Happy New Year dear Livingsong Family,
We pray your season of celebrating our Lord’s birth was filled with GREAT joy and Christmas blessings! The last month of the year always comes with too many activities that over fill our calendars, doesn't it? If we are not careful, too much can lead us away from experiencing the heart of God towards people, and that applies all year round. When referring to all, we mean not just those in our inner circles we are the most comfortable with, but all people, because God sent Jesus for all people, amen? 🙌 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We cannot wrap our minds around fully understanding the love of God, but we can begin to experience it through serving at church, on missions, or at your local emergency shelter. These are just places each of us can participate in, when looking outside of ourselves and choosing to live out our faith as Christ calls us to.
For us, leaving the Hilliard FL area after serving our dear friends of First Baptist Church of Boulougne for the last six months was bittersweet. Serving the local church stationary, while also taking small trips for our own ministry, definitely stretched us more than we expected, but we are thankful for the sweet time of fellowship spent with our FBC friends. Even though we knew from the beginning our time to return “full time” on the road would come at the new year, still leaving a comfortable and in many ways, ideal situation isn't easy. Nonetheless, when God calls you, your heart will never be full, unless you go where He leads. As challenging as stepping out in faith always is, the beauty through it, will be the greater desire you will have to set aside time to be alone with God. Immediately after leaving for South Florida, we were fortunate to find this peaceful and scenic park in Largo (see banner above), to spend an afternoon with the Lord in prayer for the ministry adventures to come. Likewise, we sincerely hope this new year brings you and your family a blessing of faith-filled adventures that will draw you closer to Jesus.
So what’s next?
We can’t wait to share all the Lord has been doing this new year so far through our ministry! Please consider following us for more frequent updates on Instagram @livingsongministry, where photos and short clips are being added every week. 😊 Our current focused location for ministry is in South Florida, and Lord willing, we will be making our way further north soon for upcoming commitments to share Jesus in recovery programs and emergency shelters. Looking further ahead, April will be an exciting time for us, as we have been invited back to the Trinity Rescue Mission in Jacksonville. We’d like to bring a supply of donations for the men and women living at this shelter, so we will need prayers for the Lord’s favor, provision and help in organizing this! Would you please consider praying about participating? We now have a “Contact Us” page on our website @ www.livingsongministry.com, where you can message us directly for further information. We look forward to hearing from you, and are truly grateful for your continued prayer, and support towards this mission. Lastly, as a reminder to all who receive our printed monthly newsletters by mail, we are going paperless. Please let us know if you still want to receive printed copies. This change will enable us to allocate the monthly funds used for postage, envelopes and prints, to be used to further develop our website features. Also, please share any prayer requests and praise reports! Until next time, our fervent prayer is that we would all seek the Lord even more, have a deeper hunger for His Word, and be strengthened with boldness to share that truth in love with others. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
Abiding in Him,
Manny & Erika Lynn Garcia
Livingsong
