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Living 4 Jesus 4 Life: #11 June 19, 2011
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In this issue ... behind the scene
in all your ways
fudge cycles
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14 Happy Birthday Sarah P!!!
Sarah is turning 14 on Tuesday. She enjoys swimming, scrapbooking, and chewing gum! Happy Birthday girl!!!
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{Prayer Requests}
⦁ Please pray for a lady in our church who has breast cancer. Erin has 3 kids: 4, 3, and 18 months. You can read about her at erinfray.blogspot.com. - Artiss
⦁ Please continue to pray for Rebekah's cousin Karen, who has Breast Cancer. She has five children, and her husband is in the military! Thank you!
⦁ Please be in prayer for some friends of mine. They have 10 kids and they lost their home yesterday to a fire. Everything they own, except for their vehicles and the clothes on their backs were lost in the fire. Please pray for them as they face this huge struggle. thanks! ~Sarah Elisabeth
⦁ Please pray for my friends dad. He had emergency surgery yesterday morning. Pray that he would be healed quickly. ~Sarah Elisabeth
⦁ Pray that God will show Himself to a girl in Elly's gym class and He will change her heart!
A special update on Harper Grigsby can be found on her mom's blog at adgrigsby.blogspot.com. This little baby has found a special place in my heart and her life is truly a miracle!
Don't forget to send us your prayer requests and we can publish them or just keep a secret!
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"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, says the Lord, plans to give you a hope and a future. "
~Jeremiah 29:11
This is one of my favorite verses right here. Jeremiah 29:11. So many things that seem to go wrong turn out to be right. God knows what He is doing. He really does, and He has plans not to harm us, but to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future. One of the good things He has done for me this summer is give me a very good summer job that He has made clear is His plan for me right now. He has made it very clear to me and I am so grateful!
On the other hand, when things happen around me that hurt my friends or family, I hurt for them. I try so hard to understand, to see the good in every situation and notice how God can be glorified in it. But sometimes, things just cannot look right from down here. This is when we have to trust God, and God alone, that His plan is perfect. We are looking at the puzzle from the bottom-side up, but He sees the whole picture from Heaven where it matters for all eternity!
Tonight we went to the grocery store. My mom and sister and I met this guy - a very friendly bagboy - but he really made me think. He started talking to my mom about all kinds of things, and he asked her if we went to church anywhere. She told him yes we did, and she told him where. He then asked if she had a favorite Bible verse and what it was. When she answered, he asked her what it meant to her. After my mom told him what Psalm 103 meant to her, he quoted both of his favorite Bible verses and told her what they meant to him. He told my mom how the church is what keeps us going, and that is what God designed it for, we cannot do it alone. I was really impressed. This sacker is in his early twenties and he was diagnosed as a diabetic at a very young age. He has definite eye problems as a result. He was also run over in a parking lot as a teenager, and yet he is the one who is willing to witness to a perfect stranger, and we learned all this in five minutes! He has acccepted God's plan for Him, and he is willing to acknowledge the Father in all his ways. I just wanted to share that with ya'll. God will be glorified in our lives, no matter what happens, if we just let Him!
Love ya'll, Autumn
Understanding God's Will
In the past 3 or so years God has done HUGE things in my life. I've been realizing more and more that He uses the hard times and trials that come into my life, to make me stronger and to strengthen my relationship with him. About 3 and a half years ago, a super sweet man died. He was a family friend. His family, and my family were all best friends. Our families got together all the time. This man served God with his whole heart and loved his family and all others around him. He had a heart for lost souls. Anyways, he died, leaving behind 9 wonderful children and an equally wonderful wife. For the longest time, I couldn't even begin to imagine why God would allow such a great man to die. But then through lots of prayer, I realized that God gives and takes away for a special reason. God knows what is around every corner and turn in our lives. We just need to trust Him to work everything out. :)
One of the hardest things that I have ever experienced happened right before Christmas last year. I grew up knowing the sweetest old man ever. He was like a Grandpa to me. In fact, thats what I called him. I saw him twice a week. And enjoyed all the time I got to spend with him. Eventually, as he grew older, he got really sick and I only got to see him 1 or 2 times a month. He got better for a while and then, once again, he got sick. He had prayed for me as I was growing up, and now, it was my turn to pray for him. I saw him 5 months before he died. Of course, not knowing that it would be the last time I saw him alive on this earth. His last words to me were "Keep serving God. You're so beautiful. I love you baby." With tears in my eyes i replied "I love you too Pa." The next time I saw him, he was in a casket. He died a couple weeks before Christmas.
Once again I struggled with why God would take someone so special to me, away. I just didn't understand it. Then He brought my favorite Bible Verse to my mind. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God; to them that are the called according to His purpose" Romans 8:28. It was as if He was saying, "Sarah, I'm doing this for a special reason. I have a very special plan for your life and this is going to make you stronger. Remember, If I bring you to it, Ill bring you through it."
So girls, just remember that God will bring you through every trial and every hard time. It doesn't matter what happens, He will still love, He will still care about you, and He still has a specific plan for your life. Just remember to pray, and depend completely on him to get you through.
Love ya'll! Sarah Elisabeth
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~Toll House Cookies~by Sarah Kae
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. crisco
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 pkg. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 9-11 minutes. Mix all ingredients until creamy.
I just want to say I tried this recipe myself and these are my favorite cookies in the world! Thank you Sarah!!!
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