So.... things are getting busy. What's up? Well, we are planning a Grocery Sac drop for Christmas. Trying to get the night nailed down, but likely next Tuesday we'll put together 20 or so grocery sacks and deliver to addresses we feel their may be a need at. I'm praying this will be God led and will light or spark someone to move forward in their walk.

We are also getting ready for Simple Talk - the first Monday at noon in January. The first ad ran this week, and we're hoping for several to sign up to join us!

All Kids Can is getting some good sporting good donations. We are also at a point where we can sponsor a couple of more if they come to us!

We also recently did an interview with the Northwest Iowa Review. Not sure when the article will run, but hoping the highlight the ministry well.

So, enough of the technical updates. I want an update on how each of you are doing spritually as you prepare for Christmas. I challenge you this weekend to not get so lost in the presents and the wrapping and the parties that you forget about Jesus. Find some quiet time to reflect on Him this weekend. Really pray about the season and the start of the celebration of his rising from the grave.

We love each of you and pray that your holiday may draw you closer to our God.

Wow... where has the time gone? Simply Grace is blessed to have been blessed in many ways in the past couple of months.

First of all, we celebrate in the answer of prayer for the Kredit family. Precious Maryn has joined their family through adoption and is a true gift from God, Precious in his sight!

We have had the opportunity to meet and help the Hernandez family of Sioux Center, whose business and home burnt. Thanks to all of those who so graciously dropped off cold weather clothes for this family. I believe that I have taken 7-8 boxes to the family in total. They are very appreciative and have loving hearts. I'm proud of each of you for sharing and being obedient to our call.

In addition, the All Kids Can program is up and moving. We've been able to sponsor and help 4 kids. 1 with Dance, 2 with Hockey and 1 with a medical need. We had a generous donor that has made this possible and we greatly appreciate their support of this ministry that keeps our kids as a primary focus! Look for a fund raiser in the near future so that we may enable more kids to do the things of their hearts desires!

We pray that God is blessing each of you, and that he will put our next opporutnity in front of us.

All kids Can!

We are lifting up All Kids Can this week as Mel is rocking this ministry out! They have a team, a plan, advertising and hopefully some money and some kids who need stuff to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Simply Grace is simply some women with a passion to do something extra for God, to give God glory by helping others...Simply Grace is not just being doers but reminding ourselves and others that it is simply about the Grace. No conditions, no economic equality, no justification...few expectations...grace. We need to demonstrate it because Jesus gave it freely when he gave his all for us...

These girls are sold out to make a difference. Join me in blessing them and lifting up the Simply Grace efforts and especially the All Kids Can as we gear up for school and all the programs we offer in the community.

Show us favor, Lord, and teach us more about who you are and how to share your love.

-respectfully, humbly submitted by Niki...the pray-er, not the do-er.

what's up?

Simply Grace girls are gettin' busy, that's what's up! Mel has a meeting for All Kids Can tomorrow. Lifting up prayers for that ministry. Lord, let the people who come to the meeting be inspired to help make it possible for kids to sign up for sports and activities even without the money to buy equipment. Let there be a spirit of generosity and sharing the burden so that those who have can share with those who have not. Keep it holy and humble, Lord, and bless the kids who will benefit from this program. Help them to know that it is because of you and your kingdom work that we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Also praying for Danielle as she puts the women's retreat together for the fall. God, just make the path straight and help her to navigate the planning stages. Give her passion and enthusiasm and confidence and a sense of what you want from this, what you desire to reveal to us in Romans 12.

Praising you, Lord, for the speaking conference Jen attended and the amazing connections you made for her, confirming her desire and place right where you want her to be learning and growing. Thank you that is was possible for her to do that and now speak to her, God, in the big and small ways, so that she can form the words you would have her share with others.

Me? Keep me praying. Keep my posture kneeling before you on weak knees with feeble arms lifted high. Help me to speak less and listen more and to cling to you, Father, to line up with you every time I think of it and to do less and less for the world and more and more for the Kingdom of Jesus.

