Do you ever have those times when you’ve been praying for something for a while and then you start to crumble?  “Will He really come through?”  “Is He really going to help me?”

I can tell myself, “Just trust Him.”  But that usually doesn’t work because it bounces off of  the barrier of feelings and doubt.

So what I’ve been doing lately to get back to trusting Him with whatever I’m praying for is asking myself two questions:  1)  Is He willing? (i.e. Is what I’m praying for in alignment with His will) and 2) Is He able?  The second question is kind of rhetorical because I know He’s able to do anything but it helps me refocus my heart and remember that He really is able.

After answering those two questions I find it helpful to pray it back to Him out loud.  (I believe that praying it out loud helps change the spiritual environment around you.)  “Lord I know You’re willing to ____ and I know You’re able, so I trust You.”

I hope this helps someone today!

Shagufta

Can I really make a difference?

I asked myself that very question a few weekends ago, when my family joined a group of Christians who went to visit an orphanage in Rocky Point, Mexico.

The team prepared lunch for the kids and the staff at the orphanage.  Afterward, the girls worked at different booths.  Some did face painting, others different games, others crafts, and so on.  The guys went outside and played soccer and basketball with the rest of the kids.

I walked around the different booths looking for a place to help out, but none of these activities seemed like “my thing.” Outside, clouds of dust and the sound of laughter filled the air.  Childhood memories of sprained ankles and broken toenails sustained during eager attempts to play ball with my neighbors kept me from even considering to join in.

I longed to connect with these precious children, but I didn’t know how.

Feeling like I didn’t fit in, I sauntered back inside the building where I noticed that a new booth had opened up.  A young woman from our team had spread dozens of bright-colored bottles of nail polish on the table.  The younger girls waited in line, giddy with excitement, when I sat on the opposite side of the table and asked, “Who wants me to paint her nails?”

The little girls dismissed the offer.  “No, no.  ¡Ella, ella!” they’d say, pointing at the pretty blond from our team.

Thanks a lot! I muttered, feeling defeated and rejected.  Then one of the young teens from the orphanage tapped me on the shoulder.  “Would you do my nails?” she asked shyly.  I felt like I had gone from zero to hero!  I was now in business!

Much to my surprise, as soon as I began to work on this girl’s nails, a second line began to form behind me.  But my “customers” were the older girls in the orphanage.  I wondered why they would be attracted to me and not by the novelty of the pretty American. (If you don’t know me, I should tell you I’m as Hispanic-looking as it gets.)

“They want a mother’s touch,” a voice told me.

Emotion and gratitude filled me. “What is your name?” I asked the girl whose hand I was holding in mine.  And that was all it took.  She, as well as the rest of the girls that visited my booth, talked to me incessantly like any other teenager would to a beloved aunt or godmother.  As I applied the nail polish and gave them quick glances so that they’d know I was listening, I prayed for these girls, that they would feel God’s touch through mine and His love through my prayers and this minute act of service.

On May 5^th, you and I will have an opportunity to express God’s love to other women with our small acts of service during Spa Day – a VCNP outreach to single moms.

For years, I’d thought I couldn’t participate in this event because I wasn’t a cosmetologist or an aesthetician.  This time around, however, I found out that this is a misconception.  Though we still need professionals, anyone can help!  All we need to do is be willing to serve (and attend a volunteer meeting at the end of April.)

If you would like more information about this great event, please contact Rebecca Turrigiano at rturrigiano@vcfnp.com or click on this link: http://vineyardnorthphoenix.com/story/680  We still need many volunteers!

Come and make a difference!

Ana

Last month I wrote about my issues with fear.  I’ve listened to messages on fear in the past but none seemed to help me.  Last week I heard a two part message on overcoming fear by a woman named Peggy Joyce Ruth and I was delivered of the fear that I walked around with for years!

In her message she said that fear enters when our trust in God breaks down.  Taking in and dwelling on a thought that questions God’s character causes you to lose trust.

She made four main points in her message on overcoming fear.

1)  Fear is sin.  She referenced the last part of Romans 14:23.  “For whatever is not from faith is sin” (NKJV).

2)  Don’t concentrate on not being fearful of something.  Concentrate on the fact that God is with you and He’s helping you.  “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”  (Isaiah 41:10, NKJV).

