Soul Sister Time

                The celebration of Labor Day is about spending your time doing anything but working.  It’s so great to have a whole day not to work at the end of summer.  The smell of grilled meat, along with laughter and delight fill the air just because we don’t have to work!                 Labor Day is a national holiday of rest from work.  God assigned a spiritual discipline of rest from work one day each week.   He assigned it so that we would learn how to appreciate the privilege of work and to strengthen our bond to Him. The Jews made it a labor to rest.  There were so many rules about rest that they condemned the work of the God who gave them rest.  Jesus purposely healed others on Sabbath to show that rest is not work and work is not rest.  John 5:15-17 is one example: The man went away ...

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;      establish the work of our hands for us—      yes, establish the work of our hands . (Psalm 90:17)             Work and favor do not seem to go hand in hand.   Labor Day and freedom from work, now that sounds like favor!             Not it God’s sight!   Our work is a gift from heaven.   When we work—whether missionary work, church work, serving professions, or managing a warehouse; we are living our God’s call on our lives.   We are demonstrating that we are formed in the image of God.   The first image God shows us of Himself is of a worker—when he created the world and pronounced it good.               We can even go as far to say that our work is part of our worship experience.   Wor...

Ray Boltz has a song whose chorus starts with Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad you gave .   The song is about a man who dreamed he went to heaven and heard from numerous individuals, some he never met, whose lives he had impacted while he lived on earth.   We never know how God is using us when He assigns us a job to do.   Sometimes God gives us special work that may look like a disappointment.   We often have to wait until heaven to understand it all.    There is someone I want to thank here on earth who worked for God and impacted my life in a powerful way.   I mentioned her a few weeks ago as the eleven-year-old girl who had an urgent desire to pray by Brian’s bedside when he was in the hospital.   Her name is Amara.   This one young lady brought hope to my despair through her hugs and support the week of Brian’s memorial.   She burst through the l...