Is God Stripping You?

You are probably wondering, what in the world is this.  Well I had begun tearing down the wallpaper in the bathroom months ago.  Each time I had a moment I would go tear off another little strip.  I wasn't making much progress getting it down.  It is a big bathroom. So while it was snowing yesterday I had a goal.....work on the wallpaper.  What better time to do it since I certainly couldn't budge out of my house.
So, yesterday morning I decided to get going on it.
I was up and down the ladder, bending and stuping, squatting and reaching.  I knew if I stopped to rest I would not get back to it so I persevered....for five hours.  Now that might not sound like much to you whipper snappers but for someone my age....it was a great achievement.  I was poohed afterwards.
I have just a little bit left to do and the walls will be stripped.  My goal is to complete the job while snowed in.  Then I can call my friend Sheila to complete the job with a fresh coat of paint.  Mind you I am also cleaning as I go so when it is completed it will fresh and clean.  No more wallpaper goes up on that wall...it was too difficult a process to remove.  Maybe we should think about that when He removes our stuff, not to allow it to stick to us again cause He will use whatever it takes to remove it permanently.
I got to thinking about the stripping God does on us as we allow Him.  Some things come off easily in long even strips and some areas take tedious work little by little, piece by piece.  Somethings seem to be glued on to stay or maybe we hold fast to them.  Thankfully He doesn't stop and start like I did.  He steadily works to strip us of pride, control, addictions, selfishness, disobedience, just to name a few.
Sometimes we want to hold on to the strongholds He wants to strip and it takes a stronger hand to totally release it in our lives.  The stripping at these times may be a long hard process.  I am so glad God loved me enough to begin the stripping process so long ago in my life.
I love the passage in Joel 2:25, "And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten, the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you."
One day as I was reading that the part that says, "that I sent among you" just blew me away.  He did the stripping, He sent the locust.  But with that passage comes the promise that He will one day restore what the locust took.  The stripping may be painful at the time but the restoring....man is that joyous.
So worth the stripping process to be washed as white as snow.  Learn to let go of those things He is trying to strip away.  It is for your good and one day you will look back and know that it was worth it.

Coming Full Circle

Don't you just love it when God prepares that special favor for you!  That occurred for me with my very special gal friends getaway this past weekend.  We got away for some much needed time together and with the Lord.  We had been for a walk on Saturday morning and were discussing our plans for the day.  Would we just stay in and read, visit, and walk or should we venture out?
About that time a neighbor stopped by while walking her dog.  We chatted a while and then "out of the blue" she said, "Ya'll want to go to a shop close by today for fun?"  She began to describe the shop where she and some other artist had some items on display.  We decided that that is exactly what we wanted to do.
We traveled to the shop and enjoyed looking at all the art and jewelry and even went to a Thrift Store across the street where I found a wonderful old book by Wesley Duewell on prayer.  After that adventure my friend Debbie said, "Lets go to the World Village Store in Montreat."
We were enjoying the shop with all the art from all over the world when we all congregated to the back where the clearance items were.  Debbie looked up and said," Wow, Ms Kearns look at that."  It was the art piece you see at the top of the page.  I was blown away.  Months before I had been to that same shop and bought a single dove for our office.  At the time I was there the sales clerk spoke of the covey of doves that they were going to get in soon.  I longed to see it and here I stood gazing at this beautiful creation and to top it off it was in the clearance room.
At the time they were also giving 20% off your purchase if you donated a small amount to a charity in the area.  It was not to apply on a sale item, but here again the favor came when the manager said, "Oh, I think we can arrange for you to have the discount."  Wow.  At that point I knew God had arranged for me to take this art home with me.
My friend Cathy said, "I believe you have some full circle."  The piece is in a circle and it is not just one dove but several.  She also reminded me of the newspaper article that was written from my perspective years later after our son's picture had been in the paper after his arrest.  Things had come full circle once again when Henry Blackaby who prayed that this Mother would not give up, was prayed for when he was disoriented and could not be found, by this very son he had prayed for years before.
Wow, this piece is very significant in my walk and hopefully will open many doors to express how God brought me through the very hard times as people see it to bring them hope and encouragement.  Thank you Lord for that very first dove that came to minister to my hurting heart those years ago when I was ready to give up.  May I never forget Your faithfulness to use my pain for Your Glory.  You amaze me!!

I realized that we did not have any pictures of our new office on the Blog Site so we have posted them for you to see.  The bottom one is our prayer room which is open Tues.-Thurs. 10:00-2:00.  Come pray!

Do You Love God With All You Have?

                                                          

“Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!” Deuteronomy 6:5 (The Message)

In February we tend to focus on ways to express love to our sweethearts, family and friends as the valentine cards, candy, and gifts start to flow.  Almost 44 years ago my husband and I were married on Valentine’s Day.  I thought it was so romantic and would help my husband to always remember our anniversary!  I would be upset if he didn’t express his love on that special day, but it is also important that we show our love to each other on a daily basis. 

