Sumites! Lynn Donovan with you on this fine Friday.

So, the Lord has been speaking to me regarding our voyages through adversity. After walking through a tremendous adversity for most of 2024, I’ve now had time to reflect on my questions of why. What did I learn. God’s view of adversity and the truth of understanding and coming to peace with adversity and the challenges of life.

Are you interested to join me in my musings with the Lord?

My thoughts, Father, I’m nearing retirement age, why in the world, after all my years of faithfully walking with You, did I go through this traumatizing season?

I wonder…. Any of you have similar thoughts?

Ahem, yep!

So, here are the hard truths about difficulty in our lives.

The first truth is this, facing adversity refines you.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. – Jame 1:2-4

Oh Girl! Yep, I did it. I pulled out the old James, chapter one scripture!!

But, hang with me now. This scripture defies the biggest lie all humans believe. Are you ready for this.

The world (doctrines of demons) preaches that our life should make us happy.

However, this isn’t really what the Bible reveals. Let me clarify. The Bible teaches we will experience joy, hope, love, peace but rarely happiness. Why? Because happiness is really a basic form of selfishness.

Our real purpose on this earth is to magnify Christ. Our purpose is to mature and become righteous.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. -Matthew 6:33 

The Bible is replete with stories of regular men and women facing and overcoming tremendous threats, to life, limb and property. They overcome through faith.

For me, understanding how much my 120 years(hopeful) on earth matter to God, as compared to eternity, somehow settles peace over my questions of why.

God’s purpose for our entire earthly life experience is to make us holy, righteous, a child without spot or wrinkle. Happiness is an illusion. Step into contentment, faith, and the reality we are loved by God who died to heal us. Save us. Protect us. Prosper us and make us into amazing King’s and Queens who will one day rule with Christ Jesus.

Mind blow.

Okay, these are my pondering of what I’m unwinding in my heart in this season. What are you ponderings about happiness and righteousness?

See you in the comments. Blessings and great BI

It's not too late. Lynn Donovan here.

Tomorrow, February 26th at 11:00 am pacific time zone, I'll be teaching a LIVE seminar via Zoom. 

What is salvation? Could our spouse be saved and we don't know it? Do we know how to really pray to open up a person's heart to hear the Gospel.

There is so much fear surrounding this topic. I want to help alleviate your fears and to teach you pray differently. We will look to the Bible of our answers and truth. I can't wait to share what the Lord has been showing me recently regarding our unsaved family.

$20. registration.  We will have time at the end to practice.

Direct Link to Payment Portal Square for Three Keys Ministries:

Dear friends, Ann here.

Have you had a nice weekend? I did, I visited that church that God has asked me to visit. It was beautiful, and I wonder what he has in store for me there. Exciting!

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about the topic of attending a small group. Is that something you do? It's not an entirely straightforward thing when you're in a SUM, right?

Early on in our SUM, Bryce said to me "I will not cope if you start attending a small group." There was a finality in the way he said it.

"Why?" I asked, lip quivering.

"Because it's the epitome of weirdness."

That was us then, not very used to church life, and struggling with the fact that I had suddenly become all Christian. It was one of those moments where I felt the pain of our faith difference. And after that I didn't take part in a group. That might have been right or wrong of me to give it up; but this whole SUM thing is so hard. We try to make our faith easy on our spouse, so we let go of certain things we want to do.

Well, about five years after that, things had got easier in SUM-land, and I duly joined a small group at church. Bryce was happy enough with it by then, and I enjoyed the group. However, it was made up of couples.

I could have stayed in the group, but the couple thing actually became too challenging. In the end, I wrote to them and thanked them for the time we'd had together but said "I'm actually going to choose to stay home with my husband for a while instead of attend this small group but thank you for all the great time we've had."  

I remain friends with some of those lovely people, and it was certainly not a wasted time. It never is. 

Well, finally this past year, after I arrived back from Europe, God plopped me into a small group that is perfect for me. Yay! And this has turned out to be a gorgeous new thing in my life.

A friend got me connected to it. It is a group of women that meet on a Thursday from 12pm-2pm. One of them has a house that is perfect for the purpose. She herself is the first in her marriage to become a Christian, there are beautiful family photos on the walls, and she hosts us around her welcoming table. There is always fantastic food that I look forward to as I drive there. And, most importantly, these women love God, which means the conversations are about God God God every week.

(Here's a little pic of some of us and the FOOD table, yum!)

So, finally, after a meandering journey, I have settled cosily into the world of the 'small group', and it has become an absolute treasure in my life.

