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ENCOURAGING THE TIMID HELPING THE WEAK Sharing the Love of Jesus OCTOBER 2019

JP S JOURNAL BY JONATHAN CEO Caring For Life ENCOURAGING THE TIMID HELPING THE WEAK Greetings once again from everyone at Caring For Life We send our love in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ and we pray that you are all encouraged in your walk with Him It is such a blessing to be encouraged isn t it I am always encouraged when I meet supporters of this work wherever that may be I have the privilege of getting out and about sharing with church groups and support groups about what the Lord is doing here Many of you have told me at those meetings of just how much you are encouraged by this work and ministry and in particular encouraged by how much the love of Jesus is impacting the lives of those in our care This is something that is a great part of the apostle Paul s letters In 1 Thessalonians 4 v 1 18 he tells us to encourage each other with these words Meaning the words about the coming of Jesus In the next chapter and in verse 9 to 11 he says For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with Him Therefore encourage one another and build each other up just as if fact you are doing That really is the gospel in a nutshell and there we are challenged to encourage and build each other up This is a huge part of this ministry to encourage and build people up As you know so many of those in our care are weighed down by traumas and worries of life and in some cases are held down by the wickedness of those around them

With the Lord s help we encourage people to see themselves as individuals made by a loving God We want to build people up to know that they were created by God to glorify Him and also to enjoy Him forever as the Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us goods because of her past and she lived without any hope of a change despite the fact that she had received lots of love from us over many years But during the past 12 months following a retreat with CFL to the Lake District she began to think differently about herself She came to fully recognise how much she was loved and how precious she was as she looked into the face of Jesus Further on in chapter 5 Paul urges us to warn those who are idle encourage the timid help the weak be patient with everyone There is so much to think about in those verses we are seeking to do all those things and in particular to encourage the timid With the Lord s help we encourage and to help the weak Here is the glorious thing it s all by God s grace We are seeing some people look to the Lord and many are beginning to climb out of the pit they find themselves in people to see themselves as individuals made by a loving God Since I last wrote to you one of our dearly loved and long standing beneficiaries suddenly passed away Throughout most of this lady s life she had to endure more suffering than most of us could have coped with For most of her life she felt as though she was useless she felt like she was spoilt We thank the Lord that this dear lady came to meet the Saviour who died for her the Saviour who now holds her close and safe in His loving arms Please pray for those in our care who have been affected by her death but who as yet don t know the Saviour Pray that we shall be able to point them to the One who rescued her and who gave her hope and a love that the world cannot give 2

JP S JOURNAL CONTINUED I would also ask you to pray about another matter I rarely raise issues connected to finance but I would ask you to please pray and consider how you may be able to help If you could join us in prayer on that day whether during your quiet times in your homes cars or out on your walks we would really appreciate that Over the past 12 months we have not had as many larger one off gifts We think this is due to the political turmoil which we are all aware of and which we see affecting other charities too You might also consider telling another person about Caring For Life s work and through that help inspire more support The volatile nature of our income has meant that it has been quite difficult to manage the financial affairs of the charity at times Despite this though God has been unbelievably faithful and we are so grateful to Him and also to all of you and the many churches that have partnered with us in this Gospel mission We are planning to hold a day of prayer on the 12th October for not just this need but for the greater need of the spiritual wellbeing of those in our care I will leave that with you dear friends to consider how you might help us further the work of His gospel As we are told throughout all of Gods word we do not fear because the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills is totally capable and I believe willing to do more than we could ever imagine or dream So to the only God our Saviour be glory majesty power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages now and for evermore Amen May the Lord bless and keep you all Love in Jesus name God has been unbelievably faithful and we are so grateful to Him and also to all of you and the many churches that have partnered with us in this Gospel mission 3

THEY JUST HELP BY GAYLE Pastoral Director Sometimes at Caring for Life we are privileged to hear words that just stop us in our tracks We have the blessing every day of sharing life with these precious people in our care but it isn t always easy to know whether they are benefitting in the way we hope One young lady Katie has recently started being supported by the Being There team She was referred to us by her housing officer as she struggles with mental ill health and consequently her home had fallen into significant disrepair She began being supported by Lynn one of our Housing Support workers a few months ago one day Katie asked her to support her to an appointment with another professional When this professional asked whether Katie was happy to discuss her concerns with Lynn present her straightforward answer was a real answer to prayer Oh yeah It s ok to talk in front of Lynn She doesn t judge She just helps Please continue to pray for the precious people in our care who so often feel the world looking down on them rather than trying to help Pray too that we would be able to provide real practical help and loving relationships through which these folk might be pointed to the love of our Saviour Lynn was working hard to build a good relationship but wasn t sure whether this young lady was able to trust her yet Then 4

