Hey friends~ It seems forever since I’ve been on this blog! Actually, it has. I left town a week ago to head to a retreat in Gatlinburg, TN and am just now settling back in at home. We had a wonderful trip and the Lord did a special work. Abigail and my mom traveled with me, and that made it even more precious. The last time the three of us went together on a speaking trip, Abi was around 4 years old. This picture was made of us then:
I can’t believe those little kissable cheeks on my baby girl! Of course, I don’t think I’ve changed a bit in 10 years! (right!)
Just for fun, I thought it would be extra special to try to recreate this photo10 years later. Only, something just doesn’t look the same (never mind that there’s no way I could even hold my baby girl this time! We propped her up on a bench):
I have to admit – Abigail wasn’t too thrilled to pose for my silly pictures. At first she groaned and made all kinds of strange faces. So I found a way to get a good and willing smile out of her – Moms of teens everywhere – this just might be the parental pictorial tip of the century! I told her that if she DIDN’T smile and act right for the pictures I wanted to take, I’d post one of the pictures with her on-purpose-strange-faces on my facebook wall and would tag her in it. Then ALL of my friends (and hers) could comment on it and her phone would be going off constantly over the not-so-good-pic. Guess what? She smiled beautifully for each pic we took all weekend. 🙂
Of our posed pictures, though, this is my favorite – it was *snapped as I was threatening the Facebook posting:
It was good to be back with some of the ladies from the first church James and I served in. We were fresh out of seminary and cut our ministry teeth among those precious people. God did more than we asked Him to, and revealed Himself to us in intimate ways all weekend. It is a true privilege to serve Him by speaking of and teaching about Him, and I’m humbly honored for that to be one of my “jobs” in His kingdom.
Speaking of ministry – a blog change is coming to Smelling Coffee. I’ve been gifted a “blog makeover” and will be switching from blogger to wordpress soon. This is something I’ve been praying about for several years, and I’m so grateful that God has provided for me to do this. My blogger address (and the one many of you are using is SmellingCoffeeToday(dot)blogspot(dot)com. But you can also reach this blog by www.SmellingCoffee.com. I’m not sure when the wordpress site will be completed, but if you will go on and start using SmellingCoffee.com, then it won’t matter at all to you when I move. Make sense?
Along with that move will be the pulling together of the different avenues of ministry the Lord has given me. I blog as Smelling Coffee, but I write as Jennifer Crawford Walker, and I speak under the ministry title of Malta Ministries (long but good story for another day). As I’ve prayed, I feel that it’s time to pull it all together – under one ministry umbrella, but the Lord still hasn’t let me know exactly what He wants it to be called. So… I’m waiting and seeking and listening with great expectation of what God will do. He is so creative! I know that whatever it is, it will be just perfect! If He gives YOU any inspiration, please don’t hesitate to share! 😉
This week, among mounds of laundry, a house full of teenager friends in and out, and Spring Break at-home-fun, I begin praying and working toward speaking in a few weeks in Nashville at Tulip Grove Baptist Church (Old Hickory/Hermitage area). If you live in or near Nashville, please come! Call the church office for more info. 615-883-1856. The luncheon is at noon on March 31st and will also feature some precious singers, Mosaic. You’ll absolutely L.O.V.E. them!!! Tickets are $7. I’d be so thrilled to see lots of my Nashville friends there!
You know, we don’t have to speak at women’s events to have a “ministry”. You have a ministry. Every one of us has a ministry if whatever we do, we do it as unto the Lord, in His strength, and giving Him the glory and credit for it all. As I study and wash clothes and taxi kids and cook supper I have a ministry. Because, underneath it all, I am serving the Lord as I serve my family and others. If we need His strength to do something, and He gives it, then that something can become “a ministry” as we glorify God because of it.
What is the ministry God has given you? I’d love to know. Because if it is from God, it is extremely important in His kingdom. May He strengthen you to serve Him today – no matter what it is that you are doing. 🙂
*BTW, I saw these pics on Tammy Whitney’s FB page – hers came out better than ours. Thanks, Tammy! 🙂
