Sweaty palms. Hives. Stomach in knots. A loss for words. It's what some of us go through as we begin to pray aloud in a group. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've had four conversations with awesome Christian people in the last few weeks that have explained their desire to pray aloud but the anxiety that rises up keeps them from showing up or contributing to praying ... Read More »
Prayer
Taking Jesus to the park
As a church we are learning what it means to live out our faith beyond the pews and stain glass. And so our outreach ministry team coordinated an opportunity for our church to flesh out our faith at a local park in town. For weeks on end we met and prayed for God to give us generous hearts and provision for babies and toddlers in our town. What would people need that WIC or ... Read More »
When God responds to our giving
I shared recently about our reluctant but willing heart in something we felt God calling us to do. I am cautious in sharing for fear it might be taken the wrong way but I can't help but want to share what God did. The day we gave into God and put forth what we knew he was telling us to give financially we told the kids that God would honor obedience. God wasn't bound by our ... Read More »
He answered – four years later
God surprised me with an answered prayer four years after the asking. It was a one and done prayer with not much regard after praying about it but it was significant enough for me to remember every detail of the prayer. It was a medical bill for $1,241.65 that I knew we didn't owe based on our insurance coverage and what we had already paid out. But we kept getting bills for ... Read More »
What I love about our kids school
We are like any school out there - we aren't perfect but we are working hard to do things well. I say "we" like I teach there or something. I don't. I'm not even on a board, committee or anything. I volunteer my time in certain areas and I support our staff through prayer every week and I am a huge fan of our school for many reasons. Recently my heart has just been so full with ... Read More »
What you fear your kids say about you in Sunday School.
I had one of those cringe moments Sunday morning as I was teaching the 4 & 5's class during church. We were talking about sin and how we all do it. The kids were talking about how they kick, get angry and lie, etc. I said, "Mrs. Melody sins too." Of course I wasn't exactly ready to start listing them so freely and childlike but one of the girls said, "Like what! What do you ... Read More »
Dipping into the Blessing Bag
How bad is it that on the way to church I threatened the kids to wash their mouths out with soap….from the "Blessing Bag"! Sigh. These blessing bags seemed like the best idea ever at the time. Blessing bags….where you fill up a gallon size zip lock bag with toiletries, snacks and socks and keep on hand in your car to give to a homeless person. Honestly, it's been harder than I ... Read More »
I’m camping – please pray!
That's my girl. Athletic shorts, heels and knife in hand getting ready to go camping..... four days before we leave because you can never be too prepared. Our whole family is going camping this weekend. This is a big deal because I'm not much of a camping chick. These last 20 years I've never once missed sleeping on the ground under a nylon triangle that supposedly protects me ... Read More »