On The Journey, Judy Bowman
“Risk your heart”
I’ve been blessed with a very good friend whom I love dearly and who never fails to build up my faith and teach me how to more fully follow Jesus Christ. She’s a wife, a mother, and a grandmother who works full-time and volunteers at three different charities. Somehow she also finds time to be a great cook, a talented painter, and her house looks like something out of “Architectural Digest.” She kind of makes me sick—-but in a good way. Being around her calls me to do greater things. She lifts my heart and spirit in so many ways. This woman’s whole life is a prayer to God. And that’s her dearest example for me. Her life is so full of good fruit because her heart is always seeking the Lord.
Over the years, I’ve learned about her prayer life by watching her live it. She doesn’t particularly enjoy talking about prayer, she’d rather just pray. But I think we all need to know more about prayer, so with her blessing, I’m sharing some of what she’s taught me. Learning to pray is like beginning any relationship. It develops over time and deepens through growing intimacy. There are times when it seems no one is listening to you, but this is a deception. Our Lord is always there. Are you?
Begin the day with prayer. Catholics pray a “Morning Offering” in which we give thanks and offer our day to God, in our words, our thoughts, and our actions. We beg Him to do His will through us. My friend finds ways to “pray without ceasing” throughout her day. These ways are not new prayers, with many of her favorites well-known to most Catholics. She says she’s a “dabbler” and doesn’t pray the same way each day. Her secret is to keep at it.
Just pray. But what does that mean? It means opening your heart and mind to God. It means seeking Him out and inviting Him to breathe His Spirit into you and to know you. It’s an active reaching out to Him. And it’s a quiet and receptive listening to His leading you into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. Praying is loving the Lord with your thoughts and emotions as well as your intellect and your will. It’s a process of surrender and submission in which we discover our purpose in life. Prayer is building a relationship, but not like a relationship with another human being. People can disappoint us. People can betray and deceive us. Building an earthly relationship contains within it a seed of doubt. That’s why we treasure our lasting friendships so much. True friends are priceless. But a relationship with the Lord is built upon the rock of Truth. He will never disappoint us. He cannot betray our trust. With God, there is no doubt of His love and faithfulness.
The only risk in our relationship with God is that He will transform us into the person He created us to be. We risk being truly and honestly and completely known by someone, and still loved by them. We risk having to change, to conform our will and our actions to that of our Blessed Savior. And there will be pain in that changing.
Ultimately, when we love God we risk giving ourselves away. Loving God makes it hard to walk by a hungry person. It makes it hard to ignore a homeless family standing on the side of the road. Love makes it hard to keep ourselves safely self-involved. This explains why my friend spends her life away in the love and service of others. And how her ceaseless praying is at the center of all that humility and sacrifice. The more she prays, the more she loves, and the more she has to share with others.
So, pray. And ask others to pray for you. Ask the Saints to pray for you. Ask the Blessed Mother to pray for you. Read the Gospels. Choose a chapter and read one every day. Ask God to reveal Himself to you in that chapter. Pray your way through the Psalms. These are the prayers that Jesus prayed, after all. Pray the Angelus at noon each day. When you get ready for bed, review the day you’ve had and see those things you could have done differently, and with more love. Go to confession. Spend time in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Take the risk to give your heart to the Lord in prayer.
“The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love.” — C.S. Lewis
Glenda Smiley, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church
Great day worshipping the Lord! Should be every day not just Sunday.
Labor Day is fast approaching with plans to have special services on Sunday, September 1, 10:30 AM. There will be no Sunday School with food fellowship to follow the morning service. Be there to experience the service. We want our community to come together with us at PVBC to celebrated this holiday.
Plans are in process for Saturday, October 19th for a singing to be held outside. We will be announcing the groups who will be with us to sing for God’s glory. All you will need to bring is yourself, a lawn chair and bug spray. Keep watching for more information and mark your calendar now reserving October 19. There will be food and fellowship in abundance. Everyone is invited!
Services are live-streamed on Facebook. Service times are Sunday School 10AM, Worship 11AM, Evening 6PM with prayer at 5:45PM. Wednesday Bible Study and Youth Kid’s Zone meet at 7PM. Call for transportation 706 537-3633.
Pastor Flood’s message from God Sunday was from Lamentations 3:22, ”It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not”. Jeremiah, prophet, preached for 40 years warning the people of the destruction to come because of their sin. He was known as the weeping prophet. He wept because the people did not take heed knowing God is faithful to His Word. But it fell on deaf ears. The source of God’s mercies is His compassion. If you follow the source, mercy never plays out but leads to the throne of God. It is never-ending because God never stops loving. God’s faithfulness is great because it is driven by His love and renewed even though we fail. This earthly life is not what we are living for. At the end, will we wish we had done more for God? These are serious days and times in which we now live.
Sunday night Pastor continued our study in Ezekiel. From these scriptures (4:4) there were two things seen. First, people are more likely to rebel against God than to follow, easier to follow the world. Second, in spite of God’s mercy and grace, people rebel. Come join us for this study and see what God has for you to learn from His Word.
Please pray with us for those with physical needs, Jewel Mitchell, Carolyn Denton, Lula Petty, Denise Pitts, Claudette Armstrong, and many other of which the Lord knows their name and their need. Pray for Pastor Flood and his family, for the church and ministries including missionaries, Sunday school, youth, nursing homes and homeless, orphans. Pray for our country and leaders, congress,
Israel/america. Remember crisis at the border and the Iran/north Korea/china situations. Pray for wisdom and protection relating to random shootings in our country. Pray for God to raise up godly men to serve in our congress and state governments. Pray for those who are being human-trafficked in our country, a huge problem in our nation. Pray for Pleasant Valley Baptist to grow and spread the gospel in this area. Souls to be saved.
Pleasant Valley Baptist is here for you. It is our desire to minister to the needs of you and your family while pointing you to Christ.