Letters from Lilongwe

People always think that praying for people is hard.  That's a myth that still dominates much of my decision making.  This morning I realized that it is simple, if you feel the need or see the need for someone to be prayer for, ask them if they want to be healed and then ask the Father to heal them.  We have been given the Holy Spirit and we expect that the Spirit is moving in peoples hearts, why not expect that the Father also desires the restoration of physical bodies also!   Therefore I am charging myself to simply ask if people want to be healed, then pray for them expecting the Spirit to work in ways that I can not comprehend. Its All in Christ, Paul Shackelford

Mark and I were talking last night, looking up at the stars and realizing that at the snap of Gods finger all that we were looking at was created.  Every star, planet, house, aspect of our existence at the snap of Gods finger.  Then we started thinking through all of the billions of people who had gazed upon the moon in the last x-many years.  How many had been impacted by the truth of Gods hands at work by gazing at the heavens and been amazed.  This thought is too large for my mind, this blog, and every supercomputer in the world.  Only God can comprehend the lives of billions of people, every detail, every blessing, every second, only god can comprehend this magnitude.  Ya, that's good stuff... All in Christ, Paul Shackelford

This has been a very hard month...  First on a light note I had to shave my beard for no shave November.  That pained me on many dimensions, lost a vital part of my face, lost my facial insulation, now I have to ensure the growing process(it itches like crazy).  Second realized my grades were not so hot, therefore I have added a lot more of my energy into learning for class.  This was a massively bad idea, last night I realized that I gain life from meeting with people one on one and I have not met with someone intentionally in a few weeks and that hurts.  I am realizing again that I do not trust the lord to be a giver of good gifts.  I believe that I can earn a degree to earn a job to earn a wage to provide for my family.  I fail to believe that God provides thought means, that I can not comprehend!  I may try to learn as much as I can at tech, still get a poor GPA and not get that typical IE job, but I trust that he provides for his children!&#160 Third, I have just been believ