The Journal of John Woolman

The Immitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis

George Fox -An Autobiography

Catholic Tales and Christian Songs- Dorothy Sayers

Current experiments, issues, efforts:

Inspirations from reading John Piper... pray without ceasing

Inspirations from Maranatha class (formerly, a class for exceptional learners) ... pray for those who spitefully use you

Inspirations from  reading Servant Leaders, Servant Structures and concerns with my place in my church... My closest relationships in the church are all people who are not fluent in English, either because of developmental disabilities or because it's not their native tongue. Maybe that's yet another way God is telling me to "be still" or maybe it's my way of seeing past the words of others and recognizing the Spirit in their hearts. My current ministry effort is an ESL class. By nature, I'm not much of a traveller, but my ESL class brings the world to my classroom.

Inspiration from prayer.... We need to be a CHURCH not a denomination or a tradition. Personally, I need to find the people in my church who already know this and be a part of what they are doing. As it was pointed out in the Experiencing God, if you want to do God's work, find where He is currently working and go there. He seems to be working in our Spanish speaking congregation right now, so I serve by helping with the Sunday music. It's a challenge for me, culturally and in language, but it's a blessing to be a part of how God is being glorified there.

Inspiration from following a prayer list... very often my prayers of petition on their behalf become prayers of thanks that these people are in my life.

Inspiration from a course of study by Beth Moore... scripture to answer questions and to dissolve lies that have held me prisoner. This is highly personal:

My happiness does not have to wait for someone else's recovery.

Ecclesiastes 2:25 for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?26 To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

My strength does not have to wait for someone else's recovery.

Jeremiah 17:Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever."5 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

My fruitfulness does not have to wait for someone else's recovery.

Proverbs 18:1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. 2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. 3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes disgrace. 4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. 5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice. ...20 From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Matthew 13:22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
John 15:7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
John 15:15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.17 This is my command: Love each other.

Is it God's will that I be lonely?

Psalm 68:5A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. 7 When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, Selah
Psalm 25:15My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.
Luke 5:16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Is it God's will that I be lame?

Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

What can make me feel accepted/justified/belonging?

Luke 18:9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Romans 5:1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
James 2:23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
1 Peter 2: 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy....24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Inspiration from Beth Moore's Believing God online course. ...very intense, a lot of work, and a learning experience on many levels. Of lasting impression has been the exercise in RE-remembering my upbringing ... instead of rehashing hurts, I look for how God was looking after me and making Himself known.  

Inspiration from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life Our church spent forty days with this book. The whole experience has brought me much closer to my church family and more clear about what God wants me to do in mission and ministry. This link will take you to comments on each chapter. 

Inspiration from the RENOVARÉ 2004 retreat at Estes Park Colorado. If I don't love the world, the world will hate me as it did my Lord. When I came home from this retreat, my son broke his leg, I got fired from my job because my clients "flunked" a fire drill, and my car broke down. I was like the anti-Sally Field ... "you hate me! You really hate me!" I have had blessings of joy every day since.

---

---

home
 

cathysfiddle@yahoo.com