One More Time....

The contest is almost over!!  And even though I hate bugging my friends, I had this thought last night:  "You know, if all of my Facebook friends voted ONE TIME, Zach & Shanna would have this contest won!!"  If you remember, they've had 2 little boys under three-years-old sick for about 2 months.  I went to babysit for a couple of days this past weekend so they could get away and hopefully sleep and get well themselves.  I'd really like for them to win this contest and have this $1000 prize package for a date night for Valentine's.  I'd even babysit again!  (Twist my arm!!)

All you have to do is go here.  Click on "Zach & Shanna Dietz" and it will take you to the page where this photo is posted.  You can log in with your Facebook ID. (This is a local Amarillo TV station.  Totally secure!)  Under the photo, you will see "VOTE."  Click on vote and you've voted!!  The contest is over in two days!!

Thanks, friends, for helping two young adults who need some encouragement!

Heaven

This is probably a poor analogy, but tonight as I was on Facebook, I thought, "This is what heaven is going to be like!"  As friends were commenting on a post I made, a wave of homesickness overcame me.  I miss some of my friends and would love to sit down over a cup of coffee and catch up!!  I have friends on FB from 50 years ago--and family that's known me all my life.  Some of my friends I don't see very often, but love them to death.  Some of my friends are new friends.   I'm so glad I moved to Groom--or I wouldn't have gotten to know them til heaven!

Don't you think heaven is going to be amazing?  I know the most important thing we'll do is worship our Creator.  But we're also going to be able to talk about what God has done in our lives.  I believe we'll be learning from one another as well as from God.  I believe we'll get to hear one another's stories.  Honestly, I don't think I can even imagine the greatness of heaven!

I'm just glad I got a little foretaste tonight.

Color in Winter

Photo courtesy of LaDonna Jennings

I love winter.  I'm sorry if you don't, and yet live in the same town as me.  When I hear weather reports with snow in the forecast, I begin praying and asking God to dump it here!  The colder the weather, the more energized I am!  My perfect winter day would include me sitting in a clean house by a picture window in a comfy chair while wrapped up in something warm and soft in front of a fire in the fireplace, thick snow coming down like huge feathers, reading a good book, smelling a delicious candle, drinking my favorite flavored coffee and crunching on something chocolate.  (Too detailed?  And I know it doesn't sound like I'm very energized in this scenario--except the clean house bit!)  I know many don't like winter...and I understand why.  My dad was a letter carrier and he hated delivering mail in the cold.  And I have a friend who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD)--or a lack of sunlight--which brings about severe depression.  I know mommies dread having kids shut inside with no deliverance in sight.  So I understand why others don't appreciate the dark days, the cold, and the snow.

But even if you don't love the dark days, the cold, and the snow, don't you love looking outside and seeing a dot of color God has placed in the midst of the bleakness?  It gives hope.  Hope that in our darkest hour, God will take care of us.  This beautiful bird has done nothing.  It hasn't planted crops, it hasn't gathered food into a barn...but God feeds it.  God has promised the same for you and me.  Whether it's physical, emotional, or spiritual provision...He has it.  And it's more than enough.  You don't have to work for it...you just have to open yourself to the One who owns it all.

If you're walking through a winter not determined by a season, but by circumstances out of your control, God wants you to know He's enough.  He is all you need.  I'm praying you see a dot of color in your winter soon--to fill your heart with hope.

Prayer Warriors Wanted

I know prayer works.  I've seen God do amazing things.  I've seen a young girl healed of seizures.  I've seen God provide thousands of dollars.  I've seen a prodigal come home.  I've seen a man healed of drug addiction.  I've seen marriages restored.  I've seen God provide a pathway of healing.  I've seen all of these things...and so many more!

The needs seem to be growing, don't they?  And I'm not sure the number of prayer warriors is growing in proportion to the need or at the same rate.

About 23 years ago, a group of us were faced with needs and challenges and we wanted to get together and pray.  Actually, we had no clue what we were doing.  So we decided to get together and learn how to pray.  We came humbly before God and just admitted we didn't know how to pray.  We asked Him to teach us and we were open-minded and open-hearted.  Andy usually led us in a time of praise before we'd begin praying.  We'd pray..and we'd listen.  We desperately wanted to agree with God.  And we desperately wanted to see Him work in our lives.  And He did.

We saw a young girl healed of seizures during those days.  We saw God provide thousands of dollars...you get the picture.  We prayed and He moved.  And it's made me a believer that prayer works.  Did God ever tell us no?  Of course!  He's a good, protective parent and He knows better than we do what is best for us.

