The email popped up Monday from the 700 Club producer that read:

Luann—326 PEOPLE ACCEPTED CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR AFTER YOUR STORY!!!!
Blessings my friend.
gorman

He then told me that was just the phone calls. Wow!

When the pain in our lives becomes shear joy there is only one explanation, God. When Jesus told the woman at the well, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him WILL BECOME in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life," I had no idea what that really meant!

When the Holy Spirit takes up residency in your heart, it does begin to bubble up and spill out. The promise in that verse, WILL BECOME gives us all hope! Hope that no matter where we've been, He can use it for HIS Glory! Hope that we won't stay the same! Hope that eternal life will not only come to us, but to everyone who hears your story and grabs onto the promise!

And it most certainly did NOT happen overnight! It has been a slow process. Did I mention that I am a sloooooow learner? Oh yes. Many times He would try bubbling up and I would put a lid on it and say, "I'm not ready! I can't say that! I can't share that!" And so the overflow was prevented.

God did not lose patience with me. Like an understanding parent teaching their child to ride their bike, He kept allowing me to get nervous and stop. But not forever. He kept encouraging me to get back on and ride. Get back on and peddle. Get back on and try again.

And today I am sailing down the sidewalk with the wind breezing through my hair! He LIVES! And now He lives in 326 others who didn't know Him! Thank you Jesus for BECOMING a spring of living water in me!

So last night He blessed me again! Last year at She Speaks I met Helen (who writes comments regularly on my blog). We prayed for God to move in her. He did! When she met me in the hall after He answered, she grabbed my hands and said, "Spin with me!" We rejoiced with shear joy by spinning!

She lives in Minnesota but was traveling with her family on vacation. I drove to the interstate to meet them...and we spun!


Thank you Jesus for continuing to bubble up and out in my life!

Spilling my guts on national TV was undoubtedly one of the hardest things I've ever done. I tell women at my speaking events how the Holy Spirit knocks on my heart when I feel a prompting to do something outside my comfort zone.

Over a year ago at the She Speaks Conference in Charlotte I had an unplanned meeting with Ivory Anthony, a producer at CBN. As we talked, my heart knocked. When the call came last fall from them to see if I would consider doing an interview, my heart knocked. I asked my husband how he felt, he said, "If God has opened this door, you must walk through it." My heart knocked.

I didn't hear anything else from them so I pushed it out of my mind. My life was full. We had just taken our grandsons on a vacation, had family coming in for Tiffany's graduation and preparing for the She Speaks conference. Slammed packed times. Then they called. Could I put one more thing on the agenda? They were asking to schedule it 3 days after the conference.

The knock turned to a reverberating thump. In John the 12th chapter we find a woman so driven to do something so compelling that no one can detour her. Can you imagine how the folks of that day might have whispered behind her back? Have you seen that same situation among your group of friends?

'She is making a spectacle of herself.' 'Why is she wasting perfume?' were the murmurings of people standing around. And yet, it didn't phase her, she was driven to the Savior's feet.

Oh to have an unyielding heart in ALL circumstances.

Today I praise Him for knocking on my heart. Is He knocking on your heart to do something crazy in the eyes of the world?

Yesterday I admit I was overwhelmed knowing that over a million people were going to watch my testimony on the 700 Club. My sisters in Christ came around me with prayer and I felt them.

At work I was in a meeting with my team leader. She took my hands and looked me straight in the eyes and said, "How big is God?"

In the car later in the day I turned on the radio and heard, "How great is our God."

Then my sweet Tiffany told me, "Mom, you know, there are so many factors that got me here... But the truth is, if you hadn't made the choices you needed to make- for yourself and for us, there is no way I would be here (and inspired me to be brave enough to get here).

And he was watching us all along.

He is big.

Ok, I know God opened the door for me to walk through when He presented the 700 Club opportunity. I know I have spoken countless times about my life to women across the country. However it has been to a few hundred people at a time.

Today, my story is being shared with over a million viewers and I feel a bit paralyzed by that. I'm not sure what to write today because my tears won't stop flowing. It is scary to hand your life to someone and say, "Here, please handle with care." The instant replay in my mind is painful and I know I caused so many people pain throughout my life.

