SOS

In the simplest terms, SOS is a ‘SIGNAL’ indicating distress and the need for help, and not an acronym or abbreviation. After SOS was first used people applied their own meanings to the letters. The most popular ones: "save our ship" and "save our souls." (Source: Yahoo Answers)

This week has been a week of receiving SOS’s via text from dear friends spread out across the country.  In times like these I am desperate for a word of encouragement or guidance to give these women.  As a mom who raised a son I have had SOS moments when I have cried out: Save Our Son!” When my son was a teenager I spent many an early morning searching the Scriptures for words of encouragement and hope. The one verse that brought me relief was Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”   It became my banner of surrender to the Lord, giving up my son once again to the Lord, who would work in my son in ways beyond my highest dreams.

You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth.  Psalm 60:4

So, this week as I received the SOS texts from fellow moms I knew where to go in order to send help.  One friend reached out to me who was in a place of hurt and needed my prayers and my comfort.  I was her lifeline – as Francesca Battistelli song, Hands of God, so beautifully puts it, “Every time you listen to me cause you know I need a friend. Every time you stop what you’re doing help me find my way again . . . I hope you know to me you are the hands of God.”  Her reply was, “I am helped by your prayers.”  We encouraged one another to remain faithful to the truth of God in the midst of her rejection and hurt.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.  Philippians 1:27

  

The next day as I was walking on the treadmill, the place where I pray and listen to God as I review my scripture memory verses, another friend’s son popped into my mind.  I was reviewing a verse that I have had trouble remembering the reference. I know it is one of the gospels, but which one?  Then as I looked at the reference I realized it was the name of my friends prodigal son.  The truth of the verse fit perfectly with the prayer I was praying for him. I did not message my friend until the next morning when the Holy Spirit brought her son to my mind again prompting me to let her know the truth I was praying for her son.  Later that morning I received her response: “Thank you, thank you again for sharing this.  You have been God’s messenger to us today.”  What joy filled my heart; it was that “complete joy” Paul speaks of when he wrote to the believers in Philippi:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.  Philippians 2:1-2

I am humbled and so grateful that God would use me as a channel of His love!  I know that this would have been impossible had I not been seeking to abide in Christ daily.  As one of my mentors often says, “I am just one beggar offering another beggar a piece of bread.”  My desperation for God and my daily seeking the Bread of Life enabled me to share with my desperate friends a slice of hope.  We must abide in order to guide. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5

Are you sending out an SOS today? 

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8 

Have you received an urgent SOS from a friend today?  Reach out with a slice of truth and bring comfort.  

“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.  May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”   2 Thessalonians 2:15-17

Save Our Souls,

Nancy

I’m Singing a New Song

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; 

Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.  

Psalm 40:3

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing the Lord all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim good tiding of His salvation from day to day.  Psalm 96:1-2

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.  James 1:17

Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.  Ephesians 5:19

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Colossians 3:16

These verses have been etched on my heart and their words are playing over and over in my mind a sweet melody of praise.  This week the Lord blessed me with the birth of my first grandchild, Isla Rose and placed on my heart and in my mouth a new song, a hymn of praise to God for His perfect gift.  In honor of her birth and her earthy father’s thirtieth birthday, I want to sing a new song.

Isla Rose Taylor
Born January 17, 2015

A Flower Devoted to God

Just seven days before your daddy’s thirtieth birthday you arrived bursting on the scene bringing great joy and promise for the future to your entire family.

Long prayed for, you came as we had believed, hoped and dreamed.

You were fearfully, wonderfully and beautifully created by your heavenly Daddy, whose love you will never be separated from. 

Isla and her Daddy

For your earthly daddy, who was also born seven days before his daddy’s thirtieth birthday, will show you the Father’s love as he holds you, cares for you, and sings over you with loving melodies. 

For your name, Isla, proclaims that you are set apart and devoted to God for a special purpose. 

As an island is surrounded by water and filled with fertile land, so you are surrounded by the Living Water and filled with the promise of a future lavished with love.

You are Rose, a beautiful blossoming flower, like the rose of Sharon, a lily among the thorns. 

Just one look at your face makes all the prickly things of life disappear!

Today, I sing a new song, a hymn of praise to our Heavenly Daddy for the double blessing of seeing the child of my son!

Precious Isla Rose, may I live my days to declare to you the incomparably great power of God and sing over you the love of our Heavenly Father.

“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God till I declare you power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”  

Psalm 71:18

Singing to Isla Rose,

Nancy

(Now known as Isla's Cycy) 

Yes With No Regrets!

Last week I attended a memorial service for a 92 year-old man who had served in our church for 68 years.  The service was inspiring, challenging and motivational.  It inspired me to press on in ministry, challenged me to leave a legacy of service, and it motivated me to pursue God’s call on my life.  There is one story from his life that was shared that day that has stuck with me.  One day he told his care taker about the time he felt God had called him to missions and how fear hindered him from saying yes.  He said his biggest regret in life was saying no to God. He had asked God to forgive him and had served in other capacities, but that no stayed with him.  As I reflect on this story a phrase continues to run over and over in my mind: No one regrets saying “yes” to Jesus, but all will regret saying “no” to Him.

