I love all seasons – (well, maybe not winter so much) , but being a March baby, when March comes I know help is on the way! Winter, even in Chicago, can’t last much longer! However, my next favorite season is fall. Even though there is a briskness in the air, and the leaves are falling off the trees, leaving what I know will be a barreness , I love the way they make their exit. In hues of red and gold and tan – so majestic, even when they are falling to their demise. It makes me know that I want my life to be like that. That even as my seasons are changing, and age begins to creep upon me, I want the outgrowth of my life to reflect the colors of God’s creation – I want to become more a reflection of Him with every passing year! read more...

This morning I went through a little back and forth with one of my granddaughters. This very special two year old has not grown up around me – for she lives in a different state. Over the past two years she has only been in my presence about four or five times. And yet, being the perceptive child that is so common today, she does understand relationship enough to know that I am connected to her immediate family ( she figured out that I was connected to her father) and so she has accepted me as such. This morning however, after being with her five days she refused to say “Good Morning Gramma”! She was very adamant about not wanting to say it, and clung to her father. All of his gentle persuasion would not change her mind (she knows she has a good chance of getting what she wants when she clings close to his heart) – she was NOT GOING TO SAY GOOD MORNING. read more...

The more I thought on this scriopture yesterday, the more I realized that the Holy Spirit was in fact speaking to my heart. Most of us don’t recognize the impact that we are making as we go about our daily tasks. So many of us have operated like the Engergizer bunny so long, that we don’t take into consideration that, like Elijah we have done some damage to the enemy’s camp. Reading on past the things that God did to get Elijah’s attention, we find that when God spoke to Him this time He said: read more...

Twice lately, under very different circumcstances, the following verse has loomed loudly in my ear: read more...

One thing I have noticed happening in the body of Christ is the resurgence of, and the operation of strong gifts. It seems as if even people who had put aside operating in their giftings and callings are coming forth with boldness. This is a good thing. Far too many believers had allowed the shakings that have gone across the earrth to shatter their confidence and trust and begin to doubt themselves. To see great armies rising up in faith, going forth to do battle is certainly a joy to behold. As I was thinking about this phenomena, the following scripture came to mind: read more...

All praises go to the God of our Salvation who once again showered down upon HeartLife Ministries – His Glory! No one has a patent on God’s Glory – it is not something you can fit into a program – it’s not something you can even bring with you – when the glory of God shows up in a meeting – all you can do is bask in it! And that is what over sixty couples did this week-end during HeartLife’s Annual Marriage Getaway. The speakers were prepared, relevant, and thought-provoking; the atmosphere was deliberately inviting; the fellowship was awesome; the team had worked tirelessly to attend to the very least details – yet, with all that – the experience would not have been complete without the heart-changing, life-changing presence of the Holy Spirit. He was at work – and for that our heart’s are grateful. read more...

Today the tenth annual marriage getaway for HeartLife Ministries begins. There has been much preparation and the anticipation has steadily increased as the days approached. It is a time to celebrate what God has done, but more importantly it is a time for those married couples who have sacrificed their finances and made a commitment of setting aside this time to invest in strengthening their marriage. It is my hope that all readers will spend some time in prayer this week-end not just for this occasion, but for the institution of marriage as God designed it! read more...

We are continuing to reminisce this week on the birth and continued growth of HeartLife Ministries. We are praising God for the marvelous journey He has taken us on as we watched Him unfold a dream of reaching the body of Christ outside of the institutional church.  After years of watching people scramble for the opportunity to be “used” in the church, often having to take a back seat to others who for one reason or another held advantage in the house, we determined to develop a forum where young, gifted believers would have the opportunity to make use of their gifts and calling to the benefit of those who may or may not be a part of any church.  After years of struggling to understand place, position, and protocol in the local church, we began to understand that Jesus did not concentrate on changing His local synagogue, He concentrated on changing twelve, and a motley group of twelve they were, but eleven of these twelve, plus one born out of season, “turned the world upside down!” read more...

Yesterday we began to address the origin of HeartLife Ministries. The first name was Heart to Heart Christian Ministries. We heard so clearly that love flows, “heart to heart.” Even the world has an expression, “what comes from the heart, reaches the heart.” This is so true. Early on in our Christian experience, we received the rhema word from the Apostle of love, the Apostle John: read more...

HeartLife Ministires was born from a word dropped into the heart of the founder nearly forty years ago. It wasn’t long after I received salvation that I began to notice that the perfect life that was being described on some television programs was not really all that perfect. It took many more years before I was able to separate what was happening to me personally, and really see that some things were part of the Christian’s journey through life. I began to see patterns, I began to see strongholds, I began to see what the enemy of my soul did not want me to see – that my problems did not stem from my own personal faults and failures. In this life there are challenges that everyone of us must face, and the great Christian life does not come because there are no life challenges, but because we respond to those challenges as a Christian! read more...