Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Week 11

Good evening ladies,

I'm sorry that this email is coming to you so late tonight, perhaps I just wanted to prolong our last week together. :)  It has been a wonderful semester M&Ming with you in this "new" way.  It is so wonderful to still be able to receive the warmth and encouragement of our dear Barb from so very far away.  Have you enjoyed meditating and memorizing on these verses?  Have they become "yours"?  I hope that they are hidden in your hearts forever, please continue to review them in the future so that they always stay "fresh"!

 Do you have any comments or feedback for us from this semester?  Anything we could do better?  I know I've made my share of goofs.  We're learning as we go, so please feel free to share!

 Speaking of goofs, here's the message from Barb that I leaked to you last week, even though it was intended for this week :) 
Hi M&M sisters!   
This is our last week together M&M-ing on "By Faith - Things Are Not What They Seem".  This week I share my thoughts as I looked back over the last eleven weeks.  Thank you so much for joining me on this venture!  It has been a privilege for me.  I know God will use His Word that you have hidden in your heart and it will keep on bearing fruit in your lives.  Remember, as we say about our language study here in Japan, "if you don't use it, you lose it"!  So read and review your verses regularly and listen to your CD occasionally.  I hope to M&M with you again in the near future! 
Thanking God for you, 
Barb

This week's verse:
Psalm 27:13,14 (NAS) 
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message!
Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)



 Next Weeks Verse:

 Memorize Romans.

 (Just kidding.... wanted to see if you were still reading after all these weeks. ;) )
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Week 10


Good evening ladies,

Karen's memorial service is Thursday evening with the visitation from 5pm-6pm in Tomlin Hall and the service in the sanctuary from 6pm-7pm.  Candy has said that there will be a time for friends and family to speak and/or share stories if they would like, so if God puts it on your heart please feel free to share.

 This has been a really tough week for me.  Two dear friends lost their fathers unexpectedly this week, and of course Karen's passing.  Combine that with your traditional chaos, stolen credit card number, etc and it can make one very weary.... But wow... what a verse.  Wow, what a God.  I've been weaker than ever this week, but God is just as strong as He ever was, and HIS power is seen more clearly in MY weakness.  Amazing. 

This week's verse:
2 Corinthians 12:9,10 
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message!
Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)

Next Week's Verse: 

Psalm 27:13,14 (NAS) 
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

M&M - Week 9

Good evening ladies,

Our dear friend Karen passed away this morning.  Thanks for everyone's love and prayers for her and family as she has fought the good fight, and she has now finished the race.  I know she is beholding the beautiful face of Jesus as we speak and is free from all pain and discomfort.  Praise Him for this!

On a lighter note, when I watched this video, when Barb was joking in the beginning about "Shut that Door", my door literally shut itself (from the heat coming on, or from God himself...) It was a humorous moment.

This week's verse:
Matthew 6:19-21 
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message to you for the week!

Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)


Next Week's Verse: 
2 Corinthians 12:9,10 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

M&M Week 7

Hi Ladies!

What's going on in your life this week?  Please share with us, we'd love to hear from you!

This week's verse:
Mark 1:15  "The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
 Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message to you for the week!

Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)





 Next Week's Verse:
Romans 1:20,21

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

M&M - By Faith - Week 6



Hi Ladies!

Is anything going on in your life with M&M?  Please share with us.  This week Barb talks about why we should not withhold anything from God and how freeing it is to have him COVER the sins that we tend to hide from him.  We hide them from him, but He exposes them, and then covers them for us.  It's a beautiful thing to hear, especially for me this week.  Watch/Listen and enjoy!

 A stone lying in the sun can't help but grow warm.  My stony little heart has needed time in M&M sun this quarter more than ever and what a blessing it is.

This week's verse:

Hosea 14:1,2
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. 
 Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message to you for the week!

Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)
Next Week's Verse: 

Mark 1:15  "The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

1. Repent 2. Believe 3. Rejoice 
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

M&M Week 5


Hi Ladies!

First things first, some important news for our Lexington ladies.  Apparently, Jamestown Coffee Shop has closed.  Shocking, yes, but they are now closed indeed.  We will have to regroup and figure out where we will be meeting.  I presume that we will be at LPC at least in the interim, and I will send out the "official" word once I know for sure.  In the meantime, make a note to not go to Jamestown on Tuesday!

Is anything going on in your life with M&M?  Please share with us.  I posted two encouraging notes from some of our ladies on the blog.  Check it out here!

This week's verse:
Ephesians 3:16-19 
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 
 Here are your quick links, and then watch Barb's message to you for the week!

Our Website:  http://shutthedoor.org
Our Facebook Page:  "M&M Ladies" (request access)






Next Week's Verse: 

 Hosea 14:1,2
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. 
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M&M Encouragement

We periodically get messages from ladies saying what's going on in their lives- we love hearing from you!  I know Barb likes to know that these messages aren't getting lost in cyberspace.  Here are a couple of messages we received lately:
"Hi! I wanted to write and tell you how M&M has been helping and changing me.  I live in Indonesia doing work like you and like you this is actually my second time moving overseas.  We had a 6 yr break to be restored and have a time of healing.  We have been back on the field for 1.5 years now.  What a different experience it has been and I have fully related to your remarks on having hard days and not remembering how it was before.  I wanted to thank you for writing the article for Women of the Harvest and inviting women all over the world to join your group.  
I wanted to share a few highlights. Memorizing had helped me during sleepless nights when I can't sleep I memorize.  It's helped me when my husband had been out of town and I've held the fort for my 4 children. It's transformed my thoughts on faith and how that applies to my life here.  It makes me feel like I'm in a bible study even though I live where this is impossible to do!  Probably the biggest change is that in my spare moments when it's so easy to check email or Facebook the 100th time or for no reason at all just so I don't have to face the next thing going on I'm filling that time with memory work.  Because email is not going to ease the pain of missing family, it's just painful if you focus on it, but we do have a choice to turn our thoughts to him and  let him fill our pain and his word does heal and transform us.  It takes our thoughts off of us and onto Him. So thanks for helping with a habit I have always wanted to be good at or have a plan for and I can't go back and change that but I can keep going forward with M&Ms help and encouragement.  
Until next week."
"Greetings! Thank you SO much for this excellent encouragement to Meditate and Memorize. I have been so greatly blessed already in the 3 weeks I have been a part. I just finished listening to Week 3 and it especially spoke to my heart as I feel like I'm having the kind of day Barb was having when she recorded. God's ways and timing are so amazing. :) Anyway, you encouraged sharing what we learned and I thought I'd share a little story.
Last Saturday I was going to an event that was about a 30 minute drive from where I live. It's Japan and I'm new in this area and the roads are narrow and winding. The GPS on my car wasn't working and I didn't know how to get there, so thankfully another lady told me I could follow her. At first I was pretty confident; the area was familiar. But s
oon we got into unknown turf and I found myself "fixing my eyes" on the car ahead of me. I didn't want to let anyone squeeze between us. I didn't want her to turn a corner without me noticing. I didn't want to let her get too far ahead. And yes, I remembered the verse I had been meditating on for the last couple of days. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. That's exactly what I want to do with Him! I don't want anyone squeezing in between us! I don't want to sail on by when He has turned an unexpected corner. I don't want Him to get too far ahead of me! I want to concentrate on staying close so I can follow well.

Thanks to all of you who work hard to make M&M happen. It is exactly what I need right now. "

Anything going on in your lives?  Let us know!

In Christ,

Leslie
 
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