I Run to ChristI run to Christ when chased by fear

and find a refuge sure.

“Believe in me,” His voice I hear;

His words and wounds secure.

I run to Christ when torn by grief

and find abundant peace.

“I too had tears,” He gently speaks.

Thus joy and sorrow meet.

I run to Christ when worn by life

and find my soul refreshed.

“Come unto Me,” He calls through

strife: Fatigue gives way to rest.

I run to Christ when vexed by hell

and find a mighty arm.

“The Devil flees,” the Scriptures tell;

he roars, but cannot harm.

I run to Christ when stalked by sin

and find a sure escape.

“Deliver me,” I cry to Him.

Temptation yields to grace.

I run to Christ when plagued by

shame and find my one defense.

“I bore God’s wrath,” He pleads my

case—My Advocate and Friend.

— Chris Anderson. Copyright 2010

ChurchWorksMedia.com. All rights

reserved, used with permission.

FUTURE TOPICS

1. How do you keep Sunday from being the loneliest day of the week? Have you learned to feel comfort-able without your mate in social situations such as in church and restaurants?

2. Helping children grieve their loss when your spouse (their parent or grandparent) has died. What can children do to process their grief effectively?

3. If you’d like to see an issue dealing with remarriage, let us know. How did you meet someone new and decide to marry again? Perhaps you’ve learned helpful lessons from a romance that didn’t work out. If you’ve preferred to stay single or it seems like that is God’s plan whether you like it or not, tell us about that too.

Don’t think you’re not a writer. We’ve published several first-timers. If you can write a letter or email, you qualify. I’m happy to take your phone calls too. Call 801-969-4298 and leave your number. We’ll arrange a time when I can hear your story as an inter-view. I’ll write it as you tell it to me and approve it with you before publication. CHERA Fellowship maga-zine is your opportunity to minister to others who are bereaved (what “chera” means) and fellowship with them through your shared experiences. Email Marcia: kenmarh@comcast.net

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Dear ReadersMany places in our

country are overwhelmed by the deluge of snow and winter storms. It is difficult to even think tha t Spr ing may be around the corner. As I was thinking of Spring the other morning, I imagined once again see-ing the new flowers push

through the ground. Oh to once again see the tiny green tips of the plants that tell us Spring is coming and soon it will be here. And then all things will be like new – the grass will grow again, the trees will bloom, and the flow-ers will be popping out of the ground in assorted colors. The birds will all return and be chirping, and the sun will shine and shine, warming the ground and those who bask in its warmth.

Sometimes when we go through a hardship, we think that the Spring will never come again in our life. Nothing will again seem new. We will not be able to enjoy what once we had enjoyed. But Winter does turn into Spring.

Spring reminds me of singing. Joy. Being refreshed, revived. Breathing in the new smells of life growing. Psalm 40:3 speaks of God doing this very thing in our lives: “He (God) has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

May God bring Spring to our lives and to our hearts. May He put a new song in your mouth so that whatever you are walking through, you can Praise Him for who He is. And what a way to share with those who need Him, that the God you know is enough!

— Miriam Lofquist, Editor

www.ifca.org IFCA’s website has resources for you: recommended reading, starting a fellowship group, and encouragement for the newly widowed. Visit www.ifca.org and click on Ministry, then: widows/widowers.• Order gift subscriptions of CF – www.ifca.org/cfsubscribe • Back issues – www.ifca.org/cfarchive• Donate (tax deductible) to this ministry – www.ifca.org/donations • FaceBook = Chera Fellowship

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A plethora of new wor-ship songs abound today. In addition, many public domain hymn words have been set to new music. Some Christians find it difficult to adjust to these changes. They miss holding a hym-nal and singing harmony. Or they may prefer organ music

instead of tambourine and drums. In the Psalms, however, we read about all kinds of musical instruments, along with shout-ing and dancing in praise to God.

I recall some missionaries telling about their ministry to a tribe who could not read. When these people learned a new Scripture truth, they set it to music and rhythm until they had it memorized. The missionaries said to them it sounded as discor-dant as a traffic jam, but they knew God was honored.

