Devotional for April 5, 2021

Good Evening, Family!💔

This week, we praise God for:

💟 we are all grateful for Seth and his willingness to say YES to the Lord! We are all so proud of him for the FANTASTIC JOB he did with the welcome! May God keep using Seth for his honor and glory!

💟 Doris praises Good for the health of her dear friend and his family. They have been cleared of Covid!

💟 María thanks Good for keeping Jordan safe while he's away from home, and asks that we keep him in prayer always!

We are also praying for:

🛐 Our brother, John Vega, as he is having surgery TOMORROW, APRIL 6TH! Pray for his doctors, nurses and all involved in his surgery!

🛐 Bianca, Vishal and Sebastian Suri. May the Lord shower their beautiful family with blessings from above.

🛐 Our sister, Evelyn, as continues to recover from her surgery. May she experience less pain with each passing day towards a full recovery.

🛐 Karina asked for protectiin and guidance as Perth Amboy returns to in-person teaching following spring break.

🛐 Micharen's grandmother, who has but been feeling well and the drs are unable to pinpoint the problem. May the Lord intervene on her behalf.

🛐 Robert Cartagena, the elderly dad of one of Carole's friends, as her is hospitalized with Covid.

🛐 Maria, who has been suffering from Tinnitus in her ear. She’s asking for prayer as she is going to see a specialist. Let’s ask for wisdom and for the doctor to offer her much-needed relief and healing.

🛐 Angelica, as she had been given new and exciting opportunities at work.

🛐Pat's dearest friend, Maria, as she is struggling with her health and things are not looking good for her. UPDATE : MARÍA IS AWAKE AND ALERT!!! PRAISE GOD!

🛐 Doris, and her daughters, Jackie, Amanda and their children, Skylar, Heaven Lee, Dorian, Zaire and Amir. May God keep working miracles in their lives.

✝️ Angélica's boyfriend, Michael, as he is going through a dark period in his life.

🛐 Seth...that God would continue to shower him with His goodness, grace and love. May God protect Seth un everything he does and everywhere he goes!

🛐 Anna Ortiz. Kristina provided us this update: They found another lump behind her neck and she's now receiving treatment for that as well. Despite it all she's in good spirits and thankful for the prayers.

Tonight's Devotional was shared by a very dear friend of The Lighthouse, though you have yet to meet her. Long before this Devotional thread, or even the Lighthouse existed, Becky and I were praying for each other's loved ones. In fact, she has a very strong connection to Seth, as she prayed for him from the moment we knew he existed. She's helped me pray for so many of you over the years. Tonight she needs all your prayers. The story she is sharing tonight breaks my heart almost as must as it breaks hers, but she is sharing in the hope that no other family, no other mother or father or friend will ever have to live through something like this.💔

I love you, Becky. ♥️ Thank you for sharing your heartbreak in order to help others. 🙏🏽

"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body." (Ephesians 5:25-30 NLT)

My dear friend, Diana, had her entire world shattered last week and only prayer can help her through this tragedy. I am asking each of you to earnestly pray for her.

You see, Diana's smart, beautiful and loving daughter, Leiana, was every Mother's dream. She was Diana's best friend. Her very reason for living.

Then Leiana was beaten to death by her boyfriend. Beaten. To death. No matter how many times I read or write those words, it doesn't make sense. How could someone be capable of taking such a bright, shining light from her loved ones and have them in what can only be described as darkness? How is it possible that someone so beautiful and sweet and kind and full of promise had their life so brutally taken? These are questions that will haunt everyone who loved her for the rest of their lives.

Do you know what else will haunt them forever? How did they not know? How did they not realize that she was in relationship with a monster? What did they miss? Why didn't she confide in them? No one will ever be able to provide these answers.

So, please PLEASE pray for her mother and my friend, Diana. Only God could hold her together and convince her that life still has meaning and purpose. I need everyone reading this to lift her up in prayer. Even in this tragedy, Diana was thinking of other families. She kept her precious baby girl on life support so that they could harvest her organs just so that other families could have hope again. I can't imagine her daily struggle.

The other thing I need from all of you is to know that you will do ALL YOU CAN to share this tragedy with every woman you know. Make sure they know that anyone who would hurt them - physically, emotionally or even with their words is not worthy of them. Anyone who would hurt them is not to be trusted. Not to be believed when they say they will never do it again. The fact that they do it the first time is enough to get out of the relationship and never look back. PLEASE. LET'S PRAY FOR OUR GIRLS AND OUR WOMEN, BUT LET'S ALSO HAVE THE HARD CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM. LET'S MAKE SURE THAT IF IT EVER HAPPENS, THEY KNOW THEY CAN TURN TO YOU FOR HELP. THAT THEY CAN CALL YOU AND YOU'LL COME GET THEM NO QUESTIONS ASKED. THAT YOU'LL MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH TO KEEP THEM SAFE.

Them, let's make sure that our boys and our men know how unacceptable it is to hurt a woman. No matter what. This also has to be a conversation, especially in families of faith, where both conversations can take place with honesty and love, and most of all, with wisdom from above.

Domestic Violence is demonic. It's an insult to God. And we must come together, even across the miles, to take a stand against it.