Ladies Ministry

I can’t really get to know someone passing them in the hallway at church. In order to really get to know them, I must give of myself. Sometimes we do not want to get close to others because we have been hurt in the past or are afraid of being hurt.

Several years ago, my family took a trip to London, England. We stayed in a unique hotel located in a restored historical building. As we headed out one morning, excited for another day of sightseeing, we got on the elevator and pushed the “down” button. But when the elevator descended, this normal morning changed abruptly. It suddenly felt like we had stepped on the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland.

Another great purpose in having hospitality is to bond your new converts or people who are new to your church with other Christians. Help them to make friends. We try to have new people over at the same time we have “old” members over.

Let’s do an acrostic with the word purpose. We are all busy, right? Our hospitality should be profitable and have a purpose. So P stands for:

Just the word hospitality sounds warm, fuzzy and inviting! Hospitality says, “Welcome!” If you’re like me, you have good intentions! You want to do right; you want to be a blessing, and you want to encourage others. Well, good intentions get us nowhere. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

The Ladies Spring Event was buzzing with excitement as ladies and girls came to enjoy fellowship, games, a delicious meal, and an opportunity to grow in their Christian life by bee-coming more like Christ.

Hannah’s story is about far more than intensity in prayer. It is about a woman who poured out her heart to everyone but God. And it is about the change God worked in her when she poured out her heart to Him.

Have you ever felt so bombarded with choices that you didn’t have the clarity to even think? A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel with my husband to New Jersey. Some dear friends picked us up from the airport, and we had an enjoyable dinner together followed by dessert at their home.

God is in the transforming business. Metamorphosis is the transformation seen as a caterpillar emerges as a butterfly. The pupa stage begins when hormones are secreted by the insect’s brain compelling it to attach itself to a leaf or twig and to shed its outer skin layer revealing hard skin, or its chrysalis, underneath.

I think each of us desire that our lives would count in eternity; but the question is: How am I going to make it count and last? I would like to share two ways that I have found help me influence others in a lasting way:

When facing the uncertainties of life, insecurity sometimes wraps its ugly tentacles around our hearts. It whispers in our ear, “Yea, hath God said?” God is never the author of confusion. Confusion is a major weapon of the believer’s enemy. It brings relentless fear and must be defeated by the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Your tomorrow is already well-planned by your loving Heavenly Father, and His provision is there if you will only be still and know that He is God.

When it seems that needs are piling up all around you and no one understands, remember that the Lord understands your needs: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). Below, you will find a list of needs that many families in full-time Christian service (as well as many laymen) have, along with a Bible verse for each one:

To the actors in the original Christmas drama, Christmas was something far larger than a story. When Gabriel first saluted Mary with the glad tidings that she was selected to give birth to the Messiah, it was not only a dream come true; it was a complete life change.

God is always working behind the scenes to provide for His children. Since He knows what tomorrow holds, one would think that trusting the Lord would be the only option in daily living. Have you ever wondered why God directed the wise men to bring expensive gifts to the Saviour when He was obviously too young to make use of them?

Need a break from the daily grind? The 2012 West Coast Baptist Ladies Conference allowed hundreds of women to gain the break and fresh perspective they needed

I love reading to my grandson, TJ. His mom, Brandie, and I are frequent browsers at the nearby used bookstore. It even has Bible storybooks! I enjoy getting those for TJ and Ava, his younger sister. I also get them for the girls in our Bible college to use in their Sunday school classes and their Saturday Bible classes.

Excitement filled the air on the evening of “Who Is the King of the Jungle” Ladies Spring Event. As moms, daughters, and friends entered the campus they sensed the immediate anticipation as they saw the jeep and jungle decor outside. When they entered the lobby, ladies both young and old enjoyed the live wildlife.

When I was a teenager, our school participated in the presidential fitness test program. We did sit-ups and pull-ups, ran the fifty-yard dash, stretched our fingers past our toes, and accomplished a whole list of other exercises.

When was the last time you saw the hand of God protecting you from harm? How many times are we oblivious to His unseen hand moving on our behalf? Only eternity will tell what He mobilized to defend us and to keep us safe.

I am reminded of a lighthouse resembling an iron skeleton that once stood far out at sea about eight miles east of Boston, Massachusetts. Its name was the Minot’s Ledge. The keepers inside this lighthouse always trembled when a stormy tempest swept their way and swayed their seventy-five foot home.