AMAZING Grilled Cheese / Emily Hulette

AMAZING Grilled Cheese
Butter the outside of the bread.
On the inside of the sandwich you mix garlic powder in some mayo and put a thin layer on non the buttered side of the bread. Then three strips of cooked bacon, a layer of thinly sliced granny Smith apple slices and last but not least a layer of sliced cheddar cheese. Then grill in a skillet or griddle until golden brown.

Mrs Emily Hulette
Arnold, MO

Helpers of Joy: Coming or Going? / Mrs Charissa Andrews

A wise person once told me, “You will bring joy to people's lives. Every. Single. Day.” (Sounds super sweet, hu?) “Either by your entering or your exiting”(Okay...ouch!) Isn't that so true though? When it comes to our lives, there is no doubt we bring joy. Hopefully it is because of our presence, and not because of the lack of. :)

“...we...are helpers of your joy...” 2 Corinthians 1:24. When I came across this verse several months ago, I immediately thought about 2 peopleexactly like this, that God has very graciously and lovingly put into my life. There are two places in this chapter specifically that stood out to me.

Paul is writing a letter to the church at Corinth & he gives them several verses that “prove” the statement in :24. One is verse 3. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;” Here Paul is helping their joy by reminding them that God is good! That He is merciful and that He comforts us like no other. “There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one.” My two helpers of joy are great at this! During a particularly rough storm, there was a season that my heart was completely overwhelmed. I went to sleep crying and as soon as my eyes opened in the morning, the crying would start. It was gut wrenching, heart shattering grief. I would call for my “helper of joy”and through tears say something like, “Please, start reading. I need a promise. I need to hear His words. I must have his promises.” And my amazing “helper of joy” would lovingly and patiently read the rich promises of God to me. Reminding me that though the world around me may crumble, God's Word, faithfulness and trustworthiness would never change. My other “helper of joy” has on purpose dedicated to memorizing chunks of scripture with me. Specific portions that bring hope and joy. It's an effort, it's work. But that's what “helpers of joy” do. :) Could we do this? When we notice that life has thrown a curve ball that begins to deflate someone's joy, could we be there with promising, life giving words of God? When we know someone has been broken hearted, hurt, feeling anxious or scared...could we set out to memorize scripture with them? Most of the time when people are feeling this way, they don't need to be scolded or reprimanded. They need someone to walk along side them and offer the Words of life, remind them of God's faithfulness and loving care.

One other verse in this chapter that I want to point out is verse four. “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” This is a verse that I have read and re-read multiple times. It's one of my go-to verses when I'm facing heartache and needing to be reminded there is a reason and purpose. Paul was saying, “We have faced tribulation. Real life, true blue pain and heartache. The knock-the-wind-out-of-you kind.” (Can you relate at all...ever been there?) However he was telling them, “Hey...it's okay”. How could he say that? How was it okay? It was okay because they knew their tribulation had a purpose. It was okay because of how he and Timothy were going to use the tribulation: to be helpers of joy. When they went through that knock-you-to-your-knees tribulation guess what happened? God comforted them. They received comfort for the very purpose of being a comfort to others. Wow! What helpers of joy! It's amazing what we can endure when we know it'll serve a great purpose. Want an example? Child birth ;) Look at the pain we endure for that. I could understand first time mom's accepting it...they don't know exactly what they are getting into. But repeat that after you are fully aware?!? Yep. Why? Because we know the end result. It's worth the pain. Could we do that?? The next time we face a very real heartache, could we purposely look for the comfort through the storm and bravely continue...knowing that God can use our pain and subsequent comfort to be a “helper of joy” to someone else? Let's remember that our pain can serve a purpose. God may just be trusting you with an illness, a wayward child, a “friend” betraying you. That diagnosis...it may not be about you at all, but about someone else who needs what you'll learn. That's another great thing my two “helpers of joy” have daily demonstrated. They don't want their influence sitting on a shelf- they live for others and not for self.

Ladies, in the days ahead, let's purpose to be helpers of joy. When God places someone in our path whose “joy tank” seems to be running on low – let's remind them about the amazing God we serve. Perhaps dedicate to memorize Scripture with them. The joy of the Lord is our strength! Let's get involved, let's really love people. There is no life lived like the life lived for others.

What will the people in your life say? I'm glad she came...or I'm glad she went away? Let's determine to be a helper of joy!!

Mrs Charissa Andrews

Pastor's Wife
Amazing Grace Baptist Church

St Peter's, MO

Park Hopping / Amy Sapp

Park Hopping is an idea that The Lord gave me last year!!  A great way to get your kids involved in the ministry!  A friend of mine and I went park hopping each week during the summer!  Between two of us we had 7 kids.  We would map out all of the parks in an area city, then go to each park, at each park we would have the kids hand out a couple of church tracts each (yes even my 4 year old participated and loved it), then play for 15 minutes!  While they were playing we would find parents and chit chat with them and finish the conversation with a tract and an invite to our church.  Then off to the next park!  Same thing at each park!  We would hit 4-5 parks per day.  One time it was raining very hard so we went McDonalds Hopping, same idea just hitting McDonalds with playground areas!  What a fun way to get the Gospel out, train the kids to do the same, and teach them that it is a BLAST being a Christian!!!  Have a super awesome weekend!!

J - O - Y / Mrs Amy Sapp

I've got JOY down in my heart, deep deep down in my heart..
J - O - Y down in my heart, deep deep down in my heart!
Jesus gave it to me, and NOTHING can DESTROY it!


You will have true JOY, if you follow the acronym J - Jesus, O - Others, Y - Yourself.  Serve Jesus first, then others, then yourself.  Seems like a lot of times we get the Jesus first part, then we seem to put the Yourself part next, then lastly the Others part.  If you do that, it spells "JYO" which spells absolutely nothing!


