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| Jeannette's flower garden |
Hello friends,
This past summer was full of wonderful blessings and difficult challenges for our family.
Jeannette planted a flower garden and enjoyed incredible results. Every day our house was filled with fresh dahlias, celosias, snap dragons, and hydrangeas. We were amazed at how our Creator invented so many beautiful varieties of dahlias. Some of the plants were taller than our kids!
Ben finished typesetting the second draft of the entire Jita New Testament and sent it off for review. He received helpful feedback from a Jita translator, a fellow typesetter, a translation consultant, and multiple publication checkers. Now he is working on the third (and hopefully final!) draft. Ben's next project will be typesetting the book of Acts for a language in southern Tanzania.
Sadly, this summer we have also been afflicted with multiple sicknesses and injuries. Jeannette and I had COVID. Luke had a stomach sickness that lingered for a couple weeks. Kara has been struggling with stomach/esophagus pain and discomfort for a few months now. We've taken her to multiple doctors and specialists but they can't identify the problem. On top of that, Kara dislocated and fractured her elbow. She is still in a lot of pain even weeks after the injury. And just to make things worse, she occasionally has severe dizziness.
We recognize that the enemy wants to use these sicknesses and injuries to make us discouraged and to tempt us to despair, but we praise God that we are holding fast to Jesus during these trials. The Holy Spirit is reminding us of the promises of God's Word like,
Psalm 5:11-12 Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.
and
Isaiah 26:3-4 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
