Suzanne Hansen: Happy Birthday, dear friend!

Oh my, what words do I describe the loveliness of your heart, the passion you have for your creator and your God, and the purpose you have in serving him, and not only him, but so many of your loved ones.

I honor you, Suzanne, because of what you have done in my life and am so thankful to have found you.  I praise the work that God has done in your life, such as, following your dreams all the way to the top and becoming the nurse you always wanted to be.  I am so excited to know that I was the one at the bottom, praying for you in the beginning struggles with anatomy or what have you exams...and look at you now, you made it through.

Why? Not just because of the grace of God who enables you (and that's a big one) but because of the prayers and love you offer to all, and that are offered back to you.  You are loved, blessed, prayed for by God and by all.  Walk in his grace today, and know you are loved.

Suzanne, when you get a chance pick up P.K. Hallinan's book "Heartprints" because you truly are one to embody the very nature of that book.  Not only did you reach out to me and remain patient while I put you and everybody else through the ringer, but the love you showed me was one of God's grace and infinite patience and faithfulness and, yes, joy.  It was infectious....and above all, "hope".  In God, In me, in yourself.

The book, Heartprints, is about leaving a little part of heaven, or a heart, on someone during your day by blessing them in some way.  As you voyaged through the struggles of my life, you left many heartprints of grace, hope, and strength on my heart.  The day you left you gave me a ring with the word "hope" written on it.  It remained a beacon of my recovery and got me through many a difficult time, remembering not only your love for me, but God's and, to put it in your words when you gave me that ring, "there is always hope"

Now, because of the "heartprints" you have passed on, I have been able to do the same to my beloved Maid of Honor.  Before I moved away to Oregon (as I was going to remove the ring anyway), she was going through a difficult time (which I won't go into detail here) so I offered her the ring, told her about you and how you had helped me, and that it had helped me remember truly, even in the darkest of times, God is always with you, will be your strength, and yes, there is always hope.

May that knowledge of the heartprint you impressed upon me and then eventually my maid of honor, be with you today and this year...and know because of who you are in Christ, there are still more you have touched and are touching.

I love you, miss you, and hold you in my heart, until God brings us together again.

A scripture that reminds me of you:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."  2 Corinthians 1: 3

Happy Birthday, Pastor Mark! May the heart of Christ reach you today!

I remember one of the first times I attended ACF, it was really the first time I heard the gospel.  I don't remember much of your service but I remember you saying, over and over and over again, Jesus + Nothing = Salvation.  You must have counted it on your fingers ten times.  It annoyed me then, but it stuck.

A few weeks later, on January 2nd, 2001, after a day of extreme suffering with depression, my boyfriend at the time started sharing the Lord, I remembered your statement (Jesus+Nothing=Salvation) and I also started seeing beautiful images of nature, of things that meant love to me, and I realized that that love that I had been seeking was found only in Jesus Christ.  I accepted Christ my Lord and began a wild, intense, love-filled journey with my Savior.  I owe part of it to your dedication to serve the gospel.

I hope you remember me as one of the Jesus Seekers that sought under Luke's tutulage, but as Luke was a brother, you were a father.  It was true that I was turning to boys and the party world to try to assuage the pain, hide from it, that really tormented my heart, but one thing is sure I always had some difficulty with a slightly emotionally abusive father.  Your commitment to pastor the church partially showed me what a true father's love was and not only have you been that person for me, many more have come into my life to be that person, and now I can say, with God's glory and perfect timing, that healing has begun to come into my heart and into my father's, that the bitterness I held towards him has been removed.  And, still through all of this, have learned that the Father in heaven is my perfect father.

I left the Party world, moved to Calfiornia away from what I knew, always with the promise that I would come back, and now I have.  Yes, I promise to return to visit you, I promise, I haven't forgotton  you and am so blessed that your remember me enough to pray for me that day in 2008, and to be my friend on facebook. Of course, I am sinfully attending another church (j/k) that is truly helping me see the Lord in a new way, but with the same truth that I learned in my early days at ACF.  You carried me when I could barely crawl and helped me always in every situation, to turn my face back on the Lord and find his will for my life.

Yes, I suffered and went through time of suffering, but it brought me closer to the Lord.  I felt your prayers and love during that time of separation a million miles away in California and in my heart.  Know this, my heart never left you, or any of you at ACF, or Ashland.  I give you my eternal friendship and heart as a sister in Christ and pray blessings over you today and for this year to come.

Let this scripture be one that speaks to you today, I found it in my personal studies this morning:

 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious for anything , but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let  your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Happy Birthday, Pastor Mark.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

(Philippians)