Who's Bus is it?

Last week at Church I was setting the dining room for dinner with the help of 10 year old LaShae.  As we were setting, Veronica pulled up in the big school bus full of kids and youth coming to church and LaShae asked me, "Whose bus is that?  Is it Veronica's Bus?"  I told her,"no" that it wasn't really Veronica's bus it was the Church's bus.  She thought for barely a second before she responded, " Oh, so that's our bus."  "Yes," I said, "That's our bus."  Her next questions was, "How did we pay for it? I got to explain to her how people from churches all over the country gave money so that we could buy it, and she thought that was really cool.    It was neat to hear her include herself in the church.  She didn't say "Oh, so its Sacred Road's bus." She said, "Its our bus."  She knew if it was the church's bus  it belonged to her too, because she is part of the church.  

The Power of Prayer

       I read recently in the By Faith Magazine an article by Paul Miller about prayer.  He says Christians struggle so much with prayer that only 10% of believers clim to have an effective or meaningful prayer life.  I was not surprised by the statistic at all.  I myself am part of the 90% without a meaningful prayer life.  I know as a fact that Sacred Road would not be seeing the change in people's hearts and the growing church in White Swan if it were not for the prayers of God's People.  But my cynical heart says to me that God is going to do what he's going to do despite people's prayers,  and of all the people that have committed to pray for Sacred Road and the people in White Swan  only 10% are really praying anyway.  So what difference is it making anyway.  I am assuming that because I because I am not in constant prayer, looking for the presence of the Lord in everyone, nobody else is either.  In his book on prayer Paul Miller writes, " There is a disconnect between what I present and who I am.  My words sound phony, so other's words sound phony too.  In short my empty religious performance leads me to think that everyone is phony. "  Even if the statistic is true, that only 10% of Christians are really praying, why does my heart doubt that those prayers are making a difference.

       In my discipleship group we are going through a small book by Patricia St. John on prayer.  It describes what prayer is, who we are talking to, why we should pray, and how and what we should pray.  My girls are never excited to volunteer to pray during small groups and I did not want them as young believers the same idea that I have about prayer- that it doesn't really work or matter.  I knew I needed to learn to pray just as much as they did.  Last week at small group on Tuesday I took prayer requests as normal and I prayed for them to close out our time together,  One girl has asked for prayer to get better, because she was sick.  You could hear in her voice she had a cold.  On Thursday, when we got together for d-group, out of the blue the same girl says, " Oh ya, I wanted to tell you that prayer thing really works.  I am getting better.  My cough is almost gone."  I was shocked.  At first I found my cynical heart telling me that she was going to get better anyway.  It wasn't really the prayer that helped. I had just stripped the Lord of any power he had in making Justine better, plus the work he had done in her heart to believe,  I am so thankful that the Lord uses my girls to point out my unbelief and that he is not letting my unbelief be contagious to them.  He is teaching me and them the power of prayer.

Picture Update

Last Thursday we had a game night with the youth group.  We had 45 kids come and compete in teams against each other in olympic style competitions.  Here are a couple pictures of some of the events below.

Each team had a blindfolded team member feed them a bowl of pudding.  First one done was the winner,.

We had a jelly bean flavor guessing competition, but some of the jelly beans had flavors like barf, dirt, grass, and rotten egg. 

Levander and Forrest are trying to guess their jelly bean flavor.

Josiah got the jelly bean that tasted like dirt.  

Latisha was hoping she got a bad flavored jelly bean, but instead she got green apple. 

The diamond team pyramid collapsed.

I think Zach's jelly bean tasted like booger.

team pyramid

The heart team one a 100 point bonus for being the first team to rotate their pyramid 360 degrees without falling.

Team members had letters on the bottom of their feet and they had to spell the word the fastest.

On Friday Night my d-group had a slumber party at my house.  We had fun playing games, painting nails and watching the cartoon "Despicable Me".  We also celebrated Whitney's 14th birthday.

Even in the Darkness

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths,^[a] you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you."