TO GOD BE THE GLORY One day at the begining of September Esther were able to remember the early days having been there from the start Those of us who are more recent arrivals were challenged afresh by the call to take God s love to those who need it most in our generation Well instead of business as usual we had the rare and special opportunity to spend time with all of our colleagues reflecting on the amazing opportunities that God has called us to be a part of in the Caring For Life team We have been handed the baton by those who answered God s call and started this work when it seemed like a complete impossibility in human terms none of our social enterprises were open no beneficiaries were on stie and we didn t do any home visits The question of course is what would have caused us to shut up shop like this What a privilege to have a day to refocus on our mission to be reminded that we are not just support workers we are missionaries answering God s call to take His love to the lost The wonderful highlight of the day was when Esther one of our founders gave us a breath taking insight into the history of the charity over the last 32 years and indeed what God has been doing through his people on the site of the charity s headquarters Crag House Farm over many centuries We laughed and cried as we heard stories of the early days of the charity stories of great faith an often hand to mouth existence God s amazing and surprising provision and more than a few crazy adventures Over the years Caring For Life has seen thousands reached helped loved rehoused and many many souls won for the Saviour Please pray with us for God s grace strength and enabling to continue to take His love to the vulnerable And for all that has happened in the past and all that will happen in the future we give all the glory only to Him And as it says above the entrance to the Granary Non nobis Domine Non Nobis Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam Not to us Lord not to us but to your name be the glory Psalm 115 1 It was also amazing to see old photos and be reminded of how different the farm used to look and although the physical changes are impressive the changes seen in so many precious lives over these years is far more important A number of people in the room including Peter who co founded the charity with A meeting taking place in the old refectory

A LT E R NAT I V E G I F T S at Christmas This Christmas and Beyond buy ALTERNATIVE GIFTS for your family and friends and help change lives CHRISTMAS happiness Minimum 10 donation per gift card of choice Larger donations will also be gratefully received there is NO UPPER LIMIT For example you could give a donation of 100 to provide LOTS of Christmas Happiness or 50 to fully fund a Home Starter Pack You can purchase Alternative Gifts by calling us on 0113 2303600 Alternatively you can send a cheque to Caring For Life for the total amount you want to donate and specify the gift cards you would like posted out to you For full details of the cards please see our website 6

The time we have is precious We have no time to waste In looking over shoulders To see who ll take our place We need to have a vision And not a sense of lack You never make decisions If you keep on looking back God looks for a people The faithful and the strong To speak to situations And cause things to be born Captives of a vision singers of a song Who only live to see His kingdom come Who only live to see His kingdom come The words of this song are inspiring and challenging but in particular the first two lines weigh heavily on our hearts at this moment in time Whenever you lose a soul whether it is from natural causes or through more tragic circumstances it reminds us that we sometimes only have a narrow window of opportunity to share the love of Jesus and to speak to those in our care about their need for Jesus As I said in my opening message we lost a dearly loved lady recently but most wonderfully for her she had come to know Jesus as her own personal Saviour and Lord But for some of the others who we have had the privilege of walking life s rough and steep 7 5 journey with who passed away without knowing Jesus this breaks our hearts and troubles us enough to think of what more we can do to challenge a soul to seek ask before its too late The time we have is precious and we have no time to waste in doing these crucial gospel things but we know that it is not us who can save We cannot cause a person to be convicted or connected to Jesus but it is the Holy Spirit who does these things the Spirit of Christ our Comforter But what we can do is pray and pray we must for the men and women who come to us for solace rescue structure and hope We must pray that the Lord would move mightily and wonderfully as He hears our prayers for the broken and the lost Corrie ten Boom said this Is prayer your steering wheel or is it your spare tyre At Caring For Life prayer is our steering wheel We pray daily at CFL and we try to seek the Lord in prayer in every situation but so crucially we also rely on your prayers as well Will you please pray with us and will you pray with Passion and Compassion believing that He who started a good work here will carry it on to completion that at Caring For Life we will see men women old and young gathered up into the shelter of God s fold

Ruby s Story OPENING UP Her demeanour often seemed quite sad and it was unclear whether she was enjoying the farm projects and whether she would decide to stay Ruby is a quiet gentle young lady She interacts only a little when she comes to the farm and often chooses to sit alone at lunch or just with one or two others rather than get involved the noisy busy refectory When she initially started coming to the projects she had a very closed expression and seemed to avoid eye contact if at all possible Her demeanour often seemed quite sad and it was unclear whether she was enjoying the farm projects and whether she would decide to stay To our surprise and delight she asked for more time on the project and she now attends the poultry project 4 days a week and also has a weekly support from the Being There team Despite her reserved nature Ruby is forming strong positive relationships with both her project workers and her Being There worker We can now see her make eye contact smile a little and start conversations She has begun to realise that she has skills that she never knew she had More importantly Ruby has also begun to open up to staff and we have learned more about the deeply damaging circumstance that she is experiencing in the other areas of her life Please pray for this young lady as we walk with her through the many challenges of her life Pray too that she will allow us to help her into a position of greater safety But more importantly please pray that through her difficulties she might be able to see Jesus love for her and turn to Him 8

