Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A Tribute to Susana Paz
To All Sisters of Strength,
It is my pleasure to have been asked by our new S.O.S. leader, Joan Taylor, to begin writing on our S.O.S. blog once again. There were so many topics I could have written about, but I honestly could not think of a better way to begin than to write a tribute to our group Founder, Susana Paz.
Our blog was created by Paola Henke in March 2009. Shortly before that, Susana embarked on a new journey with several other ladies by founding the Sisters of Strength connect group. What better month to resurrect our blog with a triubte to Susana in the month where we will soon be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord?
I must mention what a coincidence it is that as I begin to write here, I realize that our very first blog post was March 6, 2009. Here we are four years later, to the very day, March 6, 2013 as I type these words in this blog.
To be honest, I was not one of Susana's closest friends, yet, we did form a bond. It was one of those unspoken bonds. No words needed to be said, it was just there and it was just felt. I know Susana felt it too.
Susana was the Bible in living color.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13
Looking back at our humble S.O.S. beginnings, I remember how so many of us ladies were going through such trying times: broken marriages, wayward children, job losses, divorce, depression...Susana too was going through hard times. She had lost her marriage and then her job. Like most of us moms, she had concerns for each of her three children. She felt depressed many times. How much can one person take? The answer is we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. What a mighty example Susana was of the strength of Jesus working in one of His followers.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 29:18
Susana had a gift for speaking and a beautiful, radio announer voice that I found so soothing. I loved to hear her speak. Many times Susana spoke vision for the ladies in her group and quite often, led them towards that vision. She was always spot on, propelling women to a destiny outside of themselves and inside of God's plan. Several ladies went on to be connect group leaders while others grew in their service to the church. Susana had the gift of knowledge.
"Perfect love casts out fear." I John 4:18
How difficult it was for all of us when we learned that our "fearless leader", as she was lovingly called, had ovarian cancer, stage four. How very difficult this must have been for Susana, but she never showed fear, only faith. She knew the perfect love of our perfect Heavenly Father. Susana truly was our fearless leader.
"For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord..." Jeremiah 29:11
In true Susana form, in spite of this deadly diagnosis, in spite of chemo, in spite of hair loss, nasuea, pain, needles, medcines, doctor visits, hospital stays, and all that goes along with this journey, Susana remained a true sister of strength. Her faith not only grew, but flew in the face of cancer. I believe it is possible that we were more afraid than she was. I marveled at how she told the doctors, "It's not over until God says it's over". Susana trusted and submitted herself to God's plan, even if it meant her much too early demise.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1
I believed, as I know other SOS ladies believed, for Susana's healing. We believed and knew God could do it, but would He? Did He want to? We prayed and pleaded with God, asking for Susana's health to be strengthed, her life to be lengthened. Things didn't turn out as we would have planned, but we persevere. We still believe. We still trust. We continue to pray for each other. We do not cast our pearls to the enemy of our souls. Susana is now one of those in that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. She ran a good race.
"Everyone runs, but not everyone wins. Run your race and win!"
~AnneKiemel
Susana is a winner!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Step Off the Edge
I once read that faith was walking to the edge of all the light you have and taking one more step. I think that is so true. Sometimes in life we spend way too much time just standing at the edge and never taking that step. We know God is there, we know what His Word says, we know we should take that faithful step into the unknown, but something stops us. FEAR. We hear thoughts that say, "yeah, but what if God doesn't come? What if he doesn't show up? What if His Word was meant for other people, but not for me? We wonder if we can really give God the control over our lives that we so often hear we are supposed to do. Again, fear creeps in. What if God calls me to be a missionary? What if God doesn't find me a spouse? What if God asks me to do something I don't want to do? So we spend a lot of time at the edge. Sometimes years. Sometimes, we stay frozen at the edge; never growing as a Christian and we wonder why God doesn't do anything with our lives. Many times the enemy will use this scenario and whisper to us, "see, God isn't there, He can't be trusted". If the enemy takes this a step further he will say that not only doesn't God have your best interest in mind, but God uses other people, just not you! If we fall into this trap something worse can happen. We begin to move backwards away from the edge, away from our faith, and away from God. Not only are we not growing in our faith as Christians, but we are moving out of our faith. If we move too far out of our faith we end up living as though we are not one of the redeemed. The enemy then moves in for the kill telling us that God is angry with us and there is no sense in even thinking of talking to others about Christ because we certainly have no witness or testimony. We come to a point where we begin believing that God wants to have nothing to do with us. Afterall, we are horrible, bad, a sinner, and He cannot even use us. We question our salvation. We live crippled lives hardly making any kingdom difference. We're not even sure God loves us anymore. Did we ever believe that? We can't remember because it's been so long since we had that child like faith of the new believer. We throw up a prayer every once in awhile hoping that He does hear. Then God does something wonderful! He throws adversity and difficulty and sorrow our way until we are broken and spent and desperate and we desperately need and want Him.
