? You might even be the answer to someone’s prayer.)

My point is this: others influence and inspire through serving.  You can serve the others in your life no matter the relation, location or translation… even on vacation. Go ahead. Reach out, spread the love of Jesus, and serve somebody! See you there!

2010 in Review

As I read over the Christmas letters written during the last 3 years, I realize just how full our lives have been and how blessed Doug & I truly are.  Last year’s letter ended with “I cannot wait to see what the new year holds”, and what a year it has been!  I’m blown away and not sure how to pack so much into one short post.

We began the year with half of our kids moving to Lake Charles.  It was hard to see them move away, but we still see them a good bit.  The big 40 occurred for me shortly thereafter, and I was warned it’s so horrible.  I beg to differ.  This has been, by far, one of the best years of my life.  Doug and I are no longer called “Hottie & Pots” by Miley; we have finally progressed to “Honey & Pops”.    We adopted a little dog from my dear friend Nancy.  I absolutely love that dog!  Bailee brings so much laughter to our home.  She thinks she’s a Bird and Lizard Hunter Extraordinaire, but to our knowledge, she’s not caught either yet.  She & Miley have had a few clashes for my attention, but I believe they’ve somewhat worked out an agreement amongst themselves.   I signed a publishing contract for the manuscript I’ve been working on, and it’s going to be released in mid-2011.  I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for this message.  Lastly, I made the 10 year mark at my job.  It’s amazing to me that I’m old enough to have held one job for 10 years consecutively because I just don’t feel that old.

Doug placed 7^th in the Baton Rouge city amateur tournament this year.  That’s one spot better than last year.   We are all so very proud of him.  I managed to sneak away on one of Doug’s trips to Paducah, KY.  The best thing there was a restaurant called the Whaler’s Catch.  Other than that, not much to do in Paducah.  It was a much needed rest for me, and we extended the week to hang out a few days in Nashville.  Since we aren’t much on country music, Dad informed me that we walked right past most of the things to see there.  We also loved being a part of HPC Online.  We are so amazed how much God is working there. You can check it out at www.healingplacechurch.org/online.  Really, you should check it out.

Our little baby, Micki…Well, she’s all grown up now and will turn 20 in March.  Yes, I said 20.  In fact, we only have a couple more weeks with her at home.  Can someone say Empty Nest?!  Doug and I sure can!  She and Patches are moving into her first apartment.  How exciting!  Yes, Patches is still hanging in there and is about to turn 15 herself.  Mic is in her 2nd year of college.  I’m still not sure if I’m excited or sad that she’s moving out.

By far, one of the biggest highlights to this year was the birth of our 2^nd granddaughter, Kamryn Nicole.  She was born 3 weeks early right after Doug’s mom’s birthday and just missed my Dad & Grandpa’s birthdays.  She was one of those middle of the night babies.  It was so awesome seeing Miley hold tiny Baby Kam.  She was so very proud!  Before Kam was born, we managed to take Renee & Miley on vacation with us to SC to visit Bodi & Donna.  Miley instantly fell in love with the lake, jet skii’s (only the blue one because that’s her favorite color) and the boat.  She talks about her “Uncle Bodi” a lot and still thinks we can just drive right over to go visit him on the lake. 

As you can see, so many great things happened in 2010, and that’s only the tip of it.  I wish I could share all of them with you.  Make sure you take time to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas this year.  It’s not about any other twist the world wants to put on it.  It’s about the birth of our Savior, Jesus.  None compares.   May God bless each of you, and may 2011 be better than you ever dreamed or imagined!