Prayers for Friends

A beautiful prayer for our friends and family members. I have some friends for whom I’m praying this today. I bet you have some friends who could use some prayer too.

“Father, when we hear how much You love us, that You’ll always be there, how constant and consistent You are, it’s hard for us to believe. Others have let us down, and we know how flaky we are when we make promises. But when You say,’I'll keep my promises,’ it’s true.

I pray for my friends now. Some of them are praying simple prayers. They need your strength to get through this day, this night, this, challenge. Others are praying difficult prayers–prayers that are so big and so confusing they don’t see how in the world anybody, even You, can work it out. I ask, Father, that now, as they pray, they begin to trust.

I pray that Your Spirit will tell them:
* You’ve heard their prayers.
* You’re already working on it.
* What You’re working on is the absolute best they could ever have.

For my friends who are wounded, I pray for their healing. For my friends who are angry, I pray for release and forgiveness. For my friends that are lost, I pray this will be the moment You find them. For all of us, may this be the moment that You remind us who You are and what we are in You. I pray this in Your name. Amen.
“

Taken from the book “In Real Time” by Mike Glenn

God-Sighting Saturday

At some point during the last week of 2012, I got thinking about the concept that many bloggers use where certain days of the week are dedicated to a specific blog post type.

We have:
5-minute Friday – five minutes (and only five minutes) of unedited writing based on a weekly prompt
Weird Verse Wednesday – Looking at a uncommon, not often quoted, or just plain weird Bible Verse each Wednesday
Saturday Prayer – a quoted prayer posted each Saturday

… Among many others.

In hopes to blog more consistently this coming year, I decided I would start a God-sighting Saturday post.
God-Sightings are basically places we see God at work each day in our lives.

Each Saturday I will post one or more God-Sightings from the past week. Sometimes it will be a story of something that happened that week. Some stories may be related to my own personal life while others will be related to ministry at First Trinity. And some weeks, like this one, it may simply include a list of big or small ways I saw God show up in the week. My prayer is that as I do this, it will help me to keep my eyes open for what God is doing in my life and the lives around me!

Here are SOME of this week’s God-sightings:

- So many of the FT youth serving in worship… Especially after staying up half the night at the New Year’s Lock-in.
- Awesome adult leaders that were willing to stay up half the night with the high schoolers at the lock-in as well as those who helped prepare and decorate for the event.
- Pastor offering to help me carry stuff out to my car after church.
- a long Sunday afternoon nap!
- a day to do whatever I needed to do… Including rest
- friends to do life with
- the joy in greeting a friend home from vacation
- some fun goals for 2012
- lunchtime laughter
- watching the Haiti missionaries busy preparing to leave and while I’d of course love to go, being 100% content with not going … With knowing that when God said “not this year, Bekah” (and I actually listened) that it is TOTALLY a good thing for many reasons
- a day of unexpected motivation from start to finish (possibly divine motivation)
- people helping paint and fix up the house next to church that I’ll be moving into later this month.
- 20 people, 40 suitcases, TONS of donations filling the basement at church as our two missions teams prepare to go to Haiti
- recalling God’s goodness in my life as I glance through old journals as I pack up my apartment.

And a few more in pictures from the week:

Words to describe 2011 along with our hopes for 2012 from the lock-in

Reminders to SHINE!

Pictures of my beautiful niece sent from my beautiful sister

A New Advent Tradition

As Advent began a little over a month ago, I was trying to figure out a new tradition I could start to celebrate.  I talked with friends, read blogs, searched the internet, and brainstormed, yet so many of the ideas I found all centered around doing things with your family each day… with the people that live in the same space as you.  I was thankful for some ideas of things I could do long distance with family as well as the many opportunities I had this last month to join in with other families here to celebrate, but I wanted something special to celebrate and mark the journey of Advent. I wanted something that would keep me focused on what this season is really all about.

 

Somehow as I read about seed planting, Jesse Trees, shepherds bags, advent activity calendars, family devotions and more I realized that even if I was living alone, whatever my advent celebration ended up being, it was meant to be shared.  So here’s what I ended up with as my new personal advent tradition:

 

On the Saturday before Advent I sat down with my address book and made a list of friends that are now spread out all over the country … people I talk to often, people I never see, and people everywhere in between.  After I had a list of 29 names, I addressed a greeting card to each of them and placed them in one of my Christmas decorations designed to actually hold received greeting cards.

 

Each night before bed, I would pick out one card from the pile.  Sometimes the picking was random and other times something about that day reminded me of someone and so I would choose that person’s card for that day.  Then I would sit down and share.  Each card had at least two things described in it… a general update of how life is and a summary of where God took me on my Advent journey that day.

