He Never Forgets Us

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“Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
Isaiah 49:15-16

I attempted to nurse both of my biological children. With my first, my milk just never seemed to come in enough to keep my child satisfied. I ended up giving up when she was close to three months old and feeding her cereal and formula to keep her full. With my youngest, I had plenty of milk. I was abundantly blessed with it. I can remember waking up in the middle of the night in pain because I NEEDED my daughter to nurse. Even if she was sleeping  peacefully through the night, I simply could not stay lost in my own dreamworld because my body remembered my nursing child even as I tried to sleep.

When I read this verse in Isaiah, “Can a woman forget her nursing child…” I remember these nights and this feeling and the impact of this verse and the point the Lord is trying to make resonates within my soul and then I read the second part of that verse and it hits like a brick across my heart… “even these may forget, but I will not forget you.”

According to noheatstroke.org six hundred and ninety-three children have died in the past eighteen years from being left behind in a vehicle. Four hundred and eighty five of those were two years old and younger. These would have all been considered nursing age children in the days that Isaiah spoke these words. We live in a day where we are so distracted that we are forgetting our nursing children. We are living in the “even these” of Isaiah 49:15.

We can be so rushed, so scheduled, so routined, so focused on the next thing and scattered about everything that we forget the most important things, but our God calls out to us and says, even these… even a mother her nursing child… even these may forget but I will not forget you.

Has life ever made you feel like you have been forgotten? Have you ever just sat and felt like the world was going on without you as if you were not even there? Have you ever been abandoned in a time of need when those you expected to come to you did not… when those that said they would be there were not? No doubt we all have at some point and time in our life.

But God never forgets us. Never. He says that we are inscribed in the palm of His hands…

Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

John 20:27

No matter how forgotten we may feel… our feelings lie. If we belong to God in and through Christ then He is in us and we are in Him and we are His. Though He has the entire world to rule sovereignly over. Though He commands the sun to rise and set and the waves to go so far. Though He is there to care for the sparrow and guard the ostriches eggs. Though He watches over the walls of nations and the makeshift tent of the refugee. He is never too distracted, rushed, or scattered to leave any of His children behind. We will never be forgotten by our Savior because He is never separated from us. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us… and He never ever forgets us.

A Bulldog Can Whip A Skunk But It Isn’t Worth The Fight

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I was listening to an episode of Real Life this morning and in his message Phil Waldrep shared a quote of advice concerning dealing with issues. He shared how a someone told him once that a bulldog can whip a skunk but it isn’t worth the fight. This is one of the hard lessons that the Lord has taught me in my walk with Him.

When we hear wrong thinking and wrong speaking especially when it concerns us we often are ready to come in like a bulldog and chase that skunk down and tear them to bits. However, in doing so we are the ones who walk away stinking to high heaven and the stench runs deep and doesn’t easily wash off. As a matter of fact it sticks to anyone in our vicinity. It is a smell that will linger in our own nostrils for days to come.

In 1 Corinthians Paul is writing the church in Corinth because they are dealing with a lot of issues. They seem to be stirred up over things that need not be and ignoring things that should be stirred up about and addressing immediately. It’s really not unlike many of our present churches and actually even our nation today.

I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren

1 Corinthians 6:5-8

When I was children’s minister I taught a VBS that discussed what the curriculum called the D-darts of the devil. I have never forgotten this lesson. It was meant to teach kids, but it taught me as well. The D-darts of the devil–doubt, depression, deception, distraction, disappointment, discouragement–are all tools that he uses to detour us off God’s path and purpose for our lives. He wants to destroy us and our witness for Christ and His gospel and he will use all his means to do so.

His method of distraction is best seen in his ability to get us all riled up over something that in the light of eternity does not amount to a hill of beans. I have learned that I simply am not going to argue with someone concerning opinions. I’m not going to debate on social media where someone cannot see the countenance of my face or hear the tone of my voice. I also am not going to give a watching world a reason to hate the church of my Jesus simply because some of her brothers and sisters are illegitimate or immature.

There are things worth fighting for and defending, but if the only reason you are opening your mouth is because you see yourself as the bulldog and you know that you can use your teeth to whip what you deem to be a skunk… you, my friend, are the one that will walk away in a great stench and the watching world will run to the rescue of the wounded skunk.

Rather be the skunk.

