Hi! Dear Ones,
My heart is heavy today as I write down my thoughts. It seems like Jon and I have been constantly counseling with married couples who are really struggling to make it in their marriage. I want to share with you some thoughts on courtship and marriage. Since some of you are at this point in life as you search for mates and some of you have kids and grandkids entering this stage of life I would be guilty of not sharing these dear thoughts with each of you.
This should be a given but I don’t take anything for granted. Make sure the person you are pursing or being pursued by is a devoted believer in Christ. Scripture clearly teaches about being unequally yoked and believe me I have seen first hand the problems that causes in marriage. Recently a dear friend contacted me about her marriage and after great discussions I believe that her spouse is not saved. So now she is learning how to be a godly married woman to an unsaved spouse. It is difficult and I am applauding her as she is not focusing on their issues but focusing on being Christ to her dear husband. I love you all too much to not say this-Don’t court, become engaged to or marry someone who doesn’t personally know Christ as their Savior.
Don’t look for the right person, be the right person. If you are daily practicing your faith and looking to the Lord to guide you in all directions of your life. He will find the person of His choice for you. I recently heard a speaker at a woman’s conference that a young woman should be so in love with Jesus, that only Jesus will lead the young man of His choice to her. What a great concept. I also believe that the Lord will lead the right woman to you men if you are seeking the Lord and not just seeking a mate.
You marry a person but you also marry that person’s past, family, friends… You may think that will all change, but it doesn’t. So be sure that you are 100 percent sure that you can enjoy or live in an understanding way towards your future in laws, family, spouses friends… From personal experience I haven’t always enjoyed some of Jon’s friends, but I have tried to let him enjoy them and to live in an understanding way. I know he has done the same for me in the past. If your future spouses family and friends aren’t believers you need to be dedicated to live as Christ to them so that they may see Jesus and be drawn to accepting Him as their personal Savior. You also need to be able to have trust in your future mate. They may have done things in their past that you wouldn’t do or agree with, but you have to be able to trust and to be trusted.
Marriage is hard. Trust me I know. The first five years of our marriage was filled with struggles. I thought we would never make it, but as we turned to the Lord and let His word teach us we began to grow together. I know that is what keeps Jon and I focused on our marriage. There isn’t anything that God’s word can’t help us with. We need to read it, memorize it, believe it and practice it in our daily lives!
Don’t get married without extensive biblical pre marital counseling. You may think you don’t need it and have all the answers but statistics of married Christian couples say that they have a higher divorce rate in the first three years of marriage. Most issues center around money, family, jobs and lack of time spent together. Make sure you discuss these and many other areas before agreeing to be married. A pastor who is practicing biblical counseling won’t marry you if he sees these things being issues that aren’t resolved. Men make sure that your future spouse is in agreement to the call the Lord has on your life. If they don’t you will be miserable and probably won’t last very long at the call of occupation the Lord inteneded for you, very long. Make sure she is willing to go anywhere with you! Ladies make sure you are willing to go anywhere and support your spouse in whatever the Lord calls Him to do. I chose along time ago to not worry about where we would live or where Jon would pastor. It was more important for me to be with him and to be his helpmate than anything I wanted. My goal is to be the best wife and mother I can be so that he can be the best husband, father and pastor the Lord wants him to be! It isn’t always easy and yes sometimes I get to feeling sorry for myself and for my hopes and dreams that I have given up, but I have chosen to prefer him over myself. Young woman listen and take this advice. It is biblical!! Go back to Genesis 1 & 2 and Ephesians Chapter 5
Don’t rush into a relationship. Get to know the person over a long period of time. A person’s behaviors will always come to the surface for light always brings out the darkness according to scripture. So be friends, enjoy others in a group together, spend extended time with his or her family, never commit your heart to anyone that you have any questions about. You will save yourself so much grief and possible heartache. I know when you are young, you long for a relationship and a spouse, but are you willing to settle for anyone or for God’s best!
With that being said I hope you will think and pray about this and talk to those around you who are struggling in this area.
