Kimberly Sowell - A Passion for Purpose: 365 Daily Devotions for Missional Living

Contents

Acknowledgments

God has enriched our journeys with godly people who have taught us to walk in the ways of our Lord. We acknowledge with grateful hearts these special individuals who have been Gods instruments, helping to set our hearts to the rhythm of Gods mission.

Kimberly Sowell:

Mama and Dad, I love you. I could never thank you enough for the selfless way you have poured yourself into my life. From my early days of childhood, teaching me to be thankful, to share, to do my very best, and never to be afraid to try new adventures, you placed all of these and so many other life principles into an unshakable framework that is Jesus Christ our Lord. For time spent on your knees laboring in prayer over me, I will forever be grateful. Dad, you have taught me a lifetime of truth about leadership, and about upholding the truth of Gods Word. Mama, your compassionate heart for others, your selfless attitude in all things, and your stalwart commitment to holiness have inspired me to be more like Jesus. Thank you.

Kevin, you are such an incredible husband, and I love you. As you and I have grown in the Lord together over the years, I thank you for inspiring me to walk through every door of missional growth God has placed before me, and for being the loving and equipping leader in my life who has allowed me to fulfill Gods call to missional living. Thank you for your many sacrifices as we serve the Lord together.

Edna Ellison:

How grateful I am to spiritual mentors who taught me the importance of an evangelistic spirit and a missions heart for every Christian: Rosalyn Martin, Sarah Cason, Helen Dean, Alice Corley, Ida King, and other godly women at First Baptist Church, Clinton, South Carolina.

I also want to thank Joy and Wayne Brown for their long hours of extra work on organizing these devotionals. I am especially grateful to God for Lynn Millwood, who spent untold hours collating and editing this manuscript. We also thank the staff at New Hope Publishers for all their hard work: Andrea Mullins, publisher; Joyce Dinkins, managing editor; Randy Bishop, editor; Kathryne Solomon, copy editor; Sherry Hunt and Bruce Watford, graphic designers; Jonathan Howe, marketing manager; Ashley Stephens, publicity and advertising specialist; and Kathy Caltabelotta, administrative assistant.

Joy Brown:

I thank my father, James Clary, deceased in 2001, who instilled missional

living in me both by what he taught and lived, and my mother, Mary Clary,

who continues to be my role model of a missions-hearted Proverbs 31 woman.

I thank my precious husband, Wayne, for being an everyday example of a missional heart that beats to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. I thank our daughters, Meri Beth and Molly, and their husbands, Thomas and Christman, who continually bless me through the way they love and serve others.

Tricia Scribner:

Mama and Daddy, my whole life you showed me what it means to love Jesus by sharing Him with other folks. Daddy, in your milkshake ministry you made milkshakes for the shut-ins to nourish and love on them. Mama, as teens we teased you when you made a cake, saying, Who is sick this time? because you loved people in such practical ways. You both also took me to GA and told me at age 12 when I walked the aisle to surrender my life to the Lord in vocational mission serviceprobably in Africathat you would support me wherever the Lord called me. I now know how hard it must have been for you to say those words.

Randy, through your hard work and love for me, you have made possible more than 20 missions trips for us as a couple or individually over the past 33 years. Without you, my passion for carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth would have been just a pipe dream. While life is sometimes tough, with you it is never boring! I love you.

Marie Alston:

To my parents who have already completed their journey here on earth, who taught me at an earlier age to love God and His people, and who showed by example to read and study Gods Word. Their warm, open-door hospitality attitude to all they encountered was truly a blessing in my life. They taught my seven sisters and me that everybody is somebody, especially in Gods eyes.

About the Authors

Kimberly Sowell, Edna Ellison, Joy Brown, Tricia Scribner, and Marie Alston are frequently invited to host womens retreats and conferences. While each has an individual ministry, their combined purpose is to share a message of wisdom seasoned with humor, boldness with mercy, and truth with joy. These women meet together regularly to relate the new and exciting ways God is working in their lives and to pray. A Passion for Purpose is a product of their praying and sharing times and their desire to encourage women to live a life inspired by the glory of God. Each author has published individual works; however, they collaborated to publish the devotional A Month of Miracles (New Hope Publishers, 2008).

Using A Passion for Purpose

We pray you will use this devotional to experience a deep relationship with God and to carry out His mission for your life. These pages encourage you weekly to reflect on seven aspects for passionate, missional living:

Spirituality

Scripture study

Worldview

Relationships

Communication

Ministry

Leadership

Touching on one aspect each day, a devotional Scripture, story, prayer prompt, and more help to inspire you to live fully and to follow Gods will for your life.

We pray these daily times enrich you, lead you ever closer in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and overflow into Gods world.

This book can be helpful for group fellowship sessions too. Here is an easy guide for using this book with others:

Pray. Starting each session with prayer opens hearts to truth from Gods Word.

Discuss daily quiet times. Group members can describe both the joys and challenges they experienced in the previous week(s) through consistent quiet time with the Lord.

Review Scripture memory verses. Ask members each to select, memorize, and be prepared to quote a verse memorized from a devotional choice, and to tell why they selected their verses.

Guide discussion of previous week devotionals. Ask group members to review the devotionals from the previous week(s). Some suggested questions:

1. What had the greatest impact on you?
2. What new truth did you learn or find confirmed in your heart?
3. Is there an illustration you want to remember and share?
4. Is there a promise or a truth that comforts and encourages you?
5. Is there wisdom even a correction offered that is leading to a change in an action or attitude?
6. Discuss how the devotionals affected you in one (or more) of the following areas of missional living:

   a. Missional Spirituality: becoming more like Christ, to meet others needs, rather than living for self

   b. Missional Scripture Study: seeing Gods mission to humanity