Did you know that your prayers have no expiration date? Seriously, your prayers will long out-live you. Isn’t that good to know?

As we pray for needs of our friends and loved ones, our prayers will cover them long after we are gone. As we pray for those yet-unborn grandchildren and great-grandchildren, which we may never meet, our prayers will still cover them. As we pray for their love and dedication to the Lord, our prayers will still cover them. As we pray for their faithfulness, purity and sexual morality, our prayers will still cover them. As we pray for their future spouses and children, our prayers will still cover them.

I find that such an encouragement that I can, and do, pray for my family for generations to come, people that I will never meet, who will likely not even know my name, but my prayers already cover them and will for generations to come BECAUSE MY PRAYERS HAVE NO EXPIRATION DATE.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. KJV James 5:16
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. NIV James 5:16

Get praying… your prayers will be effective years after you are in glory.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.

As I read the Psalms of David I am always awed by his brutal honesty. I know I can often come to the Lord with flowery words, “Christianese” and words that must resound with “blah, blah, blah” in the Lord’s ears. I can hear the Lord say to me, “Kathy, would you just be honest already”? Why is it we feel that we can’t be as brutally honest as David? When was the last time you really let God know what was going on in your heart? Why do you and I hesitate? If David’s words have been written and left for us as an example and an encouragement perhaps we need to model some of David’s expressions of gut honest truth. While we respect God and who He is we are also encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy. Not only is David honest about himself but he is honest about who his God is. Remembering the truth of who God is becomes how our hearts will transition from brutal honesty to honest praise. Would you be willing to be so bold, so honest with the Lord today?

Blessings,
Kathy

Kathy’s on staff at America’s Keswick in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 28 years.  They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local Church and has taught Sunday school and Bible studies for women. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

Part Two

Ruth & Naomi are good examples of what a godly mentor can be. A mother-in-law who loves the Lord and follows Him will be the best role model a daughter-in-love will ever have.

Mentoring happens all around us every day. Mentoring is a process of opening and sharing our lives with another woman for the purpose of helping her grow spiritually and emotionally Mentoring does not mean controlling their lives. It means, “How can I help you?”.

Mentors invest in others as Christ’s ambassadors, one life at a time. They do not have to be perfect or have all the answers. They do need to take the risk to get involved in someone’s life to encourage them to trust the Lord with all areas of their lives.

Jesus, our master, mentor, is involved in our lives. He feels our pains and knows our joys. As mentors, we are not taking the place of Jesus, but we can share our story that God is orchestrating in our lives. Our journey is not always smooth, in fact, expect suffering in this world. But, in our suffering we can glorify our Heavenly Father while we share with the woman/women God brings into our lives. Remember this, “God makes no mistakes”!!

We all have gone through many changes: possibly a career change, marriage, have children/grandchildren, menopause, retired, suffered an illness, grieving the death of a loved one, and the list goes on.

Maybe you have experienced being new to a group and not knowing where you fit in. The Lord brings mentors into our lives to help us connect, and then uses us to mentor others. Be intentional and watch for the women who need our help and put your heart out there to minister to them.

With every change we go through and every experience we have, the Lord prepares us to be mentors and gives us an opportunity to share God’s love for them.

You may be the only one who speaks into their lives about Jesus!!!!

Blessings,
Pat Spies
A Servant of the Lord and a Friend of Keswick

On behalf of America’s Keswick, have a blessed Independance Day! Praise God for our freedom and most of all our freedom through HIM.

Part One

I’ve recently read through the Book of Ruth again, and have seen more of the excellence of Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Out of loyalty to Naomi Ruth returns to Bethlehem with her rather than remain with her own family and friends in Moab.

A little background:
Ruth – a woman of excellence (A Moabite woman);
Naomi – (A Judean Woman) who tasted the cup of bitterness; yet a godly role model to her two daughters-in-law.

