Heart to Heart with Cheri
Do you ever start your day with a great cup of
coffee and a spring in your step and before long
things are going downhill? You know it’s going to be
a challenging day when you lock your keys in the car
and are standing in 95 degree heat with a To Do list
longer than your arm (which happened to me
recently). Or when you’re about to leave for work or
church and the baby has a blow-out all over your new
suit. We want to rejoice, for we know that “this is
the day the Lord has made!” (my mom’s favorite
verse; Psalm 118:24) but circumstances and people
can frustrate us and steal our joy.
“Not having enough time steals my joy,” said one
woman. “Regrets and what if’s steals my joy,” said
another.
Anxiety and worry are big joy-stealers for many
women. Proverbs 12:25 says it well: “An anxious
heart weighs a man or woman down.” When the weight
of burdens wraps around our minds, our hearts can’t
dance with joy. And even if we don’t have to have a
big problem to fret about, the media will give us
something new to worry about almost daily. We’re
told to eat our 5-9 servings of fruits and
vegetables. But are they tainted with coli? Two
schools have shootings this week. Worry over should
I take my hormones or will they cause cancer?
About our kids and the world they face.
Since the most frequent command in the whole Bible
is “Don’t be afraid,” (N. T. Wright, Following
Jesus), God gives us a great antidote: to cast
our cares on Him—all our burdens, worries, concerns
and anxieties (that about covers it!). To roll them
on the One who loves us with an unfailing love
because He cares for us watchfully and
affectionately (1 Peter 5:7; see also Psalm 55:10,
Philippians 4:6-8). God knows that when we worry it
takes the energy we need today—so He advises
instead: Pray! Pray! Pray!—and don’t forget to thank
Him for the answer even before you see it. Because
we only see about 1% of what God’s doing, we can
thank Him for the 99% where He’s working in the
situation or person which in a way in which we
cannot see yet.
Perhaps the biggest
stealer of our joy are our emotions and thoughts
that run amok. I love this story my friend Janet
Page from San Antonio who experienced her husband’s
death last December:
“The Lord has been
teaching me this year to allow Him to take my every
thought and imagination captive in obedience to
Him. It is amazing how when the enemy comes in with
thoughts of fear (living alone, finances, not
knowing how to fix things or run them for that
matter) and worry (health issues) God has told me
over and over to *ask* HIM to take those thoughts
captive and as I do, they seemingly melt away.
Last week while I was
with my daughter-in-love and the three kids, the
oldest, Gideon, came to me at night saying he could
not sleep because scary thoughts were in his mind.
I told him what God was teaching me and told him to
ask God to capture those bad thoughts or take them
captive. I told him he would be amazed at how Satan
will run away when he did that. Well, he proceeded
to barge in on his mommy who was nursing the baby
and tell her, "Grandma says Jesus is the policeman
of my mind." Not knowing just what I said, she
replied, "Well if Grandma said that she is right,
now go to bed!" In the morning, Gideon came in
first thing and told me that I was right and he went
right to sleep when he asked Jesus to be the
policeman of his mind! Isn't God good?”
They are learning step by step that “Peace rules the
day when Christ rules the mind.”
May we stay connected to Christ, the source of all
of our joy, and grow in peace and love in days
ahead.
Book Give-A-Way
This
month we are giving away two of Cheri's books,
A Busy Woman’s
Guide to Prayer and
A Fresh Vision of
Jesus and A Fresh Vision of Jesus.
For this contest
we are asking grandmothers to share creative or fun
ways to connect with your grandkids - either across
the miles (if they live in another city) or when
they come to visit.
If you are not a grandma, please share something
your grandparents did with you that helped you
bond and connect with them or that your
kids grandparents do with them.
Winner will
receive both books. To enter, send us
an
email with your tips.
Quotable Quotes
|
Joy is peace dancing
and peace is joy at rest.
--F. B. Meyer
|
|
For the heart
that finds joy in small things
each day is a wonderful gift.
|
|
Happiness is caused by things that happen around me,
and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right
on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark;
joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy
flows all through persecution and opposition. It is
an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a
secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know
anything about. The Lord gives his people perpetual
joy when they walk in obedience to him.
--D. L. Moody |
Book Review
Same
Kind of Different As Me (subtitle: A Modern-day
slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely
woman who bound them together) is without
doubt one of the best and most moving books I have
read in a long, long time. Because of his wife
Deborah’s volunteer work in a Ft. Worth, Texas,
inner city mission, a wealthy international art
dealer named Ron meets a homeless man so dangerous
even the roughest street people are afraid of him
and keep their distance. Ron had spent his career
jet setting around the globe buying and selling
expensive pieces of art, and Denver is a former
sharecropper who has lived on the streets for years.
The two men begin a unique friendship that
eventually touches hundreds of lives. Told in two
voices, the story alternates from Ron’s point of
view to Denver’s. Through the experiences they go
through, they learn about life and faith, share
wisdom and support. Down-to-earth language, humor,
and raw emotion make the true-life story that
unfolds quite compelling. But I won’t tell you what
happens. You’ve got to read this book for yourself,
and I guarantee that as I did, you’ll find yourself
sharing it with friends and family.
You can
purchase this book for $11.99 by
clicking here.
Devotional
Thought
To read Cheri’s devotional
from The One Year Book of Praying Through the
Bible (Tyndale) for October 30, “His Timing is
Perfect,”
click here.
Recommended Books
The One Year
Book of Praying Through the Bible
A doable, inspiring daily devotional for all
ages, women and men. It enables readers to
experience the power of God's Word and prayer each
day and to grow in their spiritual life and be
encouraged in their journey. This book has
gone into its 5th printing and has over 85,000
copies in print and we constantly hear how it's
blessing people's lives.
Purchase at
PC Publications for $12.99, which includes
shipping or at your local bookstore.
In
a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day: How to Survive and
Thrive When Opportunity Roars by Mark Batterson
(Multnomah Publishers) What if the life you really
want, and the future God wants for you, is hiding
right now in your biggest problem, your worst
failure…your greatest fear?
Purchase at
PC Publications for $13.99, which includes
shipping or at your local bookstore.
Connecting with Cheri
Below is Cheri's speaking schedule. If you
live nearby and would like further information about
the events please
contact us.
2007
Nov. 9-10
ChristChurch Plano, TX Women In Christ
Retreat, “Empowered By His Presence”, Tanglewood
Resort at Lake Texoma, TX
November 19-20
ACSI (Association of Christian
Schools International)
South Central Educator Convention Hyatt Regency
Dallas at Reunion, Dallas, TX
2008
January 31-Feb.1
ACSI Educator Convention
Moody Gardens Hotel and Convention Center
Galveston, Texas
April 4-6
Christ Chapel Bible Church Women’s Retreat
Marriott in Las Colinas, Texas
April 11
Northwest Bible Church, Dallas, Texas
Mothers of Preschoolers
