L a d i e s o f V i s i o n & E x c e l l e n c e

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Love L a d i e s o f V i s i o n & E x c e l l e n c e May 2013 The Women s ministry of Faith Fellowship Church O bey Proverbs 1:8-9 (CEV) the teachings of your parents, and wear their teachings as

What gemstones would represent Eat your vegetables, don t be late, and wash your hands?

1 Love L a d i e s o f V i s i o n & E x c e l l e n c e May 2013 The Women s ministry of Faith Fellowship Church O bey Proverbs 1:8-9 (CEV) the teachings of your parents, and wear their teachings as you would a lovely hat or a pretty necklace. Imagine putting on a necklace that flashes the teachings of your parents to the world: Sit up straight, clean your room, and don t hit your sister. What gemstones would represent Eat your vegetables, don t be late, and wash your hands? Okay, that s all a bit silly, but the point of this verse is to consider how we wear on the outside the teachings we have learned on the inside. The beautiful teachings the ones that God would call wisdom. These may have been taught to us by a parent but also may have come from mentors, grandparents, teachers, and friends. Of course, eat your vegetables is wise advice for any spinachphobic kid, but as an adult, what s the deeper meaning the gemstone of God s wisdom that it represents? If we dig into the Bible, we discover the real beauty of this tidbit of wisdom, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to bring honor to God through our healthy choices (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). A few more hidden gems from the teachings we learned as kids: Don t hit your sister. Sometimes people provoke you. Don t hit back. Love each other no matter what happens (Romans 12:9-10). Wash your hands. Life is messy. Guilt, shame, and sorrow can cling to us. Draw near to God to be cleansed (Hebrews 10:22). Sit up straight. Hardships and struggles can leave us bent over, tired, and worn out. How can we keep our hearts straight with God? Sitting up straight means staying on our knees, where the upright in heart live in light and joy (Psalm 97:11). T HE WORD Stay focused; do not lose sight of mercy and truth; engrave them on a pendant, and hang it around your neck; meditate on them so they are written upon your heart. Proverbs 3:3 (The Voice) Think About It God desires for us to have mercy and truth worn around our necks and engraved upon our hearts. Evangelist Billy Sunday once said, If you have no joy, there s a leak in your Christianity somewhere. What leaks might be preventing you from experiencing the joy of the good news of Jesus this Christmas? Pray for God to reveal any untruths you may have been taught, and ask him to engrave them over with the truth of his mercy and love.

2 Photo by Maribeth Grant May 2013 Page 2

8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled 2 bananas, cut into slices 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 cantaloupe, cut into bite-size pieces 1 cup seedless grapes ½ cup poppy seed dressing (regular or fat-free) 3

3 May 2013 Page 3 Picnic-Perfect Salad The summer picnic season kicks off this month as we honor our nation s heroes on Memorial Day. This delicious and easy salad pairs fruit with the perfect food bacon making it the perfect side for any grilled dish! 8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled 2 bananas, cut into slices 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 cantaloupe, cut into bite-size pieces 1 cup seedless grapes ½ cup poppy seed dressing (regular or fat-free) 3 tablespoons chopped green onions Toss the bananas with lemon juice in a large bowl. Add the cantaloupe and grapes, and toss with the poppy seed dressing. Just before serving, top with bacon and green onions, and enjoy! Wisdom for Kids of All Ages Moms they teach you to talk and walk, and as soon as you get good at it, they tell you to sit down and be quiet! Do you still hear your mom saying, Share your toys, play nice, and eat your vegetables? In celebration of Mother s Day, here are a few more mom-isms wisdom for kids of all ages: Cupcakes are not a breakfast food! I don t care who started it, you stop it! How do you know you don t like it if you haven t tasted it? If you can t say something nice, don t say anything at all. Now, say you re sorry...and mean it! You don t always get what you want. It s a hard lesson, but you might as well learn it now. You can go out to play...after you ve done your homework. May Days With Mother s Day, Cinco de Mayo, National Teacher s Day, and Memorial Day, May has many special days to celebrate. But wait, there s more! Lumpy Rug Day (May 3) A day to appreciate your non-lumpy rug or exchange your lumpy one for a lump-free one. Lost Sock Memorial Day (May 9) A good day to throw away all your unmatched socks and finally accept that the missing one is not coming back. Clean up Your Room Day (May 10) Strategically placed just two days before Mother s Day; this day also makes a great gift. Dance Like A Chicken Day (May 14) Nobody knows why but you re free to do the chicken dance all day. National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (May 15) Eat as many as you want. It s your reward for all the calories you burned dancing like a chicken the day before.

