https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2024/09/03/perfect-peace-is-possible?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8-5DMSVkP-NV0SoDnxT1AyUY8rOGwda5UVvsxNeAM7kMEVsFTQzGYfY_RuJxXdJIPgu2pa7ZEfWg0LIdUF4-pjV0DwIw&_hsmi=319730448&utm_content=319730448&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

Perfect Peace Is Possible
September 3, 2024
by Lysa TerKeurst, President and Chief Visionary Officer of Proverbs 31 Ministries

 "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)

Looking to our feelings instead of Truth to steady our souls is dangerous ground.  I saw a vivid depiction of this several years ago when we remodeled our house. I invited a friend over and asked for his expert opinion. But when he started staring at the ceiling with a look of grave concern, I knew something was wrong. One of the major beams had been poorly repaired and wasn't able to provide enough support a point proven by the sagging floor upstairs.  Seeing those broken boards barely hanging on, I felt like God was giving me a glimpse of the unstable places inside of me. It was a loving admonition to stop assessing His goodness based on how my life felt at any given moment.  Why?

Because feelings are fragile props. Only Truth is solid, unchanging and stable. The beliefs we hold should hold us up even when life feels like it’s falling apart.  Which brings us to our key Bible passage for today. Isaiah 26 focuses on the strength God gives His people so they can accomplish His purposes.  First, we need to know that one of the keys to understanding Isaiah 24-27 is realizing that the prophet Isaiah was looking ahead to the end of all things. Isaiah knew while things may not look good right now, God promises us His plans are good. God is moving us toward that day when death will be swallowed up and He will wipe every tear from His people’s eyes (Isaiah 25:8). He has ordained our peace (Isaiah 26:12).  But we aren’t just promised peace in eternity. Isaiah tells us how we can experience and walk in strength and peace today:  “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4, ESV, emphasis added).

The Hebrew word for the phrase “stayed on” means “to brace, uphold, support.” In other words, those with minds fully braced, upheld and supported by trust in God and His Truth will be kept in perfect peace. This means an all-embracing peace. It comes from God, by the power of His indwelling Spirit, giving us the strength internally to face whatever comes our way externally.  This doesn’t mean that our circumstances will feel peaceful, that all our relationship troubles and hardships will suddenly get better, or that all the prayers we pray will suddenly get answered. But our minds can be steadied with God’s Truth instead of overrun with thoughts of fear, anxiety and worst-case scenarios.  The God who rescued David from Saul (1 Samuel 23), who split the Red Sea so the Israelites could safely pass through (Exodus 14), and who promised strength to His people through Isaiah is the same God you can trust with your life.  God is always doing more than you know, working toward a good you’ll one day rejoice in.

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Prioritizing Our People and Our Projects
August 27, 2024
by Karen Ehman

“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4 (AMP)

I settled on the front porch with my iced tea and my laptop, hoping to make the task at hand more pleasant: renewing my driver’s license online. Just then, my phone began to buzz with a text from a friend who wanted to talk.  I had a decision to make. Would I stop my task to call this person?

Since I knew the conversation might run long, I decided I’d call when my online work was finished.  We all have obligations and people in our lives that need our attention it’s a balancing act that won’t ever go away. So how do we navigate spending time on both our work and our humans?

The letter of Philippians is full of advice for living in harmony with others by humbly emulating Jesus. The writer of the letter, Paul, urges, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).

It is a simple sentence yet a significant truth.  The verse doesn’t say to look out only for the interests of others, neglecting our own needs. Nor does it say to watch out only for ourselves and ignore the needs of those around us.  Paul used the Greek word skopeó, translated as “look out for,” which means “to keep an eye on, to consider, to contemplate or to scrutinize carefully and then act.”

When it comes to our tasks, activities and daily responsibilities, we do well to keep a watchful eye on them to make sure they get done. However, we can also mindfully observe the relationships in our lives, knowing there are times when others need us and when we need them.  Think of wearing bifocal glasses: Sometimes you look far away at what’s happening in the distance, but other times you focus on what is right before you. Similarly, we can toggle our focus between our people and our projects.  What does this look like?

Maybe we put our phone in “do not disturb” mode when we are at work, allowing messages from family only and returning texts and calls to others later.  Maybe we teach our kids that when we have an important online meeting, we’ll have the door shut, and they are only to knock in case of emergency.  On the flip side, when we hear that our widowed neighbor needs help weeding her yard, perhaps we ditch our plans for an afternoon of shopping and help her instead.  God empowers us to love our people well without neglecting the duties He has called us to perform. May we love others deeply and perform our work diligently, trusting God to help us creatively find the bandwidth to do both.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14625567/The-chilling-unsolved-case-thats-baffled-police-25-years-Rachelle-Childs-left-work-one-evening-day-burned-body-70-miles-away.html

The chilling unsolved case that's baffled police for 25 years: Rachelle Childs left work one evening, the next day, her burned body was found 70 miles away...

