LISTEN!!!
By Kim Schiemann
Cultivating Hearts Intercessory Prayer Leader

“Listen! Is everyone listening?” shouted my eight year old, waiting to read the devotion at dinner table. Our home is full of voices that want to be heard. With four children, listening can be a challenge.

Listening is a discipline. It requires great strength and wisdom. Solomon the wisest of all men, said “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.” Prov. 1:5

As I reflect on my years since I began to follow the Lord, I can honestly say listening was not something I did or was taught. My prayer time was more about lists than listening. I didn’t know His voice, because I was the one doing all the talking. I had ears, but never hearing because I was always talking.

My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27

Jesus not only used these words, He lived it. Throughout the gospels, when Jesus would begin to teach, he would begin with “listen”. Jesus knew how important listening is to obey and to know him. If we don’t listen, we will not recognize His voice when we hear all the other voices of man and the lies of the enemy. In our culture today, our blessings are our biggest curse. We are over stimulated with noise and can retrieve information at the touch of a button, within seconds. We are entertained with counterfeits and fascinated with the secular world. The enemy has saturated our minds and hearts with distractions, so we are unable to discern His voice.

My relationship with the Lord has matured and I do more listening than talking in my quiet time. There is a reason I call it “quiet time”, it reminds me of the proper position I need to be in. The example the Lord showed us during His years of his ministry, reflect how important it is to withdraw to a quiet place and pray. I imagine He listened more than he talked. How about you?

A Grain of Sand becomes a Beautiful Pearl
Turning irritants into Beautiful Pearls

For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! 2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… 2 Corinthians 4:17

Have you ever seen what a clam can do with a grain of sand? It really is quite amazing. As a clam sits quite content at the bottom of the ocean, it moves around. You might ask…

How does a clam move? It sticks out its tongue like a foot and uses this to pull itself along. It often leaves a trail behind that looks like a snails trail.

This movement allows sand to seep between the mantle and the shell.

When a grain of sand gets into the shell it will secrete a substance called nacre or mother of pearl. Nacre coats the sand over and over… layer after layer and over time it develops into a pearl. This is very similar to getting a splinter. The natural reaction is to cover it up to protect itself. The nacre is secreted to cover the irritant.

The Bible says that our troubles… irritants or grains of sand produces in us eternal glory.

What does that mean?

Do you ever get irritated? Is there any area in your life that you are frustrated and you are just bothered? Do you have a person in your life that irritates you?

I have a secret I want to tell you. Just like the clam, we can clam up.

When does a clam—clam up? When it is defensive! It will lock up tight and the muscles inside keep it tight. Nothing can get in and nothing can get out. This means even good things like food that bring life.

Sometimes the irritation is inside us like a grain of sand. It is rubbing us and making us hurt and sometimes it can make you raw.

The clam takes the irritant and covers it with nacre. We can take our irritants to God and ask Him to cover them. Each time we take it to Him. He will cover this irritant in us and use it to make the irritant turn into a beautiful pearl inside our heart.

Don’t answer this out loud, “Who in your life irritates you?” Maybe it’s your mom when she says go clean your room. Maybe it’s your teacher when she says, you have to do school work now and not play. Maybe it’s your spouse or your boss. Maybe it’s your friends…

When we are irritated, we can do one of two things: clam up and let nothing go in or out of us. This is not good. It builds anger, bitterness and does not allow for us to feel better. OR we can take it to God and say, “GOD, help! I am irritated. Show me how to be loving, gentle and kind even when I am irritated. Like, right now!” Okay… maybe we shouldn’t be bossy to God. We should ask Him politely. He is polite to us!

God will answer our prayer and begin the process of taking the grain of sand and turning it into beauty. He will give us an obedient heart even when we are irritated. We will find we can respond kindly instead of with irritation or meanness.

Amazingly, a grain of sand can become iridescent, shiny, and beautiful. The pearl has a beautiful luster and color--white, silvery, pink, salmon, red, copper, brown, lavender, purple, green, blue, cream, or yellow--and comes in all kinds of shapes. It is sold for jewelry, covering on instruments like guitars, ceramic tiles, kitchen sinks and even shirt buttons.

