The last number couple of club nights we have been focussing on serving God wholeheartedly. God becomes greater when we do this. This ties in with our theme of "Who's the Greatest" as well as our theme verse from John 3:30 - "He must become greater; I must become less".
Serving God can take many forms - clearing the dinner table, doing homework or cleaning our rooms. We don't always do these things with the right attitude in our hearts - we do them halfheartedly. Sometimes serving God with the right attitude can seem tiring and overwhelming but, we reminded the girls, God is a Faithful God and he never wearies or gets distracted. We can go to God to receive renewed energy to complete the task and to give us a heart to serve Him wholeheartedly.
Serving God can also take us places far from home. In the beginning of January the girls were invited to place a pin on a world map somewhere they thought they'd like to serve God - telling others about His love and helping them wherever they might need it. The pins were placed all over the world including way up north!
We then invited Counselor Angela to speak to the girls about her recent trip to Guatemala. She showed many pictures of the people (particularly the children) that she met there. She candidly talked about the people that she served and how they are viewed in that culture. For some of the girls it was an eye opener to realize that not everyone lives as we do. We are truly blessed.
The same week that Angela shared with the girls about Guatemala, the Esther School (supported by GEMS Clubs of North America) was hit by a powerful storm that destroyed part of the school. The girls were challenged to think of ways in which they could help. Some of the ideas that they came up with were: bottle drive, doing extra chores around the house, donating birthday money or allowance and selling baked goods to family/friend/neighbours. The girls set a goal for themselves with a deadline of Feb. 19, 2014. They were very enthusiastic about being able to help the children in Zambia. For more information on the damage done to the school, visit the Esther School website at www.estherschool.org/latest-news/. Please pray for the school as they work to get back to normal and to ease any anxiety that the students and staff may be facing.