What God Wants for Christmas from a 91 year old great-grandmother
This from the FamilyLife Today Facebook page:
Judy Wall Elliott
*****I must let you know what an impact the new book had on my family on Sat Dec 3rd. Spent Saturday here in beautiful SC with my 6 kids and their families.*****
Read the BEST Christmas book to eleven of them: WHAT GOD WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS by Barbara Rainey. My 91 yr old Mother, with mild dementia, occasionally asks who I am, who normally sits quietly on the sidelines of activity, but appeared to be listening intently as I read to the children. She was so moved at the end of the story that she gave an impromptu lecture on the importance of having Jesus in your heart to the 10 of us at the table. – We were spellbound by her voice and the truths spilling from her, her words which never faltered or stumbled and continued at least 3-5 minutes! Amazing & Shocking to all of us, some of them had never heard her say but a few words!
This was a first for her in years…. it wasn’t her it was truly the Holy Spirit using her!!!…. O how blessed we all were and still stand amazed! This book is really inspiring and letting the kids open one of the 7 little boxes and hearing the Christmas story from the view of Gabriel, Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, the wise men and the Box #7 – made us almost gasp…. !!!
I have sent this message to many of my friends, some things must be shared and this is one of those. THIS is a MUST HAVE for sharing with the family. We loved it. (Possibly only available through Family Life Today for this Christmas.) Thanks to Josh at FLT – overnighted it to me so I could have it for our party on Sat Dec 3rd. It is GREAT!!!
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Report on Orphan ministry in S. Korea
God continues to work in powerful ways on behalf of the orphan. Earlier this month, the Hope for Orphans team traveled to South Korea to serve the local church in several ways:
- The HFO team led the first international “If You Were Mine” adoption workshop for those exploring adoption
- HFO partnered with MPAK (Mission to Promote Adoption in Korea) to hold a thank you lunch and discussion for nearly 40 Pastors and their spouses already serving orphans through adoption and orphan ministry (adoption runs counter culture in Korea – these Pastors are truly stepping out in faith)
- Paul Pennington, Hope for Orphans Executive Director, was invited to preach on Orphan Sunday at the Onnuri Church, the largest English speaking church in Seoul. The re-broadcast and webcast of this service will reach over 100,000 people! (link: http://onnurienglish.podomatic.com/entry/2011-11-07T08_57_55-08_00)
- A highlight was the return of the Pennington children to their birth country. A touching and tearful moment occurred when Noah Pennington reunited with his foster mother who lovingly cared for him as an infant for 18 months (vimeo.com/32288126 <http://www.vimeo.com/32288126>). Returning adoptees spoke in powerful ways with nearly everyone we met.
- Paul’s daughter Elizabeth Golic also spoke about adopting Ben from Korea and their family’s journey of faith through Ben’s life and death earlier this year.
The HFO team is humbled and honored that God allowed them to serve on behalf of the orphan in Korea. They truly believe that He is stirring and preparing the hearts of many Koreans to be the visible gospel in a significant way.
Click here to see a few of the highlights from the trip (works best on full screen mode): <http://www.photosnack.com/slideshows/f609e30b3a036b78934b6f8da2036743>
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So Thankful!
The Walkers gathering around the Thanksgiving table.
I love Thanksgiving. It truly is a great holiday with a great focus and less encroaching on it than many others. It is always good to be driven to give thanks for our blessings.
We had a wonderful weekend with my (Butch) side of the family. It was great to have everyone together, even for a day, as that is rare with adult children now.
I was reminded of how blessed I am to have a strong and godly family heritage. It is such a rare thing. But I was also reminded that I have the blessing of being surrounded by friends who pray for us and support us in doing the work we were created to do. Who could also for more than that?
We thank God for you!
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First public Weekend to Remember in China
This report just in from our team in China, who just held their first Weekend to Remember conference publically available and with the newly approved Chinese manuals!
We had a packed house with about 180 people, used all the available chairs. Speakers did a great job, especially Jonathan who did the Power talk (gospel presentation).
65 want to get involved with HomeBuilders
67 want to volunteer for future events
29 indicated decisions for Christ!
79 prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit
75 recommitted their life and family to Christ
To God be the glory,
Jim & Judy
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Life Ready Woman in Romania
Continuing with my global theme recently, here is a email I just received about how Life Ready Woman is being used in Romania:
Hello there!
I am a missionary
serving here in Romania. I have a wonderful group of young women from our
church that I am taking thru the “Life Ready Woman” course.
They all have a very good proficiency of English, but I’ve been previewing each
lesson to see if there are any “americanisms” or langugage-related
things that could help their understanding.The reason(s) I’m
writing is (are) that I don’t know if you have any plans to someday have this
either translated into other languages (or subtitled in English, which “my
girls” say would help them immensely!).. but if you do, I would be more
than happy to pass along some of the things we’ve come up with that have been a
slight hindrance to understanding the concepts presented.…the study has been VERY
well received and has been helpful for all! We represent several
seasons of life: single, married with no children, married with
pre-schoolers – - most in their late 20′s/early 30′s… and then there’s
me: old enough to be their mother and an empty nester! I LOVE this
age group!!! And have met with some of the gals for 6 years now!
I’ve learned a LOT from them!Serving Him with you,
Mary
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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FamilyLife Cuba?
We talk a lot about what is going on with FamilyLife in the United States, but our partners throughout the world are doing amazing things globally. Besides the good news I recently shared about Weekend to Remember in China, check out this prayer letter from one of our international FamilyLife directors about their recent experience doing the conferences in Cuba.
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