MessagesofLove_LordCoverMeinLove

Welcome to The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory Women's Ministries Website

Women’s Ministries Programs

Theme:

“Messages of Love”

Lord, Cover Me in Love

Ronda Gilger

Service—June 2008

Refreshment

Create a “Twice Blessed Salad.” Ask each woman to bring just one fresh item: a head of lettuce, a tomato, a cup of grated carrots, mushrooms. Cut up the lettuce and have the women create their own salads adding the various ingredients they brought. The salad can also serves as an illustration of the masterpiece of ministry and service we can create when we work together.

Program Ideas

Speakers

Secure a speaker from a women’s shelter, crisis pregnancy ministry, social service office or a pediatric nurse, who deals with pregnant women who have no medical insurance and face many stresses because of an unexpected pregnancy.

Time Bomb of Blessings

This activity can be used as a visual picture of the time we are given by God in which to share our blessings. It can also illustrate women who have had life blow up in their faces because they found out the “blessing” of a baby is on its way. Use this game to transition into the possible service projects your group can do to help these women and their babies.

Time Bomb Game

Place the small kitchen timer inside a decorated shoebox. Set the timer to go off in 2 to 4 minutes. Introduce the activity by saying, “You may be handed a time bomb. Like the game of Hot Potato, the goal is to pass the ‘Time Bomb of Blessings’ to another woman

in the room. But you can’t until you’ve introduce yourself and shared a blessing in your life. If the timer rings, you will be given a Band-Aid® to place on your face.” Play the game, resetting the timer as you go.

Service Projects

Shoebox Ministry

Ask the women to bring a shoebox filled with items for a newborn — sample size of baby products, baby washcloths, booties and other practical inexpensive items. Be sure to include a contact tag giving your group’s address and phone number. (This tag is like a business card with your name and address on). Brainstorm as to where your gifts will be best used for service and ministry to touch the lives of mothers and their new babies in your community. You might organize your group to visit the new mothers of your community with the shoebox and information about your corps (church). This project could also be a great on going ministry. Have a basket out each week for the collection of shoebox ministry items.

An important feature of this project is prayer. After all of the shoeboxes are assembled and ready, take time to pray as a group for each baby, mother and family that will be receiving them. We may not know individual circumstances,

but we know that our Father in heaven does.

Cover Me–Cuddlers

Make no–sew fleece caps for newborns. This can be included as a part of the shoebox ministry or given to a community hospital for distribution to newborns. The directions and a pattern for the caps are included in the supplemental material on the CD–ROM.

Editor’s Note: Lord, Cover Me in Love Supplemental Material - Directions for the Cover – Me Cuddler Cap – You will need to order CD

Devotions

Hearts that Yearn to Reach Out in Love

Billy Graham has said, “The path to happiness is not found in selfish living and indifference to others. Instead when we have experienced the mercy of God, then we will show mercy to others. Then we will indeed be ‘twice blessed,’ because we will both make others happy and experience true happiness ourselves.”

When we think of the arrival of a baby, we are filled with the wonder of this new life. We are filled with mental pictures of innocence and love. But we often forget just how “daily” it is. New mothers often feel physically and mentally tired, anything but lamorous, and inadequate to the task of caring for this helpless little person who doesn’t sleep through the night. Add to this failed relationship, abuse, teenage pregnancy, abandonment

or financial hardship, and this passage into motherhood becomes an overwhelming time of crisis.

God has given us a very special gift—the gift of one another. We have eyes that see and hearts that yearn to reach out in love. And yet we often forget to look outward, instead choosing to focus on ourselves—our problems, our concerns. We look out at our world with (insert your name here) colored glasses, when we should have on Christ–colored glasses, seeing the world as He does.

The Bible tells us in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” These words, inspired by God, and penned by Paul, became an oral tradition, a daily saying, among early Christians. He wrote these words in reference to helping those who were weak. Imagine a first–century believer complaining about his own misery and another coming alongside him to say, “Remember, it is better to give than to receive. Friend, let’s look for a way we can give of ourselves to one who is weak!” What an amazing concept. God knows that for us to be emotionally balanced and happy we must give this gift of one another away! Even medical and mental health professionals agree that finding an outlet, or a focal point of concern outside our own personal pain, may alleviate depression.

What if all Christians lived this truth every day? How would you see your world differently? How would Christ be seen through your life? How would those in need be affected by your giving of yourself? As Billy Graham said, “Be twice blessed.”