Mission Ideas, On Mission

Prayer Meal Idea: Your Own City

Kimmy

Typically for our Prayer Meal, I choose a different country around the world or city here in the states where I have friends serving and sharing Jesus. The first reason is to pray for those specific countries, peoples, cultures, and missionaries. The second reason is to expose our children (and maybe even us) to different foods and cultures with the thought that the more exposure that one has, the most excitement and passion one may have for that particular place, etc.

But this month, I couldn’t seem to shake the desire to simply pray for our very own cities, right where you are. It has been quite a “weird” few months as we have all dealt with the Coronavirus and the effects it has had on our own families, churches, and towns where we live. Many people are without jobs. Some are so very sick. Restaurants and local businesses may be struggling greatly because of this time. Our very own cities need our prayers and they need our financial support. This month, will you set aside a meal time to pray for your city and support it by purchasing a meal from your favorite restaurant?


Some Prayer Ideas:

Pray for your mayor and town leadership. They have such hard decisions to make in the days ahead as they figure out how to reopen their cities. Whether we agree or disagree with them, they need our prayers!

Pray for your pastor and church leadership. The same applies to them! The decision of how and when to open is daunting and many people will have lots of thoughts and opinions. Pray for wisdom and grace.

Pray for restaurants and small business owners. The stress that they feel is huge. Ask the Lord to expand their businesses and to bless them during this time.


I’m thankful for Spartanburg, SC the county where I live and I know that I will have a super hard time choosing my favorite restaurant to support but now more than ever, I want to support my city in simple fun ways like eating and praying!


How are you praying and supporting your city during this time?
Hop over to our Instagram @onmissionmoms or our Facebook Group and share what your family will be doing to love and support your very own city!

For another fun little way to support your city, go on a prayer walk with the kiddos around your city. Our city has fun lightbulbs all around and it’s fun to use those as prayer points all around the city. Does your city have a fun way to prayerwalk around it?

Mission Ideas, On Mission

Teacher Appreciation Week: Showing our Teachers extra LOVE!

Kimmy

Typically the first week of May is set aside for Teacher Appreciation Week but this week looks so very different this year! My oldest daughter and I were chatting about how we could show love to our teachers despite these differences and we came up with a few ideas that I’ve shared below. We also began to remember and think back on what a great year she has had in Kindergarten. While we are sad that it ended very differently and abruptly, we are also rejoicing for the time together at home, for new ways of learning, and for the sweet and hard moments. We also are rejoicing and so very thankful for all the of the hard work that our teachers have put in for us! They have sent us messages, put together learning packets, posted assignments, called her through Zoom, paraded through our neighborhood, and even surprised her with a free Happy Meal from McDonald’s (which is a super fun treat for her!) And while I wish that I could put together a fun goody basket of yummy treats or help cater a lunch, or all the hundreds of other ideas that are posted over on Pinterest, we can’t really do that this year.

But we can…

Email them a gift card to Starbucks! You can do this from your Starbucks app and it’s super fun and fast!

Purchase some items off of their Amazon Wishlist. Most teachers have built one at some point!

Share a reward with them from your ChickFilA app!

Have flowers delivered to them either at the school for them to pick up or at their home. You may want to check with the school first to see what can be delivered to there during this time.

Have your child simply make a quick video saying hello and thank you!

Have your child draw a picture or make a card and mail it or take a pic and email it to them.

But most of all, we can pray for them and keep telling them how much we love and support them!

What ideas can you share to show love to your children’s teachers?

Don’t forget the many different teachers they have such as their dance teachers or their piano teachers or their Sunday School teachers. Our children have many people who are serving them from behind a computer screen right now and could use some encouragement and extra love!

Blog, Mission Ideas

Washcloth Bunnies: A Simple Silly Service Idea

Kimmy

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These are kinda silly but that’s okay… hear me out.  My sweet girls and I had  a blast making these (and a few frustrating moments too) and we decided to give them to our homeless friends for Easter to let them know that we love them and are praying for them! 

