LeadHer 
"Contrasting Conversations" Written by Kim Bausinger, Chapter Development Director. Connect with Kim on Facebook. for Tuesday, 20 December 2016As a nine year old, I thought my big sister was a superhero, but she went away to college. By the time I was 22; had my first baby and was in need of mothering advice I knew she was a superhero! She was the one who listened to all my fears, heartaches, and joys. At 47, I firmly believe there is something amazing about sharing a cup of coffee on her porch overlooking the Ozark mountains, and talking about the pain of watching our children make choices we wish they wouldn't and the pride when they make good ones, and raising grandchildren. We talk honestly; even if it's not as often as we'd like.
Like all superheroes, my sister wants to help save the world. She has a marriage based on Christian principles, a heart that is overflowing, & wisdom and grace beyond her years. Why wouldn’t I want to share the things in my life with her, and get her input? The challenge that I have to ask myself is am I replacing God with my sister?? Am I spending time giving her my inner secrets instead of Him? I am not saying talking to my sister is a bad thing, because she really is one of God’s jewels in my life. But the moment I recognize that I am telling her more than I am telling God, there is a problem. God didn’t send my sister to replace Him.
One of my favorite visual images from the Psalms is in chapter 116 (ironically in our January teaching). The picture of The Almighty God listening for my voice, and bending his ear to hear my prayers. Waiting for the victories, struggles and the small silly things of my day.
The second verse ends with a declaration that the author will pray as long as he has breath. Do you feel that way? Do you pour out everything within you to the listening ear of God? Do you write him letters in a journal that shares your thankfulness and anguish? Dear ones, this is what we are called to do. We are called to give God all of those things, not a person. If you have a sister like mine, you are blessed. I honestly hope you do have someone like her. However, there is a fine line between them being a confidant, and them being a false god. It can be easy to start putting things out for others to weigh in on, because a lot of times we like their answers better; especially if there is no condemnation in them.
Prayer, for me, is an ongoing conversation with God. He is more than happy to have a cup of coffee with me too! Prayer doesn't require anything more than the self discipline to talk to him rather than social media, the girlfriend gossip group, or my sister. It allows me to say the things I guard, so others won't see when sin issues are a result of my own choices. A place to be more thankful and less selfish. It is a place where nothing I ask for is forgotten, ignored, or belittled. Where the answers blow me away by their minute details as well as their opulent grandeur.
So, do you need to sit down with the Father to begin a conversation?
Do you need to put Him in front of an earthly relationship?
It's not easy I know, but it's so worth it.
God can do things my superhero sister can not. I must continue to make God more. It's what He wants, and what He created me to do.
I challenge you to do the same today too.
God is listening, so if you still have breath, why not start today?
He has his ear bent, waiting to hear from you.
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LeadHer
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
URL: http://wp.me/p6PUJE-nGl-------
If You Feel Forgotten from LeadHer of Wesley Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States for Thursday, 15 December 2016
If You Feel Forgotten Written by Holly Madden, LeadHer Local Director. Connect with Holly on Instagram.
“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”[Luke 2:15-18]
Secluded to the hills and valleys outside of town, the shepherds were sitting by their warm fires, watching the stars over the local town. I imagine that they kept their eyes and ears alert for sounds alerting them of any dangers that could come against their flocks. These men were isolated from society, spending days and weeks in the field as they cared for, protected, and watched over their sheep.
While these men probably heard stories of the coming Messiah, their low societal role removed them from any thought that they’d ever have a chance to worship the King.
But in the middle of the night; over the fields outside the small town of Bethlehem, Jesus was born. Suddenly surrounded by an army of heaven’s angels, it was the shepherds who received the first invitation to welcome the newborn Messiah. Abandoning their flocks, these men became the first to worship Jesus.
For many, this time of year is magical. Christmas lights, quality time with friends and family, and beautiful Christmas carols. But every year as I find a renewed sense of awe in the Spirit of Christmas, I find myself heavy hearted over each individual who experiences more loneliness and grief in Christmas than joy.
While we live in a culture that caters to those with credit cards and a Christmas shopping budget, we sometimes neglect the deeper message that Christmas is for everyone. Jesus came for the impoverished, the grieving, the heartbroken, the lonely, the forgotten, and the hopeless.
