Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

#TestimonyChallenge…and Grace and Truth Link Up

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

I hate to see myself on video.  Absolutely hate it.  I’m getting over myself, though, to share a little more of my story with you.

 

Weeks ago, the church I call home started a Testimony Challenge on Facebook.  The purpose?  To spread the name of Jesus faster and farther than the coronavirus.  The instructions:  To post a video testimony of God’s work in your life and challenge 10 others to do the same.  Watching the responses of church members – some I know personally and some I don’t – has been such an encouragement to me during a discouraging time for our country.

 

When a church staffer threw down the gauntlet (in the best possible way), I broke with lockdown tradition and put on makeup, fixed my hair and pointed the iphone in my direction.  Below is an abbreviated recounting of the many ways God has blessed me, taught me and been faithful to me as I’ve walked (sometimes stumbled) through life with Him.

 

If you are tired of all the bad news, look on Facebook at 121 Community Church or search #testimonychallenge.  Or get in on the challenge yourself.  Post your testimony to social media.  And please post the link in the comments below.  Let’s fling His fame all over the internet!

 

If you want to know more about how to walk with Christ and experience His faithfulness for yourself, please comment below or go to the Contact page on this blog to send me a private message.  Nothing would bring me more joy than talking to you about Him!

 

And now for this week’s featured post!

 

Susan Nowell of My Place to Yours challenged me to think outside the walls of my home once the world starts to return to normal.  I was convicted of my selfish thinking, but also related to the fears and concerns so vulnerably expressed by the author.  Read Thinking Ahead:  What Will Coming Together Look Like When #stayathome Ends for this call to the global church.

 

Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.

 

Grace & Truth : A Weekly Christian Link Up

 

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

 

 

Maree Dee

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Lauren Sparks

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
 

Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

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Lisa Burgess

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1.)  Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory, but appreciated!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!

4.) We sort all links randomly – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

Featured Post Requirements

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. It is not mandatory, but it is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to emphasize and promote via their social media channels next week.

Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post.

 

 

And now, let’s link up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

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A Sacrifice of Thanks

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Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,
    and keep the vows you made to the Most High.
15 Then call on me when you are in trouble,
    and I will rescue you,
    and you will give me glory.  Psalm 50:14 NLT

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

 

As a family we sit in a very different place than this time last year.  And the year before that.  With my husband back in a stable work environment and my cancer in the rear view mirror, we have many reasons to praise and thank God.  Actually, the truth is that God deserves our thanks ALWAYS, but in my faithlessness, I forget.

 

If you have followed this blog for longer than a minute (thank you!), then you know my recent history of doubting God’s kindness and goodness while in the throes of painful experiences.  It actually took the funeral of a two year old boy to wake me up to my own stubborn ungratefulness.  The precious parents of this boy asked for the mourners at his service to sing the song “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin.  Two week prior the praise band at church lead us in this very song and I refused to sing.  In my heart, I didn’t feel it.  And yet these missionaries (once over seas, but on this day to me) knew that our Father God is always good.  They sang of this goodness with empty arms and broken hearts.  And I realized I could too.

 

That’s what Psalm 50:14 is all about.  We bring glory to God when we praise Him for His provision, even as we wonder how the bills will get paid.  We bring Him glory when we thank Him for family, even with strained relationships in the picture.  We honor Him when we thank Him for a life even after that life passes on.  We show the world His tender mercies when we thank Him for his comfort in the midst of hard times.  And we showcase His majesty when we accept His gift of Jesus with a beholden spirit.

 

As young parents, we started a new tradition to help us and the kids remember all God does for us (and emphasize the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday) by putting up a thankfulness tree.   For many years we adorned our artificial tree with construction paper leaves and turkeys with handwritten Bible verses about giving thanks.   We also wrote on them the names of the people and things for which we were most grateful.  This year with my bonus son out of the house (and married with kids of his own) and both daughters firmly in their teen years, the construction paper didn’t seem quite as charming.  So we decided to let our tree grow up and bought a few ornaments instead.  Acorns, leaves, pumpkins and footballs now hang on the branches.  But even though we changed the tree, I wasn’t ready to give up our family gratitude practice.

 

We now have a tabletop card holder in the middle of our kitchen table with a sharpie and blank leaves and turkeys and pumpkins.  Every time we sit down to dinner as a family, we add something we are thankful for.  Some days it’s easy to give thanks, and sometimes it’s a sacrifice to set aside our feelings and look at who God is.  Who He has always been, through good times and bad.  Because the truth beyond our circumstances is that He is good.  And it’s always for our sanctification to acknowledge it.

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of sharing it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!

 

And look up these great writers I link up with every week:

InstaEncouragements, Literacy Musing Mondays, Hello…Monday,

The Good. The Random. The Fun.

BloggerClubUK, Tea and Word Tuesday, Purposeful Faith,

GraceFull Tuesday Link-Up, Hearth and Soul Link Party,

Let’s Have Coffee, Welcome Wednesday, Recharge Wednesday,

Worth Beyond Rubies, #TellHisStory Link Up, Porch Stories,

Encouraging Word Wednesday, Tune In Thursday,

Stories of Hope, Moments of Hope, IHeart Verse Link Party,

Legacy Link Up, Fresh Market Friday, Feature Friday Time,

Friendship Friday Blog Hop, Faith on Fire, Traffic Jam Weekend,

Faith ‘n Friends, Dancing with Jesus, Grace & Truth, Booknificent

Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

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