The Narrow Gate Still Invites

Knock knock knock...

Hello?

Anyone there?

Anyone?

We can't blame you if you aren't but we're trusting God that someone out there is still around. Although I haven't seen Maria, I know she is busy with family. When I caught up with Kim we were amazed at how identical the themes were in our lives.

 Kim still has a heart for the gypsies in Romania and things are busier than ever for her. I'm writing and spent most of this year creating devotionals called Already a ChampION:30 Devotionals Proclaiming You Aren't the Defeated One. Yet both of us realized of all the things God could do with our lives, He is doing this--
taking us through the narrow gate.

Funny thing is, we thought we'd been there and done that. We accepted the call to serve Him no matter what. He let us both know the gates continue. This is a step up and it's more narrow than ever. The baggage called my expectations for other people is strapped on my back and I keep getting caught on the gate. God has lovingly let me know I'm not going through the narrow gate until I let the baggage go.



It. has. been. so. frustrating.

The biggest revelation God gave me was that I bring my "A" game to nearly everything I do, and I expect everyone to do the same. They probably bring their "A" game, but they don't bring mine. Imagine the frustration. Hence, the image I have of me trying to pass through the narrow way to only get caught by the things on my back.

So that's where I've been, and it's a little update on Maria and Kim, too. I'm reading a great book that I'm learning so much from. Stay tuned to learn what it is. I'll be posting notes here from time to time because the information is that good and relevant.

How about you? Can you relate to God calling you to a new, more narrow place? How are you dealing with it?

http://www.juliearduini.com

Surrendering the good, the bad, and---maybe one day---the chocolate

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Julie Arduini: The Surrendered Scribe BookSneeze Review: "Big Red" Holy Bible for Children featuring 3D Art

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We Give Thanks

The Narrow Gate Girls are thankful for so many things.



































The grace Jesus has lavishly given us (and you, if you accept it)

Our marriages

Our families

Our many blessings

which include...

YOU.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Risen Indeed!

And the winner is...

The streamers are down, the refreshments picked over. Party time is over---for this year at least. We've had a great week meeting bloggers and new friends at Twitter and Facebook. We probably met new folks who had no clue what they were clicking on as Julie accidentally signed this blog up for the "not so family friendly category". Oh every party needs a goof, right?


Anyway, the cheese fries are long gone so it must be time to announce our winner of the Jan Ross & Jeanice McDade anthology: Women of Passions: Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God. Both Julie and Maria have work included in this book, along with other writing friends. This particular giveaway, because we get awesome international hits we appreciate, is open to one winner anywhere we can deliver mail.


What a blessing, this is truly an international winner...RUBY!!!!

We're hoping to connect with Ruby for her address so she can get her copy of this book. If you would like to purchase a copy of this book either for you or for a gift, please click here.

Thanks for stopping by during the Ultimate Blog Party '09. Our hope is you'll become a regular reader we can get to know better.

Have a blessed weekend!

Utimate Blog Party '09: Virtual Cheese Fries and a Real Book Giveaway!

Come in, Come in!





It's party time!









So glad you're here!



We're the Narrow Gate Girls, otherwise known as Kim Zaksek, Maria Spencer and Julie Arduini. We live in NorthEast Ohio within minutes of each other. Last year we obeyed God's call to blog on deeper matters of faith.

None of us have the journey in Christ mastered, in fact, most of our blogging shows what we're learning, fighting, or re hashing a mistake or experience. Our party is different because we don't want to wear masks. What you see is what you get with us. And it's okay. In Jesus Christ we embrace that, and our hope is you embrace that fact about you, too.

We tend to get caught up analyzing what God is doing, so much so you might have to tap us at the buffet table and tell us to stop staring at the forks. We've gone out before thinking there might be a message from the Lord in the utencil area.

But we're fun, at least we think so! The rare times we get together we require one item:
CHEESE FRIES!!!!

So please, make yourself comfortable, grab some cheese fries, ignore us lingering over the forks, and have fun. We'd love for you to visit often. You can subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or Feedblitz. You can also follow, or both! You can learn more about each of us by reading the sidebar here, and of course, through our individual posts. Feel free to invite others to visit, virtual cheese fries for all!

