The Three Most Influential Women in My Life and the gifts they left behind

1 Peter 4:10, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."

The first gift from the most influential women in my life was a quilt which belonged to my mother, whom I lost December 12, 2007 she will be the number one Influential women in my life.  She was my best friend, my cheerleader, and my greatest fan.  My mother was not your typical mother, she endured many loses, disappointments, and heartaches, which eventually led her to a heroin addiction.   My mother suffered at the hands of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco for one third of her life.  The quilt represents restoration, reconciliation and reconstruction which were the patches God used to stitch us back together as mother and daughter.  Through God’s love I was made whole.  Through His forgiveness, I was empowered to forgive, through His example I was able to follow, through His compassion I was able to walk in her footsteps if only for a moment I understood the pain she endured.  The lesson in the quilt for me is our lives are but a patchwork of moments that we endure, enjoy, and experience on various levels.  Those moments in our lives create our quilt the same patches that had caused us pain are the same patches God uses to cover us in His love and mercy. Every quilt has a story to tell. Some quilts are in the early stages of becoming a quilt you can’t in actuality cover with them, although they offer only a few patches to warm your feet, what patches they have, they offer believing one day to extend enough to cover. Other quilts just crossed over the finish line, the last stitch has been sown the last patch has been put in place, and they are ready to extend their life’s experiences to help you.  At first their quilt stays in their closet but as life goes on they find themselves gravitating to the quilt so others can be ministered to through their experiences. One day they look up and realize someone sitting in their house covered in their quilt while sipping on a cup of coffee, the healing begins as they share their life about their God.

photo credit - filminthefridge.com

 Then there are the quilts that are tattered and torn sown with years of wisdom.  Oh sure, when you cover yourself with them they have holes and the breeze seeps in but the warmth of their lives keeps you content with its ability to comfort you.  You are so consumed with their stories of long ago, about how their God brought them through you forget about the holes, you stop feeling the breeze, your mind has gone to a place of peace as your body responds to the warmth of His presence. Every quilt has a story will you tell yours?

The next gift from one of the most influential women in my life is a rolling pin, which was given to me by my grandmother whom I also lost in 1998.  She also taught me many lessons throughout my walk; one of the lessons was how to sit quietly before God, not asking for nothing just listening to His voice.  Another lesson she etched deeply in my mind was; patience is a virtue, which we are not born with.   Patience comes through our trials. 

My grandmother showed me how to roll my cares upon Jesus so when I use the rolling pin I always remember what my grandmother taught me, sit quietly before your God, be patient in your sitting, and roll your cares upon Him. 

The last gift is an apron, which brings me to the third and final influential women in my life to this date, my Aunt Linda.  My Aunt Linda has also in turn taught me many values on my road to wisdom and she is still teaching me.  Several times while growing up I had the opportunity to be a witness, to observe her while she mothered her children, while she served her husband, and her church.  I watched her relentlessly work through the day and night contending to others, being a witness, praying, teaching, loving, and giving without taking inventory of her.  My Aunt is a servant first, she does not require being served she finds her true joy in living the life of a servant that’s where she is most comfortable, and in that very place is where she made the most incredible impact on my journey.  As I watched her I experienced the heart of God. I learned the art of being a mother, a friend, and a true lover of the Word of God.  I learned about people, and the desire to be loved with action, not with action words. 

photo credit - mdstrength.com

 As I wear the apron I pray her mantle falls upon me. I pray I would put others first, learn the beauty of a servant’s heart, and the joy of making a difference in the lives of others each day I live.    

Thank you for allowing me to share my family with you.  I hope in some small way I have represented them in such a manner that even from Heaven they have made a difference in your life.   I pray that you will find three of the most influential people in your life and share with them how they have written on the slate of who you have become.

Choices are for the Living

Listen Readers, I had an awesome opportunity to serve in my community and I wanted to share my amazing experience with you. I went to the Shepherd’s Staff Food Pantry located at 1311 Sanders in Harrisonville and helped distribute over 15,000 pounds of food to over 300 families it was truly a blessing to work a long side of these wonderful people who were accurately living it out for the Glory of God, they are living God’s Word not just discussing it.