Naomi’s husband, Eliminech, took his family to Moab from Bethlehem because of the famine in the land. Naomi’s husband dies in Moab. Naomi is left with her two sons, Mahlon & Chilion. Her sons married Moabite women: Ruth & Orpah.

So what does this have to do with Mentoring? Plenty!

As we ponder on these words that Ruth speaks to Naomi it can only tell us how much she loved and respected her mother-in-law. My personal opinion is that Naomi was a godly mentor to Ruth and Orpah.

Chapter 1:16 “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you: for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Verse 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me….”.Wow! So, mentoring has plenty to do with Ruth being mentored by Naomi: Ruth saw God in Naomi! Ladies, it is my prayer that whoever God places in my journey that they will see Jesus in me. This doesn’t mean perfection or any legalistic belief system, but it does mean that they see my faith in God in the hard times and the not so hard times. And, there will be suffering on your journey: we live in a fallen world. I thank God for the women who’ve mentored me and for the women God has entrusted with me.

See tomorrow for Part Two on Mentoring!
Blessings,
Pat Spies

A Servant of the Lord, and a friend of Keswick

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. Ps 131:2

Life is full of opportunities to worry. Life is busy and laden with distractions and temptations to fear, like: waiting to hear from a doctor, the state of the economy, world conditions, loved ones making poor choices, inflation, unemployment, unexpected loss, etc.

Left untamed we could make choices and decisions to move things along at our pace rather than God’s, or worse — be dragged down into the quicksand of worry, anxiety, fear or depression.

I love the sentiment in our verse for today, “But I have calmed and quieted my soul…” That sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Sometimes it is easier than others. Regardless of your personality, there will be times when your serenity will be threatened.

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul…” You will notice it is intentional, a choice to calm and quiet our soul. Oh, I have surely been an absolute failure at this; I have tried but calming did not follow. But over my 31 years as a Christ-follower, the Lord has taught me much about Himself. I have grown to deeply appreciate His sovereign rule in our universe. God’s sovereignty is one of the attributes of God that has done more to calm my soul than just about any other attribute. He is in control. Nothing can or will happen that He has not directly caused or indirectly allowed.

“If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God.” R.C. Sproul

How do you calm and quiet your soul? Stop and consciously allow the presence of God to remind you that He has everything in control and that He is good. He is the creator and sustainer of the heavens and the earth. Do not try to face tomorrow’s problems today; each day has enough of its own problems. His grace is sufficient for whatever lies ahead, you cannot store it up and you can’t get an advance. Rest in your personal knowledge of and relationship with the One True God. Calm and quiet your soul in HIM.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.
Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/23-great-r-c-sproul-quotes/#ixzz35Sz8iSb6

In memory of my step-daughter, Mindy – who passed from her earthly tent into His presence, June 20th. She was courageous in life and victorious in death.

So what do you do when the phone rings in the wee hours of the morning and the unwanted news of the death of a beloved family member comes to pass?

It was expected but still a surprise.

My first reaction was to pray.

Wasn’t it just yesterday I prayed for dying grace for her? By all appearances, God answered that prayer.

All the platitudes and clichés came to mind. We tried not to utter them.

To ease the pain we shared memories that flooded our minds. We laughed at some of the funny things she did. We recalled our recent visit that God brought to pass in His perfect timing.

Already God was answering my very first prayer after her death. God was giving us LIVING GRACE. He was bringing comfort and joy in the midst of the sorrow. He was bringing laughter amid the tears.

So what do you do when the news comes? You pray for living grace. We are so grateful for grace.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.

Recently, my husband and I spent three weeks in Alaska. We visited our long-time friends who are missionaries in Alaska. Six years ago we were blessed to drive from New Jersey to Alaska to assist our friends to reach their destination to start their work there. The bonding of friendships in the Lord is priceless. We thank God for these friends who have been faithful to the calling. We once served together in our former home church, and had sweet fellowship.

I want to share some of the highlights of our trip. We traveled over 2,000 miles touring Alaska. We did visit Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s hometown, and just as I expected a small rustic town with very friendly people.

