"This is my third year with Grief Share.  After my son went to Heaven many years ago and my husband seven years ago God has lead me down the road to healing. I would not be where I am without the presence of God leading and directing me.  I came to a realization a couple of weeks ago. During one segment of an episode I realized I had mentally blocked out this segment. For locked it away these past seven years and could not allow myself to think about it. But the third time watching this part at Grief Share I listened and watched it through. The trauma that I buried inside of my mind released its hold on me. I was able to open up a segment of that time to those present. It's something I won't share with others.  Grief Share works through the past, (what we once had) present, ( where we are at this time) and the future ( the promise of a better time to come.)  It's the realization that while going through the storm, we hold our hands out to God. And though gusts of wind try to blow us away, we find that we are still standing and God still has ahold of our hand. The healing we hold inside is ours alone. On the outside we are solid. On the inside we are soft but well.  Grief Share, even after several years heals my inside just by being with others who know and feel like I do. We are new friends and family. So no matter how many years it's been, there's always communication and healing along with an Amen."

This month at youth group, we focused on feelings of gratitude and thankfulness.  We enjoyed playing “Thanksgiving- What Am I?” where we had post-its with items related to Thanksgiving on our forehead, and we had to ask questions and guess what we were.  After this game, we dove into Luke 17:11-19, the story where Jesus cleanses the 10 leapers.  We learned that only 1 of the 10 lepers thanked Jesus after being healed.  Our takeaway?  Whatever our life circumstances may be, whatever we have, whoever we are, there are always things that we can be thankful for.  We enjoyed decorating cupcakes and talking about our own Thanksgiving traditions as well!

Youth Group in December…we will only be meeting once this month--December 4th.  We will gather after church and will be done around 1:00pm.  Come prepared to unlock the mysteries of Jesus’ birth with a Nativity Escape Room!  This Nativity Escape Room will take us back in time where we will have to decode puzzles, answer questions, and break secret codes surrounding the events of Jesus’ birth.  We will wrap up with a time of pizza, games, and other fun Christmas activities.  You won’t want to miss out!