Soul Sister Time

              Jesus taught us to pray that God would lead us not into temptation but protect us from evil every day.  Most of us do not deeply connect with the spiritual reality that is around us all the time.  We don’t consider the reality of temptation.  We don’t recognize that we have an enemy of our soul whose main goal is to destroy any connection we might form to the love and protection of God.  This is how we become our own worst enemy.  We do not recognize what is at stake every day.                There is an invisible foe to conquer every day.  This mostly undetected force of evil is very skilled at remaining anonymous.  He comes to steal, kill and devour (John 10:10) but most of the time in the most subtle of manners.  Since we are creations of God and bear His image, it is difficult for us to stoop so far as to openly worship evil.  The types of people that openly worship Satan are not attractive or tempting to the average person.  Yet the enemy of our soul is present

              Overseeing the ministry of prayer at my church has opened my eyes to the reality of ambitious prayer.  For many years I didn’t realize that I had a spiritual gift of faith.  All Christians have faith; that is how we become Christians.  It took many decades of praying before I realized that God had gifted me with faith from the time that I was a young woman.  When my youth minister asked me to pray for him and his wife to have a baby, I wrote his request on a list.  It never occurred to me to take that request off my list until seven years later when I received the news that his wife was pregnant.  No one taught me to be consistent in prayer.  No one taught me that God wants us to keep asking;and when we don’t seem to be getting an answer, He is calling us to increase our faith.  No one taught me, except the Holy Spirit.  He taught me this lesson again through the prayer theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer.               I think we can all agree that our count

              I’ve just returned from a mission trip where I witnessed a group of women expressing utter love and humility to one another when nobody was looking.  It reminded me of why I lead these mission trips.  The first step of spiritual growth is humility and the second is love.  You will never be lost from intimacy with God when you place your feet firmly on these stepping stones in whatever circumstances you find yourself.               Humility is not about saying I am not a writer when you clearly have a gift at communication.  Humility is about getting yourself out of the way so that you are willing to write whether your writing is read, acknowledged or rewarded.  Humility is about offering all that you are and all that you have for God’s glory and His purpose.               Love is not just spoken words.  Anyone can express their love, even with tears for effect.  Love is much more than that.  Love is not just loving actions; anyone can give something of value to ano