I was sitting in church yesterday morning, coffee in hand, reading the bulletin. I came across an item asking for people to give a 3-5 minute testimony during the halftimes of an all day basketball tournament at the local Christian school. Now, lately I have been feeling a call to speak, as evidenced by our recent talk about Victorian salons. But there’s no way I could EVER talk for just 3-5 minutes about ANYTHING! No, this feeling was coming on strong in just the first few minutes of church and it had a deeper dynamic to it I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The sermon was wonderful. The subject was being grateful for the Blessings we are given. Being BOLDLY grateful…out loud. To give credit where credit is due. To thank God openly.

I have always been mindful in my writing that, even though I consider it to be faith based, I don’t want to come across as “preachy” since that was a major turn-off for me growing up. If I were to influence someone, I would prefer it be through example. More to the point, I just didn’t want to offend anyone who does not share my beliefs or make them feel I am in any way judgmental if you don’t… because I certainly am not. But that takes me back to the ten lepers…only one of whom came back to properly thank God for curing his leprosy. It was through being grateful, and expressing it, that he was healed.

Many of you have told me, if I attached a scripture to my writings, it would be your daily devotional. The message I kept getting in church yesterday was “Tell them. Tell them who gives you all your Blessings. Give them a verse…just a verse. You don’t have to “preach”…just give your readers a verse that you read that offered you comfort or insight. Just tell them!” This voice was getting pretty insistent, ok? And right then, my phone vibrated. It was sitting face up in my purse and I instinctively glanced down. It was a message from a friend and I knew he was in church at the time. What on earth could he be sending me during church? It was SO unlike him.

“You cannot run from God’s love.”

Whoa! Six words. Right there on the iPhone screen. A text from God…via a friend in Florida. Now, if I wear my underwear outside my clothes in Walmart and walk around talking to myself and tell you God speaks to me through my television set…THAT’S crazy. But when you’re sitting in church contemplating whether you should talk about God more in your blog, and your friend suddenly feels compelled to pick up his phone and text you something that just “popped in his head”…THAT’S a message one cannot ignore. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to start adding a scripture at the bottom of each post. Something that supports or illustrates the subject. I’m not going to be quite so afraid to share with you when God moves me to. I’m not going to tap dance and pretend to be anything I am not. I’m NOT going to preach at you. I’ll understand if it’s not your cup of tea and you want to bail on me…no hard feelings. I love all of you…no matter what. It’s just something I feel I need to do…for me…for God. Because, He has Blessed me way above and beyond anything I deserve. Truly. It is my time to speak.

❤

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecclesiastes 3:7