Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians serving around the world
So I have been a bit of a slacker on getting this blog done. I believe I selected this book in December or January from the Thomas Nelson list of available free books to blog on for BookSneeze. Voices of the Faithful—Book 2 is another year of powerful devotions from a series created by Kim Davis and Beth Moore. It is no secret to anyone that I will read, buy, enjoy just about anything that Beth Moore puts her name on. This devotional did not fail to live up to my expectations!
The book provides a one page devotional for each day of the year. The devotion includes a verse, story of courage from a missionary around the world, and a suggested prayer. It is a great way to focus your day on things outside your normal day to day view.
For me, the devotional spurs me to focus my vision outside my small town or 6X6 cubicle, to the people on the other side of the world. While God cares immensely about my individual situation, He also pushes us to have a broader world view like he does. He loves the whole world and calls us to as well!
I really liked how this devotional was set up. The verse engaged my mind in God’s living truth. The story provide a tangible way for me to connect with real people with real needs from 1000s of miles away, and while the prayer provided specific items to pray about for the missionaries, it also gave a suggested prayer for how my heart needs to change to be more like God’s. The book is set up to walk you through a year of devotions, but I don’t think it has to be a once and done. It is a devotional that could be used year after year, one thought that came to my mind was to mark each page with the year in which I prayed for the people. If I make it back through the book again, I will see that I have prayed for these needs more than once and see how my life has changed.
One of my struggles with this type of devotional is that I start to focus too much on the rigidity that I missed June 4, 5, 6, etc. and not on the discipline of just spending time in the Word and in prayer. That struggle, however, is not the book’s fault; it has more to do with my own OCD…
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Women of Faith Conference
Nothing can separate us from God… (Sheila Walsh)
Happy people are givers, connected, and have goals that both challenge them and leverage their abilities… (Henry Cloud)
Naked and Unashamed with our community of monkeys… (Henry Cloud)
Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ… (Sheila Walsh)
Live Now, Love Now, Give Now, Enjoy Now…. (Luci Swindoll)
By enjoying the world, we improve the world! People want to be where the fun is… (Luci Swindoll)
As I was trying to come up with words to describe my weekend at the Women of Faith conference in Indianapolis, I decided to head back to my quickly jotted notes from the sessions. These quotes above are only a brief synopsis of the weekend, but capture my main takeaways. The women and man (Henry Cloud) had oodles of amazing words of wisdom to share over the course of the two day session. In addition to the amazing speakers, Natalie Grant and Mary Mary both put on wonderful concerts.
I went into the weekend with very little knowledge of the list of speakers when I received the two free tickets to the conference. I knew Henry Cloud as the author of Boundaries, which my college roomie sweared by but I had never read, Sheila Walsh was once on the 700 Club, but that was when I was 6 and under, and Luci Swindoll had a name which was familiar to me. Following their amazing sessions, I feel like I know these people in a very personal and intimate way. They all shared their hearts and the things that God had taught them over the years. Not an easy task in a stadium of 10,000 women and a spattering of men, they must have been the bus drivers :) !
While all of the speakers I mentioned were awesome, my favorite was Angie Smith. I had heard Angie’s story before the conference, but seeing her on stage sharing the very personal details of losing her daughter after only 2 and half hours was very inspiring. I learned a lot from her about depending on the Lord, our Savior, in the good and even more importantly in the very hard times. Angie was full of wit and her smile warms my heart. It is her realness and ordinary-ness that draws me to her, and I thank her for sharing. I highly recommend checking out her blog at http://angiesmithonline.com/
The weekend was great and I would definitely go back again. So family, friends, random strangers who have stumbled upon my online musings, save the date and come with me to the Women of Faith conference in 2012. The session in Indy is August 24-25th!
Happy people are givers, connected, and have goals that both challenge them and leverage their abilities… (Henry Cloud)
Naked and Unashamed with our community of monkeys… (Henry Cloud)
Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ… (Sheila Walsh)
Live Now, Love Now, Give Now, Enjoy Now…. (Luci Swindoll)
By enjoying the world, we improve the world! People want to be where the fun is… (Luci Swindoll)
As I was trying to come up with words to describe my weekend at the Women of Faith conference in Indianapolis, I decided to head back to my quickly jotted notes from the sessions. These quotes above are only a brief synopsis of the weekend, but capture my main takeaways. The women and man (Henry Cloud) had oodles of amazing words of wisdom to share over the course of the two day session. In addition to the amazing speakers, Natalie Grant and Mary Mary both put on wonderful concerts.
I went into the weekend with very little knowledge of the list of speakers when I received the two free tickets to the conference. I knew Henry Cloud as the author of Boundaries, which my college roomie sweared by but I had never read, Sheila Walsh was once on the 700 Club, but that was when I was 6 and under, and Luci Swindoll had a name which was familiar to me. Following their amazing sessions, I feel like I know these people in a very personal and intimate way. They all shared their hearts and the things that God had taught them over the years. Not an easy task in a stadium of 10,000 women and a spattering of men, they must have been the bus drivers :) !
While all of the speakers I mentioned were awesome, my favorite was Angie Smith. I had heard Angie’s story before the conference, but seeing her on stage sharing the very personal details of losing her daughter after only 2 and half hours was very inspiring. I learned a lot from her about depending on the Lord, our Savior, in the good and even more importantly in the very hard times. Angie was full of wit and her smile warms my heart. It is her realness and ordinary-ness that draws me to her, and I thank her for sharing. I highly recommend checking out her blog at http://angiesmithonline.com/
The weekend was great and I would definitely go back again. So family, friends, random strangers who have stumbled upon my online musings, save the date and come with me to the Women of Faith conference in 2012. The session in Indy is August 24-25th!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Women of Faith Tickets
Yippee, I received an email this morning letting me know that I was selected to blog for the Women of Faith conference in Indianapolis, IN in August. If I commit to writing two blogs about the conference, in return, I receive two free registrations. What a great deal! So now I am on the hunt for someone interested in attending with me. I have sent out the emails asking who wants to go and now can't wait to attend. Here is a video that previews the event.
Let me know if you are interested in coming with me. I am sure it will be an awesome time of refreshment and learning.
Let me know if you are interested in coming with me. I am sure it will be an awesome time of refreshment and learning.
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