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Beauty for Ashes

June 11, 2007

Discovering God’s Potential Have you ever wondered if God can use you? At some point, most of us have. We sigh, “Lord, there is no way I can serve you. I’m not talented, bright, gifted, or educated.” Placing limitations on God’s ability is never wise. It prevents Him from doing what He does best: the impossible. He planted this same ideal in the hearts and minds of Dr. and Mrs. Forrest. Along the way, they met many people, who for one reason or another felt their lives would never count. Poverty, sin, and a lack of desire had stolen their

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June 4, 2007

The Sun Never Sets! God sometimes closes one door in order to open a far wider field of service. Such was the case in the lives of Richard and Evelyn Forrest, and at some point, it also may be true for you. Before she married Richard, Evelyn sensed the Lord calling her to become a missionary to French West Africa. Richard, however, felt the Lord was leading him to Brazil. While the Christian and Missionary Alliance mission board approved for her to be a missionary, they denied Evelyn’s request to go to Africa saying her ongoing battle with asthma was

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May 28, 2007

Lord, Give Me a Sign MY CALL TO MINISTRY began with the still small voice of God and ended with a display of His direction for my life. While running from God’s call, I continued my studies to become a textile engineer. God continued to work on my heart. January 1966, while working at home, I finally said, “Okay Lord, if you want me in ministry here is my fleece—when I go to work in the morning let the eastern sky over the mountain be blue and cloudless. Don’t let the sun be peaking over the mountain quite yet, and

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May 20, 2007

For the Ragged Little Boy In the winter of 1917, Richard Forrest went to Los Angeles, California, with the hopes of meeting Lyman Stewart, the man who was founder and president of Biola University. He also wanted to hear Dr. R. A. Torrey preach—the university’s first dean and someone he greatly admired. Through a God-arranged appointment, Dr. Forrest met both men. And within a short period of time, Richard Forrest and Lyman Stewart, who also was the co-founder of the Union Oil Company, had become fast friends. It doesn’t take long for the character of a man or woman to

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May 14, 2007

Kiss The Baby for Me Many of Dr. Forrest’s later letters ended with this salutation: kiss the baby for me. He was traveling and rather than spend money to call home, he wrote letters—letters that talked about how God was using him, but most of all about how much he missed his wife, family, and the college. The above phrase was written as a term of endearment for Kelly and Alice Barnes’s daughter, whom he viewed as a granddaughter. However, there was much more to this “family man.” Once after filling out paperwork for a passport, officials questioned an entry

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May 7, 2007

Just to Encourage You Shortly after Richard and Evelyn Forrest moved their school to Toccoa Falls, Georgia, Dr. A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and close friend of the Forrests, arrived in Toccoa for a visit. Up to this point, he had only heard about the progress of the school through personal correspondence. The first thing Richard did was take his friend and mentor to one of his favorite spots on the Toccoa Falls campus. As the two men walked up the wooded path that ran up and alongside the rocky face of Toccoa Falls, Dr.

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April 30, 2007

The Cure for Anxiety ONE EVENING I DECIDED to go riding above the falls on one of our horses. It had been a beautiful day, but I wanted to be alone with the Lord for a while. I was carrying a heavy burden in my heart and needed God’s perspective concerning my situation. I confess the “What ifs” had me. “What if this happens, will we be able to continue?” Or “What if this doesn’t, will all be lost?” Before I realized it, I had ridden farther than I planned. It was getting dark and I knew my wife would

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April 23, 2007

Discovering Peace THE YEAR WAS 1992, and work was completed on the house that would soon be home to TFC students who were children of missionaries serving overseas. I had felt the burden for such a haven, and the need to trust God continually for each dollar was overwhelming. I was experiencing worry, doubt, and frustration. I stood on the bank of a creek and cried out to God for the needs of Paradise Mountain Ministries. I watched the water gently lowing over the rocks of the creek bed, and observed there was no struggle for the water as it

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April 16, 2007

Rewards for Labor A FATHER AND MOTHER came into my office with their son. They wanted to tell me in his presence how much it meant to them for their son to be here as a student. They were happy that he had established good marks in his studies, but the most important thing was that since being here he had been definitely converted, and they found him to be a new person. They told how he gave a bright testimony among all his young friends in the neighborhood when he came home on Christmas vacation, and how proud they

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April 9, 2007

Rewards for Labor A FATHER AND MOTHER came into my office with their son. They wanted to tell me in his presence how much it meant to them for their son to be here as a student. They were happy that he had established good marks in his studies, but the most important thing was that since being here he had been definitely converted, and they found him to be a new person. They told how he gave a bright testimony among all his young friends in the neighborhood when he came home on Christmas vacation, and how proud they

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