Dear friends,
Many years ago, I went to a concert by Joni Mitchell. She had many popular songs including one called “Big Yellow Taxi” which included the following lyrics:
“Don’t it always seem to go
that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
If you’ve been battling illness or facing some unexpected hardship, you will easily identify with these lyrics. This week, I received several phone calls at our radio ministry follow-up office. It was very encouraging to hear them say that they would pray for me.
I was also blessed to receive an email from a brother in Christ whom I haven’t seen for many years. He has had some health issues and shared that he would pray for me as well. He wrote: “we can be encouraged that we are always in God’s loving care and we can go to Him with all our concerns.” Please pray for him as he awaits results of a biopsy.
One of the gifts that Karen gave me for my birthday is a book entitled “Blessings of Wildfires” by Jean Anderson. At the age of eighty-two, Jean wrote her first book, in which she recounts how the Lord helped her through many challenging times. I was glad to see that Ruth Hovsepian designed the cover and interior of this book. Her father served as pastor of a church in Montreal for many years and has written tracts in English and French, which can be viewed at: www.josephhovsepianministries.com. You can learn more about Ruth’s ministry at: www.ruthhovsepian.com. Her sister, Ann-Margret, is a gifted author and illustrator. You can read and see some of her work at: www.annhovsepian.com.
Around the time that I heard Joni Mitchell, a popular musician named Jimi Hendrix died. In a tract entitled “Got Peace?” Pastor Hovsepian writes about the contrasts in Jimi’s life: he was adored by his fans, yet he was lonely and searching for peace. The Word of God reveals that we will never have lasting peace until we have a relationship with the Prince of peace: the Lord Jesus Christ. One of Jesus’s disciples recorded the Lord’s words about the changes that were on the horizon for His followers and the encouragement that He spoke to them (please see the “Scripture for the weekend”).
If you have never asked God’s forgiveness for your sins, you can do so today. The Lord will forgive your sins if you come to Him in faith. He took the punishment that we deserved when He died on the cross. As we celebrated at Easter, the Lord Jesus triumphed over sin and death when He rose from the dead. He is preparing a place in Heaven for all who put their faith in Him.
If you are a child of God, He urges you to abide in Him and ask Him to guide you to declare His glory with family, friends, and others.
Scripture for the weekend: “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:32-33 (NKJV)
By His grace,
Steve