A Spring Harvest

Today I planted bulbs. Lots of them. I enjoy working in the yard, so a huge box of bulbs sent to me as a thank-you gift, was like Christmas. Today was the most perfect Autumn day and I reveled in the task. And as He usually does when I'm in the yard, the Lord began to speak to me about Spring, when these bulbs will be in bloom.

Before I could even plant some of the bulbs, a clearing away of other things needed to be done. Some of it was dead branches and some of it, just an overgrowth, that needed to be pruned.
Pruning hurts. But it always brings about richer and more fruit or flowers. Pruning back of small branches on trees allows the trunk to stay strong and healthy. What are things that need to be pruned in my life?

One of the huge bushes I worked on in my yard is as old as my house, more than twenty five years old. Some of the the branches had died from old age and needed to be taken out. They no longer bring life to the bush?
What are the things in my life that have always been there: habits, addictions, waywardness, incorrect thinking, imbalance-things that are so a part of my life, I couldn't imagine life without them. But, they bring death to my spirit and hinder me from stepping into new things for my life. They need to be taken out.

I've seen these "bulb planters" in stores. The tool makes the job seem simple and easy. But it's not. Planting bulbs is hard work. The hole they are put into must be fairly deep. Forget the small tool, I use a shovel. Tilling the soil, digging down deep and being careful to cover with much dirt. Why must the bulb be covered? To protect it from Winter's harsh frost and freezing weather. To prevent them from being dug up and eaten by small animals.

The hardest (well for me, that is) part of bulb planting is the wait. These flowers don't bloom next week, not even next month. No, for these beauties, one must wait through an entire season and longer for certain types of bulbs. What does this look like in our life? What are the things we are doing that we will reap in the a different season? And how much patience are we having in doing it? How well are the things ( ideas, wisdom, giftings, finances, knowledge) God has given us being protected from Winter's frost? God doesn't give us everything at once. He places them in different seasons, when the time and season is right. When we are right to have them.

What are the things you desire? What are your "bulb" dreams?
Don't believe the lie that says it's too late. That you're too old. That time has passed you by. Don't allow the lies to eat at your dreams, but keep them protected.
Do we live the life that God has called us to out of sheer coincidence. Whatever happens, is meant to happen? Nothing more, nothing less. Believing that what lands at our feet must be His will and we "bloom where we are planted"? Or do we go after the things we want, believing that He puts those dreams in our heart for a purpose and He alone will reveal which step is next and open the doors needed to pass through. Believing that we "plant what needs to bloom" as part of His higher call on our lives?

Some of us are in our "Winter" seasons right now. And we need to get ourselves ready for the "Spring" to come.

Mature ourselves in the Word
Surround ourselves with wise counsel
Become well familiar with the Holy Spirit's leading
Allow ourselves to be refined and sharpened in our present surroundings

So that we can take hold of that which He has called us to.
He won't lead us into something we are not prepared for.
So.. Prepare, for your Spring Harvest.


Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Colossians 2:7
Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.

Romans 4:16
...the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn't exist before.

Romans 5:3
We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to endure.

Book Recommendation

I just finished this book and thought I would pass along this autobiography of two very different men.
A great read and very eye opening to some facts that still remain in the deep South of the U.S. between races. But even more, to find that underlying prejudice we all have, and confront it.

Foolish Things

While vacuuming today, I was pondering back to working in South Africa. The main part of my ministry involvement included speaking to children in schools all over the Pretoria area. All of these schools were in very poor townships. I would speak to children of all ages on God's plans and purposes for their lives. I remember many times wondering if what I was saying to them- that God had a plan for their life, so they can dream big because God dreams big for them- was a complete hoax of sorts. A pipe dream, just to get them through the month.

Does God dream big for everyone?

Or are His plans only for those who can attain them on their own?











We would like to think that we give God permission to "have His way" in our lives. We say that God can use anyone, right where they are. And yet we size people up by the college they went to, the diploma and the career they have, and how much money they have. Isn't that the first question we ask each other when getting to know someone new? So, what do you do for a living? And if you live in the South, the second is,"Where do you go to church"? This is how important we place the "success" of a career. Right up there with our place of worship. The "right" job, the "right" church. (but that's a topic for another day) We tend to believe that if we or others have money, they must be doing something right in God's eyes.
But is that always the case?

We might say that it's alright for the poor in other countries to not "succeed". But by golly, we, as American's must come up to par on the bar of success. This is something I am constantly battling within myself. I go in and out of feeling that if I don't have career, I must not be doing part of the plan that God has for me. And yet, on the other hand, God doesn't judge success the way we do. What if, by doing what the world considers "menial", I'm actually doing what God has called me to do? What if what the world says isn't important, God does, and that's what He wants us to be about? What if instead of looking at a person's career and success, we instead looked at their heart. The Bible says that where your treasure is, there your heart is.

What are my treasures? What are your treasures?

Am I willing to everything God has asked me do, even if that means I won't ever have an incredible career to boast about?
Am I willing to die to myself and my desires, to make sure that there is always less of me and more of Him?
Am I willing to allow Him to shape me into the person He has called me to be by taking up things I would have never really wanted to take up?