3)  Exchange fear pictures for faith pictures.  Counter whatever fearful thing you’re picturing in your mind with a promise from God’s word.  Fear pictures are a ploy by satan to get you to resort to Plan B.  (Plan A is God.)
Peggy also said that fear brings on that which you fear.  I assume that’s because you’re actually putting your faith in fear.  “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25, NKJV).

4)  Focus on God’s perfect love.  God’s perfect love means we have nothing to fear.

If you want to listen to her message (Overcoming Fear) it’s at this link: http://www.peggyjoyceruth.org/Teachings.html

Shagufta

On Saturday,February 25th, I had the pleasure of participating in a service opportunity with my oldest daughter. It was the Glendale Community Outreach in which our Vineyard partnered with the City of Glendale for a beautification and restoration project for Elderly, Disabled, and Low Income families. We met in the morning at Blue Sky Mobile Home Park and painted homes.

It was a work effort. It was not a foo-foo act of service (although any act of service is worth while). There was sweat, ladders, dirt, dust, a spider web here and there, and as it got later in the day, the sun started getting hot, even in February. But there was something that stood out above all of that…community.

Looking around, I caught a glimpse of our church family. We are quite a diverse bunch. Men and women, youth to seniors, singles and families, physically fit and not so physically fit, all wearing lime green t-shirts that said Servant Outreach on the back.

Now let’s take it a step further – before long there was camaraderie. Jokes were laughed at, youth were excited at the thought of getting their hands in the paint, impersonations of Mr. Miagi telling Daniel-son to paint the fence, my daughter painting mom’s shirt, and giggles wafted into the air along with the yummy smell of hotdogs being grilled for lunch. Residents could not resist. They started coming outof their homes just to see what was going on. Conversations began and love – the sweet, unmerited, overflowing love of God was shared.

My daughter and I are close, but we grew closer that day. It is one of those memories that I will keep tucked away in my heart forever.

“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:35 NIV

Acts of service take us out of our routine, and drop us in the middle of Kingdom work. Our church offers many opportunities to do this. Whether it is in our compassion ministries, our children’s ministry, Single Mom Spa Day, Community Outreaches, or on campus during weekend services, Jesus is calling you to be more blessed. Say yes!

Blessings,

Kathy

Get off of the Throne!

Why do I try to climb back on the throne of my life when Christ has died for me?  He should be on the throne of my life.

Let’s say a diagram of a circle represented your life.  If you put a throne in the very center of the circle, it represents who is in control of your life.  Who is at the helm?  Who calls the shots?   (I would put the diagram here, but I can’t figure out how to get it in the blog.)

Why do I have a difficult time giving up the control of my life?  (handing over things like worry and what is happening in the lives of my children and other relatives?  Making decisions before asking God?)

One reason is because even though I get off of that throne, I climb back on sometimes.  It is so easy to do!  We may not say, “God, I think I can handle this one…”, but our actions prove it to be true.

Romans 6:6 says, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no  longer be slaves to sin; (7) for he who has died is free from sin.

If you drew a cross out to the side of the diagram, you could write “old man” on it.  That is where we are supposed to be.  Dead people don’t have control of their lives anymore. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.  Sin, gets its power by our obedience to it. When I am in control, I mess up.  God doesn’t make bad decisions.

Life is not a sprint.  We can’t just will to do the right thing.  We have to put right things in place in our lives so when presented with the wrong thing, we can make the right choice.  We can only do that when God is in the center.

God must be on the throne.

Where in your life today do you need to allow God to be on the throne?

Blessings,

Thora

Lately I’ve been wanting a greater revelation of God’s love.  I wanted God’s love for me to come alive in my heart more than ever before.  And then I prayed God would help me put it into words so it would make His love more real to someone else’s heart.  So I hope this helps someone.

God is the only One who knew you before you were conceived.  You are His idea and He made you in His beautiful, glorious image.  I can just see Him pondering upon His own image in His mind (because surely He wouldn’t need a mirror!) and then putting your every detail in place in a way that reflects Him. He caused you to be born out of His beauty.

He is the only One who has known your every thought, seen your every deed, and heard your every word.  And every single day He says, “I still love you and I still want to be with you.”

