Greetings from Arizona! For the last 14 years in the fall, the Lord has granted the opportunity to serve churches in Arizona and California for their missions conferences. It’s become a great blessing to serve these faithful pastors and churches, helping their missions ministries to grow. In the process, a pattern developed, which has served us well.
My heart’s prayer was to make this the best trip ever. We spent weeks upgrading the display materials to help people to better appreciate the greatness of what God is doing around the world through His servants. We purchased a new iPad display to introduce folks to the resources available on the new FBMI website, and we prayed that the Lord would direct in preparing and delivering the messages.
Well, the Lord saw fit to really change things. A couple days before departure, a bone in my foot was broken when I stepped on a walnut early in the morning in the dark. Talk about feeling foolish! Suddenly, the pattern and planning were “out the window.” With the foot elevated and iced, it was time to pray in earnest and ask for the Lord’s guidance. What to do now?
By God’s grace and with a lot of prayer, the trip has taken place. At each stop the pastors have said it was their best missions conference ever. Souls have been saved, and young people have surrendered to serve God as missionaries or otherwise as the Lord should direct. Folks of all ages—Sunday school teachers, children, parents—have been thrilled when they have seen how much the website can enable them to learn about their missionaries (and others) and how they can better support them in their work.
And He has blessed our witnessing. For example, in California the Lord used my testimony and His Word to lead to the Lord an EMT who was in nursing school.
This morning while reading Luke 18, the last part of Verse 8 caught my attention, where Jesus said: “. . . when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” As His return draws nigh, there’s greater opposition to the Lord’s work. Serving pastors, churches, missionaries, it’s evident that the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges they face are getting more difficult. But God’s grace is greater!
Thank you for praying! Please remember these needs:
• For God’s wisdom as we help several missionaries through very serious situations
• For pastors and missionaries worldwide to have the Lord’s power, wisdom, and direction
• That the Lord would grant us the wisdom, direction, and resources needed to keep serving
• For several unspoken needs in our extended family
Praise God for His mercy and grace! Prayer makes all the difference.
That all might hear, everywhere,
Dan and Lana Siemer and Tom