Transformed Moms: LEGACY OF LOVE: DARE

It is GOD who BLESSES and TRANSFORMS...

This is a blog for women (not just moms) who:

(1) Desire to be transformed by JESUS' LOVE, HOLINESS, AND GRACE;

(2) Believe that GOD'S WORD is the true Spirit food for HIS HOLY SPIRIT who lives within us;

(3) Submit to GOD and walk this journey of life with HIM transforming us more and more into HIS likeness.

It's a blog about the POWER OF TRANSFORMED LIVES. Let's begin with yours and mine and pass it on... 1 + 1 + 1...

Since GOD's HOLY SPIRIT lives inside a christian, let's choose to be nurtured and transformed by feasting daily on HOLY SPIRIT food - GOD's WORD - The Holy Bible..

My regular posts stopped in 2013, with a major move and the chronic illness and eventual death of our oldest daughter. Yes, we grieve daily, yet I am determined to continue to let the LIGHT of my LORD and SAVIOR shine through me. I have tried to start posting again, over the last few years, but have not been consistent. So, I think the biggest blessing for you and me both will be to intersperse some new posts while revisiting some of the former posts. Let's begin with "Oh, the JOY!" as we head into living through Fall 2019; meeting back here 1-2 days a week.

If you need daily encouragement, you will find plenty by clicky on past posts. When reading earlier posts, you will see that I often posted daily, following this format: ...Sunday in the SON, Meditation Monday, GratiTuesday, Women in the WORD Wednesday, Transforming Thursday, Family Fellowship Friday, Ketchup & Mustard Saturday.

There's a whole lot here! Take your time to browse.

Please come back and visit each week. Welcome!

Because of JESUS, we can be family,

Patti

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

LEGACY OF LOVE: DARE

WEDNESDAY IN THE WORD

We have a theme scripture this week that we are working on memorizing. I hope you are joining us as we let GOD engrave it deeply in our hearts. It is written in it's entirety at the end of this post, but for right now, let's look at it's main focus:
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Deuteronomy 6:4-9
The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

"And you shall love the LORD your God:

with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might. "

Here, try this...

Read it again!
Now, read this and fill in the blanks without looking up, "The LORD is our ____, the LORD is ______! And you shall _______ the ______ your GOD with all your ________, and with all your soul, and with all your ________."
Did you have trouble? Try it again!
Okay, now scroll down a little.

........now, fill in the blanks. "The LORD is _____ ______, the _______ is one! And you shall ________ ____ ________ your GOD with _____ your heart, _____ your soul, and with _______ your might."

WOW! What a DARE! Give away ALL of my heart? Give away ALL of my soul? Give away ALL of my might? I think that just might render me helpless! I think that just might render me dependent...patiently waiting....trusting...trusting...trusting...I Corinthians 13 says that "LOVE ALWAYS TRUSTS!"

The DARE is great:

Love GOD with all of myself - Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 22
Love my neighbor - Matthew 22
Love myself - Matthew 22
Love friends - John 15
Love enemies - Matthew 5
Love the afflicted, brokenhearted, captives, and prisoners - Isaiah 61

This LOVE DARE thing might just make me feel a little vulnerable! Am I afraid to open myself up to people who are different from me? Does it take courage? Have I been hurt too many times to ever love again?

LOVE is quite a DARE! To LOVE GOD with everything is the ULTIMATE DARE! That's why Dan challenged us in His sermon on Sunday to DARE to love the poor and downtrodden... That's why yesterday in our PATRIARCHS ladies Bible class, we talked about how one of the marks of LOVING GOD is to give those closest to us back to Him...to give our families back to Him. Abraham and Sarah did this by leaving family to follow GOD! Abraham did this when GOD asked him to give his son, Isaac. LOVE ALWAYS TRUSTS!

Yet, isn't it hard to trust when the DARE requires so much!?!?!? Are you afraid to change how you LOVE GOD? LOVE OTHERS? What are your fears? GOD knows them, even if we do not know them ourselves. Here is what HIS WORD has to say about it:

1 John 4:18-21

"There is no fear in love;

but perfect love casts out fear,

because fear involves punishment,

and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

19 We love, because He first loved us.

20 If someone says, "I love God,"

and hates his brother,

he is a liar;

for the one who does not love his brother

whom he has seen,

cannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from Him,

that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

BE BRAVE, MY FRIEND!

DARE TO LEAVE AN

AMAZING LEGACY OF LOVE!

Yesterday morning before our PATRIARCHS class, many of you dear sisters surprised Mandy and me with a birthday party! Thank You! One of the reasons that this class is growing is because people say "we love how you love each other!" One of the reasons the Pitman church is growing is because we really do know how to LOVE EACH OTHER! I've never been a part of a congregation that "gets love" the way that this church family does! Now, we must take the next step: LOVE GOD WITH ALL...EVERYTHING..........DARE TO GIVE GOD'S LOVE TO THE UNLOVEABLE!

