My Thanksgiving Top 20...

I have so much much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend. We were challenged Sunday to make a list of 20 things we are thankful for over the week. First and foremost, I am very thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and saved my soul from hell. I am also thankful for my husband, Kevin, who is a wonderful Pastor, Father, and my best friend. I couldn't imagine doing life without him by my side! I am thankful for my 2 sons and bonus son, Matthew, Michael and Dustin; it is such a blessing to see God working in their lives. I am thankful for my parents, who raised me in a Christian Home and taught me to love unconditionally. I am thankful for my big sister, she has always been there for me. I am thankful for wonderful in-laws who love me like a daughter. I am thankful for the churches that taught me God's Word and about a relationship with Christ (Corners Chapel, Southridge, and First Free Will Baptist Church). At FFWBC, we as a family, do ministry together, and all serve. I am thankful for all 9 of my nieces and nephews and my great-nephew (to be born next year). They bring such laughter, happiness, and fun into my

life. I am thankful for the great job I am blessed with, in Christian work environment, where I work with 4 great ladies and my brother-in-law. I am thankful for the FWB denomination and the opportunities it has for my sons to learn to be servants. Truth and Peace has been life-changing for Matthew and I can't wait to see what happens in his life through his ETEAM Cuba experience in June 2016. I am thankful for Operation Christmas Child and being able to serve with such a great ministry. I am thankful for my home where we can raise our sons in a safe environment surrounded by family. I am thankful for the USA, we are such a blessed nation compared to the rest of the world. I am thankful for my Bible; God's Word is alive and true and works in my daily to mold me into a better person. I am thankful for medicine and my doctors who try to keep me as healthy as possible while living with severe asthma. I am thankful for this beautiful world God created and all that is in it. It shouts out that there is a Creator who loves us and gives us things to enjoy. Lastly, I am thankful for my faithful friends who make me a better person.  

True friends are such a blessing. We should be thankful for our true friends and we should strive to be true friends to others.  What does it mean to be a "Real TRUE Friend?" How can you tell who your friends really are? Is every facebook "friend" you have a true friend? Healthy friendships are vital to life, so it's important that we have good friends and that we become good friends to others. God's Word is the ultimate source for determining how to do friendship right. Here are a few key traits that should be present in any healthy friendship.

1. Friends Forgive. Friends don't bring up old dirt and gossip about each other. They forgive and seek forgiveness with transparency and humility. "Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends." Proverbs 17:9  
2. Friends love unconditionally! They are there for you when you need them most, not just when it's convenient. "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." Proverbs 17:17 
3. Friends have your back! Loyalty is vital to friendship. There's no such thing as a "frenemy". "There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24 
4. Friends tell you the truth. Even when it's hard to hear, friends will speak the truth in love. "An honest answer is a sign of true friendship." Proverbs 24:26
5. Friends make each other better! "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17
6. Friends communicate openly. "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 14:15 

Let's all strive to live out these traits in our own relationships and I believe our friendships will become more enriching, fulfilling and God-honoring. (adapted from the book Soul Caffeine)

What 20 things are you thankful for today?

OCC November Prayer Requests - RECA

This week will you pray for Russia, Europe & Central Asia (RECA) Sensitive Country where Christianity is illegal! 

Specific requests are: 

1. Pray for the provision of a consignee so that the shoeboxes can come into the country.

2. Pray the government puts less pressure on the volunteer National and Regional Leadership Teams.

3. Pray for opportunities to reach children with The Greatest Journey discipleship program.  

4. Pray the team will be able to safely receive the gift boxes and the government won’t interfere. Pray that believers will have a mutual understanding and love so they will distribute the gifts wisely.

5. Pray the gift boxes will clear customs without any obstacles and that there will be great weather for the distributions.

NEA Requests:

1. Let us give thanks to God for allowing us to do abundantly more in NEA this year! We reported 10,204 Gospel Opportunities collected!!!! 

2. Pray for all the transporters as they travel to the 8 Processing Centers across the USA. 

3. Pray for all the volunteers that will be working at the processing centers to prepare our Gospel Opportunities for International Travel. 

4. Pray for the next travel step  by plane, truck, or ship to more than 100 countries and territories where local churches will distribute the boxes to children in need. 

