WE LOVE YOU LORD... YOU MEET OUR NEEDS WITHIN YOUR FAMILY!!!

God made us! He knows our needs! He knows how to meet those needs! He does it within His family! Human beings are multi-faceted creatures:

• S-piritual
• P-hysical
• I-ntellectual
• R-elational
• E-motional

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Within each of those facets are needs that must be met in order to survive the way that God, our Creator, meant for us to survive:

S-piritual: that part of us that needs deep connection with God...

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P-hysical: that part of us that lives on this planet and is in need of it's water, air, food, shelter...

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I-ntellectual: that part of us that comprehends, remembers, evaluates, applies, critiques, creates....

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R-elationships: that part of us that connects with people...

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E-motional: that part of us that feels - not necessarily out of conscious effort...
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Our Pitman women's retreat, last weekend, was about FAMILY... GOD'S FAMILY!!! I have found over the years, that when GOD'S FAMILY does what GOD'S FAMILY is designed to do that all of the above needs are met and it is a beautiful thing! That would describe this past weekend! There was all that and then there was the "icing on the cake" that I will share at the end of the following pictures.

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S-piritual: we spent a lot of time making spiritual connections for this journey of life with it's twists and turns and bunny trails... as we marveled at God's creation AND participated in God's word, praying, singing, and learning how to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, soul, and strength...

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P-hysical: we breathed, ate, slept, walked, and had plenty of water / beverages...

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I-ntellectual: we thought on all different types of levels...specifically challenged to transform our thinking....

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R-elational: we spent lots of time with our sisters in Christ as we renewed old friendsips and made new ones.

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E-motional: we laughed and cried as we experienced the gamut of light-hearted feelings all the way to those that touched us to the core.

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Becky Holton, from Chicago, Illinois, was our retreat speaker. God had already orchestrated several incredible connections in getting her to us that we were very aware was a "God thing"! The planning committee knew of these connections, yet had not shared it all with everyone who had come to the retreat. One connection that we had shared was that bringing Becky was Melva's idea, even though she did not know Becky. She also did not know that Steve and I not only knew Becky but had previously worked at York College with Becky and her husband, Kerry.

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At the retreat, Becky shared about her sister Jenny who had passed away exactly five years ago. In fact, that day was the five year anniversary of Jenny's memorial service. Becky was so incredibly thankful that we had invited her to the Jersey shore to speak on this exact day. Her sister Jenny had been the wife of a Jersey preacher/minister. Jenny's favorite place was the Jersey shore. Becky walked the shore on Saturday morning as she remembered her precious sister. And that's not all...

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As Becky spoke, tears began to flow among those who had known Jenny and among those who were touched by her story. One woman, newer to our congregation, was overcome with emotion. Tucked in her Bible was the program from Jenny's April 24, 2005 memorial service. Jenny had been her friend! They had been part of the same church family! Robin had not realized that our speaker was Jenny's sister.

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Tears, laughter, stories, memories, connection all transpired as we saw God's hand in bringing Becky to us, ministering to Becky, Robin and others, and truly loving and taking care of His daughters' needs. Thank You, Daddy!

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WE LOVE YOU LORD... WITH THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS...

TRANSFORMING THURSDAY

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Have you ever felt the need to bake a cake and throw a party? Debbie did on Monday and Tuesday nights as she and Glynn finished up leading our final sessions of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. What a transformational program FPU is!
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I certainly felt like baking a transformational cake, like the one above, to celebrate yesterday as I typed up 10 pages of notes from our REFLECTIVE QUESTIONNAIRES about our women's retreat. I love my sisters in Christ! I was planning on a different post here today, but after reading the answers written for Question #3 on the post-retreat questionnaire, I'm convinced their answers are the transformational inspiration each of us need here today. Here are comments from 42 of the women.
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QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES TO QUESTION #3:
What one truth gained at this retreat would you like to take and APPLY to your personal life or our church family?

