The second fruit of the Spirit talked about in Galatians is...JOY. I am excited to introduce to you the writer of this week's fruit...Cindy Moyers. She is not only the wife of a preacher, she also just happens to be my aunt. You can call her Cindy, but I refer to her as "Aunt Slenders". She has become very fond of that name!
I really can't say enough about Aunt Cindy. She has become one of my favorite people. I have obviously known her for as long as my husband Matt and I have been together. It seems she's always been one that I can talk to very easily. Even though Aunt Cindy is Matt's aunt, she and I are a lot alike. She is outgoing, cares deeply about people, loves to laugh, loves her family, and loves being a part of the ministry God has called her to. Oh, and she kinda likes to talk too...like me. :) I can relate to her.
Over the past few years, Matt and I have grown a lot closer to Aunt Cindy and her family. They have truly been a God-send and a blessing to our family! More specifically, Aunt Cindy has really been there for me. There have been some things over the past couple of years, that I have turned to Aunt Cindy for encouragement, support, advice, or even just a listening ear. The admirable thing about Aunt Cindy is that she gives biblical advice...not just words based on feeling, and not just words that she thinks I'd like to hear to make me feel better. Nope, it's all based on what the Bible says. We've laughed together, and we've cried together. If there was a fruit of prayer, she would definitely be the one that could write about that too. She truly is a woman of prayer. It's easy to say to someone, "prayin' for ya". It's another to pray WITH someone. She has prayed with me in person, on the phone, and through writing out prayers via email. This has brought me more encouragement than she probably realizes. More importantly though, she has challenged me to be a better Christian in many ways. I have found strength in my own life simply knowing the different things she has had to go through. She's not only my aunt, but she's become my friend and one of my mentors as well. I just really love her!
Name: Cindy Moyers
Hometown: Coffeyville, KS
Married to: Kevin Moyers
Family: 3 children. Jonathan, 23, will be marrying Shauncey on June 5th. Abbie, 21, will be marrying Logan on June 19th. Rebekah, 18, graduates from high school on May 15th, and will be attending Ozark Christian College in the fall.
Current living: Ft. Scott, KS. Kevin is the senior minister and we have been serving with Community Christian Church for 22 1/2 years now. Overall, we have been in ministry and married for 27 years. We love being in the ministry and believe this is where God wants us.
Hobbies: I love doing things with my family, reading, and flowers. With the two weddings coming up, I have been scrapbooking and being creative for the weddings.
Cindy adds, "I am very thankful for the legacy of Christianity that is in my family. My parents, Melvin and Irene Betts, raised me in a Christian home in the Tyro, Kansas area. I have three siblings who are Kathy, Karen, and Lon. All three are very involved in the church there at Tyro, as well as my parents, with Kathy being married to the Senior Minister there, David Bycroft."
And now, words from my "Aunt Slenders"...
"Joy. When I think of joy, the first verse that comes to my mind is, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” God is my strength and I find joy in knowing He is in control and not me.
I grew up enjoying life and finding joy in people and the things around me. I believe this joy is from the Lord. I find joy in the ministry. I love to serve and help others. This brings joy to my heart. I enjoy bringing a smile to someone’s face by little gifts of service: opening the door for someone, carrying a bag of groceries for an elderly person, picking up something that has dropped to the floor for someone…really seemingly small things, but things that can make a person feel like you care about them.
Joy. God can give us joy in all things. I find joy in my family. It doesn’t mean that everything that happens in my family is always how I would picture it, but God has been there to strengthen me in the sad times and heart breaking times. When I couldn’t get pregnant, I continued to find strength and joy in the Lord through the song and scripture, “You are my hiding place, You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You”; when Jonathan was diagnosed with heart problems at 4 ½ months old and we didn’t know if he would live, God brought me strength through the Psalms and I could rejoice that God had brought Jonathan into our lives and that God was in control; and when I was arrested three years ago (yes, you heard that right. That is a long story in and of itself so I will need to share that later), the stress and worry of the future was overtaken with God and I was able to allow Him to give me joy in knowing He was in control AGAIN!
