Dear Prayer Partners,
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness. Lam. 3:22-23
God is faithful. That is the testimony of Scripture. And, as He proves that faithfulness to us, it is our duty to make it our testimony.
Thank you for your faithful prayers for us. The Lord is doing great things for EI. This last weekend, around one hundred and fifty young women gathered for our Made for Him Conference. The auditorium was full, and the Spirit met in every possible way. It was evident in the responses of the attendees as well as in the spirit of the students and staff who worked hard to enable this gathering to happen. Thank you for your prayers.
We are rapidly coming to the final stages of the year. Please pray for our students that the Lord will complete in them all that He brought them here to accomplish. Pray particularly for the Prayer Conference on March 21-23. We trust that all who attend will be met by the Lord, but these meetings have always been particularly important for students. Pray for Al Whittinghill, as he brings the main messages for the weekend.
Please pray also for the recruiting efforts we are making at the present time. We have room for more young people than are currently enrolled. Over the years, new students have come from a variety of changing sources. Please pray for our efforts to find new ways to contact young people who have a heart to really know the Lord.
Finally, I would like to add a personal note of thanksgiving for all those who have prayed for me concerning my eye over the past two months. I was reluctant to say anything about what has happened until I met with a specialist at Duke Medical Center. That occurred last week and the picture is much clearer. I will try to keep this brief.
As you know, my left eye developed a palsy on the last day of December. The neurologist believed it was caused by a deformity along the path of the nerve controlling the outward motion of my eye. He referred me to a neurosurgeon to look at the possibility of surgical relief of the situation. After consultation, that surgeon concluded a second opinion was needed. The question was not whether or not surgery was needed but how it should be done. He referred me to Duke. The earliest appointment was a month later. The Neurosurgeon assured me that waiting was not a problem and, in an off-handed way, suggested it might heal on its own.
About two weeks after the first appointment, healing began to be evident. I must admit that I was caught completely off guard. I began to sense some motion in my eye. Pam could not detect movement but decided to wait a week and look again. Long story short, the eye did begin to slowly recover. Nerves do not heal quickly, but there has been steady progress.
When the doctor at Duke saw this progress, he concluded that the cause of the palsy was not the deformity. Therefore, the very complex surgery will not be necessary. Praise the Lord! I will be having a much simpler surgery to remove a sinus cyst that the doctor concluded may have contributed to the inflammation of the nerve.
Thank you for your prayers. I heard from so many who prayed, which greatly encouraged me. Please continue to pray that the healing will be complete. In all of this, Pam and I have seen the obvious working of the Lord. He is certainly a Good Shepherd.
Now may the Lord Himself, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, bless you with His perfect peace as He fulfills all His good work in you. May you know joy and peace in believing.
In Our Lord,
Art Nuernberg