Sleepless Nights

Dear Sisters,

Good morning! How are you? How was your weekend? Whether it was spent with family or at work, I pray it was filled with an awareness of His presence and love. If your weekend has left you weary, here’s a prayer of perseverance for us from Jude (personalized!):

Father God, please build us up in Your most holy faith and help us to preserve in prayer in the Holy Spirit. Keep us in Your love as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. You are able to keep us from falling and to present us before Your glorious presence without fault and with great joy. To You, the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Let’s turn to the Word together.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable then they?
Matthew 6:26

I didn’t sleep well last night. Woke up at 3:30 AM, started thinking about my to-do list, and had a difficult time shutting my brain off again. The next morning over breakfast, my hubby told me to go outside and look at the birds.

Glancing out the window, I expected to see something grand . . . a beautiful hummingbird on the flowers or a number of pheasants along the gravel road. Although I could hear sparrows, I didn’t see anything special. “What do you mean, go look at the birds?” I asked.

“The birds!” he said. “They don’t worry about tomorrow, and neither should you!” (Read Matthew 6:25-34.)

Ever have Scripture hit you in the gut? It did me. I read it. I write about it. I teach it. But am I living it? I needed that humbling reminder. Do you need it, too?

Sleepless nights can be some of the loneliest and forlorn hours. Job said, “When I lay down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn. Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest” (Job 7:4, 30:17). David wrote, I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears (Psalm 6:6).

The next time you’re sleepless in Seattle or the place where you’re laying your head for the night, here’s God’s Word to you and me:

God is awake. You’re not alone. He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore (Psalm 121:4-8).

Remember His care. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:8).

Pray. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life (Psalm 42:8).

As a child when sleepless nights occasionally came, my dad would tell me, “Forget counting sheep. Talk to the Shepherd.”

Prayer Step: Are you experiencing sleepless nights? Use those precious hours to talk and listen to the Shepherd.

I am so weak that I can hardly write, I cannot read my Bible, I cannot even pray, I can only lie still in God’s arms like a little child, and trust.
Hudson Taylor

Grace and peace,

Lenae

Fall Training

Hello GEMS Counselors!
I trust that you are all enjoying the summer and now getting your minds back on to the regular routine of life, school, GEMS!Many of you have received the brochure in the mail for the Fall Training. This will either tell you about the training, or remind you to get your registrations in NOW!
The dates of the training are as follows:Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 6pm-9pm at the Duncan Christian Reformed Church, Duncan BC. This is at 930 Trunk Road in Duncan.
Friday, Sept. 11 from 6-9pm at the Living Hope Christian Reformed Church in Abbotsford BC
Most of you on the mainland will choose the Abbotsford location, and on the island, the Duncan location, however you are welcome to attend either training session as they are identical in content.
Registration is $30.00 per person and includes supper, theme book, resources, and prizes!
Please send your registrations in to Gladys Wikkerink4741 Bench Road, Duncan BC V9L 6L7
We need the registrations in by Sept. 2 in order to make plans for food and materials.
The training will include:Welcoming and get to know eachother time and supper
Worship time with the new theme song with actions
Workshops: Each participant will choose 2 sessions:
1. Ways to Maximize Shine Brightly Magazine
2. Equipping and motivating new counselors (good for 'seasoned' counselors as well)
3. Year end- Family Banquet- celebrations
4. Nurturing Club Coordinators to be the best

We will learn about the Hand N Hand program and sampling of soup and cookies
Experience the Theme badge- You don't want to miss out on this!
We will end with a commissioning and closing service
As you can see, it will be a full evening. We are trying it in the evening rather than a Saturday to accommodate this suggested time , so we hope to see many more of you attend this special evening.
If you have any questions about the training please do not hesitate to email me, or phone me, Kathy at 250-474-4483, or Gladys Wikkerink.
Thank you and we will look forward to seeing you in September!

Thanksgiving!

Hello Counselors,
Fall is on its way, but it isn't quite officially Thanksgiving yet- but we can be thankful all year round. Find the devotional from Lenae below and I hope that it brings thanksgiving to your heart today.
Also- have you send in your 'reservation form' to Gladys for the Fall Training? Are you 'gathering' up the counselors in our club to all come together and enjoy this time of training, encouragement, and fun? I will post another entry later this week giving you all the details for that, in case you have forgotten. This will be a time that you don't want to miss!
Blessings on your day,
Kathy

WITH THANKSGIVING

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Have you ever repeatedly read a Bible verse or passage, and all of a sudden God the Holy Spirit showed you a new thing? That’s what He did for me with Philippians 4:6.

I’ve always understood it to represent two parts of prayer: petition (making our requests known to God in prayer) and thanksgiving (expressing thanks and gratitude to God in prayer). I’ve only looked at this verse as teaching prayer in separate entities – petitions and thanksgiving. Similar to how appetizers and desserts are different parts of a meal.

But there’s more to this verse, is there not? As we go to God with our petitions and requests we should do that with thankfulness! We gratefully bring God our needs and desires! Our entire prayer, not just a separate portion of it, is prayed with thanksgiving!

By nature many of our requests and petitions stem from trouble. Do we thank Him for difficulty? No! But we can gratefully bring those heartaches before Him in prayer because . . ..

