GIA Agent: Epiphany Assignment #2, FInding Another Road

Hello, Mini-Women! Are you a gifted bunch or what? When I asked you to tell us what gifts you have to offer (as Wise Mini-Women, rather than the Wise Men), I was IMPRESSED with what you came up with:

 

    * singing and playing piano for worship

    * helping people feel better (ah, yes, the gift of encouragement)

    * writing songs (can't even imagine being able to do that)

    * giving people hugs  (that really is a special talent)

       * acting (what fun!)

    * peace-making (the world needs you!)

    * playing the clarinet ( a rare talent)

    * making cards and gifts

    * helping friends get through situations -- good and bad

    * being a prayer warrioress

    * baking things (chocolate? do you mean chocolate?)

    * washing (big) dogs (want to come to my house? I have two!)

    * sharing a sense of humor (yeah, people can get way too serious sometimes)

    * cheering people up -- AKA "comic relief"  (and who doesn't need that now and then?)

    * being kind (not enough people use that gift!)

    * writing

We're going to take those gifts on the road, Mini-Women, in today's assignment. But first, some prayer requests. Your fellow GIA AGents would like for you to pray for:

    BETH, who is in kind of an embarrassing situation right now.

    GRACE ANNE, who is stressing about tests

    EMMA and her mom who have a lot on them right now, including some friends who are very sick (and her sister)  -- and praise for her great day at school! Yes!!

    JOSIE's grandpa who will find out this week if he has cancer -- and her grandma too

Merciful God, please hear the prayers of your Mini-Women who love you so much.

All right then, off we go!

GIA Agents Epiphany Assignment #2

    READ: Matthew 2: 12 Since it's so short I'll just give it to you here:

    "And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road."

        If you remember further back in the story, when the Wise Men first arrived in Bethlehem looking for the young king the star was guding them to, they went first to the reigning king, an evil guy named Herod. He PRETENDED to be all excited about Jesus, and he told the Wise Men to come back by after they'd found him to tell him where the baby was so he could worship him too. But what he really wanted to do was kill the Baby Jesus because he was afraid he had come to replace HIM, and he wasn't about to give up his power and wealth. The Wise Men might have done what he said if God hadn't told them -- in a dream -- to go home by another way

        CONNECT: Have you ever had to "change direction"? You were going along thinking something was good or right or okay, and then realized it wasn't working or it wasn't GOING to work or it was just plain wrong? For example, you had a friend who turned out not to be a friend and you had to back off from her. Or your group of friends was becoming like a clique and you had to drop out of it. Or you were always screaming at your little brother and figured out that wasn't keeping him from getting into your stuff, so you tried letting him play with some of your things while you supervised. 

    PRAY: Grab that drawing pad and your art supplies and find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted for at least a half hour (if you can manage that! It's easier in some households than in others!) Ask God to help you see where in your life right now you might be doing something one way, when another way would be so much better. As it comes to you, start drawing or just letting colors play on the paper. Add words if you want to. See if you can come up with a drawing that represents how you need to "change roads".

    TAKE ACTION: Take one baby step in that direction. If you want to stop being a clique, invite a lonely girl to sit at your lunch table. If you want to stop wishing you could flush your little bro down the toilet, give him a hug. Just take one tiny step down a different road. HINT: One way to make sure you're going in the right directon is to use one of those gifts we talked about in the last post.THEN . . .

        SHARE: Tell us what you're doing or want to do. You can ask for suggestions if you want to. This is one time where I'm going to let you say, "I had that same problem and I tried this." Just as long as you don't "preach" I think you can really help each other.

One more thing.   I want you to imagine that all of us GIA Agents are walking down one road together in the same direction, and that's the road to our true selves. And how do we get there? We listen to God.       Ya gotta love that! See you on Monday  -- and then again next Thursday when we'll have our first Epiphany CONTEST!!!! Tee-hee . . . 

 

Blessings,

Nancy Rue 

         

Comments

[AnnaRachael]

I am having trouble with a friend( Just the way you put it, Mrs. Rue) and so I need prayer on that and stuffs.Can NOT wait for the contest! I hope I can get in! (Thursday is SUPER busy.) Mys sis teaches piano, and so we are all a jumble for timing .

[Brittany]

Praying!!!!!
I am going to not yell at my bros when they be totally annoying and take my stuff.
Love Brittany

[Abigail]

I'm going to try not to be mean back at people, like my brother and other boys and my friends if they're mean to me.
Please pray for this: My math teacher is definitely different than other teachers, and I am aware that some people in my class hate him because of his unusual - ness and other reasons. Maybe he's not the best at times, but he doesn't deserve all that gossiping that my friends have been giving him. I feel sorry for him and I don't know what to do!

[Abigail]

I am trying to not be mean back to anyone, especially my brother and other boys.
Please pray for this: I have a math teacher who is quite different and I know that some people hate him because of his unusual - ness, etc. I feel bad that people are gossiping about him and I don't think it's fair. I don't know what to do!

[Abigail]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm also mean to myself and I don't know how to stop it. Does anybody have suggestions?

[Abigail]

I'm so sorry... thought that first comment was deleted so I did another!! Sorry this is my fifth comment ):

[Beth:D Smile cuz God loves you!!]

