Another Question for My Writing

Thank you, thank you for your willingness to bare your souls and respond to my question last week about regret. Your honesty and vulnerability touched my heart. I can certainly identify with so many of those regrets, but I am so thankful that we have a Savior who is able to redeem all that He allows.

I have another question for you. Your answers will help me as I write the Bible study based on my message about our Legacy as Christian women. This question is not quite as personal as the one from last week, so you may leave your answers anonymously or use your name, whatever you prefer. However, please answer honestly. This Bible study focuses on three different aspects of our legacy: our faith, our character and our holiness.

In this current season of your life, what words would you use to describe your faith in God?

Remember you may answer anonymously or using your regular identity. Thank you so much.

Quote - Jennifer Rothschild

Once again, our Tuesday quote comes from my current small group Bible study by Jennifer Rothschild, Me, Myself & Lies. Please stop to consider this quote today, in light of the busy lives we lead.

"The Holy Spirit will not shout down the noise of our busy world to counsel you. He won't try to silence all the racket in your thought closet to be heard. To hear His counsel, we have to quiet ourselves and truly listen."

Did you get that? WE have to QUIET ourselves! Tough assignment!

Names of God - Jehovah-shammah

For reasons I really cannot explain, I am particularly drawn to this name of our God in this season of my life - Jehovah-shammah. In Hebrew, shammah simply means “there”.

We find this name for God used in reference to the earthly Jerusalem in Ezekiel 48: 35: “The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE”.

This would identify, to all who were Hebrews, that God dwelt in Jerusalem. It was His city and those were His people. Today I want us to think ‘outside the box’ about this name for God.

So many people are looking ahead to some event, some time in their lives, some potential disaster, some looming date and are wondering if or how they will survive it. Perhaps it is a doctor’s appointment or a court date or your child leaving home or your mate passing away or any one of a zillion things. There is something in your future that causes you to have a knot in the pit of your stomach every time you think about it. Be it real or imagined, this future occurrence causes you huge amounts of stress, angst and worry.

Jehovah-shammah. THE LORD IS THERE!! Our God is already in your tomorrow. He already knows how your future plays out and He has complete control over it. Jehovah-shammah. THE LORD IS THERE!! You can’t be in your future now, but He can. You can’t control the future events of your life, but He can.

In the Bible, wherever God’s presence appeared, His blessings flowed down on those who acknowledged, trusted and obeyed Him. God is THERE in your tomorrow and in my tomorrow. He simply desires that we trust His heart.

Question #1

I am in the process of writing a Bible study based on the message that I consider to be my hallmark message, "Legacy". The Bible study, as with the retreat message, will examine legacies left to us in the Bible--godly and ungodly. It will also encourage the student to think through how to build a godly legacy for the coming generations.

I would like your help with a few questions. Because of the nature of these questions, I am going to ask that your answers be left ANONYMOUSLY. If you would rather email me your answer, please feel free to send an email to this address.

Here is today's question:

What is your biggest regret in life?

REMEMBER: Choose ANONYMOUS at the bottom of the comment box after you have typed in your answer!!!!

Quote Day

I heard this song this morning and the opening verse pierced my heart!! I hope that you will allow it to speak a challenge to your heart as well.

"Father, I see that you are drawing a line in the sand and I want to be standing on your side, holding your hand. So let your kingdom come, let it live in me. This is my prayer, this is my plea."

from Phillips, Craig and Dean

The Names of God - Jehovah-mekoddishkem

In the Hebrew, the words sanctify, set apart, and holy are derived from the word qadash. We find this name for our heavenly Father, Jehovah-mekoddishkem, used in Exodus 31 where God is instructing the children of Israel about the Sabbath day and the significance of sanctifying or setting apart a day of rest and worship.

12 Then the Lord said to Moses,

13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.

15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.

16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.'"

In this passage we also find the Lord sanctifying, or setting apart, the Israelites as His very own people. Notice in verse 17 that the covenant was between the Lord and the Israelites forever. God was telling them that they were a set-apart people, a holy people. They were to look different and act differently from all the other peoples of the land.

This applies to you and me as well. Over and over in the New Testament, we are told that the blood of Jesus sanctifies us; sets us apart. We, too, are to look and act different from the other people in this world. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul tells the Corinthian believers that only those who are washed clean and sanctified by the blood and in the name of Jesus will inherit the kingdom of God.

So, I ask you….in what way do you look different from the world? When the unbelieving world cruises around your life, do they consider you to be odd or peculiar? Do those who are not Christians avoid telling you crude jokes or saying curse words because they know of your stand for Jesus? Do your unbelieving friends know that Sunday is a day of worship for you, rather than a day of only rest and pleasure?



If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, then His blood has sanctified you. The million dollar question is whether or not you are living the sanctified life. Think about it!!

God Speaking

For several weeks we have been using the Thursday issue of The Point to highlight a question or issue in our lives. Today I would like to hear from you about:

the ways the Lord has been speaking to you in this season of your life. Does He speak mostly through His written Word, the preached Word, a song, another person, in your prayer time, through a Bible study, or some other means???

Our God is so creative and awesome and He uses different avenues to reach each of us in different seasons of our lives. Sometimes He may be speaking to us and we don't even realize it because it is not the 'usual' way that we hear from Him. So, let's use this time to brag on the ways He speaks so uniquely to each of us.

I'll meet you in the comments.

Tuesday Quote

Friends, if you have not done Jennifer Rothschild's new study, "Me, Myself, and Lies" you need to do it!! Whew, it is getting in my business big time. We all say things to ourselves, about ourselves that are not pleasing to God and I'm learning to evaluate my self talk through this study. I so appreciate Jennifer putting this study out there for the body of Christ.

So with that said, today's quote comes from "Me, Myself & Lies". Pick up your toes!!

"Who I am and what I struggle with are not the same thing!"

How does that one hit you?? For me it just about knocked the wind out of me. I struggled with body image and an eating disorder in my 20's and that defined me, or at least I felt like it did. Now as I am battling the things that happen to one's body in middle age, I find that, if I am not careful, I will, once again, define myself by what I struggle with.

What about you? Are you able to separate who you are from the things with which you struggle?

El Shaddai by Amy Grant

If you have been visiting me at The Point for the past several weeks, you will recall that we have been studying the names of God each Sunday/Monday. We have studied several names thus far and I wanted to take a break today and offer to you something that I believe will help you meditate on the names of our Heavenly Father. We will resume our study next week.

Enjoy the wonderful music of Amy Grant and the spectacular visuals!!

Work in Progress

I am very excited that my friend, Holly, from Crown Laid Down, is helping me with a few updates to The Point blog. These are not cosmetic updates, but rather content updates that I have desired for a long time, but had no idea how to make them happen myself.

These updates are a work in progress so you will not see them all at once. Here is a run down of what she is doing for me.

• Created a back up blog. I have been terrified that somehow I would lose everything on The Point in a freak crash and I had no idea how to back the blog up. Thankfully I had the wisdom initially to do most of the writing in a Word document and then just cut and paste into the blog. Now I have peace in knowing that I am backed up a couple of different ways!! DONE!!
• Resource button. The tab at the top of the blog that previously said "Contact Me", now says "Resources" and this is where she will post a few of my messages via Tangle.com so you can get a flavor of my speaking style. This area will contain the complete message and you are welcome to download them as you desire. Currently the only thing posted is the message that I did this summer at the A Woman Inspired Conference - Ministry Online! DONE!! Enjoy!!
• Several "Contact" links. We will have links for contacting me in several places in the blog. DONE!!
• Message samples. Under the "Speaking Topics" tab, there will be sound bites posted from various messsages. IN PROGRESS!!

I am excited about these updates and am so grateful to Holly for helping me with this. Have a great weekend!

PS: My friend Heather, and her husband, Joel, are in the midst of a major life storm. Please click here and read about their storm and join me in praying for and with them if you would.