I just wanted to express my thanks to all of you for such a wonderful, heart changing program! I have lost nearly 50 pounds and am continuing to carry on towards the goal of permanent weight loss. I am doing this because I am “seeking first His kingdom and all things will be added unto you”! I am really excited each day to read and study this devotional. I will keep in touch as I move closer to the heart of God for my life!
I sincerely thank you!
Janet Anderson
Catskill, New York
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Carole,
I must tell you how much I am enjoying Today is the First Day. I am learning so much about myself. GOD and I are having the greatest conversations. We just don’t seem to have enough time. It’s like being out with a friend for your lunch hour and it is a sweet time of pleasure together. But it is, after all, just your lunch hour and ends before you are ready to say, “Talk to you later.” Thank you so much for compiling this and giving me a “lunch hour” that I wish was longer and longer.
Barbara Clark
San Angelo, Texas
Barbara,
Thank you for your wonderful description of the book. This is exactly the way I feel since I know so many of the contributors.
Love,
Carole Lewis
carole@firstplace.org
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I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all “thank you” from the bottom of my heart for the First Place National Conference in Mississippi. Deanna Whetstone, Suzy Pineda and I drove 12 hours from Indiana and came back so rejuvenated, excited and full of the Lord! I just can’t thank you enough for the inspiring testimonies, information, fellowship, and encouragement. Even two weeks after the trip, we are still talking about it!
To let you know how God is working on our First Place ministry in Indy, let me fill you in:
- We have 5 different First Place Bible studies going on now which meet three different days, one in the morning and the other four on three different nights. We started the program on September 12th, 2001 and have passed the one-year mark. We’re still going strong! We have people not only from our church but also from about six other churches in the area. Some of these people want to take the program back to their church and start it up. This is exciting to me because it spreads the ministry within the city rather than confining it to our church.
- At your encouragement, Carole, I approached our preacher, Steve White, with the suggestion to let us start a Sunday school focusing on discipleship. He agreed and is supportive to allow us to do this. We have about 1,500 people at our church and approximately 1,000 attend Sunday school. This will be a challenge for us to do because of all the other classes that meet and there tends to be quite a bit of transience in the classes. The really neat thing is that Steve has encouraged the formation of a Prayer Ministry Team to lead our church into becoming a House of Prayer. He wants to take us from occasional prayer to a church that has prayer as its central foundation. This is so exciting to me, personally, because First Place has shown me the importance of being in prayer with My Lord and Savior not only each day, but also all day.
- Bev Henson and Carol Moore are stopping by our church in January to share testimony and help us put on a First Place Rally while they are in town for a convention.
- We want to do a “Jesus Walk” to emulate the 120-mile walk Jesus took. This would be used as encouragement to get out and exercise and spend time with the Lord in praise and prayer.
- We are going to contribute to our food pantry by having everyone bring food equivalent to the weight they have lost.
Thank you all for letting the Lord lead you to build this ministry. You have truly touched the hearts and made a difference to a group of people in Indiana, physically, emotionally, mentally and most importantly, spiritually. God bless you all for the efforts you put into glorifying Him through this ministry!!!!
Clinging to the Cross,
Jill
Indianapolis, Indiana