Grace Notes

The four Bright Lights interns (Alexandra, Karissa, Hannah, and Mary) helped to teach Bright Lights last night. They all did a great job. And, of course, everyone enjoyed the funny skit they planned.

The topic of the meeting was guarding our words. The girls emphasized a practical way to screen what comes out of our mouths. Before you speak, ask yourself three questions.
1) Is it true?
2) Is it kind?
3) Is it necessary?

If it doesn’t fit into these categories, don’t say it!

Jesus said:
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Mt 12:36)

If you would have come to the Bright Lights office last night, you would have found pairs of girls scattered throughout the building studying and praying together. It was the first night of something new in Bright Lights. Something special! Sarah designed and organized a new way to provide one-on-one discipleship for those within our Bright Lights group who are interested in deeper fellowship and accountability.

Emma and Hannah

She divided them into pairs (an older girl and younger girl) and gave them each 4:12 booklets to do together. What do I mean by “4:12″? Well, that’s what we named this new program. It actually stands for three Scripture references:

1 Timothy 4:12 – “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

Ephesians 4:12 – “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”

Colossians 4:12 – “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Ellen and Katie

Each pair spent time getting acquainted, studying Scripture, sharing prayer requests, setting a “goal” for the week, choosing a memory verse for the week, discussing and talking through several other thought-provoking questions from the “4:12″ booklets, making braclets, and eating freshly baked cinnamon sugar soft pretzels.


Mary and Abigail


The partners will meet once a week for eight weeks, praying for each other throughout. We are excited about each team and how they are paired up. We prayed over each combination and feel that the Lord really arranged just the perfect matches. I think He has special things in store.

Bekah May, a good friend who has been involved in Bright Lights for years, taught the lesson last Monday night. She covered lots of great topics including accepting the way God created you, saying “no” to the flesh and “yes” to the Spirit, nutrition, and developing a motivation to glorify God vs. pleasing others. She has an incredible testimony of how the Lord has changed her life in this area. Thanks, Bekah! We praise the Lord for you and the testimony of your life.


Fellowship and crafts during “small group time”

Sarah directing a Bible skit at our last Bright Lights meeting

Sarah taught about the dangers of the internet, especially about how it can waste our time.

We did a “clothes exchange” for our activity afterwards. (This activity is often requested by our girls. ) It’s hard to find modest clothes in the stores! Everyone brings a stack of clothes they don’t want anymore, and we buy and sell from each other using fake money.

We are making progress on the new Bright Lights office / ministry building! Changes have been slow because it keeps getting put “on hold” while we are out of town, but we have seen the Lord provide and answer prayer in countless ways. Here’s what it looks like right now.

We are excited about our carpet tiles, which will be installed soon!


No, it’s not a big pizza party…


We’re so grateful for our good friend, Dave Fuller, who will be laying our carpet.


Here’s Toni (one of our most faithful helpers ) sanding the floor after we hammered down hundreds of staples that were left from the previous carpet and tile.

Stephen and my dad, fixing pipes.

The other day Stephen installed 30 outlets and light switches.

After arriving home from Singapore, we were grateful for chance to catch up with correspondence, organization, sleep, etc. To be honest, we’re still not caught up with everything that got neglected during the busy summer and fall. We’re grateful for the help of many who volunteer for Bright Lights, especially Nickie, who spends two days a week at the Bright Lights office–otherwise it would be difficult to stay on top of things.

We were excited to receive 10 Bright Lights Leaders applications when we arrived home from SE Asia–raising the number of Bright Lights groups to 277. Two more groups have also recently started in Malaysia. PTL!

At our local Bright Lights group here in Cedar Rapids last week, the older girls watched a “Rebelution” video upstairs while Sarah taught a lesson to the younger girls about “by their fruits ye shall know them.” She talked about the importance of bearing true fruit with a desire to please the Lord, not impress other people. Sarah did an activity where she had volunteers close their eyes and guess what kind of fruit they were tasting.

