Help to Renew Ukraine

November has begun

November has begun. Thank You, Lord, for such a mild autumn. The leaves only begin to fall now, and it is still warmer than normal. Thank You, Lord, for daily health. What a joy it is to be able to serve the Lord in “public” ministry even though the years are adding up! Thank You, Lord, for our faithful evangelists and church planters who are out there all the time spreading Your Good News. PRAYER REQUESTS Next week starting Monday night Abe is leading another workshop on evangelism and church planting. Pray for people to come, not to be hindered by sickness or car trouble. Pray that the Holy Spirit will be active in Abe as he speaks and leads and in the people as they receive and share victories and sorrows. Abe also will be speaking to a group of pastors on Monday afternoon at another city. And on Thursday he will hold another teaching session at the seminary all day. Pray for his ability to focus on all these different groups and meet them where they are at. The seminary class did not go very well last time, so after this session Abe will evaluate whether he will keep on teaching at it in the new term. Pray for Diane. She will be teaching for a couple hours on Tuesday to those who have already started Centers of Hope. All new material which she has been putting together for the last couple of weeks. Pray that it would fill the need for them personally and for their place as leaders building community. Pray for the Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart seminar that Diane will hold at the end of the week, November 8 and 9. It will be held here locally. Pray for the team that is putting all the physical details together—coffee, snacks, meals, music. Pray for people who need to come to respond and register, that they would find healing and learn ways to help others. Pray for the Paketa family as they rebuild their lives after the fire. They have 5 children, all of them in teens or 20’s. All of them active serving the Lord. Pray for God to provide for their physical needs. Pray that God would give them direction for the future. Pray that their hearts would be drawn to trust the Lord in new ways in the midst of this loss. If you would like to help. They lost everything. Clothing, furniture, plus their house. You can direct checks to:Serving Workers for the HarvestPO BOX 247Riverview, FL 33568 Or https://swharvest.org/ukraine-centers-of-hope/ In comments you can write “Humanitarian Aid for the Paketa family”. “God is completely good. God is constantly good. God is unchangeably good. God will never not be good. God could never be less than good. Everything our God does is good. God gives you a peace that passes understanding. God gives you the Holy Spirit to convict, strengthen, encourage. God gives you His Word as a guide. God gives you health to bless you. God gives you friends to love you. God gives you life to enjoy. God has never stopped being good; we have just started being grateful.” I don’t remember where I got this quote from. My only note is that it was in a devotional. But I often think of what a joy it is to serve a God who is good. As a matter of fact, I would not want to love and serve a God whose character was in question. We need to take the time to appreciate Him. To appreciate His gifts. He desires our praise and thanksgiving—and it changes our lives when we fill our hearts with gratitude!

23 Oct

I am feeling heavy hearted as I write this today

I am feeling heavy hearted as I write this today. Abe and I were on the road yesterday finishing up our annual visa documents in Kyiv, but in the morning we got word that one of our Center of Hope families suffered the loss of their home by fire. They had just had their opening on Sunday. As I understand it, they hold their meetings in their house. Andriy and Zoya Paketa have six children and they have lost everything even all of their documents. Their 3 beautiful teenage daughters come to all of the training workshops and are active with their parents. For now they have some temporary housing but the top floor has been totally destroyed and the first floor was flooded from the efforts to extinguish the fire. Please pray for this family in this devastating loss. Pray that the Lord will give “a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.” And that “they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory.” (Is. 61:3 NLT)

14 Oct

Abe had a busy week last week.

PRAISE Abe had a busy week last week. The workshop, which is combining all levels of trainees, went well this time. For part of it they are divided up into two groups with Vera leading one group. And—they all get added fellowship as they mingle together! First time seemed to go smoothly. Praise the Lord! On Thursday Abe spoke to a group of pastors. He had to travel to another city and he had about 3 hours of teaching time trying to encourage them to stay the course—and to do it with joy! Not the forced joy—but the joy that comes from the Lord and His power. He has been asked to come again next month to speak. Friday Abe led his first all-day session at the seminary with about 9 students from ages 18-26. He finds it an exciting challenge. Diane had a good meeting (here at home) with a group of ladies as we plan another training session for dealing with trauma. It was beautiful to be with them and see their commitment and hear their ideas. Thank You, Lord. PRAYER Abe is laying out the plans for his workshops for the next three months as well as his other events. He will teach again at the seminary on October 23. All of these young people are refugees. Pray for them as they consider their futures in this war-torn country. Pray for the seminar Diane will be doing on November 8 and 9. Pray that the Lord will draw the people He wants to speak to and use. One of the gals has a vision to have 50 men and 50 women attend! I was thinking 30—maybe 50 all together! Who can stand in the way of a vision like that! She also suggests we fast and pray every Friday before it! This is a lady who fasted for over 40 days in the spring over some issues. Wow! We are concerned that men come. Thus far we have had about 30% men, which is actually very good. But there is a huge need among soldiers etc where men can minister much more effectively than women. I think so often about the future. There is already a strong issue of alcoholism and drugs in this society. And now—whole new levels of pain and trauma in war. If we can “connect” them with Jesus---- Thank you for praying.

