National Prayer Day

Slowly I opened the door not knowing what or who I would see behind it. I had never been to this place before. When I took one step into the room, my heart was truly blessed at the next thing I noticed.

There were people all around the room talking to each other. In the back of the room I saw several people putting food on a serving table. There were many tables set up forming a U in the middle of the room with chairs all around it. As I looked down at it, there was a stack of papers at each place setting. I could see a picture of praying hands on the top of the stack. I knew I was in the right place.

It was National Prayer Day and I had decided to go to Brodhead, Wisconsin to join in the celebration. Brodhead is a rural small town in the heart of southern Wisconsin. I had never been to this town before, but the small town atmosphere warmed my heart. As I walked down the street to the local bank building where we would be meeting for National Prayer Day, the people were so friendly and helpful.

I was so impressed that the local bank had allowed this gathering to take place in their building. I met the local newspaper editor which was truly an honor for me. Before the program began we enjoyed a nice meal together. I sat next to several women who began telling me about some other NPD events that they had attended earlier this day in a small town close to Brodhead. We agreed that this is what our country needs. PRAYER. We needed to be on our knees praying for our country and our leaders.

After a nice luncheon, the program began. As we prayed together, I suddenly realized what was happening. There were clergy from the local non-denominational, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic and I believe Congregational Churches leading this event. They had planned the program and as one would finish praying, the next one would get up and speak about something else and then we would pray about it. My heart was so touched that people from all denominations were praying TOGETHER for our country.

I believe God was smiling as he looked down on what was happening in Brodhead, Wisconsin. The people in this town were putting aside their denominations and were joining hands together in prayer for our country. My heart was so blessed having joined together on this day with this group of people.

Do you need a fun Makeover?

Life is so busy. There are so many things to do. Do we forget to take the time to have fun?

I have written a 6-day Journey with God called "Fun Makeover". I was inspired to write this because I came across so many people that did not even know HOW to have fun. The word fun does not even bring anything to their minds.

Honestly, we can become so busy, even doing good things, that we don't take the time to stop and refresh our souls by doing something fun.

Does having fun have to be expensive? No! I recently enjoyed a wonderful day of fun and it did not cost me a penny. I would like to share my day with you. (If you have a fun time to share, either post it with a comment, or e-mail me at robin@hesspeakingarewelistening.com)

Last week my friend and co-worker in the ministry, Deb, decided to have a day of fun to celebrate her birthday. We both like riding bikes. I live on the Capital City Bike Trail, so she came over to enjoy a day of biking.

Along the way we went over a brand new bike bridge crossing over Fish Hatchery Road in Fitchburg. We stopped to take a picture. Deb, who knows all about cameras, set her camera on the ledge of the large metal frame of the bridge, and then quickly ran to join me in a picture.

Further on down the trail we spotted a long train just sitting on the tracks. It looked like all the cars were empty. We stopped to look at it and Deb said, "Do you want to climb up on the train and take some pictures?" I am always ready to do something adventurous, so of course I replied, "Let's do it!"

Within minutes we had climbed up onto the train and we were posing for fun pictures. It was a beautiful day enjoying the beauty of nature with a friend. Our biking trip took us seven miles on this day, but we have plans to go on a long trip somewhere.

Having fun is a choice. We need to stop and just do it. It does not have to cost a penny and we might need to get creative with what we do, but I believe that we will always be glad that we stopped to put some fun into our lives.

What about you? Have you had some fun lately? If not, stop and do it today.

One day at a time

It was 5:30 am. The sudden ringing of my phone startled me. I thought, “Who could be calling so early in the morning?” As I picked up the phone, I heard the familiar voice of my husband, Dave. His words sent a chill up my spine. “I’m ok, but I just totaled my car.”

He began to explain what happened.

In the darkness of the early morning hours, he was driving down the interstate heading for Chicago. Suddenly he saw sparks flying on the opposite side of the road. A truck was driving without a tire on the driver’s side. The metal was hitting the pavement creating the sparks.

Suddenly without warning there was a huge tire coming straight at him. In seconds it pounded against the front of the car. Dave slammed on the brakes, and headed for the side of the road. He could see a glimpse of flames in the front of the car. He quickly got out of the car and watched the flames roar over the front of his car.

Dave walked away from this scene without a scratch. Together we praised God for going before him and protecting him.

