A White Thanksgiving!
Me and some youth and volunteers on Thanksgiving MondayHey Everyone,
Happy belated thanksgiving! I hope you all had a great weekend being reminded of all the things that we so often take for granted. I thought that this Thanksgiving would be hard because it’s the longest I’ve been away from my family. However, God was so good to me and gave me an amazing weekend with friends. By the end of the weekend I found myself feeling so blessed to have all these people in my life and I know it is by God’s hand that He has placed them all in my life. I am so thankful that God knows all my hearts desires and puts all the people I need in my life in His perfect timing. God has provided me with an amazing church family that I continually find myself loving more each week. I also am now teaching Sunday school once a month which has been a lot of fun getting to know some of the children in my church.
It snowed 8 inches on Thanksgiving Sunday. Our friends got snowed in at our house so we spent hours outside enjoying the first snow dump! (The snow is all melted now and everything is lush and green. Flowers are still blooming...how bizzare!)
This fall has been amazing with watching our volunteer team grow not only in numbers but in unity. Each staff meeting before we open Joe asks a few volunteers to share how they came to know God and who or what was significant in bringing them to God. It has been so amazing to hear the many different ways in which God draws people to Himself. It has been such a reminder to all of us that God is God of creativity and that He draws people from all sorts of walks of life and brings them to Himself in all kinds of ways. It has also been encouraging to hear their testimony of the journey of maturity of faith. It is such a great reminder that we’ve never arrived and we are all on this journey of maturing in Christ. Beginning our weekend nights in this manner has made us all more aware of how powerful God is to draw us to Himself and has given us a new confidence to share what God has done in our lives and share a new urgency and boldness to share the gospel with our youth. Please continue to pray for our volunteers as many of them are fresh out of high school and this kind of ministry is new and challenging for them. Already I have watched them grow in leadership and maturity. It’s so exciting to be a part of a ministry that is intentional in equipping and mentoring young Christian leaders into discovering their gifts and abilities in changing a city for Christ.
Volunteers at Joe's Place dressed up for Pirates of the Carribean Night.
God has not only been drawing out a lot of new volunteers but many new youth have been coming out. I am now apart of leading the student leadership team at Joe’s Place. On Saturday nights these youth help organize events for the other youth to get involved. It has been so amazing to see how God uses something as ridiculous as a Pirates of Caribbean night to draw out new youth and build relationships among youth and staff, and also create a sense of unity amongst all in the building.
Along with weekly events I also help organize service projects for the youth to be apart of. Next week we will be taking a dozen youth to Regina to help serve dinner at a soup kitchen there. Then on Wednesday ½ a dozen of our youth will be helping serve at a seniors banquet. We started doing these service projects last winter and its so amazing to watch our youth continue to grow in leadership and servant hood.
I want to share with you something the Lord has been teaching me over the past month. In September there was a lot of violence in Moose Jaw taking place and there was an evident darkness hovering over the city. Because of this at times I found myself anxious and nervous. 3-4 weeks ago a fellow class mate from Briercrest was killed while being a good Samaritan to a teenager who had hit an elk on a side of the highway. His pregnant wife reacted with such grace and forgiveness to the driver of the vehicle to whom killed him and continually talked about how God is good and has a plan for taking her young husband home. After that news I began to think of how many times the Lord saves me from death and how He has a purpose in saving lives but also in taking them. A few days later I had a bit of an accident where I tripped and fell onto the transCanada high way where there was a transport truck quickly approaching. God was gracious and I only suffered a twisted ankle some scrapes and bruises and was able to get off the highway before the transport truck passed. Four days later my roommate was in a car accident one block from Joe’s Place on her way to volunteer on a Friday night. Her car was totalled but she walked a way with only 1 bruise. In a matter of a week the Lord showed me how quickly life can be taken, and that I can trust that He is a good God who has a plan that is far greater than I can comprehend. I share all this with you because as I talked to a friend this week she asked me how the violence in Moose Jaw has been effecting me? I paused for a moment to think about this and realized that since these three accidents happened my anxiety has disappeared. I am no longer anxious and fearful about the violence in Moose Jaw (although dad, rest assure that I am cautious at night). Through these three accidents God has given me a peace and a renewed knowledge that He is God and I am not. I cannot always understand His ways but I can rest in knowing that He is faithful and good. He will be faithful in the midst of a broken and fallen world. I have been reminded that God has a plan for my life and it is in His hands. It is my prayer for all of you that God would make this truth real to you and that His peace that surpasses all understanding and circumstance will dwell in your hearts.
I have so much more I could write but I will save it for another day.
I love you all and am praying that God’s peace will reign in your hearts.
Love always
Your Prairie Girl
Leanne
Alexina, one of the dear women to my heart from my church. She helps serve dinner every Tuesday night at Bible Study at Joe's Place. She is such a blessing in my life!
