So sorry – somehow yesterday’s Victory Call did not get posted.  It is available on the website – www.americakeswick.org – please check it out; it’s a great thought from Joyce Hayes.  On another note, the Family Freedom Walk was last Saturday.  We had a great day – and the Lord brought in over $56,000!  And ladies, we beat the Freedom Fighters – $115 – $0!!!!!  Thanks for your support!

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices when the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses fait; is always hopeful. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 1

While attending a marriage retreat weekend recently, the group was asked the following question: “Is it possible to love your spouse too much?”

One-by-one husbands and wives answered. The responses included a yes, a no, a concern for boundaries. One said they didn’t want to enable bad behavior and another stated love is not “fuzzy wuzzy”.

What do you think? Is it possible to love a spouse too much? Is it possible to love anyone too much?

A few months ago I was challenged to take the description of love from First Corinthians 13 and do a detailed word search. In other words, I was to take what God’s Word says love “is” and define each word.

Let me just tell you, up until that point, I thought I did a pretty good job of loving the people in my life. Allow me to share some of the definitions I found. This is not an exhaustive list, just some that stuck out to me.

Love is…

PATIENT-without discontent

KIND-disposed to do good to others and to make them happy by granting their requests

NOT JEALOUS-not suspicious

NOT PROUD-not possessing a high conceit of one’s own excellence; overbearing

NOT RUDE-not rough; fierce; harsh or raw

NOT IRRITABLE-not susceptible to anger or passion easily

KEEPING NO RECORD OF WRONGS-not calling to mind, reciting or repeating when I have been treated unjustly or injured

NOT DEMANDING MY OWN WAY-to not claim or seek with possession MY method, mode or manner of doing something

Love…

NEVER GIVES UP/NEVER LOSES FAITH-Never! (Is to not at any time in no degree)…

So love: not at any time; in no degree; not ever yields to stopping. Love not at anytime; not ever; in no degree stops believing.

ALWAYS HOPEFUL-to perpetually throughout all time continually; constantly have the belief that good may be obtained 2

I will tell you that as I did this it became painfully obvious to me that, although I could and have been loving, I was not by definition, moment-by-moment, day-by-day actively living out what God says love “is”.

Love has to look like what love is defined as in scripture. It is not possible to love my spouse too much. In fact, there are times when it’s a challenge to love-period and even more it’s a challenge to actively, purposely, and intentionally love.

But after doing the above challenge a deep desire has been ignited in me to be lovely. I desire to be a lovely wife who will gracefully tarry in loveliness. I desire to awake each day and purposely, with intent, love my husband, my children, my family and friends unto the Lord.

Pray with me:

Lord my redeemer, I know I have failed over and over again and yet you love me. Help me and my sisters reading this Victory Call to love intentionally moment-by-moment.

Help us to never allow this world to define love for us, but to always be mindful of what You say love “IS” and help us to choose to live it out.

We desire to be lovely unto you. Would you change us from the inside out? In your name, Jesus, Amen.

Kim Spicer
WOC Graduate

1 New Living Translation and New American Standard
2 American Dictionary of the American Language Noah Webster 1828 ed.

This early spring has gotten us in the gardening mood early and we have prepared the soil by turning it, and fertilizing for the flowers we hope to plant this month. A healthy root system is important for growth to happen. You can’t have a flower without the roots. In order for us to have a healthy root system, we have to get to know Jesus.

Last week while walking our dogs around the Keswick lake we noticed a tree down near the Colony of Mercy horseshoe pit. One of the men from the Colony said it just fell around noon. It wasn’t raining, and there was no wind to speak of. It was a tall pine tree with a very small root bulb. It amazes me that it could grow so tall and yet have very little root. The wet sand from rain in previous days just gave way and down the tree went. Every trouble we face can threaten our stability when we are not deeply rooted in Christ.

I recently read a book by Christina Shofield called, “My Life and Lesser Catastrophes.” It is the story of her walk with Christ during a time of great trial. On her 13th anniversary, she and her husband got a babysitter for their little girl and went on a motorcycle ride down a country road. They hit some loose gravel and were thrown from the motorcycle. Her husband suffered injuries that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Here is what she wrote in her book: “In the weeks leading up to the accident, I had had trouble sleeping. I woke up almost every night at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. unable to trail back off to sleep. So I’d drag myself out of bed, tuck my Bible under my arm like a football and find a quiet corner where I would talk with God. I’m glad we had that squint-eyed time together, He and I, because things soon would be turned upside down between us.” God was building her root system as she spent time with him and got to know him.

