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January, 2004

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In 1999 we formed an Alumni group to encourage and promote ongoing healing in reconciled couples. Since that time we have designed a quarterly newsletter especially for our ever-growing list of healed couples. We know that continued support and prayer is needed, and are pleased to add this new page especially for our Covenant Couples. Click on the logo above to go to the Covenant Couples page.

ARE YOU DISCOURAGED?
BY GERRY HIEBERT
CANADIAN NATIONAL DIRECTOR

This time of year is hard for many covenant keepers. I know some are so discouraged that they are ready to give up. Whether it is your marriage, another relationship, finances, or some other situation, let me encourage you to press on.

Circumstances may seem to indicate and people often tell us that it is over because there is no hope, but God says it is over when His will has been accomplished in our lives. Calvary looked like the end, but in God’s grand scheme it was the beginning. With that in mind, I hope the following story encourages you.

REMEMBER, THE GAME’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER

Anyone going through a difficult time needs to remember that the end has not come yet and that our Heavenly Father may have all manner of wonderful things in store just around the next bend in the road. USA TODAY once reported a story which demonstrates this fact very well.

One Friday night in September 1983 Milwaukee Hamilton High School football team had a 22-15 lead over Milwaukee Marshall with time running out. It appeared to be a sure victory. On its own 40-yard line with just four seconds on the clock, Hamilton snapped the ball to Jose Alba. Alba ran back toward his own end zone to run out the clock, then tossed the ball into the air as time expired, thinking the game was over and the victory belonged to his teammates and him.

But, in football the play is not finished until the ball is downed while in the possession of a player. When Alba’s joyful toss came down, Marshall player Floyd Heard picked it up on the five-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. With no time on the clock, Marshall attempted a two-point conversion and made it. They won the game 23-22.

There are many times in life when we are on the losing side of the scoreboard and time is running out. If Floyd Heard had believed what the circumstances were indicating on that autumn evening almost 20 years ago, he would have walked to the sideline, accepting his defeat. That is what we do so many times in our lives. Neither the game—nor life—is over until it’s over. Be encouraged! Don’t give up! Stay the course!

--Rocky Henriques

CARRIERS OF COMFORT
BY GERRY HIEBERT
CANADIAN NATIONAL DIRECTOR

Many experiencing the breakdown of their marriage also suffer from depression. I know first-hand the pain and despair that leads to hopelessness and even thoughts of wishing it would all just end. As my marriage was collapsing and all that I valued was being torn from my grasp, death certainly seemed an attractive option. And at those times, the accuser and enemy of our souls whispers in our ears and says, “You loser! Nobody else struggles like you.” And that is a lie from the father of all lies!

Look at the words of the mighty apostle, evangelist, preacher, and survivor Paul, “I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. And he did deliver us from mortal danger. And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10) Paul uses words like “crushed, completely overwhelmed, thought we would never live through, expected to die;” words that reflect depression.

Or read the story of Jonah, the most effective evangelist who ever lived. (A whole city experienced salvation and deliverance because of a one-line sermon, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”) But read chapter four. Jonah was so depressed following this great move of God that he wished he was dead.

Many of David’s Psalms begin with declarations of despair, fear, overwhelming odds, anxiety, etc. Depression type symptoms! Mighty men of God were pounded down by emotional strongholds.

But look at what Paul also says, “All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God’s comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

That is my testimony as well as Paul’s. Whatever comfort I am able to offer is only because of the comfort and mercy I have experienced. I pray you will experience God’s comfort in a new way today, that you will become a carrier of His comfort (infected with it), and that it will be multiplied into the lives of others in the days to come.