by Kate Taylor / Baptist Press

“I am living proof that God can use anyone at any age,” says Kathleen Jones (name changed), 69, who shares her faith among prostitutes in a major city in India.

Jones serves through the ministry of Rahab’s Rope, a faith-based nonprofit fighting human trafficking in India through prevention, rescue and aftercare.

“My heart just broke for [the women here],” Jones says. “It seems that God has just put a burden in my heart for women in need.”

In society, Jones says, “these women are scum of the earth. No one wants to talk to them, be their friend, associate with them. They are outcasts.”

She spends time with them, offering her friendship and teaching them basic knowledge and practical skills, since most have not had the opportunity for education.

Sharing Love from South Asia on Vimeo.

Please pray for Kathleen Jones and the women she serves each day. What a hope she brings, but you can tell in the video that its nor easy for her. She walks faithfully in what God has asked her to do. Let’s make sure we pray for her.

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What is the most important commitment you have ever made? Maybe it was a promise you made to a friend or a legal binding contract you had signed when you started that business or got married. We have all made promises, big and small, but the biggest promise I have made is my personal commitment with Jesus Christ and this is probably the same for you.

According to the Barna Group, 4 out of 5 self-indentified Christians adults have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Great news! Also, three out of four of these Christians strongly agree that spirituality is very important to them. Great news again, 80% of Christians love Jesus and have a desire to walk with him!

Yet, less than one out of every five (20%) claims to be totally committed to investing in their own spirituality and for being completely dependent upon God. Those figures help explain why a majority of the Christian adults (52%) believe that there is much more to the Christian life than what they have experienced. Without a full determination to live like Christ and for Him, the path to complete transformation is blocked.

If you have made any commitments for this new year, I hope and pray it will be for getting to know God intimately, personally and without limits. God’s Grace is much greater then these numbers project, it’s more then being saved, it’s having a new life.

My hope that bedashed.com can play a role in connecting you with an amazing God and helping you live a full life, completely transformed with His Glory.

Source: The Barna Group. The Barna Group conducts primary research, produces media resources pertaining to spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries.

From our family to yours, we wish all of you visitors and members of bedashed a happy New Year and many blessings from our Great and Gracious God!

Another year has come to a close and it is our prayer for this New Year that you can come close to our God, that He will be your guiding light through all kinds of circumstances.

In the past year He has been with us as we developed bedashed. We brought many new features, like our store, the ability to collect points when you pray or praise, the ability to come together as groups and many other little additions. It has been an amazing journey.

Now that the development of bedashed is coming to a close (there are always new things we want to add) we look forward in 2012 to spread bedashed.com around and we hope you will help us. We look forward to new members joining and making a commitment to spending time with our God and we look forward to seeing old members return and become blessings to others on bedashed.

Let me leave you with a prayer for this New Year.

Dear God,

We thank you that you are constantly with your people,
We do not know what the new year will bring,
but we thank you that every moment of that year is in your hands,
and you will be with your people.

We thank you that with that promise,
we can go forward with confidence and in your peace.
We pray that you will help us to walk with you in this New Year better than we have ever done before.

Grant to us an even closer walk with you.
Help us to put sin to death,
Help us to focus our lives to Jesus Christ, our Savior, and God
that we may be willing to be, to go, to do, as he would wish.

We pray that it may be our privilege to serve him,
to bring glory to him, to help others to know him better,
and to help some, indeed, to come to know him for the first time.

Have mercy, we pray, upon those not connected with you.
Spare them, O God, we pray; spare them!
Grant that this New Year would mark the beginning of new life in Jesus Christ.

We are so thankful for the Holy Spirit,
for his limitless power
to convict us of our sin,
to bring us to our knees,
and to draw us close to You.

We pray, Lord, that you would do that in the hearts and lives of all who visit bedashed.com.

For Jesus’ sake,
Amen.

(A modified version of a prayer by David Campbell)

God has given to us His greatest gift of Love. Not only has He given this gorgeous planet with amazing seasonal beauty and our personal gifts, and talents, which He carefully selected for each of us before our birth. Today, we celebrate His greatest Gift, His son, Jesus. The most significant gift ever given—Given to all people, for all time. The gift of Jesus shows God’s great compassion for a world He created, which often rejects and forgets Him. It shows the depth of His love for all people. We are made in God’s image, we have His gift-giving spirit. Let’s go out and share love and spread joy this season. It’s what we each have been made for, and nothing else can truly fulfill our souls. 

Merry Christmas
Bedashed.com

Do you ever feel that God is nowhere near and can’t understand your pain? Over 2000 years ago, Jesus, God’s Son, came into the world, not as royalty but as a baby born in a stable full of muck and animals. In this video we are reminded of the powerful imagery of the sacrifice that Jesus made by humbling himself to become one of us. It was a dirty job and he didn’t have to do it…but the world is changed because he did.

Thank God for allowing Jesus to get messy for you!

Micah 5:2 - “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

The joy that people felt at the coming messiah and how that parallels to the joy of the disciples are Jesus resurrection. What does this mean for us?