LeadHer ministries

I was invited to join a group, and was told that I could be as active as I wanted, which fits me right now.  I wanted to share it with you.  It’s called LeadHer.  I thought at first, me?  Be a leader?  A good friend of mine from the blog To Not Decide . . . Is to Decide wrote a little about that:

http://tonotdecideistodecide.blogspot.com/2011/03/could-you-be-leadher.html

And so, huh, kinda neat thought, right?  But what is it?

http://tonotdecideistodecide.blogspot.com/2011/03/leadherwhat.html

Ok, so what do I need to do?

http://tonotdecideistodecide.blogspot.com/2011/03/tell-me-moretell-me-moreabout-leadher.html

Basically, it is just to continue doing what I have been doing, writing what’s in my heart, shining forth with God’s light, and telling people all about where this light in me came from.

And you can help!  We were just presented with this wonderful blessing:

http://bit.ly/eE285W

I signed up, and that could be all that you do.  Just sign up and get greeting cards that you would use for whatever you needed.  But, in using them, you would also be shining forth His light, as well as providing some funding to the LeadHer ministries for whatever need would come to them.  

I’ve always said that I was a good wallflower, a good worker bee, “not a leader but a follower be”, remember?  But, well, I’m steppin’ out.  I want to help LeadHer, and if someone follows that light in me, that’s a good thing!

So, are you a LeadHer?

A heart like mine

Heart Like Mine by Miranda Lambert

‘Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine

And I bet we’d get along just fine

He could calm a storm and heal the blind

And I bet He’d understand a heart like mine

I heard this on the radio the other day and it really struck a chord within me.  I was also reading in Mark last night and came across this:

Mark 2:16-17 (New International Version, ©2011) (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%202:%2016-17&version=NIV)

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

How true and just kind of made the song so much more meaningful!  He would understand a heart like mine and so . . .

I have wanted to adopt for so long, and am trying to come to the realization that it is just not going to happen for me.  I planned, lined everything up.

Steven Curtis Chapman

Album: Speechless

Track: “Whatever”

I made a list, wrote down from A to Z

All the ways I thought that You could best use me

Told all my strengths and my abilities

I formed a plan it seemed to make good sense

I laid it out for You so sure You'd be convinced

I made my case, presented my defense

But then I read the letter that You sent me

It said that all You really want from me is just

Whatever, whatever You say

Whatever, I will obey

Whatever, Lord, have Your way

'Cause You are my God, whatever

It’s been ten years now, and I have to realize that while I have not provided a home to some new person in my life, I have made a home for those closest to me that really need one.  We have opened our home up to family that didn’t have enough room in their own and could not afford to get a larger one.  I get calls from various family members asking me to cook, because, as they put it, “yours are better than a restaurant.”  I’m making calzones this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong – it hurts to have this dream go unrealized.  

Todd Agnew

Album: Grace Like Rain

Track: “This Fragile Breath”

I searched the world for a song that I could sing

Praise to my King A gift that I could bring

But no music I found could compare to you

Not one could do Justice to your glory

What are my songs compared to yours

Chorus:

You speak with thunder and lightning

Your voice shakes the mountains

The foundations of the earth

All I can offer is this fragile breath

With each one I'll praise You

With each one I'll praise You more

I realized – I don’t need to adopt to give a home, not a house or just food, but a home – to someone that needs it.  I still would love to give a home to an orphan, but am realizing that I need to let it happen rather than beating my head against a wall.

Third Day

Album: Offerings II

Track: “Take My Life”

How many times have I turned away

The number is the same as the sand on the shore

But every time You've taken me back

And now I pray You do it once more.

Chorus:

Please take from me my life

When I don't have the strength

to give it away to You Jesus

How many times have I turned away

The number is the same as the stars in the sky

But every time You've taken me back

And now I pray You do it tonight.

