Happy St. Patrick's Day!
And happy St. Karen's Day, and St. Kristin's Day, and St. Amy's Day, and
St. (put your name here) Day!
In Psalm 3:4 we're told "Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself." The word godly can also be translated as saint, referring to people who are, or should be, devoted to God and faithful to Him. Hopefully people can look at us and see by our words and actions that we are devoted and faithful to God. So every day should be a Happy St. You Day!
What do the following two pictures have in common?
Where: Lincoln City
When: Friday, April 10th through Sunday, April 12th
Cost: $80 (covers lodging and four meals)
Why: It's a great way to make new friends and deepen your walk with God.
Theme: Guest speaker Gina Detweiler will share about Hope: An Anchor for the Soul.
When you give me your money (cash or check made out to WVC) you are able to select your bed and be added to the retreat list. Next week I'll start sending informational emails to those of you who are registered.
Tiffany Krautscheid is in the final months of her pregnancy, and she's giving up her husband and two oldest kids so they can be part of the mission team going to Mexico. We'd like to help her out by providing some meals while her three biggest helpers are out of the country, as she'll still have five kids at home with her. Please show her some love by signing up at http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=ITMS1362. We've got half the meals covered, but still need people to sign up for five more.
Our women's Bible studies will not be meeting next week due to spring break.
Do you need a reminder of our memory verse for Common Grounds and The Perk this week? It's Deut. 4:39, which says,
Acknowledge and take to heart this day
that the Lord is God
in heaven above and on earth below.
There is no other.
In our Bible studies this week we'll be discussing how to apply this verse to our lives, and what a difference it could make. Join us at either Common Grounds (Wednesday night at 6:30) or The Perk (Thursday morning at 9:30.) Rita is providing goodies on Wednesday, and Keisha will do the same for Thursday. You can always start attending one of the studies at any time. We'd love to see you!
Thanks to the several of you who let me know you could host a table on May 16th at 10 AM for our Feminini-Tea. These ladies have volunteered to bring place settings and decorate a table so that the rest of us can bring food items and enjoy having tea together. Young ladies who are at least 5 years old are invited to attend with their mom or grandma. Our theme this year is The Purse-uit of Happiness. I'll be taking reservations for this free event starting in April. I still need ladies who are willing to host, so please drop me an email or text if you'd like to help out. We'll get all the tables set up the night before so you can just relax the morning of.
I'd like to leave you with a final thought from speaker and author
Cindi McMenamin:
I'd like to leave you with a final thought from speaker and author
Cindi McMenamin:
When It's One of Those Days...
My friend, Holly, knows what it’s like to have one of those days you wish you could do over.
It started at 4:30 a.m. when she opened the door of her house to pick up the newspaper which is usually on her welcome mat waiting for her. But as she opened the door, and before she even had a chance to look down on her welcome mat…Thunk!
The newspaper delivery boy, unknowingly, chucked that newspaper through the early morning still-dark air and it pelted her right in the chest. She never even saw it coming! Stumbling over a bit, she regained her composure and just stood there. Nice aim, she thought, sarcastically, and turned around and closed the door.
The rest of the day didn’t get much better. One nasty thing after another. Until pretty soon she wished she hadn’t even gotten out of bed that morning. Fortunately for Holly, she kept her sense of humor and laughed about it with several women in her exercise class at the end of the day.
We all have days when we get pelted with something right in the chest. A stinging insult. An action by a co-worker or friend that leaves us shocked. Some news that causes us to stumble or double-over. Sometimes it’s from someone, unknowingly, chucking something through the air that happens to hit us. And other times it’s a direct hit from someone with a pretty good aim!
Whether it’s one incident after another that seems to be giving you a bad day or circumstances in which you are the one who is clearly messing up, there is a way to get through it. God's Word gives us simple instructions on how to handle the “bad days.”
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).
Yeah, right. Rejoice? That word creates in my mind a picture of a woman jumping up in the air and shouting for joy. We’re to do that when we’re having one of those days? Evidently so. Interesting that God’s Word doesn’t say: “This is the day the Lord accidentally let slip through the heavens; let us tolerate it and be done with it.” Rather, God’s Word specifically states that this day – even the one in which you get plunked right in the chest – is a day that He has made and therefore it is one worth rejoicing in.
I suppose God wants us to realize that even when uncomfortable or hurtful or downright disastrous things happen, it is still a day in which we live, breathe and exist. It is still a day in which we can make choices and choose to see the brighter side of things. It’s still a day in which we can, like Holly, keep a sense of humor and laugh at the day’s events by sundown.
There is still something in this day worth rejoicing about because it is a day given to us by the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Can you, my friend, find something in this day worth rejoicing about? If not, then simply rejoice. This is the day the Lord has made – for you to live it with Him and become the kind of woman He desires you to be. Rejoice in it, my friend. And see if it doesn’t change your outlook – and your day.
Thank You, Lord, for this day….regardless of what it brings or has already brought my way. Today is a day that I live and breathe and exist. May I do so with a song in my heart simply because You have given me life.
Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker and author of several books includingWhen Women Walk Alone, God's Whispers to a Woman's Heart and her most recent, When God Sees Your Tears. For more on her Southern California-based ministry, see her website:www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.
More of Cindi McMenamin :http://www.strengthforthesoul.com/
Until next week,
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@gmail.com
971-285-6699
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