Do You Hear What I Hear? by Eileen Alpaugh

Oh my, I feel a series coming on. There are so many things to learn about the art of listening. The older I get the more I realize how many situations teeter on the brink of success or failure based on good communication or the lack thereof. It has recently become one of the main things needing my attention and concentration. I’m amazed at what I am learning.

I am blessed to spend the majority of my days in the company of Christians. We share the same faith, the same convictions, the same passions and the same struggles. We work together, minister together and fellowship together. Yet with all we have in common, we struggle in the area of communication. More often that not we discover we have ‘heard’ very different things in our conversations and meetings. It has been laughable at times as we revisit a topic to learn just how mixed our messages got.

It reminds me of a quote from Robert McCloskey, U.S. State Department spokesman, at a press briefing during the Vietnam War. He said, “ I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

Each of us has a way of processing information based on many factors; how we were raised, our experiences, our fears and our desires to name a few. Much of what we hear is filter through the ‘what’s in it for me’ standard. How does this pertain to me, what will be required of me, does this interest me, what will my response be, and so on.

All this has made me wonder about how I ‘hear’ the Word of God. How many times have I listened to a sermon or read Scripture from the ‘what’s in it for me’ standpoint causing me to miss what the Spirit of God was saying – which, if I had actually heard would have been so much more meaningful than what I was hoping He would say. Oh how gracious He is to keep saying what I need to hear until I have an ear to hear.

Romans 12 speaks about how we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. As the Word of God corrects the way we think, it allows us to hear from a new perspective – His perspective. Oh, how I long for that. I know it’s a process and will take time. And to help me along, I have His people with whom I can practice.

As the Holiday approaches and the New Year begins, I pray God will bless you with the richness of His presence and the abundance of His Peace. May you hear His message of unsurpassed love and unfathomable grace in every carol that is sung, may you see His hands of mercy reaching out to those in need and may you be the light that shines to those who still walk in darkness, waiting to hear.

With much love, Eileen

A New Year and A New Season by Kim Checkeye

You know the routine. It’s a New Year so we make all those resolutions to exercise, lose weight, start a new career and the list goes on and on. Normally, we tend to fall away from those resolutions sometime in February or March!!

I love to watch the changes in the seasons. Some of the seasons I enjoy for the duration and others, well, not so much! When you think about it, what an amazing time in the earth as it transitions from one season to the next. Spring is about the rains coming down to feed the soil to prepare it for the life that is about to break forth. Summer is a time of the sun shining to bring growth to the vegetation. Fall takes away the scorching sun that can burn when it is too hot and brings in the cool air. You can see vibrant colors of change as the leaves submit to this transition of life. Then comes winter where things seem to go dormant to the natural eye but in all reality nutrients are being stored in the roots to prepare for the spring.

Now apply all these New Year resolutions and the seasons of life, to being a Christian. We come into the New Year making a promise that we will set more time aside to study His Word or to pray. Maybe we promise to start a Bible Study or sing in the choir at our church. Maybe we say “This is the year I am writing that book the Lord keeps laying on my heart.” Then as the months pass, those promises seem to go with them.

As Christians, we have seasons in our walk with the Lord. Many times we have troubles or trials that come pouring down on us but in all reality, they are the events that feed us and prepare our hearts for the breakthrough we have been looking for.

Many times the Son of God shines down upon us so clearly that it causes us to grow in leaps and bounds because we are so on fire for Him. During those times it is so evident that we are growing in the Lord because our character changes so deep within us that our “colors” change on the outside. It is a time when we submit unto the Lord and what He has for us.

Then there are those times when it seems like God has put us on a shelf to just sit and wait upon Him. We think those times are just wilderness experiences that are wasting away but in all reality, they are times when we are being feed the nutrients we need deep within our soul that will prepare us for what is to come.

Each one of these seasons is just as important as the other. Each one has its job to do and its purpose for creating us to be the woman of God that He has called us to be for the call He has on our life.

Which season are you in?

For Truth for Women we are in a season of hope and dreams becoming a reality. In 2010 we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary in ministry. What better way to celebrate but to be able to open the doors of the long awaited dream of The Women’s Center Lehigh Valley. Yes, it has been a process but each step was just as important as the one before it.

Come and celebrate with us! Join your hands to the work and to the cause! Take a step out of one season and into the next.

