What a week!

The last several days have been a whirlwind of activity and a roller coaster of emotions. I had an incredible opportunity to help lead a class called Next Steps on Sunday at my church. It was designed to help those new in their faith or those who maybe didn't know how to grow in their faith get started, to take those first steps.

We spent the morning talking about salvation, prayer, the Bible, quiet time and church. We had a small group, but definitely one ready to be brave!


Later that evening, I got a phone call that a dear friend was very close to taking her last steps here on Earth. She had been sick for awhile but chose to privately deal with her illness. Very brave! She would go and meet Jesus less than 24 hours after the phone call.

I am just now realizing the amazing connection of these two events so close together. In the Next Steps class we discussed that to be a Christian is to be Christ-like, to follow Christ's example. It's intentional, purposeful. My dear friend would live her life faithfully serving others, intentional about following Christ. In her own words, she wanted to have a life of purpose, to leave a legacy, be secure and to hear God say, "Well done!" Without a doubt, she did.

As I've reflected on her life and thought about what the last few weeks must have been like, this song kept playing in my head. I will miss your sweet smile this Sunday, but I hope you know you make me want to be brave.

Gather and Grow

Last week I started a Forever 31 Gather and Grow group! It's a division of Proverbs 31 ministries and you can check it out on the link. We'll be meeting for about 6 weeks and talking through a book/bible study by Lysa TerKeurst. But for our first meeting we got to know each other a little by telling what kind of utensil we would use to describe ourselves and why! It was funny and insightful...here are a few of the responses:


whisk-likes to stir things up

spatula-likes to smooth things out
(These first two should get along great!)


soup ladle-always has a lot on their plates
spaghetti server-commits to a lot and some things fall out
slotted spoon-likes to weed through and get to the good stuff
wooden spoon-stays calm; gets the job done
pie server-likes to keep things in order, be in the background
can opener- likes to pry
sand shovel-not really a kitchen utensil, but I think she was still on a tropical island somewhere!!



This is going to be great group and I can't wait to share what God teaches us about saying Yes to Him!