FFM Online Newsletter - February, 2008
The month of February began at Albany Independent Baptist Church in Albany, KY where we enjoyed services on Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening with Pastor Melvin Daniels and his sweet congregation. The next few days were spent at home celebrating Rick's mom's 92nd birthday on the 6th and then Rick's 55th birthday on the 7th. It is so wonderful living in Decatur at times like these! After the birthdays, we headed to Mt. Airy, NC (better known as Mayberry!), where we ministered at Northside Baptist Church with Pastor Dean Eaton. No, we didn't see Barney Fife, but we stayed at the Mayberry Motor Inn where all the stars used to stay, and got pictures by Barney's squad car! The next day we headed for Lenoir, NC for the Bible Conference at West Lenoir Baptist Church. It's like going home to be in Lenoir as we have been visiting the church since 1991, and the attending the Bible Conference since 1995! The Lord blessed as usual during the services, beginning with the first note of the choir and congregational singing! The crowd of 1200 voices is always such a joy! The preaching was excellent and the Spirit was so precious. The next Sunday was spent in Newnan, GA at New Lebanon Baptist Church with Pastor Jimmy Fleming. After a stop in Valdese, NC for a night's rest, we drove all the way to Ridgeway, VA for two nights of a meeting with Pastor Bill Hicks at Wayside Baptist Church. Evangelist David Epps was preaching, and we enjoyed the fellowship there. All during the month, we had several children sick with fevers and assorted ailments, and we sang with whoever did not have a fever at the time. It has been a challenge to keep traveling, leaving the sick ones in motels and prophet's chambers, etc. On the way home from VA, Jonathan was sicker than he's ever been and it was the 8th day he'd had a fever. It was a LONG 12 hours home that day. We arrived home just in time for Rick to make it to the service at Bethel Baptist Church in Hartselle, AL and for Nancy to get Jonathan to a doctor at 7:30 that night. After discovering that he had influenza types A and B, we finally decided that our only course was to stay home for a week and let the children recuperate. Sadly, we cancelled our long-awaited trip to Mexico, took the others to the doctor (flu, bronchitis, and ear infections), finished the meeting at Bethel Baptist, and settled in for some R&R! We decided that after two years of little or no illness, we have not appreciated our good health quite enough! God has used this time of weakness to increase our dependence on Him. Our rhema for this time has been "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Isaiah 40:28-29
Fortunately, everyone
recovered enough during the week to catch up to our schedule in Texas, so we
left on Friday the 29th and headed for Denham Springs, LA where we
stopped for the night and sang a concert at Mt. Olive Baptist Church with Pastor
David Robertson. The people there were such a blessing to us, and we enjoyed
singing all together again after a month of having one or more out of
commission! The next day we made it to Cleveland, TX where we picked up with our
schedule at Victory Independent Baptist Church. So, it has been a challenging
month, yet one full of the blessings of the Lord on our lives. He has so sweetly
showed us that it is in His strength that we can trust. . .not ours! A big
"thank you" to the many churches who put up with our decimated ranks and
diminished abilities during this month! God is so faithful to continue to use us
and bless us during times of difficulty!
Praise His name!