Hey, everybody! You are in the exact right place to submit your Verse 2!
This is such a fun first for SSMT! Remember in the SSMT informational post when I told that, while I’ll still be doing all the SSMT posts on the 1st of every month, the one on every 15th would be written by various sisters in our blog community? Welcome to the first one! It took me about 5 seconds to decide who we should ask to kick off our SSMT guest posts. My beloved friend, Jan Morton, has been an active member of this community from its inception. I fell in love with her by watching her interact with countless women in the comment line, ministering to them and encouraging them and mothering them and making them laugh. And through that connection, we became personal friends. Our SSMT guest bloggers throughout 2015 will be from various age groups but this one happens to be right at my age and in a very similar season in her personal life and serving life. Those of you who have been around a while know that Jan Morton became so dearly loved in this community that we early on named her the “Mayor of Siestaville.” So, without further hesitation, please grant me the honor of introducing you to one of the mightiest women in the faith that I know. Jan, we are so honored to have you host us today! Thank you for investing in us!
Happy 2015 Siestas! This is such a privilege for me to share with our SSMT. I adore this community! My name is Jan Morton. I’m a pastor’s wife from Georgia. [I am also “GJ” for Gran Jan/Georgia Jan.] I’ve been married to my husband Gary for 37 years. Only 20 years old when we got married¸ we were way too young but who knew? ☺ We have two grown married sons, two sweet daughters-in-love, and 5 delightful grandchildren ages 6, 4 ½ , 4 ½, 2 ½, and 17 months – Gran Jan’s JOY! I love gardening, singing in choir/praise team, reading, quilting, and serving in the women’s ministry of my church. I work in our local school system (26 years now) as the Administrative Assistant to our Superintendent. A new ministry I’m involved in at my church is called Taste & See, a mentoring, encouragement time for women. Cooking and conversation! We get in the kitchen and wonderful things happen. Isn’t the kitchen a great place to gather? It is at the Morton home!
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” ESV
The word says: For everything [it says everything], there is a season and a time for every matter/purpose/activity under heaven. Everything – the entirety of; a great deal, especially of something very important, EVERYTHING!
God has been drawing me to the theme of seasons, and that is what I want to share with you today. All of life relates to seasons. The beauty found in the four seasons of a calendar year to the seasons of our lives. I’m in the season of life known as the empty nest. Just me and my man like when we had “only just begun.” I’m loving this season, especially being a grandmother. Looking back as a 57 year old woman can do…I can truthfully say I’ve learned in every season of my life. I pray to grow old gracefully and stay relevant and young at heart.
What is your season of womanhood right now? Are you in SPRING – a young woman in school or just beginning a career or education or newly married? How about SUMMER – in the “zone” raising children or building a career or marriage? Maybe you’re in AUTUMN – children grown, and you may be looking toward retirement? Or perhaps you find yourself in WINTER – your senior years as a woman, perhaps a widow, reflecting on past seasons and all that God has brought you through.
WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE ALL THERE. This is what God is showing me because in the busyness of life I can easily lose focus. Don’t be longing for another season and miss what’s going on around you now. This deception is one of the biggest lies of the enemy of our souls; the distraction and discontentment with where we are today. Embrace your season: SEASON – SAVOR EVERY AVAILABLE SENT OPPORTUNITY NOW! Some are more enjoyable than others, sure they are! Just as changes in seasons bring mosquitoes in summer or storms in winter, there are extremes in our lives. Some of you empty nesters may suddenly find yourself caring for both your grandchildren and aging parents. Some of you young women may be longing for marriage. Some of you stay at home moms or single moms may have to go into the workforce for a season to pay the bills. If our entire lives were one continuous season we wouldn’t have the changes we desperately need to help us grow. As much as I love to garden, if every day were spring or summer, I wouldn’t have autumn to harvest, or winter to dream and plan.
This old gal has learned some things in 57 years of seasons:
• Our constant, never-changing, faithful Lord Jesus is with us in every SEASON, in everything.
• Sometimes seasons overlap – in fact, several might descend on you at once. Sometimes joy and sorrow meet in a season.
• You may think springtime has come, but unseasonal cold snaps may occur and you better be ready. Memorizing God’s Word is a lifeline.
• Ask God to give you a strong focus in your season today and receive it as the gift it is, embracing the wonder. God will provide your daily bread.
