Thank you Lord for Friends

Those of you who read my prayer blog a couple of weeks ago know that I have had some things going on lately, financial, health, ministry......
As is ALWAYS the case, God hears.....and answers prayer. So this morning as I think about His many blessings, His many answers to prayer, I offer this one....
Dear Precious Heavenly Father,
Thank you for friends....dear, precious friends. Mark and I have friends who love You, and that love spills over in their loving, generous hearts, in their loving acts and words toward us.  I thank you Heavenly Father for giving them to us!
Thank you for our friends who reached out in my moment of health need and provided a way for me to have the specific medical needs met....she even went with me, and held my hand through the process.....thank you for her Lord.
Lord, you have given us  friends who know the financial struggle at this time, and what an outpouring of genuine love.....Mark being provided jobs doing work he is good at, in the homes of dear and precious friends.  Thank you!!
I see your faithfulness all around me.....I feel your presence in my life.....I feel hugged by your gifts of friendship and I thank you.
Thank you for loving me.....and for showing love to Mark and me through these dear instruments of Your mercy.

In Jesus Name....Amen

Strength

Well, based off of the blog I published this morning it is important to me to pray this prayer......
Lord,
Thank You for dear friends, dear sisters in Christ who love You, and who love me. Thank You for friendship, and unconditional love. Thank You for people who put up with me, support me, pray for me, and truly care about me.  Thank You for giving us friends....the very human, skin-on parallel to Your love.  What would we do without You Lord?  And what would we do without those dear friends who reflect You so beautifully.  Thank You for giving us human hands to hold in addition to Your Holy spiritual Hands as we walk this faith journey.  I love You Lord, and I thank You for my friends....my sisters (and brothers) in the Lord.

Amen.

God's Guiding Hand

As we have been making plans for a move to Uganda, and even planning a trip this summer, I have seen and felt God's guiding hand upon this.  I have felt an uncertainty about a June trip, and all the while another trip was trying to form for an entirely different thing in August.  God, in His providence, has shifted our trip to August.  This is providing a larger team, far greater opportunities for evangelism, and allows more time for our Faith 500 vision to form roots and grow.  So my prayer today is this:
"Thank you Heavenly Father that Your timing is NOT our timing, and that Your will is far, far better than  ours.  Thank you for Your guiding hand in our lives, not just in the small, ordinary, every day things, but in the big decisions and activities of life.  Thank You for guiding us in Your will, for showing us Your hand upon our lives.  Help us ALWAYS to be sensitive to that will, Lord.  Help us ALWAYS to seek You....in all things to seek You.  Thank You for open doors of opportunity, and for closed doors of protection and redirection, which are also doors of opportunity.  Be with us, Lord, as we continue to seek You in the the Faith 500 vision, and as we continue to seek You in all areas of our lives.
We love You and praise Your name.
Amen

Today

Lord,
Today is a new day.  Today also starts a new week, a week of promise and of hope.  Lord I commit today to You, asking for Your guidance and direction, for Your strength and Your wisdom in all things.  Lord, please give us clarity regarding our future in Uganda.  We want to be obedient to you, not self-seeking. It is difficult to know the difference sometimes when we want to do something so badly......is it of You? Have you laid this on our hearts?  If so Lord, please confirm this work of our hands, enlarge our boundaries, lead us in Your way.  Today is a day given to us by You, lead us through it. Provide us the grace and mercy we need to serve you wherever you have placed us.
We love You Lord and we trust You.
In Jesus' Name I pray.....
Amen

OUR BIG 2012 PRAYER

Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, we have been praying, seeking God’s will and working toward moving to Uganda in order to be involved first-hand with the ministry work of Mercy Uganda.  We have committed the next 90 days to prayer and fasting, as we move forward with what we believe God is leading us to do.  We are currently finalizing some of the last minor projects on our home in order to put it on the market by March 1^st.  This will be a pivotal part of our relocating to Uganda.  We know that God gave us this home, and perhaps it was for such a time as this, that we could use money from the sale of the home to help provide us with resources to start our ministry lives there. We are following what we truly believe the Lord is calling us to do, and we are committing our lives to service there, starting with a one to two year commitment, seeing what doors God opens from there.

We have been prayerfully considering a timeline, realizing that God’s timing is the perfect one, and we want ours to align with His.  So, here is what we are working toward in our timeline: March 1^st-house on the market; June 1^st-have the $90,000.00 raised to purchase the land and begin clearing; August 31^st-Mark travel to Uganda to begin the building of a small home for us on a small portion of the land purchased in the Faith 500 Vision. A small home will also be built for our Director, Henry Mello on that land as he will be overseeing the Agriculture and Livestock program of the ministry; November 1^st-Laura move to Uganda. 

If the $90,000.00 is raised by June 1^st, Laura will travel to Uganda in June to finalize the paperwork with our team over there, and secure the land title. At this time Laura will also be taking a new ministry worker, Nicki, over to live. Nicki has graciously agreed to a one year commitment helping Mercy Uganda in the educational program, taking part in the work Lauren Walker has been doing for the past two years.

