God's Love Story - Transformed Hearts and Lives

March 7, 2014

Greetings Friends and Family,

 

 Jim and Sheryl ‘s Reception 4/26/14 RSVP www.weddingwire.com/jimandsheryl

All of us want a story that begins, “once upon a time” and ends “and they lived happily ever after.”  I’ve seen God’s grace in the midst of difficult circumstances. Over and over, God has provided through your prayers, financial donations and now through my Boaz – Jim Turner. A hopeless romantic, my faith in fairytale happy endings has been restored.  Please share our joy on Sat. 4/26/14 at the Giesbrecht/ Turner Wedding Reception Open House from 1 to 7 pm  RSVP: www.weddingwire.com/jimandsheryl

 

Help Us Tell the Story

God is constantly re-writing our story, isn’t He? The same is true for Africa. The New Story of Africa is how God is taking its people from poverty to promise. God is using Africans to take the Gospel into the world to fulfill the Great Commission. We’d like to involve others in Help us Tell the Story of The New Africa.  Look for a postcard in the mail, request a brochure and view a DVD about the many exciting opportunities awaiting you in the ministry of ICM. For information go to www.icmusa.org.

 

Purpose Driven Conference 9-13 – Sheryl excited to return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 11-14

The story of ICM continues as Vision Quest Alliance takes over ICM’s donation processing. Please add an identification number to your check or credit card donation. Sheryl Giesbrecht’s ministry unit ID # 020010. Please use this number on your checks and donation information. ICM 2014 Banquet – Tuesday August 19, 2014 at Olive Knolls Church in Bakersfield. I’m working with our outstanding team of volunteers for this annual fundraiser. Jim and my wedding date is April 12 and reception April 26, plus my USA speaking engagements have increased this spring, my next trip to Ethiopia will be in November 2014. Thanks for your part in God’s love story – Sharing Jesus!

Love and prayers,

Sheryl

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.” Psalm 107:1-3

 

Will You Believe

Feb 10, 2014

 

Sheryl with Pastor Donna Stephens at Women’s Kick Off Tea, New Hope Fellowship – Vacaville, CA – “Believe”

Dear Friends and Family,

“I can’t believe it,” I said when asked about my recent engagement. The first weekend in February, I spoke at New Hope Fellowship in Vacaville, CA. Pastor Donna Stephens called to invite me in November, “Sheryl, your name has been on my mind. What is the Lord giving you to share?” Trusting God will fulfill His promises to us; I’ve chosen to focus on the word “Believe” for 2014. “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promise to her.” Luke 1:45

Jim and Sheryl

What promises of God are you holding onto today? I’m trusting God for His will to be fulfilled as Jim and I join our lives together. God has led our friendship, courtship and engagement; we are convinced He will faithfully manage our married life together. Our wedding date is Saturday, April 12, 2014 at First Baptist Church in Davis, CA. FBC is my home church, so a private, family-only ceremony is being planned.  

Please join us as we celebrate our wedding and new life together at a reception soon afterward:

 Saturday, April 26, 2014 at The Bell Tower Club, 1200 Truxtun Ave, Bakersfield, CA. The Giesbrecht/Turner Open House Wedding Reception will convene from 1 to 7 pm.  See our wedding website for details: www.weddingwire.com/jimandsheryl - RSVP there, too!

Thank you for sharing in our joy! Your presence is a gift to us; we are joining two households, so we need no gifts. Wise advisors recommended a wedding registry which is on the website. In addition, should you prefer to give a financial donation to help with costs of our Giesbrecht/Turner Bakersfield Wedding Reception, please send a donation to www.ICMUSA.org

 

At ICM, we are excited to share the Help Us Tell the Story Campaign to be launched 2/15/14. We need your help to tell the story of the New Africa; the story of God’s grace and blessing turning a hopeless continent into a continent of great hope. Please join us in sharing the New Story of Africa. For information contact sherylg@icmusa.org

“If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Mark 9:23

All my love,

Sheryl

 

My Boaz Has Come

January 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

All of us want a story that begins, “once upon a time” and ends “and they lived happily ever after.” The day the tragic motorcycle accident tore Pastor Paul’s physical presence from this earth, my world collapsed. My fairytale became a nightmare; my life as I knew it ended.  With Pastor Paul’s “promotion to heaven,” our marriage of twenty-eight years was over. I assumed a new title: widow.  “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” Luke 1:46