If you don't know how to pray, just start.  Hopefully, you can find someone with the same heart with whom you can pray. Read God's Word out loud to Him.  Praise Him!  Ask Him to do those things He's done before.  Believe.  And keep asking.  I'd also encourage you to journal or at least have a prayer journal.  Keep track of those things you ask of God...and how He answers.  Seek Him with all of your heart.  Come simply...and ask your Daddy to show Himself strong.

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him."
II Chronicles 16:9

"For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil [to oppose them, to frustrate, and defeat them]."
I Peter 3:12

Cutest Couple Contest

Yesterday, Shanna was having a bad day.  Both boys (almost 3 and 1 1/2) were sick AGAIN--coughing and runny noses and possibly an ear infection.  She was sick AGAIN and Zach has been sick for TWO WEEKS!  They were exhausted and sick and tired of being sick.

I prayed with her and then I asked God for a way to encourage them.  And almost immediately, I saw that KVII was having a Cutest Couple Contest with prizes from Amarillo merchants for a $1000 Date Night Package.  Woo-Hoo!  So...I submitted the photo above.  Don't you love it???

The deal is....whoever gets the most "likes" will win.  Would you please go and vote for these two?  Just click here and then click on "Zach & Shanna Dietz" and it will take you to the site to vote for them.  You can vote every day through February 12th.

Please pray God heals this family quickly.  (I also want to thank one of my friends who had pizza delivered to their house last night.  What a good friend!)  Thanks!

Encouragement Challenge

I have an encouragement challenge.  Find one person a day for the next 7 days and encourage them.  Let's see what God does!  I encourage you to encourage!! 

Love Covers

Love Covering

It's interesting when God starts speaking to me about a subject...I just can't get off of it.  I've been meditating all week on the story that was brought to my mind about playing piano at Pampa's Spring Festival.  (Click here to read.)  I've just kept thinking about the church...WE, the Church.

Just like I was "covered" in my piano playing by those more experienced, why do we not cover those in the church who are less experienced?  I guess I'm thinking mostly about young pastors and those young adults who rise up as leaders.  Instead of encouraging them and covering them (especially their mistakes), we tend to shoot them down and discourage them--even to the point of getting rid of them.

How many young pastors or youth pastors and especially worship pastors (since this is still a huge battle in the church) get discouraged and leave the ministry?  One survey I read said 80% of seminary students who enter the ministry will not be in the ministry within five years.  WHAT???  (The rest of that survey is too disheartening to read, but read if you must!)

What if....

• We prayed for our pastors?
• We chose a young pastor we know to put on our daily prayer list?
• We encouraged those in the ministry?
• We covered them when they messed up?  
• We loved them in spite of their failures?
• We chose not to assert "being right" on non-essential issues in our church?
• We spoke the truth in love on essential issues in our church?
• We came alongside our pastors and helped them...instead of sitting in the pew judging them?
• We got a whole new vision of the struggles and burdens they carried?
• We sent notes regularly to our pastors?
• We didn't gossip about our pastors?
• We didn't sow discord in our church?
• We stood up for our pastors?
• We taught others to cover our pastors with love?
• We became a Barnabas--a constant encourager?

I don't want you to think I'm just talking about pastors.  I've seen many young adults step up to the plate to lead in the church and get shot down by other church members.  They become easy targets as they step up to lead.  Most get discouraged and quit.  Many leave the church altogether.  Ask yourself:  Am I loving and encouraging our leaders?  Or am I part of the problem?  And:  Do I need to ask forgiveness of anyone who's tried to lead?

Think about it.  Do we really need to be "right" all the time?  Are those issues more important than people's lives and their future in our churches?  Have we become Pharisees, trying to be the plumb line and measuring everything that's done?   In my experience, most church fights aren't over the truth of God's Word.  They're over preferences, tradition--"the way we've always done things," or church operation.  Which is worse?  Our leaders' failures...or our pride?

God's called us to something higher...something better.  And Jesus is our example.  We're to love.  We're to disciple.  When Jesus' disciples messed up (think of Peter denying Him), did he wash his hands of them?  Did he accuse them and toss them out?  Did he fire them?  No!  He lovingly brought them back.  He taught them truth.  He loved them.  He brought them along.   

I'm becoming very passionate about this...and I think it's because I'm seeing so many bleeding wounded all around me.  

"Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]."  

I Peter 4:8