Colossians 2: 6, 7 – Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Joyce Hayes
Artist-in-residence at America’s Keswick

It happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?”
And the Lord said to him, “Go up.”
David said, “Where shall I go up?”
And He said, “To Hebron.” 2 Samuel 2:1 (NKJV)

When I read this portion of scripture, it jumped off the page at me. It’s so simple really, isn’t it? David had a question, he needed direction, so he asked the Lord; AND the Lord answered him. I’ve know the Lord for twelve years and the thing that amazes me still to this day is that He speaks to me, to us. Wrap your mind around that for a minute. God speaks to us. He may use scripture, another person, nature, anything He wants really, but I’m talking about His voice: When He speaks to our hearts. That still, small voice. It is unmistakable. Although I admit there have been days when I’ve doubted it was His voice that I heard. Maybe you’ve had those days?

“Lord was that You? I thought it was. Maybe it was just me trying to convince myself that it was You.”

Then I’m reminded of another portion of scripture, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (NKJV)

Doubt – that’s one of the enemy’s favorite weapons. The shield of faith is one of my favorite weapons,

“…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

When those arrows of doubt fly, and they will, hold up your shield of faith, and listen for the Father’s voice.
He’ll never go against His word and He’ll never come without peace.

David inquired of the Lord…and the Lord said to him…

Dina Seaton
Marketing Assistant, Staff Writer

LAST CHANCE!  May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.

ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?

1 Samuel 1:10-11  “Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow. ‘O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut.”

Hannah was a woman who prayed for years for a child. She was ridiculed and shamed for being childless. Hannah wanted a child so desperately. Each year Elkanah and his 2 wives and children would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. This year Hannah was overcome with sadness and cried out to the Lord for a son. And if God would answer her prayer she would give him back to the Lord. She would dedicate him for his whole life in the Lord’s service.

Hannah wanted a child so much that she was willing to give him back to the Lord! What a sacrifice…just to be able to have a baby she is willing to give him back to the Lord!

This may be hard for us to understand…but women sacrifice to have children all the time.

There was a young woman in my church in 1998. Her name was Bonnie. She was married and had 18- month-old beautiful twin girls. When she was 18 she was diagnosed with a very severe heart condition. She was told she could never have children because the strain would be too much for her heart. But she took the risk because she wanted children so much. In May of 1998 her heart had become so weak she could no longer care for her girls. She was put into the hospital to wait for a heart transplant…the only hope in saving her life.

I received this note from Bonnie in early May. Bonnie wrote:

“Before I went into the hospital I bought a book called God’s Little Devotional Book. It’s the first devotional book I’ve ever bought. Before each story there is a Bible quote and a brief observation. This is one of my favorites. ‘Rejoice evermore. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus Christ Jesus concerning you.’ 1 Thess. 5:16,18″

Bonnie was rejoicing….she was giving thanks…even in her dire situation…she needed a heart and needed it desparately to live, yet she found much to rejoice in.

Bonnie not only received one heart… but two within 2 weeks’ time. But her body rejected both and on June 1, 1998 Bonnie went home to be with the Lord. She knew the risks of having her babies, that it may cost her life. She also knew the risk of the surgery.

Bonnie made sure she wrote letters to her girls so that when they grew up they would know she considered her sacrifice worth it just to have her beautiful girls…if just for a brief time.

Bonnie literally gave her heart for her children. You see, I don’t think Bonnie’s heart could be replaced. As a mom she sacrificed it all for her children.

As we celebrate our moms this Mother’s Day may we all remember the sacrifices that they have made on our behalf and thank our God for all of them.

MaryAnn Kiernan

MaryAnn and John Kiernan have been married for 38 years, have 2 married sons and are the proud grandparents of three grandsons and two granddaughters and one grandchild on the way! She serves at America’s Keswick as a Biblical Counselor and also as Intake Coordinator for the Colony of Mercy. Her life verse is Romans 8:28.

EXPRESSING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN YOUR DAY TO DAY LIFE

“And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.” (1 Corinthians 11:1, TLB).

When Matt, our son, was nine years old, he started wearing contact lenses. In the first two years he wore them, he lost five lenses. Paying for those lenses didn’t help our budget any, and I started to become a nagging mother. It got to the point where Matt was afraid to tell me when he lost a lens because he knew I would be upset.

About that time I heard a speaker say we should trust God with everything in our lives: our children, our homes, our possessions and our money. I had been willing to trust God for all of my family, my home, my money, and most of my possessions, but that day I decided to trust God with the lenses as well. Just a few days later one of the neighbor boys came to the door and said Matt had lost his lens on the grass in Billy’s yard. Can you imagine trying to find a brown contact lens the size of the tip of your little finger on brown grass?

I told Matt I thought we should pray before we tried to look for the lens. He said, “Right here?”

“Yes.”

Giving Thanks

All of the little neighbor boys watched in awe as Matt and I prayed God would help us find his lens. Minutes later we found it. Matt was quite willing then to pray and thank God for letting us find the lens.

