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Syria’s Child Refugees, page 3No Place to Go, page 8Strong and Steady. Give Your All. Bible Study, page 12Gratitude is a Position, page 15

A Baptist resource for women on a mission • November - December, 2015 · $3.50

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Global Mission» Syria’s Child Refugees » Sponsoring Syrian and Iraqi Refugees in Atlantic

Canada» Mother Mary» No Place to Go» Rev. Dr. Terry Smith Appointed Executive Director

of Canadian Baptist Ministries

Strong and Steady Bible Study» The Best News Ever!

Women’s Ministries» In Honour/In Memory

Gratitude is a Position What hangs around your neck?

Ungrateful Heart Syndrome All it takes is one simple expression of thanks

A Hot Cup of Tea and ThanksI call you friend

Gratitude is a VerbDon’t just say. Do.

Finding Baby JesusGiving thanks at Christmas time

*includes HST

VOLUME 88, NUMBER 6

in this issue

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connecting

(www.gepmgroup.com)

livelive (formerly The Link & Visitor) began as The Canadian Missionary Link (1878) and Baptist Visitor (1890). Published bi-monthly by Canadian Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec 100 – 304 The East Mall Etobicoke, ON M9B 6E2 416-622-8600 x 304 Fax 416-622-2308 [email protected] www.baptistwomen.com

Executive directorDiane McBeth

Editor and communications directorRenée James 416-651-8967 [email protected]

Art directorDonna Lee Pancorvo of GEPM Group Inc.

ContributorsYevgeniya Bakai, Esther Barnes, Jenny Burr, Paul Carline, Linda Ellsworth, Tina Rae, Jan Thomas, Kathleen Wilson, Morgan Wolf, Laurena Zondo

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columnsDecember 2 is the United Nations’

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. Today, 21 million women, men and children are trapped in slavery all over the world. What can one small (by contrast) movement of Baptist women do to help 21 million?

The articles in this issue give us some answers: We get and stay informed about the issues—human trafficking, poverty, refugees, to name a few.

We advocate and raise awareness. We pray. The Baptist World Alliance-Women’s

Department Day of Prayer allows us to gather, either with women in our own church, or as an association, to pray for our sisters around the world and to remember that they pray for us! “Their” issues are ours. Domestic and sexual violence, gender inequality, discrimination, poverty, illiteracy and exploitation face women in Ontario and Quebec every day. Think about our First Nations sisters for a moment.

We love with focused intensity. On Saturday November 14, LOVE DAY gives us a chance to collectively kick at the darkness in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities until daylight bleeds through. Vulnerable women, youth and children at risk were helped by 100+ CBOQ churches last year on LOVE DAY. How will you celebrate LOVE DAY this year?

We fund. The Great Canadian Bible Study that we do every January carries a one-two-three punch: In the space of two or three hours, women can bring the weight of Scripture study and their donations to bear on the issues endured by vulnerable women and children around the world.

“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume” Colossians 2:14 (NLT).

We are slaves too. Moreover, it’s when Baptist women come together through opportunities like LOVE DAY, our World Day of Prayer and the Great Canadian Bible Study that we smell our sweetest.

Find out more about these three opportunities at www.baptistwomen.com

RJ

3November - December 2015

global mission

Syria’s Child RefugeesAt the juxtaposition of disorder and hope

by Kathleen Wilson

Kathleen is a member of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto where she’s co-chaired its mission board. She serves on the Toronto Baptist Women planning team.

It’s hard to imagine how people much like you and me have been reduced to the type of destitution that we in Canada will never understand. It’s hard to imagine that under the very same sun,

moon and stars—indeed under the same God—such immense poverty and helplessness exists.

The refugee crisis in Lebanon is all of these things—it’s ugly, uncomfortable and dire. Everything that you see and hear on the news is real. How do I know this? I had the opportunity to travel there as part of a short-term mission project this past summer, fostering a partnership between Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto and the Lebanese Society for Education and Social Development (LSESD).

Through this partnership overseen by Canadian Baptist Ministries, I was able to get a brief glimpse of what it looks like to be a Syrian refugee in Lebanon. What I expected and what I actually saw surprised me.

Yes, there is an unfortunate contrast of poverty and wealth in Lebanon, but that exists even here in Canada. What surprised me was the juxtaposition of disorder and hope. The resiliency that I saw was profound. In the same eyes that saw innocent people and sometimes family members being maimed for no reason—there is hope. Children and youth are being denied the opportunity to go to school, to learn to read and write and develop—yet there is hope. During home visits, Muslim refugees would plead for prayers, prayers to our God to allow

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them to go home and return to their normal routines. It was as if they were redirecting their hope toward a God they know very little about. They truly believe they will one day go home, and hope is going to get them there.

It is hard enough to see an adult go through the turmoil of being a displaced refugee, but once a child is forced into that role the reality hits home. In Middle Eastern culture, children are status symbols. The

Some ways to begin your journey of response

* Ask questions. We will never learn unless we ask the hard questions with the expectation of answers. Consult those around you who have an understanding of the situation. Or contact your local councillor to find out the various ways in which our communities are already responding.

* Be interested. Tune in to the news in all its various forms. Listen carefully to what’s being said and form your own opinions.

* Get your church concerned. Spearhead a new group committed to talking, informing and praying.

* Go to Lebanon. Talk to Canadian Baptist Ministries about upcoming opportunities to travel to Lebanon to help. Your physical presence there is far more valuable than any question you could ask or financial donation you could make. Your money is literally no good unless you are truly aware of how it will work to effectively help an individual or family.

