Praises for July 9-13

Sending thanks and love to all as we celebrate another week in the service of God.

This week we were blessed to have the Lord's lion-turned-lamb return to church with two friends. The newest lamb was touched that he was "allowed" to come to church and to missionaries' home for lunch.

Another lamb was selected to enter a drug treatment house after an interview. He is now working, saving money and paying child support. Please pray for healing as his wife is filing for divorce and he is trying to restore his relationship with his daughter.

Two lambs who were married this year at a missionary's home have renewed their commitment to getting off drugs and alcohol -- with the help of the man's boss (a former drug abuser). They are moving into a three-bedroom house and are hoping to return to church if transportation can be arranged.

Once again, the Lord provided food for the Thursday night Bible study through an area church. It was such a blessing to have chicken, beans and potatoes. In addition, two lambs were celebrating this week, and TWO ice cream cakes were available from the grocery pickup.

We want to specially thank the missionary who shopped for birthday gifts for the two lambs. They were so touched. One man may enter alcohol rehab partly because of the love and acceptance he felt in receiving the gifts and well-wishes for his birthday.

Also Thursday, the son of two missionaries was in an automobile accident -- by God's timing it happened while the missionaries were just about to leave home so they received his phone call. One missionary went with him to the hospital, where prayer warriors met her, prayed and helped move food to the Thursday outreach.

The Lord's lambs joined hands to pray for the young man's healing. His injuries were painful but not too serious. He will not be able to eat solid food due to some lacerations inside his mouth, but the Lord provided again, as the missionaries have a case of liquid Ensure on hand.

The study of Nehemiah 4 continued Thursday, with discussions about those who fought against the Jews rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The Lord's lambs saw in the scripture what they often see in life -- people around them who don't want them to "build" their way out of drug addiction and homelessness. There are people in all our lives who make fun of efforts to do God's will instead of following worldly passions.

In Nehemiah, the answer was to have God's people station themselves at every gap in the wall, each defending his own home and family -- but in God's strength. Then they agreed to sound a trumpet whenever an attack came, so they could come to one another's aid and never be caught alone.

The lambs also observed that those rebuilding Jerusalem were mainly ordinary people -- not governments or nobles or agencies or even people with special gifts -- ordinary people with the extraordinary power of God.

One other prayer request: A woman who has been living in her van has been told she must move within the week. The van is not driveable because it is in need of about $500 in repairs, plus $250 in insurance. The woman has been offered help, but it would involved losing the van entirely as well as her dog. She is praying that the Lord will provide another option. Meanwhile, she is quietly moving her belongings to a hidden location in the woods in case she must go there.
Because the woman has no children and is not a substance abuser, she has few options available.

We are thanking the Lord for your prayers and support.

Al and Cindy Boyce