December, 2006 “Year in Review”
Matthew November 13th, 2007
December, 2006 “Year in Review”
Dear Family and Friends,
It’s time again for our annual year-in-review newsletter. We have so much to be grateful for this year! God has brought us through another year where we have seen his incredible hand of blessing and guidance. Here are a few of the highlights:
January through March was filled with intense legislative ministry for Matthew. At the beginning of the legislative session he held the 2nd annual Prayer Service in the Indiana Statehouse with over 200 in attendance. God continues to provide many “divine appointments” in which Matthew is able to establish and build relationships with elected leaders and staff.
We also put our house on the market in January. We wanted to buy a house in
In February we were privileged to be able to go to
The legislative session closed in the middle of March. We were able to be a part of a missions conference and Matthew preached at several churches this month.
A highlight of April was the wonderful opportunity to go into the public schools once a week with a ministry called the Good News Club. Sarah and Micah were a part of the club and Matthew and Miriam taught, as well as many people from our church. It was quite a blessing to see children come to know Christ as their personal Savior right there in the schools!
Around this time Matthew started working on an addition and upgrading of his parents’ house to accommodate his grandma moving in. It was quite a project, entailing replacing his parents’ drain plumbing and everything else that goes into a laundry room addition. The Lord gave wisdom and the project was finished close to on time (right Mamaw?☺).
We went to several more churches in April to share about the ministry, and Matthew was thrilled to be able to preach a week long youth revival in May.
Meanwhile, our house was still on the market with very little interest. Honda announced plans to build a plant in
Church softball started in June. Matthew was the coach and we went undefeated until the last couple of games! Lots of fun. We very much enjoy being a part of our local church and the activities there whenever we can. God has truly given our pastor and the people a big vision for our community and state.
This was the last month of the contract with the realtor, and we still had no one interested in buying our house. We started wondering if God just wanted us to stay where we were. Then the last week of June two families bid on it at the same time! We were able to receive full asking price for the house, PTL! The only problem now was, where were we going to go?
We decided to not forgo our annual trip to the cottage with Miriam’s family in July, even though we still didn’t have a house to move to. We are truly blessed to have a place to vacation for a week each year. Miriam’s great-grandfather had tremendous foresight in building a cottage on the third most beautiful lake in the world! It is also the place where several of the family couples have declared there intentions to marry, us included. Hence it is a walk down memory lane for everyone, and a place to make so many more.
We closed on our house July 25th as scheduled, and had 30 days left to find a place to move to. We had been putting bids on many places and were considering all different kinds of options, but the Lord still did not open any doors.
After what seemed like hundreds of houses and failed attempts to buy them, it was Aug. 4th, and a house had just been bid out from under us again. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Matthew. We would put a bid on a house and the next morning someone else would buy it instead, even if the house had not had any bids in a year. God was obviously working on our behalf, not allowing us to buy what He didn’t want for us. The problem was - we didn’t know what He did want for us! Matthew was feeling the pressure of having to provide a place for the family and was getting discouraged. Sunday Aug. 6th Matthew yielded the whole house hunt back over to God and trusted Him to provide. We went to look at a house that afternoon, but with much lighter hearts, knowing that God was in control and would provide for us somehow.
The house was a dream. We were smitten the first time we saw it! However it was out of our price range. We offered what we had, hoping we weren’t insulting them. Two hours later they had accepted the offer! God was just waiting for us to let him do a miracle! Then we had another hurdle to cross. We needed financing, which is not an easy thing to do when you are in full time mission work and you don’t know how the next bills will be paid. But again the Lord was faithful. The bank lent the money and set the closing up in less than 14 days, so the Lord even gave us 4 days to move!
We have two different ways of describing our new house. Miriam talks about how big the rooms are, the wonderful fireplace, the storage spaces everywhere, the walk-in closets, the built-in drawers, the cavernous cabinets in the kitchen, the sunny school room, and the list goes on and on. Matthew describes the country setting, the HUGE barn, half the drive time to the Statehouse, and other things like the solid structure of the house and infrastructure improvements we have already made. Truly we could not have ordered the house any better. You’ll just have to come and visit!
We had our first regional legislators’ Bible study (outside the Statehouse) in August. It was held in a senator’s home with several legislators in attendance. The Lord certainly led in the discussion and there seemed to be much spiritual growth. PTL!
School starting in September brought the return of the Good News Clubs on Wednesday afternoons, as well as soccer practices and games. We took a break from coaching this year, which was nice with all the moving and getting settled in. Matthew continues to maintain employment at The Home Depot on Saturdays for insurance, so attending soccer games is done on his lunch hour. Sarah and Micah’s teams both placed in the top two in their divisions. Emma is going to be quite the player when she is old enough. She can already dribble very well.
October was a busy time of travel. We went to
November began with elections and more churches to visit. We also had a series of meetings in our home church. It was a wonderful time of renewal and revival. The biggest highlight of this month came on Nov. 8th when Micah accepted Christ as his personal Savior. God is so good!
So, between keeping the old house ready to be shown, and then moving and unpacking, Miriam has kept quite busy this year. She still has trouble believing this house is really ours. The house is very sturdy but needs a lot of cosmetic updating, and she’s been enjoying gradually adding the little touches that make it our home. Home educating the children and traveling to the various churches for the ministry has also kept her on her toes.
Sarah (7) is a miniature copy of Miriam. She’s such a great help around the house, is organized, reliable, and mature. She’s doing well in school and enjoys her American Girl dolls (thanks Grandma!) and riding her bike. All three of the children enjoy playing in the barns (“forts”) immensely.
Micah (5) is a thoughtful and caring boy. He’s very gentle with his younger sister Emma and is always running to her rescue. He loves to play with anything that has to do with cowboys or armies. Aunt Anna (Miriam’s sister) has been a big influence in his life, as she joined the National Guard this year.
Emma (2) is the fun-loving, comic relief in our family. She’s also incredibly coordinated for her age and likes to do anything hands-on, mechanically that she can. She’s the star of
As we round out the year we look forward to the many new opportunities we will have in the New Year. We would like to praise God for his continued faithfulness in providing for our needs, both spiritually and physically. We would also like to thank you all for your sincere prayers and support! Here are a few prayer requests for the coming year:
- The transmission in the Matthew’s work car went out recently. We put a new one in and it did not seem to help. Please pray for wisdom as to how to fix it. This car is needed for the great fuel mileage it gets!
- We hope to start a new lobbyist Bible study this year.
- Weekly legislative Bible studies during session
- Weekly Statehouse chapel services
- Health for our family. (Over the past couple of months we have had a few emergency room visits. Through that we discovered our insurance does not cover emergency room visits unless we are admitted.)
- Patience and wisdom for Miriam as she teaches the children school
- Sarah, Micah, and Emma for a desire to learn and be obedient and helpful
For those of you who don’t get our regular newsletters and would like to, please email us at matthew at publicservantsprayer dot org .
You can also check out our website at www publicservantsprayer dot org where previous newsletters are posted.
Merry Christmas and may the Lord bless you in the coming New Year!
Matthew and Miriam Barnes and Family