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Kelley
Murphy
Christian
Soloist / Speaker/ Songwriter
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Ministry News
It is May 2010 and I am so
excited about the opportunities the Lord is giving us for ministry.
Recently while in a revival, God challenged my heart to walk through every door
He opened. Sometimes I fear that I shy away from opportunities because of
self-doubt or just plain fear. Shortly after this heart challenge, I was given
an opportunity to go on a Mission's Trip with a fellow evangelist/ pastor.
Pastor Gary Hanna has invited me to go with him and a group from his church to
Romania in September 2010. While there I will be able to go to several different
cities and share the gospel through song and testimony. The decision to go has
been made after much prayer and consideration.
I would like to give you the opportunity to have a part in what God is doing in
Romania - most importantly through prayer. Please begin to pray even now that
the Lord will prepare hearts as we go to share the message of salvation. The
other way you can help is by supporting us in this effort. We are believing that
God will provide the $2500 needed for me to go. Thank you for the ways you
have blessed our ministry in the past. Please remember us in your prayers as we
go "into all the world."
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So
much for New Year's Resolutions! I'm afraid I haven't done a better job
at updating our site. The "quiet" of January and February was
definitely temporary. As you can see from our summer schedule, the Lord
is not through with us yet! I'm very excited about all of the
opportunities that we have to minister this summer. We've had some
wonderful meetings over the past few months. God is really using Micah
in a special way. If you have not seen him in concert, you surely want
to. He doesn't leave a dry eye in the house. His simple song is
such a powerful reminder that with God ALL things are possible. What a
challenge he presents to those of us who want to give God excuses of why we
are unusable!
My
oldest, Caleb, has gone to stay with his grandparents in Florida for July and
August. (Well that's the plan!) I'm not sure if he nor his mama will
actually be able to stay away that long. The other Murphy children are
taking turns going back and forth to visit. Leah just returned from GA
Camp and Camp LaVida. She had a great time meeting some of our SBC
Missionaries and doing all those other great camp activities.
I'm
working on some new songs and hope to be in the studio before the end of the
year. Pray that the Lord will guide in this process and supply
what is necessary to make this possible.
So
many of you have promised to pray for us. We appreciate more than ever
the prayers of our ministry friends. Pray that the Holy Spirit will use
our message to bring brokenness to the House of the Lord. Pray that God
will inspire Saints to trust Him completely in these troubling times.
The
Word that is heavy on my heart for this season is found in John 16:33 when
Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the World."
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The
past few months have been very quiet. With only a few opportunities to
minister, I have spent much time wondering what God was up to. Never before in
our ministry had things been so slow. Is it the economy? Is this the beginning
of the end? God has not taken away my burden for ministry, but then I realized
that maybe I had lost a bit of the passion with which I had been ministering.
It is only through God's awesome grace that I have been able to share my story
over and over again and never tell it the same way twice. It always come out a
little different, and I never get tired of sharing the miracle God performed
in my life. I'm still living in the miracle of Grace so it's still very real
to me.
So
during this "quiet" time, the Lord has been able to work in my
heart. He's exposed my sinful ways, He's shown me more of who He is, He's
birthed a few songs, and He put my wonderings to rest. I needed to stop and
rest in Him. I'm grateful for a God who meets us in those quiet places
and so graciously teaches us more about who we are and more about who He is.
Find
time to be quiet with the Lord today. We need to pray, but we also need to
listen. Let Him speak to your heart. As He reveals His glory to us and as we
see more of who He is, we realize how much we lack. As we confess our
sins with repentant hearts, God's forgiveness transforms our minds and enables
us to fulfill His purpose for our life.
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One of those Ways God showed Me a little More of Himself
What has the Lord done for you lately? As a Christian, I am daily amazed at
God's hand at work in my life. I believe in sharing personal testimony we are
not only being obedient to Scripture, but we are also sharing our faith in a
most effective way. On Monday, I bought a dress ~ it didn't fit (as usual)~
but I really needed a new dress for an event I was ministering at on Friday. I
was in such desperate need I decided it would have to do. On the way home from
the store I remembered several months ago seeing a sign in front of a home a
few blocks from mine. The sign read, "Perfect Fit Alterations" ~ I
decided to check it out. When I arrived at the home, I realized there was a
nice little shop set up on the side of the home. I went in, expressed my need,
and was quickly told, "There's no way I can help you this week." I
thanked the lady for her time and promised to be back. She looked at me for a
moment and said, "Go slip on the dress." After taking the necessary
measurements she told me to come back on Friday and the dress would be ready.
