Monday Writings.....4/18/16

Good morning...
    Beautiful day in the neighborhood!  Great church service this morning with a very impactful message about sin and how to handle it in our personal growth away from it. I came home, had some lunch and got to cooking a couple of things for the coming week. I have started a diet where all the food is cooked from scratch without using processed food. It has been a challenge for me because my meals consisted of protein, a starch and veggies. I do love the foods, and I have acquired several amazing kitchen tools. Sometimes my kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off in it...LOL! Have a marvelous Monday.

Do you remember the 60 second tests that would interrupt a television show? Then bold black words would announce "This is a test of the Emergency Broad System. If this had been a real emergency you would have received instructions." In today's devotional Mary Wilkins discusses an early warning system available to each of us. 

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  Today's Devotional   

"Emergency Broadcast System"

written by

Mary M.Wilkins

A loud repeating beep from my cell phone startles me. When I check to see what is going on- a message regarding a child abduction with a description of a vehicle fills the screen. It is an Amber Alert, a system that uses radio, television, digital road signs, and cell phones to share information regarding serious abductions. A few hours later I hear that there is a traffic delay on a freeway near us because the police are in the process of capturing the reported vehicle.

I am relieved for the child and the family of the child. This helpful use of technology makes me wonder - what if other dangers in our lives came with warning signals.  

But wait- could it be that there are warning signals available if we turn them on?

Then I remember times in my life when I seemed to be more in tune to spiritual, emotional, relational red flags - did they grow quiet from my ignoring them? Or did I learn to tune them out?

How can I hear and recognize the warning signals from the Spirit of God? 

The Bible says:

Let me know Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

Guide me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

For You [and only You] I wait [expectantly] all the day long.

Psalm 25:4-5 AMP

Let me hear what the Lord God says,

    because he speaks peace to his people and to his faithful ones.

    Don’t let them return to foolish ways.

Psalm 85:8 CEB

Dear Lord, thank You for bringing to my attention my lack of intentional listening to You. I pray and ask - when I also need to take time to wait quietly and listen. Please give all of us who desire Your wisdom to have ears to hear and hearts that understand what You are speaking to us. In Jesus name, amen.

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

Mandisa performs "God Speaking"

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   A  Current Inspirational Story   

This will bring a tear to your eye and a smile to your heart.

Teen Asked His Little Sister To Be His Date 

Most teenaged boys wouldn't dream of taking their little sister along with them to a school dance. But AJ Spader is not your typical teenage boy. And this teen asked his little sister to be his date to his first high school dance for a reason that both warmed and broke my heart all at the same time!

Credit: KSFY News

You see, AJ's littler sister, Rebekah, is battling a terminal illness. And after multiple treatments, including a bone marrow transplant, have failed, only God knows exactly how long the 10-year-old girl has left on this earth. So, her 15-year-old brother selflessly set out to do something special for Rebekah.

"She probably won't be able to experience a dance herself, so I wanted to make sure she did," AJ said. "I also want to spend as much time with her as I can." 

After receiving Rebekah's heartbreaking diagnosis, the family adopted the motto "Broken, brave, blessed." And so, AJ surprised his little sis with a poster that read: "I would be broken if you weren't my sister because you taught me how to be brave, and I would be blessed if you went to formal with me."

Friends and family were all there to share in Rebekah's excitement as she gleefully accepted her brother's sweet offer. It remained a family affair as Rebekah got ready for the big night with the help of her mom, sister and grandma. The sweet girl got to feel like a princess as she had her hair and make up done, topped off with a beautiful tiara.

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   Girlfriends  

There’s nothing that makes you feel more warm and fuzzy than a girlfriend who will do anything for you. Girlfriends offer consolation and advice on subjects ranging from straightening frizzy hair to dealing with family, falling in love to finding a career, managing weight to boosting self-esteem and so on ad infinitum. Inside jokes, secret languages, romantic comedies, fashion, home decorating, makeup, stain removal, relationship recovery — it’s all more fun with girlfriends.

I believe it is in God's plan for us that we have women who are soul sisters and kindred souls, and he brings such women into our lives. I am thankful for my special women friends. They are a sparkling, precious background of my life.

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    We Say, God Says    

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Prayers are lifted up daily for 

you by the Devotional Writers 

and the Monthly Writing Staff

of Women's Focus Ministries.

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