26 Sep

Abe came home from the workshop this month

PRAISE Abe came home from the workshop this month just feeling blessed by the response of people. 47 people said they wanted to move deeper into their Christian lives, and many of them are committed to sharing what they heard and learned about making worship services welcoming and dynamic. Thank You Lord for moving in the hearts of people! Abe has accepted a short-term commitment to teach a course at the seminary I mentioned last time. He is happily preparing for that! He feels it is an opportunity to touch the lives of a younger generation and challenge them. He also has finished repainting all the trim on the house we live in and doing repairs as needed. He feels greatly relieved to have that taken care of before winter. And many good reports from people who are evangelizing and starting Centers of Hope. (The sign in blue and yellow says: Welcome to Center of Hope—on their official opening day) PRAYER Abe will speak on Saturday at a pastors conference. Pray that he will be in tune to where they are at, and that he will both encourage and challenge—but challenge in a way that will not burden them but give them more freedom to do their ministry well. Saturday also we will both be in Kyiv to process visas again. This should be a straightforward process, but Kyiv has been under attack and when sirens go, all government offices close. And Abe has to be at the church at 12:30 to speak. Pray that the Lord would go before us. On October 7-9 Abe will hold workshops again. The extra challenge is that he is going to try to provide training on two levels during the same time. This is to save on time, energy and money, but takes a great deal of organization! Vera will be very active in participating, especially with the established group. Pray for clarity for both of them and the rest of the team as they work together on this. And a very related issue is Abe’s translator Andrei. His city continues to be under very heavy attack. It is possible that he cannot even come to the next workshop, which creates extra stresses on the whole team. Andrei has faithfully been with Abe for 10 years and often leads part of the sessions, or oversees them. But honestly, as important as that is to us, that he be there, it is so much more important that he and his wife are safe. He is now cut off from his parents who live in a village. He expects them to be forcibly evacuated soon. Needless to say, his stress levels are very high. He is a Godly man with a servant’s heart. The following verse is especially in my mind this week: When you don’t know what to pray—this is the beginning verse from Ephesians about our spiritual armor. It is a spiritual battle. Yes, we have a physical war. But the critical battle is spiritual. Pray for our many good “soldiers” here, men and women who go out and share the Gospel and bring comfort to the sorrowing, chaplains who go to the front lines to bring hope. It is a time to be strong—but not in our own strength because that will never be adequate. But our God is.

