Each week I have the opportunity to share a brief message on KFUO, a radio station housed on the grounds of Concordia  Seminary in St. Louis. Because of modern technology like Internet, live streaming people can listen to this radio station all over the world.
I must admit there are times when I wonder if anyone is listening! Our Information Technology Committee is able to provide a link to many of my broadcasts on the LWML website; you can find them under “News” on the top bar, on the drop down menu click on KFUO which will take you to a page that has archived many of the messages.
Last week I was driving to Minnesota to attend a funeral during the time of the broadcast. I pulled into a gas station and took the call there. As soon as the call was completed, I received another phone call from someone who was listening via Internet streaming; someone was listening! Truth be told, this woman was listening because she was my back-up in case I did not have cell phone coverage at the time the station would be calling me. Today right after I finished I received a phone call from a friend in St. Louis who was listening in her car. She wanted to thank me for the message and said it had meant a lot to her today. God’s Word ministered to her in a special way today and she just called to let me know.
Do you think that God is ever wondering if anyone is listening to Him? I know all too often I ignore Him, or I am too noisy to actually hear Him.

Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

Last biennium the Christian Life Committee developed a resource titled, 31 Day LWML Prayer Prompts. Suggested prayer topics are listed for each day of the month. Yesterday morning, the 18th, the entry read: Thank You for giving our officers sufficient energy to complete the work they are given to do; bless them with an extra blessing today.
Now, I have to tell you how much I needed that prayer support. I had driven over 7.5 hours on Tuesday to get to Mankato, Minnesota, to represent the LWML at the funeral of our 8th president, Helen Morris. It was a long, tiring day of driving alone, knowing that I would be turning around in a few hours and driving the return trip after the funeral on Wednesday. The Lord did provide the energy I needed to complete what He called me to do in that time and place, plus He provided travel mercies for my return trip. I have no idea how many people use the prayer prompts, but I do know that God is faithful and answered that prayer, even if I was the only one praying it on the 18th.

May He bless your prayer life.

This past week I had the opportunity to visit Gertrude, a 96 year old woman who attended the founding convention of the LWML in 1942. The Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly had an article titled, “Reinventing Servant Gertrude,” on page 9 of the Summer 2010 issue.
I made the trip with two dear LWML friends; we stopped and picked up Kentucky Fried Chicken, Gertrude’s requested meal. When we walked through the door of her place she was so happy to see us and told us that she had been praying for our safe travel.
One of the gifts that I gave to her was a set of the new large print Mustard Seeds devotions, Comfort from the Psalms. I assured her that she probably didn’t need it as her eyesight is still quite good, but that she might know people to whom she could give them. One of the women wanted a photo of Gertrude holding up the packet, so she obliged. Gertrude broke out in laughter as the devotion placed in the back of the clear packet is titled, “Facing the Enemy.” And that is what she was reading while the photo was being taken. I quickly paged through the devotionals and read some of the titles so she could hold up another one for a photo. Gertrude chose the one titled, “God is in Control.”
After the photos were done, I was going through some of the other gift items for her. I had included the LWML perpetual calendar, Simple Treasures, which contains quotations from Alma Kern’s writings. Since the calendar was enclosed in shrink wrap, I opened it for her and turned to the entry for that date, August 12. The quote on that day was from Alma’s book, You Are Special. It read: “Faith is remembering…God is in control. He has a plan for your life. He turns evil into good for those who love Him”.
God is in control; a message that was received twice within a few minutes; one that I need to remember.
How grateful I am for the courageous women who met in 1942 to officially begin the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. How grateful I am that God is in control of the LWML.

For several years I have received a newsletter from International Student Ministries. One page of the newsletter (front and back) contains prayer requests from the various ministries on campuses throughout the country. Once a week I look at the requests for that week and include them in my prayers. This week, August 1-7, contained the following prayer from Audrey, the Director of ISM at Stillwater Oklahoma: “God’s blessings on the material we received from the national LWML grant. May many students be reached with the Gospel.”
Your mites are making a difference!

 Thank you for supporting this grant#16 and the other 18 grants that were selected to be funded this biennium.

In June I wrote about attending the Indiana District LWML convention and the relationships that are a blessing to me. My friend Betty shared the following story:
A Brazilian pastor was the guest preacher at our church in Lafayette many years ago and as part of the sermon he said that when he died and went to Heaven, the first thing he would do when he got there was to fall at Jesus’ feet and thank Him for all He had done for him, especially for giving His life to save him and making it possible for him to spend eternity with God in the joys of Heaven. And the second thing he would do is find the LWML ladies who had contributed the mites that enabled the missionary to come to his town and tell the people there about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don’t remember much else from that sermon but this part stuck with me.
What a powerful story of the connection that your mites have with real people, all over the world. Thank you for your faithful prayer support and giving your mites. I know of one Brazilian pastor who will be looking for LWML supporters in heaven.

I have to tell you that I am pretty bold about sharing the good things in LWML. Earlier this month while at the Michigan District LWML convention, I was promoting our wonderful website and what VP of Communication Linda Arnold has termed, The Extreme Makeover, LWML Edition. As part of my report to the convention I shared about the opportunity to sign up for daily Mustard Seed devotions to your inbox. VP Linda was also attending the convention and sent me a note that a woman from Michigan signed up to receive the e-devo right after I finished speaking! How about that?
Also at that convention I talked with a woman named Joan who told me she is “glued to the LWML website and loves all the new changes.” Joan is 72 years old; isn’t that great?
The third related event from that convention was a comment written on a brief survey that we are doing at all the district conventions. A woman in the 50-59 year old age bracket who was attending her very first LWML convention wrote, “I will add the link (for lwml.org) to our church website!”
May we use technology wisely and may God bless the spread of His Word through our e-devotions.
Have you signed up to receive the Mustard Seeds devotions?

