Time Flies

Since my last post much has happened. We have had AZ District NMI (Nazarene Missions International) Convention with Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Ketchum. It was a wonderful time of sharing what God is doing around the world in making Christlike disciples. I was also privileged to attend the Global NMI Convention in Orlando, Florida. Words are inadequate to describe the sense of unity as Nazarenes from around the world gather to praise God together, pray together and fellowship together. It was an inspirational time. However Florida was hot with high humidity; I am not use to my glasses fogging up when I walk out a building.
I am also looking forward to going to Prescott for Camp Meeting for a few days July 21-26. It is always nice to get to the cooler climate and enjoy inspirational preaching and fellowship with friends.
Hope you are having a great summer.

Lessons Learned Easter Weekend

I trust you had a blessed Easter. I want to share with you some lessons I learned this weekend. Turning Leaf sponsored an Egstreme Family Fun Event on Saturday for the community. The mailers were sent, 10,000 filled plastic Easter eggs were purchased, blow-up bounces and generator were reserved for use, etc. Then the weather report called for 30% chance of rain so I started praying. The more I prayed the worst the weather report got. Saturday morning I could see where it had rained during the night but it was only misting when I got up. The closer it got to the time to leave, the harder it rained. As I was driving to the school it was pouring down rain. I thought to myself this is ridiculous, no one is going to come out in this rain. We meet at the school and standing in the rain admitted we had all been praying and decided to trust God to take care of the weather. (There is encouragement in numbers.) So we ran power for the bounces and set up a canopy for registration and unloaded water bottles and snow cone machines and called so we could use the gym for the egg hunts and the cafeteria for the games. I felt like the children of Israel who had to put their feet in the Jordan River before it stopped flowing so that they could pass through on dry ground. However sometime during set it, it did stop raining. The sun even began to shine and the people started coming; approximately 400 people came. We had a great time and some of them even came back on Sunday to worship with us as we had 222 in church Easter morning.
Lessons learned:
1) Trust God no matter what the circumstances look like; He is able to do exceeding above what we can even imagine or thing.
2) There is encouragement in numbers. Be sure you have a group of friends that will support you and pray with you.
3) Don't forget the praise God and thank Him for His many blessing each day.
I trust that you will have a great day as you keep your focus on HIM!

Faith Promise

March 21 & 22 we have a very special opportunity at Turning Leaf to have missionaries Terry and Diane Barker, who are serving in the Horn of Africa, as our special guest speakers. Exciting things are happening in the Horn of Africa and I know you will be sorry if you miss this opportunity to hear how God is working around the world. There is a dinner at 5 PM on Saturday, March 21 at Barbara Robey School. Tickets are $6/person, $20/family, children 2 and under are free. You can email missions@turningleafchurch.org for more information. We will also be collecting our Faith Promise commitments for the year. Faith Promise is the way we support World Missions in the Church of the Nazarene. It is a love gift to God, given beyond one's tithe. For Faith Promise, an individual prays, asking God what he or she should give to missions. People find that giving an amount regularly and relying on God to provide, they are able to fulfill their Faith Promise commitment. Your Faith Promise giving supports approximately 800 missionaries in 155 world areas. Faith Promise also supports a missionary retirement center, evangelism ministries, schools, medical facilities, literature in 93 languages, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Work & Witness, Alabaster, the JESUS Film Project, World Mission Broadcast and ministries to more than 17,500 churches. I hope the see next week for Turning Leaf's World Evangelism Weekend.

The Project

Here it is February already. What happened to January? I know that with the help of a friend, a project I started several months ago finally got completed. The project . . . I got my kitchen and entry way painted. It seemed like a fairly easy project when I started. Simply strip off the wallpaper and paint. Right? Wrong. There was wallpaper under the wallpaper in the kitchen and in the entry way the walls had never been textured. Also since the paint on the cupboards was oil base, everything needed to be painted with primer first before we could apply water based paint. I don't think I would of ever gotten finished if it hadn't been for the help of my friend Carol along with T.Jay (my son-in-law). I am also thankful that both of them knew what they were doing and that I just had to follow instructions. It reminds me of my Chritian walk. Sometimes I think the task is easy and that I can handle it and then I realize that I am in over my head and don't even know what to do next. That is when I am thankful that God knows what and how to do whatever needs to be done and that He provides friends to come along side me and help me and encourage me along the way.
Have a great day and be sure to let your friends know how much you appreciate them.

"The Shack"

I have just finished reading "The Shack". I think you will find it a great book that will challenge you to think outside the box that you have put God in. However, be sure to have a box of kleenex handy. You can go to http://www.theshackbook.com if you want to find out more about the book.
Remember . . . God is in control and you can trust Him.
Have a great week.
Marilyn