Some of the current worship music not only stirs our emo-tions, but also reminds us of doctrinal truths about God. Such is the case with lyrics by Pastor Chris Anderson, who wrote the song on our front cover. Every stanza he composes has bibli-cal support. Chris writes, “The Scriptures consistently point God’s people to Christ as the solution to all problems. Our Lord answers our greatest need by providing forgiveness and freedom from sin. But He helps with lesser needs as well. He gives hope, comfort and rest to us when we are dealing with the multifaceted consequences of sin. He gives hope to the bereaved husband, joy to the depressed student, and strength to the weary mother as surely as He gives grace to the penitent sinner. Until Christ outlaws suffering at His return, He sustains us through it when we run to Him.”

This issue’s Bible study contains verses that command us to sing a new song to God. Our composition will include new things we have learned about Him, especially through suffering. Pain’s cacophony can increase our appreciation for the Lord and give us a heightened awareness of our need for Him. The pit of sorrow can also give us a unique empathy with other suf-ferers. Telling our stories and listening to theirs helps to move the grieving process along, validate our pain, and heal damaged

emotions. God is glorified when we speak about Him as well as when we speak to Him. May this issue help you “sing” your new song to God and to others.

— Marcia Hornok, Managing Editor

To see Chris’ Doctrinal Notes, which detail the biblical texts he referenced when writing “I Run to Christ,” visit http://church-worksmedia.com/i-run-to-christ. On YouTube you can also listen to his hymn, set to the music of Greg Habegger.

Your New Song

Amy Carmichael praised God for “the moon-less seas--all the better the opportunity for proving Him to be indeed the El Shaddai, ‘the God who is Enough.’”

Let me add my own word of witness to hers and to that of the tens of thousands who have learned that He is indeed Enough. He is not all we would ask for (if we were honest), but it is pre-cisely when we do not have what we would ask for, and only then, that we can clearly perceive His all-sufficiency. It is when the sea is moonless that the Lord has become my Light.

— Elisabeth Elliot, from Keep a Quiet Heart.

My Father’s way may twist and turn

My heart may throb and ache,

But in my soul I’m glad to know,

He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astray,

My hopes may fade away,

But still I’ll trust my Lord to lead,

For He doth know the way.

Tho’ night be dark and it may seem

That day will never break,

I’ll pin my faith, my all, in Him,

He maketh no mistake.

There’s so much now I cannot see,

My eyesight’s far too dim,

But come what may,

I’ll simply trust and leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift,

And plain it all He’ll make,

Through all the way, tho’ dark to me,

He made not one mistake.

— A.M. Overton, 1932

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He Maketh No Mistake

My dad, A. M. Overton, was a pastor in a small town in northeast Mississippi. While there his wife and baby died in childbirth, leaving him with three children, ages 8–12. During the funeral service, the pastor officiating noticed that Dad was writing. After the service he asked about it, and Dad gave him the words that are now familiar to many people around the world: “He Maketh No Mistake.”

After he remarried he became the pastor of the Fulton Baptist Church until his death at age 52. (I was the old-est of four children born to that marriage.) Dad preached expository sermons through books of the Bible on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights. He began a Saturday morning radio program around 1945, a “Bible Class” which grew to cover a large part of the nation. He once received a letter from Dr. Harry Ironside commending him for his good work.

Shortly after Dad’s death, I went to college, having just surrendered to preach. It soon dawned on me that I was miles ahead of my fellow ministerial students in knowledge of the Bible. The reason, of course, was that I had been under my father’s strong Bible preaching three times every week all my life, plus the untold numbers of radio messages I heard, since I went with him to recording sessions as his pianist. I must admit that I wasn’t really “trying” to learn the Bible all that time, but much of it rubbed off on me anyway. A tribute, of course, to the grace of the Lord to me.

As far back as I can remember, Dad published a monthly paper called “The Clarion” which went to hun-dreds of homes across America, plus a few foreign coun-tries. He published numerous gospel tracts on various sub-jects, several books of his radio sermons and also a book of poems, entitled “Chimes of Dawn.” The book never went far, but “He Maketh No Mistake” was in that book and has been quoted and reprinted extensively.

Perhaps a crowning achievement of his life was starting a school for preachers, which met in the church in Fulton. He was Dean and Teacher, and some pastor friends of his comprised the faculty. This lasted only a few years, ending at his death, but there were 20–30 students every semester. In our house we had two upstairs bedrooms and four of the students would live there, eating their meals at our table. I don’t know how my mother managed this, but it seemed like the way life was supposed to be. Table conversations were most interesting. Again, part of my legacy during upper elementary school through high school.

