In our Bible study “A Woman After God’s Own Heart,” Elizabeth has included a “life scene” for each day. This is a typical scenario of a real-life situation. They are put in our lessons to cause us to dig into the Word and come up with a Biblical solution.

One of the life scenes in last months’ lesson created a lot of discussion among the ladies. Let me share it with you:

Donna discovered that her good friend Nicole was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Donna decided to pray and fast. She prayed earnestly that God would heal Nicole. A few months later Nicole died, leaving behind her husband and three children. Donna’s faith in God’s goodness and in prayer was deeply scarred. Now she seldom prays, and she lives with a sense of betrayal and bitterness.
How do you think you would have responded if you had been Donna? What scriptures would you choose to share with her?

We could give many answers, but the best one would be, as they asked, one from the Scriptures. As heartbreaking as this situation is, we must all come to the understanding and realization that we are not God, cannot understand His ways, and need to accept in faith that what He does is perfect. That’s not said in a cold-hearted manner, because God isn’t cold-hearted. He loves us! He loved Nicole and her husband and children. We have to remind ourselves what we know to be true about our God:

• He is a good God and cannot act apart from His nature – Psalm 52:1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
• He loves me and is not out to get me – Proverbs 15:9b …but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
• He is right in all He does because He is righteous – Psalm 36:6 – Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep; O lord, thou preservest man and beast.
• He answers all my prayers – Psalm 66:19 – But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayers.

The last bullet comes with the understanding that God doesn’t always answer with “Yes.” Sometimes He says “no.” If you’re a parent you must know that you can’t always give your children what they ask for. Sometimes in our wisdom we have to say “no.” So does God.

Did Nicole get healed? If she was saved, she got her ultimate healing the moment she closed her eyes in death. The ones that are left behind are the ones who are hurting and grieving, and must do so with Truth in their hearts if they’re going to respond correctly to this very difficult time – and respond correctly to their God.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to ponder this type of situation. We’ve all probably been asked questions such as this and it’s good to have the opportunity to search the Scriptures to find the truth. So, has this posed another question in your mind, or do you have another thought concerning this situation? Share it with me here and together we’ll look for a Biblical answer.

Our Bible study, “A Woman After God’s Own Heart” had its second meeting last night. What a blessing it was as we gathered first in our small groups to discuss what the Lord had taught us all month as we studied about the blessings of prayer. Our group leaders were all well prepared and excited to get with “their” ladies and begin this journey of having a greater heart for God!

At the close of our small group discussion time each group had prayer together. It touched my heart to hear the soft murmuring sound of ladies’ voices lifted up in prayer. I thought, “If it touches my heart to hear this, how must it touch God’s heart to hear His children pray?!”

As we gathered together to hear Elizabeth George teach from the DVD, we learned some very practical lessons on prayer. I’ll try to summarize her teaching. What a blessing her life is! She’s warm and bubbly and certainly walks with God!

On Elizabeth’s 10th spiritual birthday she asked the Lord what area of her spiritual life needed attention . Immediately the Lord brought to her mind her prayer life. She had tried praying. She had gimmicks, 3×5 cards, and acrostics to help, but it would dwindle down eventually to the simple prayer, “God bless me and my family today.”

She knew she should pray fervently, frequently, continually, in and about everything, but she was failing. But that day she knew what she would do. She found a little wordless book that her daughter had given to her and that she didn’t know what to do with, until this day. She took that book and began to use it as her prayer list. On the inside cover is a note that says, “Big things can begin small.” She wrote on the first page a commitment to dedicate the next ten years developing a meaningful prayer life.

As she began writing in the little book, it didn’t take long for her to realize that her life was bigger than this little tiny book. She’s graduated to a three ring binder filled with requests and answers to prayers. She also has a file cabinet filled with folders of answered prayers!

She shared with us that some of the wonderful blessings as we pray are:

1. Greater faith – Luke 18:1 – Jesus was speaking two parables about prayer. And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. As we pray we become women of great faith because we learn more about our God. As we pray we are less likely to fear, to worry, to give in to anxieties of life. We learn that God is our Rock, and through prayer we become like Him – miracle of miracles! We become strong. Psalm 144:11-12 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. This is a beautiful description of what happens to us when we pray. God is a rock and as we pray we bear a resemblance of Him. We must hold up the family, the church, the problems just as the cornerstone holds up the foundation of the building! When we pray we are like our Rock.

Yes, but how? As we pray we must understand that something is better than nothing. We’re always looking for that “sweet hour of prayer.” We wonder when it’s coming. Perhaps unlike Chef Emmeril we need to kick it down a notch. Could we pray thirty minutes a day? How about 15 minutes? Elizabeth shared that when she has gotten out of the habit of prayer she gets her kitchen timer out, sets in on the table and sets it for five minutes. As she begins, she finds that five minutes isn’t enough as she takes the family, the problems, the difficulties to the Lord, and it slowly becomes the sweet hour of prayer.

2. Greater peace – Think about all the little details of life that come in to steal our peace. In Ecclesiastes we learn that it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine! Philippians 4:5,6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I Peter 5:7 – We’re to cast all our care on Him. We cast our little cares on Him. We roll the bigger concerns. What do we do if we don’t have the energy to roll it? We commit it to Christ. If we give it to God’s shoulders we’re going to have perfect peace and rest.