As our Father God looked down from heaven at Jesus Christ in human flesh being tenderly held in the arms of Mary, He couldn’t wait to share the good news with the people whom the world considered the least. The angels could have appeared to the whole town of Bethlehem, announcing who was taking refuge in a humble stable nearby; however, He chooses to share this first invitation of worship to the lowly shepherds.
In one beautiful instant as the shepherds first laid eyes on this tiny child, the Gospel-goal for the restoration of the relationship between God and His people was set in motion. Outside of Mary and Joseph, the first individuals to share space with God incarnate was a group of men who were poor, hungry, dirty, and forgotten by the world.
Our all-knowing God knew that Jesus’ birth would take place in a town far away from home and in a stable far away from comfort. The greater purpose of the stable, the straw, and the manger was for these shepherds. The first people to witness the onset of the Gospel story are a woman, a carpenter, and a group of shepherds. It was through their faithful obedience, that God demonstrated His plan to redeem all people.
Maybe you feel forgotten. Maybe you are in a season of grief, heartbreak, or loneliness. Maybe you find yourself unemployed, or living paycheck to paycheck with no end in sight. Maybe you are fighting the barriers put on you by your gender, your race, or your social status. Maybe you are struggling with health, infertility, a divorce, temptation, or addiction.
Jesus came for you.
He came to save you. To redeem you. To forgive you. To heal you. To adopt you. To love you. To exist in a beautiful relationship with you.
This month, our LeadHer Chapters are taking time to reflect on 2016’s theme on prayer and looking ahead to 2017’s theme on worship. We worship God because He is worthy and sovereign. We worship Him because He loved us so much that He sent His own son as an infant to this world to teach us and to save us. We worship because the tiny baby in a manger we celebrate on Christmas is the same Savior who died for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. Our worship this holiday season many not always sound like Christmas carols and silver bells, but our worship is expressed in our need.
Wherever your need is today, please know that you are not forgotten.
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LeadHer
Friday, December 16, 2016
URL: http://wp.me/p6PUJE-nFc
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LeadHer 
"When Your Voice is Missing"Written by Holly Madden, LeadHer Local Director. Connect with Holly on Facebook and Instagram.
“Where are you?”
This has become one of my favorite questions asked of all time. Within 3 small insignificant words lies an unexplainable amount of emotion. There is love and care that seeps from these words when a loved one is missing. Sometimes these words are spoken out of fear when we suddenly find ourselves alone after holding the sweet company of friendship or family. Sometimes these words are spoken in fun through a sibling’s game of hide and seek. In most cases, these words signify a relationship.
The first time this simple phrase is used in the Bible is when Adam and Eve first sin. After eating the fruit they were told not to eat, they experience shame and their reaction was to hide. Our omniscient Father God knows what they have done and knows what this would mean for the future of mankind. Yet, his reaction was one of compassion...”where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). It’s as if He was speaking over his children for generations to come, “I miss you.”
And He is still speaking this over us today.
Even as billions of voices of prayer and worship fill the heavens, God misses the sound of our voice when it is not being lifted up. The instant you turn your gaze off heaven and onto the world, God longs for your attention. As your prayers are burdened with mistakes and sins, God’s grace meets your every confession because His love for you is so vast that He doesn’t want to dance through eternity without you. While you receive grace that is freely given, God gave up everything for you. When your voice is absent from the heavenly realms, you are missed.
Prayer is not something we learn to do well overnight. Prayer requires practice and to practice prayer is to pray. Prayer is not about knowing the appropriate spiritual language, or about knowing exactly how to pray for a specific situation. Prayer is about responding to God’s eternal question, “where are you?” and responding, “here I am.”
One of my favorite Psalms is found in chapter 27 verse 8, “My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "LORD, I am coming (NLT).
I love the wording of the New Living Translation but I also think the NASB translation is really beautiful, “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,“Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”
Prayer is not simply words that we send up to heaven with the confidence that they are heard, it is about a personal, intimate conversation. Prayer is less about talking and more about seeking. In a place of need, worship, longing, excitement, or heartbreak, we come on our knees seeking the face of our Father to guide, comfort, or to receive glory.
