Women's Ministry

When I was asked to write this blog, the very first thing that popped into my mind was the old hymn, “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”  And of course, He is the very bestest friend we will ever have.  But the second thought was, “What kind of friends do I have, or better yet what kind of friend am I?”  

I have recently read a devotional series on Job.  He had some good friends that came to him when he was at his lowest. (Job 2:11-13)  These friends were not next door neighbors; they traveled great distances to be with him.  And when they arrived, they didn’t try to cheer him up, or straighten up the house, or bring a casserole, or…all things I’ve done for a friend going through a difficult time.  No, these friends sat with him in silence for several days.  They tore their clothes and wept with him.  This teaches a great lesson of what friendship is like.  Friendship takes patience.   

At my worst moment in life, I, too, had four really good friends who came to me, sat with me, let me talk and cry, and cried with me.  The afternoon I told Don about committing adultery, Don took me and my belongings to my mother and left me there.  I’m not sure how my friends found out.  Yes they were disappointed in what I had done, but they continued to love me.  Yes, they had questions, but they didn’t condemn me with those questions.  We live in a small town, and in a small town, everyone knows everything about everyone’s business.  And most people like to share their opinions on that business.  But these friends stayed beside me after Don brought me back home, and in the days, weeks, months, and even years following continued to show their love and support and to help Don and I to heal, grow stronger in our faith and marriage.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  My friend’s example in a very difficult time has been a huge lesson for me.  I don’t have to be the fixer for a friend in need, I just have to be a friend!

My little granddaughter is…well, she’s my granddaughter so you know what I’m going to say-she’s perfect.  But actually she’s not.  You see, Livi doesn’t have toes on her left foot.  And she only has 2 toenails on her right foot.  When Mary (my daughter) was pregnant with Livi, part of the amniotic sack flaked off in a string and wrapped around her toes.  She has nubs on her left foot.  (Toes are like fingers-she has the knuckles closest to her foot like the knuckles on a hand but that is all).  When she was born, we were so worried she might not be able to walk, or she would be in pain, but we were wrong.  She walks, runs, jumps, kicks, and dances like every other kid.  But I wonder about what kind of friends she will have growing up.  Kids can be curious and cruel at the same time.  When she has shoes on you can’t tell a difference.  But what will happen when she takes her shoes off?  How will the kids treat her?  We, her family, treat her like any other kid; it’s not an issue.  But will her friends treat her differently?   don’t have the answers to these questions, but I know who does.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”  

What about us?  Do we stay by our friends when things look different from what we expect?  Do we sit with our friends in their times of distress and tear our clothes and weep with them? Do we hide our flaws in our “shoes”?  Do I?  These are questions we need to think about regarding the friends we keep.  I read a quote one time (I don’t remember who said it) “A friend is one of the best things you can be and the greatest thing you can have.”  

We want to thank Hope Warren for sharing this post.

“Why do we have to wait so long to get on the plane?”, Elliott asked impatiently…again. We were headed home from our recent vacation and had been placed in the last boarding group because of some last-minute flight changes. On all our other flights on this trip we had been placed in earlier groups, so an expectation had been formed in my son’s heart. We should be on that plane already.

And isn’t this the difficulty with waiting? Managing the expectations that have been formed in our hearts? 

“I should be married already. ALL of my friends are married.”

“I should be making more money than this. I’ve given everything to this company.”

“I shouldn’t be sick. I eat well and exercise.”

“I should be pregnant by now. We’ve been trying for years.”

“We’ve been married for so long…I don’t think he will ever change.”

“I’m so sick of being heart-broken over this. I’ve prayed all the prayers I can pray.”

That last one is mine. It was my own confession a few weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for God to heal my broken heart and up until recently, I felt like I should be over it. I had cried all the tears I wanted to cry over this. 

But God. Despite my obstinance, He wasn’t through collecting my tears. During a recent church service learning about the ministry of Jesus to heal the broken hearted, I could no longer contain my tears. God still had some healing to do. He was still mending and though I had tried to convince myself otherwise, I was still hurting. 

During my single years when I grew impatient, waiting for God to give me my husband-to-be, He instead gave me this Word to stand on. 

“But those who wait on the Lord


Shall renew their strength;


They shall mount up with wings like eagles,


They shall run and not be weary,


They shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

Did you catch that? Those who wait on the Lord…

Not…

“Those who wait on a husband…a child…a job…an answered prayer…”

No. Those that wait on Him.

