Greetings from Austin Street

TGIF  Today God is First!  All is well here at 811. I think I experienced my first bout with fatigue today. It sort of came on all at once.  So I took myself to my glider in my office and napped for a while and felt much better upon awakening.  No skin changes yet, but they said that might now happen until about two weeks. Today was day 7 and I do not have another treatment until Tuesday.

Dear God, how wonderful that I get to see you. Help me to be disciplined so that I’ll be prepared when I meet you face to face. I praise you that you are always mightier than any situation I am going through. Thank you for helping me and for leading me to victory. I love you Lord. In Jesus name, amen.

Tonight Bruce and I attended a Walk to Emaus Gathering. It is a worship service attended by those who have been on a Walk to Emaus or other similar three day event and any guests who want to attend. We did not get home until after 9: 30 and I had just about decided not to write tonight. But I sat down to my computer and opened my devotional book and you know what happened. The theme of the devotional writing tonight was about being disciplined and further it spoke about having a goal and a “great high calling.”  It seemed to me that God was once again  saying that even though it was late that I needed to meditate and reflect on the scriptures for May 23. It was sort of a “call to arms” for me tonight.

I do have a goal. My goal is to be ordained into the ministry of Jesus Christ. Becoming an ordained pastor is what I believe I have been called by God and set apart for service as a representative of the Church. The prophets and disciples searched out the details of the Messiah and were constantly looking for signs of his coming.  They did this so that when they did meet the Messiah they would be ready. This is really not a lot different for us with one great exception…we know who Messiah is and we know how to prepare for His return. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to study the life of Jesus and given the gift of prayer. We can discipline ourselves to read the Holy Scriptures and faithfully pray in order to have a relationship with Him.  The good news is that when we discipline ourselves to study,  God is with us to help us understand what we are reading and how to act on it. And when we pray on that sacred Word we find the mighty and powerful Spirit of God as it guides our lives from day to day. 

I am ready to add one more discipline to my daily study. I must study and meditate on potential questions for the interviews to come. I must discipline myself to look at these questions through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the grounding of the Word and calling on many of the things I learned while in seminary. But mostly I pray to discern God’s will in all of these things and be willing to do all of these things in His time.  I pray that I am disciplined enough to be equal to the task.

Get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and let your hope be completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1: 13

“You are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

1 Peter 1: 9

Take joy in the journey listen to God. Wear comfortable shoes, get some sleep and think pink!  Love you all, Bruce and Gaylene