Ronald McDonald House

A group of ladies from our church went to Ft. Worth to the Ronald McDonald House to serve lunch to the families. None of us had ever been there but all of us were excited about the day.
Ronald McDonald House provides a supportive home-away-from-home for families of children receiving medical treatment in area hospitals. It is their desire that families are able to rest and relax while being able to be close to their children. Their vision is to never turn a family away. 
We were so impressed with the beautiful kitchen as well as the other areas.  The kitchen had everything we needed to prepare our meal. The staff were all so welcoming and helpful to us.

 

Our menu was Taco Soup, Tortilla Chips, Sour Cream, Cheese, Fruit Salad, Brownies, Iced Tea, and Lemonade

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a blessing to serve these families. We had a chance to talk to and encourage a few.

 

 

We were very glad that Jim wanted to join us. 

 

 On the way home we talked about how we wanted to do it again.  So in November we will return and again fix lunch for the families!

 

"I used to think you had to be special for God to use you,

 but now I know you simply need to say yes."

~Bob Goff

from Love Does

 

 

 

 

 

My prayer this morning...

Thank someone today...

I see her when I go to the produce department of our neighborhood grocery store. I see her carefully putting vegetables or fruits in their bins or moving things around to make the display nicer. I think to myself...she enjoys her job. She almost always takes time to say hello and check to see if I am finding everything OK. I have seen her help others and always with a smile and an attitude that shows she cares. For about two weeks I have felt like I was supposed to tell her thank you for the good job she does and to let her know that this does not go unnoticed. I just couldn't get my nerve up to speak to her about this. Silly as it sounds, I got nervous every time I felt like I was supposed to tell her and would just leave. A friend suggested I write a note to her. I could do that. It would be much easier to put down on paper what I wanted to say in person. Jim suggested I write a note to the manager of the store also. What a great idea. I wrote her the note and this morning knew I was supposed to go to the store and she would be there. She was! As I handed her the note I told her I wanted to thank her for all she does in the produce department. She seemed surprised and thanked me. I asked her name and introduced myself. Then I went to customer service where I spoke to a manager and he suggested I fill out a card and send to the corporate office. The card will be filled out and mailed! Hopefully they will recognize her in some way. I think we take so many things or people for granted. I am thankful that God is opening my eyes to see those around me. I want to see them with His eyes and hear Him tell me how I can bless them. This time the blessing was for a lady in the produce department. Perhaps she was wondering if anyone noticed her, or if anyone cared. I pray that this note blessed her. I know I was blessed to write and give it to her.

Look around and ask God who you can be a blessing to this week! Maybe there is someone that needs to hear the words THANK YOU!

We give and God blesses...

The title of the chapter we were on Tuesday in the book What Happens When Women That Say Yes to God was

Giving Up What Was Never Ours...We are managers, not owners, of God's resources

Two significant things happened in class:

One, a lady shared that although she loves blessing others she has never been blessed in a tangible way.

The second thing was that a lady asked for prayer for their finances.  She had to leave class early so she told me the request before leaving. As we were going to prayer another lady in our group felt that we were to help supply the financial need. How fun to reach into our purses and give to this precious lady. A card would be purchased and we would give her the card with the money in it the following week.

Eight of us went to lunch after the study. As we were preparing to pay our bill the waitress told us a man in the restaurant paid for our lunch. He paid the bill for ALL of us! We could not believe it...it was our lesson.  It was saying yes to God.  It was receiving a blessing when we give what is not ours.  We began to reach into our purses to bless the waitress.  As we left that day I looked at the pile of money laying there on the table and wished I could see her eyes when she came to clear the table. I could hardly wait to share this story. I wonder if the waitress is telling someone this story?  And the man that paid our bill must be filled with joy for blessing us. I have a card with a large sum of money ready to give to the lady with a financial need and can hardly wait to see her smile. 

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.

1 John 3:18-19



I am keeping my eyes and my heart open for opportunities God places in front of me to give, to bless another and to say YES to God! 

It's a choice...

Today's devotion from Jesus Calling really spoke to my heart!

Romans 8:38-39

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Exodus 33:14

And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."

YOU ARE MINE FOR ALL TIME;nothing can separate you from My Love.

Since I have invested My very Life in you, be well assured that I will also take care of you.

...Each moment you can choose to practice My Presence

or to practice the presence of problems.

I am thankful that nothing can separate me from His love!

