Prayer Partners for Dominican Mission Trip

I’d be honored if you’d be our prayer partner during our trip the Dominican. Here is a general schedule of what we will be doing each day with prayer requests and then some specific requests for our family! I believe in prayer and your prayers are appreciated! While this is my 8th my trip to the Dominican, it's special because it's the first time my wife and daughter's first. 

February 17-23, 2018  

Team: Sherman, Jessica, and Layne Boyd, Gina Ellsworth, Judy Toalston, Joy and Josie Evans, Joy’s sister, Rita and her daughter Madalyn, Melanie Spence and the ReVision staff along with the translators.  

Feb. 17th: Travel Day 

Prayers for safe travel on all flights, no complications with airport security and international rules, no lost luggage, prayers that we quickly adjust to weather and time change. (Dominican is 2 hours ahead of us)

Feb. 18th: Day in Haina

• Pray we can be aware of what the Lord wants us to learn from the morning Bible study.
• Pray we can minister to the children and youth and truly love on them and visa versa!
• Pray as we met people and share Jesus throughout the community!  

Feb. 19th and 20th: Equipping Retreat 

Church leaders will be staying with us at camp for 2 days as we lead them in an equipping retreat so that they can take back the things they learned to share at their churches! And visa versa. 

During this retreat, Gina and Jessica will be sharing their testimony.  Pray the Lord will calm their nerves and will be led by The Holy Spirit. Gina and Jessica will also be leading a creative arts seminar throughout the 2 days where we teach them how to incorporate dance and sign language into their worship.  Prayers for no language barriers, bonds to be created among the women, and that we can finish everything in the amount of time that we are given.

Feb. 21st: Day in Palmar

• Pray for safe travels throughout the 2 hour bus ride to Pal Mar.
• Pray for us to love on the children as we minister to them using VBS type activities and participate in a hair washing and braiding ministry
• Pray for the single mom we will be throwing a baby shower for.
• Prayers for the few hours of free time we will have in the afternoon on the beach…rest, refreshment, safety, and safe travels back to camp.

Feb. 22nd: Day in the Life (Los Asises)

• Pray for us as we spend the day learning and experiencing what a day in the life of the Dominican people really means.  We will be spending the morning in different homes and doing whatever they do in an ordinary day.  
• Pray that everything will be coordinated so that we can meet our compassion children in the afternoon!  Pray they can feel our love and that we can create a special relationship with them.  
• Pray for our last night together as we worship together with our Dominican family.

Feb. 23rd: Travel home

• Pray as we prepare to go home that we can remember all we have experienced and come home truly changed and ready to share our stories!
• Prayers for safe travels! 

Specific Requests for our family:

• Jessica and Layne are anxious about the food, water, sleeping, and their mosquitos.       
• Prayers for overall health for each of us before, during, and after the trip! 
• Prayers for safe travels to and from each of the cities….Jessica tends to get car sick…please pray that I will easily adjust to the riding/driving conditions in the DR.  
• Jessica’s mom’s birthday is on the 21st, and they always see each other on birthdays….this will be the first year they will be apart. 
• Prayers that this will be an incredible and life changing experience for our family!  We want to learn and grow throughout this experience!

Thank you for your prayers!  I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Election Prayers and Scripture Guide

Scripture states that Christians should be praying for their leaders. How should/can we be praying during this election? Are their specific Scriptures that we can meditate on? I hope this is helpful for you and you family as Election Tuesday quickly approaches.  

1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Jeremiah 29:7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Titus 3:1-2 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
VotersWisdom will be sought from God (James 1:5).Self-interest will be laid aside for the common good.Discernment between truth and falsehood will be clear. Would trust God regardless of outcome. Restoration of strained relationships caused from disunity over the election. 

CandidatesThey will submit to the Lordship of Jesus. (salvation, growth, repentance) They will find a local church community to walk, grow, and serve. (accountability, pastoral care)  They will take brave stands for righteousness, even when it may not be well received.Their families will be protected from harm and unnecessary scrutiny.They will surround themselves with godly and wise advisors.They will focus on the issues we face as a nation and not on personal attacks. They would lead with humility, wisdom, and discernment.  They would be faithful to their spouse and family. They would set an example in being generous, kind, gracious, compassionate and humble. 