Dad’s life was cut short at the age of 52, or so it seemed to us, but God “maketh no mistake.” After surgery for colon cancer, Dad returned to the pulpit for a while,

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CHERAFellowship 5

Whether we are prospering or suffering,

happy or sad, healthy or sick—before we

do anything else we should acknowledge

God’s presence and ask Him to walk with

us through the experience, to direct us in

responding to the circumstances, and to pro-

vide His resources to deal with the situation.

— Nancy Leigh DeMoss, from Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free (Chicago: Moody Press, 2001), p. 208. Used with permission.

By Nature God is Good

but in a few months the cancer resumed its relentless march through his body. He suffered much pain for sev-eral months before his death in July of 1952.

Looking back, it’s hard to see how he could accom-plish so much in so short a time, but perhaps his minis-try has continued through me. I was a Baptist pastor for 47 years, after which I began teaching for Southwestern Seminary’s Houston campus in 1983, and became Dean

and fulltime professor at that campus in 2001. This oppor-tunity continues the investment Dad made in my life, as I invest in men and women who will serve the Lord all over the world for many years.

— Dr. Bob Overton. We thank Dr. Overton for giving us per-mission to reprint his dad’s poem. Learn more at http://www.churchlead.com/mind_wanderings/view/1630

“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25). Forty-three times in Psalms alone, the Bible declares that God is good! Five of these declarations say “God” is good, referring to Him as the independent creator of the universe. God in and of Himself is good. Yet, He could be good and never exercise His goodness – which takes us to the other 38 declarations.

They say that the “LORD” or “LORD God” is good. The term “LORD” calls to mind God in His relationship with us. Not only is God good, but His dealings with us are also good. It is interesting to note that in Psalms His goodness is coupled with His mercy, His righteousness, His pleasure, His love, His provision, His rules, His Spirit, and His presence. His goodness governs every other aspect of His character. We should tell ourselves again and again, God is good.

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).

The Bible poses the question, “Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?” (James 3:12). The rhetorical answer is: No. It is not in the DNA of the fig tree to produce olives. Try as it may, it cannot. The same is true of God’s goodness. He cannot be other than good. It’s not that He is mostly good or does good things. Nor is it that He is completely good but some-times acts otherwise. Neither is possible. He is good. Beginning to end, in every situation. So when things don’t

feel “good,” I need to stop and pray, “God, show me Your goodness in this situation.” I know it is there because by nature, God is good.

— Charlene Perkins. Taken from 31 Short Devotionals on Grief,

used with permission. Order a copy of this encouraging book-let from Charlene at eyegatecp@yahoo.com

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If we will look back upon the past, many of us will

find that the very time our Heavenly Father has

chosen to do the kindest things for us, and given

us the richest blessings, has been the time we were

strained and shut in on every side. God’s jewels

are often sent us in rough packages... but within

we find the very treasures of the King’s palace and

the Bridegroom’s love.

— A. B. Simpson

The verses that I clung to after my husband’s death were Psalm 40:1-3.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay;

And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

—Psalm 40:1-3

One of the things I heard the most at first was “It takes time.” I didn’t like hearing that. The pain was so intense; I wanted to feel better and feel better fast. The New American Standard Bible includes a note that says the phrase “waited patiently” can also be “waited intently.” I picture a cat staring at a mouse hole, completely still except for the tip of his tail that twitches back and forth. That is the way I waited. I was, indeed, down in a pit of very deep clay. I could barely see the sky above me. The walls loomed over me. The clay sucked at my feet and made it hard to lift them out of the mire. I was miserable and I was alone. Well, it felt that way. Looking back I realize Jesus was with me in that pit, but my grief made it impossible to be aware of His presence.

When my husband died I felt vulnerable, like a rabbit out in the open with hawks circling above me. I had lost my identity. Who was I and what was I supposed to do? Gradually, God pulled me out of the pit and set my feet upon a rock – Him! I became more confident and my foot-steps became firm and had direction.

Amazingly, He actually put a new song in my mouth. I have never liked poetry much but I wrote a poem, then put the words to music. It was a “song of praise to our God.” During the whole process I was hopeful that many would see God through my experiences. That they would see Him as holy and loving. That they would be drawn to

Him. And that they would put their trust in Him.Now, five years later I can understand James 1:2,3.

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter var-ious trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The hole left by my husband’s death was huge and the wound was gaping. It took time for it to heal. During that process God was able to remove idols from my heart. That took time too. But in the end, I can say that I lack nothing and that is good. I am close to being able to say with Job, “Therefore I have declared that which I did not under-stand; things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3b).

