"Sophronizo" (mentoring ministry)

~a Greek word found in the New Testament of the Bible in the book of Titus meaning "to admonish, to recall to ones senses." Titus 2:3-5 is a mandate for mentoring, specifically that "older" women are to teach & train "young" women.

2009 is the year God ushered my precious Mom home with Him in Heaven. Her "mantle" has been passed onto her children, grandchildren and great-grandhcildren. As one of her daughters, He has burdened my heart to carry on what she did, both intentionally & simply as a lifestyle:

~be a teacher of good...literally, a teacher of what is beautiful~

I am still praying through the details of what this ministry will "look" like...

Somehow God has used me over the last 20+ years to encourage and (sort of) mentor various women He has brought into my life...at times, I was floundering spiritually myself because I was still a young wife & Mom. By His grace, perhaps they gained something spiritually beneficial. Today, I am currently mentoring a young woman one on one that God brought into my life, and we have been meeting together weekly since last fall. It is the highlight of my week. I LOVE coming alongside women in this capacity!

Now, as I near age 50, He has given me a desire to invest in more women's lives and to share what my godly Mom taught me with other women. I don't know if there will be an age criteria...but I think probably so since Titus says the older are to teach the younger, but I want to study this more & pray about it further. As a "new beginning", I am in the process of writing the material I believe the Lord would have me to share with the women He brings.

Additionally to having one-on-one time with women, I want to have a group time (not sure on frequency but maybe once a month?) when we would meet together...this will be called "Stella Group"...in honor & memory of Mom...simply a time to encourage one another as women who are seeking to walk faithfully with Jesus and hear about success as well as failures! I believe in AUTHENTICITY!

There are still alot of gaps to be filled, but if He's in it, He will fill them!Pray & seek His guidance.And if your heart connects with wanting to know more, please contact me.

ToolBox for a New Beginning

This past Tuesday evening, I had the joy to speak to a group of sweet ladies at Lakeview Baptist in Monroe NC for their spring women's banquet. The theme for what I shared about was called "New Beginnings"....something I have become VERY familiar with over the last couple of years and even more so in 2008 & the beginning of 2009 due to the large number of significant changes in my life and in the life of my immediate family.

As a follow-up to Tuesday night, I let the women know that I would be sharing some thoughts that the Lord gives me on my blog including a "toolbox"....tools that I have found helpful for myself and for them to consider using as they seek to apply what the Spirit spoke to them about regarding having a new beginning as it relates to their greatest weakness.

I want to share 2 "tools" in this blog. I'll share more as the Lord prompts me to do so. And, I'll add a "toolbox" sidebar to my blog that lists the tools for easy reference that includes the blog date if you want to read the fuller explanation.

Tool #1:
A new Bible
This tool really only applies to you if you've had your Bible for a long time. In other words, it's well used and marked up. If that description fits you, this idea is worth considering! What I've found is that it is very easy to become too familiar with my Bible...huh, you're saying?! How can a person become too familiar with their Bible? By leaning on the notes and markings I've already written such that I no longer listen to the Spirit for a new application of a particular passage's truth.

Additionally, because spiritual growth is a process, we are (hopefully!) always changing. That means we're growing in knowledge; therefore, what we needed when we first came to know Jesus isn't the same as when we've been walking with Him for awhile and certainly not what we need as a seasoned follower of Him. In earlier days, a person may need a more readable translation, but it may be what's called a paraphrase (i.e. The Message or the Living Bible in which the writers took the original words and put them into their own words and focus heavily on making it relevant) or a "thought for thought" Bible translation (i.e NIV in which phrases are taken and translated from the original manuscripts...this also helps make it more readable for today's reader) instead of a "word for word" translation (i.e. NAS or ESV which is the most accurate since each word is translated one word at a time from the original manuscripts).

As God grows us up in Him, just as a baby moves from milk to solid food to meat, so we as believers need a change in our spiritual diet. With the age of the internet and an abundance of Christian bookstores, we all have a wealth of resources to avail ourself of...if we really want the information!

