Last night our oldest daughter Heather left with a team from her church, Eagle Creek Church in Lee’s Summit, MO, to drive all night to Tennessee to help with Nashville’s flood relief efforts.  The teams will be going into houses with flood damage and ripping out all affected materials (drywall, carpet, etc.) and also will be helping to organize and distribute goods at a warehouse to the families in need.

It will be hot, hard work.  The floors and walls may be unstable from the water damage, and may not allow much weight on them – posing risks for floors falling through and walls collapsing.

Yesterday and today, I babysat Kyle’s and Heather’s daughters, Annabelle and Violet. Tomorrow and Saturday, Kyle and his mom Becky will watch the girls until Heather comes back home late Saturday night. It’s been six years since Heather’s last missions trip, and she is VERY excited!   

When Annabelle was a baby, Heather went to Mexico for a week with our former church for a missions trip. Prior to that, after graduation from our homeschool in the year 2000, Heather went to South America in remote jungle villages for a month and to India for a month for missions trips with YWAM. YWAM and these missions trips changed her life, and they confirmed her desire to be a missionary.

This morning about 2:45 a.m., I got a text from Heather that they safely arrived in Nashville.  They woke up at 6 a.m. today for devotions and went right to work in the houses.  This afternoon, she sent me a cell phone picture of herself  wearing the face mask and eye goggles (for protection against mold and mildew.  These are non-construction teams.) 

When I asked via texting how she was doing, she replied, “Hot.”    They were just about to call it a day.  Tonight the team was able to relax and go out to dinner, then tomorrow they’ll begin work again on the houses.

Please continue to keep Heather and the missions team covered in prayer.  Eagle Creek Church has live video streaming of their missions team while in Nashville through Ustream.   You can view the live stream here. 

Below is a video of Heather sharing about the work they will be doing there, just before she left yesterday.  The video below that is a humorous vlog of Annabelle and Violet, explaining what a train sounds like, when we stopped to look at the big, black train after we ate lunch.

Vlog of Heather about Nashville missions trip

Vlog of Annabelle and Violet on train

It amused me that the townspeople were so excited about this. I don’t know the actual number of turn-outs, but a crowd came to hear a band play, to eat hotdogs, to wear their Shine On, black t-shirts available on sale for $10 at the Chamber of Commerce, and of course to shine their flashlights as the plane circled several times overhead to get a good picture.

Senior citizens brought lawn chairs to be comfortable while they waited for the “time to shine” and children ran around at dusk, playing tag. Pat with the Chamber of Commerce had a megaphone to shout instructions to the crowd as we stood two by two on the letters, “Shine On, Butler,” drawn on the townsquare concrete. It was like something out of a goofy comedy movie. Yes, this is DEFINITELY a small town! (WHY am I living here, LOL!)

This morning I was thinking that if people could get so pumped up over such an event, then how much more believers in Christ could get together and work in unity to spread the good news about Jesus!  

Are you “shining your light” for Christ today? Are you sharing your story, your heart’s important message, with others?

Here are some brief videos of last night’s event for your amusement.

Vlog of people in line getting a number (for Chamber of Commerce counting participants)

Vlog of people shining their flashlights toward plane, circling overhead to get pictures.

In this video below, I am standing beside two kids who I don’t know who were fighting!!!

Vlog of Butler townspeople giving “victory shout” after “Shine On, Butler” event

Do you need bite-sized portions of the Bible sometimes in your busy day?  One great online resource is from the Life Application Study Bible (NLT).  You can receive short but powerful devotions in your email inbox each day, that takes the Bible and makes it relevant and applicable to our lives right now. 

Today’s message shed new light about prayer from a scripture I’d read many times before, and I wanted to share it here with you. 

“These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”  (Luke 10:2, NLT)  

Jesus was sending 36 teams of two to reach the multitudes. These teams were not to try to do the job without help; rather, they were to ask God for more workers. Some people, as soon as they understand the gospel, want to go to work immediately contacting unsaved people.  

This story suggests a different approach: begin by mobilizing people to pray. And before praying for unsaved people, pray that other concerned disciples will join you in reaching out to them.

In Christian service, there is no unemployment. God has work enough for everyone. Don’t just sit back and watch others work—look for ways to help with the harvest. ” ~ Life Application Study Bible (NLT), July 18, 2010 devotional

Let me know what you think. If you have any comments or questions, email me at elizabethdjones@gmail.com.  Just click on the link and enjoy!

Video tour

Whether you are a first time visitor or a faithful reader and/or subscriber, I want to welcome you to my website Tablet Of My Heart. I am so glad you are here!  There are so many websites online, and they all navigate differently.

