7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 23)

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Our Boo Baby, Theresa’s Birthday. To my sister Theresa: For quite some time, basically since you were born, perhaps even sooner, you have been a very special blessing.  The Lord knew just when our family would need an extra infusion of love, cuteness, fun, and joy, and that’s when He gave us you.  When you were a baby, we loved to hold you, feed you, play with you...I treasured the many precious moments we spent together as you were growing up…God has, can, and will use your mind, body, and spirit in powerful ways to reach His people, love in and through You, and bring others closer to Him. 
     My hope and prayer for you as you learn more about yourself, the world, love, sorrow, tears, and laughter, life, death, joy, and peace is that you will come closer each day to recognizing and accepting that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by the Lord (Psalm 139). 
     I love you lots, Theresa—always have, always will!

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Birthday fanfare.  I called Theresa early on the morning of her birthday, knowing that she had a full day ahead of her and that I’d have the best chance of talking with her before she was off and dancing.  Interestingly enough, she’d lost power in her room, so she was actually grateful that I’d called early to wish her a happy birthday and send her my love, because her alarm clock wouldn’t have gone off.  As part of Theresa’s birthday gifts, I used beads from a necklace from Africa given to me years ago by my uncle Dave and Aunt Florence as well as some natural tone wood and shell beads to make a pair of earrings and a mobile for Theresa in honor of her studying African dance, being in a faculty piece, and aspiring to go to a dance festival in Burkina Faso next summer.   

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911, EMT Response, and ER Etiquette: Tuesday morning did not start out well at all. Our alarm went off, and a few minutes later Kevin tried to walk down the hall. He was feeling dizzy so he leaned against the doorframe. The next thing he knew he was falling. I heard a terrible thud in the hallway and came running. He’d fallen face down on the hardwood floor and was bleeding from his head…click here to read about the rest of the adventure we had that day.

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So History Doesn’t Repeat Itself…watch this video on the Holocaust and share it with everyone you know.    

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“You have the opportunity to glorify and honor God...” –Gianna Jensen A brief, powerful message from a woman who survived a saline abortion.  The abortionist signed her birth certificate.  Christ captured her heart, and she has set about doing His work and thanking Him for saving her from “the silent holocaust.”

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Two Amazing Ministers of Post-Abortion Healing: Seeing Joseph (Joe) and his wife Kay Marie Geiger together always touched my heart very deeply. I don’t know that I’ve seen many other married couples who have shared such a profound love, tenderness, compassion, and gentleness as the two of them did.  Joe and Kay Marie possessed the rare, deeply cherished gift of being loving, gentle, truly present listeners. Such tangible acceptance and openness to others made them such powerful witnesses to Christ’s self-sacrificing love. 

     Joe and Kay Marie worked closely with a number of priests as they headed up the Rachel’s Vineyard post abortion healing retreats in the area for many, many years.  A number of mothers and fathers who had abortions over the years found a great deal of Christ’s healing in their lives when they encountered the loving presence of Joe and Kay Marie.

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“The Saint That Is Just Me” All of us are called to be holy. Each one of us is called to be a saint, but as Danielle Rose shares in her latest song “The Saint That Is Just Me” God isn’t interested in you becoming someone else so you are sanctified and more Christ-like. He wants most for you to become the saint He’s created you to be.
     Lord, thank You for the gift of so many holy men and women to show us how to love You and one another. Help us listen to Your still small voice in the silence, so that we may, indeed, become the saints You have called each of us to be. Amen.

Head over to check out the 7 Quick Takes Friday by their creator, Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary.