Monthly Archives: May 2016

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THEY SHALL RISE UP AND CALL HER BLESSED

(A Mother's Love Expressed and A Young Man's Journey)

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28 “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:”
29 “Many women have done excellent but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 31:28,30,31 ESV)

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I wrote “They Shall Rise Up and Call Her Blessed” Poem below, February 2009.  Shane would soon turn 19, not knowing what life would bring him. We had seen 9 of his friends die of drug related overdoses, and Shane was on chemicals himself. However, in December 2009 Shane came to know the Lord as his personal Savior.

Shane has been drug-free now for 5 years. He will turn 26 on May 18th, 2016.  This blog article is one way to praise God in celebration of another year of Shane’s life. Happy Birthday Shane!

My son loves poetry. The year Shane was in his senior year of high school I wrote this poem for him. After his graduation in June we moved to Tennessee, leaving him in Pennsylvania, where he would finally be making all his own choices. Leaving him behind was tough love and it hurt. It was like my life, as a mom would be ending. I was releasing my son to God to do with Him what he wanted. (more…)

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DOES LIVING OUT THE GOSPEL BRING TENSION?

2 things I practiced in Crossing Cultures

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Mark 4:26-28a:  “He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—…” (NIV)   

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As a disciple of Jesus I am His witness, a mission worker, a church planter, a mother of four, a wife and later a grandmother. I have had to learn to live out the Gospel in all these areas which often causes tension. I also have had to learn to live in another culture all at the same time.

How about you? Do you experience tension living out the Gospel in the many roles God has assigned you?    

While still in college, Jim and I married when I was 21. As we were raising support to serve overseas, one of our co-workers asked me:

“What do you have to offer the Filipino’s: what skills or talents do you have, Sterling?  What are your passions?”

“UHHHHH, I like people, I love Jesus, I can teach them to type?”  (At that time there weren’t laptops). “I have a minor in Secretarial! So I know how to type,” I responded sheepishly.

“Can you sing or play the piano?” he asked.“Uhhh!  No!”  I said. This really bothered me. Just what could I offer the Filipino people?

Before I married Jim, I thought I couldn’t be a good pastor’s wife because I couldn’t sing or play the piano.

In response, God gave me I Thessalonians 5:24, “Faithful is he that calls you, that will also do it.” I then dedicated my life to serving God full-time, and was later called to missions.  

After arriving in the Philippines, we asked ourselves: “How do we penetrate the soil in order to share the seeds of Christ, the Gospel, and have it bear fruit?” In the meantime, I found out I was pregnant with our first child, thus adding “mother” to the list of what I was called to be..

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