Relationship Tips for the Holidays by Pam Farrel

C – Center your heart on the deeper meaning of the holidays. This will help everyone become easier to get along with because the heart of the holiday will remain intact.

H – Hear what your friends and family are voicing as their stress, and listen carefully to them—a gift that will lower their stress.

R – Reach out as a family to help others in order to keep the proper perspective on what is really important in life.

I – Invest in memories, not material goods. Make time for family baking, tree decorating, or board games.

S – Speak your love in words. The best gift you can give is for a person to hear their value and worth from your lips.

T – Take time for romance. The greatest gift you can give your children is a happy marriage.

M – Make time to reach out to extended family. Visit or call grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

A – Assume nothing; ask those who are celebrating with you what their expectations are, and communicate the plan clearly so people feel informed.

S – Stay flexible. Don’t be a Christmas boss, ordering family around. Instead slow the pace, gather consensus, and give options so that you create an environment of connecting and sharing.

When the prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of Christ, a new hope was born into the world; a hope that lives in us today.

Your spiritual journey begins the moment you believe in this extraordinary hope, and lasts through all eternity. We invite you to open the Word and open your heart, and begin this day in a deeper relationship with the One and Only, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Filling Your Blessing Basket – by Sheila Walsh

In her book Basket of Blessings: 31 Days to a More Grateful Heart, Karen O’Connor shares her experience. “If you want to be content, to experience peace,” a friend had told Karen, “write down your blessings—the things you’re grateful for—on slips of paper and put them in a container of some kind. A small basket or box or bag will do. Soon it will be full to overflowing. From time to time look at what you wrote. No one can be discontent for long with so much to be thankful for.”

In addition to filling a “blessing basket” on a daily basis, we could write a letter to God once a year, listing all that pours out of our hearts for his extravagant grace to us. Think of what a joy it would be to keep our annual letters of gratitude to read through the years or to pass on to our children. What a celebration we could have as we remind ourselves of the faithfulness of God.

Whether our thank-you moments are momentary, intentional pauses in the midst of a hectic day, thank you notes to God for his many blessings, or lengthy discourses of his grace, cultivating an attitude of gratitude will remind us of the truth that undergirds our lives: “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

Holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter can be joyful occasions, but I’m aware that they can be painful too. Perhaps you have lost a loved one and this is this first time you will face a particular birthday or anniversary with an empty place at your table. Perhaps family times make you feel lonely, remind you of what’s not true for you at this moment. I pray that you might know deep in your spirit that you belong to an eternal family; you are loved by God, enough for him to send his precious Son to the Cross for you.
We have so much to celebrate as daughters of the King of Kings. I pray that you might find a quiet place today to stop and lift your heart up in gratitude to our Father.

L.I.F.T MEETING 11/9/11

Thank you to all the fabulous ladies who made an effort and came out last night to our LIFT meeting. 

Thank you for all your support. 

Don't forget next month meeting will be held at the Church, Gordan hall entrance, on December 13th,

if its God's will. 

Last night was a blast.  Okay Ladies, who knows how to make a cake from scratch? 

Well, it's not as easy as it seems when you are not an everyday baker. 

Here is the basic ingredents for a standard cake:

2 Cups of Sugar, 2 cups of Flour, 1 Cup of Milk, 1 Stick of Butter, 1 tsb of vanilla, 4 eggs, 2 tsp baking powder. 

Supplies given

The winners !!!  Theresa, Shelby and Dolores



Monica's reaction to eating the "almost winners" cake. 





God Will Pay – by Renie E.

I purchased six Jesus Calling books with the spiritual understanding that God would lead me to who needed the books. I only have one left. I gave the books to people I feel God directed me to, one of them being my hairdresser, a man. This was very unexpected and I can’t wait until he starts reading it. It will be interesting to see the conversations it will open up. What an opportunity to witness—it is so much fun!

I was walking with another friend who was sharing her troubles and I said “I have a book for you.” She offered to pay for it but I said, “No, God will pay for it.” This is goose pimple true: about 10 to 15 steps after that we saw, on the sidewalk, a $20 bill face up between us. (Not wrinkled—and no one was in sight.)
I said “He not only paid for your book, you have someone else who needs the book.” (Cost of book=$9.99 so $20 covers two books.) Sure enough she did have a friend in need.

When I said “God will pay for it,” I had no idea that He literally would, on a sidewalk—and immediately after saying it!! He is just incredible.