A Perfect Gift

James 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Our ladies group celebrated our Christmas meeting in honor of our pastor’s wife.  How often do we even think about her as being a gift from God?  But she truly is!  We chose to honor her at this time because her husband has recently resigned and this will be their last month with us.  It is also her birthday month so was a great time to honor her.  But how sad, in a way, that we waited until she was leaving to do this.

Since our pastor’s wife is a gift to our church, we decorated with a gift theme.

We enjoyed singing some of our guest of honor’s favorite Christmas carols.  And we were also blessed with special music from ladies within our church.
Below is a ladies Trio singing “No Room”

We also enjoyed a solo from Mrs. B. Upton. singing a medley of I Wonder as I Wander and Mary Called Him Jesus, but we call Him Lord.

Below you will find the recipe that was given to each of the ladies as a favor to take home.  The recipe comes from our pastor’s wife’s kitchen and is one that she is popular for so this made a good favor for all.

Just for Fun we played a few games.  The first game was a trivia game to see how much we knew about our Pastor’s wife.  Her daughter made up the questions for us.  It was fun and it was surprising to see some of the things that the ladies did or did not know.

We also played a fun game with M&M’s.  The object was to see who could be the first to suck all their M&M’s out of the cup and onto the table with a straw.  Everyone below is intently trying to get their M&M’s out of their cup first.

You can see the excitement of the winner in this video.  Sorry, I got a little carried away with moving the camera too quickly. 

Our last “Just for fun” was a game that our Pastor’s wife used to play at camp many years ago so we did it  “just for fun”  and it was fun. It was called Pass Our Cups.  We did not complete the game as there were so many ladies and it would have taken quite a bit of time.  I think the object was to get going faster and faster until someone fumbled and then they were out.  The last one left would be the winner.  You can see that we were having fun with it in the video below.

    Three different ladies who have known our Pastor’s wife for some time were asked to give testimonies.  After they shared it was opened up to anyone else who wanted to share.  Some things that were pointed out about her was that

• She was consistent in her walk with the Lord; she was the same at home as she was at church. 
• She is not a respecter of persons.  She treats each person the same, usually making it a point to greet and talk to individuals, and always making it a point to greet visitors. 
• She is hospitable; her home is always open and she invites people in. 
• She loves her children and grand children and gives of her time to be the best mother or grandmother possible.  She is a good role model in child rearing and being a keeper of the hom.
• She is much in love with her husband and is not ashamed to make that known and show it in public. 
• She has always stood behind her husband. 
• She has never been a gossip and if you spend any amount of time with her, you will find that her conversation often centers on the Lord and His Word.
• She is a giving person, always thinking more about the needs of others rather than herself.
• She has a good sense of humor and can take being teased. 🙂 
• She is truly a woman of virtue and fits nicely into the category of a Proverbs 31 Woman.  She is and has been a gift to our church. 

We are thankful for a godly Pastor’s Wife!  She will be greatly missed!

Ladies Giving Testimonies – First Picture – Mrs. S. Shahan was a member in the church they pastored before coming to MBC. Second Picture – Mrs. M. Bream has known her since she was 11 years old when she first moved to NC.  She came to MBC two months after our Pastor’s wife.  And Picture Number Three – This is her daughter so you know she has known her for a very long time.

The ladies contributed in order to get her some gift cards so after the testimonies and Christmas carols we presented Her with gift cards from Hobby Lobby, Carolina Cafe (one of her favorite restaurants), and Hamricks Clothing Store.  We also gave her a poinsettia plant and a framed verse of Proverbs 3:5-6. 

Food!   – What is a ladies meeting without food?  We tried to fix some of her favorite foods.  Here is a list of our menu.

Below you will see some random pictures from our meeting.  I also took pictures of our Pastor’s wife with each lady that came and then put them into a collage.  I wish I could have had a good photographer take these pictures.  I am just not the greatest photographer.  And if I missed anybody, I am oh so sorry.  I really did not mean to leave anyone out.