Dearest Lord,

Teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give, and not to count the cost; to fight, and not to heed the wounds; to labor, and not to seek to rest; to give of myself and not to ask for reward, except the reward of knowing that I am doing your will.

Amen

Thank-you to all of you who have been praying for the boys’ exams yesterday.  We were so happy to hear from them last night that the tests were over —  there was great relief in their voices!  We’ll know mid-December if they passed. 

Please pray for the boys as they spend the entire day Tuesday in two 4-hour tests that will determine if they can enter second year law studies.  Please pray that they will think clearly, answer correctly, and trust calmly in God throughout the day.

Our mission newsletter will go out next week by snail mail.  If you would like to receive a copy, and are not currently on our mailing list, please drop us a line at      sevenadams (at) msn (dot) com

A significant part of my “missionary” work involves helping Christian families to regain their spiritual and relational equilibrium in the midst of, or following a crisis. This aspect of my work has been particularly active in the last several months, and it has caused me to reflect upon the range of tools we have for building and maintaining family unity and strength.

I believe that the most powerful means of stability and healing in the family is prayer, and I think it is a very under-utilized resource and means of intervention. I know many men who recognize their need to pray, and yet, even though their families are struggling, they do not exercise their will in the discipline of prayer. In the counseling context, the attitude toward prayer is often something like, “I know that prayer would help, but it is so hard to find the time…I will try to do better at that…what else, of a practical nature, can I do?” There are two themes of critical importance embedded in this statement. One is the grave misconception that prayer is not itself a “practical” endeavor. The other is the idea of prayer as an activity that “would help”.

I know of a pastoral counselor who, when meeting a Christian couple desiring marriage counseling, will begin treatment only after the two have first devoted an entire weekend to strategic prayer for their marriage. His rationale is that this typically yields one of three results, either they come back truly and humbly prepared for the work of addressing the issues in their relationship, or they inform him after this assignment that the Lord has softened their hearts and given them direction on how to proceed in working through their difficulties on their own. And the third result? Frequently this assignment proves too costly (or too unsophisticated) and the couple looks elsewhere for assistance.

Prayer is not a devotional activity that “would help”, it is the primary means of the believer’s sanctification. In prayer–the kind of soul-crying prayer we read in Psalm 51, our knowledge of God and the truths of His Word, are brought from our minds to our hearts. Real prayer, the prayer that forsakes self and seeks to draw near to the bosom of God, to hear Him and to see Him and to know Him and to be conformed to Him, is a revolutionary activity. If we pray in spirit and truth, we cannot remain the same.

There is a little church that Colleen and I attended when we were in college. We used to say that one could not go in the door there on a Sunday and come out with an unchanged heart, because the Spirit of God was so powerfully at work in the midst of these people.

Prayer is like that: enter into worshipful prayer, confessing prayer, and prayer that longs for the will of God to be done in one’s self as well as the world, and you cannot remain unchanged.

Struggling families need to pray hard. Parents with straying children need to pray hard. Youth who are struggling with questions of identity and purpose need to pray hard. And all of us need to learn to pray like David prayed, not just informing God of our supposed needs, but laying our hearts before Him as a heart disease patient surrenders to the scalpel of the surgeon.

The Lord is calling His remnant church today to prayer. It is not enough to make lifestyle choices or to wear the habits of Christian disciplines. God is calling us to nothing short of holiness, to full-blown flat-on-our-faces living sacrifice, and this call can only be fully answered through lives of consistent communing with God, informed by His Word, washed clean by His blood, trained to His side through prayer.

Todd

With Todd gone to Houston this week, the children studied outside at the picnic table instead of getting a ride in to the town library.

Monday, they were reading, studying, and typing on laptops, when a woman from a neighbouring campsite walked over to talk to them.  She said she’d noticed how diligently they were working, and then she asked, “do you need anything?”.  The children responded that they didn’t, and she turned to leave, saying “Sometimes God prompts you to ask, and you’ve got to obey”.