Bless Simply Grace if it would give you glory, Father God. Amen.

sorry, I messed this up...read by time, not by posting...I accidently hit publish before I was done, then was in a hurry. apologies.-Niki

Several days since that day I have walked the path and there was no water cooler and it was fine. Today I went out walking in haste. I was frustrated and overwhelmed and needed to burn some negative energy and pray and think. I was distraught. It was 3pm and it was hot. I found myself wondering between pounding steps if the water cooler would be there. I thought to myself, 'this would be a good day for the water cooler to be there' and not just for a drink. As I pictured the cooler standing in the shade on the picnic table, I also wondered if there would be a new verse on the bottles. What might God want to tell me today?

Before long I was thirsting more for the scripture on the bottle than the actual water and wondering and hoping...I rounded a corner of the path and could then see down the way to the tree and the table and There It Was! The blue cooler, resting quietly in the shade...I began to weep. I walked and I cried and I marvelled at how thirsty I was, how hot it was, how near and how far I was to the wonderful water and I just knew there would be words from the Lord inside. I just knew it.

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in faith, and in purity." 1 Tim 4:12

.

We have a long bike path in our town that wraps around the east side of town. I walk it often, as do most other residents of our town. Last week I was walking on a hot morning and came upon a cooler standing on a picnic table with a sign that read "help yourself". Inside the cooler were bottles of cool water with a bible vers stuck to them. How refreshing and suprising and delightful! I did help myself and said a prayer of thanks for whoever was thoughtful enough to be a silent blessing to me on my walk. A small gesture that did big things

its all about the link

I'm gonna try to take over this blog as my contribution to our Simply Grace ministry. I have zero admin skills, I have very little vision or passion for ministry in a global sense...but I am the fourth quadrant of Simply Grace because I listen, I pray and I care. I also write. :) I can write here and write on my personal blog and maybe 10-20 people will read my blog each day because I've been at it awhile. I may say very little that is profound or worthy there and save it all for this blog...but if noone reads it, its irrelevant.

I get amazing revelation from God all the time. If I post all of it on the other blog, noone would find this one or find us. It's all about the link. If somehow I can link up a few high profile blogs with this unknown one, someone may read this one and strike a match that burns a flame that starts a fire of revival and purpose for the Lord...that would be so cool. If someone could learn about Simply Grace and sow in seeds of money, time, effort and prayer in a way that would mushroom out and explode a ministry into greatness for God and usefulness for 3 amazing Christian women who I call my friends...that would be so cool. Maybe it's all about the link.

It is with God. It is all about the link. If we don't click on it, tap into it, read about and ponder, we are separate from Him. If we just turn our faces to the Father and Author and Redeemer and Friend, if we drag the mouse to the link and click...He can open new windows, reveal new screens, teach and empower us for whatever He has planned, waiting just beyond the link. But we have to click on it. We have to go a step further. We have to search and wonder and seek and actively participate in this crazy thing called faith and walk with the Lord, and learn.

It's all about the link so maybe, with God's blessing and a fresh breath of His Holy Spirit, we can make the link and someone may find it.

praying specifically for the following:
1. Jen's speaking conference in 2 weeks.
2. Jen's idea to have a monthly community working women's bible study over lunch hour.
3. Mel's ministry for kids who want to do extracurricular activities, called All Kids Can.
4. Danielle's plans for a women's retreat in the fall.

These are women who love the Lord and are seeking to serve Him with gifts, talents and faith...show us the way, Lord!

The Throne Room

From Revelation Four:

The throne room is occupied
He has taken His seat-
A sea of glass shines at His feet.
Sea glass was garbage-
Things we didn’t need.
God gathered the waste
Now like crystal,
Changed and freed.
Four creatures sing praises
They worship God,
Bowing down-
Twenty-four elders sit around Him
In white robes and gold crowns.
They cast their crowns before the King-
How can we do the same?
What sets upon our heads to give?
Can we revere His Holy name?
The four living creatures have many eyes.
They see all there is to see.
They sing day and night of God’s holiness.
They give thanks and honor and glory…
What are we doing with all of our days?
Are we wasting the moments
We could be giving praise?
The throne room of God,
Such a worshipful place…
There is nothing more urgent
Than to be in God’s amazing grace,
To stand at His feet,
To kneel before His might,
To bow before His power,
To sing in Holy light-
To hear the peals of thunder
Like drum beats keeping pace,
To flinch as bolts of lightning
Flash before our face,
To never say “Its just too much,
I have to turn away”
To always find new songs of joy
And always get to stay
In such a place of honor,
The throne room of our King,
Our jealous God will never tire of
Anything we bring
To the throne room.

