Yesterday morning, as I was on a walk around the lake where my family and I live, I had the joy of seeing all sorts of wildlife buzzing around, including my favorite bird—the Cardinal. It has to be the vivid red feathers that captivate me every time, especially against the intensely green shrubbery and trees— thanks to recent rain the Lord sent. My mother says that the Cardinal is one of the Lord’s ways of reminding us of His Presence and Beauty and even His Precision in our lives. My heart is filled with gratefulness for leading my family and I to join the Caldwell Brethren Family at such a time and for the blessed purpose of serving Christ by spreading His love and the message of salvation to the community and the world. My vision from the Lord is that Caldwell Brethren Church becomes a safe haven for people from all walks of life and also a place where our focus is beyond our historic and beautiful church walls out into the lives of those who live around us and even overseas as the Lord leads us to become even more passionate ambassadors for Jesus Christ. Like the Cardinal, we shall fly all about with purpose and joy. Our faithfulness to the tasks to which the Lord has assigned us will come from the power of the Holy Spirit and we will see the new work that Christ is bringing to life among us as we walk in faith.
Thank you for “adopting” Joel, Sidonia, Haley and myself into your family in Christ. We are blessed and feel loved by you all. It is a privilege to live for Christ alongside you as the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:7-8, with this singular focus:
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
In Christ’s Joy,
Sister Vanessa
Life at Caldwell Brethren Church 