We never know from one day to the next what life will hurl at us. Every day I pray for my family that God will go before them in their day. God was clearly going before Dave on this morning.

The man who took the car from the scene said to Dave, “You are a lucky man.” We know that it has nothing to do with luck. It is the powerful God of the universe going before us.

Dear God, thank you for going before me today and protecting me.

Prayer for Madison, WI

He's SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING? Ministry

would like to invite you to pray for our city of Madison, WI

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Who is praying for our city? Are you? Do you want to?

Life is busy. It is hard to find the time to do something else. This is why we are going to try something a little different. We will pray in one accord from wherever we are from 9:00-9:15 pm on the 1st Thursday of each month It could be at church, at home, at work, at school, in your car or anywhere. You can pray alone or with friends, co-workers, or small groups, or you can just get creative.

We will post a prayer and requests on our website: http://www.hesspeakingarewelistening.com/prayer.html

Let's unlease the power of God in Madison, WI and unite together to Pray for our City

God's Footprints in the Sand

I am in Destin, Florida. Over the years I have heard stories about the white sandy beaches, but have never seen them. Well, the beaches here in Destin are the most beautiful white sandy beaches. In the picture above I have a handful of the white sand. It truly is white. It felt so soft and cool in my hands. Having come here from Wisconsin where we see so much white snow, when I looked at the beaches, it reminded me of snow. It was so white, but it wasn't cold.

As I sat in the sand on the beach, digging my bare feet into the soft silky sand, it reminded me of a famous poem. This poem talks about life and how if we love God, we want to walk with him daily. Imagine two sets of footprints in the sand. Think of them as yours and Gods. Then it goes on to say that during the difficult times in our lives we might only see one set of footprints in the sand and we feel so alone. BUT WE ARE NOT. It is during those times in our lives that God will pick us up and carry us. Are you feeling alone today? Let God pick you up and carry you through whatever you are facing in your life.

Isaiah 63:9
In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.

Prayer Blankets

This afternoon we got together to make Prayer Blankets for our ministry. You might wonder, "What is a Prayer Blanket?"

A Prayer Blanket is a soft colorful blanket that is made by a group of people. While we are making it, we pray for whoever is going to need it. Then when we hear of someone who is going through a difficult time we will deliver it to them. We will let them know that we have been praying for them. There are many reasons why someone would want a Prayer Blanket. They are free to anyone who would like to be covered with prayer.

Today we sat around the table in our Office Center and made a Prayer blanket. It was red, black and white fleece print. As we were making the blanket we stopped and prayed for the person who would receive it. We will deliver it to them and pray that God would give us the words to be an encouragement to them.

We are trying to build up our stock of Prayer Blankets for anyone who might need one. We recently gave one to someone who was having surgery, and today the one we made was for a woman who will be having an extended stay in the hospital.

It is such a blessing to offer hope and encouragement to people as they go through difficult times.

If you know of anyone who might appreciate a Prayer Blanket, all you need to do is contact us and we will take care of delivering a Prayer Blanket to them.

If you are interested in helping us make a Prayer blanket we would be happy to have you join us.

deb@hesspeakingarewelistening.com

608-514-9000

Prayer Retreat: Praise God

A skit that was presented at the Retreat was about Mrs. Much to do about Nothing who tried spending time with God, but everything else kept her from doing it. What about you? What keeps you from spending time with God?


Psalm 118:28
You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

February 6, 2010

What a beautiful day it was. There were about 60 people, of all ages, who attended the Prayer Retreat. My heart was touched when a young lady came up to me and told me that this is just what she needed. When I looked at her, a young woman just begining her life who has a passion for prayer, I wondered, "What is God going to do in this young woman's life?" I did not remember having that passion for God at her age.

Let's all ask ourselves a question.
What does prayer look like in your life today?

A healthy prayer life begins with a choice. You must choose if you want a relationship with God. Once you choose God, and begin to commit to at least 5 minutes a day with him, a relationship with God is born. When we follow through and continue spending time with him, our prayer-life is transformed into a passion.

So let's ask ourselves another question.

What will your prayer life look like one year from today?
52 weeks, 365 days, 506,900 minutes, February 6, 2011

We at He's SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING? Ministry want to help you on your Journey.
(1) We help people to find and create their own LISTENING Room, where they can go and spend time with God.
(2) We have developed our Journeys with God to help you grow in your relationship with him. We believe that He's SPEAKING! BUT, Are we LISTENING?

