Mission Houston Newsletter

Prayer and Action

March, 2009

Challenging times. No doubt, individuals and families and whole communities in our country and beyond are facing financial and emotional challenges.

Jesus promised us that hard times would come. He also promised us that we could "be of good cheer" during these kinds of times. Not because He leads us all into ease and convenience, but because His presence with us and life-giving provisions for us are greater than the destructive powers of the world around us (cf. John 16:33).

Those of us who know the One who overcomes the worst that the world, the flesh and the devil can devise are not immune from hardship. But we know hard times to be tools in the hands of God for maturing our faith and giving us opportunities to put on display His eternal compassion and strength. When our neighbors are suffering, we have the opportunity to be generous and kind - to serve, to give, to weep with those who weep, to encourage those downtrodden, and to pray.

In these kinds of times comes His call to love our neighbors as, and more than, we love ourselves. In these times come His invitations to return to living in caring community rather than rugged individualism as the pattern of our lives. These times are for welcoming the painful wounds of a loving Father as He removes from us those things that are distractions and restores to us His perspective on what is of most importance.

Long ago God spoke to His people in the midst of their insecurity and fear. May we hear Him say the same to us: "do not fear what other people fear, nor call conspiracy what other people call conspiracy ... The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy; He is the one you are to fear; He is the one you are to dread; and He will prove Himself to be for you a sanctuary and a resting place ..." (cf. Is 8:13-14).

We invite you to join us as we join in others in recognizing these challenging times as a call to pray, a call to serve, and a call to hope. For some specific ways you can make a difference for your life and that of others, click here.