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10 entries from August 2022

A Singing Spouse

My friends, I said I had another story to tell today .. Story

On Monday we were talking about the fact you can be blessed by having a memorable conversation with a stranger: When you visit a church, or when someone visits your church.

A few weeks ago that happened to me. A pair of girls in their twenties arrived in our church and were hanging around the coffee table, so up to them I went.

We had a great chat, and somewhere in the conversation we asked each other what we did for jobs.

When asked that, I usually tell people about the SUM ministry, and that always leads to some conversation. "Oh! Never thought of that!" most people say.

Well, on this occasion one of the girls said, "Oh, yeah, I know what that looks like. My Mum and Dad were in that situation."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Mum went to church but Dad didn't, for quite a few years. Then one day he went to church, and in the service he got ... um... what's the word... exorcised."

"Delivered!" 

"Delivered, that's it."

Yep, we don't normally talk about edgy things like deliverance at a church coffee stand, hence the funny terminology. But, meanwhile I was thinking, "Amazing. Curious. I want to hear more."

She continued --

"From that moment on he was over the top into Jesus. He overtook everybody in his enthusiasm, including my Mum, and now all he talks about is Jesus."

"Wow, that's wonderful!" I said, feeling the joy of this situation. But she rolled her eyes in a dry British way (she's British), "Well, actually, he became quite annoying with it."

An unbelieving spouse becoming annoying about their faith? Can we just enjoy that thought for a minute, LOL. "Why was he annoying?" I was laughing by now.

"Because it was ALL he talked about. And every morning he'd be in the bathroom, booming out songs about Jesus in a loud baritone singing voice."

Now this gave me the giggles. The thought of any unbelieving husband booming out songs about Jesus in a baritone voice? What a priceless picture. In fact, I kept getting the giggles all week after that Sunday conversation, every time I thought about it.

What a blessed conversation it was. And all I can say is, we live in hope!

Dear SUMites, I hope that brought a smile to your face, and here's a prayer --

Jesus, we do pray that our spouses will sing about you! We pray they will belt out songs, loud and proud, unashamed of your Gospel, and we pray for more good stories like this to keep our joy levels up. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.


Blessed by Visiting a Church

Ann here, 
ah how good it is to be back! I arrived safely back in New Zealand after my holiday, and am so happy to be chatting with you all again - team SUM! Story

I truly had a good time in England, visiting my parents, attending my brother's wedding, and catching up with old friends. But I want to share with you one of my favorite things that happened from a spiritual point of view. In fact, it's the kind of story that makes angels sing (Luke 15:10) :--

One Sunday, I visited my Mum's church in Reading (a town in south England). A man in his seventies sat behind us. He was whispering the name Jesus under his breath and I could feel his enthusiasm during the service, as you can sometimes.

He then got up towards the end of the service, and gave a testimony from the front about a miraculous thing that happened to him as a teenager, when he wasn't a believer. Clearly it hadn't been planned, but the pastor gave him space to do it.

After the service I turned round to this man, grinned, and shook his hand, "Hello." "Hello", he smiled back, eyes sparkling. Then, leaning forward as if confiding, he said: "I just had to give that testimony because I knew there are at least three men here today who don't yet know the Lord. I hoped it would impact them."

"Ohh!" I said, "Are they husbands of believing wives?"

"They are!" his eyes gleamed. "They've only been coming a few months, each of them." Pause. 

"And are you a Christian?" he asked, in the most gentle way. I beamed: "Sure am." 

"Are you married?" He said. 

"I am! And, actually my husband is still deciding about it all. He doesn't yet come to church with me."

"Ahh, I thought you were going to say that. I know what that's like for your husband: My wife became a Christian before me, and I wasn't a believer for a while, although she was."

Really? I glanced towards his wife who was happily talking to my Mum down the row, then back to him. 

"So what happened, how did you change your mind?"