Faith is walking to the edge of all the light you have and taking the next step. When we dare to trust Him and take that next step into the scary unknown, we find out that not only is He there with light for our steps, but we actually fly and before you know it, you are soaring. And your faith is raised a notch until the next push out of the nest. We go from faith to faith to faith. It is in those moments that we learn just a little more of how much He loves us and this love propels us into His will. We find that we want to tell others about Christ. We want to be hearers and doers of the Word. We have joy and peace. We are secure in our salvation. He loves us and we know it's true!
Don't be lukewarm and stay at the edge. Don't allow Satan's lies to drag you under as he tries to snuff you out. Take that step of faith. It's time to come out of the wilderness and into your promised land!
Faith is walking to the edge of all the light you have and taking the next step. When we dare to trust Him and take that next step into the scary unknown, we find out that not only is He there with light for our steps, but we actually fly and before you know it, you are soaring. And your faith is raised a notch until the next push out of the nest. We go from faith to faith to faith. It is in those moments that we learn just a little more of how much He loves us and this love propels us into His will. We find that we want to tell others about Christ. We want to be hearers and doers of the Word. We have joy and peace. We are secure in our salvation. He loves us and we know it's true!
Don't be lukewarm and stay at the edge. Don't allow Satan's lies to drag you under as he tries to snuff you out. Take that step of faith. It's time to come out of the wilderness and into your promised land!
Monday, May 4, 2009
From Joni Ericson Tada
Three "Nuggets" from Joni Ericson Tada (check out her life story on the link above)
1. When you wake up in the morning, you're saying to yourself (about your life situation) --- "Lord, I have no strength for this... I'm so tired... but I know I have you, Jesus." And God tells you: "in everything, give thanks" and He tells you: "I can do all things" (Philippians 4:19) -- Ask God -- "Father, may I please borrow your smile today?" I need to learn to live in Jesus' strength - not mine!
Nugget #1: Begin your day needing Jesus desperately!
2. As you go out the door, search for His mission - Philippians 3:8-10. Nugget #2: Share in the sufferings of Jesus. Sufferings may be abandonment, persecution, betrayal, lies, slander, etc... whatever your cross is! It's not our natural inclination to follow God with suffering --- we want to follow God when all is going smooth. God permits brokenness, pain, addictions, in our lives because when we're broken and we are NOTHING -- that is when we need HIM most! Handicap people are those who live life on auto-pilot (cruise control) and don't need Jesus!
3. Nugget #3: Wisdom is trusting God even when you can't see things from His point of view. Philippians 1:1 ---> From my own life, being in a wheelchair FORCED me to lean more on Jesus ..." What situation in life is forcing you to lose yourself and to lean more on Jesus? We need to ask God to wake us up from our spiritual slumber. I Peter 2:21
A few words from Susana: "If you find yourself in a hopeless situation where there is no clarity and so much pain ... you find yourself numb to the life happening around you ... you're existing in life not living ~ turn to Jesus!!!! With all your "nothing" and with all your "pain" --- ask Him to embrace you with HIS Love. He will heal your brokenness and return the light to your life! Trust Him with all your heart and when you don't understand --- lean on Him even harder ... HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU!!!!
1. When you wake up in the morning, you're saying to yourself (about your life situation) --- "Lord, I have no strength for this... I'm so tired... but I know I have you, Jesus." And God tells you: "in everything, give thanks" and He tells you: "I can do all things" (Philippians 4:19) -- Ask God -- "Father, may I please borrow your smile today?" I need to learn to live in Jesus' strength - not mine!
Nugget #1: Begin your day needing Jesus desperately!
2. As you go out the door, search for His mission - Philippians 3:8-10. Nugget #2: Share in the sufferings of Jesus. Sufferings may be abandonment, persecution, betrayal, lies, slander, etc... whatever your cross is! It's not our natural inclination to follow God with suffering --- we want to follow God when all is going smooth. God permits brokenness, pain, addictions, in our lives because when we're broken and we are NOTHING -- that is when we need HIM most! Handicap people are those who live life on auto-pilot (cruise control) and don't need Jesus!
3. Nugget #3: Wisdom is trusting God even when you can't see things from His point of view. Philippians 1:1 ---> From my own life, being in a wheelchair FORCED me to lean more on Jesus ..." What situation in life is forcing you to lose yourself and to lean more on Jesus? We need to ask God to wake us up from our spiritual slumber. I Peter 2:21
A few words from Susana: "If you find yourself in a hopeless situation where there is no clarity and so much pain ... you find yourself numb to the life happening around you ... you're existing in life not living ~ turn to Jesus!!!! With all your "nothing" and with all your "pain" --- ask Him to embrace you with HIS Love. He will heal your brokenness and return the light to your life! Trust Him with all your heart and when you don't understand --- lean on Him even harder ... HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU!!!!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Meeting Notes & Prayer Requests (see below) – Chapter 8 “Beauty to Unveil” – 04/16/09
“Beauty” is the most essential and, yes, the most misunderstood of all the feminine qualities. We want you to hear clearly that it is an essence every woman carries from the moment of her creation. The only things standing in the way of our beauty are our doubts and fears, and the hiding and striving we fall to as a result. So the choice a woman makes is not to conjure beauty, but to let her defenses down. To choose to set aside her normal means of survival and just let her heart show up. Beauty comes with it.
I Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”
Peter doesn’t mean that beautiful women rarely speak above a whisper, if they speak at all. No. To have a gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts in God, a spirit that has been quieted by His love and filled with His peace. Not a heart that is striving and restless.
“He will quiet you with His love.” (Zepheniah 3:17) A woman of true beauty is a women who in the depths of her soul is at rest, trusting God because she has come to know Him to be worthy of her trust. She exudes a sense of calm, a sense of rest, and invites those around her to rest as well. She speaks comfort; she knows that we live in a world at war, that we have a vicious enemy, and our journey is through a broken world. But she also knows that because of God all is well, that all will be well. A woman of true beauty offers others the grace to be and the room to become. In her presence, we can release the tension and pressure that so often grip our hearts. We can also breathe in the truth that God loves us and He is good.
Living in true beauty can require much waiting, much time, much tenacity of spirit and much suffering. We must constantly direct our gazes toward the face of God, even in the presence of longing and sorrow. It is in the waiting that our hearts are enlarged. The waiting does not diminish us. You know that He does not always give to us what we so desperately want when we want it. He is after much more valuable than our happiness. Much more substantive than our health. He is restoring and growing in us an eternal weight of glory. And sometimes … it hurts!
Do you feel beautiful? Have you made choices in your life and compromised your heart the beauty of God? What would it look like if you stopped hiding the “real” you? Are you hiding in self-pity? Are you living the present by listening to the messages of your past? Are you believing the lies of the enemy?
What would it look like to love without fear? What would it look like to not live in fear? What lies do you believe about yourself? Where is our hope?
Jesus pursues us … He wants to restore our broken heart, He wants to heal our lives, He wants to renew the mistakes, He wants to turn your ashes into joy!
Isaiah 61:1-3
“He has sent me (JESUS) to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me (JESUS) to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn, He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory.
When we practice and live God’s beauty ~ we become radiant ~ because we start to look like Jesus! (He must increase and I must decrease…)
I Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”
Peter doesn’t mean that beautiful women rarely speak above a whisper, if they speak at all. No. To have a gentle and quiet spirit is to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts in God, a spirit that has been quieted by His love and filled with His peace. Not a heart that is striving and restless.
“He will quiet you with His love.” (Zepheniah 3:17) A woman of true beauty is a women who in the depths of her soul is at rest, trusting God because she has come to know Him to be worthy of her trust. She exudes a sense of calm, a sense of rest, and invites those around her to rest as well. She speaks comfort; she knows that we live in a world at war, that we have a vicious enemy, and our journey is through a broken world. But she also knows that because of God all is well, that all will be well. A woman of true beauty offers others the grace to be and the room to become. In her presence, we can release the tension and pressure that so often grip our hearts. We can also breathe in the truth that God loves us and He is good.
Living in true beauty can require much waiting, much time, much tenacity of spirit and much suffering. We must constantly direct our gazes toward the face of God, even in the presence of longing and sorrow. It is in the waiting that our hearts are enlarged. The waiting does not diminish us. You know that He does not always give to us what we so desperately want when we want it. He is after much more valuable than our happiness. Much more substantive than our health. He is restoring and growing in us an eternal weight of glory. And sometimes … it hurts!
Do you feel beautiful? Have you made choices in your life and compromised your heart the beauty of God? What would it look like if you stopped hiding the “real” you? Are you hiding in self-pity? Are you living the present by listening to the messages of your past? Are you believing the lies of the enemy?
What would it look like to love without fear? What would it look like to not live in fear? What lies do you believe about yourself? Where is our hope?
Jesus pursues us … He wants to restore our broken heart, He wants to heal our lives, He wants to renew the mistakes, He wants to turn your ashes into joy!
Isaiah 61:1-3
“He has sent me (JESUS) to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me (JESUS) to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn, He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory.
When we practice and live God’s beauty ~ we become radiant ~ because we start to look like Jesus! (He must increase and I must decrease…)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Natalie Grant's Song: "Held"
"When everything fell, we'd be HELD" ... this is God's promise to us ... CLAIM it for your circumstance, for your pain, for your life right now!!!!!!
As you listen to Natalie's song --- claim God's POWER in your life.
Have a beautiful week-end!
As you listen to Natalie's song --- claim God's POWER in your life.
Have a beautiful week-end!
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