I LOVE WordPress and believe it is simply the BEST, but I wanted to give you a tour of my home on the web which includes screenshots (my newest learning curve!). This article can help you understand how to more easily navigate my website – a more personal tour guide.   

Just click on the link below for your pdf article, and enjoy!  If you have any questions, email me at elizabethdjones@gmail.com.

Tour of my website

It’s so hard to believe because it seems just yesterday I was holding her as a newborn in her soft, white blanket. The years have flown, and as I look back in retrospect, I ask the question that haunts all moms from time to time when we’ve had a bad hair day and have been too impatient:  Have I been a good mother?  Am I a godly example to her of a wife and mom?

I fear that sometimes I am much more in need of being taught by God, than me being able to teach her anything.  And so many times Leah teaches me profound things that come straight from the throne of  God.  ”Of such is the kingdom of God.”  

There are times that I fuss too much about trivial things like her wearing the Panda shirt too often (her favorite shirt she’s had for over a year and won’t give up) and that I don’t tell her nearly enough how wonderful, beautiful, and great she is. (I do tell her these things – just not enough!)

That I need to smile, laugh, and relax with her and my family much more, and work less sometimes.  My family is my greatest treasure, but do they really know it?  Or am I sometimes too absorbed in other things?

That I don’t want my tombstone to be engraved with, “She liked a clean house,” but instead with, ”She loved  others like Jesus did.”

That I remember soon, all too soon, Leah will be grown – as her older sisters are –  and the house will be much, much too quiet and my regrets much too loud.  What then? 

As I lay in bed tonight, my heart filled with love for her and my eyes wet with tears, I am amazed that the years have passed so fast. My baby is driving now. My prayer is that with the rest of the years I have her here at home, I will consistently “ponder these things” in my heart, as Mary did, and BECOME by the power of Christ in me the great, godly mother she needs and I so desire to be.

And that one day –  by some miracle of God, by my own willingness to be completely broken and transformed before the Lord – yes, that one day, Leah and our other daughters will be able to look at me and say, “I’m so glad you are my mother, and that you have shown me how to be a woman of God” – before driving away to her destiny.

Our oldest daughter Heather is about to do a  missions trip at the end of this month in Nashville, TN.

From Eagle Creek Church’s website:

In May of 2010, middle and western Tennessee experienced the worst flooding in it’s history. There were 33 people who were killed in Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee due to the flooding, and nearly $2 Billion in damage was done. It was Tennessee’s worst disaster since the civil war. The national average for media coverage during this disaster was 15 minutes, so people outside of the affected areas have little idea as to the scope of this disaster.

From January to May of 2010, Nashville had 18 inches of rains in a 36 hour period.  Beginning May 1, they received 18.4 inches. Many people lost everything and few had insurance to cover the loss. In what’s being called the “Katrina of the Midwest,” the disaster will take months and even years to clean up before life returns to “normal” for many of the people there who have been devastated by this disaster.

Eagle Creek Church in Lee’s Summit, MO, is partnering with Anchor Christian Fellowship Response to reach out in support of and minister to people affected by the flood. There are two ways that Anchor Response works with flood victims:

1. Takes teams into houses that have flood damage and works at ripping out all affected materials (drywall, carpet, etc). These teams are strictly demo and don’t do any construction, so there isn’t a need for volunteers to have construction experience.

2. Anchor Response has a warehouse that collects and distributes goods to families that have need. The warehouse literally distributes everything from toys to toothbrushes. Workers help organize and distribute goods that are donated.

So whether you can  go or not, you can definitely be a part of helping those that are in desperate need of help. Here is the website for more information. 

From Beth:  Please keep our daughter Heather in prayer as she leaves July 29-31 with a team from her church, Eagle Creek Church, to help in Nashville. I will be helping to babysit her two girls, Annabelle and Violet – and praying a lot!   There will likely be mold and mildew in these houses, so please pray protection over the health of Heather and the team (they will be wearing masks, gloves, and heavy work boots as they are ripping out materials of drywall, carpet, etc.), as well as for traveling mercies .

Thank you so much for your prayers.  Below is a brief video that was on Eagle Creek’s site to give you an idea of some of the damage in Nashville.

Nashville Flood Relief from Mike LaBerge on Vimeo.

Are you experiencing purposeful, passionate living for Christ – and passing it on to your children?  Join Tara McClenahan and Beth Jones for an exciting, fun webinar coming up on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, at 11 a.m. Central Time!  This is Module #2 of 3 P’s in a Pod: Prayer, Purpose, Passion.