 If you live in Cass County and are interested in volunteering for this worthy cause please contact Delbert (816-769-4988) at Shepherd’s Food Pantry they need volunteers every Friday from 2-6pm. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)  Choices are for the Living…Make a difference, volunteer. Any and all donations are welcomed….   
Casting my net for Jesus

Michele Davenport

If you have questions or comments please contact me at my new email address fbmin02@gmail.com

To read my testimony, “Ripened on the Vine,” go to www.fbministires.com

     

Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Have you ever wondered how the old is gone, and the new is here?  I believe the answer can be found in Romans12:2(a) “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The only way the old can leave is by renewing the mind with the new.

As I was getting ready for my day last week the Lord spoke these words into my spirit, “Find out who you are in Christ or you will become someone you’re not.” Wow! As I stood there pondering His words I quickly realized His people are truly perishing because of lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) 

The numbers would probably be astonishing on the amount of people who don’t know who they are in Christ. I can’t tell you how many times I hear these words, “It runs in my family.” I believe blood bought believers repeated Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. But many of those believers stopped reading right there, what if we would continued reading through Romans 9:10, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess you are saved.”

Readers, here is a very important truth, it is with your heart that you believe, and what you believe in your heart will come out of your mouth according to Matthew 12:34(b), “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”  What are you speaking, what is your confession?  In our family if someone confesses a lie, contrary to the Word of God we say, “If that is your confession.” It makes you stop and think about what you believe, what you’re accepting as your truth, what you have chosen to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.  Satan has but one job on this earth, and that is to change your confession. How does he do it?  By using the very thing God told us to use for our salvation, “our mouth.”  Here is how I think it works; Satan knows the scriptures better than most, remember he was an archangel fallen from Heaven. He plants seeds of doubt, delay, discouragement, defeat, and diversion in the mind of the believer, but you make them grow with the power of your words.  Listen Readers, Satan does not have the power to make the seeds grow only you do, by what you confess.  A person who is always speaking a negative confession over themselves is like a deadly disease which rapidly spreads through the body. You have allowed yourself to become dehydrated from the water of the Word. Many of you feed yourself a diet made up of nothing but the seeds of Satan.  Words have become your addition of choice, just like a person who has a food addition feeds their selves the food of their choice, most of it being junk food.  The only cure is allowing a transformation of the mind.    Romans 12:2(a), "do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Some of you have let the pattern of this world conform who you are. As I was writing I had a vision of a seamstress who was making a dress, the seamstress already had the fabric, the sewing machine, the thread, and the needles; all she needed now was the pattern.  As the seamstress fumbled through all the different types of patterns she had made over the years she pulled out the one that was most familiar, the one she is most comfortable making, and begins to sew. Although the seamstress has new fabric she is still using an old pattern.  Readers, this is what many of us do after we become believers, we are new creations in Christ we have been cut from a new piece of fabric, but we tend to want use an old pattern, (the world) to resort back to what was comfortable, what was familiar, what was an old habit, instead of the pattern of God’s Word.  Choices are for the living….Find out who you are in Christ or you will become someone you’re not. Meditate on these scriptures this week…Eph.2:8, Romans 1:7,Ps.91:10,11,,Phil 4:13,Gal 2:20 1Peter 2:24,Col.2:7, 1John 5:18, 2Cor.4:18, 2 Cor. 10:4,5 2 Cor. 5:21, Gen 1:31. I will give you more next week.

 Casting my net for Jesus….Michele Davenport

For prayer or question please email me at fbministries@comcast.net
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To order my books, one being a true story about my life called “Ripened on the Vine”, or my Devotional called, “From My Heart to Yours”, go to our web page fbministries.com

Listen Readers, I had an awesome opportunity to serve in my community Friday afternoon and I wanted to share my amazing experience with you. I went to the Shepherd’s Staff Food Pantry located at 1311 Sanders in Harrisonville and helped distribute over 15,000 pounds of food to over 300 families it was truly a blessing to work a long side of these wonderful people who were accurately living it out for the Glory of God, they are living God’s Word not just discussing it. If you live in Cass County and are interested in volunteering for this worthy cause please contact Delbert (816-769-4988) at Shepherd’s Food Pantry they need volunteers every Friday from 2-6pm. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)  Choices are for the Living…Make a difference, volunteer. Any and all donations are welcomed….  See you there.

picture credit - http://open-doors-at-st-joseph-maplewood.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html