Elusive Great Inspiration...

Where is the great inspiration?

Here I sit…waiting for some great inspiration to hit me for my blog this week. Yet, it  (the great inspiration) is being elusive. Those of you who blog know exactly what I am talking about, the great inspiration: the one thing that will make everyone reading go, “Wow! That was awesome.” 

Why do we put such pressure on ourselves? Is it deep down we truly are trying to be people-pleasers? We all know…we only need to please Jesus. On the other hand, I personally find myself at times wondering why so-and-so hasn’t returned my text, replied to my e-mail or left a comment on my blog. Then as a good little Jesus-follower, I beat myself up for caring what people think instead of focusing on only what Jesus thinks of me (Side note: focus is my one word for 2012).

Currently, in obedience, I have registered to go to She Speaks 2012. This is a wonderful conference for speakers and writers. Part of the process is raising funds for the conference fees. Almost immediately, the doubts start flying.

 What if I don’t raise the necessary funds?

Did I hear God right in registering for this conference?

 Does it mean my God-sensor is broken or malfunctioning if the funds are not raised?

All of those and others run rampant in my mind. Renee Swope calls them AM (Against Me) thoughts in “A Confident Heart"). Renee is one of the people God has brought into my journey through the Confident Heart online bible study in the past 6 months.

This journey has included me reading Scriptures and tons of other materials (including a fast of Scriptures only, which you can read about here). God during this time in my life has taken me through Job, Philemon, the Gospel accounts of Jesus from his betrayal to resurrection, James, and presently Acts. Some of you are still amazed Job is in this list.

Last August-October was a tough time for my family. God used Job to reveal there would be a proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” with what we were walking through. The travel to the “light” would include moving to another state, apologies, part-time job beginning, part-time job ending, finding a love for photography (seeing God’s view of the world through a camera lens), rediscovering God’s calling for me to write, and in May surgery.  My darling Sweetie has stuck by me through this all…God gave me a good man.

It is through the reading mentioned above, I am finding my Savior talking to me.  He uses such wonderful and loving people such as Rachel Olsen, Renee Swope, Mary DeMuth, Clayton King and Tullian Tchividjian to name a few.  Wonderful people, who have been obedient to His calling of writing and speaking to reach me (plus so many others…for we know it is not all about me J).

These people are honest and transparent about their struggles and doubts. This has me wanting to be transparent about my struggles…alas; I am not there quite yet.

Part of my problem is the major stumble in my walk last year. This stumble affected my family, my church and my ministry to college students. Hence, the apologies part of this journey in my travels through this tunnel to the light referenced.

 Remember the old DC Talk song, “What if I stumble”:

If struggle has a purpose on the narrow road you've carved

Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar?

Do they see the fear in my eyes? Are they so revealing?

This time I cannot disguise all the doubt I'm feeling

What if I stumble, what if I fall?

What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?

Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?

What if I stumble, and what if I fall

This is where I am…I have stumbled and fallen. Dreading that my trespass has left a deadly scar. More AM thoughts running rampant through my mind. However, I know that God’s love is still here and will never fail. Yes, FM thought!

What I am not sure of is how He will continue to use me? I don’t want to go back to where I was. What I truly want at the end of the day is for God to be glorified!

Have you ever stumbled in a way that has caused you to doubt how God will use you?

How do you deal with it?

My next step with God....

Hallelujah statue by Ken Smith currently displayed at the defunct
Spirit of Freedom Garden in Fredericksburg, VA

I am taking my step next with God today. You will learn about it with the following letter, my only request is that each of you pray and follow God's leading.

Hello Family & Friends,

God has provided an opportunity for me this July to attend the She Speaks 2012 conference. This is a conference that focuses on writing & speaking.

The last 6 months have been an unusual time in our lives and I am taking a big step in sending this letter. Without boring you with all the details, just know that during this time God has reinforced in us that He is in control in all circumstances. Furthermore, I am trying my best to be obedient to my Loving Savior; because I have personally seen what disobedience can do.

The conference being at the end of July will have given me plenty of time to recover from my upcoming surgery. I have committed $100.00 to the conference fees. This $100.00 will not cover the complete $650.00 fee (the fee covers conference materials and lodging). The other $550.00 needs to be secured before May 15^th to hold my spot in the conference. I know that nothing is impossible with God.

The remainder of the fees is where God is giving you an opportunity to be a part of this endeavor. You can read my sponsorship letter by following this link.

No money is sent to me. As stated in the sponsorship letter, all monies are sent to Proverbs 31 ministries with the donor designating the funds to Dawn Whitmore.

My one word for 2012, given to me by God, is focus. I am trying to learn what God wants me to focus on. Yes, He wants me to focus on Him. Yet, through this focusing on Him, He is revealing to me many things. I share these in my blog on a regular basis…Dawn’s Dialogue.

My prayer is that each of you will pray and ask God if He wants you to be a part of this ministry opportunity.

In Christ,

Dawn Whitmore

P.S. All donations are tax-deductible. 

You can learn more about the She Speaks conference at their website: 

http://shespeaksconference.com/

Drop Dead or Proudly Possessing...

Are you Drop Dead or Proudly Possessing? Say What?  As always, this blogger has questions? Now, let’s have a story…Who doesn’t love a good story?

There once was a man named Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira hatched a plan.