Tara is an anointed speaker and writer, and is a Christian Parenting/Life Coach associated with Ibloom, an organization dedicated to inspire Christian women to allow God to have an impact in and through their lives.  Tara’s focus is helping Christian moms have an impact on their children’s spiritual development by being a Godly example and nurturing them as God gives us guidance in His Word.  Her website, Live Your Legacy Today, is  at http://taramcclenahan.com/.

I am SO excited Tara will be joining me for this event! I am also thrilled that this time, attendees WILL be able to chat during the webinar. Now I have my own webinar room at Christian Women Affiliate, which has great webinar features.

Now, why should you attend this webinar?

• It’s fun! You will make new friends and be able to network!
• You will be encouraged and empowered to discover and fulfill your purpose, pursue your heart’s passion, and intentionally pass on a Godly legacy to your children!
• You will learn something new!
• No expensive costs! (It’s free to attend.)
• No hassles, no crowds or waiting in line, no parking places to worry about!
• You get great bonus goodies just for coming!
• You will both see and hear the speakers on video and be able  to chat with the speakers and attendees in real time during the webinar presentations!

It’s going to be great.  Are you excited? Well, I am. I can’t wait! 

To learn more, just click here.  Listen to the video testimonials about my first webinar, 3 P’s in a Pod: Prayer, Purpose, Passion, which was the launch-off for this July 27 webinar and more to come.

But hurry!   Space is limited for this webinar, so be sure to sign up today.

You may remember my friends Pat and Kim Weber, who adopted the special needs baby from China, Hadassah. 

Many other people and I prayed for her to be part of the Webers’ family by Christmas 2009, and God answered our prayers.  Well, I finally got to hold Hadassah in my arms this week! 

Pat had to do some work in Kansas City, MO, and he and his family wanted to visit his mom who’s been sick in the hospital with pneumonia – plus, everyone here wanted to meet Hadassah!  (Please keep Pat’s mom Betty in your prayers.)

On Tuesday our youngest daughter Leah and I drove to their hotel in Overland Park, KS, to see Kim and the kids while Pat worked, and enjoyed the hotel’s swimming pool and hot tub.  “It’s a hard life, but somebody’s got to do it!”  The Kansas City rain cleared long enough for all of us to get in the water awhile, then we walked a block  for a lunch of philly cheesesteak sandwiches at Chartroose Caboose.

It was so good to see Kim and the kids again, and Hadassah is gorgeous and so sweet!  She has a very calm, peaceful personality.  She is thriving in this loving family, learning English words quickly, and most importantly she’s learning about Jesus!   She is even using her hand some that was defective at birth.  The fingers on this hand are even straightening some, and she is in regular physical therapy to work with it.  Her progress in physical therapy has been great.

Hadassah is in very good health, gaining weight on Kim’s delicious, home-cooked meals. She is so well bonded to her parents and siblings, it is just a God thing!   And Hadassah  loves Sesame Street. 

In the first video below, you will see Kim and her beautiful kids.  Hadassah likes to see herself on camera, so she came over to me while I was trying to film to look at her “picture.” 

In the second video, you will hear Hadassah saying my name (YES!), some of my family’s names, and the names of the characters on Sesame Street.  The “sausage” Megan is holding at the end of the video is the long pillow for the hotel couch that Hadassah loved to play on, lol!

Hadassah is adorable.  Oh, I wanted to keep her here! 

Thanks again for all your prayers for her, and please continue to keep Pat, Kim, and their family in prayer for provision for the adoption.   When I saw Hadassah and held her, all I could do was just praise God for this miracle of love.  Hadassah is living proof that God answers prayer!

Kim, Hadassah, Megan, and Nathaniel Weber

Hadassah saying names

The ebook goes into more depth for each of the three points that I covered in the webinar –  prayer, purpose, and passion. This ebook will encourage and empower you to walk in your God-ordained purpose and destiny. Best of all, it is just $10.00 and includes bonus goodies!  To learn more and to watch video testimonials about the webinar, just click here.

If you missed this first webinar, be sure to sign up for my personal mailing list at the top of the page on the right hand side to get all the latest updates for some exciting things ahead.

I am planning another webinar for the end of July (Module 2 of Prayer, Purpose, and Passion), so stay tuned.  An anointed speaker is joining me, and I am so excited about this! 

 You can make new friends at the webinars, view the presenters on video, and chat with the presenters and other attendees in real time!   AND, there will be more bonus goodies!   It’s going to be so much FUN and I can’t wait!

Again, to learn more about my new ebook and to watch video testimonials, just click here.