Within the first few months as a single woman, I learned a lot how to ask for help, personal and family grieving, financial struggle, preparing meals for one, making major decisions (buying a car, putting a new roof on my home and remodeling a bathroom), even travelling to Africa alone. Fearful at first, God gave me discernment and I, accustomed to my independence, developed a new confidence and conquering spirit. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” Lam. 3:25

 In June 2012, widower Jim Turner asked if he could clean my garage, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted help, the Lord asked me to be open and accept it. Jim’s wife, Peggy succumbed to a five year battle with breast cancer eighteen months prior; we shared our grief as we sorted. Through that task and other chores, Jim and I became good friends and began dating. Jim and I have known each other for twenty-five years, both of our families attended the same church. Jim’s wife and I were friends; our children were in the same youth group and he took care of our family as our chiropractor. God has melted my heart into something he can mold; Jim and I have fallen deeply in love. So when Jim Turner asked me to marry him at Yosemite Falls on Christmas Day, I said yes! “Do not be afraid, you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace, you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the disappointment of your widowhood.” Isaiah 54:4

 

My story reminds me of Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, also widowed at a young age and fearful of what her future would hold, yet she remained faithful.  We see God’s grace in the midst of Ruth’s difficult circumstances. God provided Ruth a kinsman-redeemer; Boaz, to share her future. A hopeless romantic, my faith in fairytale happy endings has been restored. Jim and I are planning a spring wedding. My Boaz has come!

Thanks for sharing in our joy –

Sheryl

 

Love is Spelled T-I-M-E - Consider Giving Yourself this Christmas

 Sheryl loves on Kenyan orphans – “Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” James 1:27a

December 5, 2013

Season’s Greetings -

At the beginning of November, I took a much needed break from technology. For a few days, I fasted from using my cell phone; that meant no calling or texting family or friends. It was a ‘solitary confinement’ specifically and lovingly planned by the hand of God through a ministry called www.soulrest.org

Sheryl loves by preaching at a local church - “and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27b

Rest is high priority with God. He rested after the six days of creation, on the seventh day, “God had finished all the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work,” Gen. 2:2.  God has made us to function best with adequate amounts of rest for our body, mind and soul. God’s plan for me at Soul Rest was for me to hold still long enough for Him to love me.

 I had come with anxious questions, an over-thinking mind and an absence of inner peace. At Soul Rest, I had permission to sit and read, worship, listen, wait, focus on God – what amazing remedy. Within a few hours, it didn’t matter whether or not I received answers to my questions.  I had gotten back to basics: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ “Matt. 22:37

 

“Stand at the crossroads…” Cayucos sunset

Everything goes back to loving and worshipping Jesus. “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.” Is. 26:3 It seems so simple, doesn’t it. Love God, Worship God.  For many of us, we must give ourselves permission to turn off our phones and computers. It’s ok to stop. This Christmas season, won’t you give yourself and Jesus a gift? Instead of spending money on people who don’t need anything, give the gift time. Spend extra time with others and with God. “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Much Love and Happy Holidays,

Sheryl

 “Be Still and Know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

 

Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

November 5, 2013          

 

 “Sarah settles in to her new home in Castle Rock, CO, Sheryl stopped by for a visit. We are so thankful for family time.”

Dear Friends and Family,

 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,” Ephesians 1:15. Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership, also for our family as we observed the four year anniversary of Paul’s death. I share my thoughts on my blog: From Ashes To Beauty.com “Deathday #4.”

“New Normal (life without Paul) with Sarah & Matt Hunter, Dixie (Matt’s mom) includes a coffee break in their new town – Castle Rock CO.”

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9   Love this verse!  It is evidenced everywhere I go as I share the Good News of how Jesus transforms us by the renewing of our minds.  

"Sheryl with Sharon Renwick, serves as Mt Hermon Guest Services coordinator, was in Sheryl’s wedding party, Sharon worked with Paul at Youth For Christ in Anaheim, CA in 1978.”

As the keynote speaker for the Mt Hermon Christian Camp’s Women’s Conference, Mt Hermon Christian Camps, I taught about the healing offered as we accept forgiveness for our sins and offer the same mercy to others, even those who don’t deserve it.

This is spiritual transformation.

 “The Cross offers total and complete forgiveness. Mt. Hermon women forgave their offenders, wrote their names on sticky notes, placing them on the cross. Colossians 3:13, 14 “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

“Gina came to me at the end of the conference, “I’ve been away from God for six years, didn’t want to forgive my x-husband. I finally did it. I am so excited to be back in fellowship with God again. Thank you, Sheryl. Thank God!”

How do you learn to walk in a “New Normal?” Let God’s word show you how to do it, He did it for me, for Gina and for many others. He will do it for you, too!

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Rom 12:2

By His Grace, Sheryl

ICM Newsletter Fall 2013

Did you get a copy of our ICM Fall 2013 Newsletter by mail? View online here: ICM USA

Equipping for Service - Ethiopia 2013

October 1, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.” I Chron. 16:8. Thank you so much for your prayers for our Fall 2013 Ethiopia team. Excited to share how God provided for our teaching, travel and even trials! I loved making this trip with my daughter-in-law, Megan Giesbrecht. It was a joy to share Africa with her. She is a wonderful woman of God and servant for His people. I am so proud and overjoyed to share our journey.

Purpose Driven Seminar #5 completed in Addis Ababa, pastors and leaders are released to teach the same scriptural principles to their own groups.

“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

 Megan and my translators, Britukan and Ensalle were an encouragement and a delight to share in ministry.

Our Hawassa translators, Ensalle and Britukan have a heart for the women, asked for my full set of teaching notes and powerpoint. Britukan said, after the Fall 2012 conference, shared the message I gave, “Being a Woman God can Use” with a group of a couple of hundred women. A month later attended another conference, my same message was shared there by the speaker. This time the audience was over 10,000 women! We anticipate this same impact with our messages going forth.

 

Pastors and leaders in Hawassa share in small group discussion about how to apply God’s word

“Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” I Chron.16: 9-11

 Through her translator, Britukan, Megan shared how we must trust Christ when we need healing from Him, he will help us take care of the soul and body.

Megan’s contribution to our Africa trip was first aid kit training -- it was an experiment to see if teaching is one of her spiritual gifts. (It definitely is!) We still have an outstanding bill for the first aid kits. (The kits cost $2,500.00. If you are able to donate any additional funding, please earmark your gift Team Giesbrecht Ethiopia 2013.)

                                                    Women at Addis conference receive love gifts from America.

 

 

Hawassa woman receives a first aid kit after Megan's training.

 

Just having fun while serving -  Megan prepares to hand out necklaces from USA.

“To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Eph. 4:12 It was thrilling for me to see my sweet daughter-in-law serve the Lord in this way. Not only was it an honor for me to have her join me, but it was wonderful to see her love the women!

 

“Remember the wonders He has done, his miracles and the judgments he pronounced.”  I Chron. 16:12 We praise God for BIG answers to prayer: Our luggage was recovered in Addis, we remained physically and spiritually healthy throughout the trip, through the Biblical teaching women were released from fear. African leaders were transformed to train and equip their churches to maturity. We give God the glory for His wonders! Much love and prayer,

Sheryl

Please earmark your financial gift: TEAM GIESBRECHT FALL 2013 ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia Fall 2013 : Prepare God's People ~ Africa Rising: Invest in Teaching the African Church ~ Eternal Rewards

Sept 7, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Ethiopia Fall 2013 is just around the corner. Our theme: “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Eph. 4:12

Dr. Phil Walker will be teaching the Men’s Conferences. I will be teaching Women’s Conferences: Purpose Driven Life Seminar #5 – Spiritual Gifts

                                        Sheryl and Megan prepare for Ethiopia

 “All I want to do is serve;” said my sweet daughter-in-law, Megan, who will be teaching First Aid kit training – we will donate 150 First Aid kits. This has added an additional $2,500.00 to the cost of our trip from Sept. 12 through Sept. 26, 2013.

We appreciate your prayers for planning and for our financial need. (Includes round-trip airline tickets, hotel, meals, in-country transportation, copies of student notes, translators, facility rental and food for attendees.) Please consider sending an extra gift this month to cover Megan and my trip. Total cost: $10,000.00. Earmark: TEAM GIESBRECHT ETHIOPIA FALL 2013.

                                        Africa Rising: ICM 2013 banquet packs a full house

"It is possible to fulfill the great commission in our generation if we do the right things in God's way." —Phil Tuttle, President of Walk Through the Bible speaker at the ICM's Hope of Africa Fundraising Banquet www.icmusa.org

 

 

 

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."  Matt. 9:37, 38

 

 

                             Sheryl, Phil Walker and Painito Ambuka, ICM Burundi Director

                                  tell how God is writing the New Story of Africa.

The New Story of Africa is empowering the African church to become more and more engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission. Won’t you help us by sending an additional financial gift for my ETHIOPIA FALL 2013 TRIP?

If you are able to do so, I will send you a special Thank You with a bookmark about The New Story being written in Africa.

My love and prayers,

Sheryl