As I have just shared these thoughts, I am reminded of the verses in James 1 that says, 2“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
I am thankful for the joy that the Lord gives me in my church family. They have stood by me in thick and thin; they have believed in me and held my arms up when I couldn’t. That brings much joy to my heart! I am leading a women’s Bible study on Wednesday nights and we have had such a blessed time together. I find joy in these ladies. We are growing in our individual relationship with God and also growing in our relationship together as sisters in the Lord. Some verses we studied earlier in our group were from Habakkuk 3 which says, 17 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” I love those verses. We are learning in our Bible study to be intentional about our relationship with God. I truly believe that by purposely thinking about Him and dwelling in His presence every day brings much joy to my life. That doesn’t mean I have it all together, but I am working on my relationship with God every day.
JOY. It is an important part of the fruit of the spirit. God wants us to have joy in Him. He wants us to show joy to others."
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
"But the fruit of the Spirit is...LOVE"
A few weeks ago, I thought of this idea to write on the "Fruits of the Spirit". But not just write about them or casually mention them, but really dig deeper to learn from these "fruits". And instead of just hearing from me all the time, I wanted to broaden that and include other wives in the ministry. So I made a list of 8 other friends of mine that I asked to be a part of this. My plan is to post one, possibly two, per week. Everyone was randomly assigned a fruit, and I asked each one to tell how God taught them through their particular fruit, and what they have learned in all their years of ministry and service. I love learning from others that have "been there"! My hope and prayer is that you too, will learn from them, and can see the uniqueness in each of these Godly women. They are all "doing" ministry in some capacity in their lives. I tried to get a wide range of wives in ministry...youth minister's wife, college campus minister's wife, well-known Christian writer/speaker, and the others being preaching minister's wives. I really wanted to include a missionary as well, and tried to contact my Aunt Shanthi Bycroft, who serves in Sri Lanka, to be involved in this, but checking their internet is few and far between. So I will be filling one of the spots...sorry, you'll just have to hear from me too!
You all know the first fruit talked about in Galatians 5...LOVE. I am so excited to introduce to you my friend, Shirley Liston, to talk about love today. Before I share what is on her heart, I'd like for you to get to know her a little better.
Name: Shirley Liston
Hometown: Portland, IN. I attended West Walnut Church of Christ from 3rd grade up until I went to college at Cincinnati Bible Seminary.
Married to: Glen Liston
Family: 5 sons, 5 wonderful daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren...2 of which are married now...and we recently had 2 foster grandbabies added!
Current living: Manvel, TX (south of Houston). We live across the lake from New Hope Church where son, Tim, is minister.
Years of ministry/service: After 50 years of being the senior minister's wife, retirement is great! We enjoy attending New Hope now and are involved and volunteer in various areas.
Hobbies: I enjoy planning programs, playing the piano, singing at a local nursing home, teaching children on Sundays, having a small group in our home weekly, going on mission trips, and playing golf with Glen. When I have time, I love reading Christian novels.
I would like to add that Glen and Shirley used to minister at First Christian Church in Brazil, IN...my hometown. Even though I was still pretty young when God called them to a different ministry, I have good memories of the Liston family. They love people, and were very involved in the lives of others. It was during their time of ministry in Brazil, that I came to know and understand what Jesus did for me. I made the decision to be baptized, and was blessed to have Glen (I can call him by his first name, b/c I'm an adult now! :) baptize me when I was 9 years old. Our families have been friends for years, and I know for me, and the family God has blessed my own life with now, both Glen and Shirley have been a great encouragement to us. So thank you, Glen and Shirley, for showing us what it means to LOVE. And thank you for always being faithful...it is evident that you have not stopped "ministering". Now, words from Shirley.....
"Love.....I was so excited when I learned that the Fruit of the Spirit that I would comment on would be LOVE. There are three different kinds of love used in the Bible: 1) Philos “having affection for”, 2) Eros “a sensual or sexual love, 3) Agape’ a deep and abiding affection of God.
It set me to thinking about my first memory of the word “love.” Earlier we had been in a discussion with family members about what the first or earliest memories of child hood that they have. My earliest memory of the word “love” was when I was almost four years old. We were at church one Sunday morning. A man came running into the church building shouting, “Your church building is on fire!”
Our teacher calmly told us, “Children, pick up your chair and carry it outside because fire loves red chairs!” It’s funny...I don’t remember if the building was badly burned but we kept the red chairs safe from being burned...in spite of the fire loving them and wanting to destroy them.
