We host this event every Christmas as an outreach to women in our local community. Through God's grace, this will be our eighth year of sharing Christ with women of all ages as we celebrate this wonderful season.

This has been a difficult year for so many families, so we've decided to celebrate by reaching out to families that have been caught “in the middle,” of the financial crunch...not needing food stamps or homeless, but that have small needs. They may have been without a job for a short period of time or are experiencing cutbacks. They seem to be the ones who are left out, thinking that no one cares…maybe not even God.

I talked to our ministry team and we decided to buy 10 Christmas trees to decorate with at our upcoming event. Each woman who attends has been asked to bring an ornament to help decorate the trees. Eeach tree will have a theme centered on Christ. We will decorate the trees and leave them in our church atrium and ask the congregation to continue decorating them until December 1.

Any additional money that remains after our event expenses are covered will be used to provide gift cards to the families when the trees are delivered. Our pastors will help select the families that will receive the trees and additional financial help. We will also send a note to each family making one request. We ask that next year they take the ornaments that have been given to them and share them with another family that has a  need similar to theirs.

Judy Tripi has been a WM leader and speaker for 12 years. She currently serves at Anastasia Baptist Church in St. Augustine, Florida.