Ladies Fellowship – January 2007

It was lovely to be able to meet for afternoon tea this month. Using Carmen’s best china and having tea and scones, it felt like we were in early 1900’s England! We were a small group this month but we had a wonderful time of fellowship and discussing the Word of God. Our devotional this month was about starting over and looking at the New Year as an opportunity of rebirth and renewing commitments to God and looking forward rather than back. Thank you ladies for allowing me to share my burden and for speaking words of encouragement to me. I sure do appreciate my Sisters in Christ!

Ladies Fellowship – February 2007

We had another lovely breakfast meeting, A special thanks to Linda Burbank for leading the devotion on 'Love' and sharing some of her personal poems. I hope you all had a wonderful valentines day and I look forward to seeing you next month.

Ladies Fellowship - March 2007

It was lovely to see so many of you at our "Game Night."  We shared a wonderful time together, sharing, laughing and  playing games.  I must say we do have quite a few competitive ladies in our midst!  I learnt a new game and it was great to see my Sisters in Christ enjoying one anothers company.

This month our devotional talked about being "an ordinary member of the family of God."  This doesn't mean that we are insignificant, but quite the opposite.  Each one of us has something to contribute, a gift to share that is significant in the Body of Christ.  No matter what our gift is, do not worry that it may seem small and unimportant compared with another's gift, but realise that each gift we have is given to us by God, so is vital to the ministry of our Church.

There is no shame in whatever "little" talent we have, only in not using what God has given to us.

April

As always it was lovely to see you all at our breakfast meeting. We shared wonderful food, fun and fellowship. My grandfather was visiting from England so I could not stay for the whole meeting so thank you to those ladies who stayed behind to clean up.

This month’s devotional talked about church attendance. We heard about the importance of regularly attending for meeting with our brothers and sisters in Christ in fellowship & support. We discovered how there is we grow in our relationship with Christ and one another by worshipping together. Attending church, joining together with the Body of Christ, is ultimately being obedient to our Lord, as he commanded, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” Hebrews 10:25

May

This months meeting was a dinner & sleepover to celebrate Mothers Day. We met at our sister, Leigh Ann’s home. What a wonderful dinner we had, wonderful food and wonderful company. Some of us even dared swimming in the pool later that evening. I always feel blessed after spending time with my sisters in Christ. No matter how my week has been or how tired I may feel, when I meet with this group of ladies, they lift my spirit and encourage me. Thank you ladies, you are truly a blessing.

June

What a privilege it was to have Marivic with us this month. I felt very honored to have been able to spend time with her whilst she was here. Her love for our Lord and the children in her school inspired and humbled me. The ladies fellowship met her for lunch and spent a wonderful few hours talking with her about the Lord’s calling on her life and the many ways in which she serves Him. Please remember to hold Marivic up in your prayers.

July

Our breakfast meetings are always wonderful. It’s lovely to start the day spending time with our friends. Our devotional this month was entitled “What have you done today?” We heard how God has a calling on each of our lives and He equips each one of us to fulfill that calling. We also heard how we often make excuses not to serve but how God can greatly bless our lives and others lives by our service. It is in the small things that big things can grow.

August

Our First weekend retreat to Harrison was a blessing to those of us who attended. We had wonderful weather the whole weekend and everyone came with a longing to hear what God wanted to say to us. The theme was “Friendships” and God taught us so much about how to be a good friend, forgive broken friendships and to step out in faith by reaching out to someone new. Hearts were opened this weekend and we had many opportunities for sharing as a group and one-on-one. God is so good!

In our free time on Friday, some of us went shopping and some of us relaxed by the lake. On Saturday, we went out on the boat and then went into Harrison for dinner, followed by movies and popcorn. Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end but I know that bonds that were made and strengthened over the weekend will continue to grow now we’re home.

September

We had a wonderful breakfast meeting this month. It was lovely to see you all as well as a few first time attenders. I hope you enjoyed yourselves and that we'll see you again at future meetings.

Our devotional talked about true fellowship. We talked about the example set for us by the early church and also heard of God's plan for us to fellowship, to encourage one another daily so that our faith would be built up. We learnt of the importance of fellowship for the body of Christ and for the community so that more souls could be saved for Christ.

Next month we will be having a movie night. I will let you know the date as soon as it is set.

May God continue to bless you all.

October

Unfortunately I could not be at the Ladies Movie night this month. My twins were on Girl Scout camp in Columbiaville which was for parents and children. It sounds like I missed a great meeting. Linda Webber very kindly opened her home to us and the ladies who attended had a lovely time, hearing a devotion prepared by Tina Greer and having a wonderful fellowship time. It was so good, the meeting didn’t end till 10.30pm and they didn’t even have chance to watch the movie!

This month 4 of us went to the Eastern Region Open Bible Women’s Conference in Columbus, Ohio. What a wonderful privilege to be able to have an overnight away with some of my sisters in Christ. We had a leisurely drive down on Friday morning, stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch. (I understand this is a tradition!). We arrived at the hotel at 3.45 in time to attend the “Breaking Through to the Next Level” seminar. We heard how our relationship with God has to be cultivated, how He should be our First Love. This was likened to our relationships with our spouses, how we recognize them in the most crowded room. Do we recognize God in our crowded, busy lives? After a brief rest in our room, we had a wonderful dinner, followed by a time of worship and then our guest speaker, Cathy Aubuchon, spoke about how we can be hurt, especially by those who are closest to us but how we should deal with that hurt so that it doesn’t defeat us.
The next morning we had a lovely breakfast and worship time, and Cathy spoke once again, this time talking about how each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. We all have a purpose and need to fulfill that purpose here on earth. We drove home, singing worship songs and even Christmas songs. Thank you to Angela for taking the mammoth task of driving us, especially with all the noise and chaos we created for her! And thank you Angela, Mary and Grace, for a wonderful time away.

November/December Meeting

As I was planning this month’s meeting, I could not believe how quickly this year has passed. It doesn’t seem a year since I was looking forward to my first Christmas Fellowship as Ladies Ministry Leader. It has been such a joy to spend time with you all. It has been a joy and a privilege to get to know you all and to form such special friendships. Thank you for all your love and support.

November and December are probable the two busiest months of the year so Lynn and I decided to just have one meeting. The weather was against us but thank you to those ladies who didn’t let cold, wind and snow deter them from spending time together and sharing gifts. We listened to lovely music, ate wonderful food and played our gift exchange game again this year. We all took home something wonderful, it may not have been the gift we opened as some were ”stolen” (mine included) but no one went home empty handed. We had leaves on which wrote down things we were most thankful for this year and each person read one out as they took a gift. It was encouraging to see how God has blessed each one of us. Our devotion was about not losing the true meaning of Christmas and realizing the perfect gift we received in the birth of Jesus.

My prayer for us all this Christmas is that we would meditate on the birth of our Savior, that He became flesh so that He could give us eternal life, a gift from a loving Father to each of His children. I wish you all a joyful and peaceful Christmas.