And then He speaks...

I often feel God calling me,
Summoning me to the quite place,
The beautiful place,
The place of solitude –
So I go. He wants to tell me something.

I find that place – it’s on a beach
Or under a tree
Or even sitting on a flat bed trailer at sunset.
I settle in and wait
And listen
I pray
I listen
I hear the silence
Which sounds like birds …
And cars and insects …
And quietness…
I do not hear God’s voice
“What is it Lord?”
“What do you want to tell me?”
Sigh
I gulp down the peace,
The tranquil moment.
When time stopped, or at the very least,
It ceased to matter.
It tastes like cold water on a hot day-
I sip the quietness and breathe
It tastes like really good wine.
I savor it for a moment.
A pregnant pause
So full of expectation
Listening … in the quite place
I get up, stretch and move
I begin to pray … always
Continuously, without ceasing I pray
I thank Him for this time
This rest, this refreshing and refilling
Of my cup, my heart, my hearing.
As I start to move again
It is often then
That He speaks.

7/28/2008

He Touched Me...

He Touched Me


I stood in the church that day broken and weak,
Too scared to pray and too sad to speak.
As she approached me with vial in hand
That held healing oil…did I understand?
She asked to anoint me, I bowed my head
In her gentle touch I felt God instead.

He touched me.
He held me there.
The pain became less of my burden to bear
He touched me.

In the quiet of night, my arms full of love
I offered prayers to God above-
A gift small but grand, a difficult task
To raise my child, how can I? I asked
My babe reached up to stroke my face
I felt that small hand but God’s infinite Grace.

He touched me.
He held me there.
The pain became less of my burden to bear
He touched me.

I worried about what I cannot control.
I ached for assurance for their tender souls
The devil has haunted my dreams in the night
But God reached out with his beacon of light.

He touched me.
He held me there.
The pain became less of my burden to bear
He touched me.

God Speaks...

God Speaks...

Abide in me and I will live in you.
Ask me to enter and you will be made new.
Let your thoughts be my thoughts,
Let your will be mine.
Learn to hear my still, small voice.
Experience love divine.

I have so much to teach you
If you'd only choose to hear.
I cannot make you listen-
You have to want me near.
The righteousness that dwells in me
Is yours if you believe.
Accept my Son as your Salvation
My Spirit you'll receive.

I love to hear your praises-
And I have praises, too.
If you'd spend some time with me
I'd sing my songs to you.
I love you sweet, sweet child of mine,
I created you for me.
You are not bound by this dark world,
Lord Jesus set you free.

So raise your hands to heaven's sky
Claim the power that lives on high.
Accept the gift of salvation's cup,
Drink from it deeply, then lift it up.
Abide in me, I'll live in you.
I'll enter in, you will be new.

From God, through Nikolyn Kredit

Simply What???

So, today begins our blog. Let’s start with a little of “Who is Simply Grace?”

We are a group of women who are imperfect and messy and emotional. We need Christ to save us from the mess we make of ourselves. Everyday we walk in that understanding, fully aware of how imperfect we are. Everyday we thank Him for His grace. Isn't that what it's all about?

Or is it? Why does it at times feel as if being a Christian is more about rules, regulations, the perfect sermon, pacification and trying to maintain a righteous lifestyle? But we found things to be different. We found a freedom to fail. We found that it's about bringing the church to the broken, not the broken to the church. (Although we love our churches) We found Love. We've experienced pain, brokenness and betrayal. And in it all, we found Comfort. We are very imperfect with way too many faults. But one thing is certain, we've been shown Grace. A LOT of Grace.

And we love God. We really, really do! And we have a heart to bring that love to others... in whatever way that might be, (we're really not sure yet). We just want to love those hurting in our community, in the different ways that we've been shown love. We're not going to be fake. We're real and we need grace - lots of it. But that is really what it's about to us.... simply, Grace. And we can't wait to see what God has for this (His) ministry. We’re following His lead, and trusting in His provisions.