* Pray. There are few situations in life that will leave us at a loss for words, but this crisis may be one of them. When there is a lack of understanding, bring it before God.

more children you have, the more powerful and acceptable your family is. But it’s the naivety and innocence of children that impart the energy for their parents and families to continue to hope for a better life. It’s a beautiful thing. Yes, their teeth may be rotting and they may not have the most fancy (or any) toys to play with, but with hardly any effort at all, they can bring a lighthearted giggle to just about anyone. That’s hope!

You may argue that God is physically absent in this refugee crisis. Just look at the destruction of lives and homes, and the living conditions in which these refugees are forced to live. But (and I say this through experience) all it takes is one conversation, one glimpse into their reality to realize that God is there—God is very there!

Countless churches and volunteers work tirelessly and selflessly to help mobilize and encourage these families to reintegrate back into society with as much normality and humanity as possible. These churches and volunteers provide food and essentials to people who now cannot even afford a bar of soap. (Imagine not being able to afford a bar of soap!) Lebanon, the country that was once oppressed by Syria, is now the country welcoming its former oppressors who have lost all status and have nowhere else to go. The love with which they walk alongside the refugees is indicative that we serve a God of healing and forgiveness. My time with them was only a few days, but the lessons I’ve learned and continue to keep before me every day will last a lifetime.

So what happens next? While it would be ideal to anticipate an end to the displacement of families and destruction of homes through the turmoil of oppression and war, perhaps that’s not how we should be responding. We will never be able to control what happens, but we have the opportunity to decide how to respond.

Photos courtesy Kathleen Wilson


global mission

sponsoRing syRian and iRaqi Refugees in Atlantic Canada“No one has ever loved us like this before.”

Most of their families are large and Muslim, while most of ours are small and Christian. Most of them have got major issues and serious challenges, like trauma and language needs,

while most of our communities have few services. They will need a furnished home, 12 months of support and lots of hands-on help, while we’re struggling to keep our homes going and our churches open. Most of them will probably have to leave our area, while we so desperately want them to stay.

Yet we’re sponsoring refugees.Churches and community groups are working together. Churches

are working with other churches. Denominations are working together.

by Paul Carline

Paul is the director of inter-cultural ministries for the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches and former global field staff with Canadian Baptist Ministries.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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People are offering homes, cars, furniture, translation services, money. E-mails and calls are flooding in (even from the media, mayors and mosques). Extra volunteers and administrative staff have been called in. So far over 100 churches are pursuing sponsorship. Ten groups have selected families. Two families have arrived, with many more to come.

Such hospitality is not unopposed. Fear of immigrants in general, and Muslims in particular,

is rife here. I have great answers (on my better days) to the objections, but most of those wanting to help don’t. Yet they’re sponsoring refugees. They can’t seem to help it. Why?

Recently I heard an incredible story of refuge from WWII. In the 1940s, the small town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and surrounding villages in south-central France welcomed, concealed and cared for 3,000 - 5,000 Jewish refugees (one per resident). Jews then, like Muslims now, were unpopular and, in the face of Nazi anti-Semitism, the risk was high. Why did they do it?

The origins of the movement were traced to a Protestant church—a church of Huguenots who had also come to that area for refuge. When asked why they had settled the Jews, residents had no ready answer. “How could you call us good? We were doing what had to be done,” said one. “We were used to it,” said another.

It was just in them. And it’s in us. Many Atlantic Canadians trace their roots to Loyalist

refugees, but we all have a refugee legacy. We were enslaved to selfishness and fear and God freed us. We were homeless and God adopted us. Sponsorship in the Bible is called redemption and it happened at great cost. “In Him we have redemption, by his blood” (Ephesians 1:7).

When you’ve really seen Jesus washing your feet and heard Him welcoming you to His table, you can’t help but do the same to others.

The mother of the first family to arrive told her sponsorship group, “No one has ever loved us like this.” Someone has loved like this. Oh, so much more than this. We’re just passing it on.

Interested in sponsorship?• InOntarioandQuebec,[email protected].• InManitoba,Saskatchewan,AlbertaandBritishColumbia,[email protected].

• InAtlanticCanadacontactPaul Carline at [email protected].

www.cbmin.org

I’m Romita. Read my story in Kids Care Christmas Dream.

Order today this fun, free resource to help children share in the joy of giving and being part of God’s mission in the world. Download your copy today at www.cbmin.org/kids-care or email [email protected]

www.cbmin.org

Together with church partners around the world, CBM has the community presence, commitment and local expertise to transform people’s lives.

Support the ongoing work of CBM through this year’s gift catalogue and make your giving a gift to a broken world.

Order your gift catalogue today by calling 905-821-3533 or email us at [email protected]

HOPEFUL GIFTS FOR CHANGE

CBM Gift Catalogue 2015

Give Her Hope! Hopeful Gifts For Change Gift Catalogue 2015


global missionMotheR MaryA courageous child bride in India shares her story

UnfortunatelyMary’sstoryisnotuncommoninIndiaandothercountrieswheregirlsareoftendeprivedofan education and forced to marry young. They are vulnerabletoabuseandexploitation.Indeed,thisdeprivation perpetuates the cycle of extreme poverty in families.

Youcangivethegiftofhopeandempowerment.SeeCBM’sHopeful Gifts for Change catalogue.Giveonlinetodayatwww.cbmin.org.

by Laurena Zondo

Laurena is the editor of CBM’s mosaic magazine.

MaryandherdaugherPhoto credit: Johnny C. Y. Lam

“People say she is my sister, not my daughter,” says Mary, with a shy smile. Mary is only 23 and the mother of a 10-year-old girl.

