May MOPS Meeting

Another blessed MOPS year over already! Our final meeting today was fun and relaxing. Our speaker this morning, Gari Flowers, focused on taking time as moms to treat ourselves to some pampering and relaxation. We even got a taste of all that at our meeting this morning! Hopefully, it was a refreshing time for each lady.

For our Creative Activity, we put together a "Summer Bucket List" of things to do with our children over the summer. We wrote different ideas of fun activities to do with our kids on popsicle sticks that we can pull out of a cute little bucket. It's going to be a fun summer!!

Another blessed MOPS year at Cape Bible Chapel coming to a close. God has continued to pour out His blessings on this ministry. He has continued to provide a Steering Team, Mentor Moms, MOPPETS Workers, speakers, AND mothers to keep this ministry going. Our prayer is that He will raise up individuals yet again for the 2013-2014 year.

If you know a mother who would be blessed by this group, please encourage her to register for next year! If you have it on your heart to serve in some way in this ministry, please let us know!

God tells us to "encourage one another and build one another up" (1 Thessalonians 5:11). I can attest to the fact that MOPS provides such encouragement. It has encouraged me TREMENDOUSLY over the past several years. The information and Godly wisdom I have benefited from in MOPS has been a huge blessing in my life. The friendships I have gained at MOPS has built me up and continues to build me up in my walk with the Lord and as a mother. Join us in praying that this ministry will continue to bless others in the future as it has blessed so many of us over the past several years. To God be the glory!

Homemade Granola Bars Recipe

If you were at our April meeting, you probably tasted the delicious dish Sarah S. brought. Many of you asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Homemade Granola Bars
1/2 cup peanut butter (she uses the natural--no sugar kind)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil

Heat on low in saucepan until melted together. Remove from head and add:
1 cup oats
1 cup combination of: coconut, sunflower seeds, peanuts, chocolate chips, ground flax seed, raisins (or other dried fruit or nuts)
(Just take your 1 cup measuring cup and start filling it until you reach the top.)

Spread in an 8x8, 9x9, or slightly larger pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars. Individually wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

April Mid-Month

Bowling + preschoolers=FUN!! (well, fun and maybe a broken finger).

Thanks to all the moms and preschoolers who made it!!!

April MOPS Meeting

Today's meeting gave us lots of great info and put us to work! Our special guests today were from the Cape Girardeau County Master Gardeners Program. They answered questions and shared lots of wonderful information on container gardening.

After listening to all the helpful input they had to share, they put us to work! We got our hands dirty and did some gardening of our own!

What a fun morning! Hopefully the rest of you ladies were smarter than me and secured your pot down in your car before taking off! Needless to say, my car is now covered in soil. :)

Only one meeting left ladies! Praising God for the wonderful year we've had so far!!!!

March Mid-Month

Paint Part-ay!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We all had so much fun painting! Thank you so much Rachel for your patience in baby stepping-us through this painting. We all had a blast!

 Getting us started.

 These ladies are ready!

 Such good listeners.

 Taking it a step at a time.

 The difference is in the details!

 Working hard.

 Hardly working.

 Trying hard not to take ourselves too seriously!

And the finished products! You ladies did great work!!!

Thank you again, Rachel!

March MOPS Meeting

March is always our testimony month. This month we were blessed with LaShea Worley. LaShea had so many wonderful insights and encouragments to share! God has written (and is continuing to write) a wonderful story in her heart and life.

LaShea broke her testimony down into 3 Acts. Act 1 was her life before Christ. Act 2 began with God unveiling her eyes to the truth of the Gospel (Acts 9:18) and took her thru living out life as a Christian which still requires facing life's bumps in the road. Lastly, she shared Act 3 and the struggles that came after having her fourth child, as well as, the process God has brought her thru in leading her family to adopt.

I wish I could share with you all of LaShea's story! If you missed hearing her this morning, please go on the Chapel's website and listen. You will be blessed!!

The most central and important part of her life, however, was how she came to know her Lord and Savior--Jesus Christ. She told us that as a child she struggled with feeling loved. She knew she was loved...she just didn't feel loved. Her view of God was that He was angry and demanding and if she did not measure up, then she was not loved. To put it simply, she felt like what she did determined whether or not God loved her. What a heavy burden to carry!  Even though she went to church and had heard about God as a child, she still sadly believed that what she did or did not do was what determined the outcome of eternity for her soul.

Fast forward several years and LaShea found herself in premarital classes at a new church. It was there in those classes that the Gospel was clearly laid out for her and the Holy Spirit revealed the truth to her. In fact, she said the person leading the discussion drew a diagram similar to the one below, which helped her come to this new understanding.

Growing up in a works based religion had given LaShea an inaccurate view of God's truth, and the Gospel lead her to new understanding. Her life hasn't been the same since! She then understood that we are separated from God because of our sin. No matter how many good works we do, no matter how religious we are, no amount of money, no matter how moral we are--NONE of that can bridge the gap to God. Only Christ's death and resurrection can bridge the gap for us!!

