Pay It Forward

Each Sunday I gather a group of girls in a circle

sharing Jesus and loving on them. 

I listen to their hopes and dreams shared bravely

and their prayers lifted with open hands and hearts.

These are my moments to pay it forward.

I look into these beautiful faces bursting with anticipation 

for all God has in store for them 

and pour words of love and encouragement into their hearts.

I tell them...

The most important thing you can 

and will ever do is love God with all you are.

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul, and all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5

You are precious, honored, and loved by Him far beyond measure.

Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you.
Isaiah 43:4

You may get frightened or discouraged along the way, but you need to 

remember that He will be with you to give strength and courage.

This is my command—be strong and courageous! 

Do not be afraid or discouraged. 

 For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

There may be steps along the path that you don't understand,

but trust Him with each one and to look to Him to lead the way. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6

You should lift everything up to Him in prayer, find joy in every moment 
of the journey with Him, and give thanks over and over again for it all.

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. 
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will 
for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

He prepares the way and has His hand on you.

You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Psalm 139:5

It is important to remember that everything is from Him, through Him, and for Him. 
It is all for His glory. Everything should point to Him.

For from him and through him and for him are all things. 
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:36

These are just a few of the truths that I get to speak into their lives. 
Then I am blessed to watch God work in them and through them.

We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
Psalm 78:4

Isn't that really what it's all about anyway?
This legacy of truth we so long to pass on to our children.
We pay forward these words that give life 
to our dreams that God has placed in our hearts. 
All for His glory.

Empowering and encouraging to dream God-sized dreams.
I not only am blessed to do this for my sons in the every day,
but also for these precious girls that God has placed in my life.

That's part of my God-sized dream for sure.

How are you paying it forward?

My friend Holley Gerth invited me to join a group of dreamers that she affectionately calls her God Sized Dream Team. What a blessing to be part of this group. 

We will be gathering each week on Tuesdays at Holley's to encourage each other to dream those God sized dreams.

Won't you join us?

What is your God-sized dream?

Holley had written a love letter to dreamers. Her book You're Made for a God-Sized Dream is full of words of encouragement and will speak to your heart.

Blessings,

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Today I am joining Lisa-Jo and friends for Five Minute Friday.

This is where we come together writing for 5 minutes without editing or overthinking.

I love this community.

Check out what everyone's is sharing on the word HOME here.




Home is so much more than the walls that surround me and the roof above me. 
Home is more about the people that fill my life. 

It is these four men both big and little who bring the overflow of love and laughter with each day. Moments cuddling on the couch and dancing in the living room. Sitting around the dinner table, heads bowed, thanking God for all our blessings. 

It is the nearness of my mother after many years separated. Sitting across the table from her and talking about our lives. Hearing her encouragement given from one mother to another. Being able to laugh with her again. 

It is gathering with women sharing our hearts with laughter and tears. Wanting to know God more and diving into His Word together. Longing to be the women, wives, and mothers that God has created them to be. 

It is sitting in a circle with a group of girls as they giggle and sharing Jesus with them. Listening to their hopes and dreams and their prayers offered with open hands and hearts.

It is a group of sisters never met in person but hearts knit together. Loving each other through words on a screen. Feeling less alone and lifting each other up to Him.

Home is where the heart is.
My heart is full and my cup overflows.

Every time I think of you, 
I give thanks to my God.
Philippians 1:3

Blessings,

Riding the Rollercoaster

Leading a small group of preteen girls is both rewarding and challenging. They are in that in-between stage and learning how to navigate new waters and we are part of the journey they are taking between child and teenager. Part of this new path is changing hormones and the emotions that accompany them. 

A preteen girl’s emotions can be up one minute and down another. 

This rollercoaster of feelings can sometimes manifest itself in bouts of tears.

Here are four pointers in dealing with this kind of emotional outburst:

◦Deal with it. Don’t ignore it or trivialize it. The situation may seem silly, but to a girl in the midst of the outburst it can be scary and overwhelming.

◦Talk about it. Taking the girl aside and giving her a chance to share how she is feeling and helping her identify why she is feeling that way is a huge help.

◦Normalize it. Reassure her that what she is feeling is normal for her age. Let her know that other girls are going through this same thing.

◦Pray about it. Take this time to pray with her and for her. Let her know that God wants to hear how she is feeling and will be there for her.