What about at night? The worries seem bigger and “badder” at night! Corrie Ten Boom says, “As a camel kneels before his master to have him remove his burden at the end of the day, so kneel each night and let the Master take your burden. As we do that it will be as David said, I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. Psalm 3:5

Yes, but how? Identify your number one problem. It has to be either people, events, or circumstances – there is nothing else! “One thing you must remember, this one thing you must know, I cannot take your burdens until you let it go.” That’s how we handle the worry and the cares. We pray.

3. Greater purity – I John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Through the act of confession in your prayer time you purify yourself, just as He is pure (I John 2). Elizabeth shared that at one time she had a problem with gossip! As a pastor’s wife and elder’s wife she knew everything and everyone knew she knew, so they would “prime the pump” and out it would come! She tried human ways to help – putting sticky notes on the phone reminding her not to say something that wasn’t true, helpful, or kind. Soon the sticky wore off and there she was gossiping! However, as she took this sin to God in prayer, she asked God to do radical surgery and cut it out of her life. One of the results of her prayer was greater purity as she saw God answer and enable her to get rid of the gossiping.

Pray without ceasing. “It’s spiritual breathing. Every breath in should equal a prayer out.”

As we continue our lessons we will be doing Week Two for the month of November. We will learn more blessings that are ours through prayer. Keep at it, ladies. Keep studying, keep growing in your relationship to your God as you learn to pray.

Yesterday’s dinner was such a breeze to put together I even forgot to get pictures! Trust me when I tell you that I cooked, and even shared our meal with guests. Our dinner was not really the typical kind of Sunday dinner I usually make. I had made a pasta dish a couple weeks ago and it makes a huge amount, so I did two separate dishes when I made it. I baked one for our supper that night and froze the other dish that had the remaining 2/3 of the recipe. Having that dish already made was such a blessing.

Sunday morning I put the pasta in the oven on Time Bake so it wouldn’t be baking the whole time we were at church. If you don’t have that feature on your oven wait and heat the pasta in your microwave on about 80% power.

When we got home from church all I had to do was add the pears to the salad and broil the bread! The meal was very filling and so simple. I will definitely do this type of meal again for a Sunday dinner!

Here are my recipes: Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cheese I add extra tomatoes and not quite as much pasta so this will be nice and moist.

My salad was one I’ve shared before: Pear, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad

The Apple Crisp was a new recipe and must be the easiest dessert on the earth! I served it with Praline ice cream by Blue Bell. Yum!

Any recipe that you could double and pop an extra into the freezer would be a blessing on a busy weekend! That’s a great lesson learned. What did you have for Sunday dinner? I’d love to hear!

I had the pleasure of playing yesterday! Dolls, dollhouse, cookies and icing all filled a good couple hours of my afternoon. I had one of the sweet little girls from our church over just so I could spend some one-on-one time with her. The Lord brought this to my mind a couple of months ago when I was asking the Lord how I should fill my time in this new phase of my life. Who says our company should always be our peers? She was a sweet guest – she even helped me clean house – the dollhouse that is.

This dollhouse belongs to my 25 year-old who has no place for it right now. It had been neglected and needed some TLC, which my young friend was happy to give! We dusted and swept it out, then did a little decorating in each room, setting the tables in the kitchen and dining rooms, displaying the toys in the playroom, and even putting up the Christmas tree and gifts in the living room. Once the dollhouse was in place we went upstairs to decorate sugar cookies. She was a pro, and so careful to put just the right colors together. Of course some of the icing hit our fingers, but we made short order of that! Lick!!! and it’s gone! =)

Last night we had the special privilege of having some dear missionary friends in town. Our church took a mission trip to Spain a couple years ago and we went to the Basque region and helped at a Farmhouse that is being renovated to use for ministry purposes. The couple heading up this ministry, Andy and Mimi, were the ones that were here visiting. Most of our mission team members were able to share a meal with them before prayer meeting. What a blessing to hear about the work that is continuing there and how God is at work. Their work there in Spain has progressed very slowly. After ten years, they only had a handful of people attending their church services. God used those years to teach Andy some special things that he preached to us in prayer meeting.

I’ve always loved Joseph and his story in Genesis. I’ve thought of him as a man of integrity and godly character, but I’ve never really considered all the waiting Joseph had to endure. Think about it – after God gave him the promises in the dreams, many years passed before they actually came to pass. The verse in Genesis 40:8 speaks of the baker and the butler: And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. Joseph’s dreams hadn’t come to pass yet, but Joseph displays great faith in God! He encouraged these men by his faith in his God while he waited!

I wonder how much of an encouragement I would be to others while I was in a prison due to no fault of my own! But Andy pointed out that the reason God had Joseph wait is because he wanted to strengthen his heart and prepare him for the ministry he had for him. What a good lesson for all of us to remember during our waiting!

If you’re in a holding pattern right now, don’t doubt if God will answer your prayer, but allow Him to strengthen and prepare you for what He has planned for your life.