Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
A Testimony of His Faithfulness
Okay, I saw this video on the recent tragedy that struck Steven Curtis Chapman's family and it was difficult to keep my eyes dry. A lot of things hit me that were said, but what stuck out the most is what he told his son. View the video and find out:
Christian Star Grieves Daughter's Death
God is good.
Christian Star Grieves Daughter's Death
God is good.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
New Addition to the Nacke's
This is from our very much missed family in Illinois, Cory, Mindy, and Tessa Nacke:
"...Owen William Nacke!!!!!!!
He came into the world yesterday (5/15/08) at 2:13pm He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs. 3 oz. and stretched to 20" long. Mother and baby are doing great, Big Sis doesn't know what to think and Daddy is ready for a nap! Here are some pics of our little man!
Cory, Mindy, Tessa and Owen"
Congratulations to the Nacke's! Great work Nackes in bringing yet another beautiful child into the world!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Prayer for a Friend
Hey Family,
I have a friend here at work (Brittany) who is having some major problems in her life right now and is in need of prayer. Here is the deal:
Her Mother was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago. She's been going through Chemotherapy since but the tumor is still growing. So this week, the doctor's just found a blood clot that is on top of the tumor and preventing its removal. Doctor's are telling them that its hereditary, since her grandmother died young from similar causes and around the same age. Also, doctors are thinking that Brittany herself needs to get re-tested for this particularly rare form of cancer.
The last doctor (of 4) put the mother on Xanax and she is now experiencing schizophrenic episodes and reduced mental capacity as she has been, at times, unresponsive to her family.
Lastly, her parents are on the fritz and are going into bankruptcy and having already separated.
So thats the gist of it.
Here are some specifics to pray for:
Strength in their time of need
Healing
Godly encouragement
Deliverance from habits
Wisdom
Patience
Peace
Salvation for the Mom (and family)
God's will be done
Thanks all.
Call me with questions.
949*278*6963
JG
I have a friend here at work (Brittany) who is having some major problems in her life right now and is in need of prayer. Here is the deal:
Her Mother was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago. She's been going through Chemotherapy since but the tumor is still growing. So this week, the doctor's just found a blood clot that is on top of the tumor and preventing its removal. Doctor's are telling them that its hereditary, since her grandmother died young from similar causes and around the same age. Also, doctors are thinking that Brittany herself needs to get re-tested for this particularly rare form of cancer.
The last doctor (of 4) put the mother on Xanax and she is now experiencing schizophrenic episodes and reduced mental capacity as she has been, at times, unresponsive to her family.
Lastly, her parents are on the fritz and are going into bankruptcy and having already separated.
So thats the gist of it.
Here are some specifics to pray for:
Strength in their time of need
Healing
Godly encouragement
Deliverance from habits
Wisdom
Patience
Peace
Salvation for the Mom (and family)
God's will be done
Thanks all.
Call me with questions.
949*278*6963
JG
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Hailey Follow Up
My friends, it is my prayer that as witnesses to the Lord's miraculous hand that we can memorialize this moment which He meant for US to experience as a group to "further advance the Kingdom."
Rob
This is from Jeff, our friend whose niece is Hailey (See May 16th Post):
"It was definitely a crazy couple of days. Definitely the power of prayer that pulled this whole thing to a good spot. She is good to go as of right now, been at home for the last couple of days. They think that she might have had a seizure or just tried to hold her breath too long while under the water.
Thanks for the prayers."
Jeff Sherod
From Christy:
"But the quick synopsis, is that God heard everyones prayers, and performed a miracle. Yesterday, it was doubtful that Hailey would live, and this morning, she is BREATHING, TALKING and they have confirmed that there is NO brain damage. Absolutely amazing. She went from being blue, unresponsive and on life support, to possibly getting discharged as early as TONIGHT! The doctors are attributing the quick recovery to the fact that the dad immediately did CPR on Haily, and therefore got crucial oxygen to her brain at a key moment. But we are attributing it to a Great God who hears our prayers, who still works miracles today, and who holds the keys to life and death. Praise the Lord that he gave this little girl back to her parents and those who love her. He is good. His love endures forever!"
