Michigan Camp Meeting 2024: As For Me and My House

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Creating Joy in Everyday Life

Laurie Snyman

01 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you so much for this beautiful Monday.

Thank you for your sunshine, the warm weather, And please remind us to drink our water.

And I ask that you be with Lori in a very, very special way.

Please wrap your arms around her and give her your words, Lord.

I love camp meeting, camp meeting, for it's a wonderful time.

I just have that song in my head all the time when I'm walking around.

You know, I think that we take it for granted.

Here in Michigan, I've been to a couple of camp meetings, and all I can think about is Michigan camp meetings.

And you know, many of you I've gotten to know because I had that privilege of going around to different churches and speaking.

I don't always know a lot of you well, but I know your faces.

And it's like, I've been speaking at, in Tennessee, I've had the opportunity, and in Georgia, and in Alabama.

And I look out in the audience and there isn't anybody that I know.

You know who I see the most is Justin Ringstaff's mother.

She's a pastor's wife and she's on a role.

To strengthen our faith and to be worshiping with like-mannered people, right?

Isn't it wonderful to get together with the saints?

And we live in a very chaotic world, don't we?

And then to come here and to see people who are still worshipping God and wanting to be together and to pray?

How many of you have had someone pray with you while you've been here?

How many of you have been praying for the services here?

Isn't it just wonderful to think about all the prayers that must be going up from this part of the map?

I just think that it is a great opportunity and I'm so glad that you're here.

And there were notes that were given to you.

Okay, there's a few that, if there's somebody who didn't, I'm sure that they'll make sure that you get 1.

And I want you to know that not everything that we talk about is in that note, so you can like put, write down something.

But I'm going to ask you, since I know all of you a little bit, because you're from Michigan, maybe I haven't met you yet, would you write down something that while we are here, what was it that you felt you could use to keep your joy going?

Would that be okay if you shared a little bit of that at the end?

I can't tell you how in the South nobody responds, they just sit there and smile.

If they don't like you they say bless your heart.

I'm serious and if they're really annoyed with you they go oh bless your heart sweetie.

I do want you to know that I went into a dollar general and this lady said, hi baby, and I thought she's talking to me.

And then I thought, you know, I'm a nice person.

She probably can just tell I'm a nice person.

And then this guy came in, he looked like he was, well, he was looking kind of creepy.

And I thought, boy, it ain't about you, is it?

Roy said, you know, you followed me around.

We just celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary last week.

And he said, you know, you've been in ministry with me for 45 years, 46 years almost, and you always followed me so you can go wherever you want.

I'm like, okay, I was crunching things together.

And then I decided to go closer to my daughter.

So my daughter is at the Redhead there, and she's 20 minutes down the way from us.

And she has a cottage, and they found a piece of property in that area, and that's where we built our house.

And I was teasing everybody that I was going to get a pontoon boat.

And my husband kept saying, no, we're not going to get a pontoon boat.

Guess what he said to me when the little old lady across the street was retiring and wanted to get rid of her pontoon boat?

So we use Kristen's dock from her cottage, and we have a pontoon boat.

And I said to him, I promise that we will use that as a mission for God.

There are people that we've met all over, and they probably don't feel all that comfortable to come to my house for a vegetarian meal.

They're just, it's grits and bacon and sausage and fried chicken there.

But you know, if you ask them to come for a pontoon ride, they go, I'd love that.

So that has been happening and we have been able to use that pontoon boat to make friendships.

And we also have, we have a church with a lot of people that have come in in a very short amount of time, and we've also been able to use that pontoon boat to make friends.

And I'll tell you, the witnessing opportunities have been really ripe there.

This is a time when people are really concerned about what's going on, and when they tell me, I always laugh and say, do I look like that May Trunley woman or something?

They come up and they tell me their problems in retail places and gas stations and car washes that's a real big thing in the South They love to go to car washes.

Anyways, when they come and tell me and I ask if I can pray with them, I've made so many friends.

I'm just having a hard time juggling what to do and how many to call in 1 day.

There's really that many people out there.

So, and I suspect that maybe I wasn't working at it as hard here in Michigan, and I want to encourage you that when somebody talks to you about something, ask, can I pray for you?

There is no better joy than to know that you touch somebody and that God's working through you.

So I'm gonna say that that's 1 of the things that I would say is the highlight of joy.

So I look out at you and actually I see some men that are in touch with their feminine side.

02 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2024 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for a brand new day here at Michigan Camp Meeting.

Thank you for everything that you give to us.

Thank you even for this heat, because maybe we might meet somebody we might not have met, sitting in a chair just cooling off.

Help us to find joy in everything that we do, and praise you for everything, no matter what.

And Yesterday, I think we talked about that we all have problems.

We have different layers of things, but we are still supposed to have joy no matter what our circumstances are.

And so, we also talked about our toolbox yesterday.

Here's what we talked about a little bit about.

Journaling, rejoicing, no matter what, all the time.

Halt, does anybody remember what halt is?

If you're hungry, angry, lonely, tired, or bored.

And we always have our little downs and We look for things that we want to mask them with.

And we also talked about cultivating friendships.

How many of you talked to some new people yesterday?

We should be spending time giving joy to other people, shouldn't we?

And camp meeting is a safe place to do that.

Have you looked and seen that there are people here who have never been here before?

And so that's really important to make sure that you include them.

Either that or there's drums coming over something.

A sense of gratitude, being involved with your family.

Another 1 was stay away from bad medicine.

Using video games, using medicine, using drugs, using alcohol, using food to help us when we feel stressed and calmed.

So what I want to know is did anybody use any of the tools in the toolbox yesterday What did you do we have a microphone Spent more time in prayer and gratitude yay Anybody else did any of those things?

I connected with friends and we sat and laughed a lot, which was great because then we smiled.

Actually people who laugh together feel better and it enhances the relationship.

So if you have a serious relationship with a significant other and you're not doing any laughing, smiling, or playfulness, you're not bonding as much as you need to according to research Okay, anybody else who used something in the toolbox and worked it focused on the good Focused on the good because it's so easy to get so focused on the heat or whatever Yeah So we need to always focus on the good.

You know what, I said something negative yesterday.

I said, you know, I can't believe that we booked ourselves at a hotel that was 45 minutes from the campground.

And my husband said, but at least it's got air conditioning.

I guess somebody had to remind me to be happy.

I offered forgiveness and accepted it for my boys when we had a rough morning yesterday.

There's so much, it's so good to get things off your chest, isn't it?

And it really does suck out your joy when you are allowing things to weigh you down, and it usually starts in layers.

By the way, oh, is there another person out there?

I got acquainted with our neighbor next to us where we're camping.

And she was concerned that our pop-up does not have an air conditioner.

And so she said, anytime that you get really warm or anytime you want, you're welcome to come over and we do have air conditioning.

Hospitality and encouraging and being allowed.

By the way, there are problems that we have because we have created them.

There's a slimy deceiver out there and he kind of fills up some of our information that we know about God with some falsehood and we sometimes accept the whole thing and we can get truth mixed up with lies and just go forward.

And sometimes we go forward without asking him to help us.

I thought this picture was, I mean this saying was interesting.

I got 99 problems and 86 of them are completely made up scenarios in my head that I'm stressing about for absolutely no logical reason.

How much, what percent of our worries never happen?

Okay, we're going to talk about that today.

I was going to talk to you about your obsessing and not my obsessing.

You know my PowerPoints were all finished when I came to camp meeting, but I spent probably another 8 or 10 hours redoing them and checking the pictures and redoing what I'm saying and shortening the whatever.

Like, have you ever looked in the mirror?

And Then another problem is when we think that we can do things ourselves, and yet God could have made it so much more efficient and wiser if we had just talked to Him first.

Remember how we said yesterday it's so good when we read things because the Lord convicts our heart when we read them.

So please read this with me because I wanna talk to you about breathing.

There's so many people go, oh, breathing is only new age.

White has quite a few comments about breathing, so let's talk about that.

We must breathe well, full, deep inspirations of pure air.

Send it a life-giving current to every part of the body.

Does anybody notice that they have some nerves?

Have you ever had somebody stepping on the wrong nerve?

