Mary Kane of www.onlybyprayer.com is back with another wonderful Take 5! for us. This is such a beautiful and needed word, I’m anxious to share it with you.  I pray that God will speak directly to your heart, healing what needs to be healed and encouraging you in the perfect way for you.

Here’s your link: Take 5! Hope and Trust

Be blessed!

Kimberly

Mary Kane

Sweet Mary Kane, from www.onlybyprayer.com is back to share some incredibly wise Words to Live By!  Mary has picked out some excellent Scripture that God has given us to guide our lives by.  Through Paul, He tells us how we should think, how we should live and how to treat others.  There’s also a beautiful jewel in the mix that is perfect guidance for you as you face your child’s serious illness.  All in one simple sentence, God gives us His perfect advice on how to weather our storm.  I’m not going to say anymore about it because I don’t want to ruin it for you!  Let me know if you caught it and what you think about it. 

                                       Take 5!  Words to Live By

In His Love,

Kimberly

kimberly@kimberlyehlers.com

Mary Kane of www.onlybyprayer.com

    Hi, My Friends!

      I know you all love Mary’s Take 5! devotions.  They are always so good!  Today’s devotion from Mary is set up differently.  It is longer, it’s beautiful, and it’s truth.  I am still basking in the blessing of this devotion hours later. 

     Yesterday, Mary e-mailed me and said that she felt God really wanted her to share this message with my readers.  I can see why.  It is so timely because you are facing affliction right now.  Sometimes devotions on this topic can minimize your suffering and make you feel guilty for not being able to be joyful.  Sweet Mary’s teaching is  different.   She filled me with hope and taught me how to look at affliction differently. 

Dear one, make a cup of coffee or tea, shut yourself away in your favorite private place, grab your Bible and be blessed.  I pray that God will speak to your heart and give you encouragement and hope.

Your link to – The Blessing of Affliction

Want more encouragement for your child’s health?  Jump over to my Facebook page for Faith Friday’s.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Kimberly

Sometimes, we read Scripture, feel uncomfortable with what it’s telling us to do, and decide it’s “for someone” else.  Our feelings of inadequacy or fears hold us back from being obedient and provide us with lots of excuses of why we can’t possibly do what God’s telling us to do.  I believe that the devil loves it when our child’s illness causes us to be so distraught, too worn out, and too fearful that we do not share Christ with others.

Sweet Mary Kane of www.onlybyprayer.com is touching on one of those commands that make us squirm – at least it does me anyway ! 

We are commanded to go out and make disciples.  Our purpose is love God and others (Mark 12:30-31).  We love one another in a variety of ways – but what’s more loving than sharing our Savior with others?  Boy, can you tell that, once again, Mary has me thinking?  I love her gentleness - something I sure could learn from!

If you’re familiar with Mary’s Take 5!s, you know that she always asks great questions.  As I went through her devotion this morning, I couldn’t help but think of what it meant for me, and for us, as parents who have kids with serious illnesses.

I’d like to share the questions I asked myself with you.  I’ll give you the link to Mary’s Take 5! first.  Come back to this page if you’d like to see my questions – I believe they help us all to see how God wants to use our situations in a very special way.

Take 5! Preach the Word! with Mary Kane

Now for my questions :

1.  As I talked about in my last article, God has unique plans for all of us.  He has a plan to use our situations and our child’s health in a special way that He can’t use anyone else for.  How do you think God wants to “promote the cause of Christ” (as Mary says) through you, given your unique circumstances?

2.  How can God use your child’s health and our testimonies to “preach the Word”?

3.  What is your ministry?  You may not think you even have one, but as Mary urged us to pray, how can God use you to preach salvation to those you come in contact with?  How can He use your special situation to make disciples?  Will it be at your next doctor’s appointment?  Will it be a surprise opportunity to share what He’s done in your child’s life?  What one sentence might you say to your doctor will He use to share your faith? 

I could go on, couldn’t I?  There are just so many small windows that we are given to share our faith, if we are always watchful.

Also, I’d like to encourage you to connect with Mary and her sister, Jane, at www.onlybyprayer.com.   They have just started a podcast series called “Walking in Truth” for the summer on TalkShoe, Mondays at 12 p.m.
Eastern time focusing on the book of Colossians.  You can go to their site, scroll down the page to find the first in the series,  ”Preparing for a Journey” on Talkshoe including an user guide.  They are both precious and this is sure to be an excellent series.

