What I thought about, though, is that sometimes the payoff from the investment is more long-range.  I thought about a wonderful woman whose long-term investment had a huge impact on my faith.  Millie was an older lady in our church family who was always at church.  We only knew about her husband because she wore a wedding ring and always asked for “unspoken” prayer for Red.  No one had ever met Red and when we inquired about him, Millie told us that he was a good man, but did not know the Lord.  She told our then group of women in our twenties, that she had been praying for Red her entire marriage (45 years at that point) and that her best witness to him was to be the best wife she could be.  When we asked her about how long is too long to wait and pray, she answered with a firm tone, which was the only time I ever knew her to be terse.  I’ll never forget, “You never stop praying for people’s salvation.  You pray even harder for these people and you faithfully serve them.”

A few years later, after 49 years of marriage and faithful prayer, Millie was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  She told us and our pastor that Red was pretty devastated and our pastor asked her if he could visit Red.  During that visit, Red accepted Christ.  Millie’s prayer was answered and I’ve never seen anyone so happy!  She did not lament, but praised God for answering her prayer, celebrating that she would now spend eternity with her husband.  Millie died 6 months later and unlike his reaction to the cancer, Red now saw the future with his long-range eternal vision, knowing that he’d be reunited with Millie because of relationship with Jesus.

Millie taught me to never give up on people who don’t know Jesus…never!  Keep investing through serving them and keep inviting!

I came across this quote this week and have been pondering it as there is a lot of truth in this quote.  I also don’t think it’s ironic that I came upon the quote almost immediately reading Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Confessing with your mouth seems to be a powerful act and can be applied to gratitude too.  How often do we think to ourselves, “I really appreciate____.” but keep that appreciation to ourselves?

The Bible also tells us in Proverbs 15:4a “As a tree gives fruit, healing words give life,”.

Don’t keep your gratitude to yourself.  Express your gratitude today.  Your words may just be the medicine God uses to heal.

Here are a couple of stories coming from folks attending New Attenders Lunch:

Financial Peace

A young couple with a baby has been recently attending New Horizon Church after attending Financial Peace University.  Their table host asked them how they started attending New Horizon Church and the young couple proceeded to share that they started attending Financial Peace University at New Horizon Church beginning September 15th.  They continued to share with their host that since attending Financial Peace University, their marriage has gotten so much stronger because they are seeing eye-to-eye on their finances.  They continued to share that they have noticed they are growing closer since the stress of their finances has eased.  They also shared they have great hope for their future and the future of their daughter because of the life-change they have experienced through FPU.  Music to my ears!!!

Answered Prayer

A young couple approached me and Jamie at the end of New Attenders Lunch.  The young woman shared that she had attended NHC a few years ago during high school, when NHC met at Hillandale Elementary.  She shared that she married and has been living in Charlotte.  She shared how she had searched for a church in Charlotte like NHC, but never quite found it.  Her husband then shared how upon a recent visit to the area on October 2nd, they attended NHC and submitted the following prayer request on a connect card “Please pray that we are eventually able to move to this area and join this church.”

The young woman jumped in and continued the story, sharing that the Tuesday following their visit, she was offered a job in our area.  Her husband then approached his company about a transfer to an office in our area and the company agreed without hesitation.  On Thursday following their answered prayer, they received a card from NHC indicting they were prayed for that week.  The young woman told me how overwhelmed they both felt upon receiving that card.

In two weeks they are moving to our community and our church family.  Please join me in praying for their transition into new jobs, new community and our NHC family!

Life is good this Sunday night!!

For example, when someone comes to mind, instead of telling your friend, “I really appreciate what __________ did for me last week”, text that person and let them know how much you appreciate them.  Or, send them a message on FB or Twitter…just because.

We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people, whom God made like himself.  Praises and curses come from the same mouth! My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.  James 3:9-10

It is Paul’s gratefulness in the midst of adversity, sitting in a Roman prison, which corrects my attitude each month, as I read verses 2:14 “Do everything without complaining and arguing,” & 4:4  “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”

I have discovered that it is when we can “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18, that we grow closer to Christ, as our lives shine bright, drawing attention to Him.

