Love In Action!

This last week I went with our youth group on our annual youth mission trip. Over the years, my pastor husband and myself on been on quite a few trips such as this, with youth and adults. We have always been blessed by these trips and have seen some wonderful projects accomplished, with the help of God and the hard work that comes from loving, determined souls.

This year over a dozen churches came together and stayed at Butler University, in Indianapolis. Every morning we would disperse throughout the city and work on several projects, for The Boys and Girls Clubs, local churches, nursing homes, individual homes of folks who just can't do things the way they used to, and for the Salvation Army.

The group that I was assigned to went to a salvation army location. Their summer program fed the local families in the area lunch,had a devotion time and then open gym time. This gave the children in the neighborhood something constructive to do during the summer and also made sure they had at least one good meal a day.


We went in to help by painting a few walls, clean some carpet and windows. Help cook and serve the lunch and snack. But that was nothing. The most important and fun thing we did was be with the kids in the afternoon and talk about God's love. The theme with this was, no matter what a person did, God would not stop loving them and He would always be there for them when they called out to Him. I could see in some of the young ones eyes how important it was to know that someone would always be there for them. 

The staff at this facility was a wonderful example of God's love in action. They loved these kids with a passion that we don't see enough of. Yes at times some of the youth that came could be a handful, but that did not deter them. They fixed what ever was going on and went right on loving and serving. I know my heart and the hearts of the others that came with me were touched. You could see God shining through these men and women, with an unfailing love that would not stop. They were the epitome of these verses in Corinthians 13..... 

1 Corinthians 13 The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

The Friday we were there was the last day of this summer program.  Tears could be seen in the eyes of some. It was sad for us too, because it was our last day as well. So you can imagine how upsetting it was for the one's who had been there all summer. But there were smiles too because they had been with, and had been taken care of, by some of the most loving people I have ever met. What a wonderful summer these kids had. 




I thank God for the friends we made there and for the chance to see His love in action.

Blessings!

Thirsty?

We just had a wonderful rain shower! What a much needed relief!  

It has been hot and dry for over two weeks. All the flowers, yards and crops have been looking pretty thirsty! 

It happens every summer. There are long streaks of heat and long streaks of no rain. We know it is going to happen, yet when it does we long for the coolness and the rain. We tend to get a little cranky and sad as we look at the dryness all around us.

That is how it is in life. We have periods when everything is going well. The well springs are flowing and life is good. Then wham, dryness hits. The springs dry up and we feel drained, like we have nothing to give and then we feel like no one is giving to us. Everything we try to do is hard and frustrating and than a deep sadness sets in.

In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah felt like she was in a dry land.   She had not had a child and was saddened and frustrated by this. In her barrenness she cried out to God for a child. 

1 Samuel 1:10-11

Common English Bible (CEB)

10 Hannah was very upset and couldn’t stop crying as she prayed to the Lord. 11 Then she made this promise: “Lord of heavenly forces, just look at your servant’s pain and remember me! Don’t forget your servant! Give her a boy! Then I’ll give him to the Lord for his entire life. No razor will ever touch his head.”

David had tough times too. He was thirsty and longing for God help save him from his enemies....

Psalm 42:2

Common English Bible (CEB)

2 My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When will I come and see God’s face?

Psalm 63:1

The Message (MSG)

God—you’re my God!
    I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
    traveling across dry and weary deserts.

Hannah and David knew, as we should know, that our God is the one to turn to in our times of dryness. He promises to be there for us and to walk with us through everything we are going through.

He answered Hannah's prayer....

1 Samuel 1:20

The Message (MSG)

20 Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, “I asked God for him.”

And look how He changed David's sadness into rejoicing....

2 Samuel 22:2-4The Message (MSG)

2- God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout;
My mountaintop refuge,
he saves me from ruthless men.


4 I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.


Just like our late afternoon showers have brought about a freshness and much needed moisture to our area, God will take care of us in our dry times. He always keeps his promises. Read what the Psalmist writes about this......

Psalm 146:3The Message (MSG)
3- Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.

I hope you are all going through great times, of sweet gentle showers, of blessings in you life right now! But if you are in a dry arid time, please remember that you do not have to go through this alone. Reach out to our Creator and Savior. He will bring you peace. He will bring you to an oasis of coolness and shade.  He wants to help you with any issue you are dealing with and will help see you through. He loves you with all His being and wants nothing more than to see you happy. 

Doesn't that make you smile just thinking about it!

Blessings Sweet Friends!!

Good at It

GOOD AT IT

I was told last night that I was a good helper to my husband, Rodney. I love him and he is family so it is easy for me to help him. 

This got me to thinking about others, around me, that are not my family. Am I a good loving helper to them? I certainly do have great examples of others, to learn from, on how to be.

Every time there is something going on at the church so many people just jump right in and help get it done.

Whenever, over the years, we've needed someone to help us with Riley we have had no trouble finding loving people to do just that.

While at the fair this last summer I captured this picture of a sweet friend of ours helping a smaller, younger girl with her cow in the judging corral. She didn't get any credit for this. She just did it because her friend needed help.



 Last May over 200 hundred people, in and around Hagerstown, IN  stepped out of their normal schedules and put together some 48,000 meals for "Kids Against Hunger". Imagine all the starving children that have eaten better because of their generosity.

We have a neighbor that comes over and takes care of our yard, just out of the goodness of his heart. The snow on our sidewalks and drive magically disappears after every snow storm because of the kindness of another of our neighbors.

The list of examples of people in our lives, who just love, goes on and on and on. I could be writing all night. 

I Thessalonians 4:9 keeps coming to mind....

Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it.

All of these people do all of these things, not because they have to, but because they want to. They are already good at it!

Let's hope we all can have someone say that about us too! 

Blessings!