Spacious Places

The Psalmist says "He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out in to a spacious place: he rescued me, because he delighted in me." Psa. 18:16-19

We had the wonderful privilege of joining with our new co-workers Rev. Greg and Teresa Leeth, to attend the Pastor's to Missionaries Conference in Black Mountain, North Carolina. This was certainly a spacious place not unlike the spacious picture above taken at Lake Michigan. Nestled in the mountains, we spent the week receiving from the Lord his grace and his nurturing for our souls. We received training that encouraged us and better equipped us to help our missionaries enter in to the spacious place that God has for each one.

John said, "We cannot receive even one thing unless it is given to us from above." John 3:27 and as James says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17. We know as caregivers we have a tendency to be weak in the act of receiving what God has to equip and assist us in pouring out to others. God has called us to invest in the lives of our missionaries and to work to encourage and support their ministry as missionaries around the world. We realize for us to be effective givers of support, we must be willing to refuel our own tank and receive from the Lord.

As we think about receiving from God and getting all that He has for us, we are reminded that the posture of our hearts is so very important. We need a humble heart that is willing to allow God to speak into our lives and fill our hearts with the things we need from Him. We must allow God to walk with us and to minister to us in such a way that we can experience HIM fully. God is our spacious place and God personally delights in you and wishes to bring you to HIMSELF. It is certainly not WHAT we do, or WHAT we are, it is WHO.

The WHO is God and God desires for us to be WITH HIM. So many times we are too busy working for him and doing things for him that we miss being with him. The ministry we have with WGM is a shepherd's ministry. Shepherding is what we do with our missionaries and it includes all the things you can think of like counseling, preaching, teaching, listening, praying, visiting and much more. The tendency is to do God's work FOR God rather than WITH God. Our shepherding toward others is most effective when we have allowed our hearts to be shepherded by the Great Shepherd and we allow our hearts to be refueled by being WITH GOD.

While this may all seem like mundane words, we trust that your hearts will be challenged as our hearts have been challenged,  to be WITH Jesus and make Him the central focus. Our faith is not about getting to do more, but it is about spending time with the Master and in so doing we will be better equipped to serve. How many messages have you heard or books have you read that challenge you to do more? It seems like that message is big in the church today. How much more could we accomplish if we moved from doing God's work to being with God?

During the month of November we will be traveling to Mexico, Nov. 2 - 9. We will visit our missionaries serving in various parts of the interior. We are looking forward to this visit because it was Mexico that God first called us to serve him in 1985 -89. The people of Mexico are special people and we know that God is working in and through our churches there to make an impact into that country. We will join our field directors, Bill and Lydia Allshouse and the team there for a 2 day retreat in Guadalajara after we have visited the various ministries and work of WGM in Mexico. We ask that you will pray for us that we will go WITH God and be filled to the fullest so that we may be as an outflow of HIM and a blessing to all we come in contact with.

We will continue to hone our skills at the Mental Health in Missions Conference in Angola, IN Nov. 19 - 22, where we will join with dozens of other Member Care workers and professionals to learn more and be encouraged in this work. We then leave from Ft. Wayne Airport the evening of Nov. 22 for McAllen, Texas were we will present a Ministry Match Seminar to our WGM missionaries serving on the border. We will return home for Thanksgiving with family on Nov. 26.

As always, we ask an interest in your prayers and thank you so much for you on-going support both financially and spiritually. Truly your support reminds us that God is the head of this ministry and He has put us together, you and us, for this time to serve Him. We encourage you to take some time alone and draw near to Him, and to be WITH Him. God loves you and so do we!

Thanks for standing with us and being our champions! We'd love to hear from you.

Love and Prayers,
Ned and Marlene

Ned and Marlene McGrady
Pastors to Missionaries, Directors of Member Health
World Gospel Mission
Box 948
Marion, IN 46952
765-671-7240

ned@straightpaths.org

To support our ministry financially
www.wgm.org/McGrady