His Desires, My Desire...

Dear Friends and Family,

This past week we have learned so much about reaching the nations for Christ. Bryan and I were able to attend a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) meeting and it spoke right to our hearts.

“The purpose if CHE is not just breaking poverty or planting churches, though both are accomplished in CHE programs. The real goal of our work is a transformation in the lives and communities that is as deep as the human heart, and as broad as the whole range of the human experience on the world God made. We want Jesus to be recognized as the Lord over all creation, and our development activities to reflect the depth and breadth of the kingdom of God. CHE seamlessly integrates evangelism, discipleship and church planting with community health and development. The ministry is wholistic, seeking to obey everything that Jesus commanded and addressing the whole need of individuals and communities.”

We are planning on taking next steps with CHE to receive their formal training. This is will be a vital tool we use to reach out to the Karamojong people of Uganda and other communities.

Our trip to Uganda and Kenya will be a vision trip. We will be working with our missionaries in Uganda and our pastors & leaders in Kenya to cast vision and explore the possibilities of reaching local communities and unreached people groups with the Gospel of Christ.

As we all know, going to the nations requires the means to get there. While we know that reaching the unreached with the Gospel of Christ is important, we also know that some go and some stay to send the goers, every part is vital to a successful ministry and as the body of Christ, we seek to build the kingdom of God together.
Romans 10: 12-15 ~ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f] 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[g]

We are well aware that this is the Christmas season and money is tight. I would like to present to you:

If 40 people gave $100 (or more) we would reach our goal.

40 x $100 = vision trip to reach the unreached!

Your donations are tax deductible, when you make your check to Remember the Poor. Please do not write our name on the check, but please do include a note, “Thiele Travel”.

RTP
PO Box 1013
Lynden, WA 98264

Or click here and donate online to RTP, please include "Theiel Travel" in your note.

Our fundraiser is one week away! Thank you to those of you who have donated to our sale, we are so grateful.

I will keep you up to date as we move along and God provides.

Blessings
Bryan & Andrea

Help Needed...

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sending out a reminder that we are having a DONATION GARAGE SALE on December 16th through the 18th . 100% of your donations, will go to our Uganda/Kenya trip. Remember it is almost the end of the year and ALL of your financial contributions are tax deductable.

Bryan, The Mission and I feel it is vital that we spend time with our missionaries in Africa. We have several ministries that need special attention and our help. We are asking for donations for our garage sale, and financial contributions to make this trip come to fruition and to be successful.

In Uganda, we plan on working with Tonya and another local missionary to effectively reach the Karamojong people. We believe the Lord has provided ways to begin ministry with the Karamojong, to teach them the Word of God, and bring Glory to His Name! The Karamojong are an unreached people group in the 10/40 window. You can learn more about their people on Joshua Project.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
Rev 7:9-10

The Bible says the Karamojong will be represented in heaven! Praise the Lord! This is our hearts cry! We long to serve Christ in this capacity, reaching the unreached of His nations.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

We NEED your help:

We are accepting all donations for our garage sale ASAP! Please drop them off anytime to our house, or call and we will pick them up. (623) 910-4886, most of you know this routine, we have done it before

OR

You can donate directly to our ministry for our trip. Your money will go toward, travel, The Proclaimer (a tool used for translating the Gospel into native tongues), training, and needs for our missionaries and leaders. This is a great time to make tax deductible contributions, before year’s end!

You can send your financial contribution directly to the address below, or online by clicking here:
Remember The Poor
PO Box 1013
Lynden, WA 98264

Include a note “Thiele Travel”
Remember the Poor is a 501 c(3) charitable organization. All donations are tax-deductible. Please include your e-mail address so we may send your gift receipt by e-mail


Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for partnering with us in ministering to the nations of the world.

Blessings
Bryan and Andrea

“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” John Henry Jowett

Reaching the Lost...

Urgent: The harvest is ripe the workers are few!!! Matthew 9:37

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to take this time to update you on some important circumstances in our ministries that need immediate prayer and financial attention.

