Persistence by Sue Keddy

 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. – 2 Thessalonians 3:5

I spent almost two decades in Asia where haggling for a good price was a sport.  I loved the thrill of going back and forth with the shopkeeper until I wore them down and I was walking away with a bargain.  My parents told me that even as a child if I was convinced of something I would never back down.  My husband agreed.  Some would call that being stubborn but I like to call it being persistent!

Persistence is the main character trait in many a Bible Story which proves to me that God values it.  Matthew records that when two blind men sitting by the road heard that Jesus was passing by they began to shout for mercy.  The crowd tried to hush them but they shouted even louder! As a result Jesus stopped and asked them what they wanted.  They told him they wanted their sight and in the next blink of an eye, they were seeing! (Matthew 21:29-34)  Bartimaeus was a blind beggar who hollered until Jesus heard him.  The crowd told him to ‘STOP!’ but Jesus told him to ‘COME!’  He threw his coat off and ran in the direction of Jesus’ voice.  Jesus opened his eyes and Bartimaeus became a Christ follower (Mark 10:46-52).  A distraught Mom came to Jesus because her daughter was possessed by an evil spirit.  She fell at his feet and begged unashamedly for Jesus to intervene.  He assured her he had and when she returned home her daughter was free of the demon (Mark 7:24-30). Jesus tells a story about a widow who wouldn’t leave a judge alone until she got the protection she needed from an adversary and about a neighbor who continuously knocked on his friends door at midnight until he got bread to feed an unexpected guest  (Luke 18:1-5; 11:5-8).

Desperation breeds either despair or persistence. I choose persistence because the alternative is unthinkable.  Jesus responds to persistence. Blind eyes were opened and demons were cast out!  Justice was granted and provisions were supplied! Jesus wants us to persevere as he persevered for us!  He doesn’t want us to give up or give in.  In fact he honours those who keep asking, seeking and knocking.

My sister, don’t let anyone or anything muzzle your cries!  Start expecting the miraculous!   Be prepared to be amazed!

Hello Ladies!

Hello Ladies

We are so excited about Beauty for Ashes 2013 and know that you’re just going to love our two speakers, Sue Keddy and Mary DeMuth!  Both these women have known great pain and heartache, but both have found just how much healing and solace Jesus can bring … and they’ll be sharing their stories with us. Don’t get the wrong idea though—they’re both full of fun and humour and you’re going to absolutely LOVE them!

This conference is coming to you at an amazing price (Early-Bird only R280 until the end of February), so perhaps you could even think of bringing a friend.

Please join our FaceBook page, follow us on Twitter and Pinterest, and read our blog regularly to make sure that you keep up to date with BFA 2013’s information.

With love

Aldyth, Karen, Michelle & the Team

Introducing Sue Keddy

Sue Keddy is a real tonic and an intrepid adventurer for Jesus! 

She has enjoyed picnics in a junk boat on the South China Sea, ridden a camel on the shores of the Arabian Sea in Karachi,  Pakistan, and celebrated wedding anniversaries on deserted stretches of  beaches in the Philippines and Guam.  God has taken her into the squalor of Vietnamese Refugee camps; into dozens of cardboard huts in a slum called Rio Mar in the Dominican Republic; into houses made out of cow dung in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan; into hundreds of Chinese Schools in Hong Kong and back to Canada…. to be His Ambassador.

Sue is also no stranger to grief.

In the space of two years she lost her husband, her brother (her only sibling) and her father. She and her late husband, Jim, were missionaries in Hong Kong for 18 years and he died while they were doing devotions together one morning of a heart attack. She stayed in Hong Kong for a few more years before returning to Canada where she now leads women’s ministries.  Jesus has never left her, always provided for her and proven to be all that she needs, which is why her heart pounds to make Him famous!

Sue with her two sons and two daughters-in-law, CJ and Ali and Curtis and Amy  Dancing with her son, Curtis, at his wedding

We’re so looking forward to our time together in 2013 and standing in awe at what God is going to do in all our hearts!

PS…some videos of Sue

You may like to see some of the missionary work Sue and Jim Kelly did in Hong Kong at http://vimeo.com/12599808. It was filmed in 1999. You might also be interested in some of the work she has been doing since she returned to Canada where churches work together to bless towns for a day. This video shows the town of Erin, http://vimeo.com/27048575.

Beauty for Ashes 2013