We in ministry are in the business of creating Christian homes and we have seen the result of divorce over and over in the lives of some of our own family members and in our churches. I also see weekly godly women who live with unsaved spouses. They are held back from the ministry the Lord had for them because they chose to mary a unbeliever. I don’t want to have you go through that. Some of you have already experienced divorce and unbelieving family in your life and the scars go deeply.
May you seek the Lord will all of your heart and let him lead you to the right person to share your life with. He did that with me 20 years ago on February 11th when I said yes to marry Pastor Jon and we will have been married for 20 years in August and I can say I enjoy waking up each morning knowing that my best friend is here with me. I want the memories of our marriage to be ones that bring me the greatest joy next to my relationship with Jesus.
Remember marriage is a picture of our relationship to Jesus. What do you want that relationship to look like?
To close I want to share a blessing with you.
Yesterday the church membership voted to rename our church to The Congregational Bible Church!! PLT!!
This has been a 5 year prayer and we are rejoicing of what the Lord has done in our midst!
It was a 100% vote yes!
The love and unity amongst the church family brought me to tears as I heard for the first time two quiet older men pray out loud for our church family.
It was worth all the struggles last year to see them pray!
It showed me that they have made that commitment to Christ!
I have been praying for them for 5 years.
Know that I love you all!
Thanks for allowing me the privilege to share these thoughts.
Debbie
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
God's Will?
Hi!
Sorry I haven’t gotten around to this yet but this week has already been full and I also have been contemplating on what to share. As I prayed the Lord brought to my mind the area of God’s will. As I was reading in Exodus this week it became evident that God had a will for the Israelites and from the beginning they just didn’t get it. They didn’t trust in God even after crossing the Red Sea on dry land, the next thing they were doing was building a golden calf. The age old question of a believer is “What is the Lord’s will for my life?” How often in our lives is the Lord showing us evidence of what His will is and we just don’t get it. Sometimes he has to do hard things in my life for me to get what His will is for my life. O how he desires for us to be so in tune with Him that we will know what His will is for each of us.
In Andrew Murray’s Devotion on prayer I ran across these thoughts I thought I would share.
The Will of God
Our secret communion with God is the place where we learn the great lessons concerning God’s will. Desire is awakened in us for the life it promises, as the Holy Spirit reveals God’s perfecting work through Jesus Christ. As we believe and receive it into our hearts according to His purposes, His will masters our hearts, giving us courage to be confident in God’s assurance that we can do our part, so that our will on earth can correspond and cooperated with His will.
Let this be our heart’s desire that in everything the will of God be done in us and by us, even as it is in heaven.
By God’s grace, every hour of our lives can be lived in complete harmony with the will of God. We need to maintain surrender to do what God will for us to do. The God we worship asks of us perfect union of our wills with His will so that the will of God in its beauty and application to daily life can be truly known.
As we fellowship with God in the inner chamber of the morning watch, waiting and depending with a childlike attitude of trust on what He give us, we receive the knowledge of His will as well as the power to perform it. In surrender to do all that He wills, the study of His Word and this time of prayer being true and full blessing. Andrew Murray
I pray that as each of us seek the Lord’s will in our lives that we will desire to be so in tune to Christ that our will, will correspond to His will for our life. The best place on earth is to be in the center of God’s will and the last place on earth you want to be is out of His will.
Know I am praying for each of you today! If you have specific requests, please email or call and I will add them to my prayer list. I so enjoy praying for each of you!
On a another note:) Hannah received her acceptance letter from Frontier School of the Bible in LaGrange, WY and will be attending there for the fall semester! This has been a prayer of Hannah's for several years and she is so excited. Pray that her friend Lucinda may also attend there and be her roomate. Now that the decision is made we can focus on other things!! Like taking the ACT. Hannah is also going to take a certified nurses aid class in February with hopes of getting a part time job at our local nursing home and then being able to work in Scottsbluff while attending Frontier.
We are excited that the Lord has led her to this point in her life and are trying to enjoy every minute of the time we have left with her at home.
Praying you have a great week!
