All things work together for good..

The names of the apostles!

Good morning my friends.
Are you a child at heart? I hope so and in that case this song is for you!

Simon Peter and Andrew his brother
James and John the sons of thunder
Philip and Bartholomew
and lest you doubt Thomas too
James the son of Alphaeus
Matthew used to make us nervous
Leadeus or Thaddeus or Judas, the son of James, he may have other names
Simon the Zealot and
Judas the Isacariot betrayer of the Lord

these are the 12 apostles

You can see this 'byzantine' frescoe in Auzance (Creuse) in the Puy de Dome. 

This is Jesus' last meal shared with the 12 apostles.
On the table a bread and a fish stand, symbols of the very first Christians, as much as a chalice and a host, symbols of Christ's blood and body.
While the apostles are listening to Jesus, Judas the traitor who sold him for 30 golden coins, is swallowed (on the left) by a dragon.

A fresque by Nicolas Greschny

Have a blessed day filled with the peace and love of our Lord Jesus-Christ. :-)

Butterfly story

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

~ Unknown

Like the butterfly, our struggles are exactly what God knows we need in our life. There are heartbreaking and tough times we face that God wants us to go through in order to change us into the person He wants us to be. As Christians, the struggles we go though are a part of God's journey for us, so we need to learn to rest in His promise to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) as He works everything around for our good (Romans 8:28). He's preparing us for what awaits - He's preparing us to fly.

Source:  thank you Dot

Noah's ark

Having been inspired by each Messy Church I have been invited to in Weston (thanks to Gill and her team), I felt a bit more confident. As I was in Hobbycraft in Stafford, I asked one member of staff if they had anything suitable for a Noah's ark activity and they didn't. However he was very helpful and came back with a pack of ice-cream sticks and animal stencils. Then he found an A1 piece of cardboard. 

I then was cheeky and asked my friend Geraldine to draw a template for a Noah's ark which she very kindly did. Today, at Sunday school, Emily, Maisy, Keira and Zak helped out on the project. Done! A big thanks to everybody including the websites where I found the craft activity. Click here.

Freedom of worshipping our Lord

The team service happened last Sunday! It was held in the lovely church of Weston and well attended by the other 9 churches of the Mid-Trent team and the methodist church !

On Saturday, the children prepared songs and a drama on the theme of freedom. Their performance was deeply refreshing and spontaneous.

I cherish the fact that in the U.K. we can still praise the  Lord publicly, gather with our brothers, sisters, elders and leaders for prayers, praise and communion. 

More photos, showing the two-hour preparation behind it all! :

We all had such an enjoyable  time thus strenghtening our fellowship. Praise the Lord, in Jesus name!Have a blessed week-end!