How about you? Are you part of a small group? Is that part of your life a challenge at the moment in your SUM? Do you need prayer for finding a good group of fellow believers?

Let's share.

Love you all loads

Ann x

Sum Nation. Lynn Donovan here.

Today in my Bible reading I was reading through the book of Mark, Chapter 3:

28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—

I often ponder and asked the Lord, what is the unforgivable sin? What does it really mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

From all my years of study, it all comes down to this: Loyalty

The unpardonable sin is: Rebellion

The unforgiveable sin of satan-rebellion. The rejection of the forgiver of sin who is Jesus-rebellion. For as long as the human race has existed, the Kingdom of God has fought against rebellion. There was rebellion in the heavens before Adam set foot on earth.

But what in the world does this have to do with our unique walk of the unequally yoked? Glad you asked.

What I find truly astonishing is our ability to persevere in faith while living on the front lines of spiritual battles. We have remained a believing Christian when opposition continually exists, in our own home, workings to tear us away from our faith.

We remain faithful when our atheist spouse has thrown every kind of “argument” or “truth” quote, unquote, toward us.

We have persevered when we have received ridicule, hatred, or mocking for our faith and belief.

We have been in training most of our married lives to become faithful believers who are loyal to the King.

Did you know this is the GREATEST GIFT you can bestow upon our Lord Jesus? Our loyalty and fidelity.

When you feel tired or the voice of deceit and deception tries to arise, speak to it and command it to stop. Walk away and KNOW that your faith and the Kingdom of God is worth every effort and we can overcome every attack the devil throws our way.

Well done solder of the Cross!!! Keep walking it out. We are survivors. We are the conquerors; we are those who shine brightly even if this world doesn’t see our faith. In the heavenly realms we are royal-loyalists who will wear a crown of righteousness.

I adore you. Be blessed this hour. Lynn

Ann here!

My friends, I've had a particular mental image that's stayed with me for weeks and it's been speaking to me powerfully. See if you relate to it. The mental image is this:

I'm blindfolded, and God is by my side.

We're doing an obstacle course. The obstacle course is my life.

I cannot see anything at all about the future of my life, where I'm meant to be going, or what the obstacle actually looks like in reality. I cannot see the future impact of any particular choice I make or step I take. Only God can see it.

In this obstacle course God has said to me four things that I must remember:

• You can trust me.
• I will never leave you.
• Only listen to my voice.
• You can ask questions.

So I take a step on the course. And then I take another step. And then I take another step in life. And each morning I pause with an open journal and I ask him about those steps. After all, I'm blindfolded and he's not.

I say things like this:

'God, am I meant to stay in this particular friendship, or has it had its day?'

'Do you want me to keep attending this church?'

'Do you want me to look for a job at this point, or not work?'

'This person's hurting me, do I stay or do I go?'

'Do I buy that house?'

'Can I house hunt, or do you want me to be settled where I am?'

'How do I speak into this particular problem that this person is facing?'

And so on.

On Sunday I took another blind-folded step and it was quite a specific one. To backtrack, few months ago I felt strongly I was to step back from leading the prayer team at my current church, with no apparent reason as to why. The sense I had was strong enough that I decided to obey and do it, even though I didn't want to abandon my responsibilities there. They haven't yet replaced me and I've been sitting in church thinking 'There is a need here, I feel bad for stepping back!' Yet, I do believe I was following God's voice so I have sat quietly in the back during those Sundays and tried to stick with the season God now has me in.

Well now God seems to be asking me to start visiting a different church! And that too is a little stretching as I am entrenched in my current church. The place God seems to want me to visit is a mega church close to where I live - It has a 9am service and I think that's where I'm to be. It's just a stirring in my heart, a sense that that's what I'm to do.

So, with all that going on, I finally took the appointed step, and walked up to that church at 8:40am this past Sunday.

I'm in good company there. A friend of mine who reads this blog had a similar experience where God asked her to attend that particular church. She didn't want to initially but did it. Well, wouldn't you know it, her husband came along, and ended up giving his life to Jesus in the walls of that church! So hey, there's good reason to obey.

As for me, who knows why I'm to visit that church. But I do know from experience that God will have his reason. Perhaps there's someone I'm meant to meet there, or something I'm to learn within those walls.

Well, that's my thought for the day.

Does this blindfold analogy resonate with you?

Have you ever taken a step God has asked you to without understanding the why?

We'll chat in the comments!

Love

Ann

Valentine’s Day

Oh, the emotions that arrive with the mention of this day.

I want you to know that God LOVES Valentines Day. He sees it as a day where we celebrate the most significant thing in the universe.

