Stories of Hope

  Our prayer co-ordinators, Connie and Jackie, and their prayer team come together faithfully on Wednesday nights to offer up intercessory prayers. By this we mean prayers that intercede or make requests on behalf of others.   One person for whom intercessory prayers were lifted to God was a little girl named Camryn, who went to Sick Kids Hospital to receive a bone marrow transplant from her dad, Ray.

  I’ll be calling my Mom later today to wish her a happy Mother’s day. “Every day is Mother’s Day,” she’ll reply, reminding me that moms need to be treated with respect and love every day of the year.   She’s got a point. One day of special attention will never make up for three hundred and sixty-four days of neglect.

  Have you been praying for someone to come to faith in Jesus, (or even just been praying for someone?) Often we don’t get to know how our prayers have been answered, but sometimes we do have an opportunity to hear.

  Job was only three years old when he saw the news about the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan, but he knew that he had to do something. He decided that, when he was older, he would volunteer to help Japan rebuild. A few months later, when Job heard a presentation at JAM City by Simon and Danielle about their family’s year-long serving adventure around the world, Job’s vision expanded to include other countries where help is also needed.

  The April 15 Hopeful Story about our High School Ministries efforts to clean up the ditches around the church on Bloor Street and Trulls Road, as well as the experience of GEMS Sunday, made me think of another youth member of our church who is making a difference for God.

  Heidi McLaughlin, the featured speaker at our recent “Beauty Unleashed” conference, told the participants that she asks God to give her several words each year to guide her. Then she invited the women to join her in this spiritual exercise and prayerfully ask the Lord for several words. After they “heard” them, she invited people to write them on helium filled balloons and release them as messages sent up to heaven.