Our God Is In Control

To my Nigerian friends - please remember God is faithful. We do not know his plan. But I believe that He promises that nothing but good will ultimately come out of any suffering here on earth. You have all been on my heart today. Your stories have touched many at our church and in our community.

To Daniel - I'm sorry about your son. I did not know. I'm glad there is promising news for you. I'm praying for you.

For the readers of this blog please see Erika's blog - Notes from Nigeria postings of November 2nd and 19th. Daniel works at Faith Alive Hospital. He is a wonderful person who not only speaks passionately about his faith but lives it every day. His son has a hole in his heart that cannot be fixed in his country.

I heard this beautiful song by Steven Curtis Chapman. I'd like to share the words with you. It is from his CD "Beauty Will Rise". I heard this song just when I needed it. All the songs on this CD are beautiful, inspirational and speak to his true feelings as he worked through his tragic loss.

Our God Is In Control

This is not how it should be

This is not how it could be

But this is how it is.

And our God is in control.

This is not how it will be
When we finally will SEE

We'll SEE with our own eyes

He was always in control

And we'll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God.

And we will finally, really understand what it means.

So we'll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God

While we're waiting for that day.

This is not where we planned to be

When we started this journey

But this is where we are.

And our God is in control.

Though this first taste is bitter

There will be sweetness forever

When we finally taste and SEE

That our God is in control.

And we'll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God

And we will finally, really understand what it means.

So we'll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God

While we're waiting for that day,

We're waiting for that day,

We'll keep on waiting for that day

And we will know our God is in control.

(Holy, Holy, Holy is our God)

Our God is in control

(Holy, Holy, Holy is our God)

And our God is in control

Teresa Pompa

Garbage to Grocery Bags

A reflection on Project Thanksgiving from Gin Gin Diokno:

There are a few things going on at church that remind me how lucky I am. I have a great job. In this economy, holding on to one, much less one you really enjoy, is such a blessing. I live in a comfortable home in a safe neighborhood. Apart from these material things, I have friends and family around me who love me.

Listening to the messages at Nativity also get me in a certain frame of mind. We are currently in the Forecast series which challenges me to be more God-honoring in my expenses. I must admit I still need to work on this so one of the steps I am taking is doing the Financial Peace Workshop. Yesterday, I also took a little step to rethink some of my priorities.

This time last year, I paid a neighbor to rake my leaves and put them in those big black trash bags. I was planning on doing it but I remember it was raining on some weekends. I worked one weekend, and then yes, I had tickets to a Ravens game and my sister and brother-in-law came from Jersey to go with me. Due to lack of time (and planning), I paid a teenager to do it. Yesterday, I had the day off. It was a little chilly but I got to thinking...why don’t I just do it myself? I could spend that money to buy the Thanksgiving baskets and have some left for the Advent project! So I did! And I was glad I did it. It might not be a lot, but it was a start. Behavior change is always easier said than done, and knowing myself, I needed to start with baby steps. I am a little sore today but I got a good exercise out of it. I think that was enough bicep curls for the week for me. And it was definitely worth it!

My prayer is that He grants me the strength of discipline as I tackle the path to financial peace. Amen.

Simple Gifts

This video is a glimpse into our upcoming Advent program at Church of the Nativity. This Advent we're looking at how we really can do Christmas differently: worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all.

Join us this Advent and learn how you can be a part of our Advent challenge, to approach the holidays in a new, relational way while providing clean drinking water to our mission in Nigeria.