Testimony - Brenda Bunch

My mother, Phyllis Stebner has terminal ovarian cancer. She has started yet, another round of chemo, so lot of prayers have been going up for her. But, in the mean time God has been working with both of us through the Women's Bible study on Revelation and Heaven. Each week I call my mom and we go over the study. My mom is really excited about it as am I. I'm seeing her attitude soften and her home situation with her husband is getting a little better as her focus now is on heaven and her remaining time on earth. No one knows how long my mom has, actually none of us know how long we have to live, but I know I will see her in a Heaven some day where we'll never have to wait on another blood test or CT scan to see how the cancer has progressed and how we hold our breath until we get the results. We'll have that perfect and strong body in a perfect world with our perfect God which we all desire and that makes living on this earth more tolerable. Until that day we must store up treasures in Heaven and do what we can for God now, for it's only a little time compared to eternity. - Brenda Bunch

Overcoming Fear - Testimony of Shelly Denney

God has done wonderful things in my life recently. Things that I didn't know could happen, rather - things that I never let Him make happen before now.

I've always been an anxious person. It has controlled my life and put fear in it in areas that should have been joyful for me. But, He has changed me!

I never knew I could feel this way. But Satan has "picked" at me and last week he tried to defeat me for a short period of time. On my way to work (and I have a pretty good drive to Grove City), I turned the radio on to a station I don't usually listen to. I kind of stumbled onto it. The subject was on Heaven and the speaker laid it out similar to the book "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn with a Question & Answer format. After listening for a while my mind started wondering - I have been reading about Heaven, doing the Ladies Bible Study - Thinking Heavenward, and now this station. Was God trying to tell me something? Am I going to be there really soon and He is trying to prepare me?

Well, this was Satan because it "ate" at me all the way to work and my anxiety kicked in. Then just at my exit the scripture of the day from Jeremiah came to my mind ... "Ask and I will reveal wonderful things that you did not know." It hit me in the pit of my stomach and I remember thinking ... "Okay - I've gotcha" Sometimes I picture God shaking His head. laughing, and saying ... "What do you want from me Shelly? You asked and I'm revealing it to you and now you are worrying again! Work with me here."

Thank you God for being so patient, loving and kind! Shelly Denney

Where Do We Get Our Misconceptions?

Since reading the small pamphlet "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn, many ladies have expressed that they have had many misconceptions about Heaven. Though there are things I still do not understand, I am blessed that I was raised in a church and a home where there was "some" teaching about Heaven. But why was even the teaching that I received so limited?

Randy Alcorn shares his thoughts on that....
I believe there's one central explanation for why so many of God's children have such a vague, negative, and uninspired view of heaven: the work of Satan. Satan is the father of lies. Revelation 13:6 tells us the satanic beast "opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven."

After being forcibly evicted from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15), the devil became bitter not only toward God, but toward mankind and toward Heaven itself, the place that was no longer his. It must be maddening for him that we're now entitled to the home he was kicked out of. What better way for the devil and his demons to attack us than to whisper lies about the very place on which God tells us to set our hearts and minds?

Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn't exist. He need only convince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly existence. If we believe that lie, we'll be robbed of our joy and anticipation, we'll set our minds on this life and not the next, and we often will not be as motivated to share our faith.

Praise God, Jesus not only came as a sacrifice for our sins, but He also came to this earth from Heaven to tell us about His Father, the world beyond, and the world to come. If we listen to Him through His Word - which will take a concentrated effort - we will never be the same. Nor will we ever want to be.

Great Questions & Loving Responses

Sisters ... It has been wonderful watching as the interaction between you all continues to grow. Last week Mandy Nolt posed a couple of great questions in one of the comments that I asked her permission to share with you on the front page BLOG. I am also sharing the a wonderful comments that Caroline Capper responded with.

Mandy's questions: If we are supposed to think about Heaven all the time, and given that we won't really have our family unit in Heaven (we'll all be one family, right? And Lonnie won't be my "husband"), where does my family fit in right now? I have to (and want to) do the day-to-day taking care of Corbyn and Lonnie and not just let my mind focus on the eternal constantly. It's a nice thought, but can we really, truly have our minds on Heaven and disregard the rest here on earth?

