Usually I start with a few stories and work from there but when all the stories coming in center around the same theme, you definitely know that God is behind it. Lately we have been taking on a theme throughout the whole issue and this issue seems to center around our attitude.

I remember when I received my healing of depression 11 years ago. Though God did something miraculous in me that day, it was really a matter of perspective and attitude. I woke up one morning and said, “I’m not going to be like that anymore!” And it’s a daily ritual for me, kind of like a pepp talk. Maybe it works for some and not for others but it’s worth a try! There might even be days it doesn’t work, and that’s when I have a wonderful husband who cheers me on and helps me get through the day. Most often the thing that helps me most is when I’m in worship or listening to that good Christian music. It also helps me to remember to “count my blessings” instead of my troubles. And we have 2 wonderful blessings with our granddaughters Selah and Amethyst and a grandson who will arrive in a few short months. When you look at these marvelous creations God has entrusted to us you can’t help but know you are blessed!

Until next time,
Blessings and more blessings,
Kris

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

CHORUS:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

“Blessings crown the head of the righteous.”
Proverbs 10:6

THE WELL MINISTRIES:

A story has been told of a missionary speaking in his home church. One day while he was caring for an injured man, the man confessed that he had been part of a group who wanted to attack and rob the missionary. The man and his friends followed the missionary to his campsite but when they approched the area they saw that campsite was being protected by 26 armed guards so they ran away. At this point in his message a man in the congregation stood up to tell that on the same date he felt led to call together a group of men to pray for the missionary. He asked all those men to stand — there were 26 of them.

Whether this story is true or not is not the point but the fact is that missionaries need our prayer support. Do you or your church have specific missionaries that you support?

Many people think that missionaries are only in foreign countries but do you know that foreign countries send more missionaries to the United States than we send there? They know we need the work of missionaries here in the USA as much as any foreign country!

Did you know that every Christian is a missionary? Jesus says in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” He has sent each one of us on a mission. You don’t have to wait for your pastor to give you some certificate or special blessing. You have already received that from the King of Kings!

Where is your mission field? Is it your workplace, your child’s school, your grocery store, your neighborhood? There are so many possibilities to reach the lost for Christ and you don’t have to go far to do it. It doesn’t take any schooling and you don’t have to even recite Scripture to do it. A gentle smile, a warm greeting, a helping hand, dinner to a lonely widow, a phone call, a greeting card, visit to a shut-in, are all ways you can be a missionary in your own city! Let people see the love of Jesus in and through you with your actions and attitudes.

Become the missionary Christ intended for you to be!

The Well Ministries itself is a missionary for Christ and we have been doing this for 11 years now! We reach out to the lonely and depressed, to the ones who need encouraged, to the hurting…and we could use your help. We are in need of support both prayerfully and financially.
Many churches, missionaries and non-profit organizations are suffering financially because of the economy and we are no different. Please help us and pray that God will send workers to help in His harvest!

Will you consider sponsoring all or part of printing this publication? Would you be willing to sponsor Chalice or Puppets for the King to reach out to your church or another church, neighborhood, community, or nursing home? Would you commit to pray for our ministry?

Last year Chalice did 39 music programs. The Puppets did 15. We printed and distributed 3 issues of The Well totalling about 9000 copies. In the 11 years of ministry we have produced and distributed nearly 160,000 copies of The Well!

You can help us in our mission of “Providing a Drink of Living Water to a Dry and Thirsty World” – consider sponsoring an issue of The Well by donating all or part of the money required to produce it. Maybe you would like to donate enough to cover the postage to mail them out. ($200) Maybe you would like to donate enough to cover the cost of the paper. ($250) Maybe you would like to donate enough to cover the cost of the printing. ($1400) Maybe you would like to donate enough for the whole shebang! ($1850) For every $1850 we get that is marked for The Well Production we will be able to get an issue out. Wouldn’t it be nice to get out 6 issues this year? ($11,100) Sure, that’s alot of money, oh ye of little faith! With God, all things are possible!

Snowfall for the Pittsburgh area hit a record high this month and the month isn’t even over yet. More snow is scheduled to come. It will be over 40 total inches when all is said and done in our area. That’s the most snow in one month since the 1800’s. All this snow has partially inspired the theme of this edition.

The other day I was walking down a short ramp and slipped on some ice. Within seconds I was flat on my back looking up at the stars. I laid there very still and quiet, holding my breath for a moment, especially since falling knocked the breath right out of me. Lou leaned over me and asked if I was still alive. I started moving parts of my body slowly, one at a time, to be sure I didn’t break anything. I reassured Lou that I was indeed still alive but still not sure if I could get up. He reached his hand down to me to help pull me up, but my feet were still planted on that icy patch. The only way up was to do it myself. I rolled over and crawled up the ramp till I found a dry spot. I was blessed to not have broken anything. I have heard of so many others this season that fell and did break bones or had other serious injuries. I was pretty sore for a few days but other than muscular there were no major injuries.

The fall was humiliating, I must add, maybe even funny to have watched, but I re-learned an old lesson my mother tried to teach me: Watch where you walk!

In this same aspect we need to watch our spiritual steps because like that icy patch, Satan can come and kick our feet out and knock the breath out of us. Holding my husband’s hand didn’t save me; the only hand that could save us would be the Hand of God. The trouble is that like children we are not too eager to reach out and take the Hand of our Father!

As you read through the stories in this issue, remember that God is always there, reaching out His Hand, to guide you and help you along the way. Won’t you reach out and grab it?

Blessings,
Kris

The Prodigal Child story has been on my heart a lot lately with singing one of Chalice’s newest recordings, “When God Ran,” which tells the prodigal story in an enlightening way.

Everywhere we sing the song, someone comes up to us and shares who they have now or have had in the past, a prodigal child.

