JANUARY 2015 Letter LIVING WELL

Happy New Year!

As we begin the new year, we can reflect on the year past and look to the coming year.

It’s a great time to really see how we have grown in our faith and its practice. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

For all of YOU who have prayed and supported us in 2014, we see YOUR faith in the Lord and YOUR love for us and for the families we touch with God’s love, both here and in Zambia.

How have YOU demonstrated faith through LOVE 
with those that YOU are the closest?

God created man and woman to have an intimate relationship with Him first, then with each other. The family unit was intended to be the means by which faith was passed from one generation to another. The family is the delivery system of His Heart to those who come after us. The family was created before the church. The family is be a domestic church. “The Church” is a gathering of domestic churches. The strength of the family defines the strength of the church. The family is where God’s love is best nurtured and lived.

Yet, most families today leave the spiritual development of their family to the church. They want the church to do their job. Only 5% of families today have a plan for the spiritual teaching, training, and development of faith in their home with their children. Unfortunately, most parents don’t know how to begin or what to do. When our children were young, we faced the same dilemma.

A church that is truly devoted to sharing the gospel and spiritual transformation must be intentional in strengthening marriages and equipping parents for leading and developing faith in their children or others in their sphere of influence.

Impress them on your children.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

First the commandment to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength must be on YOUR heart. Then YOU impress them on YOUR children. Consider:

• How have YOU seen the Lord work in YOUR heart during the last year? 
• Do YOU have a testimony of faith beyond YOUR salvation? 
• Do YOU recognize God’s love and grace in YOUR life every day? 
• Do YOU communicate and demonstrate God’s love and grace to each other and to YOUR children wholeheartedly?

Our church is beginning a year devoted to the family. Will YOU join us in focusing on how to pass YOUR faith to the next generation? See our next post!

Please pray for us as we lead this endeavor. Thank YOU for YOUR prayers and support so that we may continue to lead our community and those in Zambia in sharing the gospel through God’s primary institution, the family.

We will lead another team to minister to the children in an Africa slum in Zambia.

Will you go with us? 
Apply by January 15th.

Click for more info.

Click here for an application.

Our love in Christ,
Donna and Ed Edwards

P.S. Please join us in praying for the team God is raising up for Mission Zambia 2015 and for His provision for 2015!

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 is a life source, not a life style.

Power of a Mother's Love

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." 

We recently returned from another trip to Zambia. While there, our colleague told us an inspiring story of the love of a mother.*

A 26 year-old mother, Dorothy Mwaba, was out in a field working the ground with a hoe. Her one-year-old daughter was nearby. The mother spotted a lion looking her way with hungry eyes. A hungry lion would see a child as perfect prey. She had her daughter quietly get behind her and grab hold of her waist. She slowly started backing up. Then the lion attacked. The mother began screaming and used the hoe to hit the lion repeatedly in the head as it attacked her.

She was able to kill the lion.

By the time villagers arrived to help, the lion was dead and the mother had passed out. The child was unhurt. The mother undoubtedly fainted after the adrenaline rush of defending her child.

Never underestimate the power of a mother's love for her child.

*The story has been verified from Zambian news agencies.

February 2011 Living Well Letter

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love” Jeremiah 31:3

And what are you planning for the one you love?

If you are married, consider giving your marriage a gift of love. We encourage all married couples to do something to maintain and strengthen their marriage at least once a year. What have you done for your marriage this year?

