Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Colossians 3:23-24 NIV 1984

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 2:1-3 NIV 1984

I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.  My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 NIV 1984

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." ~Piper

"As I thought about marriage, I knew that I wanted a man who would have a similar calling, and even one whose ambitions and goals in serving the Lord would far surpass mine."

-Kelsie Powell

Praise the Lord for His Goodness!!

When my family was on the trip to Tennessee, God was spreading his love through the world, even in the most desolate places.  I recorded where He had me leave little pieces of paper explaining the gospel and by His might these seeds planted will grow (which is why I write, so I can record His goodness and see how He is at work and so that I can rejoice when I hear of how He worked in these places, whenever that happens!)  God, you are leading me into beautiful places!
Here were the spots God planted some seeds:

Three Praise FM gospel cards on hotel cleaning carts-pray for their salvation
One on a magazine at a gas station in TN
Gave to gas station lady in Indiana (right before rest stop where I put the tracts 70-some miles from Louisville-wow, the city of Louisville was so beautiful to pass through)
In a bathroom mentioned above (70-some miles from Louisville)
One on bathroom sink just after Chicago
Left on CubFoods bathroom sink (in Plymouth, MN) right when we got home from the adventure to the majestic mountains of Tennessee God created

This surely should be the essence and purity of praying: that prayer would be the giving of all my mind to God while aligning with His heart and mind through the Word and not praying to be seen by others.  That truly is such a privilege to think and act like God upon this earth!  I want to let God have His way.

"Instead of courage, strength, self-denial, and endurance, we often choose the smooth pathway, the pathway in which we serve not our Master but our enemy. Love, remember, is the willingness to be inconvenienced. Jesus was inconvenienced. He went to the cross. May God enable us today to take up our cross and follow Him."

Elisabeth Elliott