    Rachelle Childs was found partly burned in a shallow ditch in New South Wales
    Read more: My sister was murdered and then her boyfriend was found dead

By ELLEN COUGHLAN, ENTERTAINMENT AND LIFESTYLE JOURNALIST

Published: 16:27, 6 September 2025 | Updated: 16:39, 6 September 2025

When Rachelle Childs left work one Thursday afternoon in 2001, she was excited for the long weekend.  The 23-year-old, who worked as a car saleswoman, rung her sister Kristy as she left the office, confirming they were going to have a drink that evening but it never happened.  Nine hours later, Rachelle's body was found in a shallow ditch, 70 miles away from her office. Twenty four years on, her family are still looking for answers.  Despite police saying the murder had been the subject of an 'exhaustive' investigation, her killer has never been found.   In the two and a half decades since Rachelle's brutal killing and suspected rape, Kristy, who was just 18 at the time, has been hunting the culprit.  She has now written to the police minister in her native Australia asking for the investigation to be reopened even offering a $500,000 (£240,000) reward for information.  Kristy has also teamed up with the Dear Rachelle podcast host journalist Ashlea Hansen and retired detective Damian Loone in the hope to uncover new evidence which could lead to an arrest.  The podcast has now been downloaded more than four million times.   Speaking about the day Rachelle went missing she said: 'I remember she called me on her way home from work.  I was on the phone to my best mate from school and I heard the call come through and I said "I'll just answer this call quickly".   So I jumped over to the other line and it was Rachelle and she was driving, she always spoke to fast and she said "Hey it's Rachelle", and I said "I'm on the other line to Erin" and she said "right-o call me back".  And that was it, I hung up, and that was the last time I ever spoke to her.'

The siblings were meant to meet that evening but Rachelle cancelled.  Later, she later flicked a cigarette out of her car window and a police officer, who was driving behind her, noted down her vehicle reg, the date and time and wrote her up a ticket.  To this day however, her whereabouts for the nine hours after this event remain a mystery.  In the early hours of the next morning, security guard Craig Duck was on duty and heading to his next job when something burning on the side of the road caught his eye.   Speaking in the podcast he said: 'This plays on my mind the entire time, I'm trying to kick this fire out and as I'm kicking sand onto it it's coming back at my feet, I thought this isn't right.  I grabbed my torch and I got this flash of gold in my face, there was a bangle on her hand.'   

Her family were not aware that she was even missing because she had the day off on Friday.   'It was Friday night before we thought something was wrong because no one had heard from her all day and that was very unusual,' Kristy shared.

'That night we called police stations, we called all of the hospitals, we travelled around up and down the roads to see if maybe she had an accident.  The next day I printed out posters with her face that said missing I handed them out everywhere.'

Kristy was also supposed to meet Rachelle at a BBQ on Saturday. She went along as planned in the hopes that her sister would show, but after hours of waiting there was no sign of her.  She added: 'That's when I called mum and dad, I just said "she's missing I can't find her."''

By Saturday evening the family were informed that Rachelle had plans to meet someone at the Bargo hotel on Thursday evening.  They were confused as they had never heard of the venue, and claimed Rachelle didn't like to meet someone new alone.  Later Rachelle's car was found parked outside a pub in near the hotel and her family were notified.  They went to the location of the car and Kristy noticed 'there was something wrong'.

'The club lock was on upside down, she had a specific way she would put the club lock on, the handle that people used to point down she would point up and jam it in the corner of the windscreen,' she explained. 'That wasn't done, it was upside down.'

Kristy continued: 'She used to have her seat far back but it was really far back, I remember looking at the car going there is something seriously wrong here, she didn't park this here.'

Police were convinced that Rachelle knew her killer and they suspected that he might even show up to her funeral so they kept an eye on the attendees for anything out of the ordinary.  'I remember standing away from the burial site, and I had a detective beside me asking, do you know who that person is?' she recalled.

'Do you know who that person is? Do you know who that person is? And I'm like, I've got no idea who all these people are.'

Kristy said one person did stand out to her as unusual, Rachelle's boss at the Camden Holden dealership Kevin Steven Correll.  She said: 'I remember staring at him at the funeral and he wouldn't look at me.  I remember the distance he had from everybody else at the funeral. He just made me feel uncomfortable.'

Kevin, a father of two, was 22 years older than Rachelle, and reportedly had a 'crush' on her.  'I think there was a little bit of playful texting back and forth between them,' Kristy added.

Lee, a friend of Rachelle's, later told police that she had planned to pick up a VL Walkinshaw on Friday evening from her workplace, after Kevin promised to give her a lend of the vintage car for the weekend.  Former detective Damian Loone said: 'There's some suggestion of a Walkinshaw, she was going to have a Walkinshaw for the weekend.  And Kevin Correll, from the yard, her boss, may have promised her a Walkinshaw for the weekend. That would have sent her wild because she's a car enthusiast, particularly Commodores or Holdens.  If it's used as a ploy to lure you somewhere, then it is very significant. But we haven't ever found one.'

