{"id":5686,"date":"2018-01-06T19:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T01:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5686"},"modified":"2018-01-06T19:00:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T01:00:21","slug":"rest-story-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/rest-story-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rest of the Story : Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kendra Tucker<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>
\nA soldier in Oklahoma is chosen to serve as a Congressional Fellow and is transferred to Washington, D.C.\u202fA baby in Virginia is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and may need a transplant. A missionary couple decides to take the Gospel to Brazil,\u00a0but their visa approval is at a standstill, causing them to postpone their move for many months.\u00a0<\/span>
\nRomans 8:28\u00a0says,\u00a0\u201cAnd we know that all things work together for good\u00a0to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His\u00a0purpose.\u201d\u202fThe essence of this verse is so difficult to grasp. Our\u00a0human minds naturally think in terms of the physical and emotional\u00a0aspects of the here and now. In the midst of a trial we turn to God\u00a0for answers and direction,\u00a0and more often than not, we ask for a\u00a0specific outcome.\u202fWe know that God has the power to answer prayer,\u00a0but\u00a0our feeble minds become conflicted when God\u2019s answer is contrary to\u00a0what we\u2019ve prayed for, or it seems He hasn\u2019t given us an answer at\u00a0all. But the question we must ask ourselves is really quite simple.\u00a0<\/span>
\nDo we trust God? No, it is not a trick question, but the answer you\u00a0give has to be wholehearted and must apply to all petitions that we\u00a0place before God. We either\u00a0trust\u00a0Him or we don\u2019t.\u00a0If we trust Him\u00a0with all of our hearts, souls, and minds, there is a peace that comes\u00a0with that acceptance. We know that whatever the outcome, God is\u00a0working in ways we cannot imagine and is giving us answers that we may\u00a0never see in our lifetime.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAs a wife and a mother, my prayer life is dominated by the everyday\u00a0worries about family and children. I must admit that I pray much more\u00a0often for the physical health of my family rather than the spiritual\u00a0wellness that is far more important. But in the last few years God has\u00a0blessed me with life events that have refined my view of prayer, and\u00a0He has shown me that if I just trust Him, all things truly do work\u00a0together for good. Seemingly unrelated events in our lives turn out\u00a0to be connected through a beautiful thread that can only be woven by\u00a0our Creator.\u00a0<\/span>
\nMy sister and brother-in-law called us to ask for prayers for my\u00a02-month-old niece. She went in for some tests and a life-threatening\u00a0heart defect was found.\u202fThe search for a heart transplant team began.\u00a0There was no such team in the Washington, D.C. area where they lived,\u00a0<\/span>
\nso\u00a0they traveled here to Nashville to meet with the cardiac department\u00a0at Vanderbilt Children\u00b9s Hospital. As usual, we all went to church\u00a0together the Sunday morning of their\u00a0week-long\u00a0visit.\u202fNick Fowler, a\u00a0missionary who was preparing to move his family to Brazil, was the\u00a0guest speaker in our Sunday school class.\u00a0Nick began the class by\u00a0updating us on the continuing struggle with the Brazilian government\u00a0to get their visa applications approved so that they could begin their\u00a0mission to save souls in Belem.\u202fAfter class, my brother-in-law\u00a0approached Nick\u00a0about the visa issue to see if he could help out in\u00a0some way. His position as a Congressional\u00a0Fellow allowed him contact\u00a0with many of the Senate office members, including those working with a\u00a0Senator on the Foreign Relations Committee. With their help, the\u00a0Fowler\u2019s visas were approved and they were on their way to the mission\u00a0field.\u00a0<\/span>
\nMy sister and brother-in-law have since been transferred to Colorado\u00a0Springs, CO, and my niece just celebrated her\u00a0third\u00a0birthday.\u202fShe\u00a0did not require a heart transplant, and although she will be on\u00a0medications the rest of her life, we praise God that she continues to\u00a0grow and enjoy a somewhat normal childhood.\u202fWith the transfer to a\u00a0new Army base, my brother-in-law will most likely face a deployment,\u00a0so\u00a0we remain in prayer that he will be safe wherever he is sent, and that\u00a0he will be a light to others on the battlefield.\u00a0Nick and Amy Fowler\u00a0continue their work in Belem, Brazil.\u202fThey have recently opened an\u00a0outreach center where they regularly have about 20 souls who come to\u00a0study God\u2019s\u00a0Word.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnd now you know the rest of the story.\u202fWe can\u2019t always see God\u2019s\u00a0purpose in the things that happen in our lives.\u202fWhat we can be sure\u00a0of is that He is always working through us and His answer to our\u00a0prayers, regardless of whether we see the end result, will always be\u00a0\u201cexceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think\u201d\u00a0(Ephesians\u00a03:20).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kendra Tucker\u00a0 A soldier in Oklahoma is chosen to serve as a Congressional Fellow and is transferred to Washington, D.C.\u202fA baby in Virginia is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and may need a transplant. A missionary couple decides to take the Gospel to Brazil,\u00a0but their visa approval is at a standstill, causing them to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46,66],"tags":[1051,1289,1301,1302,1303,578],"class_list":["post-5686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-think-excerpts","tag-feature","tag-february-2013","tag-kendra-tucker","tag-purpose","tag-troubles","tag-trust","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Rest of the Story : Connections - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/rest-story-connections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rest of the Story : Connections - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kendra Tucker\u00a0 A soldier in Oklahoma is chosen to serve as a Congressional Fellow and is transferred to Washington, D.C.\u202fA baby in Virginia is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and may need a transplant. 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