After a bit, our oldest went over to her as she and her husband were hitching up to leave.  He told her that the one thing we can always use is prayer.  She said that she didn’t want to boast, but she and her husband considered themselves prayer warriors, and that she understood and valued the power of prayer.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything right now?”  –As the reader, you know our situation; she knew nothing.–   Then she handed him a wad of cash, saying that it was a love gift from her and her husband.

These experiences deeply etch the soul. That son, those children watching, the parents who would later hear all about the incident – we are living with the deep certainty that God is watching over us.

J.R. Macduff

Todd has arrived safely in Houston.  Thanks ever so much for all your prayers as he travels.  We feel God’s hand upon us, and take great comfort in His presence.

Please pray for Todd today as he travels to Houston.  Those of us back at the trailer would also appreciate your prayers as we study, write, and talk together.  We have gotten used to spreading out our study materials on library tables and this will be five days of home-study, in which tables are also used as surfaces for cooking preparation, ironing, eating, and sleeping.  

I met a woman at the public laundry late last night and we talked for a long time.  Her perspective on her growing up experience (as the first-born of six children in a military family that moved from Alaska to Florida to Libya to Japan and to many points in between) was a breath of fresh air.  She was incredibly positive about her childhood, and was very encouraging in her observations of our lifestyle.  Her can-do spirit that looked back with such gratitude for the multitude of experiences she had had, and for the bonding that came with “doing without” opened my eyes to see the gifts that God has given our family in this lifestyle of Sacrifice and Plenty. 

Thank-you for your continued prayers for us.  Mail arrived this week, with a thousand dollars in cheques. Every dollar is a Great Gift and we thank-you for looking out for us especially during this time of financial squeezing that so many of us are facing.

Lord-willing, Todd leaves Friday for a few days in Houston and will return next Wednesday.  Please pray for safety as he travels, and for Godward-focused meetings in the days ahead.  Also, we ask for your prayers for those of us who will be staying put;  Austin-Hans and Ike both have exams in October, and there remain many hours of study between now and then.

“Circumstances are not the barometer of God’s love and goodness — the cross is.”

(Raymond and Martha Dueck, on the death of their daughter)

At dinner last night, we were discussing the concept of sheltering, and the popular greenhouse analogy, with all its potential strengths and weaknesses.  As an addendum to that talk, our Second Son shared this quote with me, (from the true story of three-year old Tara as told by Amy Carmichael, during Amy’s work in India):

“There is much to be done for all our children, but perhaps for Tara especially, if she is to grow up strong in soul to fight the battles of life. We felt this more than ever on the day of our last return from the hills, after nearly seven weeks’ absence. On the evening when we left them, we had gone round the nurseries after the little ones had fallen asleep, and said goodbye to each of them without their knowing it; but when we came to Tara’s mat, and kissed the little sleeping face, she stirred and said, “Amma!” in her sleep; and we stole away fearing she should wake and understand. Now in the early morning we were home again, and all the children who were up were on the verandah to welcome us, each in her own way. It was Tara’s way which troubled us.

At first most of the little ones were shy, for six weeks are like six years to the very young; but soon there was a general rush and a thoroughly cheerful chatter. Tara did not join in it. She stood outside the little dancing dazzle of delight—the confusion of little animated coloured dots is rather like the shake of a kaleidoscope—and she just looked and looked. Then, as we drew her close, the little hands felt and stroked one’s face as if the evidence of eye and ear were not enough to make her sure beyond a doubt that her own had come back to her; and then, as the assurance broke, she clung with a little cry of joy, and suddenly burst into tears.

If only we could hold her safe and sheltered in our arms forever! How the longing swept through one at that moment: for the winds of the world are cold. But it cannot be, it should not be, for such love would be weak indeed. Rather do we long to brace the gentle nature so that its very sensitiveness may change to a tender power, and the fountain of sweet waters refresh many a desert place. But who is sufficient for even this? Handle the little soul carelessly, harden rather than brace, misinterpret the broken expression, misunderstand the signs—and the sweet waters turn to bitterness. God save us from such mistake!

We covet prayer for our children. We want to know that around them all is thrown that mysterious veil of protection which is woven out of prayer. We need prayer, too, for ourselves, that our love may be brave and wise.”