Love Painted

Treasures Outreach Update October 2008

Friday night was the first outreach I have attended since having my precious daughter in July. Running a ministry and raising a beautiful baby girl is teaching me a lot about surrender. Let’s be honest, my tendency towards being Type A can get me bogged down in details and day planners until my head spins. But I am learning that after a reasonable amount of prayer and planning, the best that I can do is show up and trust that God will move. And that is exactly what He has been doing. Funny enough, as I am releasing more and more to Him, it seems that MORE, not less, is being accomplished. John the Baptist was right when he said, “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30

When I showed up for the outreach, volunteers arrived in such record numbers that we were able to split up our Hollywood route between two groups! Thanks to the welcoming managers and door guys, women in every single club we visited received a gift bag.

We were also joined by new friends from Connecticut and Oregon who came along to get some hands on training in order to take the Treasures vision home with them.

At one club, we handed out a gift to a woman who was running out the door in tears telling management she needed a minute to herself. We hope and pray that in that time she spent alone, she opened the gift and took the message to heart. She is so deeply loved.

Later that night, we had the honor of accompanying a young woman on her first trip back to the club she used to work at. Her old co-workers greeted her with welcoming arms. A talented artist, she painted a stunning portrait of a mighty angel for the girls to put up in the dressing room.

A bouncer studied her work with heartfelt appreciation. “What’s it called?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you name it?” she replied.

He stood back and examined it intently. “Gabriel. It should be called ‘Gabriel’” he nodded with certainty.

She painted her love for the women in that club with each stroke of her brush. And from what I could tell, the message was well received.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Love,
Harmony
www.iamatreasure.com
Treasures Myspace

Be Still

A Treasure for You: The Treasures E-Devotional
“Be Still”

And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place… Luke 9:10

Last week my Internet crashed just as I was getting ready to send out a project I have been working on for no less than 6 YEARS. I clicked send on the email, relieved that I had made the deadline, and kaput! It was down.

I called the Internet Company where I yelled at a glitchy voice response system, was transferred 7 times, and was placed on hold for a total of 2 HOURS. I finally reached the right person in the right department who told me a technician would be at my house in a week.

“How do you expect me to go without Internet? I don’t have the luxury of taking a week off to wait for your technician!” I lamented into my Bluetooth receiver while simultaneously sorting through the day’s mail.

The call was mysteriously disconnected.

My head throbbed and I felt the muscles in my chest tighten. It was enough to make me want to scream at the top of my lungs.

My husband tiptoed over to me like a soldier in a field of mines. “Babe…um. Well…you know…uh…he Bible.” He gently suggested.

He was right. I hadn’t been making enough time for that. So I went into my room and threw myself on the bed. “Okay God. You have my attention. What do you want me to read? What do you want to say to me? I’m listening.” I rattled on frantically.

Silence.

“I can’t hear you. God seriously. Who do you want me to pray for? Is there something you want me to do? Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

“Be still” I felt Him whisper to my heart. “Be still and know that I am God.”

All He wanted was my stillness.

I have been so wired up and plugged in, multi-tasking and moving at fiber optic speeds, that I had forgotten the art of stillness. Yet it is in this practiced quiet that we will find the refreshing that we need. Even Jesus went aside privately to a desert place. And it’s not like he didn’t have anything else to do. There were people to be healed and fed; a world that needed saving, still he withdrew to places without hurry and distraction.

If Jesus Himself, needed quiet and stillness, then how can I expect to go without these things?

So I am practicing being still and I am reminded of all that He is.

He is Comforter, Redeemer, our Ever-Present Help in times of Trouble. He understands the unintelligible cries of our hearts. He is Father and Friend, Lover and King. He captures our tears in His bottle and refreshes our weary souls. His burden is easy. His plans are good. His grace is sufficient. His hand is gentle and loving.

He is God.

Be still and know Him.



Written by Harmony Dust for Treasures
www.iamatreasure.com
www.myspace.com/treasuresnonprofit