Part of being a small group leader of preteen girls is riding this rollercoaster with them. We are here to support and encourage them along the way.

I wouldn’t trade a moment of it and am so blessed 
to be a part of my small group girls’ lives.

Blessings,

My Heart Beats for This One

She smiles at me under her lowered eyes as she enters the room each week. She hugs so tight yet whispers her hello to me. She moves into the room slowly with shuffling feet. She stands back from the crowd of boisterous girls with such longing in her face. She doesn't join in the chatter and giggles. During worship she sways back and forth singing praise to Him low enough that you would have to bend down to hear her voice. And then we gather in our circle to talk more about our lesson that day. She hesitates to raise her hand to answer a question. 

But today...such boldness. When I asked my girls for prayer requests, her hand shot up and she told us about her papaw who is sick. When the time came for this circle of girls to pray, her head bowed and her hands opened in front of her. In that moment when she would usually tap the knee of the girl sitting next to her, she instead prayed this quiet reverent prayer to Jesus. With each word offered, her hands raised a bit higher to Him. She didn't hesitate. She didn't whisper. 

This brave, sweet girl raised her voice to a God she knows, asking Him for healing. Thanking Him in advance for all He is going to do. Thanking Him for the girls sitting in the circle. Asking Him to answer all of their prayers today. Thanking Him for the gift of me.

Oh my precious girl. 

I wept. My heart overflowing. Knowing that she knows Him. That she lifts her hands to Him. That she doesn't stand back from His presence, but enters boldly before Him.

My hearts beats for this one today.

 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me..."
Matthew 19:14 

Something She Had To Tell Me

She came running toward me, her face beaming, shouting over all the other kid chatter, "Ms. Wendy! Ms. Wendy! I have to tell you something!"

I knew it had to be a pretty big something as she is usually so quiet and reserved. So we went aside to a place where I could focus completely on what she had to share.

"I asked Jesus to be my Forever Friend last weekend."

She attended her dad's church and during service she had gone forward to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

"When the preacher talked about getting saved, I just couldn't sit in my seat any longer. I just knew I had to get up and go. I knew I wanted Him in my heart right then. It was like He was tugging me towards Him."

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, 
and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
Romans 10:10 

I thought my heart would burst right then and there. 

One of my girls got saved. 

I had been praying for this for a year.

My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
Romans 10:1

Fighting back the urge to do that ugly cry, I said to her...

"Sweet girl, did you know that at the exact moment you asked Him 
to be your Forever Friend, all of heaven celebrated you?"

She said with eyes shining, "A party just for me? That's so cool!"


I say to you that there will be joy like this before the Angels of God 
over one sinner who returns home.
Luke 15:10

She ran off to play a bit with her friends before service started, 
but first she gave me a hug that was just a bit more emphatic than usual.

And I went into the bathroom and had that ugly cry.
What a precious gift.

Praising Him and thanking Him for one more saved.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8

One of My Deepest Desires

How sweet your words taste to me;
they are sweeter than honey.
Psalm 119:103

One of my deepest desires as I serve in children’s ministry is for our kids to fall in love with the Word of God.

Most kids are not reading their Bibles on a regular basis. When I asked my small group girls why they weren’t reading, they gave a wide variety of answers from not having a Bible to not understanding what they are reading. We need to everything we can to encourage and engage our kids with God’s Word. More than just putting the scripture on a screen during service on Sundays.

Here are some ideas:

◦Provide Bibles for every child that walks through our doors. – If they don’t have one, they can’t read it.

◦Train kids on how to use their Bibles. – If they don’t know how, they won’t read it.

◦Provide families with devotions to use at home. – If they don’t understand it, they’ll stop reading it.

There are several things that I am doing to encourage my small group girls to get into the Word.

◦I am rewarding them for bringing their Bibles every week.

◦We are using our Bibles during small group. We highlight our memory verse to share with our families.

◦I am buying Bibles for the girls that don’t have one.

How are you engaging kids in your children’s ministry when it comes to God’s Word?

My Sunday in Pictures

Blessed.

Getting Crafty in Small Group

One of the things I love doing with my small group girls is crafts.

Here are a few reasons why:

• The girls tend to relax and talk more freely while working on a craft. They become less self conscious and open up in conversation with each other.
• Crafts are a great way to connect to the lesson. For example, I might ask the girls to draw what they think heaven looks like and then read the scripture that goes along with the lesson.
• The crafts they take home are a great tool for them to explain what they learned that day. The craft can prompt a conversation with their families.