Mary was a child bride, married off when she was only 12. But she didn’t stay married for very long. Two years into the relationship, her husband was often sick. Eventually he went to the hospital, was treated, and came home. Around the same time, Mary too started to get very sick—and she was pregnant. When she went for a check-up at the hospital, they discovered that she was HIV-positive. It was only after more inquiry that Mary found out that her husband was HIV-positive. He had never told her.

Shocked and devastated, she was not willing to live with him any more and returned to her parents’ home. She continued to receive treatment for herself and her unborn child and, after birth, followed her doctor’s instructions to not breastfeed. Mary says that she is happy and grateful that these early interventions helped her to not transfer the virus to her baby.

Mary joined Guardians of Hope (GOH), Canadian Baptist Ministries’ support program for families impacted by HIV and AIDS. Mary was encouraged by meeting, talking and praying with others in the same situation. They helped her to have the courage to face her challenges and to continue taking her medication. Slowly her health improved and she was able to work. GOH offered her business training and gave her a grant of 4,000 rupees (C$80) to start a small business. “I go once a week to the wholesale market and buy vegetables to sell at my stall. I make up to 150 rupees in one day. “

With her new confidence, Mary found additional employment—seasonal work, making mango jelly—earning up to 200 rupees (C$4) a day. She also found a place to rent and was able to move out of her parents’ crowded home. “I am happy to be able to earn my own income and live on my own without depending on my parents. I have been putting a small amount in the bank for my daughter’s education.”

School is important to Mary. She was so disheartened when she had to stop her studies after sixth standard to be married. “I dream of continuing my studies one day. I would like to become a nurse.” Mary is determined to see that her daughter, now in eighth standard, is able to complete her studies and realize her dreams. Her daughter is as determined, saying that she prefers to study rather than play. “I have three best friends at school, we sit together and study . . . I want to be a doctor when I grow up.”

Life is just beginning for Mary and her daughter. “I have confidence that I can live on my own. I want my daughter to get an education and a good job. I will not [arrange to] marry her young, like I was.”

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global mission

No Place to goNovember 19 is World Toilet Day. How will you celebrate it?

by Esther Barnes Once, during renovations of my bathroom, I had to live without a toilet for a week. During the day I had a key to my neighbour’s apartment, plus access to public toilets at the

church half a block to the east and the cafe half a block to the west. Every evening I retreated to the comforts and conveniences of my mother-in-law’s home.

When my bowels were bursting, I did not have to venture outdoors with a plastic bag and pick up after myself as I would pick up after a dog. I did not have to wait for the cover of darkness, sneak out to the nearest woods, hope no men were watching me with rape on their minds, and squat behind a shrub. And I did not have to do this week after week, year after year.

But millions of women and girls in the developing world have little or no alternative. According to the United Nations, about 2.5 billion people—nearly 40 percent of the world’s population—live without proper sanitation (defined as “the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feces”). One billion have no toilets at all—no squat toilets, no pit latrines, no outhouses, no convenient public toilets, and definitely no toilets that flush into

Esther is the former editor of this magazine. Twice a year she travels to the Czech Republic where she teaches English to students as part of an outreach run by the Baptist Church in Litomerice. Her home church is Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto.

SchoolgirlsinNyakach,Kenyaandtheirnewtoilets.Photo courtesy of Renata Rokuskva


global mission

well-maintained sewers. These people must defecate in fields, forests, rivers and other open spaces.

One woman in three risks shame, disease, harassment and attack because she has no private place to relieve herself, We Can’t Wait reported in 2014. Worse yet, over five million have no choice but to defecate out in the open. Worldwide, women and girls living without a toilet spend 97 billion hours each year finding a place to go. In many countries, it is not acceptable for a woman to relieve herself during the day, water.org tells us. She must wait until nightfall, just to have privacy. This impacts her health as well as her safety.

Access to a safe, private toilet becomes crucial for girls after they enter puberty. “Girls need clean water to wash themselves or their menstrual cloths and a place to dispose of their menstrual pads if they are using them,” We Can’t Wait explained. “Availability of these facilities in schools will make a big difference to whether or not girls come to school during their monthly periods.”

Over the years, the World Health Organization and NGOs have tried to introduce healthy toilets to developing countries. In the 1970s, for example, Canadian Baptist Ministries’ public health ambassador Muriel Bent delivered 150 locally-made sealed-trap latrines to homes in the Odisha (Orissa) area of India and sparked a successful sanitation revolution among the Sora people. In the early 2000s, women of the Africa Brotherhood Church, a Canadian Baptist Ministries partner in Kenya, proudly introduced a composting toilet to their community in Machakos. But many other charitable initiatives failed to persuade people to change their ways.

Then Jack Sim, a wealthy businessman in Singapore, decided that the only way to improve the world’s sanitation facilities was to get everyone talking about a taboo subject—human feces (he uses the s-word). On November 19, 2001, he founded the World Toilet Organization and hosted the first World Toilet Summit. The 130 delegates from ten countries declared that November 19 would henceforth be World Toilet Day—a day to celebrate toilets and draw global attention to the sanitation crisis.

“World Toilet Day!” At first people scoffed. But the United Nations recognized the seriousness of the issue. Its Millennium Development Goals included a target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation. And in 2013, the General Assembly adopted November 19 as United Nations World Toilet Day.

“We must break the silence and the taboos on sanitation and open defecation,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the European Parliament last November 19. “Since my very first days of working for the United Nations, in refugee camps and in countries where open defecation is practised, I have seen children die from diseases that could have been prevented with adequate sanitation. This is unacceptable and must come to an end.”