.
Yesterday, on this blog, I shared about my "birthday friend" of 18 years, Janet.
Since moving to New Jersey last year, Mandy is a new "birthday friend". What a treasure Mandy has already become to me. GOD knew! He put us together!
We needed each other...His timing is impeccable! I moved here in the fall of 2007, leaving my two young adult daughters behind in Indiana. Young Mandy (wife of Brian, mother of Maggie) lost her mother in the fall of 2007 to cancer.

Mandy has been BRAVE. Anyone, who knows Mandy knows how much she has grown this year. How much she desires to DARE to LOVE GOD with all her heart, soul, and might. If you want a peek at her heart just read a former post here: http://momstransformed.blogspot.com/2008/10/he-will-carry-me-because-he-is-who-he.html

The "Brandy" in that post is actually Mandy!

Happy Birthday my dear friend!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel!

The LORD is our God,

the LORD is one!

"And you shall love the LORD your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your might."

6 And these words,

which I am commanding you today,

shall be on your heart;

7 and you shall teach them diligently to your sons

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house

and when you walk by the way

and when you lie down

and when you rise up.

8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand

and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house

and on your gates.

3 comments:

Steve Sikes said...: My dear wife and best friend, today is your birthday! Today we celebrate your life! Today I give thanks to God for knowing way in advance how much I needed you. Remember the first time I said those 3 words (I need you)?

I was so much into basketball and baseball and grades and so naïve to the reason I even existed that the two most precious gifts before me remained out of focus for a long time. I saw you, fell deeper “in like” with you, married you, admired you, had kids with you… but I never really beheld you, loved you, treasured you…until my other gift came into focus… Jesus.

Patti, I love who you are, whose you are, and who you are becoming! I love you for trusting in the name of the Lord our God and taking on more and more of His likeness. I’ve never witnessed transformation like this before – under my own roof! Happy Birthday, Patti; God’s wrapping paper is scattered all over the house and I love the view!
Steve; December 3, 2008 at 7:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Patti,
I enjoy the blog of the women at Pitman Church of Christ. I attend Westwood Church of Christ in Edmond, Ok. I'm glad to
be finding so many blogs who point people to Christ. I have a blog
"pagesofmyheart". God bless you as you labor for Him.; December 3, 2008 at 8:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Happy Birthday to you, too, my friend. The past year has definitely been a God thing. You and Steve have touched our family, positively, more deeply than it ever has been before. I, too, fell "in like" with Brian. But love came after seeing Jesus and seeing Brian more like the way Jesus sees him. It's all about Him. Your and Steve's servant, transparent, wounded healing hearts have been trustworthy, worthy of following right to the Son himself, right to His arms.
Thank you for all you have done for us on His behalf. We love you and Mr.Steve.
Mandy; December 4, 2008 at 7:04 AM

A Little History of this Blog:

A group of moms in Pitman, New Jersey began meeting every Tuesday morning in June 2008 to learn how to be Master-Full Moms. Although that class only lasted that summer, we have continued to have other classes for moms offered at the Pitman church of Christ. This blog will remain like an ongoing class. So, come back each day and join us as we discuss being God's women as we encourage transformation in each other.
.
3 POINTERS TO NAVIGATE THIS BLOG:

1. Just below, you'll find a series of questions and answers about who Transformed Moms are.

2. Options for getting started...after those questions and answers... YOU COULD click on the June 2008 Archive, scroll down to the first post called MASTER-FULL MOMS and start from the beginning with our 14 day devotional challenge, or.... YOU COULD start with our summary of our original summer class and blog on the 8-31-08 post: SUMMER SUMMARY - SPIRITUAL, or... YOU COULD browse through the archive and click what looks interesting to you...and/or...
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3. You're invited to read recent posts and come back daily to join us as we are led by the Holy Spirit down the road to healing and / or transformation.

Thanks for joining us, Patti

2. WHAT DOES A MOM DO WHO HAS THE SPIRIT OF GOD LIVING IN HER?

… those who live in accordance with the SPIRIT have their minds set on what the SPIRIT desires …life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to GOD. It does not submit to GOD’S law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please GOD. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the SPIRIT, if the SPIRIT OF GOD lives in you…Therefore, sisters, we have an obligation… by the SPIRIT you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live… Romans 8:5-13

6. MOM, DAUGHTER OF GOD, HOW DO YOU GET THE POWER TO LIVE AND NOT LOSE HEART?

For GOD, WHO said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made HIS light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of GOD in the face of CHRIST.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from GOD and not from us.

We are:

· hard pressed on every side, but not crushed

· perplexed, but not in despair

· persecuted, but not abandoned

· struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:5-12