Dear Partners and Friends,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). In a hectic, horrifying, and hopeless world we need large doses of Christ’s peace applied to our hearts daily. Christ invites us, “Come unto me… and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28-30).
Over the last several months Matt has been preaching and teaching on topics related to peace and rest. During our adult Sunday School class, he has been teaching Biblical principles related to rest and God’s sufficiency, using Jim Berg’s book God is More Than Enough as a supplemental textbook. In our worship services he is preaching through the book of Hebrews. We have just come through the section in chapters 3-4, “entering into God’s promised rest.” Finally, in our mid-week prayer meeting, He has been teaching through 2 Peter and we have just completed chapter 1, which describes the rest of spiritual maturity. This convergence of topics was not carefully planned, but reflects a divine appointment for our people, many of whom are experiencing lots of stress and turmoil in their work, families, and public society. Please pray that God’s word will have its intended effect in their lives.
Adequate preparation for all of these responsibilities requires Matt to spend large amounts of time in planning and study. We are still hoping to see some of our men stabilize their personal lives and schedules so that they can step back into teaching and preaching, but so far this has not happened. Pray for Matt to have peace and rest as he teaches about these and related topics. Pray for our people to experience God’s rest and sufficiency for fruitful Christian living.
Covid cases are in decline (good news!) but some media reports are suggesting that another surge from the next Omicron variant is just around the corner. Some people in our congregation have come down with confirmed cases, but we have not had an outbreak connected with our church meetings. Praise the Lord! Attendance at our regular worship services has been slowly getting back to pre-pandemic levels. However, some people are still attending services online due to personal risk factors related to Covid.
Next week we will be holding our Summer Youth Camp for the first time in two years (July 18-22). Nearly 100 people are planning to attend from about a dozen different churches around Taiwan. Please pray that we will be able to enjoy the week without any outbreaks occurring. We have about 20 teens and workers attending from Cornerstone. Please pray that the teens would experience the impact of God’s word in their lives as they participate in the preaching sessions, fellowship, and physical activities of the week.
Marla’s back continues to improve (although she still experiences some pain from time to time). She goes to a nearby clinic for physical therapy several times per week. She also recently went through a second wrist surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome—this time on her right wrist. Like the previous surgery, this one was also an outpatient procedure with only local anesthetic. Both wrists are healing nicely, but improvement comes slowly. One immediate benefit is that she no longer has to wear the cumbersome wrist splints at night when she sleeps. Please pray for her full healing. She desires to get back into regular piano playing as soon as possible.
In Christ,
Matt & Marla Hanna
