Story by Debra Anderson
Earlier this year, members of the Far West End church in Rockville, Va., went “beyond the walls” in ministry to help beautify their community. The group responded to a request from a local community member who needed help keeping the area around the church and beyond remain in pristine condition.
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5, NIV).
This verse became real to me during my junior year in college. I had just come home from my student nursing clinical on April 6, 1993, when I received a call from my mother. I could hardly believe the news she told me. Daddy fell in the bathroom over the weekend; she had called 911; he was in the ICU; and later died there. As I listened, I felt as though the walls of my world came crashing down on me.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5–6, NIV).
This verse reminds me to trust in the Lord, regardless of whatever is going on in my life or the world. It points out that, although I may not understand things and/or people at times, if I acknowledge Him and continue to believe that He knows what’s best for me, everything will turn out fine.
“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you’” (Gen. 41:39, NIV).
I like Genesis 41:39 because it shows God’s power and what He can do, especially in this abbreviated version on the story of Joseph:
Joseph lived with his father, Jacob, and 11 brothers in Canaan. Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors, and God gave Joseph two dreams. One day, Jacob asked Joseph to take food to his brothers who were taking care of the sheep. When Joseph arrived, his brothers, except for Reuben—the oldest, and who wasn’t present—sold Joseph into slavery. Later, Joseph’s slave master took him to Egypt and sold him again.
The thousands of Afghan refugees housed at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia are in desperate need of winter coats for the upcoming winter months. To help meet this dire need, several Potomac Conference members are helping.
International recording artists and national talent winners Bernadette and Winston Charles, members of Potomac Conference’s Seabrook church in Lanham, Md.; Rocky Twyman, Founder of the Pandemic Comforters and member of the Rockville (Md.) congregation and Pastor Sifa Potauine of the Beltsville (Md.) church have united to help.