Tuesday, November 29, 2016 WOW-Zine

Good morning, ladies! Are you ready to step over the threshold and into the month of December? I know it's going to be a busy month for most of us, so we'd better put our running shoes on. Which will certainly go well with an ugly Christmas sweater. Which just happens to remind me of the WOW Christmas Party coming up this Saturday at 6 PM at the church. Have you signed up yet? If not, please do so very soon. We'd like to have a fairly accurate idea of how many ladies to plan for. Feel free to invite your friends. Go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a4ba8a629abf85-wowchristmas to get all the details, RSVP, and also say what food you're bringing. Some more entrees would really be helpful. We're encouraging people to wear an ugly Christmas sweater, but you can certainly still attend if you don't want to do that! And don't forget to bring a wrapped, new gift, costing around $10 for our gift exchange. 

As you probably know by now, we've had two of our ladies--Becky Clark and Melissa Linck--deliver babies in the past few days. Congratulations to both of you! That means the rest of us have the opportunity to bless these families with meals. Jaimie Ashcraft is the new meal coordinator, and she has a signup available for the Clark family at http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=XCAQ9174.

We don't yet have the all the information for Melissa, so I'll send out a separate notification for her in the next day or two. I do know she'd like meals starting on Monday, so you can keep that in mind. 

This week at The Perk (Thursday at the church, from 9:30-11 AM) we'll be studying the topic of stress/anxiety. This is probably something we can all identify with, especially at this time of the year. So grab your Bible and a notebook and come join us! Snacks are being provided by Aimee this week, and childcare is available.

A way to help de-stress is to write down some Scripture every day. Several of us have been doing this for a year or more, and you can find the December writing plan here. http://www.swtblessings.com/
You'll need to scroll down the home page to find the plan, but I wanted you to have the chance to see all the other things that are offered on this site, including what looks to be a wonderful Advent calendar for your family based on doing Acts of Kindness. So be sure to take a look!

Due to your responses on our Women of Wapato Facebook page, you'll be happy to know that Wapato will be providing a Christmas Eve service at 6 PM on the 24th, as well as a Christmas Day service on Sunday. We hope you and your family can attend one or both. 

Until next time,
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@gmail.com     971-285-6699

Tuesday, November 22, 2016 WOW-Zine

I'm keeping it short and sweet this week!

~No Perk (Bible study) this week.

~Please R.S.V.P. for our WOW Christmas party, coming up on Saturday, December 3rd. Sign up for our potluck dinner as well as get all the details here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a4ba8a629abf85-wowchristmas

~Decorate the church for Christmas this Saturday at 10 AM. Cinnamon rolls provided, but please bring your own drink.

Until next time,
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@gmail.com     971-285-6699

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 WOW-Zine

Good morning! I hope your week is off to a good start. And speaking of start, it's time to start getting serious about our Christmas party on December 3rd. I've created a sign-up sheet for our potluck, so just follow this link to get all the details. When you hit the RSVP button it will show you the different categories of food and you can select one of them. If you make a mistake, just hit cancel and start over! I'm going to start looking for my Ugly Christmas Sweater today!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a4ba8a629abf85-wowchristmas

The Perk, our women's Bible study, meets this Thursday morning from 9:30 to 11. We had a great discussion about loneliness last week. Thursday's session will focus on dealing with temptation. If you're tempted to stay away--don't! We all need to support each other as we walk through life. Childcare is provided, and Nicole C. will be bringing goodies for us.

If you love to decorate for Christmas please show up at the church on Saturday, November 26, at 10 AM to deck out the sanctuary for the Christmas season. Bring your own hot drink, but we'll make sure there's some type of snack on hand to help you get in the Christmas spirit. Please let me know if you're able to help.

Meanwhile, we're closing in on Thanksgiving. Here's a great reminder for all of us from blogger Holley Gerth:

Gratitude When You’ve Got an Attitude
Holley, 02 Nov 05:30 AM

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

We’re kicking off November, the month of gratitude. Do you ever feel, like me, that being thankful is a bit of a challenge and mystery?

I set out to do good then someone cuts me off in traffic and I’m growling behind the steering wheel like a rottweiler in yoga pants.

I want to give to others but the lines at the store tempt me to give the grouchy woman in front of me nothin’ but a smack on the bottom.

I’m carrying the pumpkin pie to the table only to stub my toe on the cabinet corner and have oh-so-not-nice words flash through my mind.