Waiting on Him renews our strength and enables us to endure the hard seasons of waiting without weariness and without unsteadiness. If we aren’t waiting on Him, our focus will only be on our prayer being answered and if that season of waiting is a long one, maybe years or decades, we will certainly grow weary and unsteady. What we need more than our prayers being answered, is to be in communion with the one who answers our prayers. 

I learned in that season and was gently reminded in this season that when we wait on the answer to our prayers only, when the answer comes, we only get the answer. But when we wait on Him and the answer comes, we get the answer and the answer-giver. Some of the most meaningful times I’ve had with Jesus were during seasons of waiting because I was waiting on Him. And with Him. And it’s what I’m doing now as I wait for Him to mend my broken heart. 

“What if my answer never comes?”, you ask. It might not, but if you’re waiting for Him, you’ll have Him no matter what. And He’s all you really need.

We want to thank Amber Curry for sharing this post.

If you aren’t in a season of waiting, you will be or you recently were. All of us go through them. 

Maybe you’re waiting for your husband. Waiting for a dream. Waiting for a child. Waiting for healing. Waiting for a move. Waiting for a promotion. Waiting for a friend.

We can all think of something we’d like to see God do on our behalf—a hope, a desire, a longing. And in that space between our prayer and his answer, we find ourselves waiting. 

For some your wait is short, and for others it can make your heart feel sick with hope long deferred. 

But our hope is never lost because his love is never deferred. The Bible tells us that hope does not disappoint because we have God’s love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:8).  

If you feel disappointed and hopeless, if your heart feels sick with longing, can I encourage you today to open your hands and receive the love of our Father? 

When we receive it, God’s immeasurable, unfathomable, unconditional love becomes the comfort and security we hold on to in our seasons of waiting. 

My husband and I spent nine years waiting to hold our first child. Nine years of longing for what we did not yet have. Nine years of praying for and believing what we had not yet seen come to pass. Nine years of hoping. 

One of the greatest battles I faced was recognizing that I’d connected God’s love for me with what he was doing. Or in this case, not doing. To wait for years and years, to get another no over and over again, to watch those around me receiving what I wanted (and admittedly, they didn’t always) felt very unloving. 

Here’s the truth. Equating God’s love with my circumstances is a manipulation of who he is. I had to recognize repentantly that I was angry because God wasn’t doing what I wanted. If he loves me so much, why wouldn’t he do this for me? The flip side of that? I was withholding my love because God wasn’t doing what I wanted. Ouch!

You know why I call that manipulation? Because it makes love conditional. If God loves me, he will do this for me. If he does this for me, then I will love him.

Once I recognized that God’s love is unconditional, the power of this truth transformed my life. It still transforms me even now. And it’s a good thing, my friend. I’m so grateful God’s love isn’t based on my performance. At the time, I wanted it to be because it felt like control. If only I could do something, he’d love me enough to answer my prayer. Today I’m so thankful he answered my prayer in spite of any works on my part. He loves me no matter what. And I love him whether he’s answering my prayers today—or not. 

He loves you too. Like really loves you. Do you know that? If not, ask God to show you how much he loves you today.

We want to thank Laura Brandenburg for sharing this post.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” For as long as I can remember, this has been my favorite verse. I got saved when I was in third grade, so I practically grew up in the church. When I was a young girl, if I got up in church to say a verse, this is the one I would pick. 

The definition of faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. And the definition of trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. I really believe as young children we have lots of faith because it is so easy to believe even when we do not see something. 

As I got older, I always went to church on and off. But since coming to Harvest, I can honestly say my faith has grown so much. God has showed me his goodness and faithfulness all those years when I didn’t feel as close to him. Also, I feel like my faith has increased through other people’s testimonies and what God has done in their life. I have seen people overcome many hard circumstances like having cancer or losing a loved one, and I’ve also seen God bless a family with a child after years of waiting. I believe my faith has increased so much through these testimonies of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Sometimes we don’t see something come to pass for many years, and then it happens! 

I would always pray for my family and their salvation, and God has been faithful in showing me, even though it took a while. I remember when my older brother invited me to church. While I was in the service, God reminded me of my prayers for my family, and I was immediately filled with joy. I also have multiple people in my family and friends as well who have been to church and have now given their life to God. 

