He's waiting

A while back the Lord spoke a clear instruction to me.  He told me in no uncertain terms that I was to "shut out" everything and "shut in" with Him.  I had heard of people doing this before, but had never actually done it myself.  I argued with Him for a bit.  "Uh, God, do you remember that I have a 10 year old and a 11 month old? Do you remember that I am a wife? Surely you haven't forgotten that I am a Pastors wife? I have so much that has to be done!  I could NEVER find time to make this work."  Well, when your steps are ordered of the Lord He will speak past all your excuses and help you find a way.

After a few days of me going back and forth with this I remembered that in about two weeks Elaina would be going to Alabama for 3 weeks to spend time with her grandparents.  Robin was going to be flying her down on a Thursday and coming back late on a Saturday night.  Ok, well that takes care of two of my "obstacles" LOL!  "Now God you know that there is no way that I can do this with Addyson around."   Well, wouldn't you know that Sis. Delmy Deras chose the next Sunday to ask me when Addyson could come spend the night with them.  He effectively removed all of my excuses.  He loves me so much.

So with all excuses removed, I began to think about and plan my '"shut in".  I inquired of a couple of people that I knew had done this sort of thing before as to how to get the most out of it.  The closer it got to the time, the more excited I became.  Afterall, I had heard stories of people being shut in and seeing angels, hearing the audible voice of God, and seeing the Shekinah Glory of God hover in the room with them.  WOW!  I couldn't wait.  I decided to do a fruit, veggies and water only fast for the three days.

So, with my groceries bought, my Bible and favorite devotional books nearby, and my praise and worship music in my playlist I began my special "shut in" time with Jesus.  I had some incredible time of prayer and praise.  I received divine revelation from Him through a book that I was reading about forgiveness.  I was really enjoying myself.  However, I kept looking for the angels.  Where was the Shekinah Glory?  The morning of the second day I was in prayer and Jesus spoke to my spirit and said "this is a time for me to gently commune with you.  No Angles, no Shekinah Glory Cloud, no thunderous rumblings from the Throne.  Just a time for me to pour refreshing back into your spirit."

You see, I had been through an 18 month long spiritual battle that was destroying some people and relationships that were very dear to me.  In the middle of that we were blessed with our precious Addyson.  The demands of this beautiful blessing  were wearing me down.  However, life goes on.  I just kept going on.  Kept battling.  Kept waking at night to feed.  Kept praying.  Kept schooling Elaina.  Kept loving my husband.  Kept preparing for Sunday and Wednesday.  Kept on, Kept on, Kept on.............

I didn't realize how depleted my spirit was. OH, I can hear some say," but you were praying, you were reading your Bible, you were at church".  YES, even though I had been praying reading my Bible and going to church.  I was weary.  I was so incredibly busy that I had neglected the intimate side of my relationship with my Jesus.  I was praying because I knew I should, but I wasn't communing with my Saviour.  I was reading the Word, but I wasn't eating it as The Bread of Life.
                                                           
From the moment that He spoke to me His intentions for my special time with Him, I can't even put into words the peace that filled me.  No spa, or masseuse could have calmed and relaxed me like Jesus did.  Those three days will forever be a special memory and landmark in my life.

Daniel 7:25 says that in the end time that the enemy will "wear our the saints".  We are seeing that transpire.  I see it on some of your faces on Sunday during worship, at Wednesday night during the Bible study lesson, and at prayer meeting on Monday night.  Your weary.  I urge you to get back to your intimate relationship with your precious Jesus.  Do whatever you have to do to remove distractions. I know, I know you have to go to work, you have to take care of the kids, you have to fix supper for the family, you have laundry to do, you have errands to run, you have to......, you have to..... you have to..... Get purposeful in MAKING  time for Jesus.  Afterall, He is the one who gave you the time that you have.  I began to do take inventory of my time and ask Jesus to show me what was not in His will for my life.  Girls, be careful what you ask for! LOL! It took some self discipline and grit, but I eliminated some things from my schedule.  WOW! What liberty there is in knowing that the enemy has fewer tools to use to wear me out! Ha! Take that devil!

