LOOK BETTER, FEEL GOOD!

This was the theme we chose for our afternoon of beauty, rest and relaxation. As a woman, I firmly believe that if one makes the effort to look good for the day, she will feel good. The good feeling radiates out to ones countenance. To those who did not make it, I am sharing our devotional and pictures of that fun afternoon at Marie's beautiful home.

"Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.' Proverbs 31:30 Some may have heard about the little boy who asked his mother why she was putting on cold cream. She replied that she was making herself beautiful. When she went to take off the cold cream, the little boy wanted to know what was the matter. Was she giving up? That little boy misunderstood the concept of the art of becoming beautiful. Sometimes, we as Christian women misunderstand God's concept of becoming beautiful in Christ.

There is nothing wrong with working on our outward beauty in itself. We are children of the King, so why not look the part? We should always do our best and look our best but many times we forget about the inside and the way we project ourselves. Perhaps, sometimes we just concentrate only on one feature or area of our Christian life but not the whole and our beauty in Christ becomes skewed.

Being beautiful in Christ involves more than just the outside or just one part of us. Our verse says, "..a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." That is the beauty that transcends time and doesn't fade away.

One thing about beauty that we all know as women is that it is a daily thing. In other words we have to keep ourselves up. If we let ourselves go, what happens? We're not quite so beautiful anymore, are we? It is the same with being beautiful in Christ. We have to constantly work at it. Here are some things to help us improve our beauty in Christ.

CLEANSER. In order to make ourselves beautiful, we have to first cleanse ourselves from all unwanted impurities. Our cleansing agent works through our confession and God's forgiveness.(1 John 1:9)

MOISTURIZER. Having compassion can be a good moisturizer. When we start seeing others and their needs instead of our own it can really soften us.

WRINKLE CREAM. If we want to smooth out those wrinkles, how about applying a meek and quiet spirit? (1 Peter 3:4) FOUNDATION. We need to start with a good foundation and what is better than the Word of God? If we have the Word of God in our hearts daily, the rest of our spiritual make-up can be easily applied. (Psalms 119:11)

EYE MAKEUP. To keeep our eyes shining the brightest we need to guard then from seeing things that are not fitting of a beautiful woman in Christ. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

LIPSTICK. To make the face complete, don't forget your lips. Apply lipstick in the shade of "Pleasantness' daily for best results. (Proverbs 16:24 says, 'Pleasant words are as honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.

BLUSH. The blush we apply should be God's love radiating through us. (Romans 5:5) HAND LOTION. We don't want our hands to become dry, ugly and brittle so we need to apply some generosity and good deeds. "Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:31 FOOT THERAPY. Sometimes when we overlook our feet they get calloused and rough so we need to get them going in the right direction. Take your feet only to places that Christ would approve. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

Thank you Marie, for letting us use your lovely home for this afternoon of beauty, rest and relaxation. So, ladies, DON'T FORGET YOUR UPKEEP! (From A Beautiful Woman in Christ by Julia Bettencourt)

Sisters-in-Christ Cookie Recipe

Sisters-in-Christ Friendship Recipe. I have often asked myself why fellowship and friendship with our sisters in Christ is so important? Let's check out the ingredients of the best chocolate chip cookie in the world and see.

Shortening - Provides texture. Our fellowship and friendship with our sisters in the Lord can add much depth and texture to our lives. We blend together in unity as part of the body of Christ.

Sugar - Adds sweetness. Our fellowship with our sisters adds such a sweet taste to our lives. If we didn't have suger in our cookies, we'd sure miss it. The same is with our fellowship with our sisters. We can't leave it out of our lives.

Eggs - Holds ingredients together. Sisters in the Lord are someone to lean on. We are help together by the fellowship with them. We are stronger because of them, their prayers and their love in the Lord. We have a special bond in Christ.

