Please, lift up the Chapman family.

They need the evidence of God now more than ever before.

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

~

With Hope by Steven Curtis Chapman:

~

This is not at all how we thought it was supposed to be

We had so many plans for you, we had so many dreams

And now you’ve gone away and left us with the memories of your smile

And nothing we can say, and nothing we can do

Can take away the pain

The pain of losing you…

But we can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no…

And we can grieve with hope

‘Cause we believe with hope

There’s a place, by god’s grace,

There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

And never have I known anything so hard to understand

And never have I questioned more the wisdom of god’s plan

But through the cloud of tears, I see the father’s smile and say, “Well done,”

And I imagine you where you wanted most to be

Seeing all your dreams come true

‘Cause now you’re home and now you’re free

And we can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no…

And we can grieve with hope

‘Cause we believe with hope

There’s a place, by god’s grace,

There’s a place where we’ll see your face again

We’ll see your face again

We have this hope as an anchor

‘Cause we believe that everything God promised us is true…

We wait with hope

And we ache with hope

We hold on with hope

We let go with hope

Prayer Request

Today, I worked with my dear friend, Lynn. Just as I have for most every Saturday over the last 3 years. And I must say, that when she first came on board, I had no idea the impact that girl would make on my life, as well as all the others around us. She is such an inspiration. The absolute 'diamond in the rough'. We all stand back amazed that such a gem has come out of such a mess. And she has an absolutely unbreakable spirit and unshakable faith. Such simple, yet to-the-core faith that I am so thankful to get to witness on a regular basis. Truly a one-of-a-kind girl and a blessing without a doubt.
That's how we all feel about Lynn.
And that's why it's so hard for us to comprehend her current 'situation'.
See, Lynn has taken care of her family for years. She's lived with her father and step-mother, younger brother, and (half of the time) her sister with her four children (under the age of 5). As well as her own son, Layne. She's fed them all, taken care of the house, and worked to help support them. Which is great. But, it's always upset us that they've taken such advantage of her. See, generally, step-mom is the only other one in the household who worked a regular job. So, it was practically all on our Lynn. Finances. Housekeeping. Meals. Childcare. You name it. She's also the most emotionally stable, so they all depend on her for that support as well. She even got them all in church in the last year or so!
Well, as of October, '07, she finally found a WONDERFUL fellow named Matt. And they hit it off immediately. We were so happy for her!! Sweet guy who just adores her and Layne and came into that mess, lending the same gentle, giving spirit as she had all those years. He bought them appliances and even a truck for dad. He built on a room to their house, to make more room for all the people living there. Neither one with even so much as a complaint.
Then, they got married in February of this year, and just got all good and settled in their little house (all to themselves- YAY!) and starting a life of their own. None of them could be any happier.
Except for the family she 'left behind' to start that new life. After dad had already wounded her by actually kicking her out of the house before they were actually ready (Layne still needed to finish out school) and they had completely stopped speaking to her. Now, they actually had the audacity to call up the guy who is most likely Layne's real father (from 9 years ago) and are prodding him to fight Lynn for 'rights'. A guy who has never cared anything about Lynn or Layne and still doesn't seem to as far as she can tell. He has a family of his own now and it would just further destroy all the families involved. But, most of all our sweet Lynn and her new tender-hearted Matt. Both of whom have done nothing short of keeping them all on their feet with giving hearts and wonderful attitudes.
Her parents are just that bitter and scared now without her, that they are willing to do anything to get her back, even if it means sabatoging her dreams come true.
The guy is supposed to call her sometime this week to discuss the blood tests... and she just asked for prayer that this would all be 'dropped' and that they won't have to go through all this. As no good could come of it at this point, at all.
So, if you all could just keep my sweet Lynn in your prayers, that she and Matt would only become stronger together through this struggle and that her parents would find it in their hearts to look past their own struggles to see her happiness and share in that happiness instead. Or, if it does come down to contesting rights, that she would find sound counsel to help them through it all.
Thank you so much. I know she would greatly appreciate all the prayers she can get right now.

Support for Jennifer!

Well, our ladies' bible study just finished up our intense study on "Daniel" with Beth Moore, and I venture to say that we are all better for it. Totally worth any moments of brain overload that may have happened along the way. :)

But, we had such an amazing group of ladies in this study... the best I've been a part of to date. We weren't quite ready to part company yet. So, we got together for one last hoo-rah and had Jennifer (the girl on the far right) speak to us about her upcoming mission trip to China.

She's already been, several years ago, just for a short time, but this return mission is for a two-year commitment. It certainly takes a special person to do such work and I know Jennifer will be just the girl for the job. She's got such enthusiasm for the Word and such a love for the Chinese people from her last trip. I know she will change many lives in her two years there.

She leaves next summer and is very excited to do so. But, she also knows it will still be hard to leave home. So, if you all could keep her in your prayers, I know she'd be appreciative.

*pictured above are only 5 of the 20-some ladies in our study, but by the time Jennifer thought to take the picture, we were the only ones left to be in it!
{ Me, Robyn (who led the study), Michelle, Laura, and Jennifer }