1. To love God passionately with all that I am. Then, give it away!
2. God is committed to bringing good out of the heartbreak in my life.
3. I will make time for God daily.
4. I have value! I am worthy of being loved. I can lean on my church family. I would like others going through hard times to realize that also.
5. Satan constantly places “lies” in the back of my mind. I need to learn to recognize them for what they are.
6. Satan lies and I have to learn to not let him convince me that I’m not worthy and remember that God is good and He loves me
7. I need to be getting into the Word more. I must believe God’s word and put it to use.
8. I will lament to God and not feel guilty but use it as a chance to draw closer to God.
9. I will spend more time developing my relationship with God and let it flow into other relationships.
10. My life cannot exist without God in it
11. I need more time with God. I need to make the choice.
12. I want to be able to win the battle with the thoughts in the back of my head. I will do this by spending quality time in the scripture.
13. I will think about the triangle: THINK. FEEL. DO. And take into my brain and mind via my pipeline good, pure, and spiritual things to stay close to God.
14. I will get out of my comfort zone. I will go where the pain is to minister and show Jesus.
15. I will make connections with God daily.
16. I will become what true hospitality really is. I will love the unlovable all the more, to touch more, and search for ways to interact with my “neighbors”.
17. I will glow more with the LORD and teach people to love God.
18. I will have more control of my thinking.
19. God will be my comfort as I love Him and have faith in Him.
20. I know that God absolutely adores me! By reading and meditating on what Christ thinks, I’ll be able to drown out the lies I’ve believed for so many years.
21. I will remember that doubt is a sign of faith.
22. I want time in the Word. I want to feast on His Word everyday.
23. I have to make a conscious effort to fill my mind with the good stuff and to stay in the Word
24. I will read my Bible and stay strong
25. God may not deliver me from my thorns, but He will give me the strength to make it through
26. I will be taking more time for Jesus.
27. I will be putting good patterns of thinking into my brain – less TV, media, computer…
28. I will remember that I am worthy of Christ’s love and that I should grow and tell others that they are loved also.
29. I will remember that God had a great purpose for all the trials in Abraham’s life. I am going to use my trials to help others.
30. I remember that Jesus used a song (Psalms 22) before dying and satan will use any lie to knock me off course.
31. When going through a difficult time, I will stay connected and open up to my brothers and sisters instead of pulling away.
32. I will discipline to spend time with God on a daily basis for my benefit so I can be the wife and mother I need to be.
33. I want intimacy with God! Intimacy with God is everything!
34. I will remember that faith cannot grow when everything makes sense… I will remember that my faith is growing though nothing else makes sense in my life right now
35. My daily time in scripture will be vital to a healthy relationship with God.
36. I will have more private time with God.
37. My thoughts are powerful!
38. I must control my backstage thinking and daily time in the Word (it takes time and effort).
39. I will control my thoughts through a daily Bible time. I will remember that I am not where I need to be but thank God I am not where I used to be.
40. Knowing God will take work on my part.
41. I will pray to God more in order to love God more.
42. I will take the application of the ten virgins’ parable and apply it to my toxic rental tenants.

WE LOVE YOU LORD...LIKE MOSES, JOSHUA, DAVID, MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN...

WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

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Each Wednesday, on this blog, we spend time reading and/or memorizing God's word. On the topic of loving the LORD, there were several scriptures that came to mind at our ladies retreat this past weekend.

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Join me today in reading these words of God as written by...

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MOSES:

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Deuteronomy 6:4-9

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"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

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Love the LORD your God with

• all your heart and
  
• with all your soul
  
• and with all your strength.

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These commandments that I give you today are to be

• upon your hearts.
  
• Impress them on your children.
  
• Talk about them when you sit at home and
  
• when you walk along the road,
  
• when you lie down and
  
• when you get up.
  
• Tie them as symbols on your hands and
  
• bind them on your foreheads.
  
• Write them on the doorframes of your houses and
  
• on your gates. "

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JOSHUA:

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Joshua 23:9-11

"The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised. So be very careful to love the LORD your God. "

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DAVID

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Psalm 31:23-24

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"Love the LORD, all His saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud He pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. "

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Psalm 97:100 "Let those who love the LORD hate evil for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. "

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Psalm 116:1-2 "I love the LORD, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live."
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MATTHEW:

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Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

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MARK:

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Mark 12:29-31
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

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LUKE:

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Luke 10:25-28

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"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

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JOHN:

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1 John 4:16-21
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"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. "


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WE LOVE YOU LORD...THANK YOU, BECKY...

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Almost 90 women made the trip to the southernmost tip of New Jersey (the Garden State... did I say it's beautiful this time of year?) to attend the Pitman church of Christ women's retreat: WOMEN REACHING OUT IN FAITH.

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We had talked to God so much about this retreat:

• "What should the focus be?"


• "Where should it be?"


• "Who should our speaker be?"

