GCR Women

Friday morning, a terrible tragedy unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut.  A young man entered an elementary school and killed 6 adults and 20 children.  As I watched, my heart breaking for those children and families, I kept asking:  "Why?" I have no answers.  Why does evil overtake a person's heart and cause him to do such a terrible act?  Was it some unknown hurt?  Was it mental illness?  I only have more questions. One day, we may know the answers to all our questions.  But in the meantime, our own shock mirrors to some degree the horrible pain and loss of those families.  It's said that time will help the hurting heal but how long?  Another question. When bad things happen, quick, simple answers sound disrespectful and insincere.  They often bring more hurt and pain and sometimes anger.  So I won't try to provide any answers. All I can do is choose to respond to this tragedy in some higher way.  There are things I ...

This December 1 st finds me in Colonial Williamsburg with my husband, John, fulfilling a dream both of us have had for some time now:  being present at the Grand Illumination!  The Grand Illumination is the finale of the festivities here in Colonial Williamsburg that signals the beginning of the Christmas season.  Every building, shop, and home is decked out with greenery and wreaths and candles in the colonial style.  And Sunday night, December 2 nd , the historic town lights the candles and sets off fireworks, filling the eyes of onlookers with joyous wonder.  Even those of us watching will try to reflect the light with glowsticks.   It will be like daylight.  I can hardly wait to see it for myself. How important light is to us!   We want our paths to be lighted for safety and clarity.   We want to be able to see where we’re trying to walk, see what we’re trying to read.   It’s the same with our spiritual lives.   We’re l...

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.  Cool (maybe even cold) weather has finally arrived.  The joy of the holidays is before us.  Family is gathered around us.  Everything is filled with hope and expectation of good things to come. Again this year, Thanksgiving finds me with so much to be thankful for:  family, friends, abundance.  I'm thankful I have a safe and dry home that has not been deluged by fall storms.  I'm thankful for a loving husband whose every action speaks of his devotion to me.  I'm thankful I have a loving family that includes three delightful grandchildren - one of whom is new to the table this year.  I'm thankful for a robust economy that provides more work than we have time to do.  I'm thankful for the close circle of friends I have who are as much like sisters to me as if we had been born to the same parents. I'm thankful for being part of a ministry that allows me to walk beside godly women whose...

Just a few weeks after school started in September 1961, Hurricane Carla devastated my home town.  My memories of that time are vivid.  You see, we didn't leave town.  We stayed in one of the office buildings at the refinery where my dad worked.  Other families stayed there, too. As a seven year old, it was an adventure.  Rain, winds, rising water, power failures paled in comparison to being out of school, playing with other kids and being pushed around in an office chair.  I didn't have a clear understanding of the danger we were in and the destruction we'd soon face. But in the days after the storm, when we were finally allowed to go back to our home to start the clean-up, I began to see that my world had changed and that I'd forever mark my memories as life before and after the storm. Looking back, I wonder at the strength my parents and other adults in my life had as they began to rebuild.  First, you stand frozen, staring at the absolu...

I remember my first management meeting at a company where I used to work.  At that meeting, the company president asked the question:  "What is the enemy of best?"  The answer?  "Good."  When we become satisfied with doing a good job, better and best are no longer our goals.  And before we know it, we're satisfied with "good enough."  This is just as true in our spiritual life as it is in the workplace. The standard has been set high for us by Jesus Christ himself.  We should never use our fractured human state as an excuse not to try to meet that standard.  Even if we never do, we must always try.  Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 6.  Grace is not license to sin, rather it should be the impetus to live godly lives.  If we can just remember what God has given to us, we will be encouraged to work more diligently to please Him.  I'm not saying that our work earns us any special points with God, but how we live should be ...

I am blessed to be a part of two wonderful Bible classes each week.  One class looks at the Hebrews roots of Christianity by focusing on the Torah.  The other is digging deep into the book of Proverbs.  I love them both.  Each challenges me to realign my life with God's word. For the last two Sunday nights, the Sunday morning class has spilled over into the Life Group I'm in.  We invited one of our Hebrew roots teachers to share that concept with us on Sunday nights.  Mark Dean came and showed us a glimpse of the richness to be found in linking everything we know about Messiah in the New Testament to what God wrote on the hearts of His people in the Torah and rest of the Old Testament.  Last night, he shared one of his favorite verses with us with a challenge to let it become part of our own prayers:  Psalm 119:18 (NIV)  "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law." Throughout the book of Proverbs, I am encouraged to write G...

Here it is October 1st already!  We have only three months left in this calendar year.  If you started off the year intending to memorize 24 verses as part of the GCR Women's Faith Words challenge and you've stayed on target, you've already posted 18 verses you're memorizing and you only have 6 verses left to complete your goal. In order to qualify for the Faith Words celebration in January, you need to post at least 20 verses for this calendar.  If you've missed one here or there, now is a good time to get caught up.  One other qualification is that you must be able to quote from memory at least 10 of the 24 verses you've posted this year.  Now is not the time to grow weary.  You can do this!  Let's finish strong. Patrice