But God is victorious over all things. I walk through this knowing that He will be glorified.

I had the privilege of speaking at the Joni and Friends Family Reunion again this week. The message was Broken Lives Can Still Reflect Christ. My girlfriend and I joke that we are broken vessels but the Holy Spirit drips through our cracks.

Isn't it comforting to know that God can use the weakest, the lowliest, the worst of sinners? I remember a phrase I heard my dad say over and over whenever he would see a broken life. He simply said, "There, but by the grace of God go I." He was a hopeless alcoholic that had a Damascus experience. He knew the grace of God better than anyone. So he never gave up thinking that God's grace could touch even me.

I stand amazed at His boundless love.

In His grip,
Luann

"Timber!" we yelled. When we bought this property 6 years ago it was so thick with trees that you couldn't see the lake at all. Looking into the forest reminded me of the scary bedtime stories we once read to our children (Little Red Riding Hood and such - which could be why we all need therapy!)

Before we built our home we contracted a tree guy to take out 150 pine trees that stretched over 100 feet high. It was amazing to watch the process. When he was finished however my husband wished he had just a few more removed. From our deck there was one particular tree that was misshaped because of the years spent reaching for sun. It was thick on one side and almost completely blocked the view of the lake.

Last year we planted a willow tree in a slightly marshy area not far from the bushy pine. I told Dwight that when it got taller I would be ok with taking out the pine tree. Most weeks he would measure it to see if it was tall enough. It became a running joke. We would look at the few inches of new growth then look at the lopsided pine and say, "Getting nervous yet?"

Recently we got bids on removing the 16-20 trees that were bugging my hubby. It was more than we wanted to invest. So of course we did what any normal couple would do in this situation - we went shopping for a chain saw!

We asked a professional what he would charge to just take them down and then we would cut them up. It seemed reasonable. He is scheduled to arrive Friday. However during this past week during our quiet moments on the deck we discussed the smaller trees and decided that we could take out one on our own.

We watched internet videos on "How to fell a tree" and discovered the first thing they teach in all of them is: Plan your escape route! There is a reason. The first tree fell the exact opposite of where we thought it would go. Luckily (by the grace of God) all of these trees are too far from civilization to hurt people or structures.

We convinced ourselves that we had learned some valuable lessons on the first one, so we could correct our errors on the second. The second one came down exactly where we planned. Did I mention that it was about the size of a pencil (well, compared to the bushy one).

Now our confidence was set. We knew it was possible to tackle this job on our own. I am so thankful there was no video camera around because I'm sure we would have landed on America's Funniest Home Videos. At times we laughed so hard I needed Depends. Especially when his big chain saw got pinched and wouldn't release from the trunk. I got our small extension saw for cutting limbs and began cutting a wedge above his to free him. Sweat was dripping from both of our noses as the chainsaws screamed in harmony. It was quite a sight.

Sunday it was time to say goodbye to the bushy pine. It was 23 inches thick and leaning. We measured and cut small sections at a time. Each time we would step back and analyze our next move. The plan was to miss the beautiful dogwood, dropping slightly to the left of it. We overshot our left and it began to fall directly toward the sweet little willow, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

The top branches grazed it and broke one limb on the willow. The rest of the tree was spared. The one little limb was dangling while the remaining ones swayed back and forth as if to say, "Whew! That was close!"



I am a willow. Over the years the wind has blown ferociously causing me to bend and sway. Occasionally a major trial has left me broken but not defeated. Life happens and yet we continue to reach ever upward, pressing on.

Ho 6:3 -
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Php 3:14 -
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Probably NOT what you wanted to see this morning - my blister. I have a matching one on the other hand. On Saturday I went out to check on my poor neglected garden.

I have been inattentive to it lately. I think there are two main reasons why. One, life is busy. There are just so many other things demanding my attention that the garden gets overlooked. Two, the garden was frankly, a disappointment! So my excitement to tend to its needs wained.

My husband had planted sunflowers at the end and saw the beetles feasting on them. He walked in to get a closer look. Suddenly I saw his foot coming dangerously close to one of my lonely cantelope. "STOP!" I cried, "You are about to step on one of my only surviving fruits!"

