Leigh Family Prayer Bulletin - January 2007

Feedback...

• Health - I'm feeling better "digestively" than I have in a while, but Angela's headaches are more bothersome at the moment.
  
  
• Trip Home - Tickets are in our hands now. The trip dates are set (March 30 - April 27). Now it's time to fill up the calendar for our time there. We've had several generous gifts that we're trying to guard from being eaten by regular monthly bills. We really appreciate that!
  
  
• Worship - We've had an opportunity to meet together as the team responsible for worship in our church and begin to lay out plans for how to be more purposeful in establishing the worship that God is calling us to in this coming year. This was an important 1st step and helped us get a few things straightened out already. More planned in the very near future.
  
  
• Technology - Thanks for your technology prayers...a first for many of you I'm sure! After several false starts I was able to move forward on the turnover of the inTouch web site. Our change in internet and phone service went incredibly smoothly. We're now enjoying a very stable internet connection and a flat-rate phone bill (a fairly new thing in Europe), whereby we now have unlimited calling to land lines in all of Europe and North America...all for less than we were paying before! God is good! As for technology at school (and at church too, lately), I'm pleased with how things are advancing and in helping others there. I need to focus more on involving others in the work now. I have an offer on the table for someone to help with one of the responsibilities and it's up to me to take advantage of that in spending the time to train...ball's in my court now!
  
  
• Vacation/Rest - With Christmas and New Years "book-ending" the first week of vacation, there's been less rest so far. We're planning on this week being more of a week to be focused on rest and togetherness. Our time with Rachel at home has been rich as we get a better picture of her world right now. It's also been revealing as we see more and more that she is being established in her own identity right now...and rightly so, but a definite transition for parents experiencing this for the first time. This is a profound part of the transitions in 2006 that I spoke of.
  
  
• Establishing - We received our "preliminary" residents cards in mid-December. I don't know exactly how the bureaucratic wheels turn, but they usually send you something by the expiration date of the previous card, but then a month later give you the real thing. So, this answers our question about staying another year. We're thankful for that. The process seems to be a bit different this year, with us getting a separate card instead of a sticker in our passport. The verbiage on the "preliminary" card does not seem to have changed so I don't necessarily see any indication yet that the question of being allowed to work has been addressed yet. Still waiting on the Lord's timing on that...;c)

Please Pray...

• Health - From my perspective (and I don't claim 100% correctness necessarily!), there is a battle going on for Angela to break through into some of her destiny, with the battleground being in her body. I think that as she is gaining influence ("dominion" - Gen 1:28) in certain areas of ministry, there is a siege being laid by the enemy to discourage her. While I believe in God's desire and ability to heal, I also believe that the process of healing is an invaluable process of growth and testing for all involved...myself included as I'm called to stand and cover Angela. Therefore please pray against discouragement in this battle. Pray for perseverance to stand...for Angela, and me to stand with her.
  
  
• Trip Home in April - I have a real desire to see God make the most of this month at home, whether it's in things that we see accomplished immediately or whether it's God laying foundations quietly for His as-yet-unrevealed purposes. As we begin to "fill in the blanks" on the calendar, please pray for discernment and continue to pray for sufficient finances for the various excursions necessary while we're there.
  
  
• Finances - Also on the subject of finances, we've made some great strides in ordering our financial world a bit more this year. We're not completely out of the woods, however. There are some areas for improvement in our management of finances and in the ability for Angela and I to be in unity with respect to our finances. Please pray for this to be an area where we bind together as one, have increasing discipline and give Mammon a black eye!
  
  
• Back to School - Like many of you, in a week's time, we're all "back to school". That means different things to each one of the 5 of us...sometimes positive...sometimes negative. Please pray that each of us would see Jesus' path, tailor-made for us, in the daily challenges (and joys). Pray also that Angela and I would have wisdom to help our children navigate their individual challenges and learn to bring them regularly to the Lord.
  
  
• YWAM DTS Team Visit - Next weekend a small Discipleship Training School (DTS) team from a YWAM base in the South of France will be coming to our church and school. They'll be working with our youth and handling chapel services, etc. I'll be their primary liaison as I know their team leader from our year in Valence, France. Their request to come and spend part of their outreach time here was a bit challenging for our church leadership as no one could imagine "adding more to the schedule". In the end, they agreed that it was a good thing. My desire, however, is that it be really a time when God moves and connects His Body in new ways. Pray for the DTS team in their outreach preparation. Their leader, Sandra, is Alsatian herself and she has a heart for this region, but also has experienced much pain here. Pray that her time here would be a source of healing and new vision.