July 1st 2006 Newsletter

Greetings to all our Family, Friends, and Internet Ministries around the world: 

It is summer time here in North East Ohio and the weather is starting to heat up! This is the time of the year for weddings and vacations, baseball games and picnics, garage sells, swimming, fishing, graduation parties, and golf. So many things happening at this time!  Summer goes by so quickly so I hope that you are able to set aside some time to enjoy it. But in the midst of everything that is going on including work and play, let us remember to set aside time to spend with the Lord.

St. Luke 10:38-42  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village:  and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus feet, and heard his word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, doest thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?  Bid her therefore that she help me.  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 

As the days grow longer it seems we take on more duties, trying to accomplish everything that we want to get done. We wake up in the morning and we find ourselves planning out our day.  We think about all the places that we have to go and everything that we have to do, and in the hustle and bustle of it all, we get caught up in the cares of this world. We become weighed down by all the "serving", and in reality we become distracted from spending time with Jesus.

I think we have all come to the place from time to time where we have taken on so much that we become overwhelmed by it.  We rush around working diligently trying to get everything accomplished.  There are dates set and schedules made, and even down to the last minute there is still so much to do.  We too become careful and troubled about by many things.  We allow the pressures of good works to lay heavy upon our shoulders.  Martha felt this same kind of pressure upon her as she worked hard preparing and serving a great meal for her guest. 

Whatever cares the providence of God casts upon us we must not be cumbered with them, nor be disquieted and perplexed by them. Care is good and duty; but cumber is sin and folly.  If Jesus were to come to our house today I wonder what He would see in us. Would He find us liken to Mary, sitting at His feet and hearing His Words?  Or would we liken to Martha, so bothered and troubled by all the things that we are doing, that we cannot find time to sit with the Lord? 

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:  if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 

Let us not become distracted away from our time with the Lord, by the serving that we do.  To be careful and troubled about by so many things is not Gods will.  Mary choose "that good part", which would not be taken away from her.  So while we know that serving is good, let us also be mindful of the one thing that is needful, spending time with Jesus, sitting at His feet, and hearing His Word.    

Jody will be the Guest Writer for the month of July at Sister Delores Adams website ministry, "Theres Good News".  I would like to invite you to stop by and visit her message entitled, Are you a Patriot?  You will find it listed under "Pens of Friends".  Here is the link...http://www.theresgoodnews.com

I rejoice to share with you this months Hand In Hand Publication, written by our dear friend in Canada, Dr. Trudy Veerman. Sister Trudy is a Licensed Clinical Christian Therapist, a Certified Christian Counselor, an ordained Minister and a published Author.  This months message is entitled, 'The Balm of Gilead".  A message that portrays Jesus Christ and His Love for us as the Great Physician. He not only has the power to forgive sins, but He also has the power to heal our physical and spiritual bodies.  The Bible says He is the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness, He is come to heal the broken hearts, and to set the captive free.  I encourage you to stop by and visit Sis. Trudy's message this month, I know you will be blessed.  Please take a moment and stop by Sis. Trudy's home on the web at http://achristiancounselor.com, and let her know you were there.  I thank God for each and every one of you, for your faithfulness to the Lord and to His Work.  I pray for all of you who have been laid low either by sickness in your physical body, or sickness in your soul.  This message is a timely message sent from God above to minister to each of us!  July's message is now uploaded to the Internet and you can visit Sis. Trudy's message at http://www.wordoflifeministry.us/July2006.html 

I would also like to say "Thank You", to Sister Delores Adams of Heart to Heartbeat Ministries, for her message last month on Fathers. What a truly inspiring message exhorting each of us Dads to understand and realize the awesome privilege that God has given to us as parents in raising our children.  I really love the example that you gave us from Max Lucado's writing, mentioning how little legs stretch to try to walk in the same footprints left by his father in the snow. I pray this message will speak to Fathers of all kinds, and will encourage them in the raising up of their children.

