Protestant Women of the Chapel

Volume 1, Issue 8

Keynote

March 2012

Keys to Connect
Lunch Bunch: Meet at Lescale Joseph Brassiere at 12:30 p.m. after PWOC Mar. 6. Please reserve your seat via Jennifer at ajweatherstone@earthlink.net.

Is God Calling You?

Some of this years selected board members share how their position affects their life. If you feel God tugging at your heart to serve on the 2012-2013 board, contact Mia at mia.basilici@yahoo.com. President - Karlena: I can't even begin tell you how God has worked in my life to draw me closer to Him. Yes, the position requires work, but it is SO worth it knowing the work has eternal value. When you answer the Lord's call, He will equip and surround you with helpers to serve Him. We need your prayers and willing heart to
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Focus on Ministry: Intimate Issues Retreat

Book Club: Meets Mar. 14, 7-9 By Trisha Raynoha p.m. at Christine Horsleys S-E-X. Thats right, I said it. We stayed We practice our sex life to build Christ house. Read Jane Austen: A up all night talking about SEX and Mitzi -like character, to unselfishly serve Life by Claire Tomalin. Be ready Roberts started it! one another in love. to discuss it. Coffee and tea proMitzi, our chapters Titus II representa Struggles in your sex life should be vided; please bring a snack to tive, has a heart for God, a heart for our struggle, not mine. share. The book for April is Call teaching and a heart for serving. She the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, Minister to your husband in his stressshared her heart Feb. 10 as more than 30 for those who would like to start ful times by making yourself sexually women came together at reading it early. The club will it will reSex is a holy act available -stress and Daumerie Chapel to get meet at Kory Caughies house lieve his Back to the Garden during Apr. 18. Contact Sarah Pollock at make other stressful of worship; God the Intimate Issues retreat. sarita57wisc@aol.com. areas of his life less The retreat was a fantastic isnt looking away problematic. time of fellowship and fun. when it happens. But it was also a time for We also discussed Game Night: Game Night dates learning and better underthe top five sex for the winter semester are Apr. - Mitzi Roberts standing of Gods purpose needs of men and 20 and May 18. Bring a friend! and place for sex in the marwomen to help us understand where our Contact Trisha Raynoha at kuriage relationship. partner is coming from and to equip us to jhawk97@yahoo.com. After rereading seven, count them share with our husbands what we need. SEVEN - pages of notes (youd think this Sex is a critical piece of any relationship, was a new subject for me ) I think Ill good or bad. Ensuring open communicaPWOC Fit: Meets M/W/F at 9 summarize the night in bullets. There tion with your husband in all areas of your a.m. at the SHAPE gym parking were some really great points and here marriage, including your sex life, is essenlot for support, encouragement are a few of my favorites: tial to a more holy, Christ-like union. Sex and group exercise activities to is one of the most intimate ways a husinclude walking and running. Think of your husband as a handband and wife can worship our Creator; Contact Dana Maksimowicz at picked gift for you from God. Do you ministering to your spouses sexual needs mrsmaks@gmail.com. honor and treasure him as though he is truly a gift - from God to you, as well as were a gift from God? to God from you. Sex is the sign of the covenant beAs Mitzi likes to quote, Dont be Prayer: Meets Tuesdays 12 tween man and woman. It is to be 12:30 p.m. and Thursdays from ashamed to talk about what God wasnt celebrated and experienced as such. 12-1 p.m. in the West Chapel. ashamed to create. With that, find time to Sex is a holy act of worship; God isnt Contact Shirley Houin at minister to your husband today and enjoy shirleyhouin@hotmail.com. looking away when it happens. your worship time!