Rather be defrauded.

Rather be wronged.

 

 

 

 

 

Join Me On The Journey

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I have exciting news! I have just been invited to come on staff with FCA of North Alabama! I will be the first female staff member ever in this area. My ministry focus will be to the female athletes and coaches in the school campuses in four counties – Morgan, Limestone, Lawrence, and Winston.

My family and I have been praying about this opportunity for almost nine months and we are so excited that the Lord has chosen to open this door. Every time I would share with someone what this position with FCA would look like my heart would stir within me with anticipation and I would find myself getting more and more excited about the possibility.

I know what a difference it would have made in my life as an athlete and as a teenage girl to have had someone speaking truth and love into my life during this time. It wasn’t that my parents were not, it just simply is that sometimes it needs to be coming from others as well, especially at this age in life.

I am also looking forward to the opportunity to be able to love on our female coaches! I want to be able to be there to encourage them and help them stay focused on why they chose to be a teacher to begin with and why they chose to coach. Coaches have a wide open door of influence in students lives. They have the opportunity to impact the heart and mind of a student that will stay with them long after their playing days are over. Coaching is something that a teacher does on top of their regular teaching obligations and family responsibilities so they, no doubt, need this time of encouragement. 

I am beyond excited about this new adventure! However, I need your help. I will not be able to reach into the lives of these ladies without you. Will you partner with me to make this happen?

As you read this, will you just stop right here and ask the Lord if He is leading you to join my team. I need you on my team. I need you to join me on this journey. If you are reading this, it is not by accident.

I need those who are willing to commit to monthly support. I need those who are willing to give yearly or bi-yearly support. I need those who can give $500 a month and those who can give $10 a month. I need those who can give anywhere in between. I need businesses and churches and individuals that are called and willing to partner with me.

Are you already giving to FCA? Will you consider donating those funds in my name and supporting me?

I have less than a month to get this ball going so that I can get on the field by October 1st! Will you get me on that field? The fields are white for harvest and this laborer is ready to work.

If you can’t give right now will you commit to pray for me and this new ministry within FCA?

If you need more information I would love to meet with you and share my heart and vision for this ministry.

If you are led to donate and you do so, please let me know so that I can let you know my gratitude for your giving.

If you commit to pray, please let me know so that I can thank the Lord for you and pray for you in return.

Simply send me an email to nicolelhvaughn@provenpathministries.com

If you are ready to donate simply click “Partner With Nicole” and write “For Nicole Vaughn” in the Notes box.  

Partner With Nicole

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I am looking forward to hearing from you…

 

Labor To Complete Not Compete

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According to the United States Department of Labor, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

It was in 1884 that the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Today Labor Day in America is celebrated with food and fun with family and friends and shopping sales. Labor Day was put in to effect by our country to celebrate and honor the American worker. This day was set aside for the nation to be able to affirm and acknowledge that they knew that America had become the great nation that it was because of the work ethic and integrity of the American who worked in the fields, in industries, in education, in medicine, and so on.

The ability to labor and the willingness to accept the responsibility to do so is a gift of our Creator God.

 

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28

Of course after the fall that gift of work and responsibility became a little more laborious…

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19

 

Because Adam chose to listen to the words of his wife who had been deceived by Satan instead of obeying the words that he himself had heard straight from God, sin entered the world. Sin brings death and that death also included the death of the earth and things of the earth. Everything that we can see with our physical eyes or touch with our physical hands is dying or already dead.
Before sin there was only enjoyment in caring for the earth that God created because there was never a fear of death creeping in and destroying the work of your hands. After the fall it was no longer just cultivating the growth but fighting to keep it alive. After the fall came the times when you worked for months and even years to get something exactly right and you could actually enjoy the fruit of your labors to have a locust attack, a drought, a fire, a thief, a murderer come in and destroy it or you right before your eyes. Then all that you worked for was gone.

 

This is why King Solomon wrote:

 

I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had home born slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.
Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

What King Solomon realized is that if we labor for the things of this world and for our own pleasures and glory we will spend our lives being miserable and unsatisfied. Yet, labor in itself is good.

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.
Ecclesiastes 5:18

It’s not the labor that is in vain it is rather the what we are laboring for and the why of our labor. Work is a gift from God. The ability to know that we are gifted with minds and bodies that are all uniquely qualified for certain tasks and when we put them at work together we can see amazing and satisfying results is indeed a gift of God. It is a beautiful expression of His image that we are created in.

