Family

Notes from Evening of Prayer

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James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”


Recently we invited several folks from our church family to come over to our house simply for an evening of prayer. It was on a Friday night no less, but we were encouraged that our den was filled with 10-11 good friends who spent an hour interceding with us and for us. Perhaps we should have done this much sooner. It was a definite boost. And, I dare say that several prayers have been answered already.

What was the focus of our time? As you probably know, we have been fervently trusting the Lord to allow us to move to Orlando to begin our new role with Campus Crusade for Christ’s Global Technology Office. Several things haven’t exactly worked out according to our plan and timing. Obviously the Lord is in control yet we wanted to seek His will. We wanted to ask Him for some breakthroughs and simply for us to rejoice in Him working even through frustrations and delays.

It was a very good time in His presence and we felt more connected to our good friends from church who love us so dearly.

To guide our prayer time, I made an outline with Scriptures to focus on and general themes. You can see the file (a pdf file – open with Adobe Reader) here: https://handsheadlines.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/2006_Hands_Prayer_Meeting_Notes.pdf

I thought this might be helpful for anyone who is praying through similar issues. 

Also see what we shared at church during the worship service a couple of months ago.

Family

Shannon Writes Something

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Hello from the Hand household!

Hand House for Sale

As most of you know, David is the best writer in our family (I usually stick to editing) and faithfully pens our monthly newsletter. However, this month I volunteered to give it a shot and share our family updates and prayer requests with you.

I must admit that the past few weeks have been a little busier on the home front than we prefer–seems like this time of year lends itself to that. Here’s some snapshots of what we’ve been up to:

1) We put our house on the market at the end of March.

(more…)

Orlando Move

Ask, Seek and Knock

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“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9
[Context of this passage: Jesus tells us to persist in asking Him because He always supplies good gifts. He promises that He is even much more faithful than a good parent who will not give his child a stone when asked for bread.] Read entire passage on BibleGateway – a great place to read the Bible online!

Our kids have a Children’s Bible Songs tape they often listen to (sometimes a little too often on long road trips! 🙂 ). One song – Ask, Seek and Knock – captures the heart of this passage in such a pure and simple fashion. We want to have a child-like faith in asking our Father both for our needs and for His desires to be accomplished in the months ahead. Will you please join us in praying? Here are 3 specific needs. Thank you!!

1. Finding 40 New Partners
In order to move to Orlando, we need to meet about 40 more individuals and families who will partner with us through prayer and finances. This is our full-time focus and faith goal for the next 5 months. This is quite a faith-stretcher for us. Yet, we’re seeking the Lord with an abundance mentality (Eph. 3:20-21) – realizing that He already knows all the people we need to meet! Please pray for us to find these 40 new partners quickly. Could you help us by introducing us to a few of your friends? Email us and we’ll tell you how.

2. Decisions and Timing of Decisions
We will be selling our house this spring, determining how much we can afford (and should spend) in Orlando, searching for a house to buy or build (possibly), researching schooling and home-schooling options and many other things! Please pray for wisdom for we who lack it! And that the Lord’s timing will be sovereign in all these decisions.

3. With Peace
Above all else, pray that we’ll experience much joy and peace from the Lord during the midst of big changes. Pray that peace will dominate our lives as we move forward by faith – not being overwhelmed with any task at hand.