Vanilla - Adds flavor. Sisters add flavors we need. They give us that extra sensation. Without friends and fellowship we become kind of bland. Flour - Adds substance. We need the substance a sister in the Lord can add. They give us many things by way of mentoring us when we don't even know it. Their shared testimonies and way they live their lives has an impact on us.

Baking soda - Leavens. Leavening agents in baking helps to lighten the dough. Friendship with our sisters lightens our burdens through their prayer and encouragement.

Salt - Enhances flavor. We know that friendships add flavor and just when we need it, they help improve the tastefulness and quality of our lives. Friends are the type of people that know just what we are going through and are there when we need them.

Semi-sweet chocolate chips - The kind of chocolate chips we normally add to our cookies is semi-sweet. Our sisters in Christ tell us what they feel and think and that's okay. They can be honest and truthful to us.

Nuts - optional - Just a little craziness in a sister friend is great! Sometimes a little zaniness in our friends can be just the ingredient we need.

CONCLUSION: Friendships take a lot of time and effort to bake up but they are worth it when we sense that sweet aroma and special bond that they bring. Friends that have Jesus in common will have lasting relationships. Friends are one of the ways God takes care of us. An old saying goes, "In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips." Friends are that sweeter extra in life and even sweeter is friends among believers in Christ. This coming Sunday, May 20, we are having an afternoon of BEAUTY, REST and RELAXATION! Why don't you come and join us for a moment of fun with your friends from church. You will not regret it. It will be at Marie Macris' home, 300 Eglantine, Circle. Richmond. SEE YOU THERE!

All about Mother's day Celebration. How do you celebrate Mother's day?

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers. With the following, she called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood. This celebration was not really celebrated yearly, but Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day. After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations—her Mother’s favorite flower—to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance. Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to Mothers who are still alive. Andrew's Methodist Church exists to this day, and was incorporated into the International Mother’s Day Shrine in 1962.By the time of Anna M. Jarvis's death, over 40 countries observed the Mother’s Day, and today that number exceeds 70.

Today, there are so many ways of celebrating Mother's Day. Most families reserve Mother's Day brunch at famous restaurants or even organize family "get-to-gethers" to celebrate this event.

**The National Retail Foundation estimates that Mother's Day is a $16 Billion industry. **Google Trends shows a sharp spike in search traffic for Mother's Day on Mother's Day in the US and UK and the month leading up to it. **Florists see their highest sales in May. **US restaurants claim that it is the busiest day of the year. **Long distance telephone calls also peak on this day. **The US Postal Service experiences increased volume during the surrounding days.

**According to Hallmark (via About.com), 96% of American consumers take part in shopping on Mother's Day, while retailers report it as the second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas. http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/

In my own home, we always go to the botanical garden on mother's day because I always love gardens. When the kids were growing up in New York, we go to the Botanical Garden in the Bronx or in Brooklyn. Nowadays, we go to the Norfolk Botanical Garden or to Maymont.But we do not leave the house with empty stomachs.

Sunday brunches are very important in our home. Since I always leave early for church with the girls on Sabbath mornings, my husband just help himself to a bowl of cereal or oats on Saturday mornings. To compensate, I always make it a point to make a special Sunday brunch for everyone. But on Mother's Day Sunday, Helmut and the girls will wake up early to make a special breakfast for me. Although I am usually awake by then, I just pretend to sleep still. He always makes the same yummylicious cheesy souffle-omelet and a bowl of fresh fruits such as strawberries or mixed berries. When the girls grew up, they took charge of the kitchen decorating it with style, but Helmut still makes the same souffle-omelet until Kristina turned vegan. Now there are fruit tarts, quiches and frittatas of all sorts.Here is one simple strawberry tart you can make this Sunday...

