roniya“Live for the glory of God and the good of many.”

Dear friends,

Greetings in the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ! For those few people who do read this blog, here is an update on some of what the Lord has been doing in my life and the lives of those around me.

This summer is rapidly slipping by and will soon be gone. The Lord has been very gracious in making it thus far a summer that has been exceedingly profitable in the growth of my love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and has been fruitful in opportunities to pour out my life for the LORD in love and service to the body of Christ as well as the unsaved.

It has been a blessing spending time alone seeking the LORD through prayer and the study of the Word. I have found the secret place to be even more of a place of renewing of my strength then it ever was before. If any of you do not have the fixed habit of spending much time alone with Jesus Christ, I urge you to place a higher priority on this. It is for the growth and protection of your own soul to spend much time seeking the Lord.

The Lord has been good in bringing into my life several new sisters, some of whom have been recently made new creatures in Christ, and giving us many opportunities to fellowship and pray together. I rejoice in the works of the Lord in each of their lives and am so grateful for their humility and desire to grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ. It has been wonderful seeing them grow in the area of modesty both in apparel and spirit. In the middle of June seven of these sisters were able to come to Missouri for a visit and we had a most blessed time together.

Once again the Lord has given my father the privilege of organizing South African Evangelist Keith Daniel’s fall tour to the US. It is a time consuming task that my father fulfills with much carefulness and dependency on the Holy Ghost. The Lord has given me the blessing of assisting my father in this project and I rejoice to say that for the time being, the schedule is completed, tickets bought and all the information has been sent to each pastor. Next on the list in this area is to begin preparing for family camp in the areas of registration and media ministry. If you would like to see where Keith Daniel will be speaking you may go here, and if you have any interest in attending our church’s family camp, October 1-3, where Keith Daniel, his wife Jenny and son Roy will be the main speakers you will find more information here.  Tour Schedule. Family Camp.

One of the highlights of this summer was my recent trip to Texas with my beloved sister Jen. The Lord clearly directed us to go down there to visit and hopefully edify and encourage the saints and it was such a delight to be led of the Lord every step of the way. For the sake of remembering all that the Lord did I will share more with you about this trip. If you find the details to be too cumbersome, please do not trouble yourself to read over this. I know I tend to be a wordy writer, but I will attempt by God’s grace to make every word profitable to the reader and glorifying to the LORD.

We drove down to Allen, TX early Thursday morning, July 8, to arrive in time to go out to lunch with our dear friend Debbie Speed. It was special to meet Debbie’s co-workers and spend time with this joyful lady. I have met few people who exuberate so much joy and enthusiasm in loving and caring for the people around her. I know it is the Lord’s grace to fill Debbie with so much joy in the midst of many trials.

Navigating through Dallas traffic on our way to Arlington was an adventure and test to trust the Lord to direct our steps. Looking back He really did help us get to Arlington and I could see His hand clearly guiding us, even in the missed turns and frequently adjusted route. We arrived at Jesse and Lindsay Morris’ home that afternoon and how I praise God for this godly couple and their generosity in making their home available for the Lord to use it however He pleases. A more hospitable and flexible hostess than Lindsay I have rarely seen. And Jesse is a faithful servant who was ever watchful for the practical needs of his guests.

It was a wonderful blessing and encouragement to spend time fellowshipping and visiting with brothers Sean and Ryan, as well as meeting brother Chris (a godly brother recently saved in March who is ablaze for Christ and meekly following his Master with everything he has). The Lord has directed brother Sean and brother Ryan to oversee the establishing of a church in the Dallas area. To read more about this you can visit their website here. I rejoice in the faithful obedience of these godly men to follow the LORD in starting this church and I praise God for the wisdom and great discernment He has given them for this daunting task that would be impossible but for the grace of God and leading of the Holy Ghost.

It was a great delight to see sister Stephanie again. Her boldness and zeal for sharing Christ’s Gospel with those around her was a great blessing to observe and glean from. Sister Megan came over later that evening and how my heart rejoiced to see this beloved sister that the Lord has given me. I am exceedingly grateful for how the Lord has knit our hearts together in true Christian love and friendship. Sister Meg is one of the godliest women I know and the sweet fragrance of Christ’s love and compassion overflow out of her life into the lives of all those around me. A greater example of a merciful and compassionate heart I have not found.