Please contact us at 608-514-9000, 608-334-9971

robin@hesspeakingarewelistening.com

http://www.hesspeakingarewelistening.com/

Prayer Retreat-Listening Journey of Prayer

February 6, 2010

The Church, 2833 Raritan Road, in Fitchburg, where I used to work 8 years ago, has invited me to be the guest speaker for their Prayer Retreat called, Listening Journey of Prayer. It is so exciting to see a church ignited with a desire for prayer. I just received notice that 53 people are coming to this retreat. Praise God.

The focus of the retreat will be Listening to the voice of God.

We will be talking about 5 questions:

1. What is LISTENING in Prayer?
2. What prevents people from practicing LISTENING in Prayer?
3. What voices do we LISTEN to?
4. How do we respond to LISTENING in Prayer?
5. How can we make LISTENING in Prayer a Passion in our lives?

BREAKOUT Session

They have put together three breakout sessions where the people will learn different ways to spark enthusiasm into our prayer lives. He's SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING? Ministry team will be doing one breakout session. Myself, Marilyn Pientka and Carolyn Hook will be sharing about Listening to God, The LISTENING Room and guiding people on a Journey with God called, Power in Prayer.

The CHALLENGE will be.........................................................

What will Prayer look like in your life ONE YEAR FROM TODAY?
52 weeks…..365 days….525,600 minutes February 6, 2011

We are very excited about this opportunity to serve God. Tomorrow we will post pictures and share with you how God has worked in The church.

It is official: We received our non-profit papers

December 2009

The office space that we were in was rented out, so we had to move to the other end of the building. There was not a mailbox for our new office. We left a note at the other end of the building on our mailbox, but we began to realize that we were not getting mail. So....

January 15, 2010

My wonderful husband Dave, came to our office before he went to work and put up our own mailbox. Now all we needed to do was wait for our non-profit status papers to arrive.

January 20, 2010

Marilyn and I were at the office working. We were sitting at a table discussing the ministry. Suddenly we heard someone by our door. We turned to see who was there and it was the mail-person. It was the first mail we had received in our new mailbox. I quickly jumped to get the mail and as I got closer I thought the return address of the letter said IRS. Could it be what we had been waiting for?

As I picked the mail up I saw there were two letters from the IRS. Marilyn and I each began to open them up. We were so excited when we read the words that He's SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING? Ministry had been approved as a non-profit ministry. The postmark of approval was January 5, 2010. They had sent it to us, but it was returned because they couldn't find us. So we had two letters from the IRS and they arrived as our first mail in our new mailbox. PRAISE GOD!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Remember that.......

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

What will you choose this holiday season?

Every single day we have so many choices to make. It begins by what we want to eat for breakfast, what are we going to wear that day, which way do we want to go to work? There are so many choices from the moment we wake up.

Then we have other life choices like who we will marry, where we will live, and what job we want to pursue.

God created us with the capacity to choose. He did not make us robots? He made us people with minds that can choose what they want in their lives.

Now as the holiday season is upon us we have choices to make as well. When will we put the tree up, what cookies do we want to bake, what presents should we buy?

Do you ever get so crazy busy for the holidays that you do not even have time to do the things you want to do.

Why don't you choose to change this holidays season. You can make many choices that will make your holiday what you want to be. I'd like to share a few examples of change that have helped my holidays.

I realized last week that I had not even begun Christmas shopping. I started to stress about it, but then remembered that I could shop online. So at 11:00 pm I began my shopping at Amazon. Within a few hours everything was bought and would be shipped right to my door. Each time a gift arrived, I would wrap it. Now, I am done shopping and wrapping and relaxing with my holiday.

Another thing, what about company. We always like to have company during the holidays, but then it takes all day to cook. So the past few years, instead of doing this, we invite people over for dessert. That is so much easier.

Baking cookies takes alot of time, and honestly it is not my favorite thing to do. Years ago I would make all kinds of cookies and dread doing it. I made a choice to bake the cookies that I like the best, and that is the only cookie I bake. I take a few hours and make ALOT of them. Then I freeze them, and I am done.

So the bottom line: You have the power to choose what your holiday looks like. What will you choose?

