Northview Blog Reminders From Past Church Bulletins: How God Plants Seeds for the Future August 3, 2020 We have been a digital world for quite some time, but lately, we are even more paperless than ever before. There are fewer pieces of mail in our home mailbox (although emails have increased tenfold), and we don’t have any recent church bulletins since we haven’t been meeting physically at church. Church bulletins vary in style, font and content depending on church and sermon series. Before COVID-19, some people would read every word on the weekend program, while others would flip around to the parts important to them. Some would use every square inch of blank space to jot down notes, while others never wrote on them at all. I am an avid note-taker during church service, but I have to admit that the notes aren’t always about the message at hand. Sometimes, the topic seems to really speak directly to me, and I’m intimately hanging on every word the pastor says. Other times, although the pastor is preaching, I am hearing a totally different message in my head. God uses my intentional time of church attendance to tap into my inner-psyche—to speak to me when He knows I’ll have my full focus on Him. Many a bulletin is found nestled inside a Bible, shoved into a handbag or stuck in the console of a car. I always have great intentions to go back and read over the notes taken or to take the bright ideas another step further, but that doesn’t always happen. Here are some likely not-so-random words of wisdom written on church bulletins from the time when we all squeezed together like sardines in the sanctuary pre-coronavirus. I challenge you to pick one or two and ponder them for yourself. • Be patient and wait for God’s plan. God shows justice to those in consistent persistent prayer. God uses areas of our lives that we have no control over to bless us and use us. Ridiculous Faith/Elisa - Steve Poe • Make God the focus of your life. Live one day at a time. Trust God to care for things outside your control. I Quit: Worry - Steve Poe • Fear is the opposite of faith. If God asks you to do something, then He will give you the ability to carry it out. If you’re not dead, you’re not done. I Quit: Making Excuses - Steve Poe • With every breath, you can give life and praise. You only have so many breaths. Anxiety turns peace into pieces. Lean into the scriptures. The Power of Choice - Steve Carter • Ask yourself in bad circumstances: What’s God trying to show us and how is God trying to use us? God knew what was going to happen. How are you going to react? I Quit: Complaining - Steve Poe Perhaps you have your own written-on church bulletins sitting around your house or stuffed into your Bible. If so, pick them back up and take a peek at the notes God gave you once upon a time. by Heather Goble-Sorrells Spiritual Growth