This week I had two neat things happened related to prayer. On Thursday when I walked into the Board of Directors meeting at the Michigan District LWML convention, a woman came up to me and said that I didn’t know her, but she wanted me to know that she prayed for me every day. Wow; how humbling is that? Emy is a past president of the Michigan District LWML who continues to serve the Lord with gladness. Thank you Emy, for praying for me.
Earlier in the week I received a message on my Facebook wall from Steve, a pastor who heads up a ministry in the LCMS. He wrote that he keeps me and the work of LWML in his prayers. Thank you, Steve!
I know these are not isolated cases. Many people pray regularly for the work of the LWML and its many volunteer officers. Thank you; it is a blessing that we cherish.

Last weekend I attended the Indiana District LWML convention. While there I was reminded of one of the many blessings of being involved in LWML; the gift of relationships.

I had the opportunity to connect with Elise, a former DP who influenced me over 30 years ago when I lived in Indiana. She often told me that I should become involved in LWML; she thought that I would like it. Elise was a great cheerleader for the organization, and one of the women who encouraged me to see what LWML was all about. How wonderful to be able to visit with her and to see her daughter, Bev, who serves on a district committee. Elise is a woman of influence!

I was also able to touch base with Sandy, another former DP, who also served on the national level of LWML. In fact, she had a great impact on me and my service in LWML. I learned a great deal from her, and she has blessed my life in many ways.

My hostess for the weekend was Betty. Betty and I go way back to the 1991-1993 biennium when we served together on the Member Development  Committee on the national level. We ended up rooming together for the entire biennium. After the 1993 convention in Edmonton, Betty and I took a mini-tour in the Canadian Rockies and were joined by two other committee people; one was Sue, who also was a member of the Indiana District LWML. So we had a mini-reunion and shared laughs about that fun time. Kim (Iowa District West) we missed you!

Relationships: one of the many blessings of LWML involvement, all made possible because God chose to have a relationship with us, calling us His own. We have been privileged to serve Him with gladness as part of LWML.

In my Tuesday time on KFUO I shared the blessing that I received from the theme for the convention, Standing at the Crossroads, and the supporting Bible verse, Jeremiah 6:16. Another great LWML blessing to learn from pastors who share God’s Word in Bible study and in sermons. If you didn’t hear the broadcast, check the LWML website, as most of the broadcasts are archived there; it usually shows up a day later.

May God bless your daily walk, your time in the Word and your relationships in Him; some of the many blessings of being involved in LWML.

This weekend I am at the LWML convention in Indianapolis; drove here yesterday and got checked into our room; it was in the part of the hotel where they hadn’t quite finished their renovations; the bed was pretty worn and uncomfortable, the couch seemed like one that had been used in a college dorm room, and the room was pretty tiny and dark. My husband traveled with me and was spending time in the room, getting more discouraged as the day progressed. He even went and walked around the fashion mall that is attached to the hotel; a man who really does not like to shop! Thinking that he had nothing to lose, he decided to talk to the woman at the front desk and told her we were disappointed in our room. She offered to move us to a different section of the hotel, and then gave him the keys for another room. We decided to go over and take a look at the room and make sure that it was an improvement over our current room. You can imagine our joy when we opened the door and found it was a two room suite, with a separate bedroom, a sitting area with a nice couch and two easy chairs; let’s move was our response!
Well, because we had traveled by car, we (I mainly) used a number of smaller tote bags and all; way more than we could “carry” to our new room. I said that God would have to provide us with a cart. Yesterday when we checked in we were told that guests could not use the carts, the bellmen had to deliver your things to your room. We had a pleasant enough man assist us yesterday, and gave him a nice tip. I really didn’t want to tip a second day. My husband assured me that lots of people were using carts; the influx of the LWML faithful of the Indiana District had over-taxed the bell staff!
So, back to the cart; we entered an elevator to go back to the section where our room was, the next time the elevator stopped a bellman got on with an empty cart; he had just delivered suitcases to someone and was going back to the bell station. We chatted briefly and found out he was going to be making a shuttle run, so I asked if we could use the cart. I think he may have been relieved that he didn’t have to take it back to the bell station! And I knew that God had provided.
Watch for ways that God provides what you need in your daily walk.

On Wednesday, June 16, it was my privilege to present another grant check on your behalf. While visiting in Austin, Texas, I went to the offices of Lutheran Social Services of the South. What a thrill to be able to hand Dr. Kurt Senske, Chief Executive Officer, a grant check for $25,000 in partial payment for grant #4 Psalm 69 Project: Emergency Disaster Aid in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. We also met with some of the staff who are working with the people that will benefit directly from this grant. Dr. Senske shared that much of their work is among the “poorest of the poor,” people who are left with nothing following hurricanes. God’s love is shown to them in tangible ways, meeting their basic needs.
Thank you for continuing to pray for this grant recipient, as well as for the additional 18 grants we are funding in 2009-2011. Your prayers and gifts are making a difference.