“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.”
– Romans 12:2
My November praise report loosely centers on the old adage “physician, heal thyself” through the Lord, and seeing His amazing work firsthand.
Our Mom’s Group is always informative, cathartic, loving and at times, even fun. Jo Ressler, our Education Coordinator, is excellent at providing meaningful experiences for our clients. While the holidays are meant to be the most joyous time of the year, we know that they can also be the most stressful and challenging for some. To help with this, Jo had a Christian therapist, let’s call her Joyce, come in to do the final class of the year. The topic was about anxiety, which interestingly, she was going through herself that night.
Apparently, Joyce’s laptop was taken, and she couldn’t find it before she left for our meeting. That laptop contained all of her notes for her presentation, and she was heavily counting on it to drive her discussion. She was visually stressed out, so Jo stopped her right there and they prayed for God to give her the words she needed and for the anxiety to leave her, knowing Jesus had her back.
At the beginning of her session, Joyce asked for a Bible reading from Mark that describes two miraculous healings. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit moved her, and she began to share her personal testimony of how she had gotten into a lot of bad things as a young person, becoming pregnant at age 21. Tears started flowing and clients began to share their personal stories. Joyce, understanding the magnitude of what was happening, brought them to the front table and began to pray that generational curses be broken, depression be relieved, suicidal thoughts and anything holding them back from moving forward under the Lord’s plan for them be removed. One particular client shared that she had grown up in a very conservative Apostolic Church but had strayed far away from those roots. She knew she was running from God and was ready to come back to Him.
At the exact same time, our Dad’s Group was meeting and discussing the exact same thing. Little did Joyce know that boyfriend, who is part of the men’s group, shared he was running from God but was ready to return to Him as well! Nothing short of Jesus laying His hand on our ministry that evening. So beautiful.
Talk about ending the year on a high note! Everyone left with a heart full of love and gratitude for what He has done with their lives. Likewise, my team and I here at TPPC wish you and yours a wondrous holiday season centered on the many blessings our Father provides all of us.
In Christ,
Paula