Kidfest at our Sunset Hills Campus
We had a fantastic night Monday night.
Matter of fact, it was unbelievable!!!!
In case you weren’t able to be a part of it, let me fill you in.
Our church hosted a carnival for the church and community.
Big rides, kiddie rides, free games, tons of candy – a great time!!!
Kids were laughing, adults were smiling, friendships were forming and our church was the center of it all.
I watched a little girl skip by me literally shaking all over from excitement with the biggest grin on her face and the cutest pink princess costume. It was infectious!
The happiness, the laughing, the giggles, the screams of sheer delight came from every direction.
Blessed to be a Blessing
I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of something like this.
Having a Blast at KidFest!
Matter of fact, I didn’t have time to eat dinner that night and there was food at the carnival and I didn’t even eat. Why?????
Because I was having such a great time walking around and seeing people be blessed and have a great time.
People kept coming up to me and thanking me, even though I was such a small part of the whole thing.
It produced such a feeling of love and warmth… to me, it was better than Christmas!
I Give, I Receive
So here is the crazy thing… why do we spend so much time trying to make ourselves happy when making other people happy really does feel so good?
More Fun at KidFest 2011
So, why do all of us spend so much energy on me first, self preservation, making sure we get recognized for what we did, and trying to get the glory?
It’s a human instinct that goes against what will truly make us happy.
We live in a world that tries everything from weirdo false religions, medication, self-help books galore, drugs and alcohol, addictions to anything and everything… on the hunt to try and make us feel good.
When truly, the thing that provides the very feeling that we crave is doing things that don’t on the surface benefit us at all.
Serving
This ride was really scary!
Serving Him (Him is God, Jesus Christ, the One and only so that I am clear).
Serving people.
Serving community.
Serving strangers.
All in His name.
It truly is the only way. The Bible says,
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
— Luke 6:31 (NIV)
How much more clear can He make it?
And yet we forget, pretty much every day, that we don’t have to fight to be first, or noticed, or claim and hog the glory.
Trust Me, It Feels Better
It honestly feels better to take care of others. It’s funny how our flesh will fight to keep us from doing the very thing that will soothe it!
So, while my flesh remembers how good that it feels to make something great for someone else, I’m gong to get right on doing it again….and again….and again!
And I might even have to read this blog a couple times a week to remind myself… just being honest. Is that allowed?
So what have you done in the past for someone else that ended up blessing you just as much, even though you were the giver and not the receiver?
What are you planning to do to bless someone soon?
It’s all too true that serving others actually fills you up. It’s amazing! When I serve and I notice that I’m overwhelmed and full the verse comes to mind when Jesus told His disciples, who had gone to get food, after ministering to the woman at the well that He had food they didn”t know about. He said that His food was to do the will of His father. I was blessed with the ability and time to serve Monday and I can tell you that it was incredible! I must’ve painted hundreds of kids faces and it filled my joy to the max!
I can totally relate with Pastor Nicole’s experience at the Kid Fest celebration on Monday night. I saw children and adults just almost coming out of their skin with joy, laughter and having just fun, fun, fun and more fun. Just by looking into their happy faces produced a feeling of great contentment and happiness within me, knowing that all of our hard work & efforts were totally worth that experience. I had a thought when reading Pastor Nicole’s question, “What are you planning to do to bless someone soon?” I thought about Thanksgiving coming right around the corner. How about inviting someone to your home that doesn’t have a place or a family to celebrate Thanksgiving this year? How about just taking over Thanksgiving dinner to someone we know is struggling financially at this time? How about volunteering time at our Food Pantry and perhaps buying turkeys to pass out to families with low income? How about serving at a local Community kitchen? There are thousands of other ways we can make someone else’s life better during this Holiday Season.
LOVE LOVE lOVED this word… so so good. Sharing with friends now.
The older I get the more I understand this thing about giving. I have probably heard this for nearly 25 years from church and very successful people. It is definitly is what GOD wants from us all. Love ya
Oh yes it SURE does fill me in such a way that can be unexplainable at times. Being able to DO for others is such an amazing feeling (as you so well put it)!! May I too recall this post and not forget that I was called to Love Christ with ALL my heart, soul, mind and body…. And OUT of THAT – is when I can LOVE Freely, GIVE Freely and SERVE Freely!!