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Genesis 1:31 – 2:2

There is something about completion that gives us rest that satisfies. Having a thought or vision of something and starting it and seeing it completed brings a sense of well being in our souls that causes us to step back and take a deep breathe and simply, at least for the moment, be still. Just like our Creator God, our Heavenly Father did in the beginning and just as our Lord Jesus did on the cross when He said it is finished.

So if we labor after things and for the admiration of man we will never be satisfied with our labor and we will never rest. There are always more things and man is fickle. This world is like a bottomless pit and it doesn’t matter how much effort you dump into it, it is never full. Just think of the simplest thing like our current technology. Before you even know how to utilize all the amenities of your new smart phone, an announcement comes out that the one in your hand is outdated and there is bigger and better available.

If we labor for things we labor in vain. If we labor for ourselves we labor in vain. However, if we labor for the honor and glory of God we labor with purpose.

In Luke 10:2 we read of Jesus speaking to His disciples,
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Then in the book of Colossians Paul writes,

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Colossians 1:28-29

In the beginning God began His work and on the sixth day He completed all His work and then He rested. Our Creator God worked to complete not compete.  He has called us to do the very same thing.

This labor day I challenge you to stop and evaluate your heart and your labors. Why do you do what you do?
  • Do you see a point of completion in your endeavors or is it a never ending striving after something that can never be finished?
  • At the end of your days will you be able to say that you have not labored in vain?
  • Is the goal of your labors to compete with those you see to have more of and in this world than you or is it to complete the present task that has been set before you?
  • Do you labor for the glory and honor of God or for yourself?
  • Are you laboring in the fields of God to see others complete in Christ?
  • What would change in your life and in your home if you worked to complete with God instead of compete with man?

 

It’s Ready In Workbook Form!

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Have you ever wondered if your kids could grasp the doctrine of salvation? Have you been taught that they are just too young to understand the depth of the Scriptures? Or perhaps you know that they can understand and learn the beautiful truths of their Creator God in meat form and are simply frustrated with the current milk market for children’s Bible study curriculum.

I have spent the summer getting a study that I wrote through the book of Romans in workbook form. It has been available on Kindle for over a year, but now this series can be ordered in a ready to use workbook. This study will take your child through the entire book of Romans verse by verse. Yes! In this study I have tackled all the hard questions and prayerfully have done so in a way that will help your child understand them.

Here is what some are saying about this study:

“Nicole did a great job getting to the “meat” of the text. I would recommend this study to parents who would like to take their children to a deeper understanding of the biblical truths taught in Romans.”

 Dr. Rob Jackson
Senior Pastor
Central Baptist Church
Decatur, AL
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“This study not only pulls out riches from the Word but also teaches people how to. Nicole models proper Scripture interpretation (hermeneutics) through the use of who, what, when, where, why and how questions. She also leads the reader to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to properly interpret. After each section of study she adds a “Think About It” section to lead the reader into application. In addition, she adds occasional word studies and Greek words to help a children’s ministry leader, Sunday school teacher, or small group leader better teach and facilitate discussion of the text.

If you’re looking for an inductive study of Romans, this is a great one to pick up! It is the first of five. I look forward to checking out the others!”

Greg Brown
Chaplain and visiting professor at Handong Global University
Pastor at Handong International Congregation
Pohang, South Korea
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“Excellent study – I’ve used it for a teen study but have learned a lot myself as an adult going through the material.”
Kaitlin Klinkebiel

 

Below are the direct links to purchase this series for yourself!





I am also attaching a free PDF download of the first book so that you can see how the workbook is written and how you can use it at home or with a class.

Romans_Study_For_Kid_Part_One_PDF

I am also available to come and share this material with your church and to come and work with any of your children’s leaders or parents in helping them learn how to take their children deeper into the Scriptures. I love teaching! I have worked with preschoolers through adults and I can stand before you in full assurance and say that your kids are hungry for the same truth that you as an adult are hungry for.

If you are looking for a speaker for a children’s event or conference that will take your kids deeper and grow them in the grace and knowledge of God then please email me at nicolelhvaughn@provenpathministries.com and let’s get something scheduled!