In His Love,

Kimberly

We have been called to do 2 big tasks:                                     
1.  Parent a child with a serious illness.
2.  Do God’s Kingdom work.

Both tasks will look very different for all of us.  Our child’s illnesses are different.  How God uses us to expand His Kingdom will be different.

God is holistic and sees us as “whole” beings, not people made up of a bunch of separate, individual parts.  He is also the Maker of wise complete, holistic plans.  We see our child’s illness as part of our life.  He sees it as an intricate part of the whole plan for our lives – a plan that is good, gives Him glory, and furthers His Kingdom work (see Jeremiah 29:11).  “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives,” (Genesis 50:20, New International Version, 2011).

Will God use your faith to witness to doctors and nurses?  Will He bring healing and perform a miracle?  How will He use your circumstances in ways that you are unaware of?  What good is He intending to accomplish?

Does God want you to reach out to other parents?  Is He laying on your heart the desire to do something unrelated to your child’s health?

It’s OK if the idea of doing His Kingdom work overwhelms you.  As I said before, God is holistic.  He is caring for your mind and spirit right now.  Our only job at any point in our life is to stay “in Christ”.  Through out our day we strive to stay connected with Him and follow His lead.  He will lead some to rest, some to witness through actions, and others to witness through words.

Mary Kane of www.onlybyprayer.com

Do you feel as though it’s impossible for God to use you?  Feel too weak?  Oh, Mary has the perfect word for you!  Click the link below to be taken to the newest Take 5!  The Weak and Foolish.  This devotion grabbed my heart.  You do not want to miss it.  Please take the time to really think about Mary’s last question.

Take 5! The Weak and Foolish with Mary Kane

Be blessed, my dear friend!

In His Love,
Kimberly

If you are signed up for my ezine “The Heart Connection”, you received some pages I created to help you better see your immense value to God, who He really is, and what His promises to you are.

I have a promise I’d like you to add to your list.  It comes from James 5:16b and says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective,” (New International Version 2011). 

I confess that I have missed this verse, and I don’t want you to miss it!  Your prayers for your child and their illness are powerful and effective!  Did you know that?  Do you believe it?

Dear One, it doesn’t matter if you feel righteous or not.  If you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior, you have been made righteous.  “For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness],” (2 Corinthians 5:21, Amplified Bible).  I like this version because it does such a good job of defining what righteous really is.  Being righteous simply means to be right with God.   Your belief in Jesus has placed you under His wing where you are covered in His righteousness.  It’s not yours to create, it’s His free gift, which you received just because you said, “Yes, I believe!”

If your prayers don’t feel powerful, as if they’re causing great things to happen, look at how you’re praying.  Are you praying in confidence of your righteousness in Christ, coming boldly to the throne room of your Father who loves you deeply, or are you praying in fear and doubt?  It’s OK, Dear One, if your confidence is shaken right now.  God has more than enough grace to cover your doubts.  Never forget the Mark 9:24 father’s prayer, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  It’s a prayer Jesus honors.

Start where you are.  Ask God to help your unbelief and fight off your fears.  Fear is not of God.  It belongs solely to the enemy.  (Of course, we’re not talking about the good fear or awe of God or the fear He gives us to protect us from danger.  It’s wise to be afraid to walk down a dark alley at night by yourself.)  Ask Him to help you understand and believe in your righteousness through Christ.  Then, Sweet Friend, make the effort to believe the truth about who you are. 

What is on your heart right now?  What do you need God to do for your child?  Take a chance.  If you don’t feel confident in your righteousness, fake it!  See yourself as the person you will be; the woman living in a right relationship with God.  Soon, you will trust in Christ’s gift of righteousness and fully accept it.  You will be able to call God, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15) and pray powerfully with expectation.

As I mentioned in the beginning, my latest edition of “The Heart Connection” focused on knowing who we are to God and how to immerse ourselves in His Truth.  When we know the Truth we can reject the enemy’s lies and pray confidently – 2 things Mom’s of children with serious illness really need to do!  If you’d like a copy of this ezine, sign up using the form on the right of the page, and I’ll send you one ASAP . 

