A very BIG THANK YOU to those of you who donated on North Texas Giving Day! Combined with donations given to our website as well, we surpassed donations from the last two years of giving on this day! We are so thankful that we will be able to gift even more people this Christmas with the Word of God!
Taken for Granted?
My family attended a Voice of the Martyrs conference over the weekend. Voice of the Martyrs is an outstanding ministry dedicated to assisting and encouraging our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide. . .in some of the most hostile-to-Christianity areas known. Hebrews 13:3 says,
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." VOM does in fact
"remember them" and I encourage you to visit one of their websites (
here) to see a list of prayer requests.
One of the speakers told a story about traveling to Iran with 85 smuggled Bibles and getting caught and having every one of them confiscated. He was so disappointed. But then I thought, "How I take God's Word for granted!" I was just in LifeWay this week picking out a new personal Bible. I didn't have to smuggle it. I bought it out in public, completely legally, and I had
hundreds to choose from.
Or how about another speaker who spoke of the boldness of his pastor-father, who, when approached by ISIS pointing guns at him at a customs checkpoint, said, "I want to share with you the best gift the world has ever known" and proceeded to share the gospel with them. . .and lived to tell of it!
I pray for boldness in witnessing. . .and for gratitude for the blessings we have been given in the U.S. to worship Jesus, read our Bibles, and distribute them to a hungry community.
The conference this weekend also had a profound impact on Joshua so he wanted to share with everyone what impacted him in particular, so please
go here to read his blog. You'll be glad you did!
