Our Youth Room

I was browsing my photos and thought I would post a couple of pictures of our youth room. We just finished adding on to the church last spring. We added a new wing with nurseries, bathrooms and a youth room.

When we were meeting and discussing paint and decorating, it was mentioned that we needed the room to really look like it belongs to youth. Well, I got out the trusty JC Penney catalog for inspiration, and this is what we came up with.

Kayla (my daughter) did the computer work, and we blew it up and I made a stencil out of 6 large pieces of tagboard. I was a little nervous about it falling apart as I had to put it up and take it down so many times, but the Lord held it together real good!

The 2nd picture is just before the dedication service, we moved the whole congregation into the room and had testimonies and singing. (The name of our youth group is "Recharge")

I had my scrapbooking friend do the posters in the frames with charachter qualities in them in the colors of the room. I will have to remember to take pictures of them close up. They are awesome!





Come to think of it...Recharge is what happens whenever I read blogs! Thanks Friends!

Desperate For His Presence

I have been reading a book called "Desperate For His Presence" by Rhonda Hughey. Because I am...desperate for His Presence. In the book, Rhonda talks about the Omnipresence of God; His being everywhere. And the manifest Presence of God. Making this distinction with Old Testament examples of when God's Presence manifested. In the tabernacle, in the temple, in the cloud. Always coming as Israel was worshiping.

I recall the times at retreats or confrences where His Presence is more tangible than every-day experiences. And the times of severe pain, as in the death of my brother. His Presence seemed more real, close...

She goes on to talk about our ministries, and how we often do work for God without Him being the source, and it amounts to alot of striving on our part verses being intimate with God and following His lead and having His Presence and Power at work.

We need to hunger and thirst for His Presence and ask for more hunger and thirst.

Today I met (for the first time) my bloggy friend Heather for lunch. And after I left her, I began to think about the difference between reading her heart on her blog, and actually being in her presence. Even though we only had a couple of hours together, my heart grew more fond of her in those two hours. I feel like I know her (a little bit)now rather than simply knowing about her. I care about what she cares about after time sharing our hearts.

I recalled my time with Robin @ She Speaks being similar. Now when I read her blog, I hear her voice and see her expressions. And Angie, such a sensitive, encouraging, sweet sister (visit her blog about "sister day")... I am so blessed to have met my "sisters"!!

Wow! What timing for that picture of the contrast of simply knowing about Jesus and reading His Writing to being in His Presence.

What I am seeing so much in seeking His Glory and Presence more, is that He manifests through our worship. He inhabits the praise of His people (sorry I can't find the address of that one, but I know it is in scripture) Oh how I long to know Him more! To rest in Him more confidently, to glorify Him more.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ...Phillipians 3:8

If you are already hungering for more of His manifest presence and you want to go deeper, click here for an article by Prayer Transformation Ministries-go to the archived articles and click on July 28th article.

A Fruitful Tree

Last summer I started this new garden which I can see from my kitchen window. It was the perfect spot on the south side of our workshop. I wanted a little tree, and settled on this apple tree. As you can see the fruit on the tree is making it bow to the East.

This got me to thinking...fruitful tree.. bowing...Here is another Spiritual application from a garden. When we are planted in the Lord, if we are fruitful, we are bowing in humility before the Lord.

Then I saw another application: If I left my little tree without support it would probably snap off at some point. I had Ethan put the fencepost in next to the tree so I could tie the tree to it to help it stand.
Then I had to pull the fruit from the main branch so it would stand upright. Now that it has support, it will grow upright.

May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. Psalm 20:2

I'm sure there are many more applications from this little adventure in the garden if I were to spend more time on it...any come to your mind?

Woo Hoo!! I did it!! Thanks Robin for the heads up on the "edit html". I am so slow. Please laugh with me not at me (smile!)

I am very thankful that I was able to go to She Speaks and learn to get the little picture on here. I am still working on some other things like "tags". (Angela, I have tried and hopefully will get it!)

I am thankful that my God is so good and answers prayers.

I am thankful for my church which is growing in having a heart for prayer.

I am thankful for blogworld and all the beautiful Christlike sisters I have met and been encouraged by.

I am thankful I get to meet Heather on Monday, and that she is getting a wonderful Bible Study published in September.

I am thankful for the 24 kids at our VBS tonight, and that I got to pray with a 5th grade boy to recieve the Wonderful Gift of Jesus. I was in awe knowing that our Savior is living in his little heart and will be with him always. Please pray for him as he is from an unchurched/broken home and is just transitioning into living with his dad and going to a new school this fall. Guess what his name is...Christian!! I wonder if his mama knew it was prophetic when she named him!

I am thankful for my beautiful daughter who has given up her summers for the last 5 years to be a missionary and lead little ones/and this summer bigger ones to Jesus.

I am thankful for my son who loves Truth and Righteousness and stands strong in his faith. And for his humor.

I am thankful for my husband and how hard he works. That we can have true fellowship in the Lord and that he has prayed with me recently.

I am thankful for my friend Holly who means the world to me. Who God is doing some amazing things for and for her perseverence, by His grace.

I am thankful for the amazing Promised Land/ the Living Word, my Bible.

Sweet Sweetness. That's all I gotta say!

