PAYING ATTENTION TO GOD

Today Mark and I have a relatively quiet home compared to 29 years ago.

But, one thing has remained consistent during all these years—our serious desire to glorify God by living as He has given instructions in His word.

Our natural inclinations cannot lead us to a flourishing life. And when we ignore or take lightly God’s directions about life we contribute to the destruction of our own life and that of our family. That is why we must take seriously what God says in His word just as Moses told the Israelites that following God’s instructions should be their life. Is this how we view the incredible Word of God?

Having spent a couple of weeks studying the core of any family—the husband-wife relationship, this week our Ladies Bible Study will begin looking at the role of parents, children, and discipline; particularly as viewed from Proverbs. Please don’t excuse yourself from our time together because you don’t currently have children in your home. Our study will have pertinent information for every woman to have as part of her understanding of God’s plan for us. Surely you know someone you can encourage with what we will be learning, or someone you can bring along that could use some help.

Please study the first 3 days of Lesson 9—The Family II—Parents, Children, and Discipline for this week’s class.

GOD'S SUPERIOR PLAN FOR FLOURISHING

Mark and I enjoyed a wonderful day with some of our family at the Lighthouse this week. Six of our seventeen grandsons provided lots of excitement and happiness for us.

God always has far superior plans and patterns for living than what we could ever dream up. His idea for human flourishing has always been rooted in the family unit of dad, mom and children. As women, how do we fit into this master plan? In July we will be addressing that very issue as we get together for three consecutive Thursday mornings at 10 and we will talk about the most important aspects of our role as moms. In other words, we will discuss the highest priorities for our lives. Our first gathering will be at Sally Helland’s home on July 11th. All moms and children are welcome.

BLESSINGS AT CHRISTMAS AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

Zwingli’s church in Zurich, Switzerland—built in 1100.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”(Isaiah 9:6)

 With cheerful hearts we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus this Christmas. God has blessed us for more than 38 years to serve together with a passionate band of His people at Discovery Baptist Church. As we gather on Christmas Eve by candlelight to remember His humble birth, once again our hearts will be rejoicing together.

During this past year we added to our dear grandchildren two more little girls, Irene and Grace; that makes our total of blessings so far at 28.  A new role for our lives also began with the birth of our first great-grandchild, little Pippa who lives in Chile with her parents Jorge and Naomi.

As we are in the middle of our 50th year of marriage, we took a special trip to see amazing and beautiful Switzerland by train; what an unforgettable adventure. The photo shows us near the Matterhorn. Then we joined our two missionary kids and their families for a conference in Malta.

Resting at Gonergrat, Switzerland at over 10,000 foot elevation with view of the Matterhorn.

Now we look forward to 2019 knowing that God is in control of everything and we trust Him concerning all the days ahead—the comfortable and the difficult.

This is an early Christmas present with the dates of all of our family birthdays and anniversaries.

Blessings to you this Christmas,

Mark and Nancy