This year as I read this passage about loving God, I began to wonder what our expression of love to our Abba Father might look like. How do I show Him that I love Him every day?  What can we give Him as an expression of our love?  Here are some ideas:

·         Get to know Him as we pray and read His Word

·         Verbal expressions of Thanksgiving and Praise

·         Service to Him as we minister to others in His name

·         Striving for holiness as He is Holy

·         Share His Love with others

·         Obedience to his direction

·         Worship Him corporately and individually

·         Spend time with Him daily

·         If you haven’t done so yet – give Him your heart

Let’s ask him to show us new ways to express our love to Him this year and then act on it.  Add to this list and commit to loving Him with all that’s in you.  After you make your list post it close to your quiet place where you meet with Him as a reminder ways to express your love to Him daily.   He is worthy of our love and praise.  What better way has He shown us His amazing love than when He took our place upon the tree?  Love Him with your whole heart.

Sandra

Day Retreat

Day Retreat!  February 8,2014

At the On Wings Office – 10:00am to 3:00 we are having a Day Retreat with Chris Pritchard speaking on the Re-Entry Process. You may register by emailing Sandra@onwingslikeadove.com or
calling 336-972-4213.  If you will be faced with this issue soon it will certainly help you.  If you just want to gain the education to help others in their process, you are welcome.  Lunch will be provided.

My Son's visit at the Youth Detention Center

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth.” 3 John 1:4
Last month, several volunteers from OWLAD were privileged to go to our local youth detention center. We had been the month before and because another group could not go in October, we were offered the chance again.
Since I don’t believe in coincidences, I know God orchestrated this time of sharing with these youth. The reason I say this is that our son, Rob, agreed to go and share with the residents. They ranged in age from 12 to 16 years old. So sad to see them making destructive life changing choices at such an early age. Some were in for murder. Oh how early the enemy grabs the young, once innocent, souls.
We shared from Luke 15 about the prodigal son and how he left home and ended up in the pig pen before heading back home. Rob shared his journey as a prodigal. He urged them not to travel down the same path he did. He shared about having to go to prison and that it is definitely not a party or a party time. He is often able to discern from their attitude and stance whether they are going to make positive changes or be right back on the street. This time he noticed a young man who was very attentive and asking questions. He spent some time talking with him alone, encouraging him to return to his studies and his involvement with football. He also encouraged him to avoid activities with old friends. This young man seemed to engage with what was shared and showed promise of turning his life around.
Next, one of our mothers shared from her heart about both her daughters who had served time. She continues to pray for one daughter who has not come home. Afterwards, we were able to sit down and share with the youth one on one.
After talking more with Rob, two of the guys wanted to pray to re-ceive Christ and others rededicated their life in answer to our prayers. We were so grateful for the chance to share God’s love with those young people. We pray it will make an impact and that they will begin to make wiser choices. Hopefully, they will think about what they heard and it will be a deterrent in the future.
We literally had to drag Rob out as he continued to warn the kids and encourage them to change their direction before it led to prison. Maybe he is beginning to realize God’s call on his life. He displayed a tender caring heart and the kids seemed to respond well to his sharing.
You have that same opportunity to share with those who you live with day in and day out. Your life can speak volumes as you live Christ in front of them. Share your testimony as the opportunity arises or you can share God’s Word, or

Face To Face with the Enemy

Face to Face with the Enemy
Seven years ago God called me into ministry to prodigals and their families with the passage in Isaiah 42: 6-7, “I, the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gen-tiles [Prodigals], to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.”
Because God is setting prison-ers (captives) free our minis-try has faced opposition from the enemy in his attempts to either bring us down or to bring confusion. We pray of-ten for God’s wisdom and dis-cernment as God directs our steps. We have sixty some prayer partners that have covenanted to hold us up with warfare prayers. We covet your prayers also as we also intercede for you and your family. Many of you have said you pray for us and we thank you.
I am such a visual learner so recently as my husband and I turned off the major highway and rounded the curve we came face to face with a coy-ote (wolf), to me they are the same. He was huge and stood in the median staring our way. It was unnerving! I thought, oh man, this is very signifi-cant.
Don’t we wish we could ‘see’ our enemy all the time from a protected viewpoint, like an armored car? Well we can’t always see the enemy so we have to stay in the Word and not be ignorant of the tactics of the enemy. We need to be prepared to face our enemy. We will share more about that in the Application.
The next morning I opened the Word straight to Mat-thew 10:16, “Lo, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent--harmless and without falsity--as doves.” A wolf here was used to describe false proph-ets who persecute the true sheep and seek to destroy the church or a ministry.
If we are a child of God we are His sheep and He, as our Shepherd, protects us. The Shepherd tends, keeps, guards, and guides us as our Good Shepherd. I know this visual He gave me was meant to make me more aware that the enemy is prowling around seeking who he may devour, but He also provided His pro-tection in the safety of my car.
Just like my surprise at com-ing face to face with the coy-ote we can all come around the bend and find ourselves face to face with the enemy. That is why preparation and intercession keeps us ready for the daily battles that come our way. Are you pre-paring?
Application:
1. Are you daily applying the armor as described in Ephesians 6? The ene-mies fiery darts come before you step your foot on the floor, so apply it before you get out of bed.
2. Are you starting your day in His Word? He will lead you to a passage that pre-pares you for what you may face that day. Don’t neglect meeting with Him.
3. Are you letting the enemy come in and bring you discouragement or are you speaking a word of rebuke in Jesus name?
4. Are you falling to tempta-tions that come your way? Hide His Word in your heart and speak it when temptations come. Sin in your life needs to go. You cannot do battle with the enemy when you are half-way in his camp. Your life must be striving towards holiness.