Prayer begins tonight

I am so anticipating the new series that begins tonight. To teach on prayer right now, hits the pulse of the nation right on! Prayer, is our life line, our connection tool, our direct access to the Savior. Our refuge from all the problems in the world.

"I [wisdom] have riches and honor,
as well as enduring wealth and justice.
My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold,
my wages better than sterling silver!
I walk in righteousness,
in paths of justice.

—Proverbs 8:18–20

In this troubling time of instability this verse rings truer than ever before. The only true wealth is peace with God as we live as a person of character. The way to get what we want most in life is to pray seeking God's ways, His wisdom, His blessing on our lives! I cannot wait to hear the message tonight!

Go Mission

The final area of our ministry is about to begin big time! Go Missions!

We will be launching in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait! This new ministry is going to get everyone excited and everyone involved. From the people that feel called to serve our local community, to the people who have always had a heart for foreign missions, opportunities will be available for all.

It is as if God has just been waiting for us to get everything ready and POW - things are lining up almost faster than we can handle them! We talked today about all the ways our congregation from kids on up will be included, it's going to be amazing! God's timing is sovereign and the excitement building around this new ministry is contagious! Just a couple more weeks to go and we will be ready for the big reveal, the launch, the GO!

More details to follow! Please begin praying for God to provide!

gracious responses

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter 3:18

Grow in grace, not in only one type of grace, but in all forms of gracious response.

Gracious response, although I have never seen these words used together before, I knew exactly what it meant when I read it today. It was referring to something I am not very good at. My responses are quite often not well thought out, just a reflex to what someone else says.

A great friend and one of our Magnification Staff Steve, and I have two secret words we say to one another over our headsets. If one of us sounds less than kind to our amazing volunteers, Rabbit Ears is our code for "that didn't sound very nice"!

Gracious: 1. pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.

Response: 1. an answer or reply, as in words or in some action.

If someone was describing how you generally respond would this be the phrase they would use to describe your response? Gracious response? Occasionally maybe, but if you're like me, not often enough.

I wonder how it felt to be perfect, without sin, and still to be verbally abused and accused like Jesus was? Are we shocked that The Pharisees taunted him and tried to trap him with their words, that the crowd yelled crucify Him and the cock crowed as Peter used his words to deny he even knew Jesus. Are our words so much different? Don't our gossip and angry words deny we know Him? Don't they divide the church and distract us? Don't they make it much harder for the lost to see Him in us?

It is dangerous to write about this. What I write about, people have a right to hold me accountable to. I want to respond this way... graciously. He died for ungracious responses, for dishonesty, for pride, for unkindness, for His church, for me.

lunch time with staff

Today was our monthly staff meeting. We always enjoy a mixture of fun, food and work! We all work so many different hours, it is great to set time aside monthly to just ALL be together.

Everyone brought too much food as usual, but, you hate to insult anyone so you have to try everything! Next we did a fun mixer to keep the conversation lively and ended with a short information meeting and discussion of upcoming events.

I love this staff and they all are fully dedicated to serving using their amazing talents and gifts! It was such a great day together doing God's work and planning ahead for the coming weeks.

ladies at Crossroads

We have several ladies groups at Crossroads. One of them is our MOPS group, Mothers of Preschoolers. Tonight I was invited as one of the 'older' women to talk with the young moms.

So, when did this happen? When did I become anyone that young girls could learn from based on the length of my marriage? Hilarious! I've become my mother!

I may have been the woman there tonight that had been married the longest...wow! As we talked with the younger woman it took me back in time. Listening to them describe the strong parts as well as the weaknesses of their marriages.

Ron and I have done life together for so long that I seldom think much about my marriage, except to be thankful for my husband, to pray for him and thank God for him. But, these young women think about it a lot! They are anxious to know they are on the right track. They wanted us to tell them that what they experience is normal, and that the days of small children will pass so quickly they'll barely remember it. I was 30 when we had our kids, so I had more confidence than many of the much younger girls do. God knew what he was doing big time - to withhold children from me until I was ready.

Being there tonight made me realize my responsibility to young women and young couples. I should be investing time in them. We should mentor in areas that God has blessed us in. I think today's young couples need to be assured that it is possible with God's help, to stay together for life. They certainly don't see that model in our society much anymore. I was glad they thought of asking me to come tonight, even though it means I'm getting older.

my day off

Relaxing! Very, very thankful for rest. After a late night at church watching the SuperBowl, then a late night conversation with my daughter that went into the early morning, it was such a blessing not to have to even set the alarm! Yay! A true day off.

I have a lot of catching up to do at home, things I have let go the past week. Some Ebay items to ship, a couple stops to make then back home for the day.

I do hope to spend some time in study and prayer. Recently I have felt very convicted about my prayer life. God has spoken through the preparation for the next series which will be on prayer, as well as through the series we ended this past weekend on Contentment. I am also feeling challenged by my kids. In my discussions with them I realize they have a raw, intense relationship with God that my generation wants desperately. They see their future as very different then the old 'American Dream', a renegade, authentic, real relationship not only with God, but with a close community of believers. This is something unfortunately, that my generation barely understands.

We value distance from others, we are suspicious of motive, cautious to 'get close'. We are scared to be hurt. Where does this come from? I want God to reveal this to me. I am asking God to help me to be brave and to work to build authentic community. I desire to help create opportunities within our ministry for authentic God centered life! This is my prayer on my day off.

weekend report

I know, I know, I always say the same thing, but, I am telling you God was in the house!

I received countless comments on the worship and on the most amazing teaching series about Contentment ever! I even got a phone call this afternoon about how much people loved it and were so thankful for all our team's hard work. I don't say these things to pat myself on the back, I could plan from now to eternity, but our Technical and Worship teams work so hard, and are so great I have to brag about THEM! It all came together and I think God was pleased!

We opened the final weekend on Contentment with what else...

Don't Worry Be Happy!

announcements

For Who You Are

Beautiful One

New Doxology - Gateway

How Great Is Our God (chorus only)

Awesome Is The Lord Most High

message

It Is Well

Amazingly thematic! Now on to our next series on Prayer!

To see what other ministries were using in worship this weekend click here.

If you would like to watch our service, they will be up by Monday afternoon, you can click here, then click on services.

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