Wednesday, March 26, 2014

24 March ~ New Jersey meeting & Behind the Scenes

 

Good morning Ladies ~ I hope you all in New Jersey will soon see warmer temps.  I just did a search on your weather for this past Monday when you had your meeting and it was between 28-36 degrees, and with wind chill I know it felt really cold. Yet, around 90 of you dear ladies left your warm, comfortable homes to visit with your dear sisters for your meeting/luncheon.  That is wonderful!

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Here are some candid shots of some of you lovely ladies.

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Here are the March birthday girls.

Happy Birthday to all of you.

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I heard you had some excitement there this past Monday.

Kennedy Health System, Life Support Education
STAT Medical Transport, Inc.

…surprised the ladies with a staged emergency visit and then demonstrated life-saving maneuvers.


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Now we come to what goes on ‘Behind the scenes’ to make a meeting happen.  It is because of ‘faithful service’, done for the glory and honor of our Great God. It is His strength in us that makes us able to do what we do.

Here we have the dear ladies who are the Telephone Reservationists.

They call to remind our sisters of the next meeting, to see who will be able to attend or not.  What a job this is!  It makes the sisters feel loved and cared for. By their time and efforts we find out how our sisters are doing.

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This is dear Mildred Keeys, she is also a member of the Telephone Reservationists group, but did not hear the call for the group shot.

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Next we have Becky Bacalzo

who is in charge of the Teddy Bear Ministry.

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Here we see Donna Keen with hearing impaired Friends. I asked Dotti what the dear lady in the front row was signing and it is the sign for ‘I love you’.  Isn’t that sweet?

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Next, we have Director Mary Lou and her husband Paul Tweed. Having a good director is a blessing from God. Having a faithful team as we have here is a double blessing.

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Without this lovely lady, Diana Clark ~ there would be no pictures to share of our great northern ‘Friends Needing Friends’ sisterhood.

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Thank you to all the staff who help to make this ‘Special Sisterhood’ what it is.

Thank you to all of our sisters who faithfully attend the meetings. By that you are a light to others, you encourage one another, you share, you laugh and sometimes cry together, and you pray for one another.

We all must remember that God has brought us to this place of widowhood.  He is drawing us closer to Him through each and every day. He knew that we would be in this time of our lives, before we were even born.

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The day after I lost my dear husband (9Dec.2012) I found online, a writing from Octavius Winslow (1808-1878), that touched my heart deeply. It was exactly what I needed at the time.

“The Godly Widow Confiding in the Widow's God

It is well!

All that He does, who speaks these touching words, is well.

It is well with you, for He who gave in love, in love has taken away the mercy that He gave.

The companion of your youth,
the friend of your bosom, the treasure of your heart,
the staff of your riper and the solace of your declining years,
is removed,
but since God has done it — it is,
it must be well.

Look now above the circumstances of your deep and dark sorrow,
the second causes of your bereavement,
the probable consequences of your loss,
God has done it;
and that very God who has smitten,
who has bereaved,
and who has removed your all of earthly good,
now invites you to trust in him.
 
Chance has not brought you into this state;
accident has not bereft you of your treasure;
God has made you a widow, that you may confide in the widow’s God."

(underlining's mine) 

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In time, our GREAT God fills our hearts with peace and even joy again as we draw closer to Him, as we rely on Him for our daily strength in all that we do.

In every meeting we recite this wonderful scripture below found in I Corinthians chapter 1. Let us remember it daily so that we may be a light to others of God’s continued love and tender mercies in our lives.

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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
 
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
 
who comforts us in all our affliction,

so that we may be able to comfort those

who are in any affliction,

with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted

by God."

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God bless you all.

You are priceless to Him,

He loves and cares for you deeply.

I am honored to be a part of this special sisterhood, created by God our Heavenly Father.

Love and hugs ~ Rainey

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

FNF St. Patty meeting in south Florida

 

Hello Ladies ~ What a ‘fun’ meeting we had yesterday!

We had leprechauns, green shamrock necklaces, hats with shamrocks, Irish music, and LOTS of smiles as we all posed with one of the leprechauns for pictures.

We had a fantastic guest speaker, Reid P. Scott, Assistant State Attorney, Chief of Special Victims Unit. He shared ways for we widow ladies to protect ourselves from human predators. We learned valuable information and are thankful for Reid’s time and expertise in this area.

Reid and others are working to protect the elderly and it is good to know that they care and are doing what they can for us.

God has from long, long ago been the defender and protector of the widow and it is said many times in the Bible that orphans and widows need to be taken care of and any who abuse them will be punished. Those in the world who do what they can to protect and help orphans and widows are doing God’s will.

Reid will be back for future meetings to give us more information on how to be more aware of what’s going on around us and ways in which to help protect ourselves.

Thank you Reid.

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It was a joy to meet once again in the smaller room.  We were able to hear what was being said by any of the speakers, and we did not disturb the regular members of the golf club.

Before the meeting was a hoot. There was laughter and talking as we got to know each other better. One of our leprechauns did not want to co-operate all that well, but the other one did a great job of posing with us all for photos.

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This is one of our sweet waitresses.

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At our next meeting, the Easter/Spring Bunny will be visiting us. So, wear some happy colors, bring your smiling faces, and in the meantime let’s all thank God for His many blessings.

Let us also remember that God is our ultimate source of protection but, He also sends others into our lives to give us a helping hand just when we need it.

Love, hugs & prayers

and God willing we will be together again in April.

Rainey

Monday, March 10, 2014

Our next meeting 17 March ~ St. Patrick’s Day

 

Hello Ladies ~ Here we are one week from getting together again and I am looking forward to seeing you all.

There are lots of fun things planned for this meeting.  Be sure to wear a bit of green and if you know a widow, invite her to come along.

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. Please come a little early to get checked in.  Luncheon is afterwards and is $12.50 per person.

I did a little research on St. Patrick and here is a little info gathered from Wikipedia:

Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.

According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.

According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans.

In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism.

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See you Monday, God willing.  Bring a smile, an open heart and mind, and love to share with others.

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May you see God’s light on the path ahead

When the road you walk is dark.

May you always hear,

Even in your hour of sorrow,

The gentle singing of the lark.

When times are hard may hardness

Never turn your heart to stone,

May you always remember

when the shadows fall—

You do not walk alone.

Irish Blessing

 

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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The Widow With the Two Coins

 

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There is a widow in the Bible who is given just a little space, but in spite of what we don't know about her, there are lessons we can learn from her story and I want to concentrate on just one here.  Mark, in the 12th chapter, tells us that Jesus was watching the crowds as they put their offerings in the temple treasury.  Many were rich, but along came a poor widow who put in two very small coins. Jesus called this to the attention of his disciples and told them that this widow had put more into the treasury than all the others. The former gave out of their riches; she out of her poverty.

A widow in ancient Palestine was in a very vulnerable financial condition.  Most widows had no legal standing and no resources of their own.  If her husband died leaving her without sons to run the business or family farm, her land was put into the trust of someone else to run it for her. Jesus comments on the poor widow after describing the Scribes, the legal scholars and experts on the Scriptures, as those who "shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious...: (Mark 12:40) The implication of this is that the Scribes were using their status as experts of the law to defraud the widows out of their property.  They were supposed to protect this widow, but in fact had left her with only two small coins to live on, for how long we don't know.  It was a totally unjust system in which the poorest and most vulnerable were being exploited by the rich and powerful.  Jesus made note of this.

This should serve as a reminder to you that you are never out of the sight, heart, love, and care of your heavenly Father.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Today the widow who is managing on her own, even though there are more protections for her now than then, is still vulnerable to unscrupulous and devious people who prey on her vulnerabilities to defraud her of what is rightfully hers.  Jesus' sharp warnings to those who so treat widows is as valid today as the time in which it was first spoken.  And there are many such warnings in both the Old and New Testaments.

I would love to know more about this woman, and I'm glad that Jesus lifted the veil covering her life just a little and let us catch a tiny glimpse into her life.  Jesus let us know by this story of His great love and concern for the vulnerable among us.  Anyone who defrauds you or tries to take advantage of you in any manner is going to answer to the highest authority.  Thank the Lord for his ever watchful love and concern for you, and live with the peace that only our loving heavenly Father can give!

Shari Hervold

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