God is Alive and Working (Northern Canada Evangelical Mission/Open Arms Bible Fellowship)

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” - Soren Kierkegaard

NIPAWIN, SK – Writing a prayer letter can be challenging. We want to be sincere and communicate what we see God doing in our community and in the lives of individuals. Sometimes that is difficult, because those who are thriving today may be struggling tomorrow. Some stories are not ours to tell, and last chapters are yet to be written by God.

In spite of this, God is alive and he is working both for His glory and our good. We can say this boldly with confidence!

In the ministry that God has granted us all to be a part of here in Nipawin, we are blessed to see things happening in this season that years ago we could not have anticipated. God seems to be working in people that we have prayed for over many years. Likewise, things are happening now, that give us a longing to understand what God is doing. We wait for a future time when we can look back in wonder and awe and praise God for what we struggle to understand right now.

When we consider the gospel of Christ, this was true of the prophets who wrote about the coming of Jesus long before his arrival. They longed to understand the circumstances about which the Spirit in them compelled them to write. We now have the privilege of looking back on those events and understand it was on behalf of sinful men and women that Christ came.

In our outreach center/church, we have the privilege of seeing representatives of the nations joined together into one body by the power of the Holy Spirit. This reality of all nations being invited into one body is still a challenge today as it was in the early church described in the book of Acts. Pray that God will move in our community and that the many nations of people who now live here will respond to Christ's invitation to follow him. Pray that we will join with God toward this end.

We already get to see some of this reality being lived out as we worship together weekly with all who God brings to our fellowship from many different backgrounds. Praise God for this!

Fuel for your prayer time:

• Pray for our two youngest children Naiomi (17, grade 12) and Isaac (14, Grade 9) in public high school in Nipawin.

• Kora (19) is considering a change in jobs to something that may be more fulfilling than retail. Pray for her to hear the Holy Spirit’s leading.

• Our Ministry team and church are having a great time in fellowship with one another and are seeking the Lord for His plans in the New Year.

• Wisdom as we move forward in the discipleship of young believers.

• Several people from our fellowship were baptized in the summer and some of them are struggling with past addictions again. God writes the last chapters and we need to keep praying for them.

• Pray that God will continue to provide for our finances in two areas. We need to increase our monthly income as expenses rise and our income has reduced. We also need to replace a vehicle. Oil and antifreeze don’t mix well, yet our car believes they do!!

Home church: Sutherland Evangelical Church, Saskatoon Saskatchewan