Here’s why… our homeless friends need a reason to smile and giggle too, especially in these really hard days! Think about it, we at least can quarantine our families in our comfortable safe home during this terrible outbreak. Our friends often times aren’t given that luxury and many are already suffering with terrible health, depression, and other things that will make them more susceptible to this terrible disease. It’s truly heartbreaking.  It’s also taking a simple thing like a washcloth, which they often need, and hopefully meeting a small need and bringing a smile to their face, even if for just a minute. Easter can also be a really hard day for our homeless friends. Holidays are reminders of the broken relationships that all of them struggle with and loneliness is so visible on these days. 

Washcloth bunnies are super simple to make and require just a couple items that you probably have on hand already. There are tons of Pinterest links on how to make them but the one over at Smart School House  was my fave!

As you make them with your little one, take a minute and pray for the homeless in your community!! Pray that they will be wise and take the best precautions that they can. Pray for their health. Pray for wisdom and direction. Pray that they will experience God at work through this time. 

If you’re local and looking for a place that you can give your incredible creations to, Refuge, is a ministry of First Baptist Spartanburg, and they are passing out biscuits and other needed items on Sunday morning (using social distancing and no contact). You can drop them off at FBS security desk or send me a message and I can work with you to figure out a great way to get them to Refuge. 

This is a service project or mission moment that may not seem to be “deep” or meet a huge physical or spiritual need, but sometimes putting a smile on someone’s face and saying “you were prayed for and loved today” in a silly simple way is just as important! And sometimes our little ones will remember way more about creating washcloth bunnies and praying for our friends too… We even named a few of ours! 

Be sure to snap a pic and tag us over on Instagram and let us see your fun little creations!

 

Blog, Mission Ideas

A Neighborhood PrayerWalk

Kimmy

This is a hard and difficult season and now more than ever, we can lead our little ones to love Jesus and love others in the midst of this season.

One of those ways we can do that is to prayerwalk our neighborhoods, if you are able. Prayer walking is simply “walking with purpose”, focusing our prayers and being intentional as we walk and talk to the Father. Many of us still have limited freedom to get out and walk around our neighborhoods, so let’s do that with purpose and with safety in mind. Let’s pray for our neighbors, for their physical and spiritual health. Let’s pray for our cities, for small businesses, for homeless and elderly. Let’s make every use of our time and be intentional with our prayers to a Father who loves us deeply and is ever present. Let’s not miss out on chatting with God and hearing from Him during this season.

I’m so thankful for my friendship with Kayla over at Baby Devotions! She recently created a great toddler friendly printable with us and there is even aSpanish version! To download a complete copy of our Neighborhood Prayer Walk printable, click here.

 

How are you praying for your neighborhood during these days?

Is there a day this week that you can grab the little ones and head out and spend time praying together?

Mission Ideas

A Little Bucket of Sunshine

Kimmy

I think we can all agree that life has just been weird lately. For us, we are all able to be home and I’m so very thankful for that. I know lots of friends who are still having to go into work though. And some of my sweet friends are even having to work full days and come home to lead their little ones in school work after a long day at their office. I know the days have been long and hard for many!

I know you have friends that are in that same boat too. A little basket of sunshine is an easy way to encourage another friend in this different season of being disconnected from one another physically. And my prayer is that they will be reminded that they are loved and that this is just a season (hopefully short!).

It’s really simple – grab a yellow bucket or basket and fill it with all things yellow! Some of the items I found to put in my bucket were a yellow bottle of bubbles, a yellow candle (that smells amazing!), a Little Miss Sunshine book, and yellow bags of some yummy candy and snacks. I added a little personal note too, reminding them that they are loved and prayed for!

Now I can’t wait to surprise a friend with a little bit of “sun” on this hard gray day…
How are you loving and encouraging others during this time?
Hop over to Instagram and tag @onmissionmoms to share your ideas!