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Dear Friend,
The end of November and beginning of December was a busy season for us. We had the privilege of sharing Thanksgiving with our church family. The following week, we hosted a house warming party to celebrate the purchase of our new home. These two events, along with a few other ministry obligations at the same time made us realise that we had overcommitted ourselves.
The second week of December we began to trim back some of our responsibilities in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but our life came to a grinding halt when our family was struck with illness.
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The flu, colds, and a tummy bug brought us all down. We were forced to slow down even more than planned so we could recover before the Christmas holidays. We even had to give up some of our plans. I (Chrysti) wanted to do a couple Advent-themed things with Asher, but with all of us feeling so rough, I had to let them go. Our week or so of illness allowed us to rest and complete just a few more tasks before a very relaxing Christmas holiday. Leon’s job of moving servers from the OM office to a data centre in France was among those tasks.
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Illness slowed us down, but it didn’t keep us from enjoying the holidays. We had a relaxing Christmas and New Year with a few friends. Eva Joy got two front teeth for Christmas. In between Christmas and New Year, Asher started wearing big boy pants (underwear). Leon and I rang in the New Year by going to bed an hour before midnight!
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A New Year is always seen as a time of fresh starts, new goals and new resolutions. The beginning of the year is a logical time to do these things. As the year goes forward, we mess up. Our goals don’t go to plan, and our resolutions get forgotten. We mustn’t forget that Jesus was and is the beginning. Our walk with Him is just the beginning. When we mess up, Jesus’ grace and mercy are there, waiting for us to accept them. We don’t need to wait until the beginning of the year to make things right with God. We get new mercy and grace waiting for us every single day.
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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace."
John 1:1-2, 16 |
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Whether 2014 was a year you want to put behind you, or a year of great blessing, we pray you’ll find encouragement in God’s extravagant grace and mercy at the beginning of every new day.
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Prayer Points
- Praise God for all the prayers and financial support we received this year. We managed to break even. We're very grateful!
- We are beginning to plan our Home Assignment for this summer. Pray for us as we begin to work out all the logistics.
- We need 6 people to financially support our ministry at $50 a month for the coming year. (Maybe that's you!) Please pray that God will bring these people into our lives.
- Pray that we stay healthy through the remaining winter months.
- I (Leon) am feeling overwhelmed with a large work load after the Christmas break. Pray for wisdom and efficiency in my work.
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Happy New Year and God Bless,
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