* I'm going to try not to be so mean to my bros (little and older)
* Sometimes my temper gets the best to me and I lash out on my friends and my family.
* How to show God more in my actions.

If I think of any other things I will totally post. But I have to go. TTYL!

[Kat ;P]

I'm going to try to be nice(aka not yell/get really mad) at my sister. I have news and it's big but I have to wait exactly 1 1/2 weeks to tell anyone!!! Well, Praise: Bible study started at my youth group. Prayers needed for 2 of my friends(1 seemed mad at me at youth group and I made the mistake of ignoring her! And the other 1 doesn't want to be friends at all!) and prayers for the big news that everything goes good so I can tell you guys about it!!!!!

[Josie]

Cant wait to here Kat!

♫Josie♫

[Kat ;P]

I can't wait to tell u guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[english faithgirl aka Nikita]

Can't wait to hear about the BIG NEWS Kat praying about (it) Kinda hard to do since i have no idea what IT is =)=)=)=)=)=)=)=) praying bout your friends it horrible when That happens! please pray for me because i have this friend who isn't a christian. i told her about this blog though and about the party in a few weeks so hopefully she will come.

[Cassi]

Well, i can think of situations in the past where I've needed to change roads, but I can't think of any thing now. :( if you guys have any suggestions or questions I could ask myself, I'd love that. (:

[Beth:D Smile cuz God loves you!!]

Can't wait to here Kat!!!! :-):-)

[Amelia]

Ok, I'm unsure if I commented or not, so I'm doing another.
Cassi- Here are some questions that you can ask yourself:
1. Have I been too attached to the wrong thing? (eg. Watching movies even though they have bad pottymouth)
2. Do I have a bad habit? (eg. Always sitting in one place and never sitting with someone who wants you to sit next to you)
3. Do I do anything that God would'nt agree with? (obviously yes) b. Do I refuse to stop doing it?
Hope it helps!

Here are some of my roads I've had to u-turn on:
Watching pottymouth movies (usually with my family but I had been watching one YouTube channel with bad words)
Not reading the Bible
Not obeying first heard call
Losing things (still working on this one)

Here's some stuff I'm going to be changing:
Sitting in the same place same time every Sunday.
Not cleaning my room
Waiting until last minute for school
Putting vanity first (hair and clothes *so that I'm modest*)

ILYGMSIC! (I luv u girls my sisters in Christ!

[Kat]

Well I had to change roads when I realized as soon as I finished my schoolwork I would watch 6 hrs of tv then 2 hrs of computer

[Mary]

Praying everyone! And thanks for the prayers... my teacher & I sorted it all out... and the family with the mom who died recently - the three-month-old twins have the flu, too, so please keep on praying for them!

I'm kind of late for the posts, so I'll just do two in one. My gifts I could share: writing, poetry, just being there for a friend or someone, sewing/baking gifts, and my time. For the 'just being there' one, I think that it's working, because this year I've made some new friends that I wouldn't have made if I was super talkative and all into myself and not willing to listen.

And for the changing direction: oh... hard. Not because I don't have things I need to change direction on, but because part of me doesn't want to, you know? Regardless, I do need to make a U-turn in: spending way too much time on mindless computer games, procrastination, and not reading my Bible as much as I should/would like to.

Oh, and Cassi - here's a really good way I heard to tell just what parts of your life need that U-turn. Go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 (you know, the description of love). Now, read it, and put YOUR name in place of 'love.'

So, for me, I'd do: Mary is patient, Mary is kind. Mary does not envy, she does not boast, she is not proud... and whoa - already I see a lot of things that I need to become that I'm not already. I'm NOT kind, un-envy-ing, un-boastful, patient, etc. all the time, so that's stuff that I need to work on. Hope that helps!

I'll stop now; this is getting to be really long! :)

[Cassi]

Thank you, Mary! It really does help, and it's a perfect way to grown more ideas that I need to take a u-turn.

I was, once again, amazed by God's magnificent powers of awesomeness. Ever since this post on u-turns popped up in my inbox and I read through it and the comments, then commented on it myself, I had been asking the Lord that He clearly reveal any tangent I could think about or talk about with somebody like my mom, an older woman in my life like a mentor, and or even a close, wise friend. I was actually on iTunes looking at what songs I should buy with my iTunes Christmas money and I decided to get the clean version of a song I LOVED, but after buying the song and then listening to it, I heard a small, teensy cuss word and thought, "Ah, no big deal" Then, it was like God almost automatically changed my direction and even though I had bought the song, I took it off my iTunes. Right there, there are 2 u-turns I need to take:

1.) Stop USING bad language and LISTENING to bad language (which is where I start using such gross words)

and
2.) Stop trying to decieve my parents. They are SO against me listening to songs with language like four-letter words, and usually, I try to get away with it- and do get away with it! But that still doesn't make it right.

Praying for ALL you ladies, my Sisters in Christ ;)

~xo~

[Baylee]

I am going to be working on = *not listening to music I know is bad but I do anyway *to be kinder towards my sisters *to not blow all my money on cheapy things like candy and magazines *to speak up for myself and for others. Praying for yall'. <3

[Emma !!! ♫]

Praying! thanks for praying! now i am sick! please pray for me and my sister and mom not to get it!

[Jenna]

I'm new here...and love the posts that you post :) So glad I came across this blog!