Lifting the Burdens

I've been in a serious funk all week; hence, I took some respite from blogging.

You don't need to know every detail of my mind's dirty laundry.

And for someone who is known as having no filter and being totally real...funks are when people like me should sometimes keep their mouth shut or their fingers away from the computer, because what we might say could be very dangerous :)

But, boy, do I have some catching up to do!

We are so grateful to all who participated in our September canned food drive for Grace Klein Community! We are thankful that the food you provided will enable us to hold up the arms and encourage the hearts of families in crisis, and we praise God for a ministry like Grace Klein that continually sets an example for us!

Stay tuned for this week's announcement of our September heroes and the giveaway winner!

But our thanksgiving doesn't stop there!

Friday, we finished collecting 80 journey bags for children entering care. It was so cool to see my friend Stephanie celebrate her 30th birthday with the challenge to her friends to collect 30 journey bags! God provided abundantly! Girl, so grateful God designed your heart to reflect His beauty!

Lifeline foster parents Chris and Nancy also served with their Genesis Sunday school group at Canterbury Methodist Church to pack 40 bags for older children in crisis situations. What a blessing!

All in all, this is what my basement looked like when Kristen came to deliver...

Throw in some fifteen cans of formula from our August drive, and God provided for His glory through YOU!

At The Forgotten Initiative, our heart is to empower and provide opportunities for the body of Christ to enter in and equip, encourage and love on the foster care community and families in crisis. It is through simple acts of tangible faithfulness that walls begin to crumble and hope is steadily restored.

Join us for October's new challenge!  Throughout this month we will be collecting boxes of pull ups for DHR. Serve with us to lift the burdens of those who are faithful to serve in the system and continually face a job we cannot imaging doing.

Pick up one extra box this month or do a drive in your neighborhood. I'll be keeping our eye out for our family heroes who are committed to lifting the burdens of others through simple acts of sacrifice. Your participation also enters you to win our October giveaway of one of our new family favorites!

Melissa and Doug has an entire line of family activities, and we've been using the dinnertime questions game for months. The kids can't get enough! By joining our October drive with only one package of pull-ups, you're entered to win your own Thanksgiving box of family questions!

We can't wait to see how God provides!

We always thank our God for you and continually mention you in all our prayers!

 ~ I Thessalonians 1:2

Looking ever to our Savior ~

Upside-Down and Backwards...

Guest post from Grace Klein's Melissa Womack.

Friends,

Ever felt like God has you in some weird place you don't understand? I once heard a pastor speak about this. He explained how God can have us oriented in a way that is uncomfortable, foreign, confusing. He was holding his baby daughter as he was thinking about this. He turned her upside-down and backwards where she couldn't see him. She had a little hesitation and then started laughing. Her childlike faith knew that her daddy had her and would not drop her. She trusted that although it felt weird, Daddy was still in control. So, why don't we feel that type of giddy trust with our Daddy?

I have felt upside-down and backwards lately. I know without a doubt that God has me in his hands, but I still get frustrated that things aren't what they used to be. He has me doing things that feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar. I want to know why. I want to know when it will stop feeling this way. So, DO I fully trust him? Maybe not......

We don't serve like we used to. We don't spend time with friends like we used to. We don't host people in our home like we used to. We don't spend time with extended family like we used to. God has directed us to different things. Sometimes I feel like I am just surviving and not really living. I want true life, and I want it to the full. My prayers lately have been for God to show me what He does have us doing that matters for His kingdom. He offers me full, abundant life right where I am. It doesn't have to look and feel like it once did. He is doing a new work.

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 

~ John 10:10

The enemy would have me believe that what I am doing doesn't matter, that I am not as effective for God as I once was. God wants me to trust that He has me right where I need to be. They enemy would have me believe that struggling through parenting and caring the elderly and helping pay our bills doesn't mean much compared to some of the things I used to spend my time doing. The enemy wants me to compare myself to others and what they are doing that is effective for the Kingdom. Because it's all so hard, it feels like I'm not doing anything well. And, maybe that's just the point. I am incapable of doing any of this without God directing my every step and without the Spirit giving me what I need for each and every task. He has me doing things that don't come naturally, things that are my "giftings." Upside-down and backwards. Do I trust Him?

