Thursday 22 December 2016

December Update

G’day Praying Partners,
Is anyone else saying “where has this month gone”? I can’t believe that Christmas is almost upon us! The month has flown by and I must apologize for not reporting earlier concerning all of my health needs. Everything is clear as far as cancer is concerned. We are praising the Lord for the good report! Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

It has been a busy month. Let’s see if I can sum it up for you! We celebrated Thanksgiving on December 3 with some friends. It’s always a bit strange for us to just pick a day to celebrate, but we look forward to taking time to be thankful for all that God has provided – including the turkey! The school had a big carnival on the 9th and we (church) had a booth set up with some games for the kids to play. It was another opportunity to remind people that we meet at the school. Rob and I were privileged to be invited to the year 6 dinner and graduation. These are kids that we began working with when they were in year 3 and we began our grandparenting program. It was a special blessing to us to be able to celebrate with them. Jackie always makes cupcakes for the graduating class; she brought those by the school on Thursday. It was a smaller class this year – only 92 cupcakes were needed. (Prayer meeting was at our house the night before so she had help from some of the ladies at church.) The kids were so grateful. They had graduation bears for autographing and we were surrounded by kids asking for our signature. We feel SO incredibly blessed to be used by God in the school. Jackie did get permission from the father of one of the girls she works with to continue the relationship even though she’s graduated. Please pray for wisdom for Jackie as she seeks for opportunities to share the gospel with her. This Sunday is our Carols by Candlelight service. We are praying for a full house! Last year we had close to 80 in attendance – many friends and family members and several unsaved. Pray that God would be glorified through the service. We will be having breakfast with our church family on Christmas – this is something we do every year, it just happens to fall on Sunday this year!

Christmas is a bit difficult this year – we were spoiled last year with all of our kids being with us! We pray that your Christmas will be special as you celebrate the Savior’s birth. I love the reminder that we get this time of year of just what our God was willing to do to have a relationship with us – incredible! I know that it sounds trite to say – but Jesus really IS the reason for the season! May we all take the opportunity to share His love – in practical ways – with those we meet during this special time. What better gift could we give than the gospel?

Merry Christmas to each of you – and thank you for your faithful prayers for us. May 2017 find each of us serving God wherever He has placed us!

Shining the Light Down Under,
Rob and Jackie