Grace in Action- Women's Ministry at D1Naz

09/02/2026

It's almost time for our annual fall retreat and registration starts this Sunday. There will be a table in the lobby for you to register. Don't wait ladies! The dates are October, 2-3. We have so many fun things planned. Our speaker is Cindy Crump and our worship leader is Kati Smith. The theme is Christian hospitality and how important it is for us to practice it. The cost is $35.00, and gives you snacks and a dirty soda bar on Friday night, a continental breakfast on Saturday morning with a boxed lunch at lunchtime. Don't miss it ladies. Last year was so good. The worship was incredible and the messages were just what we needed. If you want to register today, scan the QR code on this post.

09/02/2026

08/21/2026

One of the great opportunities of being involved in women’s ministry is getting know so many of the women of our church. I knew Holly, but I didn’t fully appreciate the depth of her faith and commitment to the children of our church. I proudly want to introduce you to Holly Urquhart.
Meet the women of D1Naz Questions:

Where were you born and where did you grow up? Decatur

Do you have siblings? Older Brother and 11 years younger sister

Who influenced you the most growing up? My Mom and Dad
Uncle, Grandparents
What did you want to be when you grew up? Kindergarten teacher

What is your current living situation? Married? Kids? Grandkids? Job? Married to Rob for 32 years. Two girls- Hannah27, Abby 24. Grand dogs 🤨 my job is registration specialist at Memorial Urgent Care.

What is the thing you feel most confident about, or doing,? Example: cooking, relationships, skill, etc. I hate cooking, but I’m good at cleaning. I feel I am a great friend and listener.

Do you have a super power and if so what is it?
My super power I would say loving on kids at church. Also, I’m a great organizer.
What would your best day look like? Having a cup of tea and sitting in a sun room or beach reading Gods word. Also, being around my family. I love family time

Are you a traveler or a homebody?
Both
Mountains, sea shore, or city explorer?
All of it. Been to them all. Love them all the same
If you were a season, which would you be and why? Summer I love the sun and beautiful flowers

What job would you be horrible at?
Chef- as I said not a great cook
What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Food? Activity? Etc?
Food, tv binging. And currently those stupid squishy. I’m obsessed on finding them. 😂
How did you come to Jesus and what is the best part of being a daughter of the KING? I was raised in the church but I was baptized at 17. That is when I really started my journey with God. I wanted more and knew there had to be more to this life. The Best part of being a daughter of the OneTrue King, is that I’m loved unconditionally, He knows me and goes before me , I am his.

What talent or skill do you bring to the Church body?well of course- Children’s Ministry, women’s Ministry.

08/19/2026

Here's the thing about being offended. If we leave it unresolved either by not taking responsibility for our feelings and giving them to God so we can move forward or by not deciding the offense is important enough that we have to address it with the person who caused it, we can not ignore it.

Proverbs 19:11says " Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense." Giving yourself time to talk to God about the situation in prayer and seek guidance from the scripture makes us slow down and not feed the anger. Instead of letting our anger tells us how to feel, and every new interaction feeding our responses, we let go and make it possible to approach the problem with a more reasoned response. Sometimes we become so inflamed emotionally that we are looking for offense even in actions that take place with other people.

This is an interesting situation because offended people can often come off as morally superior and as taking the high ground for someone else. However, anytime we allow our feelings and not our spiritual walk to guide our actions we are likely to cause more harm than good for ourselves, others who have been hurt , and those who have hurt us.

If you've prayed and sought counsel and feel you can not let it go, then going to the person in private and talking to them, may be what you have to do. Be ready though to take responsibility for what you might find out was your part in the problem. Once you've talked to the person in a calm way, and have worked out a peaceful solution, then be ready to put an end to the feelings and go forward in that peace. You know you've done your best to solve the feelings you have and can trust God for the rest.

Granted not all people will agree with you to continue in a peaceful relationship, but you can't be responsible for them. However, you can live in peace knowing you didn't allow the problem to grow into something more serious. You will be able to lay your head down at night with no guilt and don't let the enemy tempt you to do otherwise.

08/18/2026

I've had it happen more than a few times in my life. Someone says or does something that hurts my feelings. Sometimes it was done on purpose and sometimes it happens with no hurt intended. I am offended. What do i do?

Proverbs 18:19 says that "A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of castle." When we live in the fortress of our hurt, we are unable to change or make peace with the people we need to live in peace.

Abigail Dobbs in her article "Blessed are the unoffendable," on DesiringGod.com says "Offended people can become unassailable. Recalcitrant. Too hard-hearted to hear an appeal. When we are offended, we believe ourselves to have the moral high ground; therefore, we feel justified in making the one who has offended us a villain."

I've been there! "Unassailable!" "Too hard-hearted to hear an appeal!" That doesn't sound like what Jesus calls us to be. It isn't how he modeled his life when he was here on earth. Oh Jesus, I don't want to be that woman. I want to be a woman who has a heart that is open to hear another's pain, need, apologies.

Dobbs goes on to say "taking offense is a powerful drug. It’s a powerful drug precisely because it gives us power." Power often leads us astray, but giving it up makes us ready for wonderful things to happen to us--in us. Maybe new relationships, new experiences, and most definitely a new approach to conflict and living in peace.

So what do you do when the offense has to be addressed? That's for another day--maybe tomorrow.