He said, "I couldn't see it beneath the weeds." Ouch! He was right. The weeds had overtaken the garden. I bent over and began pulling them. They were sturdy and tough and took effort to yank out. Did I mention that it was HOT and the sweat was pouring out of every pore on my body? Yet, I was determined to make my fruit visible so they would not get trampled.

When I was done there were my cantelope vines stretching across the garden with 3 fine melons forming. And to my surprise, there were also two watermelons growing on the neighboring forgotten vine.

Then I felt the throbbing. Blisters had formed on the index finger of both hands.

You know the analogy. I'm sure it has gone through your mind already. Why? Why did I let the weeds get out of control? Why didn't I just pull them when they were tiny and easy to remove? How many more melons might have been produced had I tended to my garden? Who could have enjoyed that harvest with us?

It took an incredibly long time and back breaking work to rid my garden of those weeds, and they are still not completely gone. My hands are sore, but my fruit is visible.

Here is my prayer today, maybe it can be yours too:
Father, forgive me for neglecting the garden you've planted in my heart. Forgive me when the little sins creep in and I don't address them immediately. Forgive me for allowing the weeds of my heart to get strong and almost resemble a plant, when in reality it is choking the life out of the fruit you have called me to produce; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Weed out my heart today Lord and allow my fruit to grow and prosper so I can share it with others who may go hungry without it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Do you ever get them? Mixed signals? I am convinced that I am the one who does the mixing, God is there every minute waiting for me to get out of His way. You know I got the double vision on Wednesday when I asked God to get visual with me.

As one visual plainly said, "Your plate is full," I began to do my own personal interpretation of that symbol. I have owned Bee Sweet for 4 years (just 9 days from now). It has been a good business, but I must admit I have not set the world on fire with it. My passion is for the Proverbs 31 Ministries and I have my real estate career. I have gotten weary with Bee Sweet lately because of the snafu when Goodwill lost so much of the product. It felt like a burden instead of a blessing.

So when that visual came to me I thought, hmmm...maybe it is time to sell the biz! I have my prayer warriors lifting it up for me. Secretly I was hoping that God would produce the perfect buyer that would love my little business and take it to the next level of success.

It even seemed like a signal came through my email this week! My former boss from the ad agency emailed me from out of the blue and asked if I was going to a seminar. I did not know what he was talking about. It seems I've been invited to a seminar with a venture capitalist group that talk to people who want to figure out how to perpetuate their business!

My mind hoped this was the answer to a less hectic life, but I've got to tell you my spirit was troubled. At an impromptu prayer session with MaryKay at work she said, "Maybe you aren't suppose to sell Bee Sweet." These were not words I expected to hear! I thought she was going to confirm this as a possible direction since we are in real estate together.

Ramona, my prayer buddy who was once a member of the Proverbs 31 team prayed with me. She prayed that I would find answers in His Word. You know, that is the ONLY place we can be sure to find truth and direction. Our emotions are not trustworthy, our knowledge is not trustworthy, but God's Word is the foundation of truth.

During my devotions this morning guess what I read:

Ecclesiastes 11:6

Want to know what it said?
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether BOTH will do equally well.

Did that give you goosebumps? My whole body had chills racing through it!

I thought, are you sure? Is that really what you mean? I continued my devotions.

Guess what I read.

1 Samuel 18:14

I'm going to let you read that one for yourself. It will knock your socks off!

So all this was sinking into my head when Dwight and I took breakfast out onto the deck. We talked about the work week, what was good, what was not and then the conversation went to Bee Sweet. He told me something he has NEVER shared before.

He was thinking that when he retires in a few years he might like to run it.

Pretty crystal clear signals from God, and some messed up mixed signals from Luann.

God is still on the throne, and I am not. Aren't you glad?

Tuesday night college girls from my church spent the night. They are like my other children. From the time they were in 8th grade I lead their small group at church every week. Normally when the group graduates high school they move on, but this group didn't want to lose the bond we had all made. I'm not sure that could ever be lost. Anyway, we talked until 2:30 in the morning about some very tough topics. We found scripture to help discern the difference between God's Truth and the devil’s 'almost truth'.
He is the great counterfeiter and in college he has taken over the campus. We prayed.