So, we “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). I remember coming to Harvest and asking God, “Why is this my favorite verse?” I felt like I always said it was because it was short and easy to remember. But I told him I really want to know what the true meaning of this verse is. Honestly, I didn’t think about it too much after I asked him that, and then I got asked to write this blog, and wow! So many things came to mind that God has done to show himself faithful in my life. My faith has increased so much and continues to grow. You have to have faith. Trust God. Believe it is done. 

Most people want to see it to believe it. We have to accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be. Faith does not make things easy. It makes them possible!

So we have to ask ourselves: Are we walking by faith or by sight? 

We want to thank Candi Nunez for sharing this post.

Have you ever felt like God has given you a dream in your heart or a vision for your life? A specific word or promise to you? Then—as time passed, and you did not see it come to reality—have you also felt like you lost hope or even doubted what you heard him say? I know I have felt that way. 

Back in 2018, my husband and I felt moved by God to grow our family. We spent time praying about it with each other and with our close friends. As we continued to pray about it, we gained confidence that it was a promise from God to give us more children—not to adopt but to have more children of our own. 

So, we stepped out in faith, and in 2019, I went in to have a surgery so that we could start to enlarge our family. Then we waited and trusted God. However things did not look like what we expected. That first year came with a heartbreaking miscarriage, and then the next year came with some medical diagnoses and still no baby. There were times of feeling hopeless where I doubted that we had heard God right. It is easy to be led by emotions and rely on only what our eyes can see. 

Hebrews 11:1-3 says, “Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see. This is why the ancients were commended. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (NIV).

I can remember many times personally where it was hard to walk in faith and believe what God had spoken to us, especially when everything around me in this natural world was suggesting it might never happen. But God is so good to not leave us feeling hopeless and in despair! He is always speaking and reaching out to us. 

When we go through our hard times of our faith being tested, it is important to bring peace and calmness to our heart by reading God’s word and surrounding ourselves with godly friends. Looking back at that time in my life, God especially increased my faith in two ways: by using 1) His word and 2) His people. 

Quite often while I was reading my bible, a verse for that day, a scripture, or a story would jump out and encourage me that God is faithful and true. I have a good friend who would randomly text what God put on her heart, and little did she know, some days I really needed to hear those words. Another time I was scrolling through Instagram, and God used the words of Christian author Lysa Turkeurst to speak to me. The words “Remember not yet doesn’t mean not ever” stayed in my heart for a long time. You see God was always speaking to me. All those things increased my faith and gave me the hope to live in a way where I had faith to believe God’s words, not the circumstances. 

One day unexpectedly, a little over two years later, I found myself pregnant with our son, and he was so worth the wait! 

So, if you find yourself in this place of waiting on something to come to pass that God has spoken to you, I pray my story will encourage you to stand firm and have faith to believe him even when you cannot see. I also pray that he will give you his words and the friends you need to build your faith! I leave you with a few scriptures that encouraged me during that time, and I hope they may do the same for you.

Numbers 23:19: “God is not a human that he should lie; not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak, and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill it?” (NIV).

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding” (AMP).

Philippians 4:5-7: “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in every circumstance and situation by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, continue to make your specific requests known to God. And the peace of God, that peace which reassures the heart, that peace which transcends all understanding, that peace which stands guard over your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus is yours” (AMP).

We want to thank Brenda Martinez for sharing this post.

Every spiritual gifts test I’ve ever taken, my strength has been faith. But in the last 11 years of marriage and nearly 8 years of motherhood, I can definitely think of several instances where I was in need of a little more faith. And if I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that faith is a choice, not a feeling. 

I’ve got to be honest; there are definitely days when I’m just not feeling it. When the sink is full. My four kids are fighting. I overslept and didn’t get to have my quiet time. When the goldfish crumbs just got smashed into the rug I just vacuumed. When a best friend decides they no longer want to be my best friend. When the husband and I just seem to keep bickering. When the scale goes up. When the bank account just isn’t staying full enough. When you’re not invited. 

Even the apostles asked the Lord to increase their faith. (Luke 17:5) 

Whoa! It’s encouraging to know that even those who literally walked beside Jesus and witnessed His miracles in the flesh needed more faith. 

On good days and bad, we are called to increase in faith. But how do we do that? 

We draw closer to Him who remains faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13) We serve a God who is constant. Even when we feel all out of faith, He is faithful. 

Maybe you’re in the middle of grief or deep sorrow. Maybe you’re in the trenches of motherhood with little ones and you’re trying your hardest not to wish the little years away. Maybe you or a family member just received a devastating diagnosis. 

Even in times of deep sorrow, we can have hope. God is with us even when everything seems to be falling apart! He is not bound by time or circumstances. 

His grace is sufficient for you, for His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) When we embrace our weakness, God gets all the glory because others can see His power within us.

God promises to be with us, and our God is both a promise maker and a promise keeper. Take heart today that you’re off the hook; all you have to do is ask for more faith just like the apostles did. 

We want to thank Paige Keller for sharing this post.

I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I didn’t believe in Jesus, when I didn’t believe he died for me, or when I didn’t trust Him with my heart. I was probably less than a month old the first time I attended Sunday School, and growing up, I was blessed to hear Bible stories that taught me about having faith in God. I was ten years old when I gave my life to Christ, and His love has brought me through many years.

Even though I have been a believer basically my entire life, there have been a few times when my faith has been questioned. When a prayer wasn’t answered the way I prayed, I let doubt set in. When sin became greater than my faith, I found myself doubting my walk with Christ. When healing didn’t take place, could I honestly say I still believed? When finances weren’t working, when crops were hailed out, when… (you can fill in the blank). There have been times in my life when my faith wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been. 

Can I be very vulnerable with you for a second? Even recently, I was beginning to question lots of things. As hard as this is to write, I want to be honest. I was asking lots of questions such as: Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why do church leaders let us down? If God is really real, why is our world looking the way it looks? 

Oh, in my heart, I still trusted God, and I knew what I knew from my years of walking with Him. But I was letting doubt creep in.

So what did I do to get my faith back up and running? I prayed. I asked God to give me glimpses of His goodness. I asked God to reveal to me the times of His faithfulness and love toward me. I read His Word. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” A large part of your faith comes from learning, believing, listening, and acting out the words in the Bible. The deeper you dive into the word of God, the deeper your faith will grow.

Then I started saying these things out loud:

I believe in Jesus.

I am a child of God.

I believe that God has a purpose and a plan for my life.

I know that He is good, and He is for me.

And guess what? My faith returned. 

I know, without a doubt, that my God loves you, has a purpose for your life, and wants what is good for you too. Begin to speak truth out loud into your heart. Spend time in His word. Meditate on His goodness. Your faith might start off in the littlest of ways, but it will grow as you spend more and more time with God. Matthew 17:20 says, “I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.’” 

I haven’t moved any mountains lately, but my faith is stronger, and I know yours can be too.

We want to thank Vickie Young for sharing this post.

In September, a year will have passed since my mom went to her heavenly home. Not everyone knows the circumstances that went on behind the scenes. My mom lived a long and fulfilling life. However, it was her last year of life that would bring many challenges. Those challenges would bring me to my knees with a heart that searched for God.

The last year was filled with physical pain for my mom. Weak and brittle bones, her spine collapsing on itself, pinched nerves, and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. That physical pain eventually led to mental pain and heartache, not only for her but for me as well.

Many prayers were said for us. As time passed, it seemed as if those prayers were going unanswered. As pain increased and earthly help seemed nonexistent, I began to question why a good God was not responding to cries for help. As her problems began to mount up, it became overwhelming. Through this, I learned something. It’s the Lord’s will, not ours. Sometimes God uses the darkness to lead us to the light, death to bring new life. Through deep disappointments and lots of anxiety, anger, and heartache, all I could do was hold onto Jesus and allow Him to hold me.

Micah 7:7 says, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” 

During this time God began to reveal where all those prayers went. Instead of God changing His plans for my wants, He began changing my wants for His plans.Everyone wants to be on the mountaintop, but it’s in the valley where faith grows. He showed me how deep disappointment and heartache can turn into a deep relationship with Him. He began to reveal how worry can turn into confidence, sadness into joy, anger into peace, and bad into good.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”  

Through afflictions you come to know Jesus more intimately. That relationship is more valuable than anything you can find here on Earth. It takes faith. God can take disappointments and turn it into a heartfelt satisfaction.

