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Connection Newsletter
Each month,
we put out a newsletter to keep everyone informed of current trends
in the life of our congregation, upcoming events they can benefit
from, and changes in personnel and scheduling. This newsletter
is called the Connection, and we hope that as you read it, it will
live up to its name!
The Connection is available
for download. Simply click here
to download a copy.
Click
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by e-mail each month.
Ways To Get
Healthier This Year
We
asked our congregation the following questions at the end of 2007 --
What did you do, read, think, go to, change, or add to your life
this year that made you see God's greatness more? What part of what
you did this year left you loving other people better than ever
before? What thing made you grow? And here are the answers you
sent in.
*** Choosing to
Know and Do What God Says Was Big! ***
Instead of reading from a one-page per day devotional booklet
with random topics each day, I chose a well-written Bible commentary
on a section of Scripture (Exodus by Alec Motyer, earlier Romans by
Jack Cottrell, currently Jeremiah by James Green). Each daily
reading time builds on previous material and the depth of God's Word
keeps sinking in. The exercise enhances daily worship.
Being more obedient to God's word has led to some doors being
opened that I could not have imagined a year ago. The Lord is
faithful to His word and I know His promises are as real today to
His Children as they were 1000's of years ago. I am living proof.
Reading Henri Nouwen’s Lifesigns: A Christian View of
Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy.
What did it for me in 2007? Small groups, life groups, or
Bible studies . . . whatever you call it, it makes a difference in
your life. I look at Scripture more differently now than a year
ago. Whenever I'm with family, at work, or doing church stuff I
think of how would Jesus handle this, how would Paul deal with this,
what would Simon the Zealot do (yes, Simon would have done something
even though it's not listed in the Gospels)? I understand now that
God lets us go through various situations (good and bad) to see
where we are. I hope in 2008 I can grow spiritually and help some
other people grow at the same time.
Reading John Ortberg’s The Life You Always Wanted and
If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat.
The more I give of myself to Him, and to others, the more I
get back. I have always felt that if your heart is with Jesus you
will want to find your gift, your talent, or a passion and use it
for His cause. I believe the only way to a healthier and more
joy-filled life is to throw yourself in and get involved with
serving, with study, with others. Working with the youth this past
year gave me great pleasure, even though I felt completely
inadequate to do so. My passion right now is to somehow make a
difference in these kids' lives ~ they need to know and understand
what I didn't at their age. But I have learned that by helping them
grow, they are helping me to grow also. A win-win situation.
The one thing I zero in on is spending more time with God
through Bible study and meditation. Meditation being thinking of
His word and how it applies to my own life. It is amazing how God
speaks through His word and once you hear His voice you want to hear
it over and over again.
Journaling major life events each day as they apply to my
continuing attempt to let God’s Spirit lead me forward.
I have thought about what you asked us to do. I do think
that I have grown more comfortable and more apt to talk to people
about the Lord. One thing that has helped me do this is the
reading I do of Christian novels. The ones I read include a lot of
conversations with others, sharing God's love and plan for us. It
makes it seem more natural; and I know I am talking to others more.
Reading Randy Alcorn’s Deception.
*** Big Life
Moments Also Were Pivotal In Us Growing Healthy! ***
One of the things that helped me grow was being challenged on
what I believe through classes, teachers, and other students. I
really had to think about why I believe what I believe and how that
fits in with science.
In early June of 2007, I went to The Women of Faith
Conference in Rochester, NY. This was the 3rd time I have been to
this event, but this year the speakers seemed to be speaking to me.
It was a very meaningful experience that made me see God's greatness
more through these women. I would highly recommend this experience
to other women this coming June. What is better than the Blue Cross
Arena filled to capacity with women who love Jesus and spend this
time rejoicing in His greatness together?
2007 was an incredibly difficult year for my family. Many
personal, life-changing events happened during the first half of the
year. On June 11 we lost my brother-in-law at the young age of 60
and on September 11, we lost my dad. Both deaths were extremely
difficult, however they were both life-long, strong Christians and
knowing that they were in heaven got us all through it. During that
time we read a book titled 90 Minutes In Heaven by Don
Piper. It is a powerful book that gives you peace, hope and the
knowledge that Heaven is a real place that is waiting to be the home
of all who have Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord of
their life. We have recommended and given this book to many friends
and family members and it has made a difference in many of their
lives. Our lives have been drastically changed by events in 2007
and we are trying to change our lives for the better and to live for
HIM. Our prayer is for everyone to have a Christ-centered and
hopeful 2008.
This past year I had no choice but to learn to trust in God
more. I think that's how He works sometimes. After two car accidents
and the deaths of two good friends, I can look back and see that not
only did God get me through it all, but my life began to bear more
fruit. Friends and family were encouraged and comforted,
relationships were deepened and restored, I had more love, peace and
joy in my life. I didn't exactly set out with the goal of loving God
or anyone else more, but that's what happened when I put my life in
His hands, when I decided to trust Him with my life.
