GCR Women

It has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life to have praying friends.  Being able to share prayer requests with my sisters gives me a peace and comfort that's not easy to find.  And being asked to pray for them and their prayer requests is a humbling honor. In this day of texts and emails, it is so convenient to reach out to our "prayer team" and ask for prayers over anything that's on my heart - big or little.  I hope you have your own personal prayer team like I do - a group of trusted, praying Christians who will drop to their knees on a moment's notice and lift you up before the throne of Jehovah God through powerful name of Jesus Christ.  I hope that you are yourself such a Christian. In Jesus' Name! Patrice James 5:16 (NIV) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous woman can accomplish much.

In just over 42 days, John and I will once again travel to Virginia for a fall get-away.  We didn't get to go to Virginia last year, so we're extra excited about going this year. We've each set countdown clocks on our iPhones and fairly frequently, we check them to see how much closer it is to the time we depart. Those of you who know me won't be surprised to find out that I've had most of the details of this trip planned for months.  Airline tickets have been purchased.  Rental car reserved.  Hotel reservations are in place.  Even dinner reservations made at some of our favorite restaurants. One of the places we're staying is a little cabin high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia - a beautiful spot. There's a website for this cabin where I made our reservations and it details what we can expect when we arrive.  When we get discouraged or worn out, we open that site and read the poetic description of this lovely, quiet place we long to visit. ...

We've had this tree for a couple of months now.  We've been meaning to plant it but one thing leads to another and it doesn't get done.  Anyway, last week's rain had the ground softened up just right, so today, we planted it. It's not easy to plant a tree at my age.  But having waited so long to get started, I dug and dug like I did it everyday. Well, kind of.  West Texas dirt is hard even after it's been softened up a little by rain.  But you lay into it with a pick/ax and shovel and you can do amazing things! My main obstacles were the roots of the old trees that used to be there.  We had planted two beautiful crepe myrtle trees years ago but drought and cold killed them. We finally got tired of looking at the dead canes and cut them back.  Then, finally, last week, a guy we know was able to get the stumps out. However, under the surface, many roots of those old trees remained.  And they were just where we wanted to plant the new tree. ...

Do you know what dead-heading is?  It's the process of removing the spent blooms from a plant to encourage more blooms.  If the old blooms are left in place till they fall off on their own, the next wave of blooms will be less showy and may not even happen. When we do good works for the Lord, He lets those beautiful offerings show off His glory for a time, but then He expects us to set those aside and do more good works.  He doesn't want us to bask in the works of the past.  Instead, He gently prunes us to make us ready for more good works, for bigger glories. Like a master gardener, His focus is always on making His hot house beauties ready for the flowerbed of life where we can really reflect His glory.  Then, once in the field, He prunes us as needed us to strengthen us and help us grow into healthy, vibrant creatures of His design. So, don't dread being pruned, if the Lord God is your master.  You're going to thrive! Submitting to His care, P...

We bought a portable storage building last winter and have been trying to find time to assemble it ever since. Finally, we blocked out a segment of time during which we figured we could get it done. Have you ever looked at a kit and thought:  Piece of cake! We can do that in no time.  Yeah, well, we did, too, with this storage building kit. Actually, the problem wasn't so much the kit as it was the extension.  We were so confident in our construction abilities that we ordered a basic kit plus a 3-foot extension.  But as Burt said in Tremors 2:  We were denied some critical, need-to-know information! We opened all the boxes, separated all the parts, placed them carefully in a container so we wouldn't lose them and gathered our tools.  Next, we got busy on the pre-assembly sections as outlined in the construction manual. I'm pretty good at instructions and pictures but it took us an hour to figure out how to install the windows in the doors.  Once...

We've been dreaming about retirement and what that might look like for us.  It's still a few years away, but no harm in dreaming, right? We dream of having plenty of time for projects around the house, for travel, for family and for ministry.  And I believe, if it's the Lord's will, we will have plenty of time for all those things. We're all dreamers. (I think that's one reason Pinterest is so popular.)  But eventually, those dreams need some kind of action to be fulfilled, don't they? It may be the seemingly headlong move by a young adult whose dreams lie in new places among new people, away from the safety net of home and family.  It may be the bold dream of a retired couple that takes them to another country to share the love of God with people who've never known it before. What are your dreams?  A fresh start?  A new mission field?  A happy family?  A calm and peaceful life?  Then, it's time for that first daring step to take you...

I don't know what hurts me more:  a terrorist on a killing rampage or a child being dragged away from his parents by an alligator.  Both are such frightening scenes that I can hardly bear to think about them.  When I do, I imagine:  What would I do if this was happening to me, to my family?  How would I feel?  How would I react?  How would I recover? My heart breaks for the victims and their families.  I get frustrated at all the pieces and parts that led up to these events.  I want to understand and try to prevent something like this from happening again. But what can I really do myself to make things better?  And how do I take all this in and not be affected? Our world is hungry and dark and we have been called to nurture those around us and show them the way to go.  If we let the Holy Spirit guide us, we'll produce bumper crops of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  I...