| AHW MINISTRIES NEWSLETTER About His Work with Janet November 2017  |
What I'm Grateful for This Year
You probably noticed you didn't receive a newsletter from me last month. (Don't tell me if you didn't notice LOL). I had cataract surgery on both eyes in October and my eyes needed a break while they healed and adjusted to the changes in vision. While I was recuperating, I had lots of time to consider the things I was grateful for in 2017, even though it was a tough year health-wise. Here are just a few:
Since 7th grade, I've worn glasses or contacts. Without them, I couldn't see the alarm by my bed. I've often said that if I was born in biblical times, I would have been a beggar by the pool, so I've always been grateful to live in an era with vision correction. Then I had cataract surgery. I feel like the blind man in the Bible who said when Jesus gave him vision, "One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" John 9:25. I have to remind myself that I'm actually seeing without glasses or contacts. It's a miracle!
I'm grateful for my sweet husband who read to me after the first eye was corrected for distance and I couldn't see out of the other eye. For six weeks, he got up early to put three different drops in my eyes, three times a day.
I'm thankful for my daughter and son-in-law who gave up their bedroom for me to recuperate the night after both eye surgeries, and my sweet grandchildren who were concerned about Grammie's eyes.
I'm blessed Mentoring for All Seasons released September 12. A book celebrating 20 years of what I've learned sharing Woman to Woman Mentoring with churches. I've had an amazing launch team and so many women have told me how the book encouraged them to be a mentor or find a mentor.
I'm especially thankful for all of you! I know many of you prayed for me when I started out the year with a concussion, followed by a horrendous bladder and kidney surgery with a long torturous recovery period, and my recent cataract surgery.
Even though it seems sometimes like we're having a one-way conversation, God nudges me to keep this newsletter going. I do appreciate when He nudges you to comment back to me.
I could fill the newsletter with one praise after another of how faithful God has been in a year that had dramatic good times and unexpected challenging times.
My prayer as you celebrate the goodness of God this Thanksgiving is that you too can focus on how good God has been in your life. Our world is full of evil, and that's what we hear the most about in the media. But Thanksgiving is a time to remember that God has overcome evil with His goodness. We need to share that message not just at Thanksgiving, but every day with every breath.
Blessings to each of you and may you have a Jesus-focused Thanksgiving.
PSSS: I'm still receiving stories for my next book, "Get Your Brave On." I would love to hear of a time when God gave you physical, emotional, spiritual, mental . . . strength to do something you couldn't have done without His help. Please
contact me.
PSSSS: Leafwood Publishers, my publisher for
Mentoring for All Seasons, is offering a 50% discount on orders of five or more books, good until December 31, 2017.
Contact me for more information to share with your ministries and church.
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FEATURED BOOK OF THE MONTH
Face-To-Face With Euodia And Syntyche:
From Conflict to Community
I chose to feature Face-to-Face with Euodia and Syntyche: From Conflict to Community this month, because I know that the holiday season isn't always congenial in some families. We dream of the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving with everyone joyfully gathered around a table laden with food, but in reality, some families are as divided as our country right now. So what do we Christians do to keep the peace as long as it is up to us? How can we "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3)?
In Face-to-Face with Euodia and Syntyche, I scripturally answer those questions and many more. We can't be responsible for how others act, but we are responsible for our words and actions. If you're dreading the holiday gatherings, and believe me I've been there, then maybe I can help the way Paul helped Euodia and Syntyche resolve issues in their relationship. Above all else, pray!
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I Would Love to Speak at Your Event!
about your event
call or email to discuss availability.
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TALK TO US
This Months featured
Woman To Woman
Mentoring Ministry Testimony
Janet Thompson heard the call to "Feed My Sheep," which prompted her first mentoring opportunity. During a sermon, I could hear the Holy Spirit speak to me about the importance of a mentoring ministry for our church. Even as I heard the message, I began arguing that God could not possibly want me to start a mentoring ministry.
God confirmed this new ministry in many ways. Within a very short time, God orchestrated mentoring training, the support of the church leadership, and a ministry team ready to begin work launching the new ministry. When I was faithful to let others have the blessing of leading ministries I loved and had led, I was able to prepare for this new ministry.
If I had not been obedient to God's desire for me to replace myself and step away from other ministries, I would not have launched the mentoring ministry, "Touching Another Generation" (TAG).
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Mentoring Tip
"Mentors don't do all the talking.
They let their mentee ask questions and direct the conversation toward topics relevant to her life season.
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"GRAMMIE'S CORNER"
Many of us don't live near our grandkids so we're unable to cheer them on in their sports and activities. But thanks to technology and YouTube, we can almost be there.
One of our grandsons who started at a new school this year and joined the high school swim team, participated in the state championships and his relay team won the 200 Free Relay! As the boys stood with their medals, we were proud grandparents when the team captain acknowledged to the interviewer that our grandson was a big part of the win even though he just joined them this year.
We were able to watch the relays thanks to our son Sean videoing the meet on his phone and YouTube clips. Not exactly like being there, but we could still enjoy the accomplishment.
Be sure you ask your grandkids' parents to video major events for you when you can't attend. Then let the kids know you saw them.
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Meet An Author
Thirty Days of Hope for Dealing with Depression
My friend
and fellow New Hope author,
Brenda Poinsett, has a new book. Many people today are suffering from depression and Brenda leads readers to their source of hope and purpose.
Why a book of thirty devotions for people dealing with depression?
Hopelessness is depression's hallmark symptom. It makes you believe that tomorrow won't be better, that nothing will change, and that you will be trapped in a dark place forever. People who are depressed find it hard to read and to concentrate. A short book of thirty days says, "You can do it. Day by day, little by little, you can be encouraged. Stick with it and you will find your hope rising."
Not being a mental health professional, what led you to write a book about depression?
You're right I'm not a mental health professional, I'm a spiritual health professional. I help believers find biblical answers for their spiritual needs. In this book, I address the spiritual part of depression. While depression has a biological basis, it also touches and affects our human spirit-the place where hope resides. Each day's devotion is connected to a Bible verse, and biblical examples of saints who struggled with depression are referred to throughout the book.
I recognized these struggling saints because of the research I did to understand the illness and to recover from it. I not only found help for myself, but I found help for others, too. This is the fourth book I've written on depression, and it is the most spiritual of them all.
What caused your depression?
It resulted from following what my husband, a college administrator, and I perceived to be God's leadership. We were living happily in a place I loved when he got a call from a major Christian university in another state. It was as if God Himself called. After much prayer and deliberation, my husband took the job and we moved. Before the first year was up, he learned his contract would not be renewed. This was the beginning of a number of bizarre happenings in our lives including more job difficulties, financial struggles, another move, peer rejection, and disappointment in church leadership. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what we experienced. Because there wasn't, I concluded that God didn't have a purpose for our lives. Without a purpose, there was no reason to get up in the morning.
When you look back at your depression, how do you view it?
I view it as one of the most beneficial experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself, particularly how I needed to change my thinking for optimum mental health. I also learned the importance of having a sense of purpose. Without it, life is not worth living. That's why everyday in my morning prayers I affirm my belief that God has a purpose for my life. The necessity that I needed to believe this truth is the treasure that came out of my darkness. My life is better because of it.
Thirty Days of Hope for Dealing with Depression
is available for purchase Brenda's website, Amazon, CBD, or from your local bookstore.
To learn more about Brenda's other books, and her ministry visit her
website
.
For a chance to win a free copy of
Thirty Days of Hope for Dealing with Depression,
contact me.
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