The Sanitation Crisis

“This morning, 1.8 billion people woke up with no choice but to drink water contaminated by human waste.” Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General

of the United Nations, 2014

Human waste contaminates the world’s soil and water when it is dumped from buckets or latrines onto fields, streams, or rivers, and when it seeps from pit latrines and faulty sewage pipes.

In the developing world, roughly 90 per cent of sewage is discharged untreated into rivers, lakes and coastal areas, with a widespread negative impact on health. Each year, an estimated 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea occur among children under age five. Water and sanitation interventions can reduce diarrhea child deaths by 88 per cent.

The sanitation crisis is particularly severe in high-density informal settlements across the globe. Around a billion slum dwellers must resort to “flying toilets” (plastic bags that are used then thrown away), and to dumping human waste in public spaces. Adapted from The Sanitation Drive to 2015

Fact Sheet 5

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I stumbled upon World Toilet Day last fall, while exploring “Days of the Year” to use as themes for the advanced English classes I offer as an outreach of the Baptist Church in Litomerice, Czech Republic. I plunged into the United Nations and World Trade Organization websites, grabbed information, graphics and videos, and threw them at my students for our first-ever celebration of toilets.

They were keen to talk about the worst toilets they had experienced; the mere mention of “Turkish toilets” drew groans around the table. No one seemed surprised to read that more people worldwide have mobile phones than access to toilets. The teens chose to watch actor Matt Damon tell baffled journalists why he was going on a ”toilet strike” until everyone has access to clean sanitation. The women applauded the young Indian women who are demanding indoor toilets and telling their grooms-to-be, “No loo, no ‘I do.’” And all of us learned why improved sanitation is so crucial to the safety of the world’s women and the health of its children.

But we only talked about it. One student, my Baptist friend Renata Rokuskova, has actually done something to make the world a more sanitary place. She could have told us a lot about the need for toilets in girls’ schools, but she had to miss class that night. She was too busy running ShineBean, a small charity that connects resources in the Litomerice area with needs in rural Kenya, partly by fostering partnerships between Czech and Kenyan schools. Renata later sent me a photo of the happy outcome of one such partnership: money given by children in a Litomerice primary school had built seven safe, clean toilets for the 270 girls in a Kenyan village school.

This November 19, I’ll be celebrating World Toilet Day in Toronto. And I wonder: will I be content to celebrate by talking about toilets, and maybe posting something on Facebook? Will I join Matt Damon’s toilet strike? Or will I thank God for my flush toilet, and express my gratitude by funding a few toilets for women and girls who desperately need a clean, safe place to go?

ModelcompostingtoiletinMachakos,Kenya.Photo courtesy of Esther Barnes

Learn MoreGoogle World Toilet Day and you will find a wealth of facts and figures, infographics, videos, suggested actions and other resources produced by the United Nations and other partners in the sanitation movement. • The WTO (worldtoilet.org) suggests 10 things you can do for World

Toilet Day. • A PDF of the We Can’t Wait report is available online. • A recent Christian summary is posted at www.christianitytoday.com/

gleanings/2015/july/truth-about-clean-water-toilets-sanitation-campaigns.html.


global mission

Rev. dR. teRRy sMith Appointed Executive Director of Canadian Baptist Ministries

In mid-September, the board of directors of Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) announced that Rev. Dr. Terry Smith has

been appointed as its next executive director for a five-year term, effective September 25, 2015. The role of the executive director is to act as chief executive officer, overseeing operations and providing leadership in setting the strategic direction for the organization.

Terry has served with CBM for 21 years. He and his wife Heather were appointed by CBM in 1994 while they were serving in urban youth outreach and leadership formation in France. In 2003, they returned to Canada so Terry could assume the role of directing CBM’s global mission strategy and partnerships. Since 2012, he has also served as CBM’s deputy executive director. Under Terry’s leadership, CBM has experienced significant growth in the scope and impact of its global programs. He has been instrumental in CBM’s forging of significant new partnerships and networks.

In addressing the CBM staff after his appointment, Smith affirmed his calling to the role of executive director and his love for the organization: “When we joined CBM, the words of then-General Secretary Bob Berry were cemented in our minds and hearts, and made us want to join CBM: the burden of global missions must be borne not by the missionary alone but by the church and its mission sending agency. Since that day, and with those words, our lives have been

forever changed. I am honoured to work with CBM, an organization that understands the centrality of the local church, the power of accountability and teamwork, the challenges of cross-cultural ministry, the need for clear and coherent systems-based solutions and the beauty and grandeur of God’s mission.”

Incoming board president Malcolm Card stated that, “It was a unanimous decision by the board of directors that we appoint Rev. Dr. Terry Smith as CBM’s next executive director. It is clear that his leadership skills, experience, and most importantly his love for mission and the local church, make him the best possible person to lead this organization into the future. We have no doubt that he will ably lead the CBM team into this next phase of strategic global ministry, helping Canadian Baptists to express the calling to be God’s hands and feet in a broken world.”

In addition to his global field and senior management experience, Terry is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, the Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée (Aix-en-Provence, France) and the Faculté de Théologie Evangelique (Vaux sur Seine, France). He obtained his doctorate in Missiology at Acadia University in 2010. In addition to his work at CBM, Terry has served as Adjunct Professor at Tyndale University College and Seminary and has taught at Acadia Divinity College and Carey Theological College.

CBM files

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strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady

God has chosen you! READ Ephesians 1:1-14.Focus on verse 4:• God ______________ me!• He did this even before ________________!• He placed me in ______________________!• Because He wanted me to be ___________ _______ and

without _______________ before ___________________!• All because of His ____________________!As if that isn’t enough to secure your eternal sense of value, take a long look at verses 5 and 6. (As one who was adopted into a wonderful family here on earth, these verses are especially poignant for me.) Because our omniscient Creator sees the whole of creation (not in linear time as we see it), He predetermined that the following would be set in motion for us:• We would be _________________________ as

(daughters) of the King, through ____________________!• His great and amazing g___________ allowed us to be

accepted __________________________________!Verses 7-9 reveal our privileged position before a holy God.

byLindaEllsworth

The Best News eveR!How does God value you?

*Unlessotherwisenoted,allpassagesquotedinthisBibleStudyarefrom the NKJV.

Linda is the member care coordinator for Christian Camping International - Canada and the former director of Camp Norland in northern Ontario.


strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady

q My tongue often gets the better of me.q I sometimes tell “little white lies” or stretch the truth.q Gossip is fun.q I do talk to others about those who really bug me . . .

especially if I think they are out of God’s will!q When I have a temper tantrum . . . look out!q It makes me feel good when I can brag about an

accomplishment.q Sometimes I will embellish a story about someone to

put them in a bad light, and me in a better one.q I am an adult. I no longer have to honour my parents . . .

do I?q I often feel like I just don’t get the “Big Picture.” Then I

end up in trouble.q I talk a good line, but my follow-through often falls

apart.q So-and-so bugs me so much . . . she is just too hard to

love!q “I knew he’d have to answer for that someday . . . he

got what was coming!”q I know I shouldn’t do this, as a Christian, BUT . . .

How did you do? When we see ourselves in the light of the Word of God, it is pretty scary, isn’t it? And the truth sinks home: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But of course, the good news of the Gospels is what we read about in Ephesians. We have been, and as Christians, are constantly being saved.

To What? READ Romans 6: 11-14, 18, 22-23.As a kid, I can remember my mother saying to me, “Linda, don’t take matches to the pit.” (The pit was five acres of abandoned gravel pit in which we used to play). “One of these days, you are going to set that thing on fire!” Which is, of course, exactly what happened! I had had a choice: I could obey my mother and be safe, or I could disobey her and experience the thrill of dangerous fun. In his letter to the Romans, Paul hits the nail on the head. We have a choice, and that choice will be determined by our will. Romans 6:12-14 says “THEREFORE:• Do not let _______________________________________• Do not present ___________________________________• BUT present _____________________________________• Because (for) sin shall NOT _________________________• Because you are NOT under ________________________ BUT under ________________________________________.REMEMBER: If we remain in sin, it is because we choose to.

• In Christ, we have _________________________________ through His ___________________________________.

• We have total ____________________________ of sin.• Because of His unfailing

_____________________________, He gives us w______________ and u__________________ to “solve” the mystery of His ________________________________.

Verses 10-14 reveal the precious promises granted us for our future:• In His perfect timing, He will gather together everything

redeemed (bought back from the brink of hell by Christ), in H_________________ and in e____________ to Himself!

• This is our promised in______________________!• This inheritance has been sealed with the _____________

_______________________________________________!• It is He who is the “guarantee” (or down-payment) of our

future with God in Christ!God valued you, His creation, and picked you for His team . . . for eternity . . . guaranteed!

Chosen from what? To what?We all come from different backgrounds. Some of us have had the joy of being raised in a home where our parents loved and honoured God. Some have come from backgrounds where God’s name was only a curse word. Some have come from countries that practiced a very different faith. Yet all of us have one thing in common—a sinful nature.

From what? READ Romans 1: 18-32 and Romans 3: 10-18, 23. “Who, me?” you say? “I would never be involved in anything listed there!” Let’s take a very personal look at the behaviours and attitudes we think we could never exhibit.

Review the checklist and check those that apply:qI sometimes forget about God in my day-to-day life.q My mind sometimes fantasizes about immoral things.q My thoughts are sometimes “gleefully evil” about

others.q Greed occasionally rears its ugly head (money, food,

clothes . . .).q I secretly wish I had what my neighbour has.q I “bark” at those I love, with the intention of hurting

them.q “I wish that person were dead!” “If she does that again .

. . ooh, I could just kill her!”

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Yet . . . following verses 9 and 10, verse 18 assures us that we have been set free from sin! What a great place to be FROM! And as a result, we have been set free to: (verses 22 and 23)• become _____________________ of _________________. (Are you?)• We are “made holy” in order to bear “holy _____________”

in this earthly life. (Do you?)• Because of God’s free gift, our destiny is ______________. (Is it yours?)

The Attitude of GratitudeREAD Psalm 96 and Psalm 100. We have looked at who we are in sin, and where God has brought us from and to by His grace. In her devotional in Our Daily Bread (Wednesday, September 23), Keila Ochda makes the following observations:“It is a privilege to love Jesus. It is the best experience in life! Do we take the time to tell Him so? Do we express with words the beauty of our Saviour? If we show His beauty with our lives, others will say, ‘No wonder you love Him!’”

Psalm 96 and Psalm 100 express songs of gratitude to the One who chose us, adopted us, redeemed us and sealed us with His Spirit. How do your words and your life express gratitude to the God who has fashioned your life with His endless and eternal possibilities? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Take time to record your own Attitude of Gratitude prayer below to God. Use these two Psalms as stepping stones, as you let your voice of praise flow.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An attitude of gratitude calls for action!READ Colossians 3:12-17.Look at the adjectives with which YOU as a child of God are described by Paul: “Elect!” “Holy!” “Beloved!” You are now solidly on God’s team: chosen by Him, redeemed by His Son, sealed by His Holy Spirit! Therefore, as a result of all of this, act out your salvation in the following ways:• Be full of _____________________, ________________,

_________________, __________________• Bear with _________________________• Forgive ____________________________, just as Christ

____________________________• Put on (clothe yourself in) _______________________• Let your heart be ruled by God’s ____________________.• Be _______________________.• Let Christ’s Word _______________________________,

in all __________________________.• Teach and correct each other through _______________

and ___________________ and _____________________.• Sing with ______________________________________

________ to ____________________________________.• And do it all ____________________________________

_______________________________________________.

The result of living a life of Spirit-filled and directed action? Others notice. Lives are changed! God is glorified!

strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and


gRatitude is a PositionWhat hangs around your neck?