What does it mean to say "Lord, have Your way in me?" Do we really mean it? Do we mean it when we say that God can use anyone, anywhere? Or is that just for America? Who am I to think that just because the classroom full of children I am speaking to are the poorest in the country doesn't mean that they won't do what God has planned for the? I musn't put God in a box,thinking that maybe, perhaps by chance, they will attain God's plan.

God can do anything! How often I agree with this in a church setting and yet allow the concept to slip out of my heart when facing a wall of people without the opportunities I have. He can do it in anyone. Anywhere in the world. He fulfills His plans. In every individual willing.
If He wants to make something happen, He will open the doors.

I have to remember that His ways are higher than ours.
Stop thinking that only earthly success is equivalent to God's success.

Are we judging success by what the world believes it to be or what God has said it is? Are we equating success and affluence with God's will?
Have I adopted God's plans and made them my own. Or do I take up God's plans as a last ditch efffort when everything else is failing?

1 Corinthians 1:25 says: This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise .And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. .

It's interesting to me how certain faces stand out to me in a crowd. I happen to be taking photos of two boys in Mozambique playing a game, when this guy sneaks over, just next to my camera aim. Of course he stood out, all pressed up against the mud made wall of the hut. His face is enchanting. His eyes have a story to tell.
The first day our team ministered outside of Beira, there were women's faces I recognized from the previous year. I even recalled faces that I didn't have photos of, but only memory. I was actually quite surprised at how many. It was such a special treat for me to see them again, even if they didn't remember me. In each village, I would see someone else I remembered from conference we held the year before and it would almost bring me to tears. It reminded me of the love God has for us. And this is what I shared within our time of ministry:

God doesn't see you as someone in the crowd of faces. We forget that don't we? We tend to think that God is far off, even though we tell others that He is not. We tell ourselves that if we act well enough and stay out of trouble, pray hard enough, and do all the "right" things, then maybe He will take notice of us. But He already sees you, completely, through and through. He is all-knowing of everything you are and everything you are not. And, thankfully, He is all-loving. The Bible says that He knows the number of hairs on our head and that we, our lives, are engraved on His palm. He is willing to leave the 99 and go after the one who strays away. Which tells me that He pay attention to know which one of us wanders off course.

He does not forget us, just as I didn't forget their faces. My prayer is that we all realize this and know that He has and gives us what we need.
He remembers us.

Precious

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know what my schedule will be for the next couple of weeks and to let you know what I’ll be doing.

I want to share with you what I and ten other women will be sharing to many, many more women in four different villages in Mozambique.
I use the word Share very mindfully, knowing that when one shares something, they don’t do it from a “better than” stance, but an equal stance.
We will be sharing the love of Jesus with our fellow Christian sisters.
Although, not all the women present will be Christians.

Let me set the stage a little for you:

In the villages we will be gathering in, a Bible is a rare gift. And if a Bible is available, it is surely not written in one of their many native tongues.
Instead, it is written in Portuguese. Most people can speak and read Portuguese, but not completely fluently.
I found out last year, that everything we say might be translated twice: once from English to Portuguese and again from Portuguese to their native language. Why? Because that’s the language they are fluent in.

But their Bibles are not in their fluent language so most of what they know about God and Jesus have been taught in spoken form to them.
And I have to wonder how much of what they’ve been told includes the love Jesus. Particularly, the love He showed women in the Bible.

A few years back, the Lord really began to open my eyes to different religions. He began to show me how much a religion reflects the creator (Hinduism, Muslim, Buddhism) or Creator (Christianity) of that religion.
I began looking at these religions and noticing how the people, in particular, women, of those religions were treated.
How did the men of those religions look on the women? With value? With worth?
I found them heart-breaking-ly, very lacking in any love.


We are so honored to be serving a God who thinks so highly of women that when He created us, He said, “This is VERY good”. And God sent His Son to earth to continue showing His love for us. I am blown away at the lengths Jesus went to, to reveal His love for us, women. He was quite the rebel.

He talked to women when He should not have. He spent time with a Samaritan woman; someone considered a “dirty half breed” by the people in that day.
Not worthy to be spoken to.
He allowed himself to be touched by an “unclean” woman with a bleeding issue. He forbid a mob to stone a women, who by the law, could have and should have, been stoned. He used a very poor widow, putting her last mite in the offering plate, as an example to His disciples. He allowed himself to be touched and anointed by a harlot.

Every word from His mouth to women was encouraging. Every minute He spent with a woman told her, “ You are worth my time, you are worth my words”.
And He never left a woman the way He found her. He always left her changed, renewed, healed, and freed.

I LOVE JESUS for this!!
I find myself in story after story and in each conversation He had with a woman.

And if Jesus is the love of God, fleshed out, then every woman should also know these stories.

So, I’ve pulled out eight or so passages from the Word. And after each reading, there will a time of questions and sharing.