Christy
From Meegs:
"Good is good.
Thank you, Lord, for restoring faith in prayer for me!
I'm sorry, God that I doubted you for a long time when I heard you say, 'no' or 'wait'.
Thank you, God, as you ARE good.
please forgive me, Jesus.
For you, in fact, are good."
Megan (Meegs)
Rob
This is from Jeff, our friend whose niece is Hailey (See May 16th Post):
"It was definitely a crazy couple of days. Definitely the power of prayer that pulled this whole thing to a good spot. She is good to go as of right now, been at home for the last couple of days. They think that she might have had a seizure or just tried to hold her breath too long while under the water.
Thanks for the prayers."
Jeff Sherod
From Christy:
"But the quick synopsis, is that God heard everyones prayers, and performed a miracle. Yesterday, it was doubtful that Hailey would live, and this morning, she is BREATHING, TALKING and they have confirmed that there is NO brain damage. Absolutely amazing. She went from being blue, unresponsive and on life support, to possibly getting discharged as early as TONIGHT! The doctors are attributing the quick recovery to the fact that the dad immediately did CPR on Haily, and therefore got crucial oxygen to her brain at a key moment. But we are attributing it to a Great God who hears our prayers, who still works miracles today, and who holds the keys to life and death. Praise the Lord that he gave this little girl back to her parents and those who love her. He is good. His love endures forever!"
Christy
From Meegs:
"Good is good.
Thank you, Lord, for restoring faith in prayer for me!
I'm sorry, God that I doubted you for a long time when I heard you say, 'no' or 'wait'.
Thank you, God, as you ARE good.
please forgive me, Jesus.
For you, in fact, are good."
Megan (Meegs)
Friday, May 16, 2008
GOD IS GOOD-- MIRACLES HAPPEN!
I AM BLOWN AWAY BY HIS FAITHFULNESS AND GOODNESS! And to be quite honest with you, I've been wanting to see Him work in a situation that is close to me so I can bear more witness to His Kingdom with my personal experience.
Last night at LG, all of us were given some disturbing news. A dear friend's niece had fallen into a jacuzzi for numerous minutes and was motionless. She was taken to the hospital and given a very bleak diagnosis-- basically guaranteed brain damage of some kind and no guarantees of coming out of her coma (from what I understood). On top of that there may have been water in her brain and lungs.
Well as a group we prayed for this little girl (Hailey)-- passionately and pleading with the Lord. Mid-way through LG we received a call from the little girl's aunt and it turns out that when they took out the breathing apparatus she gasp for breaths on her own. Apparently this was a good thing because it meant that her brain was working! Still we all acknowledge that the Lord was above all this and could perform insane miracles. We prayed again at the end of life group and passionately called out to God to rescue and save. See the email conversation between Tracey and Megan Beeney (aka Meegs) below:
From: Beeney, Megan [mailto:MBeeney@usa.norgren.com]
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 10:03 AM
To: Beeney, Jacob; Susan Beeney
Cc: Espero, Tracey M; Ashley Beeney (hurley7142003@myway.com)
Subject: God is sooooo good, Good all the time!!!
Importance: High
Beens, I just needed to update you.
I just got a call from Christy Norland, from life group.
Hailey, the one that we prayed for last night, IS TALKING THIS MORNING!!!!
after being found under the water, presumed dead from drowning, with only small brain activity.....
THEY MAY EVEN RELEASE HER TONIGHT TO GO HOME!!!!!
GOD, YOU ARE SO GOOD.
WE PRAISE YOU, AND THANK YOU, FOR THE ANSWERING OF THIS PRAYER.
The medical doctors will blame it on the fact that she had a seizure from the heat of the Jacuzzi, and the fact that she was only under the water a few minutes, and because CPR was performed on her....
