DECEMBER 2014 Letter LIVING WELL

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. Dr. Seuss

The Grinch found out that people were still joyful, even without the presents, the stockings, and the trees. Yes, Christmas does not come from a store; it does mean a great deal more!

MORE

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth. Luke 1:14

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.... Luke 2:10

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matthew 2:10

...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

JOY of CHRIST

The JOY of Christmas cannot be separated from the JOY of Christ. He brought JOY but also anticipated the JOY of the resurrected life! Without Christ, we have no joy and no hope.

Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares. William Barclay

We give gifts at Christmas out of the overflow of a joyful heart for what He has given each of us with THE GIFT of eternal life. 

YOU

We wish we could adequately express to each of YOU the joy of our heart for YOU and YOUR support of the Lord’s work through LIVING WELL. We pray that each of you will have a joyful Christmas as YOU and YOUR FAMILY reflect on the time Christ came to earth to live in the same way that YOU do. 

Because of YOU, we can continue to minister to couples similar to this one. Rejoice with us in this reconciled marriage. 

RECONCILED

After 7 1⁄2 years, we found that we were not following God’s plan for our marriage. We rarely spent quality time together, and focused on our kids instead of each other. We found that we were growing apart instead of together, and allowed distractions in our marriage. We were not looking to God during our struggles. 

Our sessions at Living Well have taught us more about ourselves, each other, and our relationship with God.... We learned to always put each other first, and how important “oneness” in marriage is.... Thanks to Ed and Donna, we now have a better understanding of God’s word and how it relates to our marriage. Thank you to Living Well for giving life to our marriage.

INVEST

As we approach the end of the year, we ask YOU to seek God about how He wants you to invest in His Kingdom. Our budget depends completely on tax-deductible donations. [TO DONATE]

We are not going to Zambia in January this year. The Lord showed us through a number of ways that He wanted us to stay here, rather than go. We still believe that He is leading us to return with another team in June. Will you go with us? 

We love and appreciate YOU and YOUR support of what God is doing! 

Our love in Christ,

Donna and Ed Edwards

P.S. Please join us in praying for God’s provision for 2015! [TO DONATE]

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.

DECEMBER 2013 Letter LIVING WELL

Stop! Let’s talk about one holiday at a time, please!

That is what we all feel like shouting right now. Having a late Thanksgiving is the excuse all the retailers needed to start the advertising and shopping earlier. How did buying and owning things become so important to us? As Christians, are we consumed with what we have?

Do we compare what we have to those who have more than us or those who have less?
     We think about the many couples who come to us and desperately want their marriages to be better but have wounded backgrounds with bad role models; they don’t know where to begin. A lack of conflict resolution skills makes it difficult to succeed in any area of their marriage, including financially. Because of you, our supporters, we can see these couples whether they can pay or not.

When you ask your children what they want for Christmas, have they ever said “nothing?”
     We remember the young boys in Zambia who waited until the end of each day to grab any empty, plastic water bottles in the trash, so that they could make toys out of them. Then, we think about the same age kids here who have Ipads and complain that they get bored. Because of you, our supporters,we are providing an education for these kids who are living in a slum.

At Christmas, do we think about the stress of getting everything done?
     What would happen if we skipped shopping and buying, instead we focused on how we could spend the money to make a difference in some else’s life to advance the Kingdom of God? Think about how you can help your children/grandchildren know more about the character of Jesus Christ. Because of you, our supporters, we are able to provide our “names of Jesus” card in our letters every year. The card is a great tool to use to meditate on who Christ is and to share with others. Those verses would make a great family devotional.

What we own, how we look, and what we consume becomes our identity.
     The Christian faith becomes one of many different activities that consume our time. “Religion” competes with other activities - rather than becoming a personal faith and the basis of our worldview and our personal relationship with a personal God.