As I grew up, I learned of another love that was greater than what my Sunday school teacher had spoken of: The love of God that does not want us to be hurt or destroyed by anything or anyone. For me, growing up in a family that was what would be called “dysfunctional” today, the love of God was very important in my life. I felt this love of God in the church where I attended from the teachers, youth sponsors, and the minister’s family. The encouragement and love from these so called “ normal average” Christians made a huge difference in my life. Because of this, I wanted to go on to Bible College and learn more about how I could be used of God to help others.
My husband, Glen, and I met as freshmen at the Seminary. We became friends and even sang in the same Quartet together. The friendship continued and grew into a love that was something that I had never experienced in any of my family relationships...Yes! We were married at the start of our junior year in college and began our part time ministry together in a little church in Southern Indiana, going out on Saturday and Sunday.
Ahhhh...Ministry is a great time to put love into practice! Immediately as I saw the children in the church and began working with them, the love that I had experienced as a child just came flowing out. Loving them in spite of how they misbehaved or what side of the tracks they came from was kind of hard at first. The children seemed to flourish in their ability to act better with compliments and encouragement from me...Yes, I was remembering those precious teachers and youth leaders that I had growing up! Our family was poor and “mixed up” but those Christians just loved me anyway and seemed to know that I needed that “extra” love and encouragement. I was determined to do that for the children in the churches where we ministered. Throughout 50 years of local ministry, helping children to become their very best for the Lord has been one of my goals.
With our own house full of boys, reading I Corinthians 13 was almost a daily requirement for me! “Love is patient” yes, Lord, I’m trying! “Love is kind”...Yes, I’m trying to be in all circumstances...even when the mess becomes mountain high! “Love keeps no record of wrongs”...but it’s hard not to remember that he did that yesterday and the day before too! Shouldn’t he learn from experience???? “Love always protects” yes, I could be like a mother bear if anyone attacks my child or my husband unfairly! As a mother, hope was always there, and trust that God would pull us through anything that came our way. One of my verses was Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!” I sure needed all the characteristics of Love every day!
In addition to raising boys, I loved working with women in the churches and leading a Bible study weekly. Loving these ladies and wanting them to grow as Christian women was challenging. It was so neat to see them filling out their weekly lessons, beginning to pray aloud in a group, and to see them stretching to memorize verses each week. But...true to life, not all tried their hardest. Some whom I had thought would really grow, just didn’t do it. Yes, there came “love” into action again! In John 14:34 Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Yes, Lord. I will love each woman and encourage her. It was my plan! I learned to accept the fact that all the ladies were growing and that all could be at different levels of maturity as a Christian and that was all right!
John the apostle summed Love up in his book, 1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.” And verse 21 “And He has given us this command; Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Remember that fire that loved little red chairs and wanted to destroy them? There is someone in this world that wants to destroy everyone that he can. That is the devil and he tries to push out LOVE and then he tries to destroy Christians. We need to remember God’s love for us and how He wants us to go to heaven and also to take as many people with us as we can! Just remember: “You, dear Children, are from God and have overcome them, (evil spirits) because the one who is in you is greater than the one (satan) who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
Love will win!"
--Shirley Liston
***Thanks, Shirley! Please check back soon...JOY is next!
You all know the first fruit talked about in Galatians 5...LOVE. I am so excited to introduce to you my friend, Shirley Liston, to talk about love today. Before I share what is on her heart, I'd like for you to get to know her a little better.
Name: Shirley Liston
Hometown: Portland, IN. I attended West Walnut Church of Christ from 3rd grade up until I went to college at Cincinnati Bible Seminary.
Married to: Glen Liston
Family: 5 sons, 5 wonderful daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren...2 of which are married now...and we recently had 2 foster grandbabies added!
Current living: Manvel, TX (south of Houston). We live across the lake from New Hope Church where son, Tim, is minister.
Years of ministry/service: After 50 years of being the senior minister's wife, retirement is great! We enjoy attending New Hope now and are involved and volunteer in various areas.
Hobbies: I enjoy planning programs, playing the piano, singing at a local nursing home, teaching children on Sundays, having a small group in our home weekly, going on mission trips, and playing golf with Glen. When I have time, I love reading Christian novels.
