Precious New Friends

I had a draft of this post quite a while ago, but had to find the picture of our Fire Women Life Group so I could show them to you, and since our hard drive did something wierd, it took me awhile, but here we are.

The Lord continues to bless my socks off. I am so undeserving of His grace which makes it so sweet. He lavishes His grace on my life in countless ways. One way is through the ladies that I am privileged to do Bible Study with. The Lord has brought a potporri of us together from all different backgrounds and seasons of life and I absolutely love every second with each of them. Tonya Brownell and I are co-leading a journal study on the attributes of God, written by my friend Christie Lothamer (thanks to Kimi Akina Wright for introducing us 11 months ago). I love to minister with Tonya. She is such an encourager to me and invaluable as a partner in serving Jesus.

I love these ladies deeply!

Praise the Lord!

We got back last night from Hume Lake. I was blessed to go up and serve at the MADE conference which is for Jr. High girls. 125 girls were there and many made decisions for the Lord, to either go deeper with Him or to receive Him in their lives as Savior. Ashlyn & Julianne helped me with a craft to go along with the seminar I gave on having a "Great Time with God". The biggest blessing to me was when my girls came up to me and told me they had learned new things and enjoyed listening. How humbling to have my children who know me intimately encourage me, their Mom. Praise Him!

Thank you for praying for our family this last week, as two of our kids were experiencing a array of emotions after going up to Hume two weekends ago. We came down the hill last night and enjoyed some family time (Brian had been working on Friday and Saturday, so he didn't go to Hume with us), ate some ice cream, read John 2:1-12, when Jesus turned water into wine, had good discussion, then went to bed.

Praise the Lord for who He is! He is Sovereign & Righteous!

The week is getting better...

Thank you precious ones who have lifted us up to Jesus this week. Wednesday the kids spirits were definitely cheerier than the previous two days. Will you continue to pray for us, because we are heading to Hume again today? We love you.

Hard Week So Far...but Thankful

After being at Hume. in the majestic mountains, this last weekend (we all had a fantastic time), we are now in the valley in more ways than geographically. The kids love Hume, miss Hume, are grieving the loss of "normal" life, so if you think of us, will you pray that the peace of the Lord would reign in the Downs home as some of the kids are sad or angry? Would you ask the Lord to deepen our love for Him through this hard week and increase our faith and as parents that the Lord would give us His supernatural wisdom? I am thankful for each of you who I know loves us and lifts us up to Jesus.

Thankful

I'm thankful for lots and just wanted to share...the cross (Jesus bore the wrath of God...the wrath I deserve. As a result, I have a relationship of abundance with Him. Praise You, Jesus!), my precious family (Brian, Ashlyn, Kylen, Julianne, & Meghan), a walk with Christina this morning (including the time & conversation), my Bible Study group (HUGE blessing to me), the opportunity to serve at Firefighters Conference this weekend at Hume and love the guests and see dear friends, the ladies praying for me, life, breath, flowers, our church, our extended family...just to name a few.

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful." Colossians 3:15

What are you thankful for? I would love to hear some and thank the LORD with you.