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Thank you, New Mexico!
Just a quick note to say THANK YOU to the wonderful women who were at my New Mexico retreat this weekend! I was so blessed to get to be with you all … you made me laugh & cry & I learned a bunch too. Thank you, especially, for the beautiful cards!! Your words were a true encouragement to me … AND I just have to say: Where can I buy those “byDDeSimone05/07” cards?? (Apparently they were all made by hand by one of you amazing ladies??? Astounding!! I will never cease to be amazed by the creative and artistic gifts God gives His children.) I’m going to get some…
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Oh my STARS! But she was MAD at me …
Quick post from the Salt Lake City WorldClub … I’m hoping that typing this out will release some of the adrenaline that is COURSING through my body!! Because I just spent pretty much an entire one hour flight sitting next to a FURIOUS woman!!! Yes, yes … it really was MY fault because: I spilled a little WATER on her! Aaaaaaaaaauuuuuurrrrrrrrrrgggggggggh! Ten years of flying frequently enough to have premier status on one airline or another (and sometimes more than one even at the same time) and I have NEVER done this before!!! (I’ve had LOTS of spills on ME, of course. Cold, hot, STICKY–yup. You bet. But I’ve never…
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We were on television!
Fred took the afternoon off yesterday and we went on a family “adventure” (to quote Soph). (Basically, we just had a picnic lunch at Riverfront Park and then enjoyed lots of playtime feeding ducks, walking & singing in the woods, skipping rocks in the Yellowstone River, and stopping for ice cream on the way home.) But our super-fun BIG NEWS is that we were on TELEVISION! A cameraman for the local news station saw us and asked if we would like to shout: “Hey Ed! How’s the weather?!!” for the local 6:00PM news. (They use the 5 second clip as a lead-in to the forecast.) It was SO FUN! Lili…
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Peacemaker Conference Friday AM Plenary – Rev. Dr. Nakah
Oh! I just can’t do justice to Dr. Nakah’s sweet, painful retelling of the FURY that he and his (then-fiance, now-wife) experienced when they sought her parents’ blessing on their engagement. His wife was from a ROYAL TRIBE and he was, most decidedly, NOT. In Africa, this was simply unacceptable. (“You don’t contaminate royal blood!!!!!”) Her mother looked her in the eyes and said, “If this marriage happens, it will be over my DEAD BODY. If you go ahead with this, you are as GOOD AS DEAD TO ME.” And then it took an entire YEAR of Dr. Nakah and his fiance persevering in negotiations with her parents, often receiving…
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How to respond to gossip …
Our church is going through The Peacemaking Church Small Group Study (based on the Bible–and Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker) and wow! Is it great! If it’s been awhile since you’ve read The Peacemaker–or if you never have done so–I hope you’ll consider not only reading the book but doing so in the context of a small group Bible study. There is just nothing like the accountability, love, and safety of a small group to “force” us to get these biblical principles out of the realm of the HYPOTHETICAL (“confessional theology”) and into the realm of the REAL LIFE HOW WE ACTUALLY LIVE (“practical theology”). Let me give you just…
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Thank you Mountain View Community Church!
Just a quick note to send my THANKS and LOVE to all of the women of Mountain View Community Church for the wonderful conference this past weekend! I am hoping to send out an email this week to you (and to my Florida ladies from last week too! sorry I’ve been so delayed with that …) and I truly hope that we will stay in touch. By the way–after I entered all of your names into my little spreadsheet, Fred picked #1680 for the prize … so congratulations to T.R. for winning the peacemaking stuff! If I don’t get your prize mailed off before I leave for North Carolina on…
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Worship Styles …
Next week, Fred will teach a workshop on “Worship Wars” at the Peacemaker Conference. I would imagine that the title pretty much says it all, but just to be explicitly clear … his workshop will discuss common conflicts related to worship styles/genres in churches. I was thinking of his workshop and praying for him in particular last night because I was overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness for how SWEET the corporate worship I am experiencing at this women’s conference is … AND how sweet the corporate worship I experienced last weekend in Florida was. Let me take just a moment to contrast them for you: – This weekend in California,…
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Everything goes better when you stop fighting God …
Oh! I wish I had written down her exact words this morning at our prayer/friend group … but after I waxed on & on (who me? verbal? date mouth? “Why 5 words when 500 will clearly do” Tara?) about how God was blessing me with a renewed embracing of some relatively recent suffering in my life … (How, although I never would have chosen what happened; how being so long in a place of physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering brought me to my lowest place of utter despair; how HARD it was and how NECESSARY it was to GRIEVE … But honestly? I’m having such a renewed sense that I…
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Melissa B. — YOU WON!
Well … I emailed Fred from (Minnesota? Michigan? Florida?) … somewhere yesterday and asked him to pick a number between 1616 and 1663 and THAT person on my little (poor man’s database) Excel spreadsheet would win, you know, THE PRIZE for my Florida event this past weekend. And Melissa B., YOU WON! (In case you’re curious, you were #1644. 🙂 !!) So, Melissa B. from Florida … if you have any “I wish I had a …[specific peacemaking resource]” desire, please let me know ASAP. Otherwise, Lord willing, I’ll pop something (biblical & practical!) in the mail to you before I leave for California Thursday morning. (Oooooooh! I love giving…
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Thanks, Florida! (And Morris, Illinois too!)
Thank you, Florida Gulfstream PresWIC (Women in the Church), for a wonderful, wonderful weekend! I was truly blessed and encouraged to spend time with each one of you. And many thanks to Lake Osborne Presbyterian Church too! I rarely get to attend worship services on weekends when I travel … and even though my flight schedule only allowed me to be there for the first hour of your service (SORRY to miss your sermon, Pastor Downing!) … thanks to the wonderful liturgy, hymns, confessions, and prayers, I was truly edified even by just the beginning of your service. In fact … sitting in your church this morning, I was overwhelmed…
