PRAYER

P-A-R-R-E-Y. Solving the “Jumble” puzzle in the newspaper is a nightly habit of mine. This was the last word in the scrambled word game, and I was stuck. I asked Bud, my husband, for help. After looking at it for several minutes, he shook his head and handed it back to me. I looked at it again. Suddenly, it hit me! PRAYER! That was the answer. It IS the answer! God keeps bombarding me with the call to pray.

It started a few weeks ago when the Women’s Ministry Team met to plan for the coming year. As the coordinator, I was prepared with an agenda. I had poster board, sticky notes, pens and pencils ready for the team to record their ideas. I was determined that we would settle on at least two big events that would draw in TOF women. We began brain-storming. The phone rang, and I had to excuse myself for a few minutes. When I came back, everyone was in agreement. They decided we needed to pray about it.

I’ll admit that after everyone had gone, I was a little discouraged. I like action, and I’ve never considered myself a prayer warrior. Sometimes when we say, “Let’s pray about it,” we say it and don’t mean it. But as I went to bed that night I said, “OK, Lord. You’re in charge. You know what the women of our church need, and I’m asking you for your direction and guidance.”

Since then, I’m amazed at the way God has shown me that prayer needs to be the focus of our Women’s Ministry. I was reminded of a book I read long ago, What Happens When Women Pray by Evelyn Christenson. The title of Chapter 1 is “Prayer is the Answer!”

She tells the story of the aging custodian of her church who was experiencing some mild dementia. Her husband, the pastor, found him sweating profusely and struggling to push the vacuum cleaner. The pastor looked down, and there, lying on the floor was the plug. “The dear man had vacuumed the whole auditorium without plugging in the vacuum cleaner! “ She asks, “Isn’t that what happens to us? We work, we pull, we struggle, and we plan until we’re utterly exhausted, but we have forgotten to plug into the source of power. And that source of power is prayer – ‘the effectual, fervent prayer’ of a righteous person avails much. Instead of us following our tiny, tiny plan, God wants to pour out His power upon us. It’s exciting!”

I’m excited! As a child of God and a woman of Trinity, I want you to be excited too! Will you covenant with me and members of the Women’s Ministry team to pray for the Women’s Ministry of TOF? Will you pray about how you can plug in to this ministry? What can we do to make prayer a priority and strengthen our prayer lives? Pray about it. We are waiting for His answer.

To be continued….

May/June Newsletter SponsorPrinted by:
New Horizons Office Services
Linda Buchanan
nhos@bellsouth.net

For those who thought they knew everything...

Most dust particles in your house are made from...
DEAD SKIN!

A lthough things are not perfect
B ecause of trial or pain
C ontinue in thanksgiving
D o not begin to blame
E ven when the times are hard
F ierce winds are bound to blow
G od is forever able
H old on to what you know
I magine life without His love
J oy would cease to be
K eep thanking Him for all the things
L ove imparts to thee
M ove out of "Camp Complaining"
N o weapon that is known
O n earth can yield the power
P raise can do alone
Q uit looking at the future
R edeem the time at hand
S tart every day with worship
T o "thank" is a command
U ntil we see Him coming
V ictorious in the sky
W e'll run the race with gratitude
X alting God most high
Y es, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

The Story of the Clover

One day St Patrick was attempting to explain the difficult concept of the Trinity. He glanced down and at his feet was the humble clover. The beautiful little sprig was perfect for illustrating this doctrine and since then has been honored in Ireland. While Patrick noted the three leaves being part of one sprig (three in one), we can take it a step further by noting that the leaves are heart-shaped representing the love of God and the color is green representing the gift of eternal life.

MARCH SPONSOR

Please pray for God's blessing on our March sponsor, who made the newsletter possible:

Brian Keith, CPA
828.676.6108
briankeithcpa@mchsi.com

As well as

New Horizons Office Service
Linda Buchanan
828.628.9500
nhos@bellsouth.net

who provided the printing for the March Newsletter.

