Matthew 6:25-34

This section of the Sermon on the Mount has been on my mind and heart for several weeks now. Our family is in a season of struggles right now and God is teaching us to trust Him for everything we need. This is a huge stumbling block for me since I want to be in control of as many things as is possible. I like plans and schedules and definitive answers. Waiting is not my strong suit.

I haven't written a poem from this verse yet, but I am fairly sure that will happen soon. I am starting to think that the reason I haven't been able to take any of my older ideas and flesh them out is because I'm in a different place now. I have different emotions, different situations, and a different perspective. Now that's not to say I won't ever use them, just probably not right now.

I have been working this weekend on my new website, mostly a lot of data entry. It's going to be more work than either I or my webmaster thought, but it should be done soon. It's going to take some getting used to, but I have high hopes!

I am beefing up my Twitter postings to seven a day, seven days a week. I think that trying to reach as many people at as many different times as possible is an important thing. As vile as Twitter can be at times, it can be turned into a powerful tool for the Kingdom too. Keep your eyes open for all those posts!

On Tuesday, March 1st, I saw a Twitter post that there was an urgent message being presented to the IHOP staff, family and students. We were a little worried so we tuned into the live web feed and wow ... we were rocked. Here is an edited version. To get the full message, you can go here to the archive on www.ihop.org and scroll down to March 1, 2 PM. The message begins at about 1:23:00. Then you will need to click on March 1, 4 PM to access the second hour.

John Mulinde is from Uganda and he brings a powerful message from his past. It will bring new insight into many Scriptures and change your view of your life radically.

Well I am off to add more content to my new website. I pray blessings over you and that God would meet you in every moment of each day!

Icy Reception

Oh ... my ... goodness. What an insane week!

The last ten days or so have some of the most chaotic I've ever had. Financial stuff, house guest, family discontent, friends in crisis ... oh my. Now I sit in a house covered with ice and a huge tree limb out my back door. Don't believe me? Here's the proof.

We're not sure how long we'll have power once the 30+ MPH winds kick up either. So it's been an exciting day!

However, through it all, God has always come through for us. I've been working really hard on trusting God, no matter how bad things look, and it's brought a lot of peace to me. He has been good, even when we don't understand exactly why He's doing something.

Progress on the book continues and a revamp of my website should begin soon. My webmaster wants something more aesthetically pleasing and user friendly, so that's in the plans. I'm really looking forward to it.

Well I pray that you all are warm and safe. May His blessings rain down on you, even if some snow does too. God bless!

Word of Mouth

I pray that your week, and year, is starting off as well as possible!

I have a new poem up this week called "Word of Mouth". Passing things by word of mouth has often been thought of as one of the best advertising tools, and I would agree. I would also say though that word of mouth can be a dangerous weapon when used to spread gossip and rumors. We live in a digital age where everyone can know peoples' "business" in an instant through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Add in a vindictive spirit and trouble begins.

I've also noticed that in general we're all becoming more flippant with words and insults towards others. It's not uncommon to hear kids cursing at their parents, and vice versa, in Wal-Mart these days. Respect for others is a slowly decaying idea. We as Christians need to take that back and lead by example, showing Christ's love by taming the tongue.

The past couple days have been ones of turmoil for me that's been brewing for several weeks I guess. My sense of who I am in God, where my heart is, and how I've actually been living are being deeply shaken. A new year is bringing new revelation of where I should be, and I am struggling with giving it ALL to Him. Complete surrender is what He asks, and He will settle for no less. I would appreciate your prayers as I stumble through this new section of the path God has for me.

I posted on Twitter and Facebook on New Year's Day that I was working on a major project for the poetry, so I thought I'd let you in on the secret a bit. I'm not certain of a date, but within the next couple months I will be releasing a book! It will include a selection of my poetry from the past two years, as well as some of my testimony. I wanted to tell some of my story, the amazing journey I've been on for 32 years and how Christ has lifted me out of the miry clay. You'll get to see how some of the poems were born out of that and find out more about my background. So keep your eyes open for that announcement!

I would be happy to pray for anyone who is in need. Please let me know how I can pray for you at anytime! You can send me an e-mail at holli@holliswank.com, contact me on Twitter, or on Facebook. You can also leave a comment here on the blog.

Have a wonderful week and may God bless each and every one of you!

Prayer Requests

Hello everyone! I hope your week has been wonderful and all is well in your life!

If so, praise God!

If not, I'd be honored to pray for whatever chaos is going on in your life. Please feel free to leave your prayer request in the comments of this post, or any other posts in the future for that matter. Alternately, if you'd like to keep the details private, e-mail me at holli@holliswank.com and know that I will be praying for you. Prayer has made such a difference in my life and I would be happy to pass that on to others.

Have a great weekend and know that God loves you, every single second of every single day, no matter what!

Long Time, No See

It's been two weeks since I posted a new poem and a week and a half since I posted to the Twitter account. I've been sick the past few days, but that's not the reason I've been absent. I could blame it on being busy or any number of others things, but I won't. It's not a lack of poems or ideas for poems. No, it's simpler than that.

God told me to slow down.

I had been getting the feeling I was simply going through the motions with my poetry. Write, post, blog, write, post, blog, and so on. God confirmed this for me during one of the recent meditation sessions my husband and I have been doing. I needed to regain my focus and passion for what I was doing. I was no longer doing it for Him, but just to be doing it. There was no longer any grace on it and it was not succeeding.

So, I'm rethinking all the planning I've done (and frankly I should have known better than to plan months ahead) to see what exactly He wants for this ministry. And in His time I will return to it. That maybe tomorrow. That maybe six months from now. I suspect it will be sooner than later, but only He knows.

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Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

³ In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.

Angels on Earth

New poem up on the website called Angels on Earth.

Have you ever had a week where you just feel one step behind? That's me this week. I didn't get curriculum done until Monday morning. I woke up this morning with tasks to finish, but could not get organized for anything. I have not been able to write in a couple weeks now just because of my schedule and how tired I've been.

I pray that your week is going better than mine! God bless everyone!

God's Gifts (Romans 12)

There's a new poem up on the website called God's Gifts.

I apologize for the lack of posts the past week. As I wrote in a post on my personal blog, beginning Thursday my week was a whirlwind. Monday continued the trend, and there seems to be no real end in sight. However, there's a thunderstorm raging outside as I write this; the second of the night. That makes me very happy. I have a candle lit and I'm listening to music on my Zune. Tomorrow evening I'll be alone for a few hours. Peace and quiet comes in little bits right now.

Another thing that's been plaguing me is a lack of closeness to God. My husband and I had a good long talk about it last night, and He reinforced things during the WVIHOP service at our church this afternoon. So, I may be in and out of the blogosphere for a while as I seek my Lord.

God bless everyone!

Trouble in Paradise

You will have to forgive any rambling I do in this post. I was awake for unknown reasons until 4 AM, so I'm a little tired.

I have entered a phase of struggle with my poetry. I have too many ideas. Now, you might think that would be a good thing, but having too many ideas can be just as bad as having none. I am having trouble concentrating on just one thing. Several concepts and poems are pulling at my brain every time I try to sit down and write, and I end up confused and scattering my attention. The administration of the website and Twitter and Facebook are also causing me issue.

However ...

I still love what I do. I don't want anyone to think that I am giving up, because I'm not. I just don't want everyone to think it's all great, all the time. I like to be honest and realistic. As much as I wish it wasn't so, life gets in the way sometimes. The nice thing to know is that God's still there and is only a prayer away if we need Him.

New poem up on Wednesday as usual. God bless everyone!