Tool #2
A classic devotional book like Streams in the Desert
by Mrs. Charles Cowman
Sometimes, we all need a little help in our quiet time (the specific time you've chosed to set aside every day to spend with the Lord reading & praying). The only exception I know personally is my husband, Neal, who is what I call a "purist"...he, for the most part, only uses his Bible for his quiet time. Always has, probably always will. He does keep our Strongs or Holman's concordance handy (I'll probably blog at some point on the benefits to using a concordance.) I agree with him that for the most part, we need to spend most of our time with "straight Bible", but I also know that a devotional can be a huge source of encouragement and growth in my spiritual life. Streams in the Desert is one of those profound books that I have read again and again, year after year, and the Spirit continues to use it to sharpen me. It is available in an updated edition in almost any bookstore, probably even a secular bookstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders. I personally love the older editions, and search for them on Ebay and in used bookstores wherever I travel because I love giving them away to people.

By the way, this devotional was my Mom's all-time favorite. A older, godly woman gave her a copy when she was a young wife & Mom, and it stayed with her Bible & all the things she used regularly for her quiet time up until the time of her departure to heaven in January of this year at the age of 83.

I love this phrase from the April 30th's selection and have been "chewing" on it all day:

"The living God is still in the heavens

and

even to delay is part of His goodness."

Wow...see what I mean about being sharpened?!

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Women of Lakeview that attended the banquet:

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share with you. I would LOVE to hear from you, and how taking the 40 day Psalm 1 challenge/dare is going and how I can pray for you. I plan to blog soon writing out a summary of what I shared so that you have that for reference...because sometimes we agree to do something and then down the road we really can forget why...I want you to have the core Biblical truths available so that the Spirit can keep that fire in your heart lit for Him!

P.S. please don't let the enemy succeed in discouraging with tempting thoughts such as "i missed a day praying & asking the Lord to give me a delight for His word, so I might as well give up." No...just pick right up again & continue on! I cannot wait to hear how He uses the next 40 days (or however long it takes you to do 40 days worth of asking!)!

Encouragement for the weary from Psalm 138:7

Every where I turn in recent days, friends & family are in great distress for a variety of reasons. The thought came to me just now as I shared the following with them that I must put these words on my blog to encourage any out there who are also struggling. May the Lord's Spirit strengthen all the weary for His glory!

" 'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou WILL revive me.' Ps. 138:7
~The Hebrew rendering of the above is “go on in the CENTER of trouble.” What descriptive words! We have called on God in the day of trouble; we have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until we were in the very thick of the fight, in the center of trouble. Why then trouble the Master any further? When Martha said, “Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died.” Our Lord met her lack of hope with His further promise of, “Thy brother shall rise again.” And when we walk “in the center of trouble” and are tempted to think like Martha that the time of deliverance is past, He meets us too with a promise from His Word. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will revive me.” Though His answer has so long delayed, though we may still continue to “go on” in the midst of trouble, “the center of trouble” is the place where He revives, not the place where He fails us. When in the hopeless place, the continued hopeless place, is the very time when He will stretch forth His hand against the wrath of our enemies and perfect that which concerneth us, the very time when He will make the attack to cease and fail and come to an end. What occasion is there then for fainting? "

From Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, April 23 selection

Have you learned to "meditate" Biblically? I pray so! More on that subject later........

(BTW-Streams in the Desert is my ALL TIME favorite devotional and one my godly Mom read all of her adult life; I never grow tired of it, and God has used it over and over to sharpen me! If you don't have a copy, I encourage you to get one and try to get the older edition because the more current ones have been edited for supposed clarity but I think much is lost in the editing process. Go on ebay and/or check out used bookstores. Everywhere I travel when I find a used bookstore, I look for copies so I can have them to give away!)

Homesick

A sweet friend shared the following youtube link with me a few months ago in an effort to bring a measure of comfort in the loss of my precious Mom.

