Sister to Sister

God’s Timing and Ways are Perfect – Update Baby Blanket Project!!

Amy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:37:37 +0000

So, how many of you remember this (http://sistertosister.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/i-challenge-you/) challenge we put out more than a year ago? Our baby blanket challenge!

Now, perhaps we didn’t QUITE meet our goal, but I am very happy to announce that all together we were able to donate 11 beautiful handmade baby blankets to the local Crisis Pregnancy Center near where I live! It was such a blessing to work together with everyone who worked hard on these blankets!

For some reason forgetful me was entrusted with bringing the blankets to the center, and as you can tell, time got WAY ahead of me! But, God’s ways our not our ways, and His timing is perfect! I was able to drop them off today and was told that this was the perfect timing and they were really needing them at this time and in this cold weather! Praise the Lord! I could never have planned that myself!!

The director sent a beautiful thank you note that I want to share with you all! Thanks again for everyone who helped out with this! <3 You all are blessings!

And a BIG thank you to Debbie, the director of the center, for all the hard work you and everyone else is doing in the Name of Jesus! You are such a blessing to those around you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Amy and Friends,

“Man’s dignity rests in God who assigns an inestimable worth to every person. Man’s origin is not an accident, but a profoundly intelligent act by One who has eternal value; by One who stamps His image on each person. God creates men and moves heaven and earth to redeem them when they fall. Our origin is in creation and our destiny is for redemption. Between these two points every human heartbeat has value.” R.C. Sproul

Thank you for your loving support and your very generous gift of the beautiful baby blankets. Your gift comes at such a critical time and will be very appreciated by the moms and babies we serve. I wish I could send you the smiles the blankets will bring. Having a hand made gift is such a powerful message of love. Please know that your gift will help to further the work of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in helping reach women in crisis pregnancy and helping them to choose life for their unborn babies.

Soon we will be welcoming our 1,450th baby and we are so very grateful for your partnership.

Warmly in Christ,

Deborah Laws
Executive Director

Singing Blessing and Honor

Sam — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:14:04 +0000

My life has completely turned around, changed, and has a completely new meaning of crazy-busy. I have started school full-time while still working part-time…there are days when I feel like I just can’t handle it all! There are days when I just want to burst into tears but force myself not to, because I have so much to do. There are days when I want to throw my hands up and say, “Ya know what, God? I just can’t do this. I don’t care if this is where You want me…it’s too hard!”

But those are the days when I look up to a certain card pinned to my bulletin board above my desk…a certain beautiful card in the hand of my best friend reminding me of just how much she loves me, but also reminds me, “…read a passage of Song of Solomon, knowing that YOU are that beautiful Bride of Christ.” As a bride of Christ, I know I am treasured by Him. Think of that! Treasured. That’s how much He loves me. And on those horrible days, when I feel like telling God, “I give up.” I just have to say, “Blessing and Honor to You, Oh God.” Because no matter how hard life is, He has remained faithful. I am His treasured one.

Isaiah 12

¹You^[a] will say^(A) in that day:”I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
^(B) your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

²“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for^(C) the LORD GOD^[b] is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

³^(D) With joy you^[c] will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴^(E) And you will say in that day:

^(F) ”Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
^(G) make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim^(H) that his name is exalted.

⁵^(I) ”Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known^[d] in all the earth.
⁶Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great^(J) in your^[e] midst is^(K) the Holy One of Israel.”

Blessing and Honor to YOU, oh, God!

Everywhere I look, I see Your Face…

Amy — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:08:08 +0000

We often sing the song “Every Move I Make” with the preschool kids in the mornings, and each time we get to the part “Everywhere I look I see Your face.” I look into the faces of those blessed children around me and realize how true it is – each time I look into one of their faces I see Jesus. Everywhere I look I see His precious face – in the Mama’s faces when they give you huge smiles and love you, in the kids when they yell “Auntie! Auntie” and give you big kisses and hugs, in my roomies when we we’re all loopy from smelling to much paint thinner, or when they share beautiful lessons God has been teaching them. Everywhere I look I see HIS face.

The journey

HannahBeth — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:57:34 +0000

Copied from my personal blog. May this encourage you all! ~HannahBeth

Discouragement was Pastor James’ topic for last Sunday’s sermon. “Discouragement,” he told his congregation, “is simply the lack of courage. A discouraged person is a defeated person, someone who has lost heart. And let me tell you something-Satan is the one who causes discouragement. He cannot discourage us when we remember the One who has called us to follow Him, the One who is in control of our lives.”

It’s so easy to become discouraged with where God has placed us in life, if we don’t see immediate results from our efforts. And sometimes we don’t even see that He’s given us opportunities to serve, because we have our own ideas of what God will and won’t use to draw people to Him. I like to place unnecessary stress and worry on myself by thinking that I must do as much as I can right now, while I’m young, or I won’t ever be able to be used by the Lord. That is false, and more than that, it is sin. God does not ask us to be world changers or well recognized examples of Jesus followers, though that may be the result of doing what He HAS called us all to do-to love and obey Him in all that we do. We don’t have to be quoting Bible verses or traveling to foreign countries with the Gospel in order for Jesus to work through us-whatever we do, whether it’s changing 50 diapers a day, eating lunch with a friend, or sharing what God has done in our life, if it is done for the glory of God and not man, God will use it to show His love.

