Pausing With God

From Our Readers

Sheri I read this book on my flight a couple of weeks ago. It had been sitting on the shelf in my work room. I was a little hesitant about reading it, one reason being I did not have a relationship with my father, didn’t have any idea how a father daughter relationship should feel like, and wasn’t sure i wanted to read about yours.

I am so glad I followed the nudging of what I now KNOW was the Holy Spirit to put your book in my carry on. I began reading as we took off and finished it before I reached my destination. I laughed, cried (happy my seat was a window seat), totally enjoyed the journey with you and your dad, I loved his view of life. Sheri, I was forced to see my life without my father from a different pair of eyes…Gods…He was with me all along.

Goldilocks

Pause and listen while you read!

Once upon a time, there was a middle-aged lady named Goldilocks. Lately, she hadn’t been feeling like herself; but today was her once a month window-shopping excursion and she wasn’t going to miss it.

A few hours later, Goldilocks was pulling into the parking lot. She jumped out of her car and happily skipped to the entrance of the store. As soon as she entered, Goldi (short for Goldilocks), saw a large BOGO sign hanging over the shoe department. She rushed over and began examining the clearance rack. Looking to her left then her right, she couldn’t find her size, so she approached an available salesperson. “Could you please bring me a size 8?”, she asked the employee. Goldi noticed the representative wasn’t too friendly, as she communicated that she’d be right back. When she returned, she brought the right shoe, but the wrong size. Goldi thought she did it on purpose. When Goldi pointed it out, the clerk made a dash for another pair and returned, but this set was too big.

Right there in the middle of the store, Goldi lost her patience. She stood up and with a loud voice, insisted that she see the manager. Due to the volume of Goldi’s voice, the manager was already on her way to the front. She came out from behind the back room and immediately tried to apologize.

The manager tried to justify the demeanor of the salesperson, who had just received some bad news and was about to leave for the day. The manager offered to assist Goldi, while the employee clocked out. Goldi wasn’t having it, she huffed, puffed and walked away.

Our Daily Bread

Another day where we find ourselves speechless. Last night we lost another member of our family and yet, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the love, mercy, grace and compassion of God. The Word of God is like that, it finds you right where you are and gives you exactly what you need!

Our Daily Bread is spot on… When We Don’t Understand.

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job 2:10

“I don’t understand His plan. I turned my whole life over to Him. And this happens!” Such was the message of a son to his mother when his dream to succeed as a professional athlete was temporarily derailed. Who among us hasn’t had some kind of unexpected, disappointing experience that sends our minds into overdrive with exclamations and questions? A family member cuts off communication without explanation; health gains are reversed; a company relocates unexpectedly; a life-altering accident happens.

Special Delivery

Every day I wake up wondering what adventures or opportunities shall I encounter…well today’s was no different.

Sometime this morning the doorbell rings. I get up from my desk and walk over and look out the window. As I pull the curtains back, I notice a delivery truck going down the street away from my house. The Ring doorbell recorded that a package had been delivered. I pause and think to myself, ‘Hmmm, I don’t recall ordering anything.’

Downstairs I go, a tad excited as maybe it was something my husband ordered. I open the door and look down, the box wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. I picked it up to check out the label. Of course you know the tracking and all the other stickers they slap on boxes are larger than the address label. I take a second look, the package wasn’t for us nor did I recognize the name or address.

As I ponder what to do, I begin writing down the information from the label. Who do I call first, the delivery carrier (I won’t mention the name of the company, to protect the innocent as we all could have made the same mistake) or the person’s name on the box. I call the company to advise them that the package had been delivered to the wrong address. Unfortunately, because a few digits were missing from the tracking number; they were unable to help me.

Iron Sharpening Iron…

I wish I had the words to share how the Lord used this devotion in shapening a group of us this morning. It is my prayer that you are encouraged, empowered and equipped to be engaged…in the life of those that God has placed in your area of influence.

May 15, 2021 Iron Sharpens Iron (Devotion courtesy of https://blackaby.org/

As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17
The Christian life is a pilgrimage. At times the road is difficult, and we get lonely. Sometimes we may become discouraged and consider abandoning the journey. It is at such times that God will place a friend alongside us. One of God’s most precious gifts to us is friends who encourage us and lovingly challenge us to “keep going.”