One year when I was little, in the weeks before Christmas, I saw a commercial showcasing a doll that came with special pens that changed the colour of her clothing. I wanted that doll

so badly. It was like a gnawing hunger that I couldn’t satisfy. I had no money, but Christmas was coming and so I wrote to Santa, requesting the doll by name. But, hedging my bets on the old elf’s existence, I was careful to show my mother the letter before asking her to mail it. I showed her the doll in the store when we were there buying presents for others. I prompted her with all the subtlety and ingenuity my seven-year-old self possessed. But when Christmas morning came and the abundance was revealed, I hadn’t received The Doll.

I had been given a different one. It was sweet—a true baby doll—but I wasn’t satisfied. I remember moping because want was still gnawing at me. I was disappointed because what I had received wasn’t what I had requested. It seemed second rate. My mother noticed my deflated expression and asked what the problem was. I am ashamed to say that somehow I communicated my discontent. My mom was hurt. In an uncharacteristic move, she returned the sweet baby doll and purchased its garish replacement. I learned the deceptive nature of advertising that day. The Doll was a clunker and an inadequate imitation of what my desire had built it up to be. The pens barely functioned and trying to use them was an exercise in frustration. I didn’t like it. I had hurt my mom for nothing and I wanted the baby doll back.

For years I kept that gaudy doll—the object of my desire—in its original box in my closet; an albatross of my discontent hanging around my neck. Whenever I caught a glimpse of it, I felt sick. I had been disappointed before I’d received it, and I felt disappointed afterwards. It was a powerful lesson.

Gratitude is more than just thankfulness. It is about position. It is about who we are in relation to the Most High. My mother could discern a better gift for her child than I could for myself. She knew about deceptive advertising and poor construction. She knew what was a good gift and what was just junk.

In the last few years I haven’t been content with where God has planted me. I want something different and it’s gnawed at me and

byMorganWolf

Morgan Wolf is a writer from Calgary, Alberta. She writes in a wide variety of genres from poetry to graphic comics and everything in between. She blogs about her faith and writing at www.anothergratuitousmdash.blogspot.ca and loves being a part of First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary.

GRATITUDECHANGES

EVERYTHING

I’m afraid I’ll feel disappointed

strong and steady • give your all • strong and steady • give your all • strong and

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killed my creativity and made me unhappy and hopeless as I lay awake at night. I have been like Eve in the Garden, spending too much time staring at the one tree He hasn’t given me for food; obsessing about how amazing that fruit must taste, so much so that I have ignored, or disdained all the trees He has given.

I’ve been ungrateful but I never would have called it that. The source of my discontent seemed justified and so I deceived myself into thinking I knew better than God. If I truly recognized my privileged position as His child, I wouldn’t have spent the last few years making sure He saw how disappointed and discontented I was.

I’m a slow learner when it comes to lessons that apply to my own fears and pain. I hide them tightly, preferring only to whine at God rather than letting Him reveal what He wants to give me. And, if I’m being honest, a lot of the time I don’t even want Him to reveal what He wants because I’m afraid I’ll think it is second rate. I’m afraid I’ll feel disappointed like I did that Christmas morning.

But the lasting sting of the whole doll debacle was not in the disillusionment that it brought. The pain that still clutches at me is that my ingratitude hurt my mother. I don’t know if I had ever realized that I had that power over her, but once discovered, it was a horrible burden. The horror of that burden magnifies exponentially when I realize that I’ve been doing the same thing to my heavenly Father.

God is good and as I reject the pride of thinking I know best, that gnawing feeling of want begins to weaken. As I submit to His plans, He reveals that what He wants is for me not to be afraid of disappointment; not to hoard pain. He wants to reveal more of Himself so that I can gladly proclaim that a greater share of God isn’t second best, but the best in every case. He wants me to get the message that contentment and gladness—gratitude—are never about what I have, but about the One to whom I belong.

ungRateful heaRt Syndrome All it takes is one simple expression of thanks

by Jenny Burr


I really wonder if I have any gratitude in my heart to share. Shocking, right?

I know I am not the only person who has struggled to be thankful or finds it hard to express gratitude. Life is full of stresses: finances, health issues, grief, toxic or stagnant relationships. I call this struggle ungrateful heart syndrome. Its symptoms creep up on you when you least expect it. You know what they are: whining, complaining, nagging, grumbling, envy, jealousy, dissatisfaction, anger,


self-pity, hopelessness and despair. Once one symptom has wiggled its way into your heart, it begins to make room for the other symptoms. Before you know it, you are struck down with ingratitude. Full-blown ungrateful heart syndrome has wormed its way into your mind, your heart and your soul.

Financial stress is the current source of my bout of ungrateful heart syndrome. I knew that I needed to look for the good in my situation so that I could express gratitude to God but it was tough. My heart and mind battled against each other. My mind uttered these words to my heart. “Look for the good in this situation. Say thank you to God for something! Anything! Don’t give up hope.” God has been a part of my life since I was 12

and I was determined to stay strong in my faith.