As you stare death in the face, you begin to see the big picture. You get to see that our comfort on this Earth is not what it’s all about. It’s about a relationship with the living God. What seemed like a year in hell was really a year of God preparing my heart and placing the appropriate people into my life at the exact time that they were needed. God is never early, and He is never late. God is always right on time.

My mom was ready to go. However, I wasn’t ready to let go. Unfortunately, we allow life to get hard because we try to do it in our own strength. When we are holding on to the end of the rope is when we start searching for hope and the promises Jesus has given us. Let me tell you, don’t wait until you are at the end of your rope to start searching. He wants to give all of that to you on your good days as well. While you’re on that mountaintop, savor every moment with Him. When you store up hope, goodness, and promises on your good days is when you have something to fall back on during your bad days.

Next time disappointments or trials come knocking at your door, remember that God is sovereign and has a purpose for each of our lives. This is a broken world, but He can use all of our afflictions. All Jesus wants is a personal relationship with you. He wants to be the problem solver and burden carrier. Until we are ready to relinquish control, He will sit back and wait. Don’t wait until you are paralyzed and can’t do anything. God is ready to teach us everything we need for the season we are in. All He is asking for is an open heart and mind with the willingness to put aside our agenda and lean into Him.

We want to thank Kathy Jones for sharing this post.

One of the most freeing things I can think that God has granted us since the beginning of time is freedom of CHOICE. We first see this in the Garden of Eden, and though the right choice wasn’t made, and many more wrong choices follow that first wrong decision, freedom to choose was granted to us all because of His love for us. Though many wrong choices may have been made, so have many great choices, but for all the freedom we have of choice, we also have consequences. 

Consequence can sometimes seem like such a harsh word. I know growing up, I would equate my wrong doings with the consequences I would receive for them. It made me question the goodness of God when it came to freedom of choice because “why would a good God set me up for failure by allowing my flesh to make bad decisions?” Because God wants us to be free people. He wants us to fully receive all the blessings he has for us and the gifting He has given us. He has life and prosperity for us. 

“See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 CSB

Consequence was not meant to be a shameful word. It wasn’t meant to replace what condemnation is. Because what freedom of choice leads to is the freedom of the Lord’s blessings and promises. The freedom to have the consequences of choosing His path for your life. So, when you freely choose to do the work set for you even when it seems mundane, you freely receive the consequence of blessing. And when you freely choose to walk in peace in a  nonpeaceful situation, you receive the consequence of abundant life and peace. Or, when you make a bad decision and steer in the wrong direction, you freely receive the consequence of His direction, a direction given from a loving God who always leads you to prosperity and life. 

God has goodness for you in the freedom of choice. He has goodness for you in his forgiveness as well. We trust in God because His freedom is the sweetest and his prosperity is the greatest. Choose to let his freedom reign. 

We want to thank Sarah Perry for sharing this post.

Everything I’ve learned about walking in freedom, I learned from my mom. I would like to share an excerpt from her journal, and I believe it will bring you as much freedom as it did me. Here’s the woman that was set free from her infirmity…she was made whole.

Unclean Woman

There was this certain woman in the bible, which had suffered for many years with an issue of blood. She had seen many physicians, spent all she had, and wouldn’t get better but rather grew worse.  When she heard of Jesus, she came and weaved through the crowd to reach him. She believed and said, If I may only touch his garment, I shall be made whole (Mark 5:25-27).

Straightway the issue of her blood stopped, and she was healed. (v. 29). Jesus felt virtue had gone out of him. He turned and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “Master you see all the crowd and you ask who has touched you?” (v. 30-31). Do we come to church just to be the crowd? Or do we come to church focused on our needs to be met by Jesus like this certain woman?  

The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing that she had been healed, came and fell down before Him and told him everything that had gone on for 12 years (confessed openly of her uncleanness). And He said unto her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy uncleanness.” (v. 33-34)

According to the Old Testament (the Mosaic Law), anyone who would touch a woman during her menstruation would be unclean until the evening. According to GRACE any unclean man or woman will be made whole through Jesus our Lord and Savior.  If we come before Him through the crowd (in public), looking for whatever needs we have, HE is faithful and just to supply our needs.

Let’s do as this woman, who was not held by her sickness, to go by faith to meet Jesus where He was and had faith that if she would only touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed.

– Linda Helen Bernal

What is your need today?

We want to thank Jerika Longoria for sharing this excerpt from her mom.