Here it is, another Friday, and the house has got to be cleaned today, as Chapel Service is taking place tonight at 7:30 p.m.

My dear friend, Melissa Craven, has left the first comment on the guestbook that I’ve seen for months, now. You may or may not know it, but Melissa is my Sister in Christ, a young woman whose family goes to the same church, Victory Fellowship, as the VFO men and Pastor Tom and me. She has four wonderful children and a great husband over whom she dotes. We sang a Christmas special at the Church party a few Wednesdays ago. It was a song entitled, “Christmas Shoes”.  If you have ever heard it, you would remember it…it’s about a little boy whose Mama is dying and he is buying her “Christmas Shoes” so that when she meets Jesus she will “look so great”.

It makes me get a lump in my throat just to think about that song.

This Christmas was wonderful for Victory Family, Mississippi. I hope that the Home in Houston also was blessed to know what the Season was really all about…I’m sure it was, because the thing that the Home is designed to do all year long is to revive lives and restore them from addictions and give them a new lease on life, these men who have, some of them, never known what it’s like to live a sober, Christian life. My husband, Pastor Tom, will never be the same after his experience with Victory Family Outreach. He has learned some life skills that will stay with him until the day he goes to meet our Maker.

I asked him last night if he thought that those skills were necessary, and he said, “Yes, it teaches men to be responsible.” Things like cooking, washing dishes, taking the initiative. No longer is it woman’s work to keep the household in order—not for Thomas Rowley, anyway. He is practically self-sufficient. Sure, I still clean and do laundry and all the rest, but it’s refreshing to know that if I am busy that my husband will pick up the slack in other areas. God is good.

Pastor Tom is out fundraising today with Nicholas, one of our men in the Home. Pastor Tom will be preaching tonight. It has been some time since he did so, and we’re looking forward to hearing what God imparts through him.

It’s a quarter to ten and the high will be 68 degrees today, with a 52-degree low. Suffice to say that this is a lot warmer than the days have been in the last couple of weeks. We have both gas and electric heat here in the Home. We have been fortunate in that our tank has not run out as of yet.

On the ninth of January, a group of wonderful women who call themselves the Christian Women’s Job Corp of Philadelphia will be re-convening to mentor women of all walks of life in job skills, etc. I participated in their last Semester (16 weeks) for a couple of months, finding out about their program from Jan Cooper, the teacher of the Program last year. 

These women are a refreshing and lively group, full of love for those whom they mentor and one another. Pastor Tom says that the best exercise for the human heart is to bend over and help someone else up, and that is what our group does. They study the Bible, have lively conversation, take instruction on the computer, and also have homework…lots of it (complete with “sticky notes”, lol). Life skills, interview instruction, goal setting and other subjects are taught. There could not be another instance in my own life more important than this, in my opinion.  Women need encouragement and love in order to thrive in their lives. This group of women provides that encouragement and love, and do it with grace and a kind of love and joy that only God can give. I am honored to be a part of their group.

The subject of my blog today is whether or not we are operating in the plan and purpose of God in each and every life today who is reading this.  Pastor Tom and I surmise that often, because of free will, we make choices in life that are contrary to the calling and purpose of our Lord.

How to know if we are operating in the calling that God has for us? God gave us the intelligence and the mind of Christ to do all that He has instructed us to do in His Word. What is the mind of Christ? The more you study the Bible, the more you know who Jesus is, and who you think you should be! It says that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have the mind of Christ, and automatically we should know what we should do. To visit the infirmed, imprisoned, to feed the hungry, and to help those in need. Listen to Keith Green’s “The Sheep and the Goats” song if you are in doubt as to what to do. He makes it all so clear, and Jesus Christ said “If you did it to the least of these, you did it unto ME”. It doesn’t matter if that believer is living a life of sin or not…

For instance, what if you saw a man on the street, a homeless man, who wanted something from you? What if he was drinking and had not had a bath for some time? Would you walk on the other side to avoid him, or stop and give him what he asks of you? Needless to say, you wouldn’t ask him if he believed in God, you would give him what he needs, Amen? For we don’t know if we may be entertaining angels unawares! It’s what is in your heart when you give that matters. This gift you give may turn a wayward heart to God, you never know!

And never underestimate the power of prayer. Too many have lost interest in the insight it takes to see when each prayer is being realized. Sometimes I say, “God, this is a long-term prayer”…sometimes, it is only a heartbeat away, but there was a time when the angels of heaven would reveal to me that a prayer was being answered and God wanted me to know that asking for things in Jesus’ name would be honored. They still are today. It was what the women in the Home in Houston called a “faith-lift”. So don’t think, when you are not able to help monetarily or in physical ways, that prayer will not avail that person who is looking for a miracle. God can help them even when you cannot.

A person needing food for their family should not be turned away, especially when you can give from your abundance. This is your reasonable act of service.

So wisdom and a liberal amount of both would be great, if you’re truly looking for God’s Will in your life. I cannot stress enough the avoidance of grieving the Holy Spirit when prayer is painfully absent and a person is standing in its need.

Sometimes I look for a voice in my spiritual life to tell me my next move. Sometimes I wonder just what I am surmising in the reading of the Word! But nothing equals those times when a thought will “drop” into my conscious mind after reading a good deal of the Word and the knowing that God is directing my decisions. Let go and let God lead, guide and direct you.

My life is so much more satisfying when I am doing what God has directed me to do. The writing of our Ministry’s letters, this blog, my singing and the simple acts of reading the Word and prayer to our wonderful God replenish and embellish my life! For at the end of the day, both Jesus and Soloman said in his pondering that to Worship God and to love your neighbor is the real reason we are alive. Let your heart be led by the Spirit today, and give unto God His due! He truly is Worthy!