In preparation for our church to provide Thanksgiving meals in the Blessing Box for next month, below is the list of items needed to be brought to church over the next few weeks to prepare for this outreach:

October 8th – Canned Yam or Sweet Potatoes, Marshmallows, Pie Filling of any kind, Graham Cracker pie crust

October 15th – Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cranberry sauce

October 22nd – Boxed Instant Mashed Potatoes, Boxed Macaroni & Cheese

October 29th – 2 boxes of stuffing mix, Packet of Turkey or Chicken gravy mix

November 5th – Canned Chicken, Canned Ham

Thanks to everyone able to bring items for this ministry.

There were 28 from The Way that attended the Eastertide Retreat at Gathering Time last weekend. Jeremian Orr was our guest speaker and praise time was great, led by David Gaddy. Great food, fellowship, Bible Study, Prayer stations, praise time and games were on the agenda for this, our first Eastertide Retreat. Also, Gathering Time made available to us their Easter rendition of stations depicting Jesus’ life, from Bethlehem to Calvary to the empty tomb which was a great pace setter for enhancing the spiritual praise aspect of our retreat. We are already talking about next year’s retreat, the weekend after Easter 2024.

The Hills Church hosted the Men’s Conference. It was a true blessing and encouragement, as well as a challenge to be men of God. Speakers were Bob Goff, Chris Brousard, Rich Villodas and E. J. Brown.

Several from The Way attended the Ryan Stevenson in Ivanhoe tonight. It was a great concert and a blessing in its own right. Ryan and his band sang several songs including some of his more well known Christian single hits such as The Gospel, Amadeo, No Matter What and The Eye Of The Storm.

Thanks to Keith and Eric for providing ministry services to a person in need who had unsafe front and back door steps. They did a great job and rebuilt both sets of steps for safety. Great job, guys!

It was a good day to fish at the Watson’s pond. The fishing really picked up after Eric did the fisherman’s “Kiss the First Fish” as noted below. Then it was, “Katie, bar the doors”.

Those of The Way who like to fish and were able to come, had a good day of fishing and fun. Keep tuned – we will do it again sometime.

The church had a great Easter weekend! The Seder Passover meal was held Friday night with several in attendance. The meal was coordinated and served by several of the congregation. It was a great entry to the Easter weekend to commemorate Jesus’ triumphant resurrection from the grave to defeat death and save us.

Saturday (all day) and the Sunday Sunrise service was held at Marilla’s. It was a great venue to have the retreat (thank you, Marilla!), which was so awe inspiring.

There was a time, 28 years ago, when the only way we could buy diapers and baby food (and still have what we wanted in life) was on a credit card, which quickly became several credit cards. Quickly we found ourselves living paycheck to paycheck, and being sucked down farther into a dark financial pit…. for YEARS! And those 25 years later, between raising the boys, lofty student loans, failed pyramid investments, we were bound in chains of years of debt.

Then my husband prayed. He prayed for us to find some footing to climb our way out of that dark pit. He prayed for me to walk alongside him and be willing to make sacrifices. At first, and for quite a while, I was angry. Not envisioning the picture of freedom that he was seeing. I was angry when we couldn’t go to dinner or a movie or a concert with our friends. I was angry when I couldn’t buy things for my friends, my family, the boys, or myself. Every sacrifice made me feel imprisoned even more.

But through much diligence on the part of my husband – his determination and grit – he slowly convinced me that a miracle could happen. We “suffered ” in our 1st world sacrifices. I resented the fact that we couldn’t eat out and have fun like “normal” people.

When we started this journey, he posted on the frig, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and it adds no sorrow with it” from Proverbs 10:22. Adding below, “Debt and payments are sorrowful”. Every time I read that, a spring of contention rose up in me for both Jacob and Dave Ramsey. They both kept reminding me that, “if you will live like no one else now, you can live like no one else later.” I’ve never in my life had to dig so deep to find patience and grace. But with Jacob’s steadfast heart and deep desire to pull us out of our pit to be able to walk in the light and be put in a position to truly help others around us, he did it. Ok, WE did it. As I stomped and kicked against the pricks the whole way. And now, 2 years after we pressed “send” on that credit card app together and paid off our final debt, we are blessed beyond measure that we can bless others. We look back and see that God never failed to give us the tools we needed. All we had to do was step that first step out in faith. His grace and mercy carried us through. All to show us a brilliant freedom from worldly worries, and lead us to share His love to those around us.

I am thankful for Jacob’s determination and for God’s gentle – guiding nudges as we travelled that uncomfortable road that has led us to the comfort of financial freedom

Many friends and family were in attendance for Keith and Angela’s wedding on February 13th, held at The Way. Eric Wardlow was Best Man, Sarah Reeves was Maid of Honor. Bridesmaid was Amber Steedman and Ring Bearer was Jade Reeves. David Gaddy was Officiant. It was a beautiful wedding.

Congratulations Keith and Angela!

We had 50 people come to the Christmas Eve Candlelight service to celebrate the coming of our Savior. It was a great service! Merry Christmas to all.