 

Some days were filled with exciting moments to share with my friend, while other days God took me through some difficult stuff on the journey toward the birth of his Son.

 

While I missed a few days here and there and it wasn’t always easy to make the time, I must say that this tradition is defintiely sticking around (and possibly making an appearance at Lent too)!  Here are a some of the reasons why:

• It forced me to ask myself the question everyday: God what did you want me to learn in this day and did I learn it?  Where did you want me to go and did I go there?  What did you want me to do… did I do it?
• I knew that each night I would have to share something about where God took me on my Advent Journey so I learned to keep my eyes open to him at work otherwise I knew it would be hard to have anything worth sharing if I didn’t keep my eyes open.
• I got to connect with some friends that I haven’t talked to in a long time.
• Everyone loves snail mail!
• I love writing letters/cards and haven’t taken enough time to do it lately.
• I would have never sent out 20+ Christmas cards this year if I just sat down and did it all at one time (at least not ones that had anything beyond my signature and a brief Christmas greeting).
• I heard back from about half of the people and it gave me a chance to hear what’s going on in their worlds too.
• I got to share the typical “catch up” details that everyone wants to know but the second part of each card forced me to go deeper than that and share about how life REALLY is… in that day.
• My advent celebrations weren’t limited to myself and/or the people I see around here in NY… I got to invite people all over the country into at least one day of my advent celebrations.  Often, I was able to share what I was doing with people here in NY with the people I was mailing cards to outside of NY.  This means that the to the living nativity with Tracy, Jaime, and Addie; decorating sugar cookies with friends; and spending Christmas with the Whiteds all meant so much more as I relived them that night and shared them with friends in CO, IA, FL and beyond.
• It helped keep my focus on what this season is all about and why Jesus came… which is what really matters anyway.

 

I would love to hear about any advent or Christmas traditions you all have!  Please share them in the comments.

‘Tis Good, Lord, To Be Here

Today was a beautiful day.  I’m currently back at school in Nebraska for a Mid-Year Conference with all of the DCE interns from all over the world. These few days back on campus are hard to describe.  Most of us interns have used the word “weird” in that description more times than we probably can count.  It’s this interesting dynamic of loving this place but not really fitting in… at least not in the way we have in the past.  Our roles have shifted, and that’s okay.  In the midst of this awkward, indescribable, mid-way check point, it has been such a blessing to just see God presence everywhere I turn.  Here are just a few examples of where that was found today alone:

•  A conversation with a beautiful woman with whom I’ve literally had one prior face to face conversation with before, yet somehow our hearts just know each other.  I don’t get it, but was so thankful for our time together this morning and God’s presence there.
• Chapel.  I miss chapel.  What a wonderful REST was found in the very SIMPLE yet profound proclamation of the Gospel today as it was describe as a song, a melody that can, in a way, be the “background” music to our life.
• Lunch (at Dragon Palace) with fellow interns, talking about anything and everything and nothing.
• A chance to share with other DCE students our experiences and where we’ve seen God at work through our internships.
• Being able to “pick up” friendships where they left off and just get straight to what really matters… to know and be known.  

As corny as it may sound, I really felt like the last verse of a hymn we sang in chapel today encapsulates this trip back to Concordia for me.

’Tis good, Lord, to be here.
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.

It is so wonderful to be able to reflect and see all the many ways God has blessed my life through Concordia… to be able to come back and be overwhelmed in a good way… to realize the number of people through whom God has blessed me and made me who I am.  But now, as good as it is to be here, it’s obvious that this is not where I belong right now… and God comes with me to what’s next.

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Lord, ’tis truly good to be here… to behold Your beauty… to see You at work in my life and the lives of others… to hear and remember your gospel melody that accompanies my life.  And now, as I prepare to wrap this time here up, may You remind me of your promise to go with me and continue to open my heart and ears to that beautiful melody of Your love.  ’Tis good Lord, to be Your child.  Thank You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Link to a Friend’s Post… Presents or Presence?

A dear friend just wrote this blog post:

 

Giving More Presence

 

It was an awesome reminder again of what this season is really about. 

Thanks Gari!

 

Blessings to you all!

Joyfullyblessed by God’s Provision

So here’s a simple, but awesome story of how God provides in ways that only God can.

So back on Thursday, the zipper on my coat broke.  While certain times and places you could kind of “make do”, I decided that Buffalo in the winter is not the place or time. 

Originally the plan (before the zipper broke) was to look for a new coat when mom was here next week.  So despite all my desire to stay AS FAR AWAY from a shopping mall on the Saturday before Christmas, I was right next to the mall and had about 30 minutes of time to kill this afternoon.

I decided to drive around a little and see if I could even find a parking spot near JC Penny’s.  Not only did I FIND a parking spot, it just so happened to be THE VERY FIRST parking spot closest to the door RIGHT near the coats. (To make a long story longer, when I was a kid, we’d call close parking spots “Thank You Jesus” parking spots as a reminder that we can thank God for ALL the blessings he provides…even things like parking spots.  So I called my mom to tell her about the “Thank You Jesus Parking Spot” and headed into the store.)

So, basically, I found a coat I really liked that was normally $200 for only $80.  While I liked it a lot, I still wasn’t willing to pay $80 for a coat since some of the other ones were on sale for like $40.  So I tried on a couple of the other coats and they didn’t fit right.  However, in trying them on, I realized they were actually on sale more than the sign said.  I took the original coat over to the price scanner and found out that until 1 pm (it was like 12:45) the coat was actually only $60.  PLUS, I ended up finding a coupon from the flyer when I walked in the story that was $10 off any purchase over $50.   To summarize, the $200 coat ended up only costing me $50. … and I really like it a lot.

Isn’t it awesome the way our God provides?!?

I also wanted to share some fun times God provided from later today. 

First of all, I stopped to see Laura today.  She is doing well and wanted to say hi to everyone and thanks for all the encouragement and support. (She especially loves her prayer blanket as you can see below!)

 

Another big blessing was an afternoon/evening spent with the Whiteds.  Here are some fun pictures from the cookie decorating extravaganza!

Unable To Count That High

The leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and more fills the fridge.

Pies and cookies line the buffet table ready to be eaten as soon as our stomachs can hold another bit of food.

Bodies of friends lay asleep in the living room buried under blankets, pillows, and other remnants of last night’s sleepover.

 

I sit at my kitchen table…

overwhelmed…

in awe…

humbled…

grateful…

 

How gracious is our God!

 

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Awesome God, I can’t help but pause and bring you thanks and praise for this day. 

For a new day to be alive and live in you. 

For an amazing time of worship this morning with Your Family, focusing us as we began this day of giving thanks.

For beautiful friends to spend time with and celebrate with this week. 

For big meals… and small meals… reminders of your provision.

For a house and food and family.

For grace… freedom… life.

For the fact that as I begin to “count my blessings,” even just in today,… I suddenly realize, I can’t count that high!

I give you thanks.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Hope {day 29} – “Were” … a Hopeful word?

So, I was getting ready to write my blog post for today… Day 29.  But then I read the blog post of a friend and decided that instead of writing today, I’d link to his post.  While the original topic was about his class yesterday, he had some interesting thoughts about some scripture that may not seem full of hope at first, but in reality, is packed full with it!

 

Check out his post by clicking here:

A Snippet from School- Trying to be the best student that I can be

 

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Lord, we thank you that we WERE filled with sin and everything that separate us from you.  It sounds weird to say that, but it’s so true… You’ve made us new.. and for that we give you praise!  Help us to live new lives, free from guilt or shame of what we once WERE.  In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!

Collision: Mend the Broken

Well we did it!  We survived the first “road trip” planned by Bekah.   As promised yesterday, I wanted to share a little bit about my experience this weekend at Acquire the Fire in Cleveland, OH with 16 teens and 2 other awesome adult leaders.  The theme this year for this conference was Mend the Broken.

 

I guess I’ll just go through the weekend chronologically to give you an idea of what we experienced and learned.

 

The first session on Friday night started with worship led by a band called School Of Worship.  They led us in worship all weekend and it was always an amazing time to just enter into God’s presence and give him praise before hearing Mike Guzzardo share God’s Word with us.  Friday night Mike shared with us that our lives are kind of like broken down cars that need refurbished.  First we have to let God take us out of the junkyard so that he can begin to take us a part and clean every little part of us…. it takes time and he has to get into every little deep place, but then, once we’re clean on the inside, he can begin to rebuild us in a way where we can think and live how he originally intended us. 

 

The night ended with a Newsboys Concert during which we got to be a part of the video recording for a music video.  They said they only use a live audience for a music video once every 2 or 3 years and they picked Acquire the Fire- Cleveland, OH to be that audience.  Watch for their video for the song “Miracles” coming out soon and see if you see any of First Trinity Crossroads group in  there!

 

After that we headed back to Lutheran High School West in Rocky Road, OH which was gracious enough to let us use their facilities to sleep and shower this weekend!  A youth group from Hosanna Lutheran Church nearby also joined us Friday night at Lutheran West.

