Merry Christmas!

I passed a church yesterday that had a unique message on its sign by the road. It read "God gave His gift ON a tree, not UNDER a tree." During this time of year when the focus is on gifts, gifts, gifts, it would benefit us as believers greatly if we spent a little time contemplating God's gift ON a tree. Of course, Jesus had to come as that little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. But that little baby had to grow up. It was the man, Jesus, who gave His life on that TREE, the cross of Calvary, so that you and I could be set free from the curse and the penalty of sin. So this year, as you look at your beautiful tree and the wrapped gifts underneath, take some time to thank God for HIS gift ON a tree, the Lord Jesus Christ! Have a very Merry Christmas and, at the risk of sounding "old fashioned," don't forget the Reason for the Season!

A Job Well "Un"done

As I journey though this life with God, I find that He sometimes speaks to me through the most unusual circumstances. I had one of those unusual circumstances this past Sunday afternoon. As some of you know, Pat has been working a lot of overtime lately...at least two Saturdays out of each month for several months now. That, combined with the fact that he leaves the house at 6:30 am every weekday morning and doesn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00 pm, has left many jobs undone around the Dill household. One of the "undone" things has been the job of cleaning up all the leaves that have blanketed our yard. We have quite a lot of large oak and maple trees in our yard and they have done their job of "leaf dropping" quite well. So since we didn't have an evening service this past Sunday, I decided that I would help Pat out and take care of all those leaves so he didn't have to worry about them. So I got out my "rake"...which happens to be a lawn tractor complete with grass catcher attached. I cleaned up the front yard without incident and moved on to the back yard. The majority of our trees are in the back yard so my task there was much more daunting than it was in the front yard. After I'd dumped the grass catcher at least 1,000 times, I had just a small section left to finish the back yard when disaster struck! Being the meticulous person that I am, I wanted to get as many of those leaves sucked into the grass catcher as close to the house as I could get. So I was inching (with this huge lawn tractor) closer and closer to the house...I was determined to not let any of those nasty leaves get away from me. I was, of course, in complete control of things. I would surely stop before coming in contact with the side of my house. And stop I did...without running into the house. However, protruding from the side of the house in the exact spot where I decided to stop is...a water faucet. Or perhaps I should say "was" a water faucet. Suddenly there was a fountain of water spraying over the top of the lawn tractor and onto me! I had hit the faucet and broken the water pipe! What had begun as a good deed to help my husband turned into a major problem for him...a dash to turn off the water at the meter, pulling off some of the vinyl siding, cutting a hole in the side of the house to expose the broken pipe, making a trip to Lowe's for repair parts, and then, in the dark, repairing the broken water pipe. As you can imagine, I felt horrible that I had caused all this trouble and extra work for my sweet husband who already works so hard. All he wanted was an afternoon of rest...but I fixed that! As I was trying to be a helpful wife and hold the flashlight, get any tool he needed, and just generally do penance for causing this disaster, the Lord taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes trying to do even good things can be a disaster, if not done in God's way and in God's time. Sometimes we rush ahead of God and try to "fix" things or make things better for someone. We try to be sure that every single "leaf" of pain or discouragement or material need is taken care of. But when things are not done in the right way...in God's way and in God's time...it may only cause us, and many times those around us, more problems. And it may keep someone (maybe even us) from experiencing God's best. Or we may "fix" something that God didn't want fixed at that moment. That's why it's so important that we pray before we jump in to try to do what we women do best...be a "fixer." We need to be very sure how many "leaves" God wants us to clean up and just how close He wants us to get to the house...or we might create an even bigger problem...one that might not be as easy to fix as a broken water pipe!

God is Still God!

On November 9, 2008, the Sunday following the 2008 Presidential Election, I shared with our class some thoughts. In case you missed them, I thought I'd repeat them here for you.

On Wednesday morning [Nov. 5, 2008], as I was pondering this new "season" for our country, God reminded me of a couple of verses that I'd like to share with you today.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peacable life in all godliness and honesty."

It would have been much easier for me to pray for and give thanks for John McCain and Sarah Palin than for Barrack Obama and Joe Biden BUT when the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write this verse to Timothy, HE KNEW EXACTLY WHO WOULD BE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN 2008. God's Word is eternal and it never changes. It's God's will that we not only pray for our new president but also give thanks for him. The question for us is...are we going to be obedient?

One very important thing I discovered Wednesday morning...when I woke up, I found that GOD IS STILL GOD and HE'S STILL IN CONTROL...and I'm so glad He is!!

A New Season for VBC

You may remember our lesson back in October on Ephesians 5:15-18 when we talked about making the most of every "season" of our life. You may also remember that I shared with you that I had received an email from a lady in our class who was concerned about our recent drop in attendance. I read a portion of my reply to you in class on November 2, 2008. Since there were some of you who may not have been in class on that day, I'd like to share with you that portion of my reply to the email. I pray that God will use it to speak to your heart and that it will cause you to pray even more for each other and for our church.

"I think last Sunday's Life Connections lesson was so timely for what's going on in our church right now. While the application was to us as individuals, I think it can apply to the church also. Victory is in a new season...Victory has an opportunity to fulfill God's purpose in this season. But Satan also has a plan...he wants to cause disunity, discouragement, and dissatisfaction. Remember Satan is an opportunist. He's seizing the opportunity, so we've got to seize OUR opportunity...we've got to "buy up" every ounce of opportunity that God is giving VBC in this season. We've got to find out what it is God wants us as members of VBC to do, AND THEN DO IT!! It may cost us something as a church to fulfill God's plan. It may cost us some members who aren't on board with the plan God has for us. It may be that we have to mourn for friends who might no longer be a part of our fellowship. Yes, it's been a long grieving process for many of us. We hadn't finished grieving for T.J. and Cindy when we lost Jenny and all the others who left with Mike. And there are others that we've lost along the way since then. But either God's Word is true or it isn't. It says that He is working and moving in our midst. Either that's true or it isn't. I choose to believe that it's true and I can take heart in a wonderful promise from God..."Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." [Ps. 30:5] Some nights when I can't sleep and I toss and turn much of the night, it seems like morning will never come. BUT IT ALWAYS DOES!! I'm waiting anxiously for the joy of the morning!! And when it comes, it's going to be awesome!!"

What's new for WIW????

There's something new in the air for 2009 in the Women in the Word Life Connections class!! We've got our very own blog! We'll use this blog to encourage and build one another up in the Lord throughout the year. Frequently we all have thoughts that we'd like to share...thoughts on Scriptures we've read, thoughts on something that God has taught us, thoughts on how great our God is. Now you'll be able to share them with our WIW family. This blog can be a wonderful tool that can be used to help us fulfill Eph 4:29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Happy blogging!!