— Barbara Leitch. Barbara’s first article for CF appeared in Summer 2009, one year after Kevin went to be with the Lord due to a car accident, leaving her to raise their three children. She has home-schooled them, and they have participated in ministry opportunities together. Her son Daniel contributed to our Spring 2011 issue.

A Song in My Mouth

CHERAFellowship 7

FROM GOD’S WORDThat we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).

1. List all your observations about Psalm 40:1–3 as it relates to having a new song in your mouth. For example, what do we do while in a “pit,” and what does God do?

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

2. According to the following verses, when we sing our new song to the Lord, what do we sing about, and who else might hear it?

Psalm 33:1–4 _______________________________ Psalm 96:1–3 _______________________________

Psalm 98:1 _________________________________

Psalm 144:9–10 _____________________________ Isaiah 42:10–12 _____________________________

3. Where are some places we can sing our new song?

Psalm 149:1–5 ______________________________

_______________________________________

4. Read about the new song in Revelation 5:8–14 that we will join in singing to Jesus, the Lamb of God, in the future. List some of the things we will praise Him for.

Revelation 5:9–10 ____________________________

_______________________________________

Revelation 5:12–13 ___________________________ _______________________________________

Learn what Scripture says about singing a New Song, which can result from answered prayer, victory, a glorious experience, or horrible suffering.

5. Write your own “song” of praise to God, naming specific things He has done for you.

To help you accomplish this, set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes or even for an hour. List your Thank-Yous to God and your praises about God. When the time is up, you won’t want to stop, and you will be a songwriter!

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________ ________________________________________

________________________________________

The greatness of God does not mean that He is far from us and unconcerned about us. He is great in His love (Ephesians 2:4), mercy (Psalm 86:13), and kindness (Psalm 117:2). He may not immediately take away your trials, but He can give you a song in the night (Job 35:10, Psalm 42:8, 77:6, 119:62).

“Any man can sing in the day….It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read….Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of man” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon).

— Warren W. Wiersbe, copied from the Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, 1991, Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 300.

me lower into the swamp of perceived incompetence. My greatest nightmare became – what if she out-lived me? Poor as I was at care-giving, I found myself at night crying about the prospect of her being alone in the world.

Then came her heart a t tack. The doctor ’ s report of a 25% ejection fraction seemed to me to mean total dependency. She might never be able to get out of bed on her own. We had no retirement funds. Fear gripped my heart. So deep was my anxiety that even though I knew intellectually the extent of the damage, I was not aware she was dying until my son said, “Dad, I don’t think mom is going home from the hospital!” And then, in a few minutes, she was gone. Returning from the bathroom, she dropped into a coma. Monitors screeched their alarms, the family rushed to her, and we had no time to individually say good-bye.

In a few days, the memorial service was over, the kids had packed up her clothes for the Good Will store, and I was alone. Surrounded by demons of doubt about my ability to cope, I wrestled with guilt, wondering what I could have done to “fix” things that had hap-pened. Then the bills came in. We had spent more on her medical care in the last three days of life, than in all the time before, including the births of four children and an emergency surgery that left her with an intrac-table infection.

The maelstrom of feelings made time go by unnoticed. And then one day I realized that actually, I had been freed from my terrors. In the midst of fear and doubt, the calm-ing voice of God through His Word was saying, “I have set your feet on a rock,” and “Do not be afraid.” I could now do something about what had seemed like impossible dilemmas.

IFCA International offered me a position of directing our Hospital Chaplaincy program. The Indian church I

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One of the things that had characterized my life was confidence, instilled by my Father. Dad was part of “the Greatest Generation.” His total education comprised six years of school that met for only six months of the year, but he was an avid reader. He survived the great depres-sion with native ingenuity, growing most of what we ate, and he rebuilt the engine of his Model-A car himself. His attitude when facing obstacles was, “How can I tackle this?” So when I encountered problems that seemed insur-mountable, I also learned to find a way to overcome. And when I did succeed, I taught my children to say, “My daddy is a genius!”

But there was something I was not good at – care-giving. One time I had to sit with some children while their parents attended a Christmas program. But caring for the kids did not fully occupy my interest, and I got caught up in something else. It was so bad that I didn’t notice that the kids had upset the decorated Christmas tree, and orna-ments were all over the floor. But babysitting wasn’t my thing and I ducked responsibility.