Saturday morning started bright and early (for high schoolers) at 8:00 am and was broken into three sessions all including worship, a message, and part of a drama that continued all throughout the day. 

 

The first session Saturday tackled some difficult issues that teenagers (and all of us) face today regarding pornography, sex before marriage, same sex attraction and more. Teens were challenged to join “The Resistance” when they struggle with these or any sins in their lives committing to purity in heart, mind and body.  An organization called CovenantEyes.com also provided students with a 30-day trial of an internet filtering and accountability software that they produce.

 

The afternoon session was about failure and how we deal with it.  We were reminded that just because we’re Christians doesn’t mean we won’t fail (see Proverbs 24:15) it means that God helps us get up when we fail and that we don’t have to be defined by our failures. 

The afternoon also included 2 concerts, one by Young Joshua and the other by Jimmy Needham. 

 

After dinner we went back for the last session which was about how our world tries to get us to focus on The Me-World .. my problems, my stuff, my fun.   God calls us in our new refurbished  life to focus on the HE-World …. the things of God’s heart… whether that’s serving your neighbor next door or going overseas, we all can start now making changes in our lives to shift and “get away from ME”.

 

Our weekend wrapped up by attending St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, OH on our way back to NY.  They were very welcoming, had a beautiful sanctuary and there was some AMAZING scenery on our drive  between the high way and the church.  Think, curvy hilly roads with gorgeous houses lined with trees still dressed in autumn colors yet covered with snow.  BEAUTIFUL!  Definitely added meaning to the term “scenic route”. 

 

Overall it was an AWESOME weekend filled with fun and, I pray, spiritual growth.  Those of you from First Trinity, take a chance to ask one of the kids about it… them sharing with you is one thing that can help continue the growth that began this weekend. Thanks again for your prayers and support!

 

 

 

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Here’s a video summary put out by the Acquire the Fire organization. (You can see some of our group members at around 1:42).

Hope {Day 12} – Hope and Contentment… the Best of Friends

Tonight at the wonderful Philippians Short Course Bible Study at First Trinity we were studying chapter 4.  It’s a wonderful chapter which I strongly suggest everyone read.  (You could even do so right now by clicking here.)  Anyway, in summary here are a few things covered in that chapter:

• vs 4 – Finding JOY in the Lord
• vs. 5-7 – Finding PEACE to replace anxiety through prayer
• vs. 8-9 – Finding TRUTH to fight the lies Satan gets us to believe.
• vs. 10-20 – Finding CONTENTMENT in Jesus rather than our circumstances.

You may be starting to wonder what all of that has to do with a blog post that is supposed to be about HOPE. 

 

However, as I was driving home just now, I began to realize that “CONTENTMENT” and “HOPE” are very much alike.  Maybe hope grows out of contentment or contentment comes from hope or maybe neither, but in any case, many similarities appear.

 

Take a look at what Paul says here in Philippians 4 about being content:

… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know that it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 

Just like contentment, we learn to find HOPE no matter what the circumstance.  Hope doesn’t come FROM the circumstance.  Most of the time, if we look at our situation, we’d probably find more despair than hope. So while hope doesn’t come from the situation, we can find hope IN the situation. 

 

Paul states here that he found “the secret” to contentment, and it comes in looking to Christ for strength.  The same is true of HOPE… we have to look to something, or rather Someone, outside of our situation in order to find hope. 

 

Verse 19 tells who that Someone is:

And my God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Despair, the opposite of hope, comes when we start to think that there’s no way out… our situation is too big… to hard… too much… my needs are too many or too great.  In reality, when we can’t find contentment or we can’t find hope… it’s because somehow our circumstances have blinded from seeing God’s provision.  We start to let our minds wander and think, “Well, maybe God isn’t enough for me.” Our situation can, at times, keep us from realizing that our God is MORE than enough for us.  He provides ABUNDANTLY.

 

When fear and anxiety attempt to rob us of contentment or hope… we can focus on “whatever is true.” (vs. 8 ) And this my friends is true:

OUR GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US! 

 

Provision.

 

Contentment.

 

HOPE.

 

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Gracious God,

We thank you for the promise that you will provide for ALL our needs.  We thank you that you’re not giving us just enough to survive, but that you provide abundantly, that You are MORE than enough for us.  When the situations and circumstances of our lives blind us and fill us with anxiety, give us strength and bring us back to truth.  We know from Your Word that in that place of truth… in being honest with you in prayer, your peace will guard our hearts and our minds.  That is our prayer tonight, Lord… that you would protect our hearts and minds from despair as you point us to Hope Himself, Jesus Christ.

It’s in His name we pray,

AMEN!