November Happenings

It has been such a busy week and while I thought perhaps November would slow down a bit, it seems to be just as busy. I'm thankful though that as I continue to step out in faith in different ways in my life, the Lord is continuing to guide my steps. 

Tuesday night our church had an outreach, passing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters that stopped by the church. Our city has set hours for this so we set up two tents and parked ourselves on the front lawn. We had over a hundred children and their families pick up a goody bag and a cup of hot chocolate. It was a wonderful way to connect with the community in a positive way. 

Thursday was spent recording a talk I'm doing for our denomination's world-wide fellowship at the end of November. They wanted it by today along with the transcript so they could translate it into Spanish and French. By the way, it's really not easy talking to a camera in an empty room and I felt a bit stilted. 

A few months ago, I began to pray and ask the Lord to help me to choose the ministry activities that would be the most useful to Him. I love to do a lot of different things and I do believe that is how He wired me, but I wanted to be more mindful about where my energies were going.

I am thankful that as I have weaned some things out that He is opening the door for other things. I was asked to write a month's worth of devotionals for a women's ministry in our denomination for Advent. Since that is my favorite thing to do I'm looking forward to putting those together. I have a speaking engagement at another church next Sunday. 

One of the things I want to be more mindful about is having people over for a meal and conversation. I've gotten away from that and want to get back to what I love.

I'm moving into a busy holiday season, but I am thankful that God is opening doors and that I'm gaining an awareness of what to say yes to and what things I should answer with a "no".

As I was preparing for a small group that I'm leading on Sunday, one of the things that caught my attention was that when we are giving generously to those around us that God's grace never runs out. My inability to give of myself or my gifts in a generous manner often has less to do with an inner desire to hoard them for myself, than my inability to see God's generous spirit. 

God's generosity overflows, is extravagant and unending. We can never run out of His grace. If I truly understood this then I would realize that as I give away my gifts and use them to bless others, He will continue to provide.

And that is a good lesson for us all. Have a wonderful weekend!