What are you going to do with your grain of sand? Will you allow GOD to cover it and turn it into something beautiful or will you let it stay inside you and keep irritating you? It is your choice. Which will you choose?

I'd love to hear from you! Tara

The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Mark 1:22 (NIV)

I remembered his golden brown eyes because they contrasted his mocha brown skin so beautifully. He walked up to me after class and said, “Ms. Tara, do you remember me?”

“Yes, doesn’t your name begin with an ‘R”?

“My name is Roderick. I wanted you to know where I’ve been. I was in your class ‘bout a year ago. I was sent to prison for my past. I only had my Bible and me in my cell. I read it and spent a lot of time with God and people started noticing that I am a changed man. God and me we spent all day together in the GodMod at Douglas. I wanted you to know that God used you in giving me a hunger for His Word. I wanted to say, thank you. Me… now I am a sponge. I used to be a sponge filled with a lot of dirt and mud, but now I been wrung and cleaned up. I’m a clean sponge now.”

His words humbled me. I try hard to not go female on the guys, by letting my tears show. This time was real hard!

This testimony was shared with me two weeks ago at the Open Door Mission. I asked Roderick permission to share it with the prayer team. The LORD’s Word carries authority. It is what made the people realize that Jesus was different than the religious teachers of their day. He spoke from the scriptures personally not from someone else’s experience with the Word of God. I am amazed when the LORD allows me the privilege to see someone that allows His Word to become the authority over their life. Our lesson this week at the ODM focused on this verse and the fact that light has authority over darkness. Roderick gets it. He understands the beauty and wonder of allowing the Word of God to be a light in him to dispel the darkness--sin. There is nothing more powerful than to see a life that is truly changed by Christ.

Our vision at Cultivating Hearts is to make one disciple at a time. I wanted you to see and hear how your prayers make this possible. I know you do not know their faces, but when you pray for Cultivating Hearts ministry you prepare the way for the authority of the Light of the World to be made known through me and anyone else who comes along to participate. Thank you.

David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?" 1 Samuel 21:1

The conversation began simply. I saw her walking along the path as she headed toward the lake, her ten-year-old face deep in thought. The rule at camp is no one is ever to be alone. We must go in twos. I quickly joined her since she belonged to my family group. “What ya doing?”

“I just left the store. Did you know I can buy a Bible for $1.00? They are used Bibles and they sale them for a small donation. I am going to buy myself a Bible.”

“Do you not have a Bible?”

She replied, “Yes, we do at home, but I want one for me now.” Her big brown eyes melted my heart. Immediately, I began to devise a way to get her a Bible before she could buy it herself. Then I felt the familiar tug from the One I love so much. “ASK HER IF SHE HAS EVER ASKED JESUS TO BE HER SAVIOR!” I used to not listen to His voice or even argue when He told me to do this, but not anymore. I honestly do not know when HE made that change happen within me. I simply asked, “Have you ever come to a place in your life where you personally have asked Jesus to be your personal Savior?”

She looked up at me with a thoughtful expression. “No!” She tilted her head pausing to think. “I have asked to be forgiven of specific sins a lot, but I have never asked Jesus to be my Savior.” Honestly, her response stunned me. Obviously, the LORD was moving in her life. I just happened to walk into a moment of HIS calling out simply because of a rule that states no one is allowed to walk alone. “Do you know what a sin is?”

“Yes, it is when I do bad things.”
“Who are they against?” I asked.
“God.” She replied.

At this moment, we entered the lake front area. LORD, this will the test, I am going to sit down at that picnic table. If she is serious, she will remain to continue the conversation. I lifted my leg over the bench and sat down as she quietly joined me at the wooden table. We watched for a moment as one brave soul flew through the air as another blobbed them off the big blob on the lake. I gazed over at her and said, “Each of us will have a time in our lives that we must make a choice. We will either choose to accept the free gift of salvation from God or not.” Earlier as we walked I had picked up a rock off the road. “Do you see this rock?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it is as if GOD is saying to each of us. This rock is my gift to you. You can either accept it or reject it. The rock is His Son Jesus.” I held out my hand to her and she reached out to pick the rock up.

