"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me". Matt: 25:40
Salem Village Nursing Home Paradise Park Assisted Living
Rosewood Care Center Lakewood Nursing Home
PRAISE THE LORD!! ! He is still in the business of Saving Souls. What a month we have experienced. My mother-in-law invited Jesus into her life the middle of November. Pastor Palmer and his wife, Karen, from First Baptist Church in Lockport, visited her and led her to the Lord. We are rejoicing with her decision, especially since we know that she is nearing the end of this life here. She has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and she needs your prayers. God doesn’t promise us tomorrow but he does promise us eternity and what a Blessing to know we will spend it with Jesus if we have invited Him into our hearts. She is no longer able to attend church and the Nursing Home services; however, we are so grateful that she did attend long enough to understand that she needed a Savior.
Natalia Ponce and I were visiting the Nursing Home on Thursday and for several months now she has been talking with a Mexican gentleman named Manny who has attended our services for a couple years. We were thrilled when we went to his room to see him today and realized that his roommate is Bob Bolton and Bob had led him to the Lord this week. Bob really loves the Lord and loves to share the good news. He is such a Blessing to me that even in his condition and confined to a Nursing Home; he shares the love of Jesus with his roommate and helps him understand that he needs a Savior. There is nothing more exciting than leading a person to Jesus.
I received an e-mail this week of a man who just found out he has terminal cancer and he tells about the day the doctors told him he didn’t have long to live. He starts the letter out by saying, “Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case cancer”. He goes on to say that he, “finds himself in an odd position of coping with mortality while trying to fathom God’s will”. He doesn’t want to spend his time saying “Why me” or Why must people suffer? as that is more of an expression of anguish. “We are fallen, we are imperfect and our bodies give out. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face to face. The moment we enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change, and you discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft”. You remember that we were born not into death, but into life, and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth”.
As I read his letter, I am reminded over and over that this gentleman and many of the people in the Nursing Homes that I visit with every week has taught me a great lesson. They have taught me not how to die, but how to live. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the touch of God and we know that as His children we are safe in the hollow of God’s hand. What a Blessing to know Him personally and share His love with others.
December is Christmas at the Nursing Homes. All of our services will be Christmas songs and we will be giving out lap blankets to all the residents who attend the services. Thank you to all who have contributed toward the blankets. We received several checks and gifts of money and we appreciate them all. Our schedule for December is as follows.
Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – Dec. 2nd, @ 2:30 p.m., Salem Nursing Home, Joliet – Dec 9th @ 2:00 p.m.
Rosewood Rehab Ctr. – Joliet - Dec 16th @ 2:00 p.m. and Paradise Park, New Lenox - Dec 23rd @ 2:00 p.m.
Christmas Caroling at Salem Village after the service Dec 9th and also on Tuesday December 18th at 4:00 p.m.
Please come and join us, we need your talents. You will make a difference and God will bless you for it.
Respectfully submitted by Joyce Mancke jmancke@sbcglobal.net. 815-351-7659
PRAISE THE LORD!! ! He is still in the business of Saving Souls. What a month we have experienced. My mother-in-law invited Jesus into her life the middle of November. Pastor Palmer and his wife, Karen, from First Baptist Church in Lockport, visited her and led her to the Lord. We are rejoicing with her decision, especially since we know that she is nearing the end of this life here. She has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and she needs your prayers. God doesn’t promise us tomorrow but he does promise us eternity and what a Blessing to know we will spend it with Jesus if we have invited Him into our hearts. She is no longer able to attend church and the Nursing Home services; however, we are so grateful that she did attend long enough to understand that she needed a Savior.
Natalia Ponce and I were visiting the Nursing Home on Thursday and for several months now she has been talking with a Mexican gentleman named Manny who has attended our services for a couple years. We were thrilled when we went to his room to see him today and realized that his roommate is Bob Bolton and Bob had led him to the Lord this week. Bob really loves the Lord and loves to share the good news. He is such a Blessing to me that even in his condition and confined to a Nursing Home; he shares the love of Jesus with his roommate and helps him understand that he needs a Savior. There is nothing more exciting than leading a person to Jesus.
I received an e-mail this week of a man who just found out he has terminal cancer and he tells about the day the doctors told him he didn’t have long to live. He starts the letter out by saying, “Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case cancer”. He goes on to say that he, “finds himself in an odd position of coping with mortality while trying to fathom God’s will”. He doesn’t want to spend his time saying “Why me” or Why must people suffer? as that is more of an expression of anguish. “We are fallen, we are imperfect and our bodies give out. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face to face. The moment we enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change, and you discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft”. You remember that we were born not into death, but into life, and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth”.
As I read his letter, I am reminded over and over that this gentleman and many of the people in the Nursing Homes that I visit with every week has taught me a great lesson. They have taught me not how to die, but how to live. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the touch of God and we know that as His children we are safe in the hollow of God’s hand. What a Blessing to know Him personally and share His love with others.
December is Christmas at the Nursing Homes. All of our services will be Christmas songs and we will be giving out lap blankets to all the residents who attend the services. Thank you to all who have contributed toward the blankets. We received several checks and gifts of money and we appreciate them all. Our schedule for December is as follows.
Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – Dec. 2nd, @ 2:30 p.m., Salem Nursing Home, Joliet – Dec 9th @ 2:00 p.m.
Rosewood Rehab Ctr. – Joliet - Dec 16th @ 2:00 p.m. and Paradise Park, New Lenox - Dec 23rd @ 2:00 p.m.
Christmas Caroling at Salem Village after the service Dec 9th and also on Tuesday December 18th at 4:00 p.m.
Please come and join us, we need your talents. You will make a difference and God will bless you for it.
Respectfully submitted by Joyce Mancke jmancke@sbcglobal.net. 815-351-7659
1 comment:
Great new tool to keep people informed! What you all do to advance the gospel is greatly appreciated and needed in our area.
Prayerfully;
Pastor Gil Palmer
First Baptist Church of Lockport, IL
Post a Comment