President’s Message

      As I begin my preparation for our church’s VBS program “Friendship Trek”, my thoughts are drawn to one of my favorite hymns “What A Friend We Have In Jesus”. I am sure many of you are familiar with the words. “What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.” What words of comfort and reassurance this hymn offers! What a gift it proclaims to all of us! Of course, we all go to the Lord when a crisis befalls us – a serious illness, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job. We automatically turn to God for help with the big problems of life. But the lyrics do not sing out “take only the catastrophic things to God in prayer.” The hymn beautifully states “take everything to God in prayer.” That means that God wants to hear about your tiff with a co-worker, your arthritic knee that aches, and the gas bill that is overdue. Jesus wants to hear from you always!

     Jesus is our friend. The dictionary defines friend as “a person who is attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” However, Jesus does not just like us, He loves us! He wants to hear from us daily. He wants us to talk to Him anytime, anyplace. He wants to be our best friend. Jesus wants to share our sorrows, our pain, our trials and temptations, our bad times as well as our good times.

     What happens when we do not take our troubles and concerns to God? As the hymn explains; “Oh what peace we often forfeit; oh what needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” How many of us have given up a night’s sleep because we were worried about a problem? How many of us have shed tears because we were overwhelmed by circumstances surrounding us? We need to always remember that God can handle everything we give Him. God can take our troubles, worries, and pain and give us comfort, peace and relief in return. What a FRIEND!

     Because Jesus loves us so much, He wants us to share that love with others. I invite you to share your love with your fellow LWML sisters. Come and join us at our Fall Retreat on September 26 – 27 at Cedar Hills Conference Center. Our theme is “Bandages – I am stuck on Jesus and I know He’s stuck on me.” Come and experience the love of God – the only bandage you will ever need.

Serving the Lord Together,

Jeanne

Jeanne Schimmelmann

In His Service
Rev. Donald P. Beaumont
Joshua 24:15

Debbie Krainz of Trinity, Willoughby, is seeking news from the zone for the next issue of the Nor'easter. If you have news or pictures that you would like to include, please contact Debbie.

Pictures from the convention will be added as time allows.  If you have pictures you wish to share send them in reduced size to blelle@roadrunner.com (subject line LWML).  Also check the LWML Ohio District site for more pictures.