Within the next month we went through that same situation three more times. We found the lens twice. The third time, as before, we asked God to help us, then we looked – and looked. We didn’t find it. As we came into the house, I silently prayed that God would help me to control my temper and say the right thing to Matt.

The verse, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV), came to my mind. I shared this verse with Matt and asked him if he could thank God for this situation. Matt thought a minute and then said he could. He prayed, “Dear God, It sure would have been nice if you would’ve let us find that lens, but it’s OK. Thanks a lot anyway, God. Amen.”

Matt and I both learned we could give thanks even in difficult situations. I learned that with God’s help I could be a profound common sense thinker as I taught Matt how to live the Christian life on a day-to-day basis.

It is possible to teach those around us by example so that we can say with Paul, “And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.” I believe it is.

MWH

This devotional is an excerpt from Marilyn Heavilin’s new book, Profound Common Sense. The book is available now by contacting Marilyn and will be available for purchase at America’s Keswick this summer.

Marilyn is a wife and mother, author, and international conference and retreat speaker. She and her husband Glen serve as Counselors-in-Residence at America’s KESWICK during the summer months.

May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.

ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?

This early spring has gotten us in the gardening mood early and we have prepared the soil by turning it, and fertilizing for the flowers we hope to plant this month. A healthy root system is important for growth to happen. You can’t have a flower without the roots. In order for us to have a healthy root system, we have to get to know Jesus.

Last week while walking our dogs around the Keswick lake we noticed a tree down near the Colony of Mercy horseshoe pit. One of the men from the Colony said it just fell around noon. It wasn’t raining, and there was no wind to speak of. It was a tall pine tree with a very small root bulb. It amazes me that it could grow so tall and yet have very little root. The wet sand from rain in previous days just gave way and down the tree went. Every trouble we face can threaten our stability when we are not deeply rooted in Christ.

I recently read a book by Christina Shofield called, “My Life and Lesser Catastrophes.” It is the story of her walk with Christ during a time of great trial. On her 13th anniversary, she and her husband got a babysitter for their little girl and went on a motorcycle ride down a country road. They hit some loose gravel and were thrown from the motorcycle. Her husband suffered injuries that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Here is what she wrote in her book: “In the weeks leading up to the accident, I had had trouble sleeping. I woke up almost every night at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. unable to trail back off to sleep. So I’d drag myself out of bed, tuck my Bible under my arm like a football and find a quiet corner where I would talk with God. I’m glad we had that squint-eyed time together, He and I, because things soon would be turned upside down between us.” God was building her root system as she spent time with Him and got to know Him.

Colossians 2: 6, 7 – Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Joyce Hayes
Artist-in-residence

“I wonder if I’m talking to anyone today who is feeling frustrated. Is there some issue in your life that just doesn’t get solved? Have you prayed as much as you can about it and yet it doesn’t budge? If that’s the case then it’s no accident that”1 you are reading this Victory Call today. Today we will set a spell and ponder waiting. Not waiting for resolution of a problem, but waiting, simply waiting on God. How, you may ask, will we ponder waiting? Well, today we’ll do it in the form of a poem which communicates more line by line than I’m capable of.

This poem was recently given to me as comfort for my soul from a sister who herself is suffering and wondering and in the midst of it all learning to “wait”.

Wait
“Desperate and helpless and longing, I cried.
Patiently, lovingly my Lord replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate;
And the Master so gently said, ‘Child, you must wait.’

“‘Wait? You said wait?’ my indignant reply.
‘Lord, I need answers. I need to know why.
Is Your hand shortened or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming Your Word.

“‘My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me wait.
I’m needing a yes, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a no to which I can resign.

“‘And Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask and we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry,
I’m weary of asking, I need a reply.’

“Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, ‘You must wait.’
So I slumped in my chair defeated and taught,
and grumbled to God, ‘so I’m waiting for what?’

“He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, ‘I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun;
I could raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

“‘All you seek I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depths of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

“‘You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

“‘You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove.
You’d know that I give and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart,

“‘The glow of My comfort late in the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked of an infinite God
Who makes what you have last.

“‘And you’d never know, should your pain quickly free,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dreams for that loved one overnight may come true,
But oh the loss if I lost what I’m doing in you.

“‘So be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious of all is still, Wait.'”2

Dear sister, are you waiting? Then know this there is a God in heaven and He cares for you!

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth…Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” ~ (Isaiah 40:21-22a, 28-31)

Stephanie Paul

Stephanie Paul, wife and mother of two grown children. An “instrument of change” in the Redeemer’s Hand, in the lives of wounded and hurting women. Currently serving as a part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America’s Keswick as Woman of Character Program Administrator.

