by Lea Splane | Aug 12, 2012 | Musings
I have a coffee cup that says “Crazy Cat Lady” on one side and “One Cat Leads to Another” on the other side. Six years ago Ken talked me into adopting a cat and now we have four, so I have proven the point; hence, the cup. But this isn’t about my cats.
It’s about how one thing can happen in our lives, and amazingly, it will lead to results that we never expected, kind of like me agreeing to one cat and ending up with four, and being a crazy cat lady.
I moved to Illinois in 1996 to marry my wonderful Mr. Ken. I prided myself in being able to adjust to new things easily, and I was so excited about our wedding and spending the rest of my life with Ken, that I thought living in Illinois would be a breeze. It wasn’t and hasn’t been. I had no idea what a culture shock it would be to live in Illinois. I had lived in in seven U.S. states and in Israel, so adjusting was no big deal. But Illinois was another story. It turned out to be the biggest challenge of my life. Why, you ask? Because God wanted to change me, and refine some things about my personality. He wanted “iron to sharpen iron.” I didn’t want to be sharpened. I thought I was just fine the way I was.
Which leads to my church, New Life Fellowship, and Pastor Ken Martin.
Because I came from a Messianic Congregation, it was very hard for me to adjust to a church again. But I knew we had to be part of a local body.
In the first seven years of our marriage, we attended or visited nine churches. The longest we attended anywhere during that time was two years. Then, eight years ago we joined New Life Fellowship Church. From the very beginning, God showed me that this was where we were supposed to stay. It was an adjustment, for sure, but whenever I thought I wanted to change, God would reassure me that this was where we were supposed to stay.
It has been good there. We have made friends, had a lot of wonderful times, but the biggest thing that has happened during the past eight years, is that refining that God wanted to do is happening. Eight years ago, I thought that I was just fine. I didn’t realize that I did need to change, but they were fine personality changes that are hard to see when it is your personality.
I said all this to say that today during our church service, I asked God “Why am I here?” “Why did you bring us to this church?” His answer was amazing. He said it was because Pastor Ken would pray for me, and that is what I needed the most. Because when you need to change things like the way you relate to people, it takes a lot of time…and prayer. I am sure every pastor prays for his congregation. But God showed me today that the prayers Pastor Ken has prayed for me was a foundational reason I have been able to change, and to be refined and to grow.
Thank you, God, for leading us to New Life Fellowship. You have always been faithful to tell me why, because I always ask, and I need to know.
And thank you, Pastor Ken, for praying for me. I will never be the same.
Photo by RedTea 
by Lea Splane | Jul 16, 2012 | Musings
I remember an experience I had sometime during 1990, I was sitting on the podium of our congregation in Maryland, taping Asher’s message (that was old school when you had to sit and watch the cassette tape and turn it over when the first side was full). All of a sudden, everything in the room went white, and I saw Jesus standing in front of me. I never saw His face, but I felt Him put His hands on my shoulders and said that I needed to make a decision.
I could go back to Las Vegas, and He would bless me, and I would live out my life serving Him still, but He desired for me to stay in Maryland, because there were things He had for me to accomplish there. And, if I went back to Las Vegas, I would never marry, because my husband wasn’t there, and he never would be. And then the vision was over, and I was back in the congregation, and amazed at what I had just heard. I had been vascillating about staying in Maryland, or moving back to Las Vegas.
Of course, it’s obvious that I chose to stay, and God took me through many wonderful experiences as a result, both in Israel and here. But the amazing thing is that I met Ken, my wonderful husband. I would never have met him, had I not chosen what He asked me to choose. It’s interesting, but he didn’t say I had to choose that. He gave me a clear choice. But I am so glad I made that choice.
Mr. Ken, as I affectionately call him, is the most wonderful gift. He is the epitome of what you would call a faithful man. We met on the internet back when it wasn’t the “thing” to do. Some thought I was crazy coming to Illinois by myself to meet him. And crazier still to go hiking with him at Starved Rock the second day I arrived! But I am so glad I listened to my heart and came here and met this most wonderful man. I knew as soon as we met that we had a connection ordained by God and that we would be together. It just took him a little bit longer to realize it!
We have had over fifteen amazing, wonderful, laughter-filled years together. I would not trade it for anything. It’s funny, but as much as I have hated living in Illinois, I have loved my life with Mr. Ken.
Sunday morning our pastor had a message about marriage. As I sat there listening, Ken was running the PowerPoint slides for the message, faithfully putting the slides up as pastor was talking. Every time I see that, it reminds me of the man he is, ever faithful, always dependable, a wonderful example of what a Godly man should be.
I wish every woman could be as blessed as I am. The bible says to find a wife is to find a good thing, but I think it’s also true of finding a husband like mine. He is and has been a “good thing” for me.
by Lea Splane | Jul 10, 2012 | Musings
This week Ken and I have been helping with our church’s annual Vacation Bible School in the evenings after work. We help in the kitchen serving the food that we give the children each night at the beginning of the evening.
It is “kid food,” like and pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls and baked). Ken and I help serve and clean up after.
I thought tonight as we were coming home that there is something very deeply satisfying about serving others, one, and two, about doing it together with your spouse and other believers. Even though my motive gift (Romans 12) has always been works of service, and it’s where I get the most joy, it can apply to every believer. It’s a bond that you form with other believers when you are serving together. It’s absolutely joyous and that is how I feel tonight.
Not only are we contributing to the spiritual lives of many children, but we are building the foundations and the walls of covenant relationships with other believers. There is something wondrous about committing to a local fellowship, contributing with our finances and prayer and gifts, and just staying there, through good, bad, and trials, even when you want to quit. It changes you from the inside out.