Reading Philippians on the first day of each month, sets the tone for my month and is my monthly heart “tune up.”

   but a kind word cheers him up.  Proverbs 12:25 [NIV]

While we are led to believe this season is happy and fun for people, many people who I encounter day-to-day do not feel this way.  Many people carry heavy burdens, which become even greater during this season, so encouragement can be transforming for these people.  The Bible tells us so.

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving I am going to post encouragement ideas which I hope you’ll enjoy and use.

Random Acts of Thankfulness

Think about all of the people who serve you every day…a waitress, a clerk at a store, a janitor in your building, a bank teller…  When we do send thank-you notes, they are usually to people we know.  How about sending a note of thanks to someone you don’t know, but serves you this week.  Most of these people wear name tags, so check out their tag, ask a manager for the mailing address of the store or call the customer service desk, then send a thank you note to the person who served you.  It will definitely make their day!  Not to mention how God will use your kindness to continue to transform you.

After the second service this morning I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who was referred to me a couple of weeks ago by her small group leader.  I talked with the NHCer by phone when she shared that she was recently separated from her husband and had several children.  She told me she had recently joined a small group for support and her small group leader pointed her in the direction of even more support by connecting her to me.

I encouraged her to join Divorce Care at a church in our area with a large Divorce Care program.  Upon finishing the 13-week program, I encouraged her to attend Celebrate Recovery for long-term support.  I also encouraged her to buy a specific recovery handbook and work through the handbook with a partner.  I suggested she talk with her small group leader about participating as her partner, knowing the leader had experienced a similar loss.  I also told her to consider professional counseling and told her to let me know how I could assist her with a referral.  There were lots of resources at her disposal, but the next steps where up to her.

Today, she walked up to the Guest Services Desk and formally introduced herself.  Her answer to my question, “How are you?”, was “Overwhelmed with gratitude for my church!”  She shared that she immediately connected with the Divorce Care group and had attended three meetings.  She bought the recovery handbook for herself and her small group leader, who agreed to partner with her in her recovery.  She let me know that she was now ready to find a professional counselor, and I made the referral today.

Now I’m the one overwhelmed with gratitude!  More often than not, we connect people with resources and they do nothing with the resources, eventually isolating themselves. It takes work to recover from pain, loss and baggage.  However, when we take advantage of God’s design of community and care, which always includes empathetic people who have been where we’ve been; we heal and become whole.  It’s the church being the church.  I hope you’re as encouraged as I was today.  My prayer is that this story will encourage you to ask for help.  Don’t isolate yourself.  Instead, insulate yourself with people who care and can help.

Newton’s Third Law is only applicable to physics but doesn’t quite work when we apply it to our spiritual lives.  Too many times we believe that since “I’m doing this or that”, or attending church every time the door is open that “this should be the outcome”.  I bought into this too.  Alana had a horrible experience in Kindergarten while attending a Durham City School 22 years ago before the school systems merged.  I was absolutely adamant that she was not returning to 1st grade at that school.  Our only alternative, so I thought, was to move back to Cincinnati where I grew up and attended school.  At least I knew what to expect from the Cincinnati school system.  We packed up the kids, went to Cincinnati where Mike applied at every hospital and large corporation in Cincinnati.  We just knew that his four years at Duke would make him a very desirable applicant.  I was shocked when he was not invited for even one interview.

Mad at God for not answering our prayers through our efforts to provide the best for our kids, we returned to Durham.  I mean, after all, I told God what we needed and proceeded to act on it, holding on tight to what I expected to happen…and it didn’t.  That summer, with time running out (my time, that is), I led our Vacation Bible School.  During one of the planning meetings I lamented to one of our serving team members about the looming dilemma of not having a plan for 1st grade, which was 10 days away.  I continued to explain how we had tried to move and shared my disappointment at how this did not happen.  This very nice lady asked me if I had considered Home Schooling?  ”What is that?” was my answer (remember, this was 22 years ago).  She proceeded to tell me about her daughter who home schooled and gave me her phone number.