Her volunteers don’t look too excited…. lol… (Sarah used some rather unusual fruits)

But it was sure funny for everyone else!

On a more personal note…here I am with my cousin making supper at our grandparents’ house. Stephanie and I have quite a bit in common, and unfortunately that includes being messy cooks. (It got worse than what you see here…) By the time we were finished, my grandpa commented that in the 40 some years he’s lived there, he had never seen his kitchen so messy. We assured him we’d clean up.

Isn’t spring great?!

At Bright Lights on Monday night, two leaders in our group shared with the girls about how the Lord had been working in their lives… Elyssa shared her courtship and engagement story and Amy shared about her recent missions trip to Peru. Both of their stories were very exciting and the girls seemed to really enjoy it. Both Elyssa and Amy stressed to the girls the importance of preparing and seeking the Lord at home.

We invited all the dads to come with their daughters to Bright Lights last night. We all enjoyed having the dads there. We showed a video called The Return of the Daughters. This professionally made documentary addresses the God-given role of young ladies, gives vision for how girls can use their single years for the Lord, and shows in a beautiful way the blessings and benefits that come when a young lady honors her father and seeks to make him successful. The video was very well received, and my dad said that the 30+ fathers who were there had a good time of sharing afterwards while all of us girls divided into discussion groups downstairs. It created some special fellowship to have a whole group of like-minded fathers watching it together with their daughters. It’s exciting and encouraging to see many strong families in our community.

For an activity, all the dads had to draw a picture (with their daughter’s verbal help) of something related to their occupation. We taped them up on the wall afterwards for everyone to look at. It was funny to see the little cartoons they all came up with.

Last night at Bright Lights Sarah taught the younger girls downstairs on “truthfulness” while the older girls watched a video upstairs called “Why I choose to believe the Bible”. It refuted many of the common modern arguments regarding the reliability and trustworthiness of Scripture. We all enjoyed it a lot.

For our activity last night, we divided into teams and had each team nominate a candidate to run for the pretend role of “chef for the year”. Then we all listened and laughed as each candidate gave a speech on why everyone should vote for them. Many of the tactics they tried to use sounded pretty familiar to the presidential candidates we’ve been listening to recently… We tallied up the votes and announced the winners by percentages at the end of the night.

Last night at Bright Lights we went Christmas Caroling around the neighborhood. The girls in my small group did such a good job. In fact, they wanted to run so we could reach more houses.

After caroling and then warming up with hot chocolate, Sarah taught on submission. The point that stood out to me the most was this: Often we as young ladies have a wrong perception of submission. We may think of it as a stuggle and burden, but really submission is the very thing that gives us beauty. We should delight in it!
“For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands” 1 Peter 3:5

Monday nights are our “Bright Lights Nights” here in town. We meet at our church about twice a month. One reason I like Bright Lights here in town is because we can see the girls on a regular basis and watch them grow in maturity and in their walk with the Lord. As the Lord works in their hearts, it comes out in their bright countenances as well as in the insightful comments they make and good questions they ask!

Some girls are still coming who came to the very first Bright Lights meeting 11 years ago, so we have quite an age span now.

Last night after our singing time, Sarah taught the younger girls down stairs on “Rebekah” from Genesis while the older girls did a study of spiritual gifts (from Romans 12) upstairs. After our lesson time, we always divide up into small groups (led by the older girls) for discussions and activities. And then, of course, we have snacks and fellowship.

Stephen’s group, the Light Shop meets at a different church a few minutes away. I’d post pictures of that, too, but unfortunately I’m never able to get there because of Bright Lights going on simulaneously. Maybe next time I’ll send my camera along with Dad. I hear they do activities that are much crazier then what we girls do. Last night they had some kind of a water war with hoses and ropes and milk jugs…I missed what the main point to the game was, but apparently they got drenched and they had lots of fun.