Here is one example of a craft we did in small group. 



The lesson was about surrounding yourself with the right friends. The scripture was about Jesus choosing His twelve disciples. So at the center of the necklace is Jesus and surrounding are twelve beads that stand for the disciples. The girls loved it and we had a great conversation about what we look for in friends.

Do you do crafts in small group?

Sundays with My Girls

Each week I am blessed to serve in our children's ministry as a small group leader with 4th and 5th grade girls.

(that's some of their feet pictured above - feet because I walk with them)

Praising God for one of my girls asking Jesus to be
her Forever Friend and two more getting baptized today!

Super blessed today to worship with all the girls from grades 1st-5th!
22 girls in all!
Small group rocked!

Today in pictures...

Sundays with My Girls

Each week I am blessed to serve in our children's ministry as a small group leader with 4th and 5th grade girls.

(that's some of their feet pictured above - feet because I walk with them)

Today I was especially blessed as the 3rd grade girls joined us for small group time.

We began just like we do every week by catching up on what's happening in their worlds. They shared stories of family adventures, fun in the sun, and even a birthday party this past week.

We all got to celebrate as one of the girls asked Jesus
to be her Forever Friend this past week.
YAY! PRAISE GOD!
This led to a discussion of what it means to be saved. Instead of me giving them the answer, I wanted to hear them share with each other what it means to them.

Listened to them share these sweet words...

"Jesus is forever in my heart. I talk to Him all the time."
"I'm not alone anymore. He's always with me."
"Now I get to be in heaven with Him. How cool is that?"
"Can you believe that He loved us that much? To DIE?
I mean...really. That's a lot of love."

Oh my heart. How I love these girls.

We then talked about the coming week ahead and shared prayers requests. One of my favorite things about my time with them is getting to pray with, for, and over them.
 Sometimes it breaks my heart into tiny little pieces to hear them praying for each other with such tender words; believing for each other that God can do anything.

I am so incredibly blessed to be a part of their lives
and to spend each Sunday with them.

Kids Just Believe

One of the things I love about serving with children is that they just believe.

When you tell them the story of Jonah they don't doubt that it happened. They don't analyze how it could've happened. They just believe. Now they might ask how big the fish was or what Jonah ate while he was in the fish, but very rarely will they question how it was possible.

The same goes for when you tell them the other stories in the Bible, from Noah and the ark to Jesus healing the blind with spit and dirt. They don't question how. They just believe.

I was thinking about this driving home from church this past Sunday after hearing the prayers of my small group girls. One of my girls prayed this prayer...

"Jesus give me the words & help me be brave to tell my grandpa about you. I want him to love you too."

She really believes that God will place the exact words in her mouth and will place in her the courage to share Jesus with someone she loves. Then there are the prayer requests for healing they whisper during this time and I am humbled at the belief that resonates through their words. They just believe.

We adults can learn so much from the faith of our children. Praying prayers that are bold and full of belief. Standing on the promises that God gives in His word.
To just believe.

At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?"

For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.

Matthew 18:1-5

My Heart is Broken

My heart is broken...

-For the child who has never heard who Jesus is and how much He loves them.

-For the child who has never been to church or even knows what that is.

-For the child who will go thru so many struggles alone wondering who even cares.

-For the child who is bombarded by images on tv (and some even in their own lives) of hatred and violence and think that it is normal.

-For the child that will go to bed tonight hungry.

-For the child who longs for an unconditional love from anyone.

They are screaming "SEE ME! HEAR ME! LOVE ME!"

Who will tell them that God does? 

Who will show them His love is real?

Don't you feel the urgency in these days?
We should be doing everything possible to reach out to children today for Christ.

Tell them about our God who loved them so much that He sent His Son to die for them. 
Tell them that forgiveness is possible through Jesus
 and He will always be there for them.
Tell them that they have a place in His house.

It is time to boldly proclaim God's love to our children today!

I will stand for these children and tell them every week how much Jesus loves them. 
I will kneel for these children and pray that they open their hearts and accept Jesus as their Savior. For the children that are there, for the ones to come, 
and the ones that may never come.

They are why I do what I do.

My heart is broken and I will never see a child the same again.

Thank God.

Blessings,