February is the busiest month of the year for marriage educators and advocates. We have many events coming up. Please pray for us as we seek to speak into the lives of many couples. Events:

• Jan 28-29, Friday night/Saturday “Energize” retreat, Caddo Baptist Assoc.
• Feb 4-5, Fri night/Sat “Marriage Tune-up” retreat, 1st Baptist Church, McAlester, at Falls Creek
• Feb 7, 7-8:30pm, Mondays, “Preparing for Marriage” class, our office
• Feb 8, 7-8:30pm Tuesdays, “Living Well in Marriage” class, our office
• Feb 11-12, Fri nigh/Sat morning, “Dream Marriage” live simulcast by Jimmy Evans, regional event, sponsored by Marriage Network OK at Putnam City Bapt (we coordinate and host this event)
• Feb 24, Thursday, 10-3, “Building a Comprehensive Marriage Ministry” workshop, Southwood Baptist Church, Tulsa (regional training for church leaders)
• Feb 27, Sundays, 5-6:30, “Managing Money” class, Putnam City Baptist Church

Wow! The list even scares us! How do we do it? Because the Spirit of God compels us. He has given us a passion and equips and enables us to do it! We value your prayers and support.

Our schedule reflects the different avenues of ministry, which we believe are essential, to reach different couples. We do individual/couple guidance every week. We teach small groups such as the one which starts February 8th at our office. We teach church groups, such as the retreats. We sponsor regional events (Dream Marriage simulcast). We train leaders who can go back to their churches and teach or lead marriage ministries.

Families today are under more stress than ever before. According to an American Psychological Association study, in 2007, stress impacts lives in a dramatic way:

• About 1/2 say that stress has a negative impact on both their personal and professional lives.
• About 1/3 of employed adults have difficulty managing work and family responsibilities.
• Over 1/3 cite jobs interfering with their family or personal time as a source of stress.
• Stress causes more than half of Americans (54%) to fight with people close to them.

To overcome these stresses, couple must take an intentional approach to strengthening their marriages and their families. They will not be able to hold their families together without a plan!

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 and in your marriage.

Our love in Christ,
Donna and Ed Edwards
P.S. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and rest.

Power of ONE

The believer does not use God's power; God's power uses him.    Kenneth Wuest

The Power of ONE begins with our relationship with the Lord. The power to have successful relationships comes from Him into me and through me.

He promises to give me everything I need to live this life in a way that honors and glorifies Him.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)

To allow His Power to live through me, I give up my agenda, my thoughts on how best to live life. I seek Him and His way. I have confidence that what He wants for me is the very best of life.

When I receive:

• God’s love, I can love as He does (John 13:33).
  
  
• God’s forgiveness, I can forgive as He does (Ephesians 4:32).
  
  
• God’s acceptance, I can accept the way He does (Romans 15:7).
  

Many in the body of Christ have no idea what the power of God can do in them and through them to touch the lives of others. That touch can bring change for generations. God is not waiting for me or you to achieve some super-spiritual level. He is just waiting for me to open my hand and my heart to Him. His power is not exclusive to certain people. He says that He is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:6)

At our dinner, one young couple, who went through our premarital class last spring and married shortly after that, shared how they both came from families with divorced parents. But that they made a commitment to make their marriage be one that honors Christ and provides a legacy of a strong marriage instead of a legacy of divorce.

Never underestimate the power of one relationship or one class to set the course for a lifetime. If God can work through us in this couple’s life, He can work through and in you!

Therefore encourage one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Power of ONE in Marriage .....

When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you're sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship. Joseph Campbell

The unity in marriage is what we call “oneness.” God describes it as “one flesh” in Genesis 2:24. The unity of marriage is not uniformity. In fact it might better be described as diversity. We are two different genders, two personalities, two backgrounds, and two sets of giftedness and experience. Two drastically different people come together to become one.

Attitudes, words, behaviors, or actions can cause a husband and wife to be divided, instead of one. But we have seen in case after case that ONE person can change the atmosphere of a marriage. ONE person who focuses on the Lord and loves unconditionally in a marriage can bring about change. That person gives up their wants/desires for what God wants, for the sake of unity and oneness.

ONE husband or wife who will love even when feeling unloved or disrespected can bring healing and unity.

How? See the first section of this blog!

Power of ONE Financially .....

ONE DOLLAR

Do you ever think about how many times a day you throw away or waste ONE dollar?

While doing financial guidance, we usually have people keep track of all of the money they spend. They are usually amazed at where their money is going. Most people have some kind of “black hole.”

