Happy New Year!  

Voice of the Bride sincerely wishes you a HAPPY new year.  It goes without saying that 2020 was quite the rollercoaster.  For all of us.  For us, we had some extra craziness thrown in, with Carol injuring her rotator cuff, sustaining a concussion in late October, and arriving back from 7 weeks in VA (helping her parents through significant health issues), only to have a cracked tooth, rear it’s ugly head. Wayne’s family also had a serious health emergency, and he also spent part of our holiday with pain from an infected ear. All of this in addition to the pandemic, the elections, the demonstrations and so on (as you experienced as well).   Still, we continued doing the day to day work of the Lord, feeding the needy, worshiping the Lord, praying and encouraging.  

With all of that, we can honestly share that there has been grace for this journey for us, and for Voice of the Bride.  We are very thankful to the Lord, for how He has sustained us through each thing.  We are certain that our story is not much different from yours, in terms of how we are all navigating this bizarre period of time in history.  Certainly, there have been moments of great desperation, anxiety, and stress.  Fear, seems a daily force. Nevertheless, Carol happened to be reading Psalm 27 the other day, and was particularly struck by the following verse: 

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living”.  

Goodness is still out there.  GOD is still moving and working.  We see evidence of that, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.  We see that in Native Americans moving out with authority in worship and prayer…we see that in the grateful hearts and faces, of those we have the honor of serving in Tijuana.  We read and hear stories of good/GOD doing amazing things around the world.  Keep the faith brothers and sisters..…

“GOD is Love” (I Jn 4:8). “Perfect love casts out all fear” (I Jn 4:18)……guess what, GOD is perfect, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  Lift up your eyes to His throne!  Be encouraged, even in the midst of the chaos!  And thank you for continuing to be a part of this work!  You are one who is bringing the ‘goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living.’  Psalm 27:13

Urgent prayer request for crossing the border:  A new change of leadership in Mexican customs, has brought about extremely strict ‘new’ conditions to meet, before being able to cross with food.  We have been limited—severely limited—in the food we can take. Including even being refused entry into Mexico with our loads.. Even as recently as today (1.22.21), there was somewhat of an unavoidable incident that put Wayne in potential conflict with customs agents. Please pray.  Also, Carol would appreciate prayer for health: concussion residue, rotator cuff, teeth!!  

PS.  You might want to read Psalm 27 as your prayer for a few days….you’ll be encouraged. For sure!