We are so grateful for the way God met with us this week in our retreat! It was such a joy to meet new women and to reconnect with old friends. I loved seeing you all laughing, sharing,and enjoying the time together! May we hold onto hope as we serve God!
Psalm 27 (Excerpts) The Lord is my light and my salvation –
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life –
of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock. I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

We all long to live our lives in such a way that we fulfill the plan of God and make a difference in the world. We as women long for acceptance, love, and significance. Sometimes, we feel like we are giving it all. We may be serving God and people with all our hearts. Yet we can find ourselves wondering if we are making a difference. Perhaps we are waiting for a breakthrough in our ministries, in people’s lives, or in our family’s life. We can start to wonder if we are on the right track… or if God’s hand is on us and our ministries. During these times, I have to go back and remember God’s hand throughout my life. “How did I get here?” In my story, I grew up in a missionary’s home and heard the gospel early. I got saved at the age of five and surrendered my life to the Lord when I was twelve. I said “yes” to God. I can look back to how He led me to prepare and how He placed me in the different opportunities to serve Him. I have to go back to something He taught me a long time ago. * I am not in charge of His plan to evangelize the world. My role is to obey and to embrace my calling and my assignment. I can choose to doubt that God is able to overcome all the obstacles in my assignment or I can choose to believe that God is greater than all the obstacles. He who has assigned me here can use me and my family in His Big Plan… even when I cannot see the Big Picture. We all have times where we just cannot see our lives from His perspective and we have to wrestle with doubt… Yet, I want to be a girl that He knows will say “Yes” even when I do not yet see, and will trust Him that He designed me and my family “for such a time as this.”
“Dear Lord, I pray that as we face uncertain times in our world, that You will strengthen our calling. You have called us to serve. You will continue to equip us, strengthen us and provide for us. Please give our friends in ministry the determination to keep on believing You, trusting You, and to keep on serving You! We believe that You have placed us in this generation, have equipped us with the gifts and abilities that are needed to accomplish Your calling! We do not want to have a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and a sound mind. Please strengthen Your warriors today for the battle! Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly, above
all that we ask or think!”

For those who are in a battle tonight… whether it is a battle for your health, your marriage, your ministry, a relationship… whatever it is, I want you to know that God will fight for you. You may be in a church battle that seems like it will take you down. You may be in battle that seems to have destroyed your family. You may be so sick… begging God for healing. God will fight for you. When we are facing the most formidable circumstances or the meanest enemy…we can remember “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Do not let the enemy forces intimidate you tonight… The Lord your God will fight for you!
“Dear Lord, I pray for those who are facing circumstances and forces that are threatening to take them down. I know that this battle is real… and yet we believe “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” We thank you that You are fighting this battle for us. “To you, O Lord, we lift up our souls, O God, we trust in You; Let us not be ashamed; Let not our enemies triumph over us.”
You will not be in the battle forever. God will give the victory and you can look forward to a time of peace again. This verse has given me so much hope in the middle of many battles. “God delights in the well-being of His servants.” Psalm 35:27 He will fight for you.

Today I got to get away and meet a friend for lunch. We talked for hours. I loved hearing her stories…of how God has worked in her life and how God is using these experiences to help others. As we shared the stories of our lives, I realized once again how God can redeem our pain if we let Him. The very things that we thought would destroy us…or the things that we thought we could never heal from… these are the very things that God has the power to redeem…to turn around and use to help others. Sometimes we think that we have walked through the storm or the trial in vain… that it has stolen so much from us… Yet, as I hear the stories of other women, I am so blessed and reminded that when we go through these times, we experience God at a new level and we never truly walk out of it empty handed. God gifts us with comfort, grace, compassion, wisdom, discernment, greater faith, and with strength. He also gives us the opportunity for more effective ministry. Romans 8:28 becomes very real to us. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. God answers prayers, keeps His promises, performs miracles, and fulfills dreams. That is who He is. That is what He does. God is for you! (excerpts from Mark Batterson’s book “Circle Maker”) Life can be so heavy that we can stop dreaming. We can actually start to live in a spirit of fear or timidity… fearing what might come next. I understand… I have been there. When life seems to continue to pour out trials, one after another, we can start to believe that nothing good can happen again. Last year, when we had our “Dream Big” night with our family, we had no idea what this year would hold. We had our 2nd annual “Dream Big” Night 2015 a couple of weeks ago. We marveled at the way God had taken care of our Coco during and after her surgery… so thankful that she is healing and doing well now. We thanked God for the way He had answered some of our prayers…above and beyond what we had imagined. We are so grateful for the way He has worked in our lives and in our kid’s lives this year. However,we still have unanswered prayers. We still have roadblocks. We still have dreams that we all hold dear in our hearts…yet to be fulfilled. We still deal with disappointment…yet… we, again this year choose to believe… to remain confident of this: that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living… We will wait for the Lord, we will be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (taken from Psalm 27:13 and 14)

