Priscilla Shirer's Blog, page 66

Boys and Birthdays

Exciting day in the Shirer household yesterday! Our youngest, Jude, turned fabulous four! He had been awaiting this birthday since he turned three . . . so the day was met with a huge smile and eager anticipation.

It began the way all the birthdays do in our house - with "birthday pancakes" on the "special plate" topped with birthday candles and an early morning serenade.





It culminated with a birthday party. 12 baloons, 10 cousins, 5 large pizzas and 2 gallons of lemonade later, he was exhausted and ready for bed!

Indeed, so were Jerry and I!

On Monday, Jude and I spent the day together, mostly run errands but also doing a few "pre-birthday" things to make him feel special. I tweeted about one of our activities and many of you responded with questions about one of them in particular.

Each year, my boys have to purchase a gift, that they really want themselves, to give to another child. My hope is that their hearts will be grateful for the lavish goodness of God in their own lives and sensitive to the needs and desires of others.
I don't allow them to buy something they could care less about or have no desire to own themselves. It has to be a toy, book or gadget that is on their top five list. When they are old enough (which my oldest two sons are) they use their own money to pay for at least half of the gift. When they are little (like Jude) I give them the money and then they take it to the check out counter to make the purchase.
Then together we take it to our church's outreach department and drop it off with instructions to give it to another child who might come through their doors in the future. I never do this alone but allow the boys the "gift" of delivering it themselves.
We do the same thing at Christmas time and during that season we normally target a specific family that has children a similar age as mine. We take the gifts to their home so that my boys can put a face with the children who they've searched the perfect gifts for and that we have prayed for.

I've gotta tell you, it can be difficult for a little one to comb the store aisle for a toy they aren't getting for themselves. I've endured many a tempter tantrum in their younger years. But I'm proud of little Jude. On his last day as a 3-yr-old, he searched for the perfect gift eagerly and then gave it away cheerfully. He seemed excited to brighten another pre-schooler's life.
I hope he grows into a man marked by generosity and compassion.



What are some ways you are teaching your children to be generous and concerned about others?
P

Relational Intimacy

I hope that you guys had an amazing weekend. I'm grateful to say that mine was filled with so many things that I love. Friday night we celebrated one of my best friends birthdays that entailed delicious food and perfect company, Saturday my mom was in town and we spent the day with my nieces in Waco and ALSO watched my Ole Miss Rebels win (woohoo!) , and then yesterday church was so very good and then day ended with a music writing session with our worship team. Basically, I have an amazing life!

Our church just started a series called "Relationship Intimacy" and I have been thinking all day about the words that were spoken about how to resolve relational conflict. It seems like we all have currently or have had in the past, or will most certainly have in the future, relational conflict. It is always hard to know how to resolve the issues that we have and how to avoid them. The truth is, they are going to be there when you are living in community and so you can either grow in it or remain stagnant in our relationships. I'm assuming that if you're visiting this blog you would chose the former rather than the latter. 

One huge takeaway from the teaching is that we have got to approach all relationships with humility. Rather than trying to get our point across or prove that we are wrong, clothing ourselves with humility and learning to respond in a different way is going to cause huge blessings and growth in our lives. 

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5

This week I want to charge us to approach our relationships with humility as the focus. Maybe you are dealing with a relational conflict at the moment or perhaps might encounter one this week. Whatever it may be, I'm praying that God will help us learn to respond in a different way - one that brings resolution through us being willing to be more approachable and gentle in our actions. 

Bless you all today!

Linnae

 

P.S. I encourage you to listen to the whole sermon if you'd like. You can find it here once it's posted. 

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That's one of my nieces, Ana. Isn't she ridiculous cute?!

2013 Events are Here!

We are so excited because on Monday Annetta posted all of our 2013 events on our website to fill you in on where Priscilla will be speaking next year! Have you seen the schedule yet?? I imagine you are eager to see so hop on over here and take a gander.  

