Jordan Ministries April 2009 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

 
    Greetings from Jordan Ministries.  This is Jennifer writing this month on Dawn's behalf who is finishing up an extremely busy season of traveling, speaking and singing all over the southeast.  Dawn will take some time in May's newsletter to share with you what God has been doing here at Jordan Ministries.  In the mean time, please keep her in your prayers as she heads to Moncks Corner for a busy week-end at a women's conference and a church concert.
 
    I wrote an e-mail to some close friends and family this morning and Dawn asked me if I'd be willing to send it out with our April Jordan Ministries Newsletter.  Here are the thoughts that God brought to mind this morning and as I write this, I am praying that God will encourage your heart just as He has encouraged mine also.
 
    There's something about my natural make-up that when something strikes me as noteworthy I have to formulate it into the written word - in fact I feel literally compelled to do so sometimes. This morning is one of those times!  At the beginning of the year, a passage in the Bible grabbed my attention. It is 1 Kings 8:54-61, where Solomon, after praying a prayer of dedication over the temple, turns to his people, takes on the role of a priest essentially, and blesses the people of Israel.  The blessing is quite fascinating and I have posted it in our bathroom to read and reread.  So many facets of it are intriguing to me.
    Last night, one particular verse jumped out at me again as I read FB Meyer's commentary on the passage (a book that my Dad gave me that used to belong to my grandmother - and I always think it's interesting that she is fascinated by the same thoughts that grab my attention - I tend to want to underline the things she has "starred").
    1. Kings 8:59+60 reads: "....that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no one else." (NASV)  
     Here is the paragraph that I read from FB Meyer's devotional commentary:
     "As we stand on the hilltop in the morning and look across the valley of the coming day, its scenes are too closely veiled in heavy-hanging mists for us to specify all our requests.  We can breathe the comprehensive petition "Give us this day our daily bread." And God will suit His help to each requirement.  As the moment arrives "the thing" will be there."
    Therefore - I need not dread today. He is enough for "that moment" that I cannot yet see.  That moment when I am tempted to blow up because Ian is irritable and impatient (and I'm not missing the irony there), Julie-Joy has made a mess or Jenna is whining.  For that moment "as each day requires," He is enough and provides the daily bread and sustenance that I need to respond in His love.  Grace upon grace, even now in the understanding and reminder of this truth, grace upon grace and more grace.  My heart's cry is now: "Oh Lord, maintain my cause as this day requires, that my children and my husband and those I encounter may know that You are God and there is no other."
    And so as I pray for you too, that is my prayer as you come to mind - that God would maintain your cause as today requires and that those you encounter would know that He alone is God and there is no other.  
    Thank-you for taking a few minutes to read over the thoughts God has laid on my heart.  The same applies to the work Dawn, and I as well, do through Jordan Ministries.  We pray that God would maintain our cause at Jordan Ministries - as this very day, and every day of ministry, requires, and that YOU, and all those Dawn and I are privileged to serve, would encounter Christ in and through us and would know and believe that there is no other God.  
    Dawn has some exciting stories of ministry to share along those lines in her next newsletter.  In the mean time, we would appreciate it if you keep us in your prayers also.  Summer time is always a slower time for us here at Jordan Ministries and so if you know of a church or an event that would be a good fit for Dawn, she would be happy to share a concert simply on a love-offering basis to accommodate struggling church budgets and continue to help sustain the ministry and her family also. Thank-you for your support, your encouragement and your prayers.  
Joyfully in His Service,
Jennifer

Jennifer Dale
Dawn Smith Jordan Ministries
Schedule Coordinator
Phone: 803-873-1192
www.dawnsmithjordan.com

"But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works." Psalm 73:28