It all came together with the wonder that only our awesome Heavenly Father could pull off. We are so thankful! We are so blessed!

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Over the last few days, I have shared "reflective thoughts" from those of us who attended. Today, I want to personally articulate my gratitude to:

• Our Heavenly Father who orchestrated this with His amazing love for us!
• Our elders' wives who tirelessly planned this weekend for over a year
• The women who chose to come, in spite of the multiple ways the devil tried to hinder them
• The women who had an integral part in making it successful: meal planners/organizers, free time activity leaders, song leader, m.c., technology geeks, welcomers, photographer, fashion models, entertainment organizers, and you know who you are...
• The men and children who chose to stay behind and give us a break!
• Becky Holton, our speaker, for her preparation, wisdom, honesty, and above all her deep love for the LORD.
  

We laughed together in what some called a "spiritual fashion show".




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We worshipped together in song, prayer, and the fellowship of our hearts.



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When one was touched to the core, someone else would come close, give a hug, or just sit beside.

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We listened, we learned, and we loved. Thank you, Becky!
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I will continue throughout the week sharing things about this retreat. Some of them will be extremely powerful! God truly made this a time of many connections

1. connections to His will, Word, and Spirit
2. connections to one another
3. connections to our purpose in life
4. connections to things we had no idea that there would be connections to
   
   Stay tuned as I share those later in the week! I'm hoping to also post a slide show of pictures! Right now, as I thank God for bringing Becky to us, I leave you with the last part of a letter that she wrote yesterday. It was to all of those sisters-in-Christ who had attended the retreat. Becky was detained at the Philly airport from flying back to Chicago because of inclement weather. She shares part of that experience:

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"...But God wasn't finished yet. I was sitting in front of three TV monitors with weather, etc. running. There were speakers attached and some music was occasionally playing. Music would play when an agent wasn't making those really loud announcements like "WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE. WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE WEATHER PATTERNS BUT WE WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN WE FIND OUT. BUT BE PREPARED TO TURN ANOTHER YEAR OLDER WHILE YOU WAIT." (Ok, maybe not the last sentence :) Just as I finished reading your sweet notes -- out of those speakers the song "Shout to the Lord" began to play! I am not kidding! The exact words that were playing were "I sing for joy at the works of your hands. Forever I love You, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have in You!" Then another announcement came and that was the ONLY spiritual music I heard while I was there. AMAZING!! I just had to share that with you. God is here and He is all around us and He is at work! We are so blessed to be his daughters!
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I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you this weekend and count it as true joy to have met you all and to know you. Thank you also for the beautiful sea shell Christmas ornaments that you gave me! I will truly enjoy them -- and always with special thoughts of you and our time together. I would like to borrow Paul's prayer to our brothers and sisters at Philippi and give it to you as my prayer for you:
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"I love all of you with the love of Christ Jesus.

This is my prayer for you:that your love

will grow more and more;

that you will have knowledge and understanding

with your love;

that you will see the difference

between what is important and what is not

and choose what is important;

that you will be pure and blameless

for the coming of Christ;

that your life will be full of the many good works

that are produced by Jesus Christ to bring glory

and praise to God."

(Philippians 1:8-11)

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And as our feet hit the ground in the morning, together let's make Satan "shutter" all day because we are up and loving God with all of our hearts!
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my love and prayers,
Becky
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WE LOVE YOU LORD...SO WE'LL CHANGE HOW WE THINK...

MEDITATION MONDAY
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Ongoing themes, discussions, and reflections wove themselves throughout our women's retreat this past weekend. They were all steeped in scripture. A few were:

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• "Love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength..."
• "You are what you think."
• "Take captive every thought."
• "Satan's language is lies."
• "Truth is - God adores us!"
• "Doubt doesn't mean we don't have faith... it's the process..."
• "God's delays do not mean that He will not do what He has promised."
• "'Let go and let God' is not a cliche!"
  

TODAY: Let's Focus on "Take Captive Every Thought!" as talked about in the scripture below:

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2 Corinthians 10:2-6

"For though we live in the world,

we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with

are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary,

they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and

every pretension that sets itself up

against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought

to make it obedient to Christ."

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Saturday morning some women read on their balconies overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, while some women walked the beach..

Others took the trolley tour of historic Cape May, while I went with the group to the Cape May Lighthouse.

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Here are Leza, Kim, and Becky taking a break from walking the beach.

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Here Carla and Mandy are returning from their brisk walk on the trails.

