A Different December
Dear Prayer Partner
We look back on 2021 and praise the Lord for His goodness that maintained us through 2021 and we praise Him for the privilege we had of being able to serve another year in His Kingdom.
This year we have seen how He touched people with His love, how He had set people free and how He healed people.
We also experienced sadness this year with Mariska who is part of our full time team and lost her father due to covid, but we also saw the Holy Spirit as her comforter bringing her supernatural comfort and victory.
We also look back on 2021 and thank our Heavenly Father for you for praying faithfully for us and also for everyone who financially supports us and the House of Prayer and makes it possible for us to be in the service of the Lord.
The heading of this letter say, A Different December…
We started the month with the last 4 days of the wonderful privilege we had to be able to rest in Die Strand for 12 days. During this rest period we saw precious friends, we could just pray together again and we had the privilege of praying with someone we met at a precious friend’s house and we could experience how the love of our Father touched her through prayer like never before in her life !! LIVING WITH OUR FATHER ALWAYS FILLS US WITH AWE!!
This December is different, because for the first time in 12 years we did not go to Natalia ATKV resort for an outreach. The reason for this is that the resort contacted us to say that there is another congregation that would also like to reach out there and whether we would care to start taking turns with that congregation in December.
We immediately had a lot of peace about it and were grateful to be able to celebrate Christmas with our spiritual and natural family for the first time in many years.
We had a special dinner with our spiritual family on December 15 (The photo above) and on Christmas Day with our 2 Moms, Linda’s brother and 2 children. Unfortunately, Marais’ brother could not be with us at Christmas. (We share a photo at the end of the letter.)
Die Huis van Gebed het op 15 Desember toegemaak om vir ons hele span ’n blaaskans te gee, maar ons het die wonderlike voorreg gehad om op Kersdag ’n spesiale oggend Fellowship te hê en die geboorte van Christus saam met baie van ons geliefdes te vier.
The House of Prayer closed on December 15th to give our entire team a break, but we had the wonderful privilege of having a special morning Fellowship on Christmas Day and celebrating the birth of Christ with many of our loved ones.
We said goodbye to 2021 and greeted 2022 in isolation!! 3 Days after Christmas, all of us who spent Christmas together tested positive for covid, except for Marais’ mother.
So we experienced firsthand what so many have already gone through that have already had covid. We are very thankful that Father kept His hand over us and that we did not get so sick that we ended up in the hospital, and that we are almost over the disease, but we are now definitely looking with different eyes at everyone who is sick is and we certainly pray from a different perspective for everyone who fights this virus in their bodies.
Dear Prayer Partner we trust that as you look back over 2021 you will see our Heavenly Father’s fingerprints on your life in the second challenging year we went through, and we pray that you look ahead to 2022 and see how our Heavenly Father is already waiting for you in every tomorrow to make your paths straight for you, to carry you when you may not be able to walk, to catch you when you may fall and to cover you under His wings as He promises in His Word!!
We want to invite you to join us on a journey in the Word. During the Return Conference in 2021, one of the speakers said that if you read 10 chapters of the Word every day, you can read the Word in just over four months and we felt that the Holy Spirit was inviting us to start this year with reading 10 chapters from the Word each day. We invite you as our Prayer Partner to join us on these 10 chapters a day journey in the Word of God.
Prayer requests
- We have our Annual Planning with our Full Time Team on January 8, 2022. Please pray for our planning, that we will listen to our Father’s heart for 2022 and not miss anything He plans for this year!
- Pray for more students for both IHOPU as well as the Joshua Year Internship. We already have a few students, but pray with us that not one person with whom Father has an appointment with Witbank House of Prayer in 2022 will miss out on what Father has in store for them.
- Sê asb saam met ons dankie vir Vader se voorsiening in ons persoonlike lewe as ook vir die bediening, en bid saam met ons dat Vader in elke behoefte sal voorsien in 2022.
- Please thank our Father with us for His provision in our personal lives as well as for the ministry, and pray with us that Father will provide for every need in 2022.
- Please pray for our health and that we will recover quickly and completely and have no after effects from covid in our bodies.
REMEMBER WE LOVE TO PRAY FOR YOU!!
We would also like to pray for you and invite you to please feel free to email, Whatsapp or call us with anything we can pray for you! Our number; 0834471661.
And also remember you are welcome to come and visit at any time !! It will be so nice for us to welcome you to our house for a few days, to hang out and pray together.
Much love
Marais and Linda
