Jared Zapata Family: Kicking Against God's Will

Dear Reader,

Acts 9: 5 “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

Have you ever been at a place in life where you feel God has burdened your heart to do a certain task or surrender in a certain area? Perhaps inside we know it is what we should do and yet our flesh gets the victory and stops us from obeying God’s call? It was the same situation with Saul and if we are not careful we too could be kicking against the pricks, fighting against what we know is right to do. We soon find out that it would be much easier and cause less pain on ourselves and our families if we simply quit kicking and give into what God is calling us to do. I know I have to ask myself often is there an area in my life in which God is wanting to use me? Am I constantly kicking against the pricks causing pain not only to myself but my family? Time to quit kicking and surrender to every area God would have me serve and follow Him.

The month of September is here and gone as we traveled to Mississippi for three weeks of churches and missions conferences! September 5^th we headed out for Gulfport, Mississippi where the Lord allowed us to have a place to stay for the first two weeks of our visit. The Beams Bible Parsonage was a beautiful place for us to home base from and we felt thoroughly at home as we made our ways to different churches. We were able to visit with Sycamore Baptist Church pastored by Paul Thigpen, Central Baptist Church pastored by Dean Miller, Caney Baptist Church pastored by Roger Miller, Bible Baptist Church pastored by Rick Carter, and a missions conference at Charity Baptist Church pastored by Tim Gordon. It has been an exciting, busy, and encouraging time for each of us. These churches have given so sacrificially, and we are in constant amazement of how God supplies all of our needs.

Gabriella has grown so much not only in height and size but also in personality. Every church we are able to visit she is sure to say hi to everyone in her girly fashion. With every hi she throws out there everyone seems to melt and fall in love with her. She has been such a blessing to us and has truly filled our lives with even more happiness and joy.

As the months come to a close and the year to an end, we are now beginning to contact all the churches we have had the opportunity to visit and update them on our progress and inquire on future support beginning next year. We are praying to be on the field by next year and that we reach our goal of being at 100% support by the end of December. I know God can meet our needs as He has so many times within the year we have been on the road. I ask that you pray with us as we continue on to present and visit in churches; that each will be able to be a part of “Reaching the Next Generation”.