God called me to write a book about seven years ago and I said yes!  I wrote it out of obedience to God’s call and for no other reason.  People have asked me how many books I have sold and I couldn’t tell them, because my motivation for writing the book was to answer the Lord’s call and to encourage others through my story of a life transformed by the Word of God. Now the Lord is calling me to say yes to a few other things and I have been a little slow in answering His call. 

However, the Lord has once again encouraged me to say yes, not only through this memorialized life, but also through a disturbing dream.  I had a dream that I was caring for an infant and throughout the dream I kept losing track of the baby. Then the ending of the dream was more like a nightmare when I heard a scream and ran to the bathroom where I had evidently left the baby in the bath.  You can fill in the ending for yourself.  I awoke with such a pit in my stomach and heaviness in my heart.  I immediately asked the Lord, “What was that about?”  Why on earth would I dream such a thing?  You could argue that the dream was brought on by my anticipation of my first grandchild and my only daughter’s upcoming wedding. But I couldn’t shake it and then the next morning as I prayed and read my Bible I found the answer. 

“Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.  Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”  Isaiah 49:15-16

“The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me; Make room for me that I may live here.’ Isaiah 49:20

“And all flesh will know that I, the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”  Isaiah 49:26

Through this prophecy of Isaiah He encourages His people that He has not forgotten them and that He will restore them.  There are some dreams that God has placed in my heart and has called me to pursue, but I have set them aside and been distracted with the busyness of life.  Through my disturbing dream He reminded me that the dreams I forget, He remembers.  He also restores those dreams we think are dead.  He not only restores the dream, He fulfills the dream so that all flesh will know that it was God who accomplished it! 

My problem is that I haven’t made room in my dailiness to intentionally pursue the callings and dreams God has given me.  Today, I am making room!  Do you have a dream that you think is dead, a forgotten call that God placed in your mind and heart?  It’s not too late to say yes to Him.  Pray with me:  Lord, thank You that even when I forget You remember.  When I let things die, You restore them.  I say yes to You today!  Now Lord give me a mind to obey and a heart to trust that You will accomplish Your dreams and plans in and through me.  May all those around me know that You are Lord my Savior and Dream Maker! 

All Glory to God,

Nancy

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29

Dream Big, Pray BIGGER!

Last Saturday I was urged by the Holy Spirit to begin asking God for things that only He could accomplish.  I tend to ask for things that could probably be accomplished in my own strength or for things that are pretty ambiguous, so that if they do not come to pass, I won’t look foolish for making such a request. As a result of my small prayers, my faith has become a little stunted.  My first big request of God concerns the Bible study class that I have been teaching now for six years.  Over the past six years I  have prayed for leaders to rise up, for the commitment level to increase and for the Lord to work in me, so that He can work through me.  But this year the Lord is  leading me to pray big and specific.  I told my class what I am praying for so that when God answers they will know it was God who did it.  The specific prayer that I am praying for is that God would fill every chair around every table in the classroom that we meet in every Sunday morning for seven weeks in a row.  This has never happened before and so I know that if it happens it will be God who made it happen. In my mind I could visualize the classroom with the typical six round tables with five to six chairs placed around each one.  Up to this point I had prayed for God to draw women to my class who were hungry for His Word and desperate for transformation.  But now I am putting my faith on the line and praying God will do immeasurably more than what I could manufacture on my own.  Some may say, this is all about numbers.  But, my heart’s desire is for women to experience God’s salvation and to be set free from the lies they have believed.  I want God and His Word to be exalted not for my sake but for His renown.  I want women to believe God for huge things that are impossible with man, but powerfully and miraculously possible with God!

After praying this big prayer, I walked in my classroom Sunday and the room was set up differently than it had been before.  Instead of six tables there were eight tables! It was as if God wanted to prove a point.  The message was clear:  You think asking for 30-36 women to fill your classroom for seven weeks in a row is big?  I can do much greater things than that!

  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

This week I have been encouraged by two different sources to dream big and ask God for big things. First, I have been reading “The Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson in which he challenges the reader to have big dreams and pray big prayers.  Secondly I received an email newsletter from Waylon Moore, a precious man of God who has been serving God as long as I have been alive!  He travels the globe training and teaching men and women how to walk consistently and passionately with Christ.  He ended his newsletter with the question: “What’s the biggest thing you are going to ask God to do this year?”  He followed the question up with this verse: 

“The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. 


I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”  Isaiah 60:22

Wow! Yes, God can fill my classroom to capacity for seven weeks in a row – making the least a thousand and the smallest mighty!  He is the Lord and He can do it in His way and in His time.  I say, “Yes, Lord!” In fact, there still may be something even bigger God wants to do and I am now willing to ask.  Stay tuned for the rest of this story! 

I know my answer to Waylon’s question, do you?  What is the biggest thing you are going to ask God to do this year? 

Proving His Word True!

Nancy