23 Jul

This is for those who want to know the bottom line

QUICK VERSION! This is for those who want to know the bottom line, and especially for sharing in churches or small groups! PRAISE 130 people attended the seminar on Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart Almost everyone was totally engaged and participated. Upper 90’s but it finally broke with thunder showers on Wednesday afternoon to bring some relief even though we were over halfway through. God gave me (Diane) strength to teach 18 hours total during the two and a half days. Not even a headache despite the heat! PRAYER Pray especially for those who come in contact with or regularly work with soldiers and their families, that they will be able to help them find the peace that only our God who is Peace can bring. Pray for us as we recuperate. Thursday evening after it was over I got sick with a virus and was mostly in bed for the next 3 days. Recuperating slowly, but now Abe got sick yesterday, same virus. And so we go! COMMENTARY Get a cup of coffee! For those who have more time or a deeper interest! 😊 A huge thank you for your prayers for the seminar last week. There were 130 participants. The heat was incredible, in the upper 90’s which is 20 degrees hotter than normal. It was very hard for people to sleep at night because there is no air conditioning in those buildings, and little ventilation. The first day I took six cold showers in between sessions! Electricity was off for many hours each day but there was a generator which maintained mics and projectors and some air conditioning in the main hall. We finally began to have thunder showers Wednesday afternoon when we were more than half way through. But it definitely did bring some relief. The beautiful thing was that most of the people were totally engaged. People looking for healing of their own pain and trauma as well as those involved in reaching out and helping others. All of us are living in a country that is at war. Men are dying. Men are injured. And civilians are dying and injured. Children. Air sirens often sound. Power outages have become the norm, which adds another level of instability to life. Fear, anxiety, uncertainty. Yes, that sums it up for many people. I was amazed at how willing people were to participate. What I loved most is when people began to make connections themselves to Bible verses and principles that I had not mentioned. And all of this is done within the framework of brain science and how God has created us to function best. Hand in hand. What we believe about God is extremely important. Ukrainians are overall a very spiritual people. Despite all of the years under atheistic communism and oppression you would be hard put to find people who are atheists (compared to the “free” West!). But for most people God is far away, and He’s always looking at what we’ve done wrong. He is a God of wrath. Say you’re sorry. Light a candle. Get a blessing from the priest. And do it again next week. Certainly it is true that we have a holy God. But we also have a God who is good and loving and merciful. And a God who wants to be in relationship with us! Who wants to talk to us! Who is with us both in the good and the bad that we face in life. Always present. I guess one of my challenges is to actually help people act upon what they say they believe. One pastor came for the second time. He told me personally last time that he just couldn’t grasp what I was talking about in perceiving Christ’s presence with us—being aware of it—and then he did! This time he gave a public testimony that in the memory of a very touching moment with his son, he perceived Jesus being there with them. It touched a deep place in his heart as he works through wounds in his past. One of the main principles, and the basic one, that I try to make sure everyone is convinced of by the time they leave, is that we need to take time to remember positive experiences: find them, savor them again, and give thanks to Jesus for them as the Giver of all good gifts. In Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart this is the basis for connecting with people and praying for them, with them, and having them pray to God and experience His presence with them. It is the beginning of healing. And it also keeps you on the right track in your life! Here is a testimony sent in by one of the participants a couple days after the seminar: The Lord sent me to a wounded soldier, Ivan, at the hospital. He shouted that we had better not come there, that they were treated unfairly, life is unfair, etc. I prayed for him. And he ran out of the dining room in a rage. I quietly followed him, stopped, took his hand, with tears in my eyes... We met... And in thoughts Emmanuel prayer for the healing of hearts. - Share, - I say, - what is in your heart? He shared his grief for a long time... His wife cheated on him. She files for divorce. - And remember, - I say, - about something good that has happened in your life. My son. He smiled. He wanted me to pray He said, "Amen." He hugged me and said that he felt relieved. And I said that it was the Lord. And so my heart is good!!! Just one small example as these people move out, connecting with hurting people, listening to them, and bringing Jesus into their lives. So much to be done. So much pain and trauma. One young friend sent a memo yesterday that her friend’s fiancée was killed at the front. One of the things we encouraged in the seminar was doing breathing exercises to help calm the body. She said she did them many times yesterday to calm down, and then be available to comfort her friend. When this happens, every woman puts themselves in the place of that friend. “This might happen to my husband!” War is not far away. It is here. Do continue to pray for Ukraine. The politics of these things totally baffles me, but I know anyway that the Lord is the only one who can bring it to an end, however He chooses to do that. I did get sick almost immediately after the seminar. A virus that kicked in full strength Thursday evening! Coughing, coughing, sneezing, aching. We had stayed in Kyiv to take a break before returning home. That kind of wasn’t the break I was thinking of!! Monday morning I woke up feeling much better which was important since we had a five-hour trip home by bus. It was in the 80’s temperature wise and I figured that it would be miserable as usually there is minimal ventilation. Surprisingly! This bus had air conditioning! This is a company we travel with all the time! It’s the first time I knew they had any with air conditioning!! When these things happen I always think of all of the people who are praying. People praying--and my staying healthy and strong during the seminar. People praying--and the participants able to engage even though they were sleeping badly during the night because of the heat. People praying--and our having an easy trip home instead of the miserable heat we were expecting! Now Abe has gotten sick also! And so we give our weaknesses, which are many, to the Lord. It isn’t about us, it is about Him. And how it always heartens us to know that so many people surround us with their prayers on our behalf and on behalf of Ukraine.