WEBSITE OVERHAUL BY TIM Executive Director It s been a long time since we updated our The staff and beneficiaries in the design team are busy updating the site regularly so we d love you to take a visit and see just what we ve been up to We ve changed a quite a few things and we hope that it s easier to navigate around now providing you with up to date information links to short films and of course our daily prayer points which we would encourage you to visit and use in your daily devotions There are also new ways for you to make financial gifts online and we hope that they make it easier to for you to make one off contributions or to set up Direct Debits or regular payments website but Tina and the team of techies in Design and Media have just completed a relook of our website Visit www caringforlife co uk and have a look around We hope you like the new look and are always keen to hear what you think Thank you TE BSI E W W NE 9 www caringforlife co uk

Fundraising Events Christmas Event Special Talk God s Trees HUNTINGDON SUPPORT GROUP 5 10 CHIPPENHAM SUPPORT GROUP 8 10 Quiz Night Coffee Morning BOROUGH GREEN SUPPORT GROUP 5 10 GUISELEY BAPTIST CHURCH 12 10 DARLINGTON SUPPORT GROUP 16 11 MINEHEAD SUPPORT GROUP 22 11 See our website for further event details STAMP OF APPROVAL You may remember a few years back we advertised a Stamp of Approval campaign to help us with postage costs We are asking again if you d be happy to pick up an extra book of stamps at the post office next time you re in and send them to us We remain very grateful to anyone who is able to send in stamps towards these costs Although the use of a franking service to deliver your posted bulletins each month helps to reduce our costs we still have a significant amount of other correspondence to post out using normal stamps Upcoming Church Presentations Sun 6th Oct 9 30am Sun 6th Oct 10 30am Mon 7th Oct 12noon Sun 13th Oct 10 30am Sun 13th Oct 6pm Sun 13th Oct 10 30am Wed 16th Oct 7 30pm Wed 16th Oct 7 30pm Wed 16th Oct 7 45pm Thurs 24th Oct 1 30pm St Hilda s Beadlam The King s Church Boston Spa Bridge Community Church Ladies Group Leeds Dunstable Baptist Church Moorside Church Drighlington Bethany Evangelical Church Swinton Wooler Evangelical Church Northumberland Hanney Chapel Nr Oxford Parr Street Evangelical Church Kendal Belvedere Free Grace Church Ladies Group Kent

Upcoming Support Group Dates HOST LOCATION DATE TIME Ann Austin Elizabeth Patterson Mike Eunice Rolfe Paul Cox Ann Peter Buckle Daphne Wiffen Jack Alison Jenner Rosemary Eccles Stephen Turner Pam David Young Jack Alison Jenner Roger Oliver Andy Ruth Robinson Liz Cyril Aston Sue Chris Morgan Jean Dandy Stephen Margaret West Liz Mike Davison Norman Norma Green Chris Dave Seaton Barbara James Jon Davies Paul Pease David Sarah Woodruff Chesham Trowbridge Wigton Plumbland Haverhill Ulverston Mirfield Harrogate Ulverston Haywards Heath Darlington Minehead Boston Spa North Leeds Chippenham Newcastle Rugby Solihull Loughborough Cromer Hook Dunstable Wed 2nd Oct 2pm Friday 4th Oct 7 30pm Mon 7th Oct 10 30am Mon 7th Oct 8pm Mon 7th Oct 7 30pm Fri 11th Oct 2 30pm Mon 14th Oct 7 30pm Mon 14th Oct 7 30pm Wed 16th Oct 2 30pm Wed 16th Oct 7 30pm Fri 18th Oct 7 30pm Mon 21st Oct 7 30pm Mon 21st Oct 7 30pm Tues 22nd Oct 7 30pm Sat 26th Oct 3pm Mon 28th Oct 2 30pm Sat 2nd Nov 2 30pm Mon 4th Nov 7 30pm Tues 5th Nov 7pm Wed 6th Nov 8pm Thurs 7th Nov 7 30pm See our website for upcoming support group dates events and church presentations across the country Contact Pam for further details pam parkinson caringforlife co uk CFL representative attending Thank You for your support Pseudonyms are often used throughout these bulletins to protect the privacy of individuals Due to the sensitive information in this bulletin about individuals may we remind you not to leave it lying around copy reproduce any contents without permission or pass it on to others If you know of someone who would like to receive a copy please ask them to contact Pam on 0113 2303610 or pam parkinson caringforlife co uk to be added to our mailing list Thank You