May/June 2011

"There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears.

There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more,

we’ll see Jesus face to face.

But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always"-Jeremy Camp

Life has no guarantees. We make mistakes. Others around us make mistakes that hurt others. Floods come, both literal and figurative. Loved ones die. Tornadoes flatten cities. This side of Heaven, it all can leave you feeling very helpless and alone.

I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were
convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Psalms 77-NIV)

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

2 Cor. 1:3-5—The Message

March/April 2011

Please note changes in our contact info:

Website: www.freshwaterministries.blogspot.com

Email: freshwaterministriesinc@gmail.com

Abandoned?

When we abandoned the truth about how God thinks about us, we were truly lost, not knowing how to regain a true perspective of ourselves. The result of this action leaves us feeling completely alone with a sense of hopelessness and abandonment; as if someone has completely left our presence. The truth in this is that when we leave the truth, lies (or partial truths) are the only thing we have left to look at.

1. Abandoning truth leaves us with a false sense of being completely abandoned.

Many people we counsel are lost in this lie. God is not absent from our struggles. In fact, he came to reconcile us in our struggles so that we could live and walk free from accusation and lies.

2. He has answered this identity struggle by adopting us as His children into His family.

3. This is God at work reconciling the broken relationship caused by sin and our abandonment of truth.

Our main objective or responsibility to maintain a healthy identity is returning to and rehearsing the truth about what God has said and done for us, namely, how He is reconciling the world to Himself.

There are 4 areas broken by sins deceitfulness.

1. How we see and understand God

2. What we believe about ourselves

3. What we believe about others

4. What we believe about the systems of the world and whether God is present in them or not

If we believe that God is in charge and reconciling the world, then we are not abandoned. If we believe we are abandoned, then we struggle in all four areas and feel lost in our ability to find our way back to the truth.

But if we believe God is present and we seek the truth, then our chances of helping ourselves find this great reconciliation raise greatly.

Let’s review…

Sins deceitfulness causes a false sense of being completely abandoned.

God answers by instituting adoption, thus reconciling the world to himself.

Therefore, since God is reconciling the world to himself through adopting us as family, our false sense of abandonment is destroyed along with sin’s deceitfulness.

FreshWater continues to maintain a busy schedule. With your help, in the last few months we have ministered to a Hispanic woman, with the aid of a translator, helping her find confidence and hope; an angry teenage boy, lost in his identity; families grieving the loss of a loved one; marriages that are struggling; teens that have literally been abandoned and neglected; as well as individual personal struggles. God is at work and has an answer for every problem we face as humans. He is not far from the hurting. He is close. And we are privileged to be a part of the work He is doing here in Adair County.