You can make a difference in someone else’s life this Christmas and/or end-of-year giving:

• $75 to sponsor one of the Wisdom Community School kids, starting 7th grade in January to school for a year to another school in the next community (includes fees, uniform, lunches, books, supplies, and incentives). WCS does not include 7th grade yet. (12 students)
• $100 to sponsor one hour of guidance for a couple at LIVING WELL 
• $150 To sponsor one pastor couple to attend Family Enrichment training conference in Zambia.
• $2300 To sponsor one plane fare for Zambia January mission trip.*
• $11,000 To complete the funding of the next classroom building at WCS (includes 3 classrooms); WCS would then be able to provide 7th grade classes (grades 1-7 are typical elementary schools in Zambia) and move other classes from a storage room into a classroom. [see WCS Master Plan]

[TO DONATE]

As we prepare this letter, drilling the new water well for the students of Wisdom Community School is complete! The finish out and pump installation should be complete soon. Because of the faithfulness of God’s people, these children will have ample water all year! 

Thank you for your continued support! We could not continue this ministry without you! We love and appreciate you and your support of what God is doing! Have a blessed Christmas!

Our love in Christ,

Donna and Ed Edwards
P.S. Please pray for the Lord to provide the remaining $17, 200 for the Zambia mission trip. [see Zambia Mission 2014 info]
*We have already paid for our tickets and a deposit for the conference meeting space.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas from Ed and Donna Edwards at Living Well. Hope you will take less than a minute to watch our video greeting!

Christmas Gifts for Children of Wisdom

After ministering at Wisdom Community School, outside of Ndola, Zambia, last summer, several of the mission team wanted to send Christmas gifts to the 175 children who attend Wisdom. They inspired their friends at Putnam City Baptist Church to give toys and candy for the children. We acquired all of the children's ages and gender, so age appropriate gifts could be sent.

The group packed 12 boxes full of Christmas love for the children.

The boxes were mailed near the first of November and have successfully arrived in Ndola. They recently arrived. The children go to school year round; December is one of the months that they take their break. Before leaving for break, the children were asked to return on December 21st to receive the gifts that our team has sent.

Hot Wheels and Trucks abound!

And myriads of dolls!

Pat Foster, Tommie Clemmer, and Martha Battle
Sort and pack LOTS of gifts!



Pat is packing them in!




12 Boxes of Gifts
Each box number corresponds to a list
Telling which age & gender receives the gifts

Ron and Kathy Jackson, part of the Zambia Mission 2012, were the impetus behind putting together the boxes. Their friends not only purchased and packaged the gifts but also gave $900 to cover the shipping of the boxes.

The generous heart of these people demonstrates the love of Jesus to these children who live in a slum and are predominantly orphans. We pray for their well-being!



Christians and Christmas

Was Christ born on December 25th? 

Probably not. The most common explanation was that He was probably born around the end of September (for more info, here's one source).

So.... if He wasn't born at that time, should we celebrate that date for His birth?

In fact, Christ wasn't even "born" when He came to live on this earth. He existed from the beginning. He is God and has existed in eternity past. When He came to earth, we say that He was incarnate or became a human in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2,14)

Should we celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday? If it's not a religious holiday, why would Christians get so upset that people want to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas?"

Some people believe that we shouldn't celebrate any religious holidays because 1) we don't know the exact date and 2) we celebrate His life, death, and resurrection every day.

 Don Fortner wrote:
We must not observe any religious holiday. We should attach no spiritual, religious significance to any day. Yet, we do not need to act like super-pious religious idiots over a day that has absolutely no religious significance....Did you know that every DAY of the week, every PLANET in the universe, and many of the CARS we drive are named after pagan gods? Yet, we still call Sunday Sunday, Mars Mars, and a Saturn a Saturn. No one would ever dream of calling us pagans for doing so. We worship our God on Sunday, and would laugh at anyone who suggested that we observe the pagan Roman holiday called “Sun’s Day” in doing so. If your car is a Saturn, use it for the glory of God; and laugh at anyone who thinks that you are worshipping the Roman god of agriculture by driving it. We must not, and I trust do not, worship Christmas trees and lights, or even attach spiritual significance to Christmas day.

However, I do suggest that we seize this opportunity afforded us by Divine providence to tell people who Christ is, why he came into this world, what he did, and how they may obtain his salvation. It is no accident that once every year every human being in the world is confronted with the fact that the Son of God assumed human flesh and came into the world to save men. Certainly, no one can think that it is wrong for believers, during this season of the year, to express thanks and praise to God for his unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is never wrong, but always right to think of Him, speak of Him, and sing His praise. Rather than not singing Watts’ grand old hymn, "Joy To The World," we ought to sing it year round.

For me, yes, we will celebrate Christmas. Christmas is important to our family as one expression of our faith, our traditions, and the memories that go with them.

The Christmas celebration will not be more worshipful than other days. The tradition will not be the foundation of my faith.

However, the hearts of so many people are very tender at this time of the year. It gives us great opportunities to share why we believe, to share our hope and our future.

The Christmas message is that
there is hope for a ruined humanity –
hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory –
because at the Father’s will
Jesus became poor, and
was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.
J.I. Packer

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:

• Vows
• LIVING WELL LETTER
• Anniversary Celebration
• Pastors Express Appreciation
• Their Words
• Questions, Questions
• Ndola, Zambia, Family Enrichment Conference
• Conference in Ndola, Zambia
• Conference Begins

NAMES OF JESUS

Tasting Christmas

What's a blog without recipes?

Eating and cooking spans politics, ethnicity, incomes, gender, and religious preferences.

I don't cook often these days. After 35 years of head cook at our house, my husband decided to take it on .... his reason ...
 I was hungry.

But the Christmas tradition of sugar cookies cut into shapes and decorated lies firmly within my territory.

My mother gave me this recipe for sugar cookies and I have not found one that is better. And many of my cookies cutters came from her. When the kids were little, her favorite activity with them was to make cookies ... the messier the better.
_________________________

Sugar Cookies

1 ½ c. powdered sugar

1 c. butter

1 egg

2 ½ c. flour

¼ t. salt
1 t. soda
1 t. cream of tartar

1 t. vanilla or lemon or half & half

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla or lemon, mix well. Work in by hands sifted, dry ingredients. Chill 1 hour. Roll out ¼” thick to cut into shapes. Bake 7-10 minutes at 375 degrees . Times may vary, watch carefully. Frost or decorate.

______________________

 

I have found that one of the keys to successfully cutting out the cookies and transfering them to the cookies sheet is to make sure that the dough is cold. After chilling it, I usually divide the dough in half or less to roll it

out. After cutting one group of cookies out, I will make the dough into a ball again and roll it out again ONCE. After the rolling it out twice, the dough gets too warm; so I stick it back in the frig. Then after all the pieces of dough are chilled again, I will put them together in a ball and roll it out again.

After taking them out of the oven, I let them cool for two minutes, then take them off the cookies sheet and put them on a wire rack to cool. Usually, we end up decorating the cookies on a different day. Our grown-up daughter will still help decorate the cookies but doesn't take an interest in the rolling and cutting business .... too busy.

For little kids, they love getting their hands in the flour, eating some dough, and seeing the blob of dough transformed into shapes they recognize.

Many years ago, my mother saw a new product for cookie decorating in Southern Living magazine. The magazine showed gold and silver powder that could be used on the icing for a new look. Not being able to find that product locally, she called the person who had demonstrated the technique and talked to her personally about it and order some of those little jars.

The person she talked to ..... Martha Stewart, who was new on the cooking and decorating scene at that time. Those little jars were very valuable! It took some experimenting to learn how to use that powder, it's never as easy as it looks in a magazine or on TV. But I learned to mix the powder with regular, granulated sugar to get the desired outcome. Those little jars last a long time! Actually, I thought they were going to last through my lifetime.

But, this year, when we started to get out the ingredients for decorating, Jacquelyn warned me that we were out of the gold and silver. I almost had a meltdown. Since I recently lost my mother, this tradition was an emotional tie for me with her.

Rather than having a melt-down, we went to the internet. We found gold and silver sugar sprinkles online and available at a local retail store.

We don't decorate the cookies to compete in a contest....
We decorate to warm our hearts.

 
I always include hearts in our Christmas cookies .... what is Christmas without the heart of love?

The hearts and stars remind us why we celebrate the season.
 

Enjoy!

Less Stress Christmas

How am I going to have time to get it all done?
Should I buy a gift for a friend ... we have never exchanged gifts before ... I don't want to offend her ... what if she buys me a gift?
Our son wants a car .... we can afford a bike.

Any of that sound familiar?

A couple of tips to reduce the stress of this time of year:

1. Don't charge your Christmas presents.

Only spend what you have that isn't allocated towards previous commitments (for example: mortagage, car payment) or a need (food, electricity, etc.).

We were so excited about our budget spending plan the first year that we were telling everyone how wonderful it was. That was 20 years ago and we are still telling everyone! After that first Christmas on a spending plan, a friend called to thank us for our Christmas present to them. I'm thinking ... "it wasn't that great of a present to warrant this enthusiasm." But our friend thanked us for talking about getting out of debt. She said that was the first Christmas that they had not charged their Christmas presents. After Christmas, they would have the stress of all those bills to face. She said it was their best Christmas ever.

2. Give gifts with meaning, not just something to say that I have given a gift. See our marriage blog for some ideas on gifts for your marriage. Ask yourself the question "what can I give that will still be here after I am gone?" Usually, the Gift of Presence last longer than gifts of presents. As

I look around and think about Christmas, the times we made cookies or went to the Nutcraker ballet with my mother and our kids are the memories and times I cherish the most. Who can remember the presents 20 years later? The Presence lasts forever. Or consider a gift that will bring spiritual growth, which will go with us into eternity - an Eternal Presence.

We are celebrating the Prince of Peace. I pray that I will let His Peace live in me .... a less stress Christmas.

LIVING WELL, December 2010

He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces.
(Isaiah 25:6)

The reality of this verse is a great comfort as I (Donna) go through the passing of my mother from this life to the reality of eternity with our Lord. My mother departed on November 15th. I was fortunate to spend those moments with her as she breathed her last breath. For now, the loss of her physical presence brings great grief in my life. But I believe His Promise even when I don’t feel it.

My mother had a great influence on my spiritual life. I am thankful for the many ways she taught me about Jesus and the way she demonstrated His life through hers. I think of the verse in which Paul wrote to Timothy about his legacy of faith from his mother and grandmother. The same verse could be written of my inheritance. "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother and in your mother and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." (2 Timothy 1:5 paraphrased) The faith of a Christian mother and grandmother is of great value in our lives.

I know that many of our friends, family, and supporters have prayed for us during this time of loss. We greatly appreciate your continued prayers as we go through this season of life.

As we celebrate the coming of our Lord to earth, we remember why He came.

The Bible recounts many reasons that Jesus left heaven to become a human and walk the earth. Here are a few.

Jesus came:

To reveal or make known the Father:
     All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Matthew 11:27

   No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:18

To save the world:
    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17

To preach the good news of the kingdom of God:
    But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” Luke 4:43

To serve and sacrifice:
   Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

To do the will of the Father:
   For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. John 6:38

To destroy the work of Satan:
    The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1 John 3:8

To become a high priest and atone for sin:
    For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17

To proclaim freedom for believers:
    The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. Luke 4:18

To give abundant life:
    I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10b

In December each year, many of us either make special donations to ministries or perhaps catch up on donations before year’s end. Without you and others standing with us, it is not possible for us to continue the mission the Lord has given us to strengthen marriages and families through the services of our ministry including personal guidance and classes. Would you please prayerfully consider including Living Well in your end-of-year contributions? Your prayers and financial investment enables us to move forward in 2011. (Click here to donate)

Know anyone who needs to get a better handle on their finances? We have a class starting January 4th on Tuesday nights in January. (Click here for details) Our love in Christ,

Merry Christmas! We pray that you have an opportunity to spend time with your families. May the enclosed book mark aid you in celebrating and worshipping the fullness of who Jesus is.


Donna and Ed Edwards

P.S. Please pray that the Lord will continue to provide for the ministry through year-end giving.