He is able! Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21).

He hears our cries! The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles (Psalm 34:17).

He cares for you! Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).

He will provide all that is needed. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (2 Peter 1:3). And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

He’s working things out according to His will and our good. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:27-28).

Prayer Step: During your prayer time today thankfully give Him your petitions and requests.

Prayer can do anything that God can do.
E.M. Bounds

Grace and peace,

Lenae

Super Hair Care

Today's entry is a devotional written by Lenae Builthuis who is on staff for GEMS and writes much of the GEMS material and devotionals. I hope that this will be of encouragement to you today.
Kathy


Dear Sisters,

Happy Monday! How are you? It’s my prayer that each one of you (me included) would be willing and eager to serve the counselors and girls that have been entrusted to us, and that we would be godly examples to them. And as we do, we will remember that when the Chief Shepherd appears, we will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:2-3). What a glorious day that will be! Have an amazing week of service to the King, dear sisters!

Let’s turn to the Word together.

SUPER HAIR CARE

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31

I’m having trouble with my hair. Not the ones on top of my head (although they have their moments, too!), it’s the ones that clog the shower drain, land in the sink, and fill my hairbrush. Between my teenage girls, and me the bathroom can be a hairy, scary place!

After Sunday night’s sermon, this annoying reality has become a vital reminder of the providence of God. All things are not by chance, but from God’s heavenly hand. Without His will we can neither move nor be moved – right down to our hair count!

What’s most amazing about God knowing the number of hairs on our heads is not that He can do it, but that He cares to know! I’ve lost sleep over a number of things, but never about the number of hairs that might have fallen overnight.

God doesn’t lose sleep about hair or anything else. In fact, because He doesn’t sleep (Psalm 121:3-4), we can – in perfect peace that no hair or sparrow or anything else will fall without His knowledge and will. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31).

God is a personal, caring God! Paul was so confident of God’s care for him that he wrote, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). Are you and I as convinced of God’s care as Paul was? If so, worry would be eliminated from our lives!

We joke that worry turns our hair gray, frustrations cause us to pull our hair out, and fear makes our hair stand on end. It’s time to see hair God’s way. Turn your worries into prayers and use fallen hair as a tangible reminder of His providence and everlasting love for you.

Prayer Step: Super hair care doesn’t come in shampoo bottles or expensive salons, but in God alone. Thank God for His personal care for you today!

"We cannot but admit that not even the least thing takes place unless it is ordered by God. For who have ever been so concerned and curious as to find out how much hair he has on his head? There is no one. God, however, knows the number. Indeed, nothing is too small in us or in any other creature, not to be ordered by the all-knowing and all-powerful providence of God."

Huldryrch Zwingli

Grace and peace,

Lenae

Hand 'N Hand Program

Dear GEMS friends,
After I posted about our GEMS making cookies, I thought I should post again about the upcoming opportunity we will all have to be part of something that goes beyond our North America GEMS Clubs. It is called the Hand 'N Hand program. Please read on and if you are a Club Coordinator you should have recieved a packet of information about this already. We will also go over this briefly at the fall training.
Coming this fall we have the amazing opportunity to partner with our sister clubs in Africa in an adventure called Hand 'n Hand Program. This is a fund and friend raising program providing clubs in North America AND Africa with the opportunity to work together- hand 'n hand, so that more girls will come to know Jesus Christ. Girls in GEMS Clubs in North America will sell handcrafted items made by girls and counselors in Zambia along with gourmet food items from North America. The funds raised from the sales of both items help clubs in North America operate successfully and grow, AND help clubs in Africa thrive and become self-sustaining. This will reduce dramatically African club dependence on financial aid from North American clubs. This is wonderful opportunity which we have to serve as the body of Christ working together for the overall good! Club Coordinators will be receiving a mailing soon explaining all of the details of this new program. PLEASE DO NOT THROW THIS MAILING AWAY, but read it carefully and join this marvelous joint venture. Not only will we get to help by selling items that are tasty and useful, but for every club that participates donors have generously offered to give $500 to the Esther School fund to help build this desperately needed school in Zambia!
Through the Hand 'n Hand Program GEMS Clubs in Africa will work toward becoming self-sustaining, GEMS Clubs in North America will raise needed funds for their own clubs, and The Esther School fund will grow, making it possible to begin the school building process very soon!This will all be happening from Oct. 8-23 of THIS YEAR! So, be ready to implement this into your planning for this coming Fall. Details will follow, but I just wanted to give you all a head start on thinking about this new program. You can go to the GEMS Website read more.
(just a little hint about the Fall Training- we will get to sample some of these wonderful cookies and soup- so get your taste buds going for that!)
Kathy

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

Hello on this fine summer day!
As we anticipate beginning another season of GEMS I thought it would be fun to share with you what the Grade 7 girls at Christ Community Church in Victoria did last year for a fund raiser.
They wanted to raise money for an orphanage in Haiti. They decided to bake and sell cookies- LOTS of cookies!
Over $400 was sent to help the orphanage buy food and supplies and the girls had fun, saw how their hard work can help others, and also ate a few cookies along the way.

If your club has done something different as a fund raiser, please share it with us all. Email your idea and share a picture if you can to: kathyharv1012@hotmail.com