The same goes with our relationship with God. We have to choose if we want to have one. God won't force us to come to him. He wants us to choose to spend time with him. After all, he loves us. In fact, he loves us so much he sent his son Jesus to be born, and then die on the cross, so that if we believe we can have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is the reason for the season. What choices can we make this holiday season to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Can a marraige last FOREVER?

It was over 40 years ago that I met a young man called Dave. He was seventeen and I was sixteen. We were very young, but we had a special connection right from the start. His awesome, sexy smile always warmed me all over. From the moment we met, we spent all of our time with each other.

My senior year in High School this man of my dreams proposed to me. We were engaged and August 1971, we were married.

We thank God for blessing our marriage. CAN A MARRIAGE LAST FOREVER?

Well, the years pass by so quickly. What have we done to make our marriage last? The most important thing was to put God first in our marriage. The second was that we always dated. When children came along, we loved them so much, but we loved each other differently. In a marriage relationship, your spouse must be your second priority after God. How can you do this in a marriage in our fast paced society?

WE HAD A WEEKLY DATE TIME, a time just for us as husband and wife. When the kids came along the dates did not disappear, in fact, they became more consistent because we needed to be alone together. Sometimes those dates consisted of just walking somewhere together, going to a movie, or just out for dinner. Even when we lived overseas, our dates continued. I think what I am saying is that the relationship between a husband and wife needs to grow together as the years pass, not apart because of our busy lives. It takes an effort to do this, but it should be fun too. Then when the kids grow up and start their own lives, your life is still filled with the relationship that you had in the beginning. It hasn’t died because of lack of time together, it has blossomed into something that makes you long to be together.


It’s now 38 years later for us. We are in Paris, France together for the ultimate date. God has blessed us with three wonderful weeks together, and we are enjoying every minute together. We are used to spending time together, because we have done it all our lives.

The ULTIMATE DATE

It was 10:00 pm. We stepped into the elevator that would take us up 90 stories in the Eiffel Tower. Slowing we began to go up into the unknown. Fear was battling inside of me, but I wanted to do this so I would NOT let it control me. As I looked out the windows of the elevator I would see huge pieces of grey metal immediately outside, but if I would look past that I could see the city of Paris getting smaller and smaller. After what seemed like an eternity, the doors of the elevator were opened. I carefully stepped out, not knowing what to expect.

What my eyes saw next was amazing. There was a heavy glass wall up about four feet, and then we were out in the open air. I slowly walked to the edge, holding on tightly to Dave’s jacket as the crowds of people were all around us. He of course, was not afraid at all. His profession takes him up to great heights all the time, but me, this was a very different experience.

I finally reached my hand over and grabbed the railing. Once I had my hands securely on it, I felt better. Then I looked over the edge down 90 stories and it was breathtaking. I could see all the bridges of the Seine River. The lights all across the bridges were making beautiful designs across the water. All of the massive monuments of Paris looked so small from this viewpoint. Then I turned and looked behind me and I could not believe what I saw.

The almost full moon was shining over the whole picture below us. I could not imagine how this moment could get any better. Here I was with the man I loved, in the city of Paris, up as close as I could possibly get to the moon, just being together as husband and wife.

We walked around enjoying the beauty of this moment. Then we walked down a short flight of stairs and there was another room. There were not many people in this area. We walked over to the edge and did something I had always dreamed of. Together we repeated our wedding vows. We committed ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives together. After we said the words, we embraced each other and kissed. I did not think anything could make this moment more perfect, but something happened that I could not believe.

Suddenly the Eiffel tower began to glow with flashing lights. We turned and looked up and it looked like stars were flashing all over the tower. It’s like the tower came alive. It was amazing.

As we stepped back into the elevator to return to reality, music began to play and the tower began its light show. All the way down we listened and watched its display of lights and music. It was more than I could ever imagine. When we arrived on the bottom we ran to the edge where were could see the whole tower and watch the show. Dave took some amazing pictures.

THIS WAS THE UTIMATE DATE we could ever have. Thank you God for ‘going before us’ on this wonderful adventure in Europe. Thank you Dave for being the most WONDERFUL husband in the world. You blessed my life in the beginning and every day since them. You are an amazing man and "I'M THE LUCKY ONE".

As we returned home refreshed and blessed by our European experience, we realize again how quickly life passes us by. We need to make the most of every moment that we are here on this planet earth.