Trevor Hudson has written a powerful book called Beyond Loneliness, which goes beyond a study of loneliness in our world today and describes the longing of God for a friendship with us. He shares that he would often pray facing an empty chair because it reminded him that while our eyes cannot see a physical being, that the presence of God is all around us and that our prayers are intimate conversations. It requires authentic, heartfelt confessions and pleas just as much as it requires learning to listen.
As our LeadHer Chapter have spent November deeply studying and discussing what it looks like to leave a legacy of prayer, I have found myself redefining what prayer actually means to me. I long to leave a legacy not only of one who prayed without ceasing, but one who engaged in friendship with Jesus through prayer.
My challenge to you is to stop putting God in a box. God has never put you in a box. He doesn’t fit your prayers according to his schedule, or choose to answer based on the spiritual articulation of your prayers. He misses your voice, He misses your presence. Visualize your prayers as conversations that transcend the depth of any relationship you have ever experienced on earth. As you share with Him your heart, remember that God has promised that He has collected your tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8), drawn near to you in times of heartbreak (Psalm 34:18), and rejoiced over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Lift your voice and open your hearts to the God of heaven and earth who has written your name on His palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). When He speaks over you, “I miss you,” how will you choose to respond?
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LeadHer
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Categories: Blog
URL: http://wp.me/p6PUJE-nEC
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If You Feel Forgotten from LeadHer of Wesley Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States for Thursday, 15 December 2016If You Feel Forgotten Written by Holly Madden, LeadHer Local Director. Connect with Holly on Instagram.
“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”[Luke 2:15-18]
Secluded to the hills and valleys outside of town, the shepherds were sitting by their warm fires, watching the stars over the local town. I imagine that they kept their eyes and ears alert for sounds alerting them of any dangers that could come against their flocks. These men were isolated from society, spending days and weeks in the field as they cared for, protected, and watched over their sheep.
While these men probably heard stories of the coming Messiah, their low societal role removed them from any thought that they’d ever have a chance to worship the King.
But in the middle of the night; over the fields outside the small town of Bethlehem, Jesus was born. Suddenly surrounded by an army of heaven’s angels, it was the shepherds who received the first invitation to welcome the newborn Messiah. Abandoning their flocks, these men became the first to worship Jesus.
For many, this time of year is magical. Christmas lights, quality time with friends and family, and beautiful Christmas carols. But every year as I find a renewed sense of awe in the Spirit of Christmas, I find myself heavy hearted over each individual who experiences more loneliness and grief in Christmas than joy.
While we live in a culture that caters to those with credit cards and a Christmas shopping budget, we sometimes neglect the deeper message that Christmas is for everyone. Jesus came for the impoverished, the grieving, the heartbroken, the lonely, the forgotten, and the hopeless.
As our Father God looked down from heaven at Jesus Christ in human flesh being tenderly held in the arms of Mary, He couldn’t wait to share the good news with the people whom the world considered the least. The angels could have appeared to the whole town of Bethlehem, announcing who was taking refuge in a humble stable nearby; however, He chooses to share this first invitation of worship to the lowly shepherds.
In one beautiful instant as the shepherds first laid eyes on this tiny child, the Gospel-goal for the restoration of the relationship between God and His people was set in motion. Outside of Mary and Joseph, the first individuals to share space with God incarnate was a group of men who were poor, hungry, dirty, and forgotten by the world.
Our all-knowing God knew that Jesus’ birth would take place in a town far away from home and in a stable far away from comfort. The greater purpose of the stable, the straw, and the manger was for these shepherds. The first people to witness the onset of the Gospel story are a woman, a carpenter, and a group of shepherds. It was through their faithful obedience, that God demonstrated His plan to redeem all people.
Maybe you feel forgotten. Maybe you are in a season of grief, heartbreak, or loneliness. Maybe you find yourself unemployed, or living paycheck to paycheck with no end in sight. Maybe you are fighting the barriers put on you by your gender, your race, or your social status. Maybe you are struggling with health, infertility, a divorce, temptation, or addiction.
Jesus came for you.
