From the 8YO

A few weeks ago, Kaitlyn got her arm caught in the banister of our stairs, so she and I made a trip to the ER for x-rays. As we were leaving, I called Cammie to ask for prayer. Kaitlyn was teary when she told me it really helped to know Zach and Cammie were praying for her right then. That it was nice to have someone not family praying for her. And then she said it was good to go to a church like Hillside.

You guys are awesome. Thank you for being faithful, active disciples. You are shaping my children's view of the church, and it's ever so much healthier than my view at their ages. ~Becca

Only Ask...

"Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession." Psalm 2:8

Only Ask, and you shall receive.

Zach preaches to Pray big. Are we? Or do we just pray in our comfort zone? Or have we broke out of that mold and pray for things unimaginable? "...through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3:20

Praying big is a lesson that I am learning right now and I am trying not to be afraid to embrace it. Have you ever been afraid to pray? Sometimes I have felt this way and have felt that when I pray for things, they just go the opposite way, so why even bother. But that is just Satan trying to deter me from praying and going to God in faith. So I encourage you to go boldly and confidently into God's presence (Ephesians 3:12) and don't be afraid to pray and Pray big.

Love Steph

God, faith prayer

Like for so many of you, David and I find ourselves with much going on. This concern with this kid, that concern with that one, and waiting for God's leading on a new job for one or the other of us. For a Bible study I had to look up Matthew 6:34 and memorize it. I love to go to biblegateway.com and check out all the versions of a verse. This is the one I have posted on my mirror, carry around with me and have half memorized in 3 days: Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes [Matthew 6:34 The Message].

Heavenly Father:

I lift all that's going on in my life, all the craziness swirling around. I put all this in Your hands, sit back and remind myself You are my shepherd and You will provide all I need when I need it. As my needs change so too will your provision. Help me this day not to get worked up about what may or may not happen. I know You will help me deal with whatever comes; You always have before now. Help me to focus on this day and see Your blessings in this day. Amen

~Becca

Firstfruits

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 1:17,18

God chose to give us life and he provided true spiritual life by the giving us life in the gospel. He wants each of us to become the finest offering to God, models of life as God intended it to be. I've really been thinking about being his firstfruit this week and wondering if my life is just that. I am taking a step back to see which of his fruits are evident, and which are missing. My prayer is that each of us at Hillside will seek to have the holy spirit fill us with his fruit so that "we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." He did create each of us, and did intend for us all to have new life in him. The old life is gone... I pray the new life has come.

Praying for each of you,

Cammie

In Your Arms...

Yesterday morning, Aiden woke up early (poor little guy has a cold) and so we snuggled on the couch, just being mommy and her little man. Aiden usually wakes up in the morning and from naps all snugly and wants to be held for awhile (to this mommy's delight :-)) We don't usually say much to each other, we just enjoy snuggling and being in each other presence. As I was sitting their holding my baby boy, I wondered if this is how God feels when we wake up and spend time with him. Whether its praying, worshiping, reading the word, or just being in his presence. Does he feel like me (in some sense)? Does he the sense of peace, contentment, and joy that your children bring when they come to you, love you, say it, and cling to you. I can only imagine that how he feels is just a fraction of how I feel. Thank you God for the glimpses of you. I pray that we all wake up a little early in the morning and snuggle in our Father's arms. :-)

Love Steph

"It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening." ~Psalm 92:2

"Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love." ~Psalm 59:16b

Attention Ladies...

With living in a world that opts for easy in/easy outs for marriages, we need to stand guard for our own marriages. Rick and I have been blessed with an awesome marriage in that we fit the mold for God's calling of a husband and wife. We truly are blessed with this gift from God, but we each pray that we never take that for granted. We pray that we always treat our marriage as that precious gift that God has given us. I have been thinking a lot about what we could offer a couple who is having a rough time or who doesn't fit in that calling very easily. (It is a hard one for us to say since we never have lived it.) Reading today in the Psalms (my fave), I came across Psalm 45:1-7, which reads:

Beautiful words stir my heart.
I will recite a lovely poem about the king,
For my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.
You are the most handsome of all.
Gracious words stream from your lips.
God himself has blessed you forever.
Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies' hearts.
The nations fall beneath your feet.
Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scep0ter of justice.
You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore God, your God has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

Reading this made me think of how we, as wives, can pray for our husbands. It doesn't matter how easily we fit our calling as a wife, we can always pray and we should always pray. Pray for him to be all the things God has called him to be. Pray for his heart to be filled with the truth, to have humility, and fight for what is right. Pray for yourself too that you will always see him how God sees him- strong, powerful, handsome defender, and a joy to you. When you pray for him how can you not love him even more, draw closer to him, and thus building a stronger relationship between the two of you. Our husbands are a precious gift from God and if we always see him and love him as such, opting out would never even cross our minds. I am not saying that this will make everything easy (it won't for some) or that our husbands won't ever disappoint (they are human and not our one true unfailing God), but pouring your love out and watering your marriage (with God's help), it will never fail (reread 1 Corinthians 13). So lets pray, pray, pray!

Love Steph

My Prayer For You...

Ephesians 1:16-20, 3:14-21

Lord,

I can't stop thanking you for the family at Hillside, I pray for them constantly. I ask you God, glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give Hillside spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might grow in your knowledge of You. I pray that their hearts will be flooded with light so that they can understand the confident hope You give to those You have called-- Your holy people who are your rich and glorious inheritance.
I also pray that Hillside will understand the incredible greatness of Your power for us who believe in You. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at Your right hand in the heavenly realms.
I fall to my knees and pray Father, You the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from Your glorious, unlimited resources You will empower Hillside with inner strength through Your spirit. Then Christ will make His home in our hearts as we trust in him. Our roots will grow down into Your love, God, and keep us strong. And may Hillside have the power to understand, as all Your people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Your love is. May Hillside experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then Hillside will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from You, God.
All Glory to You, Father, who is able through Your mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to You in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Love Steph

Mighty Warriors

My favorite moment of the day today:

I was sitting down over by the wall during church, taking care of the girls. I stood up and looked around and almost every single person was sitting at tables with colorful notecards in hand, writing encouraging words to an unknown family. From the gift this young man is receiving, you'd think our church was 200 strong. But in fact, Hillside is a small, very strong, mighty group of warriors with radical loving hearts. I just wanted to tell you all how thankful I am for each of you. May you be strengthened this week as you live ~ VU VI VO.

IHS,
Cammie

The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name.

Exodus 15:3