JBPotters ...since 2003

Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement the past few months.  Life has been interesting, difficult, encouraging, busy, unexpected and yet God remains true and faithful and my comfort and strength.  It’s been a long time in coming for me to be able to face tough situations and still be able to say that!!! 

 

My Dad’s passing, although a shock at the moment I found out has been a blessing too. He is whole again for the first time in soooo long and we are all thankful that God spared him from further suffering and frustration and took him home to Himself. He gave him a new body and mind and he is now complete in God’s presence.  I couldn’t ask for more.  I am so thankful that I was able to be home just 2 weeks before he went HOME and was able to tell him I loved him, he felt the baby kicking and I was able to just be there with mom with so many decisions to make. It’s amazing to me how looking back I can see that God knew all along that Dad wouldn’t be with us long.  What was frustrating then (not being able to figure out the best placement for Dad after leaving the hospital) proved to not be an issue as God knew exactly what Home Dad would be going to and it wasn’t any that we looked at. It was an eternal home, far better than any nursing home or care facility in this world.  Mom even had the instinct to make all the necessary ‘funeral’ arrangements before she left for California the week before Dad died.  She didn’t do it because she thought he would be dying soon, she just felt like she needed to do it then to be prepared for whatever might come.  This was so God, because Dad passed away while she was gone to Cali and when she returned, all the details were done.  No stress, just the time to process what had happened. That’s Grace!

 

God again provided amazingly for us, my immediate family, to all go home together.  The flights were great, the boys traveled well and we had a good week together with my extended family.  Dad’s service was perfect and I think it truly honored God and was a celebration of my Dad’s life rather than mourning his death. 

 

We have felt so much encouragement from friends and family and have truly seen the Body of Christ function as God intended!  His grace in our lives is so evident and I can say He has been my rock and I’ve leaned hard on Him.  Something else hit me a while back.  If God hadn’t allowed all of the circumstances of our lives in the past few years, including the incredibly hard ones like leaving Papua, leaving Indonesia, sick kids, my journey to relearn what Faith is, etc. we would have likely been out of the country when Dad passed away and I would have melted down and certainly not been able to face it all.  I would have crumbled.  BUT, in His grace, He brought us through some amazingly difficult things all preparing us so that we could trust Him during this time.  He allowed us to be home now and not have to face this from a far-away place.  I am just amazed at HIM and His grace to me. 

 

Sooo, Thank you!  Thank you for feeling this with us, for praying us through the past few years, months and days.

 

We are home now and just had a great time with Joel’s family for Thanksgiving and an early Christmas together. My mom will be here in just a few weeks for Christmas and then not too long after that, Kate will make her arrival.  I have given up on a quiet life of “normal” and resolved that God just doesn’t have that in His plans for us.  I’ll take this life though and all that comes with it as I know He is molding us into His image with every circumstance that comes our way!

 

Hello Everyone,

We just got word last night from Bethany’s mom (Lynn Stroud) that her dad (Steve Stroud) passed away that evening at, we think, appx 8ish central time (Thursday). We’re not exactly sure yet what happened, but at some point this evening when a nurse checked on him (he was still at the hospital waiting to be discharged), he was unconscious and unresponsive. They tried resuscitation for over 20 minutes but to no avail.

At this point, our plan is to fly, as a family, down to Springfield MO (by way of Branson) and we’ll be in Springfield till next Friday. As of today, Steve’s memorial service is planned for Thursday evening at 7pm at High Street Baptist Church (900 N. Eastgate Rd, Springfield). We would love to see anyone who can make it to that. We then plan to return to MI next Friday, the 20th.

Please be praying for us as family. The Lord has enabled us to make quick plans and cover the obligations that we have here in Michigan and we’re trusting Him to provide the resources needed for this unexpected trip that’s following so closely to the last trip that Bethany made two weeks ago.

Even with this being as tough as it is and will be, we’re joyfully aware that he is whole in body, mind and spirit with his Creator! That is so infinitely better than his existence here. God’s physical presence is Steve’s reality as I write this!

We’ll communicate more as we know.

Joel for the Us

Cards can be sent to:
Lynn Stroud
1100 W. Lynn St.
Springfield, MO. 56802


Joel and Bethany Potter
Missionaries with New Tribes Mission
Serving at New Tribes Bible Institute, Jackson MI
517-795-9053
joel-bethany_potter@ntm.org

We just got word late last night from Bethany’s mom that her dad passed away that evening at, we think, appx 8ish central time (Thursday). We’re not exactly sure yet what happened, but at some point this evening when a nurse checked on him (he was still at the hospital waiting to be discharged), he was unconscious and unresponsive. They tried resuscitation for over 20 minutes but to no avail.