Who are we to decide what God can or can’t use to draw someone to a relationship with Him? Have we forgotten that He is God, that He made us and planned out our lives so that we would be right where we are RIGHT NOW, doing exactly what we’re doing RIGHT NOW, all for His glory??

Have you lost heart in serving God with your life? Are you lacking courage to serve God in a different avenue than you thought He was calling you to? May I just encourage you to rethink your ideas of what it means to live your life for Jesus-sometimes I think we place more emphasis on sharing our spiritual relationship with others than on building up that relationship with Jesus. It’s good to be intentional in sharing Jesus with the lost, but sometimes He can better use us when we’re not trying too hard to be anything but in love with our Savior. We waste so much time trying to figure out what our calling is in life-let me save some of us lots of time by revealing that to you now. It is simply this, to bring glory and honor to our King of Kings: “In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which He promised to His people. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23-24)

“Only one thing concerns me: be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. Then whether I come and visit you or am away from you, I will hear that you are standing strong with one purpose, that you work together as one for the faith of the God News, and that you are not afraid of those who are against you. All of this is proof that your enemies will be destroyed but that you will be saved by God. God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for Him, both of which bring glory to Christ.” (Phil. 1:27-29)

So relax! Enjoy the journey He’s placed you on! Because that’s just what your life is, and always will be until He brings it “to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

“Little stuff big stuff in between stuff
God sees it all the same
And while I may not know you I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes does it matter at all
We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you do
Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
And every little thing that you do”
~Steven Curtis Chapman

HannahBeth — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:48:48 +0000

God’s love is like the ocean-terrifying in it’s incredible depth and vast spread, and so easy to drown in. It’s a beautiful thing to sink into the grace and peace and love of Jesus Christ. A simple thought for pondering…

Fear not

Madeline — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:44:14 +0000

Hello there! Maddie here!

I am so sorry for not posting in a long time! My life has been busy, but I know that I should not make excuses.

Tonight I will be graduating from (homeschool) highschool, and I will be giving a short speech. I have never done public speaking before, and even though my speech is about two minutes long, I have been very nervous about it. So this afternoon I was sitting by myself and I felt like I should recite Psalm 23 slowly myself so that I would reallylisten to the words and what they meant. So I did. And you know what struck me? I’m not sure what verse it is, but it’s the part where it says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” I have recited or read the 23rd Psalm many many times before, and this thought never struck me before today: Even if I am walking hand in hand with death; even when death is all around me, I will fear NOT. I will fear nothing, because you are with me. This speech won’t bring me anywhere near death, and I am fearing! Fearing what exactly? I’m not sure, but I am fearing something. And David says that he will not fear even when he walks through the valley of death itself. How foolish it is of me to fear just because I am giving a two-minute speech at my graduation! He is with me! His rod and his staff will comfort me!

“Do not fear for I am with you[!!!!!!!!]” (Isaiah 41:10)

Where is your home?

Amy — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:34:36 +0000

“Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”
Psalm 73:25

“By faith Abraham obbeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would reveive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Hebrews 11:8-10

Where is your home? There is a saying which says “Home is where the heart is.” And I have to agree. My home is where my heart is. When someone says home there are two things that come to mind – Heaven (God says this world is not our home, but HIS kingdom is! :OD), and the home where I have lived for as long I can remember with my little and big family all around. Today I have been thinking about homes though, and so here are my thoughts!

Since we know this world is not actually our home, then how can we claim just one place to be “home”? My home is wherever God puts me, because wherever He puts me is where my heart is (or will be, sometimes God has to do more work on me before I can throw my heart into it! ). So, my heart is in Heaven where my God is waiting for me, and where I will praise Him for all eternity! It is where my family is – My heart is with my family – and always will be! They are such important people to me, and I love them lots and always will. But my home is also here, in Uganda, where I know God has placed me at this moment – I am at home because my heart is here now. My home is wherever he puts me in the future – whether it is in the U.S., here in Uganda, in China, Mexico, with head hunters, sweet old ladies, or crying babies. Whether it is a dirt hut, a cardboard box, or a pretty white house in New England. My heart will be there – in fact it already is right now, even though I don’t know where that is. My family will not only be my biological family, but also my brother’s and sister’s in Christ all around the world. My nieces and nephews, sons and daughters will not only be my biological ones, but also the little street children and orphans who are dirty and hungry – I will love them like I do my bio family!

God – You are leading me to my real home, help me to love all my earthly homes as well, no matter where I am! Help me to love YOUR children!

So if you ask me where my home is, I may tell you something different, depending on where I am at the moment, but really I have many homes, which are all leading to my true Home someday!

