April 25 - The Truitts

My friend Anna had a prayer request she asked that I share with you all.
As I am sure you all know there were many, many tornadoes last week across the country. One of the hardest places hit was North Carolina. Anna's dad is a insurance adjuster and a contractor. He was asked to go to North Carolina for the summer and left on Saturday.
He will be spending many hours traveling as he plans to come home every other weekend if possible. He will also be spending time on scaffolding and roofs.
So, Anna and I ask that you pray for him as he works and travels, and for Anna and her mom as they are without him for the summer.

April 21 - Skyler's Family

One night toward the end of February, Stephanie got a phone call from one of her best friends. It was the horrible type of phone call. The kind with news you never want to hear. This girl's sister, Becky, and her nine year old son, Skyler, had slid on ice across the road into an oncoming truck. Skyler was killed immediately.

Today would have been Skyler's tenth birthday and it was two months ago today that he died. Please pray for Becky and the whole Hartman family today that they would be given peace today.

April 20 - Photography for the wedding

Over the last two months since my sister, Beckisue, got engaged we have watched God provide time and again for her wedding. She was given an absolutely beautiful wedding dress by a total stranger. It was not only given to her but it had the three elements that she had decided were most important to her when she had gone to try on dresses. I will refrain from saying what those three things are in case Andy where to see this. He plugs his ears whenever the dress is mentioned. He doesn't want to know anything about it. Monica keeps telling him it is purple with black polka dots. :)

The reception hall was also provided wonderfully. We looked and looked for a reception hall. Reception halls big enough in our little town are very scarce. In stead of finding one here went went ten miles north to a town about a 1/8 of the size. :) Not only did we find a very nice place, we also were able to barter for the rent. When Beckisue went to look at it they told her they were wanting to get the carpet cleaned before they rented it out again. Well, it 'just so happens' that Monica and I have been cleaning carpets together for sever months now with her Aerus-Electrolux equipment. :) What a HUGE blessing.

I could go on and on with the list of things that God has provided.

- A friend that we haven't seen in 12+ years sent Beckisue a message and told her she does wedding cakes professionally now and would like to do one as a gift.

- There was some mixup with sale dates at Jo-Ann's and we ended up getting $35 EXTRA off of the bridesmaids fabric that we were already getting on sale.

-A friend is doing the dinner for a very low price. etc.

So now we get to the point. We have a friend who is a professional photographer. He shot both of my brothers weddings. He always told my sisters and me that he would do our weddings someday. Well, he and his family moved to Arizona last year. :( The plan was that he would just come back to attend the wedding but he is unable to because he cannot leave his oldest son who is severely autistic.

Plan B: A friend of my dads offered to shoot the wedding. We do not know anything about his skills though. He met with Beckisue and Andy on Sunday evening to take some engagement pictures so they could get an idea of what he is like. His camera is film and not digital so they haven't been able to see the pictures yet to see their quality and his skill level.

Andy kept saying Sunday night that he really wanted to make a matter of prayer this week that God would direct them in their decision making and He would show them just what they are to do.

Wow! That was a long post for a short prayer request!

April 19 - Jared's Surgery

My apologies in advance that we are back to writings by me this morning. We will try to have guest blogger Courtney back very soon.

When I was in my last couple of years of high school we attended monthly youth rallies. There were several church who participated around central/north central Indiana.

One of the main pastors was a man named Tim Boyd. Pastor Boyd's son, Jared (I think he is 19 but am not completely sure), was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. The cancer was in remission for a while but is back again. Jared's sister, Katie, said over the weekend that Jared was having surgery this morning to remove the largest tumor. She asked for specific prayer for this so I thought I would share it with my little prayer group that has been joining me these last couple of weeks.

April 18 - Jonathan's mission trip

Today’s prayer request is brought to you by the authorship of Rhonda’s amazingly awesome friend, Courtney (who is also girlfriend of the subject of this post)…

“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...” [Matthew 28:18-20]

Jonathan (as I’m sure all readers know to be Rhonda’s brother) is leaving for a trip to a far away country (sniffle) in almost exactly one month with a team of friends from college. He will be sharing the gospel and exploring the land. The area he is heading to is not very welcoming to Christianity so some details must remain untold to all readers on the world wide web.

Please pray for him as he prepares for this trip, that the Lord would work out all of the details. He currently is working to reach his financial goal so that he is able to share the good news with lost souls. He is also making connections with people in preparation, learning to speak the language and hoping to have a few faces to meet after he sails the seas, opening up more doors of opportunity to speak about the love of Jesus Christ.

We also ask for prayer for protection both during travel and as he shares Christ in an area of persecution.

Prayer for strength and wisdom for Jonathan is also needed. Although Jonathan isn’t easily intimidated by talking to strangers, sharing news that can forever change an individual is pretty nerve-racking in itself, but adding the difficulty of sharing it in an foreign land that happens to hate Christianity makes it just a little bit more so.

Please pray also that if the Lord wills, that he would be able to see the fruits of his labor, that he would be encouraged, while he is there being used as a vessel.

Above all, pray that God’s will would be done and his kingdom would be furthered; that lives would be eternally surrendered to serve the Lord.

“The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on his great work upon earth.” (Quoted from E.M. Bounds in Purpose in Prayer.)

(All of these prayers also apply to the other individuals traveling with him. I believe there are 10 in all on the team.)