Media Outlets Truth in reporting and election coverage will become a high value.Media bias will disappear on both sides.Christianity will receive fair coverage in all reports.Hope will become a part of the message of the media.

Election’s Impact Voters will consider the foreign policies of candidates and how they align with biblical principles.The result of U.S. elections will serve to spread the gospel around the globe.The U.S. will stand in its commitment to Israel’s right to exist as a nation.A commitment to the sanctity & dignity of all human lives. 

Purposes of GodPray that the U.S. will turn and seek God and His Kingdom.Pray that God will be honored in the midst of this election campaign.Pray for opportunities for Christians to share their faith and their values in the midst of this election process.Pray that the results of the elections will please the Lord and release His blessing.             

Additional Reading: Romans 13, Proverbs 8:15, 21:1, and Daniel 4:25

Daddy & Layne's Top 5 American Girl Dolls

Daddy & Layne's Top 5 Disney Movies

 

My Personal "Affordable Health Care Act" Insurance Story

My Personal "Affordable Health Care Act" Insurance Story
Let me be clear...I'm grateful for the medical industry and the medical care my family has personally received. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to have an insurance plan for my family. I live in the medical care capitol of the entire world. The following is my story and is not a complaint. When we share our story things often began to change.
According to Guidestone (my baptist medical insurance company at the time), "Due to the "affordable health care act" your medical insurances cost are going up this year" I decided to shop my medical insurance for 1st time in more than 7 yrs. I went with Miller & Loughery which had basically the same plan for a much better rate. They also had all my other insurances and everything stayed pretty much to same. I was happy enough. The next year Miller & Loughery said "Due to "affordable health care act" your medical insurances cost are going up this year." So I decided to at least check out obamacare on the exchange. I reluctantly decided to move to a high deductible HSA which did lower my insurance monthly premiums and we added that difference to the HSA account. Through out the entire last 12 years, we still had Blue Cross Blue Shield so we had the same doctors. Last month we received a letter from BCBS & later one from the exchange stating that BCBS was pulling out of the exchange and our of our state altogether. The letter from the exchange added "not to worry there are several other options". Being on my day off, I decided to revisit my past health insurance providers to see their options from this year. Here is what I discovered:
1. Miller & Loughery: NOT even offering Health Insurance anymore due to regulations from "affordable health care act". BCBS has pulled out of the state and changed how they even offer insurance. NO more local agents.
2. Guidestone: Can't enroll you unless you have a major "life experience". You must have just graduated from seminary, got married, had a child, or changed jobs. I'm kinda already married, graduated seminary, had a kid, and don't want to quit my great church. It's the effects of the new regulations from "affordable health care act".
My only choice is to buy another insurance plan through the exchange. It won't be a BCBS plan since they've opted out.
There are only 3 options from here.
1. This thing gets figured out and stabilizes soon
2. We simply return to the former ways
3. We move to a fully gov't single payer plan

Partial Birth Abortion Exchange At The Presidential Debate

In last night’s 3^rd and final debate, there was an exchange between the candidates on abortion which quickly moved to partial birth abortions. With Trump’s propensity to exaggerate, many are left wondering if he did so during the exchange. So what’s the truth on partial birth abortions? I must admit that I’m 38 years old and didn't know the details of partial birth abortions.       

According to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. “Only 1.2 percent of abortions—about 12,000 a year– take place after 21 weeks.” Did you catch that? This mean 12,000 abortions annually are conducted at the end of the 5^th month (1 week from 6^th month) through the completion of the 9^th month. Why is the 12,000 a BIG deal?

What exactly is a partial birth abortion?