I would like to add that Glen and Shirley used to minister at First Christian Church in Brazil, IN...my hometown. Even though I was still pretty young when God called them to a different ministry, I have good memories of the Liston family. They love people, and were very involved in the lives of others. It was during their time of ministry in Brazil, that I came to know and understand what Jesus did for me. I made the decision to be baptized, and was blessed to have Glen (I can call him by his first name, b/c I'm an adult now! :) baptize me when I was 9 years old. Our families have been friends for years, and I know for me, and the family God has blessed my own life with now, both Glen and Shirley have been a great encouragement to us. So thank you, Glen and Shirley, for showing us what it means to LOVE. And thank you for always being faithful...it is evident that you have not stopped "ministering". Now, words from Shirley.....
"Love.....I was so excited when I learned that the Fruit of the Spirit that I would comment on would be LOVE. There are three different kinds of love used in the Bible: 1) Philos “having affection for”, 2) Eros “a sensual or sexual love, 3) Agape’ a deep and abiding affection of God.
It set me to thinking about my first memory of the word “love.” Earlier we had been in a discussion with family members about what the first or earliest memories of child hood that they have. My earliest memory of the word “love” was when I was almost four years old. We were at church one Sunday morning. A man came running into the church building shouting, “Your church building is on fire!”
Our teacher calmly told us, “Children, pick up your chair and carry it outside because fire loves red chairs!” It’s funny...I don’t remember if the building was badly burned but we kept the red chairs safe from being burned...in spite of the fire loving them and wanting to destroy them.
As I grew up, I learned of another love that was greater than what my Sunday school teacher had spoken of: The love of God that does not want us to be hurt or destroyed by anything or anyone. For me, growing up in a family that was what would be called “dysfunctional” today, the love of God was very important in my life. I felt this love of God in the church where I attended from the teachers, youth sponsors, and the minister’s family. The encouragement and love from these so called “ normal average” Christians made a huge difference in my life. Because of this, I wanted to go on to Bible College and learn more about how I could be used of God to help others.
My husband, Glen, and I met as freshmen at the Seminary. We became friends and even sang in the same Quartet together. The friendship continued and grew into a love that was something that I had never experienced in any of my family relationships...Yes! We were married at the start of our junior year in college and began our part time ministry together in a little church in Southern Indiana, going out on Saturday and Sunday.
Ahhhh...Ministry is a great time to put love into practice! Immediately as I saw the children in the church and began working with them, the love that I had experienced as a child just came flowing out. Loving them in spite of how they misbehaved or what side of the tracks they came from was kind of hard at first. The children seemed to flourish in their ability to act better with compliments and encouragement from me...Yes, I was remembering those precious teachers and youth leaders that I had growing up! Our family was poor and “mixed up” but those Christians just loved me anyway and seemed to know that I needed that “extra” love and encouragement. I was determined to do that for the children in the churches where we ministered. Throughout 50 years of local ministry, helping children to become their very best for the Lord has been one of my goals.
With our own house full of boys, reading I Corinthians 13 was almost a daily requirement for me! “Love is patient” yes, Lord, I’m trying! “Love is kind”...Yes, I’m trying to be in all circumstances...even when the mess becomes mountain high! “Love keeps no record of wrongs”...but it’s hard not to remember that he did that yesterday and the day before too! Shouldn’t he learn from experience???? “Love always protects” yes, I could be like a mother bear if anyone attacks my child or my husband unfairly! As a mother, hope was always there, and trust that God would pull us through anything that came our way. One of my verses was Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!” I sure needed all the characteristics of Love every day!
In addition to raising boys, I loved working with women in the churches and leading a Bible study weekly. Loving these ladies and wanting them to grow as Christian women was challenging. It was so neat to see them filling out their weekly lessons, beginning to pray aloud in a group, and to see them stretching to memorize verses each week. But...true to life, not all tried their hardest. Some whom I had thought would really grow, just didn’t do it. Yes, there came “love” into action again! In John 14:34 Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Yes, Lord. I will love each woman and encourage her. It was my plan! I learned to accept the fact that all the ladies were growing and that all could be at different levels of maturity as a Christian and that was all right!
John the apostle summed Love up in his book, 1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.” And verse 21 “And He has given us this command; Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Remember that fire that loved little red chairs and wanted to destroy them? There is someone in this world that wants to destroy everyone that he can. That is the devil and he tries to push out LOVE and then he tries to destroy Christians. We need to remember God’s love for us and how He wants us to go to heaven and also to take as many people with us as we can! Just remember: “You, dear Children, are from God and have overcome them, (evil spirits) because the one who is in you is greater than the one (satan) who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
Love will win!"
--Shirley Liston
***Thanks, Shirley! Please check back soon...JOY is next!
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