December 2008
Dearly Beloved of Our Lord:
May our Lord’s wonderful love fill your heart throughout this Christmas, New Years, and holiday season. This is a special time of the year when it often is easier to share the good news of our Lord’s birth and ministry. We have even heard Christmas carols with the words being sung in the mall downtown instead of the usual jingle bell music with the happy holidays signs. We are praying for many people to turn their hearts toward Jesus during this season and are looking forward to sharing His love with them.
PDX Testimony ~ Ron & Karen
We often meet many people from different nations when we are out and about in a city the size of Portland, Oregon. Sometimes we meet brethren and we cannot even communicate with language but we are able to give Him praise and each other hugs (and sometimes kisses). One day we were eating breakfast with one of our sons and his wife as they were waiting to fly off to Singapore about a week before Thanksgiving. (K ~ Karen and R ~ Ron.)
R ~ Our waitress approached us with a smile and with a slight accent. She took our orders and was very pleasant and friendly as she served us throughout the meal. We had a good time with our son and his wife as we talked during the meal. Then the time came to pay the bill and so I paid the bill, put in a 2009 calendar card with the cash, including a tip, and handed it to our waitress named Ashika. There was no need for her to bring back any change.
R~ A little while later she came back to our table smiling and asked if she could share a little of her story. She told us her name and that her family was from India and that she remembers coming to the U.S. when she was a young girl.
K~ As we were preparing to leave the breakfast table and go to the area for boarding the plane God brought a witness to my son and his wife. Our waitress is from India. Her father is a Hindu priest (or preacher) and she speaks both Hindi and English. She is in her mid- twenties. She came to America when she was eight. She was prophesied over that she would have this relationship with Jesus. And at eight she received Christ. She says she has had all kinds of supernatural visions from the Lord. Even though her father is a Hindu priest, he receives all her visions and testimonies because he sees her changed life.
K~ It is one thing for me to tell my children and their wives that I accepted Christ when I was eight and about the visions and dreams the Lord has given me. God in His graciousness sends another woman who has experienced supernatural visions from the Lord, with parents bound by religion and is full of fire for Christ. My parents were Buddhists when some neighbors would pick me up and take me to Sunday school where I prayed to receive Jesus. We shared our similar testimonies with one another while my son and his wife listened in. She wanted to give me a hug before we left. The sharing of testimonies filled me with joy and thanksgiving and was a strong witness for them to think about on the plane. I marvel at God's perfect timing.
Christmas Witness
We had occasion to walk into the Pioneer Place Mall, across the street from the old Pioneer Courthouse, a couple of days before Thanksgiving. We had come down to meet up with Marty and Steve for an afternoon of street witnessing so that we could meet people, talk with them, and pray with or for them. But we spent a couple of hours getting slowly rained out. The tracts were getting soggy, we were cold and wet, and the streets were emptying out of pedestrians. So we went into and through the mall to go to our bus stop to ride home. As we came through one of the tunnels that go underneath Fourth Avenue, we found ourselves in the middle of a store Santa setup complete with red throne and camera. And the mall Santa was saying, “Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho” and not “Happy Holidays.” Instead of “Twelve Days of Christmas” we heard “O Holy Night” coming from the speaker system throughout the mall. But this time we did not just hear the music. Someone was actually singing the words. What a contrast!
We occasionally read aloud the words to various Christmas carols on the streets between Thanksgiving and Christmas. People will stop and listen because the words are familiar and they seem to want to hear them again. Many of the young people we meet have probably never really heard them or listened to them. So some are hearing them for the first time.
Christmas Carols are a Christian Witness:
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room, And Heav’n, and Heav’n and nature sing.
He comes to make His blessings flow; Far as the curse is found
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,
Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings:
Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth; Born to give them second birth.
“Fear not then,” said the angel, “Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Savior Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him From Satan’s pow’r and might”
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.
Peace on earth, and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled.
May you have a most blessed Christmas and a joyful and prosperous New Year! We send you our love along with our prayers.
~ Ron & Karen
E-mail: awakening1s@comcast.net
Home Page: awakening1s.net
church @ 24/7
Ron & Karen Rohman
PO Box 14292
PORTLAND OR 97293