22 Jun

Last week was quite intense for Abe

PRAISE AND PRAYER ALWAYS PRAISE Last week was quite intense for Abe but God sustained him through it. The last evangelism specific workshop until autumn for the group who already have Centers of Hope up and running. Different struggles. Many testimonies to God’s working. Following that workshop the next day Abe went to a pastors conference. It was held at a retreat center and Abe got this very strong impression that he should take along his own projector and speaker, and extension cord, even though all of the technical things were provided. There was an urgent knock on his door Friday evening. “None of the staff from the center are working on Saturday and we are not allowed to use any of their equipment!” Abe was to speak for about 3 hours on Saturday. No problem! Someone easily hooked up our equipment and everything went as planned! Amazing! He even had Ukrainian music videos because they could not use soundboard or anything for singing. God’s hand. Your prayers. When Abe got home Saturday evening we immediately left to go to a nearby hotel complex to rest for two full days. I knew Abe was tired before that week began. And as lovely as our place is, if we were at home he would be thinking about the painting he needed to do and the gardening—no longer in a relaxed manner because he was so tired. So we had two full days of nothing but peace and quiet and rest! When we got back home Tuesday he was again excited about his projects. And feeling much more rested! Thank You Lord for these opportunities. There are rotating power outages around the country. Priscilla said that they have them happen a couple times a day for a couple or so hours each time. But not according to the schedule which makes planning hard. And now when we go downtown there is the hum of generators again everywhere. And…we have had no outages. It is an ongoing wonder to us! And an extra thank You to the Lord! And, a huge praise which I have not mentioned yet. My energy levels have gone back to normal! I was tracking what happened after the medical checkups in February and my notes from mid-April show that I was coming back up to power. What an incredible gift from God!!! GOD, WE ASK YOUR HELP Russia’s attacks seem so intense. We have many air sirens going off. And yes, they are targeting energy facilities. And men are being called up. One of our leaders was called up last week which means, there will not be a Center of Hope there. Bogdan, who organized the pastors conference and has planted 7 or so churches, was stopped at a checkpoint on his way home and required to report for conscription. Another long-time acquaintance who is a professor at a seminary was called up. He went to the office and asked for a one-year deferment because there was no one else prepared to take over in his department and his groups of students would not be able to graduate next year. And they gave him an indefinite deferment! Praise God! He is 55. But, for many that is not the case. Pray for pastors and Christian leaders as they make appeals, and that they will rest in the knowledge that even if they have to leave their families and ministries, God wants to use them and will use them. Vera has put her trip to Crimea on hold. Ukraine has been attacking military facilities there. She is not afraid. But she is also not sure it is wise right now. Getting there is one thing. Getting back might be another. Such are the uncertainties of life here. Pray for her that she will find opportunities for a holiday here, and a companion to share it with. And pray that the Lord will open the door in due time for her to visit her family in Crimea. Abe is willing to let her go even in the autumn when the ministry starts back up. But things have to calm a bit. Pray that she will feel the Lord’s comfort and peace. Abe has another workshop starting Monday evening until Wednesday afternoon. I think he is very happy that it is the last one for now. He has planned a less hectic schedule in the fall, combining some of them, so is hoping it will be less strenuous for everyone. Pray for a special blessing on these people, and on him. In July and again August I will be doing a seminar on Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart. (That is why Abe can relax a bit!) With a special emphasis on the trauma going on here in Ukraine. So I am in intense preparation all this last week and this coming week. I need to have all the details pulled together by the end of June so that everything is in place for printing materials, updating power points and making new ones, etc… This week 10,000 text messages were sent out about it! This is being strongly backed by the Baptist Union leadership. It is possible we could have 200 people, which to be honest, I find very intimidating! But I know that whatever happens this is the task the Lord has laid before me and has been preparing me for. But, sometimes I have to quell the panic! 😊Pray that the Lord will continue to guide and provide above and beyond what we can even think to ask. Sometimes I have a day when I decide in the morning that it will be a thanksgiving only day. I will not pray and ask or intercede. Just constantly lifting up gratefulness, and even the people I would normally be praying for, instead I just thank the Lord for them and what He is doing in their lives. Today a special event will be taking place here. A friend asked if they could use our house to hold a bridal shower. They live in a somewhat crowded apartment, besides which she wanted to make it special. But there are not many options for a private party without paying some big bucks. So last evening even several ladies came to decorate. It gives us so much joy to share our home with others. We have always known it was God’s house. Yes, at one point we tried to buy it and it fell through. And then we thought we were going to be kicked out—but we weren’t. And so instead of worrying about the future we thank the Lord every day we have the privilege to live in this place with so many memories and which Abe has worked so hard to make beautiful. Among our memories are all the people we have shared our home with, usually when we have gone to North America. But sometimes when we are just gone here for a week or so. Usually it is a reprieve from apartment living. Sometimes a temporary solution for a family in between places. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”Colossians 4:2

Page 1 of 15

Prayer Blog