As we walked the beach, close to the Cape May Lighthouse, we came to "the bunker". I took Becky's picture with that huge stronghold in the background. Later, as we heard Becky speak about how the devil sneaks in the backdoor of our minds, I thought about how important it is for each one of us to build a bunker in our minds to TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT!!!

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Apparently, there were others convicted by this concept, too. I have already shared with you on Saturday and Sunday the reflections of different women attending the retreat. We have seen that thread of conviction. Here are more on the topic of TAKING EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE...

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"I am what my thoughts have become. Time with the LORD is required everyday... not just when I have time!"

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"Dear LORD, help me to reject the lies of satan that bombard my mind and to take captive every thought for you. To do that I need to fill my mind with those good, pure, righteous thoughts. Help me to make a habit of spending quality time with You."

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"Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Your heart is what you are thinking."

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"God, help me to not become so well-adjusted to our culture. - I don't want to be dragged to it's level of immaturity. Help me to focus on redirecting my thinking so my words can be more of a blessing to those I love."

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"We must take captive every thought for our thoughts make us who we are. Kind of scary! We have so many useless, dark, negative thoughts. Not only should we take out the dark thoughts, but it's essential to replace them with light thoughts. We can't be lazy about our thinking! It's a matter of transforming our minds to think like Christ."

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WE LOVE YOU LORD

SUNDAY IN THE SON

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God, it is so amazing that Your grace, mercy, and love reaches us here at the southernmost tip of the New Jersey peninsula. Just as amazing is the fact that it also reaches our families and the other readers of this blog wherever they are worshipping You on this planet this morning. We are honored to be Your children, God. We truly want to love You more.

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To those who are reading this blog, I plan to share about our retreat this week in my postings. Today, I would like to say that we, at the retreat, have been challenged to consider how we think. We must understand that the little voices that tell us, "You are not worth anything!" OR "How could God love you?" OR "How can you make a difference?" OR any of the other negative voices are NOT from God but from the devil. We must take our thoughts captive... make a decision to listen to God... to love the LORD with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. That is our focus as we celebrate this Sunday in the Son.

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I have kept our theme song the same as last week's. I have also moved songs to the top of the playlist that connect with some of the songs we sang together this weekend.

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Here are a few of the reflections written by some of the 90 women gathered here as we look out over the Atlantic Ocean.

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"Thoughts are very powerful. Thoughts turn into behaviors I need to change my thinking patterns so that I can love God with all my heart. Also, the truth that to love God deeply as I should I need to spend time with my LORD."

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"Satan's language is the language of lies. He uses the backstage of my brain to speak these lies like sneaking in the back door, trying to be unnoticed by me, so I will not hear them as lies but accept them as truths. This hinders God's voice and His will in my life."

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"It hit me hard when I thought about satan's language being lies. He puts obstacles in my path, I can feel his presence and it scares me. Lately, he has invaded my thoughts and how truly powerful my thoughts are. I need to get these thoughts out of my head. Only God and His word can help me."

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"Psalm 26:2-3 "Test me, O Lord, and try me. Examine my heart and my mind, for your love is ever before me and I walk continually in Your truth." ....... I appreciate that my mind is a "muscle" that needs to be "worked out". You get out what you put in! It needs to be kept strong, alert, open, collective, fed, and guarded. It needs to be understood, loved, and taught."

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"I want to stop listening to the lies! I am going to take the challenge of listening to what I'm thinking - to what I'm telling myself. These things have been lies that I've believed. I want to be free! To be free in Christ, my Jesus! I want to be on the alert for lies that he tells me about others, too."

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"No wonder I feel so exhausted! All of the goodness of a day can be taken out of me unless I replenish it by spending time with God. Instead of dwelling on what's wrong, I need to concentrate on what's right."

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"Today, I choose to focus on God's love for me and my love for Him.... I love You, LORD!"

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I LOVE THE LORD... LOVE NOTES POUR OUT FROM THE PITMAN WOMEN...

KETCHUP AND MUSTARD SATURDAY

Catch Up and Must Do

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As I sit overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, I am reflecting on the powerful weekend we have had so far at our WOMEN REACHING OUT IN FAITH retreat. We have worshipped together in song, heard God speak through Becky Holton, and fellowshipped in multiple amazing ways. During a period of silence, the 90 women attending the retreat wrote anonymous reflections. I will post a few for your encouragement today and then keep posting them over the next week.

