I had not spoken about it on my blog much but Mickey & I moved a young man from our church into our 5th wheel in our back yard on August 21st. Mickey also gave him our 92 Chevy S-10 pickup to drive. On August 27th another couple from our church hired him to work for them.
He & his wife were facing some difficult times and decisions. They have 4 precious young children ages 2 to 7.
It has been such a joy to Mickey & I to be able to minister to this young couple over these past 10 weeks. More to him than to her because we saw him on almost a daily basis.
About 4 weeks ago he began to once again attend church with us and they sat in the pew in front of us. It was such a joy for all of us: them, us, and the Church Body to see them worshiping together.
Two days ago, on Tuesday, he moved back home where he needs to be. We thank God for the opportunity Mickey & I had to be able to extend help to this couple and watch as God has begun to restore their marriage. To lay that firm foundation that can only be laid by God and upon God. That foundation on which to build the marriage and the ministry that God had in mind for this young couple, and their family, from the very beginning.
Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!!!!!!!
May we each be the Lords hands extended when the opportunity arises. Most importantly of all let us not shoot our wounded Christians.
Thank you Lord.....
for what you HAVE done, what YOU are doing and what YOU will do
in ALL our lives if we will but let YOU.
We went and talked to Pastor Gary about putting up two clothing racks and shelves across one wall, like the Baby Room but he felt it would be better to not make permanent adjustments, because we trust this ministry is going to grow and we will not be in these 2 rooms for too long. He is going give us a VERY LARGE storage clothes to use and back up and they will put one long hanging rack in there because that room will never been anything but for storage. He suggested we try and find some used racks on maybe Cr*aig's Li*st and let them know the cost.
I've never done Cr*aig's Li*st but I came home and tried to find something on it. I either did not know what I was doing (highly possible!!) or there was nothing. So I just googled in "clothing racks/used/Tulsa" and several places came up. I called and located round racks for $45 & $55. $55 with rollers.
Yesterday morning I called the church and told them what we'd found. They asked how many we needed and I said 2 or 3. They wanted to know how much, and when they heard the prices they said, "Go get them!! Get 3 and get the ones with rollers." I explained I hadn't even seen them and couldn't guarantee how good they were. Since we had to drive 30 miles one way to view them they went ahead and gave me a check, which could be voided if it they were duds, so we didn't have to make 2 trips.
Mickey & I headed to Tulsa. The place was a huge, OLD yellow brick multi-story building. I've never seen so many "fixtures, shelves, mannequins, signs, etc." in my life. We rode in a rusty old freight elevator and I said, "How old is this building?" It was built in 1942. Something almost as old as us!!!!!
The racks were just what we needed and wanted but they were all in pieces and had to be matched up. It was 11:40 so Mickey & I went to get a bite of lunch and came back and picked ups our 3 lovely, round clothes racks. YEAH
I spent time hanging up all the items we had on hangers while he went down to the kitchen area to check things out. THAT is a whole other post that will be coming up.
We will open the first week of November. Thelma and I are working Tuesday and Judy and Linda are working Thursday. We will be open those two days a week from 9 to 3. The other gals will help out and be greatly involved as they are available.
I have really been impressed with how hard all of these gals work and how much we've gotten done on this huge job. Sad to say, but I've been involved in ministry before where some don't carry their weight in work, but like to come and talk and visit!! Not a one like that in this wonderful group.
God is so good!!
The new birth doesn't automatically eliminate the old nature. We live in bodies that are susceptible to sin, so we must stay filled with God's spirit. Paul says: "Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Galatians 5:16 NAS Then he gives us a familiar illustration: "Do not be drunk with wine...but be filled with the Spirit." Notice:
First, Paul's talking about yielding control of our life to God's Spirit. When some one's drunk we say they're "Under the influence." Second, Paul's statement is a command. "Be filled." He didn't say, "If you'd like to," or "It would be nice." No, if you are going to please God then you must be constantly filled with His Spirit. Third, this implies to every believer. Sometimes we look at someone and say, "They love Jesus so much; why can't I be like that? You can. The difference is the filling of the Spirit, not the fact that they have something you don't. Fourth, you can't fill yourself. Like filling your car, you must regularly pull up to the pump. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 NIV. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Fifth, it's a continuous action. You can't run your car on a single tank of gas; you've got to keep going back to the source. The Spirit's filling is a dynamic, moment-by-moment experience. Why is it that way? Because we live in a world that depletes us spiritually and contend with a core of carnality that seeks to defeat us. So, "Be filled with the Spirit."
I like to think of it as The Eye of God. From my post here, on His Eye is On The Sparrow, I like to picture His watching over me with this beautiful image of His creation. However, He does it I'm just so very thankful to know that He does watch over each and every one of us that are His.
Posted as part of Spiritual Sunday. Go here to read other Spiritual Sunday posts.
Stephen Sample says, "The average person suffers from three delusions: that he's a good driver, that he has a good sense of humor, and that he's a good listener. You may succeed in life without the first two, but you won't without the third." Are you a good listener? Do you think what you have to say is more important than what's being said to you? When people talk, do they get the impression you're not listening? If so, write, "LL" on a card, carry it with you and look at it regularly. It means, Listen, and Look at people while you're listening. One study says we hear 1/2 of what's being said, listen to 1/2 of what we hear, understand 1/2 of that, believe 1/2 of that, and remember only 1/2 of that. Translate that into an eight hour work day and it means you spend about four hours listening, hear two hours worth of what's said, listen to an hour of it, understand thirty minutes of it, believe only fifteen minutes worth, and remember less than eight minutes - of all that was said in eight hours. Wow, it sounds like we all need to work at listening!
You cannot "connect" with someone if they don't feel heard and understood. A deaf ear is the first symptom of a closed mind, if you haven't formed the habit of listening - you aren't going to get the facts you need. And when you don't have all the facts, you're in the dark. Paul writes: "The greatest of these is love." One of the greatest expressions of love - is a commitment to listen?
Taken from The WORD For You TODAY
Do you think you are a good listener? How does this apply to us here in blog land? I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on this.
Joining in at Show & Tell once again at Cindy's. Go here to participate and to read other Show & Tell posts.
My Show & Tell this week is a little different but I think the IDEA is so wonderful that I wanted to TELL it and consequently SHOW what we did.
The TELL: Several weeks ago, during the Sunday morning worship, our church handed out brand new $10 bills to whom ever wished to take one. The object of this was based on the parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25:14-23. Those who wished to participate were to take one of the $10 bills and use it in some way to multiply it. Our church is doing this as a fund raiser to pay down our building debt on the Recreation Center Building at our church.
It turned out wonderfully YUMMY and we were able to turn our $10 into $59. Not a 30 or 100 fold by any means, but just under 6 fold wasn't too bad.
The really wonderful part is, the funds are being matched by a family in our church so our effort will pay off $118 toward the debt on our building.
When we have the grand finale and I know the total amount those participating were able to pay off on this demonstration of the Talents I'll let you know.