I think we have all been there.

The prodigal stories began to flood my inbox so I put together this issue dedicated to all the Prodigal Children.

If you have a prodigal, don’t give up praying for them, they always come home. When the time comes, just be sure you welcome them home. Keep the communication open as much as you can and they will always know they can come home.

Blessings,
Kris

I didn’t get a chance to ask him if they believe that Jesus really died on the cross.

Our whole belief and basis of Christianity is that we believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

What do you have to stand on if you don’t believe the Bible is the direct Word of God?

So I’m curious, do you believe the Bible is the actual Word of God or do you believe the Bible is a book of stories?

One of the things I’ve been saying alot lately is that if I didn’t have God in my life I don’t think I could have made it through each day. I wonder how people that don’t have that personal relationship with God can survive all the trials that life brings us. I have definitely had some “valley” experiences lately. Recently I shared with someone this statement I had heard: “without valleys there would not be any mountains.”

It has been said many times that these trials make us stronger, that there is always a reason we go through these things, that we can turn this test into a testimony. Well, when you are going through the fire, you don’t usually see anything but flames. Remember that God is the Master Chef and he will take the creation out of the oven before it gets burnt to a crisp.

Through this recent time of trials the realization of why we NEED Jesus in our lives brought a song to my heart and eventually ended up on paper. And actually Chalice has started singing it. “That’s Why We Need Jesus” has a catchy Southern Gospel sound. It may never hit “gold” status but it has a lot of “gold” in it because it sure speaks of many reasons we do need God in our lives. My only desire is that someone who is going through one of those situations might hear why they need Jesus in their life and let Him help them through the valley they are in, just as He has for me. Look for Chalice recording this song sometime this summer to be released at the Gospel Sing at Renzie Park on September 12th.

As to this issue, it’s filled with good stories as usual.

This issue has taken a theme about attending church and the reasons why we go.

If you are a faithful attender, it might give you additional insight as to why some people attend church or don’t attend. Maybe you can reach out and invite someone to church this Sunday.

Blessings,
Kris

It’s been a long time in coming but here is another great issue of The Well.

Thanks to the Lord providing a new high speed copier, we are able to begin producing “The Well” once again. We hope it will become the monthly publication it was meant to be.

Hopefully by the next issue you’ll get to read from some of our “old” regular authors as well. Please give us a little time to get back into a schedule.

If you are a writer or poet, please consider sending us your original work. We have published unsolicited material as we have room or the Lord leads. We don’t guarantee your piece will be used but if you don’t send it in it will never have a chance to be used. We are always looking for short stories (real or fiction), poetry, testimonies, etc.

You will also be seeing some advertisers in upcoming issues. For those of you who live farther away we will apologize ahead of time, but this publication started in McKeesport, PA and most of the copies are read by people in this general area. We are blessed that the publication has reached out to people in 34 other states and even to a few foreign countries. But God has provided a way for us to help finance the expenses of producing the booklet by using advertising. Trust me when I say that we don’t eliminate any stories because of the advertising. We are actually hoping to someday make The Well bigger. And with the added advertising income we might be able to make more pages in color.

If you are a business owner and would like information on advertising, please give us a call at 412-664-9355 to discuss the costs or visit our website at: www.thewellministries.org. We accept national companies as well as local.

Churches, please consider advertising your next spaghetti dinner or special concert. The Well reaches out to many churched and unchurched people.

Won’t you write to us and let us know what you think about the new look and whether you are glad to see The Well again.

Just remember one thing, all the proceeds of this ministry help us reach more people, sharing the Living Water and the love of God to a dry and thirsty world.

Blessings,
Kris

I’ve really been updating our website so if you have internet access you should check it out. We’ve go pictures, music samples, an online journal, information about everyone in the ministry, downloadable posters, flyers, publicity information and much more. Our schedule is always up to date there so you can catch Chalice or Puppets for the King somewhere. Also The Well is now online. You can read past issues as well as the current ones. And if you sign up for our mailing list you can get previews on future issues.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of encouraging stories. I know it’s been way too long since there has been an issue of The Well. But Lord willing that will change soon.

If you have any fresh new stories, testimonies or poems, feel free to send them to us for the next issue.

Blessings!

For the record: In 2006 we had a birthday party contest with prizes that were selected from those who left comments below.

Let me start by saying that “The Well” was intended to be a monthly publication but financial roadblocks have prohibited that. Printing and distributing this publication does cost money and we just don’t have the resources yet to produce it monthly.

You might say, “But I give a donation,” and that may be true but we are not getting enough donations to pay for the mailing expenses let alone the printing. We print 3-5000 copies each issue. We directly mail out about 800 copies. Less than 50 people give just to subscriptions and 30 more give extra for ministry operating expenses. “The Well” does not have a set fee attached to it eventhough we suggest a $10 per year donation. We have always said that if everyone that reads this would give just $1 per issue, we’d have enough to actually pay for publishing it.

Though Castle Printing has never made us pay for any of the issues to date, biblically we should pay for them as the Bible states that a workman is due his wages.

Last summer, the Lord laid on our hearts to make The Well Ministries a full-time ministry, which would allow us the opportunity to return to publishing “The Well” on a monthly basis. I had hoped that would happen by the end of last year but it didn’t. Though we know that God will provide and we are supposed to “step out in faith,” He has not given us that clear release to do that just yet. I know the time is coming, and coming soon. But for now, we’re trying to arrange some financial commitments from churches, individuals, and through some grants, to help us meet all of the upcoming ministry operating expenses.

You can help us do this by praying for us. You can also help by giving what you are able or contacting your church and telling them of a great ministry they can support through their mission funds. We can provide you the necessary information to approach your church if you are willing to do so.

Together we CAN make a difference!
Blessings,
Kris