to the church in Kenosha...

Dear Family at Living Light,
Hello from Colorado. We have been here for about 5 months now, and we wanted to update you on how everything is going. And we want you to have it in writing, (just so you know for sure) that we miss you.
We have enjoyed getting to know some of the families and individuals in the church family here. There are some very lovely people here. It is especially fun for us watching the young adults grow. There are many brand new and almost brand new believers in the church. This “New Group” has so much energy and enthusiasm, and at the same time has so many hang-ups. It is fun being able to pour into these lives and to watch them grow.
The spiritual strongholds in this town seem so obvious. Some of the most common areas of struggle that it seems all of Ft Morgan deal with are apathy, loneliness, bitterness. Its the west out here, people think they have to be independent and self-reliant. Knowing these spiritual areas of battle and weakness that are so prevalent helps us not only to see what is going on around us, but also keeps us aware of the attacks that are bound to come against us. It is like training for a war, it truly is a mission field, and we are truly in training. Thanks to God for those he has put here to walk and to fight the good fight with us. We have been blessed to have people of sincere heart put here with us to war with us. Praise be to God.
Joshua has been playing on the worship team, I have been dancing in the back. These are both things that we believe God is going to use to bring break through in the church. There are many who are sincere in their love for the Lord, and now they need to learn to express themselves to him. It is our belief that as we serve him, others will be inspired to serve him as well. We have both had so many people come up to us at different times and tell us that we are such an encouragement in worship, that we are such a blessing. (And there is a little girl or two who watch me dance and copy what I do. “Blessed are the pure in heart.” “The little child shall lead them.”)
Even before Josh and I were dating, I have often thought that the drought going on in Ft. Morgan was very symbolic of its spiritual health: dry, worn out, and not able to produce much fruit. So I have prayed for rain in the natural, and for the Spirit of God to rain down. I felt that the rain would come before the Spirit, because God often speaks first though what we can see, outwardly showing whats going on inside. With this said, in the spring we had a time of prayer and Joshua and one of the pastor/elders both began praying for rain and for a move of God. It then rained almost every afternoon for 2 weeks. Josh has once again been praying for rain, and last night it rained like crazy. It was beautiful, and there were rivers rushing in every street. Together we praised the Lord for the rain. We are excited about the rain, but also, I am curious to see what God has in the works for Ft. Morgan, not just in the natural, but in the spiritual. My prayer is that God's life and his Spirit will bring healing, change, and fruit that will last. May the Spirit Rain Down.
I have been studying proverbs for the last few weeks. This is because I will be teaching a class on proverbs with the young adults this fall. I chose this because I feel that God given wisdom is so scarce in my generation. Studying this has been a huge blessing for me, because as I have meditated on different verses I have came to quite a conclusion, much different than the many times i have read it before. For the first time I am beginning to Proverbs as an inside-out book, rather than an outside-in book. For instance, if you have the fruit of the spirit called gentleness inside of you, you will give a gentle answer that will turn away wrath. It doesn't work the other way around. If you give a gentle answer to turn away wrath it will not eventually make you into a gentle person. Wisdom is works its way from deep inside you till it pours out on everyone around you. The fear of the Lord is where this all starts. Anyhow, this is just a tid-bit about me specifically. I have really enjoyed what I have been learning from and seeing in Proverbs.
We miss you, love you, think and pray for you a lot.
Joshua & MaryElizabeth