De-Clutter

Spring Is Approaching, here are somethings to make you go hmmm:

SIMPLIFY: do one thing every day that gets you closer to your goal.

DONATE: use your talents or gifts and be a blessing to someone?

TRASH: delete those thoughts and people that keep you from doing what God called you to do!

KEEP: the Word Of God in my heart.

Testimony Time

Pausing In His Presence is just what I needed – A Shut In Experience.

A pause with God where I do not hurry with my praise and worship and take my time praying for the needs of others. Taking time to listen to God. Sometimes we hurry and do not give God time to talk to us.

This book has opened my eyes to so much. It has shown me my need to PAUSE and have that shut in experience. It has been so wonderful! By pausing you will grow in the Lord because it lets God fill you up with Jesus. My goal is less of me and more, more of Jesus.

I have shared this book with others and will continue to do so with anyone whether it be male or female. Thank you (Sheri) for writing this book.

It made me pause.

Sylvia Cain

Dr. Who

There are many women like me who prefer a female OB/GYN. My reason though it is humorous now, was not funny back then. My story begins with, years ago when I was a KIDS Church leader, it was time for my annual check-up and so off to the doctors I went . After completing the check-in ritual, I was shown to the examination room and I waited patiently for my doctor to come in.

A few minutes later, a male doctor pops in and stares at me like he knows me. I have this weird feeling inside my gut. “Do you work at this hospital, you look familiar?” he asked. “No”, I quickly responded.

I knew my regular doctor was pregnant, but her due date wasn’t for a couple of months. That feeling in my belly intensified and so I nervously asked where my doctor was. His reply was that she had been transferred to another unit. I paused for a moment and then decided to proceed with the checkup. Following the exam and after a brief consultation, I left the hospital and never gave this encounter a second thought.

Jennifer Rash

The Gift of Encouragement

We all need encouragers in our lives, don’t we? Having just ONE person in your life who will speak encouraging words to you makes all the difference in the world. Have you noticed that there seems to be plenty of people who will readily put you down and a real shortage of people who will lift you up? Has it ever dawned on you to be the one who builds and lifts up?

As wives, we need to realize just how much we contribute to the atmosphere in our homes and marriages. Proverbs 14:1 says, “A wise woman builds her house, but a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands.” That is a pretty strong Scripture.

Did I hear you say, ‘Just how can a woman tear down her own home, her own marriage, or her own husband?’ She does it with her actions and most often with her words. In The Path to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Wife, I share about how we as wives can build our homes, our marriages, and our men. I talk about one of the ways we can build our men – it is through our words.

My Family

Pausing To Share…MY BLACK HISTORY MOMENT – A Slave, Midwife and Legacy: Dr. Judy Simmons – uncovered by my cousins Cleo and Melvin Graham

Who are your ancestors?

Have you thought about your connection to them lately?

Is slavery and freedom a part of your family’s legacy? If so, what impact did it have on your family’s life?

Here is a story about one of my ancestors, who played a remarkable role on the South Carolina plantation where my family was enslaved and later the community where she lived. According records we have found, my third great grandmother, Judy Simmons, was born in South Carolina or Alabama. She was initially called Judy Pickens, a surname of her slave owners Governor Andrew Pickens Jr. According to Andrew Pickens’ 1834 will, Judy and her family were deeded to his son, Governor Frances Pickens, who owned the Edgewood plantation in Edgefield, S.C. Fortunately, Frances Pickens preferred keeping slave families together rather than separating them, as so often happens after the death of a slave owner. After Emancipation, Judy’s last name became “Simmons.”

Judy figuratively stood on the shoulders of her strong African heritage and tapped into her familial knowledge of medicinal plants that she commonly used for delivering babies of plantation slave and freed women for more than fifty years (1830s to 1880s). Although she was not credentialed, she became known as “doctor” by other slaves and slave owners, out of respect for her knowledge. She was a remarkable midwife, who traveled between Edgefield, S.C., and Augusta, GA, to purchase traditional folk medicines that she used to deliver hundreds of babies. And after the War, she crossed the bridge from slavery to freedom. She crossed the bridge from dependence to independence, and in so doing she left her footprints as a path of grace that is traced to her descendants.