Then I thought back to the time that I read the book

and devotional, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Slowly I began to meet the challenge Voskamp’s friend had given her; to daily count the gifts and blessings of God. My mind grappled for one good thing that happened during the day for which I could express gratitude. It was in the summer so I said, “Thank you God for this sunny day.” That one simple expression of thanks opened my heart to release the symptoms of hopelessness and despair.

My situation didn’t change. My attitude did. That was the beginning of my recovery from ungrateful heart syndrome.

I’d continued to pray and read my Bible even as ungrateful heart syndrome tried to wriggle even deeper and as my recovery began, something happened. My heart absorbed more of my Scripture readings and my prayers voiced less pleading for our situation to change. I began to thank God for each day, for His creation and for His

“I knew that I needed to look, but it was tough .”

Jenny Burr is a survivor of ungrateful heart syndrome. She’s also the women’s ministry coordinator at Kanata Baptist Church, and chair for the Ottawa Baptist Women’s Association.

blessings. Taking the focus off my situation allowed more and more ingratitude to exit my heart. The syndrome began to shrivel.

Finally I prayed this prayer: “Dear Lord, I want to be thankful. I want to hope. I ask for your continued blessing, despite the fact that our situation has not changed, despite the discouragement which I sometimes feel. Despite the envy I occasionally have for others and their apparent blessings. Help me dear heavenly Father to count my blessings, to offer thanks, and to continue to hope. You have our best in mind and will bless us for our obedience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Why did I mention obedience in my prayer? My husband and I are experiencing financial stress due to our obedience. I know, it sounds crazy. You would think that obedience would mean financial blessings and rewards but in our case, and as I’ve seen in Scripture, blessings are not always monetary. Blessings can be a change of heart or even of mind. Being obedient is a blessing: “But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV).

The next time ungrateful heart syndrome strikes and your prayers have become nagging sessions, think about one thing for which you can be thankful. The next day, remind yourself of that item and then add one more item to it. Bit by bit your gratitude list will grow, and even though your circumstances may not change, your attitude and heart will.

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a hot Cup of tea and ThanksI call you friend

I must admit that autumn is my favourite time of the year. The weather is colder and the leaves put on incredible colours to

prepare for Thanksgiving and Advent. During Thanksgiving we express our gratitude to the Lord for the countless blessings we have in our lives. I am grateful for this wonderful holiday when we can reflect on the past year and sincerely thank God for everything we have. Our lives are busy and often we forget to give thanks daily for the gift of a new morning, for having food to eat and for peace in our country.

Another amazing time starts after Thanksgiving: Advent. This is the time when we continue to thank God for His promise and the hope He gives us all. It is also a waiting time; a time when we reflect on the Word of God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ. It is paradoxical how much consumerism overtakes us at this time of the year. Stores lure us with millions of lights and many different Christmas decorations, yet in the birth of Christ, God teaches us to put others before ourselves and to concentrate on those who are less fortunate than we are.

I would like to tell you about the ministry that was started by a student of the seminary I attended in Prague, Czech Republic. Prague offers many places where homeless people can gather—train stations, parks and squares. A student named Benjamin (from Belgium) felt called to minister to these homeless people. He started going to their gathering spots every week carrying a thermos of hot tea and his wonderful heart full of love. He didn’t know the Czech language and they didn’t know English but they always had amazing times together. Ben would always tell us about his adventures and his new friends whom he knew by name and for whom he prayed.

by Yevgeniya Bakai

Jenya is a journalist from Prague. She lives in Toronto with her family and worships at Greenborough Community Church where her husband Steven pastors. She sits on CBWOQ’s board of directors.

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That’s the exact word he used . . . he always called them friends! His group started growing. More and more students joined him and eventually they found an interpreter so communication became easier between the students and their friends.

When Christmas Eve came that year not many students stayed at the seminary—most students returned home for the holidays. A small group of us (teachers included) decided to find Benjamin’s friends, bring them hot soup and sing Christmas carols with them. It

was an amazing experience. As we came to the first group of people, it was obvious they had nowhere to go. They were not dressed for the weather and had no

Christmas tree or presents given to them. They were surprised by our approach, at first reluctant but then thankful for the hot soup and crackers. We went from one place to another, handing out soup and crackers,

That night was about helping my neighbours.

singing carols.I thought about that evening a lot

afterwards. I don’t remember much of our conversations with them but I remember how I felt. God had not only reminded me to be grateful for what I have, but He had also given me an opportunity to help others. Although the weather was cold, that night wasn’t about me and my comfort; that night was about helping my neighbours. It was about sharing God’s love with the world.

I honestly don’t remember the presents I received for Christmas that year but I will always remember that cold and snowy Christmas night, the hot soup and the grateful faces.

Let us be grateful to God for everything we have in our lives. Let also share our grateful hearts with people around us. Let us become messengers of the hope which God promises to all of us and let us share that hope with all our hearts and minds.

Finding what sustains you

My Soul at RestCBWOQ Women’s Conferencedate: Friday, April 22 - Saturday, April 23, 2016venue: Mississauga Chinese Baptist Church 5220 Creekbank Rd., Mississauga, ON L4W 1X1

In January, look for full registration information including costs in the January/February 2016 issue of live magazine and on our website.

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Gratitude is a VerbDon’t just say. Do.

Something was missing

I have learned that gratitude is a verb. Well, of course it isn’t really a verb, it’s a noun. Christians have a way of understanding things that sometimes defies logic. We have

minds that embrace concepts that don’t make sense: that a king was born in a manger, that Jesus was fully God and fully man, that our hearts are desperately wicked, yet we are made in the image of God and are infinitely precious to Him. Don’t even get me started on the Trinity.

So accepting that gratitude is a verb shouldn’t be so difficult. I learned this lesson from my husband. Don’t get me wrong.