We’re not sure what happens next, but I know it will involve us all getting down to Springfield at some point in the next few days. We so need your prayers in this time.

Even with this being as tough as it is and will be, we’re joyful knowing that he is whole in body, mind and spirit with his Creator! That is so infinitely better than his existence here.

We’ll communicate more as we know.

Joel for the Us

Teammates!

Most of you know that Bethany and Owen will be flying (thanks to God’s overly-abounding provision) down to MO this week to spend some time with her parents. We’re leaving for the airport this afternoon at 3. Over the weekend, we realized that Jack was again sick with what seemed like asthma conditions. He’s using an inhaler which is working great, but he just this morning had some other ‘bug’ symptoms. His health over the past few weeks has weighed heavy on us. This very afternoon, we received word that Bethany’s dad (in a brand new care facility, dealing with Dementia like symptoms) was admitted to the ER with some breathing trouble.

You can easily imagine the weight we’re feeling right now. Would you be lifting us up before the Father the next couple of days? We need that support and encouragement to look to Him in all of this. The prospect of what Bethany will be dealing with along with the stress of me possibly nursing a sick little boy by myself is not pleasant, yet we’re resting in the fact that God sees us in all of this and He loves us! If He would we’re asking Him to stabilize our family’s health this week.

Thanks everyone!

Joel, Beth(kate)any, jack & owen

Good Morning!

Bethany and I wanted to express how grateful we are for how you as a part of our team have rallied around us when we communicated about the need for Bethany to travel to Missouri. We can excitedly tell you that God has over-abundantly provided for this trip and along the way, amazed us with how people have responded. This need has been met and we want to Thank you for praying with us about this!

We still covet your prayers for the travelling that will take place next Tuesday through Saturday for Bethany and Owen. Bethany is 26 weeks pregnant and Owen is 2 and half, so those ‘numbers’ can sometimes make travel a bit uncomfortable, but we’re praying for a smooth journey from here to there as well as a meaningful time for Bethany to visit her dad (whose symptoms continue to worsen), talk face to face with the Dr’s involved to try and get a grasp on what they’re suggesting, as well as to see some of the new facilities they may be transferring her dad to. And along the way, we know it’ll be a big encouragement to her Mom, who mostly bears the weight of this situation. Would you also be praying for good health amongst our family these next two weeks!

Your prayers and support are God-ordained!

Joel

Good Morning,

In the past few years Bethany and I have communicated about the condition of her dad’s heath. He’s struggled with dementia and Alzheimer’s like symptoms and has been living in a nursing home environment since December of 2006. During the last two months in particular, his struggle with this has greatly increased and his symptoms have been increased and more severe, so that during the last 2 weeks, he’s needed to be temporarily moved to a facility better equipped to deal with his condition as well as to be able to significantly adjust his current medications. In the mean time, as his current diagnosis has been evaluated and then re-evaluated and new diagnosis’ have been suggested, running from something called ‘Pick’s Disease’ to Alzheimer’s with Schizophrenia. This is all resulting in Dad’s current nursing home communicating that they’re not setup to handle and care for a patient with Dad’s symptoms and he’ll need to be moved, which will be a big task.

Bethany, especially seeing this happen so quickly is sensing a personal need to go down and spend some time with her mom and dad. Not because she expects to be any big help, but for her own personal well-being, she needs to see her dad and be able to also see her mom and at the least, be able to see some of the potential places that her dad may be moved too. The emotional weight of this situation on her, being as removed from the situation is much heavier than we anticipated it would be.

The challenge we face is that with Bethany’s progressing pregnancy, if she didn’t go down in the next two weeks or so and due to other non-movable plans, she wouldn’t be able to get down and see her Dad until late February of 2010 at the earliest. As we’ve prayed and sought the Lord’s guidance in this, we sense that this would be a good thing.

Another challenge we face is the cost of a ‘semi-last minute’ flight to Springfield, MO for her and Owen (Jack would stay here with me, and I would continue to minister here at New Tribes). Because of the instability in our financial support we haven’t been able to save for these kinds of travel expenses. Bethany is pricing tickets for a departure next week and we don’t yet have a final cost, but we anticipate it to be around $600-800 for the two of them. We have the ability to comfortably use some savings for roughly $300 of this, but not the entire amount.

We covet your support in this issue that we face; for confirmation of this being a wise course of action to pursue and if so, for the provision for this trip. Would you take this need before the Lord for us? Thank you for faithfully standing with us in this journey of partnering with our God!

Joel