As I begin this glorious Lord's
day, I chose to listen to a current sermon by Heather Zempel (http://www.heatherzempel.com/) entitled Church: The Story.
Heather leads the discipleship
efforts at National Community Church in
Washington, DC where she oversees small groups, directs leadership development
training, and serves on the weekend teaching team. If you'd like to
listen to this sermon too, here's the link: http://theaterchurch.com/media/church/church-the-story.
I have posted on Heather before and fear she (and others) may think I
have become her stalker! Honestly, I just love her intelligence, passion
and story telling ability-not to mention her ministry creativity, dedication to
her volunteers/co-workers and loyalty to her senior pastor. I want to be
just like her when I grow up (that was a joke - I am WAY OLDER than Heather!)
As I listen
to her passionate retelling of Jesus' Words: "Love on another,
people will know you by your love of one another," I am, once again,
reminded of how VERY important that message is! I love pondering what it
must have been like to stand in HIS presence. I have always thought He
had an undefined magnitude about Him. If you were blessed to be in His presence, you
would FEEL his humility, love, grace, mercy and kindness. To coin a
musical phrase, "I can only imagine."
If you are
a frequent reader of my blog, you may have noticed my promotion of Lisa
Harper's latest Bible Study on the book of Hebrews (IF you read my blog, there
is NO WAY you could have missed that!) When I asked (begged/pleaded) to
be a part of the Lifeway Launch Team, I was joined on-line to 100 other
Christian women selected for the same team! What a joy and honor it was
to participate! We were united on a private Facebook page on November 6,
2013; I couldn't believe I was one of the women selected.
On November
19th, I read the following post:
"I may not be able to do as much as I hoped for the launch. Our home was destroyed in a tornado Sunday. Life is upside down but God is good. Appreciate your prayers as we try to go in this morning and salvage whatever we can."
These were the pictures she posted that day
I have not been able to get this precious woman or her family off my mind ever since. I asked to become her Facebook friend so I could keep tabs on her life as time went by and so I would know specifically how to pray for her.
I remember what it felt like, a
very short time ago, to lose OUR home (September 15, 2012). We faced the
same (yet different) situation - losing our home to fire. I can HONESTLY
say, reflecting on that time in my life, my faith in humanity was RESTORED and
I will forever remember that time in my life as PRECIOUS! I was
surrounded by SO MUCH LOVE by my Church family, wonderful friends, co-workers and by individuals I didn't
even know. As I sit in my brand new home today, lacking absolutely
nothing, I feel DRAWN to this special lady and the desire to help her feel that
same feeling of LOVE - but I can't do it alone!
Last night, on Facebook, I asked
for her new mailing address. I am feeling LED to shower her with the same
LOVE I felt the months that followed or life-changing moment. As a matter of fact, I think I will
begin posting some of the amazing stories from that period in my life on my
other blog: http://theresahaskinssharinglife.wordpress.com/ (if you'd
care to read for fun or if you need your faith in humanity restored!).
If you would like to help, please
send me an email (theresa.haskins@gmail.com) or private Facebook message. I will not release her information without
her consent, but will follow up each time I am asked for her information.
I asked for
Gift Card recommendations, this was her response: there are many that would
work. Target, Walmart, Kohls, Lowes or. Menards. We are not picky restaurant-goers either we like Chilis, Applebee's, Noodles, Chick-Fil-A.
The following picture is her
current Facebook Profile Picture:
