“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thess. 5:16-18…………………
By God’s grace alone, in God’s strength alone, for God’s glory alone, last week I moved with the Lord Jesus Christ, my little ministry, and my beloved special needs and senior dogs from a hotel in New Jersey where I had been for three weeks with wonderful ministry opportunities after nearly a year in a hotel in Virginia with countless ministry opportunities into New York City with endless ministry opportunities literally beginning before I even moved into my wonderful little apartment with which the Lord has provided me for the purpose of being in New York City for this precious season of my life to proclaim His name through my streets ministry work and writing, publishing, and distribution of tracts, devotionals, and books.
I could not be more thrilled, excited, humbled, blessed, privileged, thankful, awed, and, yes, exhausted, shocked, and a zillion other things as I get settled in.
For those of you who don’t know, I lived in New York City nearly 25 years ago as a totally broken, hopeless, and purposeless young woman headed for eternal torment apart from God in hell and the lake of fire, broken by my own sins, broken by the sins of others, broken by this world, and utterly clueless about the Lord Jesus Christ and how to have a forever relationship with God through Him.
And for those of you who don’t know, the last place in the United States I would have expected to end up is New York City – given my desire for a quiet, peaceful, economical, warm climate, near the beach life with family and friends nearby.
But my heart and life belong to the Lord Jesus Christ now, there is nothing and nobody in the universe more important and precious to me than God almighty in Christ, and I live and breathe for God, to bring Him glory, and to help others to find and forever follow Jesus the Christ! And the Lord led me to New York City as the next stop on my journey loving and serving Him, so here I am, thankful, so thankful, so very thankful!
The apartment the Lord chose for me is right by a massive well known park where He told me I will do plenty of ministry work along with other places in the city, and sure enough right from the start I have had numerous opportunities to hand out Gospel tracts and to talk to people about the Lord.
One of my greatest and most humbling and exciting experiences thus far was being on a subway car when a man started preaching the Gospel to a very quiet group of subway riders, and all of a sudden without notice, or plan, led by the Spirit of God, I started preaching with the man. My greatest joys in life are the Lord Himself and telling the world about Him, so imagine my surprise and delight to have such an opportunity!
I would appreciate as always your love, encouragement, prayers, and donations, and please keep in mind as you pray that each and every moment I am in New York City I face the challenges of big city life, of being far away from loved ones, of not knowing anyone other than people I knew decades ago, of prices that are astronomical, of the dangers of city life, of noise and chaos, of a climate I don’t prefer, and on and on. But as you pray for me, and this ministry, and my precious dogs, please rejoice with me that the Lord has brought me here, that He has given me a love for this city and for the people in it, that He has and is and will equip me with every single thing I will need here to love and glorify and proclaim Him, most especially an ever growing, ever deepening relationship with Himself.
I wish I could capture for you in writing every blessed moment I have already experienced here, and will experience here, and I wish you could see that despite the challenges especially of such great change at 50 years old, that I feel deep inside a natural and perfect fit for being here for this season of the blessed life the Lord has given me – ever holding onto Him and to the blessed hope that He is my all and all.
Hallelujah, friends, rejoice with me, that Jesus Christ is Lord forever! Amen!