60 Second phone call with Angel about RADICAL.

Join us for this FALL'S Ladies Conference, November 18th

www.churchofsecondchances.com

Here at GCC's BECOMING, no matter where we are in our walk or our life....this is what we are striving to be daily. That our very essence of being...Him pouring out of us is BECOMING and drawing others to want to know more about HIM.

BECOMING is a time where we as women can come and find encouragement, refreshment, laughter and grow together while listening to great speakers, DVD's and impactful worship. Come join us, bring a friend...you will not leave the same!
Please RSVP: email: tina@genevachurchofchrist.org
http://www.churchofsecondchances.com/

Unexpected Perspective

This past weekend Faith wanted to have a girls night and so she and I “camped out” in our back yard…in the van. Matt loved how I had “MacGyvered” everything. I had electricity hooked up for my breathing machine and for a fan as we would have the windows closed to keep out mosquitoes. Faith decided that Charlie would need to be with us as he would miss sleeping with her, so along he came.

We spent time as a family by the camp fire singing and roasting hotdogs, then off to bed. The boys went inside to comfy beds and AC and Faithy and I bedded down for the evening in the van.
Well, Faith had no problems getting all tucked in with Charlie inside her sleeping bag. I mustard around the front seat and had one leg over the steering wheel and one resting on Faith’s seat. However, Charlie did not want my leg there and he pushed it off. I attempted to get comfortable, yet to no avail. So I decided to go to the back and put down the second row seat, except for where my machine lay. I tilted the third row back and then propped my feet and legs on the second row. I found myself adjusting pillows and trying to find a way to rest.
I finally fell asleep….many times. Needless to say it was a restless night, but worth it for my daughter.

As I laid there my mind began to race as I began thinking of how many people in this world live in their vehicles or on the streets because they lack housing. Either due to their own choices or something out of their control.

The next morning as our girl weekend continued, Faith and I had a long discussion over how blessed we are. As we talked she was reminded of the homeless man we saw in Cincinnati who was sleeping behind a dumpster, and another we saw reach in the trash can and pull out leftover food and began to eat it.

How many of us go day to day and complain about the food we receive, or that it is either too cold or too warm in the house? What about complaining because we cannot find our favorite pair of shoes or clothes, or that someone did not do the laundry or take the garbage out? What about complaining that someone drank the last soda and there is only water to drink? This list could go on. Things that truly have no eternal impact. How many of us get caught up and take for granted how blessed we really are?

Faithy and I spent time talking to God and thanking Him for all we have, and it was quite a list.
Sometimes we need raw perspective. Here's a thought, go on a camping trip in your car for a day…you’ll find it.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Philippians 2:14
Matthew 25:31-46

1.28.2011 Early Morning Thoughts

SNOW FALLING GENTLY

by: Angel Thompson

Snow falling gently
Sky gray and light
Listening to the flakes fall
What a wondrous night

Snow falling gently
Plow scraping loudly
Passes by now quietly
Morning wakes tenderly

Snow falling gently
Cars moving slowly
Dog jumping energetically
Morning “I love yous” whispered softly

Snow falling gently
Shovel scraping quickly
Stopping to take it all in
God’s creation flowing eloquently

THIS MOMENT

Life after childhood and grad school truly does appear to move fast. Before we know it we wake with bones aching and fighting the grandparent urge to share about your bowel movements when anyone asks how you are.

We begin to look at life differently and reflect on things we have done or wish we would have done. We begin to make comments like, “I want to do this by the time I’m….”, or “Before I die I want to accomplish this by the year…”

We have this funny notion that we are in control of the time frame of our lives, yet we are only promised this one moment, not tomorrow.

1 Thess. 5:1,2
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

I love Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3 where he challenges us to live as we are in the last days. Not eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. No, living holy, blameless and for this moment for we are only given THIS MOMENT.

What if our comment and question was not what I want to do in the next 5 years, but rather, "There is so much I want to do before I die….so what can I do at this moment?” To quote a godly man who lived in each moment as it was an added gift, “Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of heaven.” ~Jim Elliot

So, what will you do with this moment?

Y R U so small? Short Clip Reminder....