I have always been grateful to God for His many blessings, and have said and sung my thanks to Him for decades. But in a sense I think it was almost a selfish gratitude. I was thankful that I was so blessed, for all that I had, for my wonderful life. Do you see the problem? “I” is there too many times in those sentences. While we need to be thankful, and while I gladly

tithed and gave of my time to my church, there was something missing.

All the years our two children were growing up, my husband Dave worked full time and I worked part time. I have always been careful with money. Dave looked at our two children, saw how blessed we were, and in his gratitude he decided we needed to help children not as fortunate as we are. So we decided to support children through World Vision—three of them. We were thankful for our children. But we put that gratitude into action by helping other children.

While I was busy preparing huge feasts for large family-and-friend gatherings at

Thanksgiving and Easter, my husband would

by Jan Thomas

IT’S MONDAY.I’M HAPPY.I’M BLESSED.GOD IS GOING TO DO AMAZINGTHINGS THIS WEEK.


look around and say to me, “You know, we can’t sit down and thank God and then eat this huge feast unless we try to help those who are not as fortunate.” I thought we were spending enough feeding 12 to 13 people on these occasions. But he was right, and thus started our family tradition of going out and buying bags of food for the Food Bank on those weekends. At first the kids just helped us shop, but gradually they started chipping in their own money. We sat down to our own dinners and thanked God for our bounty—but we showed Him how thankful we were by giving to others first.

I have been blessed with a great marriage. And I can thank God in my prayers, or I can be a shoulder for those women who are struggling with their significant others. I can take my time to have coffee with them, pray with them.

I have been blessed with relatively good health. I can say thank you to God, or I can show up at the hospital when a friend needs me or walk with a relative going through cancer treatments.

I can thank God for our easy access to medical care, or I can put my gratitude into action by giving to Doctors Without Borders.

The list goes on and on. Your list will be different from mine. But the point is, we can say thank you to God (and He does love and accept our praise and thanksgiving) or we can show Him how thankful we are by doing.

And the most amazing thing about all this: Dave and I have never run out of money or energy to do the things that we do out of gratitude to God. (Frankly the money part amazed me the most—it was a learning experience for me!).

This Christmas and New Year, try turning your gratitude into a verb—and see the wonderful places God takes you!

Jan’s latest book Mustard Seeds | Significant Small Things of Scripture is on CBWOQ’s reading list for 2015 – 2017. Jan is also the music director at Mimico Baptist Church, Ontario.

Finding BaBy JesusGiving thanks at Christmas time

As a Christian and a Christian Education specialist, I am thankful for Christ at Christmas. I really am. But I find that I often need that fresh point of view that makes Christmas more

meaningful. Meaningful like it’s your first Christmas ever. Meaningful like it is when you’re a new Christian, and every single moment is significant because you are filled with awe and you just can’t help but feel gratitude for the gift that God has given you.

Unfortunately, I often catch myself going through the motions, through these lists of what needs to be done. Food—buying and preparing. Christmas presents for multiple family members. Visits.

by Tina Rae


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Going to church. I am very grateful for all these blessings that have been given to me, but they are more than a checklist of things to finish. I need to remember the joy in the gift that God gave us in the little boy Jesus, who was born to save us from our sin.

Sometimes I think back to the first year I started going to an evangelical church. I remember going to a family Christmas pageant where everyone had a role. There was singing and a main drama interspersed with the Christmas story performed by three-year-old lambs with a teenaged Mary and Joseph carrying the youngest child in the congregation as baby Jesus. That year, the story impacted me in a new way as with fresh eyes I saw God’s unfailing love and the beauty of the Gift He had given us.

The challenge for me now is to keep my remembering of this seminal story fresh and intense, year after year. Thankfully, I am challenged to search for new perspectives through my ministry. Last year, I found one.

I came across a YouTube video posted by The Skit Guys in which one of the members shared a family tradition. It was a simple tradition that I hoped would help our congregation (children and adults) prepare their hearts for Jesus’ arrival and to search for Jesus through the Advent season.

So one Sunday morning during that Advent, I launched that tradition. As the children gathered round during the morning service for their children’s moment, I pointed out that Jesus was literally missing. We saw that the manger scene was set up, but Jesus was not there. The challenge was to find him. I told everyone that I had hidden Him and I proceeded to share a Bible verse clue. This clue would point them to where the little baby Jesus was . . . somewhere in the church. I wanted us to keep Jesus on our minds. I wanted us to wonder where He was. I wanted us to not only think about Jesus at church, but also at home.

The challenge was accepted, not only by the children, but also by the adults. The service finished and the search began. There were adults looking in the baptistry, under chairs, inside the pulpit, and all over the sanctuary. Nobody found Jesus.

In the middle of the week adults and children kept looking but little baby Jesus still stayed hidden. The next week there was another clue, and still no discovery . . . but Jesus was on everyone’s mind.

The next week it was looking as though it might be the same story, but someone had an idea to search again in a less accessible area. And I encouraged a group of children to look their hardest. Their determination paid off. I was in the sanctuary getting ready for our pageant practice when a group of children came running into the sanctuary with excitement shouting, “We found Him! We found Jesus!”

That Advent we’d prepared our hearts for Jesus’ arrival in a completely new way and I saw the joy of finding Christ through fresh eyes. We were all reminded of the gratitude we need to have—renewed day by day—in the gift that Christ gave us—the gift of Himself.

We found Him!

Tina is the Christian Education specialist at Westview Baptist Church, London.



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God’sLoveForYou:ABibleStorybookby Richard Stearns, president of World Vision USA This unique book shares how children around the world are touched by God.On special for $14.99

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