April 2011 LIVING WELL Letter

And I will make you my promised bride forever. I will be good and fair; I will show you my love and mercy. (Hosea 2:19).

The Bible has a simple story. God made man. Man rejected God. God won’t give up until He wins him back. God will whisper. He will shout. He will touch and tug. He will take away our burdens; He’ll even take away our blessings. If there are a thousand steps between us and Him, He will take all but one. But He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours. Please understand. His goal is not to make you happy. His goal is to make you His. His goal is not to get you what you want; it is to get you what you need. (emphasis mine, excerpt from A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado)

The walk down the aisle of a wedding—the father brings the bride to the bridegroom. He is anxiously waiting for her. The groom sought her out, courted her, and proposed. The bride made the choice to receive his love and to receive him. We see the picture as we attend weddings. The picture isn’t just one of a wedding here, but of the ultimate wedding, when we receive Christ as our bridegroom. He promises to be there forever, make us His, dwell among us, and provide what we need.

Americans celebrate Easter this month as a national holiday. But as Christians, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ everyday. As we celebrate His Resurrection, we look forward to our own. We look forward to the wedding feast with our bridegroom.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” …. “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:2-4,9b-10)

As you think about your own wedding or of the weddings that you have seen, remember the wedding that awaits us when the Bridegroom call us to Him. He promises that we will be His people, He will live among us, and all pain will be gone. Weddings on earth and in heaven are no small matter to God.

On our mission trip to Zambia, we will convey this sacred view of marriage to the pastors there. Most of them have never heard this kind of teaching and have never considered the weight of the picture in marriage of Christ and the Church.

We have already printed the notebooks and shipped them to Zambia. Our thanks to Walter Mullican and Portland Avenue Baptist Church for providing the binders, printing the material, and putting together the notebooks. We have also shipped the study Bibles. Please pray for their safe arrival there!

As we write this letter, we have received 53% of the funds for our mission trip and have 50 days left! We praise God for what we have received. Please pray with us for the remaining amount ($10,500). And please continue to pray for the preparations in Zambia, that God will bring men and women committed to strengthen marriages according to God’s Word. We know that He wants to do a great work to change the hearts and minds of the people in Ndola, Zambia.

We love and appreciate you and your support of the work God is doing through Living Well!

May the Lord bless you in your relationship to Him.

Our love in Christ,
Donna and Ed Edwards

The water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. John 4:14b

LIVING WELL - Monthly Quote and Prayer Requests

The Bible opens up with a wedding, and it ends with

a wedding. It opens with
a marriage, and it ends with
a marriage. . . . Your Bible is essentially a love story.  
Frank Viola, From Eternity to Here

For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and His bride has prepared herself. . . . Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” . . . And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
Revelation 19:7b & 9b, 21:2

Prayer Requests for January 2010:

1. Donations to fill the gap of our budget shortfall, so Ed and Donna will be able to continue Living Well ministry activities
2. Donna’s continued healing after emergency surgery on Nov.16
3. Preparing for Marriage class, Mondays, starting Jan.18, 7-8:30
4. Marriage Retreat in Chickasha, January 22-23
5. Wisdom in training and follow-up with Oklahoma churches
6. Wisdom in marriage and financial guidance appointments
7. Good health and protection for our family.