Deb
Sorry I haven’t gotten around to this yet but this week has already been full and I also have been contemplating on what to share. As I prayed the Lord brought to my mind the area of God’s will. As I was reading in Exodus this week it became evident that God had a will for the Israelites and from the beginning they just didn’t get it. They didn’t trust in God even after crossing the Red Sea on dry land, the next thing they were doing was building a golden calf. The age old question of a believer is “What is the Lord’s will for my life?” How often in our lives is the Lord showing us evidence of what His will is and we just don’t get it. Sometimes he has to do hard things in my life for me to get what His will is for my life. O how he desires for us to be so in tune with Him that we will know what His will is for each of us.
In Andrew Murray’s Devotion on prayer I ran across these thoughts I thought I would share.
The Will of God
Our secret communion with God is the place where we learn the great lessons concerning God’s will. Desire is awakened in us for the life it promises, as the Holy Spirit reveals God’s perfecting work through Jesus Christ. As we believe and receive it into our hearts according to His purposes, His will masters our hearts, giving us courage to be confident in God’s assurance that we can do our part, so that our will on earth can correspond and cooperated with His will.
Let this be our heart’s desire that in everything the will of God be done in us and by us, even as it is in heaven.
By God’s grace, every hour of our lives can be lived in complete harmony with the will of God. We need to maintain surrender to do what God will for us to do. The God we worship asks of us perfect union of our wills with His will so that the will of God in its beauty and application to daily life can be truly known.
As we fellowship with God in the inner chamber of the morning watch, waiting and depending with a childlike attitude of trust on what He give us, we receive the knowledge of His will as well as the power to perform it. In surrender to do all that He wills, the study of His Word and this time of prayer being true and full blessing. Andrew Murray
I pray that as each of us seek the Lord’s will in our lives that we will desire to be so in tune to Christ that our will, will correspond to His will for our life. The best place on earth is to be in the center of God’s will and the last place on earth you want to be is out of His will.
Know I am praying for each of you today! If you have specific requests, please email or call and I will add them to my prayer list. I so enjoy praying for each of you!
On a another note:) Hannah received her acceptance letter from Frontier School of the Bible in LaGrange, WY and will be attending there for the fall semester! This has been a prayer of Hannah's for several years and she is so excited. Pray that her friend Lucinda may also attend there and be her roomate. Now that the decision is made we can focus on other things!! Like taking the ACT. Hannah is also going to take a certified nurses aid class in February with hopes of getting a part time job at our local nursing home and then being able to work in Scottsbluff while attending Frontier.
We are excited that the Lord has led her to this point in her life and are trying to enjoy every minute of the time we have left with her at home.
Praying you have a great week!
Deb
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hannah's Spiritual Birthday
I just wanted to share about an exciting thing in our lives today. Fourteen years ago today Hannah accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior! So every January 22nd we make time for a small spiritual birthday celebration. I make one of her favorite meals (today it was pizza bought in Hastings since we weren't home at all), we have a small cake (also purchased in Hastings) and then we give her a gift to help remind her of the committment she made those many years ago. This year we gave her the entire Chronicles of Narnia CD's from Focus on the Family radio theatre. This is something she has wanted for several years and the Lord helped me find them on a good deal:) Tonight at dinner her dad asked her what she had learned these past 14 years. I loved her answer. She said to be quiet, be patient and wait for what the Lord wants to do in and through her. She has such great insight at 17 that took me many more years to finally learn. God will have His way with us. We can be obedient and receive His blessing or disobedient and receive His consequenes. Another thing that just hit me today is that Hannah's spiritual Birthday is on National Right to Life Day! She was the answer to our prayers all those years ago as she was a miricle in our lives! Little did we know she would be the only child the Lord would give us from my womb! I would have never ever thought of aborting her!
We need to pray for our new president that He would wake up to celebrating life! My heart just hurts to think of all those babies being killed! We need to pray that Roe vs Wade be overturned and that our nation will celebrate LIFE!
So with all that being said I just wanted you to be in on our celebraton of what God is doing in and through Hannah! Please keep her in your prayers as she awaits hearing if she has been accepted at Frontier School of the Bible. It is her hearts desire to attend there next fall.
Have a great week!
Deb
We need to pray for our new president that He would wake up to celebrating life! My heart just hurts to think of all those babies being killed! We need to pray that Roe vs Wade be overturned and that our nation will celebrate LIFE!