Jesus is calling you to a deeper walk with Him. Don't let the cares of life keep you from that.  Those cares that you can't seem to get away from will drain you of more than you have to give.  Jesus longs to share incredible insights with you and he yearns to hear your heart.  Will you make a way?
                                                             
He's waiting.

Blessings,

Gwen

Health and Happenings!

HAPPY FRIDAY MY DEAR SISTERS!  I hope that today finds you living in the overflow of the presence of your REDEEMER!  I am so excited about today's blog!  Today is a Health and Happenings blog.  I can't wait to share with you an article that Sis. Pam Penny wrote for us as well as a few upcoming events.

We are entering a busy AND fun time of the year.  I am looking forward to making memories with each of you, so please get out your calendar and make a note of these dates so that we can enjoy these events together.

-November 3rd- district Ladies Day,  in Tiverton, RI.  This is going to be a day full of fellowship and inspiration.  The speaker is author and conference speaker, Lori Wagner.  I encourage all of you to make plans to attend.  You will not be disappointed!  I will be sending out more information in a few days.

-November 18th - I am so excited about this next event.  We are going to have a Christmas Craft Day!!! Sis. Stuart from Manchester, CT is going to come and teach us how to make a front door Christmas wreath. such as the one pictured above.  I CAN'T WAIT!!  These are so much fun, simple and inexpensive to make.  

This will be a day FULL of fun, food, fellowship, and festivities!  DON'T MISS IT!

In case you didn't know, Sis. Pam Penny is one incredible lady among us.  She is a prayer warrior, worshiper, homeschooling mom, and Registered Nurse.  Pastor and I call her OUR Nurse! 

LOL!  Anytime we have a health issue I check with her FIRST!  She has been such a blessing to our family. She is going to be giving us a health tip once a month for this blog.  This month's entry is very important, yet a topic that we take for granted.  Until Addyson was born, I never realized just how much sleep deprivation could affect all aspects of my life.  Sis. Pam gives us some insight here.  ENJOY!

How sleep deprivation plays a role in obesity

 If you’re like most Americans, you are probably over tired, over worked, and over committed. Our busy schedules keep up so pre-occupied with what’s next, that many of us are lacking the proper amount of sleep. There are varying opinions about how much sleep we actually need, but the general consensus is that adults need 7-9 hours a day, preschoolers 10-12, and school aged and teens, 9.  Psalm 127:2.

God in his infinite wisdom instituted this wonderful physiological process that allows our bodies time to restore and heal. Some disorders and diseases have been linked to sleep deprivation and among them are Obesity and Diabetes. When we don’t get enough sleep, it leads to, “getting fat, storing fat, and always being hungry”.  Sleep actually controls eating.  If you watch TV, surf the web, or work under bright light at night, your brain thinks it is daytime which causes your cortisol levels to remain high. This high level interrupts your sleep by mobilizing blood sugar-increased levels in the bloodstream. Insulin then gets called out to put sugar in the muscles and the excess into FAT.  (www.health-dir.com).

The shorter your night, the less melatonin you produce. This means you have more estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, and insulin.  Consider this. The first 4 hours of sleep is like taking a melatonin bath. This allows growth hormone to secrete and repair the body at the cellular level. If this essential bath is missed, you become in debt which will need to be paid back sooner or later. The last four hours you dream and have psychic regeneration. At the tail end of this part of sleep cortisol is secreted to eventually wake you up. This process is disrupted with staying up late and bright lights. You become run down and crave carbs (for energy), thus producing insulin which in turn makes you …

As you can see, sleep is vitally important on many levels. And what’s more, God has ordained sleep to repair, restore and rejuvenate us. Getting a good night’s sleep will not only help you to feel better  and have more energy to do the activities you need to do, but it will also add to your life while subtracting from your waist.  Psalm 4:8. Prov. 3:24.

