Preparation

It is hard to imagine that it is already the day before May! How did the last few months fly by so quickly? So many good things that God is doing in our midst...so many ways He is blessing us...and so many minutes pass by without our ability to absorb all that God is "up to" in our lives and the lives of those around us!

I ask for your prayers as I prepare for a missions trip to Brazil. I know that God has incredible things for the team that is going, and I praise Him for allowing me to "tag along" with such sweet women of God. Together, we will share encouraging words with women throughout three cities in that vast country...giving them tips, advice, and tools that will equip them in their desire to lead women's ministries in their communities. We will equip them to lead and nurture women in their walk with the Lord...what an awesome honor.

We have prayed for the women of Brazil, and I am so anticipating the moment when we will be able to pray with them - seeking the Lord together, in the same room, rather than continents away from eachother.

It is such a humbling and worship-full praise that I feel in my heart that God is allowing me to present workshops that deal with evangelism and discipleship in these conferences we will be facilitating in that time with the women of Brazil. It is a gift from God, because He knows that I have such a desire to help women live out the "Great Commission" calling on their lives as believers...how great is our God indeed!!! He knows my desire and my passion, and He is allowing me to share that with others once again. What a glorious God we serve!

As I bubble over with joy about our God and His gift (this ministry trip) to a wretch like me, I ask you - ministry or no ministry, missions or no missions, conference or no conference - does your heart leap with joy when you realize that the God of all Creation has given you a desire of your heart? Whatever the desire of your heart, be sure to give praise to God when He opens up the door for you to be able to function in, or have that desire fulfilled in your life. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" comes to mind...doesn't it?

The best "heart leap" that can ever happen in our lives is the one that combines the desires of God with the desires of His followers as they obediently follow Him. When our desires match His...when our will is to seek the will of the Father...great joy truly abounds...the pure joy that can only come from the Lord and our relationship with Him.

So, as the women's missions team prepares to minister to others, with the message that the Father wills that all of His people share with the nations, please pray for us! Pray for a mighty move of God and for the hearts of the women who attend to be lit ablaze with a love and passion for their Savior, and an unquenchable thirst to share His gospel with the world around them. May our team be completely emptied of "self", totally dependent on God, and totally surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to the women of Brazil!

For His glory, and honor...

Much love in Christ,

JD

The Flowers of Springtime

Can I admit something to you? I believe I have an addiction...an addiction to spring. All it takes is one incredibly sunny day, followed by a flower or two brave enough to bloom, and I'm done for! Out in the dirt I go to play...planting, transplanting, pulling weeds, surveying the land (my backyard flowerbeds).

Sounds like I've been a gardener forever, huh? Well, I'd like to think so, but sadly, I have killed more plants I've planted then actually watch them grow from year to year. I am proud to report that my thumbs are tending to get "greener" with each passing year! I have a passion for color, texture, and a pleasant scene to look at when I sit on my porch...which has opened up this whole road to gardening. God has graciously given me a little more skill in the growing area, and a whole lot more patience in the watering area...so the yard is really coming along!

Over the years of many moves (thanks to our military lifestyle), I've planted many, many things. I've even watched some plants survive a season! And then, on even rarer occasions, we have still lived in the same house the following season, and the plants have popped up out of the ground to couragiously try to survive yet another year. It is thrilling to see the planting experiments come back to life in the spring - just like my passion for warm days and colorful views.

It's like the hibernation has been shaken off with the final chill of winter, and at the same moment, we both (me and the plants) perk up, rub the sleep out of our eyes, and stretch to the sky with a big praise to heaven for the warm sun on our faces! Oh, yes, I am truly addicted to spring. But the questions is this: how does such an addiction become a "God thing"?

I believe that this type of passion, addiction, or madness (whatever term you prefer) can be a very wonderful thing - if we acknowledge Who it is that has created the view, and Who it is that has given us a passion for viewing His creation. God, the Author and Creator of all things, who has made all things, and created us to worship Him and enjoy Him forever, took the time to make sure we would have an environment that we would love to look at - and praise Him for!

