LifeCare Christian Center
presents
"The Call to Care" LIVE Training!
On May 28-30, LifeCare will be filming a live training, and you are invited to attend. If you have thought about learning or developing stronger leadership skills as a Care & Support group leader or growing in a supportive role in a ministry of care, either for yourself or your team, then this training is for you and your team.
If you have ever wondered about starting a Care & Support Ministry, you won't want to miss this opportunity.
On Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 pm, LifeCare will begin with a short time of worship followed by the live filming of "The Call to Care: Developing Care & Support Ministries in the Local Church".
This 2-1/2-hour, Thurs. evening training is FREE!
Friday, May 29, starting at 6:30 pm, we will film
"The Call to Care: Volunteer Training".
This training will continue Saturday morning 9:15 am through 3:30/4pm.
The cost for this 2-day (Fri-Sat) event has been reduced to $40 per person.
In this training, you will learn:
-what a care & support ministry is and what it can offer
-effective leadership skills
-valuable skills related to caring for the emotional/ physical/ relational needs of others
-practical skills for genuine discipleship
-and much more.
The training will be conducted by the Founder/ Director of LifeCare Christian Center,
Lillian Easterly-Smith.
Please contact LifeCare at Info.LifeCareCC@gmail.com or
(734) 961-7950 to reserve your seat.
LifeCare meets at ROC Church, 16115 Beck Rd. (btw. 5 & 6 Mile), Northville.
Sanctuary Entrance.
We look forward to seeing you there.
In His Service,
The LifeCare Team
LifeCare Christian Center
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
God's Garden in the Troubles of this Life
This morning I stayed in bed...overwhelmed with some aspects of my life that are very troubling and discouraging to me. I spent two hours thinking and thinking...hoping to fall asleep again...but continuing to think and pray...seeking God's perspective. Wearily singing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" brought me to tears.
Many things ahead in this day will require me to be refreshed and renewed to be able to care for others, listen to the pain in others' hearts, and be able to be real with people in, hopefully, hopeful ways. But this life is hard, and I just want to run away. Faced with some "Why me?" questions in myself, I began to pray that my tears would not remain tears of self-pity. I know God is planting seeds in me, and in each member of my family, and in those around me. My prayer is that my tears would, instead, water God's beautiful, wonderfully-planned garden. He has a plan for me for good and not for calamity (Jeremiah 19.11). Digging up fallow ground in my life and pulling out the weeds prepares me for His seeds, but digging up the fallow ground and pulling weeds in those nearby also disturbs my own safe, secure space. Once the seeds go in the ground, then the rain comes...
Listen to these words from a song by Third Day called "When the Rain Comes":
When the rain comes
it seems that everyone has gone away
When the night falls
you wonder if you shouldn't find someplace
To run and hide
Escape the pain
But hiding's such a lonely thing to do
I can't stop the rain
From falling down on you again
I can't stop the rain
But I will hold you 'til it goes away
When the rain comes
you blame it on the things that you have done
When the storm fades
you know that rain must fall on everyone
Rest awhile
it'll be alright
No one loves you like I do
When the rain comes
I will hold you"
Eventually, there will be beautiful fruit from those well-prepared and well-nourished seeds. For now, I will rest in the "Power of Your Love"...check it out by Rebecca St. James:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8LWGyuyny4
"Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I've found in You
And Lord I've come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your spirit leads me on
By the Power of Your love
Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see you face to face
The knowledge of Your love
As you live in me
And Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the Power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
By the power of Your love"
Many things ahead in this day will require me to be refreshed and renewed to be able to care for others, listen to the pain in others' hearts, and be able to be real with people in, hopefully, hopeful ways. But this life is hard, and I just want to run away. Faced with some "Why me?" questions in myself, I began to pray that my tears would not remain tears of self-pity. I know God is planting seeds in me, and in each member of my family, and in those around me. My prayer is that my tears would, instead, water God's beautiful, wonderfully-planned garden. He has a plan for me for good and not for calamity (Jeremiah 19.11). Digging up fallow ground in my life and pulling out the weeds prepares me for His seeds, but digging up the fallow ground and pulling weeds in those nearby also disturbs my own safe, secure space. Once the seeds go in the ground, then the rain comes...
