Celebrating lifts one’s soul. Celebrating tells His story. Celebrating is contagious. There’s so much to celebrate:
 
Let’s celebrate the KidsWorld team members. Ministering to His children, TOGETHER, with such a talented team of people is my number one celebration. I celebrate and I thank God for His bringing us TOGETHER. Each of us individually, graciously bringing our gifts and talents that He has blessed us with to create, to equip, and to impact. It is glorious!
 
Let’s celebrate Sunday mornings. The previous KidsWorld director always said, “every Sunday is a miracle.” I see that! That’s why on Monday mornings we begin with prayer and praise for what He did.
 
Let’s celebrate the completion of our church’s most recent giving project, Operation Christmas Child. Last year fifty shoeboxes were sent, and this year God more than tripled that number – over 170 shoeboxes were packed and sent! Yay God. I celebrate because the number of shoeboxes increased. Yes. Wow.

I celebrate, too, because Operation Christmas Child was done TOGETHER. “It was AMAZING!” Church team staff members made shoeboxes. Many church members took a shoebox, filled it, and returned it.  Some brought items to fill the shoeboxes. Some gave money towards shipping expenses and/or items to purchase for the boxes. Some participated in the packing party and packed boxes until the supplies ran out. Cold Springs Church people were generous – with their money, their time, their energy, and their love.

There is so much to celebrate! Plus, celebrating is FUN!
 
I’d like to close with a few of my favorite CELEBRATION Bible verses:

• Psalm 145:6-8 – Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and merciful.
• Isaiah 63:7 – I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us.
• Psalm 147:1 – Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
• Psalms 47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
• 1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
• Psalm 71:8 My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.
• 2 Samuel 7:22 How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.
• Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
• Psalm 16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
• Deuteronomy 10:21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

​Wow, this is truly such a BIG question! 

To sum it up in a short email is quite a challenge for me. So, after spending much time trying to pick just one way God has been faithful to me this past year, I decided it would be fitting on this day of celebration to give a BIG shout out to the staff at CSC.

 WAY TO GO CSC STAFF! (This includes all your family members as well)

Walking us through these tumultuous times has no doubt been a tremendous stretching of your faith. Finding creative ways to keep our church family connected has no doubt kept you awake at night. Countless hours of service to move us outside, online, and into a hybrid model we’re not in the “plan” and yet, you stepped up to the task and did not shrink back! You kept pressing in to the challenge and never gave up aiming high to maintain connection both to God and to each other.

THIS! 

This is how God has been faithful to our family this year. 

Watching you press into the strength only Jesus can supply and live out Love for our community has been so inspiring to Walter and I. We are truly grateful to be part of the CSC community and look forward to more of God’s faithfulness towards us this year as we gather together to do life side by side! 

With much love and respect,
Dana Bringolf

I started to understand how God has been faithful to me by "really" reading His word.  Then I was able to see and feel his faithfulness 
There were so many different selfish ways I wanted to go in life and did go. But though His faithfulness (which took many years) he carefully steered me back into His ways. 

His faithfulness gave me a good husband when I only prayed one time for myself. "Give me a good man"

He faithfully gave me and Dean a church and life group that could help us understand God's love and trust.

He faithfully helped me understand my past without resentment and gave me peace with it.

He has faithfully given me an art skill that I can call my own which helped me overcome my felt unworthiness. 

I know I am part of His upper story and I'm excited to see what he has in store for me.  He is faithful. 

In Christ Jenny Engelson