"Well.... First of all I spent time with some of her Christian friends, and realized they had something I didn't. I didn't know what to do with that. Then, about two years later I went to a Christmas event one day, went forward and accepted Jesus. That was the first step. After that it still took a while for it to become relevant to me. I had a lot of questions. Eventually I had a moment where I did surrender myself fully and got filled with the Holy Spirit."

I soaked all this up, as I always do when I hear a salvation story of a SUM kind, and as we talked further I saw he was a man of deep understanding. I was interested to hear that his story came in layers; it was a process.

As our conversation reached a natural pause he finished with this: "I was about to open a nightclub, then I became Christian!" he said, laughing. "My whole life changed!"

I laughed back, and looked over to his wife once more, thinking as always of our SUM community.

Later, I looked out of the window as Mum drove us home. As a visitor, I'd been blessed by walking through that church's doors. I reflected that all kinds of things happen to us when we enter the doors of a church: Sometimes we're the ones to bless others, but sometimes we receive. That conversation with that man spurred me on for days afterwards.

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10, NIV)

My friends, have you had a moment where you visited a church and were deeply blessed? Or were you blessed by a memorable conversation with a visitor?

Next time I want to share another short story of a similar kind. It's one that I hope will make you laugh -- For God loves us to laugh. Tune in for the next one!

Love you all,

Ann


The Power of Role-Modelling

Ann here, happy Friday everyone! Binoculars 2

The writing team is going to be taking next week off from the blog, for a little Summer break of sorts, so we'll be quiet on here. But I just wanted to leave you a short and sweet thought today, something that's been on my mind. It's this:

Don't underestimate the power of what you role-model in your home.

What does your spouse see? What do your children see? Sometimes it's difficult to tell, but you could take that question to the Lord and ask him what you role-model well.

I asked God that once. I asked him: "What do my friends see when they look at my faith?" I was up for hearing anything, whether it be positive or negative. He answered me: Courage. I was not expecting that answer. Courage, really?! Yes, courage. Well then!

What about my husband, and my kids? I have some ideas of what I think they see, but I think I might ask God that question again. I do know that walking out my daily faith must do something to their own spiritual eyes, ears, and heart; and the same is true for you and yours.

Well, I do hope you have a nice week, SUMites. If you haven't already, check out the details of our Fall Bible Study on Zoom, coming up, which we're excited about. And, we will see you the week after next.

Much love,

Ann 


Some Rather Amazing Salvation Stories

Let's Talk Live

Ann here! As I've been travelling, I won't be doing a live video this week, but will be back again next week at the usual time.

While having this break, I wanted to catch you up on three of our recent videos that have had a stunning theme: Surprise salvations.

In the first two videos below, Lynn shared about some salvations that recently happened in her own personal life. And, in the third one SUMite Barb Twigg shared the same kind of story. Is there something in the air at the moment?! 

They are such good stories, and I know they will encourage you. So, with that, I'll leave you with the three videos to dip into. Enjoy.

Ann

 


Book of James Study

Book of James GraphicOn Monday registration opens for the LIVE Zoom study of the Book of James. This is a five-week study of the entire book. This book is all about practical faith. Ann and I will be teaching this study for five consecutive weeks. Martha is writing a few questions for our homework assignment. This will help to flesh out the lessons in our daily life!

Bring your Bible, your hunger, your pen and paper. Have coffee ready to go because I talk fast!!!  grin

Check in here on Monday, August 15th and sign up. It will only take a minute. After you register, the Zoom link will be provided. Plan to copy and store it somewhere to be ready when it's time to meet up.

We will have a great time of community and learning!

Jesus is King!  Hugs, Lynn


Who Are We Becoming?

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Photo courtesy of Pexels.com and Anderson Guerra

Hello, Ian here. Fiona and I planted a lemon tree two or three years ago. And this year, we discovered we had some fruit, tiny green lemons. The yellow comes later. Gradually they grew a bit more each day, week and month. And then the colour began to change from green to yellow. That took months too.

Recently we picked them. Almost fully yellow lemons. We juiced the first one and it was nice and tart as a good lemon should be.

