Monday, December 3, 2012

Thanksgiving becomes thanksliving

See if you can top this for your Thanksgiving.



Our first granddaughter was born two days before Thanksgiving Day. A few days before and one day after she was born, I went in the hospital with heart problems.

The cure? Sedate me and give my heart an electric shock!

My heart was found to have atrial fib. That is when the upper and lower chambers of the heart are not in sync. As a result, the heart does not pump blood efficiently. That led to shortness of breath, dizziness and anxiety.

I think I just described many local churches in Slidell.

Different members of the local body have different ideas and agendas which results in not working well together and illness in the whole body.

A body does not grow unless health is restored. Neither does a church.

I also say it describes lack of cooperation between Christian congregations in Slidell. Many are so focused on meeting their own budgets, baptisms and attendance goals they don’t have to time or resources to help ministries like CCC, Crisis Pregnancy Help Center or one another.

Some are even shutting down.

Want a radical idea? If your church meets for mid week prayer meeting, have someone make a report about another local congregation. Pass out the information like the name of pastor and leaders in the other church along with the church address.



Then pray for them.

Ask God to bless them and build unity among brothers & sisters in Christ in our area.

Then write them to tell them you will be praying for them. (If you really want to touch them, then take up an offering that night and mail it to their church to use as the LORD leads them to use it)

Results? They (the world of non-believers) will know we are His by our love for one another.

Who will be the first to try this?













Saturday, December 1, 2012

Family…fun…faith

For several days our first grand child stayed at our home us while his mom was giving birth to his little sister.

Our household is two parents and two college aged daughters at home.

We thought “how hard can it be to watch one little boy for a few days?” Harder than expected.

We still have not found the TV remote. Our new remote is to call out to whoever is sitting closest to TV to adjust the volume.

Conner was into everything. . He was a bundle of boundless energy and curiosity. He loved walking the dog on his leash in the house. Several times he pulled on the dog’s legs to see if they would detach. Thankfully the legs remained attached but the dog is seeing a therapist!



In the midst of it all, God spoke to my heart.

I am like Conner in so many ways. Restless when I need to be restful. Worrying about getting my own way and expressing discontent or whining when I don’t..

The best way to get Conner to sleep was cradled in someone‘s arms. We best rest when we are cradled in the arms of God’s love and grace. He wants simple fellowship with us.

What touched me the most during Conner’s visit? It was the times my family remarked when Conner and I sat together how much he looked like me.


That’s how it is when we relax with our heavenly Father. We begin to resemble Him. 

People are attracted by the family resemblance.

At this time of year, many people want to be part of a family. 

Why not introduce them to God’s?