The Gathering Place Where Family Matters

I want to do something different this week. I am holding her Bible. I’ve discovered some things that I haven’t looked at in a long time. When you consider the personality that Karen had and her determination not to hang onto things no longer needed, you’ll sense the importance of what I discovered she not only kept, but kept in her Bible. There she would see these things often, read them again, and embrace them. I’ll share this with you in just a second. Think of this verse first.

Karen and I always prayed about her speaking engagements. I was genuinely interested in not only where she had been invited but also what she’d be speaking about. She only spoke to ladies’ groups. But I also realize that as I read her notes, there are some good encouragements to not only ladies but to men as well. You can imagine my surprise when she told me the title of her seminar was going to be “Your Church Needs to Have Fun!”

I don’t know where this event took place, but I am holding the notes she used. Karen used an acrostic spelling out the word “FUN.” Last week I shared with you that F stood for “Faith.” Obviously every local church will be greatly blessed when the believers there demonstrate faith.

Today we move to the letter U

Sometimes at the top of Karen’s handwritten notes she would list the date and place of her seminar presentation. She didn’t on this one. However, I am holding in my hands the typical small sheet of paper employing red ink for the outline and blue ink for the notes (I wonder where she would have gotten such an idea?). Wherever she was speaking, she was going to surely catch their attention with the title about every church and the word fun. Actually, this was going to be an acrostic FUN.

Sometime in 2002 Karen was speaking at a ladies’ event on the topic of trusting the Lord in every situation and season of life. When we truly walk with the Lord and trust Him, we discover the wonderful blessing of knowing that the Lord never will forsake us. He will never leave us. Let me share the Scripture passage she was going to present, and then I’ll share a few of the things directly from her notes.