You are never really sure if truth is absorbed. Morning came so early at 5:30! During my quiet time I asked God to give me visuals. There are changes brewing in my life and I am a visual learner. I can read it, but when I see it and do it – it becomes real to me.

Later that morning while in my bonus room office, the girls came up to see me. Their sweet faces still had sleep wrinkles. They said, “We have been talking this morning and we agree that last night we feel like we were spiritually cleansed.” Wow! What a visual!

On my way into the office I stopped at Dot’s (my neighbor) to give her lunch. She said, “You come in here girl! I had decided if I didn’t see something new on your blog today I was going to call you!” She sat me down and my surrogate mother gently pulled a paper from her side. She said, “Now I’m no artist, but I just felt lead to draw this.”

I unfolded the paper and there was a circle with God encircled in the center. There were many lines sprouting from the God circle with smaller circles on the end of most. One circle read Family; another Work; Proverbs 31 and each one represented a piece of my life. However my eye caught a glimpse of a triangle that just looked out of place. On it was a word that symbolized all the things I had been praying for God to make clear to me.

She wisely said, “Luann this is your plate…its pretty full isn’t it?” Tears leaked out as I explained how I had prayed for a visual!

Later that day I saw MaryKay and shared the visual story. Immediately she told me to wait, ran to her office and brought back a paper. She said, “I woke up at 5a.m. this morning praying for you! I just left a meeting where they gave us this.” She slipped the paper to me. It was a circle with a title, The Wheel of Your Life. It was divided into pie sections that embodied the significant areas of life. She said they were asked to rank each area from 1 to 10 with 1 being the center and 10 being the outside of the wheel. The point? Without even balance, our wheel may limp along. Wow, another visual!

So, how did God speak to you today?

Sorry I have been out of touch for a couple of days. Life has been happenin'.

I am dying to share!

A few days ago we walked across the dam to visit Dot (the neighbor you have helped me pray for with cancer) and her husband Bob. Actually, we were just going to sneak into their back yard as we do throughout tomato season and leave a few on their patio table. They call us their 'tomato fairies'.

They were sitting outside enjoying the evening so we pulled up a seat and had a lovely chat. When we decided to leave it was dark. Bob insisted we take a flashlight to cross the dam because he had seen snakes curled up there in the past. We tried to say no thanks but he wouldn't hear of it and placed the light in my husband's hand.

As we walked back it was so nice to be able to clearly see the pathway.

Is there someone in your life walking in darkness that needs you to share the light? Anyone you know missing in action?

God is calling us to shine.

2Co 4:6 -
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Eph 5:14 -
for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Php 2:15 -
so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

I remember now! For the past year my husband and I have started and stopped watching what we eat. We always have grand plans, yet when the slightest change in our routine comes along we waiver.

Four years ago we decided to get fit for Christie’s wedding. We had heard that the Adkins Diet worked, so we decided to give it a try. Since I knew our tendency to flip-flop, I asked my husband to agree to one stipulation. On day one I could load up everything in our pantry, refrigerator and freezer that did not fall into the guidelines and give them to a family who might need (want) it. He agreed and I did just that.

I remember now! THAT is why it was easier to stay on track right from the beginning. When the potato chips were in someone else’s cupboard and the ice cream in a friend’s freezer, the temptation to cheat was gone. I certainly wasn’t going to go to the store and purposely refill my cabinets, so we learned to adjust to the items on the diet.

Recently as we’ve slipped a chip here or a cookie there it was because they were THERE! A simple concept really but I am a s-l-o-w learner!

Unfortunately I am guilty in my spiritual walk as well. God was so clear about getting rid of things that represented the ‘old self’ and yet I sometimes find a piece tucked away.

Eph 4:31 -
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Col 3:8 -
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Jas 1:21 -
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
1Pe 2:1 -
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

Do you find these monsters in your closet too? It looks like effort is required on my part.

Today, I’m cleaning the house and the temple!