The Wilkes Team

Oh the abundant blessing of mothers who love the Lord, love their family, and have a vision for raising up a generation to declare the glories of our Creator God. The culture has sought to undermine the blessed role of motherhood in exchange for the feministic ideas of independence, disdaining of Biblical womanhood, and living for self.

How quickly do we forget God’s principles. Only a couple generations ago, the founding fathers and beforetime leaders of our nation recognized the indispensable role of mothers for raising up a generation of Americans who would defend liberties of the United States. Yet sadly, amidst our highly refined, educated, industrialized, and wealthy culture we find a strong resistance to Biblical family life.

What a blessing to have a mother with a desire for raising up a Godly seed unto the proclamation of Christ before a lost and dying world.

This past Mothers Day, we had the joy of giving honor to whom honor is due – our mothers.

Each family at church worked together to make the day extra special and meaningful for our wonderful mothers.

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Excavation on our new home advanced steadily. The soil in this part of Virginia tends to be unpredictable in that some places have pockets of shrink-swell soil and others a very high bedrock level. As the excavator drew close to the intended depth of the basement, our builder became concerned. For the bucket of the excavator was hitting the feared bedrock layer. The only solution to breaking through would be the expensive use of dynamite. Our builder walked over to the rock and measured the span. To his joy, he discerned that the bedrock was lying at almost the exact depth needed. In a soon after call to Dad, he shared the story and went on to explain that our home would be literally built upon the rock . His relationship with the Lord is of great encouragement to us.

As our family steps out by faith to move to our new home, we are finding ever so needful to be building upon and dwelling ever closely to the Rock of our Salvation. Trials and misunderstandings will not cease . Nevertheless, they serve as the mercy of God for revealing to us those areas in our life that are but hay, wood, and stubble.

How is what we are currently doing going to impact us 10 years from now How about for all eternity. Let’s build upon the Rock of Salvation the lasting fruits of righteousness. 

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is (1Cor. 3:11-13).

Progress continues on our new home – enjoy the pictures!

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The decision was made, the vision cast, and now it was a race against time. With construction now underway on our new home, the decision was made to put our home on the market for sale. We had about 4 weeks to prepare – ready, set, go!

Patching, sanding, singing, painting, renovating, repairing, replacing, sawing, laughing, planning, packing, cleaning, organizing, weeding, power washing, mulching, and more!

Many hands do make light work! A truly unexpected but ever   so timely blessing was the offer of several individuals from our church to come assist with the renovations. Though their schedules were very full, they cheerfully sacrificed time and energy to assist us in reaching the deadline.

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work‘s sake… (1Thess. 5:13)

One decision which was still lingering was whether or not the kitchen should be renovated. Estimates for resurfacing the cabinets were almost as expensive as replacement and the cabinets themselves were rather dilapidated. Through the advice of a Christian contractor friend but now with only a bit over two weeks to spare, we ordered brand new cabinets. Time was ticking.

The old cabinets were removed to the family room, boxes, kitchen supplies, the sink, and tools were all over the place. Yet through it all our dear Wilkes Team ladies, though without their kitchen sink and counter space, continued to prepare first class meals. Washing dishes in the laundry room sink and cooking venison in an electric skillet on the deck certainly made for trying circumstances yet they continued with such faithfulness and truly deserve a hearty commendation for their endurance.

Weeks had now turned into days. Carpet estimates were received and granite samples selected. Final painting and patching were now underway. A midnight ice cream party helped make the long line of consecutive late nights extra memorable. We were almost there….

Around 6pm Wednesday evening, March 24th, our van pulled out of the driveway, loaded with our luggage and tired but excited people destined for North Carolina.

As a testimony of God’s faithfulness, the love of body of Christ, and the vision of a father, the sign was in the yard and the lock box on the door. Our home was on the market!

“…when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life (Prov. 13:12)”

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Spending time with a parent or sibling is a time to never ever take for granted. I am realizing this more and more as the days go by, and hope for many more opportunities to spend time with my wonderful family members.

Recently, Dad asked me if I would like to go out with him and be his official secretary. He didn’t have to ask me twice: we quickly jumped into the car and went to one of his client’s house where we purposed to shine the light of Jesus. I appreciate Dad’s focus on meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of his clients.

After finishing up there, Dad surprised me with a trip to a putt-putt golf course. I love playing golf but haven’t played in years. We really enjoyed our time together as father and daughter. God drew our hearts closer to each other and closer to Him, as we spent that precious hour together.

Yes, playing golf is fun, but it wasn’t so much the activity as it was the building up of relationships between a father and daughter that was important. Thank you Daddy for giving of yourself to spend time with me. This will be remembered for years to come. I love you!

   

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“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Mt 18:20 

“O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand…”

Psalm 95:1-7 

What joy there is when the body of Christ can come together around Christ and spend a day of delighting in Him and in what he has given us!

Here’s are some shots from the day with our church at Cacapon Park in West Virginia back in April!

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Greetings to all both near and far! How quickly the time flutters by. Our life is truly but a vapor (James 4:14). Thus may we never cease to number our days so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Ps. 90:12). Over a month has now transpired since our last posting but this has not been without the Lord’s posting of significant events upon the beautiful tapestry of His Sovereign plan. As we sang in church this afternoon, we truly "Stand amazed in the presence of Jesus" our Lord and Savior.

Though the pathway before us uncertain may be, the Lord lights just enough of our pathway before us. As we look over the past 2 months, we rejoice over the evidence of God’s guiding hand and look forward to sharing several of these testimonies in the ensuing posts.

“And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long (Ps 35:28)."

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