1 Lisa Barry http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Gateway-to-Joy/Waiting-Quietly.html

2 Poem wait by Russell Kelfer http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Gateway-to-Joy/Waiting-Quietly.html

May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.



ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?

Recently I have been through a rather involved health related challenge. When you are in that place it can surely test your faith. Yet with it comes an opportunity to be strengthened in your relationship with God, who is truly worthy to be trusted.

I began to think about the COVENANT relationship I am blessed to have with our God. I am so very grateful. I can’t even imagine going through the many challenges of life without my God.

Those of us who have made Jesus our personal Lord and Savior have been grafted into the Abrahamic Covenant. Jesus will NEVER break covenant with us. What a blessing to know that God Himself is committed to us as His people. We can walk in the blessings of Abraham. (Deut. 28:1-4) The covenant itself is unconditional and everlasting. (Gen. 15, 17).

I am challenged to walk more fully in this Covenant relationship and to enjoy the fullness of the blessings of living in covenant with God. I believe that this means I need to live more with my identify in Christ. I may be a sinner, but God loved me so much He sent His Son to die for me and chose me for Himself. He is committed to me. I am in covenant with the God of the Universe!! That reality must change the way I meet life’s challenges. I can walk into a place of trusting Him more and more each day no matter what is going on in the natural!!

I want to be a woman of the covenant. I believe it is God’s desire that I walk in covenant with Him and experience all of His blessings. Psalm 67:6-8 says:

Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. (NKJ)

I believe God wants out lives to overflow with His blessings so much so that unbelievers will want to find out what we have!! It doesn’t mean we won’t have challenges dear one, but the God of the universe will carry us through it. He will work all things together for our good. (Romans 8:28) Amazing!!

During my recovery people kept saying, “you are so amazingly strong. How do you do it??” I had to tell them, I am not strong. There is no way I can put up with the pain; it is no walk in the park. But my God calls me to rise up. I do because of His grace, His encouragement, His faithfulness. I get up and can’t help but praise His holy name because I got up. He is so there for me. He is totally there for you. Why?? Because He is faithful to this Covenant relationship we have with Him in Christ. Don’t try to figure it out, just embrace it.

For those of you who want to learn more about living in Covenant I invite you to consider reading at least chapter 9 of a great book written by Dr. Robert Heidler, The Messianic Church Arising. Some of what you have read above has been taken from that book.

Patricia L. Wenzel
WOC graduate

May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.



ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.


TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC


Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!


Come join in the fun. Please?

May is here and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.



ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?

In all different types of relationships we seek to understand the other person. Good communication is necessary. Whether it is co-workers, children, spouses, bosses, pastors, friends – if something is said that is not clear to us – what do we do?

We can pretend we know what they mean – what good does that do? That surely leads to misunderstanding.

We can ignore them, which is loving ourselves more that we are loving the other person.

We can assume we know what they mean and get angry lashing out, which is evidence of pride and impatience in our lives.

Hopefully, if we are genuine in our desire to understand and build relationship with the other person, when we fail to understand what is said, we ask questions. If done with humility and real interest it communicates to the other person – “you matter to me, what you think is important, I want to understand you.”

All that is true but all that is to lead us to this point.

How is your communication with God?

When you don’t understand what you are reading in His letters (the Bible) what do you do? Do your eyes glaze over and your mind check out? Do you rush along to get through it, gleaning nothing out of it? Or do you ask questions as you move along? You’d be surprised how God answers.

What does your approach to Scripture communicate to God about your interest in what He has to say? Is it, “I want to know You”? Or, “I want to get done”?

Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the ministry team at America’s Keswick. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. Diane has been married to her husband John over 27 years. She has 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren and 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.

May is HERE and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.


ONE. WALK – call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.


TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC


Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter’s team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?

“Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken.” 1 Samuel 1: 16

Yesterday I encouraged you not to W-H-I-N-E and complain. Today I want to encourage you to go right ahead! What I mean is that while you want to be careful of others hearing you W-H-I-N-E, it is okay to let God know your heart..like what? He doesn’t know your heart? We might as well be honest and speak it!

I wish I could remember the context in which I learned this. I know it was in the workplace but I can’t remember who said it. What I was told was “to always whine up”. The thought was that you don’t grumble and complain with your coworkers; that can cause low morale but you whine up to your boss, the one who can do something about your complaint. The point is that there was an order in place for all complaints and grievances. So it is with your heavenly Father. He is in control and He is able to bring about the appropriate responses and actions to your complaint. He knows. He wants to hear from you. Do not fear that it will come out wrong…there is much grace for your hurting heart today.

Blessings,
Kathy

Kathy’s on staff at America’s KESWICK in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 26 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and has previously served as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.