Tag Archive: prayer

Jun 20

“Give Me A Harvest… Brother Van: Pioneer Methodist Preacher” video from First UMC, Billings

This wonderful video produced by First United Methodist Church of Billings, Montana, chronicles the amazing life and ministry of Montana’s best known pioneer preacher: Brother William Wesley Van Orsdel. “Brother Van” as he was known, founded Intermountain 110 years ago with the help of the Deaconesses who ably cared for the children, helped raise money, …

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May 21

Renewed faith and greater connection: a testimony to God’s grace in Michael’s life

We recently received this wonderful testimony from Andrea, Michael’s mother, after a home visit her son took as he nears the end of his time in residential treatment: “Prior to his stay at Intermountain Residential, our son Michael was struggling so greatly that he had stopped attending religious education sessions and was not able to …

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Sep 09

Intermountain Moment: The secure base of relationship, why it’s essential!

Relationships are of vital importance to our experience as human beings in community with one another. A secure, loving and supportive relationship is the foundation on which we branch out and explore our world… not just as small children, but even as adults! Think of those times when by situation or circumstance you felt compelled …

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Nov 26

Van Orsdel United Methodist Youth visit Intermountain in Helena

Helena’s Community Service Center and Residential campus were bless to have a visit from Intermountain Presidential Council member Pat Floyd, youth leader Tina, and 15 amazing youth from Van Orsdel United Methodist Church in Havre, Montana earlier this month. The group started out at the Community Service Center with Terry Chaney, who fed them lunch and …

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Sep 04

My Tears in His Bottle: prayers from the heart of a special needs’ mom

Pat Hays has written a devotional book that gives wonderful insight into the joys and struggles that parenting a child with emotional special needs presents. Her book, My Tears in His Bottle: prayers from the heart of a special needs’ mom, contains excerpts from her personal prayer journal as she worked through the last fifteen …

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Aug 01

Prayer requests from our children

For our last chapel gathering in July, we covered the BIG question: “How do I communicate with God?” The children were engrossed in the retelling of the story of Gideon, and how God called and worked with the reluctant hero of faith. God called Gideon a “Mighty Warrior” while he was still a meek and …

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Feb 26

Intermountain Residential Kids’ “Lord’s Prayer”

In a previous post, I explained that this fall I worked with the children on understanding and interpreting the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer, or “Our Father,” posed many interesting opportunities to discuss themes that each and ever one of us struggle with. It was a challenge preparing a lesson for children with emotional disturbance …

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Jan 30

Teaching the Lord’s Prayer in chapel, an opportunity to practice trauma-informed ministry

Last fall, I decided that it would be a good idea to work with the children to know and understand some of the prayers that they had likely heard or would hear in the context of their church attendance in the future. It is always interesting to prepare a lesson for children with emotional disturbance …

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Apr 27

A story from chapel: from walls that protect us to walls that keep us imprisoned

Recently, we did an object lesson called “the Wall” in chapel. We talked about how bad things happen in this world despite having a loving God that looks over us. We make bad choices at times that hurt us, and others make bad choices at times that hurt us. In general, there is a lot …

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Dec 29

Your messages of hope for our children

As part of our Christmas appeal for the last two years, we have included a card that has allowed our supporters to include a “message of hope” for the children of Intermountain. These words are passed on to the staff and children who are doing the hard work of healing through building healthier relationships. It is tough …

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