1. Luke 1:37

2. “I have been at it since the end of August, and without a rest, we out here are wondering if ever they will relieve us, and wonder “Will they ever come?” It takes us all our time to keep together.” Reg Knight

3. “Nothing is impossible with God”

4.  Even for Mary, a time would come when she, with Jesus’ brothers, would doubt her son’s mission (Mark 3:21)  We speculate that Jesus had a relatively normal 30 years prior to his ministry beginning  When that changed it was a shock to the system for his family, believing the things he said to be impossible

5.  Our own experiences can be like Mary’s  Yet we can also approach it from the opposite end, believing in God for great things and being disappointed if we don’t see it  We all have examples of someone who didn’t get healed, prayers that may not have been answered, temptations that we didn’t overcome  Our faith can become jaded, things seem impossible, even with God

6. We acknowledge the receipt of your recent communication. Your proposal is both interesting and challenging. However, due to a shortage of personnel, as well as personal financial considerations, we do not feel that we can give proper emphasis to your challenge at this time. A committee has been appointed to study the feasibility of your plan. We should have a report to bring to our congregation sometime in the future. You may rest assured that our board will give this careful consideration and will pray for you and your efforts to find additional disciples. We do appreciate your offer to serve as a resource person, and should we decide to undertake this project in the future we will get to back to you. Cordially The Christians

7. 1. Is our plan God’s plan? 2. Have we turned to our own resources as much as possible as the answer to our prayer? 3. Are we being patient for the outcome? 4. Did we think this would be easy?