Waiting...

"I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint

I'll be running the race even while I wait

I will move ahead bold and confident
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yeah

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint

And I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You Lord

I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting"

--- "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller 

Need to keep reminding myself of this song while I'm waiting for the next steps to come... Marriage, housing, and the resources we need for those things to happen... While it seems like everyone is six steps ahead of me, I have to keep reminding myself that God's in control and He has a plan. 

Please pray for me and with me that I'll be able to maintain that focus and not loose heart. Thank you❤ 

Passion

"If you feel like there's something out there that you're supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it." - Wanda Sykes. 

Everyone always has something they want to do, maybe even feel called to do, but they are scared to pursue it so they don't. They aren't willing to put their foot out there, they stop on the edge and freeze. Everyone has been there before, everyone has made the decision to either take the chance and step out or sit by and watch while others peruse their dreams while sitting there wishing they had. 

Some sit by and think they need to step up but figure others will step up and then no one does and the job or position that needed their assistance is still lacking. 

Sunday school teachers, vbs volunteers, etc all need more people to be willing to step out of their comfort zone and to be with our children to teach them about God's love. Stop sitting around and waiting for "someone else" to do it.You do it. You may find a new passion or joy in the process. Step out of your comfort zone, discover a new passion, volunteer, make a difference. 

Compassion and Love

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
― Leo Buscaglia


“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen



"When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.
When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.
When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.
When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.
When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.
When times are tough, dare to be tougher.
When love hurts you, dare to love again.
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.
When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.
Dare to be the best you can –
At all times, Dare to be!”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free


“for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being



“It is only with true love and compassion that we can begin to mend what is broken in the world. It is these two blessed things that can begin to heal all broken hearts.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free



"Share love, show compassion, be the future the world needs, not the one it needs to change." - Kelly Isner

❤K

Anniversary and Voices

Yesterday marked 3 years of Chris and I being together. 

Our first picture together - haha don't mind that it's horrible!! 

We started off the day with our usually Sunday doughnut, teaching Sunday school and then church. I had a meeting that afternoon and then we went home and took our usual Sunday afternoon nap (after getting beautiful roses from my honey after my meeting!) 

My beautiful roses!

We then decided to mix things up a little bit and go get dinner and go bowling – 7 games and lots of silliness later our night came to an end. I’m so thankful for Chris and how well he puts up with me ;-)

Bowling 

There’s this thing at church that I’ve volunteered to do…after every meeting about it I get so frustrated and discouraged, ready to quit before I even begin. It’s almost as if my voice is hardly heard and if it’s heard, it’s ignored. I was telling Chris about it and he sweetly reminded me not to “back away/drop/run from/turn away from something God wants you to do.” I told him that I volunteered for this before I had two jobs, school, and other church things to do also. He once again sweetly reminded me that “things happen for a reason” I told him, “no one listens to anything I have to say. Why would they listen to me later on down the road if they aren’t doing it now? Maybe someone else who’s more vocal should do this particular job.” I was then told, “Maybe this is where you find your voice, and maybe this is where you finally become heard.”

I hope he’s right! Prayers would be appreciated as I weed through all those things which are bringing me down about it and find those things which help make what I’m going to be doing into what it needs to be, even if I have to be stubborn and make decisions which others might not be fond of.. I have to find the happy medium between what needs to be done and not making others mad…



Other news – I’m supposed to start my new job either the end of this week or the beginning of next week! I’m going in tomorrow to find out more information about when they really want me to start and all that jazz! Thanks for the prayers and encouragement!!

♥

Jobs, applications, and interviews , oh my!

I have an interview Thursday morning at a daycare/preschool. Prayers would greatly be appreciated as I'm in the process of looking for another job. I just don't think Kohl's is going to cut it. They aren't steady enough. Pray that I will find the job that I'm supposed to have to be able to pay bills and for it l hopefully be something I will enjoy doing. I heard on the radio today that having a job you love to do makes it much easier and more likely that you will do your job, do it quickly, and do it well. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as I venture out into the job world with my new degree in hand. I pray that all those years of school might eventually land me a job in the field I love. ❤Kelly

Children's Ministry

              “It requires a modern-day leap of faith for someone in a local church to dare pull out a blank sheet of paper and change the way ministry is done” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p.21). Are there people out there today who are willing to step out and take that leap of faith? You might not make friends along the way by changing things which have always been done a certain way but ministry is not just about making friends, it is about changing lives. Now I am not saying that you should go out and make all your volunteers and everyone else angry at you, that is no way to change a ministry, but if something is not working, there must be a change made. In Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week, the authors state that “Change is not a bad word” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 43).