For those of you reading this now who knew Jim Sikes and are hurting and missing him so, I pray this song leads you to the "Balm of Gilead", Who alone can heal our grieving hearts.

"Mercy Me - Homesick with lyrics"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaHIOXIhH0

A Tribute to a man who could bring order out of chaos

We've only known him and his wife for about 7 years, but it seems like so much longer...i think in part because they were part of the "flock" we led at our former church home, and this group became like family to us. Something about being bound together in Christ that sticks like glue. Seven years....such a short time relative to a lifetime and certainly so relative to eternity.

Because he was a retired military guy, he used all kinds of crazy army-lingo. This simply made us love him more. He was the most disciplined person I think I've ever met....he was everything my husband isn't, and yet that fact didn't threaten my Neal nor make me think less of my husband. He was just soooooo "Jim". He was the kind of man who you knew you would want to go into a battle with you...my Neal called him one of his "mighty men" and one of his "Aarons".

Neal taught our former SS class for over 15 years, and it was bittersweet to minister like we used to as a husband and wife team...we visited with his wife this past Monday in ICU. Jim lay in the hospital bed with all kinds of things hooked up to him, Neal prayed over him one last time & confessed to the Lord, "I couldn't have done what I did without him doing what he did." And oh, how well he did what he did! He helped bring order to the chaos of two very unqualified SS leaders who stumbled and bumbled our way through ministering. We were better leaders because of him, and I believe we were a better class because of him too.

Ruthann, his wife, shared a note with me that he had placed in her new day planner than he got for her at the first of this year. It says, "To my love, I have given you my time as God alloted, and you have given me the time of my life! Love, Jim". Wow. It seems as if he knew, and yet how could he????

Colonel James Sikes, "one who brought order from chaos", you will be greatly missed!

My Stella Tree & Stella Chanticleer

Our former SS class sweetly gave me a very generous gift certificate to a greenhouse/nursery to purchase something in memory of Mom/Memama. Neal and I went to the nursery in early February, but I simply wasn’t ready to make a decision. I wanted it to be just the “right” thing. We returned a few weeks ago and found the perfect “Stella tree”…a curly willow… so unique just like Mom. It’s planted in the backyard where our “someday patio” will be. I know I’m going to enjoy seeing it grow for many years to come. And I imagine sharing much about her legacy w/ my grandbabies someday.

We also purchased a “quirky” chanticleer (aka: a rooster!) at the nursery w/ some leftover gift certificate money. Some of you may remember how Mom often referred to herself as a “tough old bird” because nothing ever seemed to get her down! Nothing ever did, not even cancer! It may have taken her physical life, but the joke is on the defeated one because “though she’s dead, she STILL speaks!” (Hebrews)! This “bird” just seemed to scream or more aptly “crow” MOM, so it has also found its place in our front yard.

Since Neal took the photo, I’ve added a sign I found on a recent treasure hunt (incidentally, the same one I bought for her a few months before she died to put outside her den window) that has the phrase that characterized her life...how appropriate that the rooster’s head is thrown back boldly crowing, “Praise the Lord!”

My James 5:16 Man

He amazes me. His perseverance in prayer slays me. Most middle -of -the-nights, he can be found on the sofa in the family room...praying...interceding...seeking the mind of his God...experiencing "yada" intimacy with Jesus.

He used to love his sleep, but he asked Him to make him more of a pray-er. He answered. Now when he is awakened for any reason, he assumes it's his wakeup call to pray. He says he's heard the Father whisper, "Come talk with me." I believe him.

I wonder what mountains have been moved, what strongholds demolished, what healing has been given, what situations resolved, what victories won as he's bowed the knee countless nights...for his children...and their spouses, for his "former flock" that he led for over 15 years as their Sunday school teacher, for his extended family, for the prodigals he's known, for his church and its leaders.....and gratefully, for his wife....THIS wife....

My Neal...my James 5:16 man.