Another question I have is: What if I don't really want the "glory of God" and treasures and riches and to be a king (queen) and reign and have a mansion. Am I supposed to want those things? What about giving God all the glory and Him having all the authority? What about being humble?

Caroline's comments: Mandy, when I read your question, I was so happy to know that someone else felt the way I always did. I never wanted to be anything but a wife and mother and homemaker. I've never cared about "fancy" things. For me, the best days are the "normal" ones when we just go about our daily routine and our family is together. I don't long for jewels or fancy clothes, houses, etc. When I read about heaven, I felt guilty because I didn't want all of that and God has planned it as a wonderful gift for us. I just wanted trees and grass and my garden and my little house with my family inside and friends coming over. Now, since I've come to know Jesus, I do long to be in His presence and praise Him. I never want to leave Him and He has become the most important thing in my life. I can completely understand that. But, I still love and want those other things, too.

I did find hope in Ray Vander Laan's teachings---you might like to look him up at "Follow the Rabbi". Pastor Jay showed a clip from one of his teachings on the Hebrew wedding tradition. He talks about how the Hebrew families lived in insulae. They were large complexes built around a central courtyard. The whole family, along with the extended family, all lived together. Ray feels that we'll be together in a similar way in heaven.

I believe that God wouldn't have made families if He didn't think they were really important. He even placed His Son in a family. If it's important to Him, I don't believe that it will end. I believe that we'll be reunited with our husbands, wives, children, parents, grandparents, etc, and will have a wonderful time of reunion with Jesus as our center, our King and our Lord. Eventually, I believe that our "circle" will expand. Mandy, just think of all the fun people we'll get to meet. And we'll have all eternity to do it in. No more rushing and having to say 'goodbye'.

I know that the place where God lives---the Holy City and His throne room are magnificent places just as they're described in the Bible. But, I've come to realize that Heaven is much more than just that. Its huge. There are gardens (Rev. 22: 2 says the tree of life is there and we know that the tree of life is in the Garden of Eden. I wonder if that means that the Garden is in Heaven?) and trees and rivers and all the things in nature that we love (and that God has made for us) and Jesus said that He's preparing a place for us. That has to mean a home.

Randy Alcorn says in his book, "Heaven", that "In the Present Heaven, we’ll be with Christ, and we’ll be joyful. But it won’t be our permanent home. We’ll be looking forward to our bodily resurrection and relocation to the New Earth. (Our loved ones won’t go to New Earth before we get there. We’ll go together to colonize the New Earth!)" You really need to read that book.

We'll eventually be coming back here after God has renewed the earth. But then, it'll be perfect. No more sin and sadness. No more fear and hate. Mandy, it'll be everything we love and so, so much more. We'll have God and Jesus right with us forever. We will have a different sort of relationship with our husbands and children, but I know that we can trust Jesus to make it perfect.

Mandy, sometimes I get so lonesome for Jimmy when he was a little boy. I want to hold him and feel his little arms and hands and kiss his little cheek and run my hand over his hair. It's hard and yet, I love knowing him as a man, too. I don't know just how this will all work, but I trust Jesus. We are so limited in our thinking and experience. Sometimes I think that God just must be shaking his head and laughing at us, knowing what wonders await. What if the butterfly clung to her poor old caterpiller body because she loved it's familiarity? She would never fly on a summer breeze or sit on a perfect rose in the morning sunlight. I can hardly wait!

I love you, Mandy, and am so glad to know you. Caroline

Words of Encouragement from Faith & Hope - Episode #2 - Red Shoes

Setting Our Minds - Eternal Choices

Sisters, we have had a good question from one of our bloggers and from some others regarding what “setting our minds on things above – on heaven” actually means. The phrase makes it sound as if heaven is all we are to be thinking about all day, doesn’t it? So, what does it really imply? Have you ever heard the abbreviation A.L.I.V.E. - always live in view of eternity? I believe this tells us what a mind set on heaven looks like. It is a life that is daily motivated by thoughts of two places: #1 – life on this earth… it is short – the Bible refers to it as a vapor; #2 – life in heaven…it is forever…lived with our God and our Redeemer forever in an incredible place free from sin and its affects.

