Good evening, Family! ๐
This week, we praise God for:
๐Angy and Sue praised God for their frรญend, Karen, being on the line.
๐ Kristina praised and thank God for the prayers and support from the church but also for helping Seth through his surgery and recovery, and getting them all through their most difficult times
๐ Ashley praise and thanked God for blessing Matt and getting him through a very tough week-his first at the Academy.
๐ Angy praised God for the spouses He put in the lives of her children. May He continue to bless their marriages.
๐ Breanna praises God and thanks Him for getting her through her last school year and for guidance for her next steps.
๐ Doris praised and thanks God for blessing Skylar and for His protection over her.
๐ Danielle praised and thanked God for protecting her and also allowing her to get through her first week back at school.
๐ Angy is so grateful that Nelson was able to drive down to Holmdel to be with Uncle Jr and help him to be connected with the Lighthouse family for worship service. She also thanked
God for a husband who loves her family as his own
We are also praying for:
๐ Each and every silent prayer request lifted.
๐ Seth, as he recovered from his eye surgery. May God touch him with healing and a full and quick recovery. May God also grant his parents, Andy and Kristina, strength and courage as they continue to trust Him.
๐JC 's friend, Kevin add he battles addiction. May Kevin enlist God's help in the battle so that he gets the victory over this disease!
๐ Monkey, Beloved Guerrero Family pet, who is hurting after his visit to the groomer, due to "senior dog" muscle strain. May the Lord infuse his little busy with healing, strength and vitality!
๐ Christine, Sue's friend, who was just diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and is in desperate need of healing and strength.
๐ Catheryn, Connor and growing Baby Llibre. May the Lord watch over and protect them, their new home and their future plans as they continue to walk with Him.
๐ Astrid. May God grant her healing from her injuries after a bicycle accident.
๐ Alex and AJ as they go through their school year in a new state, making new friends. May God protect them from negative influence sand surround then with angels.
๐ Astrid's twin brother, who is dealing with health issues. May God lead and protect Him.
๐ John; that God will continue to strengthen, heal and eradicate any trace of cancer from his body.
๐ Healing for Carole's brother in law, Harry, as he deals with a cancer diagnosis.
๐ Protection and intervention on Elijah's behalf while he is in Florida. May God grant him and his family resolution on his custody case, that he might return to his family soon.
๐ Our Bible Study groups on Sabbath morning and our Prayer Ports during the week. May they lead to stronger and healthier relationships with Jesus.
๐ Brianna Solis, who is taking a college exam this week. May God grant her the ability to recall all that she's learned and studied. May her hard work be rewarded as she looks forward to graduation in December.
๐ Karina and Alejandro as they celebrate their first year of marriage! May God grant them many more!
Tonight's Prison Fellowship Devotional is ab incredible testament to how Christmas Angels can give a kid the power to break curses! ๐ช๐ฝ
Wow!๐๐ฝ
Kevin Almestica is a New York City real estate agent and bartender with big goals. "I want to design and own an apartment complex that is affordable housing, lottery-based, for all the people who come from terrible situations and need a place to stay," he says.
He knows what itโs like to need a safe home. Kevin's mother Diana gave birth to him while in shackles at a hospital near Rikers Island Correctional Center, where she was incarcerated.
Diana didn't want her boy growing up in the foster system, which is what happens to many kids born to incarcerated parents. She wanted someone to bring him into their family. And she knew whom to ask.
ADOPTED FOR GOOD
At the time of Kevin's birth, Mayra and Jose Abreu ministered to incarcerated women at Rikers Island. The couple saw their ministry as "adopting" the womenโcounseling them, holding Bible studies, inviting them into their home once released. Diana was one of the women they served.
A FAMILY TRANSFORMED
Angel Tree is a Prison Fellowshipยฎ program that provides a pathway for incarcerated parents to give a Christmas gift, the Gospel, and a personal note to their children. "We didn't have anything for Christmas," remembers Mayra. "It was Christmas Eve 1989 when UPS delivered the Angel Tree box, and it changed my life completely. ... It was a total life transformation, reconciliation. I accepted the Lord, went to church."
They had not intended to take in a child, but when Diana asked them to look after Kevin until she was released, they said yes. Mayra recalls, "Diana was happy that she had someone that could take her child and bring him home, give him a family."
"As soon as I was born," Kevin says, "my mother"โthat's what he calls Mayraโ"took me in, and she raised me until my biological mother got out of prison." Though Diana eventually got out of prison, she remained mixed up with the wrong crowds. Still, Kevin went to live with Diana upon her release. One day a drug-related shootout occurred in his home. Then, Diana took off, leaving 5-year-old Kevin and his dog in a New York City apartment.
Mayra and Jose found Kevin hiding in the bathtub. And that's when they decided to officially adopt him.
GRAPPLING WITH GRIEF
Mayra and Jose raised Kevin in the church. "I was very, very involved with the Lord," Kevin remembers. "I prayed every day, I went to Bible camps, and I studied the Bible."
Home was now a calmer and safer place. Yet, Kevin's world was about to be rocked. His biological mother had come back into his life. Diana would visit him every Saturday. He really loved her. Then one day she didn't show up. She had been killed. "It was really hard on me," Kevin says. "I cried every day for like two years."
Grief colored Kevin's childhood. His biological father passed away when he was almost 8. His biological mother died one month before his 9th birthday. Jose, his adoptive father, died when he was 12. But in the darkness, two reliable sources of light shone in Kevin's life: Mayra and Angel Treeยฎ.
MOVING AHEAD
Today, 25-year-old Kevin is extremely grateful for Mayra, Angel Tree, and the life he's been given. "I've had many, many, many life experiences, ups and downs. But I think those things have made me the person that I am today, made me a go-getter. ... Made me strong, independent. I don't get phased easily ... and I feel like I got fire," he says.
Mayra agrees. She's thankful that Kevin keeps moving forward. "He's very smart," she says, "and I'm very, very proud of him that he didn't get stuck on that mentality of his family history. He broke that curse. I believe that. And it's all because ... he knows Christ, personally."
Today Kevin dreams of embracing hundreds through his plans for an affordable apartment complex. But he also longs to wrap his arms around a lonely child. "One day ... I would like to adopt a child just like my mom did," he says. "Just like how I came into the world, I would like to do that for my first child."