5. Pray for the Gospel to sprout and grow as it will be shared through an evangelistic booklet called The Greatest Gift, available in 65 languages and that we can get in translated into more languages. 

Thanks for your faithfulness as prayer warriors for OCC, none of this would be possible without each one of you! 

 "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 ESV

“In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah” Psalm 44:8 ESV 

National Collection Week Is Over, Now What?

Now that National Collection Week has ended what happens? The next step of the shoebox journey begins...

I AM THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE NEA OCC reported 10,204 shoeboxes this year! That's over 10,000 kids that will learn about Jesus through your generosity this week!!!!

Thank You to everyone who packed shoeboxes, this ministry would not be a success without each one of you! 

Thanks to:

• Our 50 volunteers who helped at First Free Will Baptist Church Collection Center this week
• All our wonderful prayer warriors
• All our other 6 counties of NEA OCC that has lots of volunteers and worked hard to receive shoeboxes all week
• To our drivers that will be transporting our precious cargo to Denver
• and most of all THANKS BE TO GOD, OUR LOVING FATHER, who blessed us with abundantly more Gospel Opportunities Shoeboxes this year that will impact kids around the world! What a Mighty God we serve! I love OCC Ministry and all of you! 

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"

Psalm 118:1

In the words of Melinda Dixon, our Area Coordinator:

"Wow! God really showed up & showed out today! 10,204 shoeboxes from NEA! High totals were recorded today from almost all counties! Craighead: 3703, Greene: 2500, Mississippi: 1233, Randolph: 914, Lawrence: 413, Clay: 504, and Poinsett: 937. So humbled to work with such an awesome group of volunteers! Amazing to think about the eternal impact that these boxes will have on so many children!"

The rest of the Journey of Your Shoeboxes... What Happens Next Article 

Click here for: 

YEAR AROUND VOLUNTEER FORM TO REQUEST MORE INFORMATION

Build a Shoebox On-line for $25

National Collection Week is over but it's not too late, you can build a shoebox online and help a child in need! Click here to build one:
Build Your Shoebox Online $25  
When shoeboxes are sent to restricted areas, the gift options have been carefully chosen to be free of culturally taboo items such as certain dolls, toys, and crosses. In some countries, items like those could prevent the importation of thousands of shoeboxes and leave many children without the blessing of a gift. Specially packed items allow the gifts to easily clear customs.

“We’re trying to give the believers on the ground a platform to share the Gospel in a way that’s culturally sensitive,” said Jalal, an Operation Christmas Child contact working in a restricted region.

In sensitive areas, challenges to freedom of religious expression arise from governmental and religious authorities that try to restrict the movements of Christian believers and churches. Still, project partners in these challenging regions are determined to demonstrate to children and families that God loves them.

Using shoeboxes gifts that are built online, and other restricted area shoeboxes, Samaritan’s Purse can show this love by giving gifts, despite living in countries that are traditionally hostile toward the message of Jesus Christ. 

Join my "Build One With Me" Build A Box Online Challenge: Build One With Me Challenge Link and help me reach my goal by packing your own online boxes today!

Call to Prayer Day 8 ~ Operation Christmas Child

It's transportation day! Pray for the seamless transportation of the shoebox gifts as they are transferred from local drop-off sites to regional Processing Centers. 

What a journey...The end is here...what an adventure it has been! It has been a great experience, some long days, and lots of prayers being said on behalf of Operation Christmas Child. We have given our best efforts, and been filled with true joy in the process, yet I still wish I could/would have packed just one more shoebox so that one more child could come to know Jesus. We have labored and now God can multiply these precious boxes as they go into the world! May each one reach one or many, many more!

"Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" Ephesians 5:20

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 118:1

Call to Prayer Day 7 ~ Operation Christmas Child

Thank God for blessing Operation Christmas Child with more than 100 million shoebox gifts over the past 20 years. Pray that millions of more children will experience the love of Jesus Christ through these simple gifts.

What a ministry! Twenty years ago, Franklin Graham made a promise to collect a few gifts for boys and girls in war-torn Bosnia. Today, Operation Christmas Child has become a year-round, international project, delivering millions of shoeboxes to children in nearly 100 countries each year.

