The President's Perspective  Dear Friends of Living Well, “Satan can’t move the hand of God so he works to move the hearts of men.”  What a challenging statement!  Is my heart  protected?  1 Timothy 4:16 says “Keep a close watch on all you do and think. Stay true to what is right and God will bless you and use you to help others”  This says I must be proactive and intentional. If I am not careful to pay attention to my heart, I will  easily slide back into unhealthy thinking and behaviors that inhibit my ability to live well. If I am not living well, I am not reflecting the character of Christ.  So, what are some things I can do to help me guard my heart?  I can do a little heart audit! I  ask myself   questions as a way to look in the mirror. I hope this will challenge you to do your own heart checkup!   Is my life a reflection of Christ? The Word says I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.  We have been adopted into God’s family!   Jesus is our brother! God is our Father. Are you able to see the family resemblance? Would your family say they see the authenticity in your relationship with Christ? When others spend time with you, do they sense they have been in the presence of someone who has a growing and intimate relationship with the Father? Do you exhibit the joy of the Lord?   Am I becoming more about relationships than rules? Remember, rules without relationship lead to rebellion. Jesus was ALL about relationships. His entire life on earth was a picture of true spirituality…relating to God the Father, he was then able to relate to us. This question also begs the answer to another question…   Is my humility genuine? Humility is not denying the gifts and power that we have but admitting that the power comes through us, not from us. I love what Oswald Chambers says…”Sanctification makes me one with Jesus and in Him, one with God…and it is   accomplished ONLY through the atoning work of Christ on the cross…Never confuse the effect with the cause…In other words, the effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me BECAUSE of the atonement through the cross of Christ.”  He also said the greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”   Do I have a quiet center to my life? Peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the absence of anxiety in the midst of conflict. This only comes when we are spending time alone with God…learning to know Him in his sovereignty. One of the most awesome years I have had in Living Well was the year that God was teaching me to trust in His purposes in spite of what I saw all around me. My    circumstances at the time were stressful, however, looking back now, I see that He had a purpose that was bigger than myself. There are times when I have to consciously remind myself to go back to that quiet center inside my heart…I find He is always there ready to spend time with me and let me talk out my frustrations…only then will I find my peaceful center again. Is my soul being fed? The more you begin to feed your soul with God’s truth, His Word, the more confident you will feel about life. Remember, you have nothing to give outside of what God has given you! Your experience is helpful, but it will not save the world…only the Person of Christ, the WAY, THE TRUTH, And THE LIFE, can save the world! He says, He is the Word!  1 John 2:5 says, “But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”   How is my prayer life? I read somewhere that one test of our prayer life is this: Do our decisions have prayer as an integral part,  or do we make decisions out of our desires and then dip them in a self-righteous sauce we call prayer? I confess there have been times when I have done that and then when my plans did not go as I expected, I was not a happy camper! But, the times that I have made decisions based on what I believe God had shown me in prayer, it was a sure thing!   My prayer for both myself and for you today is that “…God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better. His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy. I pray that you will be grateful to God for letting you have part in what he has promised his people in the kingdom of light. God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son… I pray that we will stay deeply rooted and firm in our faith.”   Colossians 1:9-23 Living well in Him, Vicki Goodrich        Ministry Update Congratulations to Deborah Ferrell and Vicki Goodrich! Deborah recently completed her Biblical Counseling Diploma with the American Association of Christian Counselors!   Vicki, having completed her Biblical Counseling  Diploma some time back, has received her credentials as a Board Certified Biblical Counselor with the International Board of Christian Counselors (IBCC)!     Thank you to all those who faithfully    provide financial and prayer support for this ministry!   More Great News! Our fall sessions started off with a bang this year! We began with three men’s groups, four women’s groups, a Seekers 3 (spirituality) group and as of January we have added a fifth women’s group! And as you may have heard, one of our women’s groups is actually being held in Camden County, our first outreach group. There are folks in that group who come from as far away as Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida to participate.  Our waiting list continues to build and we are in the process of making some adjustments to better accommodate those who are seeking help.  We are excited about how these changes will more evenly distribute the work load for the staff. With the  implementation of the new plans, no one should have to wait more than four months to get a seat in a class! Keep us in your prayers as we make this new shift in direction in the upcoming months!   Of course, God keeps moving and shaking in this ministry and the journey, though sometimes a little overwhelming, is so worth it! God always provides for whatever He orders.  Some time back, God gave us vision and a desire to increase the skill level of our facilitators by helping them pursue their Biblical Counseling Diploma. We wrote a grant requesting the funds to help us set up a distance learning center, provide a small stipend to those who are currently operating as primary facilitators and finally to provide funds to help us scholarship those who desperately want and need our services, but are financially hindered from doing so.  Well, God is amazing! We are so pleased to announce that the Gale Foundation    accepted our proposal! We have now applied those funds accordingly and our team is working on furthering their         education in this field. The American Association of Christian Counselors has a Biblical Counseling Diploma program and we have partnered with them to make this available to our staff. Once they have completed the work for their diploma, they will be able to pursue becoming a Board Certified Biblical Counselor with the International Board of Christian     Counselors (IBCC).  I have to give a huge thank you to Mary B. Gale and her family’s Foundation for making this possible. Mary went through our  Seekers program many years ago and moved away. After several years of not hearing from her, she made  contact and told us about the possibility of a grant. Thank you, Mary, for listening to the Lord whisper in your ear and obeying His voice. You will never know the number of lives that will be positively affected for the Kingdom of God because of your obedience.   Now, I have to tell you one more thing!! This coming fall begins our 15th year in ministry! Can you believe it?!  I have to    admit, it is amazing to me. It doesn’t seem that long ago since I walked into my first group looking for help...and here it is 15 years later! God has grown this ministry from the original 8 – 10 women to a multi-faceted ministry that is reaching  hundreds and hundreds of   individuals and families throughout the southeast and beyond.  I am so grateful that God lets me participate in this work and I can hardly wait to see what is yet to come. I am certain that He is not done and we remain  willing to take the message to others wherever and whenever He says “Go.”   With that said, we are excited to announce  our        upcoming “15 Years and Growing” Anniversary Celebration, Mark the dates !! Friday, July 25, 2008 – Saturday, July 26, 2008. Friday night will be a Family Reunion and Homecoming for alumnae, while Saturday is an Adult Wellness Workshop open to all.  On Saturday evening, we will end with a night of laughter and rejoicing at the Ritz downtown! We have hired a hilarious Christian comedian, Tim Hawkins, to help us close out the weekend with some good old fashioned belly laughter! The Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” and that is how we hope to finish our weekend together... laughing and rejoicing in all the Lord has done these last 15 years and looking forward to years to come!  Tickets will be available soon, so mark the dates!! These tickets will sell out very quickly!