As colours start to change around us, the temperature starts to plummet and the days get shorter, I’m reminded that in the midst of change, God is always constant. This is such an important reminder for all of us in these times of constant and fast change.

A word that God has laid on my heart these past couple of weeks comes from 2 Timothy. There are two things in the first chapter that I just quickly want to highlight.

1. We are encouraged to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,  for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

There are so many things in our daily lives that tries to get us to back down, retreat or cower in fear, but we are encouraged that we have the gift of God (Holy Spirit) inside of us. Let us follow His instruction, move in His power, keep in step with His movements and live in His peace.

2. “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

Guard the good deposits that has been sown in your hearts. Again, there are so many things that want to come and steal from what God has done and is doing in our lives. We need to guard those good deposits. The words of God that we hold on to. The hope we have in Christ. Hold on to these things.

How things are going

Things are going really well with the O’Neill family. We are becoming more and more established with each passing day. Yes, there are definite difficulties that everyone faces, but the positives so far outweigh the negatives! We thank God for that!

Here are just a few photos of family life. The kids recently had a Family evening at school. It was the 2nd time in the almost 2 years that we’ve been here, that we’ve had an “entire family” event at school. It was a lot of fun. S’mores, drum workshops, animals, face painting, forest school treasure hunting, tennis, bagpipe playing etc. Great craic (read “crack” – means fun) to be had!

Noah is really growing as a footballer. Finding his position and having a great time! So lovely to see your children enjoy and grow in something! Zoë is doing so well in her gymnastics as well! She was chosen to be part of the “Rising Stars” squad this year where she will already start participating in competitions at the end of the year. Unfortunately parents still can’t go into the gym where they are doing their training, so I don’t have any pics of her doing it.

Danica and I have started spending some more time painting and sketching! It is something that we love doing and it also helps us with some extra income. If you would like to see more of our work, you can head over to our Etsy shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/lineworx?ref=search_shop_redirect

We celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary on the 6th of October. What an incredible journey this has been so far!! She puts up with a lot from me, and I am truly thankful for a God fearing, loving wife and an exceptional mother! We can’t wait to see what God is going to do in and through us in the future.

Missions

Danica will be heading out twice over the next two months.

The first one is a mission trip where she will be joining with our church plant in Utrecht, Netherlands, to do evangelism on campus. The Lord has really grown Danica in the area of Evangelism and she really comes alive when speaking to others about Christ. She will be away from Monday 17 Oct to Sunday 23 Oct.

The second trip will be for her to join our EN Evangelism summit in Ghent, Belgium in November. This is significant for her as our missions director to be equipped further in evangelism, but also to connect with other evangelists and missions directors across EN Europe.

Prayers

1. We would love to pray for any one of you. Please reach out to us either via DM or email and it would be our privilege to stand with you in prayer for whatever you are trusting God for.
2. Please pray for Danica as she heads out over the next 2 months. Pray that she will travel safely and that it would be a special time of equipping and connection.
3. We are trusting for a church and office building here in Belfast. God has so far connected us with incredible people on the city council that want to help us. Please pray that we would find something where we can really take root in the city and expand in what God has called us to.
4. Please pray for us as we trust God for more financial partners. As some of our partners have now moved on, we are really needing to fill that gap. Please trust that God would open doors to people that want to sow into His Kingdom. We know that He is our provider, and we look to Him in this time.

We’d like to honour every one of you on this journey with us. Thank you for giving, praying and loving on us! We can’t do this by ourselves, and we wouldn’t want to!

May God bless each of you richly in whatever you do!

Love,

Brian and Danica