Sister Lindsay and Sister Stephanie

At the end of that evening we followed Meg to her home in Dallas where we spent the next few days with her and her family. We were so grateful to the Turner family for their gracious hospitality in opening up their home to us. It was a blessed quiet place to be for a few days to seek the Lord as well as spend precious time praying, studying the Word, and fellowshipping with sister Meg. The Lord gave Jen opportunity to practice her gift of cooking which proved a great blessing to the Turner family and all those who tasted of her skillful cookery.

Friday evening we went over to Arlington for dinner with all the saints there. Sister Meg’s friend, Kelsey, also came and on the drive over she shared her testimony with Jen and me of coming out of the Christian Science cult. I learned a lot about this deceitful movement and am grateful to the Lord for bringing Kelsey out of it. We also met Ben Douglas, a friend of sister Meg.

It was a blessing to meet brother Brett, a friend of sister Stephanie, who was born again earlier this year. It was good to see his softness toward the Lord and eagerness to grow in holiness and truth. Sister Kelsey flew in from Memphis and I was so glad to see her again. We had spent one hour together in Memphis back in May and I was very excited to have more time with her. The Lord plucked sister Kelsey out of the net of false Christianity earlier this year and He has given her a heart that is hungry for truth and surrendered to obeying the Lord no matter the cost. The Lord graciously gave us much time together during my last few days in Texas and closely knit our hearts together. I also met sister Emily who was saved June 30 and was aglow with the love of the Lord. The Lord mercifully saved her from much deception and made her heart so tender to Him. Her humility and sincere love for Christ was a blessing to be around.

Friday night we had a blessed time of singing hymns together and praying together. It reminded me of the early church and how they gathered in homes to pray and seek the Lord together. The saints are truly walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of the Lord is present amongst these dear saints, and working mightily to purify them and make them holy. The men are dependent on the leading of the Holy Ghost in everything that they do and faithfully seek Him for direction. There is true charity amongst the believers that is not self-seeking nor self-exalting but each esteeming the other better than themselves. A purer and more loving setting of believers I have never experienced before. The brothers are faithful to exhort, reprove and encourage the saints through the Scriptures by sharing what the Lord has been teaching them. There is a strong commitment on an individual level to seek the LORD first and spend much time with Him. Each one is burdened for lost souls and is faithful to witness wherever they go. There is spiritual reality, transparency and the joy of the LORD is evident in each saint (more or less so in each one according to spiritual maturity).

Saturday was a sweet day of fellowship with sister Meg in her home. We had dinner with her family that evening and the Lord gave a few opportunities to speak for truth and love into their lives. After dinner we packed up our belongings and traveled over to Arlington where we stayed for the remainder of the trip with Jesse and Lindsay in their home along with sisters Stephanie and Kelsey.

Saturday evening after a time of prayer and seeking the Lord about going to downtown Dallas to witness at the clubs, the Lord directed for brothers Sean, Chris, William and Brett and sisters Stephanie and Kelsey to go out and seek to share the Gospel with lost souls. It was my first time to go share the Gospel at a club and I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I submitted to the Lord and His direction and wholly trusted in Him to help me and give me the words to share.

Here are a few pictures from that night to help you visualize what it was like. The club was on one side of the street and people would line up outside waiting for admittance into the club. The brothers stood on a medium in the street and preach to the people standing in line while the rest of us spread ourselves out to pass out tracts and talk with people on the other side of the street. There were about seven policemen and policewomen who were present to break up any fights. Unfortunately they did not take a favorable view of us sharing the Gospel, but we respected them and tried to show the love of Christ while at the same time not backing down on sharing the Gospel. Sister Steph and I ended up on the end of the block passing out tracts to the few people who came our way. Having less people coming through gave us more opportunities to talk with people.

