FAMILY LIFE at Desert Springs - a place where we can share the heart of our church family; prayers, praises and important announcements.  Be sure to check-in often to see what is happening. If you have a prayer request or praise, please submit by contacting me, Laura Keener, Frontline Director at Desert Springs....760-568-3646 or lkeener@desertspringsfamily.org.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR  LAREIGN HODGES

Tom and their family would like to extend an invitation to all of her Desert Springs Church family to attend the Celebration of Life service this Saturday, April 9th at 10:00 am. In lieu of flowers the family asks you make a donation to: Desert Springs Church (in memory of LaReign Hodges).

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." Philippians 3:20-21

PLANT A GARDEN,      Alizza Latta 

One night, when I was significantly tired of waiting for something to happen in my life, I told Jesus how I was feeling. “You say You have good plans for me, Jesus? If this is true, tell me, where are these good and lovely plans and why aren’t they happening yet?”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” {Jeremiah 29:11, NLT}

Plant a garden, God had told me.

I had focused on this verse in Jeremiah for so long that I had missed what was said a few verses earlier. To summarize quickly, God’s people had been exiled and were stuck in Babylon. They were not in a good place. They were not free. God used Jeremiah the prophet to talk to his people. And he said this,

“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children . . . You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.” {Jeremiah 29:5-6, 10, NLT}

Build homes and plan to stay? But these people were in captivity. Didn’t God see that they were waiting — and didn’t He want to save them?

After telling His people to build a home and plant a garden and get married, because they would be staying in captivity for awhile, God tells his people the infamous Jeremiah 29:11 verse: that He knows the plans He has for them and that they are good plans. God tells them this after He has declared that they’ll be held in captivity for 70 more years.

It’s hard for me to see what God is doing, especially when I want my needs to be met immediately. But our God is a God who keeps His promises. And I am just a girl who is longing to be faithful.

God told me to plant a garden. I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll be tending to it — maybe three months, or maybe seventy years. But I’m learning that faithfulness can look like planting your bulbs, dusting your hands, offering a little water each day, and waiting, trusting that God is forming something deep within you.

He knows the plans He has for us — and they are good. But sometimes we have to be faithful and plant our garden first.

PRAYING FOR OUR BROTHERS & SISTERS

Health, Wisdom, Strength

And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Darlene Atkinson
Leta Benefiel
Lucy Brooks
Pete Donovan
Sally Herthel
Patty Hill
Allan Hurst
Betty Hyta - continue to pray for her during treatments 

Bill Lovell
Joan Rohm
Carol Smoke - continue to pray for energy

Serena Williams - back pain severe