But now, I couldn’t duck. My wife had Alzheimer’s. She had always kept the small things going: the Christmas card list, thank you notes, the social calendar, etc. Now she was living in a bubble that only spanned a few hours at

a time. She insisted on doing the cooking, but she couldn’t remember what we ate for lunch, and five meals in a row might be identical.

It was painful to lose her an inch at a time, but the thing that scared me most was, “Am I capable of car-ing for the love of my life?” We missed appointments; ran out of groceries; ordinary tasks went undone. I had never integrated our social and work calendars. Mix-ups and other chaos often para-lyzed us to inaction, sinking

It Doesn’t Take a Genius

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Exodus 15The first “new song” in the Bible is about God’s deliver-

ance. Written by Moses after God turned Israel’s groanings into praise, it celebrates victory over their enemy. Miriam led the women in singing a joyful refrain (Exodus 15:20-21). Because God destroyed Egypt’s entire military, the Israelites could stop fearing that Pharaoh might change his mind again and come after them. We who know God’s deliverance can identify with their worship song and per-sonalize it for ourselves.

MIRIAM’S SONG AND MINE

Sing to the LORD for He is exalted;The LORD on high has delivered His own.Sing to Jehovah for rescue from Egypt:Horses and riders He has overthrown.

Praise to our God for He is almighty.Our LORD Jehovah is greater. Amen!Fear not the future for Egypt will neverCome take us back into slav’ry again.

God has delivered: His rescue is final.Jesus has conquered and victory won.Enemies vanquished and Satan defeated.Sing to the LORD—my salvation is done.

Sing to the LORD for He is exalted.Our LORD Jehovah has saved us from sin.Fear not the future for Satan will neverCome take us back into slav’ry again.

Sing to the LORD for He has redeemed me.Satan will never enslave me again.Praise to our God for He is almighty.Our LORD Jehovah is greater. Amen!

—MKH

If God brings you to it, He will

take you through it.

Happy moments – praise God

Difficult moments – seek God

Quiet moments – worship God

Painful moments – trust God

Every moment – thank God

—Copied from the Internet, source unknown

was holding together had a more fitting pastor, willing to take up the work. Selling my four-bedroom house and realizing enough to buy a condo near my children, gave me a close commute. It also moved me near the first church I had planted, surrounded by people who seemed strangely grateful for me. As doors of opportu-nity opened, every day seemed full of possibility. Above all, I had a real sense that I didn’t need to fix every-thing or have confidence in myself. I didn’t need to be a genius. Merely walking with God makes a way through

lonely days. I have a new song in my heart, even praise to our God.

— Joseph P. Smith. Joe began contributing to CF in Spring 2012. His newly published book, Tales from the Toe Tag Chaplain, tells stories about his eight years of ministry to patients in a hospital’s oncology unit. (Listen to a chapter on the book’s Facebook page.) Book and Kindle copies can be purchased at Amazon.com. Quantities are also available from IFCA International by donation. Email inquiries to hospital-chaplain@IFCA.org.

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Psalm 139Psalm 139:16 is the key verse that helped me get

through the dark days of grief after my husband went to be with the Lord following his four-year battle with cancer. Several other verses in that song also comfort me.

v. 1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.v. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise

up; You understand my thought from afar.V. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and

are intimately acquainted with all my ways.v. 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

and in Your book were all written: the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

v. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them?

v. 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Verse 1 tells me how intimately God knows me. He knows me better than my husband did. He knows all about everything concerning me, even when I sit down and get up. Therefore, He knows that I grieve.

Verse 16 has been like a lifeline from God to me. God, our Creator, knew us as we were developing and wrote in His book how many days He ordained for us. He created my husband and ordained the number of his days before he was born, before I married him, before he got cancer. God was not surprised when my husband died. The Lord knew how many days He had given to him. Nothing I could have done (gone to another doctor, taken him to a new hospital, suggested a different treatment, prayed more, etc.) in my husband’s battle with cancer would have changed things. He would have died that day no matter what. Therefore, I need not feel guilty, and I should stop rehearsing the “if-onlys” that I have tortured myself with. (For example: if only I had noticed sooner what the nurse forgot, then he wouldn’t have died.) God knew beforehand what day he would die.

God thinks about us more than we can imagine, according to verse 17. How wonderful that the God of cre-

ation thinks about me.Sometimes, just getting up in the morning without my

husband is still devastatingly lonely. Verse 18 comforts me: to remember each morning when I wake up, I am still with God. God is there for me and with me all the time.

