Acts 16:15 (opening house and heart)

* Welcome God every morning before work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com).

After [Lydia] and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home," and she prevailed on us. Acts 16:15

Living Faith snippets: "I am anxious before the arrival of a houseguest, thinking about all the things I have to do. If I already have a lot on my plate, I can feel put out before they ever arrive. But I always end up having fun and regretting my first impulse. Lydia persuades Timothy, Paul and Silas to stay at her house, and these men are virtual strangers to her. The Lord opened her heart, and her actions exemplified that openness. I can see that I am likewise called to respond, as a believer, with openness, hospitality and love." by Kristin Armstrong

Pat nuggets:

* Chad snippets cougarsdaily.blogspot.com: "Franciscan Benediction: And May God bless us with just enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done: to bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor."

* Voting: My longtime German friend Lutz (since 1987) confirmed that Christianity is indeed declining in Western Europe. He also mentioned being surprised that I would share information about "voting" with the LIFE Devotions Group (mixing faith and politics). Here is my response: "Regarding your concern about sharing politics with faith comments, I don't separate faith from anything I do...it is like the life-giving oxygen that I breath. True selfless faith is of utmost importance for the leaders of the world. I support whichever candidate (Republican, Democrat, or Independent) is most aligned with God's Truth and following Christ...life issues first (the most basic of issues)! As Mother Teresa said, abortion is the greatest threat to peace in the world. Bottom line: I would share faith angles on any of the candidates (positive or negative) to ensure we elect the best candidate as defined above. The founding fathers of American did not intend to separate faith from politics...but prevent a state run church, like Church of England. Hopefully, this clarifies my intent...to humbly follow Christ."

* Sr. Francelle: Please pray for Sr. Francelle who had another heart episode this past week, motivating her to move from St. Paul, MN back to Aberdeen, SD to be with the Presentation Sisters community. Sr. Francelle is 82 yrs old and has been part of that convent for 59 years. If you would like to contribute to the purchase of rose bushes for the convent grounds (in Sr. Francelle's honor), please contact Kathryn-jo (niece) at kaje62@earthlink.net. Sr. Francelle is still in the hospital. Here is her address at the convent: Sister Francelle Clarke, Presentation Convent, 1500 North 2nd Street, Aberdeen SD 57401. Let's focus on uniting our prayers of healing and thanksgiving for God's gift of Sr. Francelle!

Feast Day: St. Peter Chanel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Chanel and St. Louis de Montfort en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Marie_de_Montfort.

Through Christ for ProLife,

Pat

Phil 4:13

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml.

* Prayer: If you have a prayer request, simply send it to our distribution list at life-group-distro@googlegroups.com. Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others (so let's pray daily!). Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” "If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him."

* Defend the unborn: ProLife websites at life-devotions.blogspot.com. 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa. Click for Prayer to End Abortion.

* Share the Good News: Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!