Leslie Kelly

Many opinions are flying about as to whether we should "redefine" marriage. I thought this article, written by a child of gay (female) parents was well written, and speaks from the point of view that is often unheard. Please, if you have opportunity, give it a read. 

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/02/14370/

GREATER

I received a wonderful gift in the mail from a ministry we support called Macedonian Call Ministries. http://acts169.org/ Its founder is a dear pastor friend of ours, Murrill Boitnott. He was our pastor for most of the first nine years of our marriage. He taught us to love God, love each other, and follow hard after God. He has been a leader in our lives our entire married life. When we made the difficult decision to move to Michigan in 1990, he was there to encourage us to follow where God was leading. And, amazingly, one year later, he followed us to Life Action Ministries, where he faithfully served until God moved him to start his own ministry. We have been supporters of Macedonian Call Ministries since its inception. We have watched his family grow up, and two of his girls marry wonderful men of God.

One of his daughters, Holly, is married to Stephen Furtick, the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC.http://elevationchurch.org/ He has written several books, which I highly recommend. The first was Sun Stand Still.http://www.sunstandstill.org/ If you are having trouble believing God is active and real, read this book. It will blow your socks off. It is a quick read, and I have a copy if you would like to borrow it. It really helped me see God more clearly and give me a vision for the future.

Now, back to the start of the story. You know, the part that I said I had received a wonderful gift. It is the latest devotional version of Stephen's latest book called: >GREATER. And on the back cover it says, "dream bigger. start smaller. Ignite God's vision for your life." 

I have been discouraged of late, and this book is putting the courage back in my heart. 

For #ouradventcheer today, we were able to bless a ministry called Rescue Upstream http://www.rescueupstream.org with a gift card to be used to help further its efforts. Rescue Upstreams purpose is to educate, inform, and partner with other organizations to help in any way possible to put an end to sex trafficking.

Sometimes we feel like we are trying to drain the ocean with an eyedropper in regard to keeping the trafficking at bay, and fighting the good fight against the ever growing problem. But we cannot grow weary in well doing, because we will reap a harvest of righteousness some day. 

My good friend Tanya and her ministry partners work so tirelessly, and it is such a difficult job, and she rarely hears a thank you. But she is doing exactly what God wants her to do, and that makes her one of the most joyful ladies I know. And it is not a fake joy either. It is real, sincere, and bubbles over into all she does. Tanya is an all-in, no holds barred type of girl. I know God is using her and her band of helpers for great good in Palm Beach County and the world. And best of all? (besides knowing I will get to spend all eternity with her) She is MY FRIEND. One of my nearest and dearest. And I am so blessed to have her in my life.

If you want to know more about rescue upstream, or how you can get involved, visit their website: www.rescueupstream.org.

Also, she is certified to teach a great seminar called "Stewards of Children" which is about recoginzing and preventing sexual abuse. I highly recommend this seminar for any parent, grandparent, childcare worker, or anyone who has children in their lives or cares about children. In general, I think everyone should take this course. It is short, well done, and extremely informative. I went to the seminar as a support for her, not thinking I really needed to go. But WOW!! It was amazing. I came away from it equipped, informed and much more aware of how I can recognize the signs and help. You need to take this course.

I Always have more plans than I have time for. And when a computer glitch causes a hiccup in addition to my normal crazy, unpredictable life, it usually causes me to get frustrated, feel sorry for myself, and make my little world fall down. I know it shouldn't, but my little world is so fragile sometimes I just can't hold it together. But God is still teaching me how to trust him and often the smallest things teach me the greatest lessons. 

And He has spoken clearly and deeply these last few days. And I am in grateful awe. So while I feel like I have been overly busy and "overly whelmed", I also feel overly blessed. But there is still more. Still more He wants to teach me about being still and knowing- knowing I AM in the present, and in the presents. There is still a disconnect for me. I still have difficulty holding Him close, and not getting distracted with the trappings and trimmings. But again, God is still teaching. It just seems like I am such a slow learner! 

If you have been following the last few days, you know I have been learning a lot about being still and knowing, and how I AM is With Us. Immanuel. 

Today is no exception. Yesterday I found out some difficult news about one of my far-away children. And it is hard to put my head around. But because He has had me in school for the past few months, it was easier to get in my seat in His Classroom than doing my usual pacing around in my heart trying to hear Him over the noise of my hard beating heart. I have been able to quiet myself so I can rest in Him and hear His voice. 

Out of "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young He clearly spoke, " Make Me the focal point of your search for security...When you rprivate world feels unsteady and you grop My hand for support, you are living in conscious dependence on Me. ...rejoice that trouble can highlight your awareness of My Presence." 

It has been a doosy of a day. I won't bore you with all the minute details, but this day has been very full, and full of ups, and downs.

On the upside, We were able to do #ouradventcheer today, and you can see it on twitter and instagram. But if you don't go there, we blessed a dear friend who happens to clean my house with a Christmas tree. Ivy is a single mom, and cleans houses for a living. She has very little time for herself, and we thought it would be fun to get her a tree today so she wouldn't have to waste time doing that, so she could just go home and set it up and decorate it. She was so excited, and I was going to post video, but....

On the down side, as I was working on editing the video, somehow my computer crashed. It must have gotten a virus or something, and although I can still use facebook, it is running very s-l-o-w-l-y and will not load video. And, I am writing this from my hubby's computer because I cannot even access this website from my Macbook. So I guess I will be going to Experimac tomorrow morning to see if they can salvage it. Yuck.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

It is still so surprising to me that I can be so encouraged one day, and write inspiring words about Being still and Knowing God, and so sad the next.