If you let Him, He will go anywhere with you because He said He will never leave you or forsake you.  But when we step away from Him, He says, “I want to go with you.  But I love you too much to force Myself into your presence.  I’ll be here waiting for you to return.”

When we carry heavy burdens that aren’t ours to carry He says, “Please child, let Me carry it for you.  I want to help you.”

When you’re hurt He wants to be the One you turn to first so His loving hand can wipe away your tears as He also wipes away His own tears that He shed with you.

Instead of a person pulling petals off a flower and saying, “he loves me, he loves me not,” God has been saying from the beginning, “I love her, I love her, I love her…”   And His love never ends.

Shagufta

I can remember so clearly when God started speaking to me. I was about 4.

At the time I chalked it up to my imagination.

My parents weren’t Christians so it wasn’t even something on my grid or in my understanding at all.

It wasn’t scary. Kind of sweet and reassuring for me really.

Little things would come to my mind that were not at all things I could conjure up or imagine.

At 12, about 6 months before my parents divorced, the Lord gave me a picture, a for-telling if you will, about the fact that my parents would no longer be married. I did think  THAT very strange, but now I understand He was preparing me for a terribly difficult time in my life.

I can remember “knowing” that something was going to happen before it did.

A traffic jam, what someone was going to say, meeting someone on the street whom I already knew… Nothing to dramatic (except maybe the break up of my family ) but enough to have me wondering if I was a loon or had a heck of an imagination (I sure did have a flair for the dramatic!)… Do you know that I never bought into it though, I just felt a weird peace about it that I know now was the Lords .

The ironic thing about the way I was raised was that I attended a Baptist School Church because my mom wanted me to be exposed to the different religions, even if she didn’t believe, so I could choose some day.

I met the Lord at that school : ) See how God weaves things together?

Years later, I was in a workshop with one of my pastors in New York City called Clint Morgan (who now serves at the Morris Town Vineyard in New Jersey) He did a 2 day course on Words of Knowledge, Prophecy and Word of Wisdom. I was excited to learn as much about these things as I could, and Clint was an amazing teacher. He helped me to understand that all along what had been happening to me was preparation for gifts God wanted to deposit in me. A way to really discern the voice of God through simple images, thoughts and sometimes words. I felt like a light bulb went off in my head and felt all the pieces clicking into place of things that I hadn’t really understood about myself before.

The reason I am sharing about this today is to encourage you.

If I hadn’t come to the understanding that , even as a girl the Lord was trying to get me to understand and recognize His voice and that all those words and pictures were Him, my life would be very different today.

What an overwhelming confirmation for me that indeed God was my friend and protector.

That He wanted me to be in a relationship with Him. That He wanted me to access all that was available for me here and now.

There are gifts that you may have no real understanding about yet that have been working in your life recently or for a long time. One thing I know is that you have to be in charge of your own growth in your relationship with the Lord. It is US who need to feed ourselves.

Small Groups, Classes at Church, Sunday Service and Corporate Worship. I am starving for all those things, because ultimately they help me understand myself better and help this lump of clay become more and more the lovely vase or pot that I know I am meant to be.

We all “leek” and  that is why we have got to refuel and fill our selves in these other ways.

That way everything we do is out of the abundance of the Holy Spirit and NOT out of our own strength!!

Living life with out these things is a sure formula for burn out and unhealthy beliefs and attitudes about how God sees us. Allowing God to be central  is a sure formula for peace and  wholeness. It allows you to move out of the way, say “Yes” to God and seeing unimaginably astounding things transpire in our life and the life of others.

Thank you for letting me share my heart!

Rebecca Turrigiano

Two aspects of myself that I’m glad God put in me are a heart for animals and a heart for intercessory prayer.  Often times these two parts overlap and I find myself praying for animals that I’ve treated at work or even random animals that I see outside of work.  Not surprisingly, God used an animal to drive home a point about prayer and belief.

I was driving down a part of 7th Street that sometimes has several dead squirrels on it on any given day, depending on the time of year.  On this particular day I saw a squirrel dart out into the street and then he froze because my car was rapidly getting closer.  At 45 miles per hour, with other cars not too far behind, there’s only so much slamming on the brakes you can do.  So I shouted the quickest prayer possible.  “No!  Jesus!”  I wasn’t saying Jesus’ name as an expression… I wanted Him to intercede!

