SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS
The following responses have been released following the death of Connie Johnston, wife of ARP minister David Johnston. Rev. Johnston is pastor of Lifeline Community Church in Gibsonia, PA.
A Prayer Request From President Jerry O’Neill
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Please pray for Pastor David Johnston and his family in the loss of his beloved wife, Connie, on Feb. 19, 2013. David is pastor of the Lifeline Community Church, an ARP church in Gibsonia. He has been a personal friend during the 18 years I have been at RPTS and served on our President’s Council for a number of years.
Pastor and Mrs. Johnston were seeking to help a troubled grandson, and according to what I have heard from his pastoral intern and read in news reports, the young man took the life of his grandmother. It is, humanly speaking, a great tragedy. Pray that the Lord will use it to glorify His name. Please pray for this dear family, and pray for their church. It is a small, closely knit congregation. Pray that they will trust all the more in the goodness and wisdom of God in the midst of this severe mercy. We do not fully understand the ways of God, but neither do we doubt that He overrules all things for His eternal purposes.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Jerry O’Neill
President, RPTS
A Prayer Request From Moderator Steve Suits
Associate Reformed General Synod
It is with tremendous grief that I write requesting prayer for our brother, Rev. David Johnston, pastor of Lifeline Community Church (Northeast Presbytery), who lost his dear wife, Connie, in a tragic death. Connie was murdered by their grandson who had been living with David and Connie. The loss of one’s spouse is tragic enough; the loss by violence at the hands of a family member compounds this.
Please pray for the Lord’s strength for David and his family and church. Please pray even more for his comfort in the midst of pain. And please pray that God will be glorified in the celebration of Connie’s life and her assurance of eternal life in our Savior Jesus Christ. Finally, pray that the Holy Spirit would convict and regenerate the grandson, and in so doing, thwart the schemes of the evil one.
Under the lordship,
Steve Suits, Moderator
God Hath Not Promised
By Annie Johnson Flint
God hath not promised skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways, all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toils and temptations, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.