BUT WE KNOW THE REAL REASON - PRAYER.
God may have used all of those things, but she was saved by God's Holy sovereignty!!!
they only had her sedated a little bit last night, then she was breathing on her own.
and this morning, she started talking
WITH NO BRAIN DAMAGE AT ALL!!!
Thank you, Lord, for saving that little girl, we praise you, and thank you for the innumerable blessings we are surrounded by each day.
and thank you, Lord, for using this to remind me how awesome and amazing you are.
trace, thought you might like an update.
ash and sue, just thought that you should know that I got a HUGE reminder today that God is so good... sometimes we don't understand it, and sometimes we do.....
last night, I got it!
Thank you,
Megan Beeney
Direct Sales - LA Area
Norgren, USA
562-331-6672
www.norgren.com
Last night at LG, all of us were given some disturbing news. A dear friend's niece had fallen into a jacuzzi for numerous minutes and was motionless. She was taken to the hospital and given a very bleak diagnosis-- basically guaranteed brain damage of some kind and no guarantees of coming out of her coma (from what I understood). On top of that there may have been water in her brain and lungs.
Well as a group we prayed for this little girl (Hailey)-- passionately and pleading with the Lord. Mid-way through LG we received a call from the little girl's aunt and it turns out that when they took out the breathing apparatus she gasp for breaths on her own. Apparently this was a good thing because it meant that her brain was working! Still we all acknowledge that the Lord was above all this and could perform insane miracles. We prayed again at the end of life group and passionately called out to God to rescue and save. See the email conversation between Tracey and Megan Beeney (aka Meegs) below:
From: Beeney, Megan [mailto:MBeeney@usa.norgren.com]
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 10:03 AM
To: Beeney, Jacob; Susan Beeney
Cc: Espero, Tracey M; Ashley Beeney (hurley7142003@myway.com)
Subject: God is sooooo good, Good all the time!!!
Importance: High
Beens, I just needed to update you.
I just got a call from Christy Norland, from life group.
Hailey, the one that we prayed for last night, IS TALKING THIS MORNING!!!!
after being found under the water, presumed dead from drowning, with only small brain activity.....
THEY MAY EVEN RELEASE HER TONIGHT TO GO HOME!!!!!
GOD, YOU ARE SO GOOD.
WE PRAISE YOU, AND THANK YOU, FOR THE ANSWERING OF THIS PRAYER.
The medical doctors will blame it on the fact that she had a seizure from the heat of the Jacuzzi, and the fact that she was only under the water a few minutes, and because CPR was performed on her....
BUT WE KNOW THE REAL REASON - PRAYER.
God may have used all of those things, but she was saved by God's Holy sovereignty!!!
they only had her sedated a little bit last night, then she was breathing on her own.
and this morning, she started talking
WITH NO BRAIN DAMAGE AT ALL!!!
Thank you, Lord, for saving that little girl, we praise you, and thank you for the innumerable blessings we are surrounded by each day.
and thank you, Lord, for using this to remind me how awesome and amazing you are.
trace, thought you might like an update.
ash and sue, just thought that you should know that I got a HUGE reminder today that God is so good... sometimes we don't understand it, and sometimes we do.....
last night, I got it!
Thank you,
Megan Beeney
Direct Sales - LA Area
Norgren, USA
562-331-6672
www.norgren.com
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Looking to community... a request
Hi all,
First of all, hello to you out-of-staters (Womacks & Nackes), folks we
haven't seen for a while (Regehrs, Hogues) and everyone else in between. I
am writing to apologize for not being at our last week's discussion on
Community. I know that we are all being challenged to push our boundaries as
to our perception of what doing "true community" is like and I
know the Lord is not exempting Tracey and I from it-- believe me I wish we
were-- which brings me to the purpose of my email.