“I want to do that!”

“All you have to do is pray. Just tell Jesus what you just told me.”

We bowed our heads and she prayed on her own. “Jesus, will You be my Savior? Please increase my faith in You. Help me to read my Bible and be a good friend…” She paused for a long moment, obviously not knowing what else to say, so I said, “In Jesus’ Name” and we both said, “Amen!”

Before our leadership meeting I ran into the store and asked about the Bibles. The older women were so excited to join in the celebration of our new sister in the faith. We carefully went through each donated Bible to pick just the right one. I wrote her a note reminding her of the conversation to best of my ability in the front of the Bible. I dated it and signed it. Praying as I wrote asking the Father to speak mightily to her through it. At dinner, I laid it in her lap as she ate. I kissed her on the head and walked away basking in a rule that said, no one must ever be alone!

"He has shown strength with His arm." Luke 1:51a

Mikayla, Grant and I went to serve their school Omaha Christian Academy the other day. We are moving into a new school facility in October so there are ample opportunities to find a local mission project for the kids. We have been so busy this summer that this is our first time to go. We were allowed the privilege of sanding two door frames and then washing 37! Every once in a while one of them said, "Mom I can't reach a spot can you get it for me?" I did not think anything of it. Immediately I moved to the spot they needed reached and took care of it.

As we continued working, I started to pray in my heart to God. Ever so sweetly I heard in my heart, "Tara do you see how lovingly you are willing to stretch your arm out to Mikayla and Grant in their time of need?" I said, "Yes, LORD! It is no problem for me." "Tara, I too show my strong arm to my children in their time of need!"

I paused for a moment and basked in the wonder of our Father. There is nothing out of our reach that His arm cannot reach! There is nothing that is too hard for His strength! He is ready and available to show His strong arm in our behalf. Do we pause and ask? How long do we try to work through it on our own? How long do we strive and strain when it is simply solved with a request for help?

O Father, forgive us for not asking sooner! Forgive us for sometimes not asking at all. I am always amazed at how you meet me in the simplist of places. I love you Father! Help me to seek You first in all things. In Jesus' Name, AMEN!

Is there something out of your reach today? Why don't you ask the Father to stretch out His strong arm in Your behalf.

What did I learn from Guatemala? As I ponder our mission trip and all the Father accomplished, I realize this trip taught me in a greater way the value of missions to the team. While in Russia on a mission trip, God revealed to me that every mission trip has three separate ministries occuring. Obviously, the people you go to minister to, but while there I realized the team needed and received ministry as well. I also recognized that those left behind lived vicariously through the team. I have known this, but the Father used Guatemala to help me live this.

I don't even know if I know how to put this in words in such a way that anyone will understand except the team. We had such a sweetness about us that our time together brought laughter, tears, prayers, healing, encouragement, hope, restoration, relaxation, sweat, and yes... even silliness.

As I sat with the team around me all I could think about was how to make this their best mission trip. How can I bless them? How can I minister to their souls? How can I be Jesus to them? I know I am not the only one that thought this way. Listening and hearing each day how Jesus met them face to face and watching them experience the reality of Christ as alive and real became my hearts desire. My sweet Greg always challenges me and our kids to ask good questions. If you know me well, I can talk all about me. I have to consciously make myself ask questions of others and stop my mouth from talking. My two favorite questions I love to ask all the time and drive my kids nuts with are "What is your favorite thing that happened today?" What is the hardest thing that happened to you today?" Or "What did you like most or dislike most?"

One night at dinner I began asking this of our team. WOW! Such honesty is not always easy, especially when it is you answering. I can still see Molly bend over and try to pass on the question to another, but finally opening up and jokingly say, "I don't like questions!" Then sharing her heart. I can see Carley's eyebrows raise as she smiled to tell us how much it meant to her to play soccer with the kids and have Pastor Juanito say to her "FOOTBALL!" Which is soccer in Guatemalan.

