newsletter!

If you do not receive our newsletters you can take a look here and see what we’ve been up to!

 

 

Advertisements

burdens

Every burden that we have,

every sorrow,

every sadness,

everything that we find overwhelming or impossible,

is meant to be taken to the feet of Jesus.

We were not meant to carry these loads alone, God wants us to call on Him,

He wants us to give Him our worries.

He wants us to depend on Him for strength.

He did not create us in order for us to live our lives for ourselves or by ourselves.

As each new day begins I urge you to lift your eyes to Him. Of course He already knows each trouble of your heart, but tell them to Him anyway with faith, knowing that He wants to carry your burdens, and to even carry you!

Matthew 11:28-30 New Living Translation (NLT)
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Chamche rebuild

#riodevida #church The third level of the chamche rebuild is going up right beside the church area! The service was a bit breezy without the old sheet metal wall but so exciting to see at the same time!

Walter’s guys are super busy working 16 to 17 hour days getting this project done for the new school year! Every week it’s amazing to see how much construction has been done. This will be a huge blessing to the school children and staff of Chamche next year!

certain

We live in an uncertain world.  Life is uncertain and everything around us, except, I am certain of one, God.

God is good.  He is Faithful.  His love never fails, and His mercies are new every morning. He is our provider, He sees the future and the past because He lives in eternity. Nothing is hidden from His eyes and He will bring justice one day but also mercy. He sees the vastness of the universe, He sees the flowers of the field, knows the number of hairs on my head, sees each little bird that flies in the sky. He knows and is the Creator and Owner of it all.

How can I the clay, say to the Potter, why are you making me like this? Why do these things happen in my life? You are doing something wrong?

So, I thank Him for the uncertain circumstances, the things that I find difficult, the sadness, struggle and frustrations.  It’s easy to trust Him when things are going well, when we have enough, when life is easy.  But when we don’t understand, things don’t make sense, it feels like we are harvesting something we didn’t plant, we need to believe and trust in Him He is good, and He loves us. There is no uncertainty in Him, He knows and sees  it all.

God Provides

Are you Afraid?  – taking my eyes off the future and onto the ONE who holds it in His hands.

This morning as I was praying I told the Lord, “I trust our future in your hands”, because I can feel overwhelmed by thoughts of what will happen to us in the future.  We don’t have “real” jobs where you get paid because you worked, we work and get “paid” whenever someone wants to give us an offering.  It’s literally the worst and best way to live.

I mean seriously what better way to see God provide for your every need?  How better to grow your faith and trust in God for his provision?  When month to month you don’t know how much you will receive, when you don’t have a retirement fund, old age pension plan or an emergency fund to fall back on.   There’s no plan for the future, but to keep trusting in God to provide, give as often as possible, and work as hard as we can for as long as we can.

I’m a planner. I’m a saver. I don’t like change or uncertainty.

Like I said, the best and worst way to live.

I have nothing that was not given to me.  Some things physically and others because someone gave us money which we used to make a purchase.  I stand in awe of a God so big who inspires people to be so generous that all our needs are met.  We have a home, we have clothes and food, we have love, peace and joy. We’ve been given so many different things over the years from money given to us that get the bills paid, gas in the tank, food in the fridge, gifts of clothes to things we don’t “need”: treats, pets, vacations, furniture, books.

So, I’m not complaining, don’t get me wrong! I love my life! Sometimes I cry because I’m overwhelmed wondering how we will survive, and other times because I’m awed with all that God has given us that I could ever doubt that He will continue to provide, because I do sometimes.

This morning shortly after my faith spoken prayer surrendering my fears to God….again,  I received a note that one of our monthly supports were no longer going to be able to continue.   Coincidence? I think not. What I know is that God already knew.

So, I bow my head and thank Him because I know even this He will turn into a blessing.

I also thanked God again for each of our supporters.  These awesome people give of their hard-earned income, so we can eat, pay our bills and do the work that God has set before us to do. They are our teammates, our coworkers, we couldn’t do it without them.  We are currently $1,500 under Impact Ministries suggested stipend for Field Workers. You can join our team here.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 4:6-7

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~ Matthew 6:34

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” ~ Luke 12:22-26

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ~ Mark 4:39-40

draw near

I have the firm belief that God allows us to be lonely, to come to the end of ourselves, to feel lost and afraid only to show us we need Him.

We continue, just as the Israelites did in the bible, over and over we think we can do it on our own, that the good we have accomplished, our victories and success are our own doing.  We think that it doesn’t matter if we mix a little of “the world” into our culture and our way of thinking, that those things don’t affect us.

Once we’ve started down that slippery slope God purposefully allows us to lose our footing, not because He is bad, angry or selfish but because He is Good, Loving and Merciful.

In the same way a good parent doesn’t give their child everything they want because there are things the parent knows are not good for the child even if they look fun or enticing in the moment, God doesn’t give us everything we want because He knows what is good for us in the long run.  He is the Beginning and the End (Alfa and Omega) He knows the future.  He wants to give us every good thing in the proper time.

I’ve been reading a bible plan this year that has me reading through several different books of the bible at the same time.  It’s a different order then I had ever read but what keeps hitting me repeatedly is how in every book from Geneses to Revelations, we can see intertwined God’s great redemptive plan. His loving heart and mercy shine through everywhere.  He’s calling us to come near.

Every difficulty we face is not meant to turn us from him, but to Him.  He WILL help.  We need to stop our eyes from focusing on the waves instead of the ONE walking on them.

We were not made to walk this world alone, we were created to walk with Him.

We were never supposed to be able to do it on our own, He wants to give us His strength.

The purpose of our lives is not to satisfy ourselves, but to find our fulfillment in Him.

We are afraid because we do not fully know Him, because His perfect love casts out all fear.

These are not pat answers, they do not come easy. The are hard core truths.  What does it mean to walk with Him?  How does He want to guide and strengthen me?  How much does He really love me?  Everyday I ask Him to show me and reveal to me again the answer to these questions and I challenge you to join this trek.  Asking Him, seeking Him in His word and allowing Him to minister to your heart.  He will answer, He’s standing at the door!

His gift of rest

We were gifted a week at the beach. Usually I’m way more into practical gifts like money for groceries, gas and paying the bills , but a gift at the beach though possibly frivolous is priceless.  We’re busy with work and school, ministry is a full time thing. Being able to take a whole week off and just be a family was amazing. The kids had their mid-year school break.

We don’t usually have time to just hang out as a family and we never have the money for a vacation….I mean seriously, we live off of faith support.  This means that we don’t receive money unless someone donates specifically to us.  People make huge sacrifices so that we can live without worrying about if we will have money to buy food this month.  Even if we were receiving enough to save up, it’d be difficult to think of spending that money on a vacation.

Maybe that will surprise you, but those who “work” for a living and earn a “wage” don’t need to wonder how people would perceive a vacation, as people working in the ministry and living off donations, we do.  Everything we own is a gift from God through someone’s hands!   Thankfully we have an awesome Father who knows that we need rest, time away and that it is not frivolous for Him.   We are so blessed to have people in our lives who give to us in this way!  Their giving inspires us to be faithful and give as well.

Truly, when I worry about “tomorrow” our Heavenly Father gives us so much more than what we could have asked for, for “today”.

Trip to Puerto Barrios and Livingston: