Page 17 - The Channel Spring 2021 _FINAL_

Around 2000, Tuckaleechee Retreat Center came to the Board’s attention through contacts and God’s direction. The purchase was made debt-free
and the ministry and upgrades began, continuing to this day. The volunteers keep coming such as RVICS, MAPPERS, SOWERS, and church folks
from many different places. Special thanks to First Baptist of Powell, TN, who (for the past 20 years) has sent over 150 volunteers to serve at CBM
camps in TN, VA, PA, NC, FL, and AL, providing labor and funds for materials. God, the Great Bookkeeper, has not missed one worker or project
for His glory.
While the volunteer work progressed, hundreds of CBM full-time workers were faithfully telling the gospel story, teaching God’s Word,
encouraging and exhorting for many years (some as many as 50+ years), even through discouragement and low support.

Through the years, CBM National has been greatly blessed with two terms of leadership by Jerry Traister, Bob Entner with his strengths, and
(currently) the very capable Lincoln and Jamie Simmons. They have started the Intern Program, which has ministered to many young people
considering full-time ministry and helped provide new recruits to meet the needs of the 10 CBM camps and other ministries. Thanks be to God for
the people He has prepared and gifted for the work of CBM.
It has been a blessing to our family to watch God’s leading in every step of Children’s Bible Ministries and their history. It is truly a joy to be on
this team and we press on with His guidance.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”

GIVING GOD EVERYTHING.......................

By Wesley Grizzard, Internship Graduate and CBM Missionary
What does it really mean to give God everything? This is one I’ve always struggled with. Honestly, I think
we can all say that we struggle with this one. Some things in our lives are easy to give to God, other things…
not so much. For me, it took understanding that it’s not about me and I’m not in control, that God is
sovereign, that He has already laid out my future, and that worrying about it never got anyone anything
except a receding hairline!

We are human, which means we’re flawed. We make a lot of mistakes and we do a lot of selfish things. We
want what we want and we want it now! We even pray selfish prayers. The big hitter for me was when I
realized that I was praying to the Lord selfishly. I wasn’t praying for His plan in my life, I was praying for
my own. As most of us probably know, it doesn’t usually pan out so well when we have that sort of mindset.
We get so caught up in what we want that we don’t stop to think about what God wants or what would
please Him or even how we could be thinking of others and putting them before what we want. God wants
to hear the things on our heart, but the awesome thing about God is that He knows when to tell us no for
our benefit. And when we ask according to His will instead of ours, that’s what He loves to hear! “And this is
the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we
know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” 1 John 5:14-15.

We are not in control, but we sure like to act like it. I know I do. Once I really started to grasp that God is sovereign and that He really is looking
out for my best interests, I think that’s when I started to realize that He’s blessed me with what I have and He could just as quickly take it all
away, if He wanted to. That’s when I began to be more thankful that He is in control because, if I was steering my life, I’d already be off in a ditch
somewhere!

Lastly, understanding that God has already laid out my future was something I had to come to grips with. I get really anxious about what my future
is going to be, where God is going to have me, who He’s going to have me marry, things like that. But the more and more that I worried about
that kind of stuff, the more I realized it wasn’t getting me anywhere. All it was doing was making me more anxious and more desperate to know
those things. I wasn’t practicing patience. I wanted to know so badly my future that I was just praying the same things over and over, expecting a
quick response, when God was saying, “Be patient, I’ve got this, bro.” Probably not in those exact words but you get the idea. It wasn’t till I started
focusing on God and just praying for His plan and His will that I really started to have peace about truly trusting Him with everything. I took the
selfish prayers and turned them into prayers that God would do His will and that, when that time came for those things to happen, that I would be
willing and open to do whatever He wants me to do or go wherever He wants me to go.
When it all comes down to it, I still have plenty of work to do. But we all do. I’m just thankful that I am focusing more on giving all my cares and
worries to God and truly letting Him have control and truly seeking out His plan. He has truly given me a peace that surpasses all understanding! I
know that whatever comes next, He’s got me!

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