My real-life friends and fellow writers, Suzie Eller and Jennifer Watson, recently sat down with me to talk about “Gratitude When You Have an Attitude.”

{Subscribers, if you can’t see the video click here. Also, a disclaimer: I have no idea why I’m making kissy lips at the camera when this starts. Ha!}

As the three of us talked, it seemed God brought a particular verse to mind. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). There’s one little word in that sentence I suddenly realized makes all the difference: We’re to give thanks in all circumstances but we’re never told to give thanks for all circumstances.

We live in a fallen, broken world and often what we experience is far more serious than the silly examples I gave above. Husbands leave. Diseases ravish. Funerals happen. We are not made for any of this.

We thank the Giver so if something is not from Him, we do not have to force ourselves to be thankful for it. Whew. Does that make anyone else sigh with relief?

What we can choose to do is find His goodness right there in the middle of it all anyway. We can ask ourselves, “In spite of this, what can I be grateful for today?” It can be something small like a cup of coffee on a cold morning, a text from a friend or just opening our eyes for another day. It’s not the size of our thanks that matters; it’s the heart behind it.

We also don’t have to feel thankful. Our brains are wired with a negativity bias. This means we tend to pay more attention to what’s wrong (like a bear charging at us). This instinct keeps us alive but it also means our emotions and perspective can take time to catch up with our wills. God knows this and we don’t have to feel shame or guilt about the disconnect.

This November let’s be grateful. But let’s also give ourselves lots of grace. For the stubbed toes and the long lines and the moments when we’re just not at our best. This is the one thing we can always say, “Thanks, God, for loving me the way I am today.”

XOXO

Holley Gerth

p.s. If the holidays are tough for you or someone you love, What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days will be a daily encouragement. It’s six weeks long so it will take you right through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Until next time,

Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director

sherrieashcraft@gmail.com    971-285-6699

Tuesday, November 8, 20016 WOW-Zine

The Perk, our women's Bible study, meets this Thursday from 9:30-11 at the church. This week Tami will be providing a munchable to have along with our tea and coffee. Childcare is available. Bring your Bible and a notebook and join us!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
~Saturday, Nov. 26th, 10 AM at Wapato
  It's time to get the sanctuary beautified for the Christmas season! I know a lot of you love to decorate for the holiday, so please come put your skill to use. Bring your own hot drink, and we'll provide something for you to munch on as you make our church festive. It takes less than two hours to create the transformation!

~Saturday, Dec. 3rd, 6 PM at Wapato--WOW Christmas Party
  It's time to get your ugly on! Sweater, that is! Yes, we're having our first-ever Ugly Christmas Sweater theme. Start hitting the thrift stores now to create your fashion statement. Yes, prizes will be involved. We will also have our traditional gift exchange, so bring a wrapped gift of $10. This will be a planned potluck dinner, and I'll create a sign-up by next week. Feel free to invite your friends. This is for women only.

Let me leave you now with some wise thoughts by writer and author Jennifer Rothschild--

Overwhelmed? 3 Things to Leave Off Your To-Do List

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You skip breakfast. You’re late for work. You forgot to pack little Joey’s lunch. Your laundry basket is a Mt. Everest of dirty clothes. Your Dad is in the hospital. You can’t seem to get the groceries bought. You still haven’t returned that growing list of phone calls and text messages. Your mother needs you. Your friend needs you. Your husband needs you. Your kids need you. Your boss needs you… you need to be cloned or counseled or consoled or caught up in the air to meet the Lord!

“Rapture me Lord!”

You feel stressed. You feel guilty. You feel… overwhelmed!

Overwhelmed. All women feel it for all sorts of reasons. And there are lots of suggestions for what to do when you feel overwhelmed.

But today, I want to tell you what NOT to do!

I want to give you three things not to do when you feel overwhelmed because if you’re feeling overwhelmed, then telling you even one more thing to do may send you over the edge!

Here is what not to do when you feel overwhelmed:

1. Don’t try to fix your problem, focus your prayer instead.

When you try to fix something, you fixate on it. In other words, if you spend all your emotions and time trying to find a solution and fix your situation, then all you can think about is your situation. It becomes the biggest thing on your mind. The subject of all your conversations. The main thought that runs through your mind. No wonder you can feel overwhelmed when your problem gets all your attention! So, instead of trying to fix your problem, focus your prayer.

