Tag: Life and Faith

Mom had a bad fall during my sophomore year of high school.  She fell on her car keys and they went almost completely through her hand. We were blessed to have some great mission doctors that took great care of her. As she began the healing process, Uncle Jack (one of our mission doctors) told her that the best therapy would be piano, so she took up piano lessons.

A couple of years later, Mom played “Little Drummer Boy” at our annual Mission Meeting. Following her song, she shared testimony of God’s healing. Our mission family and others had prayed for complete healing of that hand. God healed the damage from the fall, but He also healed the arthritis in that hand that had been a problem well before the fall. He did completely heal the hand.  Now, every Christmas, when I hear that song, I am reminded of her testimony that summer.

Early in November, I applied for a contract job that I thought would be right up my alley.  I interviewed within a week with the staffing agency.  A couple of weeks went by and the client asked to interview me by phone. I thought I had a pretty good shot.

In the meantime, Dad decided he would go on a cruise for Thanksgiving and invited me to go with him.  While I wanted to go on the cruise, I had to wait and see what happened with the job. A week later, I found out that I didn’t get the job, so I planned on going with Dad. We had a great time.  It was nice to get away from the job search for a few days and relax.

We arrived in port early on the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and I decided to check my messages while we were waiting to get off the ship.  I have five messages from the staffing agency! The person they had placed was unable to continue and they wanted to know if I was still interested and if I could start Monday. I called Sunday, got my paperwork filled out and started Tuesday!

This was one of those great, unexpected gifts from God.  He managed to work it out so that I got to go on the cruise AND get the job. That’s something only He could have orchestrated.

One year ago today, I worshiped at The Fellowship at Cinco Ranch for the first time. Dad had visited several times and told me about it.  I was looking for a church in my community with solid biblical teaching.  What a gift it has been to find this and so much more. Here are some of the things I love most:

• Prayer. Each week, in the service, they set aside time in the service where people can submit requests to be prayed for during the week. A prayer room is available  where people can go either to pray quietly or have someone pray for them. Each week, a prayer story from a church member is included in the program.  I love seeing how God answers prayers in different ways.
• Teaching. The teaching is shared among the pastors and I love all of them. They spend an entire year in one book. I wasn’t sure initially if I’d like that, but have absolutely loved it.  This year, we spent the year in Genesis. I have a much better understanding of the book of Genesis than I did before.
• Worship. I love John and the Worship Team.
• Missions. I love the work the church is doing in the community and around the world

I am so grateful for Pastor Jerry, the rest of the staff, and the church.

This Fall, my friend Tanya, invited me to join some of the other ladies in our Life Group that were planning on participating in a Tuesday Night study called Unglued.  It is a women’s study by Lysa TerKeurst on dealing with our raw emotions. If Tanya hadn’t  invited me, I’m not sure I would have gone.  I’m so glad I did.  I got to be with some amazing women and was challenged in my spiritual walk.  I identified that when I come unglued, I tend to stuff things down and build barriers against people who have caused hurt, and was able to deal with some very raw emotions.  I learned so much from Lysa and from the ladies in my group.  I understand myself a little more and can make steps toward doing things differently with God’s grace.  This study, and spending time with those women was an unexpected gift of joy this year.

Several years ago, I stole an idea from a colleague and wrote a blog post that listed all of the gifts of joy that God had given me throughout the year.  This year, I thought I’d do something a little different and share a little more in-depth about a few specific gifts over the course of the next several days,

Life Group: February 8th, I started going to a Wednesday night Life Group at my new church. Everyone was gracious taking the time to introduce themselves and include me in conversation.  I loved the group right from the start and it didn’t take long for me to feel right at home.  This group has been one of the greatest gifts God gave me this year.  I am constantly challenged to grow in my faith as we discuss the sermon from Sunday. They have encouraged me and prayed for a job for me throughout this year. I thank God every time I think of these men and women with whom I get to walk this faith journey.

I met Gretchen Lange a few years ago.  She was working at the same church that I was working at. We became friends following a discussion one day about Human Trafficking.  We had both been learning about how big a problem it is and that Houston is a hub for it.

As I got to know Gretchen better, I was impressed with her passion for God, for life and for people.  What I admire most about her is that she is, or at least appears to be fearless.  She is not afraid to try new things and she has great business sense.  Her most recent endeavor is Director of Development for CERI.

Gretchen, thanks for your friendship and for helping me become a little bit more fearless.

This is the second in a series for this month of women I admire.  I met April my Sophomore year of college through my friend Stephanie. We clicked immediately, becoming fast friends and eventually roommates.  I have always thought April to be an amazing woman.  She has been through much in her life, but has kept her faith and continued to work hard.

I had an opportunity about a year ago to have dinner with April while she was in town for a Mary Kay conference.  As always, it was great to visit with April.  I loved catching up for a few minutes.  I also enjoyed hearing about her work with Mary Kay.  I was so impressed with what she had done as well as her genuine interest and care for those she helps by selling Mary Kay products.

I admire what April has done in creating a business and building it in order to help her family.  I admire how hard she works and how she cares for people. Thanks April, for your friendship.  May the Lord bless your work/ministry.