May 2013 Page 4 from Maribeth Grant 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained 2 zucchini thinly sliced 1 onion 2 carrots sliced 2 stalks celery sliced 1 red

salt (If desired, add 1 can of diced tomatoes for more liquid.) In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours, or on high 3 to 4 hours.

4 May 2013 Page 4 from Maribeth Grant 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained 2 zucchini thinly sliced 1 onion 2 carrots sliced 2 stalks celery sliced 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 1/3 cup chili (I use less) 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chili peppers 2 clove garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. dried oregano 2 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. salt (If desired, add 1 can of diced tomatoes for more liquid.) In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours, or on high 3 to 4 hours. This recipe would be great for the Daniel Fast. The fast is voluntary and the purpose is to humble ourselves before God. I encourage you to take part of the fast as much as you are able. You are a woman of God and He will guide your steps. We are embarking on a series of four, ten day fasts and have just passed the Media Fast portion, allowing us to change some of the worldly input into our minds and spirits. Hopefully the time that we harvested from laying aside different forms of media was used to input some godly influences. On Monday June 3rd, we begin 10 days of the Feine Fast. The purpose of these next 10 days will be to seek God as our strength and not addictive forces. Fast any addictive behavior including: caffeine (which includes coffee, chocolate and many carbonated drinks) Desserts; ice cream, sugary treats Alcohol, Cigarettes Shopping malls (recreational shopping) Any behavior that seeks to control us. Remember that God is our strength and He will show us how to resist these things. Greater is He (Jesus) who is in us, than he (our enemy) that is in the world. 1 John 4:4 On Monday June 17 we will enter the 3rd phase, the Daniel Fast. We will be looking to God for freedom from sin and sickness. The story behind this portion of our fast is that Daniel and his friends refused to eat the rich food of the

May 2013 Page 5 King of Persia much of which contradicted the Hebrew diet prescribed in the Old Testament and was offered to the gods of Persia before serving.

5 May 2013 Page 5 King of Persia much of which contradicted the Hebrew diet prescribed in the Old Testament and was offered to the gods of Persia before serving. Daniel chose to play it safe and follow the true and living God. He and his friends ate zerason which means something that has been sown (from seed). In keeping with this idea we will be eating a plant based diet and be drinking plenty of water for these 10 days. If you are looking at anything packaged, check for added preservatives and chemicals. I am sure that Daniel did not consume any of these. We will also abstain from cheese, sweets, and bread made with yeast. I recommend that you search the internet for vegan or vegetarian recipes. It may be a stretch if you are not used to cooking without meat but it can actually be enjoyable and definitely healthy. The last time we observed the Daniel Fast, three of us found recipes and got together the Saturday before the fast began and each made a different recipe and shared it with one another. This was a fun day of cooking and fellowship and got us stocked up with various foods. Please feel free to send me any recipes that you have tried and found to be good so that I can share them with all of you. Maribeth Grant submitted the vegetarian chili on page 4 which would be suitable for this fast. On Monday July 10 we will be entering the final phase of our 40 days of fasting, the Food Fast. The purpose behind this portion of the fast is to deepen our hunger for God. Seek God for your part in the fast. Here are some ideas. If you are able to, fast the entire 10 days or a certain number of days; drinking lots of water to keep your body running well. Plan to fast a certain meal every day Fast between meals or for a specific time every day (example fast from 9am to 5pm). Remember if you take medication or have a medical condition, follow your doctor s instruction. There is strength in doing this together we can encourage one another! Let us watch for God s work in our body, in our mind and in our spirit! Be ready to share your testimony of God s goodness. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV

May 2013 Page 6 ince Yael was 2 this May, I had been contemplating having a Hello Kitty Birthday party for her at the nursing home, but the plans just never materialized.