Eventually Stephanie engaged an atheist in conversation who was very arrogant and confident in what he believed. Truly the god of this world has blinded his mind to the truth of God’s existence and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the midst of that conversation, sister Kelsey called me away from it and asked me to show another man who she was talking with the Scripture about women not teaching. I shall call his name ‘Fred’. At first he refused to believe that the Scriptures taught that and so I showed him 1 Timothy 2. His main hang-up was the way the brothers were preaching the Gospel. He said it was too harsh and would turn people off. I showed some Scriptures to him from Matthew 23 about how Jesus preached to the Pharisees as well as some verses on John the Baptist’s preaching. ‘Fred’ was convinced that the way we girls were sharing the Gospel was much more affective than the guys preaching. To demonstrate this he stopped two black guys who I will call “John” and ‘Benjamin”. He started a conversation with them comparing the preaching of the guys to us girls and asked if the preaching of the guys turned them off. They nonchalantly agreed. Then ‘John’ started saying how he was a Christian but he just needed his ‘private time’ and that there wasn’t anything in the Bible that said it was wrong to drink or smoke. I opened up my Bible and started to walk him through Galatians 5:16-21. In the middle of verse 21, ‘Fred’ interrupted me and wasn’t going to let me finish the verse, but ‘John’ stood up for me and insisted that I finish. ‘Fred’ decided to leave the conversation and left me with ‘John’ and ‘Benjamin’ to preach the true Gospel to them as well as the fruits of a true Christian. I went over Scripture after Scripture, especially in Matthew 7. ‘John’ said he was born again but the fruits of his life did not confirm that. He looked over at his friend ‘Benjamin’ who as I later found out had just come from talking with brother William and had earnestly preached the Gospel to him, and ‘John’ asked ‘Benjamin’ if he was saved. ‘Benjamin’ said ‘no’, so ‘John’ asked me to pray for his friend to get saved. I said, ‘Okay, I will pray for both of you. But let me tell you what I am going to pray so that you are sure you want me to pray for you. I am going to pray for God to do whatever it takes to save you. I am going to pray for God to takeaway everything you own, your home, family, job, if that is what it takes whatever to save you, I am going to ask Him to show you your sin, etc…’ They looked at me very soberly and agreed that they wanted me to pray for them. I started praying for them right there on the sidewalk pleading with God to do whatever it takes, pleading with God to show them their sinfulness and to bring them to the place of absolute brokenness and weeping over their sin and at the right moment to give them saving faith in Jesus Christ and set them ablaze for Christ. They were very grateful and left very sobered and serious. I was amazed at the opportunity the Lord gave and for how He enabled me to share truth with them.

Another highlight from that night was singing hymns with our windows rolled down as we traveled down the freeway. There was a wreck so others were able to hear us sing. We even saw a carload of kids who were at the club earlier that evening and brother William preached again to them and told them they needed to pay heed to the preaching they had heard earlier that night. Those kids were totally shocked to see us again. It was great.

The Lord’s day was a most blessed day. Brother Ryan preached a wonderfully encouraging message on the joy of the Lord. I highly recommend it. That afternoon we had a baptism service for sister Emily and it was the most powerful and Spirit anointed baptism I have been to. Many of her old friends and some of her family were there and the LORD mightily enabled brother Sean to preach the Gospel to them while expounding upon the true meaning of baptism. It was glorious.

Monday morning, Jen and I went to Dallas to visit our dear friend Holly and her two cute kids, Josiah and Ellie. We had a sweet time with them and were grateful to the Lord for that time. That afternoon I listened to a sermon by Rolfe Barnard on ‘Watching Men Die‘ and few sermons have impacted me in the area of being burdened for the lost like that sermon. I was so stunned after listening to it that I took a walk and was silent before the Lord for at least fifteen minutes. My heart was greatly overcome at the thought that at the Judgment throne of God there will be no mercy, only justice. Now is the time of mercy, now is the time we must plead with the sinner to seek God while mercy is to be given. During that walk I had the opportunity to meet an old neighbor lady and was invited to come back to see her which sister Lindsay and Jen and I did the next day.

Tuesday afternoon we had a powerful time of prayer interceding for a brother dear to our hearts who has strayed from the path of truth. The Lord enabled us to weep and cry out for him for one and a half hours. I have never been at such a prayer meeting where God came so powerfully. My heart was greatly quieted before the Lord after that prayer meeting (Psalm 131).

On Wednesday sister Kelsey and I went to the mall to shop for some modest shirts for her. Truly that mall was a vexation of spirit to me. But the Lord did give me an incredible opportunity to witness to a young man for 20 minutes or so about the true Gospel. The Lord greatly helped me in that conversation. We went home and spent time with sister Meg and a friend who is seeking the Lord. Then sister Kelsey and I went to Panera to spend time studying but instead ended up spending some key time talking and getting to know one another. That evening brother Trace and sister Gina from Mabank came over for dinner and the Lord greatly blessed that time of fellowship with them and moved mightily. After they left late that night, Stephanie brought three guys over who were hungry for truth and some of the brothers stayed up late sharing truth with them.

Thursday, sister Lindsay, Jen and I went to Mabank to sister Janice’s tearoom and enjoyed a wonderful luncheon with Gina and her two daughters and dear Mrs. Suzette. It was a sweet time blessed of the Lord. The remainder of our afternoon and evening was spent seeking the Lord and fellowshipping with the saints.

Friday morning we took our departure and stopped in Dallas for our last visit with beloved sister Meg. It was with reluctant steps that we turned our travels homeward, reluctant to take leave our much loved brothers and sisters in the LORD, but our time with them had come to an end for the time being. The Lord blessed us with a safe trip home and oh how good it was go be home again and to look upon the dear faces of our parents, sisters and brother.

My heart is exceedingly grateful to the LORD for blessing our trip so richly and using it to encouraging us greatly in the Lord. Praise be His HOLY Name!

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy update. I hope and pray it was profitable, edifying and of encouragement to you to take the time to read it. This fall I look forward to our family camp which is October 1-3, Roy and Jerusala’s wedding in Pennsylvania on October 9th, and Jake and Hannah’s wedding on October 23.

May the LORD Jesus Christ bless you with a greater hunger and thirst to seek Him and grow in the knowledge of His Holy Person, and may He bless you with a strong faith in Him that will endure unto the end.

Only by His grace,
sister Joy

Greetings in the Lord,

Just a quick update before we head off to Wales.

The conference ended off well with a challenging message by David Legge on the call to be a soldier of Christ in His battle.  Some of the messages are already available for download on Sermonindex.net:

Dublin Ireland Revival Conference Messages

I highly recommend brother Paul’s message on Busyness and Spiritual Discipline.

One of the wonderful blessings that are a part of conferences like these is the opportunity to meet precious saints and have sweet fellowship that is centered on Jesus Christ.  I met three very dear sisters from southern India and we had a wonderful time sharing in the Word and praying together.  I thank God for Prima, Hefseeba and Bincy and their love for Jesus Christ.  On Saturday I met Laura and Isa and they ended up staying here in this home Saturday night and the Lord blessed us with sweet fellowship.  I also thank God for their zeal and love for Christ.  On Sunday we met more brothers and sisters from southern and northern Ireland and were blessed by more sweet fellowship.  I love the body of Christ!

On Sunday morning we went back to the church where the conference was to hear brother Paul preach.  It is a Nigerian church that originally came out of Africa.  It was an amazing experience going to a Nigerian service.  They have a lot of enthusiasm and zeal in their worship.  Really precious people.  Bro Paul preached a powerful message on marriage that I highly recommend. : )  I’ll try to put up a link for it when it is available online.  To his surprise, Dad ended up preaching at another church (a branch of the one we were at) and the Lord blessed his time at that church.

Sunday afternoon was very peaceful and relaxed.  Over the past few days we’ve been able to rest, spend time with the family here and seek the Lord.  It’s been good.

Sunday evening we all headed off to hear brother Paul Washer preach at a small reformed Baptist church.  He preached on 2 Cor. 5:21 and it was a wonderful message on Jesus Christ and some of the aspects of what He went through in dying for our sins.  It was a rich, rich message and I just wanted to worship our amazing Christ when it was over.  I hope the audio recording will also be available for that message.

Today (Monday) has been a very relaxed day.  We’ve done some shopping, resting, packing, and the Lord has given us some more wonderful fellowship with our beloved host family, Isaac and Sara and their two children Daniel and Bana.  I’m so encouraged at how the Lord is working in this family and has worked over the past few days.  It’s really amazing how He is leading these precious people in the path of His truth.  Pray for the Lord to bless them with strength and grace to follow Christ with absolutely everything.

Jon and Taylor left this morning for Wales.  They rode in the car with bro Steve Evans and a few other brothers.  I haven’t heard yet how the ferry crossing went.  They were crossing the Irish Sea by ferry.

Tomorrow morning, Dad, Jennifer and I are flying out of Dublin at 8:25am and will be flying into Cardiff, Wales.  From there our host family will take us home and we will freshen up and prepare for the next revival conference which starts tomorrow afternoon at Moriah Chapel in Loughour Wales.  You can watch the live webcast for the conference at www.revivalconference.com

I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be able to do over the next few days.  The place we’re staying is about an hour’s drive from the conference so it will probably be a very full three days.  We will spend Friday with our host family doing some site seeing in Wales and then on Saturday we will travel to London….and all of that is Lord willing.

As to pictures….Jon as the pictures from the conference.  Maybe he will upload a few that I can share on here.

Please pray for the conference in Wales.  Pray for every stumbling block to be cast up out of the way and for the Lord to have the freedom to work in the hearts of His people and all those who come.  Pray for the messages that GOD has burned onto the hearts of His messengers to be delivered under the anointing of the Holy Ghost.  And oh pray! for the ears of people to be open.  Oh! may the Lord open our eyes and help us to really see, and may He open our ears that we might really hear!

Pray also for brothers Ryan and Sean.  They are also over here.  Pray for the Lord to give them opportunities to share the Words that He is burning onto their hearts.  http://youmustbebornagain.org/

For those who haven’t noticed, I am using twitter and the tweets are showing up on the right side of this website.  I’m sorry that it’s a little hard to read.  You can also follow my twitter page here: http://twitter.com/joycourville

The grace and peace of Jesus Christ be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Keep seeking the Lord and His kingdom FIRST!  Jesus Christ is the Worthy One!

Cheerily in Christ,

Joy

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update before we head back for the next session.  Last night’s message by bro Paul was powerful.  Praise God for a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I’ll put up links later when the message is available for download.

David Legge spoke this morning from Isaiah 57 on seeking God for God alone!  He gave a very clear definition of revival: “Revival is reaching high for the High and Lofty one, bending low before Him in brokenness, keeping short accounts with God and being cleansed, and being filled after we’re cleansed…this is a continual process/state for the believer.”   That’s a rough draft of his definition.  I highly recommend his message.

I missed Will Graham’s message.  There were eleven children needing a bit of supervision and involvement.  It was fun.  They’re all Nigerian children (I think) and very energetic.  We sang songs, I told stories, played music chairs (my voice is a bit hoarse from being the music box) and had lots of fun.  I’m thankful that the room is pretty much soundproof!

I did hear that Will Graham has a lot of fire and zeal and delivered a powerful message.  The Lord has not broken through into our midst yet….but we’re praying that He will!  We need God!!!

Paul Washer speaks again this afternoon as well as Will Graham and David Legge this evening.  Tune in for the live webcast if you can.

Pray also for the occupation of the children.  Last night it was quite noisy in one part of the room and now it is better that there is a place for the children to go.  There are about 4-5 of us to take turns watching them.

Thanks for praying!

~Joy

http://revivalconference.com/

Yesterday afternoon/evening we headed to the Center Center (downtown) of Dublin and spent a few hours walking all over the area.  There were a lot of people, a few street musicians, well-dressed professional beggars (no, the story was not convincing), and a few street preachers (praise God!).  Our wonderful hostess, sister Sarah gave us a tour of the area.

