A Great Prayer Conference

Last weekend I went to a prayer conference with a couple of my closest friends that was sponsored by Central Christian Church. We were blessed by the teaching of Dr. James MacDonald, Pastor Cal Jernigan, and Pastor Hervin Fushekati! All three speakers were amazing in the way they allowed God to use them to send out His message. They are each a testimony to what God accomplishes when we are obedient to Him. Each of these men have life stories and experiences that convince me that walking in obedience to God has more than likely not always been easy. I’m sure there have been many times throughout their lives in ministry that they have been ready to throw in the towel, to give up because things get tough….but because of their obedience they are allowing God to work through them and in turn consistently touching and changing the lives of so many people!

If you haven’t heard about Dr. James MacDonald, you have to check out his ministry at www.walkintheword.com. He is the pastor at Harvest Bible Church in the Chicago area and he is the host of the nationally syndicated radio program called “Walk in the Word”.

Even though there were tons of “take-aways” from the conference, I think the two that stood out for me were:

1) The teaching on Jeremiah 33:3 which says “Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).” AMP


This verse just laid it out point blank for me. It says you have got to talk to God if you want to hear Him! Simple, huh? God tells us to talk to Him and He will answer you!” How much more straightforward can it be? If we want to know the things we cannot understand and want help making those choices in our lives, we must call on Him. He says He will then show us “great and mighty things”! Wow!! How can you NOT afford to take time out of every day to call out to God?


Here is that scripture from the Message Bible: “Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own”…I love the ending “things that you could never figure out on your own”. That tells me that if I don’t make praying and worshiping God a huge priority in my life, there are going to be WAAAAAAAAY to many things that I can’t figure out!!!!


2) The passion Pastor Hervin Fushekati has for Christ so totally “oozed” out of him as he shared his story of living in Albania and his conversion from the Muslim to the Christian faith. His sharing was so touching…I think not only because it was simply such an interesting and amazing story, but because of the humbleness with which he presented himself and his story. He told of being a part of a very powerful and strong Muslim family and even being placed in a position by Muslim leaders to infiltrate Christian youth groups and then to conversion to Christianity and church planting and even establishing the International Schoool of Theology and Leadership. Can you even imagine? To me it is so mind boggling. We forget that we, as Christians living in the United States have such freedom to worship….His story is a true reminder of how sad life could be without that freedom and a reminder to never take it for granted…nor to take our relationship with Christ for granted!


I will close with this Bible verse and thought from Pastor Cal Jernigan:

Be still, and know that I am God – Psalm 46:10

God tells us that in that quiet time with Him when we pray; we make a relationship with Him come alive…without prayer we will never experience the person of God.


Makes sense, huh?

My Sweet Baby Boy has Turned 5!

Landon turned 5 this month and we had a blast celebrating his special day over and over and over!!! First, we hit Build-a-Bear and the Rainforest Café to celebrate with his bestest buddies!

And then on his actual birthday we brought cupcakes to his pre-school classroom AND had his favorite dinner along with ice cream flurries (with a candle in them of course!) He was so funny about his dinner request…turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, mac-n-cheese, and strawberries! Quite a combination!

Then on the weekend we had to have the big extended family party as well! That one had a football theme. He loves football (especially the Cardinals…and the Vikings)!

As I sat and thought about how fast the time had gone and how I could hardly believe my baby had already turned 5, my heart was moved and God urged me to see how important the years…the weeks…the days…the moments of my life are with my children! I mean, I know that, but do I REALLY KNOW that?! I try to be present and I try to do what is best, but I know when I take a very honest look at MY life, I can see that sometimes the “trying to do what is best” gets in the way because it makes me over-commit and strangely enough my focus is on my “busyness” as opposed to being on my family! There are so many things to do and so many of them seem like they would be great for the kids, great for me, great for our family….but I have to draw a line in the sand and pick only what we can do without me becoming mentally absent, often distant, and sometimes even cranky!

I am stepping back quite a bit. Sometimes it feels weird and I don’t know what to do with myself in the quiet moments. It feels strange to not always be rushing around! But, I have found so much more time and mental ability to stay totally engaged with both the boys and my husband. I don’t feel myself losing my patience as often and I feel like we have more time to just simply enjoy each other. Will I EVER get caught up on emails, phone calls, and everything else? Probably not…but that’s okay.

I want to be sure to not miss even a moment…not a moment of the good, the bad, and the in-between. I am so blessed to be given the family I had always dreamed of and I don’t want to take a minute for granted. I want to carve the memories into my mind and on my heart so that they can last forever. I want to cherish the incredible gift God has placed before me …the gift of parenting…the gift of caring for His children while they are here on earth!

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble,

      and he saved them from their distress.
He calmed the storm to a whisper

      and stilled the waves

What a blessing was that stillness
      as he brought them safely into harbor! –Psalm107:28-30