Most of you are aware that we have ministries in Africa. Tonya is one of our missionaries that we sent out from The Mission and is one of the ministries that we support. She lives in Uganda and has been given the opportunity to minister to the Karamojong (an unreached people group) and street children.

Tonya has been facing some trials in the last month or so. It has been hard to send out updates for prayer, because her circumstances change sometimes minute to minute. I think now is a great time to try and update you while there are some things that need immediate prayer and financial attention.

First I will give you some back ground. Tonya has 5 children. 1 biological, 1 adopted and 3 foster children. The African tribe called the Karamojong live in Masses, near Tonya. That is not where they are originally from, but they venture out of their home town of Moroto, to the towns to beg, and earn money.

I am stilling learning about the Karamojong, and don’t want to tell you information that is not true, so I will be vague. The Karamojong are not highly regarded are not liked and looked down upon in Uganda. They also, believe that they own the cattle in all of Uganda, so they steal, pillage. They are sometimes a violent people.

Most of the Karamojong do not work. When they don’t have cattle, the women take their kids to the streets of Kampala to beg. The children are left by themselves to walk up to 15 miles a day, sometimes with a baby on their back, begging for money and food. If the children can’t make the long walk home to the slums, they sleep in store fronts, alone.

This is the story of thousands of lives, including Phillip and Angela. Phillip and Angela were picked up by the police, off of the street for begging and taken into custody.

Tonya finally was able to take in Phillip and Angela to care for them. They have been on the streets for most of their lives, or in custody of the police. She knows that the Lord has clearly told her to advocate for these children. She was looking for the birth mom, in order to make sure there was not a birth mom looking for them. The birth mom was able to find Tonya and her children. Tonya invited the birth mom, Maria to live with them, which she did for about 24 hours. Maria brought her supposed mom, infant and 4 year old son with her. Maria took Tonya to the slums where she lives in Kampala to sign papers so Tonya could have custody. Tonya was welcomed in by the women singing and dancing and praising a foreign god, not our own Jesus. The chief of the town, invited her back to help them in the future.

After about 24 hours, Maria decided that she would take the people she came with and Phillip and Angela with her back to the streets. Tonya tried to argue with her to let them stay, but Maria insisted. When asked if the kids would go back to begging, she said “Yes!” Tonya packed their clothes and loaded them up and Phillip and Angela walked into the night in the pouring rain. This is a note I received from Tonya after the return of her children the first time. I love her words, and I must share it with you. Tonya spent a horrible night sick to her stomach and that is the reference you read in the beginning about sitting on the bath room floor;

Wow sister, that was not, not fun! But I spent a lot of time with Jesus in those moments as I laid on my bathroom floor and I praise him even when satan tries to tell me that none of this is worth it.

I prayed about the slum in Kampala with all those Karamojong brothers and sisters. I was thinking that their rent is $2 a month and their food is no more than $2 a day. The kids are the ones who work, not the parents. But for them there is no other way.... BUT THERE IS.... JESUS!

I am praying in many moments a day about THE MISSION MASESE and about that slum in Kampala. My heart is forever tied to these people because that is what God did through my precious Philip and Angela. They asked me for help as they thanked me for the kids, and that, I believe, was God opening the widow to heaven.

I need help sister. I am but one woman with these huge tasks on my heart. The letterhead paper that the village persons wrote the letter on for me to care for Phillip and Angela says, "Together we can make a difference". I can't stop thinking about that and how with Jesus and just small, small resources we can change the lives of these people who feel so outcast yet God holds in his highest regard.

I remember reading a post that Gwen from 147 million orphans wrote after a visit last year to Masese1 where the Karamojong live that they work with. She said it was different, because when they pulled up there were not kids begging! I pray for the day we drive down Jinja road, the same path that my dear Philip walked with his little sister strapped to his back, to find no Karamojong children on that road working. I know I can pray that prayer with confidence because surely that is God's wish too. He wants justice.... OCEANS of it. He wants fairness.... RIVERS of it. Let us not yearn for the things of this world, but for JUSTICE and FAIRNESS as it is written by THE ONE we claim to know and love so dearly.