I immediately began to thank her. She looked at me with pleasure and also a
little overwhelmed it seemed and said, "I don't know who you are, but God
said, 'Fix the lady's dress,' I work for Him, and if He wants it done, He'll
make a way!" Oh, I 'bout lost it right there in the middle of the store.
People would say, "God doesn't care if your dress fits right!" But
I've known my Father long enough to know, that if it matters to me~ it matters
to Him. I can cast ALL my cares upon Him, for He cares for Me. Lord, let me
not neglect the "little things" because if they matter to Him ~ they
should matter to me!!!
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2009
is upon us and my New Year's resolution is to keep those who have supported
our ministry better informed!! With the demands of running a home,
homeschooling the children, working in our church, and being on the road, I've
not kept up with those who have expressed an interest in knowing what we are
doing. My goal this year is to share with you what others share with me.
Our
ministry is one of encouragement. Sometimes through a pat on the
back and sometimes by a kick in the pants. After all, that is how the Lord
encourages me!! As I tell others what the Lord is doing in my life and in the
life of my family, they tell me what God has done in their life. They share
with me what they are going through. The stories that I hear are very personal
and often I am hesitant to repeat the stories I have heard.
There
is a young, Godly mother of an autistic son who corresponds with
me on a regular basis. She and her husband have struggled greatly with
the special needs of their son. Lack of schools and understanding of
their child's disability in the area that they live have made life very
difficult. Recently she wrote to me that her husband had left. A
situation that was hard for two is even harder for one. She needs your
prayers.
There
is a father that I met this year. He has a young son who showed me the
many scars on his tiny chest. He was small for his age and the problems
with his heart weren't over, but his joy was contagious. His father wept
as he asked me to pray that he too could trust God completely.
There
is a middle-aged mom who had raised her son. He joined the service and
fought for our country in Iraq. Praise God he came home safe to his young son
and wife. Weeks later he had an accident on his motorcycle that left him
partially paralyzed. Now this mom is starting over teaching her son how
to walk, talk, eat, bathe.... and raise her grandson whose mom has left.
As we talked and I encouraged her to rely on the Father for the peace that she
need, I remember her telling me, "My son's mind was not on the things of
God, and God took away his mind. He is slowly giving it back and it is
filled with Godly things."
There
are so many others. We live in a sin cursed world. Thanks be to
God who has redeemed us and given us a hope and a future. All of these
folks are believers, and they are comforted through God's Word, their church,
and prayer. What about those who must face these trials alone? We
have the only message of hope that can give peace and joy in the midst of
suffering. We must not be selfish or prideful. We must share this message of
hope with those around us.
We
usually make New Year's resolutions that have something to do with us being
happier or healthier. Why not determine to focus on others this year, to
make an effort to think of the needs of others? Pray for God to give you
wisdom in ministering to those around you. You can't imagine how much an
encouraging phone call or card can mean and how God can take your smallest
effort and work miracles.
J=Jesus
O=others
Y=yourself
Simple
But True
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Thought
you might enjoy seeing this article...
North Augusta is... Kelley Murphy
By Lisa Kaylor | Staff Writer
Lisa Kaylor/Staff
Kelley Murphy stands with her children, Caleb (clockwise from
left), 14; Micah, 13; Kara, 12; Leah, 10; and Levi, 9.
Kelley Murphy sometimes forgets she is living her
dream. What
with writing songs, home-schooling her five children and helping her husband,
Jamie, with his parenting ministry at Immanuel Baptist Church, she sometimes
gets too busy to remember. "I just get up every day and don't sit down," she
said with a laugh.
"I'm blessed," she said in a more serious tone.
