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.

Road Trip continued

Road Trips are one of my favorites to share with the ones I love.  Not only do you get to step out of the “routine” day to day, you usually learn a lot about those you are riding with for hours upon hours.

One of my most memorable trips was 8 years ago this month to Gatlinburg, TN with my girls to celebrate our Nation’s Birthday!  Boy, did my girls learn some things about me and driving.  We took my husbands truck at the time (a double cab Chevy 2500 which was one long truck).  Unfortunately, he had to work this particular year so off we went without him.

This particular adventure began with hours of rain which seemed more like a monsoon!  Finally arriving at the house, we discovered it was on the side of a mountain, literally, and so was the small drive way.  It was more like a big drop off!  To get the idea, think of a roller coaster…on the edge of a cliff!  The drive way went up a steep hill, then down and continued with a sharp right as you went back uphill.  I cannot even describe the sheer terror of driving that big ol’ truck into the driveway of this house.  It was a blind run and you only got one shot.  Where the heck was the parking valet?!  Wasn’t this included with the house?

I think on days like today I am more aware of our freedom being much like this driveway.  We go up and down in appreciation for the benefit we take for granted.  We skirt around the issues seeing nothing beyond the hood of our own lives.  We need to celebrate the freedom we are so blessed to experience.

In service today, we were blessed with an interview between Pastor Dino Rizzo (HPC) and Tony Perkins (Family Research Council).  One of the things I recall the most from the interview was Tony Perkins saying “if we don’t start out on our knees in prayer, we’ll end up on our knees in despair.”  We need to pray for our great Nation.  We need to pray for America to return to the values this country was founded upon.  It’s time to get our morals back in place.  Praying for revival is of utmost importance!  I hope you’ll join with me by praying daily for our country and it’s leaders.  Happy Birthday America!

Today’s Question:  What’s been your most memorable driving adventure?

As I promised, here is my answer to yesterday’s question:   225magazine.com has an article ‘Two Hundred Twenty-Five Things to Do in BR”.  I am going to enjoy some of the things I take for granted daily around here.  More to come about this tomorrow.

Prayer Lake

Retreats….  I often wonder why they are called this.  When I think of retreat, I imagine someone in battle deciding they cannot make it and running away from their opponent, fleeing.  On the other hand, what a “treat” retreats are.  I guess “re”-treating yourself to God is just that, one big treat.


Prayer Lake was more than I expected.  I am partial to the outdoors although I’m such a girl.  I want to see it all (wildlife) but I’m totally afraid of being near it.  I find thats when I experience God the most.  Through nature.  We were delighted to find out upon our arrival that we were in the Rose Cabin.  The pictures online were so cute, however, I would later learn that the room was much more than cute.  We didn’t have time to check in the cabin before, so Nancy, Natalie and I settled right in for supper and a seat on the comfy couch.  We were expecting to hear from God (along with a room of women) and that’s all that really mattered.  The speakers wasted no time presenting their topic.  I may have gone expecting, but I received so much more than anticipated.

In an effort not to give away all of Joy Mounger and Lynn McCain’s material (which would be pages and pages of many GREAT words), here are five of the MANY take-away’s I received:

• Life tries to steal away what we are all born with…Hope. God doesn’t create one person without hope inside of them.  The enemy comes to steal it at every opportunity he has.  However, God (knowing this would happen) planned in advance providing a way out.  He helps us reclaim the hope stolen from our very own hearts.  We must seek God all of the time, not just in crisis.  If we only seek Him in times of crisis, we’ll be empty and hopeless. Questions:  Am I in possession of my hope? Am I a crisis seeker or a full-time pursuer?
• “You don’t find ministry…it finds you.” We are all on a journey. We try to pack more than we need in our suit case although we can only bring certain things.  When we overpack, the suitcase will prevent us from making it to our destination.  Very profound thought!  Too much weight, we cannot carry it.  Without the items we need, we are ill-prepared.  With items not approved, we cannot make it through check-in. Question:  What am I trying to pack that prevents me from moving forward?
• God personally dealt with me about stealing the calling of others.  OUCH!  Either Joy or Lynn may have referenced this, but God definitely spoke this to me in detail.  When you do more than God calls you to do, it’s stealing someone else’s calling.  They were intended to do a job and if I do it for them, then it prevents them from stepping out and growing.  If I don’t do my own calling, then I am stealing someone else’s time that they should be using to fulfill their own calling. Question:  Am I stealing?
• Repent for judging spiritual authority. We have to protect our pastors and leaders.  If they are not doing something right, it’s not our place to announce it to the congregation and make them all question the authority.  If God placed them there, we are to pray for them.  If you’ve already talked about their authority or judged them, then repent.
• If you close your eyes and imagine God’s Throne, where are you standing in relation to it?  If you aren’t sitting in God’s lap, run as fast as you can to get there.  I have never been one to see myself there, but this weekend, I finally did.  No better place to be. Question:  Where are you in relation to the Throne?

Here’s a few photos of our weekend at Prayer Lake.  Sorry, the beds not made, but you get the idea of how great the room is.  There is another retreat coming up in March.  I only picked a few points from the weekend to share so you can go experience it for yourself.  If you cannot make it, dig in to those questions above.  If you have not been to Prayer Lake, you should go.  Very worth the drive and time.  The place itself is so very peaceful and relaxing.  Take some time and go treat yourself!  You’ll be glad you did.

To Skip or Not To Skip?

It’s been a great 3 weeks (well, almost 3 weeks) of Prayer and Fasting.  Being completely transparent with you, I usually just skip around in the Psalms.  Every time I get to chapter 119, I usually shutter with intimidation at the sheer size of the chapter, and hurriedly flip the pages to the 130′s (as if I must out run it or something).  That’s where some of my favorite chapters are; mainly chapter 139.


For all practical purposes, mostly out of obedience, I dove into chapter 119.  Tackling a mere 8 verses daily, I found some of the best kept secrets the Bible has to offer.  I learned  1. wisdom of the believer is found in God’s commands, 2. His perfect unfailing love is constantly at our disposal, and 3. safety is at our fingertips when we obey.  So very many great lessons to learn!  Not only lessons from His Word, but lessons in not skipping things just because of the size or any other excuse.  Don’t let large chapters intimidate you.  They are filled with God’s wisdom just like short chapters.  Great things come in small packages… and evidently large chapters too.


What are you skipping over in the Bible?
Challenge:  Dig in & find the treasures of God’s heart.


I think my next challenge is Song of Songs.  (long pause)  I actually just shuttered typing the name.  I always intentionally skip the entire book because it’s… so… well… it’s gotten a bad wrap.  It’s God’s Word.  There is freedom in wrestling the areas of our lives that hold us back.  I think the question is: What am I missing? Time to find out!

21 Days of Prayer

I love setting aside time for dedicated prayer!  Our church, Healing Place Church, is joining with many other churches for 21 Days of Prayer.  During this time, we will be focusing on Psalm 119…a monster of a chapter having over 70 verses.

Due to it’s sheer size, I often skip this chapter while browsing the Psalms, but was pleasantly surprised this morning.  Today, day 1, we read verses 1 through 8.  I love the ending verse for today.  Please do not give up on me! I especially like the punch at the end.  The exclamation point!  I am sure I over-use them, but I think it’s the passionate side of me that likes them the most.

If I were to be completely honest with you, I feel like I don’t live up to my potential most days.  Maybe it’s an attitude needing adjustment, perfectionism that I can never attain, who knows what it is.  Other days I feel like I’m on my game.  Regardless of the day, let my prayer everyday be “Lord, please do not give up on me!!!!!!” I think this pretty much sums up my plea.

My prayer for these 21 days is two fold:  1.  I would grow closer to God to hear His voice more clearly every day, and 2. God would give me direction about where to submit the manuscript to for publishing.

Today’s reading:  Psalm 119

¹ Joyful are people of integrity,
who follow the instructions of the Lord.
² Joyful are those who obey his laws
and search for him with all their hearts.
³ They do not compromise with evil,
and they walk only in his paths.
⁴ You have charged us
to keep your commandments carefully.
⁵ Oh, that my actions would consistently
reflect your decrees!
⁶ Then I will not be ashamed
when I compare my life with your commands.
⁷ As I learn your righteous regulations,
I will thank you by living as I should!
⁸ I will obey your decrees.
Please don’t give up on me!