Trusting the Bridegroom- A February Update
Trusting the Bridegroom
Adam Cuttinger, an art teacher and a groom from Buffalo, took on the challenge of making his bride’s wedding dress as a surprise. His bride, Maria, trusted Adam completely and didn't see the dress until their wedding day. Adam started the project in October, working long hours. He used a mannequin and held a blindfolded fitting to ensure the dress fit properly. On the wedding day, Maria was overwhelmed with emotion when she finally saw the dress, describing it as perfect and exactly what she wanted.
When we heard about this story, we were struck by not only the competence of the groom, but the absolute trust the bride had in her groom. She knew he wouldn’t make her something hideous, because she trusted not only in his character but in his love.
As we are preparing for all 9 of our trips this year, we feel a bit like Adam in the story. We are busy working those long hours of writing training and teaching materials, and planning all the logistics of the trips. We also know that all of these trips have the same focus. We are helping prepare Christ’s bride, the church, and we are inviting others to come and become part of the bride through salvation.
But we are also entrusting the results of all of these preparations to the Lord. So like Maria, we want to be thoroughly confident in the Lord’s character and love. We trust that every trip and the team members that join us have been ordained by God, and any subtraction or embellishment is our Bridegroom custom tailoring for His bride. Everything may not work out as we would have planned, but we know that the Lord’s “alterations” to our plans are always best.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
All in April preview:
All in April is when we commemorate the time when I (Mark) left my vocational job at the bank and joined Live Global full-time. This year will be the 2-year anniversary of our first All in April campaign. As part of the commemorating of the time we decide we were “All In” in missions, we ask everyone to partake in a special time of prayer each day for the work we are doing and offer a special time of giving for the month of April.
We are currently at 80% of the support we need to be FULLY SUPPORTED. Due to your generosity and giving, we have come so far in the last two years. The total amount we need to raise to be fully supported is $24,432. That is only $2,036 per month.
As our partners in missions, we are asking that you consider doing a few things during the “All in April” campaign:
We ask that you pray every day for Kim and I as we head into a busy season with lots of planning, preparing, and travel in the coming months. As Kim said, Lord willing, we have 9 trips planned this year. On most of those trips, we have teams of 6-15 people going with us. Please pray for us and our teams that God would provide the strength to complete what he has for us to do.
Please pray for our girls during this very busy season. We have a lot of family and church family who always look out for them. We appreciate all of it.
Please pray for those who we are ministering to all over the world that God would open their eyes and hearts to the beauty of Jesus and their need for him.
Please consider if God is asking you to give toward the goal of raising the remaining $24,432, we need to raise to be fully supported. That could be done by giving a one-time gift or by considering if God is asking you to raise the monthly support you are already generously giving us. If you have been planning to support us monthly but haven’t started yet, April is a good time to start that commitment as well. It would be a huge blessing to be fully supported.
As in previous “All-in April” campaigns, we will be giving weekly updates in April so you can track our progress. Thank you everyone for your prayers and generosity.