So with all that being said I just wanted you to be in on our celebraton of what God is doing in and through Hannah! Please keep her in your prayers as she awaits hearing if she has been accepted at Frontier School of the Bible. It is her hearts desire to attend there next fall.
Have a great week!
Deb
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Power of the Gospel
Hi!
Hope you have been had a great week last week and enjoyed some rest this weekend.
We took our trip out to Frontier School of the Bible last week. We enjoyed seeing friends along the way also. One special blessing was last night we stopped in Lexington, NE at WalMart for a few things before heading south towards home. We were checking out when a gal ran up to us and said “It’s the Hansen’s”
To our surprise it was a couple who we had ministered to long ago before entering into VM when we lived near Cozad. What a blessing to get caught up on there lives.
Who knew a routine short stop would bring about this reunion.
Being at Frontier once again was truly a blessing. Seeing the VM kids we know and to see how they have grown in the Lord was so encouraging. To attend classes and hear the Bible taught was a blessing also. It looks like if Hannah is accepted that she will attend one year at Frontier until the Lord shows her what the next step is for her in her life. I am thankful that she has made this decision and that we can move towards that goal. So pray for her acceptance if you would. Pray also that a friend of hers that is considering attending Frontier will be led by the Lord in her decision. Hannah would love to have Lucinda as a room mate next fall if the Lord would work it all out.
I have been challenged to read a book entitled “Disciplines of a Godly Woman” by Barbara Hughes. Some of the VM pastors and also some of the men of our church are studying the book “Disciplines of a Godly Man” so when I heard there was a woman’s version I decided to go through this book for myself this year.
The first chapter is Discipline of the Gospel-The source of Godliness. What a powerful chapter. So I want to share with you three things that challenged me this week.
1. The Gospel Defines Us
When we are born again, life starts to make sense. The gospel shapes everything about us. It answers the question “Who Am I?” We are made in the image of God. We discover that we are of great value to God, demonstrated by His death on the cross. It brings purpose and meaning to our lives. We learn that we are sinners. We find we can be saved from God’s wrath. We see we can become members of His family, the church. Finally we are partners with all the saints for the sake of the gospel. In the gospel we have no identity crisis. We know who we are.
2. The Gospel Motivates Us
It gives purpose to our life. The scriptures show us how we fit into God’s
plan for the world and detail what we are to do with our lives.
The gospel gives meaning to whatever we do. The gospel is the foundation for every single thing you are and do.
3. The Gospel Satisfies Us
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. God’s provision for His children is astonishing!
Never lose the wonder of the gospel! Never imagine that you have outgrown it! The gospel is a basis for life! John 3:16 is still relevant!
May you ponder these areas in your life and may you never lose your love for the gospel!
Blessings,
Debbie
Hope you have been had a great week last week and enjoyed some rest this weekend.
We took our trip out to Frontier School of the Bible last week. We enjoyed seeing friends along the way also. One special blessing was last night we stopped in Lexington, NE at WalMart for a few things before heading south towards home. We were checking out when a gal ran up to us and said “It’s the Hansen’s”
To our surprise it was a couple who we had ministered to long ago before entering into VM when we lived near Cozad. What a blessing to get caught up on there lives.
Who knew a routine short stop would bring about this reunion.
Being at Frontier once again was truly a blessing. Seeing the VM kids we know and to see how they have grown in the Lord was so encouraging. To attend classes and hear the Bible taught was a blessing also. It looks like if Hannah is accepted that she will attend one year at Frontier until the Lord shows her what the next step is for her in her life. I am thankful that she has made this decision and that we can move towards that goal. So pray for her acceptance if you would. Pray also that a friend of hers that is considering attending Frontier will be led by the Lord in her decision. Hannah would love to have Lucinda as a room mate next fall if the Lord would work it all out.
I have been challenged to read a book entitled “Disciplines of a Godly Woman” by Barbara Hughes. Some of the VM pastors and also some of the men of our church are studying the book “Disciplines of a Godly Man” so when I heard there was a woman’s version I decided to go through this book for myself this year.
The first chapter is Discipline of the Gospel-The source of Godliness. What a powerful chapter. So I want to share with you three things that challenged me this week.