“Sapphira dear, let’s sell this piece of our property? But, we will keep a portion of the proceeds hidden for ourselves. I shall take the rest and lay it at the apostle’s feet.”

Sapphira sweetly replies, “Ok Ananias. Whatever you want, my adoring husband?”

Boy, I wouldn’t see it playing out that way in my home. But, that is another story for another day. Here is a little background for you. In Acts 4, people started selling their possessions and laying proceeds at the apostle’s feet. Therefore, this couple decided to do as the others in their community and sell a piece of their property. Yet, they also decided (yes ladies, they decided together) to hold back a portion of the proceeds and to lay the rest at the apostle’s feet.  (Go check the full story out in Acts 5)

Here is where things get interesting:

Upon laying this decided amount at the apostle’s feet,

Peter says, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the land…you have not lied to men but to God?”

After hearing these words, Ananias fell down & died!

His wife, Sapphira comes looking for him (my ESV version says after about 3 hours). 

Here is how it goes down for her:

“And Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much money.”

Sapphira responds, “Yes, for so much.”

But Peter says to her, “How is that you have agreed together (see ladies, TOGETHER) to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

Sapphira stays true to her and Ananias’ plan, the result she’s dead too!

There are so many questions that swirl around in my head upon reading this but I will not bore you with them today. Instead, let’s look at what God gave me during my reading of this portion of scripture:

There are two types of people:

1.    Drop Dead

2.    Proudly Possessing

It never says, how much Ananias & Sapphira conspired to hold back. We need to come to the realization that if we hold anything back, even the tiniest portion it is a bad thing. It didn’t matter if Ananias had held back 1% or 90% the result would have been the same. Why? Because the action of holding back wasn’t their sin, their sin was in thinking they could hide it. Hence, DROP DEAD!

Does this mean we can hold back and it is okay as long as we don’t try to hide it? Uh…. No! 

When we walk around saying, “God knows that I struggle with letting go of my children, husband, insert whatever you fight God over” does not mean that we are okay because we are not being Ananias or Sapphira and attempting to hide it.

This is PROUDLY POSSESSING.  It is like false humility. Neither of them is good for us.

Proudly Possessing keeps God from having full reign in our lives. People who are proudly possessing are some of the same ones who cry that they don’t see God working through them like their friends.

So, we have come back to our original question:

Are you Drop Dead or Proudly Possessing?

***All pictures on this blog unless otherwise stated belong to Dew Photography***

Linen Clothes & Naked Men...(originally posted on Biotikos Blog by Dawn Whitmore)....

“And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.” Mark 14:51-52 ESV

The past week, I have been reading through the Gospel accounts leading up to Jesus’ betrayal, death & resurrection. While reading Mark 14, the above verse jumped off the page at me. Yet, it wasn’t the man running away naked that got my attention. No, it was the “linen cloth” part of the verse, which caught my eye.

Upon reading it, my  mind instantly thought of the linen cloths that Peter found when he went to the empty tomb. Upon reading Mark 15:46, we see Joseph of Arimathea buying fine linen (cloth) to wrap Jesus’ body in before placing Him in the tomb.

 Further in Mark, it is interesting that Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James) & Salome encounter a young man dressed in a white robe at the empty tomb.

What does all this mean? Possibly, no more than I am an eccentric person. One whose mind wanders while reading the scriptures or could it be God revealing more? At times it seems, I always end up with so many questions while reading Scripture.

Does this happen when you read the Scripture or is just me?

Stop by one of my social sites and let me know:

FB: Dawn Whitmore

FB Page: dawnwhitmorespeaks

Twitter: @DawnWhitmore

Look forward to hearing from you!

I am back....

God has been stretching me. He wants me to rely totally on Him for all things. This became apparent in the last couple weeks as I have been working on projects and praying about things. A couple things on my heart have been the college & career Sunday morning class that I have been leading since 2009. It seems that the local students are dwindling. Why? Good question! That is what I have taken to the Father. Whereas, on the other hand it seems that the distance students are keeping up with the lessons online. What are you doing Father?

I have further been praying for the upcoming Ladies Retreat, College & Career Conference, and Pre-CBS of New Bern. All of this while working on the business each day, editing a 34 Chapter book, and trying to keep my house semi-presentable. Needless to say, this is why this blog keeps getting neglected.

I truly want to keep writing and this blog is a wonderful way. Time is the factor. God help me to be able to share your Word through this blog and touch lives.

The verse I have been hanging onto this week has been Galatians 6:9:

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart"

The sound that keeps running through my head is Sidewalk Prophets, "You can have me":

http://www.sidewalkprophets.com/discography/album/these-simple-truths/you-can-have-me

May the Father bless you tremendously this week and may your love be because of who He is and not what He does for you.

Focus.....I can't find it......

This is almost laughable....I am writing a devotion on consistency and focus yet I can't get the focus to make this thing flow. See I said it was almost laughable :) :)

I have all this information all over the place and I am waiting for God to put it together. Tried to start writing it and it goes nowhere. Bad thing is someone is waiting for this devotion to send out as a weekly devotion.

Lord, help me to get this devotion written. Show me the key verse from Scripture you want me to use to pull it all together. Amen.

Welcome.....

Dawn's Dialogue is officially open.....

I have no idea what will transpire from this blog but God does.

To learn more about me for right now check out my website:

www.freewebs.com/dawnwhitmore

Have a blessed day!