Within days of Rachelle's funeral Kevin was actually fired from his job because of a fraud scandal.  Kevin always denied defrauding Camden Holden and no charges had ever been laid in relation to those allegations.   He has also always denied any involvement in Rachelle's murder and has never been charged.  Police did look at other men in Rachelle's life as suspects, including her former boyfriend Shane however he was quickly ruled out because of a solid alibi.  Rachelle's neighbour Bruce was also a person of interest and Kristy said she was always wary of him because he had a wife and children but sent Rachelle flowers to her work.  Damian said: 'He's another one of certainly of interest where he's got some sort of romantic connections with Rachelle, and there's no secret there that he fancied her.  He admits that he had a thing for her, but nothing sexual, just a hug and a kiss here and there.  I think he was hoping for more, but I think she told him straight away that nothing else is going to happen.'

Kristy added: 'I've always been quite suspicious of Bruce because I just found him, I don't know, he just always gave me a bad vibe, I just didn't like him, and he always just sort of would turn up out of nowhere.'

After Rachelle's death Bruce packed up the family home and moved to Queensland with his wife and children, but years later, he was cleared as a person of interest during a coronial inquest.  New South Wales police have since reopened Rachelle's case.  Last month, Correll, who became the main suspect, was found dead in Thailand.

Anyone with information on Rachelle's death should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report online.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15048347/minneapolis-shooter-robin-westman-adopted-daughter.html

The family secret that Minneapolis shooter's mother kept hidden for two decades

    READ MORE: What really happened to Minneapolis shooter's 'missing' mom

By DANA KENNEDY IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Published: 00:32, 30 August 2025 | Updated: 06:53, 30 August 2025

The mother of Minneapolis shooter Robin Westman appeared in a movie about her reunion with a daughter she put up for adoption as a child, the Daily Mail can reveal.  Years after giving up her baby, Mary Grace Westman, now 67, went on to became a devout Catholic and anti-abortion activist who once held a crucifix in protest outside a Planned Parenthood clinic.  Mary Grace has so far refused to cooperate with police seeking information about her son.  She flew to Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon, within hours of the shocking attack at the Church of the Annunciation Catholic School that left two children dead and 18 injured.  Faryl Amadeus, 44, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, wrote and directed the film 'Mary Meet Grace' in 2021, a fictional retelling of her real-life reunion with her biological mother, Mary Grace.  In interviews, Amadeus - who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, with her adoptive family and was then known as Rachel Millet has since formed a close bond with Mary Grace.  Amadeus, who did not return calls or emails from the Daily Mail, writes on her website that she was adopted and 'shipped from Kentucky, like a box of whiskey' to New York.  'I was in foster care for a month before I was adopted, and that family sent me a card every birthday,' Amadeus said in 2021.

'It meant so much to me to know I wasn't just, like, in a basket somewhere.'

Amadeus was adopted by the Millet family in Brooklyn. The woman believed to be her adoptive mother, Jamie Millet, was not reachable by the Daily Mail on Friday.  Amadeus told the Nerd Daily in 2021 that her film was 'inspired by that intense yearning an adoptee can feel for who they are and where they come from'.  'My birth mother, who appears in the film, found me in 2005 and we later reunited with my bio dad in 2012. The emotional mystery of adoption could fuel countless stories,' she added.

'I love being adopted. It's strange and sad and wonderful.'

Amadeus writes about her birth mother contacting her in 2005 and eventually travelling to Minnesota to meet her 'five half-siblings', who include Robin Westman.  On social media, Amadeus has posted photos of Mary Grace and her half-siblings, including transgender Robin, born Robert Westman.  Mary Grace did not return messages from the Daily Mail on Friday, nor did Ryan Garry, the criminal defense attorney she hired this week in Minneapolis.  FBI agents descended on Mary Grace's first floor condo in Naples, Florida, on Wednesday after she reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities investigating the mass shooting.  But she had already flown to Minnesota, in such a hurry that she called a friend to tell her she feared she had left the patio door open. Police were dispatched to check on the home's security.  Robin Westman graduated from Annunciation Catholic School in 2017. Mary Grace used to work at the school's church but retired five years ago, social media posts show.  Amadeus's last name is courtesy of her husband of many years, Nick Amadeus, also a native New Yorker who is a writer and composer. Among other projects, he co-wrote the screenplay for the 2021 film Separation, co-starring Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer.  He is the son of actor and writer John Scoullar and actress Linda Robbins, who appeared in the original Broadway production of Amadeus, which her son chose as a stage name.  The couple have two daughters and currently live in LA, according to information online. Faryl received a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.  Mary Grace's brother, Robert Heleringer, a longtime Louisville member of the Kentucky House of Representatives. He told the AP this week that he was Robin Westman's uncle but hardly knew his nephew.  He hung up on a Daily Mail reporter on Friday.

gold ring