Iron Rose Sister Ministries

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Published: 01 January 2015

The New York City ball and Atlanta peach have dropped as the nation counted down the last moments of 2014. Maybe your year was filled with joy, challenges, grief, or a new life added to the family. But today, January 1st, we each can start fresh, with a clean slate, redeemed, and holy: set apart for a purpose.

Iron Rose Sister Ministries (IRSM) is making a fresh start as well this year through our blog. We welcome you to our new format, focus, and design. And we invite you to journey with us as we explore a different spiritual concept each month through Scripture, guest blog posts, photos, and stories.

The primary purpose of Iron Rose Sister Ministries is to equip women to connect to God and one another more deeply. This blog will help accomplish that goal through Bible verses, devotionals, reflections, insights, and challenges.

An invitation to participate: Please comment and interact with the material we are presenting. It is a great way to create a supportive network across the Americas. We also would love for you to share your own thoughts, devotionals, photos, and stories as well! Please review the monthly topics listed below and contact us with a blog entry, a picture, a verse, or a personal story that would fit in one of the scheduled categories.

A special offer when you subscribe: When you subscribe to the IRSM blog (sign up to receive the blog to your email), you will receive a free download of our first ePetal study! It is called an ePetal study because it is offered exclusively online (e-/electronic) and it is a stand-alone lesson (a petal versus a rose). This ePetal study is focused on Ruth and Iron Rose Sister relationships. Designed to be studied on your own, then shared with a group, the ePetal study equips women to grow in their relationships with God and one another. Please encourage your friends to subscribe to our blog posts as well so they can also receive the downloadable ePetal study.

Monthly Blog Themes:

January: Redemption and Holiness

February: Prayer (Prayer-a-thon Feb 24th)

March: Victory

April: Joy and Contentment

May: Community

June: Truth and the Abundant Life

July: Transformation

August: Peace

September: Fear or Faith?

October: Follow-up from Retreat: In the Hands of the Divine Gardener

November: Attitude of Gratitude

December: Hope and Love

What are you most excited about for 2015? Please comment below so that we can join you in prayer for those 2015 plans.

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Published: 19 September 2014

Imagine this with me. You’re back in high school. You stayed up too late studying the night before and are comfortably tucked under the covers enjoying a dreamless slumber. All of a sudden, the alarm goes off. You groan, untuck one arm from the cocoon of blankets and hit your hand on the nightstand a few times until you can find the snooze button. You quickly fall back asleep and are unaware of the minutes passing. It turns out you subconsciously turned the alarm off and are getting dangerously close to oversleeping, which would cause you to miss your first class - the one in which you have a test.

But you are conscious of none of this - delightfully unaware until your mom comes in and turns on the light - a harsh dose of reality in the form of four 75-watt bulbs hanging from the ceiling. You squeeze your eyes tighter and cringe at the brightness of the light. You silently curse your mother, verbally cry out in pain, and make a mental note regarding the effectiveness of a light switch as a mechanism for torture.

As your cognitive functions return and you remember the test later that morning, your thoughts of retaliation toward your mother turn to feelings of gratefulness for her attention to the hour and your needs for the day. As bright and harsh as the light was, it was shone in love.

Is there a truth that feels harsher than four 75-watt bulbs on a sleepy morning? Is someone from your family (spiritual or physical) trying to shine God’s light in love, but you are rejecting it as a form of torture?

Food for thought this weekend in honor of Food & Family on Fridays.