08/17/2026

Have you noticed how offended everyone is all the time? It feel like a barrage of offense is coming at us everyday. It's almost a badge of honor how we think it make us somehow noble and aware because we are offended. I can't help but feel that somehow we've missed the point.
Being offended is not a right. I remember when I was in counseling telling my counselor how upset I was with a person in my life. I remember her telling me that I didn't have to the right to be unoffended. People were going to offend me. I had the right to be offended, but not the right to be unoffended. I mean can you imagine how hard it would be for everyone around me to never offend me. It just isn't possible, and let's be honest there are people and situations that are awful and it would be hard not to be offended. However, I feel like the ability to rise about the offense and still be kind and loving is something in which we need practice.

In an article on Faithgateway.com Brent Hanson wrote this, "It’s the taking of offense, and the very presumption that I’m somehow entitled to be angry with someone, that I’m talking about. Surely there’s got to be a place for “righteous anger” against someone, right? Surely there are times we are justified in our anger…"

That's why we are going to talk about offense and why Christians should be the most unoffended people on this earth. I am not even certain I am qualified in anyway to discuss this, but I am digging in anyway. Join me.

08/14/2026

I’ve learned to love and appreciate Joanne Turner. She is a marvel and so sweet. Enjoy getting to know her.
I was born in Alexandria, LA. My dad's job required frequent moves in the South but when I started to school we moved to our home in Temple, LA and then only traveled with my dad during Summer.

My only sibling is a brother, 7 years younger.

I was greatly influenced by my maternal grandparents and my mother's 4 sisters and 1 brother.

My mother was a nurse and I naturally figured that's what I would be, however she pointed out that I really didn't have the stomach for that and suggested a business career so that's what I did. But, looking back I really would have enjoyed digging through archeological ruins.

I am married to Sam for 45 years. We have 2 daughters, 2 granddaughters, a grandson and a Great grandson. I am retired from an executive assistant position at ADM where I worked for 25 years.

I am happiest when I'm decorating our home and entertaining and feel fairly confident with those 2 things - although I must admit I also get stressed.

I don't think i have a super power.

My best day would be family time that would include all our family in one place.

I like to travel but also love my time at home, and I like the mountains as well as the sea shore.

My season would be Fall closely followed by Spring. I enjoy the crispness of Fall and the new birth of Spring.

I would not enjoy working in food service or anything pertaining to numbers.

My guilty pleasures are chocolate and reading.

I came to Jesus at church camp in 2nd grade. My maternal grandparents were very devout Church of God, and I attended church with them frequently, but my dad was also a decon in the Baptist church after I became an adult. I can't imagine doing life without my Jesus.

I'm not sure what talent or skill I bring to the church but I do enjoy helping wherever I can and hosting when possible.

08/13/2026

What do you want to be known for when the last word is shared about you? You know that eulogy where someone gets up and talks about your virtues and how good of a person you were. I think about this a lot. I have for years. It started when my little girl was about 9. She was asked to describe her mother and she said, "She is always kind." I found this extremely interesting since I think that week we had experienced some disagreement about her putting her folded laundry away someplace else besides the floor.
Peter was visiting nearby Lydda when he was summoned to Joppa because, Dorcus, a woman who was unfailingly kind had died. The community was in mourning for a woman who made it a practice of giving kindness wherever she could. It seemed like a good place to remind people of the power of Jesus Christ, so Peter and two other men arrived and were taken to the room where Dorcus had been laid. He was so impressed by the generosity and kindness of Dorcus that he prayed for her to raised from the dead. He called to her and took her hand, and she was alive. Great miracle! What I find compelling is that Dorcus left a big hole where she had lived. People were missing her because she had emulated Jesus meeting the needs she was equipped to help with. She made a difference. Her legacy was kindness. Oh! I want to leave a hole and a legacy of unselfish and abundant kindness. How about you?

08/12/2026

We don't have to be on social media for long to see how little tolerance our current culture has for different opinions or people who aren't like us. If someone doesn't agree with me, I can just turn my back to them and take away their value, their voice. We have no room for someone who isn't like us.
That's not kindness. Kindness can't nurture or flourish in a climate where we expect the worst of the people with whom we come in contact. We can't expect to leave kindness in a place where we see what people look like before we see who they are.
We don't have to change our walk to be able to listen to others and how they feel. We can listen and have compassion even with people we do not agree with.
It takes practice to walk into a situation and not immediately form a bias against or for someone one. However kindness makes the effort--the effort to smile and be inviting to someone who doesn't look like us one little bit. When we do this, we might have the opportunity to share Jesus with someone we might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so. Kindness can change us and others.

08/11/2026

Over and over again, we see kindness in so many of the stories of the Bible. It is an action stirred up by God's grace and mercy. Throughout the Bible it is closely related to the concepts of love, mercy and compassion. In the OT the Hebrew word for kindness, is "hesed"and translated often as love and kindness or mercy pushing relationship between God's people and from God himself. When the NT switches to Greek the word for kindness is "chrestotes" and continues to speak to love and kindness as well as goodness, gentleness and helpfulness as we begin to understand what it means to walk by the Spirit and serve along side our spiritual knowledge.
Ephesians reminds us to “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV). Forgiveness is kind and we need to do often and generously.
We are called to active kindness. Proverbs reminds us more than once that it is wrong for us to deny kind words when it is in our power to give them to one another.
Although sometimes kindness is physical generosity, it can often be a kind word, smile or action that lifts someone who is in need of encouragement.
Be kind girls. Do it every time you can and when you fail to do it, backtrack and make it right.