With Easter only a few weeks away, I asked Karen, “What do you want to do for Easter? Any family plans to get together? If not, do we want to buy something special to eat? Or is there some place special you want to go to after church for dinner?” I love Easter Sunday! Jesus resurrected! The stone rolled away! The empty tomb! His salvation is here! Rejoice! Woohoo! I AM FORGIVEN because of Easter! All of a sudden, I realized my thoughts were only on Easter Sunday! I began to think about all that Jesus did for us so we could celebrate Sunday with friends, family, special food, going to church!

My mind went to the 4-5 days leading up to Easter. And then I got out my Bible and turned to Isaiah chapter 53. My eyes fell immediately on verse 6, which I memorized as a child: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” But the Lord had me go back to verses 3-4: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows acquainted with grief…He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” It hit me so hard—a Man of sorrows! A prophecy written 700 years before Jesus was born! Before Jesus was crucified and died!

At Easter, we focus on two days out of the entire life of Jesus: Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But God the Son walked on the earth for 33 YEARS. It’s true we don’t know a lot about the first 30 years before He began His public ministry, but we know what He endured those last 3 years by reading about His life in the first 4 books of the New Testament: Confronting the religious leaders who were bound by tradition and man-made rules, who tried to stone Him, throw Him off a cliff, then plotted His death. Loving the people, the crowds who one day loved Him for His miracles and the next day left Him because of the truth He spoke. He was misunderstood by his family and even his disciples misunderstood His mission. His words were continually twisted. He was hated, mocked and rejected. He suffered deep grief and wept over the things we weep over…death of our friends, rejection when we try to tell people truth and they refuse to consider it, betrayal by those closest to us. Finally He wept over Jerusalem, because they failed to respond to, or even recognize, the One sent to save His people, to reveal to them the character of the Father, to give them the true source of peace.

Maybe you’re in a state of personal anguish today. There’s something that is causing you a great deal of pain. Jesus has been there. He has walked in your shoes. Don’t think that God is disconnected from what you’re facing. Jesus has faced it. Today, the risen and living Jesus can enter into your suffering. He has experienced it. He understands. You’re not alone. Talk to Him. Let Him in to your pain, your grief, your sorrow.

“He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities; the chastisement for OUR peace was upon Him, and by His stripes WE are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Another translation says it more plainly, “He was pierced for OUR rebellion, crushed for OUR sins. He was beaten so WE could be whole. He was whipped so WE could be healed.” He endured years of sorrow to get to the cross. Why? He couldn’t stop thinking about YOU and ME.

On top of being busy with the ministry as usual, we are moving! We are keeping up God’s pattern of moving us every 5 years over the past 25 years! This move we didn’t see coming, however! This time we aren’t moving out of state, or even out of city! We are moving 4 miles into the town of Sioux Rapids. Since November 2020, we have lived two miles out of town in Rural Sioux Rapids on 7 acres. This past year, there has been a lot of maintenance needed in our 2 acres of grove. The high winds have taken down many trees, and we decided it takes more maintenance than we are willing to give, time we would rather give to the ministry, ministry without the constant distraction of needing to put in lots of time and energy to the acreage! We have loved it, but it’s time…we are buying a home on a half acre with space to park our two Free Prayer trailers! We have sold our home on contingency and are praying for the buyer of their home to come forth SOON so that all the closings can take place around mid-March.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day yesterday! We enjoyed a fantastic meal with our family here in Iowa. Although the official Day of Thanks is over, make gratitude to God a daily event. It builds faith and removes any fear or anxiety about the day as you give Him praise and thanks! Remember that God loves you so much, He wants to be embraced–first into your hearts–and then into your daily life. He can make that difference you need in all circumstances–whether financial, physical, or emotional! Allow Him to lavish you with blessings this Christmas season!

Today I (Emil) was reading the Bible in Luke about the 10 lepers, Luke‬ ‭17‬:‭12‬-‭19‬ ‭Passion Translation. This story really touched my heart! 10 lepers came to Jesus—they were complete outcasts, totally unclean, and were banned from society! They called out to Jesus, and He said, “Go show yourself to the priests,” and as they were obedient and went to the priests, they were cleansed and healed! Yet one of the 10, meaning 10%, stopped when he realized he was healed and returned to the Lord, giving Jesus praise, worship and glory! Why is this important? Because Jesus said, “Ten of you were healed! What about the other nine?” But the one who came back with gratitude overflowing from his heart, for what the Lord did for him, was the only one of the 10 who got saved. The other nine were made clean! This is something for us to really think about, the power of gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord for the things that He does in our life. Gratitude is the attitude that moves the hand of God more than anything else I can imagine! So the next time you go to grumble, I hope you remember this story! Read it below in the passion translation for yourself, and see what I’m talking about!

As he entered one village, ten men approached him, but they kept their distance, for they were lepers. They shouted to him, “Mighty Lord, our wonderful Master! Won’t you have mercy on us and heal us?” When Jesus stopped to look at them, he spoke these words: “Go to be examined by the Jewish priests.” They set off, and they were healed while walking along the way. One of them, a Samaritan, when he discovered that he was completely healed, turned back to find Jesus, shouting out joyous praises and glorifying God. When he found Jesus, he fell down at his feet and thanked him over and over, saying to him, “You are the Messiah.” “So where are the other nine?” Jesus asked. “Weren’t there ten who were healed? They all refused to return to give thanks and give glory to God except you, a foreigner from Samaria?” Then Jesus said to the healed man lying at his feet, “Arise and go. It was your faith that brought you salvation and made you whole.”
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It’s going to be a good one! God has made great and precious promises regarding 2022. Do you have faith to believe them? By faith, we receive His promises!

Don’t be among those who feed more on the world’s report than on God’s report. Will you join the fearful–those filled with discouragement and trapped in a negative mindset, echoing the world’s doom and gloom? Or will you be like the believer who declares, “We are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience truth life!” (Heb 10:39 TPT)

– paraphrased from Vikki Burke article

We have been terribly remiss in keeping this page up to date since we became wrapped up in move mode from Colorado to Iowa. I apologize for this. We did send out two newsletters and if you would like to have a copy to catch up with what’s been going on, please sign up on the Contact Us tab.

The Lord told us about 2 months ago that He is moving us and the ministry to Iowa! We have about a house there, in Sioux Rapids, and sold our house here. Our moving date is November 20th, possibly earlier. Details are in our latest newsletter. If you would like to receive our newsletter, sign up at the page entitled “Contact Us”!