Quote I wanted to share… :-)

Amy — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:46:45 +0000

“But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through”
…
-Francis Chan

Who you gonna trust?

Amy — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:46:42 +0000

I’m in Africa right now (I know! *Freak out moment!!* ), and yes, that freak out moment is in good and bad ways. It’s only my 2nd day, and I am realizing that you gotta trust God in the ups and the downs! Now I’m sure most of us think we know this, but when your heart is pounding in your chest about things which are scary, it’s hard to remember that HE has the whole world in His Hands!

Isaiah 41:10 - ”So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

And so my dear sisters, in not fearing – 1 Cor. 16:13-14 “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.”

Many Apologies and “What did you read this morning?”

Amy — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:00:02 +0000

First off, I would like to begin with my deepest apologies for not posting in forever! April was really crazy for me with school, as was the beginning of May, and then I was on vacation, but I have returned now – at least for a short time! I know, I know! No excuses should be given! I have just been lazy in this area of my life, and I am very sorry!!! I shall try to do better!!
Be rest assured though, I did not forget about you all! Although it sometimes felt like my life was spinning out of control, I kept trying to think of what I could post here…
However, if I were to be very honest with myself and you, I would have to admit it wasn’t just school and busyness which kept me from posting here, although that was a big part of it. The other big part was that I have been on a bit of a… Standstill I guess you could call it, in my spiritual growth. With all the craziness I got lax with my Bible reading and alone time with God – one quick chapter a day when I am falling asleep is not enough. I also have been feeling the lack of being around Christians who really push me to keeping faithful. No, I have not been doubting God, or falling away from the faith – Jesus is my Savior, and always will be, but it has been a down time for me in growth areas. I am very thankful that He has given me a certain Christian friend at school (an old friend of mine), and allowed us to have lots of time together this past semester for studying, library time, and weekly Panera lunch trips, and she has really helped me when I have needed to sort things out about what I believe about stuff. And also for our own dear Author HannahBeth, who always points me to the Lord. But I have not been strict with myself, and things in my life have suffered because of that.
This all sort of leads up to what I wanted to share with you this week. Just this week I had the pleasure to go visit HannahBeth at the ministry where she serves, and got to help out there for a couple days – it was an amazing experience – being around such Godly Christian ladies, who really encouraged me and pointed me to the Lord, and getting to have some good long heart-to-heart talks with HannahBeth! One thing especially stuck out to me however, which happened yesterday. Monday night HannahBeth and I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning just talking and sharing our hearts – which was amazing, and the next morning we sort of dragged ourselves out of bed, and got started with the busy day right off. Around lunchtime I headed to the main ministry house and went down to see if Linda, the lady in charge of watching the kids needed any help getting ready for them. (On a side note – this lady is so amazing – so sweet, and loves Jesus and the kids so much! So inspiring! I was so blessed to be able to work along side her two days in a row on my short visit!). While I was down helping a sweet African lady who also was going to be helping with the kids came down and was full of smiles and “God bless you!” And “Jesus loves you!” and was just so full of joy, and sharing about what she had learned that morning in her Bible reading. And then it happened – turning to me she asked me with a face full of anticipation – “What did you read this morning?”
What could I do with such a Godly woman but to just be honest and tell the truth? Blushing to the roots of my hair I admitted reluctantly that I had not read anything that morning (and was hoping really hard she wouldn’t ask what I had read the day before, because if I was honest I would have to say – nothing then either. I’m ashamed even to write that!). She proceeded to ask me when I was planning on reading my Bible, and I told her I normally do at night. Then she gave me a beautiful lecture about how important it is to spend time with the Lord in the morning – at the start of the day, to get help and encouragement to help us through the day. And also how important it is to be able to share that with others.
Ok, I was very ashamed of myself, but at the same time I was able to honestly thank her for the encouragement in that area of my life. Sadly I am rarely put into that situation, and I realized how helpful it is – we as Christians need to be asking each other if we are keeping up with our Bible reading, and what we are learning! It is very important, and going away I felt inspired and challenged! (And made sure to read my Bible this morning, even though it was 3:30am when I had to get up for the plane ride home!). Later HannahBeth and I had a really good talk about how good it is to be pushed like that, how we felt ashamed of ourselves, and how we felt inspired and how beautiful it was that she asked that of us – just the seemingly simple question of “What did you read this morning?” Of course this morning I had to text HannahBeth between flights and ask her what she read this morning, and share what I had read!

Anyways, my challenge for you is to SHARE! And ASK! This lady didn’t have to wait to be asked what she had read – she was bubbling over just WAITING to share it with someone, and ready to be encouraged by what someone else had learned! Let us be more like that. Next time you see a Christian friend say – “God bless you! This is what I read and learned in the Bible this morning! What did you read and learn??” You might just make a huge impact on someones life, like she did for me! And don’t be afraid to push each other to be faithful! As Christians in a dark world we NEED that!
Proverbs 27:17 says -
“As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

This is so true! Be faithful sisters! And encourage and sharpen each other! We all need it!