Don’t try to fix your problem, focus your prayer instead. [Click to Tweet]

Pray scripture if you can’t come up with your own words. When you pray, you get a better perspective of your God and your problems. You see that all that is overwhelming you is small compared to your Father’s great ability to clean up your mess or comfort you in your pain.

Here’s a great scripture to pray: “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2

2. Don’t rely on your own strength, receive God’s instead.

For years, I managed my life, my blindness, my busy schedule — I managed all of it through my own strength. And then, my strength ran out. I had a depression crash, my brain got older and just couldn’t remember all I needed it to and along with that, blindness became harder and harder and made me slower and slower. I had no strength left to power through. That’s when God’s grace showed up and I found out that God’s power in me is so much stronger than my own strength. My strength is like gravel compared to the rock that is God’s strength.

Don’t rely on your own strength, receive God’s instead. [Click to Tweet]

A practical way I learned to receive God’s power is to admit that I am powerless. Without Him, deep down, I am powerless. I can’t fix my problem. I can’t fight hard enough, work long enough or run fast enough. When I admit my powerlessness, then I invite God’s power into my life.

Here’s one of the ways I do it — I misquote scripture! Don’t panic, here’s what I mean: Instead of quoting Philippians 4:13 correctly, I paraphrase it to remind me that I need God’s power. I can’t do anything without Christ who strengthens me. See what I mean? Saying it that way reminds me to let go of my puny power and receive God’s power instead.

3. Don’t run from your situation, run to God’s Word instead.

We run in all sorts of ways. We over-eat, over-shop and even over-control everybody and everything around us. Put simply, we deny our situations, in whatever way works for us, instead of dealing with our situations. But, if we deny pain or stress or disappointment or whatever it is, it doesn’t go away. It just gets more creative in the way it tries to get our attention. Repressed stuff can show up in sleeplessness, skin irritations, perfectionism, outbursts of tears or anger — well, at least that is my personal testimony! You get the idea. Ignoring something does not make it disappear. It is important to meet your situation face on, but don’t face it without your weapons.

Don’t run from your situation, run to God’s Word instead. [Click to Tweet]

God’s Word is your weapon. It is the scalpel that helps you dissect your problem. It is the spotlight that illuminates the root issues. It is the sword that you can hold up and cut that big problem into pieces so you can deal with them. It is wisdom and comfort and counsel and light.

So sister, if you feel overwhelmed today, just think… you now have 3 less things you need to do!

As you focus your prayer, receive God’s strength and run to His Word, you will be overwhelmed — just not in the same way… you will be overwhelmed by His grace that really is enough for you!

Until next time,
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@gmail.com     971-285-6699

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 WOW-ZineI

I'm baaaaaack! I had a lovely twelve days with my parents and their friends. I tell you--old folks know how to have fun! Sometimes I laughed so hard the tears ran down my legs!! (Just kidding.) A big thanks to Carol and Tami for filling in for me during my absence. 

Our usual programming, er, I mean events, are now resumed. Our Thursday morning Bible study, The Perk, meets from 9:30-11 AM. Keisha will provide treats this week, and we have childcare available. You are free to join us at any time, as the sessions are not dependent upon one another. You won't feel lost if you're just coming in on our study of Stronger: Finding Hope in Fragile Places. Just bring your Bible and a notebook and you're good to go!

Speaking of "go", you'll want to be sure to go to Karen's house (1999 Phillips Rd., Gaston) for our Movie Night this Friday at 7 PM. Not sure exactly what we'll watch (possibly War Room), but bring a snack to share and join in the fun. You can even wear your cozy pajamas if you'd like!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
~Saturday, Nov. 26th, 10 AM at Wapato
  It's time to get the sanctuary beautified for the Christmas season! I know a lot of you love to decorate for the holiday, so please come put your skill to use. Bring your own hot drink, and we'll provide something for you to munch on as you make our church festive. It takes less than two hours to create the transformation!

~Saturday, Dec. 3rd, 6 PM at Wapato--WOW Christmas Party
  It's time to get your ugly on! Sweater, that is! Yes, we're having our first-ever Ugly Sweater theme. Start hitting the thrift stores now to create your fashion statement. Yes, prizes will be involved. We will also have our traditional gift exchange, so bring a wrapped gift of $10. This will be a planned potluck dinner, and I'll create a sign-up in a couple more weeks. Feel free to invite your friends. This is for women only.

Until next time,
Sherrie Ashcraft, Women's Ministry Director
sherrieashcraft@gmail.com     971-285-6699