Happy Monday!

On Sunday after church Bruce and I went to the mall and bought new walking shoes. We bought the kind with the fat soles, the Payless variety, and began a nightly regimen of walking. The doc recommended a 10 minute brisk walk each evening. Last night we went walking with Jackson and Lamar, our bassets. We did walk but not too briskly. Bassets tend to stop and sniff or chat with other dogs and people along the way. So tonight we donned our shoes and walked without the dogs. FYI my shoes are purple and white!! Go Frogs! Bruce goes into the hospital tomorrow for registration and lab work. Continued thanks for all of your prayers.

Prayer: “Father in heaven, I praise Your name for being the God of peace. Your Son Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Please help me to be mindful of Your presence and to sow the fruit of righteousness wherever I go today. Guide me with the wisdom of Your Word so my life will reflect the peace that only You can bring into every life. Amen.”

James 3:17-18 “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown by peace by those who make peace.”

My dear readers, as you know last December I interviewed with the NTNL Candidacy committee for the ordination process in the Lutheran Church, ELCA. I was accepted into the program and given a minister’s manual. After reading the manual I discovered that the path to ordination via ELCA was not the calling to which I have received from God. There were requirements I was not being to be able to meet. At the age of 55, the time requirements were such that I was going to need chaplain services before I was going to be a chaplain. (HA! HA!)

I continued to pray and God made it very clear to me that I was to hold fast to His faithfulness, His leading and to depend on Christ alone. So, next Sunday I am going to place my membership in the Palmer Christian Church in Palmer, Texas. It is a very small church in which I will be a student pastor. The Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, will license me as a student pastor soon and when I graduate from Brite Divinity School in 2 to 3 years, I will be an ordained pastor in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ with all of the authority to administer the sacraments, be protected for legal confidentiality, marry, bury and baptize.

I never understood the path of discernment until I began to pray, study, listen and be counseled in this decision. Parts of this process of decision making were agonizing. But when I came back to the words Christ Alone, I know that God truly was the author and creator of this path and I am assured that by His grace and leading I am called to be an ordained pastor and chaplain with the ministry of hope to those who are in need of the heart of the gospel at their moment of deepest need.

I ask your kind prayers and encouraging support as I continue to study, pray and learn to minister and become who God has called me to be. Thank you all my dear friends and prayer warriors. Love you all, Gaylene.

PS For my Lutheran friends, Fear Not! After consulting with Pastor Joel I can hold dual membership while I am a student. After all, I am a Lutheran in my heart and will carry Lutheran sacramental theology wherever I go.

Take joy in the journey! Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you pray remember that God is with us in the midst of whatever is going on in our lives and working with us and for us drawing us closer to Himself. Please continue to pray for Bruce as he prepares for the heart cath on Thursday. The main thing that concerns Bruce is the laying there for several hours after the procedure. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.