I choose to practice the presence of the Lord and receive His rest!

Great is thy faithfulness

www.papercraftmemories.com

Is it easy for you to accept changes?  It is not always easy for me.  There have been changes with our church which are good and I am excited about, but a still they are changes. I woke at 3 Monday morning and could not go back to sleep for over an hour. I thought of how our church was moving in a different direction and changing names. Not everyone is going with us in this change.  I know it is OK and we will still be friends, but I will miss seeing them weekly. I will miss them participating in our small groups. The more I tossed and turned the sadder I became. I felt alone and unloved. I prayed and poured out my heart to the Lord about how I was feeling! I finally fell asleep. Ever been there? When I woke that morning I felt drained, sad and had a headache.

At ten o'clock I received an email from a friend in Minnesota:

Just wanted you to know how you have been on my heart. I love you.

Yes, I cried. I knew that the Lord had put me on her heart! I wrote her back and as soon as she received my email she called me.  My heart felt lighter the more we talked. I felt loved...by God and by her.

Last night I received another email.  This one was from a friend that lives near me:

I love you so much and miss you…do you know that? It is true, I do!!! Also, I want you to know that I think about you and pray for you often. I know that there are so many changes going on with the church and I just think about your heart and how you are dealing with longtime friends leaving. I can imagine that it is hard for you to see all the changes. I know it would be hard on me. I was thanking the Lord just the other day that I didn’t have to go through any of it. Change is hard. I am not looking for any details, I just wanted you to know that I love you and I am praying for you.

 I cried again.  How good of God to speak to two friend's hearts letting them know some of what I had only told Him.  How precious of them to pray for me and then to let me know they care.

Today, I'm not sad, I don't feel alone, and I feel loved.  I will surely have these emotions again and I hope when I do I will remember God's faithfulness to fill my heart with His love and joy. I am so thankful to Him for His lovingkindness and to my friends for hearing God.

Precious in His Sight

Do you ever wonder if you are making a difference in another person's life?  My sister Stephanie is a missionary in Honduras.  She teaches at Ruach International School.  She had an experience with her high school class that she wrote about on her blog.  A blessing came from a bad situation.  I hope you will read and realize that the time you are investing in another  person is not in vain.

I love reading about all her experiences in Honduras...be sure to scroll down for other stories.

Precious in His Sight



Today is the first day of fall...enjoy!

Some days...

Encouragement

Some days we need more encouragement than others.  This week has been one where I have personally needed some. One day I received it from Stacy in a sweet email she sent me.  She sent a scripture along with her words of encouragement that lifted my spirit!

 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad.
Proverbs 12:25

 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

Romans 15:5

This morning I just happened to turn on the radio as David Jeremiah was beginning his message on encouragement.

He spoke about Barnabas, the encourager, from Acts 11:22-24.

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord

 God speaks encouragement to our hearts through His Word! Today I looked up a few verses and these are the ones that have lifted my spirit. 

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31


Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7



Do you need to be encouraged today?  Watch for ways that encouragement comes to you!  God is faithful to meet your need!

Trusting in the Lord...

My precious daughter, Stacy, wrote a meaningful post on her blog, Sweeter Things.  I know you will be encouraged and filled with hope as you read it. Feel free to leave her a comment.  She would love it.

My Hope is in God...

"We find our stories in theirs. We find our hope where they found theirs. In the midst of them all...hovering over them all...is the hero of it all:

God. Maker. Shaper. Rescuer of sinking hearts. God." - Max Lucado.

Jim and I are reading a book by Max Lucado called Cast of Characters, Common People in the Hands of An Uncommon God. We read about a different person each day. Today was Job. I wasn't so sure I wanted to hear the woes of Job. I had really enjoyed the one we recently read. It was about David and how God called him a man after His own heart. But Job had such awful things happen to him and I wondered how I would be encouraged by this. Turned out it was all about what Job learned about God. I think God wanted me to learn or be reminded of some things about Him today too. After we finished I read my email and one of the first was from a friend with an article by John Piper. He used Job 5:8-10 "But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. "He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields," This time I was seeing from Job what God does! The next email was a verse for the day. You guessed it, it was from Job. Job 5:17-18 says "Behold, happy is the man who God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. Turns out I was encouraged afterall by all these verses because they were all about God! My story is not the same as Job's but I find my story in his and know that the hope he had I have too.