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March, 2012
Greetings!
A big thank-you to the women who attend our Winter Bible Studies for helping make a LIFE CHANGING difference for Asia Pakdeejinba. Our project during this session was to encourage the ladies who were attending a WM Bible study to give a few dollars and collectively sponsor a child at the Akha Light Orphanage in Thailand. So far we have raised a little more than was needed to sponsor one child for a year. Let me introduce you to Asia!
I met Asia in person on the recent short-term mission trip that was sponsored by South. Asia is the son of Nit and "T" who are dorm parents at the orphange. He is 9 years old, in the 2nd grade and has a younger brother, Captain. Asia loves to play soccer and has asked Jesus to be his Savior. Our sponsorship will help Asia attend school and supply the basic needs that each of those living at the orphanage has.
A big THANK YOU to those who contributed. I am proud of you ladies! Rejoicing, Becky
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Several new studies are beginning... |
 David: Seeking a Heart Like His (Beth Moore) ~ Beginning Mondays, March 12, 2012 at 6:30 pm at South Church in the Board Room. God will never give up on you. Explore how David's life proves this promise to be true in this updated edition of the best selling study, A Heart Like His: Seeking the Heart of God Through a Study of David. In this examination of the "man after God's own heart," David will delight and disappoint you. You'll want to be just like him at times and nothing like him at others. If you've ever experienced doubts, temptations, losses, family problems, or personal inconsistencies, this study is for you! Facilitated by Donna Banks (Workbook $15).
Jonah (Priscilla Shirer) ~ Beginning Thursdays, April 12, 2012 at 9:30 am at South Church in the student Ministry Center. What do we do when God interrupts our lives? Many times, like Jonah, we run! In this 7-session Bible study, Priscilla redefines interruption and shows that interruption is actually God's invitation to do something beyond our wildest dreams. When Jonah was willing to allow God to interrupt his life, the result was revival in an entire city. Facilitated by Amy Warder (Workbook $15).
Register online here. We'd love to have you join us! |
Random threads of thought... sometimes threads mend, sometimes they create, usually they just end up in a knot. | |
Following sixteen days in Thailand I barely had time to wash my clothes and sleep a few nights in my own bed when I found myself unexpectedly on another plane. This time I was heading to say good-bye to one of the most influential women in my life.
As I sat holding the hand of my Aunt Ruth I couldn't help but flashback and remember that I had done this before. For some reason God has chosen to allow me to comfort and ease all four of the most important women I have ever known from this life to the next. First my grandma, followed years later by my mom, then my sister (in-law), now my aunt.
Death is not a pretty thing. To see beautiful, dynamic women wither and draw their last ragged breath rips the heart right out of you. I wonder, is this one of my callings? To be the one who holds the hand of those I love when they die? Dare I even think the thought of who will hold my hand when that time comes for me? Another horrible thread enters my mind... with the death of these women, my nurturers, my mentors, that leaves ME to be the matriarch of my family, the "Sheveland clan". (btw, don't you think 'matriarch' is an awful word?) It can't be possible that I now have to be the grown up, the one who holds us together and even worse, the one who washes dishes at family gatherings.
These are some of the loose random threads of thought that swirl in my mind as I reflect on my losses. I know that I have arrived at the point in this narrative when I am expected to conclude with a challenge to remember God's grace - the hope and assurance of heaven. But one last thread interrupts and urges me to be genuine, to be authentic, to let the raw agony of death define the way I reveal myself to you. It's what I am told we in this generation long for - real, authentic, vulnerable discourse. So having death once again pull from my clutching hand one I dearly love, I offer you my genuine, really real, truly embraced, experience of death and loss. Holding the hands of these women as they die gives me an overwhelmingly true assurance that what I have been taught by them, about God and his plan, has just been fulfilled. That the narrative of their lives has only just begun and I get to part of that unending story.
~ Becky (Sheveland) Phillips, Women's Ministry Director
In memory of my Aunt Ruth Curran (Dec. 1924 - Feb. 2012) |
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South Church, 5250 Cornerstone Dr., Lansing, MI
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If you would like more information on how you can sponsor a child at the Akha Light Orphanage in Thailand visit this link:
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Join us Saturday, March 17 from 9:30-11:30 AM in the Commons as we laugh, learn, encourage, and share our lives together.
This month's
topic is soup!
Why you should come to this month's session of Sister2Sister...
Janee Penfield and a team of amazing cooks will introduce you to skills you can really use in next weeks session.
Making soup is one of the best ways to familiarize people to the genius and chemistry - what some say is the magic - of cooking. Liquids meet solids, interact ecstatically, and vow never to part again.
Even though it's a type of cooking as basic as it is classic, and uses techniques such as caramelizing, deglazing, and thickening that can be applied to many other kinds of dishes, making soup isn't just a matter of tossing a few ingredients into a pot of hot water. Making soup teaches you how to think about the compatibility of ingredients, the roles of assembly and cooking times, and the blending of techniques without being overwhelming or intimidating.
Women of all ages and stages of life are welcome.
Everyone attending is encouraged to register.
REGISTER HERE!
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Need a place to connect on Sunday mornings
at South?
When Life Is Hard (James McDonald) ~ at 11:00am at South Church in Room 204.
In this study you will find grace through clear Biblical teaching as you look at five questions to ask during times of trial. What to do when trials are rooted in failed relationships and how joy can be a logical response to suffering.
You will discover that God has not abandoned you, but rather He is watching you closely, monitoring your situation and offering His strength when yours is gone.
This is a class for women of all ages. Facilitated by Carol Senard (Listening Guide and Workbook $15)
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