SUMites, As millions of us take time to give thanks to the Lord this week, I thought it would be so cool to share a scripture verse. Share a verse that you are thankful for and how the verse impacted your life. Who knows, perhaps your verse will help someone else. So this thanksgiving I'm thankful for: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. — 2 Timothy 1:7 I can’t count the number of times as a young mom, something would scare me in the middle of the night. I would sit upright and speak this verse out-loud over and over until fear left! I’m so thankful for the powerful Word of the Lord. SHARE YOUR VERSE IN THE COMMENTS! Happy Thanksgiving. I love you, SUMite Family! Be Blessed, Lynn Read more →

Every year I share a wonderful tradition that I began when my daughter was little, A Tablecloth of thanks. I’m reprinting the story today for all the new readers. It’s never too late to begin a tradition of faith. And this one is perfect for believers and our pre-believers as well. Have a blessed Thanksgiving. I am so very thankful for all of you. Hugs, Lynn ----- Tablecloth of Thanks Many of you know that I am married to an unbeliever. This past May we celebrated 15 years of marriage. Our unequally yoked marriage has had its challenges to say the least. Over the years, however, our ingenious God has maneuvered us through many touchy issues. Our disparity becomes more apparent during the holidays. Giving thanks to our Lord in November is a treasured time for me. I name my blessings one-by-one in prayer, thanking God for His lavish abundance... Read more →

By Martha Bush It's that time of the year again - - a time we set aside on the calendar for "stuffing the turkey" and "giving thanks for our blessings." We pull out our recipes, head to the grocery store to buy the ingredients needed for stuffing the big bird, and the cooking preparations begin. When Thanksgiving Day arrives, families gather together, have a time of giving thanks, and then carve the stuffed turkey waiting on the platter. For just a brief moment in time, most of us capture the true meaning of "giving thanks unto the Lord" on Thanksgiving Day, no matter what kind of trials we have been through during the year. But, what about the day after Thanksgiving--“if you could actually put your heart on a platter like the stuffed turkey, what would you see stuffed inside that might rob you of a thankful heart throughout the... Read more →

SUMite Nation: Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been balancing three speaking engagements this past week and I have laryngitis. Yesterday afternoon I was going to cancel my talk: Maintaining Your Healing Following Prayer. But at 2 pm, (the meeting began at 4) the Lord said, “Get up and I will heal you as you are speaking.” WOW! Suddenly I was filled with energy. Jumped in the shower and gave a powerful talk, equipping believers with tools to walk further into their healing. I was able to speak clearly and then prayed with several and watched God release His love and fire!!! It was awesome. ----- I want to let you know that the Lord said that I should hold off with the SUMite Summit registration until January. He said the momentum will be lost in the busy of the Holidays. Following our community fast on January 14th, I will... Read more →

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello SUMite friends, Ian from Down Under here. I keep bumping into a recurring theme of how to do this Christian life well. I’ve probably made reference to it in previous posts. It has two elements to it, and different people use different terms to describe these elements. A nun I listened to a few years back described a typical day as consisting of time for ‘contemplation’ and then time for ‘action’ ending the day with more of the former. Interestingly, if you studied a typical day Jesus lived we would probably find that’s how His day would be broken into. What’s critical is that a good life includes both elements. Recently I came across an alternative description: ‘abiding’ and ‘abounding’ which are taken from two key New Testament verses: John 15:4 (NRSV) – Jesus says, “Abide in me as I abide in... Read more →

SUMite Nation: Tomorrow in America many will go to the polls to vote. Please pray for our nation because the potential for rage, distrust, destruction, and lawlessness looms high. (These are all demonic principalities, by the way.) Our local friends who know Mike and I, always joke around election time that we cancel out each other’s votes. I might be a bit more conservative and Mike is far and away, liberal. Ya, just another area in our lives where we are mismatched. I know I’m not alone in this kind of a mismatch. So, for those of us who are trying to avoid arguments over candidates, issues, and government in general, I bless you today with peace. Be the peace maker. I know that many marriages on Tuesday will feel additional strain because the political climate is volatile and highly charged. I know for me, I MUST press into the... Read more →

Shelley Cruze with Husband and Son By SUMite, Shelley Cruz I was raised in a wonderful Christian home but walked away from God as a teenager because I thought that I was missing out on all the fun in life. I married, started my career, bought a home with my husband and had two babies. After 12 years of living for myself, I finally realized that the “fun” and all the other things I used to fill the void were leaving me feeling empty. I knew what I was missing was a relationship with Jesus and in 1996, I rededicated my life to Him. I wanted my children to know Jesus and began to teach them and brought them to church with me. I longed for my husband to know Christ, so I began praying for him. Soon after, he began coming to church with me, but it became quickly... Read more →

by Niki Hathorn Hello SUMite friends! I have some wonderful news today. When I met my husband in our early twenties, we were both believers but not even close to walking with Jesus. Fast forward to my early thirties, we were married, and I was pregnant with our first child. It was at that time when Jesus finally got hold of me. I found a church to attend, started reading my Bible, I became involved in community with some wonderful ladies, and really began to grow. My husband would participate once in a while - when convenient for him, but I wasn't seeing much change in his life. In fact, debauchery and anger seemed to take over any joy that he had. It's been a long and difficult road. In August, I went to bed on a Sunday night and fell asleep telling Jesus that I didn't think I could... Read more →

Originally posted: October 30, 2014, But remains Powerfully Relevant for HALLOWEEN. Greetings, I have some thoughts about Halloween. Halloween was always one of the highlights of my year as a child. I mean really. Come on. Free candy…. It’s a day to pretend you are someone else, costumes, parties, bobbing for apples, being scared (but not really). I know that there is disagreement about how believers should handle this day. I’m not going to judge. You need to follow the Holy Spirit as He directs your heart for your family. But today I want to share a prayer God has placed heavily on my spirit and with power. Because after the kids are home sorting their candy, after the paint is washed from their faces and the jack-o-lanterns have long burned out, there is a reality. There is a very real enemy of God and His people. And on this... Read more →

by Lori Skipper Psalm 139 NLT Too often, we as believers, do not realize our value or our worth. We forget that God is with us ALL the time. We feel we were a mistake. Psalm 139 breaks down our value and our worth for us. This powerful Scripture also reinforces that we are not nor were we a mistake; regardless of what others may have said to or about us. The One that matters the most has told us we are NOT a mistake. When we sin or make a mistake, we spend so much wasted time beating ourselves up and trying to make up for the wrong we’ve done. But, Psalm 139 verse 1, 4, 5, 16 & 17 assures us that our Father already KNEW what we were going to say or what we were going to do, before we said or did it! I’m certainly not... Read more →