God loves us. He loves us so much He died and rose to life in order to help, protect, heal and mend our hurting hearts. Hallelujah.

So today, buy yourself some flowers and put them in a vase. Label them in your mind: Flowers from Jesus, my Bridegroom Prince.

Then smile. Love on others. Ask the Holy Spirit to manifest love in you, on you and all around you on Valentine’s Day.

Share your story with me your thoughts about God’s love and how you can encourage a young wife on this day.

I adore you. I love you. I think you are amazing. Blessings and LOVE, Lynn

It's not too late. Lynn Donovan here.

Tomorrow, February 12 at noon pacific, I'll be teaching a LIVE seminar via Zoom. 

You will learn how to discern the voice of the Lord. How to determine if the voice you are hearing is God, the devil or yours. And how to practice perceiving God when He speaks.

There is so much confusion and a lot of lies about hearing God's voice. So, if you are interested you can register for $20 now. Please have a Bible, pen and some lined paper. We will have time at the end to practice.

Direct Link to Payment Portal Square for Three Keys Ministries:

Dear SUMites,

I love you guys! I pray the following over you today:

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of Jesus defend you;

May He send you help from the sanctuary,

And strengthen you;

May He remember all your offerings,

And accept your sacrifices.

May He grant you according to your heart's desire,

And fulfil all your purpose.

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

(Based on Psalm 20)

And --

The Lord bless you and keep you,

make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you, and give you peace.

Loads of love

Ann

Hi SUMites, Ann here.  

Today I wanted to tell you about a vision God gave me that relates to the unequally yoked marriage. It was a vision I received a few years ago, I didn't understand it at the time, but nevertheless I wrote it down.

A week or so ago, I happened to come across this vision again -- a description of it had been sitting in my journal for years -- and all of a sudden I understood it!

So I'm going to share it with you now and I hope it encourages you:

What I saw in the vision was a double bed -- A marriage bed, like this one here.

• On one side of the bed there was a strong wind of suction that was coming from above, a suction power upwards.
• On the other side of the bed there were helium balloons, rising upwards with their lightness.

So far so good. But what on earth did it mean? Well, here is the interpretation which I received:

The vision of this bed represents what is going on in a SUM marriage.

The believer's situation is represented by the helium balloons; the non-believer's situation is represented by the suction wind.

The believer's situation:

The believer has filled themselves up with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus. There is a power in that, and a lightness. It naturally carries them up, up, up, into eternity, towards God, and towards all good things that the Kingdom of Heaven offers. It is a lightness within them compared to the world outside, and it makes them rise. There's nothing much they need to do, it's effortless -- it is a natural outworking of their faith.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27, NKJV)

The unbeliever's situation:

The unbeliever, meanwhile, also has an effortless power being exerted upon them, but it takes a different form. In their case, the power of God is on them, drawing them to him, with such power it is like a giant vacuum cleaner hose that they can barely resist: Swooosh, they're sucked up and towards him. They will have to make their choice to submit, but there is a power drawing them up, up, up ...

Scripture says, no one can come to the Father unless He draws them. 

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. (John 6:44, NIV)

We need to know, then, from this vision that God is drawing them. And it is a powerful thing. 

Both of these upward movements, for us and our spouses, constitute the upward call of God in Christ Jesus that is our prize:

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)

What vision says to me is that there is as much power on our spouses, as there is in our lives. It just looks different for us than it does for our spouse. We have His power in us, but our spouses have His power being exerted on them. The destination is the same: Eternity, represented by the upward movement. And the degree of power is the same: It is the power of the resurrection.

Ultimately, dear SUMites, this is what this vision is doing for us:

.. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places ... (Ephesians 1:17-20, NKJV).

My friends, let's pray that we can understand and believe in his power in the lives of our unbelieving spouses.

Love

Ann

Hello Sumites, Ian from hot and humid Sydney here. 

Photo courtesy of pexels.com and Quang Anh Ha Nguyen

I thought I’d tell you a story today.

have a frustrating relationship with my mother-in-law. Lyn is a lovely lady and in the almost 30 years we’ve been in each other’s lives, our relationship has been awkward and a little detached. It’s bothered me a great deal as this isn’t the norm in my relationships plus I had a wonderful connection with my mother. It causes me a lot of stress and anxiety and Fiona is impacted as well. Plus, I tend to beat myself up because I feel this relationship is a poor example for Fiona. "Why can’t I get over my pride and simply love Fi’s mum?"

Grace

A few months ago I was reminded of a quote on grace I’d read and heard many times over the years. It goes something like this:

“The true saints (read Christians) burn grace like a 747 burns fuel on take-off.” – Dallas Willard.