The mountains that surround Alaska are imbedded in my head. They are more than magnificent: meaning “No Words can describe them”. We’ve taken hundreds of pictures but they can’t show what the eye has seen. The highways are none like you’ve ever seen, unless you’ve seen them. No traffic except for Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wasilla and even there it’s not how it is in NJ. We saw glaciers, avalanches, moose, bear, and many other wild animals.

I want to share my heart as to what God did as we visited an elderly couple who live in a cabin in a remote area. After traveling a few hours our friends asked if we’d like to meet this retired missionary couple. I answered with a half- hearted “Yes, ok”, but my heart was not in this visit. I was tired and peopled out. Since I am, or at least I think I am, a people person this was unlike something I’d feel. Well, unbeknown to me when we met this sweet godly couple I was overwhelmed with joy: Joy unspeakable! They lived a very simple life in a cabin with the absolute bare necessities. Oh, they did have running water. They were very hospitable and gave us cookies and tea. The best tea and cookies I ever had because they delighted that we stopped to see them. Oh, God forgive me for my “ME” attitude. This godly couple moved to Alaska in 1957 and served the Natives in the bush until retiring a few years ago. They told of stories we were all blessed to hear. Lord, help me not to complain: These people were content and full of joy in their lives and it’s all because of Jesus.

It is my prayer that I in some way impacted lives because of all Jesus has done for me.
All glory and praise to God….It’s not about “ME”: it’s about HIM.

Blessings,
Pat Spies
A servant of the Lord and a friend of Keswick

As we close out the month of June 2014, I praise the Lord and acknowledge Him for giving us nine years of Victory Call devotionals! Let’s see, that’s roughly 2,421 devotionals, multiply that by roughly 300 words each, which brings us to 726,300 words total. That’s a lot of heart-felt words poured out for the encouragement and edification of your lives and ours too. The following is a re-publication of our first Victory Call. Thank you for letting us speak into your lives. By God’s grace we will continue to share our hearts, lives, and most importantly God’s Word.
Blessings,
Diane

I religiously make time in my day to sit and watch my exercise videos. I have a whole collection of them. The odd thing is I haven’t lost a pound yet! I am kidding of course, but isn’t that what we often do with Scripture? We read it as if that in and of itself is enough. Yet we fail to get up and do it. This devotional can fall into the same category. If you faithfully read it but fail to implement what God reveals to you, then you are only deceiving yourself.

James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Your challenge for today, should you chose to accept it, is to consider how seriously you want to live victoriously, and if you will commit to actively engage yourself in the process of change through being a doer not just a hearer.

You’d be surprised what a little chamomile and honey can do. Maybe it’s not the chamomile and honey but the friend who brews it, brings it, and sits with you in the dark. Have you ever been in the dark in the middle of the day? I have; it’s not on anyone’s Top 10 places to stay, I can assure of that. As a matter of fact, it’s on my Top 10 places to stay out of if I can help it. This week I went there unknowingly (God knew). It’s probably better that I didn’t know because I would have given the Lord my Top 10 reasons why He should probably send someone else. You know, someone better equipped. Then of course there’s Ephesians 4:11-12*

I sure am glad someone was equipped to do that for me, more than once. I remember what Chaplain Jim Freed says about counseling the men in the Colony, “Sometimes you have to into a dark place with a man and lead him back out.” God and I went in there and guess what, we got her out! I’m glad I didn’t miss the blessing. I’m also glad I was sensitive to His leading.

*And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),… (Ephesians 4:11-12, AMP)

Dina Seaton

A friend of the ministry went home to be with the Lord last fall, leaving his wife of thirty some years behind and feeling as though an appendage was missing or worse. I remember not long before that I’d asked him if they’d be returning the following summer as they had for the last twenty-five plus. His answer wasn’t the one I expected; “I’m not sure, we may, but then again, all good things must come to an end.” That it did. His wife returned and although she deeply grieves, she deeply trusts that when God returns He will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Dina Seaton