alaska » PWOC International Blog

Unity

Oct 072010

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1John 3:18

I was recently asked to share on unity and jumped at the idea. Then I had second thoughts because I have been trying to explain unity for about three years now and still can’t figure out what to say. Then my husband told me this story.

Last weekend we had extremely high winds at my house. So high, in fact, it knocked over three trees in my yard, one of which landed on my neighbors shed. No one was injured, Praise the Lord, but it did poke a good size hole in the roof of his shed. Saturday afternoon when the winds died down, my husband and a couple of friends went outside to clean up the fallen trees and debris. One of the trees was a large Cottonwood; generally they are narrow in the trunk but very tall and dense. Once it was free from small branches my husband bent over and hoisted one of its twisted limbs up onto his shoulder to move it and thought about how heavy it was; then he thought about Jesus. I immediately knew the picture that was in his head, did you? That is unity!

God’s love is poured out on to me so that I may, in turn, pour it out to fellow believers. It doesn’t matter if we are Army or Air Force, Methodist or Holiness, if you worship by singing songs or in the quiet of your prayer closet, His love was poured out on the cross for you. The bottom line is that if you believe in Christ you know the picture that was in my husband’s mind while dragging a tree and that is unity, that is Truth and that is where we begin.

________

The Alaska region update is published on the first Thursday of every month. Submit comments or suggestions to: AlaskaPresident@pwoc.org

Intentionally for Jesus

regional review, Testimonies

Sep 092010

Submitted by Alicia Mayer; AK Region president

Intentional seems to be a word that comes up again and again lately. It sounds good and important but what does it really mean? According to Webster’s dictionary; intentional means “done by intention or design.” Done by design, hmm, design. I love that He, my Lord and Savior, has designed me. That He was intentional about everything about me, including every hair on my head. I want to be intentional for Him as well.

I want to be intentional in my relationship with Him. I want to be intentional in growing the relationships I form with the other ladies called to the board. This means I don’t just hope I run into them, I make a point to contact them. I don’t just want to bump into Jesus at a prayer before dinner; I want to intentionally spend time with Him and get to know Him.

I want to be intentional in this job that He has called me to. That means I can’t just do things by accident. It means I have to have a design, a design He has already laid out. Some might call this a vision. In our region God gave a piece of the vision to all called to the board and when we came together, intentionally for vision, we were able to put it to paper. I want to intentionally walk that vision out for Him. Unless we are intentionally walking it through, that vision does nothing but sit on the paper.

PWOCI has given us a great amount of resources to be intentional. We have a Mission Statement, a Readiness Position Statement and Aims all at our disposal to guide us, but they only work if we are intentional about using them. This year we are to Shine in the Light of His Glory taken from Matt 3:14a “You are the light of the world” A friend pointed out that we are not to be like the light, Jesus says “you ARE the light” (emphasis added), this is intentional.

I am looking forward to a whole year of intentionally being the light Jesus asks me to be, are you?

Being a Verb

regional review, Testimonies

Aug 052010

Submitted by: Alicia Meyer, regional president – Alaska

At many stepping stones in my life I have been asked some form of the question “What prompted me to respond to a call to service?” and just as many times my answer starts with a PWOC sister’s name. For example “Well, Dawn suggested…” or “Karen came to me and said…” and I got to thinking about what they have taught me either by lesson or example and I had this thought “She was a verb in my life!” We know something has arrived in the worldly sense when a proper noun becomes a verb. In this age, we ‘Google’ things on the web instead of looking them up or we ‘Martha Stewart’ something when we make some not so cute item into a “good thing”. These women saw something that God planted inside me and didn’t say …”one day you will…” they reached inside and helped it grow, they took an active role in my life, and they became verbs in my life.

In the Great Commission Jesus said:

“Therefore, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt28:19-20a)

These are very active words, they are verbs. They require action; they require me to take an active role in someone’s life.

I am thankful for these Titus II women in my life and the verbs they became and find myself asking; “Am I a verb in someone’s life?” This term the Alaska Region has been called to “unite and empower”, this too requires action, so I challenge everyone to consider how it is that you are accomplishing this in your life and the lives of others. Are you acting on the call God has placed on our lives to invest in others?