The Story of Saint Patrick

Just when you think things are going along well and all is right with the world, life can take an unexpected turn. Such was the case with a teenage boy who lived a long time ago. Patrick, born in modern day Cumbria County in Britain, was a person who had to live with just such a turn. Fortunately, he was born into a Christian family, his father being a deacon and his grandfather a priest. It was good thing because he was going to need this faith.
When Patrick was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. Patrick worked as a herdsman remaining in captivity for six years. He wrote that his faith grew during this time and that he prayed daily…no doubt the key to his ability to forgive his captors.
Near the end of the six years, he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home then later the voice said his ship was ready…time to go. Fleeing his master, he traveled to a port two hundred miles away where he found a ship and made his way home. By this time he was in his early twenties. So it seems that life returned to normal except God had other plans.
A few years after returning home, Patrick had a vision in which he saw a man named Victoricus coming from Ireland. The man gave a letter to Patrick which stated “The Voice of the Irish” at which time Patrick heard the voice of the people from whom he had escaped calling him to come back to them. Patrick did return to them with forgiveness and love and as they say, the rest is history. His evangelistic work among NW Ireland left a lasting legacy for which the Irish still honor him today.

information derived from two Wikipedia articles.

FEBRUARY SOPNSOR

Please pray for God's blessing on our February sponsor, the employer of Melody Interlicchia, who made the newsletter possible:

Allergy Partners, P.A. 828-277-1300 www.allergypartners.com

Our Sponsor

Please pray for God's blessing on our sponsor who made the January newsletter possible.

The "God Box"

Do You Have Worry or Anxiety in Your Life?
In the past couple of years, I have found myself to be a chronic worrier. I worry about the past and mistakes I have made, financial worries, the safety of my children, the list could continue on. I have my devotion and prayer time early each morning. When I pray, I talk with the Lord about things going on in my life but I seem to still worry and that is just not good. I have got to stop this! The Lord is so much bigger than my menial little problem and he has it under control.
Then one day I was reading a Christian Self Help Book and she spoke of the same problem. She went on to tell of how she approached this problem with a tool called the “God Box”. The “God Box” was a dressed up shoe box to be used whenever she was worrying or nervous about something. If she thought about something more than three times in one day she would write this “issue” on an index card with a date, pray about it, and then place it in the box. She physically had to place it in the box and by physically doing this it seemed to help her release it. Then at the end of the year she placed all of the prayer requests in her journal and also placed the result by the request.
I now have a “God Box” that sits on my hutch in my kitchen. When something keeps pressing on my mind I have been going through this process and it seems to be helping me to let it go! My daughter is nine years old and she has been using the “God Box”. This box does not represent the Lord in my eyes; it just helps me to try and leave it at the altar.

Contribution by: Trudy Lilly

________________________

God's Boxes

I have in my hands two boxes
Which God gave me to hold.
He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box,
And all your joys in the gold."

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes
Both my joys and sorrows I stored.
But though the gold became heavier each day
The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black,
I wanted to find out why,
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be."
He smiled a gentle smile and said,
"My child, they're all here with me."

I asked God, why He gave me the boxes,
Why the gold, and the black with the hole?
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,
The black is for you to let go."

Woman to Woman

Sometimes a woman just needs another woman to talk to. Someone who understands exactly how she feels, who will let her carry on and vent until it is all out of her system…someone who solves problems and promotes healing just by listening; by being there. And, it certainly doesn’t hurt if that woman has a “been there, done that” T-Shirt. A woman like that really understands!
When Gabriel told Mary about her pending miraculous conception, he included a juicy little tidbit of information, “Your elderly relative is six months pregnant! You know, the one that has been barren all her life, Elizabeth.”
We can speculate all kinds of reasons why Gabriel told Mary this news. Just maybe one of those reasons was that he knew Mary would need a support system. Elizabeth would believe Mary’s story about her pregnancy because of her own miraculous pregnancy.
Mary immediately took a road trip to visit Elizabeth and stayed with her until Elizabeth gave birth. Who can measure the amount of courage, faith and emotional support Mary received from Elizabeth? All of this “woman to woman” connecting gave Mary the fortitude she needed to go back home and face the inevitable. Mary and Elizabeth connected and encouraged each other. Mary arose and sought out a woman who would understand her situation; a woman who was like-minded.
Trinity of Fairview is full of like-minded women. Women who are truly seeking God. Women who “have pasts.” Women who have “been there, done that.” Women who are presently in need and those who have come out on the other side intact.
We need each other and we all have something to offer. Sometimes it is just a matter of getting connected. Hopefully, this newsletter will be one of the agents of connection like Gabriel was for Mary and Elizabeth. Connections is by, for and about the women of Trinity of Fairview. Come on! Be a part! Let’s get connected and be encouraged!

by Laura Weeks