What a year!
What a year it has been! As most of
you know, I have been battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma since last
January. Even though I wasn’t diagnosed until April, the pains
began in January. But we have great news! Becky and I saw
the oncologist on Friday, and he doesn’t want to see me again for four
months. I am in remission and all my tests look good! As far
as man can tell, I am free of cancer and we praise God for His
healing!
Our whole family would like to take
this time to thank all of you for your prayers and support over this
past year. We have been blown away by the hundreds of people and
numerous churches who have prayed for us during this trial. The
response of the body of Christ was amazing as people expressed their
love for us through cards, phone calls, Facebook, emails, and
visits. We could never truly express what you all mean to us and
have meant to us in this past year. Saying thank you doesn’t seem
like enough, but we hope you realize the depth of what we mean when we
say it anyway. Thank you all so much for walking with us through
this journey!!
With all
this in mind, I am even more excited about what God has in store for us
in this next year! It is obvious that God is not done with me and
He has a plan for Justapreacher Ministries in 2018. I am getting
my strength back and am excited about getting back on the road again to
encourage the churches around this country. I look forward to
giving 5-minute Biblical Challenges in our 17th year of the
radio program. I can’t wait to study verse by verse through books
of the Bible with you in our Tuesday and Wednesday night Bible
studies. I look forward to meeting individually with Pastors and
encouraging them in their important roles in the Body of Christ!
It’s going to be an amazing year. Possibly even the year that
Jesus returns for His Bride! Thank you for playing a role in this
ministry as you continue to pray for us and financially support this
ministry. You have been doing so for 12 years!
Through
this cancer journey God led me to meditate on the book of Philippians.
What Paul was going through mirrored in many ways my struggle with
cancer. In chapter one, he didn’t know if he was going to live or
die (Philippians 1:19-23). He knew God has used his trial as an
opportunity to spread the Gospel (Philippians 1:12-14) and we saw God
use our trial to increase our ministry’s impact as well. Paul also
came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to die right then, but
would stay on in his body to help the church in their progress in the
faith (Philippians 1:24-26). I, too, sense that God is not done
with me and wants to continue to use me to encourage many in their
growth in and knowledge of the Lord. Paul also took time to thank
the church for their financial support of his ministry (Philippians
4:10-20). As he thanked them, he made sure they knew that he was
not relying on them, but on God who supplied all his needs. This
is my heart’s cry as well. God has been so good to provide for our
needs! He has even used many of you over the years in this
endeavor, and for this we say thank you.
Yes, this has been an interesting and
fruitful year! But next year will be interesting and fruitful as
well! I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us all.
Thank you all so much for being a part of the team!
In Christ's Overwhelming Love,
Jim
|