“Dear Lord, please pour hope into our hearts. As we serve You, we refuse the hopelessness and despair that the enemy tries to intimidate us with. We have seen You work mightily before. May we see You do it again. May we see a mighty move of Your spirit in our churches, our families and in our ministries. May we see hope rise in our hearts. May we start to believe again that nothing is impossible with YOU! May our dreams start to match the dreams You for us. May we not live in less than Your Plan and Will for our lives. May we see You glorified. May we see souls rescued and saved. May we see our children following YOU…responding to YOU… may we see HARVEST AND REVIVAL… Praise be unto our Lord! The Lord is our strength and shield; our hearts trust in Him and we are helped. Our hearts will leap for joy and we will give thanks to Him!”

I am so thankful and amazed that God invites us to be a part of His plan to evangelize the world. We get the privilege of sharing the good news. Last week, we started Beth Moore’s new Bible Study called “Children of the Light”. We can get so discouraged by the things that the enemy throws at us…Yet, God gives us the power to get back up again and to get back on mission…in her words “The whining is over and it’s time for the winning! This is our purpose…our calling!” We should be facing outward…shoulder to shoulder to be looking to the “They” (those who do not yet know Jesus) She also encouraged us to be ready to defend “the ground” that we have taken, because the enemy of our souls is always trying to steal our fruit and effectivity. We need each other as women in ministry to live out our purpose and to stay strong. We live out our calling when we strengthen each other, celebrate with each other, and help each other up when one is weak or hurt. We are better together!
“Dear Lord, please strengthen our fellowship with the bonds of unity… You have brought us together to do this amazing work of sharing the gospel with those who have not yet heard. Please continue to call out our children and young people to join us in this amazing task. Help us to stand shoulder to shoulder…looking out to the “they”… those who do not yet know You. Use us as a mighty army to reach this world for You.”

When we look at our lives, we can get stuck in the everyday things… the things that we do on a regular basis. We can lose perspective. Sometimes, we need a break…a time to rest and to get alone with God to see our lives from a bigger picture. He has called us and will continue what He has started. He controls our destiny. Job rehearsed that truth even in the middle of his trials… It is God who enables us to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us. I am so thankful that when He calls us, He will continue to enable us. He will refuel and refresh us along the way. He will do the work of ministry through us. Tonight as we get ready for the weekend of ministry, I pray that God will lift all of us up above our responsibilities and help us to see the bigger picture.
“Dear Lord, We choose to put our trust in You…You who made us for your purpose. Lead us in the right path, O Lord…Tell us clearly what to do and show us which way to turn. Let the smile of Your face shine upon us. You, O Lord, are a shield around us, our glory and the one who lifts our heads high (not in pride but in hope and confidence in You). Victory comes from You, O Lord. May Your blessings rest on Your people.”

Cindy Lyons: Founder of Friends In Ministry Women’s Ministry & Senior Pastor’s Wife at High Street Baptist Church

This week, I had the privilege of going to the BBFI Fellowship Meeting in Austin, Tx. I loved reconnecting with old friends and meeting new friends in ministry. I loved how they honored men who had served God their whole lives. We were so blessed to hear from Donna Eggar who shared her story of how God had worked in her life. God is using Donna and Jack now in leading AWANA Ministries. We also got to hear from Carol Kent who shared her story. We were so touched and amazed at the grace she has as she has gone through the great trial in her life. She then shared with us how we can learn to speak better and to maximize our influence. I so enjoyed meeting new women who were just starting out…to see their vision and dreams to reach the people God has called them to. My hat is off to our missionary women who are traveling with their kids as they raise their support. You all are my heroes! Only the calling of God would motivate people to do what it takes to get to the field. (Going to school, interning, deputation…often with multiple children, pregnancies, home-schooling on the road…my-oh-my! …and believing God to supply what they need to get to their country) I also loved connecting with women that have been on this path a long time that inspire us to keep on going!
The theme that is going through my heart is to continue to embrace the calling that God has put on our lives. I pray that God will pour into your hearts a new level of encouragement and zeal to continue to serve Him.
“Dear Lord, I pray for my friends in ministry as they prepare for tomorrow. I pray that You will continue to do mighty things. You can take people who are broken and bring healing and hope to them. Please use us. “O Lord,my God, You have done many miracles for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them…I take joy in doing Your will, My God…I have talked about Your saving power…and of your unfailing love and faithfulness.” Thank you for calling us into the greatest adventure in the world…sharing YOU with people.”

Cindy Lyons: Founder of Friends In Ministry Women’s Ministry & Senior Pastor’s Wife at High Street Baptist Church