1. The Gospel Defines Us
When we are born again, life starts to make sense. The gospel shapes everything about us. It answers the question “Who Am I?” We are made in the image of God. We discover that we are of great value to God, demonstrated by His death on the cross. It brings purpose and meaning to our lives. We learn that we are sinners. We find we can be saved from God’s wrath. We see we can become members of His family, the church. Finally we are partners with all the saints for the sake of the gospel. In the gospel we have no identity crisis. We know who we are.
2. The Gospel Motivates Us
It gives purpose to our life. The scriptures show us how we fit into God’s
plan for the world and detail what we are to do with our lives.
The gospel gives meaning to whatever we do. The gospel is the foundation for every single thing you are and do.
3. The Gospel Satisfies Us
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. God’s provision for His children is astonishing!
Never lose the wonder of the gospel! Never imagine that you have outgrown it! The gospel is a basis for life! John 3:16 is still relevant!
May you ponder these areas in your life and may you never lose your love for the gospel!
Blessings,
Debbie
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Drinking from the Sewer...
Hi! Dear Ones,
I pray that each of you found time in your day this week to spend with the Lord. Every one of the devotions in my prayer devotional journal was on this very subject this week, so if Andrew Murray thought it was important then I too think it is important to challenge ourselves in this important area.
I want to share with you the devotion from today. I hope it will encourage and challenge you.
The First Love found in Andrew Murray’s devotions on prayer
Revelation 2:4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at the first!”
In Revelation 2:2-3, eight signs are mentioned showing the zeal of the church at Ephesus, but there was one bad sign. The Lord said: ”Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don’t, I will come and remove your lamp stand from its place among the churches.” What was this sin? “You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”
We find the same sin in the church today. There is enthusiasm for the truth, there is continuous hard work, but what the Lord values most is missing: Tender, fervant love for Him.
A Christian maybe a good example in all he does, yet the tender love for Jesus is missing. There is no personal, daily fellowship with Christ. All the many activities with which people satisfy themselves are nothing in the eyes of the Master.
Dear friend, this book speaks of the fellowship of love with Christ and spending time in His presence. Everything depends on this. Christ came from heaven to love us just as the Father loved Him. He suffered to win our hearts for this love. His love can be satisfied with nothing less than deep personal love.
Christ considers this of prime importance. Le us do so, too, Even though we are doing many good things for the Lord, we must not leave our first love. Andrew Murray
The other evening in our Seeking Him Bible Study, Nancy Leigh DeMoss challenged us to not be married to the world, when we do this it is like drinking sewer water. I don’t know about you but sewer water doesn’t sound too appetizing to me. The church today has married the world, it has become tolerant of sin and because of this we have a lack of testimony to the world that doesn’t see the difference between the lost and holiness. Holiness is more than keeping man made rules, it is disconnecting our hearts from the world and connecting them to Christ. It is time the world and Christians separate from one another. We will only be as effective in reaching this world for Christ as we are practicing Holiness in each of our lives.
So my challenge to us is where is our first love? Do we love Jesus above everything? Are there areas of our lives that we have allowed worldly influences into? Are we drinking from the sewer?
I pray that we will all take a real look at ourselves to see if we need to return to our first love and then after returning to our first love we will continue to fellowship with him daily. He is our lifeline!
Blessings,
Deb
I pray that each of you found time in your day this week to spend with the Lord. Every one of the devotions in my prayer devotional journal was on this very subject this week, so if Andrew Murray thought it was important then I too think it is important to challenge ourselves in this important area.
I want to share with you the devotion from today. I hope it will encourage and challenge you.
The First Love found in Andrew Murray’s devotions on prayer
Revelation 2:4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at the first!”
In Revelation 2:2-3, eight signs are mentioned showing the zeal of the church at Ephesus, but there was one bad sign. The Lord said: ”Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don’t, I will come and remove your lamp stand from its place among the churches.” What was this sin? “You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”
We find the same sin in the church today. There is enthusiasm for the truth, there is continuous hard work, but what the Lord values most is missing: Tender, fervant love for Him.
A Christian maybe a good example in all he does, yet the tender love for Jesus is missing. There is no personal, daily fellowship with Christ. All the many activities with which people satisfy themselves are nothing in the eyes of the Master.