Devotion: Weed Out Sin for a Beautiful Harvest

By Terri Taylor Mark 4:3-8 - "Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer The other day I was looking out my back window at my planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the frozen vegetable garden. I started thinking about how far road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted that little piece of land has come in three years! Three quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it years ago there were some extremely ugly trees in that withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came plot. Thankfully the landlords decided to get rid of those up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. trees leaving a great plot for me to build a garden. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producAs soon as they were done removing them I went to work ing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams. digging. I soon began to not enjoy that work; those tree roots were killing me! But, I persisted and after MANY sore and even pulled muscles the veggies were planted. If those roots had stayed the new plants would have had a tough time taking hold. That summer my family enjoyed fresh produce and we even had enough to share with our neighbors. What a joy! One day while I was fighting an extremely persistent root, I thought about how that root is like sin, and God is trying to tug it out of us. His muscles are hurting trying to get us to let go of that sin! The next summer there were still a few roots left, but they were much easier to pull with the time that had passed. This past summer the weeds seriously took over; I replanted the garden three times, but sadly, not much grew! I take the blame, though I just didnt have (or should I say take") the time to weed the garden enough. WOW, does that ever parallel with us! Yes, we may work to decrease those big horrible sins in our lives, but if we dont consistently work on our relationship with Christ those horrible weeds will be back! As spring is not too far away, think about what type of beautiful harvest God has planned for your life and let Him pull out those roots and Arianna and Xavier Taylor show off an eggplant from the weeds! garden in their backyard.

Farewell: Carry it on to Completion

By Karlena de la Cruz This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 1 John 3:11 I am sure you all remember the early days here at SHAPE competing for a house, figuring out Belgian bills, following your GPS on a road that is really just a cow path, feeling alone and at times isolated. I filled my days with English conversation group, Travel Group trips and lots of busyness. It really wasnt until I became involved with the Monday night PWOC that I started to feel connected. You see, the connections in that group were more than just ladies filling time and having fun. We studied the Scriptures together, we laughed together, we cried together, we prayed together we loved one another. We shared each others burdens and cared for one another. It has been my privilege to serve on the board the past two years. Once again, this time was not spent with just busy work. The PWOC board is constantly striving to pursue the four aims of PWOC: To Lead To Teach To Involve To Develop. Instead of just trying to entertain ladies
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in the here and now, we are trying to impact lives for the glory of God. And one of the ways we can all do this is to love one another. This year has truly been a blessing. God surrounded me with a group of women who love God with all their hearts, minds and souls, and they deeply love one other. Friendships built upon Christ are special. It is different when you have a friend who will pray with you, correct you in love when you sin, bear your burdens when it feels like everything is falling apart, and love you even when they know your deep secrets. Proverbs 17:17a says, a friend loves at all times. Thank you all for sharing in His work. I pray you will keep loving each other. I will carry you not only in my memories, but also in my heart. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1: 3-6). Hugs,

Calling

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answer His call. VP Spiritual Life - Sarah: Ive seen God take care me and my family as I worked on PWOC projects. He blessed me with so many answered prayers for guidance and help. It's been fun and affirming to work with the board. Don't pass up the chance to trust God for all things! VP Programs - Terri: In the past year, I've learned God uses me in spite of myself and ALL my flaws. I am capable of so many things I never imagined through His strength! Administrative Coordinator - Pam: It helped me to understand and broaden the parameters of my own faith. Financial Liaison - Dana: God placed me right where I needed to be! It wouldnt matter what position I had taken, the chance to make such great Christian friends has been priceless. This has been an opportunity to serve and use my talents for God's work; I have been blessed beyond measure. Note: One of the great things about being a board member is you can run your position how God leads you. It doesnt have to look anything like the previous year!

Point of order
By Sarah Becking God has been so good to our PWOC chapter this year. I dont want to change anything we do and I dont want to change anything about us. The military forces changes sometimes; because Karlena is moving, Im president now. However, my vision for our fellowship is the same as Karlenas. Lets all keep loving God and loving our neighbor; praying and working for Gods kingdom to come; and practicing intimacy, simplicity and legacy . Many have asked how I feel about suddenly becoming our chapter president. I will miss Karlena: her friendship, her skills and grace. I feel inclined to worry about the new role, but Im learning to be Fearless! I know that Gods power is made perfect in weakness (II Cor 12:9) and now we will all get to see that happen. And God made me laugh: the day Karlena and I got together to talk about the transition, my daily reading was Exodus 4. The line that really made me laugh was But Moses said, O Lord, please send someone else to do it.(4:13) And God was not happy about this request. So thanks, God, I get it. Im willing. And hey, we have a great team. Like Karlena always says, "the best group of women Ive ever worked with." You all are a piece of the kingdom, working together for Gods kingdom to come. May it be so! Love,

