grace and peace friends,
It is our hope and prayer that this letter finds you living in the light that our Word made flesh created you to live in this Christmas season… that you might be experiencing the hope and joy of the birth of our Savior and King fully… that you might be experiencing the freedom of His forgiveness, the fullness of His love and the hope of an everlasting Kingdom… and that you might be living His mission with passion.
 
Lord, lead us, Your children, into a deeper experiencing of You and the life that you give.  And let our lights so shine before men. Amen.
 
 
Updates on our family… As we mentioned in our last letter, Britany has had some significant and unexplained health issues for the past few years that we have been trying to get to the bottom of (these have included blurring of vision, migraines, lightheadedness and temporary loss of small motor skills). On the 17th of September, Britany went in to the hospital for a battery of tests – blood work, neurological/visual stimulus and a spinal tap. We had asked you to be praying for the doctors as they examined the results of the nero/vision test, 4 samples of spinal fluid and 12 tubes of blood. On the 13th of December (3 months later) we sat down again in the same doctors office and waited to hear what the results were. The Doctor informed us that all the tests came back clear – Praise GOD! The Doctor then told us that he would like to do a few more tests in the New Year because of Britany’s continuing symptoms.  We believe it is his desire to rule out heart issues, mini strokes and any blood clotting, though he doesn't seem tremendously concerned.  In addition to these tests we will begin to explore some other options as well. To be sure, we know that stress is a part of it, but we also want to explore environmental allergies, eyestrain and any other options that might present themselves. We are praising God that this means that we are clear of MS, Lupus and the many other diseases that they were concerned that it might be. Though this does leave us with more questions, for the moment we can breath a sigh of relief and simply be thankful for God answered prayer. It is our plan to tackle “what’s next” both with our future and Britany’s health in the New Year. In addition to Britany’s health, we recently discovered that McKenzie is partially deaf due to fluid in her ears. This means that she has been lip-reading for the past year or so. She has been scheduled in for tubes in her ears. Please be praying for her as she continues in this process (that could take many months). Though she seems to be handling the hearing loss with grace (living up to her middle name) please be praying with us that it would not effect her schooling or her speech and that God would move and heal her. We also recently found out that Duncan potentially has a learning disability (it has been quite a fall) that has been affecting him in school. He has begun a program to help him with his studies. Please be praying that he would not become discouraged and that God would meet him where he is. Once again, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and encouragements. Have a blessed Christmas. the McDonald clan
Updates on our ministry…
 
Well, our ministry this fall has seemed to be all about goodbyes and gatherings.
 
In October we said goodbye to Jason and Megan (& Christian) Mills.  The Mills have been a part of our ministry (and family) since we first started in 2001.  They have walked with us through 3 children and 2 ministry sites.  Saying goodbye to them as they moved on to new things was both difficult and encouraging… God is going to do good things in and through them of this we are sure.
 
Tim and the kids also had to say goodbye to Britany for 12 days as she had the privilege of attending a CRM Women’s Conference for a time of training and equipping.  It blessed her soul in amazing ways and empowered her to pursue what’s dearest to her heart in this season of life ~ Motherhood… providing stability for the life of our family and support for Tim in their ministry together.  Another gift she walked away with was encouragement with her ministry to other mum’s and the kid’s school.  God was so good to her in her time away speaking wonderful things through others into her life.
 
In November we had several gatherings in our home and community.  These included a retreat put on by RE:hope, which Darren Prince spoke at.  It was fun for Tim to lead worship alongside Darren at one of the sessions again – just like old times.  In addition we hosted several community breakfasts and co hosted (with Brian & Kellie) a Thanksgiving Feast at our homes for 43 adults and 21 kids… it was an amazing blessing and answer to much prayer. Please be praying for more fruitful conversations with the many who came that do not yet know Jesus as their Lord. Pray that we would share and speak boldly about this great love with which He has loved us.  Thank you!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. John 1:1-4 Go to archive