Harold and Lílian Gilmer : April 2025 Prayer Letter

Harold and Lilian Gilmer – South America Director, Church Planter and Bible Translation in São Paulo, Brazil

Dear Brethren:
“Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4).

TEN YEARS AGO THIS DAY, I PRAYED
It was ten years ago this day, on March 28, 2015, that I realized that the Lord had fulfilled all the desires
of my heart. I desired to be a missionary to Brazil, to marry Lílian, to have a little boy and a little girl.
When I realized that the Lord had fulfilled all that my heart desired, as I sipped a cup of coffee that
morning, I prayed: “Lord, I do not want to tempt You, desiring something great. From here on out, I want
to fulfill the desires of Thine heart.”

A couple of years later, I had to humby acknowledge that only our Lord Jesus Christ was able to fully
please God the Father in everything. (No wonder He is our Savior!) Ten years later, my prayer has
changed (as I already shared in a previous letter). My prayer now is: “Lord, please fulfill the desires of
Thine heart in me and through me.” This is my daily prayer, and it is my prayer . . . for you.

Our success does not reside in wealth, health or titles, but rather our success lies in the joy of our Lord.
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b). What counts for eternity is not our wealth,
health or titles, but it is if our Lord be pleased with us. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” is
what we should desire to hear from His mouth as we enter into His presence (Matthew 25:21).

“But without faith it is impossible to please him . . . ” (Hebrews 11:6a). The word that the OT uses in the
place of faith is trust. We can say that the NT faith is equal to the OT trust. Therefore we can affirm that
without trust it is impossible to please our Lord. Our trust needs to be in our Lord, not in our success,
that is: our wealth, health or titles. If all fails, as it did with Job and Habukkuk, we need to continue
trusting and rejoicing. We need to trust Him in every situation, and that . . . will please our Lord.

ANSWERED PRAYER
Thank you for praying for my mother, Linda Gilmer. After a very rough period of testing in the hospital,
she was diagnosed with diverticulosis (but not diverticulitis, for which she already had surgery in the past).
By God’s grace, the intestinal bleeding had healed on its own and no further bleeding could be detected.
She received a blood transfusion and is being treated for anemia with medication and diet. The swelling in her feet and legs has diminished but needs further testing. She feels much better now and was back in church this past Sunday, playing the piano for us. Thank you for your prayers on her behalf. God is good!

Yours fellow servants in Brazil,
Harold, Lílian, Raphael and Danielle