Every Sunday, we have someone within the Children's Ministry give a devotion or a thought for the day before we serve. I gave it this week and below are my thoughts. You may not be expanding your church, but odds are you are battling something. I hope this helps someone!
I have been reading Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader, and as I was reading last night a couple of paragraphs really hit me.
“Strength is not optional but rather imperative in leaders. People will not follow weak, uncourageous leaders. They line up behind the courageous, the strong, the warriors.” P. 40
“One of the great scenes in The Patriot is when the leader-warrior, played by Mel Gibson, sees his ragtag militia retreating back over the hill. He lays hold of the flag and begins racing to the crest, running through the troops in the opposite direction toward the enemy. At the sight of just one brave soldier refusing defeat, the militia rise with fresh courage. They turn and rush the enemy and secure victory.” P. 41
We all know that with growth, comes growing pains. Some people can’t handle the pain, so they quit, they give up, they lose heart. As Covenant Family is in a growing process, we are also feeling those growing pains. My question to you is, are you strong enough to “play through the pain”?
Even if you’re not ready to be the one to grab the flag and lead the charge, are you willing to rise with fresh courage, line up behind your strong, warrior leaders, turn, and rush the enemy so we can secure victory as a united team?
We are at war. We are fighting for souls. Even if we feel we are too weak to “play through the pain”, we must know and stand firm on the fact that the Bible is true and according to 2 Cor: 12.10 “…In my weakness He is made strong”.
So, if you are feeling weak, let Christ be your strength. We need to be courageous, strong, warriors running toward the enemy ready to attack. Neither retreat nor defeat are options.
I truly believe that when our team members see even one of us brave soldiers refusing defeat, our teams will rise with fresh courage. They will turn and rush the enemy and secure victory!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wheat Free . ..
For the past few months, my oldest daughter Rebekah has been having breathing issues. I guess it started back in November with a cough that wouldn't go away. I figured it was a seasonal allergy thing because she and I both suffer from that, so I started her on Claritin daily and gave her some Robitussin to loosen up the chest congestion and that seemed to help somewhat.
By March, I realized we were still having an issue and the winter season was behind us, so the seasonal allergy thing didn't really hold water anymore. I took her in to the doctor to see what he had to say. We switched her to Zyrtec, he gave her a steroid to reduce the inflamation in her lungs and sent us on our way. She was better for the week she was on the steroid, but then everything started all over again, only worse.
I waited a few weeks, continued the Robitussin and Zyrtec, but then when I could hear her wheezing, I took her back in. The doctor listened to her, but that day she wasn't wheezing, so he gave her an inhaler and said to use it when she was wheezing. That was fine until we started needing it daily.
Back to the doctor we went. He began questioning about our family history. Is there a family history of asthma - no. Did she have pneumonia as a baby - no. RSV - no. no. no. no. no. I don't remember the series of questions, but the answer was no to all of them. He was stumped as apparently asthma symptoms don't typically "just appear out of nowhere". But, they had. He started her on a daily dose of Singular which is good for allergies and asthma as well along with the Zyrtec.
That worked wonders . . . for about 5 weeks. Then the cough and the tight chest started happening again - back to the inhaler, and then she randomly broke out in hives and itching all over. He sent her in to get a blood test for common food allergies as I do have a family history of food allergies on my mom's side of the family. Nothing really came up except a mild allergy to wheat. He though, didn't feel it was a high enough # on the ranking to be the cause of the issue she was having. Stumped, frustrated, and quite frankly - scared, I started searching for possible answers. I took her off of peanut butter before the food test because my mom is allergic, but that didn't show up at all on the ranking, so that wasn't it.
Someone I know from church overheard a conversation I was having regarding the issue and she gave me a book. After skimming the book and reading about a huge variety of issues we face this day and age that used to be so rare, I decided to take my daughter off of wheat just to see what would happen. She's pretty upset she can't eat a sandwich, but I told her oxygen is much more important. It's only been a couple of days, so we will see what happens. We also have an appt set with an allergist for next week. We'll see what my "in home" experiment turns up and I'll talk to the allergist about that when we go.
For now, please be in prayer for wisdom in this area. Going wheat/gluten free isn't an easy thing to do as my dear friend, Sarah knows. But, it is possible and if it works, so totally worth it. I know God's hand is right here with me guiding me and directing me in the right direction. I am praying and believing for complete healing for Rebekah. While I pray and believe, though, I'm going to do all I can to help her any way I can.
Thus is the life in a fallen world. Oh for Heaven when we can eat whatever we want - not be allergic and not gain weight! LOL
By March, I realized we were still having an issue and the winter season was behind us, so the seasonal allergy thing didn't really hold water anymore. I took her in to the doctor to see what he had to say. We switched her to Zyrtec, he gave her a steroid to reduce the inflamation in her lungs and sent us on our way. She was better for the week she was on the steroid, but then everything started all over again, only worse.
I waited a few weeks, continued the Robitussin and Zyrtec, but then when I could hear her wheezing, I took her back in. The doctor listened to her, but that day she wasn't wheezing, so he gave her an inhaler and said to use it when she was wheezing. That was fine until we started needing it daily.
Back to the doctor we went. He began questioning about our family history. Is there a family history of asthma - no. Did she have pneumonia as a baby - no. RSV - no. no. no. no. no. I don't remember the series of questions, but the answer was no to all of them. He was stumped as apparently asthma symptoms don't typically "just appear out of nowhere". But, they had. He started her on a daily dose of Singular which is good for allergies and asthma as well along with the Zyrtec.
That worked wonders . . . for about 5 weeks. Then the cough and the tight chest started happening again - back to the inhaler, and then she randomly broke out in hives and itching all over. He sent her in to get a blood test for common food allergies as I do have a family history of food allergies on my mom's side of the family. Nothing really came up except a mild allergy to wheat. He though, didn't feel it was a high enough # on the ranking to be the cause of the issue she was having. Stumped, frustrated, and quite frankly - scared, I started searching for possible answers. I took her off of peanut butter before the food test because my mom is allergic, but that didn't show up at all on the ranking, so that wasn't it.
Someone I know from church overheard a conversation I was having regarding the issue and she gave me a book. After skimming the book and reading about a huge variety of issues we face this day and age that used to be so rare, I decided to take my daughter off of wheat just to see what would happen. She's pretty upset she can't eat a sandwich, but I told her oxygen is much more important. It's only been a couple of days, so we will see what happens. We also have an appt set with an allergist for next week. We'll see what my "in home" experiment turns up and I'll talk to the allergist about that when we go.
For now, please be in prayer for wisdom in this area. Going wheat/gluten free isn't an easy thing to do as my dear friend, Sarah knows. But, it is possible and if it works, so totally worth it. I know God's hand is right here with me guiding me and directing me in the right direction. I am praying and believing for complete healing for Rebekah. While I pray and believe, though, I'm going to do all I can to help her any way I can.
Thus is the life in a fallen world. Oh for Heaven when we can eat whatever we want - not be allergic and not gain weight! LOL
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