ABW January Update

by Norma Gunter

Today, January 18, as I was writing this article, watching a flock of robins eating  berries from my holly trees, I received a phone call that my friend and fellow ABW lady, Linda Lowe Buckley, had passed away.  On Friday I went to the Hospice House to tell her goodbye.  She had fought a good fight and it was time for her to go on to her reward in heaven.  She will be greatly missed by her family, friends and the ladies of the Lizzie Lewis Mission Circle.  Good bye Linda, we will see you in heaven.

This month’s February circle program from the ABW Ministries Ministry Focus Resource is  See…The Wilderness.  The scripture is Exodus l6.  Have you ever felt alone, as if you were living in the wilderness trying to figure everything out and get through it on your own, but it just wasn’t working?  We sometimes forget that God is in control.  Instead of seeing God’s hand in a situation, we see only the wilderness around us.  Hardships are part of a larger process that will make us who we are ultimately supposed to be.  We are put through trials we don’t like, but God knows the outcome and God is beside us during the entire experience.”

God provided for the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness.  He protected them and brought them through.  Our wilderness times can be caused by many things like;  loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, depression or our own feelings of separation from God.

My own wilderness now is a possible total hip replacement after recovering from the hip pinning back in May.  As from the Ministry Focus Resource, “We are put through trials we don’t like, but God knows the outcome, and God is beside us during the entire experience.”  God will provide for us in the wilderness.

Prayer is the most powerful thing we have to get us through our wilderness time.  Pray for me and all the women going through wilderness times.

The Beckley First Baptist American Baptist Women met the challenge to raise $100 for the February Philippines Mission Trip.  The money will go to buy ministry supplies for the ten American Baptist  women from West Virginia who will be working  with Filipino women caught in prostitution.  Pray for them while they are away.  A special thank you to the women who gave to this project.