Chaplains Corner: Happy Lent

By Ronald Beltz Lent? Whats that you might ask? Well, its 40 days of penitential preparation of the believer - through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. The 40 days of Lent are based on Jesus spending 40 days in the desert praying, fasting and being tempted as reported in the three Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It seems to me that most people who observe Lent focus on the self-denial part - we give up something: chocolate, soda, video games, etc. As a matter of fact these are some of the things the kids in Confirmation Class have given up this year for Lent. Have you given something up for Lent this year? But I wonder if Lent for us is about giving something up its really only about us - our sin, our struggles and our habits. Shouldnt it be about more God? Maybe instead of giving something up, we should take something up. How about a new commitment to prayer, worship, Bible reading and study? How about becoming involved with a worthy Christian cause? How about trying something new and different that glorifies God? This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior! Let us pray: Dear Lord, guide us on our path through Lent. May this season of our lives be one of true discernment. Free us to look closely at ourselves through your eyes, to look at our place in our broken world, to look at the brokenness which resides within and around us. In Jesus name, Amen.

Clutter & busy life feel like baggage? Join us for our next program and bring a friend!
SHAPE Chapel Fellowship Hall March 19, 6-8 p.m. Sponsored by PWOC
Hebrews 12:1 So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us.
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Dates to Remember

March
5-6 PWOC Offering 6 PWOC Communion 6 K2C Lunch Bunch 7 Goodbye, Karlena! 9 K2C Wine and Cheese Party 14 K2C Book Club 15 One month until TAXES are due 17 Chapel Corrie ten Boom trip 19 Evening Program: Simplify! 19-20 Bethleem Fruit/Milk Donations 22 Board Reports Due 29 Board Meeting

2012-2013 Leadership Board Selection If youre interested in becoming a member of the 2012-2013 PWOC Leadership Board, please obtain an information packet from Mia Basilici. Please be in prayer for those who will lead during the next year of PWOC!

Read Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin for the March K2C Book Club meeting. Read Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth for the April K2C Book Club meeting.

Happy March Birthday!

9 Tamara Moak 15 Jamie Huffman 21 Monique Neils 29 Raina Gummert 29 Sandra Spiering

Interested in helping plan our last 2 programs? Contact Terri Taylor at Taylfamx4@yahoo.com.

Tasty Treats
March 5: Sacred March 6: Revelation March 12: James March 13: David March 19: Sacred March 20: Fearless March 26: James March 27: Taming Your Tongue

Please inform Jodi Miller if you are leaving SHAPE during this semester or this summer. Thank you! jodimillerpartyof5@gmail.com

The first PWOC meetings in April will be the 16-17. There are no PWOC meetings the first two weeks of April. The Keynote will still be published April 2. Deadline for submissions is March 19. Anyone may submit an article or photo relevant to PWOC. Contact the Keynote staff at kujhawk97@yahoo.com for more information.

Long-sleeve and short-sleeve brown PWOC t-shirts are on sale! Recommended donations are $15/11 and $12/9, respectively. See Trisha to buy.

The February offering was $726.07. Thank you, ladies!

This newsletter is published under direction and authority of the SHAPE Chaplain exclusively for the SHAPE Protestant Women of President: Sarah Becking Participation: Jodi Miller the Chapel program. The views provided VP Spiritual Life: Sarah Becking Watch Care Liaison: Mary Admiraal herein do not necessarily reflect those of the VP Programs: Terri Taylor Praise & Worship: Danielle Yeager SHAPE Chapel and are meant for informaAdministrative Coordinator: Pam Giacomello Outreach/Inreach: Cindy Weir tional and entertainment purposes only. If Financial Liaison: Dana Maksimowicz Titus II: Mitzi Roberts you have questions, concerns or would like Hospitality: Laura Glover Leadership Selection: Mia Basilici to contribute to this publication, please conPrayer: Christine Horsley Publicity: Trisha Raynoha tact the Newsletter staff. Contributions are due no later than two weeks prior to the first Contact any member of the board via e-mail: pwoc.shape@gmail.com. You may also find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pwocshape. We look forward to serving you! Monday of the publication month.

2011-2012 PWOC BOARD MEMBERS