Lets Celebrate

We celebrated a birthday today. One of our ladies will be 80 years old tomorrow, and her daughter very kindly laid on some sandwiches and cake, this will be a very special day for Pat and we hope that she will enjoy the celebrations with her family too. I imagine that all over the world people are celebrating for all kinds of reasons, birthday, engagements, weddings, births, etc. As Christians, we have a relationship with the one true God, and so every day should be a cause for celebration. Just as you unwrap the gifts that people give you, so each new day unfolds and at the end of the day we have so much to thank God for.

Even when things haven't gone as we had planned, or something happens to knock us back, we can still thank God that He is with us and has been with us through it all. We know that His Spirit dwells in us, when we have repented of our sin, and turned away from our sinful ways, we ask that He will come into our lives and take control. God knows much better than we do what is good for us, just as an earthly father knows what is best for his children.

We played a game, you had to say “We went to Pat’s birthday party and we saw” and then add one thing we had seen on the tables, we went around each person, each one adding on another item. If you forgot something you were out, it was a draw. Everything that was mentioned we were grateful for. So, it is when we stop and think about all the blessings that God has bestowed on us during each day, it all reminds us of how loving, gracious and merciful our heavenly Father is.

And when we think of our new birth, our spiritual birth, and how God sent His Son to take the punishment for our sins so that we will not be judged, found guilty and condemned, surely then there is a cause to celebrate every day, and rejoice every day for the grace and mercy of our Father.

 

Come on and celebrate

friendship

21st January 2020

I forgot my notes and programme for the meeting, I thought to go home and fetch them but time was against me and so we looked for songs about friendship as that was the theme I’d chosen. The support and help I received from the ladies was a wonderful example of the theme. There was as always a serious, thought provoking message, but this week there was more humour and laughter, than usual. The only piece of paper I had bought with me was the answers to a quiz. I wasn't sure but I believed the question were something on the lines of “whose friend was.....”

The ladies were wonderful, I gave the answer and they tried to guess the question, which of course I couldn't check until I got home and they won't find out until I do part two!

We sang a few songs having looked up which ones were on friendship. 

We talked about what a friend should be, reminding ourselves that we weren't just talking about how others should treat us, but how we should be to others,

A good listener,

caring,

compassionate,

understanding,

willing to give of our time,

willing to give sound advice when they are on the wrong course of action or thought.

honest,

willing to just be there, and be silent,

a comforter,

give practical help.

Those were just some of the things the ladies thought of.

The definition of friend in the

dictionary is ÷

A person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.

The friendship in the Bible of David and Jonathan is a wonderful example of true friendship.

How far are we willing to go for a friend?

However a true friend someone is we should never compromise our faith, because our truest friend is Jesus.