The woman with the issue of blood- Mark 5:24
Samaritan woman at the well - John 4
Woman at Jesus’ feet- Luke 7:36
Woman caught in adultery- John 8

Widow with the mite- Mark 12:41, Luke 21:1-4
Jesus raises the widow’s son- Luke 7:11
Jesus heals on a Sabbath- Luke 13:10
Woman caught in adultery- John 8
Mary and Martha- Luke 10:38, John 12

1. Can you identify with this woman? How?
2. What do you feel when seeing Jesus’ reaction to this woman?
3. What characteristics do you see in Jesus?
4. Where do you find yourself in this story?
5. What were the reactions of others around her?
6. What taboos did Jesus break?
7. What taboos do we need to break?
8. What ideas about Jesus need to be changed?


If you would like to pray for us while we are gone, I would greatly appreciate it.

*Pray for God’s guidance for every aspect of this trip. That we will depend upon Him in every way and allow Him to truly be our leader on this trip.

*Pray that God will be honored in everything that we do and say and in how we represent Him to everyone that we come in contact with.

*Pray that the women of Mozambique will feel loved by God and feel loved and respected by us.

*Pray for safety and health.

*This one is really important*
For those who may not have been on a mission trip before or experienced an extreme cross cultural difference and even for those who have; Fatigue, being in an unfamiliar place, jet lag, having things change unexpectedly, unmet expectations, dealing with different personalities, culture, food and lack of conveniences, differences of opinions, conflict, hormones :o) etc…. can bring out the worst in us as humans… Please pray and ask God to help us all be flexible and honoring of one another. Ask Him help us walk in unity and model God’s love to each other through authentically esteeming, supporting and serving each other and those around us when we find it the most challenging to do.

This is our schedule:

July 9 - Depart US
July 10 - Team Arrives in Johannesburg for dinner and orientation
July 11 - Meet up with team and head to safari at the Pilansburg Game Park
July 12 - Fly from Johannesburg to Beira
July 13 - Work/Field Day in villages
July 14 - Work/Field Day in villages
July 15 - Work/Field Day in villages
July 16 - Work/Field Day in villages
July 17 - Church/Field Day in villages
July 18 -Fly to Johannesburg and meet up with Mike
July 20 -Depart for U.S.
July 21- Arrive home


I am truly believing that women, both Mozambique and woman from the team, will walk away changed by the undeniable love of Jesus.
My heart is that God will do a work in all us, both the team going, and the Mozambique women- that we will feel Christ’s love for us, knowing that His heart is always turned towards us.
I've worked in women's ministry for years and the more I'm around it, the more I love it. Women are so precious.
And I know it's God's desire for them to know how precious they are.

Thank you all so much for your support!
Love and Blessings,
Jen

The Harlot at Jesus' feet

Luke 7:36-48

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman (also called a Harlot in other translations) from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”


First off, what do you think was Jesus’ immediate reaction when this woman comes from behind and begins weeping at his feet? Can you picture this with me? Jesus is at a dinner party with many religious people, who, by the way, are the ones trying to get Him on trial. And a harlot, who found out that He would be there, decided to show up, unannounced. Obviously, He allowed the action to continue into the breaking of the alabaster jar and the anointing of His feet with the precious oil. Notice that this wasn’t your every-day olive oil used in the kitchen, but an expensive perfume. Most likely this was to be part of her wedding dowry or perhaps, if she truly was a harlot, a gift from one of her customers.

I love that Jesus allowed this to take place, in the house of a wealthy, religious man, no less. And I love that He knew exactly what Simon was thinking, perhaps, mumbling under his breath, and called him out on it. To be forgiven much means you have the capacity to love much. But Jesus went even beyond the parable and straight into a rebuke to dear Simon. “You didn’t even offer to wash my feet when I came into your home, something that’s completely customary and expected.(How rude!) And yet, this woman has done it for me. And with perfume". He didn't even have to acknowledge her, let allow, defend her.
Notice in verse 44 Jesus, turns back to her. I love those words. Jesus saw this woman as a person. Not as a sinful woman or a harlot. And after talking with Simon, He turns back toward her. What an amazingly sweet gesture. And then, another kind act, He speaks to her,saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” He didn't have to do that. In fact, telling her that her sins were forgiven would actually give the Pharisees more reason to put Jesus on trial. They didn't like it when He went around acting like God, forgiving people. And yet, He was moved with compassion to let this woman know, in case she doubted it, that, yes, her sins were, indeed forgiven.

Jesus valued women. He knew their worth. He saw them for what they could be.
He still values women because He knows our worth and sees us for what we will be.

Your sins, and they are many, are forgiven.
So, show Him, and others, much love, with the love you’ve been given.


1. Can you identify with this woman? How?
2. What do you feel when seeing Jesus’ reaction to this woman?
3. What characteristics do you see in Jesus?
4. Where do you find yourself in this story?
5. What were the reactions of others around her?
6. What taboos did Jesus break?
7. What taboos do we need to break?
8. What ideas about Jesus need to be changed?

Song of the Harlot