Saturday Morning, February 17

This is what each of us saw as we entered the fellowship hall last Saturday morning.

The committee did a fabulous job of creating a beautiful atmosphere and preparing delicious food.

Emily

Jess

Erma

The theme for this brunch was “Anchors When Life is Senseless.”

Food prep in the kitchen – Kate and Martha

Icing scones

Brenda at the stove

Laura and Andi

Jess getting a list of food items to give to the audience before the meal

Sabrina

Matt helping our speaker, Maryann Martin, prepare her PowerPoint.

You get recruited to help with setup when your wife and mom is on the committee – Mike and Curtis.

Curtis making sure the cord is taped safely to the floor.

Mike removing the seals from under the lids of the ketchup containers

Pretty window decorations

Kim

Jess and Kim doing final preparations.

Maryann setting up her book and photo table.

I wasn’t the only photographer. Gary is getting photos ready for our church’s upcoming photo directory.

Maryann’s table

Maryann’s husband, Ronald, was killed in a vehicle accident on July 1, 2010, on a country road while they were serving as missionaries in Honduras.

Time for brunch. The delicious scones were on the table.

Lemon curd and Devonshire cream

Jess welcomed the ladies and prepared us for the meal.

I think there were about 160-170 ladies in the room.

We were dismissed by table to go through the breakfast buffet.

The meal included scrambled eggs with a variety of topping choices (cheese, onions, bacon bits, and salsa) and roasted, cubed potatoes.

Dessert was delicious crepes.

Linnea opened the program by leading group singing. (using a pitch pipe)

“All the Way My Savior Leads Me”

“I Believe in God”

“Where He Leads Me I Will Follow”

Kim led with devotions and introduced Maryann.

Maryann opened by saying that she counted it a privilege to stand before us, as there were many days after her husbands death when the pain was so raw that she could not foresee this ever happening.

She grew up in Franconia, Pennsylvania, then taught school in Delaware before marrying Ronald Martin.

Their first grief was four years of infertility – which now doesn’t look very long – but it seemed very long at the time. They eventually had six children – some by birth and some by adoption.

There were some other painful things in their marriage – a miscarriage, a troubled son – but nothing compared to the pain of Ronnie’s death (at age 44) when they were serving as missionaries in Honduras.

See obituary here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ldnews/obituary.aspx?pid=143974438

She said, “I am here to give you hope – Biblical hope that is sure and concrete – anchors for your heart and soul.”

She said that God has truly become a husband to her – an anchor to her heart and soul – especially during difficult times.

Her warning to us was, “When there is deep pain or hurt in your life, don’t allow bitterness to nibble away at your heart.”

One time when God anchored her soul was the day she found a lily with a missing petal. It was a day or two after the anniversary of Ronnies’ death. God quietly reminded her that a lily with a missing petal was still beautiful.

She also remembered a time when she was asking God to allow her to see the light of the moon on a dark cloudy night. It did not happen, but she was reminded that the moon was still there – just as God is always there, even when she cannot feel Him.

“Sometimes we need to turn our common sense to God’s sense, so He can turn the nonsense in our lives into His sense.”

Erma closed the program by thanking Maryann and telling us a bit about God’s strength during  the recent death of her sister Jean.

We sang, “Will Your Anchor Hold?”