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Here are some specific reflections on loving God and spending time with Him:

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"The only way to deepen my love for God is to place myself in God's presence daily!!! I must do this for my sake and for the sake of my family! Please help me to discipline myself!"

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"When Becky said, "I encourage you... no, I beg you, to spend time with the Lord everyday... I was struck by her honesty and caring. We live in a world where no one is supposed to tell anyone else what to do anymore. I am glad Becky had the courage to be real. She is right."

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"Quality time with our Lord will transform us!"

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"Today I commit to buying a purse size Bible. I will carry it with me at all times in my purse and read during my short breaks of activity in the day. I pray this will keep my mind on my Lord so that I may love Him with all my mind, heart, soul, strength."

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"Becky, thank you for reminding me! How important it is to spend time with God daily by loving and giving God the attention He deserves daily. It will change my life. Everything will fall in place. Give God the glory."

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"My Aha moment came when Becky said, 'The hard truth is without daily time with God, we will deteriorate spiritually.' I am reminded of John 15:5, 'Abide in Me and you will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.'"

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"I'm beginning to realize that to have a deeper love for Jesus, I must visualize the scriptures more. A deeper love will then keep me to following His teachings. I want to follow Him but it is easy to go astray."

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STAY TUNED FOR MORE... for now, I'm headed back to fellowship with this amazing group of sisters in Christ.... WE LOVE THE LORD!!!!

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I LOVE THE LORD... CREATOR OF LAND AND SEA... MY FAMILY AND ME...

Today, 90 women who desire to LOVE THE LORD more, merge on Cape May, NJ at the southernmost point of the New Jersey peninsula.

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We will look out at the Atlantic Ocean from our rooms, walk the beach, go on trolley tours, see the lighthouse, eat Chinese and hoagies together, play games.... but most of all we will have a deep spiritual fellowship as we feast on God and His love. We are "women reaching out in faith... hope... and love..."

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We are a sisterhood of believers. We are daughters of the great I AM who is Creator of that ocean we will be experiencing. We are an army of faith, hope, and love. We are family!

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As I have been preparing for this weekend, there has been an ever growing collection of quarters in Steve's top dresser drawer. I thought they were part of his "states quarter collection". No! He has been filling this little bin of quarters, over the last year, for me to have some "retreat money" this weekend. Ahhhhhh! What a blessing! My husband is one in a million! We are family!

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I love my families... church and physical! Of course, I am blessed to have my physical family also be in my church family. I do not count that blessing lightly! We are truly a family of love! Our Daddy, the Creator of the entire universe, is the epitome of love. I LOVE YOU, LORD!

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I LOVE THE LORD... FAITHFULLY FOCUSED ...

TRANSFORMING THURSDAY

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In a little over a month's time, I have gone from seeing this when standing in my front yard....





...to seeing this when standing in my front yard...
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There are forces, invisible to the eye, that allow for me to walk out my front door (after months of seeing nothing but snow).... and then, one day see this....

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A year ago in April, our GRAND daughter looked like this...
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...until one day, a year later, invisible forces transformed her into an Easter egg collecting one year old...

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...who loved to SKYPE with Pops and Gigi...

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TRANSFORMATIONS!!!! I love them!

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We've talked,on this blog in the last few months, about the transformations that take place when we choose to move from complaining and arguing to a gratitude attitude...

. What would happen if you and I chose to get up every morning and make it our entire and complete focus to LOVE THE LORD? What kind of transformations would begin to occur?
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Last night, another Spirit connection was made at our Wednesday night Bible Study when Garth talked about making the choice to LOVE THE LORD completely. I love the song he led, "In moments like these - I sing out a song... I sing out a song to my Jesus! .... singing I love You, LORD... singing, I love You, LORD... singing, I love You, LORD, I love You!" Wow! Now that's was a way to connect with this blog and our upcoming women's retreat! I wonder if he really had thought about it. Doubt it! Just another Holy Spirit connection!
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90 of our women will retreat this weekend to Cape May, NJ. (For those of you non-Jersians, that would be down at the bottom tip of the Jersey peninsula). Should those same 90 women choose to go home from Cape May with a new focus to REACH OUT IN FAITH TO... LOVE THE LORD...faithfully focused on Him with agape love... it will be AMAZING!!!! What would our fellowship of believers look like in a month from now? Six months from now? A year from now?
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Last Saturday, I began this discussion. If you haven't had a chance to read those transformational thoughts... LINK HERE...
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