Wednesday Writing. GOD IS ON THE MOVE...7/4/17

Good morning,

Shelly and Keith have shared about the churches that they attended as they traveled the Northwest since the end of April. They are heading back to Washington State to choose a place to live. I hope to be receiving more from Shelly as she processes what she sees God is doing in her life and heart. We have seen in her writing about her travels what God is doing in the part of America... showing concrete evidence that our Father is still looking upon  us and guiding us, that He relishes the things that we do as His representative. It is a nice thing to know that God is ever present and encouraging us.

I am including a writing that Cathy Friberg wrote about several churches she has visited in Hawaii during her trips there.

God bless
Cathy and Corinne and thanks to Scott and Shelly, 

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in HAWAII

IN HAWAII

                                              I will sing the Lord’s praise, 

                                            for he has been good to me.

                                                            Psalm 13:6                                                            Psalm 13:6 

                                                     

Having been to the Hawaiian Islands several times, we were fortunate to find some smaller churches to visit. On one vacation, we consulted the little phone book in our condo. There was a  (Foursquare, as I recall) church name and phone number. There was no advertisement, photo or description. We had to call the number for the service time. We arrived at the address only to find that it was held in the pastor's mother-in-law's garage. There were perhaps 10-15 people present. We were warmly                                                                                   welcomed. The worship was sweet and heartfelt. 

The Holy Spirit's presence was powerful. The sermon was on target. People stood up to give testimonies of what the Lord had done in their lives that week. The thing that was so unusual was that the congregation members prefaced their talks with the following words. "If I have done anything to offend any of you, I am so sorry. I pray that you will forgive me and if you do, then I know that the Lord will forgive me too." Every speaker recited that phrase. The pastor did the same before he preached. The group was so humble and sincere. We received Holy Communion and several people were weeping. When we left for home, the pastor's mother- in- law insisted that we take some of her home grown bananas with us. I felt that this must have been how the early Church was...... just pure love and concern for each other.

At another Foursquare Church, we visited, the pastor was going to stay on a houseboat with his family for their vacation time. He invited everyone (there were perhaps 20-30 members) to come and visit them at different times on the houseboat. The agape love was abundant. 

And finally, there was a small church where a woman in a very modest but lovely dress did a tasteful hula dance as part of the worship time. The music had Christian lyrics, of course, and the performance was very touching. We were warmly invited to their potluck after the service even though we had no food to share. Once again, they insisted we partake and, of course, had some great Hawaiian food and fellowship. 

Small congregations 
made up of gentle and caring
 native Hawaiians 

have left us with 
cherished memories of 
Island worship. 

Written by 
Cathy Friberg 

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Here is an uplifting graphic

for you to think about.

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Prayers are lifted up daily for you 

by the Staff Writers of 

Women's Focus Ministry

  Jan Andersen,  Cathy Friberg,  Sandy Billingham, Beverley Napier, Shelly Keith, 

Brother Thomas Ukwute, Jody Ward,  Karen Bennett, 

Carol Steficek, Amie Spruiell, and  Corinne Mustafa

Occasional Contributors
Kathy Bireley,  Lynda Kinnard, Mary M. Wilkins,

Terri Baker, Beverley Napier, Kelly Dobyns

Glenna Williamson, Lisabeth  Lipp, Nandita Bhatnagar.