Psalm 139:7-12

I remember so vividly memorizing this Psalm for my 3rd grade sunday school class.  I can picture myself leaning up against the wall  outside the Sunday school room on Sunday morning trying to learn the verses well enough to recite them to the my teacher, who happened to be my aunt.  I remember while I was learning it I had the picture in my head of a child  sitting on a bed in a room all by himself.  Every time I hear Psalm 139 I see that same picture.  Most of the time, when I am in dark days, I feel alone.  The last few months have felt like dark days.  One thing I can't comprehend, though, is how close the Lord has been to me.  I am not alone and I don't feel alone.  I hear Him say to me,  "The same things that break your heart, are breaking my heart too."  

I Love the Lyrics to the J.J. Heller song Your Hands:

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways

That you would take my pain away (or sometimes I sing "other people's pain")
You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands

Sometimes are pain will never go away on this side of Heaven, but he never stops holding us. Heaven Stands. Even in the darkness he is there.  

Christmas Letter 2012

Dear friends and family,

Christmas is here!  As a kid I looked forward to everything that was a part of my traditional Christmas- getting the tree, decorating the house, decorating sugar cookies, singing all of the Christmas songs, a big Christmas Eve dinner with relatives, and giving and receiving presents. But as I grew older I began to take these traditions for granted.  I remember my first Christmas season on the Reservation.   Suddenly, traditions that had lost their meaning seemed to having purpose again.  I was in a community that didn’t have its own Christmas traditions born out of the love, which comes from knowing that Jesus came to earth as a baby for us.   If I didn’t see the importance of celebrating the birth of my Savior in a huge way, then why should the people around me?  So it is with joy that I celebrate Christmas and look forward to the aspects of Christmas that have become a part of our tradition here on the Reservation. 

This is the first Christmas that we get to celebrate Christmas on Sundays as a church.  And as a church and youth group we have started several new traditions, I hope.  This past week we took the discipleship group kids caroling to elders’ homes.  I don’t think any of the kids had been caroling before, and several of them had no idea what caroling was.  We showed up on elders’ lawns with 35 of us singing Christmas carols.  Many of the elders were moved to tears after seeing the size of the group and the joy that came from the kids singing.  I think many of the youth were surprised that they could do something that would have such an impact on other people.  When I think about it, it is amazing that we have 30 kids who would want to come with us and sing Christmas songs that are barely familiar to them on elders’ front lawns.   It is just a small reminder of how much the Lord is working in the hearts of the kids, youth and adults here.   Christmas caroling is a tradition I hope we keep for many years. 

I pray that the Lord gives you joy in celebrating the birth of Jesus and that you enjoy your Christmas traditions, not because it is what you have always done, but because you have a great reason to celebrate. 

Love and Peace this Christmas season,

Heather

“This will happen when the special child is born. God will give us a son who will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be “Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.” His power will continue to grow, and there will be peace without end. This will establish him as the king sitting on David’s throne and ruling his kingdom. He will rule with goodness and justice forever and ever. The strong love that the Lord All-Powerful has for his people will make this happen!”

Isaiah 9:6-7

Favorite Pictures From 2012

Spring Band Concert

D-group Easter basket exchange

Latisha and Eileen

Lighting the candle's for Judy's 12th Birthday

My parents and sister, Jen, at her wedding 

Youth group picnic table building crew

Intern, Drew, helps Shylynn learn to use the drill press

Youth group building a shed at the Yarbroughs house

Youth group in the summer

Veronica driving the bus, after graduating from truck driving school.  

Fishii's graduation

Ann Marie's graduation 

Celebrating Tianna's 14th birthday

Miranda's 13th birthday 

Monday D-group made gingerbread houses

Connie and friends at their first band concert

Alexis and me after the winter band cincert

Latisha's 15th birthday

Anika picking out her pumpkin to carve

Whitney painting picnic tables this summer

Joshua as Santa for the youth Christmas party

Madison, Alexa, and Miranda putting their ornaments on the tree at the youth Christmas party

All the youth at the Christmas party

Staff Women's retreat with Traci Valerio and Nancy Caroll 

Connie with her kids club buddy, Jill

Lyddie Dempsen and Latoya at kids club

Jade and Leah

Tionna and Ashley 

Madison and Tionna on the painting crew this summer 

Joshua and Asta at the elementary school pow wow 

David and Alliah

Samantha 

Chris holding baby Aphrodities 

Youth helping kids at kids club