In July 1993, a man from the United Kingdom named Dave Cooke reached out to Graham because he needed help collecting gifts to send to children in Bosnia. Graham promptly agreed, then—as he tells it—just as promptly pushed the project to the back of his mind and continued focusing on various other projects at Samaritan’s Purse. Later that fall, Cooke called back asking when Samaritan’s Purse would send the gifts they collected. With the last-minute help of several pastors, including Free Will Baptist Pastor Rob Morgan of Donelson Fellowship Church in Nashville, Tennessee, Graham was able to deliver on his promise and sent 28,000 shoebox gifts for the children of Bosnia.

Franklin Graham delivers shoebox gifts to children in Bosnia.

 The program has grown from 28,000 the first year to over 100 million. Twenty years later, more than 103 million shoebox gifts have been collected and delivered in more than 150 countries, each one representing an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel. Whether their needs are physical or spiritual, the millions of boys and girls who have received shoeboxes have experienced powerful blessings through these simple gifts. Each gift is not only filled with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies, but also with the power of prayer. “We ask people to pray as a family as you pack the boxes,” Graham said. “Pray that God would use them. And He does. We have seen miracle after miracle of how God has used a box.” 

Twelve-year-old Dulce Maria lives in extreme poverty in Honduras with her father and four siblings. Her mother committed suicide in 2002 due to extreme depression over the family’s difficult financial situation. Her father takes her to school every day and then goes to do janitorial and maintenance work in households that hire him for a day.  Dulce Maria always wanted a doll, but her father couldn’t afford to buy her one. Imagine the surprise and delight she experienced when she received a shoebox gift, opened it, and saw a doll! Jumping for joy, she said it was the most beautiful one she had ever seen. But her joy was not yet complete that day. The Gospel was shared during the distribution, and she learned more about Jesus through a children’s storybook, The Greatest Gift, offered with the shoebox. Dulce Maria went to her teacher and told her that she had received two gifts that day: the doll and eternal life in Christ.

Brenda Valdez, a 5-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic, received the symbolic 100 millionth shoebox gift last year. Operation Christmas Child hopes to reach millions more children with boxes collected this year.  No matter who packs them, from three former U.S. presidents, to the family down the street, each gift-filled shoebox throughout the past 20 years represents the joy of one more child, like Dulce Maria, who has been reached with a tangible expression of God’s love.  “We are just getting started with Operation Christmas Child,” said Randy Riddle, director of the project’s domestic operations in the United States. “The potential is so great to reach more and more children.”

After 20 years delivering shoeboxes to 75 percent of the countries around the world, the motivation for sharing the gifts has remained the same. “I want the children of the world to know, I want their parents to know, that God loves them,” Graham said. “He cares for them, and He wants them to be with Him in heaven.”

Join my "Build One With Me" Build A Box Online Challenge: Build One With Me Challenge Link and help me reach my goal by packing your own online boxes today!

Call to Prayer Day 6 ~ Operation Christmas Child

Pray for the safety of Operation Christmas Child partners who are serving in areas of the world where people may be hostile toward Christians.

Did you know when you pack a shoebox online the shoeboxes go to hostile areas where we can't go deliver shoeboxes?  It is $25 to build a box online and a great ministry!  I would challenge you to over the next year to try to build one box online.  It will touch a child that would never receive a shoebox by our regular collection efforts.  You can follow this link to build your box online today: 

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/ 

You can still help share God's love with children around the world even if you don’t have time to shop for and pack an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. With a few clicks of your mouse or swipes on your touchscreen, you can build a shoebox online. Make it your own by choosing from a list of gifts, then add a personal letter and photo. We'll pack your shoebox and send it for you, for a suggested donation of just $25. We've even made it possible to challenge friends so they can join you. Or, you can purchase a gift card so they can build a shoebox online themselves.  Today is my 40th birthday...I will be packing an online shoebox TODAY for my birthday!  I set a goal of 6 online boxes and I've already done one. Will you do one too? 

Join my Shoebox Challenge!
Join my "Build One With Me" Build A Box Online Challenge: Build One With Me Challenge Link and help me reach my goal by packing your own online boxes today!

#ipackedashoebox 

"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40