Repeat chorus

And so, I will wait and bide my time and keep doing what I am doing.  While I may feel like a failure, to have them keep coming to me must mean that I am getting something right, and for that, I thank Him.

Ginny Owens

Album: Something More

Track: “I AM”

No Lord, he said, you've got the wrong guy

Simple conversation gets me tongue-tied

And you're telling me to speak with a maniac king

Or could it be I've lost my mind

Besides, I am weak, don't you want someone strong

To lead them out of Egypt when they've been there so long

And anyway, they won’t believe You ever spoke to me

It's not your problem, God replied

And the rest is history

’Cause there's a bigger picture you can't see

You don't have to change the world, just trust in Me

'Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan

And through you I will show them, I Am

Now Lord, are you sure? He's just a shepherd boy

Too small for battle gear with a giant to destroy

What on earth can he do with five stones and a sling

It's not your problem, God replied

'Cause I can do anything

There's a bigger picture you can't see

You don't have to change the world, just trust in me

'Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan

And through you, I will show them

I am the first, I am the last

I am the present and the past

I am tomorrow and today

I am the only way

Great Lord, she said, I'm just a simple girl

You say that I will bring your son into the world

How can I understand this thing You're gonna do

It's not your problem, God replied

'Cause, there's a bigger picture

And you don't have to change the world (oh no)

I'm your creator, I am working out my plan

And through you, I will show them

There's a bigger picture, you can't see

You don't have to change the world, just trust in me

’Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan

And through you, I will show them, I Am

I Am

If He wants me to have a child, He will make it happen.  Until then, I have to stop arguing and just keep doing what He needs me to do.

"From Your Hands"

Julian Drive

- From Your Hands

Praying in the garden, You saw the crowd coming

Betrayed by one that called You King

You could have called a band of angels to come and save the day

But instead You chose to stay, You didn’t run away

In the very front of Your mind

While the blood was flowing You saw my face as You cried

Certain in knowing

Tears, blood and pain in the sand

True love was pouring, true love was pouring from Your hands

Bruised and beaten, appeared You were defeated

But things aren’t always what they seem

They thought when they placed Your body into an empty grave

It would end all debate

But the stone was rolled away

The same hand that washes clean, and sets the captive free

Same hand that calmed a sea, and the one who rescued me

I heard this on the radio the other night and got to thinking.  This one has been noodling for some time, lots of pieces to put together, so bear with me.

Thoughts from that night:

Think, imagine

He suffered in the garden . . .

He suffered on the cross . . .

He suffered torture . . .

And all the while

“In the very front of Your mind”

Think . . .

If we hurt just on our own, does that give you any better an idea of what He suffered?  All those faces, all that pain, all those sins, ALL AT ONCE!!!!

I’m not telling this part for sympathy.  I had to go to the hospital to have blood work done last night, the reason behind, I’ll keep to myself.  There was a woman there, hurt, weaving.  She went into the bathroom and was in there so long that one of the nurses went in and found her just coming to – she had passed out and hit her head in the bathroom.  She is part of this new electronic age and so didn’t have any phone numbers memorized as they were all programmed in her phone and she had lost her phone.  She didn’t even know in whose name the house phone would have been in.  She was alone.  The nurses were taking her over to ER and she was so scared and she started crying.  I told her that I would go with her if she wanted.  She wasn’t the only person that was stunned.  I went with her, I sat with her for almost 3 hours until she got back into a bed in ER, and I left her a $10 bill for a cab home once the tests were all run.  And then I went home and told my mother, brother and sister just how grateful I was to know that I would never have to be alone in an ER waiting room, that I had all of them.  That poor girl was so grateful to me, told me that she would never have believed that a perfect stranger would do something like that for someone.  And the hospital staff?  They were speechless.  So, this might not be Outliving my life, but it is counting my blessings and:

Matthew 25:34-40 (New International Version, ©2011) (http://www.biblegateway.com/)

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

   37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

   40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’