Dear friend, this book speaks of the fellowship of love with Christ and spending time in His presence. Everything depends on this. Christ came from heaven to love us just as the Father loved Him. He suffered to win our hearts for this love. His love can be satisfied with nothing less than deep personal love.
Christ considers this of prime importance. Le us do so, too, Even though we are doing many good things for the Lord, we must not leave our first love. Andrew Murray
The other evening in our Seeking Him Bible Study, Nancy Leigh DeMoss challenged us to not be married to the world, when we do this it is like drinking sewer water. I don’t know about you but sewer water doesn’t sound too appetizing to me. The church today has married the world, it has become tolerant of sin and because of this we have a lack of testimony to the world that doesn’t see the difference between the lost and holiness. Holiness is more than keeping man made rules, it is disconnecting our hearts from the world and connecting them to Christ. It is time the world and Christians separate from one another. We will only be as effective in reaching this world for Christ as we are practicing Holiness in each of our lives.
So my challenge to us is where is our first love? Do we love Jesus above everything? Are there areas of our lives that we have allowed worldly influences into? Are we drinking from the sewer?
I pray that we will all take a real look at ourselves to see if we need to return to our first love and then after returning to our first love we will continue to fellowship with him daily. He is our lifeline!
Blessings,
Deb
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
YouTube - While I'm Waiting - John Waller
Hi Everyone!
This is a song I have found to be of great encouragement to me while I wait on the Lord as I enter the next season of my life, "The Empty Nest" Many of you are also in God's waiting room right now. It is my prayer that you will be encouraged to keep on serving our Lord while you are in His waiting room.
Blessings,
Deb
YouTube - While I'm Waiting - John Waller
This is a song I have found to be of great encouragement to me while I wait on the Lord as I enter the next season of my life, "The Empty Nest" Many of you are also in God's waiting room right now. It is my prayer that you will be encouraged to keep on serving our Lord while you are in His waiting room.
Blessings,
Deb
YouTube - While I'm Waiting - John Waller
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A New Year. A New Focus!
Hi! Everyone,
Hope you have had a great start to your new year. With so many people talking about making resolutions for the New Year I began thinking about why we do that. As a Christian it is my belief that only one resolution needs to be made for a lifetime and that is to be a disciple of Jesus. He may teach me new things from year to year or put my focus in a different place from year to year, but it is a lifetime process for me and I know I won’t be complete until I reach my eternal home.
This past couple weeks I have been thinking about heaven a lot. Maybe it is because we are approaching the one year anniversary of Dad Hansen’s home going. Maybe it is seeing how Mom Hansen has aged in the past year and the new needs that brings to our daily lives. Maybe it is thinking about my own parents aging and having some health issues that could call them to heaven soon. Maybe it is because of changes going on in me and in my life at this moment in time. Whatever it is the Lord knows. He is there to comfort me.
A goal I have set for this year is to once again read through the Bible with a focus on prayer. The Prayer Bible I purchased was just what I needed to help me be organized to reach this goal. Another tool is a gift I was given for Christmas. It is a 365 Daily Devotions on Prayer that are compiled from books that Andrew Murray wrote.
In the preface of this devotional it begins by saying A deeper spiritual life cannot grow without deeper daily devotion to God’s Word and to prayer. “Time alone with the Lord Jesus each day is indispensable,” Andrew Murray
Though Andrew Murray lived most of his life in the nineteenth century, Andrew Murray has much to say to Christians of the twenty-first century. His extensive writings encourage a fully committed, deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So I am saying this in love to each of you. If you aren’t spending time with the Lord in His word and in prayer daily then what you are really doing is trying to be a Christian in your own flesh and it won’t work. You need the communication of His word and prayer to be able to discern what the Lords will is for your life. It takes discipline! You all have decisions to make each day. I don't know what those decisions are, but for me it is what is the Lord calling me to do in this next stage of my life. I know he is working a cleansing in me because of the tears I am shedding. They just flow out of me without me being able to turn them off. He has allowed me to mourn each young adult as they have left our nest. Just yesterday it really hit me that my role of mom in a daily sense will end this coming August. I am mourning that deeply because for the past 18 years that has been my identity and it is a role I have loved! Now that role is changing and I’m not sure how or what the Lord will do in my life next, I just know I don’t want to just waste my life but I want to be able to continue teaching children and adults about Jesus. I want to leave a spiritual heritage behind when I go home to meet the Lord.
