Youth Pastor for the Rock Church in Monroe, WA Travis Warren is living on top of a trailer until the trailer is filled with Thanksgiving Dinners!! He is at the Monroe Albertsons parking lot. Cant miss him!!!
Romans 12:10 "Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other."
We serve others "with the ability which God supplies that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11).
When we show love and compassion in simple, practical ways, we are a part of God's ministry to His people. We show our love for God when we love His family.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Psalm 127: 3-5
Today my mother in law and sisters threw me a beautiful baby shower to celebrate the up coming arrival of Eli Daniel Milner. It was wonderful to be around so many of the women i love and adore. There was great food from tea sandwiches, homemade scones, cookies and a beautiful cake. Everyone had a great time playing games and getting to chat. Sienna loved being included in all the fun and felt very much the big sister all day.
$27.54 before sales and coupons. $25.33 after sales. After coupons that were tripled and all just clipped from the paper? $5.49. Yep, I went four times this week to the store one mile up the road who is tripling their coupons for a week. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I managed $151.30 worth of groceries and household supplies for $22.20. That's a savings of almost 86%. Later this week will mark 2 months since I have started this obsession. I can't wait to add up my totals!
I did find, however, that today's trip was a bit more difficult. Not because of sale and coupon matching--I have that down to a science now and it's a piece of cake. It wasn't because of Madilyn either because our short stops there has become one of her favorite things to do because, duh, they have shopping carts her size and free balloons and cookies. It was because I am so hungry that I felt weak and sick to my stomach. Why? Fasting. Lovely 12 hour fasting in preps for my every two year cholesterol blood test later today that isn't scheduled until 5:20pm and is in another town. I won't be able to eat again until 7pm. I am beginning to get a headache, feel like my stomach is eating itself and am surprised I haven't actually thrown up yet. But you know what keeps it all in perspective? Knowing that there are people--children--who feel this way every second of their lives. I need to just suck it up and deal for the day.
We had quite the exciting weekend and when I get more than a moment to sit down, I'll compose a catch up post--promise :)
A spoof on the PC/Mac commercials.
I wrote this for the MOPS newsletter last week and I thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy!
The First “Thank-you”
We have all heard it a thousand times. In fact, it’s almost become cliché. Thought to be flippantly said by stay at home and working moms alike, so often that most people hardly give credit to the statement anymore. It goes something like this: “being a mom is such a thankless job.” In reality, one can hardly expect people who have not experienced the profound truth of this statement themselves to understand it. I know I never fully understood it, but then one day I found myself not only living out that reality but also feeling a surprising sense of emptiness and loneliness because of it. I remember in frustration sharing with my husband that although I perhaps have more responsibility now than I have ever had in my life I see almost no tangible evidence of the efforts that I am making every day, my best efforts as a new mom who sometimes feels like she doesn’t know what she’s doing. He very sweetly reminded me that the efforts I am making as a mom are more important than almost anything else, that my efforts have eternal effects. While I took comfort in those words at the time, it is sometimes hard for me to remember what he told me as I move throughout the menial tasks of the day-today.
But then one day it happened: Hayden was playing with his animal train as I was running around trying to get some housework done. In my rush to pick up toys off the floor I paused to hand Hayden the elephant for his animal train. To my surprise, as he reached up and took it from my hand he looked at my eyes, smiled and said more sweetly than I can express in words, “ganku.” That was, of course, his best effort at saying “thank-you” and my heart melted right on the spot. Since then, he says thank-you for everything! Even when I wipe his nose he looks up and me and says “ganku”. Just tonight as I was getting him ready for bed, I pulled his pajamas on and as his head popped through the shirt there was an enthusiastic “ganku”. I realize that this is just a phase, that he will not continue thanking me for everything I do for the rest of his life. If you are like me, though, you know that I do not do what I do for a thank-you. For now, this sweet expression of his reminds me that the little things I do are important in shaping a child with a heart that is pleasing to the Lord, a child who seeks obediently after God’s own heart. But even though I know it might not last much longer, I am enjoying it while it lasts, and when it comes to thank-you’s, I will take what I can get!