Amidst all the real serious stuff that we have discovered that is going on
in other people's lives due to our new role as Community Pastors, Trace
and I have talked to and prayed for people who are on death-beds, lives
being brought out of chemical dependency, families down to cents in their
bank accounts, people in abusive relationships, and so much more. I mention
this because this has created a certain mentality within me-- one that
causes me to think, "Gosh, these people have real problems compared to
what Trace and I are struggling with."
Why do I say this do you ask? Because this thought process has made me feel like I am selfish to ask for prayer in what I consider "minor" or trivial struggles
compared to the struggles other people are challenged with resulting in keeping me from reaching out to those for which we are supposed to be in community with
(you guys). One thing I am realizing is the Lord is calling me and Trace
to share our "stuff" with you guys, our community, as we go through the journey of life with all of you.
For this I apologize for because I have missed out on the true gift of
community that the Lord has blessed us with. There are SO MANY people
desiring to be in close community with others within RH and I have taken for granted the gift the Lord has given Trace and I with for over 7 years. We are called
to "be real" with each other and therefore this is my attempt to
break out of what has been of this thought-process that has kept me
from being a part of our community-- which brings me to my prayer requests:
Can you please pray:
1) Against this flu I've been struggling with for the last 2 1/2 weeks. I've
been missing quite a bit of work (both my full-time job and announcing
commitments). It has been a difficult couple of weeks because I turn into a
big baby when I get sick and I'm sure that Trace hates dealing with me especially since I hate being laid out to a point where I can't do a thing.
2) Since being back from Australia/New Zealand, I sense that my supervisor
has not been very satisfied with me and the atmosphere between her and I has
been one of thick tension due to time loss from work from being gone on
vacation for 3 1/2 weeks at a crucial time, time off due to the passing of
my Grandmother and the missing of even more time due to illness related to
the stress of all these things happening at once (migraine headaches, lack
of sleep, worry, etc).
3) The ability to see the Lord in what He is doing in this season of life He
has placed me in (which one is obviously doing true community with all of
you).
Some of us can make the argument (this includes Trace and I) that we have
"community", but it is my belief that our MLG has been hand-picked by the Lord for each of us see if we can be good stewards of the relationships He has given to us. For example, I could only imagine how hungry Trace and I would be for community if we
moved to another area (like Narrabeen near Sydney, Australia) without a community of
believers-- I would be pretty depressed without this gift community.
Hebrews 11:16 refers to a community who have an earnest desire to "seek
the heavenly country" with others. This is my first humble step in that
direction to re-nurture a deeper a appreciation of this Divine gift
entrusted to me and Trace.
I apologize for my long-winded email, but just felt the Lord prompting me to
take a first-step in watering this seed within our group to see what kind
kind of fruit is born from His calling for me. I would love to dialog with all
of you in this (so please feel free to reply to everyone).
Thanks for your eyes and ears-- and your entrusting of your hearts to
include Trace and I in our MLG community!
Seeking the heavenly country (Heb 11:16),
Rob Espero
P.S. I try to post this to our blog at:
http://millerlifegroup.blogspot.com
P.S.S. Great job as of late to the Norlands since taking over of LG
leadership. I love seeing the desire the Lord has placed in Josh &
Christy's hearts to bring us to a deeper relationship with the Lord and each
other.
P.S.S.S You've got to check out the photos at the RH 10-Year Celebration at:
http://www.rockharbor.org/photo/thumbnails.php?album=75&page=9
Notice the feet on the blanket next to Josh in the grass. He bored one of his kids to death!
What's up with Josh being anti-social at a group picnic-- what up dude? Social skills deteriorating? Checking ESPN.com?
There are also pix of myself & Nina, Cassi and others.
First of all, hello to you out-of-staters (Womacks & Nackes), folks we
haven't seen for a while (Regehrs, Hogues) and everyone else in between. I
am writing to apologize for not being at our last week's discussion on
Community. I know that we are all being challenged to push our boundaries as
to our perception of what doing "true community" is like and I
know the Lord is not exempting Tracey and I from it-- believe me I wish we
were-- which brings me to the purpose of my email.
Amidst all the real serious stuff that we have discovered that is going on
in other people's lives due to our new role as Community Pastors, Trace
and I have talked to and prayed for people who are on death-beds, lives
being brought out of chemical dependency, families down to cents in their
bank accounts, people in abusive relationships, and so much more. I mention
this because this has created a certain mentality within me-- one that
causes me to think, "Gosh, these people have real problems compared to
what Trace and I are struggling with."
Why do I say this do you ask? Because this thought process has made me feel like I am selfish to ask for prayer in what I consider "minor" or trivial struggles
compared to the struggles other people are challenged with resulting in keeping me from reaching out to those for which we are supposed to be in community with
(you guys). One thing I am realizing is the Lord is calling me and Trace
to share our "stuff" with you guys, our community, as we go through the journey of life with all of you.
For this I apologize for because I have missed out on the true gift of
community that the Lord has blessed us with. There are SO MANY people
desiring to be in close community with others within RH and I have taken for granted the gift the Lord has given Trace and I with for over 7 years. We are called
to "be real" with each other and therefore this is my attempt to
break out of what has been of this thought-process that has kept me
from being a part of our community-- which brings me to my prayer requests:
Can you please pray:
1) Against this flu I've been struggling with for the last 2 1/2 weeks. I've
been missing quite a bit of work (both my full-time job and announcing
commitments). It has been a difficult couple of weeks because I turn into a
big baby when I get sick and I'm sure that Trace hates dealing with me especially since I hate being laid out to a point where I can't do a thing.
2) Since being back from Australia/New Zealand, I sense that my supervisor
has not been very satisfied with me and the atmosphere between her and I has
been one of thick tension due to time loss from work from being gone on
vacation for 3 1/2 weeks at a crucial time, time off due to the passing of
my Grandmother and the missing of even more time due to illness related to
the stress of all these things happening at once (migraine headaches, lack
of sleep, worry, etc).
3) The ability to see the Lord in what He is doing in this season of life He
has placed me in (which one is obviously doing true community with all of
you).
Some of us can make the argument (this includes Trace and I) that we have
"community", but it is my belief that our MLG has been hand-picked by the Lord for each of us see if we can be good stewards of the relationships He has given to us. For example, I could only imagine how hungry Trace and I would be for community if we
moved to another area (like Narrabeen near Sydney, Australia) without a community of
believers-- I would be pretty depressed without this gift community.
Hebrews 11:16 refers to a community who have an earnest desire to "seek
the heavenly country" with others. This is my first humble step in that
direction to re-nurture a deeper a appreciation of this Divine gift
entrusted to me and Trace.
I apologize for my long-winded email, but just felt the Lord prompting me to
take a first-step in watering this seed within our group to see what kind
kind of fruit is born from His calling for me. I would love to dialog with all
of you in this (so please feel free to reply to everyone).
Thanks for your eyes and ears-- and your entrusting of your hearts to
include Trace and I in our MLG community!
Seeking the heavenly country (Heb 11:16),
Rob Espero
P.S. I try to post this to our blog at:
http://millerlifegroup.blogspot.com
P.S.S. Great job as of late to the Norlands since taking over of LG
leadership. I love seeing the desire the Lord has placed in Josh &
Christy's hearts to bring us to a deeper relationship with the Lord and each
other.
P.S.S.S You've got to check out the photos at the RH 10-Year Celebration at:
http://www.rockharbor.org/photo/thumbnails.php?album=75&page=9
Notice the feet on the blanket next to Josh in the grass. He bored one of his kids to death!
What's up with Josh being anti-social at a group picnic-- what up dude? Social skills deteriorating? Checking ESPN.com?
There are also pix of myself & Nina, Cassi and others.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Last Night's Life Group Discussion
Found this on Bible Gateway this morning. :)
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No coincidences...
Thought it appropriate to share with everyone. Love you guys.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No coincidences...
Thought it appropriate to share with everyone. Love you guys.
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