Hugs from Heaven

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26

I attended the Arkansas ABA Women’s Retreat this weekend along with Missy Smead and Sharon Rosenbaum. We heard some good music on Friday night presented by Beth Hambrick of New Testament Missionary Baptist Church in Lonoke, Arkansas. Martha Owens, from Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Mt. Enterprise, Texas, spoke to us on Saturday.

Sis. Owens spoke of how God will give us showers of blessings, and then asked, "What do you want?" She answered the question by saying most everyone just wants to matter to someone. We want to feel like we are important to our family or church. The problem arises when we expect to be validated completely by humans. Our husbands, wives, children, pastor, or teachers will not be able to give us a feeling of significance all the time. When they don’t, we then feel like a failure. Our significance must come from God. He is the only one who can sufficiently give us self-worth.

Another way in which the devil tries to steal our blessings is by causing us to worry. Sis. Owens commented that "we worry about time and money more than anything else, and they both mean nothing to God." She also stated that we can be a "warrior or a worrier," but we cannot be both. We have to learn that God will take care of us, and there are times when we get hurt in the battle because we have simply failed to wear our armour.