I looked in my rear view and side view mirrors and didn’t see anything on the road behind me but I was fairly convinced I ran over the squirrel.  (“Was that bump in the road the squirrel?!”)  Since I have a particular penchant for squirrels, I was annoyed.  “Really God?  Why did You allow a squirrel to run in front of ME, of all people?!”

After I sulked a little longer I distinctly heard Him say, “You have to believe your intercession works.”  Ugh… It’s not good when an intercessor doesn’t believe her prayers always work.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (NKJV).”

I DO want to believe my intercession works.  And God wanted me to believe it too.  So why did the squirrel cross the road that day?  To open my heart enough so I could see the unbelief inside and to be reminded that “all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23).”  So keep praying and believing!

Shagufta

We live in a world of options.

Pro-life or pro-abortion.  I-pad or Android.  Butter or margarine.  Cable or digital dish.

Having choices can be great, except when it’s time to make up your mind – especially when all available options are good and important.

Seems to me that this can be especially hard for us moms.  From the moment the dreaded alarm clock goes off, we are riddled with a barrage of options.

Should I hop in the shower before the rest of the family uses up all the hot water or should I run downstairs and try to sneak in a load of laundry before it’s time to leave for work?

Should I go for a much-needed walk during the rest of my lunch break or should I use this time to pay bills before they’re due and I end up paying for late fees (again)?

Should I finish making dinner or should I sit down to play legos with my toddler or to listen to my teenage child vent about a bad day at school?

I want to be a good wife and a good mom, a good friend, a good Christian.  I want to be there for my neighbors and for my extended family.  I want keep up with my laundry and my dishes and fix healthy dinners.  I want to be fit and be able to watch an entire movie without falling asleep.

So much I’d like to, feel like I need to do…  And so much I don’t get to.

“The problem with Christians today,” said my pastor  the other Sunday, “is that we have too many options.  So what are we going to choose:  running away or running closer to God and His will for our lives?”

His words stirred something within me.  I knew God was speaking.

What will you choose?

I choose You, Lord, I whispered at the end of the service.  Please show me how, cause this isn’t going to be easy.

The next morning, when I was tempted to begin my day trying to get as much done before work, I said: I choose You, Lord.  I mustered the little self-control I had and forced myself to sit still for a few minutes so I could talk to God and read my Bible first.

I said to myself, All other chores are important.  Some will get done; some will not.  But that’s ok.  I’ve chosen what’s best.

In the evening, when the kitchen was finally cleared and I plopped down in bed ready to unwind with a mystery novel, I said: I choose You, Lord.  So I grabbed my Bible instead and read it for a while, surprised at how much I enjoyed this time.  Afterwards, I opened my novel and began to read it, but it wasn’t long before my eyes grew heavy and tired.

I didn’t get as far in the chapter as I would’ve wanted.  But that’s ok, I mutter drowsily, I’ve chosen what’s best.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20a says, This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. (NVI)

Lord, help me to choose you, every day.  I want to hear your voice and hold fast to you.  I want to prioritize my relationship with you.  I want to choose life, so that me and family can live.  

Lord, I choose You!

Supernatural Exchange

 At our Women’s conference, one thing that stuck with me was the phrase Brenda Gatlin used, “Supernatural Exchange.”  I had not heard this language before.

 This means, in a nutshell, we get to exchange all of our junk for more of God’s goodness.

          We give our worry and exchange it for peace.

          We give our anxiety and we get rest.   

          We give our negativity, and we get more of God’s goodness.

          We give our stress, and we get relief.

          We give our sin, and we exchange it for forgiveness.

          We give our addictions and exchange them for supernatural grace.

          We give our mess ups, and exchange them for a new day.

This is a supernatural exchange and God is the only one who has the power to make a supernatural exchange.  No one else can do that for us. 

Ophra can’t do it.  Dr. Phil can’t do it.  Dr. Oz can’t do it.  Our spouse and friends can’t do it.

 Only God has the ability to make a supernatual exchange.

 Bet you want to make an exchange right about now!

 Blessings,

Thora