The Lord always honors us when we take steps of faith before Him. After I made the two vows I mentioned in the last blog post and began to implement them, I began to become strongly aware that the Word became alive and took form within my flesh.

I also began to recognize that, at the end of the three-month shopping fast period, an amazing number of unusual transformations had taken place in our home. Our downstairs living and dining areas had been carpeted by the good graces of a parent. Lovely old antiques had been discarded in my direction. Friends had dropped in to give us a hand emptying the paint buckets, their contents thickening in the basement.

All of this had occurred at the stimulation of the Spirit, not because of our requests we had made, nor of needs that we had spoken of to others!

Moreover, the Lord released me from that hungering thing that had gnawed at my soul. After a while, I found that it became easier to put the Kingdom first.

The hospitality we carried on during this time became more simple, also. People brought parts of the meals we hosted. I began to lean more toward inexpensive breakfasts and later-evening cheese and fruit affairs. The very simplicity of these opportunities for hospitality seemed to enhance the effectiveness of their intent.
 
 
 
 
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For decades, Karen Mains and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. The are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and churches at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Karen has long had an interest in Christian hospitality and is the author of the best-selling book, Open Heart, Open Home.

An award-winning author of several other books, Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, "Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains." In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

In addition, pastors will find special resources to help them create effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
 
 
 
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