These past few days I have found myself homesick. I thought it was for AZ and all the people I love so and miss so dearly, but this morning I realized it was for heaven and the arms of Jesus..... whew, I get chills just thinking about that day. I love you. Come quickly, praying for God to make the path so clear and for his provision for every single need. XO from UG my dearest friend. Oh how I love you and long for the day that we serve his people together, arms linked and in community!

Please understand that the primary concern is for the children. Tonya’s heart is wrapped around these kids, but the heart ache comes when she knows that they are unwanted and are going to be living in conditions that are not suitable for a child. It is hard to imagine, that Angela was once in a warm bed receiving the medication she needs for her TB and now is living in the slum with no food to eat, facing a life of danger in the streets, with a mom she doesn’t know and a language she doesn’t speak.

We have been praying for the Lord to advocate on behalf of these kids and today, God is working miracles! Today Tonya is on their way to pick up her kids BY THE GRACE OF GOD!

This is just in from Tonya, via text:

“I have them, only by a miracle. I think Angela is drunk with alcohol and has a broken leg. They are in the same clothes and looks like they have not bathed. They are weak and limp, please pray.”

“Angela is drunk!! Phillip just told me they have no mattress, and slept on the dirt floor. She knew me and cried and them came back and won’t let anyone near her. She is gyrating and I think someone must have hurt her. We are going to the hospital.”

“Please, we pray we need God to keep showing up.”

Friends, here is the situation. Tonya NEEDS money. Most of you know that she doesn’t not have much support. She stepped out and trusted God for her circumstances. She needs money and support. It will cost money for the hospital and the paper work for the police. On top of that she trust that the Lord will supply all of her needs for food. They are going on faith right now.

It takes a lot of money to serve these kids, and their families.

Please pray and ask the Lord how he wants you to give right now. You can contact me directly if you can donate to Tonya and these beautiful kids, we can get it to her ASAP. Your donations are tax deductible, through Remember The Poor.

If you click here, you go right to the donation page:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=HVaKEdaLqPP6sHnzSMaMQWb9wMX8-yz-zj83LSxXlv6tZH405ZesIA_U6_e&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d9384d85353843a619606282818e091d0
Please include a note in your donation that specifies “Tonya, Uganda.”

Finally, friends, pray for the lost and dying world in Africa and the nations. These people need Jesus and discipleship. They are in desperate need of a Savior, until that time, nothing is going to change. The harvest is ripe, the workers are few! The Karamojong are an unreached, possible unengaged people group. There are no known churches among them. We are praying for the Lord to show us how to reach them. This is what the Lord has commanded us to do! Pray for him to make our path clear and to begin to soften the hearts of the Karamojong to accept His truths.

“Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” John Henry Jowett

Blessings,
Drea

More Than Words...

I have been thinking recently about words. We read a moving blog or a great book and leave feeling inspired or refreshed. Our heart is full and we cry or laugh. We tell our friends the story, or share the sorrow. A mean word from a friend can cut like a knife, and a kind word can encourage and build. Words are powerful but here is what I have determined; Words move people BUT truth transforms them!

I am a lover of words. I like to write, I like to share my stories. But more than just sharing words I want people that are reading the words I pen, to be transformed by the power of Jesus Christ in me. If the words that we read do not compel us into some sort of action, then it is just a word, it is stagnant and means nothing.

If what we read does not alter our thinking and leave us different than what we were before, then we have not encountered truth! Truth transforms! It changes us from the inside out.

Psalm 51:6, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

Truth invokes action and empowers us to do the impossible through faith in Jesus Christ. Matthew 17:20; He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Truth liberates us from the bondage of sin and darkness. John 8:30-32; "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Truth purifies us and makes us holy. John 17:17; Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Truth brings forth new life and transformation. James 1:17-19; Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we may be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

When we are transformed by the truth of the Word of God, He equips to do His will. He gives us the desires of His heart, then we are to carry out the action.