Ok, so.......... are we going to get to be with you in 2013???? Would love to hear which conference you plan to attend. If for whatever reason the dates or locations don't work with your schedule, I encourage you to be a part of the Priscilla Shirer Live Simulcast that you can watch from your own home or church. That's the beauty of technology these days! So really there's no excuse for us not getting to be with you in 2013 =)

I think I can speak for Jerry & Priscilla and say that so much thought and prayer has gone into where we feel like the Lord is leading in 2013 and feel like God has something very specific in mind for each event you have just read about. We just hope that we get to see all of your beautiful faces at some point next year!

So because we miss hearing from you guys on the blog, tell us which event you hope to be at so that we can make sure we are praying for YOU and what God has in store for your life next year!

The Fair!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Dallas. Perfect, crisp weather for a trip north on Hwy 35 and a bit east of downtown Dallas to the State Fair of Texas. 
We always await the fall months with great anticipation for many reasons but this fun-filled trip is at the top of that list. About mid-way through the school day, Jerry and I nabbed the kids out of school, coaxed our co-workers out of the Going Beyond Ministry offices and hustled on down to the fair just in time for lunch.
And then we ate. . . everything.


Hot Corn dripping with butter and spicy seasonings


A giant turkey leg big enough to feed thousands


Several Corny Dogs straight out of the Fletcher's grease

A couple funnel cakes and cinnamon rolls that left us all with sugar highs

And a fried Red Velvet Cupcake. Yes. . . you heard me correctly.

We didn't devour too much of any one food. We just bought lots of different things and then grazed for the entire afternoon like cows on an open pasture.
Then we followed the boys from one expensive ride to another but were delightfully surprised to discover that it was "Five Ticket Tuesday". All the rides were far less expensive than normal. Hallelujah!
So we rode. . . and rode again.

Then we topped off the afternoon with a couple of those cliche games that scored the kids some cheap stuffed toys (that will inevitably end up scattered in my living room) and then we waved at "Big Tex" on our way out.



We were tired . . . and full - well, at least the adults were. The kids were still going strong and could have stayed on the fair grounds well into the night taking more five-ticket adventures and eating more fried foods and decadent sweets until their tummies buckled under the pressure. But they'll have to wait until the fair returns next year with more delightful fun and fried food concoctions then we'll ever have tough enough stomachs to chow down.
Then we'll go back again. just like we do every single year.
It's a good tradition . . .one that I think I'll stick to.

:)
Priscilla

Showing Up

What a week!  We sat under Priscilla's teaching all last week as she's been recording her new Bible study, "Gideon: Your Weakness, God's Strength."  To say that we are full and tired is an understatement!

As she was teaching this week, I was thinking about all the different pieces that make up Priscilla taping a Bible study:  the set designer, the editor, the camera crew, the producer, even Titia, Priscilla's long-time  friend who makes sure her makeup is "just so" in the back!  There are a TON of pieces that are self-sacrificing as the week rolls through.  And if ONE of those pieces were to not show up and do it's work, the entire taping would be in serious trouble!  It makes me think of Romans 12.  Paul talks about different members of a body, and not all the members having the same function.  He goes on to say that "each member belongs to each other" in verse 5.  We belong to each other.  Or, as you might have heard it, "it takes a village."  What I do effects all the people around me.  If I choose to believe lies about myself and His plan for me today, it will eventually effect those around me.  If I choose to be depressed and stay at home instead of "showing up" for something, it effects those closest to me at first...and eventually those around me.  Others need me, just like I need them.

As an independent individual, it's hard for me to shoulder ANY responsibility in someone else's Christian walk.  But, Scripture is clear that how I choose to do life, effects those around me.  I simply can't afford to be selfish!  I can feel the sanctifying from here!  

So here's to "showing up" this weekend at your local church...taking part...encouraging those around you to do the same...and loving others well by the way you live!  I'll seek to do the same!

We're all headed to the Texas state fair tomorrow...I'm pretty sure we're gonna eat something FRIED!

 

Love, 

annetta

Live from the Gideon Taping

We happened upon Priscilla in the dressing room last night before she taught Session 5 for the new Gideon Bible study, and she wanted to say hello to you all! 

Take a look below to hear a few of her thoughts from last night. 

(If you aren't able to view the video, click here)

Have an amazing weekend and we will see you Monday!

Half Way Through!