A Sonic drink during happy hour is one of our favorite treats and it is about a dollar. If we have one every day, that’s $30/month or $365/year.

Could you use $30 more a month or $365 more a year in your budget?

If that soda costs more than a dollar, the amounts multiply dramatically.

Maybe Sonic isn’t your black hole. What about the amount of food you throw out that is uneaten, either at home or a restaurant? Do you waste a dollar a day on food?

What about the Itunes music or ring tones for your phone? They are a dollar or maybe a little more. Are they a wise investment?

Maybe you don’t waste money on food or drink or splurge on music. But how many coats or shoes are in your closet? Most of us have more than we need.

Any DOLLAR spent today wastefully cannot be spent tomorrow on something you really need.

What would happen if you saved a dollar a day instead? If you start at age 22 and save a dollar a day until 65 (assuming a 6% interest rate over the long term), you would have $72,688.54 ($56,993.54 of the total is the interest). You would gain almost $57,000 without having to work for it …. for just a dollar a day.

Does a dollar really make a difference? Looks like it does. To reap the dividends we may have to give up a momentary pleasure. Or we may have to find a way to put that dollar into something that isn’t disposable (paper plates vs. real plates, handkerchief vs. tissues).

What would a dollar a day reap for eternity?

In our ministry, if everyone who received our letter, gave a dollar more a day, we would be fully funded and be able to expand our training and teaching.

In east Africa, where we minister, you could pay the salary of a pastor for a dollar a day.

And your church would love for you to increase giving by a dollar a day!

Power of ONE Word ....

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another. Napoleon Hill

Marriage is the most intimate of all relationships. I can encourage or destroy my spouse with my words. Somehow I think I am “helping” him when I criticize or correct him.

But my spouse is looking to me to affirm the good in his life, not shoot down the things with which we don’t agree. If I don’t see and encourage the positive parts of his character and his behavior, who will? Isn’t that what each of us want to receive from our spouse?

A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word! Proverbs 15:23

Loving Well

LOVE permeates the month of February. Without knowing the history of designating February 14 as Valentine’s Day, it was a great choice of timing. February can be the dreariest, most dismal month of the year without this heart-y celebration. We are all ready for winter and cold to subside.

We look for the perfect card, gift, and way to spend the evening to show our love to those we love the most. What is the perfect way to demonstrate my love to my husband/wife?
While love is all around, another question comes up - how do we love well?
Is loving well expressed through what we say? Or is it through what we do? Or maybe in how we act or our attitude? Or do we even know how to love well?
I have often heard people in a marriage crisis say “He/she doesn’t even know how to love or be loved.”

I believe that a human does not have the capacity to really “love well” on his own. To “love well” a person would love unconditionally and without end. One would love in a way that the other person would be able to recognize and receive the love.

LOVE is the subject written about the most in the Bible. All that God does to express Himself to His children is wrapped in the word LOVE.
“We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

God’s love for us is unquestionable. To “love well” we must have the love of God in us, which He has promised to do for His children. “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:5)

Only because of His love for us and in us can we truly love others. “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19.

When we love well, we do not try to control others responses with our anger causing them to fear us. That method is not from God. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

“Loving well” is loving the same way God loves. He loves - regardless of the response of the other person.
We understand this kind of love when we become a parent, even though our love for our children is imperfect. Allowing God to love us and through us, we can love our others that way. Our greatest joy can come when we love as God loves us.

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

LIVING WELL - Monthly Quote and Prayer Requests, February 2010

The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life. 
William Wordsworth

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (Message)

Praises: 
Marriage retreat in Chickasha

Prayer Requests for February, 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 stamina
3. Preparing for Marriage class, Mondays, 7-8:30.
4. Living Well in Marriage class, Sundays, 6-7:30, starting February 14
5. Marriage conference in Ponca City, February 20-22
6. Marriage Week, February 7-14, that marriage will be honored
7. Wisdom in marriage and financial guidance appointments
8. Good health and protection for our family.

Speaking of Marriage - Video Testimony