Productivity and Fruitfulness

We live in a world where achievement is highly recognised and rewarded. From an early age we are encouraged to be better, do better and achieve much in whatever field we choose to follow. It’s very hard for us to get away from wanting to keep up with the joneses. Even in things like our marriages and our children, it is very easy for us to compare ourselves and want to achieve great success in our marriage, the be the best wife or husband and for our kids to be the star student, athlete, and cheerleader. As parents, we can be exhausted simply meeting the demands of all the extra-curricular activities we take our kids to after school and on weekends.

The world and often the church tells us this is the best life. When we’re being highly productive and achieving much whether in secular activities or within the church.

Remember, Jesus invites us to take His ‘easy yoke’, to settle into His ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG). Also, the image of Mary resting at the feet of Jesus as her sister Martha keeps busy preparing the sumptuous meal for the gathering. Jesus invites us to abide, to intentionally choose to hang out with Him, in such a way that we discover how to be conscious of His presence throughout a day.

Jesus is less interested in our productivity as it is all about what we’re doing. On the other hand, He hopes in us choosing to abide with Him and discovering how to do life with that ‘easy yoke’, we will become fruitful. Fruitfulness is all about who we are becoming.

We Become what We Do!

We are creatures of habit and daily rhythms, even if they’re highly structured/planned or completely disorganised. We become what we do. Our soul is being fed all the time by what we behold and what we do. That’s why there are so many books on understanding how habits and the disciplines that consume our day.

Jesus doesn’t ask us to bear fruit. The fruit will come because of sticking with Jesus. This is the crux of the vine/branch analogy of John 15:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5 NIV UK)

We bear fruit because we abide.

It Takes Time

Lemons take a lot of time before being ready to pick and juice. Bearing fruit takes time too. We’ve got to be prepared to hang out with Jesus. He will feed us with everything we need to bear fruit. Just like the lemons needed to hang on the branch for a couple of years. If they dropped off too quickly, they wouldn’t have grown or become juicy or tart.

Be patient. We will become the ripe lemon only if we continue to stay with Jesus.

Extend grace to yourself. Don’t rush it. It’s not like we can take a pill and suddenly be a great lemon full of juice. Jesus’s way is gentle. That’s the easy yoke. Like the growth of a lemon, it comes from the inside and is reflected in the peace, love, joy, kindness, goodness, patience and self-control we begin to experience. Similarly, our loved ones and others will see the fruit in us too.

I thought I’d leave us with this very apt quote from C.S. Lewis:

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol [and now diesel and electricity], and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself.”

Grace and peace, dear friends.


Watching For Miracles

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Once in a while my children will say or do something that blesses my spirit beyond words. When those moments happen it feels as if God is saying, “See? They ARE learning! And you are doing a good job!”. One of those moments came a few weeks ago with my seven year old daughter.

First, let me give you a little back story. My husband has been an atheist for almost 11 years. Of course as children get older they notice that daddy does not pray or come to church and they start asking questions. That is around the time my husband will have a talk with them about what he believes. This was something I REALLY struggled with at first. I had to pray many times about how I was supposed to handle it! I felt that God told me it was important for Hubby to feel heard and respected. So I simply cover my children in prayer and put on their armor, I pray for their ears and hearts to be protected during the conversation, and I give it all to God.

The time came for this talk with our daughter a few weeks ago when she randomly asked Hubby why he does not believe in God. He asked me to leave them alone so they could talk about it so I stepped out (you all can just imagine how hard that was!!). I felt as though I was holding my breath the entire time. I whispered prayers over their conversation and tried to keep myself busy until it was over. They came out of the room calm and in good spirits. I did not press for any details and our evening went on as usual.

When it came time for bed my daughter said something to me that really was wise beyond her years. She said, “I think daddy doesn’t believe because he forgot his miracles. Hasn’t he seen miracles? YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THE MIRACLES!”. She continued on about miracles we have seen and how important they are to remember. My heart was so full of joy that night!

