General Update & Prayer Request

And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58

UPDATE

I have been in Riverside, California since November 15th. My lovely wife, Lisa, has been here since September 8th. We’ve been taking care of my mother, who has stage 4 peritoneal cancer (the peritoneum is the membrane that surrounds the vital organs in the abdomen).

My mom, Tish, is not saved. She was born and raised in the Philippines, and so she is nominally Catholic. Like me before I was saved in 1985, she believes in God; however, she has not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. That’s a tough nut to crack. Lisa confessed that she was discouraged for several weeks before I arrived, thinking that she was a pathetic Christian because she was unable to share the gospel with my mom. Since being in California and interacting with my mom, I told Lisa, “She’s not open to the gospel yet. With her condition, she’s so absorbed with self-pity and self-righteousness that she won’t hear the truth. It is as the Lord said of the Jews of His day, quoting Isaiah 6,

“‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’  My words comforted and encouraged her.’” Matthew 13:14-15

And again,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” Matthew 13:57

I’ve shared the gospel with her here and there over the past 38 years; and I have had a few opportunities in the past few weeks to share the gospel, as well as my own personal salvation testimony. This morning, I even shared the gospel with family members who have flown out from the east coast of the U.S. and Canada to visit my mom.

While we have been here in southern California, we have enjoyed the blessing of attending a congregation of believers who exalt Christ for God’s glory and give a high place to God’s sovereignty in salvation. And though the fellowship has been rich in Christ, we do miss our beloved church family at Calvary Baptist Church in Ninilchik, Alaska. We love and miss them, and we know they love and miss us.

VOICE

For the past couple of days, I have not been able to provide an audio recording of the daily devotionals. With guests in at my mother’s house, there has not been an opportunity. Also, I have been dealing with an intermittent voice issue the past few years. It has been getting increasingly worse, so the recording hiatus has allowed me to give my voice a rest. I have had an endoscopy on my throat and larynx a few years ago and there seems to be nothing physically wrong. I requested a consult from my neurologist to discuss whether this might be something associated with my latent-onset diving decompression sickness (from years of diving with the U.S. Navy). That will have to wait until I return to Alaska, however.

PRAYER

If it should come to mind during your times of prayer, please pray for my wife, Lisa, and me. Pray that…

• …my mom’s heart would be pricked by the gospel of Christ.

• …we will learn what we must and draw nearer to the Lord as we minister to my mom.

• …we will soon be united with our beloved church family in Ninilchik.

• …Christ will be exalted and our Father will be glorified in all we think, say, and do.

Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ, and Him crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again.

With love, by God’s grace,

jon j. cardwell

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash