NO WORDS

I have titled this post No Words for a reason.  This weekend has left me almost speechless.  I know that is hard for most of you to believe, but  miracles do  happen today.  LOL.
Seriously though, this weekend in Poland has been amazing.  God's presence has been felt since we arrived and at the bottom of this post I will share about the ministry times we have enjoyed.

We arrived on Friday night an hour late since our plane in Warsaw was having trouble, but when we finally arrived Mary Jill Callery was there to meet us with her sweet room mate.   After all the hugs and kisses etc. we got in the car and headed toward Jan and Basia Skarbek's home which was about an hour and forty minutes from Krakow. We arrived around 9 and Basia had a delicious meal waiting for us.

We fellowshiped for several hours and finally got to bed around 12.  It always amazes us how small the world is but also how no matter where you go in the world, if you are with fellow believers it is as though you have known them forever.  That was definitely the case on Friday evening.  

Saturday dawned early......the sun comes up around 4:30 or 5 a.m. and we woke up to bright sunlight in our room.  It was a real treat. Plus the air was warm already and near 65.  Poland is having an early spring and all the flowers are blooming, trees are green and the air is scented with fragrance from all the flowering bushes.  After breakfast Basia and Sherry took a walk in her village.

This is a stork sitting in its nest that we saw on our walk. They are beautiful birds and build their nests on top of poles. 

This is a predominately Catholic country so it is not unusual to see these little shrines on the side of the road especially in the villages.

Here is a house with a built in shrine between the windows.

This is one of the village yards. 

After our walk,  we awaited a visit from our friend Valya and her husband Machek.  Valya used to be one of our translators in Ukraine and moved to Poland after marrying Machek. So it was a real blessing to be able to see her and meet her husband.   They took us into Tarnow to the Jewish quarter to treat us to lunch at a Jewish Restaurant. It was so much fun and we enjoyed catching up while eating our meal. 

Valya, Boris, Machek 

Dinner was amazing. There is salad under the pita that is eaten inside the pita. Oh my

Our waitress with the pre WW2 head dress of a Jewish waitress

The inside of the Restaurant. Notice all the black and  white photos of Orthodox Jewish men on the walls. 

After dinner they took us to Mary Jills home so we could rest and prepare for our night of ministry.   We arrived at the Church and the place was packed.   The Women's Aglow had turned it into a couples night and asked us to share our testimony and then pray for those who wanted prayer.   They had decorated the room with ropes tied in knots to represent what we do in marriage.

Here we are sharing something funny from our story

You can see the knots hanging from the ropes. Each person was given one with a scripture attached.

While we were sharing many were crying. As always we are always amazed at the way God uses our story to touch hearts.  At the end the invitation was given and we were privileged to minister to over 35 people .  The line was from the front of the Church all the way to the back.  It took us over an hour to pray for them all but oh the joy.   One woman came and said she wanted to know God and we led her in the prayer of repentance and she gave her life to Christ.  We were so full by the time we got home we were energized.  

This morning at the Lord is our Banner Christian Center we had the joy of worshiping with our brothers and sisters and sharing the word with them.  The worship at this Church is amazing. The presence of our Lord is felt from the first song and we believe it is because this body is in unity.  The people are encouraged at the end of worship to come up and share anything that the Lord said to them during worship and about 8 people came up to share. The theme was love. The love that flows through them to each other is palatable. Pastor Jan has done an incredible job of bringing them to this place.  PW preached one of the most anointed messages he has ever preached taken from Psalm 133 on unity and how the Lord commands a blessing as a result of walking in this kind of unity and then also shared how God is able to do things in our lives that we could never even imagine possible.  Once again a man came to the Lord.   At the end of the service they presented us with a gift bag and a surprise cake and flowers for Sherry to celebrate her birthday and then they took us out to eat and for a walking tour of Old City Tarnow. We spent time in the Jewish Ghetto and were awed by the beauty of this old city. 

Here are some more pictures to enjoy.  

He was on fire.

My cake and beautiful flowers

The congregation this morning

Jan and Basia

It is early evening and I am sitting outside in the warm air typing this and trying to absorb all that the Lord has done this weekend. The testimony's from the people are touching and we are so thankful that God has allowed us this privilege of coming. They have been like sponges and as a result it has pulled out of us all that the Lord has deposited in our hearts. It makes it so easy to preach to people who are hungry. Pastor said they are like this all the time. 

Pastor Jan has invited us to come next July to speak at their family camp and to do a marriage seminar.  We are very excited for this new open door.  Years ago the Lord sent several prophets to us at different times telling us that we would be going to the nations. At the time we could never have imagined this happening.   And here we are all these years later doing just that. PTL from whom all blessings flow.  

Thank you so much for all your prayers. Our Church has been such an integral part of our trips. When we go you come with us.  We carry you in our hearts. We have sensed God's favor from the time we got on the plane leaving Cleveland. This has been an amazing trip.  

Tomorrow we are going to a nearby village to see special painted houses. I will post pictures tomorrow evening after we return from the prayer meeting.  

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

Bittersweet

I think I say every time we leave a place where we have poured out our hearts it is bittersweet. This time is no exception.  Yesterday was full of teaching and small group exercises and answering tons of questions which is always fun. PW finished up the basic course and had time to teach on two extra topics which the students chose.  Worry and Anger.  So yesterday he taught on Overcoming Worry and then today finished up with Overcoming Anger teachings.  The students this year were very mature and serious.  It was easy to see which students were especially intrigued by the topics and that will most likely pursue more study in the future, but all admitted that this week taught them how to overcome issues in their own lives.  Praise God

After school yesterday we went to spend the evening with Danny and Damaris Pedraza in their new home.  It was such a treat to spend time with these two warriors for God.  They have been in this country for over 20 years and have poured their lives into the people God has brought across their paths. They moved from Argentina to Belarus first then to Latvia after serving several years. They started by planting a Church in a coastal city on the other side of Riga and over the years have made many friends and contacts in the country. They moved to Riga around 8 years ago so they could oversee the Baltic School of Ministry where we teach. They also are Pastoring a Russian Church in the town of Jelgava and they are working with Church planting teams.  To say they are busy is an understatement, but they so love what they do and find such joy in pouring out their lives.  They are a true blessing to the body of Christ.  They will hopefully be visiting us in our Church in Chardon in August.  We cannot wait for our congregation to meet them.

A former student of ours given this testimony in Chapel. He is serving full time in a Church and is recently married. 

A gorgeous sunny day with temps in the high 50's. The trees are putting forth small green leaves.

Small group activity - counseling practice

Small group activity 

Serious conversation going on 

Danny and Damaris in their lovely living room

Our trusty translator Arnold who was a student last year.  

A highlight every year as the students pray for us and bless us. They have no idea how powerful this time is to us and to the other teachers.  Before this they presented us with a gift of Latvian foods and a new notebook.

Our sweet Natasha saying goodbye as we leave the school. 

This year has been special to us in a different way than past trips. It is the first time we have come without Sherry's mom waiting at home.   Most of you now she passed away in January.  But her sweater came with us and other things that she always insisted Sherry bring with her.   

We have also sensed prayer support in a more powerful way than ever before.  You have always prayed for us during these trips, but this year it just seemed we felt the prayers.  

We are sitting in the airport waiting for our plane to Poland.  We start ministry there tomorrow evening as we share our testimony at a couples meeting that the Tarnow Women's Aglow has arranged. Please pray for us to be especially sensitive the the Holy spirit so that we will share exactly the parts of our history that will touch the hearts of those God brings.  

As always thank you so much for your prayers and notes of encouragement.  WE love you. 

PW and Sherry

GOD HAS PLANS

Wow just about the time we settle in it is almost time to go home. We have reached the half way point today and tomorrow we will begin finishing up.  The week has flown by.

Anyway, today was full and the students once again had tons of questions. We had the privilege of sharing our testimony in Chapel. We are always amazed at how God uses our history and subsequent testimony of what He did in our marriage.  Several students were in tears and afterward there were many more questions.  God is so faithful to use our greatest failures to minister to others. One woman came to me in tears and said God used what we shared to answer some questions and to heal her heart. Thank you God.

We received an email right before lunch from Danny Pedraza who leads the school and he asked if PW would be willing to preach tonight at his Church.  We have gone there many times before and it is always a joy, but this time we had no prep time. God loves to do that to PW. 😉 God as usual came through and PW preached a powerful message to these brothers and sisters on the purpose of sex.  I know, are you blushing yet?  Well it was not that kind of message but it was an exhortation to understand God's purposes so we don't misuse His gifts.  It was very good and the people came up afterward and thanked him  PTL.

Here are today's pictures- this was clean up day so the I took pictures of the students cheerfully doing their work.  

Thank you so much for praying for us.  We ask that tomorrow your prayer focus would be that we will know what additional teachings to do to minister to this group.

Please pray for the small group time with the students that they would all participate and learn.

Please pray for them to comprehend all that has been taught this week so that it will be life changing. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

FOUNDATION LAID TIME TO MOVE ON

Today we finished up our foundational teachings for the class and tomorrow we move on to the practical applications.  This is our favorite part as we give assignments that will help them to walk out what we have been teaching.   The students asked tons of questions today and seemed to be really grasping the content. They were coming up with questions about situations that needed counsel and were trying to figure out how to proceed so the rest of the week will be extremely helpful for them.

Here are some pictures from the day. 

Rain and 45.  Gloomy view from our window

But the flower perks up the view.  It makes me happy.

Natasha is such a joy.  She dresses up each day for the students and is always so pretty

Look at that pretty smile.  

Chapel service, two students from last year. Arnold is translating into Russian for Birgitta who spoke her testimony in English for us.  She has an amazing story of redemption. 

Our class saying hello to you

Soviet era tower. We thought it was interesting with the wood top on a brick base.

No honey there is no pizza on this menu. 

Shaslink or Kabobs and veggies.  Delicious 

Dessert of Tiramisu - no weight loss on this trip 

Today really was a good day. We are so honored to be here and allowed to share with these young adults who are preparing for life by giving one year to the Lord.   Our greatest joy is when we come back year after year and former students come to visit us and tell us their stories and how the Lord used the principles we taught to help them.  

Prayer focus for tomorrow: 

We will be speaking at chapel. 

That the teaching would give life not just knowledge.

That we would be anointed by God to speak with power and to sense His direction.

That the students would be hungry for the word and engaging.

That their lives would be changed forever. 

That God would speak to us as we prepare for our ministry in Poland over the weekend.  

That God would continue to give grace and health to our family and Church back home.

For Pastor Bill and Edie Bradshaw who have come down with the flu and had to cancel their cruise. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

OUT THE GATE

Today we had the joy of meeting our students for the first time and starting our classes.  This group of young people are from places like Estonia, Lithuania and Riga but they speak Russian and English so we only  have one translation going on. In past years we have had as many as 3 translators speaking at the same time translating into Russian, Spanish, German and other languages.  So this year it is not as distracting.  One of our translators is a former student from last year.

Sorry the picture is not better. Tomorrow will be I promise.

We have 15 students this year.  Usually the school has between 25 - 30 students but God had a different plan this year. This group is more mature and very serious about learning.  They are hungry and like the Berean's want to check everything that is said with the Scripture which we love.  There are two students that have said that they know the Lord has called them into full time ministry for Him and one who says he thinks God might be calling him but is waiting for more confirmation.  5 of the students are Pastors children.  We think it is going to be a good week.  Classes start tomorrow at 8:45 and go until 5.

If you have the list of names we gave you please pray specifically by name for each one and ask God to open up their minds to receive what He has for them.  One student already shared that her mind is so full from knowledge this year and also that she has a struggle with obeying God and is very disgusted with herself concerning this so she is looking for answers on  how to change.  

The weather today was once again warm in the 60"s.  We are all enjoying the warm air and sunshine. But this is Latvia and winter might hit again a few more times before Spring finally arrives.  We were able to get out side after class to take a walk and pick up some groceries.  Hopefully the weather will be as nice tomorrow.

So that is our report for day one.  Thank you once again for all the prayer support, it is truly making a huge difference.  We have not had hardly any jet lag at all which is a miracle.

Ephesians 6:19 "and pray on my (our) behalf, that utterance may be given to me (us) in the opening of my (our) mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. "

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

TEARS OF JOY

😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

LUKE 15:7

"I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

This is from Beliefnet:

Similar to Luke 15:10, the angels are able to rejoice when a sinner has turned to God. Here though, the angels show their deeper love by celebrating those who admitted their faults and sins but were able to humbly ask for forgiveness. The angels rejoice more for the repentance of one sinner than they do for millions that have not fallen. They know that there is value in those who are grateful to God.

REJOICE WITH US, WE WERE JUST TOLD THAT ONE OF THE WOMEN WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING LAST NIGHT REPENTED AND GAVE HER LIFE TO JESUS.  

Another soul for the kingdom and another marriage hopefully made better by the power of the Holy Spirit as this new saint learns to walk out her faith in her home. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

GOD IS FAITHFUL

Wow today all I can say is God is faithful.  We asked you all to pray and God showed up. Tonight's meeting was amazing. It was such a joy to minister to these hungry young couples. There were even 6 non believers who came and one even asked some questions on marriage.  We shared our testimony and then PW did some teaching on marriage and we  had questions and answers.  The couple who hosted this event were students we had 2 years ago who put Jesus as center of their relationship and now God is using them to reach all these couples.  The meeting started at 5 and the last person left at 10 p.m.  Instead of feeling tired we are energized.  During the fellowship time we had the privilege of counseling with several couples and also to hear the stories of many more.

Below are some pictures we took of those who attended. 

Former Student Oskars and Maija and new baby

She is very interested in marriage LOL

One of our translators, former ice hockey player, Arturs Irbe.  Those of you who love ice hockey might know of him for his time playing for several teams in the U.S. he was a goalie. 

Two more of our students. Allan and Elizabeth and their new son

Rihard driving us home

Our hosts Rihard and Eva taken 2 years ago before they married. 

Please continue to pray for us this week.  We head to the School tomorrow and begin teaching on Monday.  We are very excited to meet our students this year.  CCF peeps, please pray for the by name using the sheets that were in the bulletin last week.  Their last names are first on the list.  

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

SUNSHINE AND WARM AIR

Well we have arrived safely in Riga Latvia after 20 hours of travel.  Thankfully the sun is shining and it is actually very warm for this time of year. Today's high will be 65 so we will have our windows open wide to let in the warm air.  When we arrived yesterday evening it was still in the 60's.  As you can imagine everyone here is happy for the spring like weather which is unusual for this time of year.  We are more thankful. LOL

Our travel this year was wonderful.  We had a day pass to United Club so we put it to good use when we arrived in Chicago for our 6  1/2 hour layover.  The Clubs are like a luxury  hotel lobby, comfy chairs, lots of soft music, phone rooms and free food and beverages.  It helped the time past quickly.

Our flight was a real blessing.  We had been bumped up to Premier economy which is actually Business class on LOT airline. Our seats were huge, we had 38 inches between us  and the row ahead of us, and they served us on real china , real glassware and  real silverware.  We also had pillows with real cotton covers and nice thick blankets.   The first thing we did upon getting seated was to call our friends Lud and Mur Golz from the plane to tell them we had been bumped up.  We have a running joke with them since Lud gets bumped up to first class on a regular basis and always call us from the plane to rub it in.  Well this time it was our turn.  Business is definitely not first class, but close.  Anyway, Lud's laughter was delightful and made our day knowing he was rejoicing with us on such a huge blessing from the Father.  And Sherry was like a country girl in the city for  the fist time saying such things as golly will you look at that.  We also both slept on the plane which made a huge difference in how we feel. The jet lag is minimal today.

Our hotel room is lovely. We stay at this hotel each year for a few days to get over our jet lag before we start teaching but this year we will be ministering right away so won't have the same rest time.  Tonight we will be speaking to a group of around 50 young adults who are either engaged or newly  married.  Some are not believers yet.  Please pray specifically for our time with them to be fruitful.  We will be sharing our testimony, teaching and answering questions and praying for those who want prayer.   We will update you tomorrow on how it goes.

Lastly please pray for Sherry's phone and computer. For some reason we are not able to download the pictures she is taking and therefore cannot share them with you.  :<((( Not a very spiritual request, but  important no less.

God bless you all.
Much love,
PW and Sherry

CHOMPING AT THE BITS

I had a mental picture today of a horse in the starting gate quivering all over and chomping at the bits to get out and run the race.  🐎

That is how we are feeling this week as we prepare to leave for Latvia and Poland.  Every year when we get ready is always an exciting time. This trip we will be visiting with old friends and making new ones and hopefully sharing the things God has on His heart for those we will be with.

Our itinerary is as follows so you can pray.

Thursday 12 - fly to Lativa
Friday arrive in Riga
Saturday evening - ministry to about 20 couples, there will be several non believers
Sunday travel to Baltic School of Ministry
Monday through Friday teaching 6 hours per day on Biblical Counseling. And hopefully meeting with students as the Lord leads.
Friday afternoon 20 - fly to Poland
Saturday afternoon - visit with our hosts Jan and Barabara Sharbek, Mary Jill Callery and one of our Ukranian translators Valya and her husband and little boy.
Saturday evening - speaking and ministry at Tarnow Womens Aglow couples meeting
Sunday morning - Preach at Jans Church in Tarnow
Sunday afternoon - not sure what the Lord has up his sleeve but we are available.
Monday - Tour Krakow Poland and Auschwitz
Tuesday 24 - fly home

As you can see we hit the road running with little time to recover from our travel so please pray specifically that we can sleep on the plane and get on the local time zone quickly.   Also pray for God to anoint our ministry while there and to give us divine appointments with those who cross our paths, for health and safety for our family and Church family.

We will start posting each day starting on Saturday the 14th.  Thank you so much for praying and for giving and for following our blog.

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

Sunshine and Ohio blue skies

The sun is shining outside today and it never ceases to lift my spirits. I love sun, I love heat, I love green grass, fresh air and bird song. Can you tell I should be living in some warm sunny place year round? But the Lord had an assignment for us in chilly Ohio so we appreciate sunshine more than most.

It reminds me of this verse from the song 10,000 reasons. It has been running through my mind all day.

The sun comes up It's a new day dawning It's time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul Worship His Holy name Sing like never before, o my soul I'll worship Your Holy name

We never know what a day will bring in our life but God does and He can be trusted. I have learned to worship and praise Him no matter what is going on.

As you know the past month was a rough one for us with my mom going home to heaven, but still the words of this song ring true in my heart.

We are so excited to be going to Latvia in April. We will once again be teaching at the Baltic school of ministry. Our topic for the past 6 years has been Basics of Biblical Counseling. We love interacting with the students and have made quite a few life long friendships with some of them. Please keep us in prayer as we prepare to go and especially pray that all the finances come in soon so we can make final arrangements for this trip.

Much love,
Sherry

Final Goodbye

The Final Goodbye

We knew this day was coming for 2 1/2 years but one is never truly ready for the final good bye.  On January 15 Sherry's mom had a massive stroke which left her paralyzed on her left side.  She spent 3 days in the hospital and the doctors all agreed that she was not going to recover so we made the decision to move her to Hospice House for her final days.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I treasured those 5 days as I stayed with her 24/7.  I was able to minister to her in ways that I hope gave her comfort and alleviated any fear she might have had.  Our family came daily and each one of them was able to say goodbye and spend time alone with her along with multitude of friends from Church and elsewhere.  We read scripture to her, prayed with her, laughed with her as we shared memories, told her how much we loved her and held her.

I want to leave you with a glimpse of the kind of woman my mom was through life. I am going to use Proverbs 31:10-31 as my jumping off point because as I read these passages today I saw my mom.
These are the qualities that made Dorothy P. Witt.

She was a faithful wife to my dad and to her second husband George. Never once did she flirt with other men or give them anything but loyal support in their life work or care for our family.

She was frugal and the best bargain hunter ever. She would go into a store and end up getting the items for even less than the sale price.  We all loved to shop with her.

She was excellent with finances and just knew how to make a dollar stretch. She helped so many people with their budgets that I cannot count.  She worked as a book keeper until she was 90 years old.

She taught me to be content with what I had.  Mom grew up in the depression and did without so much but enjoyed the things she had and never felt slighted that she did not have more.

She loved to feed us.  Whenever I was struggling she would go into the kitchen and whip up a cake or pie or some other goodie because that is just what she did.  She also would get up and fix us breakfast, a quality I did not inherit.

She was willing to work hard and long.  Her work ethic was exemplary and no matter what she set her hand to do she did it with excellence.

She loved to help people and was always looking for someone who was in a difficult place so she could come along side of them and minister.  It was not unusual for  her to anonymously go pay off a lay away Christmas or electric or other bill for a single mom or widow or sometimes a family that was just going through a  hard time.

She was great at planning out what she and everyone else would wear or what we would eat or where we needed to go the next day or week or month or even year sometimes.  She was great and remembering birthdays, anniversaries etc and always had cards in advance to send to people.  I did not inherit this trait either. LOL.

She was kind and thoughtful to everyone and loved to share bits of wisdom with each one.  Even last week as she lay in the bed paralyzed she was writing down last bits of wisdom for her family.  One of which was to couples,  you should always save the wife income because the husband can't get pregnant and lose his job.  She was amazing.

My dads coworkers were all jealous of him because mom was such a good wife and they were always wanting to come home for dinner with my dad.  She loved it because she loved people and loved him.

She set the tone of our home.  She was consistently happy and cheerful. And if she was having a bad day, she would get over it quickly after spending time with the Lord.