Strawberry Tart Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Makes 6-8 servings. Ingredients 1sheet of puff pastry, approximately 12x12" (I don't make puff pastry from scratch, so I used a Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheet.) 16 ounces, weight strawberries, sliced 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 3 tablespoons honey Instructions Preheat oven to 375°F. Lay puff pastry on parchment lined baking sheet. Turn up edges all the way around. Spread sliced strawberry evenly across puff pastry. Whisk together balsamic vinegar and honey. Brush tops of of strawberries with mixture. You will probably have a little extra balsamic vinegar/honey leftover. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes or until pastry is slightly browned. Serve while still warm. Top with favorite whipped topping. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, ladies! Wherever and however you spent this day, enjoy every moment with your mothers, children, family and friends.

Edwin Hubbell Chapin once said, "No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love. It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star".

Meet our Pastor's Wife: Marie Jean Mercado Pagunsan

She was born in Iligan City, Philippines to a very devout Catholic family. She graduated her Bachelor's of Science in Nursing in 1994 and loved every minute of being a nightingale. On March 1996, she applied as a volunteer nurse at Iligan Medical Center and during her orientation, she met the dashing and highly intelligent Chaplain, Junnie Ree Pagunsan who was in charge of orientation. That moment changed her life forever. She knew then that he was going to be the one and although she knew that her being a non-Adventist and his being a non-Catholic would bring a lot of challenges and hindrances to their relationship within the denomination and among their families, both were determined to find a way for love to prevail. Six months later, against all odds, they got married at a civil ceremony in September 17, 1996. But God is so good and three beautiful children followed:Jan Mikhail, Neil Owen and Shanele Aira 'Aya'.

In the year 2000 Junnie Ree left for California while she stayed behind with the children. Without her husband, the responsibilities of bringing up her children as Adventists with her devout Catholic family was challenging. Four years later, they joined him and she is now employed at VCU Health System. She used to work at the Orthopedics Units where she was given the Flamingo Award, a special award given to a nurse for excellent service. Recently, she was also given a special award at the Bone Marrow Transplant Department in recognition for excellence in nursing care as recommended by her patients to her superiors. (This was shared by her spouse without her knowledge).

This year in February, during the annual Renewal of Vows ceremony that our church, Jean and her husband were able to say their vows the way they dreamed of - and in the presence of their three lovely children and the whole church family.

Her favorite text in the Bible is found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Her favorite woman in the Bible: A Bleeding Woman of Faith. From her own words: I always love the story of the woman who was bleeding for 12 years, undiagnosed, shunned by society, exhausted and weak from anemia, yet courageous enough to walk for miles to follow Jesus.The Law forbids her, a Canaanite to touch a Jew or anyone for that matter because she was bleeding and sick. She was considered an outcast from society. But she was determined to do something. As Jesus walked by, this woman was overwhelmed by faith, reached out her hand, and touched His robe as He walked by. The Bible says, "Immediately, her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Mark 5:29).She had the greatest faith that if only she could touch the hem of His garment, she will be well. As a woman of God, I want to have that great faith like hers. I know that in our lives, God deals with us in different ways. But we have to intentionally touch God as we tell him all our worries and cares and let him know how much we need Him. I know fully well that our God hears even the deafening silence of a humble spirit or even in the midst of the raging crowd of prayers thrown at Him. I firmly believed that my act of faith, my act of worship, my soul thirsty for Him to fill, all my cares and problems will never go unnoticed. My sins will be blotted out and He will give me a fresh start; I just have to come to Him just as I am BROKEN.

According to Pastor Junnie, as a mother, Jean is a loving mother whose number one concern is her children. Although exhausted from her night duties at the hospital, she never hesitates to ask how they are, what they're doing and what their needs are. She spends a lot of time with them during her waking hours. Family time is of utmost importance and she is a strict observer of the Sabbath. Preparation for the Sabbath takes precedence on Friday afternoons. The house cleaned, meals prepared and hearts ready for the Sabbath. She also enjoys getting together with other families on weekends for socializing knowing the importance of a living a well-balanced family life. She assumes leadership roles at Filipino "get-togethers", making sure that Filipino children do not forget their heritage and where they came from. As a woman of God, she wants to be an example to her children that if you have that great faith in God, nothing is impossible. Believing on Him completely is an attribute worth emulating.