Well, we are half way through the Gideon Bible Study taping. It's hard for me to begin to describe my excitement about this new study that Priscilla is doing. It's been an amazing week so far! You can tell that God is all over this one because it seems like the enemy is working overtime on everyone involved to try and thwart what God has planned for this particular message He's given Priscilla but also because the messages have been some of the most powerful teachings I've heard yet!

I'll have you know that we can feel your prayers BIG and I know Priscilla is extremely grateful to know that there are others praying on our behalf. So thank you, and please keep praying!

I wish we could share with you photos and snippets into what is going on this week, but we will keep you in just a little suspense until the release on May 1 =) You probably want to go ahead and plan to do Gideon for your summer study! (Priscilla would be so mad at me for saying that... hehehehe)

I know she is so looking forward to connecting with you again, but since she is filming intros and outros all day today, we can all pretend we are sipping our coffee/tea with her in our comfy chairs and read the Jewelry Box for this month. Have you seen it yet? It's quite the perfect timing with the new iPhone having just come out. 

Enjoy! Let Priscilla know what you think, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing how you all are doing today to give her a little boost =) 

We love you guys!

Linnae

Gideon . . . and CLOTHES

I never knew that a wardrobe could make me exhausted. Clothes are just clothes - pieces of thread
put together into some cute covering for the body. So you'd think they wouldn't
have the capability to actually wear a person out.

But, sometimes, mine do!

This week, I solicit your
prayers as I launch into a full week of taping for a brand new Bible study on
Gideon. I'm so excited about this Biblical character and the incredible
spiritual principles that his life and experience with God will teach us. I
cannot even begin to tell you how engrossed in research and preparation I have
been. I have done little else other than prepare my notes (and calm my nerves)
for many weeks now. Every day this week, I'll stand in front of an audience and
cameras to record the sessions for this resource that I hope will be a blessing.
. .to you.

. . . and this is where
the issue of clothing comes to the forefront of importance.

God looks at the heart. .
. but ladies look at clothes! So, as superficial as it may sound, what I wear
matters. The last thing that has been on my mind is what I'll wear. Don't get
me wrong, it's important to me just not my top priority. In between Old
Testament history and figuring out what's for dinner each night for my family,
I haven't had time to put outfits together. So, a fashion forward friend of
mine came over one morning earlier this month to scower my closet in an attempt
to find clothes that will work for the taping. There are so many rules to abide
by when it comes to clothing in front of a video camera which is why I need her
help - no strips, no busy prints, no "see-through tops", no
white....the list goes on and I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So, with the
regulations firmly in her mind, she dug into my wardrobe and was soon flinging
blouses, belts, necklaces, pants and skirts all over my bathroom and bedroom,
matching and rematching things up until she found 10-15 different outfits that
would work well for video. With each new discovery she beckoned me out of my
comfy pajamas and into an outfit to just to make sure it looked as good on me
as it did in her mind.

Some worked. Some didn't.

So the process continued
for hours until everything was done.

I needed a nap when she
left. . .but at least we got a few good outfits put together for this week.

I think.

I hope.

Needing you to weigh
before I take the platform tonight and every night this week. So, ignore my
"morning hair" in these quickly snapped photos and let me know what
you think :)

Priscilla

 

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5's a Sanctifier

5 ladies.  2 bathrooms.  I'm not sure who thought this would be a flawless plan, but I'm feeling a few pointed looks when I bring it up in our housie meetings.  Yes, you read that right:  5 girls in one relatively small house.  But isn't ANY living space "relatively small" when there are 5 sources of estrogen floating around?  

We're all grownups.  So this means that healthy conflict resolution has become a part of our required, daily living.  If you're like me, you HATE conflict...like, "run-from-it-screaming, look-to-the-ground-as-you-pass-awkwardly-in-the-hallway" HATE conflict.  I hate the feeling that someone is mad at me...or is hurt by me...or isn't pleased by me.  Whoops.  My people-pleaser just showed it's gloriously shiny head.  That's right, in the fashion of Anonymous groups everywhere I confess:

"My name is Annetta.  I am a people pleaser."

Problem is, I want to please God more.  Sometimes.  There's this funny little war that tug's in me...like Paul, "What I want to do, I do not do.  But what I do, I do not want to do" (Romans 7:15).  One day I want to please God...and the next, I'm ashamed to say, I want to please people.  The older I got, the more poignant the war.