The Bible says in Psalm 5:11, "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice:  let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them:  let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee."
The Lord is letting us as Christians who trust Christ rejoice!  He wants us to SHOUT with JOY!  And if we love the Lord we should be JOYFUL in Him!


The Bible also says in Psalm 16:11, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life:  in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
The Lord says if we follow His path in His presence, we will have JOY and pleasures!!


Let's practice not only having JOY at home, and work, but also at church.  If something unexpected happens, be JOYFUL about it!  If someone is sitting in your seat / pew, if someone is parked in your parking spot, if you are asked last minute by someone to do something like working in the nursery or singing a special.  Be excited,  have JOY that you GET to serve the Lord!!  Have JOY that you have church pews to sit in, be JOYFUL that you have a church parking lot!


Remember Jesus didn't die for Himself....  He died for OTHERS!!

Mrs Amy Sapp
O'Fallon, MO

Tater Tot Casserole / Mrs Becci Jerome

Tater Tot Casserole

(The kids favorite)

Ingredients:

1 lb Hamburger, browned & drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion, diced
1 can of corn, drained
1 can green beans, drained
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 small bag of tater tots (enough to cover top)

Directions:

Preheat oven 400°
Place browned hamburger in 7x11 dish.
Spread cream of mushroom on top.
Place onions, corn, and green beans on top of that.
Sprinkle cheese over top.
Cover with as many tater tots that will fit.
Bake until tater tots are golden brown and crispy.

*If want to double just double ingredients (except corn and green beans) and put in 9x13 dish.

From the Kitchen of:

Mrs Becci Jerome

Granby, MO

Cupcake Fun / Mrs Robin Ogle

It was the morning of our annual Ladies Conference, and I was walking around the building checking on last minute details. My friend, was in charge of a massive, three- tiered dessert buffet in the lobby. She waved me over to the delicious display and whispered, " Robin, I don't know what to do! Just look!" She pointed to the saddest cupcakes on the planet. They sagged under heavy chocolate icing, and huge pink dots of fondant  were dripping and oozing into misshaped puddles.

 "What do I do?" my friend asked.

 "Take the plate away", I instructed.

"But what if someones feelings get hurt!"

"Just take it away, it will be alright."

"I don't want anyone to get upset!"

"Don't worry about it, they are MINE!"

Mrs Robin Ogle

Pastor's Wife 

Calvary Baptist Church

Canton, IL

Go Get 'Em!!! / Mrs Amy Sapp

It's the weekend!!!  One of the most encouraging things that you could do this weekend is to show up for your church's weekly soulwinning / visitation time!!  Do you need to know how to be a soulwinner to go soulwinning?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!  Just show up!  I guarantee you if you show up, your Pastor will smile big time, and I guarantee he will find a job just for you!  It could be anywhere from putting promotion fliers on a door, passing out tracts, or going along with someone as their silent partner!  I have heard several times that in churches today, 10% of the people do 90% of the work.  If we could flip flop that to say...  90% of the people did 90% of the work, could you imagine how our churches would grow?!?!  If you already have plans for this weekend....  No big deal...  Do your best to go next week!!  If you are not able to go on Saturday's at all, then ask your Pastor to set you up with someone who could maybe go with you another day of the week!

Go Get 'Em!!!

Hey Hey Ladies!! I have been working on a schedule for our "Helpers of Joy" Blog / Group! I am super excited!! Every Monday we will have different Pastors's Wife's / Assistant Pastor's Wife's sharing something with us! I already have the next several weeks lined up!! Every Thursday you will be hearing different ideas from "yours truly" on how to be a blessing to you church and Pastors Family! Also throughout each week I will have various ladies share recipes, testimonies, household tips, etc! Please add anyone who you think this may be a blessing to to our group, I don't want anyone to miss out!

Please do not advertise in this group. If there is something you would like to sell or be promoted please free to contact or message me. Also, if there is a ladies meeting you would like to be promoted please get me a flier! Anyone who knows me knows I can sell "ice to an Eskimo"! And knows I loooove Ladies Meetings!!

Please keep everything pure and clean here! No exceptions, no debates! If it doesn't line up with Philippians 4:8, it shall more than likely be removed!!

The Purpose

Good Morning!!!!  My name is Amy Sapp,  I was saved at the age of 17 on March 31st 1994 (YIKES!), now you know my age!  Shortly after I was saved, I spent a lot of time with my Pastor and his family, staying with them often.  It was at that point that the Lord put something special in my heart to have the desire to be a blessing and encouragement, especially to my Pastor and his wife.  I attended Hyles Anderson College from 1995 to 1998, yes I loved to have a ton of fun then also, that is where I met my best friend Charissa Tyler Andrews who is my current Pastor's Wife.  After college, I married my AMAZING hunk Chad Sapp on November 30th 1999!  Since then, we have had the honor of being the parents of Abigail, Luke, & Logan!  We attend Amazing Grace Baptist Church in St Peters, MO.  Chad and I run the Super Church (Jr Church) program at our church.  I also teach an adults ladies class (Lady Ambassadors).

The purpose of this blog is not only to encourage and bring a smile to YOUR face, but also to teach and train others how to be a blessing specifically to your Pastor and Pastor's Wife.  I will be asking various Pastor's Wife's to write posts for me from time to time.  We will have such things as recipes, fun stories, testimonies, game ideas, ladies' meeting ideas, household tips, and creative ways to be a blessing in the ministry!!

Our title is going to be Helpers of Joy, I get that from the verse...

2 Corinthians 1:24
Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy:  for by faith ye stand.

Please invite anyone and everyone to be a part of this blog...

Let's have JOY!  We ladies know...  If we ain't happy, ain't NOBODY gonna be happy!!!