From the Desk of Jill Keenon, Operations Director:
I, Jill, have been walking every morning and it has been really fun. I spend time waking up, praising the Lord, praying, organizing my thoughts for the day and just doing well for my body. This has been on my to do list for about twenty five years. The day after the fourth of July I was walking in Glen Ellyn. It was absolutely beautiful and it was one of those feel good days.
I started to notice trash that had been left behind from the parade the day before. I did not want to pick it up on many levels. I still had a long way to get home, it was someone else's mess, it was not my yard, and it would be inconvenient to carry it all home. I walked past the mess and the Holy Spirit would not let me rest. I went back and picked it up. Of course, I then felt compelled to keep picking up the trash I saw all the way home. The many bottles and papers became cumbersome but it became a reminder to me that we are to carry one another's burdens. I started to be excited as I thought about how I had the answer for the trash. It was something I could carry awhile because my burden was light this day, and I had a recycle container that the trash could go to and be used again for a good purpose.
Just like us, this trash looked gross and unusable but when someone comes along and tells us about Jesus the recycler, our lives can be used for good. It just was a good reminder to me about why we should all pick up other people and their garbage and help carry them to someone who wants to use them and loves them. Jesus says his burden is easy and his load is light. I think he is saying it is no more difficult for him to carry our real burdens than it was for me to carry home that garbage. The moral of the story is: Give Jesus your garbage and show others the way to the recycle bin.
QUICKS: 1. Bob is a pretty moldable child. Pray that he will be adopted into the best home for him. I think he is flourishing in the Quick home.
2. The baby is one happy child. Pray for her situation to be settled quickly and easily and that she will be able to stay.
KEENON: 3. We are still seeing breakthroughs with Melissa on the boundary issue/personality side. Pray she will trust the Lord to heal her and understanding will not be blocked from her. Generational junk is very present. Please pray against its hold on her.
4. Margie needs prayer to heal her brain. Prayer to stop the rambling ideas going on in her head that she is having trouble sorting. Let's pray the solution which is clarity of thought, wisdom, and understanding of day to day life for this precious soul. Pray for her to have peace.
5. We are still going to try and do the vacation from home starting today. Pray we can enjoy ourselves even though we can't be totally alone. Pray the seizures with Melissa will work out timing wise. Pray for peace in the home so we can get refreshed and revitalized. So far it is not working! We started out with an issue for each one of them. We are trying again this afternoon.
6. Please pray for Keano. He is with his mom and four siblings, a stepbrother and stepfather for two weeks. His mom will be working the first week and the second week she will be on vacation. Their life style and expectations are very different from ours. He will adjust, but it takes time. I, Paul, introduced him to two of his mother's biological sisters Sunday. I think he gets a little confused by all the disjointed relatives he has, but these are two of his aunts that we know that go to our church and are adopted by other families.
In Christ's Service for the Community,
Paul & Jill Keenon
Open Door for Teens, Inc.