“Which is the happiest season of life?” was asked of an older woman. She replied: “When spring comes, and the flower buds are breaking through I think, ‘How beautiful is spring.’ And then when summer comes and covers the trees with heavy foliage and singing birds are among the branches, I think, ‘How beautiful is summer.’ When autumn arrives with golden fruit, and the leaves bear the gorgeous colors, I think, ‘How beautiful is autumn.’ And then comes winter, and there is neither foliage nor fruit, and I look up through the leafless branches as I never could until now, and see the stars shining in God’s home.
Embrace whatever season you are in now. RIGHT NOW. Don’t long for another season. I know the days may be long, but at my age, the years seem so short. So wherever you are, be all there. Because of Jesus, one day we will be “SEASONED TO PERFECTION” and live with Christ for eternity. Let’s get there one day at a time and savor our seasons as God wills. Because He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
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OK, ladies! It’s me, Beth, again. Submit your second verses! Remember to limit your comments to these 5 pieces of information:
Name, city, verse, reference (where it is found) and translation.
Here’s mine!
Beth Moore, Houston, Texas. “In Him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22 ESV
I love you guys!
Isaiah 6:8 NIV
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am send me!”
Sandy, Woodstock, Ga
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Galatians 5:16 NIV
Terri from Mechanicsville, VA
But I trust in your unfailingly love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 13:5 (NIV)
“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”
Col. 1:10, NASB
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21 ASV
Rosemary Forney, Tx But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. INV
Stacy, Costa Mesa, CA
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT
Pamela, Colonial Heights, VA: She is clothed with strength and dignity, & she laughs without fear of the future. –Proverbs 31:25 (NLT)
Norma, S Illinois
Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes! Psalm 119:50 NASB
Lindsey Cole, Lecanto, FL
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24 NIV
Tammy Stephens,, Wingo, KY “Do what God’s teaching says, when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves.” James 1:22 NCV
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4: 15,16 NIV
Charlotte Kiser – Leander, TX
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24 NLT
Anne, Simpsonville, SC
“Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with His mighty strength!” Ephesians 6:10 CJB
Rabecca, Armadale, Western Australia :-
Ephesians 2:10(NIV) For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Rebekah , Athens OH
JOHN 3:30 “He must become greater; I must become less.” (NIV)
So simple but yet so much truth for me to remember in my daily walk with Christ.
Sandy Slovacek, West Dundee, Il
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV
Danielle Dryburgh, Philadelphia, PA
And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will HIMSELF restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10, NIV
Cara, Oswego, IL. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. ” Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
Stephanie, Wadsworth OH
“blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Luke 1:45 ESV
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Ephesians 2:14 NKJ
Katie Davila, Tomball, TX
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8 (ESV)
Linda, Delray Beach
“For we are all children of the light, children of the day, we are not of the night or of the darkness.” 1Thessalonians 5:5 (ESV)
Melanie Bittle Knoxville, Tennessee
“Call to me and I will answer you, and tell you great and u searchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3
Jennifer Pond
Iron River, MI
Psalm 119:76 NLT
Now let Your unfailing love comfort me,
just as You promised me, your servent.
Pamela, Mechanicsville, VA.
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will
for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5 NIV
Palm 62:7 KJV In God iis my salvation and my glory the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God.
Staci Morgan from Bedford, IN
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
Eph.3:16 Amplified Bible: May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man (by the Holy Spirit Himself indwelling Your innermost being and personality).
Charlene Sarver, Cookeville, TN
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16-17 (ESV)
Isaiah 26:3. Amp.
You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.
Kay, Richmond Hill, GA
if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 ASV
Mary Edwards, Royse City, TX:
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Cheri Cochran, Frisco, TX
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Megan Flora, Oak Ridge,TN.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 NIV
Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3
“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” Philippians 4:6 Amplified
Stacy, Kimberly, WI
“And so I will walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!”
Psalm 116:9 NLT
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your plans to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”
This reminds me to “Let go, and let God!”
No eye has seen,nor ear has heard,no mind has conceived what God has prepared for thosewho love Him.
1Corinthians 2:9
Psalm 139:23 (NKJV) “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties.”
Jennifer, Tampa, FL
Psalm 139:23 (NKJV) “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties.”
Lisa Holland, Florence, SC
1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater then the one who is in the world. NIV
Becky, Brunswick, GA “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.” Psalm 90:17 NKJV
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?….
No , in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8: 35,37
Fort Wayne, IN
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let you requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7 ESv
2 Timothy 1:7. ESV. For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control.
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8 NIV
Barbara, Middleburg Heights, Ohio
I’m leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27