Yes, I am a "Jesus chick" who praises God for creation, and even for the flowers He has created. I can stare at the wind brushing through the trees for lengths of time, reflecting on how the Holy Spirit moves us in similar ways...(not mistakenly thinking that God is the tree, or is the flower, but that He, who created the tree and the flower loves us, and He is mindful of us.)

God wants us to enjoy His creation. He wants us to rush outside on a spring day and feel the sun on our face. He wants us to dig in the dirt - and to even take a moment to remember that Adam, and the beginning of the whole human race, was created, by God, out of a patch of dirt.

As you and I are digging in our garden, what a thought to remember...the very dirt that gives nutrients to the plants we enjoy is the same stuff that God used to make Adam so long ago in a garden far far away. The beauty that we see in the flowers that are surrounded by that dirt is the same beauty I believe God sees in us when He looks down from the heavenlies, His eyes roaming the earth to and fro, looking upon His children.

God created.
God deserves praise.
We get to have an excuse for playing in the dirt.
What more is there to life?

Go play, and go praise!

Much love in Christ,

JD

Our New Logo

Time Warp!

Ok, so it has been almost a month since I wrote to you...it feels as though I have been "trapped in a time warp", and have begun to climb my way out! Some amazing things, both positive and negative, have been taking up the majority of the minutes in my days...and nights...lately.

But you know what? Even with seasons like this, God is still in control, He is still on His throne, and He is still awaiting all who are His to join Him in the heavenlies someday. SO, praise be to God in spite of the things that plague us...like terrible flu bugs, and crashing hard drives, and children who just don't feel like doing their schoolwork anymore...and allergies, and workmen finishing projects on the house, and so on and so on...God is still God, and we are still mere humans meandering through our lives here on earth, trying to keep our eyes on our Creator as we battle the silly battles that satan throws at us in an attempt to get us off track...to get us from focusing on the bigger "God picture" for our lives.

In the moments when we are recovering from the flu, or picking up our repaired computers, or shuttling our children on to their next activity, do we search for the glimpse of God in the midst of our trials? Do we praise Him for getting us through? I sure have - especially lately. God has made a point of reminding me how He has been there every step of the way, and I thank Him for it!

I have to confess something to you - and with this, you will know what a loon I really can be. As I picked up my computer from the local fix-it kiosk at the electronics supermart a few weeks ago, and as they handed me a backup copy of all my documents neatly compiled onto a disk, I stood right there in the middle of a bustling store and exclaimed, "praise God, praise God, praise God...oh praise God, the files are all here!" This escaped my mouth long before I could think about what it would look like to any innocent bystanders who happened to be in earshot, or why anyone would want to know how happy I was that those files were saved before the computer was brought back to life as a brand new computer with no memory of what we had been through together. Sometimes, it just feels so good to praise God, especially when a hopeless situation suddenly doesn't seem so hopeless at all. I had my files, and I would even have a better computer as a result...so, what was the problem?!?!? Didn't matter. It was done. And all was "ok".

Needless to say, in the few short days when the computer was totally caput, I was more than irritated, and more than dissappointed in myself that I hadn't done better with backing up my files over the past few months. Even then, I had such a peace that if God wanted me to have those files, then somehow, I would be able to get those files...and praise God, I got them all...and praise God I did...right there in the store lobby. Know what? I didn't get too many weird looks, and I didn't get arrested. So, I feel blessed!

So, with that little praise moment there, hopefully you will take a minute here to think of a time when you have praised God with an uncontainable praise - maybe even in an unlikely location or time. I bet it is still fresh on your mind. Let it sink in once again. Let it run through your mind, giving you a renewed sense of how good it is to praise God when you "just have to", no matter what anyone will say!

Those are times I think of as a "crazy praise", or a praise that is anything but expected at the moment. Sometimes, when you feel like you are "trapped in a time warp", with a million things going on at once, a crazy praise is just what it takes to bring your perspective back to where it always needs to stay....with your focus on God and His creative ways of blessing us throughout our day.

Be blessed, and praise the Lord!

Much love in Christ,

JD