Being Obedient to God's Will in the moving of his flock

My older brother David has a condition that the doctor says "will almost certainly require surgery". He has more testing to determine the extent of his condition. Please pray for David as he is a non-believer, and therefore highly unlikely to pray for himself or his condition. So pray for him whether he likes it or not. Pray that the Lords will be done, and that thru this he might come to realize that he desperately needs what he doesn't have. Thank you, Ken Olive

Please be in prayer for Margie who she went to high school with and now lives around Pinehurst. She received the following email from her recently. I was wanting to write an update before now since it has been two weeks since my other post and a lot of you are wanting to know how I am doing. Things kept changing down hill on a daily basis, before I could update everyone, and I ended up spending 14 days (both holidays) in the hospital. I am finally home now with a long recovery ahead of me. I now have more concrete information. I have multiple deep abscesses in my foot and the tendon that flexes my right foot. Aspiration didn’t work so I ended up having surgery to remove as much as possible of the abscessed tissue leaving me four open incisions to heal from the inside out. I expected the pain at my first wound appointment yesterday but was hoping for better news. The doctor cut the top layer of tissue off of all four surgical incisions to promote healing. I have to do that once a week until they heal. So, I found out yesterday for sure that the infection has bone and tendon involvement. 😞 Not at all what I was hoping to hear about this whole ordeal. He said my MRI "lit up like crazy" and that the infection and abscesses are very serious. I have extremely severe abbesses (limb threatening) in several ankle bones and the leg flexor tendon. The best chance I have of beating this (to avoid surgical removal of the infected bone (never walking correctly again) and bone marrow or possible amputation) is that the antibiotic course works, continual trimming down the tissue of the four surgical incisions, and dressing it with this certain salve that is expensive but the best dressing, potential debridement surgery and the hyperbaric chamber. They are checking my insurance to see what the cost will be on that (I read that it is $5K a treatment which ends up being $150K on top of the hospital stay, surgery, testing, antibiotics, and physicians. I am sure that is over another $100K and that is probably conservative.). I can't think about that right now. Jason and I have to decide if I'm doing the chamber. It is a HUGE time commitment which I didn't realize. Each treatment involves laying in the sealed horizontal tube (like an MRI - glad I’m not claustrophobic) and totally confined being still for two hours each day Monday through Friday, for six weeks!!!😳 He also said the bone involvement causes them to be soft and malleable so I need to keep weight off it as much as possible to avoid them deforming. This also keeps me from moving my ankle much which can cause restricted movement and muscle deterioration. Different than what PT wanted me to do. Additionally I have been running a low grade fever this week which we are keeping a close eye on to make sure the infection is still responding to the antibiotics. I am honestly getting overwhelmed with the continually progressive bad news and the pain. Three weeks today. I’m hanging in there but it’s getting difficult to remain positive. I can only continue to have faith in God to handle this and accept this ordeal since I am not in charge of anything and cannot control any of it. I am praying for the strength and courage handle whatever occurs. He is my captain that is guiding this voyage. So, please continue to pray for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change!!! I am so amazed at the people that have supported me, visited (49 times!) me, called, texted, and been there for me. I have never felt so cared about. I am having to humble myself and ask people to drive me to all of these appointments since this is in my driving foot and help me with various things. Jason started the semester teaching Monday and can’t take me and be with me to everything. I can’t even imagine how the six weeks are going to happen if we choose to pursue the hyperbaric chamber treatments. One day at a time! Anyways, this has been and will be a long road and I feel like I am going crazy at times. Thank you for your concern and continual asking about me. Much love to everyone. I am going to give myself a dose of antibiotics and head to bed. I am exhausted!❤️❤️❤️-- Tabitha Woodard

Please be in prayer for our youth and youth leaders at Intentional Love Baptist Church. Pray for God's direction, strength and protection. Also, please keep the Elders in your prayers...praying for discernment, focus on God's will in all decisions, and to set the example in missions, serving, and evangelism. I am praying daily for you, my brothers and sisters at Intentional Love Baptist Church for placing God as your priority in life to focus on God's will, direction, and conviction for missions, service, and evangelism. Love Raymond Moore