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Sep 23
September 23, 2021
WOMEN’S NIGHT OUT
Ada, MI
With: Gwen Smith
Sep 25
September 25, 2021
Pleasantview Baptist
Arlington, TX
With: Sharon Jaynes
Dec 01
December 1-10, 2021
Best of the Holy Land (sponsored by EO Tours)
New York, NY
With: Mary Southerland, Sharon Jaynes, and Gwen Smith
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Most of us come to Christ with a certain “inloveness”—a stirring of emotion mixed with an inexplicable knowing that we’ve discovered our reason for being. But some years into our spiritual journey, the wonder that swelled during the early years ebbs into routine religion laced with busyness. And we secretly question the point of it all. ![]()
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There has to be more than this, we muse. What am I missing? What’s wrong with me? I’m doing all the right things, but God seems so far away. I’m trying as hard as I can, but it never seems to be enough. What does God really want from me anyway? ![]()
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For decades, as I have had the privilege of ministering to women, I have heard the same heart-cry from those who desire to have a deep, intimate, exuberant relationship with Christ but don’t know how to find it.![]()
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Here’s part of one email:![]()
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Here’s the crux of my problem. After I gave my life to Christ, I joined a church and began reading the Bible daily. Yet, I never experienced that overwhelming feeling of change that so many others experience. In my quiet times, when I seek to know Him better and wait quietly for answers, I do not get the nudges that others talk about. I know that some people hit rock bottom and then experience a dramatic life change accompanied by an emotional high. I sometimes wonder if I will have to experience some great trial in order to have the wonderful feelings of a true relationship with Christ.![]()
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I try to start each day with quiet time, scripture reading and prayer. I try to have a God-focused day. Is something wrong with me? Do other women feel this emptiness too? Should I be feeling something more? What more should I be doing? I know Christ loves me, but something is missing and I don’t even know what it is. What should I do? ![]()
—Stephanie (Not her real name. Used by permission.)![]()
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Perhaps you can relate. You long to feel close to God but sense there’s just something lacking, that you’ve missed the mysterious formula to make it happen. I call this a “glory ache” —a persistent longing to experience God’s presence on a daily basis. Perhaps like most women, you’ve tried desperately to balance the montage of mundane demands and somehow slip God into the white spaces that are few and far between. ![]()
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You long to spend time in the sacred with God, but find the desire crowded out by the responsibilities of the secular—the daily demands—that lay claim to your attention. You yearn to experience God’s presence, but feel far away from Him as you reach to click off the bedside lamp and collapse exhausted once again. Maybe tomorrow, you sigh. ![]()
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The travesty is that we allow the busyness of life to crowd out the Source of life. As the Psalmist wrote, “We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing” (Psalm 39:6) ![]()
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And most of us are quick to think “something more” means “doing more.” We ramp it up and gun the engines—sign up for a new committee, volunteer for a new cause, bake one more casserole to feed the sick. We attempt to silence the hunger pains of the heart by feeding it the bread and water of duty. And at the end of the day, while we might feel a self-induced sense of well-being, the hollowness in our soul that can only be satisfied with God, still echoes with the grumblings of hunger.![]()
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We long for a sense of closeness with God, but we have a hard time putting our finger on exactly what that closeness would look like. It’s just something more. Something different. And we are quite right. We are craving the closeness that comes with an intimate relationship with Jesus. ![]()
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In Acts 17:28 Paul wrote: “For in him we live and move and have our being” (NIV). That means every moment, all the time. He also wrote: “Pray continually” (I Thessalonians 5:17 NIV). That means every moment, all the time. But how in the world do we do that with everything else we have to do?![]()
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Here's the key. It’s not a separate activity, but a lifestyle—a lifestyle of union and communion with God. It’s not an activity for your to-do-list to be checked off, but an attitude for you to-be-list to be wrapped in.![]()
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Dear Lord, soothe my glory ache with Your presence. Help me to stay in constant communion and union with You no matter what else I have going on today. ![]()
In Jesus’ Name, Amen. ![]()
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When I coached high school volleyball, one of the games we played in practice was called Queen of the Court, the goal of which is simple: gain and keep the lead. Dominate. Serve more aggressively, pass more accurately, set more strategically, and hit harder than your opponents. ![]()
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My life sometimes feels like a game of Queen of the Court. ![]()
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I strive, set goals, create a game plan, and execute the strategy. I long to be my best (a good thing), but at times my goal changes from wanting to experience all of God’s best for me to wanting to be THE best (not so good). Look at me, everyone! Check out my people, my position, my possessions, my trophies-of-greatness... ![]()
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I have to check my heart. ![]()
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Am I striving to be my best in order to make the most of what God has given me—or because I want to impress others and be at the top of the heap? Those are two very different questions. ![]()
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Too often I become fixated on aggressively spiking balls on the volleyball court of my ego, my family, my church, my community, my country. (My goodness!) To make it worse, I throw on an invisible jersey and play a game of Who-Is-The-Greatest? Aren’t we so good at that? We think: ![]()
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• I would be incredible at that position if the boss would just stop giving all the best assignments to other people. �![]()
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• If I use this decorating idea from Pinterest, my house will be the envy of every woman in the neighborhood. �![]()
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We want to be seen as the best. �![]()
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We want to be the best employee, work for the biggest Fortune 500 company, and attend the largest church with the most popular pastor. We want to parent the smartest kids, serve on the most important committees, and dangle on the arm of a hunky husband. Our shiny pursuits and performances become our social media statuses the moment they happen. ![]()
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Can I get a witness? ![]()
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We boast. We brag. We strive. We show. We want. We need. As I think of these things a hush falls over my heart. Conviction. Embarrassment. ![]()
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Lord, forgive us. ![]()
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We all want to be great. And that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. We need to be people of excellence. Jesus told a story, the Parable of the Talents, where He taught that each of us is responsible to wisely use what we are given (Matthew 25:14-30). God expects us to use our talents, personalities, gifts, and energy in productive ways. The problem comes in our motivation. If we're striving for excellence so others will be oh-so-impressed, then we're acting out of pride. ![]()
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Instead of elevating our Lord, we're elevating ourselves. ![]()
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Lord, forgive us. ![]()
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The fire of conviction warms me...bends my knees. ![]()
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Queen of the Court is a useful volleyball drill, but it is not a game Christians should be playing. If I really want to have all the impact God intends for me to have, then I need to be far more concerned with the greatness of God than with the greatness of Gwen. ![]()
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The. End.![]()
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Peter reminds us of this in his letter to the believers in the early church. “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:5b-6, NIV).![]()
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Our job: be humble before God and to others. Stop playing the greatness game.![]()
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God’s job: to lift us up as He sees fit, when He sees fit… all to elevate Himself.![]()
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