Prayer for 2012

The following is a Puritan prayer from the book, 'The Valley of Vision.'

Amazing Grace

O Thou giving God, My heart is drawn out in thankfulness to thee, for thy amazing grace and condescension to me in influences and assistances of thy Spirit, for special help in prayer, for the sweetness of Christian service, for the thoughts of arriving in heaven, for always sending me needful supplies, for raising me to new life when I am like one dead.

I want not the favour of man to lean upon for thy favour is infinitely better. Thou art eternal wisdom in dispensations towards me; and it matters not when, nor where, now how I serve thee, nor what trials I am exercised with, if I might but be prepared for thy work and will.

No poor creature stands in need of divine grace more than I do, and yet none abuses it more than I have done, and still do. How heartless and dull I am! Humble me in the dust for not loving thee more.

Every time I exercise any grace renewedly I am renewedly indebted to thee, the God of all grace, for special assistance. I cannot boast when I think how dependent I am upon thee for the being and every act of grace; I never do anything else but depart from thee, and if ever I get to heaven it will be because thou willest it, and for no reason beside.

I love, as a feeble, afflicted, despised creature, to cast myself on thy infinite grace and goodness, hoping for no happiness but from thee; give me special grace to fit me for special services, and keep me calm and resigned at all times, and conformed to thy will.

(pages 110-111)

Adoption Party Help

How would you like to be a part of helping connect kids in need of families with families wanting kids? Council Road Baptist Church has been asked to help serve at the February 25, 2012 Adoption Party at Douglas High School.

Parents who have gone through the process of getting approved to adopt through DHS will come to meet kids who are available through DHS for adoption.

This will be a carnival-type atmosphere with karaoke, games, face painting, booths for nail painting, and a variety of other fun things.

We need teams to help on Friday afternoon, the 24th, for set up as well as Saturday after 2 p.m. for clean up.

We also need help serving at the Adoption Party itself.

Would you like to be involved? Contact me for more information.

503-4092 mobile

jhunt@councilroad.org

Psalm 32

Recently the state of Oklahoma experienced the worst drought in many, many years. River levels were down in many places and some lakes were all but shut down they were so low. Lake Hefner is located in our city – it’s a popular place to go fishing and boating. Our family has been blessed by a man in our church who let’s us take his sailboat out whenever we want to. This year, however, we didn’t get to go even one time because the lake was just too low. I took our 8-year-old son out to see the lake at the height of the drought. Where there had once been water there was nothing but a sand bar. Gage went out exploring and found a dead catfish that somehow had gotten trapped on land as the water receded. I turned to look at him and had to laugh as I saw him holding up this dried out catfish on the end of a stick and with a triumphant declaration of, “Dad, look, I’m the luckiest kid out here today!”

Well, since that time God has sent rain – lots of it. The rivers and lakes are filling back up. Life is getting back to normal – the way God intended for it to be.

When we refuse to repent of our sin we become just as shriveled up as that dead catfish. We dry up like the lake. Our spiritual vitality is parched and we need the refreshing spiritual rain that only God can provide as we in faith repent of our sin and seek to restore fellowship with our Lord.

Thanksgiving

If all you held dear was removed; if your future lost its luster fading into the shadows of heartache; if God then said, "I love you." Would you believe Him? Would you still bow with thankful heart and confessing lips, "Jesus is Lord?"

Thanksgiving: A punch into our "normal" to remind us that we are to "in everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Here We Go Again...

Here we go again...in just a few hours an adoption case worker will be visiting our home. We will drop off Gage at school, put the dogs in the master bathroom, make sure the house looks okay...hopefully all in time for our 9 a.m. appointment with Raleesha. She is going to finalize our reassessment for becoming approved with OKDHS to adopt.

We have taken this journey before - one that had many twists and turns and not just a tear or two. It can be a gut-wrenching process sometimes to walk this path toward adopting - it's even tougher for kids though whose little hearts are made whole or broken by decisions of others:

*"Will someone want me?"
*"Will I have a forever family?"
*"Why do I have to move again?"
*"Who are these people and what are their rules?"

Please pray for us, me, Ali, and Gage, as well as the child God intends to bring into our home. Gage so wants to be a big brother and we want to give our last name to another child...and embrace them with our lives and love. This is orphan-care-evangelism: Bringing an orphan into our little family (providing a temporal home) believing that in doing so God will bring this child into His family (providing an eternal home).

So, hopefully by sometime early 2012 you'll see another precious child with us. Will you pray with us?

Thanks