6 May 2013 Page 6 ince Yael was 2 this May, I had been contemplating having a Hello Kitty Birthday party for her at the nursing home, but the plans just never materialized. In my travels on line, I had come across a jeweled collar that could be made with her name on it. When those collars first came out, the collar was $20 and each letter or charm was $6. The one I ordered had her name, a crown and a star on it. That also included free shipping. The whole thing cost $9.99. Because it was such a small one, I could only get it in black, and I was disappointed. I should have known, that was all part of GOD S plan The following Saturday, I got overtime at work, and since Beau was doing so well, I took him around so everyone who was praying for him could be encouraged by his progress. While it was a time of great joy and celebration, Yael didn t get to wear her birthday collar. A few months ago, I was cramming a HUGE pet food donation into the back of my SUV. When I closed the tailgate, I heard a sickening crunch. Sure enough, when I got to church, I had broken one of the wheels on the pet stroller. We tried to glue the wheel, but it wouldn t hold. It was a tough day, pushing the stroller and trying to hold it up all at the same time. Fortunately, my neighbor was able to take a wheel off our spare stroller to make a repair, but now we were down to one stroller. In reassessing the situation, I had to realize that even with the repair our stroller was on its last legs, and now we didn t have a spare one. The one we had wasn t very expensive to begin with, but to replace it was well over $100. I passed the word to all my yard sale friends to be on the lookout for another one. The day of the ladies tea, Yael sporting her new bling bling Yael in her new pet stroller celebrating her birthday at the nursing home. collar and I stopped off at church to pick something up. The item we went to pick up wasn t ready, so I decided to stroll her through the food pantry since she s so popular with everyone. When our friend Troy saw us, he said, Kate I didn t expect you to be here today!!! I have something for you. I said, Troy, what is it?? He said, A stroller. Since he lives right around the corner from church he skipped home to get it. And yes, indeedy, it was a pet stroller, in HELLO KITTY PINK. Sadly, his mother had only used it a few times before her dog had passed away. She wanted Troy to throw it in the dumpster, as seeing it had made her too sad. He knew I had broken the other one, and was praying that GOD would bless us, never realizing that the FATHER would use him to bring the blessing. When we arrived at the nursing we caused quite a stir. Of course Yael was very proud to have a new collar AND a new stroller. One of the people called out, Well, you can certainly see that she s a little girl!!! And the new stroller is the Cadillac of pet strollers. It s very heavy duty, and has a push button feature, that allows you to fold it up from a button on the handle. It has a built in cup holder, and a rain cover. It s more than I could ever ask, imagine or pay for. Matthew 6:28-30 tells us, And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you you of little faith? I guess that goes for little tabby cats, as well. She may not have gotten her Hello Kitty Birthday party, but she certainly got blessed by GOD. And I guess her birthday must be May 11 th!!! Even the cats have testimonies. Oh, yes, and the Hello Kitty colors are, pink, black and white.

7 May 2013 Page 7 Photos by Sue Lunt

May 2013 page 8 Media Morsels Movie Review Cheaper By the Dozen Release Date: 1950 Genre: comedy, drama, family Rating: not rated, but appropriate for all audiences Celebrate Mother s Day with this

With 12 children, the family moved from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey, in the 1920s. This funny and winsome film shows a bit of the adventures they experienced along with tragedy.

8 May 2013 page 8 Media Morsels Movie Review Cheaper By the Dozen Release Date: 1950 Genre: comedy, drama, family Rating: not rated, but appropriate for all audiences Celebrate Mother s Day with this classic movie. It s based on a book by the same name, recounting the true story of the Gilbreth family. With 12 children, the family moved from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey, in the 1920s. This funny and winsome film shows a bit of the adventures they experienced along with tragedy. A new film with the same title was created in 2003, and a sequel in These newer films bear little resemblance to the original or to the book itself. They also lack the classic charm of the 1950 version. Book Review Lost Women of the Bible: The Women We Thought We Knew Author: Carolyn Custis James Publisher: Zondervan From Sunday school to old school, we hear a lot about men of the Bible. We learn less about the women in Scripture, who helped shape our faith and our world and who were powerfully used by God despite their often powerless lot in life. How much do we know about who these women were? As modern women, we often lose ourselves in the everyday. Perhaps a deeper look at the lost women of the Bible can help us better understand who we are and why God has placed us on this earth. This book features various women of the Bible and draws us to consider their lives more deeply than most of us have. Their lives and their faith are inspiring. The chapter about Eve is especially powerful and rich in its application to all women and our sense of purpose in Christ. This page is designed to inform and educate you and is not an endorsement. Our prayer is that you will make informed decisions on what you see, listen to.

9 May 2013 Page 9 Photos by Ginnie Lunt

Peace Not As the World Gives

FRIENDS NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2015 Issue 14 DISCOVERY CAMPERS ENJOYING THEIR SUMMER COMMUNITY ON THE LONG ISLAND SOUND Peace Not As the World Gives By Dan Bell (Christian Formation Director) Jesus told the