Daily and Weekly Christian Inspiration
Today I had the honor of teaching a two hour seminar on the typology of Moses’ Tabernacle and its application to our lives and walk at a gathering of local pastors.
An official welcome of guests is accompanied by a shawling ceremony. This is a typical Indian political welcome, adopted by the Christian church in the last 10 years. In a shawling ceremony a shawl is placed around the shoulders of the guest as a sign of welcome but more significantly as a mark of respect or honor.
We had the privilege to visit, pray and try to comfort this precious couple in their home last night.
They have an amazing testimony of how they came to Christ. Last year they lost their twenty-five year old daughter in a car accident. She had become a dedicated believer and journaled everyday her time with God. When she died they found her journal, which her mother is holding so preciously, and read where she prayed for her parents to come to know Christ. As they read of God’s love for their daughter which filled the pages of the journal, God opened their hearts to His love for them and they surrendered their lives to Jesus. Please pray for them even as you read this because not only are they grieving the loss of their daughter but also the loss of their family, even their son, because they have become Christians.
May this story remind you to journal your time with God for you never know where or when God will use it. If their daughter had not left the legacy of this journal they may never have seen God’s great love.
John 12:24 Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
As we walked through the slums of the city today through rows of 4’x5’ shacks where it is just possible to lie down to sleep or stand up, it led us to a building with a heart of pure gold because God’s love dwelt there. A room filled to capacity with beautiful ladies from all faiths of Christian, Moslem and Hindu learning together around a wall lined in sewing machines.
God inspired the pastor’s wife to start this Empowering Women’s Tailoring ministry three years ago regardless of the woman’s religious background. For six months they teach widows, women raising their children without support of the father and single women to sew that they might have a profession to earn a living. As most of these women are uneducated they can only earn a living by cleaning homes for a mere $20 a month! After they graduate from this ministry they can start their own small business or work in the garment industry where they will earn $35 a week.
On graduation they are given the gift of their own sewing machine which costs the church $100. The church also pays $50 for a lifetime insurance on the machine.
What an awesome investment in the Kingdom of God as the ladies are also ministered to through sharing the Word and support in prayer. This not only effects the individual woman’s life but also whole households as they share God’s goodness with their families.
After sharing my testimony of God’s love and faithfulness I offered to pray with them for their needs. We spent almost an hour ministering to almost thirty of them for spiritual, physical and relationship needs in their households. After ministry we spent fun time around the sewing machines. Although a seamstress it had been a long time since I used a treadle sewing machine!
Not all these women graduate with a commitment to Christ but they do leave with a witness of God’s love they will never forget.
As we said our goodbyes I left with a humble heart overflowing with gratitude for having spent time with these precious ladies through sharing, prayer and just having fun together through our love of sewing as God knit our hearts together.
If you feel you would like to sow seed into this awesome ministry by purchasing a sewing machine please contact us and we will put you in touch with the church.
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been”-George Eliot
Be inspired by the quote “Carpe Diem” from one of my favorite movies “Dead Poets Society”
After several days of ministering, fellowshipping and seeking God at the conference in Phoenix we took a day to just absorb and digest all the heavenly manna we’d been fed. We relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation on a trip to Sedona. It has been said that “God made the Grand Canyon but He lives in Sedona”. It certainly was breathtaking, a camera just could not capture the vastness of its awesomeness as our souls sang out “How Great Thou Art”