Our host family is a precious family from Africa.  The mother is from Eritrea and the father from Nigeria.  They have lived here in Ireland for six years.  They have two adorable children.  Daniel is five and Bana is two.  We love them already!

This morning, after a good night’s refreshing rest (11 hours for me!), we headed out to pick up Jon and Taylor and then we drove south to go to Wicklow National Park.  It is an area called the Garden of Ireland and it was really is beautiful.  We thoroughly enjoyed the country drive!

Our main goal was to go to Glendalough which is in Wicklow National Forest and it is the site of a old monastic community that dates back to the early 600′s.  The remains of the monastic community were neat to see.  There are also two lakes at Glendalough which were lovely.

We headed back to Dublin hoping to get back in time to return our rental car.  Dublin traffic is…typical city traffic, except it is slightly more exciting driving on the left side of the road and being unfamiliar with the road signs and layout….it is also exciting trying to get somewhere and have your GPS battery start to die on you!  Between the maps we had and our GPS we did manage to reach all of our destinations today.  Though I think there were definitely some guardian angels there to protect us…we only one extremely close call.  I’m thankful for God’s protection!  And it really was neat to see how the Lord directed our path in the way that we went to Glendalough.  We really didn’t know exactly how to get there….but the route we ended up on went by a lovely waterfall and we also saw a lot of country side.  It definitely wasn’t the well-trodden path of the buses and general public.

This evening we had a lovely meal here at our home and Dad went to a meeting that was in preparation for the conference.  Jon and Taylor hung out here a while before sister Sarah took them home.  I’ve been passing the evening going over pictures and picking out which ones to upload…and now the internet is acting up!  So ya’ll might not see any pictures until tomorrow.

We’re not exactly sure what the plan is for tomorrow.  At some point we have to go to the church to help with set-up and the conference officially starts at 4pm.  Tune in to the live webcast at www.revivalconference.com  Dublin time is six hours ahead of central time.

Thanks for your prayers!  And I really am trying to get some pictures uploaded!

Blessings,

Joy for our group

Hello friends,

The last three weeks have been really intense and amazing.  The Lord has been doing great things in my life, my family’s life and many others.  Lord willing, I will be posting a summary of the past few weeks and all that has happened.  At the moment I’m busy working on the audio and video from our family camp, as well as working on some videos from the revival conference.  I also have some preparation work for our upcoming trip to Ireland, Wales and London.  I would be very grateful for your prayers for the Lord to enable me to do all that needs to be done and for it to be done in a manner that is pleasing to Him.

I will mention one area that I hope to touch upon more in another blog post and that is about the ministry of http://youmustbebornagain.org/ Through the sovereignty of God, four of the brothers from this ministry came to Missouri for our meetings with Keith Daniel.  These brothers are on fire for God and the Lord has used them greatly in my life to rekindle my desire to read and study the Scriptures.  There’s one thing that I want to be doing right now…studying the Word, but it is challenging to have the time due to the responsibilities that I have right now.  So I would also appreciate your prayers for the Lord to enable me to have more time in the Word and also in prayer.

Thank you!  And make sure you check out their website!  http://youmustbebornagain.org/

Also, you can download messages from the Revival Conference here I highly recommend listening to these sermons, especially the ones by Keith Daniel, Bill McCleod, Sean Morris, Wesley Duewel, Richard Owen Roberts and Mark Greening.

May the Lord bless you with a heart that hungers and thirsts after Him.  Seek the Lord!  Read the Word!

Seeking Him,

Joy

Hello friends,

I know there are a few of you that drop by my blog every now and then to read my random posts, and for that I thank you.

A little update on my life and what will be happening over the next few months.  This summer has whizzed by at an amazing pace.  I hardly know where the time has gone.  On a spiritual level, my beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, has been doing an intense work of purging, purifying, and revealing Himself to me.  I’m so grateful for His faithful workings in my small life.  And I’m excited to see how He continues to work in me and those around me.