The official medical term is a "dilation and extraction," or “D&X”. Ohio physician, Martin Haskell, devised his D&X procedure to find a way to perform second-trimester abortions without an overnight hospital stay, because local hospitals did not permit most abortions after 18 weeks. The partial birth abortion is a medical procedure to remove a fetus/child from the mother’s womb by dilating a pregnant woman's cervix, then pulling the baby feet first out of the mother until only the head remains inside because the U.S. Supreme Court stated “intact D&E remains legal as long as there is first a feticidal injection while the fetus is still completely inside of the mother's body.” Then an instrument is used to puncture the child’s head so a tube can be inserted to suck out its brain which will collapse the head so the child can be removed easily without damage to the women’s cervix. Don't believe me?  Brenda Pratt Shafer, a registered nurse from Dayton, Ohio, assisted Dr. Haskell in a Partial Birth Abortion described the procedure as she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee (on 11/17/95) about what she witnessed in the same manner in which I described only with even more horrific details and pictures. I can’t even bring myself to show you the pics. I will say that a child as described is ONLY 4 inches away from being considered by every person in the U.S. as murdered. The Doctor preforming the procedure is 4 inches away from being sentenced to prison by our judicial system for murder.   

Who’s having partial birth abortions?

Although debated, many if not most have extreme sympathy for a mother in a case when her life is in danger. We must ask the question, is that the situation for most partial birth abortions?  

In 1993, the American Medical News conducted a tape-recorded interview with Dr. Haskell, in which he said: “And I'll be quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week range. . . . In my particular case, probably 20% are for genetic reasons. And the other 80% are purely elective.” Other doctors have confirmed similar findings throughout the debate over numerous years.

Numerous states began to pass laws banning partial birth abortions starting first with Ohio in 1995. 28 more states followed by 2000.  

In 2003, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760, S. 3) was signed into law; the House passed it on October 2 with a vote of 281-142, the Senate passed it on October 21 with a vote of 64-34, and President George W. Bush signed it into law on November 5.

In 2004, three lawsuits were filled by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Abortion Federation, and abortion doctors in Nebraska to challenge the ban. After winning, the three cases were all appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and were consolidated into the case Gonzales v. Carhart. On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by a decision of 5-4. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority and was joined by Justices Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts. A dissenting opinion was written by Justice Ginsburg and joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Breyer.

As of today, 43 states have some level of ban or restrictions on partial birth abortions. So why was this brought up at last night’s debate? CLEARLY THE DEBATE IS NOT OVER. There will be lower court rulings of the ban as unconstitutional. There will be more challenges before the Supreme Court. Thus, the reason the 1^st question in last night’s debate was on the appointment of Supreme Court Justices. The presidential debate recognized the importance of the next president’s choice for appointments to the Supreme Court.  

Watch the exchange on partial birth abortion at last night’s presidential debate here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/clinton-trump-spar-over-partial-birth-abortion-during-third-debate/2016/10/19/7a7c2734-9657-11e6-9cae-2a3574e296a6_video.html

Bible Verses for Those Struggling with Depression

What’s the Bible says about depression and how to fight it. I pray these Bible versus will be an encouragement to you. I pray that you will find the ultimate peace and joy that comes ONLY from Jesus. Thought the help of the Holy Sprit you can overcome depression in the midst of ALL circumstances and feelings. You are known and love by the creator of the universe and He’s NOT left you to suffer alone or to live alone. Jesus say’s that He came to give abundant life! Carefully and prayerfully read, memorize, pray, and recite the following verses.

John 10:10 
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

Philippians 4:8
 
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

Deuteronomy 31:8
 
8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” 

Psalm 34:17
 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 

Psalm 40:1-3

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him. 

Psalm 3:3
 
3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 

Psalm 32:10
 
10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. 

Psalm 42:11
 
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 

1 Peter 5:6-7
 

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

John 16:33
 
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

Romans 8:38-39
 
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
 
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

1 Peter 4:12-13
 
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 

Psalm 37:23-24
 
23 The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; 24 though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. 

Isaiah 41:10
 
10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

Prayers:
To see yourself as God see’s you. 
To believe and experience the “abundant life” Jesus spoke about in John 10:10 
To see all that God has done for me in Christ Jesus. 
To change my thoughts and meditation to match up with God’s thoughts and meditations. 
To wait patiently on Jesus to move or act. 
To trust God’s plan and ways over mine. 
To praise God even when I don't feel like it. To grow in my trust of God.