"I'm living my dream." She has recorded
two albums since beginning her music ministry in 2002. She wrote nine of the
10 songs on the latest one, Whisper His Name , released in 2006. Murphy
credits her success to God and her husband, who supports her by setting up
concert dates. "Jamie keeps me booked,"
she said. She visits about 120 congregations each
year to share her testimony. If she is singing
locally, her family will be in the audience. When her husband's obligation to
their church keeps him from joining her on the road, she takes at least one of
their children along. Micah, 13, will sometimes
sing with her. "When I'm in concert, he sings
Jesus Loves Me for everyone," she said. The testimony she shares
centers on Micah, who has autism. "When he
was very young, I just knew he wasn't speaking," she said. "No one
would give us a diagnosis." When he was 2, a
specialist told her she needed to let him talk for himself. For a year and a
half, she tried everything she could to communicate with him, frustrating
Micah and herself. "I completely believed
that I had caused him to be the way he was," Murphy said. "One night
when I was praying, God told me I need to change my way of thinking. I
realized God had a purpose in all of this even though I didn't understand.
(Now) I see God using him to minister to people." She
hopes her story will help people realize that peace and happiness come from
relying on God, rather than on themselves. "Especially
as Christians, we have no reason to ever feel overwhelmed or not feel joy and
peace in our lives," she said. She said that
for a year and a half, she didn't have that peace because she relied on her
own strength. "I wouldn't be able to do any
of this without the Lord," she said.
Micah won a Gold and Silver
Medal at his first swim meet in Anderson, SC. The highlight of the day was
meeting Radio
and having him join us in cheering Micah to victory. What an inspiring day!
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The
year seems to be shaping up to be a year of laboring. There are times
when you feel as if you're reaping a harvest, and there are times when you're
just toiling. I remember the old hymn we used to sing (ALL the Time!)
"Toiling On, Toiling On," It seems like work just singing it! The
Father said there'd be times like this! But In the midst of my doing, it is
there that the Lord is growing me. These are the times when I am
becoming stronger in my faith, more determined in my calling, and when I grow
weary, more reliant upon my Lord.
We've
been ministering mostly in South Carolina this year. When it comes to
toiling and reaping in the church, we done some of both. The Lord has blessed
at several meetings with decisions being made. We know this is a result of
hearts being ready to hear what God has to say. It is awesome to see God
working in the hearts of His people.
Pray
for our family as we minister here in our home church and abroad. Jamie is now
an Evangelist with the Evangelism Network of the South Carolina Southern
Baptist Convention as well. He has also been traveling some and teaching
weekend parenting conferences in addition to his duties here at the church.
So
many people ask about Micah because of hearing my testimony concerning him.
For those of you who haven't seen us in a while, he has grown into a young man
of 13. He's almost as tall as me. He is going to school now for 2 hours a day.
(Luckiest kid in the world!) He is currently training to participate in the
Special Olympics: Throwing a softball, running the 50 meter, and
swimming. He and his siblings have grown much closer in the past year as
they mature (and he stops hitting them!)
He
stills sings, "Jesus Loves Me" when he's able to be with me in
concert. He's never declined; although, it is a little tricky to sing when
you're thirteen and your voice is changing! A couple of months ago he
started singing in a very high soprano voice. He sang the whole song
that way staying on pitch. Somehow I managed to keep a straight face. When he
finished I just said, "Well, I've never heard him do that as a
soprano."
We
thank you for your prayers!
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December 2007
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We were so blessed this
past year. The Lord allowed us to minister in about 120 services! One of
the things that I will NEVER ceased to be amazed by is seeing God's
people kneeling at the altar at the end of a service. Sometimes it does
get weary telling my story. There are days when I'm just a little too
full of myself, and I just don't want to "bare my soul" to a
room full of strangers. Days when I don't want to share my faults and
failures! But those are usually the times when the altar will be
full and my Father gently reminds me that it's not about me.
The
world is looking for something real.
The
church needs a faith that is real.
We
need to share the Word of God with those around us, but we also need to
share how that Word has been at work in our lives.
What
has God done for you lately? Tell someone about it!
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Hello!
See our Albums
Link for complete selection of music.
Click on the links above to
listen to a sample in the MP3 format.
To order a CD or For Booking
Information
E-mail us at 7murphys@bellsouth.net
or Call 803-278-7236
[Testimony]
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News] [Ministry Links] [Autism]
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