Graduation Day = Mixed Emotions

Today is a day filled with mixed emotions.
In 2005 I met two precious little girls who stole my heart... and they have had it ever since.
Through out the eight years of ministering at Prattmont God has blessed me with many  more amazing students who have won my heart.  Every single student who graduates this year has a piece of my heart, and I hope they are taking a little bit of msp with them.  I pray that I'm a positive voice in their heads that leads them to Christ.
 
In many ways this is "my first" graduating class since I've been at Prattmont. For seven years I've watched students that I have grown to love walk  across the stage to graduate, and I've been so proud of each one of them! But this class - well, they're a little different. Several of them have been with me for all 8 years.  They were just "babies" when I came. Others I've had the honor to sit with as they prayed to receive Christ.  I've talked about "life's ups and downs" w/ some of them and most of them I've watched as they have discovered their OWN faith and what it means to live it.  

Several of "my kids" graduated last weekend from Autauga Academy. (and a big thank you to AA for planning your graduation when no one else had theirs!)  What a proud moment for me - everyone of these girls received scholarships to the colleges of their choice!  Tonight there are THREE graduations!!! Can anyone tell me how I can be in THREE places at ONE time!!??? Many of the graduating students tonight have also received scholarships to their colleges/Universities as well.  All these students have worked so hard to accomplish great things during their high school years and I'm so proud of each of them!

To the graduates - I love you dearly and I'll never forget you! I've enjoyed spending every moment with you.  We've had a lot of laughs, some tears, lots of trips and retreats. Great Bible studies, worship services, & private talks... thank you for trusting me with your personal and spiritual journeys. 

I'll always have special memories like, freezing at Stone Mountain, baptisms in the ocean, OMC shaving cream fights, seeing sweet little girls walking to church, other little girls chasing me with wet sponges, softball games, Crosspoint, Centrikid, FUGE and Student Life, Winter Jam, Xtreme,  sleeping on the Florida State BSU concrete floor, mission projects, the Habitat House, lock ins, show choir

performances, debates, school plays, I really could go on and on.  I'd really like to sit down with each student and hear a favorite memory they have.. although I think I might just flood my office with tears!  

I got a note the other day from one student that simply said  - "thank you, you've made an impact on my life."  Another said, "thanks for being my 'spiritual mother'".  For every hug that came frontwards, sideways, backwards, and everything in between... thank you!

To the parents and grandparents of the  2013 graduates (as well as all those before you) - Thank you for providing snacks and meals and junk food and whatever was needed. Thank you for your prayers as we traveled and spent days and weeks at camps. Thank you for chaperoning at many of those camps and retreats.

Thank you for understanding the importance that church plays in each persons relationship with Christ; therefore bringing your students to church - even when they didn't want to come. Thank you for allowing me to love your kids and share Jesus with them. Thank you for letting me take the away to "far off" places so we could leave distractions behind and focus on our relationship with one another and most importantly Christ. Thank you for supporting your student and Prattmont's youth ministry. 

One memory that I'll never forget is the Senior Night banquet.  What a blessing it was to me to watch parents and grandparents praying blessings over their students!  It was a happy, tearful experience - one I hope the families and graduates will never forget.

In closing... my prayer for these graduates:

Father, as I sit here in awe of how amazing You are, I see the faces of "my kids". The students You've allowed me to love on, to hug on, to cry with and laugh with and sometimes just sit with.  I pray Father that at some point in each of their lives You used me to speak truth to them, to encourage them and to motivate them to love You with their heart, souls, mind and strength.  I lift each one of these students to You now and I ask Father that You will:

• give them the assurance they need to know that You love them and will be with them always.
• lead them to people who will help them to grow deeper in their faith and walk with You.
• let their lives be a strong influence to others they meet along the way. Let the way they live their lives reflect who You are in their life.
• please grant them wisdom, guidance and strength to do what they need to do, to be who they need to be and to live and speak boldly for You.
• provide for all their needs
• and lastly, I pray with all my heart that each student will delight in You and so in return You will bless them with the desires of their hearts. 

Thank you for Your word that tells us; "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." 



With all my love,
mspatty 
 

"Some were baptized and some were threatened..."

I received an email this week and the first line read: 

"Some were baptized and some were threatened..."   

What would you do if your family stormed into your home and threatened to hurt you if you didn't stop going to worship services and Bible studies?  What if they told you that if you believe in God they would no longer call you family, you'd be disowned? What if they grabbed your Bible and tore it up standing right in front of you? How would your react?   What would you do?  This is exactly what happens everyday in other countries, but believe it or not it happens right here in America... in Prattville.

I have some friends who are missionaries in another part of the world where freedom of religion isn't a way of life. They recently told of three ladies who were to be baptized on May 5th; two of them were able to walk through the baptismal waters; one wasn't allowed. This one was threatened by her family and told she could not go through with her plans. Her family took her Bible and tore it up in front of her.  She is discouraged, sad and heart-broken. She needs our prayers.

