August 27, 2018
In yesterday’s Fruit of the Vine, Barbara Mann recounted how a dream to return to Africa, the continent where she spent her first five years of life, became a reality. Barbara visited Rwanda last summer with a team from Northwest Yearly Meeting after waiting “forty long years ... to return to the country and culture of my early childhood.” Rwanda is next to Burundi, the country where Barbara’s parents, Lyle and Janet Wheeler, had served as missionaries when Barbara was a child.
Barbara asks, “Do you have a dream brewing in your spirit? Don’t give it up. It is there for a purpose!” After all, “God opened door after door” for Barbara.
Three years ago, a friend encouraged Barbara not to give up on her dream to visit Africa. An unexpected snow day gave Barbara a chance to see and complete an application for the trip to Rwanda. Friends near and far offered financial support. Help at the end of the school year made it possible for Barbara to finish her duties early enough to make the trip.
“What seemed impossible became a reality, and it can for you as well,” Barbara writes. “Watch, wait, and see what God will do.”
Fruit of the Vine is the only devotional quarterly written by Friends for Friends. Each day offers readers an experience akin to open worship (aka waiting worship) in which anyone, prompted by the Spirit, may stand and share a message for the gathered worshipers. We’ve been gathering and sharing these personal reflections on Scripture for more than six decades, and I’m convinced this little quarterly is the best way to welcome folks into the larger family of Friends.
Eric Muhr
P.S. Seeds of hope is the three-year campaign to fund the ministry of Barclay Press by developing new titles, supporting small churches, and balancing the budget. In order to stay on target to meet our goal of $162,000 by December 31, 2020, we need to get to $39,405 by September 1, 2018. As of this morning, we have raised $31,890 in gifts and pledges.
|