Stephan LOVES Christmas. He sees the displays go up in stores and gets excited. We were walking through Kohl's a couple weeks ago and he saw their Christmas area and exclaims, "mommie, it's Christmastime here!"
Friday night I was out with a friend and we stopped in Target (the one near me is attached to the mall), I found a small tree that was $9. Didn't quite want to get it right then, but I knew that Stephan would probably love to have "Christmastime" in his room. I talked to Andy about it and we both agreed the tree was worth it. So after nap I said I wanted to go to the store and get a surprise for Stephan. He of course wanted to know what it was. When I told him I wanted to get him a tree for his room he didn't seem super enthused about the idea.
However, as he realized what I was saying he got a little more excited about things. When I showed him the little tree he got very happy and decided he wanted colored lights. We usually have white ones on the big tree, and I figured the colored ones wouldn't be as bright to leave on at night when he's going to sleep. We found the tree, the lights, a mini tree skirt and a few ornaments.
When we got home, the first thing we had to do was set up the tree, and put on some Christmas music. Stephan's a riot.
Everything always seems so much livelier through the eyes of a toddler.
1 Peter 4:16 "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
One October morning in 2006, a woman and her six children were forced to witness an attack on their husband and father. His assailants tried to force him to deny Jesus but he refused. He continued to proclaim Christ as Lord and died praying for his family. The family is determined to follow Christ, even in their grief.
Another man was sentenced to 3 years in prison for allegedly insulting another religion. He’s an outspoken Christian with a passion for Christ. He and his wife and children continue to be faithful and refuse to deny Him.
Persecution for the Christian faith is as real in our world as it was for the Jewish believers in the early church to whom Peter wrote. He prayed, “May the God of all grace, . . . after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. These prayer points from Open Doors USA, a ministry that’s committed to encouraging persecuted Christians, can help guide us as we pray:
• Pray for the safety and faith of the secret believers in countries where it is illegal to share about Christ.
• Pray for the health, perseverance, and encouragement of believers who are imprisoned for the gospel.
• Pray that those whose loved ones have died due to martyrdom will rely on God for their strength.
Together, let’s bring our fellow believers before the Lord in prayer.Louisville approaches. FBC Dallas makes a mockery of Christianity and a joke out of the gospel by building a 130 million dollar BUILDING. The prosperity gospel is spreading like a plague in Africa. Wolves gather at the gates...
I would truly wonder how many men are going to join me in Louisville at great difficulty to themselves and their ministries. I know some are and the more I realize it, the more it means to me in this. We aren't going to some conference to learn about making bigger churches. We aren't going to learn how to make the world a better place. We aren't going to try and invent a new way to look at the gospel so that everybody can just 'accept' it.
I think of the words of David... "Let no man’s heart fail because of him.[Goliath] Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." He knew that it ultimately wasn't the size of the dog in the fight or the fight in the dog, but it was because of the God who'd ordained the fight to begin with.
God has ordained this fight, this battle, and He's got the men coming, readying themselves for it. This morning I feel that burden on my heart. I feel the cause of these men within me. I feel the burden of the battle and I can only cry out to Jesus for the strength to carry it. I am beginning to see a strange coalescence of patterns and changes within my heart that gives me both dread and hope.
Can you hate the plague and stench of a city enough to cry out to God for its change? Can you despise a culture so totally that you want more than anything to destroy it and to replace it with the gospel? I am feeling called to my Nineveh. I pray that Jesus will soften my heart without having to murder me like Jonah.
Can the gospel come to Nineveh?
Ephesians 5:2 "Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ's love for you was like sweet perfume to Him."
Paul said, "The Lord is grieved when we ignore His teaching and live our own way" (Ephesians 4:30-5:2).
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