               Are there fears for the people taking this on? Are there complications and many different opinions and quesions about children’s ministry topics? Of course there are. Meetings can feel like a fight and take every bit of energy out of you, but it is worth it all in the end. “He offers this promise; with faith in Him, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). He is smart enough, strong enough, and definitely has a plan” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 25). Knowing that God has a plan and is enough to complete these tasks and so much more adds a comfort to all the stresses and fears of change.

              Creating a vision for your children’s ministry creates the starting point for it as a whole. When creating a vision one must make sure that it is on track with what God is leading the church and the children’s ministry to. "His promise is that he will provide all that is needed when a God-honoring vision is pursued (John 14:14) – this will surly radiate energy to everyone close by. Such a vision is the basic foundation on which to build a ministry" (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 27).

              Creating a place of energy and excitement for the children and volunteers is very important. "Ministry fills up volunteers who serve in the right places; they leave each Sunday feeling energized rather than exhausted. Every ministry can take a large step to avoid volunteer burnout if the tasks each person is asked to do match up with who God made him or her to be, and when everyone feels like part of a community. His promise is that there’s strength in working together (Eccl 4:9-10, 12)" (Miller & Staal, 2004, p.28-29). When working in any ministry, precautions need to be taken to insure that people are working and using their Spiritual gifts. When you use the talents and abilities God has given you it is much easier to do the work. There are still times you become exhausted and need a break, but you are able to bounce back much quicker than if you are doing something you do not like or are not supposed to be doing.

                We are to first “see kingdom potential in every child…. When every child is seen as bursting with kingdom potential, the urgency of children’s ministry increases” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 40-41). Children’s ministry is so important in the church and in the lives of our children today. If we are not taking care of them in the church then we are not doing our job as Christians. Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week states that, "What we do really matters… The value of reaching people while they are still young is validated in studies by George Barna, which quantify that the older a person get the less likely it is for him or her to start a relationship with Christ" (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 41-43). George Barna’s research shows that, “between birth and age 14, he found that there is a 32 percent chance an individual will accept Jesus. After that point, the number drops quickly to about 6 percent during the rest of a person’s life” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 49-50).

                  Creating an environment where children are and feel safe and welcome, as well as a place where they learn about God and are not just babysat, is the focus of children’s ministry. Sometimes it is crazy, sometimes it is loud, sometimes it seems like nothing is getting done or no one is learning, sometimes there have to be changes made, but as long as teaching Children about God and His love for them is the main focus, everything else will work out. There must be people who are willing to step out in faith to work with these children. There must be people who are willing to create change where changes need to be made in the ministries. “I believe that God allows chaotic seasons in order to prepare ministry for future changes. Remember His promise in Romans 8:28, ‘All things work together for good’ (ESV). God is in control, even when everything feels out of control” (Miller & Staal, 2004, p. 30).

                  Are you a person who is willing to step out in faith and work to teach our children about God? Are you willing to be a part of a team who is creating a children’s ministry in which that is the focus? A place where children want to come and participate in learning about God, even if they have to drag their parents to church? If you are, step out, volunteer, allow God to work through you in whatever way you are able and willing to help our children grow in the knowledge that there are people who care and there is a God who created and loves them.

Reference: 

Miller, S., & Staal, D. (2004). Making your children's ministry the best hour of every kid's week. Grand Raids: Zondervan.

Teach the Little Children

                                       “Train up a child in the way he should go,
                                      And when he is old he will not depart from it”

                                                            – Proverbs 22:6


         Children are an essential part of our lives and our society. They are our future! Too many children are being raised in bad home lives, in no home, or in one of the many homeless/orphaned children’s home. All too often children are not given the love, support, and teachings they need for life. Every child has a purpose and every child should be given the ability to discover their purpose. The church is a place where everyone should have the chance to learn about the God who created them, loves them, and who gave them a purpose. All too often children end up lost in the shuffle and forgotten. The children are given “babysitters” instead of teachers. The children are at a very critical learning time in their lives where they need to have active and engaging Sunday school leaders, who either share the message for the first time with them or help to reaffirm what their parents are teaching them at home. I would like to see more people taking an interest into the lives of children, whether they are their own children or other children who need a supportive, leading adult in their lives. Whether at church or out in society. Love the children around you and share with them about Jesus and other important life lessons, you might be the only light they see in their dark little lives.