PRAISE
Thank you for praying about the trauma counseling that I am researching and making decisions on. I have so much more peace about it now. Just that reassurance that God is working and leading. Sometimes—we just need a boost in our faith!
I wrote about the blessing of all the materials we were able to get printed, most of which will last us for this year and some of it the next couple of years (especially books and booklets). With that blessing comes the fact that it is maxing out our storage facilities. So Abe is busying himself with putting in more shelving, moving things around and making space. You will see in the photo the stacks of packages in the one section, the other side is much larger and is packed out, and we have a bunch of stuff up in our attic! It is one of the blessings of having this house in that we can accommodate all of this. And to be honest, Abe enjoys the physical activity.
Praise God for people of faith! We heard from one supporting church this week who has decided to raise the support for ALL of their missionaries by 20%! All I have been hearing on the news is about inflation and fears of recession, and tightening belts, and in the midst of that—a 20% increase. Sometimes we are just overwhelmed at the good and godly people we know all around the world.
I did not post them last time but here are a few pictures from prayer in practice at the Celebration of Prayer workshop. Thank God for His praying people!
PRAYER
Please lift up the next workshop to the Lord for His blessing and direction. It will be held Tuesday and Wednesday the 21st and 22nd. Abe will be handling two groups: the ones who have already established Centers of Hope or are on their way to do so; and new people who are interested but have not attended any of the training sessions yet. Pray for strength and clarity for Abe, and the coordination involved in doing this on two levels. And especially pray that new people will come who have a passion for Jesus Christ and a heart to reach the lost.
As the war continues more men are being called up now to serve. This has already impacted who can serve with Centers of Hope and I’m wondering about pastors and church leaders across the country. We pray often for the believers we know, and the ones we don’t, who are already serving--that God would protect them, but also that His light would shine brightly through them to the other soldiers who face eternity every day. We just had an air raid warning that went on for 13 hours. That hasn’t happened before so I don’t know what they are anticipating. And at the same time we have many reports of people going to minister to areas who are near the front lines, bringing humanitarian aid but most importantly the Gospel. And some of them are risking their lives to do so because they are so close to the front.
R elated to that in a Bible study today I was doing today, the teacher said that the Greek word for witnesses used in Acts 1:8—you will be my witnesses—is the word we get “martyr” from. This is the Gospel going out often in extreme circumstances. People who are even willing to put their lives on the line to be His witnesses. Praise God for these people. And pray that people will have their spiritual eyes opened to understand the Gospel and what it means for them right now, here on earth. So many riches we have in God. And the more we share these riches with others, the more we receive.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:31-43
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