Women's Connect - April 25, 2011

Easter blessings, sisters in Christ!

A busy season but one also full of reflection on the cross and now on the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!  I trust your Easter Sunday celebrations were enjoyable.  It was a gorgeous day weather wise, as is today.  I’m busy wrapping up a few loose ends as Dan and I leave tomorrow to travel with our granddaughters to Germany.  (Oh, and their parents, too!)  Please pray for a better travel experience than they had last spring.  (I’m so thankful I can ask you all for that.  ISn’t it great to have Christian sisters who will pray us through?!)  Dan and I will be leaving them with their German family and then he and I will take a week in Austria, just the two of us hanging out in the alps.  Can I just tell you I am so excited about time with him?  I get him all to myself for a week!  So thanks for keeping us in your prayers!  Know you are in mine as well!

This women’s connect is a bit long as there is always so much happening and so much to say.  I want to encourage you with these words from Bev Johnson.  I love hearing from you all and when appropriate it’s fun to pass things along:

”God's Morning to you Sonja,
I chose to reread the scripture from Isaiah that was read last night and was struck by Is. 53:2.  We have always portrayed Jesus as this glowing figure of handsomeness and in our "white folk" minds he has often been not only handsome but blond and blue eyed.  Yet, Isaiah states he was not at all handsome.  Nothing in his physical appearance would attract us to him.  When I ponder that it makes me think that if he were good looking people would have come not to hear his words but to be with him so other people would think they were popular and good looking too.  Part of the "in crowd" mind set.  So if Jesus was not handsome than his life- saving words would be more important, his compassion more visible, his healing touch more tender.  Do we picture him in this handsome way post humus to honor him?  I don't know but I am grateful he was not handsome because in some odd way it makes him more real.
Blessings, Bev”

Thanks, Bev.  I enjoyed the greeting, “God’s morning to you!”  Sounds like “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”  Psalm 118:24

I also love it when women think things through, not just swallowing what someone else says or writes.  So good to ponder what God’s Word means to us, personally, and to His Church!  Jesus is so real!  I praise and thank Him for His realness in my life!  If you ever have questions about His realness in your life, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I’d love to talk to you about that and to pray with you.

Big reminder:  Tuesday and Wednesday are the last days to purchase tickets for our annual Women’s Night Out.  Our theme this year is “All Aboard Cruiseship Central.”  It will be a delightful evening of food, fellowship, prizes, and performances to make you laugh!  Consider inviting women who are not connected to a church.  We definitely know how to have a good time and honor Christ in the same experience.  Tickets are $30 and available in the church office but the deadline is April 27^th!

Here is what’s next for our women’s book discussion. Thanks to LeeAnn Simenson for leading this.

Has your faith lost its fire....or are you searching for more meaning to your life?  Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Lotz, knew this struggle, too, and found the answers in the Old Testament life of Abraham. In her book, The Magnificent Obsession, she weaves of the story of Abraham with her own life and shows us how their stories can guide us, too.  This is the book for our next Women's Book Discussion which will be on Tuesday, May 24 at 1:30 at the Elk River Activity Center.  All women are cordially invited and can find the book at the Corner Bookstore & More.

Not a reader?  How about this?

Looking for a “Girl’s Night or Weekend Out”? Have a high school senior? Take this time to work on your scrapbook, posters, etc for their graduation party. Join us for Central Lutheran’s Women’s Craft and Fellowship Weekend Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30. We will meet Friday from 6-10 PM and Saturday from 9 AM - 9 PM in Room 218-219 (at the top of the stairs). Please use the west doors. You will be able to leave your craft project at church Friday evening. Bring a snack to share and your own lunch and dinner or money for a food run on Saturday. You are welcome to come for one, both or part of each day. Bring your scrapbooking, rubber stamping, quilting, needlepoint, or whatever project you are working on. Friends are welcome to join you too. Please sign up in the Welcome Book. Questions? Contact Pam Pixley, 441-5653 or Rachel Pederson, 241-2104.

Watch for the list of women’s summer Bible studies to come out in May.  We have a several choices and hope you can participate in one of them!  God’s peace and power this Easter season!  See you in May!!!

With joy in our Living Lord – Sonja Dixon