Wow, the summer is almost over, it has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I got back here in Arizona and started off my summer back home. It has been an amazing summer where the Lord has been so faithful and so good. I mean it was a challenging and tiring summer, but despite circumstances, God is bigger and taught me so much. Thank you for your support and prayers this summer, it has been and will be greatly needed.
To update you on all I've been involved in and asked you to pray for I'll start with my work. I finished up working my construction job last week and man this week has been super nice as I rest from 2 months of waking up at 4 am haha. The Lord totally taught me a ton thru my job from humbling me in not knowing exactly what I was doing, to evangelism in sharing the gospel of Christ with them. Even though I'm done working there, please continue to pray for the 7 men I worked with, that God would bring to mind the conversations we had this summer and just that they would stop living in ignorance and would realize they need a Savior. As for my adult small group, tonight is my last group before I leave Arizona and my group has been amazing. Seriously, I've told them that if I didn't have that community of believers to be encouraged, challenged and invested by every Thursday, I would've been my own island this summer. But God has really taught me a ton about why I, and every believer, needs to be in community with other believers because that is how he designed the Church. We are one body, but many members, and our purpose amongst each other is to edify each other and to grow as a body into "all the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). Also just an update on how my meeting went with my missions pastor, it went super well! I really appreciate him and his work with the church and for him coming alongside a 20 year old, wanting to see him succeed in where God is leading me. Also he offered more support financially for school for the next two semesters so praise God for that! I'm just so grateful for a church that is getting behind me when they can to assist me in getting to the mission field, so thanks for praying!
As for what I'm learning right now, I am learning a ton, which I guess is expected when the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is at work in you haha. I'm still studying through Ephesians, but recently I've been reading some Psalms in the morning and it has been super refreshing. It seems like I've been learning a lot about the perspective of facing trials and suffering as my church is teaching through 1st Peter and then discussing it in my small group. And the other day I read Psalm 31 and was just struck with David's writing. He talks about the affliction against him, the distress he's in. He talks about grief, sorrow, sighing. He says that amongst others he feels as one forgotten, one dead, amongst people who plot to take his life (v.13). So David was or currently is going through some sort of trial, suffering, distress and is reflecting on his situation, but he says something incredibly profound in 31:14 that despite all this "I trust in you, O LORD, I say 'You are my God.'" Like Paul's perspective on suffering in Philippians, David is much the same, that despite the circumstances that we can see, God is bigger and worth trusting in. The Lord has been teaching me that in suffering, true joy and contentment is found because God is all you have. In trials, you find that God is enough, that despite how terrible the situation that you can see is, God is bigger, faithful, trustworthy, unchanging, our Father and therefore is worth rejoicing in. So I ask, is God enough?
I want to thank all of you for your continued prayers and support for me as I walk on the narrow way. I am getting a newsletter mailing list together of people who will commit to support me in praying for me, so if you would like to receive 6 month updates in the mail, along with my prayer card and would pray for me, please either comment below or email me at jsheridan03@gmail.com with your address.
Pray Requests:
1. For my visit back to New Jersey before school. That I'd have some good time with my Dad, sharing truth about what it is to walk with the Lord.
2. For the upcoming school semester that the Lord would continue to bring in many freshman to study God's Word. Also that he would be preparing my heart and all the students heart for a semester of studying his Word and being transformed.
3. I'm taking over the prison ministry at school this Fall where we teach every Thursday night to believers. We're teaching through Ephesians this semester and so I'd appreciate prayer for the hearts of the men in jail and for us the teachers.
4. Humility. I really struggle with this and I could use prayer for the Lord to teach me that without him I'm nothing and that I need him every day and for everything I hope to achieve this semester.
5. Finances. For school but also beyond as I look to discuss with people as to what is next after school. Praise God that he is faithful always, but please pray that I would trust in Him and be content to know that he is faithful.
