Wild Olive Tee's

You have got to check them out!  These tee's are so cute.  I have been looking for tee's that express my faith in such a cool way.  Wild Olive Tee's are just what I was looking for.  

Buy before March 31st and get free shipping.  Great quality. Soft feel.  Comfortable T-shirt.  

Great for layering.  Shout it out!  Love your Lord out loud!  Go to www.wildolivetees.com

Get off the Porch!

I'm still a little sunburned this morning. No I didn't go to Maui and it's not quite Spring here yet, but I still got totally tan-faced. No, not from the sun, but from the SON. His presence was so thick this weekend, that I had a Moses experience, stood on Holy Ground and came back home with a glorious tan from the Lord. It was truly wonderful. The retreat was held at Butman Methodist Camp outside of Merkel Texas. Right smack dab in the Big Country. So peaceful, quiet and these tall things with green and brown colors on them.... Oh yes, trees. Something we don't see much of in West Texas. My girlfriends and I were asked to lead worship at this retreat. It's such a fun thing for us, because we love to be together and we of course love to sing, but we also have done this enough to know that God always has something up His holy sleeve at these retreats and we were going to experience it right along with the participants. I love anticipating what He is going to do. I come expecting it. It is such a blast. He never lets me down. And He certainly didn't this weekend.

The team secured a fabulous speaker from Lifeway - Dr. Deb Douglas. She blessed our socks plum off. I must admit that when I learned the retreat topic, Spiritual Gifts, I was a little disappointed.   I'm mean most of us have taken a Spiritual Gifts test and we all know where we are gifted. I wanted something more meaty. I wanted to leave refreshed.   I figured, there must be participants coming that needed to discover their gifts and I just needed to be obedient to my job He had brought me there for.  I was curious about this speaker, as I had been to so many other women's retreat weekends.  I always had fun and the speakers were nice people, but usually their presentation was standard; nothing that blew my skirt up.  Upon my first meeting Deb, she approached me about my computer wanting to know if she could use it to run her power point. It hit me after a minute that she must be the speaker. I have to be honest and say that Deb, although lovely and kind,  seemed rather quiet and reserved.   Not the bold, boisterous person who would come all this way from Louisiana to speak to a group of women. Shame on me, once again. God was putting me in my place very quickly.  The evening began   with worship and the women were engaged with the Lord and ready to offer their praise. I knew there were hurts in that room and walls put up around those hurts. But I also knew that God was big enough to tear down those walls and hearts would be touched and changed. We, His servants, only needed to be obedient to our call and not get in His way. Like we could anyway - ha...! Anyway, once worship was over, Deb got up to speak. A hush fell over the room. We hung on every word. That quiet, reserved lady quickly turned into a funny, compelling, relatable, spirit-filled, loving, caring, confident tool used by the Lord. She turned a simple weekend of personality tests and spiritual gifts tests into a total transformation of the mind, body and spirit. Was I ever wrong that a little spiritual gifts test couldn't challenge even the oldest servant in the room.  And was I ever wrong about how God could use a quiet, reserved lady to touch so many hearts in one weekend.  Including mine.  God picked her specifically for that audience and she allowed Him to use her in a mighty way.  She is very gifted in listening and showing compassion for all.  She gave sound advice and you knew she was prayed up regarding what God would have her say this weekend.  Not only in her presentation but in her one on one conversations with the ladies.  Deb talked  about understanding that we all are given our spiritual gift the minute we come a Christian and this gift is to be opened up and used for His glory. No arguments. We will be held accountable for our use of our gift. He expects us to serve Him using our gift. He uses our gift to transform our hearts and our minds. The more we serve Him, the more faith we gain, the more truth is revealed to us by Him. As we live on this earth our charge is to become more Christ-like. The ultimate goal is to gain all of the spiritual gifts, like Jesus. It's a large task and I'm not sure any of us reach it, but it's certainly something to strive for. Through using our gifts we develop the Fruits of the Spirit. Which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You want more of any of these - then serve in your gift. We also must learn to understand others and their personalities and gifts. Offer grace to those who aren't like us and embrace that God created all types of people for a reason. That loud bossy person is needed to get things done. That artsy-fartsy person is needed to create things. That shy indecisive person is needed to be the mediator in situations. The perfectionist is need for all the details that need to be handled. Certainly with each gift come a few negative side affects and we are to strive to understand our gift and personalities fully and allow God to shave off the rough edges so that we can advance the positive effects of our personality and reduce the negative side. We must allow ourselves to

"Be Transformed." It doesn't happen over night, but it's an active word... "BE." It's ongoing. I can tell you that I took this same spiritual gifts test 5 years ago at church. I was astonished at how my gifts had changed. I had actually grown in mercy, which I scored 0 last time around. I had also grown in Faith. Knowledge was my highest gift. Fascinating really! I didn't do this myself. I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, I am not capable of these things. These have come only from God through serving Him. He is transforming me. Praise Him! I have sooo far to go. But God encouraged me this weekend by showing me areas in which He has built for me. And He challenged me to keep allowing the transformation in the areas I am weak. He is Faithful to complete the work He started. He is loving, kind and demanding and yet so full of mercy and grace. Oh I love Him so.

So Deb left us in the Chapel Sunday morning with a challenge. We had sung "My Passion." And she asked us all if "Jesus truly is our passion?" It was time to get up out of that comfortable chair, recliner, rocker on the porch and get to serving Him. Stop being the lady on the porch that just waves at the passer by's. Get up and do what He is calling us to do." Mind you, this was a room full of churched women, who are currently servants. But God was challenging all of us to do more. Too be willing to do what He wants us to do, not what we are comfortable doing. Step out of the norm. Take some risks. Have faith in Him. Go outside of ourselves. Allow ourselves to "Be Transformed!" It starts with getting off the porch. Getting serious about Jesus. Falling deeply in love with Him.

Do you have a desire to serve Him? Is Jesus truly your passion? If not, don't fret Dear One. Ask Him to create that desire in you. He will. Ask Him to make Him your Passion. Your focus. Your center. Your Everything. He will. All you have to do is ask and then allow yourself to be transformed. He is waiting for you to ask. Don't waste anymore time. What are you waiting for? The return of our Lord is coming. It's one day closer than yesterday. Get up off that porch and say "Yes Lord. Here am I. Send Me. Use Me. Fill Me. Transform Me. " I don't want to be the same a year from now. I don't have to be.

May you look back on this day, one year from now and see signs of your transformation. And may you inspire others to get up off their porch too.

May God Bless You Immensely!