Once the land title and ownership are secure, our team in Uganda will begin the land clearing process.  During this period we are praying that our home here will sell, at which point Mark will travel to Uganda (August 31st), using a portion of the proceeds from the sale of our home to begin the building process on our home in Uganda. We believe it is critical that we live on the Faith 500 land as Mark’s initial primary role is to oversee all construction in all phases of Faith 500.  We also hope to be able to coordinate a freight that will take other items to Uganda during this period, which will allow Mark to have critical construction equipment transported. 

Some of the things we believe will benefit the ministry and the work on the Faith 500 land is: working on solar energy options, having a large generator that can ship with the freight, building a covered workshop on site to secure materials, and to provide work space in inclimate weather. 

We need your partnership with us:

1.    Pray for us. This is the most important thing we ask you to do.  We do not want to proceed without being covered in prayer.

2.    Share our need with others-friends, family, your work, your church

3.    Would you, your church, your company or organization help us raise the necessary funds to make our Faith 500 Vision a reality? We are seeking $90,000.00 by June 1st to buy the land, (90 groups, individuals, churches, businesses, giving $1000.00 would put us there). Then we will continue to work toward the remaining $410,000.00 that will provide the funds needed to build the orphanage and a small school, as well as provide the resources and livestock for our agriculture and livestock program. 

4.    Prayerfully consider becoming a monthly partner with us.  Based on the economy, and the needs for us in ministry work there, we are looking at $2,500.00 per month. This will cover everything from auto expenses and fuel, to food, travel, household expense, Insurance, and travel to the U.S., including emergency. 

5.    We would like a team of men who are willing to go with Mark to help with construction work on the homes in August and/or coming later to help with construction of the orphanage and school. 

As you can see, the needs are great but we are convinced that we are moving in the direction the Lord wants us to go, and if that is so, then He will provide all we need. 

FAITH 500 VISION: is a prayerful vision of Mercy Uganda to raise $500,000.00 to purchase land, build an orphanage and school, and develop and maintain an agriculture and livestock training program.  This will provide for the most vulnerable children in Uganda, many of whom have already been identified by Mercy Uganda team members.  The agriculture and livestock arm of the vision will provide training in life skills for the older children, food, and a level of self-sustainability for the orphanage and school.

Thank you for your partnership with us.  If you would like more information please feel free to contact us   by e-mail: mlknetzer@comcast.net.  You may also contact us or send contributions to: Mercy Uganda, P.O. Box 2082, Lynn Haven, FL 32444.

Mercy Uganda is a 501c3 Non-profit ministry, and International NGO, donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you so much, and God bless you!

Mark and Laura

2012

My prayer today, this second day of January 2012. My prayer as we begin a new year with new possibilities, new hope, and new beginnings for a ministry given to us by God......
Dear Heavenly Father, as I commit 2012 to You, as I seek Your face, Your will for us this new year, please guide me, guide us. Show us your will for us.  Lord, You know our hearts, our desires.  Lord, You have a plan for us.  We ask You to lead us in Your way.  I commit the next 90 days to prayer specifically for our FAITH 500 Vision Lord, that You will open doors for us as we seek to buy land in Uganda. Show us, Lord, where, how, when, what.  We want to do Your will, and be obedient to Your call on our lives.  I pray, Lord, that You will provide the resources needed to purchase the Land, and that You will provide the resources to build on that land.  I pray Lord, that You will be with us here as we move forward in faith, as we make preparations for the work we believe You are calling us to there.  

Make our way straight for us.  Light the path for us, each step we take, that we will know we are following You, our Guide.  Not our will, Lord, but Yours....not our work, but Yours.  Take this seed you  have planted in our hearts....water it, nourish it, make it grow into the ministry You have for us.  It is so hard, because we want to do your will, and often what we want can look like Your will because we want it.  I pray Lord, that if it is not your will for us to move forward with the FAITH 500 Vision, that You will not only close that door, but redirect us, our thoughts, our hearts......but if it IS Your will, that you will continue to open doors, and that you will open them in amazing new ways....in ways even more beautiful than we ever imagined to see them.  Thank You, Lord that you are in control, that You have a plan, and that You have given us this ministry.....help us to be faithful to You in it.  Bless 2012 and the work you have already prepared for us to do.  We love you Lord, and thank you for this privilege of working for You.  In Jesus Name......Amen (Amena!)

Christmas Prayer

Well, today is the day after Christmas.  It's a day when we start cleaning up the Christmas papers and, leftovers, and we start hearing music other than the Christmas carols on the radio.  It is also a day when we start focusing on the year to come.  That is what my prayer today is about.  My prayer today is this:
"Lord, thank you for all the many blessings you have poured out to Mercy Uganda, for the gifts You have given through friends, family, donors, and sponsors, both those we know and those we have never met. Lord I pray that as we prepare for 2012 You will prepare our hearts for what you have planned for us. That you, Lord, will bless the work of our hands, that You will enlarge our boundaries, that You will provide all that we need for this ministry, and for the lives we seek to minister to in Your name.  Lord, as we prepare for 2012 and consider how to face the mountain that is our Faith 500 Vision, that You will provide the land and the resources for the orphanage and the school.  Thank you Lord, that You go before us, that You have already prepared the way before us. Help us to step out in faith, and to trust You, obediently seeking and doing Your will.  Thank You Father.  In Jesus' name.  Amen