From the Pastor……

We are now entering into a New Year filled with brand new opportunities, hope and excitement. We have been waiting for GOD to do something extra special in the life of our Church and HE has been tremendously blessing us. In August 2011, HE provided the Church with property at 1175 Miller St. in Orange Park and a building. We are working towards getting the building and the property ready to move in to, but it’s going to take a whole lot of prayer, fasting, trust and faith, mixed along with your time, talents and finances.

We have a lot to thank GOD for. I believe that when we become truly thankful, not just for what GOD has done for us or even what HE said HE would do, but thankful for who HE is, GOD will do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

I pray that each of you will be encouraged to join with me this year and fight the good fight of faith. Remember don’t give up on GOD, because I know that HE has not given up on you. David said In Psalms 27:13-14, I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD, be of good courage and HE shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

My earnest prayer is that GOD will bless each of you and grant you the desires of your heart, in accordance to HIS precious and holy will.

Pastor Taylor

From the Pastor's Wife...

Greetings my sisters I hope this letter finds you at peace.  I have had recent experience that reminded me that peace does not rest in my circumstances or in my own power to deal with said circumstances.   Peace is a function of trusting in God and knowing who God is to me, through me, for me, and around me.  I have to confess that occasionally I need reminding of this simple truth.  The book of Psalms is always a good place to go to revisit the simple and very real truths about God and what He is in the life of believers.

Psalm 18:2 reads:  The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  In this Psalm David expresses knowledge of God that allows him to have peace in every circumstance.  The Psalmist likens God to a fortress, his strength and a stronghold.  Well a fortress implies a place designed to protect against enemies that might come against you.  In a fortress there is not only protection but sufficiency.  Inside the stronghold you have everything you need to survive so that you can wait out the siege.

However, often we feel like during an attack we must be in the middle of the battle.  It seems cowardly to hide yourself behind the walls of a fortress.  As women we feel the need to be engaging the enemy in every area of our lives that we deem under attack. For some of us it’s our health, for some it is our professional life, for some it is our loved ones, and for still others it could be any combination of things  We as women, often have the attitude that we must  deal with  every situation and no matter what we must be strong and keep going.

Many of us have become accustomed to viewing ourselves as the strength and stronghold for those around us.  After all if something happened to us, what would those we love do?  Who would take care of the things in our lives?  Yet, there comes a point in our lives when even the strongest woman gets tired or feels overwhelmed; when she has come to the end of her strength.   She loses sleep, because her peace has gone from her, as has the illusion of control.

As women of God it is at this point that we must recall that we never had control.  We were never strong enough to protect and keep all that is ours. God never asked us to be strong in our own power.  Psalm 18:2 assures us that God is also our deliverer and the horn of our salvation.  It is God who is in control and determines the hour when these trials and disturbances end.  It is God who is our defense and our guard as we endure.  It is God’s strength that kept us even when we believed ourselves to be strong enough. . It is God who will see us through even when our own strength fails. 

Be blessed my sisters and trust in God, accept and rely on His strength and you will have peace.

Your sister in Christ and love,
Michelle Taylor