To make this fun for you, we have a book giveaway!


Women of Passions: Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God is by our friends Jan Ross and Jeanice McDade. Maria and Julie both have work included in this book. Leave a comment on this post with a way on how to contact you if you win. We'll take comments from 12:00am March 20-11:59PM March 27. On March 28 we'll randomly pick one INTERNATIONAL entry and send a copy of this book (it's in English) to you.
Enjoy!

Until Next Time

Button courtesy Split Decisionz

Announcement: On Friday, November 14 I'll be a guest blogger over at Slurping Life. This is a huge honor for me as I share my nature pictures and words, something Melody is so gifted at in her own blog. I'd love for you to check her blog out!

It was nearly a year ago God gave me a vision for a new blog, a team blog. He showed me immediately what the theme would be (deeper things of Christian faith) and who the other bloggers would be (Kim and Maria, of course!) It took a few months of prayer for the right timing and for all of us to feel the same way, but here you have it, The Narrow Gate Invites.

It's exciting to see us evolve as much as the blog has. Kim felt such a strong desire to return to Romania, and she did, with so many awesome testimonies and a refined vision. Maria is surrendering fears and stepping out of her comfort zone, sometimes on national TV (see Joel Osteen sidebar on right)!

Me, well next week I feel God is going to do a new thing with me. Physically I'll have surgery that I'm believing will put me in a new season of life. It's been a long road and I wonder if a lot of it was His preparation for the next step in the journey. I'll have a good amount of bedrest and I really look forward to that quiet time with the Lord and just reading.

With that, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging here. I want to use the time of rest to seek perspective and wisdom and have fresh, anointed ideas. Besides here, I blog at my personal blog, Sundays at the Christian Writers Forum and I have two monthly columns at Take Root and Write. The Take Root ministry is so much of my calling, and with that comes groups with the social network, Christian Women Take Root. I facilitate the groups associated with the columns, so it's a fair amount of upkeep. Women are hungry for God's love through marriage and surrender. I'm willing to be a vessel for that as long as He calls me.

So pray for the Narrow Gate Girls. My hope is that Kim and Maria will continue to blog in my absence and that I'll be back in December sometime with renewed vision and a refreshed spirit.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments about what you'd like to see here, please leave a comment or e mail us at jarduini@faithwriters.net. We're so thankful for you!

Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, The Surrendered Scribe. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she also blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. One of the books will be a quote in Kathy Vick's Simon and Schuster/Howard's gift book, "Run Like a Girl." Julie's surrender story is featured in the Run Like a Girl website launch.

You can also find Julie the third Wednesday of each month over at Take Root and Write with her columns, Finding Freedom through Surrender and Marriage: Striving for Oneness. She facilitates groups by the same name at the sister social networking site, Christian Women Take Root.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

As the prayer team prayed over Wendy, Kim and Barb, they linked hands and looked just like a scene from Wizard of Oz. When we prayed we felt such a strong sense of purpose for them, that the trip would be about love. Giving love, receiving love, being love, pointing them to Love through Jesus Christ.

Prayers continued and they further related to the movie. Beyond love they felt courage and wisdom take root. Their trip is winding down. They have taught children songs, led crafts. They are visiting families and giving love through tangible helps.

There have been flying monkey episodes where the darkness choked them. They kept linking together in Him, moving forward. The road doesn't look yellow or golden--not now. But through their obedience we are believing seeds are planted that are going to yield an amazing harvest.

Keep praying!

Happy Anniversary and Congratulations

Kim's right, we're over the 100 mark AND we are very close to over 1000 visits. Okay, 800 are probably from me trying to figure things out, but still, I'm excited. God is good.

They are modest so I'll add congrats to this post too.

Although there still needs to be a signed release and final edits, tentatively Kim and Maria will both have selections included in Lori Wagner's Quilting Patches of Life, Vol. 2. In fact, the designer of this blog, Dustin-Lee Casey, is also listed as a contest winner. Congrats also to LauraLee Shaw, a friend and faithful reader here.

Things at our house are still a battle between choosing fear or faith, I think this afternoon will reveal the Victor in all this, the One we've been clinging too all along. I'll blog on that tomorrow.

Congrats again Kim and Maria!