It’s a great quote. When I most recently heard it (twice in the same service) I spent time pondering it for a few days afterwards.

I think we all know intuitively that big planes burn through a lot of fuel to get off the ground. The environmental causes of recent years have only emphasised how much fuel aeroplanes burn through on every flight. Willard’s metaphor for describing a vibrant life with Jesus is compelling. We’re supposed to burn through grace and more grace.

Annual Visit

Soon after, Lyn and her husband were visiting for a couple of weeks. As we always do, Fi and I discussed how we (meaning me) would manage this visit. My response was to share Willard’s quote and to say that’s what we’d do: ask God for grace and more grace. Even every minute if we (meaning I) needed it.

Fiona understands the concept of grace. I think all humans understand the notion of ‘unmerited favour’. But for we lovers of Jesus, it really has an added meaning. I like how my Pastor defines grace: ‘it’s God helping us do what we can’t do in our own strength.”

The visit started with me asking God for grace often and repeatedly. My Pastor often encourages us to ask for grace for the next ten minutes. I was doing that a lot in the first few days. It was incredible how more relaxed and calm I found myself. And Fi noticed as well.

I sure was burning through grace that week.

What Happened?

When Fi drove her mum and husband to her brother’s place, her mum commented that she felt it was the “happiest she’d ever seen me.” When Fi shared that with me, I did a little dance! God is good.

The week reminded me that there is this unlimited supply of grace. It’s like an unending river that is never prone to drought or a power supply that never suffers from blackouts. We simply must dive into the river or plug into the socket or whatever analogy you might prefer to use.

How? By simply asking God for it. And not being too proud to keep on asking. Every ten minutes if need be. This is I believe what Willard meant when he wrote those words many years ago. He too had to learn the lesson himself, I guess.

Is there a relationship, habit, a something or other that you keep trying to ‘fix’ in your own strength? May I encourage you to try letting go and dive into the river where Jesus meets you with His endless supply of grace. And see what changes.

Go well, dear SUMites. God is so good and constantly thirsts after each one of us offering us more and more grace through His loving presence.

Big love,

Hello friends, Ann here!

In the last two weeks I've actually been on a cheeky little 10-day trip away -- A trip that turned out to be spiritually surprising.

I went on my own, leaving Bryce and the boys at home; and I can't believe the things I saw on this trip.

The trip was a ten-day stay at a Christian camp for parents and teenagers, where I volunteered on staff. The camp was designed to help parents and teens improve their relationship by doing various adventure activities together.

While not every parent-teen pair on the camp was Christian, the staff were.

So far so good, and to be honest I was in two minds about whether to go, thinking 'Meh...' But wow. Little did I know.

Here's the camp: JH Aotearoa

There is an American branch of it too: JH Ranch – Everlasting Adventure

Those who go on it frequently say it is life-changing. Having now seen it in action, I can see why.

Anyway, instead of taking my own teen on it, as I said, I arrived as staff. I duly got given a gorgeous group of five mothers to look after: all with daughters age 18.

This group of mothers was colorful, diverse, bouncy, and delightful. And they kept me on my toes as we talked about the ups and downs of mothering. 

I also got another job, however, that felt more serious, and this was the most impactful part: I got put on the prayer team. This job involved about eight of us meeting twice a day to literally storm the heavens for these parents and their children.

When I say storm the heavens, that's what it felt like. We didn't put time limits on our prayer time, and so we would linger as long as it took. We would pray, and pray, and pray, and pray ... We prayed specific things for certain parents and children, and we prayed for them by name. Issues would get brought to us, and we would pray through them. Sometimes we wept tears of intercession. Sometimes the Spirit showed us specific things to pray for specific people. And we saw answers to our prayers.

This went on for days. It was deeply moving.

What happens to a guest when they come into that environment for days? What happens when something is saturated in prayer? What happens when you have worship services every single day for those ten days, as well as teaching and ministry? I began to feel we had an open heaven over us. 

Lord, turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers!

That was our foundational prayer, and what we saw, over those ten days were:

(a) Salvations; and

(b) Numerous healed relationships between parents and their teenagers.

It was such a powerful experience for me to see those two things. After all, it can feel very dry when you're in a SUM and you're desperately waiting for just that one all-important salvation, right?  Indeed, this experience was so powerful that I have resolved to go back again next year and make this camp a regular part of my life.

Friends, do any of you have a relationship with a son or daughter that you'd like prayer for? Post in the comments and we'll gather round you in prayer.

Love,

Ann

p.s. The photo is of me with three of my staff team-mates. Firm friends.