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Verse 1
When we were in the darkest night
And wondered if our eyes would ever see the light

You were there, Lord
When we were in the stormy gale
And wondered if we’d ever live in peace again

You were there, Lord

Pre-chorus
You were there in the struggle
You were there in the fight
You were there all the time

Chorus 1

We praise You – the God of our yesterdays

We praise You – the God who is here today
We praise You – our God as tomorrow comes

Verse 2

So whatever lies ahead
Whatever roads our grateful hearts will come to tread

You’ll be there, Lord

We will fix our eyes on You
And know that there is grace enough to see us through

You’ll be there, Lord

Pre-chorus 2

You’ll be there in the struggle

You’ll be there in the fight
You’ll be there all the time

Chorus 1 + 2

We praise You – the God of our yesterdays

We praise You – the God who is here today

We praise You – our God as tomorrow comes

We thank You – for grace in our yesterdays

We thank You – for peace in our hearts today

We thank You – for joy, as tomorrow comes

We will trust you, God

Bridge

You’re always closer than we know
Always more involved and in control

We will trust our lives to You
The One who was and is and is to come

One more thing. Yesterday I ask God for a verse. I went to my e-mail, which I hadn’t been on in a week. I had 2 e-mails blessing me with the same verse, Isaiah 26:3-4, and they were sent days before I even ask God for them! Oh, and when you KNOW The Holy Spirit wants you to pray for someone, DO IT! I thank that friend who said yes, and prayed over me.

In His Name,

Mary

• Unemployed for most of the three years
• Divorced
• The step-family I raised is absent
• Live with my children half of the week – alone most of the other half
• Immediate family has judged without seeking understanding
• Visit the food pantry regularly while barely on food stamps
• Unable to purchase birthday or Christmas gifts for my children for the 2nd year
• Car repossessed
• Bank accounts frozen
• Health deteriorating and unable to purchase medication without support
• Living in a home where I can’t afford rent or electricity
• Can’t continue with my education

And yet, for the only time in my life I am at Peace. There is a warm Light that glows in my heart and His name is Jesus. He IS Everything and All that I need.

‘And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’
2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV

Yours In Christ,

Anon Y. Mouse

In our experiences of hardship and suffering God remains the Father of compassion and the Father of all comfort, according to Paul. God promises to comfort us in “all of our troubles”. Not one is left out!

These troubles, which represent our hardships and sufferings, are part of life. We need to see them as part of our existence and journey with God. Paul states that we can expect comfort to overflow our way just like the sufferings of Christ “flow over into our lives”. God has setup these two realities—sufferings that flow into us and the comfort we receive.

So what can we expect God to do through our suffering? At least four things are explicit in this passage and one is my own inference.

1. God allows suffering to flow into our lives so that after receiving His comfort in all our troubles we can become instruments of comfort to others.
2. Somewhere in suffering or in observing the suffering of others we develop “patient endurance of the same sufferings”. In a way, we could say that the sufferings of others are our blessing. My sufferings become a blessing to others.
3. Through suffering we are placed in situations where we realize that “we are not to rely on ourselves but on God”. Paul qualifies our God as someone who is able to “raise the dead”. So if our God can do that what then are our sufferings to Him? If God plans to redeem our immortal bodies which are perishable how much more would He not redeem our suffering experiences for the good of our spirit?
4. As the Body of believers participates in prayer in the suffering of others praises and thanksgiving are offered to God on behalf of those suffering because of the ways in which God comforts and delivers.
5. The inference I make from this passage is that through suffering we come to know things we would not otherwise come to know. We come to know God as the Father of compassion and the God of comfort. We come to know who we really are and who God can be to us. We experience the blessing of unity in prayer in the presence of hardship. We learn to praise God. We learn to hope in HIM!

May our Father of compassion and God of comfort help us to lean o Him as we face our daily hardships. He will comfort us “in all of our troubles”!

Diego Cuartas

Well, I went to my very first prayer meeting at 6:30am on a Thursday. I knew no-one. I was a newbie. Fresh and new, still smelling like baby powder. There were many people – dozens upon dozens (ok, not really – maybe 10 or so).
My mind was racing. I thought they were all looking at me and were thinking:
“Who is this guy?”,
“I’ve never seen him before”,
“Is he a member?”,
“Why doesn’t he have a Bible?
And
“Why does he smell like baby powder?”

As you can imagine, my thoughts were non-stop asking myself never ending questions like:
What was this going to be like?
What am I supposed to say?
How am I supposed to say it?
How come there are no pews, where is the cross and Holy Water? help!

[For those of you who do not know the basics of the prayer groups, in the course of the whole hour, we may discuss a topic and then 10 minutes of prayer and then a bit more discussion and back to 10 minutes of prayer.]

So we get to our theme (I was so stressed at the time so I don’t remember the theme) and then we were each offered the opportunity to pray. What does that mean? Am I supposed to say something or not? Do we go in order? Who leads? How do you know when a person is finished? What if two people start at the same time – does someone apologize? What’s the order – age before beauty? Oh! I was so, so confused – I was shaking.

