A Message from Sarah Groen-Colyn  

Brothers and Sisters, dearly beloved of our Father,

It is with great joy that I write to you, still in the afterglow of the 2012 Wheaton MPCS. I know that each of you has already experienced so much since your arrival "back home." Through prayer we have truly been with one another in spirit in our travels, our rest and play, and our listening obedience. I thank God for each one of you and will continue to pray His protection for the tender new shoots of truth within that will grow into mighty sheltering trees. It is awesome to see God building His church and calling each one of us into becoming and service as artists, earth-keepers, ministers, scholars, truth-tellers, nurturers (and on, and on, for the becoming never ends!).

Even in these first days at home, we've faced trials and temptations that would come against God's healing work in our souls. God speaks His Word of encouragement to us to continue our practice of His presence. Lord, bring to our mind even now any way in which we've strayed, that we may quickly and simply confess and return again to You. We've returned home to a world infested by Baal, we are tempted internally by introspection that would dismantle God's transforming work in our souls, and we must resist the disorientation and darkness around us. Let us not yield to this confusion, trying to blend God's ways with the ways of the world. "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going" (Ex. 34:12, SAAS; I encourage you to read all of Exodus 34:10-17, for it is our story too). Jesus teaches us, "And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mark 3:25, NKJV). Praise God that His presence grants us integration in our souls, a united "house" within.

As we walk out the healing God granted during the MPCS, we continue in this inner clarity and purity. "Purity is not a long struggle against that which is impure or forbidden. Rather it is singleness of heart. Catch the great thought that from Him, the Father of Lights, comes every good and perfect gift, and therefore nothing outside of God is worth having or craving" (John Gaynor Banks, The Master and the Disciple, quoted by Leanne in Healing Presence). I rejoice at the subtle and bold steps you all are taking each day to seek Him. With joy I encourage you to persevere! Know that you are an honored member of the most wonderful family, and your brothers and sisters are rooting for you in prayer! See Jesus with the eyes of your heart, looking around at all of us and saying, "Here are My mother and My brothers" (Mark 3:34, NKJV).

Some of you may yet be worried that this singleness of heart will cut you off from loving relationship with those around you. Certainly there are moments in the journey when this seems to be the case, when we must separate ourselves from attitudes and behaviors that lead to death. It is our true calling to be separated from sin and death. Be encouraged, however, that this separation from darkness only deepens our capacity to love the men and women God has created. Christ's presence within empowers us to love those around us by simply and boldly standing in truth. It is supremely loving to see with the clear eyes that He gives. The most wonderfully transforming thing we can do in this darkened place is practice His presence, affirming Another lives in me, Another lives in us! As we do, we are able to see those around us and all of God's world through His eyes, perfect in Christ Jesus. Lord, hasten the day!

I'll borrow Jude's fitting benediction for us (Jude 24-25, NKJV):

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.

With much love in Him,

Sarah  

A Message from Gino Vaccaro 

 
Thank you all for such a beautiful and amazing week in Him. God is so very faithful and strong. There are no words to adequately describe what happens at these Ministry of Pastoral Care schools, what God does for and with His people. Miracles really, miracles of the body and soul. Our God is holy, and in Him we live and move and have our being. May we all continue in the anointing and blessings we have received from His holy touch.
 
"Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Psalm 90:1-2 ESV). That same God to whom Moses prayed is the God who lives with us and within us. "Another lives in us."
 
Many of you have returned home to your families, ministries, churches and careers with God's fresh calling upon your lives. As we all make our way down from our time with Him on the mountaintop, may we be encouraged by Moses' prayer in Psalm 90: "Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" (Psalm 90:16-17 ESV). Praise God from whom all good things flow!
 
With a growing sense of being and well-being, we begin anew to listen and obey our God in ways we may not have known or experienced before. It is important to remain in fellowship with the wonderful Christian communities God has so graciously provided for us. It is a great comfort to connect with our sisters and brothers in the body of Christ, relationships that we cherish and desperately need to complete the good work God has started.
 
Some of us may need also to increase our time alone with God--to begin even a few minutes each day being still in His presence. The blend of time alone with God, listening and receiving, and the rich fellowship of believers is a generous gift God has given each of us to enjoy and use to grow in Him.
 
What a joy we all share in being called to minister God's love throughout His world. Let us do so with joyful and grateful hearts for all He has done and for who He is!
 
Cesli, Sarah and I are traveling to Europe this coming week to teach and minister with the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) school at their Chatel base in Switzerland. We are grateful and honored by the opportunity to worship with such an outstanding and obedient ministry. Please pray that all that God has in mind will be accomplished and that His name will be glorified.
 
Thank you again to all of you who took a week out of your busy lives to be with the Lord and all of us to worship and receive Him. We were all so blessed by His presence. What a joy!
 
Love and blessings in Christ Jesus,

Gino