Last weekend I went home to MO. It was a lovely drive home as the trees were crystalized with ice and so was the ground. St. Louis had just received a blanket of snow the night before I came through. Fredericktown received a pop-up snow shower while I was there as well which cancelled church Sunday morning. Thankfully, I went to church Saturday night since I was planning on leaving Sunday morning (so that I could make it back in time for small group; we just started Piper's Don't Waste Your Life study and God is already using it powerfully in my life). I once again had a dream last week about church that came true. I dreamt that Mac brought forth the message and he did. Interesting...
God is doing some amazing things at Meadow Heights. Since the year started, 28 people have been baptized. That is 28 people that have come from death to life! What's more is that many of these people are coming to the Lord in families. Donald McGavran would be proud...
God is up to some great things at Rolling Fields as well. We recently adopted a people group in Central Asia. It exciting that God has called us and entrusted us with the task of strategizing to reach these unreached people. We are in a series right now about the glory of God. Please pray that this series would ignite a undying passion in the hearts of RF's members.
I am officially plugged in to serve at RF now. The Lord has actually thrown me into a leadership-type role as I am the leader of the Connection Team. This is a fairly new team and I look forward to just running away with it. This is the team that welcomes new guests at the church by giving them a call and delivering cookies. God used this team to lead one lady to attend the membership class! :)
While I was at home I beat the final level on Tomb Raider: Anniversay. I am still the queen. Yesss! :)
Also while I was at home, I noticed that my parents got our cat shaved. Hehe. You should see her, she looks ridiculous. The reason she was shaved was because she is so fat (16 pounds to be exact) that she cannot reach her backside to clean herself so her fur gets matted. The vet shaved her body but left her head, tail, and paws alone so now her furry head lookes huge compared to her naked body. Poor baby. I am pretty sure she was sitting back plotting all of our demises last weekend...
Switching gears: The Lord has really been ministering to me lately by refocusing my attention and affection on Christ. He has reminded of the infinite beauty and worth of Christ and how He is all I need. He is my Treasure and I long so much for my life to reflect that to those around me. "Who have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25-26).
I mentioned above that my small group is doing a study over Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life. I just wanted to share how he made-or rather God through his book-the first few verses of 1 Corinthians come alive to me. These verses state that if you help people or even sacrifice your life for others but do not do it in love, then it is for nothing. I never completely "got" these verses. I always wondered why would you do these things if you weren't doing them out of a spirit of love? Piper helped clarify this for me when he wrote these words "not to aim to show God's love is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply." Wow. When I read those words, the meaning of those verses just sort of clicked. I have been meditating on them over the past several days. This is how/why we can help others but really be doing them a disservice if we refrain from sharing the Gospel, the Good News, of Christ. I can feed the hungry, comfort the morning, or do any number of things to relieve human suffering, but if I don't do it in the love of Christ and point explicitly to Christ, then I am not really showing them true love. Jesus is who they need and if I don't tell them about Him, then their hungry souls will starve and they will remain in darkness. The two must go hand in hand. Good works are good and necessary but they must be done as unto Christ, pointing to and proclaiming about Him the whole way through. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 5:14-16
God is doing some amazing things at Meadow Heights. Since the year started, 28 people have been baptized. That is 28 people that have come from death to life! What's more is that many of these people are coming to the Lord in families. Donald McGavran would be proud...
God is up to some great things at Rolling Fields as well. We recently adopted a people group in Central Asia. It exciting that God has called us and entrusted us with the task of strategizing to reach these unreached people. We are in a series right now about the glory of God. Please pray that this series would ignite a undying passion in the hearts of RF's members.
I am officially plugged in to serve at RF now. The Lord has actually thrown me into a leadership-type role as I am the leader of the Connection Team. This is a fairly new team and I look forward to just running away with it. This is the team that welcomes new guests at the church by giving them a call and delivering cookies. God used this team to lead one lady to attend the membership class! :)
While I was at home I beat the final level on Tomb Raider: Anniversay. I am still the queen. Yesss! :)
Also while I was at home, I noticed that my parents got our cat shaved. Hehe. You should see her, she looks ridiculous. The reason she was shaved was because she is so fat (16 pounds to be exact) that she cannot reach her backside to clean herself so her fur gets matted. The vet shaved her body but left her head, tail, and paws alone so now her furry head lookes huge compared to her naked body. Poor baby. I am pretty sure she was sitting back plotting all of our demises last weekend...
Switching gears: The Lord has really been ministering to me lately by refocusing my attention and affection on Christ. He has reminded of the infinite beauty and worth of Christ and how He is all I need. He is my Treasure and I long so much for my life to reflect that to those around me. "Who have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25-26).
I mentioned above that my small group is doing a study over Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life. I just wanted to share how he made-or rather God through his book-the first few verses of 1 Corinthians come alive to me. These verses state that if you help people or even sacrifice your life for others but do not do it in love, then it is for nothing. I never completely "got" these verses. I always wondered why would you do these things if you weren't doing them out of a spirit of love? Piper helped clarify this for me when he wrote these words "not to aim to show God's love is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply." Wow. When I read those words, the meaning of those verses just sort of clicked. I have been meditating on them over the past several days. This is how/why we can help others but really be doing them a disservice if we refrain from sharing the Gospel, the Good News, of Christ. I can feed the hungry, comfort the morning, or do any number of things to relieve human suffering, but if I don't do it in the love of Christ and point explicitly to Christ, then I am not really showing them true love. Jesus is who they need and if I don't tell them about Him, then their hungry souls will starve and they will remain in darkness. The two must go hand in hand. Good works are good and necessary but they must be done as unto Christ, pointing to and proclaiming about Him the whole way through. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 5:14-16
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