Hey everyone! Hope things are going well for all... I wish I could say the same for me and my team. Due to some sudden circumstances, our team had to leave Matamoros for a few days. Just to let y'all know we were not and are not in any kind of danger. Some leadership changes are taking place right now and we have relocated for the next 10 days outside of Matamoros at a place called the Gateway. Its a truly awesome time for us all as we are refocusing and turning to God at this time. Due to some moral failures, one of our leaders- our pastor actually- had to leave with his family and has turned over the leadership responsibilities to our three other leaders Naomi, Jason and Erin. Right now I ask that you be in prayer for our pastor and his family right now as well as our group as we are trying to see where God wants us to go from here and for our leaders as they are stepping and stepping up their leadership responsibilities.

During my quiet time for the past couple of days I can't help but be reminded one of the names of God that is said quite a few times in the old and new testments: Jehovah Ra'ah - The Lord my Shephard. See the thing that many people don't know about shephards is that they carry with the a rod and a staff. They are both used for protecting and herding the sheep, helping them, directing them where they need to go. But what most people don't know is this: the rod is used sometimes for young lambs who keep running away or aren't behaving to break their legs. After that the shephard picks up the lamb and carries it and cares for it until the leg heals. After that the lamb comes to rely on the shephard and is more willing to follow its command. Kind of interesting the parallels between shephards/sheep and us/God don't you agree? Sometimes God has to get involved and break something, break you even but he does it to stop you, to protect you from doing something that you probably won't be able to come back alive from. And after it all he's will to be there to love you, to heal you, to protect and comfort you. And once we are able to stand on our two feet again we stand with confidence and hope more and more in God.

But here's something that not many people think about: what if that break that occurs in a fellow Christian, your leader even, affects you? What should you do and how do you do it? As I think about it I'm reminded of two other names of God: El Shaddai - God Almighty and Yeshua (also pronounced Joshua) - The Lord that saves (which is quite interesting because the Greek name for Yeshua which is a Hebrew name is Jesus). And usually that's just all you need... an Almighty God and Saving Lord...

Hope all is well! Later!

~Jeanne ;)