Post by Eli Brayley on Feb 28, 2009 10:22:50 GMT -7
This is a newsletter from some friends of mine in Wales. I thought I would repost it here on TM because it was very good. Feel free to visit their website.
---------------
Dear Friends & Prayers:
Here it is the last day of February, and we thought the year had just gotten underway! But now it seems that spring is really beginning. Tiny new leaves are out in the hedges and some of the trees. The branches on our black currant bushes are waving their little green flags and cheering on the bursting out of new growth, and there is clearly a red hue to the woods in the river gorge from the bulging buds of the oak trees.
Just in this last week we've been getting busy outside, enjoying days without rain and even some sunshine here and there. The earth has gotten dry enough to start turning over the soil in the garden, and begin planning what we will plant where. After last year's wettest and cloudiest summer on record, we are hope for a better harvest than last year too.
With much thanks to the Lord, Gladys health is definitely improving now and we are very grateful to all of you who have prayed for her during this time. It hasn't been easy, but His grace has always been sufficient and helped her to "stay the course." Some of the lessons that life brings our way can be tough going, but we come out stronger and closer to Him as a result, again by His grace alone.
This week I've found myself drawn back again and again to this scripture in the last chapter of John when Jesus shows Himself to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius. After they throw in the net and make a huge catch, "The disciple that Jesus loved said to peter, 'It is the Lord!' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea."
Isn't that a wonderful picture of hunger for the Lord! He didn't wait the few extra minutes for the boat to make it in to the shore, he just plunged in! I can envision him flailing and lunging his way through the waist-deep water with total abandon to get as close to Jesus as he can as fast as he can! Perhaps he threw on his outer garment in case the Lord asked to him to go somewhere and he wanted to be available immediately.
So I've had to wonder should our own urgency to be with Jesus be any less than Peter's? . . Is there really anything of seemingly greater importance to us that might be holding us back? . . Have we just made some great "catch" of something that we find too precious to just leave behind? . . Or do we sweep inconvenience aside and plunge headlong after the One who gave His all for us? . . Let the questions keep coming . .
Along with the other disciples Peter walked and talked with Jesus for three years. They listened to His teaching and watched Him do amazing things and even participated in performing miracles themselves. And yet, greater than any of these experiences, just being with Him was to know the Father and dwell in His light with fullness of joy. And so now for us, in the midst of whatever we happen to be doing, when there is any evidence of Jesus nearby, can't we also drop it all and run to Him? Can't even a passing thought of Him inspire us to a moment of adoration in any place at any time?
We are now just two months into the new year of 2009. Perhaps the glitter and optimism is seeming a little tarnished already. But if we just take our eyes off our earthly surroundings long enough to look to Him, our perspective will certainly change! Nature is not holding back its flowers because last year was a hard one! So in the midst of whatever our particular tasks or circumstances might be, let us be free run to Him!
Among your other prayers, could you please remember our son Mike who has been trying to find employment since losing his job in late November? Thank you so much for your prayers for us and your continued interest in our intercessory mission here in Wales!
Taking the plunge for Him who first loved us,
Dick & Gladys
For more information about our intercessory mission to Wales,
please visit: walesawakening.org
---------------
Dear Friends & Prayers:
Here it is the last day of February, and we thought the year had just gotten underway! But now it seems that spring is really beginning. Tiny new leaves are out in the hedges and some of the trees. The branches on our black currant bushes are waving their little green flags and cheering on the bursting out of new growth, and there is clearly a red hue to the woods in the river gorge from the bulging buds of the oak trees.
Just in this last week we've been getting busy outside, enjoying days without rain and even some sunshine here and there. The earth has gotten dry enough to start turning over the soil in the garden, and begin planning what we will plant where. After last year's wettest and cloudiest summer on record, we are hope for a better harvest than last year too.
With much thanks to the Lord, Gladys health is definitely improving now and we are very grateful to all of you who have prayed for her during this time. It hasn't been easy, but His grace has always been sufficient and helped her to "stay the course." Some of the lessons that life brings our way can be tough going, but we come out stronger and closer to Him as a result, again by His grace alone.
This week I've found myself drawn back again and again to this scripture in the last chapter of John when Jesus shows Himself to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius. After they throw in the net and make a huge catch, "The disciple that Jesus loved said to peter, 'It is the Lord!' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea."
Isn't that a wonderful picture of hunger for the Lord! He didn't wait the few extra minutes for the boat to make it in to the shore, he just plunged in! I can envision him flailing and lunging his way through the waist-deep water with total abandon to get as close to Jesus as he can as fast as he can! Perhaps he threw on his outer garment in case the Lord asked to him to go somewhere and he wanted to be available immediately.
So I've had to wonder should our own urgency to be with Jesus be any less than Peter's? . . Is there really anything of seemingly greater importance to us that might be holding us back? . . Have we just made some great "catch" of something that we find too precious to just leave behind? . . Or do we sweep inconvenience aside and plunge headlong after the One who gave His all for us? . . Let the questions keep coming . .
Along with the other disciples Peter walked and talked with Jesus for three years. They listened to His teaching and watched Him do amazing things and even participated in performing miracles themselves. And yet, greater than any of these experiences, just being with Him was to know the Father and dwell in His light with fullness of joy. And so now for us, in the midst of whatever we happen to be doing, when there is any evidence of Jesus nearby, can't we also drop it all and run to Him? Can't even a passing thought of Him inspire us to a moment of adoration in any place at any time?
We are now just two months into the new year of 2009. Perhaps the glitter and optimism is seeming a little tarnished already. But if we just take our eyes off our earthly surroundings long enough to look to Him, our perspective will certainly change! Nature is not holding back its flowers because last year was a hard one! So in the midst of whatever our particular tasks or circumstances might be, let us be free run to Him!
Among your other prayers, could you please remember our son Mike who has been trying to find employment since losing his job in late November? Thank you so much for your prayers for us and your continued interest in our intercessory mission here in Wales!
Taking the plunge for Him who first loved us,
Dick & Gladys
For more information about our intercessory mission to Wales,
please visit: walesawakening.org