A Life Changing Trip by Kim Checkeye

I have just arrived home after a twelve day mission trip to Ecuador. The time that I spent there was life changing. We first ministered in Quito which is the capital of Ecuador. Over 2.5 million people live in the city. What I saw in that city broke my heart. The crime rate there is so bad and out of control that they brought in the military forces. Military personnel were everywhere with their big guns trying to get control. The amount of garbage that was everywhere was mind blowing then to see all the homeless dogs running around was painful. Not only that, I saw dead dogs just decaying on the street. But what broke my heart and took me on my knees to God Almighty was the amount of children just running around. Just running and roaming the streets. I kept wondering where their parents were and why they were alone. One boy came up begging to us on the street. I saw elderly women and men begging for money. They could barely walk and they had no homes. I saw the homeless being robbed by other homeless people. What I saw in Quito will be forever grafted into my mind.

Even in the midst of all this pain, crime and heartbreak, God’s presence was so strong. My mind could not get around what my eyes could and what my heart sensed from the Lord.

My home church is Kingdom Life Family Center in Orefield and my Pastor’s are Tony and Tammy Adamo. They lived in Ecuador for 5 years doing missionary work. The church plants that we have in Quito and Latacunga wanted to do a women’s conference. Now, for you and me, women’s conferences are the normal thing to do. In Ecuador, not so much! They don’t do these kind of things. Plus, to pull the churches together to work and support a women’s conference, well, that is just unheard of. However, they put their hands to the plow and started the work. They asked Pastor Tammy to come and speak at the conferences and talk to their leaders and married couples. We went as a support system for Pastor Tammy and to teach some breakout sessions.

After most of the conference times or after church services on Sundays, we had the opportunity to pray for people. This part worried me a little because I don’t speak Spanish. Nothing!!! So, I was concerned about how I was going to pray for people and how they were going to understand what I was saying. However, what God did just blew my mind.

God moved in such a mighty way that the language barrier didn’t matter. Women and men were so desperate to hear from God, to experience God or to just receive a touch from God, that their hearts were so open. Language did not matter. As we prayed for the people, I saw and experienced things that I had never seen before. People broke so openly and poured their heart out to God. Some I just held in my arms as they wept and cried. Some fell to their knees, some danced, some jumped, some shook, some fell over and the list goes on and on.

Sometimes, when I prayed for people, I just wept. I could not contain myself because my heart was breaking for them. I could literally feel their pain. Now you may think I am crazy when I say that but that is the only way I can describe it.
The one woman that stands out in my mind was in Quito. We had a women’s leaders time for any woman who was in ministry or in leadership. Pastor Tammy taught an amazing lesson on women in ministry and at the end, we had time to pray for the women. I was praying for women and I looked up and saw this elderly Indigenous woman who had to be in her 70’s or over. She was hunched over and she looked like she has had a very hard life. No doubt, life has not been good to her. She pushed her way through the women to get to the front so she could be prayed for. She reminded me so much of the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible. As she pushed her way through, she was weeping. I started to pray for her and she was yelling out to God. I have no idea what she said and I know she had no idea what I was saying. We just wept together and prayed out to God. Two hearts were united that night and we cried out together to God for whatever it may have been that she was asking for.

That was it for me. That night I learned so much about God and His presence and who He is and who I am in Him, it was like a crash course in experiencing the presence of God. I knew that that night, I would never be the same or ever look at praying for people the same ever again.

That is what it was like every time we prayed for people. They were so hungry for God because most of them had no other option but God. He was all they had! It was like they were teaching us what it was like to have nothing and only have hope in God. Time and time again, we prayed over people and time and time again, God answered them.

I went to Ecuador praying to God about four things:
1. Continue to create in me a servant’s heart
2. Break my heart for your people
3. Why do miracles occur in third world countries so much and not in the USA?
4. Continue to stretch me in my faith

I can honestly tell you that God answered every single one of those prayers!! He taught me so much about His faithfulness and just trusting in Him. He taught me that if I trust Him and reach out in faith, He will supply what I need and what I am lacking whether that be physical, mental, emotional, in ministry and spiritually. At times, I wanted my family that my heart ached for them. Yet, God filled my heart and helped me in my longing for them. At times, I was physically tired that I didn’t feel like I could give any more out, He supplied me and strengthened me. Even when I was emotionally gone because of all the tears that were shed for others, He helped me to go one step farther.

I was asked a question from a friend months ago about this trip. The question was “If your call in life is Truth for Women, then what does this trip have to do with that?” My answer at that time was “Nothing. It has everything to do with me and my growth in the Lord”. Now please hear my heart that definitly was the case but I also realize now that it was also to help me as I lead this ministry forward. After what I saw in Ecuador, my heart longs even more for women to embrace God’s word as truth and for women to experience the presence of God like I saw there. My heart longs even more for lives to be changed by the presence of God because they see Him, feel Him and experience Him like never before.

This has been my first mission trip ever in my life and I can certainly tell you, it will not be the last.