John 7 & and the stomach flu

What a night it has been! I decided to post my thoughts for John 7 tonight because Josiah started throwing up about 5pm this afternoon. It may be a long night. At lunch I shared a popsicle with him and Ava Beth so we have all three been exposed. So please join me now as I rebuke sickness! Last time this happened, we all got sick except for Jeremy. You know when one of your kids starts throwing up, your stomach instantly feels weird. I am praying that it's all in my mind so please pray with me.

My friend Kelly Ann and I have been studying John for a while so I knew that John 7 was one of my favorite chapters. I realized in this chapter how much God's timing is important. 6Jesus replied, "Now is not the right time for me to go. But you can go anytime, and it will make no difference. 7The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of sin and evil. 8You go on. I am not yet[a] ready to go to this festival, because my time has not yet come." 9So Jesus remained in Galilee. Timing was crucial for Jesus and it's crucial for us. I know that the Lord has called me to be a wife and a mom, that is first. But I long to minister to women. I struggled with this calling for a long time because I did not understand it. In fact, I didn't want it. A while back I had a dear friend that felt the calling to be a Woman's Pastor and I said "That's great but there is no way I could ever do that. Not women!" Singing has always been my thing. I love to worship, I love to sing, I love to sing in front of huge crowds, I love music. So I always assumed that would me my ministry and I am sure it always will be to some extent. But, I knew God had called me into a particular ministry beyond that. There was no way I wanted to minister to women though, no way! Women have hurt me, women are sometimes hard to love, women are sometimes mean to each other, women are like me! As God kept revealing to me that my primary ministry was going to be with women, I thought there was no way because I knew I couldn't love other women if I didn't love myself. Then a few months back, God showed that it was it was time to take a step in that direction as far as ministry was concerned. Now, I long to be a minister to women. I long to teach them and help them find healing and restoration in their life. But right now, that call has not come to total fruition because I know it's not time. When will that time come? I don't know. I know what I desire that picture to look like but I have to wait on God's timing. For now, I will be faithful in the areas He has given me now. Until the dream comes alive, I will minister to every woman he puts in my path. And may I pursue relationships so I may minister and be ministered to. His timing will be perfect. So as I share recipes, may I share His love. It starts with the simple things.

37On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! 38If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within."[b] 39(When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.) I pray that the Lord Jesus will use me daily. Whether it's in my home, my church, my blog or my grocery store, may living water flow deep within me.

(Totally off subject. I heard that all the teenagers are big into this thing called MySpace.com, well I had never really heard of it. But now I know. It's not just teenagers that are into it, it's 30 year olds! Now, I feel old! I have found so many people from High School, it's crazy! When you graduate from a huge school in a huge town, you forget about a lot of people. Half of them I really don't remember! It's kind of neat to re-connect. So if you are wanting to find some old classmates, go to myspace.com.)