do the next thing

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I came across this sweet poem through a link on a friend's page on Facebook, and I was encouraged by it. I needed to remember that the flowers may die in the garden at the close of one season (like the sad but beautiful sunflower seen above in our patch o' dirt in November), but then you prepare it for planting more in the next season instead of hyper-focusing on the old things. I'm not quite in a bloggy mood this morning (and, once I get there, need to update The Works of God Displayed rather than this one!), so I thought I'd share that poem in hopes that it may encourage YOU!

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance, are given.
Fear not tomorrows, Child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus..."Do the next thing."
Do it immediately; do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His Hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ’neath His wing,
Leave all resultings, "Do the next thing."
–author unknown

I'm moving on to some "next things" today ... curtains and special needs ministry writing and birthday party planning and gallery wall hanging and all that. (And I've arranged for our precious middle school neighbor to watch the kids for me today so I can tackle all those "next things" today without little helpers. Oh, how I love the option of a daytime babysitter when she's tracked out!)

What next things are you tackling or about to be tackling? I know for one friend it's probably sending another query letter to an agent for her fantastic book. I know for others it's just getting up and starting a new day with the next things this morning the same as the next things were for them yesterday morning. What is your next thing right now?

 22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Fantastic video about special needs ministry

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Everyone in the church needs to watch the first minute and fifteen seconds of this video. And anyone interested even a little bit in special needs ministry should watch the rest too. I'm a North Carolina girl now, but I was involved in ministry at First Baptist Church in Rio Grande City, Texas, for my two years living on the border so I do love my Texas Baptists!

(No worries if you're serving in another denomination, though. This message is about faithfulness to God's word, specific to special needs ministry but not exclusively applied to any one group of churches!)



A few highlights that I don't want you to miss:
  • In the first 1:15, the message that each of these individuals has a disability and can say "STILL Jesus loves me."
  • At about 1:15, the challenge:
    "Families with special needs
    Jesus loves them
    Will you?"
  • At about 5:20ish, "the Bible teaches that every human being is loved by God."
  • "As a church, it’s our responsibility to love these kids and present truth to them." (She then points out that it may be in a different sort of multisensory way for those with special needs.)
  • At about 6:19, “The Holy Spirit does His work with these kids.”
  • Followed shortly after with these words: “There is an entire segment of our community that needs to hear the message that God loves them, that God has a plan and a prupose … to do something amazing in their lives”
  • And then this: “Families… choose churches that include their special needs family member.”
  • They also point out that churches need to approach special needs ministry in a two-pronged way - to the individual with special needs and to the family (and I would add that this is true for both adults and children). You can't be effective in either without the other.
    Two pronged – the individual and the family; not one or the other
  • Finally, I love the point at about 8:00 that parents can educate churches about what they can do to practically help the family. I would add that this is *huge* because each child is different. As it is often said in autism advocacy circles: if you've meet one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. And thisis true for any other disability as well.
Thank you to LifeWay Special Needs Ministry for drawing my attention to this, and thank you to Texas Baptists for making it!

(By the way, I've filled in the "contact me" link - found at the top of this page - and the others should be coming later this week. Thanks for your patience as I get the site up and running!)