I can remember when I was a little girl studying my mom’s hands. I would sit beside her in the chairs at church tracing her veins and trailing her ring as I sat swinging my legs. I remember how I could not wait for the day when I would have “lady hands” and my feet would touch the floor. Now, I know some of you, your legs still are swinging back and forth literally…yet many of us remain on the chair…figuratively just swinging our feet because we are afraid to stand up. We look at our lives and often times feel insignificant…small, and some of us may view what we do in this world does not really make an impact. That God has others who are BIGGER who make the impact while we are just… “here”. This November I want to invite all of the ladies of GCC to not only come, but to invite your friends, neighbors, co-workers, family ladies and join us for our FALL BECOMING GATHERING.

We are going to talk about the meaning of SMALL and the IMPACT we can and DO have in this life!

November 12, 2010 @ 7pm

It will be an evening packed with linking with others, great food, great worship, fun games, maybe a prize or two and a challenge that will IMPACT your thoughts, heart and your very walk!

a moment to breath...

I’m sitting here listening to “Jesus Music”, as Joshua calls it…wanting to escape away from all noise, mess, chaos and just sit in silence and the only thing I hear are the waves gently hitting the beach, feeling the cool warm breeze off the water with an occasional sea gull. A moment where life is not all consuming, a moment where my husband has a strong physical heart and strength, a moment where my son does not have PANDAS D/O that seems to consume his very thoughts and actions…just a moment to breath....an OASIS.

I want to be STILL AND KNOW! Oh, I know that my Lord is God…I just long for just a moment. There……thanks Lord for that moment and that reminder that your plans and purpose prevail. That you store our tears. That you have a plan for us. That you are God and in You, through all circumstances, I praise You for you are GOOD.

PHOTO: GUADELOUPE

My VERY rambly thoughts.

Sitting here being reminded of how the smallest things that seem not to matter or are seen as intolerable are truly works of art by God's hand.

He did not create the dandelion to be this awful weed that "destroys" your lawn or causes so much "stress" if you have one.

I love dandelions. It shows that you have a healthy yard and that wherever you see them it is a path well traveled.

Uhm...interesting. Do we sit and try to figure out how to rid our lives of all that we see as "bothersome"? To where there is no evidence that we have traveled the path to others, to embrace them...to show them Christ's love. Oh, I pray my footsteps leave a HUGE path of "dandelions".

My children pick dandelions for me every summer and it reminds me, as they hand me a bundle, of all the lives that Christ may bring to my door...or me to theirs. May that path then lead them to HIM.

Regarding Dangerous Women!

I stand amazed at our God. What an incredible evening we had at BECOMING....

I love it when I have the humbling opportunity to be with other sister's in Christ and share hearts. A time spent challenging, laughing and growing together. I was honored to have the opportunity to speak at our BECOMING gathering with an incredible Dangerous Woman, Traci Bowling. She is not only an incredible mother to her kids, she is also a woman who has placed her hand in God's clasped hand to capture the wisdom He has for her and she has not let go!

Before I forget, thank you, Traci for sharing about LIFE VERSES!

I was also incredibly moved by the ladies who came. You all amzed me as you picked up your own light bulb and threw it! If you want to know what that was all about...you just need to come to one of the BECOMING gatherings!

And....to all of the DANGEROUS WOMEN OUT THERE....never forget that you are HIS! Claim it! Live it! Share it! Be Dangerous for HIM!


DANGEROUS WOMEN

DEAR GOD,
Please make us dangerous woman.

• May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God.
• May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.
• May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
• May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.
• May we pray deeply and teach wisely
• May we be strongt and gentle leaders.
• May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.
• May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.
• May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.
• May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.
• May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.
• May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus. And in that name, and by that power, may we change the world.

Dear God, please make us dangerous women. ~ Amen


Excerpted from Lynne Hybels book:
Nice Girls Don't Change The World

BECOMING Dangerous Women

How many of you women know another lady who needs to know they matter? That they need to know they can make a difference? That they are valued? That they are cherished? That God has given them something specific that is just theirs? If the answer is yes, then invite them to come with you Friday at GCC! God is on the move and He wants you to know something unique about yourself!

See you all FRIDAY @ 7PM

BECOMING HIS DAILY,

Angel Thompson

"It is never too late to discover that who you really are is exactly what delights God and what the world needs." Lynne Hybels

1007 S Broadway Geneva, OH 44041 440.466.7689 http://www.genevachurchofchrist.org/