1* Greetings and Blessings!
Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you!
I’ve always loved this greeting to Mary from the angel Gabriel. Kindness, blessing, promise and hope in one brief greeting, right? I couldn’t resist repeating it in meeting you in heart with my first article or note to you — my new colleagues, partners, and friends at ABWE! Why? Because I love what I’ve been hearing and seeing over the last three months about you, your leaders, mission teams, ministry paradigm, core values, and your clearly stated number one priority at ABWE: to focus on Jesus Himself! Wow. You are, indeed, favored ones in the Lord!
Hi, my name is Mark Gonzales and throughout the weeks of autumn I was being recruited through many gracious conversations with my new friends — Thad Bergmeier and David Levy — to come and serve alongside you as the National Director of Soul Care in EveryEthne at ABWE — maybe more like a pastoral encourager or chaplain — in collaboration with what I’ve already heard is an awesome ABWE Member Care Team. What an invitation! What a blessing and gift from above to serve the Lord alongside each of you. My deepest thanks go to Thad and David for hearing Him and trusting me to come and help to further cultivate a culture — not a program — of soul care in the hearts and ministry of His historic missionary sending force at ABWE—favored ones!
So, the Lord led me to come onboard in January, and last week Thad and David asked me to start writing a regular column about soul care. I said: “Great! I’d love to!” It just so happens that I’ve been writing a regular column (Whispers of God) and doing a weekly radio broadcast (Portraits of God on The Heritage Hour) for 35 years, so this is a wonderful privilege to do so with you!
Oh, in case you’d like a quick peek at more of my God-story, the Lord saved me when I was 10; called me to full-time ministry while I finished up a B.A. in political science and pre-law at U.T. Austin; He nurtured me through MDiv and DMin degrees (Evangelism & Missions) at SWBTS in Ft. Worth; and He has been shaping me over the last 45 years (especially through my plethora of real life mistakes, struggles, and disappointments) while pastoring several churches, planting two, launching two homeschool entities, overseeing a network of over 100 churches, writing a few books, serving as a pastoral, church, and missions consultant, and traveling to over 30 countries — where I learned a ton. God is so gracious! And through our years in southwest Florida since 1990, my wife Lindy and I have been wonderfully blessed, along with our 3 wise sons, 3 creative daughters-in-law, and 7 sprouting grandkids!
Now back to soul care, this column, and the emerging title: Soul Care Conversations. I am praying that the Lord will use these brief notes to help you hear His heart so He can touch your heart. He is always whispering to us, my friends. Really. It’s just that our external lives get so noisy (far too busy, frenetic, relentless, demanding. . .) and our internal hearts or souls get so loud (wounds, pain, insecurity, disappointments, failures. . . ), it gets very easy — and habitual — to miss the “kind intentions” of His conversational whispers. So, my intention is to offer some gentle reminders. Such as . . .
Whisper 1 * The Quiet Waters Principle
I just love all the water metaphors the Lord uses in Scripture to draw us closer to Himself for soul care, meditation, restoration, and exploration. So, to start our journey together, let me simply leave you with just three of them to chat with Jesus about . . . by quiet waters . . . away from the noise. . . for heart-felt conversation.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4). This is preventative soul care. (How faithfully am I guarding my vulnerable heart, above all else, Lord?)
“He leads me beside quiet waters; He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23). This is restorative soul care. (How often do I sit still and let you restore and heal my weary and wounded soul, Lord?)
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. . . Deep calls to deep.” (Psalm 42). This is explorative soul care. (How deeply am I yearning and diving into you, Lord?)
Yeah, okay. I am hearing Him with you right now. I think I’ll print them out as a Bible bookmark for the week to remind me of these heart level things. Oh, what a patient Savior we have, and there is so much more He wants to share with us! But for now, I’m just . . .
Slowing down and diving in with you,
Brother Mark mark@quillpress.org
Mark Gonzales, DMin * National Director of Soul Care * EveryEthne at ABWE Global Mission Agency
