Radical Change

This Sunday January 22 is Sanctity of Life Sunday. Cottonwood Creek will have empty baby bottles and fliers with additional details for you about Real Options on tables in the atrium. Please take an empty baby bottle or two home with you this Sunday. Over the next 4 weeks you and your family fill the bottles with change or as God leads you to give as well as pray for the unborn and sanctity of all life. Bring back the bottles to Cottonwood Creek on or before February 19th.

Little Things to Help Bring Change

Sanctity of Life Sunday is coming up in a few weeks. This is a time to specifically remember the millions of unborn children and to pray for post abortive healing as well as legislative change. Sanctity of Life is a time when you can join with your family and fight on your knees as well as act on behalf of those that have no voice. Consider organizing a baby bottles or Radical $hange event.

This is an easy church wide, whole family activity. Real Options, makes it easy for you to lead your family to act on behalf of the unborn. Focus on the Family also has great resources and information for you. Discussing social issues from a Biblical perspective is a family activity. It is also a way to affirm your family's commitment to pray for and defend life. Don't let feeling uncomfortable keep you from disusing truth and biblical perspective on life. We struggled as parents to young children how to discus unborn children and what Sanctity of Life is about. We asked God for wisdom, and in His faithfulness He answered.

Will you join with us at Cottonwood Creek and participate in the baby bottles or Radical $hange event on Sanctity of Life Sunday? All you do is take a baby bottle or two that Real Options will have for you at Cottonwood Creek and over the following 3 weeks you and your family fill the bottles with spare change as well as pray for the unborn and sanctity of all life. Bring back the filled bottles to Cottonwood Creek. Your donation can be of any amount, this is a little thing that your family can do to help bring BIG change. This is modeling a faith at home:)


Additional Ideas:

• donate baby diapers and wipes to a local maternity home or outreach to unwed/underprivileged mothers

• eat sandwiches at home and donate the money you planned to spend dining out to Real Options

• in lieu of birthday gifts, ask friends to purchase toys for children in foster care or donate directly to organizations like Embrace 

• watch The Dignity of Human Life short video from Focus on the Family

• vote pro-life in upcoming elections, research candidates and be sure you know where he/she stands on Sanctity of Life

• consider sponsoring a child in need (we know of many needs both local and abroad)

• consider fostering or adopting  (we know of many needs both local and abroad

Possible ways to communicate with young children about Sanctity of Life Sunday:

"We're praying for safety for children in their birthmothers' tummies."

"We're filling the baby bottles to help people that help mommies."

"We care about life, because God cares about life."

"We are moving beyond our car's bumper sticker for life."

Empowered to Connect

Feeling connected  to God, self and others is important. To thrive we must be connected to God and allow Him to grow us daily. Once our hearts are connected to Him then we are in a place of being able to healthily connect to others. Maintaining a healthy and thriving connection to God is hard and takes being intentional...so do connections with others.

It's hard sometimes to make effort to be connected, it means being compassionate, tender, vulnerable and open. I've struggled with being vulnerable and open with others and sadly being tender and compassionate towards myself and others.

Joyfully, God is at work in my life and promises to stay at work until he is done and he has completed His work...as His adopted child I sometimes struggle with memories of pain, loss and abandonment. I remember what my heart was like before I was adopted and sometimes I find myself going back to my old ways and unhealthy habits of detachment and withdrawal, especially when life circumstances are challenging. In my flesh, sometimes I think it is easier to disconnect and stop allowing God to work in my heart and in the hearts of my family. Thankfully, I come from a long line of strong women that do not take the words "no" or "can't" very well. I have seen generations of determination, and I am very grateful. Even better, through adoption, my Heavenly Father is the inventor of determination, hope and healthy connection. He is the life-long joy giver and specializes in the impossible...and the seemingly-impossible connections!!

If you are looking for a way to improve the connections within your family, start with the source, your Heavenly Father. He is the one that created connections and deeply desires to establish a close and healthy connection to you and for you to have the same with those closest to you. Empowered to Connect Conference is coming here to Dallas in February. Even better, if you register before January 15th it is $35 a person and $50 for a couple.

Visit and explore the site Empowered to Connect, to learn more about healthy connections and how connection to God can allow you to be empowered to connect with others!

If you need more information or well formulated thoughts for presenting to your church leadership check out:
Letter to Church Ministry Leaders 
(be sure to notice the dates and locations)