Can you see what's coming here?  Put a people-pleasing, conflict-avoiding, God-lover in a house with 4 other personalities and there is a deep need for conversation.  God talks a bit about conversation in Scripture...you've probably heard "do not let the sun go down on your anger" (Proverbs 29:11) or "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:19) or my very favorite is James:  

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." (James 4:1-4)

I love these verses...James just tells it like it is:  You want one thing + I want another = CONFLICT.  My "passions at war within me" are the very thing that makes un-rest prevelant in my house.  With 5 girls with different upbringings and schedules and emotional roller-coasters, well, there are a lot of "passions at war."  

We were prime for World War III in our living room a few days back.  But then, one of the roomies started talking...She didn't say to "be flexible with each other!"  She didn't say, "Ok, these are the things that annoy me."  She didn't even say, "Let's just be kind."  She started talking about us preferring each other in our daily lives.  She started to talk about being sanctified by submitting to each other.  And as she talked we all were able to see this beautiful picture of WHY God had us all in the house together:  I'm thorny.  I've got edges and all sorts of things that are desperate to be rid from my daily-being-sanctified heart.  And when I stomp my manicured foot and demand my own way or force the hand of someone with spiffy logic, I remain thorny and edgy.  I remain in my sin.

But when I submit to someone else's preferences, asking God the best way I can love that person today, I am changed.  I am CHANGED.  And today, if I make that choice to submit or even just have a conversation from love, I look a little bit more like Jesus than I did yesterday.

Now I'm not saying we should be passive and let everyone have their own way.  But I AM saying that when it's a matter of MY way versus HER way, well, it's time to go HIS way: ask Him to step in, love her well by saying "Yes!  Let's do it your way"

So.  What are YOUR thoughts?  This is a tough one for me...it means I don't get to demand my own way....ha!  

 

Praying for you even now...

 

annetta

Empty Handed

The boys had a fight yesterday.

A pretend one. . but even the imaginary ones start looking and sounding like all out war after your kids get to be a certain size. 

I'm always amazed at how wrestling matches between two youngin's can be rowdy and, from my perspective, painful. Yet somehow my boys call this "fun". Is this with all chidren or just boys like mine - ages 5 to.. . well, manhood?

I'm not sure but I do know for certain that many spiritual lessons can be learned while standing on the side lines refereeing (my preferred positioning). So the other day while two of my bare chested sons flexed their barely-there biceps and slammed their bodies into each others time after time, I noticed that one kept trying to reach for a random ribbon that had been left on the floor underneath the couch. Not sure how it got there but this black piece of fabric caught his eye and he spent a large amount of trying to nab it while simultaneously warding off his attacker.

Finally, as the match came to an end, he got to it. Secretly clutching it in his hands, he sat exhausted on the sofa and quickly tucked it down into his shorts for safe keeping while his brother ran off for a glass of water.

"I'm going to use this when he comes back, mom! Not sure how, but I know that it's going to help me win next time!"

I giggled at his seriousness but then carefully considered his combat exit strategy: never leave a battle empty handed. 

This must have been what King David and his elders had in mind when they came out of battle. They'd been commanded by God to take the spoils of war as their own after He'd given them victory and use them specifically:

They dedicated part of the spoil won in battles to repair the house of the Lord. - 1 Chronicles 26:27

Obtaining the booty from the battle had been a long and costly process and yet they, like my son, hadn't spent all that effort and then come back with nothing to show for their hard work. They had emerged from the war with something of value for themselves. 

When we come out of spiritual warfare - a tangle with the enemy that leaves us breathless -  the Lord intends for us to come forth with our arms full of spiritual treasure - maturity, growth, character development and other lessons learned that are our constant companions from that day forward.

Beyond that, like with David's treasure, we should see enhancements to the Kingdom of God take shape as a result of what we've gleaned. 
His purposes should be served.
His Kingdom should be enriched.
His people should be edified.
His plans should be established.

All because His people walk out of the war a little weary from the wear but not. . .empty handed.

What have you brought out of a life battle that has changed you and edified others?
Priscilla