LANYON FAMILY NEWS December, 1993

203/ 528-7205 East Hartford, CT 06108

December, 1993 LANYON FAMILY NEWS

We are glad to come to you again this year. We first must thank the Lord for all His blessings. Especially we thank the Lord for the privilege it is to know each of you. Many of you have written with news to us and we have prayed for you as we have heard. We have heard of trials from many and it seems that the forces of evil are abounding, but God's grace
and mercy still abound and we cast our burdens upon Him for relief. Psalm 55:22

We are thankful for . . .

We both enjoy relatively good health! This is a goodness from God, for health can be taken from us in an instant of time.

He is a very joyful child and has a peaceful disposition. We, therefore, tend to spoil him! We are in prayer that the Lord will make both of our boys mighty men of valor! Please pray that we may set the best example.

Last year the Lord led us to a beautiful three bedroom cape with a double car garage on an area lot size of 100 x 150 in a quiet section of town. We are overwhelmed at God's provision of this house. I pray that God would give us the wisdom in how to best use it. This year we have begun several urgent projects that had to get done.

The first need was to install a new hatchway door. The second need was to put a new roof on our shed, and then repaint it. The third major project that we worked on has been the repainting of the eaves of the house and garage exterior walls. The house work is very new to me, yet it is needful to get the experience.

In July, after perhaps about 10 years of waiting and watching the computer technology advancements, I decided to get one to use for both home and business. I am using it for this newsletter, and I pray that God would allow it to bring Him great glory. One of the first tasks I used it for was to print the Prayer Notebook I first typed in 1980 when I moved to Connecticut. I get great joy in giving copies out to anyone interested in it.

Though we have experienced some business setbacks this year, I have observed one thing. There is greatness all around me-- excellent accounts I clean for, excellent managers of them, excellent seminars to learn more, excellent business Associations to join, and excellent Suppliers of products and equipment. I have found a fulfillment in owning and operating the business. The Lord has brought great and successful elements into my life, and with them the challenge of His expectations for me. I must confess to you all that I have not had a desire to become great. Perhaps because of the pressures, the responsibilities, the complexities of being more than a self-employed one man operation, I did not want to grow. And the Lord is keeping before me His sufficiency and excellence, and GREATNESS.

2 Samuel 5:10 And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him. "Great" is defined by the lexicon as to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things. We see that God expects us to become great, yet not for our own promotion, but for His kingdom's sake. (Matthew 25:14-23)

Thus, I cannot ignore what the Lord has shown me. Please pray for me to develop some skills I believe will be essential to being a successful business man: 1)Self-control, 2)Foresight, 3)Discernment, 4)Diligence, and most important of all, 5)Wisdom to Focus and Concentrate on the things God wants me to without getting off balance.

We both continue to serve Truth Baptist. Chris supervises and schedules the nursery, composes the monthly calendars, and continuously gives to those who come to our church services. We both continue to serve monthly at the nursing home service, Chris leads in some songs and I speak briefly from the Bible. They love to hear the singing, and recently a few adults from Truth have also come to help. I still lead Sunday services music, sing in the choir serve as clerk, and oversee the 11 church cleaning crews.

There have been struggles that have come upon our family and church this year. I will not mention them all, but the greatest for family was the stroke my mom had which required both my parents to enter a nursing home February in Lakewood. Pastor Rowley of our church now faces a court case over conflicting Connecticut counseling laws. Behind is definite strong evil opposition to the excellent work being done up here.

We wish you a spiritually prosperous 1994. Thank you for your prayers for us. May we learn to obey the Lord throughout this year. Our prayer for our house, and for yours is ...

• O that [our] ways were directed to keep Thy statutes! Then shall [we] not be ashamed, when [we] have respect unto all Thy commandments. (Psalm 119: 5,6)

Affectionately in Christ,

Pat, Chris, David, and Joseph LANYON