In His Love,
Kimberly
Kimberly@kimberlyehlers.com

When you can’t pray any more…when your heart is empty and weary…when prayer feels pointless because things never change –

That’s when the perfect prayer begins.

It’s those prayers that are mere groans of a few desperate words or simply thinking of God and feeling as though your heart will burst from pain.  No, they are not the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us, but they are raw, truthful prayers God still loves.  They are the prayers that are stripped of any false praise, manipulation, and sense of duty.  They are free of pride and the self-glorification that comes when we think we’re being such good Christians because we prayed.  They are messy because they are so honest and desperate – and that’s why they’re perfect.

In Ephesians, Paul gives excellent guidance on how the Children of Light should live:

“Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another,” (Ephesians 4:25, Amplified Bible).

Or as The Message puts it, “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.”

Lying to ourselves, and God, just hinders the help He can give.  We are not ready to receive the true help that we need because we can’t even see our need clearly.  It’s like pealing away the layers of an onion.  God helps us with each problem one layer at a time.  If we are in denial and dishonest about our issue, God will stay at that outer layer with us until we’re ready to get real with Him.  He wants to peal away each layer so that He can get to the heart of the problem. He will allow us to stay safely wrapped in our shell, though, wrapped in layer after layer of hurt if we choose.

It comes down to the fact that God can’t be fooled by words.  He always hears our true heart behind each prayer.  He hears our worry and fear – and He hears with the ears of a Father who loves His child passionately.  “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,  comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work,” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, New King James Version).  My dictionary says that to console is to make less sad or disappointed.  He doesn’t only listen.  He is working to lessen, even remove your pain. 

I think about all the prayers I’ve prayed over the years that would make most Christians think I was horrible – faithless, not very loving or forgiving, and dishonoring.  Now I see that God heard what was really in my heart – fear, great love, and a woman desperate for her God to show up.

Do you know what other amazing thing happens when we are so real with God we can’t even pray anymore?  These are the times when the Holy Spirit steps in and prays for us. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” (Romans 8:26, New King James Version).

You know, reading that makes me think that God must have realized our prayers would be imperfect and that we would need His help.  He provided His incredible Holy Spirit to help us in all of the weaknesses He knew we’d struggle with.  Isn’t He good?  I am so grateful for His wisdom and foresight.  He knew just how much we’d need His Spirit. 

As God responds to our prayers (those we say and those the Spirit gives for us), He is working for our best and His glory.  He brings us healing, builds our trust, grows our faith, and creates a genuine desire to praise Him – all in His perfect timing.  I know that’s a phrase that can be irritating when you’re hurting and God seems so far away.  All I can say that it is painfully true.  It’s painful because we often don’t like God’s timing.  No, we don’t always “feel” as if He’s responding.  That’s when we need to fight to believe His Word.  We begin that fight by asking for His help to believe and trust what Scripture tells us. 

So, when you can’t pray anymore, when your heart feels empty and prayer seems pointless, rejoice!  You have discovered the messily perfect prayer.

In His Love,
Kimberly
Kimberly@kimberlyehlers.com

Is your child’s illness challenging your faith?  Take “The Faith Challenge” today!

(Are you ready to find out what you can do TODAY to better hear God’s voice and His instructions for your life?  He wants to help you, dear one, and His plan is perfect.  He wants you and your child to have victory.  Enjoy Part 2 of this special series by Beth Jones of www.bethjones.net .  Miss Part 1?  Read it here.)

God will help us to obtain the victory. But first we have to listen for His voice to get His instructions. To hear His battle plans and strategies!  How do we do that?
• Get away alone to a quiet place.  It’s important that we get quiet before Him, away from all the noise, because God has a still, small voice – a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:12) We are bombarded by noise pollution today, and the stress is affecting us.  I believe it’s also a strategic attempt by satan to keep us from hearing God’s voice.  It’s hard to hear God with the t.v. or radio blasting, traffic blaring, people talking. Just pull away a few minutes each day alone to listen to Him. It doesn’t have to be for hours. Just take 5 to 15 minutes and ask God to speak to you. Listen without saying anything. He will speak to you great and mighty things, just as He did Deborah! (Jeremiah 33:3, NASB)

