Newsletter-April 26, 2010

Hello All and Welcome to the first ever Real Women Newsletter!

For those of you who are new to the Church at Northwest AR or might not know me, my name is Keri Sallee and I am excited to be heading the Real Women ministry. Since we are a new ministry, the field of opportunities is WIDE open! Are you as excited as I am!?

I'll try to keep this short, but I wanted to lay out a few things that are upcoming for us Real Women:

1) Real Women NWA Blog: At our blog you will find recent and past newsletters, upcoming events, and devotions that we've done at events (as well as extras now and then.) I hope this will be a place for you to be both informed and inspired! The address is: http://realwomennwa.blogspot.com/

2) Prayer/Praise List: Starting next week, I will send out a weekly prayer & praise email each Monday morning to those who would like it. If you would like to be included, please contact me by Sunday (email/phone/catch me at church.) If you would like to receive the list each Monday, please respond to this email and let me know.

3) Upcoming Event: We have some fun events coming up.

May 15th (Sat)-We'll be going to see "Letters to God" at the Rogers Malco Theater. We will attend a matinee performance around 4:00 and then head to Atlanta Bread Company for fellowship and discussion. DISCLAIMER: If you haven't seen the previews, just a warning...bring tissue! :o)

June- Calling all scrappers and non-scrappers alike! We will be having a fellowship and crop. There are a few details to iron out. More info to come!

July- July has us heading to paint pottery. Again, more details to come.

4) Extra Info/Help needed- We are always open for ideas, so please feel free to email if you come across an activity you think would be fun or a cause you think Real Women would like to participate in.

Well....I think that is all for now. Please feel free to forward this email or give the link to our blog to anyone I might have missed or anyone you think would like it!

Have a great day and see you all soon!

P.S. The first blog post, "Dare to Dream Big", was the devotion from our first Real Women outing earlier this month. I know a lot of people were busy or out of town, so I hope you take the time to read it.

Dare to Dream Big

Dare to Dream Big

When we were all young we all had dreams of what we wanted to be when we grew up. Recently I walked past a Barbie display at Walmart and it said that Barbie has had over 120 careers since she was introduced in 1959. I’m sure we all remember pretending to be anything from an astronaut to a vet to a mom. There were things that, even at a young age, God began to plant in to our hearts that would someday grow into full-fledged dreams.

As we grew up, though, life began to get in the way of those little girl dreams.

Today I want to talk about some of those obstacles that might have gotten in the way of those dreams and desires that God put in our hearts and what the Bible says about overcoming them so that we can live to our fullest in God’s will.

1) Circumstances

One of the most obvious things that can be an obstacle to our dreams is our current or past circumstances. We can so easily be derailed from dreaming big by simply looking around at what we’re doing or looking behind at what we’ve done and thinking because of that, God can’t possibly use me. I’m too old, too young, not talented enough or I’ve just messed up so much, my dreams are just not even possible anymore.

But if we look in the book Revelation, we see what God says about overcoming and I love the way the Message puts it.

“Here’s the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You’ll rule the nations.” Revelation 2:26

Those who refuse to give up will be given authority over nations. So if God, in the end, will give you power over nations, how much more likely is he to work out your dreams and goals for his glory while you’re here on earth.

2) People

Another obstacle that can keep us from dreaming big is the people around us. In every group there is a Debbie Downer or a Chicken Little that says the sky is constantly falling and he/she wanted to make sure you knew about.

Being around that kind of person can such the hope out of even the most optimistic of plans and be a roadblock to the plans God has in your life.

But, what if for a second, you saw that person as a stepping stone, instead of an obstacle?

In Exodus, we find the story Moses being called to be the delivered of the Israelites who have been in captivity for hundreds of years at this point. In chapters 7-11 we see Moses coming to Pharaoh 10 times, only to be turned away each time and in the midst of what had to be a discouraging situation for Moses, God slips in this little nugget that no one expected, in Exodus 9:16:

“But I have raised you [speaking of Pharaoh] up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

You see, people from the outside and I’m sure even Moses, saw Pharaoh as an obstacle standing in the way of what God wanted to do, but vs. 16 tells us that wasn’t the case at all. God had placed Pharaoh there, not as an obstacle, but rather as a springboard for his name to be proclaimed and his power to be shown.

3) Self

The third, and probably the biggest hurdle to overcome, is the battle within you. You can be in a crowd of people and being having a complete argument with yourself or even God.

But what we sometimes don’t realize or remember is that God wants our dreams full-filled just as much as we do.

Philippians 2:13 tell us “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Taking that verse step by step, we can see that God is already working in you by first giving you the desire to do something great for God and secondly giving you the power to bring that desire or dream to reality.

I want you to take a minute and really think about the desires and dreams that God has placed in your heart. Don’t let your brain get in the way and try to talk you out of it. Don’t think about your circumstances or what other people have told you. What is the biggest dream you could do, that would bring God the most glory?

Write it down and keep it in a place you look at often. It doesn’t need to be out in the open for everyone to see. It can be in your wallet, where you see it every time you’re at Wal-mart or in your Bible so you see it as you do your devotions.

Look at it each day and make an effort to do one thing to help reach that dream. It doesn’t have to be big…it just has to be a start.

There is a quote by Picasso that I love and I’ll leave you with…

“Inspiration Does Exist, but it must find you working.”