I would like to just share a few of the verses LaShea shared with us that were impactful in her conversion to follow Christ:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

"They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'" Acts 16:31

As I mentioned, there were so many wonderful aspects of her life she shared. I know each of us ladies were blessed by her genuineness and transparency. 

She closed with a few of the lessons God's been teaching her in her current season of life: 

1. Letting go and trusting God.
2. The importance of prayer. God has convicted her to pray for the little girl they were supposed to be adopting (even if things aren't turning out the way she planned). She referenced a story by Jason Upton she recently heard that provided her with huge encouragement in praying this way (hear Jason's powerful story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mguPHT-Q3Qg).
3. The importance of relationships and friendships. 

These are great lessons for each of us, as well.

Through all the ups and downs of her story, she had a good friend reminder her of this: "Don't doubt in the dark what God has called you to do in the light." What a great reminder for us when we tend to doubt what God has called us to do!

I'm so thankful God led LaShea to share today the ways He's worked in her life. I was encouraged and challenged by the things she has gone thru and the things she is now facing. God is writing a wonderful story in her life. She closed with asking us today....if you have not already done so, will you give the pen over to God and let Him write your story? It is only by surrendering our lives fully to Him that our story can become a masterpiece for His glory and for our eternal good. 

I'll end this post with one final verse that LaShea shared. She said another adoptive parent had shared this version of Philippians 4:6-7 with her, but it definitely applies for ALL moms!

"Do not be a spaz, but with each bump in the process, give it to God in your heart and out loud, and remember to tell Him how thankful you are for how faithful He has always been. And the peace of God, which doesn't make sense to your Mama human brain, will stand guard over your Mama heart and Mama mind because they belong to Jesus."

February MOPS Meeting

Happy Valentine's Day MOPS Mamas!! We had a VERY blessed meeting this morning!
For those of you who missed, you will want to make sure to listen online!! (To download today's speakers visit http://www.capebiblechapel.org/media.php?pageID=5)
We were blessed to have Mike and Sue Edmunds speak with us this morning.

There was SO much I got out of listening to these two, so it's hard for me to even begin summarizing!! Drawing off of Hebrews 12:15, which says, "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled." Offering the question of whether they should speak to us about romance or reality on this Valentine's Day, they offered the reality of much needed grace in our marriages. Giving us a visual explanation of the grace of God, you will see below us discovering it's meaning: "The divine influence upon the heart and it's reflection in the life (and also it's reflection in my marriage; or reflection in my husband)."

Sue pointed out to us that bitterness should also be listed as a verb in the dictionary, because it most certainly can be an action. Bitterness has a root and roots are a source stemming from a deep hurt or unmet expectation that has developed a root in your heart. She went on to illustrate the 4 C's of Bitterness: choice, control, contagious, and consequence. To shortly summarize these, when we have bitterness we can or cannot let it determine our choices, we can let bitterness control us and our thoughts, it can go on to be contagious and effect all our relationships, and lastly, it can cause severe consequences in our lives. She contrasted the sourness of being bitter to the sweetness of kindness. Those 4 C's look different when kindness replaces bitterness. Kindness can lead to the extreme opposite choices, have us control our actions and attitudes, be contagious in a positive way, and result in wonderful consequences of unity and closeness!!

Mike closed with thoughts on 1 Thessalonians 2:7: "But we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own child." He used the example of the selflessness and unending care a mother has for her newborn child as an example of what the extreme opposite of what a bitter heart looks like. Applying this love and genleness in our marriages, wives can demonstrate the grace of God in their marriages evoking a different (positive) response from their husbands.

To sum it up, Mike and Sue encouraged us to plant the grace of God in our marriages instead of the root of bitterness. Grace is a barrier that can block roots of anger, hostility, resentment, sulking, malice, strife, unforgiveness, fear, envy, insecurity, retaliation, and jealously from taking hold deep in our hearts. What a powerful teaching, indeed!!!

We spent time discussing this talk and cutting out some cute Valentines reminding us of Christ's love. Lacy encouraged us to drop these love notes off to others throughout the day, spreading the truth of God's love for us.

 Morgan is my go-to poser. =)

Thank you to everyone who brought food and who worked so hard to make this meeting (and all of them!) happen. I am blessed every month and I know you are too!! God continues to be at work in this wonderful group of women!!!!!

PS Don't forget our mid-month at Discovery Playhouse Tuesday (target time is 10am to 12pm)! Don't forget your flyer!!

January MOPS Meeting

What a fun morning of Bunco! I think the initial mass confusion added to the fun. We also found out a little about each other, didn't we? Some of us are rule followers and some are rule breakers! And some like me, have trouble with numbers. :)

Our proud winners!!!

And our proud losers...

For our Creative Activity we made story cubes. 

A new fun activity for us and our kiddos to get our imaginations going!

I really should have taken a picture of another lady's....I'm not the best with crafts!

Regardless, they will still be fun to use!!!

Thank you Kristen for sharing the devotional with us this morning.

May we all prayerfully choose a person to pray for each day this upcoming year!

As always, we missed the ladies who weren't able to make it. 

We look forward to seeing everyone in February!