• Read, study, and apply God’s word, the Bible. As Christians, we know we’re supposed to read the Bible and study it. The Bible is the very thoughts and heart of God. It contains God’s holy laws.  It’s our map and our compass, guiding and directing us in life. It shows us what is right and wrong. It gives us God’s wisdom. It encourages us. Find a few minutes each day to read and meditate on it. More importantly, apply God’s word to your everyday, ordinary life. “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” ~ James 1:22, NLT

• Fast. Fasting is hard. Believe me, I know. Whenever I have fasted, the only thing I can think about is food. I even want food that I don’t even normally like!  Food becomes your focus when you’re deprived of it. But fasting does sharpen our spiritual ears. Jesus said, “When you fast,” not “If you fast.” (Matthew 6:16, NLT)  We can cry out to God for His grace during a fast, and He will sustain us, just as He did with Jesus in the wilderness.

• An obedient heart. I really don’t think God would have chosen to use Deborah in the great way He did if Deborah wasn’t a special woman. I believe Deborah was His faithful, humble servant, a woman who knew Him intimately and who desired to obey Him. Deborah gave Barak the exact words that God had given her to share with him. First, she was able to hear God clearly.  Then she obeyed. She didn’t have to do that. She could have shrugged it off, thinking this was a man’s job and she wasn’t getting involved, or that Barak needed to hear God for himself. But she was God’s messenger and vessel of truth. When Barak held back in fear, she even willingly put her own life on the line to fight the enemy. Deborah wasn’t afraid. She was a woman of great faith, a true inspiration to us all.

Remember the next time you are facing a spiritual battle, to take some time to pray to hear God’s voice – His instructions, His specific word for that situation. Pull away a few minutes to listen to Him. Then fully obey Him – and you will see the enemy destroyed!  You will have the victory in Christ, just as Deborah, Barak, Jael, and the army of Israel did!

© 2011 Beth Jones
http://www.bethjones.net
elizabethdjones@gmail.com

Did you enjoy this article? Sign up for Beth’s personal mailing list at http://www.bethjones.net to receive updates on her new ebook that she is writing on Deborah, Jael, and women and spiritual warfare, The Hands Of A Woman: Everyday Women in Everyday Battles. Eight women are contributing their stories of their struggles, problems, and spiritual battles in this ebook, and it’s going to be great, so don’t miss out. 

 I am blessed to be one of the 8 women who have contributed to Beth’s soon to be released book.  I am sharing our story of Seth’s birth, his first open-heart surgery, and the miracles we witnessed.  Next week, I will be sharing a little of what I wrote for this very powerful book. 

In His Love,

Kimberly

(Last week, I shared with those of you on my Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/KimberlyEhlers) how blessed I was by an amazing webinar given by Beth Jones of www.bethjones.net.  It was called, Iron Sharpens Iron: Women in Spiritual Warfare.  As mothers of children with serious illnesses, we know that we are in a battle.  Beth’s webinar was eye opening and encouraging.  I couldn’t help but wish you, my readers, would have been there to hear her message.  We are so blessed to have Beth gives us a taste of her webinar through a two part article series.  I encourage you to take a minute to sign up for her ezine so that you can be kept up to date on her webinars and be encouraged by her passion and trust in God.  Now, onto Beth’s article, be blessed, my friends! Love, Kimberly)

Do you have a hero or heroine in the Bible? Maybe Abraham, Moses, King David, Esther, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene?  One of mine is Deborah, the judge and prophetess in Judges Chapter 4. This was a strong, bold, faith-filled woman. I like her style!  

Deborah stands out among women in the Bible because she went to war, something that usually only the men at that time did. The women stayed home to take care of the children, to manage the household, to make weapons and supplies for the army, and to pray. 

But Deborah was different.  She was a warrior who trusted in her God and heard His voice clearly.  In fact, if it wasn’t for Deborah, Israel might not ever have had victory over their enemy, who had been oppressing the Israel people for 20 years! 

Basically what happened in this story is this:  Deborah was a judge and a prophetess for Israel. She judged legal matters of the people near a palm tree called the “palm of Deborah.”  As Deborah was praying, she heard God’s voice give her some specific instructions for Barak, the leader of Israel’s army. 

He was to take 10,000 men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. God would lead Sisera, the commander of the enemy Jabin’s army with his 900 chariots and troops, to the Kishon River and defeat him there.   