Happy belated thanksgiving! I hope you all had a great weekend being reminded of all the things that we so often take for granted. I thought that this Thanksgiving would be hard because it’s the longest I’ve been away from my family. However, God was so good to me and gave me an amazing weekend with friends. By the end of the weekend I found myself feeling so blessed to have all these people in my life and I know it is by God’s hand that He has placed them all in my life. I am so thankful that God knows all my hearts desires and puts all the people I need in my life in His perfect timing. God has provided me with an amazing church family that I continually find myself loving more each week. I also am now teaching Sunday school once a month which has been a lot of fun getting to know some of the children in my church.
It snowed 8 inches on Thanksgiving Sunday. Our friends got snowed in at our house so we spent hours outside enjoying the first snow dump! (The snow is all melted now and everything is lush and green. Flowers are still blooming...how bizzare!)This fall has been amazing with watching our volunteer team grow not only in numbers but in unity. Each staff meeting before we open Joe asks a few volunteers to share how they came to know God and who or what was significant in bringing them to God. It has been so amazing to hear the many different ways in which God draws people to Himself. It has been such a reminder to all of us that God is God of creativity and that He draws people from all sorts of walks of life and brings them to Himself in all kinds of ways. It has also been encouraging to hear their testimony of the journey of maturity of faith. It is such a great reminder that we’ve never arrived and we are all on this journey of maturing in Christ. Beginning our weekend nights in this manner has made us all more aware of how powerful God is to draw us to Himself and has given us a new confidence to share what God has done in our lives and share a new urgency and boldness to share the gospel with our youth. Please continue to pray for our volunteers as many of them are fresh out of high school and this kind of ministry is new and challenging for them. Already I have watched them grow in leadership and maturity. It’s so exciting to be a part of a ministry that is intentional in equipping and mentoring young Christian leaders into discovering their gifts and abilities in changing a city for Christ.
Volunteers at Joe's Place dressed up for Pirates of the Carribean Night.God has not only been drawing out a lot of new volunteers but many new youth have been coming out. I am now apart of leading the student leadership team at Joe’s Place. On Saturday nights these youth help organize events for the other youth to get involved. It has been so amazing to see how God uses something as ridiculous as a Pirates of Caribbean night to draw out new youth and build relationships among youth and staff, and also create a sense of unity amongst all in the building.
Along with weekly events I also help organize service projects for the youth to be apart of. Next week we will be taking a dozen youth to Regina to help serve dinner at a soup kitchen there. Then on Wednesday ½ a dozen of our youth will be helping serve at a seniors banquet. We started doing these service projects last winter and its so amazing to watch our youth continue to grow in leadership and servant hood.
I want to share with you something the Lord has been teaching me over the past month. In September there was a lot of violence in Moose Jaw taking place and there was an evident darkness hovering over the city. Because of this at times I found myself anxious and nervous. 3-4 weeks ago a fellow class mate from Briercrest was killed while being a good Samaritan to a teenager who had hit an elk on a side of the highway. His pregnant wife reacted with such grace and forgiveness to the driver of the vehicle to whom killed him and continually talked about how God is good and has a plan for taking her young husband home. After that news I began to think of how many times the Lord saves me from death and how He has a purpose in saving lives but also in taking them. A few days later I had a bit of an accident where I tripped and fell onto the transCanada high way where there was a transport truck quickly approaching. God was gracious and I only suffered a twisted ankle some scrapes and bruises and was able to get off the highway before the transport truck passed. Four days later my roommate was in a car accident one block from Joe’s Place on her way to volunteer on a Friday night. Her car was totalled but she walked a way with only 1 bruise. In a matter of a week the Lord showed me how quickly life can be taken, and that I can trust that He is a good God who has a plan that is far greater than I can comprehend. I share all this with you because as I talked to a friend this week she asked me how the violence in Moose Jaw has been effecting me? I paused for a moment to think about this and realized that since these three accidents happened my anxiety has disappeared. I am no longer anxious and fearful about the violence in Moose Jaw (although dad, rest assure that I am cautious at night). Through these three accidents God has given me a peace and a renewed knowledge that He is God and I am not. I cannot always understand His ways but I can rest in knowing that He is faithful and good. He will be faithful in the midst of a broken and fallen world. I have been reminded that God has a plan for my life and it is in His hands. It is my prayer for all of you that God would make this truth real to you and that His peace that surpasses all understanding and circumstance will dwell in your hearts.
I have so much more I could write but I will save it for another day.
I love you all and am praying that God’s peace will reign in your hearts.
Love always
Your Prairie Girl
Leanne
Alexina, one of the dear women to my heart from my church. She helps serve dinner every Tuesday night at Bible Study at Joe's Place. She is such a blessing in my life!
posted by LEANNE @ 1:59 a.m.
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