This divinely appointed conversation opened the door to two of the best years of my life, and I think my daughter would agree.  We learned so much together during 1st and 2nd grades, which prepared her beyond expectations for 3rd grade when we moved to Orange County and enrolled both kids in New Hope Elementary School.

My big life lesson during this experience was learning to always surrender my expectations.  Do what you can do, then let God do what He can do, which in my experience, is always different and far better than I could ever control.  Remember that God has good plans for you, so ask him to reveal those as you put your own away.  His plans are always far better & usually beyond your own imagination!

I’ve always had to battle “busyness”, as God wired me up with lots of energy and the desire to be constantly productive.  However, I’ve had to learn God’s definition of “productive” and I’ve learned it is very different from mine.  I was, and some days continue to be, the Martha in the following story from Luke 10:38-42 [MSG]:

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

Our culture, especially in the down economy, fertilizes the lie of “busy”, pulling us toward “do more” & “produce more” because if we don’t, there is someone else who can.  There is an antidote for the frenzy and chaos of “busyness”.  I am not encouraging you to abandon your responsibilities or stop giving your best with regard to your job or commitments; I’m talking about a total shift in thinking.  I’m talking about recognizing that the time we falsely believe we own, actually belongs to God and putting the ownership of our time back on God.  We are living in and on His time.

Do we spend time with God daily, asking him how he wants us to “invest”  in his time each day? Much of God’s will for our lives and how we spend time is revealed in His word.  How much time do you spend reading the Bible each day? I know it’s easier said than done, but when I finally surrendered & continue to surrender my false “ownership” of time, and realize that it’s God’s time that I have stewardship of; I find liberation from the burden of figuring out how to use time, and begin to understand my responsibility in seeking from God, his direction for how I will invest “HIS” time.

Like I said, it’s easier said than done, so for me, I’ve put accountability around me, meeting once a month with an accountability group of women, purely for the purpose of accounting for how we’ve used our time.  We confess to one another about our daily quiet time, prayer time and study time.  We confess about missed opportunities to minister or build people due to busyness.  We encourage and challenge one another to prioritize our time spent with God, knowing that it is only from the overflow of our time spent with God that we are effective to influence and build people.

I encourage you today to surrender your time to God.  If you don’t have a daily quiet time with God, schedule that recurring appointment today!  If you don’t have an accountability partner, I encourage you to ask a same-gender friend, or your spouse to hold you accountable for how you use God’s time.  You’ll be stunned at the peace that will begin to replace the frenzy.

In this “word picture”, Paul gives us clear instruction about how the body of Christ is to function.  In light of his instruction to share one another’s pain, why do we isolate ourselves and suffer alone by hiding behind masks?

Do we think that people won’t think we’re “good Christians?”  We think that if our non-Christian friends know that we have real struggles, they might think we’re hypocrites. Or, maybe we think that if our Christian friends know we have struggles, they’ll think we don’t have faith.  So, we hide behind a mask.

Maybe we believe the “lie” that nobody really cares anyway, so why complain?  So, when people ask us about how we’re doing, we answer “fine.”  Meanwhile, we’re a mess…and feel guilty for lying about how we feel.

We Need To Take Off Our Masks

The Bible is pretty clear about why we should take off our masks.  Leviticus is a book that I have to confess, I don’t usually spend much time in.  In this case, its instruction is clear as a bell – “Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t deceive anyone.” Yep, vs. 19:11 doesn’t pull any punches.  Colossians 3:9-10 is pretty clear too - Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before. You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God.

Another reason to take off our masks is that people don’t know we need help if we don’t ask.  The Bible nails it again in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 So encourage each other and give each other strength, just as you are doing now.  Where do we get encouragement and strength, according to this passage?  You got it…from each other.  You’ll find over 50 more “one another” passages in the New Testament.

When we take off our masks we’re living in God’s design, which leads to transformation, which leads to a deeper relationship with God and God’s people.  This Halloween, instead of putting on another mask, try taking off the mask.  You can start with me or one of our Guest Services staff.  We’ll be glad to listen, accept you as you are, and connect you to even more people who love you and will help.