Our Heavenly Father is the greatest example of Love that this world will ever know.  May we be the same examples of love to our children.  I pray your ministry continues to reach out and touch the lives of Gods people all over this world.  Thank you for being a part of Hand in Hand Ministries, and for sharing your heart with all of us.  Gods richest blessings!    

I would like to share some wonderful news with you from our dear friends Ken and Karen Brooks from "Daily Bread Ministries".  They have begun a home club ministry geared to reach the children in their neighborhood and around the world via the Internet, and I have asked Karen to tell us a little bit about her new ministry.  For all of you with children this would be a wonderful way of receiving Bible Stories through your email.  I encourage you to get your children signed up to start receiving the Sunflower seeds kids club Ministry!

Sonflower Seeds Kids Club Ministry is an online ministry to extend to children around the world a Bible lesson each week that will come directly to them or to you by email (Parent's choice).  God first gave us this idea to start an at home club for kids who do not get to go to church regularly here in my home and we are an actual club that meets each Thursday.  We felt the need to extend our club to the web as well, as we know there are many children all over the world who do not have the privilege to attend church regularly.

Our desire is to help children grow in the word of God. There is a notable change in the way we spell sonflower - using Son instead of Sun representing the light of the world , the son of God. A flower is a thing of beauty just as our life can be when we know Christ as our Savior . The seed is the word of God . A real sunflower can produce enough seeds to feed a bird through the winter time. We hope and pray these children can grow to be seed bearing Christians of their own someday.  

Here are the links for you to preview our online page. It is new and we are still working to enhance it and add graphics. You can view this week's lesson by clicking here Sonflower seeds  To receive Sonflower Seeds kids club Ministry for your child, simply send an email to sonflowerkids@aol.com with the address you wish me to send the page to. May God bless you.

Karen Brooks/Daily Bread Ministry

                                      Welcome!   

From time to time I like to introduce to you some of our new contributing members and to let you hear a little bit from them.  Where they are from, who they are, etc.  So at this time I would like to officially welcome to Hand In Hand Ministries, Scarlette Donahey, from Ohio We look forward to hearing from Scarlet in the very near future.  Scarlet and her family are good friends of ours and we go way back to when we were just children in Sunday School. If you get a chance to email her, I know she would love to make your acquaintance!

I have been residing in Ohio for the past 26 years, where I have raised two beautiful daughters.  I regularly attend Jubilee Christian Fellowship Church, where I am involved in sowing my time, talents, and substance into His Kingdom.  I believe in the local church.  I have been truly blessed to be a part of what God is doing in my hometown.  God is always at work around us, find out what God is doing and be a part of it.  You will wonder why you didn't do it sooner!

I accepted the Lord as an 11 year old child at summer youth camp.  I regularly attended church all of my adult life and taught my daughters the value of knowing JESUS.  In the mid 80's I attended a satellite Bible School for a year and a half where I sat under the teachings of such great men of God as Kenneth E. Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Lester Summerall, Charles Capps, Bob Yandian, Charles Neiman and others.  I absorbed everything I could from these teachers and my hunger for the Lord grew deeper.  In those days my foundational principles of God's Word were established.  The more I sowed to the Spirit, the more I hungered after the things of the Spirit.  My ultimate goal is two-fold, to know God fully as I am known by Him, and to minister to His heart by caring about the things He cares about....People.  I long to hear Him say, "Thou good and faithful servant".

My hearts desire is to please God in every way.  That's where faith comes in.  For without faith it is impossible to please Him.  Therefore, it is necessary to continually hear the Word as faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word, in order to sow to the Spirit.  His Words are Spirit and they are Life.  We can only fulfill the will of God for our lives through the Spirit.  That is what I ultimately want to accomplish in this life, that which God has ordained that I should do for His Kingdom.  As a part of the body, I have a part to play in the work that God would like to accomplish in the earth and He has a divine plan for your life too.

Scarlet Donahey.

Hand In Hand Ministries is an Internet Ministry of Faithful Christians joining hands together all around the world, for the sole purpose of promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 Contributing Members of Hand-In-Hand Ministries 2006