It was last January that my mom had a
pretty risky surgery performed. Her health was poor already and
there was a great chance that she may not make it through. If my
mom died, I wasn't ready yet to accept it and it hit me hard. I
never had anyone really close to me die before. She pulled
through the surgery and I realized that I really wanted her to know
that I loved her. As her health deteriorated, she was in and out of
hospitals. It was hard to see my mom like that, but each time I saw
her or spoke to her I made sure she knew she was loved. I saw
her in late September and she was a shell of herself. She was very
sick and even she was aware that she was turning into the person she
didn't want to be. No words could express my feelings, so I just
sat and hugged her. She lit up. It didn't need to be spoken, but
she knew my feelings. My mom died that following week. I was very
sad that she was gone, but at peace that she was no longer in pain
and in a better place. Most importantly, I know that I am going to
see her again. On
the day my mom died, the memory verse given out that night at
KidzKlub struck home. “My command is this: Love each other as I
have loved you.” John 15:12. We get so caught up in the day-to-day,
that we tend to forget to appreciate what we have in our lives. I
realized that and I am trying harder to let people know how I feel,
say hello, give a compliment or just say thank you with genuine
appreciation for them.
*** Others Were
Prominently Mentioned In Being Healthy! ***
Deliberately arranging my life so that I get to hang out with
people who are spiritually healthy.
For me, it was finding other Christian college students, not
just to be able to worship with and everything, but to be able to
have fun with and remind me that we don't have to rely on drinking
and smoking and stuff to have fun since that seems to be the
activity of choice for like 80% of college students.
The short answer to your question is “Got Involved”.
I would have to say the life groups have made me healthier.
Not only did I learn about women in the Bible from our ladies’
group, remembering who I am in the Sunday morning ladies’ group and
learning (or at least trying to understand) about Revelation in the
Thursday group, but I've developed friendships that will last a long
time. It helped me to become closer to the people of the church who
just want to be closer to Jesus, which helps me try to become closer
to Jesus.
One thing that really helped me get healthier with God?
Spending time in a small group where we are studying God's word.
There is a theme to the thing that helped me grow closer to
God this year. It has been participating in Life Groups. We have
been members of the Thursday night Life Group that Jake has been
leading for many years. It has helped me to grow in my knowledge of
Scripture. Deep discussions have derived from Scripture that both
pertains to and changes my life today. It has given me the ability
to come together every week with people who are very different from
each other, yet bonded together by our love for Jesus. We are able
to openly discuss things that are very important to us knowing that
we will be loved by everyone in the group. We are growing to look
like what Jesus wants us to look like, a family, that wants to find
ways to care for and help each other. We openly pray for each other
when we are together and throughout the week, which has helped me to
deal with some difficult weeks that have been full of stress. We
also lead two other Life Groups. Our desire to help other people
build relationships with Jesus and each other has also helped me
spiritually. I have been challenged to step out of my comfort zone
and attempt to duplicate the love that we experience in our Thursday
night Life Group with others. I think if our entire church were in
relationships with each other like our Thursday night Life Group,
Jesus would look really great and we would be growing in ways that
we never before experienced. I am excited to see what God does to
me this year through the many amazing family members of our Life
Groups at Willowbrook.
Joining a life group that prays together.
The one major thing I did this year was get involved with a
great group of people who are learning more about themselves, and
their relationship with Jesus. Thank you WILLOWBROOK, for showing
me that there are people who genuinely care about other people, and
love to work together in the name of Jesus. I can't wait to see
what happens this year!!
Watching the 5 Love Comes Softly movies, and seeing
how families were intended to be!
*** God’s Spirit
Working On Our Attitudes Also Made The Heart-Healthy List! ***
2007 was by far the hardest year of my life - but I "trusted"
God and leaned on my friends a lot and I got through it. I now
understand what it means to have friends that "truly" care and don't
just ask how I'm doing out of obligation. This has opened my heart
and I am starting to trust people more with God's lead.
The only thing that comes to mind with everything that we
have been through, would be "being true to one’s self" ~ this may
not be what you are looking for, but when I was really angry and
ready to walk away, my daughter’s simple words to me saying that
"You believe Mom, that is who you are!" put my whole attitude in
check and made me feel, no ~ accept and maybe even surrender to my
beliefs. This has made a change.
At first when you gave your assignment, I felt like "I got
nothing" because I seem to fail at bearing good fruit in my closest
relationships. But maybe the very reason that I see how much I still
need to grow means I have grown just to be able to see that, rather
than say well, I've done this, this, and this. I think facilitating
the Bible study on Worship using the "Unquenchable Worshipper" by
Matt Redman has helped me see where my strengths and weaknesses are
and how much I need to trust and seek God's wisdom even more. I also
think the weekly Ladies’ Bible study/Life Group has helped reveal
some things to me - like attitudes and feelings that still need to
be "brought to the Cross" and how I need to let Jesus help me love
people more. I think that the messages have stirred up many issues
that I need work on, like taking more personal time with Jesus. I
have been praying more, but probably not searching His Word enough.
So all these things have helped me grow some, but have shown me how
much more I need to grow!
Looking back on this past year, I believe that one biggest
aspects of growth for me has been learning that though my immediate
emotions always seem to change, the Lord never changes. At the end
of the day I am always humbled by Jesus' call to willful
submission. At the start of each day, I think it is a real
challenge to immediately rely on Him, but more and more I am
learning that this is what He wants from us. I'm learning to trust
that life is so much better while resting in Him, even musically!
*** Conclusion! ***
Hebrews 10.24f says we should “consider how to spur one
another on toward love and good deeds and let us not give up meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage
one another, and all the more as we see the day approaching!”
Jesus’ Day is coming, and it’s now closer than ever – and it’s so
good to be part of a group of people who are readying themselves
(and others) for His appearing! Hope 2007 was a terrific year of
maturing for you! Hope 2008 is even better – and that somehow you
can bear the weight of His glory in your life!
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