Mark 9:35
New King James Version (NKJV)
35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
If You Want to be Great in God’s Kingdom
Photo by PetroleumJelliffe
by Lea Splane | Jun 1, 2012 | Musings
As I was standing at the information booth at church on Resurrection Sunday, a young teenager (I believe she is 15) came out of the restroom with her holiday finest on – a dress that looked like it belonged in a nightclub somewhere, off one shoulder and very short! I was appalled that her mother was all a-twitter gathering her together with her friends to take her picture. She is truly a beautiful young girl. In fact, all the girls in our youth group are beautiful. But that dress was totally inappropriate for a young Christian girl to be wearing.
What has happened to modesty? I see young girls coming to church with skin-tight pants and tight shirts, showing it all off to anyone who wants to look. I see them on the platform leading worship in the youth worship team dressed like that. I see young girls coming to church in very short shorts. Whatever happened to respect for the gathering of God’s people?
What is wrong with their parents who let them come to church dressed that way, or anywhere for that matter? Where have we come to in the Body of Christ that we let our children behave that way?
And I see young people, very young, with a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, being very physical with each other. They are so young and have so far to go before they can commit to marriage. I wonder, if they are doing that in front of people, what are they doing when people can’t see them? Don’t they know they are playing with fire? Don’t they know that physical contact with each other is the first step to total intimacy and it’s how God designed it? But it’s to be saved for marriage.
The world thinks it’s perfectly fine for a couple to be intimate with each other, just as long as they are both in agreement. It’s perfectly acceptable to live together without the benefit of marriage. But that is not okay with God, and being physical with each other like I see our young people doing, is not okay with God, either.
We need to come back to place of holiness and dedication of our bodies before God. Parents need to guide and shelter their children until such time as they are ready to make a commitment to marriage. It can do so much damage to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when they are too close too early. And it’s not pleasing to God. They should not be making emotional commitments to each other at such a young age. It is a father’s responsibility to shelter and protect his daughter until such time as she is ready to commit to marriage.
We need to pray that parents wake up and see what is happening with their children before it’s too late and they do something they will regret for the rest of their lives. You can never go back and undo a mistake.
Song of Solomon 3:5
New King James Version (NKJV)
5 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Photo by Internet Archive Book Images
by Lea Splane | Apr 1, 2012 | Musings
There is an acronym young people use today in texting called BFF (Best Friends Forever). I wonder if they really understand the meaning of best friends?
Twenty-five years ago I ended up in Frederick, Maryland. I thought it was just another stop in the crazy quilt that was my life. I had no idea that Frederick was the place where God would change my life forever.
I had found the Lord as a teenager, but a few years later I wandered away and was far from God when I arrived in Frederick in the summer of 1987. In the month of August I began to sense the presence of God in my life once again. I pulled out my Bible and began to read it.
One day I came home for lunch. I sat down to eat and turned on the television. There was a prophet on this particular channel and as I watched he began to prophesy specifically to me.He said many things, but what I remember him saying was that God was calling me to repent and come back to Himself, and that if I did, there were things in the Kingdom of God for me to accomplish. I sat and cried. I knew that this was God, but I also wondered how I could possibly get out of the life I was living?
I was in a relationship with a man to whom I was not married. I could not afford to live on my own. I had no other friends in Frederick. How could I possibly move out? I put it on the back burner, until a week later when I received a flyer from a Messianic Congregation. I had never heard of this before, but I was curious, so I called the number in the flyer and the pastor’s wife answered the phone. That began a series of almost weekly telephone calls to her, where she befriended me, counseled me, and prayed with me.
It took until November before I finally got the courage to attend the congregation. I walked in the door and the first person I saw ended up being the pastor’s wife. I had never met her in person, but she greeted me and said, “Are you Lea? It’s good to finally meet in person.” I was stunned to say the least, so after visiting for a few minutes, I went in and sat down in the back. That’s when her husband came back, introduced himself and said, “You must be Lea. My wife has really been praying for you.” Wow, who are these people, I thought? That night was the beginning of the new life that God created for me out of nothing.
There were many people during those early years who helped me and contributed to my restoration, but there is one person who truly stands out. She is my friend Holly, and the reason I write this post. As I mentioned previously, the change began with moving. I ended up living in a small town called Detour (my friends like to say God took me on a detour!) There are many miracles that happened along the way during this time to help me move in the direction God wanted, but the biggest one was Holly.
Holly was sort of an assistant to the pastor and one of her duties was to make contact with people by telephone who had been out and also the new people to make them feel connected. Holly would call me weekly and it seemed like every time she called me I would need encouragement. She would always have a word for me that would precisely fit what I needed to hear and it helped me move forward to the next step God had for me. During those phone conversations, we began to build a friendship.
One day a few months later, she invited me to dinner at her home with her husband, Bill and her three children, Troy, Trent, and Randi. It was at that dinner that they invited me to come live with them and be a part of their family. They were taking a risk. They hadn’t known me that long, and didn’t really know anything about me. But they were being faithful to what they felt was God’s instruction to them. I did live with them for about a year and a half and it was a time that would change me forever. I learned so many things during that year as I kind of became like a part of their family. But the best gift that came from that time was my friendship with Holly.
My faith journey has taken me to Illinois and Holly still lives in Maryland. And even though we don’t see each other or talk on the phone often, when we do, it’s like we just saw each other yesterday. She has been my faithful friend through 25 years of ups, downs, changes, and challenges.
So this is a tribute to you, Holly, my best friend forever. You and Bill and your children helped God rebuild the foundation of my life and I would not be the person I am today if you had not obeyed God way back then and invited me to come and be a part of your life. I am eternally grateful.
Proverbs 18:24 (KJV)
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Photo by Trish Hamme