Coffee and Chocolate

I have been very busy lately, and missing blogworld. I love to be encouraged here and I realize how much strength I have gained by daily fellowship. It seems daily life keeps people too busy to connect on a regular basis in my world. So much to attend to...Home, garden, children and all they are into, extended family, daily "surprises" such as car trouble, or leaking dishwashers...I am very grateful for all of you and your openess and love for Jesus!! Thank you!

I have four days left of my 21 day fast from chocolate and coffee. I thought I would give a little report. My days usually contain coffee in the morning and chocolate at least once (being transparent here). I have sadly discovered just how often I reach out for chocolate.

It seemed in the first week, that I was at a loss many times. I would go to get a meal-bar for lunch; they are covered/dipped in chocolate. On hot days, I would have a craving for a blended icey drink; coffee with chocolate mocha. (Have you tried those Archer Farms mixes from Target? mmmmm) When I was on the road a long time, and wanted something to munch when I was driving; m&m's. Honestly nothing else appealed to me!! Deserts at the wedding or the potluck-nope.

When I went to pick up my mom and take her to a prayer meeting I passed a Starbucks, then a Caribeau, then a Dunn Brothers. I was tempted more than once to cheat, but the Lord has kept me. Even at the wedding we attended, they had little tule wrapped jelly beans at all the place settings...guess what flavor they were? Chocolate, cappuccino, mocha and blueberry. I abstained. To the glory of God.

Conclusion: I have noticed that I feel more free. I feel less attached to my routine and more able to do things that I usually put off. Procrastinating less. Accomplishing more. I realize that sometimes a routine (which I love) can become a hindrance to freedom. I haven't decided how I will break the fast, but I think I will need to fast at least once a week from coffee and chocolate, so I don't become so...dependent on the routine of having them again.

There is so much about fasting that I have learned over the years. The Lord is teaching me more. The times I have fasted have brought the greatest breakthroughs.

If you have not tried it, but want to, Stormie Omartain suggests a 24 hour fast that begins after lunch one day and ends after lunch the next day. It is a little easier that way to break into fasting.
The Daniel Fast is abstaining from everything but veggies and water. Or you can fast, like I did, from something that you love...maybe a little too much.

Tagged

I got tagged! Im-a-gonna try to get it going...
By Angela

Here are the rules:
1)Link to the person who tagged you (see above)

2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)

3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them (humm...whom shall I tag)

5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog. (quick go look)

6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

1. Of my 7 sisters, only one looks like me. She happens to be the only one who lives in my town (we were here first!) and people get us mixed up all the time. Which is fun for me since I am 4 years older than her. (smile)

2.Because of being the oldest in a farm family, the only sports I did when in school were softball in 6th grade because the neighbor was the coach and could drive me...and ski club on Friday nights in 9th grade.

3. I just did my friend's hair this morning for a wedding. And then her two daughters too!

4. My dad nicknamed everyone. He knew me as "Bean" growing up. (rhymes with Kathleen).
I think he forgot my real name. It's all he ever called me. Then when I got married, he would call me Ms. "B".

5. I have a bad habit of showing up at potlucks without a dish. Either I forget or I don't have anything to bring because I remember last minute.

6. When I was a kid, I had a dream to fix up the chicken coop as a little house. It never happened. I have a chicken coop on our farm now that is just used for storage. I once again have a dream of fixing up the chicken coop!

To my few readers...Tag- You're it!

Discernment Needed

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

Christianity Today sends out a list of blogs on a regular basis, usually I don't take the time, but one caught my eye the other day. I have been bothered deeply by it. It was a Pastor in California who had been invited to a g*y wedding. He had concluded, based on Jesus' words to the Pharisees, that he should attend the wedding as a loving representative of Jesus Christ. That he would be being a Pharisee if he didn't. Then he opened it up for comments.

My first "red flag of discernment" was to question the Pastor's reasoning, which was that by not attending the wedding, he was being self-righteous (that is what the Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for). Would that then mean that if you were reaching out to someone who was into the occult and they invited you to a se*nce and you didn't attend, it would be self-righteous? Or if you were reaching out to one who was a thief and they invited you to join "a job" you would be self-righteous to refuse?

Other arguments for going to the wedding were that when those who have sinned before marriage get married we wouldn't stay home from thier wedding. But think about it, when a couple who has crossed the line before marriage gets married, they are getting things right with God, they are coming under His authority. When a g*y couple gets married they are desecrating an institution ordained by God with perversion. It is actually spitting in God's face. (See Romans 1) rebelling against His authority.

When we attend a wedding, we are there as witnesses to give our approval. The Pastor (used to)ask if anyone objects to the couple being married before he pronounced them husband and wife, insinuating that there is great worth in the approval of the witnesses.

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. Acts 8:1
The above passage shows that even though Paul didn't throw a stone at Stephen, he was, by approval, a part of his murder. With that I conclude that we actively participate in that which we give approval to.

Remembering that weddings are sacred ceremonies estabished by God to represent Him and His Bride and that there is a covenant being made in God's Presence, we dare not take this lightly.

If the Pastor has already established to his g*y friends that he loves them, and then he does not attend their wedding, but keeps loving them afterward, he is showing the true love of God which never negates his justice. When we agree that the law is good we are not being judgemental, we are upholding the perfect law (Romans 3:31). We love His law! (Psalm 119).

I don't know if anyone else has seen it, but it seems alot of Christians are calling other Christians "judgemental" these days if they take a stand on something. Oh God, give us more Light and keep us in Your Truth!!