November 4, 2013

A Chocolate Affair

November 4, 2013

Once in a while, our church has an evening called Women in Worship.  It is an event just for the women of the church and there are different ways in which we celebrate these evenings.  They all include women sharing how God is working in the midst of their lives.  Any of you who have followed this blog for very long must be aware that all that has transpired in our lives this last year would have been too much for us without God.  With God as the center of our lives, we know that He will get us through the rough spots and bring good out of them.  The team that plans these worship times asked me to speak at the one last night.  The lovely cake in the photo above is their thank you gift to me for doing that.  Isn't it beautiful?

For the last few weeks I had been paying about this event and what God would want me to share with the ladies that would come.  To sum up all that has happened to us in these months is almost overwhelming, but all of us go through rough times in our lives; it is just different for each individual and each family.  It is how we handle those situations that often forms our lives.  We learn in those times which of our friends have the ability to come along side of us and help us in various ways.  Sometimes you go through a hard time and your best, most reliable friend has a crisis of their own and isn't able to be there in some ways for you, and likewise you aren't able to meet all their needs.  God is always there for us and always has time for us.

 

The evening was called A Chocolate Affair, Sweet Fellowship of Friends.  Who better to speak at such an event than a lifelong chocolate lover?  In all honesty, it was very humbling to be asked and from the looks of delight on the faces of all the women there, I was not the only chocolate lover in attendance.  We started with refreshments and that was a wide variety of chocolates and fruit that could be dipped in the chocolate fountain.  There were trays of chocolate candy on the beautifully decorated tables.  This photo shows one of the sweet ladies preparing those trays.

 

There were several games with chocolate prizes awarded to the winners.  There were games that got the people at each table sharing stories with each other and silly games to see who could stack the most Oreo cookies on their forehead.  We do know how to have fun and laugh!

We sang praises to the Lord and they included several of the songs I hear playing in my brain.  It was great to see over 50 women singing praises to the Lord led by Lisa.  She has such a lovely voice.

 



My husband spent the evening sitting in the vestibule.  He had brought his mother and was waiting to take her back home.  Then I shared with the women about my hearing loss, the process to get the Cochlear implant and the adjustments involved.  I shared about the many other medical challenges we had faced this year, but I hope they saw how God had been in each event, strengthening us, teaching us, and timing things so that all worked out to His glory.  God has been very good to us this year.

God has showed us He will always be there and will meet our needs.  That doesn't mean there are no problems.  Again, if you have been reading the blog, there have been countless problems this year, but God has taken care of us and will continue to do so.  I love that phrase "But God..."  We see problems but God sees ways to teach us, lead us, and ultimately be glorified in those events. 

To God be the Glory, Great Things He Has Done.