Tag Archives: Sunday School

Don’t get Distracted!

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I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am to share this post with you today. Carrie Stremming has been a huge part of my life and my heart since she was a young girl. It is mind boggling to me that she is a mother of teenage boys now! Carrie is also a cancer survivor and maybe in the future we can get her to share some of the great things God did for her as He walked her through that trial. Be blessed today as she shares a true story and…Don’t get Distracted!

It was a typical busy Sunday in December for me.  I hurriedly got ready for church, bright and early, as I learned my older son had gotten sick in the night.  While figuring out how to help him, ironing pants for my other son, curling my hair, taking the dog out and chugging down a stiff cup of coffee, I miraculously made it to church in time to help out in Sunday School.  Shew!

Church was awesome as usual, but in true honesty, I couldn’t tell you a word that was spoken.  Not one.  My mind was on my sick kid, another sick family member, lunch ideas, and how I was going to fit in everything in one day, including a massive pile of laundry to fold.  Confession is good for the soul!

I hurried home after church to check on my family, and then again hopped back in the car to make gingerbread houses with my nieces and nephew.  My sister is married to an airline pilot for Delta Airlines, and needed a little help going to this activity with their four awesome kids.  I was pretty proud of myself jumping from task to task, while maintaining a crazy schedule.

We eventually got the huge Gingerbread houses to their destination, along with mounds of candy and icing to decorate them.  It was a sight to see!  So many people, live music, homemade gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa; hey, even Santa was walking around, it was pretty awesome!

All of a sudden, my niece, in her sweet, little voice, looked up at me and said, “Aunt Carrie don’t get distracted.”  I instantly felt a pinch in my spirit.  What sweet Lucy had said was something I really needed to hear about 7:30 a.m. that morning.  Wake up!  I was so distracted with my surroundings that I was not appreciating what was right in front of me: Lucy!  After laughing and refocusing on her master creation, we went on to have a day that I will remember for many years to come, and I hope she feels the same way.

2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (NIV)

This scripture spoke to me after the craziness of Sunday.  I really try to be all things to all people, but what good am I if my body is there, but my mind is not?  I don’t feel the need to boast about this weakness, but I do acknowledge that I suffer with a distraction disorder especially during the holidays.

This is Lucy McMurray with her masterpiece of a Gingerbread House.  She said a gingerbread man crashed on the roof.  Ha ha!

I am praying through this holiday season that I can be present and mindful wherever I am.  Mindful of God and His presence, mindful of my job and co-workers, mindful of my family and our precious time together, and mindful enough to listen when the spirit says – DON’T GET DISTRACTED!  Thank you Lucy!

Carrie Stremming is a mom of two teenage boys, and married to the man of her dreams.  She has worked as a paralegal for over eighteen years, and also volunteers at a local center for cancer patients.  Carrie says, “As a six year survivor of breast cancer, I try and give back to my church and community all the love that was given to me.  Loving life and thanking God for each day!”

 

 

 

 

 

Many begin to think about fasting in December, preparing for corporate and personal fasts in January! Have you got a  copy of The Daniel Fast Devotional? Head on over to Amazon, it’s available in Kindle form or paperback! 

 

She Mentors Truth…

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Joining with #SheReadsTruth and #SheSharesTruth today for an exercise in sharing! We have been studying the book of Titus and the challenge was to answer these three questions:  How is spiritual mothering already taking place in your community? Has a godly woman influenced you in your growth in the Gospel, or has mentoring a young believer impacted your life? How would you like to see Titus 2 shape your relationships moving forward? Here we go!

shesharestruth

Mentoring…yes, I looked it up in the dictionary. A mentor is a “…wise, trusted counselor or teacher.” That sums up perfectly my beginning remembrance of “Sister Sherlock”, my first Sunday School teacher that I remember having an influence on me. I do not recall how old I was in her class, but I know I was little, maybe five starting out.

To me, this lady was a picture of grace. She was elderly, ancient in my eyes, but at the time was probably only in her early 70’s. She seemed to float around the room, touching and encouraging and most importantly, loving. She was the epitome of Titus 2.

“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

I remember feeling so safe, so protected and so very, very loved by this woman of God.

Later on, as I grew up, I had other women who shaped my life. One particular lady I was attached to as a young teenager helped me learn to pray. I watched her, I listened and I learned. Several years ago when I was under such a great attack from the enemy, I called her in the middle of the night, desperate for prayer and answers. She responded…with the Word! It made all the difference for me and has helped me be able to do the same for others! She is still a close, dear friend to this day.

In my late 30’s, raising My Three Sons, an air traffic controller’s wife, busy as youth pastors in the church, I was frazzled, to say the least. On top of it all, we were feeling the call to leave our safety and security and step out in the ministry full time. It was overwhelming.

Enter my lovely, Christian friend, Martha, or Mart as we called her.
A young hand touches and holds an old wrinkled hand

This woman, and her sister, Dellen, were blessings in my life! They were constant, never changing and not perfect. Yes, I said NOT perfect! That is what I loved about Mart.

She had one daughter and a husband but was never too busy to hear about ME. Did I need prayer? How was I doing? What could she do to help?

And laugh. She could make me laugh.