He came to save you. To redeem you. To forgive you. To heal you. To adopt you. To love you. To exist in a beautiful relationship with you.
This month, our LeadHer Chapters are taking time to reflect on 2016’s theme on prayer and looking ahead to 2017’s theme on worship. We worship God because He is worthy and sovereign. We worship Him because He loved us so much that He sent His own son as an infant to this world to teach us and to save us. We worship because the tiny baby in a manger we celebrate on Christmas is the same Savior who died for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. Our worship this holiday season many not always sound like Christmas carols and silver bells, but our worship is expressed in our need.
Wherever your need is today, please know that you are not forgotten.
-------
LeadHer
Friday, December 16, 2016
URL: http://wp.me/p6PUJE-nFc
-------
LeadHer "When Your Voice is Missing"Written by Holly Madden, LeadHer Local Director. Connect with Holly on Facebook and Instagram.“Where are you?”
This has become one of my favorite questions asked of all time. Within 3 small insignificant words lies an unexplainable amount of emotion. There is love and care that seeps from these words when a loved one is missing. Sometimes these words are spoken out of fear when we suddenly find ourselves alone after holding the sweet company of friendship or family. Sometimes these words are spoken in fun through a sibling’s game of hide and seek. In most cases, these words signify a relationship.
The first time this simple phrase is used in the Bible is when Adam and Eve first sin. After eating the fruit they were told not to eat, they experience shame and their reaction was to hide. Our omniscient Father God knows what they have done and knows what this would mean for the future of mankind. Yet, his reaction was one of compassion...”where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). It’s as if He was speaking over his children for generations to come, “I miss you.”
And He is still speaking this over us today.
Even as billions of voices of prayer and worship fill the heavens, God misses the sound of our voice when it is not being lifted up. The instant you turn your gaze off heaven and onto the world, God longs for your attention. As your prayers are burdened with mistakes and sins, God’s grace meets your every confession because His love for you is so vast that He doesn’t want to dance through eternity without you. While you receive grace that is freely given, God gave up everything for you. When your voice is absent from the heavenly realms, you are missed.
Prayer is not something we learn to do well overnight. Prayer requires practice and to practice prayer is to pray. Prayer is not about knowing the appropriate spiritual language, or about knowing exactly how to pray for a specific situation. Prayer is about responding to God’s eternal question, “where are you?” and responding, “here I am.”
One of my favorite Psalms is found in chapter 27 verse 8, “My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "LORD, I am coming (NLT).
I love the wording of the New Living Translation but I also think the NASB translation is really beautiful, “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,“Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”
Prayer is not simply words that we send up to heaven with the confidence that they are heard, it is about a personal, intimate conversation. Prayer is less about talking and more about seeking. In a place of need, worship, longing, excitement, or heartbreak, we come on our knees seeking the face of our Father to guide, comfort, or to receive glory.
Trevor Hudson has written a powerful book called Beyond Loneliness, which goes beyond a study of loneliness in our world today and describes the longing of God for a friendship with us. He shares that he would often pray facing an empty chair because it reminded him that while our eyes cannot see a physical being, that the presence of God is all around us and that our prayers are intimate conversations. It requires authentic, heartfelt confessions and pleas just as much as it requires learning to listen.
As our LeadHer Chapter have spent November deeply studying and discussing what it looks like to leave a legacy of prayer, I have found myself redefining what prayer actually means to me. I long to leave a legacy not only of one who prayed without ceasing, but one who engaged in friendship with Jesus through prayer.
My challenge to you is to stop putting God in a box. God has never put you in a box. He doesn’t fit your prayers according to his schedule, or choose to answer based on the spiritual articulation of your prayers. He misses your voice, He misses your presence. Visualize your prayers as conversations that transcend the depth of any relationship you have ever experienced on earth. As you share with Him your heart, remember that God has promised that He has collected your tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8), drawn near to you in times of heartbreak (Psalm 34:18), and rejoiced over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Lift your voice and open your hearts to the God of heaven and earth who has written your name on His palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). When He speaks over you, “I miss you,” how will you choose to respond?
-------
LeadHer
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Categories: Blog
URL: http://wp.me/p6PUJE-nEC
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