Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Pastor Brett – I’m going to start with something that Gayellyn sent me. Gayellyn is in California visiting with some of her good friends so she can’t be with us this morning. This is what she sent me on Tuesday. She said – After last weekend and another very hard day on Monday with William, (her son who served in Afghanistan) I got to work this morning (Tuesday) and noticed a card I have out on my shelf. I got this card from a coworker about 11 years ago when William was in Afghanistan. It has a picture of a puppy with a bright red scarf running through a field. The inside of the card says “There’s no need to fear, Super Pup is here!” I decided to reread what my friend had written: “William is going to stay safe, think happy thoughts for him, or think of Super Pup if you start to worry; he’ll save the day!” God knew that I needed to be reminded that He is always watching out for my children and I need to trust that and give my worry over to God. God had Jen send that card to me when William was in physical danger; God showed it to me again this morning.
How awesome is that? Amen. Thank you Gayellyn for your testimony this morning.
Jan – Good morning. You know that my husband is struggling with this terrible depression that has incapacitated him. He now is stricken to the bed, he doesn’t get up at all; his legs are getting contractures and he can’t even bend them when I try to get him up over the side of the bed. Anyway, on Friday morning I had this song that came into my mind when I first woke up – The Anchor Holds. Does anybody here remember it? It’s an awesome song. Well, when Pastor Brett referenced the anchor this morning, I thought – Yes Lord! You know, this has been a long storm. Then when I went to read my Bible that morning, Friday morning; actually it was my birthday, I had a wonderful birthday. I came to this verse, listen to this, it’s Hebrews 6:19: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus is!” He is our hope, our only hope that will not ever let us go. Long story short… My son came over and got the computer in the room where my husband is on a hospital bed now; he got the computer going so we can get Day Star Christian TV Channel. So, my husband has to listen to Day Star…. it’s in the room where he is… with all the TV Evangelists preaching away to Wayne and he can’t turn it off!
Pastor Brett – That’s awesome. Thank you, Jan.
Janelle – Brett & I live in the same neighborhood as Andrew & Wendy; they really have a passion for knowing the neighbors and loving our neighbors. During Covid, we’ve actually had a lot of opportunities to know our neighbors a lot more with regularity, which I’m sure is true for a lot of you. We got invited to a casual gathering with a bunch of young families. We know a lot of older people in our neighborhood… which is great because we have all these grandparents. But there were all these young families from all over the big area of our neighborhood. Brett was on it, he got contact information. It was just such an answer to prayer in a whole new way; feeling like this door is opening to be friends with more people that are at our life stage to where it feels more natural to be neighbors and friends. I felt like God was on the move!
Pastor Brett – Yes, Amen. It’s almost like Janelle took the words right out of my mouth, because that’s what I was going to share. Thank you Janelle. I will just add my 2nd to that experience. How amazing is it – that the two great commandments are love God and love your neighbor. So, we know that our neighbors are close to God’s heart at all times.
Michele – Hi. What I wanted to say is – If there’s anything that I’m really learning here in Michigan with the hospice care is – I can’t believe the outpouring of kindness and the caring of all the people dealing with hospice; the people that work at this hospice association, the neighbors that Jan has, all of the friends that Jan has. The way these people have come through, it’s such a blessing and you just know that God is working, God is there helping us through this. If you saw the kind of wonderful things that these nurses do. They come in the middle of the night if we have a problem… It’s really heartwarming to see, with the way things are nowadays, to see such kindness it kind of surprises you anymore.
Pastor Brett – Amen, thank you Michele.