Welcome to Dragonfly Ministries

Over the summer months of 2001, my sons started an insect collection. We would collect dead insects that we found lying on the ground. As I was taking my morning walks, I would carry along a sandwich bag and collect insects along the way. One day as I walked, I prayed, “Lord, I’ll know you really love me when you give me a dead dragonfly.” I thought to myself how silly that was – measuring God’s love by a dead insect – but I knew He understood the joke.

Within a few days, I saw a dragonfly on the ground – complete with wings and lifeless – I placed the dragonfly in the sandwich bag, and I thanked God for the symbolism of His love for me. You see, I had shared an inside joke with God and He honored that communication by showing His love.

Over the next months, I would find dragonflies on days when I was feeling blue or when my heart was soaring with joy. Sometimes the dragonflies would be lifeless, sometimes they would be in flight. For me, this beautiful insect became a symbol of God’s love, and brought me comfort in knowing that He was watching over and protecting me. Oh, the power of a dragonfly in my path that brightens my day, because God heard my teasing request and used that request to minister to me. Had I not prayed that silly prayer, I would have missed out on the blessings that He would place before me in days ahead.

As God’s plan for this website began to unfold, He placed the site name on my heart – “DragonflyMinistries.com”. That is such an odd name, I thought. Why Dragonfly? As I researched the dragonfly, I learned that the dragonfly gains her power from the sunlight. Her brilliant colors come from the reflection of light. Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so.

We can be just like that! John 1:4 says, "In Him (Jesus) was life and that life was the light of men." When we give our hearts to God, we begin to grow and change. God places His light in us to shine so that we can grow in Him and be witnesses to the world. Like the dragonfly, we can reflect His light. Our light is the love of Jesus Christ that reflects through us when we allow God to dwell in us. When we stay close to our source of life, God, we are at our strongest - we are at His best. And we will reflect His light, His joy, and His love so that others will be drawn to Him. Our source of life and light.

Matthew 5:16 says,"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Statement of Faith

Below is correspondence that passed between Mary Hamrick and a lady named Michelle who was interested in attending a Dragonfly Ministries Retreat. The goal of the correspondence was to discover the basis of this ministry. This correspondence is included for any and all who are searching for truth! Praise God that we are taught to search for the TRUTH and for Bible teachers who teach Truth from God's word.

Question:
Dear Dragonfly Ministries,
I am interested in attending your Women's Retreat. However, I would like to know your statement of faith first since I am not that familiar with you.
Thanks, Michelle

Dragonfly Ministries Answer:
What a beautiful question, thank you so much for this email. It is so important that we investigate things, especially when they have a name like dragonfly (smile). When we first contacted Kaleo Lodge to have our retreat there 3 years ago, the manager of the retreat camp was very cautious about talking with us. And I understand. First, I want to share with you that the dragonfly is a symbol of God's love for us --- how He shines His light on us, and how - if our hearts are open and willing - we reflect His love to others. Dragonfly Ministries is a team of 5 women - from different denominations - who desire to grow in the likeness of Jesus Christ and to help others grow in the same way.

Dragonfly Ministries was born by God the Father ... as a ministry to all of His children - no matter the age, race, gender.

We believe that there is one God, existing eternally in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit! We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God, and fully man. We believe He was virginally conceived, lived a sinless life, died to take away the sine of the world and rose bodily from the grave. We believe He ascended to the Father and will personally return in glory and power to usher in His Kingdom (I can hardly write this without shouting Halleujah!)

We believe that all humans are born in sin, alienated from God and that all must personally receive the gift of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, who brings forgiveness of sins and new birth through the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Scriptures are the uniquely inspired Word of God, and are God' authoritative message to mankind for the determination of faith and practice. And we believe that all true believers are members of Christ's body - the one Church - in unity - regardless of where we worship!

Praise God - and thank you for letting me share this with you. I so desire that all people who seek to grow in God would seek the truth in all that they are taught, all that they follow! Praise God for your discernment and for your heart.

With prayers,
Mary Hamrick
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Question:
Thank you so much for sharing this with me. If you will, I have a couple of questions from that...

Do you believe the whole Bible is accurate as written?
Do we hold any power to change things in our lives?
What are the denominations of your leaders?
Michelle

Answer:
Michelle, you are absolutely right, may God bless your search and your heart for searching!

What are the denominations of our leaders:
Patty is from a catholic upbringing in NY, grew spiritually in an Episcopal Church in Plano, TX and when she moved back to NY, she started women's bible studies in her home catholic church. Martha, Jennifer and Carrie and I attend the Baptist Church. Karis attends the Methodist Church. Mary B. and Kelly attend a Bible church.

Do we believe the whole Bible is accurate as written?
We believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God- there are no errors there, all the Words in the Bible are God-breathed. We believe that it is accurate as written, not up to man's interpretation, but as the Holy Spirit reveals it to our hearts. We believe that you have to personally dig into the Bible for real spiritual growth, that you can hear sermons and lectures and teachers, but in order for real spiritual growth to take place, you must be in God's word regularly, seeking His revelation and voice as we read.

Do we hold any power to change things in our lives?
Yes. Of course we do. God has given us free choice - He has also given us divine promises ... IF we seek Him, we will find Him. That requires that we take the first step to find Him. He never forces us to do things In HIS timing or His way, but He offers us abundant life if we will follow Him. He teaches us through the Bible that we need to learn to still our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and learn to be STILL before Him, resting in Him, learning to understand and recognize His voice - so that we will know the direction He has planned, before our birth, for our lives. The power that we hold to change things in our lives is called self-will, as in changing our careers, where we live, our marital status, our decision to see a doctor ... those are the things we can change. He promises that if we do things in accordance to HIS plan for our lives, that we will live abundantly in Him --- not without problems or struggles, but with HIS peace. Sometimes we choose to do things our own way because we don't want to allow our LORD to lead us. We can work hard to change our habits, to change our lifestyles, our situations ... but we can only make a very shallow difference in doing these things through our own strength. Unless directed by the Holy Spirit, we can't see all the trash in our inner selves and we don't know how to change ourselves, we must be directed by the Spirit of God, and it's a process. We can't heal ourselves, not even doctors can be guaranteed success of healing patients - only GOD has healing power to heal us from emotional, spiritual, physical ailments - at HIS will, and in HIS timing. The power that God has - in the universe, in the heavens, in each of us, is to change us, from the inside out --- little by little, or at His own pace --- as we are willing to allow Him, to become Christlike, with the characteristics of Christ! Do we hold power? only momentary, shallow power. Without God, we do not have the supernatural power or strength that is required to change like the butterfly does --- we don't have the power to do a whole lot of anything outside of self-will items!

I hope this helps. I've enjoyed our exchange. It’s wonderful to search the heart and remember why I'm so in love with our Lord!

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It is such a blessing to serve others through this ministry. There are many more people we would like to reach with Christian literature, Bibles, and through our retreat and website ministries.. In order to accomplish this it will take support. Your prayers are the most important way to support us. We are grateful for the dedicated prayer support
we receive. We are also grateful for those that support us with contributions. Your gift
gives you the satisfaction of supporting an organization that is actively involved in
discipleship. Also, it is encouraging to us because it further enables us to reach greater regions with God's message of how to walk closely with Christ.

If you feel called to support us either through prayer or financial contributions, please
let us know. Donations made to Dragonfly Ministries are used to publish Christian books and Bible studies, conduct weekend retreats and maintaining the website.