How many of you don't even have something stressful going on and you can feel your nerves?

03 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for being there with us every second of the day.

When we have these trials in our life, We're ready to surrender our joy.

We're so thankful, Lord, that you show us a way out so that we can remain joyful.

We thank you for Lori and for what she's teaching us, Lord, on how to have joy in our hearts.

And we just pray that you will speak through her and into our ears today.

I packed my suitcase and moved out of the hotel.

Drove down those roads, all those country roads to get here that were closed this morning.

Went down all those dirt roads, but I'm still joyful.

I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

We have a lot of joy, but you can be singing that anytime, right?

We all know that 1 really easy, and you don't even need to have the words because you probably have it.

Have you been singing that at all during the week?

I love camp meeting, camp meeting, but anyway.

I want you to shout out something you're thankful for that you haven't already said.

So 1 2 Tram rides people Good good job Do you ever get really focused on what's right and what's wrong that people do?

Do you ever think about that they should always be respectful and everything should be fair?

Do you ever think that people, you're expecting them to apologize and then you can get on with your life?

Do you think that you're entitled to be treated a certain way?

Do you think that if people don't do it the right way that you should pay them back in some way?

Well, no, because you're a Christian so you smile but you get irritated, maybe slam doors or slam cupboards or something like that.

Do you ever think that people should always do what you want them to do, the way you want them to do that?

I don't see that many heads shaking out there.

So are you convinced that you need to have an attitude of joy?

Do you think that that's necessary for Christians to have an attitude of joy?

Do you think we should have smiles on our face when we meet people?

Do You think we should look at them in the eye and try to communicate something pleasant?

You have been convinced throughout this week that it's very important to cultivate joy.

How many of you know about exercise happens to help joy?

Okay How many of you don't feel joyful when you think about exercise?

My husband wanted me to know that now that I'm a senior that I could get that silver sneakers thing when I go into the gym.

And I said, oh whoopee, thanks for letting me know that.

And so I signed up at the gym And then he said, and isn't it nice that every time that you come home from anywhere, you have to drive by it and then you'll just do it.

So I would get into the parking lot and I'd sit in my car and I'd get on my cell phone and then I'd think about going in and then I'm like, find 5 more things to text about and then I'd go in and like, these ladies know what it's like.

Did you know that a treadmill doesn't go anywhere?

And somebody said, well, try the stair stepper.

Well, if I don't like to do stairs, why would I want to do a stair stepper?

Yeah, and then they said, work on your muscles with these machines.

And I'm like, if you don't have muscles, what do you pull on those machines with?

But anyway, somebody did encourage me to go to their water aerobics class.

It was almost an hour away from where I was and I went to the water aerobics class and I loved it.

And then I decided, well, I'm going to go to the Y that's closer to me.

And there was so many nice people in the class and they were all so friendly.

They kept coming and we were in the pool and then they would say, well, we think she's coming, we think she's coming.

And you know what I, do you ever have your mouth in gear before you think about what you say?

And I said, I should teach this dumb class.

And so I said well fine I'll get certified and do it.

My husband's like you need a job you just retired.

I'm like well I need to get in the pool and I need to have a good reason.

So I got an interview and they said, well, what is your goal?

And they go, well, we've never really had anyone like you before, but you're hired.

I think they're desperate, that's what's it.

But then I said, what do I need to learn?

Well, I didn't know that I had to learn life saving and CPR.

I had to kiss dummies for an hour and a half.

I had to take some 3 and a half hour thing about if people drown and if they bounce too much what bones we could hurt and all that kind of stuff.

And and then I thought what did I get myself into but knowing that that all those people were expecting it, like I felt like I had to do it, and I passed.

And now I have a water aerobics class, and I love it.

And it fits into my schedule, and I do water aerobics, and I'm happy the whole time, and then when I'm done with the class I'm exhausted.

I don't know how I had the energy to do it, but is it ever fun?

I hope that you're doing some exercise because that's also a natural serotonin upper that makes us feel happy.

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Creating Joy in Everyday Life

01 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

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01 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

52m

02 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

55m

03 Creating Joy in Everyday Life

46m

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