Photo Credit: Grace Klein's Cover Photo

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing! 

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

~ Isaiah 43:18-19

Just like Israel, I am unfaithful. I forget the great things God has done. He has to remind me to keep my focus on Him and the present path He has for me. Don't look back and hope for old things. Be grateful for the new things. Don't we want new things? Don't we want to grow and change and be more and more different from our old selves?

God has shown me over the past couple of weeks that the stripping of pride is a crucial part of growing to be more like Christ. This has to happen periodically so that we are put back in our rightful place ~ submissive, humble, and broken before the Father. When life becomes too comfortable, when we are doing the things we have done for a long time and those things become routing and easy, sometimes God shakes us up to show us that we are not, were not, will never be in control. Upside-down and backwards reminds us that comfortable and familiar and easy are not part of the grand palm, at least not while we are here in fallen creation. Like a baby girl held in a strange way by her Daddy, we need to just trust and be giddy what He has us.

Trust with me ~

Melissa Womack....

Oh how my soul needed this tonight...

This is exactly where Jamie and I are. We treasure the friendship God is growing between The Forgotten Initiative and Grace Klein Community. We cherish our partnership in the Gospel, in the gift of living this beautifully uncomfortable life.

Don't forget! We are collecting non-perishable food items for Grace Klein monthly food distribution to families in crisis. It's a chance for your family to be profiled in the blog and be entered for a Seeds Family Worship CD!

Also, remember...Pray. Share. Advocate for Jasmine, our Heart Gallery of Alabama child of the week!

Looking ever to Jesus,

Community, Opportunity, and a GIVEAWAY!

READ TO THE END!

Okay, for those of you who are deep... I promise I'm gonna get back to my roots here... soon.

We've been processing and thinking. I'm so excited about where God seems to be leading us, but I'm not quite ready to write on it, just yet... but it's coming!

So, in the meantime...

I've shared multiple times on the immense blessing Grace Klein Community has been to our ministry and family. They have GREATLY supported The Forgotten Initiative, covered us and our kiddos in prayer, and faithfully helped provide food and basic needs for the families with whom we are walking.

We're so grateful to be part of their Community Night this coming Saturday! I'll have the chance to share what a beautiful impact this ministry has made on our lives and outreach through partnership.

It's a family affair, so bring the whole gang!

But there's more!

Without my faithful diligence, God still provided 20 cans for formula for our August drive! I'm so grateful! Thank you to all who participated.

Let's step it up a notch!

This month, in honor of Grace Klein's partnership with us, we will be collecting canned goods for their monthly food deliveries. Here's some super cool ways you can be involved!

~ Want your families or kiddos featured on the blog? Encourage your kids to creatively collect canned goods. Send in their picture once you've delivered your cans, and have then draw a picture or write about what they were able to do with God's strength as they served others. Hold a lemonade stand and charge a can of green beans :) Can't wait to see those precious faces! Get your scout troop, ballet class, or neighborhood involved!

~ Live far away? Consider sending goods via amazon! Let you kiddos earn the money and select what they would want to send! Message me for address.

~ Let your littles cut coupons and watch for the BOGO sales with you! Send in some pics of your faithful grocery shopping partners :)

Each family who participates will be entered for...

 a Seeds Family Worship CD! Never heard of Seeds?

With over 60 scriptures put to songs, we play these tunes all throughout our school day, in the car, while we cook. It's been such a challenge for me to be revived in meditating on the word throughout the day, even though they're designed for children!

You don't want to miss this! Join with us as we serve these ministry leaders in the community who have been so faithful to love others.

Regularly, our monthly drive will be a simple way for you to intentionally involve your children in faithful acts of service. Our focus will be to celebrate the work God is doing in your family and especially your children's hearts. Consider making this a monthly routine! We're so grateful!

"All the believers were of one heart and mind. 

No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared all they had." 

~ Acts 4:32

Looking unto Jesus,