Christmas Newsletter – November-December 2019

Dear Partner/Friend
Precious greetings. It’s that time of the year when we celebrate the precious gift of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and remember that He is coming back as reigning King.  

The year 2019 has been another amazing year for Choose Life International.  We launched CLI in the USA and Cuba and had seminars/presentations in seven overseas countries: Antigua, USA, Cuba, Guyana and Trinidad by Donovan and Faith and Belize and Uganda by Opal McFarlane, CLI-USA Board member.  Praise God!!

A Story of Hope Through Forgiveness and Reconciliation                        

God continued to use us to help others during this period. The most amazing story over the last 8 years was that of Ann (pseudonym) who I wrote about in our book GEARED TO LIVE: 12 Keys to Happiness. She was abandoned by her mother at 3 months, sexually abused by her father and was full of hate, bitter and unforgiving towards them when I started counselling her 8 years ago, and she was very suicidal. At the time of writing my chapter on Getting Past Your Past she had forgiven her father, who sexually abused her but she refused to forgive her mother who abandoned her twice. She eventually forgave her this year but she did not tell her, and they were reconciled on her mother’s death bed, days before she died. She told her mother that she forgave her and that she loved her.  I went to the funeral, and “Ann” said she had one regret: that she did not make peace with her mother before and that she only had one week of caring for her.  Wow!  God is an amazing God!!! 

Testimony on Purpose, shared at Signature Woman Leadership Conference …                                                                      

Faith was blessed with the opportunity to share her testimony of how God turned her pain into purpose for the saving of many lives at the Signature WomanConference.  Many were blessed and challenged to allow God to turn their pain into purpose, and thanked her for her boldness in sharing. Thanks for your prayers.Faith also shared her testimony on purpose with a group of young ladies in New York, a group convened by Veronica Burt-Miller, CLI-USA Board Member.  They were inspired to trust God to turn their pain into purpose.  It was a precious, uplifting and healing session.

Presentations on Happiness

  Donovan and Faith had the opportunity of sharing on the Keys to Happiness on the Family Life Ministries (FLM) programmes on Love FM Radio and TBC Radio in Jamaica.  The programmes were well received and continues on TBC on Tuesdays at 5:30pm.Our staff member, Mrs. Judith Silvera, presented on Happiness at Kirk-FP Ltd, and this went very well.  Faith did a presentation to married people at the Jamaica Guidance Counsellors Association Conference on Rekindle the Fire In Your Marriage which went very well.  We met some past students from Mico University College who continue to be grateful for the course The Art and Science of Happiness.  One person thanked us again and remarked that it was the course that transformed her life.  Praise God. We continued to facilitate classes at Mico this semester and praise God for the ongoing impact on the lives of the students.  

Presentations on Suicide Prevention 
Faith had the opportunity of sharing on suicide prevention with a group of teenagers at Wesley Methodist Church, Mandeville. Surprisingly, a number of them knew persons who had died by suicide. Donovan shared with the National Water Commission (NWC) staff on International Men’s Day – November 19, Portland Baptist Association’s Annual General Meeting, the Church of God of Prophecy – Old Hope Road and with the parents in the workshop put on by the Parenting Commission.  These sessions were not only informative for helping others, but also helped attendees who had suicidal ideation.

Grief Counselling Sessions
We continue to stand with various agencies/organizations in times of grief as we did grief sessions with Oberlin High school Staff, Child Protection and Family Services Association (CPFSA), the Ministry of Education. We also did a grief session with Fresh Fire Church, Maryland, USA, where Donovan’s brother Derrick and his wife are part of the Bereavement Ministry. Praise God for using us to minister life.  The comment of one lady afterwards was, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I needed this.” Another lady told the host apostle/pastor who had sent her to the session that the session, “SAVED MY LIFE!”  Hallelujah!

New Developments 
We are meeting with a few partners to chart the way forward, re: the Internationalization of Choose Life International.  Kindly pray for us as we continue on this journey.Thank you for partnering with us over the years, in prayer and in practical ways. We could not have accomplished all we did this year without your prayers.  We started January with the death of Mattheu Thomas (Donovan’s nephew) and we ended the year with the birth of Khyron Thomas (Donovan’s nephew).  What a year! But through it all, God has been amazingly faithful and has blessed us beyond our expectations.  May the Lord bless you during this season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and may He birth new and amazing things in our lives as we look forward to the birth of a new year, new decade.  God bless you abundantly, beyond your wildest dreams.

Partnership in Giving As we come to the close of 2019, we ask you to prayerfully consider including Choose Life International:a) as a beneficiary of your Christmas generosity  and/or b) become a Valued CLI  Partner by giving  a  monthly or annual contribution  to assist us to better help people to live more fulfilled lives. 

Jamaica National Commercial Bank (NCB)Matilda’s Corner Branch

Account name: Choose Life International

Current Account: 371-047-131       

Outside Jamaica and Wish to Give Persons wishing to send Wire Transfer of funds to our Choose Life International Account in Jamaica:          

NCB’s Swift Code  – JNCBJMKX          

Name of Account – Choose Life International         

Account Number –   374-169-017         Name of the bank  –  Matilda’s Corner NCB         

Address of the bank  –  15 Northside Drive, Northside Plaza,                      Kingston 6 

OR You can go through our website www.chooselifeintl.org to give through Paypal . Thanks again for your continued partnership. May the blessings of God be upon you.

Shalom shalomFaith and Donovan Thomas