We seemed to invest what appeared to be about 10-20 hours in prayer. Everyone in the group was going, taking turns with a focus on the topic, so I thought. You see, sometimes someone takes the prayers off topic or theme. Well, this is when I really started to panic.

Listen to a typical conversation I had in my head while prayer was going on:
- Uh oh, What was that topic again?
- Should I put me head down or up?
- Why is she on the floor? Look at him! He’s walking around…
- Whew, good thing someone went first, it should be easy from now on.
- Wow, nice words… well put…buddy!
- Interesting, does God really answer that kind of prayer?
- Wait a second, that wasn’t part of the topic? Can you do that? Can you change right in the middle? Someone stop her!
- Now what? I was prepared. I rehearsed, laid out this beautiful well-placed prayer on the topic. Maybe we will go back. Lets see…
- No, No – go back to the topic. Go back, go back, nooo…
- Ah, man – (now I start to sweat – profusely)
- This is not ok, I can’t relate to the new topic – what do I do? How embarrassing!
- Ok, I thought of something, let’s see…
- Wow, am I sweating or what? I am soaked. And it’s not even hot out…
- I hope no-one sees me sweating like this… hey, I can leave now while everyone’s eyes are closed and maybe they won’t see me.
- Hmmm! If I get caught looking around while we pray will someone point me out…?
- Great! Back to discussion – whew. Now I can breathe.
- Oh! Man, the baby powder is not working…

Needless to say, I did not get to pray. In fact, I went back three times before I actually said a prayer. And yes, it was a well laid out grammatically correct prayer with complicated, special words that sounded real pretty. And I think I did a spell check in my head – just in case.
Well, I did it, I said it, I prayed in front of other people.
Yet, it was all wrong. It did not come out the way I rehearsed – but it was ok. Yeah… it was ok.

Do you want to know what was really nice, pleasant and wonderful – the people – the people actually spoke to me after prayer and wanted to know a little bit about me. Even though in my mind, I thought I messed up.

You see, my purpose for writing this self-parody, however true, is to thank God for Living Faith Alliance Church and for starting the prayer groups. Even though I was not a regular, I did pray on many of the mornings throughout the two years, especially during a very deep valley that could have been disastrous if God was not in my in my life. I made friends in Christ as I grew. I grew in confidence and humility, strength and wisdom to stand firm with a full body of armor, shield in hand fighting in God’s army – with our greatest weapon – prayer. You know what else I found out – guys, men, dads – it’s ok to cry in front of others. For all of my teen and adult years, I never cried. Now I cry at the drop of a hat… go ahead, drop one.

Today, July 14, 2010, I found out that the prayer group was cancelled after two years. It is my desire that LFA, it’s leaders, especially the prayer group leaders, and the community to know that for me and my relationship with Christ, the prayer groups single handedly helped me to grow in Christ and with His people both in the LFA community and the world.

As a result, I am now volunteering with two local hospitals, one being a hospice center, praying with, for and over people on a weekly basis, as well as praying in the local community. Prayer is a regular part of every part of my day. With no rehearsals, no specific words – only special words for special people, God’s people – and it all comes from a servants heart, lightly coated in baby powder.

I thank God for pointing me to Living Faith Alliance Church – without whom I would not be the servant I am today. Praise Jesus Christ whose blood washes away my pride so I can see the true light of the cross in every one I serve.

Oh, the baby powder thing…
I renew everyday like a newborn child:
Mathew 19:14,
Mark 10:15
and a beautiful verse: 1 Peter 2:2

My next piece is on the growth of my singing – Charlie and Lois move over ….

With Peace and Love In Christ To All

Christopher Smith

Do you know Isaiah 43:1-2?  It is part of a passage of scripture that I first remember reading at a time when fear filled my being like I’d never imagined it could.  These words of promise washed me then, and over the years I’ve looked back on that gift of peace through easy and difficult times alike. it reads:

But now, this is what the LORD says—
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

Since all that occurred last week, two or three people have mentioned these verses to me on separate occasions.  Through the bit of shock, I am realizing I have never felt so close to the kind of overwhelming danger described in Isaiah, even as I recall other moments from the past where I truly have escaped peril.  What may be the most risky place I have ever lived is likely among a thousand other places I have been where destruction or death was at my door and I was simply unaware.

Oh, praise God, who has named me!  I am his and he is ever my Savior!  Bullets were fired in front of my porch, more than grazing my car. neighbors witnessed me give information to the police.  A drug raid happened right outside my window.  I’ve seen many frightening events, yet my kids have missed them all.  In the course of theses events, among other merry things, we as a family have played on our sidewalks, met new neighbors, put plants in our yard and welcomed more first-time visitors to our home.

I may be tired and a little disoriented, but the Hand of peace guards me.  My sheltered heart can live with joy and find rest in the midst of this torrent.

Cheri Atkinson

Steve Schalick

- Lois Robinson