School… I have been working hard toward finishing my Bible school program.  I have been working through a Jewish Studies Program at the pace of the tortoise; but better slow and steady than fast and failing, right?  I hope so!  After studying for several years I only have one exam left and then I’ll be done.  It’s been a wonderful time of studying the Bible and a few extra Biblical resources in relation to Israel and the Jewish people.  My last course has been on the book of Romans and it has been a very rich study.

Traveling…Well, I’ve managed to stay on my home continent so far this year, but, Lord willing, that will change later this year.  There are two revival conferences taking place in Ireland and Wales that I along with three from my family and a brother from my church are planning on attending.  We will be in Ireland and the UK November 10 – November 26.  I am excited about seeing Ireland, Wales and having more time in London!  Over the last month I’ve spent quite a bit of time planning out our trip and buying airline tickets.  Having been in the UK once I feel much more prepared for all of the traveling and touring we will be doing.  But I’m definitely depending on the Lord to continue working out all the details of our trip as He already has been doing.  So, if He leads you to….please pray for us and for the final details to come into place.

Family Camp….It’s that time of year again!  Hooray!  Our family camp is October 1-4 and we are excitedly preparing for this special event.  Once again we have the blessed privilege of having Keith, Jenny, and Roy Daniel as our guest speakers.  The Lord has gifted them with a special anointing in sharing His Word.  Each one has a unique and needed ministry to the Body of Christ.  It will be wonderful to see the Daniels again, as well as many precious friends who are coming (some of you, I hope! )  If this is the first you’ve heard about our camp….there’s still time to register!  As I told someone yesterday, the deadline is after camp   Email me or leave a comment if you’re interested in more info.

Indiana Revival Conference…..yes, another revival conference   This time in Indianapolis at the IBLP Training Center.  There are so well seasoned older saints of the Lord who will be preaching and ministering the Word of God to the hungry hearts who gather together at this conference.  This will be my first time to hear Wesley Duewel (who is in his 80′s or 90′s) preach.  I’ve been blessed by a few video messages by him about the Welsh revival.  Bill McCleod (in his 90′s) has long been a favorite preacher of mine.  I have old cassette tapes that I’ve listened to multiple times by this godly brother who was used of God during the Canadian Revival in the 1970′s.  Richard Owen Roberts is a speaker that I am not that familiar with, but my family has sat under his preaching and been greatly blessed.  Then there is Bill Gothard, Keith Daniel, John MacGregor….yes, it will be a wonderful conference!  For more info go here, http://revival.sermonindex.net/

So, that’s some of what has been keeping my life busy (the preparation) and what I’ll be up to this fall.  Christmas and 2010 will be here before I know it!  But it is so wonderful to be able to rest in the Lord and all of His orchestrations for my life and in the lives of those near and dear to me.

The fragility of life….Life is indeed fragile and eternity is probably closer to all of than any of us realize.  I’ve been reminded of this over the past few months through some different circumstances in the lives of friends and family.  One time it was one of my family members suddenly passing out at the supper table and the brief moments of uncertainty of what was going on.  Thanks be to God that that dear one is okay and it wasn’t anything serious that caused the fainting.  Another time it was a friend having a severe migraine and ending up in the emergency room to ensure that her pain wasn’t caused by something very serious, and once again, thanks be to God for her recovery.  And then there are the two car accidents that I have heard of over the past few weeks.  Once again, thanks be to God that no one was killed, though one did involve an injury that is now healing well.  The most serious wake-up call has been the illness of a dear brother in Christ, and long time friend of my brother.  Just two months ago everyone was ignorant of the very serious condition of his body, and now after he went through life-threatening surgery, nearly died, and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen, he is finally starting to make some significant progress in his recovery from that surgery.  Please pray for Paul.

And remember to value each moment of life that God gives you, and above all, please, my dear friend, examine yourself, examine the fruits that come from your life, and make sure you are a child of God, make sure you are a plant of the Lord that is producing the fruits of righteousness.  Life is far to brief and fragile to afford the luxury of not being sure of our eternal future.  Please make sure your faith and hope is in Jesus Christ alone.  If you are unsure of this in your life, feel free to email me and we can talk about it.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you.

~Joy