Fly across the seas and come home where we live. It's a world where we have the freedom to go to church, read our Bibles, share the Word of Christ with others and get baptized. (at least for now!) But you know what's crazy? People choose not to! These two ladies who were baptized held on to their faith, and they dreamed of the day they wouldn't have to fear what family and friends would do, and ultimately waited 10 years to be baptized. They waited all those years because they hoped that one day they wouldn't have to feared what would happen to them if they followed through in believer's baptism.  You know what's really crazy? There are people in the church today, in America, in Alabama, who call themselves followers of Christ, who won't walk an aisle to be baptized. Why? Because they fear people looking at them. Hard to believe huh? It blows my mind! My daughter accepted Christ in the fourth grade, she knew the next step was to join the church and be baptized. She tells her story like this;  one minute I was standing there and the next minute I was walking down the aisle. It was like God just pushed me out of the pew and started me in the right direction. (mom's paraphrase).  She, at the young age of 10, felt the Holy Spirit and allowed Him to move her.  My pastor says often, God always calls people to make public decisions. Jesus tells us if we're ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us.  Our decision to follow Christ is a personal one, but not a private one.

As I sat thinking about this one woman my heart became so heavy. All she wants to do is live for Jesus, love Him openly and follow His example. I then think of the bullying she has received at the hands of her own family and I'm horrified. Believe it or not, that same thing happens in America; it happens in Prattville. I wonder how we would handle what she has been through?  What would we do if our copy of God's Word was taken and ripped up right in front of us?  Would we even notice it was gone? Would our relationship w/ Jesus be strong enough to get us through? Would we be able to recall scripture and Bible truths that would encourage us and help us hold on? Or would we give in and give up to the hate and the lies and the bullies? Would we fight or take the easy way out?

Maybe you haven't been threatened or bullied about your faith, but if you are intentionally trying to live like Christ everyday, it will be noticed and you will be called out.  That is scriptural, we will be persecuted for our faith. Are you a fighter?

The lady who was threatened needs our prayers; prayers for strength to follow her heart and God's leading. My friends need our prayers because they are doing this amazing thing, putting their lives in danger to spread God's love and Word in a place that is filled with hate. Our prayers need to lift them up and ask for them to have courage to continue and stand up to the those who do not believe and love as Jesus loved. You don't need to know their names to pray for them. God knows exactly who they are. 

A positive to hold on to... What the bullies don't know is this - we don't have to hold a Bible in our hand to know the Word of God!  Scripture in Psalm 119 tells us to "hide His Word in our hearts..."  there it will live forever!

I'm a fighter, what about you?

Bringing My Best

First Baptist Church was where I spent most of my childhood. As a matter of fact, my family went every time the doors were opened! I probably complained at some point but I don't really remember not liking church. In days gone by church was the center of our world.  Our calendar and plans were arranged around the church calendar. Church is where friends and family would meet to worship, fellowship, study, play and eat together. We had some of the best covered dish dinners, and believe me, those ladies brought their best! 

When I was little, and I guess into my teen years, there was sort of a church "dress code".  It wasn't a written code, but you'd always hear adults say that we're to "bring our best" to God, which translates into we wear uncomfortable clothes to church. My Sunday morning wardrobe consisted of dresses and only dresses w/ tights in the winter and socks or sandals in the summer. Because this is how I was raised, it's how I raised my kids and I definitely remember hearing their complaints!

Fast forward to a couple of Sunday's ago, I spoke to a lady who came into the worship center carrying a blanket.  I asked if she was cold. She said every week it's freezing so this was the first time she had ever worn pants to church so she could stay warm. Then she said, "I prefer to wear dresses because we're to bring our best to the Lord, it's a matter of respect."  That is the first time I've heard that in years!  The last time I heard it was about seven years ago. A young man who had been visiting our youth Bible study finally came to a morning worship service. He came wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a cap.  A cap?  Oh yes, you guessed it.  I couldn't believe it.  A woman walked right up to him, took his cap off his head and said, "we're to bring our best to God and this isn't it." I tried to smooth it over once I picked my jaw off the floor. Fortunately the young man handled it well, but he never came back to a Sunday worship. 

I don't disagree that we need to "bring our best" to God, but what exactly does that mean? Apparently different things to different people.  We see in Malachi 1:6-14 God telling His people that when you worship I want you to give your very best but He is not talking about what you wear. We don't need to dress up to impress God. We don't need to dress up to impress others or because it's what's "expected".  If you want to impress God…have pure hands and a clean heart and give Him your best - I Sam. 16:7

In Ecclesiastes Solomon says "God looks at the heart."  He is more concerned with why we're coming to church, not what we wear.  So whether a person wears a dress or suit from the most expensive store in town, or jeans and a t-shirt from a thrift store - it doesn't matter. God is looking for sincere hearts that want to praise, glorify and worship Him. If our expectations of what people wear to church determines whether or not they are "Christian" or welcomed then maybe we need to read what God has to say about being judgmental. 

What happened to the young man who wore the cap? Fortunately, he kept coming to youth Bible study, maybe because we accepted him for who he was. Or maybe because we tried to give him a placed where he felt like he belonged, or maybe because he wanted to know more about Jesus Christ.  Whatever the reason I'm glad we had the opportunity to  cross paths and my prayer is, wherever he is,  that what he remembers about my church isn't the woman who removed his cap, but that there were people there who loved Jesus and tried their best to share that love with others. 

So you can bet that the next time I go to church I'll be bringing my best - I might be wearing jeans and a tshirt, but I'll definitely bring an open mind and heart that is willing to accept whoever walks in the door and wants to be introduced to Jesus.