Time with God

Lately I've been on a 30 day quest to spend time with the Lord alone. I read the Bible and pray for myself and others each day for about 10-20 minutes. I know it's kind of legalistic the way I'm doing it, but it really has helped me a lot. I'm on day 19 and now I don't want to miss a day where I quiet my world down and spend some time with just me and the Lord! I looked forward to that time and I've been getting stuff out of it even when I started to do it just, because I made a commitment to do so for 30 days. The other day something bothered very deeply at around 8:00. Instead of tackling many things that I needed to do that day I took a few minutes to read my Bible & pray. A verse popped into my mind that I memorized a long time ago. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with thanksgiving make your requests to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." I prayed that as a prayer and it was amazing how much better I felt afterwards. My typical response would have been to get busy with the day and let that worrisome situation get the best of me for the rest of that day. I want to encourage other followers of Christ to start on a 30 day quest of Quiet Time with God too! Go ahead start today.

It keeps going and going and going

This last Sunday our Honduras youth missions team got the privilage of sharing what God did on our missions trip last July and what God has done in our lives! I was very nervous about it, because a lot of time had passed since we returned and I was afraid that the passion and fire would have gone out already. During the services I stood there amazed not only at what God did on our trip and in the lives of our youth, but also in the response of our congregation. People loved hearing from the youth. They nearly cried as Diana (youth leader) shared about Carlos who always smiles, because he feels that he is alive only by Jesus! The drama was also very moving. There are so many people that have told me that they were touched deeply. One man said that he was so moved that when he tried to speak to Eric (who played the role of Jesus very well) he was unable. Some others had tears in their eyes and the children were glued to what was happening.

At the end we had a prayer time that lasted through a couple of songs. I had our pastoral staff plus Pam pray for people and they all had people coming up to them. It was so cool to see God working in people as they responded to God! I feel like the Lord not only used our youth team down in Honduras, but they are also touching people lives here through this trip and effort!

One other awesome thing is that the children's home in Honduras that we have been helping with is now launching a church. They've had over 100 women & children coming on Sunday mornings! Now the people who we have been reaching out to are reaching out to others in a great way! So our efforts and any effort that makes a difference in someone's life can make a difference in many other lives that are affected by the person whomm you or I reached out to in the first place. The people who were reached by the people you reached can reach others.... it keeps going, and going.....and going.........