Friday, December 02, 2011

December 2011 Letter - LIVING WELL

“The Greatest Man in History, Jesus,
  had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
  Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
  Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
  He had no army, yet kings feared Him.
  He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
  He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
  He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. “ Author Unknown


The fact that one person could have that much of an influence in His world and for generations to come is mind-boggling! How do we even wrap our minds around that fact? The most amazing part of the Christmas story is still that God would leave the glory of heaven to come to earth and live as one of us. He lived in a way that we could all know what God is like. Humans were able to see and walk with God himself. Men and women talked to God! People saw how it looks to live a life perfectly. We have a written record of how a person lives a completely, selfless, faith-filled life. He did all of that so that we could know Him as our Savior, our Lord, and our God.

As Americans, we face a challenge and an opportunity at Christmas.

Our challenge is to celebrate the incarnation of our Savior every day and not be overcome by the materialism of this season.

Our opportunity is to share with our circle of friends/family/colleagues about the ultimate Gift at a time when hearts are soft and longing for a lasting peace and joy of the season. “… How much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” Romans 5:15b

With a little over a month until our next mission trip to Zambia, we need lots of prayer!

As we explained in our last post, we believe God has called us to expand our ministry in Africa. We will leave again on January 5th to minister in Zambia. We will be teaching and meeting with pastor couples that we taught last year, as well as with new couples. We will also be planning for an expanded ministry next summer. Please pray with us as we finalize details. We have already purchased our plane tickets, almost $5000. At this time, we have received about 2% of the $7500 total cost of the trip. We believe that God will provide! Please join us in that prayer! 

We wholeheartedly believe in the priority of the great commission. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” Have we really “made a disciple” if we have only engaged in presenting the gospel? We take very seriously the command to “make disciples.” We believe that one of the most important ways we can make a disciple is through teaching pastors how to live out the Christ-life in their marriages. And secondly, we teach and train the pastors how they can teach others to live out the good news of Jesus Christ.

Marriage is a vital part of God’s design for our life on this earth. He started the Bible with a marriage between the first man and woman - before the birth of children or the birth of the church. He also ends the Bible with a wedding - a wedding between Christ and the Church. Marriage is not the only part of discipleship but it is a very important part of it. Marriage is a visible symbol God wants to use to show the world how He loves, how He accepts, and how He forgives.

The end of the year is often a time when people consider their giving to the Lord in a special way. We are very thankful for the people who support this ministry. These end-of-the-year donations are a vital part of our budget. Please pray for God to supply our needs at this time of the year.

You are a valuable part of our ministry! We love and appreciate you and your support of what God is doing at Living Well!

Donna and Ed Edwards

P.S. Please pray with us for the completion of the planning and financial support for Zambia 2012.

To Donate, click here.

To see more on last year's Zambia mission:

For more on the Zambian mission, see: