A New Year--A New Psalm

 

It is a time to celebrate how God has sustained us, lifted us up, fed  us, freed us and watched over us in 2012, and to also look forward to His care through the year ahead.

To help us begin the year with praise and prayer, our Tabitha Bible studies dive into a Psalm each January. Many of these women relate to and lean on the precious words of God’s protection and providence.

This month Psalm 146 is our focus:

                                Praise the Lord!
                                Praise the Lord, O my soul!
                                I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my
                                God as long as I live.

Do not trust in princes, in mortal men who cannot save.

                        When their spirit departs, they return to the ground.

On that very day, their plans come to nothing.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

The Maker of heaven  and earth,

The sea , and everything in them -

The Lord, who remains faithful forever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed,
and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,  Lord gives sight to the blind,

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the alien, and sustains the fatherless and the widow

But he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

 

The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord!

 

He gives food to the hungry Josphine a diabetic and a widow, received a gift cow in 2012, and it is helping her and her family get the nutrition they need.

He sets the  prisoner free…  Philip and Anna are reunited after a year of separation when Philip was drinking and far from the Lord.  Anna had to live separately from him to avoid danger, all the while keeping her husband in prayer. He is free in Jesus now, and they are living in peace.

He sustains the fatherless  The Lord took Joyce home to heaven in December, and all five children are being cared for by God’s family in chldrens’ homes and in the neighborhood.

…and the widow….  Janet testifies of God’s support this year, as a widow and HIV positive.

These are just a few of the testimonies Tabitha has been able to witness, hear, and be apart of this year. Praise be to the Creator of the universe, who cares for the poor and needy.  His promises are true!

There are times when all of us as leaders of Bible studies, and moms, have been bowed down this past year, and God has lifted us up.  Pray for these center leaders and me as we trust the Lord in our own lives in the year ahead, and point others to Him as well.

Like many women, children and families in Tenwek, may you and I be able to whole-heartedly lean on the promises of the Lord, who remains faithful forever.

Like Psalm 146, let us begin and end our years with Praise to God!

 

 

 

New 2013 Prayer Requests

Thank you so much for your support and prayers as we continue to serve the Lord. Please continue to pray with us these requests in the coming months.

1. Pray that Psalm 146 will become part of the regular worship of hundreds of churches this year.  The ladies will put the Psalm to music with the goal of teaching it to their local churches.

2.  We are so excited to have our niece Abby Joy living and working with us until April.  God is opening up many opportunities for her to reach out, using her  gifts of art and discipleship.  She is studying the Bible each week with Betty, a young woman who is a family friend of ours, with a troubled past.  She has recently decided to follow Jesus.  Pray for Abby and Betty as they seek the Lord together.

3. Thank God for over 300 needy families we were able to help in December with fertilizer and sorghum to plant. (Sorghum is resistant to the fungus that plagued last year’s crops.)  Pray for God’s blessing so each field will provide food for these families in the months to come.

4.  I am meeting with Abby, Peris and Selly to teach them how to write a Bible study.  They are  eager learners!  Pray that we will be able to write studies in John now for the year I will be in the US on Home Assignment (starting in July).  Definitely a God-sized request!!!