P.S. Courtney, you ought to feel very special. You got to write the 200th post on my blog. What an honor! ;)

April 15 - Kaylynn

Kaylynn just called with an update on Shayne. There is good news and very bad news. The good news is that physically Shayne is fine. The bad news is they are taking him back to jail today for violating his work release. They said that though whatever he took was not an illegal drug/controlled substance he was trying to get the same affect. That totally doesn't make sense to me.
Shayne goes to court on Monday. Kaylynn said he could either go to prison for four years (!!) or they might send him to rehab. Obviously they are hoping for the rehab.
All that being said, my request today is for Kaylynn. She has put up with more in the last two years than almost any girl I know would. She just turned 20 a couple of weeks ago so she is still very young. She has been more loyal to her husband than many girls I have known who have been raised in Christian homes and taught well.
Pray first of all for her spiritual growth through all this. Also she needs prayer for physical strength. She has been working about 70 hours a week. She had finally decided she could cut back and with all this she can't now. She will have Shayne's new hospital and court bills.

April 14 - Shayne

First of all, Summer was released from the hospital last night. Praise the Lord for that!

My dad has been working with a young man named Shayne for about four years in his jail ministry. I won't go in to all his story right now because it is rather long. He had problems with drugs for a while. He has been doing well. He has had a job and working hard and making progress with his life. Kaylynn, Shayne's wife, called this morning and said Shayne was in the ER.
Dad went to the hospital and when he got there Shayne was in the ICU. I guess what happened was he has been drinking 5 Hour Energy at work. Then one of his coworkers offered him something. I have no idea what it was. Dad said it wasn't a controlled substance. Whatever it was was legal. Whoever gave it to him told him to snort it. People, just don't snort stuff! It's just stupid... Okay, back to my story.
I guess the energy drink and the Unknown-Snorted-Substance didn't have a good reaction when mixed. Dad said it almost killed him and he isn't out of the woods yet.
Please pray for both Shayne and Kaylynn.
Sorry this post sounds so jumbled. I don't have much time and want to get it posted.

April 13 - Summer

My new little niece, Summer, had to be admitted into the hospital last night. Her bilirubin count was high. We found out last night that it is very common in babies born early. It is easily treated and shouldn't cause any problems. If it does get too high it can cause serious problems.
We're praying that she will be fine this morning and get to go back home!

April 12 - Courtney's trip

I have been unable to post for the last two days. I am going to try to get back on track today.

Courtney is going to be traveling back today from Northland by herself. It is kind of a long story how it all came about. Jonathan and some friends came home last weekend and she ended up having to take them back. There wasn't room for anyone to ride along with them so she wouldn't have to come back alone.
Please pray God gives her safety and that she stayed alert as she drives.

April 9 - Thankfulness

I am late with posting this morning. I have been trying to decide what to post. Not that there is ever a lack of things to pray for but there are a lot of things that shouldn't be posted for the whole world.

Today my request is that everyone just pour out thankfulness to God in your prayer. Sometimes we need to stop and really think about being thankful for so many more things than we normally just thank God for in passing.

Blessings as your heart of thankfulness grows!

Summer Nicole Cosby

I have a beautiful new niece that was born this morning. Her name is Summer Nicole. She is a little tiny thing weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and I think she was 20 inches long.
We got to go hold her this afternoon. She slept the whole time, of course, seems babies always do. :) We played with her very long fingers and toes and kissed her all over.
We're so thankful to our God for our new little family member!

April 8 - Beckisue's and Andy's house.

Beckisue and Andy are having the inspection on their new house today. Praying that all goes well and if there is anything serious to find that it will be found! If all goes well they are to close on the house the end of April.

April 7 - Michelle and baby Summer

My sister in law, Michelle, is in the hospital. Her labor was induced this morning. We found out she has toxemia again yesterday morning. We're praying for a safe labor and delivery and that she won't wind up with a c-section. Since the baby is obviously not ready to come (this is three weeks early) the chance for a c-section are very high.

April 6 - Prayer X2, Uncle Bob and Jonathan

I actually have two prayer request this morning. My Uncle Bob texted us last night and said he was going in for emergency hernia surgery. Later in the evening he said the surgery had been postponed until this morning so he stayed the night in the hospital. We are just praying for surgery with no complications and a quick recovery.
Secondly, my brother Jonathan has an important Greek test this morning. Greek has been very difficult for him so we are praying he does well on this test.

April 5 - Michelle and baby Summer

Michelle, my brother Dale's wife, is due to have a baby the end of the month. Pray that God would work in Michelle through this time, and that she and the baby would be safe and healthy through the rest of the pregnancy and the delivery.

April 4 - The Barber

Saturday my dad went to the barber. He didn't come home for a very long time so mom finally called him. He said he had just left. He had gotten into conversation with the barber and he ended up being able to witness to him for about 45 minutes. They are going to lunch together this week to talk some more. I don't know his name, but pray that the Lord would lead their conversation and bring conviction and salvation to this man.

April 3 - Greg's Family

One month ago today our dear friend Greg left this earth. Greg fought cancer for 3+ years with a nine month remission.
Today I ask prayer for his parents, Larry and Nan Wallace; his brother and sister, Doug and Jill; and his beloved Melody and her family. They each need God's comfort today.

Greg's parents: Nan and Larry

Melody, Michelle, Bret, and Faith

Jill and Doug

April 2 - Bill Clarke

We have a friend who had a heart attack three weeks ago. He is only 38 years old. He was released from the hospital after a couple of days but has been back in twice I think for more procedures. He is still there right now after some more work they had to do yesterday.
Please pray for Bill and his family as they go through all of this.

Prayer Requests Day #1 Rob and Chrissy

I have decided to do something new for the month of April. My blog has sat idle for long enough. Everyday I am going to post a prayer request to share with my (very few) readers.
Rob and Chrissy are going to be first because they are the ones I was praying for when I thought of this.
My brother and sister in law have begun the process of planting a church in Tucson, AZ. They started Bible studies there a few months ago. In August they will be moving from Mesa to Tucson to start the church.
They will be sent out from their home church, Grace Covenant Church, in Gilbert, AZ.
Just pray with me for them as they follow the path God has set before them.