“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1
Dear friends,
God anointed us to bring the good news to those who afflicted and broken because
of sin. Jesus sets prisoners free today - just as He did for us! Here are some
exciting mission efforts!
Carbondale Church David (center of photo) and
Stephanie continue loving people, sharing the good news of Jesus, and making
disciples. Here is a photo of their recent meeting at Jeffrey and Kerianna’s house. They are truly grateful for your prayers!
Portsmouth Church VA. They are seeking God and
building up one another’s faith. One couple just suffered a personal hardship.
They appreciate the support of their friends in the church and value your
prayers as well.
Atlanta Church Recently, Danelle and I have been encouraged by the desire of our church members to grow in faith. Last week one of the brothers shared his request to change and be a more “effective doer of the word, not merely a hearer.” After his transparency, the Spirit of God led us in an edifying discussion. Many people were open and vulnerable and some shared relevant Scriptures. The letter we included in this newsletter was read to us that morning by our daughter, Grace Bearden. Hopefully your heart will be touched and moved to pray for her and Ward as they raise their twin boys. I know they would greatly appreciate your intercession on their behalf.
Ward, Will, Grace and Greg
Prayer & Praise
Atlanta Church Pray for Grace and
Ward to trust God to supply love, strength, and wisdom to raise their sons.
Pray for Will and Fred to come to know Jesus. Pray too for our church to boldly
bring the good news to family, friends, and strangers over the holidays. Pray for open hearts!!
Carbondale Church Pray for Stephanie and David to be anointed to “bind up the brokenhearted” that God leads them to. Pray for Kerianna and Jeffrey - they must find a new home and move unexpectedly.
Portsmouth Church Ask God to comfort those who in their church who are "afflicted," to increase their love for each other, and to use them to bring the
good news of Christ to the “prisoners” of sin they know.
Jacksonville Church Please pray for my friends, Larry and Paul, who are leading
a house church in Jacksonville. They need God’s love, wisdom, and courage to
build His church and multiply disciples there. We have had several encouraging
phone conversations recently, and plan to continue to minister to one another.
Ministry Support Thank you to those of you who supported our work this past
year! We are grateful for our prayers and gifts. If you want to give a special
year-end gift, or to become a monthly supporter, please visit the Reliant
website: https://reliant.org/steve.nelson. Thank you!
Thank you for interceding!
(Here is the letter that Grace read to our church a few weeks ago.)
Confident In Christ
By Grace BeardenWe prayed
about adopting, but that market seemed flooded and not for us. We prayed about
fostering to adopt, but our friend let us know it usually takes 5 years to be
placed. So, we chose the craziest of all - fostering whatever kind of placement
they gave us. We received twin boys when they were 5 days old. Their mother was
a drug addict. For 2 years, we met with their grandmother, and then the mother,
not knowing what the outcome would be. Finally, we adopted Fred and Will in
2021.
You would
think the ups and downs of adoption would be hard, but no. Raising my boys has
been! I always knew their frontal lobes were underdeveloped and flight or fight
would trigger. Fred has run across 3 lanes of traffic, scratched innocent
children out of fear, doesn’t do large crowds, can go to the zoo to watch the
railroad crossing arm for 1 hour, but he has no interest in looking at animals,
breaks all the things including his own toys.
Will
struggles with HUGE emotions and even “hated” his best friend, Elijah, for
about 6 months over a minor offense. When he is hurt, he REALLY hurts back.
When embarrassed, it’s like the world hates him.
It’s been
incredibly lonely. Very few people want to be around children like mine/ours.
At times, the struggle with parenting has completely shaken any confidence I
used to have in Christ. Why me? Why these kids? How dare I even think that.
Fred was
diagnosed with high functioning autism recently. I didn’t think that would
shake me the way it did. I felt ALL the feelings (emotions?): Will was diagnosed
as level 1 Autism and ADHD. Due to the number of prayers and support we have received;
this news was only affirming. Affirmed (I’m not crazy!), scared (what does this
mean?), a little offended (how dare they label my child), guilt (could I have
done more?). We have signed the boys up for ABA and are hopeful they will get
the help they need.
I’ve been
praying for confidence and here is what God says, “Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need.” Heb. 4:16
“So, we
say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man
do to me?” Heb. 13:6
“So do not
throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere
so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has
promised.” Heb. 10:35-36
That’s
why, when I read “Take heart” means to be encouraged and confident I knew it
was for me.
Jesus saw
the paralytic and called him son, saw the bleeding woman and called her
daughter. He gave them a new title and told them to be encouraged and
confident.
I want to
reclaim my title, to be restored, and reclaim my confidence in the Lord.
I also found myself wanting to sing it over my boys. I want them to have that confidence. I want them to know they are not mistakenly made because they are different, but precious, beautiful and wonderfully made.
We hope
this letter encourages you to pray for the Beardens to be confident in Christ and to have compassion for others in similar
situations.
Yours in Christ’s love,
Steve & Danelle
11002 Lake Hart Dr, Suite 100, Orlando, FL 32832