But Barak was afraid, and he asked Deborah to go with him. She agreed, but told him because he had asked this (in fear), that the honor of the battle would go to a woman. She was referring to Jael, a stay-at-home mom who later would drive a tent peg with a hammer through Sisera’s skull when he came to her tent and fell asleep, after he ran away from the battle on foot. 

Everything happened just as God and Deborah had said. Barak took Naphtali and Zebulun’s 10,000 men, with Deborah, up to Mount Tabor. When Sisera was told that the Israel army was at Mount Tabor, Sisera summoned all his men and 900 iron chariots, and they meet. 

Now look at what Deborah does. She begins to prophesy the word of the Lord in the heat of the battle! It’s very important that we speak God’s word with faith – not negative and pessimistic words that are full of unbelief, fear, and doubt. Our tongues have the power to speak life or death, blessing or cursing. 

Begin to speak the word of God in your circumstances today. “Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” 

Dear friend, don’t you realize that God has gone out before you to do battle on your behalf? You don’t have to be afraid. You can trust God for whatever you are facing today!  God is bigger than your circumstances. God is bigger than that frightening enemy!  

After Deborah begins to speak forth God’s anointed word in confident faith in the midst of the battle, God and the Israel army surrounded Sisera and all his chariots, and defeated them! 

Not a single man was left, except Sisera, who ran away on foot away from the battle – something no leader should ever do. After Jael invited Sisera into her tent and gave him milk, promising not to tell anyone he was in there, she got the tent peg and the hammer, and drove it through his skull, killing him. Jael, a woman, had won the final victory for Israel, just as Deborah had prophesied! The enemy was destroyed! 

It all started with Deborah hearing God’s word in prayer. In this life, we as Christians inevitably will face problems, struggles, stress, spiritual battles. We can’t handle these things on our own, in our power and our strength. We desperately need God! 

God will help us to obtain the victory. But first we have to listen for His voice to get His instructions. To hear His battle plans and strategies!  How do we do that? 

Beth is a dear, sweat friend to me.  She and I have a lot in common.   One  thing being our love of Deborah.  My Messy Motives Bundle was based on my own inspiration from Deborah.  At the end of the battle Beth described, Deborah sang praise to God.  She also said that may those who love the LORD shine like the sun at full force.  Sadly, our motives for wanting God in our lives can interfere with being able to shine for him – and having sick children can easily take us down wrong-way roads like Happy Trails Route or Road to Self-Destruction.  Those roads lead us to Messy Motives.  To read more about these roads go to an old article of mine – http://kimberlyehlers.com/?p=335  .  Like to know how you can shine for God even now, during your storm?  I’ve got just the article for you!

Happy New Year!

This may have been one of your hardest years or it may have been a year of miracles, either way, 2010 is coming to an end. 

Some people are happy to see the old year go, ready for the promise of a new start.  Others are afraid of what new hardship this year may bring.  I don’t know where you are right now, but God does.  He’s looking ahead to your new year – a special year that’s just for you.  No one else will do the things you do, love the same people you love, feel the things you feel, and have the same gifts.  His plans for your 2011 are as unique as you.

That’s why I love what my friend, Beth Jones, shared in her newsletter (which I highly recommend to any woman wanting a closer relationship with God – signing up at her site is easy to do).  The Christian radio station KLOVE is encouraging people to ask God to give them a word (maybe your word is actually a sentence) for their new year.  This word He gives you is not a resolution, but it’s a focus, a dream for what He wants for your year.  I feel He’s leading me to a couple of words, actually, and will continue to pray about it.  The first word for me is “balance” – balancing my relationships, our homeschool, my work, and care of our home.  The other comes from Mary Kane’s newest Take 5!, and it’s “pray often”.  I love the vision of a year where I am often in prayer.  It looks peaceful, yet adventurous – who knows what our God may ask of us!  I see stress lessening and joy strengthening.  Then there’s how much deeper my faith, and relationship with God can grow.  Yes, I like this word “pray often” .

Mary Kane of www.onlybyprayer.com

I hope that Mary’s devotion encourages you as much as it did me. 

Take 5! Pray Often!

Here’s to a 2011 that sees us all praying often!

In His Love,

Kimberly

Looking for daily encouragement and contact with other parents like you?  Join me at my Facebook Page http://on.fb.me/ehOFcp or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlyehlers .  You’ll find inspirational quotes and Scripture, PLUS freebies not offered here !