Freedom & Focus

A few friends have reminded me that I never reported back with my ministry focus after my meetings with Bill. I am excited about my new focus, which will be 7-10 year old Kids Club. Although this is the main children's outreach ministry of our church, it has never really been my focus ministry. I developed Prayer Pals and God's Girls so of course those took up a lot of my time for the past couple of years. Kids Club has been in place for over 20 years and Bill had a great program running, I just took over where he left off. Since it wasn't broken, I never felt the need to focus on it, just to keep it going. What happened was that I lost interest and passion for it. I was merely getting by each week and leading "Bill's" program. After 2 years of doing it that way, realizing that God is not raising up another leader at this point, and knowing that the ministries I had a hand in creating are running smoothly, I feel it is time to direct my creative energy towards Kids Club. Bill obviously agrees and helped point me in that direction. I am already working on new ideas and have met with 2 of my main leaders (Patsy and Denise) and will meet with Trish when she returns from Africa (which should be today!). Some things are being added and I am currently working on a new Kids Club web page for our church site that will highlight many of these changes and how supporters can be involved. I plan to kick off the new changes Tuesday February 13, please pray for the necessary preparations and decisions for this to happen. We begin club on Jan 30, but then have Family Night the following week. The first club will be like normal and I will prepare the kids for the changes and also seek some input from them. I do not feel overwhelmed by any of this, which is helping me feel secure in knowing this is what God wants me to be doing. I actually feel more sane than I have felt in a long time and I have a lot on my plate right now. The Lord is good!
I am continuing to do well with my new healthy lifestyle, haven't missed a day of walking on the treadmill (except for staff retreat, also had a couple of Denise's yummy sugar cookies there!) and haven't had any major falls from my commitments. Some things are getting harder to stick to, but I am determined to see it through until February. I feel much better, which was my main goal.
I had the privilege of going to the seminar, "Freedom From Addiction" that Frank is leading, again tonight. He was wonderful and I walked away with more new knowledge. I want to ask Frank if I can post his outlines on the blog, as I learned so much just from reading those, in case any readers might be interested in seeing what he is speaking about. As I sat listening tonight I realized that even I, who wouldn't be classified as an addict, could greatly benefit by walking myself through the 12 steps. I whispered this to Frank at the end of the meeting while a short video clip was playing. When he got up to close he made a profound statement that made me realize how right I was in feeling that way. We are all addicts....to sin. We are all victims of the enemy and fall short on a daily basis. We all have sin in our lives that we need to do our best effort to remove. Even though it may not be classified as an addiction, I realized that doesn't matter. I have sin in my life that I DO NOT want there. I am going to talk with Frank about this when he gets home tonight. I am so proud of my husband, so excited to watch him on this journey he has so willingly embarked on.