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!

The Lutheran Home

Our December mid-month was caroling at the Lutheran Home. We had a great turnout and we were blessed just as much, if not more, than the residents. The kids had a great time too! After our singing we enjoyed some cookies and hot chocolate back at the Chapel. The kids got in some good play time too!!

We have some ladies in our group who visit the nursing home weekly. If you are interested in doing the same with your little ones, these ladies would be happy to tell you all about it.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

December MOPS Meeting

Today we had LOTS of yummy food for our tummies and a wonderful Christmas message for our hearts. We opened the morning reading a telling of Mary and Joseph's experience being chosen as Christ's earthly parents. The powerful message of our video was the unfathomable reality that God came to dwell among us. We were reminded this morning that while all the religions of the world exhibit ways for man to try to get to God, Christianity is magnified in its radical reversal of this. Christianity is the ONLY  faith we don't see man trying to get to God--but God came to man. Christ loved us so much that while being fully God, He humbly came as a helpless baby born in a barn among animals. Not only did Jesus love us so much to come to earth in this humble way, but He loved us so much that He was willing to suffer and give His life for each of us. What an amazing, loving God we serve!!

For our Creative Activity this month, we made ornaments that we will give out at the Lutheran Home next week when we take our little ones Christmas caroling there.

All of the ornaments turned out super cute!

We also had lots of fun with our "Mom Themed" White Elephant exchange. We had all sorts of funny items that were a symbol of the season us moms are in. From plungers to "inimates" to chocolate--we all had a good time opening our gifts and hearing who brought the item and why. Very fun!

We missed our moms who weren't able to make it and hope to see everyone next Tuesday morning at the Lutheran Home!

We also want to thank our MOPPETS workers! Thank you, thank you, thank you for serving each month. It is a HUGE blessing to each of our moms. We are so grateful for you!!

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14