Until The Nets Are Full: Trials and Spiritual Warfare

Lily says "Hi!"

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

Thank you so much for your prayers on my behalf this week. The surgery on Monday went well. Dr. Holbrook was able to successfully reattach my severed tendon with no complications. I'm very thankful to live in an age where the Lord graciously allows us to correct our carelessness. I will have to wear a brace on my wrist and hand for the next six weeks while the tendon heals, but I am optimistic I will regain full use of my finger.

Sometimes in this blog I treat our personal life and our ministry life as separate entities, when in reality of course they are one and the same. Nowhere has this become more glaringly apparent than in the spiritual warfare we are waging daily. Our enemy is relentlessness in his attack. I can honestly say that neither Meredith nor I were well-prepared for the spiritual opposition we’ve faced since we've been here. We're so very thankful for all of you who read the blog and pray for us, but practically speaking, we are more isolated now than we've ever been. It's been a struggle to find community here outside of Charlie and Earlene, who are wonderful of course. We are thankful to have finally begun to make some friends at church, but those relationships are just getting started. Dr. Akin said in a seminary chapel service that the devil fights hardest against those who are in a position to do him the greatest harm, those on the frontlines of the Gospel. We live in a spiritually dark place, and the devil has his hand wrapped firmly around many of the churches here. Our work is difficult. Our enemy is fierce and does not want us to be here. I believe the devil would like nothing more than to destroy our home and disqualify us from the ministry. Please pray for us, that the Lord would protect our home, that we would not be discouraged, that we would love one another well, and that our marriage would get stronger every day. At the same time, would you please pray for Lily. She continues to struggle with sleep, which translates to less sleep for mom and dad and a greater amount of stress in our home. We've tried everyone's (and I mean everyone's) suggestions. By God's grace, she has stopped fighting naps the last couple of days, but she continues to fight bedtime. She cries and/or talks to herself for an hour and a half to 2 1/2 hours after we lay her down, regardless of what time we lay her down. She's also waking up some at night because she falls asleep so late, or she wakes up exceedingly early if she falls asleep really late. Please pray for endurance for Meredith and I as we wait for this phase to pass.

In ministry news, we are beginning work this week to build relationships with area churches to establish partnership in hopes that some of these pastors would become potential BTCP students. Daniel is in the process of beginning to set up those meetings. We are also working with a local church, First Baptist, that hosts a "Christmas Store" each year and gives out clothing, diapers, and other essentials to needy families in our area. We are working on several different ideas for how to partner our supporting churches from home with First Baptist in this ministry to help those in need for the Christmas season. We will update you more on this next week as ideas come together.

Thank you to those of you who have written cards and sent e-mails of late to encourage us. We sincerely appreciate it. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Until the Nets Are Full,
the Shraders