Each day we have the choice: Will I make choices today that will be investments in eternity, or will I choose things that will instead be burned up (I Corinthians 3:10-15)? Will I choose attitudes, responses, things, activities, thoughts, words, ambitions that will have eternal benefit or will I choose those things that reflect a temporary/earthly mindset (and sometimes a self-absorbed/self-gratifying mindset!)? Matthew 6:20 says, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Randy Alcorn put it this way: “What will last for eternity? Not your car, house, degrees, trophies, or business. What will last forever is every service to the needy…every investment in missions, every prayer for the needy… every moment spent caring for precious children – including rocking them to sleep and changing their diapers. The Bible says we’ll reap in eternity what we’ve planted in this life.”

Let’s make Randy’s list even more personal…How about every word of encouragement to our husbands, every meal prepared, every shirt laundered and every toilet scrubbed out of love for our families, and out of love and honor to the Lord? How about every meal taken to your widowed neighbor, every card sent to that hurting person, every act of patience with that difficult person, every offense overlooked for the sake of love, every phone call made to lift the spirits of the lonesome, every minute spent in the Word learning more about our gracious Lord. The list of things that have eternal value is in itself endless because those things that we do for the good of others and for God’s glory is “laying up treasures in heaven.”

So change that diaper with love, wash those dishes with a smile, put the groceries away with thanksgiving, give medical care to that elderly patient with gentleness, show you care to even the unruly student, pray for that person you find hard to love…Make the choice by the power of the Holy Spirit to set your mind on things above, and store up for yourself treasures in heaven…as Randy says, “it will pay off in eternity and bring joy and perspective now.”

Love .... Becky

There's No Place Like Home

Words of encouragement from Sister Hope (Alias Becky Lucas) ...

Remember The Wizard of Oz – the ruby slippers, those ugly flying monkeys, and of course, Dorothy’s words: “There’s no place like home!” Oz was a special place, but what Dorothy really longed for was Kansas… home. That phrase was going through my mind one day when I was journaling about Heaven. Before your mind questions the stability of mine, consider this:

The author of Hebrews 11 tells the story of many who could have said that same phrase. These saints confessed that the place they were in was not Home. Their lives revealed that they were seeking their Homeland. They did not have a yellow brick road to follow, but they faithfully aimed for their destination.

Life here can be hard, but it can also be pretty special. Take a walk down a country road with your family at sunset and you will be reminded of the blessings we have on this earth. But as lovely as it can be here, we can’t allow our eyes to be fixated on this life and the “comfyness” we feel here. I love how C.S. Lewis puts it: “Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”

The saints of Hebrews 11 didn’t invest much in their present life because they knew God had prepared for them something far better. They understood what Paul said about the glories of their true Home: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (I Corinthians 2:9). They didn’t want to stay in “Oz.”

For us it is much easier to say “There’s no place like home” than to live it. Dorothy actually had it pretty easy, didn’t she? Just say it and click those ruby slippers! How will you respond differently today to your husband? children? co-workers? because you are on the road Home? Do the daily choices you make reflect a longing for your true Home or a heart bound to “Oz”? THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Words of Encouragement from Faith & Hope - Episode #1 - Setiing Our Minds

Setting Your Minds & Hearts

Welcome to the Grace Ladies Blog! We are so glad you are joining us in this Bible Study and we pray this blog will provide an avenue for you to interact with one another.

Let's start at the beginning with our memory verses ... Colossians 3:1 & 2. Can you recite it by memory yet? Give it a try!

"Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (vs 1). This is a direct command to set our hearts on Heaven and the things of God. And to make sure we don't miss Paul says it in like manner in the next verse, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."

The Greek word translated "set your hearts on " is zeteo, which "denotes man's search or quest." It is a diligent, single-minded investigation. This verb zeteo is in the present tense, suggesting it is an ongoing process. Keep seeking heaven and the things above. The command and the repeating of it suggests not only it's importance but that it will not come automatically. Our minds are so much consumed by the things of this earth - both good and bad - that we are not used to heavenly thinking. So we must work at it! What are you doing daily to work at "setting your heart and mind on the things above?