No eternal learning can take place without that quickening of the Spirit from heaven.

Be a woman of Christ. Cherish your esteemed place in the sight of God. He needs you. This church needs you. The world needs you. A woman's abiding trust in God and unfailing devotion to things of the Spirit have always been an anchor when the wind and the waves of life were fiercest.

Your love for Jesus Christ and your discipleship in His cause must be the consuming preoccupation and passion of your mortality.

No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that he loves each of us--insecuritie s, anxieties, self-image, and all.

God wants us to be stronger than we are--more fixed in our purpose, more certain of our commitments, eventually needing less coddling from Him, showing more willingness to shoulder some of the burden of His heavy load. In short, He wants us to be more like He is and, if you haven't noticed, some of us are not like that yet.

...pay your tithes and offerings out of honesty and integrity because they are God's rightful due...Paying tithing is not a token gift we are somehow charitably bestowing upon God. Paying tithing is discharging a debt.

Only when we see that sacred, unadorned child of our devotion-the Babe of Bethlehem-will we know why the giving of gifts is so appropriate