Wednesday, December 28, 2011

God is Good and God is Gracious

“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.”
Psalm 107:31-32

I hope that the testimonies shared have been encouraging to you. In some small ways and some very big ways we have seen the faithfulness of our loving, heavenly Father through the lives of people facing ‘common’ problems with an ‘uncommonly’ loving God. Here is another one to rejoice in:

The first thing that came to mind when we were asked to share how God has blessed our family during the past year was something all born-again parents pray for. As a leader of our youth group, the kids in our group know I love them and that my greatest prayer is that they all would accept Christ as their Savior and that they would begin a personal relationship with Jesus. I didn't expect the first to be my own son. I thanked God for His kindness & grace as I led my eldest son in the sinner's prayer. If that wasn't amazing enough by itself, a few months later I got to baptize my own son. God is awesome!The next event that comes to mind is something that frightened my wife and me. While putting our second eldest son to bed one evening, I noticed a lump on the back of his neck about the size of a peanut M&M. It was located between two vertebrae. My wife had noticed it too and was more than a little distressed. Neither of us wanted to worry our son about it, so while he was sleeping, we each took turns laying our hands on him and praying that God would heal him. The next morning the lump was completely gone and has not returned. Praise God!Also this year, my brother and his wife had experienced difficulty in their marriage. Difficulties like gambling problems and infidelity. The marriage was in severe danger and my sister-in-law had already contacted an attorney and sought out a separate living space. We met with them, spoke with them, helped them to understand the roles of a husband and a wife from a biblical perspective as well as God's attitude toward marriage and divorce. Two days ago they visited our house for Christmas and were getting along very well - laughing with each other, joking, and hugging each other. Their marriage is on the mend.God continues to open doors for us to speak into other's lives and present opportunities to come along side Him. We have realized the more we draw closer to Him, and the more we fall in love with Jesus, the closer we grow to each other. We have never been stronger and tighter. God is good. God is gracious. God is an amazing God and we can't help but thank Him for what He has done for us this year.”

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