Beyond Mere Words

“What I did know then, is that I was promising faithfulness, support, and genuine care by God’s strength, grace, and wisdom regardless of future circumstances."

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There were moments just days before Nathan’s spinal surgery when he would lovingly put down whatever he was working on, stand up, and engulf me in a huge bear hug. In those moments I would be pondering: “This could be one of the very last times Nate can stand up to give me a hug”. When I said my vows just over two months prior to his surgery, I had no idea that in such a short amount of time I would be facing the possibility of caring for a paralyzed husband. What I did know then, is that I was promising faithfulness, support, and genuine care by God’s strength, grace, and wisdom regardless of future circumstances. God provided us with a very skilled and knowledgeable physician, a week out of the office to be there 24/7 for Nate, many praying people, caring family, and cheesecake to celebrate our three month anniversary while in the hospital. As you will read in Nate’s section, God was very gracious in protecting Nate’s body during the complicated surgery so that he was able to wiggle his toes after the procedure was over. Normally it takes about a month for people to be able to walk after his type of surgery, but just days after, he was able to shuffle-walk himself out to the vehicle to come home from the hospital.

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Pictured Left: Our official Rio Grande Bible Ministries staff photo.

God has been enabling me to be a blessing in ministry. We (as a ministry department) currently have the privilege of raising funds for some much needed student housing complexes. There has been a notable increase of families who are coming to study the Bible, and currently we have no room for them to live on campus. Although my role in this project is more of a support role, I have enjoyed the challenge of editing appeals and various ministry updates, keeping up with outgoing mail packets, and sharing in the celebrations during prayer time each morning as we thank God for what he has provided. It has been an encouragement personally to see “first hand” how God has moved the hearts of both believers and non-believers to be a part of this expansion. Please pray that God would continue to use this opportunity to draw many to Himself. God is also using me in my department to be an integral part of learning a new data system that we transferred to at the end of September. Being able to properly organize our data means that we can be better stewards in our responsibilities. Please pray that I would excel further in this new program so that I can enable my department to serve as a very “well oiled machine”.

As always, thanks for your partnership in ministry!

Blessings,