A little child shall lead them

Carrie Graham, our Children's Pastor, sent this report from her ministry to me this week:

Here is a great illustration of the scripture found in Isaiah 11:6, "A little child shall lead them." One of our Tomoka families had to take their four year-old daughter, Sarah, to the emergency room a few weekends ago. Sarah informed her doctor that he did not need to give her a shot, but instead just needed to pray with her because Jesus was going to heal her. The doctor looked at Sarah's mom, Shirley, and said, "I've never prayed before in my life, but I guess I'm going to tonight." He held Sarah's hands and she prayed. They told the doctor they went to Tomoka and Shirley said the next time they were at church that they saw Sarah's ER doctor from a distance. Shirley is convinced their trip to the ER was not for Sarah, but instead was for the doctor...."a little child shall lead them."

God's power revealed during fast

A couple attending and serving at Tomoka Christian, Bill and Paula Anderson, recently accepted the challenge to spend time fasting and praying. They have an amazing testimony to share after their experience.

I would like to share with you some praise reports due to 40 days of fasting that we completed. We had never before fasted for an extended amount of time together. God is so faithful. On our 40th day, our daily devotions were from Philippians 4:8, "If there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."

Over the 40 days, we saw God work in our family's lives. We experienced many answers to prayer. Our two oldest daughters had not been employed full time in over a year. During the fast, they both were offered full-time positions. Also, our in-laws were able to leave our household to move to their own place.

When Bill was ill a few months ago for a long time, we fell behind in all of our bills. The greatest concern was our mortgage. Praise God, we are now current, which only happened in the last week of the fast. We have truly experienced that when we are faithful, He is faithful. God has done so much more for us that we cannot express all of His goodness and mercy.

We did not fast seeking worldly reward, but accepted your challenge as a way to grow closer to our Savior. We did truly grow spiritually — beyond our expectations. Our worldly needs being met was certainly a bonus.