Hello everyone! I wanted to share some thoughts today about God many blessings. Barbara Johnson, a women’s event speaker, says "Life is hard, and then you die!" I like that, but I always add, "Life is also very, very good, and when you die, it just gets better!"

One of our workers here got so excited over news about an answered prayer that he woke me up at midnight last night just to tell me about it. You may not understand his joy unless you have lived in the not so developed part of the world. He was rejoicing because he had received a text message that a car licence he has been expecting for weeks was finally processed. The fact that it happened over the year end holiday is nothing short of a miracle. He was amazed and so were we. God answers prayer!

There were many trials for us in 2008. Some of those trials discouraged us more than a little. Some of them made us wonder why the Lord was allowing them to happen. Some of them made us angry at the devil or at men who seemed to be working for him. However, all of the trials brought us to our knees in prayer before the Lord, which has to be the most right thing we did all year. God answers prayer!

It is with much joy that I sit here today and recount a few of the many blessings we enjoyed in 2008 as well. Big blessings like the tremendous growth in the Aeta work started by our beloved brother, Pastor Rodel Cordova just 18 months ago. Today it is a fast growing people group movement, with more than one thousand believers and over a dozen groups of believers meeting regularly. More than 20 Aeta men and women are ordained elders, three of them are pastors. 20 more men and women will be ordained in February. God answers prayer!

We have 9 men and women in training currently from three continents... Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We asked the Lord for laborers for His harvest! God answers prayer! We have full time workers in four of the eleven countries in South East Asia. God answers prayer! We will open a school in Thailand in the next few months, we prayed for the funds to start a foundation and in 3 weeks, we had the $1000 we need to get the ball rolling! God answers prayer!

On and on the list goes. June and I wanted to take some time to relax with Ken this year. We have not taken a "vacation" for three years. We prayed, God provided through my business plenty of extra income to pay for 10 days in Thailand and Vietnam for all three of us. God answers prayer! There were SO MANY other things as well, there is no time to tell them all. God is good!

What amazes me most is that I know that we have done nothing more than He gave us to do, and usually we fell far short of even that, yet His grace and favor continue to flow over our lives. What I mean is that we really do not deserve these blessings, yet they come and keep on coming. God’s grace is amazing indeed. I thank God today He is not giving us what we deserve, but instead, He is giving us His grace and favor! Hallelujah! Thank YOU Lord!

A prophet in Singapore sent me an email today, and while I am very careful about personal prophecies, he really encouraged me with a word that the Lord is not only going continue to bless us, but even to increase those blessings beyond what we are asking or thinking! YES! I receive the promises of God for His many blessings. We sure need them! Thank YOU Lord!

So, to close this, I want to encourage you, whoever you are, to call upon the Name of the Lord today. He answers prayer! Ask Him to bless you. Ask Him for more of His grace and favor. Ask Him to make this day, week, month, year the BEST of your life. If you are a child of God in Jesus Christ, then you can count on your Father in heaven to keep every one of the promises He makes for His children. Enjoy the many blessings! It helps a lot while we endure the rest of life in this sin broken world.

Until He comes --- Richard