This month we’re talking about what makes you unique. Tuesday we made paper snowflakes to hang up on the bulletin board outside the choir room. Wednesday we had RAs and GAs. Thursday we talked about New Years traditions and the Chinese New Year celebration. We colored dragons that Andrew drew for the kids. Friday we just had a free day inside since it was raining.
Mission Moment 1.14.26
Melissa Roysdon
Pastor, Providence Baptist Church, Cookeville, TN
"Each one helps the other, saying to one another, 'Take courage!'”
– Isaiah 41:6
On December 26, 2023, everything in my world changed. That night I answered the phone, believing it was my husband, but I heard this strange voice saying, “Melissa this is…and I have Tony’s phone. I think he may have had a stroke…” I was only able to process some of what I was hearing, but at some point, I realized I would be meeting a helicopter at Vanderbilt Hospital and that I had heard my husband in the background telling an EMT what his name was.
The next few days were filled with prayers of gratitude and pleas for wisdom and healing. He had suffered damage, but nothing like I had feared. We were optimistic that with therapy and time he would recover. When we came home, I was so filled with joy that sometimes he thought I didn’t notice how much he was struggling with tasks that were once simple. He was grateful, but not ready to be joyful. During this time of struggle, I reached for my copy of John O’Donohue’s book of blessings. Each night I would read, “For Courage” as we settled into bed and before each of us offered our own prayers for courage, wisdom and healing.
While there were days when the strange new reality seemed overwhelming, through it all we found strength together. Today, he still struggles with not being the same, but we both know how blessed we have been and that we are stronger for having gone through this together, trusting God to hold us when holding on was all we could do.
For Courage
By John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,
When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world.
Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes,
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.
Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.
Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
Pray...Give...Go.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of cereal.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Midweek Meals
Our winter mid-week meals will resume on Wednesday, January 21
at 5:30 p.m. in the MFC. Dinner that evening will be fried chicken,
fried okra, salad, roll & dessert. We look forward to seeing you there!
Inclement Weather Policy
It is our hope to meet for friendship and worship each of the Sundays of winter. However, if our local weather presents concern, please stay safe even if it requires you to stay home. We hope to have a decision regarding Sunday morning activities prepared in a timely way. Tune to WLOS and follow the ticker at the bottom of the screen. If our church name isn't there, either we've deemed it too early to make a decision, or they've not yet updated the ticker, or we are still planning to gather. Should we still plan to worship but you don’t feel comfortable driving, please know that you can still worship with us online.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of cereal.
To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
Midweek Meals
Our winter mid-week meals will resume on Wednesday, January 21
at 5:30 p.m. in the MFC. Dinner that evening will be fried chicken,
fried okra, salad, roll & dessert. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mission Moment 1.7.26
Mina Podgaisky
Field Personnel in Krakow, Poland
“A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.”
– Proverbs 17:17 (AMP)
Friendship Blessing
Friendships do not know country boundaries, do not know distances.
Even if distance separates us,
Even if it hurts to think of the distance between us,
There is always a place in my heart for you.
In each memory of you, in each trip,
Our friendship continues to bloom.
I know that even if you are far, you are always there,
When it is night, you are a lighthouse, a secure guide.
With your prayers and support, my road opens up,
In your friendship, I find beauty and peace.
Thank you for your love.
Thank you for being my compass and my lighthouse during the hard times.
In each word, in each call, in each message,
in each prayer, you plant seeds of hope.
I am thankful, grateful and blessed.
My soul sings with gratitude,
and your friendship brings me peace.
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
— Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
After serving in Ukraine for 23 years, the war has forced us to move to Kraków, Poland. We have gone through a tumultuous time with grief, loss, pain, death and uncertainty. However, the friendships of our CBF churches, friends and family have made this transition bearable. We have hope that the Lord will continue to use us to minister to Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees. He has already opened doors to start ministering to some Ukrainian foster families in Poland and doing premarital counseling to a Polish-Bolivian couple from our church. We feel your friendship. We feel blessed! We experience God’s protection. We are blessed!
Psalm 121
“I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.
The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.
The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
Amen!”
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
1st Explorers After-School Program Recap
First Explorers had a fun week before Christmas break. They participated in Chapel and Missions, and as always they greatly enjoyed their free time playing outside and creating with craft materials. First Explorers staff and children would like to give a big special thank you to the Ladies Mission Circle for preparing individualized treat bags for each child. The children were sent off to Christmas break with sweet goodies and smiles on their faces.
Mission Moment 12.31.25
Caroline LeGrand
CBF Missions Communications Specialist
"I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
– Philippians 1:6
I’ve been thinking a lot about the unspoken grief that comes with life’s in-betweens. The precipice between one thing and another is a difficult place in which to exist. There are all kinds of transitions—those you knew were coming, those you didn’t expect, those you planned and those you wish never happened.
For many people I know, the past several years have been a tumultuous time—constant political and economic upheaval, a global pandemic that reshaped the course of their lives, the death of loved ones, babies born and families that grew or shrunk, relationships that began and ended, identities reconsidered, homes left by choice or by force and careers and livelihoods left by choice or by force. Personally, I’ve experienced more beginnings and endings in the past several years than I can count. And with this comes a peculiar, liminal grief that is hard to describe.
This blessing is dedicated to all those at a crossroads, whether mourning what they lost, looking hopefully to whatever is next or stuck somewhere in-between. But it is especially dedicated to my family, who have and continue to experience many transitions over the past several years.
A Blessing for the In-betweens
Blessed are you who mourn life’s transitions.
Blessed are you who yearn for the things that used to be.
Blessed are you who feel torn between relief and sorrow at a moment of leaving.
Blessed are you when the person you thought you’d become, the things you thought you’d do, are no longer possible.
Blessed are you who are waiting for closure.
Blessed are you when you feel neither here nor there, when you’re not sure if you fit in anywhere at all.
Blessed are you when you are too tired to embrace change and process what you’ve lost.
Blessed are you when you feel unequipped to start something new.
Blessed are you when the path is no longer clear, and you feel you’ve lost your way.
Blessed are you when you feel like the world is moving against you.
Blessed are you when life keeps rolling along, with people leaving or moving on or dying, but you’re still here, wondering why. Why am I still here when so many others don’t get to be? What is my purpose?
To all those experiencing life’s in-betweens, know that the One who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Within the grief of these liminal spaces, God is there.
In the stillness of the in-between, neither here nor there, the One who has brought light in the darkness and joy in the morning whispers to you, saying:
The One who created you has not abandoned you.
You are not finished.
There is still work to be done.
There is still more beauty to behold,
more joy and grief to experience,
more love to give and receive.
You are still unfolding, ever-creating,
ever-becoming the person
God made you to be.
You are not alone.
You are still here.