This godly Titus 2 woman was taken from us all too early. I will never forget one day I was at her house and Dellen and I were helping to give her a permanent! Oh, my, what were we thinking! Dellen wanted me to look at a mole on the back of Mart’s ear, she was concerned.

She was right.

Mart suffered so much with the treatments, the pain and the progression of the cancer, it was beginning to take a toll on her. The church rallied around her and supported the family with their prayers and love. We were all sure God would heal this woman because none of us could bear to lose her.

It was not to be and she was taken from us all too soon, shortly after her daughter’s wedding. If I remember correctly, it was less than two years later that Dellen, too, passed away. I have always marveled at that because I knew they couldn’t stand to be separated. They were two of a kind.

You are never too old to want, and need, a godly influence!

Since the Titus 2 study, I have thought long and hard about a mentor and pray that God would send one my way. I would also love to get back to the place where I would feel like pouring myself into someone younger.

My prayer is that God would make me pliable, useful and willing in all aspects of ministry and a “…teacher of good things”.

Kingdom2, Friendship Friday, Essential Fridays, Fellowship Fridays, My Freshly Brewed Life, Recommendation Saturday

We Don’t Do The Church Thing…

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We don’t do the Church Thing…This little post of less than 1,000 words, hit home with so many people. It was the closest to “viral” we will probably get! (smile) And most importantly, a few lives were changed. Some went back to church, some renewed their relationship with Almighty God. I pray you will be blessed and feel free to share. You never know what it might do!

It was one of those conversations that you could have any day of the week.

You could be in the grocery store, doctor’s office, on the playground, it doesn’t really matter. You’ve just met a stranger, easy to talk to, you start with small talk about your families.

I had one of those. It was life-changing.

She was a sweetheart. A mother of two, she worked five days a week, came home, cooked dinner and helped with homework. Then spent the rest of the evening doing the usual chores; baths, packing lunches, laundry, normal things we all do, day in, day out.

She talked about how blessed her children were to have such a wonderful school to attend. They still said the Pledge of Allegiance…she stressed the real Pledge of Allegiance with “under God”. They were even still allowed to attend a weekly, church-sanctioned, afternoon Bible class. Yes, this is a public school. She went on and on about how safe they felt there, how her parents lived just up the road; life just couldn’t be much better.

Then, I guess I unintentionally backed her in a corner when I said something about church. With everything she had just described about her life I just assumed she attended.

She said, “Oh, we have Bibles in our house, but we don’t do the church thing.”

And before I had a chance to say anything, she stumbled, mumbled, and said, “Well, we are just busy on the weekends and all…” and with that she found an excuse to make a quick exit.

Now, before you fill my comment box up with “We don’t have to go to church to feel God…”, you are correct, we sure don’t. I will get to that in a moment. Bear with me here, I was actually more saddened by the “We have Bibles IN our house….” because I could tell by the way she said it that those Bibles probably didn’t get read any more than the children were getting taken to Sunday School.

It was wonderful that she was so happy that her children were in a good school that paid honor to God, and in a good community that still allowed God in the schools, a rarity in our country. But for all of her commendations to her school and her community, she had left the King of Kings out of her home. The Bibles were there but they weren’t being used.

That may be true of many church-going Christians and that is a dangerous place to be. The Word truly is a “lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.” Without it, we stumble and fall and blindly lose our way.

I may be taking a few liberties here since I do not personally know this stranger but “We don’t do the church thing” is speaking a mouthful to me.

  • Has she been hurt somewhere before?
  • Disillusioned?
  • Lost her faith along the way?
  • Can’t bring herself to trust in leadership?
  • Or is it laziness?
  • The American “sleep-in-on-Sunday” culture, or the attitude that says, “I’ll do it my way, I don’t need the church.”

Because, my friend, we DO need the Body of Christ, we need the community and the unity that comes from the assembling of ourselves together. (Hebrews 10:25)

We must hear the preaching of the Word of God! “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

And in answer to those that have been hurt, abused, lied to, and misled in a church house somewhere on this planet, as a former pastor’s wife, my sincerest apologies. That should never be in the House of God.

But Jesus did not do it, people did.

People are just people and unfortunately they are still people in the church too. You will find the complainers, the naysayers, the gossipers, backbiters, liars, chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out-haters. I’ve seen them all and still had to hug their neck the next Sunday! And let us not forget the good ole hypocrites. Yes, they are there too. Where else would they be but in church?!

It would be a terrible shame to let people keep you from coming  face to face with Jesus of Nazareth.

Don’t let a few busybodies keep you from your worship of the King.

(If you are one that has offended people, hurt them, caused them to leave the church, there is no excuse for this type of behavior in the church. God is not pleased. But He does forgive! Seek that forgiveness with sincere repentance today.)

There are plenty of great churches that preach Truth. Go find one!

It’s worth it to be able to stand up in service with tears streaming down your face, hands raised in worship and actually feel the presence of Almighty God as you offer Him praise, just because He is worthy.

My friend, one day we will all stand before Him. It does not matter who you are, or your social status.

You will be there.

You won’t be late. We will all be there.

We will call Him Lord then, we will all call Him by Name.

For some, He will return the favor.

Others He will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you…”

I wonder if some will be the ones that had Bibles in their homes but didn’t DO the CHURCH THING?

For the Kingdom