Hope

Going with God

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

After 16 years of Sundays this was our last at New Covenant Fellowship. Serving as assistant pastors with our Brazilian brothers and sisters has forever changed and marked our hearts and lives. We have learned so much more than just Portuguese and how to enjoy a good plate of Vaca Atolada ( cow stuck in the mud), we have been adopted into a family. Just as in any family we’ve had our share of struggles and tears but in the end our hearts have been forever knit together by the love of Jesus Christ. We entered in to the church with hope and last night as they prayed for us a blessing we were given the verse from Isaiah 55: ” you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace…”

In Portuguese there is a farewell exchange : ” Vai com Deus” “Go with God” to which you reply “Fica com Deus” , “Stay with God”. That is what our hope and prayer has been. It has been a great honor to have served and as we go out with their blessings our prayer is that God’s blessings will remain in the hearts the hands and families of our church.

Where ever God is leading you today may you also experience His blessings as you go out with joy and His peace leads and directs your path!

F

or you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/isa.55.12.NKJV

Safely Home

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Having grown up among the hills of New England I was amazed as I drove across North Texas and discovered a stretch of road without a rise or even a curve as far as I could see! The greatest danger was not in encountering the unexpected around a bend but in falling asleep at the wheel.

The same can happen during some parts of our lives. An astonishing sameness of daily routine can dominate our outlook till we are lulled into a spiritual drowsiness. We become so dulled by the changeless landscape of life that we lose sight of our destination. But when the hurricane winds of life blow we must run to the anchor of our hope – Jesus Christ. He will never fall asleep at the wheel. Give him the driver’s seat in your life and He will safely steer you home!

Farther Along

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“In God we trust” stated a sign printed over the lunch counter where I often stopped for coffee. Just under that phrase in smaller print it said, “All others pay cash!” As a young man I decided to trust God for my salvation and I felt confident that I now understood how God wanted me to handle life’s problems. But I was puzzled that many people at my church seemed to act as if they didn’t seem to share my calm assurance.

After getting married and becoming a father it began to dawn on me that lots of things were a just little more complicated than I had realized. Today, I am entering my senior years with many inabilities I can only overcome with the help of others and I am learning that only God knows most of the answers. The good news has been that rather than feeling that this is a personal failure it has been a relief because to realize that I don’t need to figure it all out. God is okay with me simply trusting Him! I hope that my simple rendering of this song, “Farther Along” will bring some hope, comfort and a smile to someone else who is also holding tightly to God’s hand through the changing seasons of their life. Blessings…

 

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:24-26