We saw some tough stuff! Even the dogs were depressed in Guatemala, but this did not keep the people from being loving, gracious and kind. Learning how to express ourselves and share our hearts each night became very precious. What typically might have ended in a few minutes each night turned into hours.

Rhonda... our resident planner. Set up a night for all the ladies to gather and do facials and foot massages! At one point many of us had green face masks on while Pastor Jim came by to check on Molly. Our giggles sealed us as sisters.

The night of footwashing with the women and men has become a great memory for me and I have heard several say it is their favorite night. But for me my favorite night came when Pastor Jim led us in the LORD's supper. The room we were in was so dimly light that Chris held a candle over the Bible as Pastor Jim read it. Pastor Jim asked Chris to pray for us as the closing prayer and when he looked up he said, "I want to go around and pray for each person." Blessing upon blessing!

Jim and Chris went from person to person laying their hands on their heads as Chris prayed. In our time together, we(meaning the women)were able to share intimate things privately that no one knew. We sat in awe as Chris not knowing these truths prayed exactly what needed to be prayed into each persons life. I wish I could remember the details of each prayer. I cannot. However, I do remember that there was a theme to each persons prayer. For example: Tiffany was called to remain in the light. Mikayla had goodness prayed over her and through her.

As for me... I am still pondering what was prayed. Only a few select people in my life know the deep call I feel. Chris nailed it on the head. I never spoke to him of this. It scared me! It affirmed me! It touched me. As he prayed, I was so focused on the prayer that I did not think, but once he walked away I wanted to weep. How is it that HOLY GOD allows us to serve HIM? He trusts us with so much! He trusts us enough to allow us to go on the mission field daily. We do not know have to leave the country or travel far. HE TRUSTS US RIGHT WHERE WE ARE AT! Each of us have been given a trust. How are we responding?

It was obvious that each of us were greatly impacted by the prayers prayed over us. Courtney... a very rare quiet lady in the LORD. Held a look upon her face that said, "The deep has called out the deep." Chris affirmed her in the call to be a missionary by saying, "Don't be surprised if you become a missionary." She leaves in September to go to China to study medicine. She is praying about full time mission work. Please pray the LORD's presence upon her and protection.

As our stories unfold and we face reality at home, it is my prayer the LORD will help us with the transition back. It is hard. It is so hard! Once you have experienced the divine service full throttle facing reality and the mundane at home can seem so unattractive, distracting, a nuisance or even routine. I have prayed a guard upon our team. Because we are called both near and far. Father, may our lives never be the same. Allow the right change to take place to put us in further service for YOUR Kingdom to each other right were we are! Let us be the VERB in the moment since YOU ARE I AM ALWAYS!

I will miss our evening gatherings of sharing and caring! It blessed me beyond compare! Somehow, we always moved to prayer. Beloved, missions is everywhere! How will you serve today? Have you asked Jesus to see HIM? If not, do so! His face is everywhere! Even right where you are! In Him, Tara

The Joy of the LORD is my strength and HE washes feet too! More from Guatemala. Jesus came in strength, not physical strength, but spiritual strength.

JOY! Choose joy! What most will not know as they read this blog is that Rhonda on our team was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer two weeks before our trip. The doctors gave her freedom to go and she is scheduled for a lumpectomy on July 30. I must share how Jesus met me through Rhonda. Well... actually I think everyone who met Rhonda or is near Rhonda meets Jesus regularly.

What is joy? I believe it is joining Jesus in our heart even when we do not understand or like what we know, see, or experience. This is not self denial or stuffing of thoughts or feelings, but realizing that the only way you can get through the circumstances is to release to HIM and then let go. Rhonda is my hero! She lived JOY for us in Guatemala! I want to take the time to share true JOY through RHONDA!