— Sheryl Muller. Sheryl contributed to our Q & A issues (Fall 2012 and Winter 2013). Since Kirk’s death in 2003, Sheryl has celebrated her two sons’ graduations from college and earned her second Master’s Degree. She looks for ways to serve the Lord.

Human beings are worshipers. We will give

our devotion to something. Unfortunately,

in our day we seem to want a God who is

answerable to us….we will not allow God

to do things we don’t understand. He must

explain Himself to our satisfaction or we are

not sure we want to believe in Him. After all,

we do not want a God who might ask of us

the difficult, unreasonable or painful. In short,

we want God to be a good luck charm that

we carry into the tough times of life to give us

what we want without any regard to what He

wants!

— Lynn Anderson, from Finding the Heart to Go On, p. 92.

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Higher Ground

The Valley

The fact that life is precious, tomorrow is not prom-ised, and our outlook changes our world, reverberates through the years of our experience. A quiet submission to the will of God brings peace.

The promise to love, honor, and cherish till death do you part provides the strength necessary to pick up the slack when your spouse is unable to meet the needs of life, and healing comes through knowing you did all you could to provide for him.

God’s plan for His children to love unconditionally, although difficult, has earthly as well as heavenly rewards. Satan wants to steal this from us by frustration, exaspera-tion, outside interference, and exhaustion, but we must cling to the promise of God’s grace and mercy, and love unconditionally. I have had to cling to my Savior through

I have been through the valley of weeping, the valley of sorrow and pain;But the “God of all comfort” was with me, at hand to uphold and sustain.

As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, our souls need both sorrow and joy.So He places us oft in the furnace, the dross from the gold to destroy.

When He leads through some valley of trouble, His powerful hand we can trace;For the trials and sorrows He sends us are part of His lessons of grace.

Oft we shrug from the purging and pruning, forgetting the Vinekeeper knowsThe deeper the cutting and paring, the richer the cluster that grows.

As we travel through life’s shadowed valley, fresh springs of His love ever rise;And we learn that our sorrows and losses are blessings just sent in disguise.

So we’ll follow wherever He leads us, though pathways be dreary or bright,For we’ve proof that our God can give comfort; our God can give songs in the night.

— Author unknown. Copied from Streams in the Desert Volume One compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, 1925 edition (public domain). All rights reserved.

the years. As the song says, all other ground is sinking sand. I do have a hope that is steadfast and sure in His love! God has proved Himself to me over and over.

I have known how it feels to be loved, and I have loved in return. I know the emptiness when the focus of that love is gone, and once again the future looks bleak as I face it without Richard. I know the tears will subside, and I am not the first, or the last to walk the valley of being only half a person because my other half has left this earth; but I also know healing and wholeness will come, and God’s plan will not be thwarted. He has a plan for my life. I will press on to the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus! Richard has already attained his.

— Laura Werling. Taken from Full and Overflowing: Living with a Sentence of Death by Rev. Richard and Laura Werling, p. 72-73. Available as an eBook at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Hard copies are $10 (includes domestic shipping) and can be ordered at overflowinglife33@gmail.com

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SPRING 2014 - VOLUME 22 - NUMBER 2

Chera (Ker-ah) Fellowship is a quarterly publication of IFCA International.Chera is the Greek word translated widow in the New Testament.

Carol Gregory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Founder

Miriam Lofquist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor

Marcia Hornok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Editor

Nila Rae Phelps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor Emeritus

Jim Connelly Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . Design and Layout

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Newton’s New SongJohn Newton’s godly mother died when he was seven. At

age 11, John left boarding school to go to sea, eventually becom-ing a slave trader who captured African natives to sell into slav-ery. When he was 23, his ship was caught in a sudden storm. In great peril, he cried to the Lord, and later wrote, “That tenth of March is a day much remembered by me; and I have never suf-fered it to pass unnoticed since the year 1748 – the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.”

Calling himself a “wretch” who was lost and blind, John eventually became an ordained minister, a powerful foe of slavery, and the author of hundreds of hymns. At the time of his death at age 82, he was recognized as one of the great-est evangelical preachers in British history. He never ceased to marvel at God’s grace that had transformed him. At the end of his life he declared, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!”

His most famous hymn is “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. / ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. / The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. / Thru many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

God’s grace will transform anyone who comes to Him by faith, believing in the promise that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified [declared righteous] by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:8–9 NIV). We all are great sinners, but Christ is a great Savior.

—MKH