Thanks So much Nicole!!
Truly enjoyed “stumbling” upon this post 😉
Glo 🙂
I have learned so much at Faith Church about helping others and serving. I have been involved with the street ministry, the food pantry and the closed captioning team. I love helping others. When I came to Faith Church it was as a hurting person. I was able to go beyond thinking of myself and my pain by helping others. Four years later I am in training to be a Foster Parent because it is all about helping others. I want to serve God by helping others. Every one of us needs to be needed and there are so many people out there that need YOU. Thanks Pastor Nicole for all the love and healing you have helped me to achieve over these past four years and thanks for helping me to share love now with others in so many ways. I am proud to be a member of Faith Church and one of your followers. God Bless you and Pastor David and Faith Church.
This event was an amazing experience. It was so cool to see ALL those families thoroughly enjoying themselves. My granddaughter and I even got to make new friends with someone who has never attended our church. I’m pretty sure they will now! They were so impressed with the event and commented on how nice and friendly everyone there was. It was really awesome stuff. We had to pull the girls apart : ) when it was time to go home and the little girl who was visiting (Skylar) was crying saying she didn’t ever want to leave, she wanted to live there with Jade my granddaughter. How cute is that? See Pastor Nicole, you were right when you spoke at It’s a Girl Thing on, we never know when we might find a treasure in a new friend, if we just look for it. This is what life is all about! : )
Our family greatly appreciated the hard work that went into the Kidfest. I greatly appreciate this word from Pastor Nicole, always right on point; and yes it’s okay to be honest. I will have to read this same blog to remind myself to “do unto others as I would have them do unto me.”
Kidfest was such an AMAZING night!!!! Hundreds of families came out to enjoy a night with their families & friends. It was great to watch the smiles & hear the laughter throughout the night as kids were having a blast on the rides and playing games.
“It is better to give than to receive” – But, I definitely was blessed watching so many families get blessed!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE that Faith Church St. Louis LOVES people!!!!
Well, this hits home right now. My parents really needed a vacation away from their budget strangling busy life. Living on just my dad’s social security is tough, and they volunteer 5 days a week to their local church. I mentioned to my dad, a month ago, I thought it would be fun to have them go to my Aunt’s (whom we have not seen in over 30 years) home for Thanksgiving this year. That meant flying them from WA to KY and then driving to VA to do this. My dad, who is struggling to imagine driving from Aberdeen to Seattle right now on their budget told me that will probably not happen. I told him not to say that as our words our powerful. Just about a week ago, I mentioned to my sister that I wished I could afford to fly at least mom out for Thanksgiving, and she asked how much I thought that would cost. She said that would be good for her and offered a dollar amount up front to start the process and told me to ask my other sister if she wanted to join in. Long story short, 48 hours later, we had tickets for both of my parents and they are coming. Though I do get the blessing of having them here for almost 2 weeks, I am going to make sure they do not have to pay for anything and we have an awesome time while they are here. It made my parents cry, and though we do not have alot of extra, God will provide. Thank you, Pastor Nicole, along with your hubby, for being an inspiration to us all to do and be more generous!!!
Kidfest was amazing!!! Just when you think it can’t get any better, IT DOES! It was amazing to see hundreds of children and families excited and having such a great time together. We’re truly blessed to be a blessing. It was a privilege to get to serve and create a booth and game for the children to play to get free candy! They were so giggly & were having so much fun. Serving in any compacity is a true honor. When you think about it, it’s a great honor to change a dirty diaper in the nursery or take out the trash in the ministry – because no matter what you do, you are doing it all to the glory of God. Every little thing we do, God sees and will bless us for it. We serve a great & mighty God!!! Thank you Pastor Nicole for the blog!
Everyday we have the opportunity to impact people through our words, actions, and deeds. It is my desire to try to be a positive uplifting force to those who I see everyday and today I think I will randomly buy someone lunch…just because!
during their fun, amazing, stuinnng, phenomenal and every other descriptive adjective in the book engagement session. we always end-up chatting about the wedding details, but when alex was describing her vision, i