Someone just recently asked why Pastor Jon and I named our homeschool “Hansen Heritage Christian Academy” and the answer is because that is the spiritual heritage we want to leave behind when we meet the Lord. I was blessed to have many godly people in my life and in the church I grew up in and I am so thankful for what they modeled in front of me. I saw some of them go through hard times but I didn’t see there faith waiver. What a witness they were to me as a child and young adult and I know it is because of them that I made a commitment to be that type of witness to others.
So with all that being said. I just want you to know that I am praying for each of you that in 2009 the Lord will be your first priority. Don't allow empty things of no spiritual value fill up your time The Lord will handle all your needs as you commit to discipline yourself in His word and prayer. Find a time each day and commit that time to Jesus alone.
Praying that the Lord will be near to you as you draw near to Him
Deb
Hope you have had a great start to your new year. With so many people talking about making resolutions for the New Year I began thinking about why we do that. As a Christian it is my belief that only one resolution needs to be made for a lifetime and that is to be a disciple of Jesus. He may teach me new things from year to year or put my focus in a different place from year to year, but it is a lifetime process for me and I know I won’t be complete until I reach my eternal home.
This past couple weeks I have been thinking about heaven a lot. Maybe it is because we are approaching the one year anniversary of Dad Hansen’s home going. Maybe it is seeing how Mom Hansen has aged in the past year and the new needs that brings to our daily lives. Maybe it is thinking about my own parents aging and having some health issues that could call them to heaven soon. Maybe it is because of changes going on in me and in my life at this moment in time. Whatever it is the Lord knows. He is there to comfort me.
A goal I have set for this year is to once again read through the Bible with a focus on prayer. The Prayer Bible I purchased was just what I needed to help me be organized to reach this goal. Another tool is a gift I was given for Christmas. It is a 365 Daily Devotions on Prayer that are compiled from books that Andrew Murray wrote.
In the preface of this devotional it begins by saying A deeper spiritual life cannot grow without deeper daily devotion to God’s Word and to prayer. “Time alone with the Lord Jesus each day is indispensable,” Andrew Murray
Though Andrew Murray lived most of his life in the nineteenth century, Andrew Murray has much to say to Christians of the twenty-first century. His extensive writings encourage a fully committed, deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So I am saying this in love to each of you. If you aren’t spending time with the Lord in His word and in prayer daily then what you are really doing is trying to be a Christian in your own flesh and it won’t work. You need the communication of His word and prayer to be able to discern what the Lords will is for your life. It takes discipline! You all have decisions to make each day. I don't know what those decisions are, but for me it is what is the Lord calling me to do in this next stage of my life. I know he is working a cleansing in me because of the tears I am shedding. They just flow out of me without me being able to turn them off. He has allowed me to mourn each young adult as they have left our nest. Just yesterday it really hit me that my role of mom in a daily sense will end this coming August. I am mourning that deeply because for the past 18 years that has been my identity and it is a role I have loved! Now that role is changing and I’m not sure how or what the Lord will do in my life next, I just know I don’t want to just waste my life but I want to be able to continue teaching children and adults about Jesus. I want to leave a spiritual heritage behind when I go home to meet the Lord.
Someone just recently asked why Pastor Jon and I named our homeschool “Hansen Heritage Christian Academy” and the answer is because that is the spiritual heritage we want to leave behind when we meet the Lord. I was blessed to have many godly people in my life and in the church I grew up in and I am so thankful for what they modeled in front of me. I saw some of them go through hard times but I didn’t see there faith waiver. What a witness they were to me as a child and young adult and I know it is because of them that I made a commitment to be that type of witness to others.
So with all that being said. I just want you to know that I am praying for each of you that in 2009 the Lord will be your first priority. Don't allow empty things of no spiritual value fill up your time The Lord will handle all your needs as you commit to discipline yourself in His word and prayer. Find a time each day and commit that time to Jesus alone.
Praying that the Lord will be near to you as you draw near to Him
Deb
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