The practice of remembering miracles is something I have been trying to teach my kids for a few years now. Whenever we pray for someone, or for something to happen, I tell them to watch for it and remember to thank God when it comes to pass. It does not matter if it’s big or small, we try our best to remember and give thanks. I think this is something we all need to put into practice, and teach our children! It gets them excited and involved in prayer, as well as strengthen their faith.

During those times when our faith may be wearing thin, or when we are in the thick of battle, we MUST remember our miracles! Holding on to what God has done for us in the past can help sustain us when we feel like we cannot go on! Remembering our miracles can feel like sunlight bursting out of darkness, or water when we are in the driest desert. Remember becoming a parent? Remember the time you (or a loved one) were sick and then healed? Remember getting married? Being freed from depression or anxiety? Finally finding the right doctor or the right medication? Making a new friend? Just getting up in the morning?! These are our miracles! Hold on to them! Thank God for them! If we focused on our miracles daily we would find ourselves living with an attitude of gratitude every day! We would be filled with peace and joy, and our faith would be strengthened. So, lets do it!

What are some miracles you would like to share? Leave them in the comments, I would love to read them!


Don't Let Anyone Steal Your Crown

Crown 2

Hi SUM family, it's Ann here.

I'm on holiday at the moment in England, where I've been visiting my parents in my home town (Reading), and attending my brother's wedding. I have one more week here before flying back to New Zealand. It's been special to be with my family. 

I am finishing off this post with my Mum pottering in the next room. That's nice huh!

Now for today's post:

Today I had a catch-phrase I wanted to share -- It's something that we can speak out when feeling battered by others' unbelief. The catch-phrase is this:

I'm not going to let anyone steal my crown!

Perhaps we can even take a moment to speak that out right now, in fact, before continuing to read? Here we go: I'm not going to let anyone steal my crown!

The back story to that phrase is this:

I know there are some here who became unequally yoked because their spouse used to be a Christian, but then lost their faith. In many of those cases your spouse's faith was real, even vibrant, but now that same spouse lives in unbelief. You now hear from their mouth all the many reasons they choose not to believe.

I know a little of what's that like as I used to work with a man who lost his faith, having previously been on fire for Jesus. This man was a clever man, and he would share with me on many occasions the various reasons why he had chosen to walk away from Christianity. After spending time with this man I would often feel embattled.

God would show me all over again that Christianity is true. Nevertheless that man's voice was in my ear on a regular basis. So, which voice was going to be louder: God's or this man's?

A friend who was very strong in his faith knew I had this challenge and decided to send me some words of wisdom. They were such on-point words that I wrote them down at the time. I was greatly helped by them, and discovered them again this week so thought I would share them here.

Perhaps these words are especially for you today if you're one of those whose spouse lost his/her faith. Here goes:

"Don't let anyone steal your crown.

You sit in the heavenly realms with the Lord (Ephesians 2:6); you've been lifted. So it is that you remember the incredible position of authority and respect you have right now, and in the next life as well, even if some people have forgotten their position or have chosen to lower themselves after having once been elevated."

Amen to that. For the Bible does speak of us inheriting a crown, or crowns, and phew it will be quite the inheritance. We must hold onto it like crazy, not letting the unbelief of another person steal it from us. 

In that spirit, then, let's look at the scriptures about the crown that is laid up for us:

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:4, NIV).

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8, NIV).

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown (Revelation 2:10, ESV).

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12, NIV).

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever (1 Corinthians 9:25, NIV)

If you would like prayer for perseverance today -- That is, if you are feeling battered by the unbelief of those around you and need prayer to keep going, leave a note in the comments and we'll pray for you.

Love,

Ann


TODAY: Don't Miss It!

Let's talk live post 2023Today on, Let's Talk LIVE, I'm sharing a pretty wild story of a salvation that occurred right in front of my eyes. AND I didn't expect it. And it was truly supernatural. 

You will be in awe and wonder when you hear what happened. 3 pm pacific time, on Facebook, and YouTube.

See you soon. Lynn