She taught me to look ahead not back.   She would say to me "Sherry, let the past stay in the past, today is a new day and we need to live in the present."  Great advice especially now.

She was fiercely loyal and protective of her family and friends.

She was never idle so these past few years were very difficult for her because she could not do too much physically.  But she wrote devotions and was working on her life story when she died.  You can access her writings at thegrannygrams.blogspot.com.

Her main focus in life was telling others about Jesus.  Her spiritual gifts were Evangelism, Giving, and Service and she was faithful in each.

I want to end this post by saying what an incredible privilege it has been to not only be raised by mom but to care for her these past few years.  I am rejoicing in my heart that she is now with her Savior and enjoying the fruit of her life work.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  Proverbs 31:30.

POWER OF WORDS

I was recently talking to a lady who is in her 90's and she was telling me that she is ugly and has been her whole life.   I asked her why she thought that and she told me of an incident when she was 7 years old where a friend of her moms had come to the house for tea, while there this little girl was playing in the next room and the lady said to the mother, how can you stand having such an ugly child?  This little girl heard it and immediately believed the lie this woman had spoken.  The sad thing, she is a beautiful woman but for 80 years has believed the opposite due to the unkind words of one person. She gave that woman power over her without even realizing it and has continued to live under that power.

I met man who was in his 50's and said he would never amount to anything in this life. I asked him why and he said his dad told him so often while he was growing up that he guessed it was true.  He has jumped from one job to another all his life constantly feeling like a failure.

I was talking to a young person who said they had no friends, I asked why and they informed me that one person started telling others falsehoods about them and everyone believed them and so avoided them.  The consequence was a lonely young person who was hurting very badly.

I overheard a woman tell another woman out of the blue "that dress does nothing for you".  The other woman looked shocked because she had not asked this person what she thought. I later asked the woman who had been hurt if this other woman was a close friend and she said no, they had only had a casual relationship and seldom saw each other.  Really who needs friends like that?

A friend was recently telling someone about a medical issue they were having and the other person immediately began to tell them about every person they knew who had a bad experience with that same issue. Not one word of hope given just all the negatives.

A mom of 8 was telling me that she is often told by others, even complete strangers, that they are so glad that they don't have that many children, or that she is nuts to have so many.

A guy I know decided to get a new haircut and people who hardly knew him would come up and say what on earth have you done to your hair ?  Really? What business is it of theirs anyway.  Relax people it is just a haircut, it grows back.

I remember once hurting a dear friend by my careless words about a dish she had prepared for her family, instead of asking for a sample to taste, I informed her it looked like dog food.  I cringe now remembering how badly I hurt her. Those words can never be taken back even though I asked and was granted forgiveness.

Our nation today is bombarded with careless words.

I could go on and on of things people have said to others that are just plain hurtful or at the very least unthoughtful.  

The bible addresses this issue quite clearly in Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I do not think we truly understand the power our words have in the lives of others.

So my encouragement to all of us is to think before we speak.  It is better to remain silent unless someone asks for our opinion and even then we need to season our words with grace and be kind.  Lets be a people who encourage others, who are like a breath of fresh air because we say things that edify and do not tear down.  Try it this week, you will find that the fruit is much sweeter.  And the best part...the Lord will be pleased.

Grace and Peace,
Sherry

GOT SIN?

Well who doesn't?  

The Scripture says in 1 John 1:8" If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." Pretty clear isn't it?  I know it is hard sometimes to admit that we sin.  Think about yesterday for example, maybe you didn't do one of the BIG sins, ya know the ones you think of when you think of sin, but did you have a bad attitude? Gossip? Tell a lie?  Judge someone?  You get the picture.  The problem as I see it is that many of us like to think we are better than so and so.  Or we focus on our sin and the result is we live in shame and condemnation and defeat.  

Well I have good news for you............are you ready?  1 John 1:9 says," If we confess our sins, HE is FAITHFUL and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."  WOW  

Brothers and Sisters, we can have Victory over our sin. We can live an abundant life full of joy and peace.  Don't be afraid to humble yourself and ask God to forgive you and then accept His forgiveness.

I love the old hymn Victory in Jesus, absorb the words as you read it.  If you know it, you will find yourself singing it.  

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.

I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory. 

So today as you go about your day, meditate on the truth.  We win brothers and sisters, through the blood of Jesus.  Focus on that not your sin. And then share this good news with someone.  You won't be sorry.

Much love, 

Sherry