Listen to these words from a song by Third Day called "When the Rain Comes":
When the rain comes
it seems that everyone has gone away
When the night falls
you wonder if you shouldn't find someplace
To run and hide
Escape the pain
But hiding's such a lonely thing to do
I can't stop the rain
From falling down on you again
I can't stop the rain
But I will hold you 'til it goes away
When the rain comes
you blame it on the things that you have done
When the storm fades
you know that rain must fall on everyone
Rest awhile
it'll be alright
No one loves you like I do
When the rain comes
I will hold you"
Eventually, there will be beautiful fruit from those well-prepared and well-nourished seeds. For now, I will rest in the "Power of Your Love"...check it out by Rebecca St. James:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8LWGyuyny4
"Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I've found in You
And Lord I've come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your spirit leads me on
By the Power of Your love
Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see you face to face
The knowledge of Your love
As you live in me
And Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the Power of Your love
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
By the power of Your love"
Friday, May 1, 2009
Misunderstanding God: The Deception of Success
Hannah Hurnard has been on my mind occasionally. Actually, since I read her first book, Hinds' Feet on High Places, a few years back, and then did some research on her life, I've been troubled by something. Her book, Hinds' Feet, (which has been on the best-seller list since it came out in 1955) is a beautiful allegory describing her amazing understanding of who God is and His relationship with us. This is one of my favorite books.
Unfortunately, her later books reveal that she moved more and more deeply into New Age thinking. What troubled me was how someone with such a beautiful understanding of God could become so deceived. Today, I finally just sat down and asked God, in general, about how someone can know Him so well and then become so deceived.
Various kings, who became deceived, came to mind.
Solomon: "...the Lord his God was with him and made him very powerful." By the end of his life, his wealth and prosperity allowed him to have anything he wanted...including wives that God told him not to marry..."they led his heart away from the Lord...they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting in the Lord his God." "Then the Lord raised up...an enemy against Solomon." (2 Chronicles, 1.1; 1 Kings 11.3-4, 14)
"[Uzziah] did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight.... And as long as the king sought the Lord, God gave him success." "...the Lord helped him wonderfully until he became very powerful. But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall." (2 Chronicles 26.4-5, 15-16)
They began to rest in their success, forgetting God, and God took His favor away. It is in our nature to trust in ourselves, but it seems like the deception of success is one thing that can more prominantly cause us to trust in ourselves.
Romans 1.18-24 says, "But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. ...So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols.... So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired."
I don't know what it was that caused Hannah Hurnard to develop skewed and heretic views of God, but I do know we have an enemy who is seeking to deceive us ("Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5.8). Protect your heart, your mind, your life by remembering to keep your heart turned toward the true GOD. Know God's Word, worship Him and thank Him, as you surround yourself with solid believers who will remind you of the Truth.
Unfortunately, her later books reveal that she moved more and more deeply into New Age thinking. What troubled me was how someone with such a beautiful understanding of God could become so deceived. Today, I finally just sat down and asked God, in general, about how someone can know Him so well and then become so deceived.
Various kings, who became deceived, came to mind.
Solomon: "...the Lord his God was with him and made him very powerful." By the end of his life, his wealth and prosperity allowed him to have anything he wanted...including wives that God told him not to marry..."they led his heart away from the Lord...they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting in the Lord his God." "Then the Lord raised up...an enemy against Solomon." (2 Chronicles, 1.1; 1 Kings 11.3-4, 14)
"[Uzziah] did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight.... And as long as the king sought the Lord, God gave him success." "...the Lord helped him wonderfully until he became very powerful. But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall." (2 Chronicles 26.4-5, 15-16)
They began to rest in their success, forgetting God, and God took His favor away. It is in our nature to trust in ourselves, but it seems like the deception of success is one thing that can more prominantly cause us to trust in ourselves.
Romans 1.18-24 says, "But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. ...So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols.... So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired."
I don't know what it was that caused Hannah Hurnard to develop skewed and heretic views of God, but I do know we have an enemy who is seeking to deceive us ("Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5.8). Protect your heart, your mind, your life by remembering to keep your heart turned toward the true GOD. Know God's Word, worship Him and thank Him, as you surround yourself with solid believers who will remind you of the Truth.
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