Two words describe my fun memories of Rhonda... YES and I SAID FUN! Because with Rhonda everything is fun! My two words are tears and singing. Well, maybe I have more than two how about dancing? Yeah, I will start with dancing. As we were buidling the house for Juana and her family music on the radio played with an upbeat Latin American tune. Rhonda could not contain the joy within her and grabbed Mikayla's hand and started dancing on the concrete floor we built two days earlier. I decided to join in and grabbed the daughters hand to dance with her while Gina grabbed another to dance. Our dear missionary Chris informed us that dancing is perceived as a sin. OOOPS! We were uhm-- shocked! It is hard to contain JOY that bubbles out of someone. I told Rhonda not to worry. He did not say anything when she danced! It was when I got out there! So Rhonda danced in the spirit I must have danced in the flesh! Please laugh out loud! No harm was made! The family was laughing too! Such is the life of a missionary... learning what is acceptable and not!

I do not know how many mornings we awoke to love notes posted on our doors from Rhonda. A scripture here, a word of encouragement there! It was exciting to see what she might do to make someone else feel special. Mikayla awoke with balloons all over her door on her birthday. What Mikayla does not know is that this was the second morning balloons were placed on her door. Rhonda did it twice because she did it one day early. On the morning we were to leave, Mikayla and Tiffany followed in the footsteps of Rhonda. They stayed up late the night before and wrote a sweet note with a scripture for each team member. Proof positive that who you hang out with impacts how you behave. We all need to choose Rhonda's to hang out with so we can be more like them. One thing is for certain, I am humbled my daughter spent significant time with the entire team!

One night Rhonda set up a night of feet washing so we might bless one another. She invited everyone back to her and Steve's room. Yes, we crammed 18 people into their hotel room. She brought the supplies for us to scrub, wash and lotion feet. We set up two chairs and began with the daughters washing their daddies feet. Without anyone speaking different people gathered others and before we knew it all feet in the room were washed. Both the young and old. As the feet were washed we read the Bible. People chose favorite verses and we read and prayed allowed. Sweetness fell on the room as well as pure joy. The HOLY SPIRIT filled us up and Jesus smiled as we read HIS word and ministered to each others very tired feet. On this particular day we worked in very exhausting heat to paint a house, lay another concrete foundation and we did something incredible, but I will tell you those two stories in the next blog! Anyhow, everyone needed a little TLC for their weary feet and minds. Blessed indeed! Why? Rhonda chose to minister to others instead of focusing on her self. She chose JOY!

As the evening ended, we gathered Rhonda, Steve and Carley in a circle and we prayed. O my... the prayers prayed while we were in Guatemala. Well... when we get to heaven you will need to go and watch the DVD! The power of prayer is amazing. Imparticular Chris' prayers blessed our team. It seems we were trying to find ways to get him to pray! As Robbie says, It does not matter that I do not understand him when he prays in spanish I am blessed. As he prayed over Rhonda I experienced something I never experienced before. I will confess something. I scratched behind my ear on the first day and it became terribly infected... no grossly infected. EICK! Such is the life of serving with dirty fingers! WASH YOUR HANDS! It was bad enough we tried to go to a doctor on Saturday to have it lanced. He was gone so a pharmacist made ugly faces at my wound and sold us some meds! Anyhow, while Chris prayed over Rhonda I felt three sharp pains in my wound. IT was extremly painful and hard to turn my head because of the infection, but after he prayed it stopped. Gina and I went to our room and I showed her my wound. It broke open! A holy lancing occured. THe next morning all pain was gone. The wound was still there, but the infection was releasing. Because of Rhonda the LORD allowed me to experience a second hand healing. Don't think I am crazy, Gina, my roomie will testify how nasty it was and then changed. We await with great expectations in how the LORD will accomplish HIS healing in Rhonda.

On our last day as we drove home from the lake Rhonda, Cindy, Molly and I sang the whole two hours back. Poor Deb in the back, we kept her from sleeping! Robbie chilled out with her head phones and Jim and Chris were in the front joining in periodically. Chris gets easily drastracted and takes his hands off the wheels while driving. All of us fell in love with his crazy antitics. As I think of the Joy of the LORD is my strength, I see Rhonda lifting her right foot up in the van to the Hokey Pokey or wiggling her shoulders to the beat of another song. Praise continously poured out of her lips.