Pamela Penny

Soooooo, I hear a voice from heaven speaking!!!!! What is it saying? GO TAKE A NAP!!!! Yes, Lord yes.  I will obey!!! LOL!

Blessings to each of you!

Gwen Craft

Let's share!

Hey there Ladies!  I hope this Friday morning finds you aware of the blessings of the Lord that are all around us.

I have found myself lately feeling a bit disconnected from you sweet sisters of mine.  I wish that our schedules weren’t so harried and hurried and we could sit together each week and share our hearts with one another.  In my moments of “missing” you, I have asked God how we can be more connected.  He spoke so clearly to me that communicating with you via e-mail each week is the best way.  So, I've created this blog and here I am in your inbox! Hello! 

You can expect to find me here in your inbox each Friday morning.  I hope to be able to share with you special whisperings that I have heard from our Redeemer as well as some fun and light hearted moments.  I also will be including from week to week different little nuggets of information.  One week it may be home related, the next week it may be a recipe that I have found and just have to share with you.  Sis. Pam Penny is going to chime in once a month with a helpful health tip for us.   I hope it will all be a blessing and inspiration for each of you.

The Lord has been speaking to me lately about desiring more of Him.  I was challenged at a conference recently when one of the speakers was sharing the recent journey that the Lord had taken him on to deeper, richer relationship with Him.  He talked about the changes that began to take place in his heart, mind and life when he began praying that the he would have the Lord’s hearts’ desire.

Desire defined: A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen

Just at the mention of the word DESIRE I immediately have thoughts of things, developments, successes that I WANT to see occur.  How about you?  What are some desires that you have?  Do you want day to day life to be easier because money is not as tight?  Do you want to be able to lose 10, 15,or 20 pounds?  Would you like to have a better vehicle? Do you want a full night’s sleep ( I have my hand raised high, no wait, I am that kid that has both hands raised saying “ me, me , pick me”) Do you want that pesky, irritating coworker to just go away? What is it?  What do you want? 

Now let me ask you this; when I list the following synonyms, does your list of desires change? Synonyms: ache (for), covet, crave, desiderate, die (for),hanker (for or after), hunger (for), itch (for), jones (for)[slang], long (for), lust (for or after), pant (after), pine (for), repine (for), salivate (for), sigh (for), thirst (for),want, wish (for), yearn (for), yen (for), set one's heart on

 Maybe, maybe not.  I’m not throwing stones.  We are humans with natural (fleshly) desires.  We live in a world that is always pushing us to have something bigger, newer, better.  A quick example is my wonderful IPad that you all so lovingly gave us for Christmas last year.  I love it, but since 2010 Apple has introduced two more IPads that are bigger, better, newer.  People who already own an IPad have rushed to the stores to buy the most recent one and left the one that is only a year or so old lying on the table like last year’s stale bread.  I for one cannot figure out what the hype is about.  My 15 month old IPad is working just fine and does everything I need and more.  Thank you CLC!

What if we were to step away from what this world says we should desire and begin to ask God to give us His heart’s desire?  Look at the synonyms again.  What does God ache for? Psa 51:6 “ Yet, you desire truth and sincerity. Deep down inside me you teach me wisdom.” What does He yearn for? 1Ti 2:3-4  “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  What will He die for? Rom 5:6-8 “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Wow!  Quite different from what comes to my mind when I think of my desires and wants.  I want more than ever before to desire HIM!  I want to know HIM!  I want to ache for HIM!  I want to crave HIM!  I want to yearn for HIM! 

What I have come to understand is that if I don’t DESIRE Him, it is usually because something else is temporarily filling that desire in my life.  So I ask you today what might be filling your spiritual appetite so that you aren’t hungry, or desiring more of your Saviour?

See, what He has shown me is that the more I want or desire HIM, the more I want and desire what He wants and desires.  Then I am able to be used by Him in a greater way in my world.  That’s really the point of our salvation experience, not just a ticket into heaven.

So, I leave you with this scripture, but I hope you read it with a different meaning than before.

 Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 Ps 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Ps 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Blessings,

Gwen Craft