I started calling her my wonder and awe girl. She is so filled with the wonder and awe of GOD that I am blessed to just be near her. Jesus came to me through Rhonda with silent tears as we prayed, joyful singing all through out the day, and continously saying, "I AM SO BLESSED!" Rhonda... we are the blessed ones! We were allowed the privilege to reap the blessing of JESUS upon you!





Help me Rhonda, Help help me Rhonda!... Help me Rhonda yeah... get joy in my heart!

Writing allows me the privilege to hear from those that are impacted by the truths that we journey together in studying. A dear sister in Nebraska sent me a sweet testimony about the week two lesson on Hannah in Redeemed to Praise. I have asked her permission to share it. I know you will be blessed.

Tara, I wanted you to know that I have been especially blessed by Hannah's story this week. I have drawn so much closer to God through her story. She had a deep need that no one else understood. Year after year, she faced the embarrassement of not having a child. Finally, she took it before the Lord and left her burdens there. The Bible says that her countenance was no more sad. I struggled a bit with this because I have given everything over to God (I thought) and sometimes my countenance was sad. I was sad because I might have to go to jail. I learned that Hannah worshipped the Lord before she knew God's answer. She praised him because she knew God had heard her prayer and that He was faithfull. If any word I learned about more this week it is the word "faithful."

God knows what is best for our lives and he is in total control. God knows exactly what I need whether it's jail or not. I now realize, I did not completly give it over to God. God's will and plan could be that I go to jail....BECAUSE IT IS WHATS BEST FOR ME. If staying out of jail is not what I need, then I hope I do go to jail. God is in control. So I will praise him if the judge tells me that I can go home or if the judge tells me I have to go to jail. I think I will be a little nervous, but it's what God wants and he has packed his bags and is going with me.

When Hannah took Samuel and gave him back to the temple I thought I would see tears running down her face and someone would have to rip her away. I mean she prayed and waited so long for this boy and at an early age she has to give him up. I knew she would do it because she promised God, but I couldn't believe her strength. 1 Samuel 2:1-10 is called Hannah's song. She just let go of her precious child and she praises God with a heart that has truly seen the faithfulness of God. I pray that no matter the outcome of September 24, I can truly praise God for His faithfullness. Thank you for helping God to let me see this.

Love, A Nebraska Sister

God is teaching me many things about praise and one is that it does not come so easily to my lips! Requests are so easy… praise requires work on my part. I am finding my prayer time is filling with more visual prayers as I praise GOD over situations. This is a new lesson for me all together. I must give you one that involved me. The last week of Ladies Bible Study I felt like I could not reach heaven with my prayers. Ever been there? The actual visual that I had was of a child holding a plastic cup over me like he would a bug to suffocate it! I just keep buzzing up and down hitting the clear plastic cover! Needless to say, I spent three days confessing, sitting, waiting, and trying to write… NOTHING! All I had was a scripture outline and handout for them to fill in the blanks, but none of the pretty stuff that pulls it all together. I kept beseeching GOD and again nothing. One day before I was to teach I had a visual come to me through a flower in my yard. We had placed a huge boulder beside our sidewalk along our flower bed last year. We completely forgot that we had tulip bulbs waiting to bloom lying dormant in the earth. As I set out to walk, hoping that spending time praising GOD out doors would lift this feeling, I saw my lesson! This tulip knew it needed the sun. So it grew up under the boulder to reach around it and then bend up higher until it rested on top of the boulder to catch the sun perfectly. It opened its bloom up to receive maximum rays from the sun. I thought “THAT IS ME!” No matter what boulder is placed on me I will do whatever it takes to get to the Son! I called a friend and asked her to pray for me for I knew now that I was dealing with oppression not sin. It was as if the evil one did not want the lesson taught! I taught the last lesson and release immediately came! What about you? Do you have any boulders in your life right now? Do you feel like you have a plastic cup on top of you preventing you from getting fresh air? Are you giving up? DON’T! Do whatever it takes to get to the SON! If you do… YOUR bloom will shine in HIS light for HIS Glory!