Today, I talked with Joshua, a young Ugandan man who has given his whole life to living out the Word of God. He cares for twenty orphans and about five widows. While trying to study at a university, Joshua is the hands and feet of Christ to these people in need.

In our conversation today, I could tell that Joshua seemed discouraged. I asked him what was wrong, this is what he said. "I am down. Like right now when some of my kids are sick, and we have no food. Our house is leaking and the piglets have no food to eat either."

I then asked him how I could pray for him. His response was, "Pray for each kid and me, we need to feel the worth of God." How does one "feel the worth of God?" The answer is through us! We are to take action, and demonstrate that they have value and are important to Christ. We brothers and sisters, are the catalyst of Gods love to them. Oh, how I want to shout that from the roof tops! If we sit complacent as followers of Jesus, we have not grabbed hold of the power of Christ, and have failed to allow His truth to change us.

We don't have to move across the ocean to demonstrate this kind of love and worth. We can do it right from home. One way, is to sponsor a child or a Jaaja (grandma). They are desperate for this kind of care. When you sponsor a child or Jaaja, you show them that Christ values each and every one of them. You also bring hope and a future, through the word of God. They incounter the life transforming truth of Jesus.

Our ministry helps to support Joshua and the kids. You can be a part too, by going to The Mission and clicking on the tab Get Involved .

Words merely rest on a page, but truth will dance in our hearts as it awakens our souls.

It is Well...

Dear Blogging Friends,

It seems like it has been a while since my last blog. I want to update you on my life, with all of our children and craziness, but this is just too good pass up. I promise to write and catch you up on soon. This blog was written by a friend of mine in who lives in Southeast Asia.

I wanted to share it with you, because I feel it captures the essence of why we worship this amazing God. He alone is worthy of our praise. I can clearly remember times hearing and sometimes feeling, "Worship was just not that good for me today," or "I just couldn't get into worship today." While we know that we sing to the Lord, sometimes we forget that worship never was and never will be intended for us. It is intended to glorify Jesus, to bless His name. When we worship, we are filled and do end up "feeling good," but if that is why we worship, then we have fully missed the mark.

I love the lady who has written this note to me, she is an amazing woman of God. I can only pray that the Lord continues to mature me to this place of really seeing and worshiping Him for who He is. Lord may I live my life completely abandoned to You, serving You wherever You go, and however You call us.

Today's service was absolutely awesome. I cried all the way through worship (so what's new :). This was just a tad different however. As we were waiting for the service to begin, the musicians were practicing and the song being sung by a lovely woman was "It is Well With My Soul." Alone, that is a very moving song in and of itself. As they were practicing, I shared with Harry a comment from one of the visiting professors just before she left to go back to the states. She'd seen me with several of our girls and I was sharing a birthday coffee with her and several ex-pat ladies, when another couple of my girls saw me and yelled across the room, "Hi mommy!" I responded with thrown kisses to them and proudly claimed as "mine". When the visiting professor, Carla, said goodbye to me the night before she left, she said, "I think you've found your home." That statement has haunted me ever since and today was the first time I uttered those words out loud - to Harry.

I have no idea of the full capacity of what that statement means. Is God leading us to live in Southeast Asia? Is our calling to young people of high school age? Is our home in Arizona soon to be exchanged with somewhere else God will lead? Only God knows. The one thing I can hang my hat on, however, is this: God knows and if we keep our hearts open to Him, He will lead us and we will not have to stumble along trying to find His way.

All through the service, God continued to "prime" my heart as He spoke to me in so many different ways.

First song up, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." WHOA!! The words are like a love letter from God to us. Every morning He floods us with His new mercies and He provides everything I need. For each new day, He provides His presence to cheer and guide me and He freely gives me His strength for the now, and His bright hope for tomorrow. Tomorrow!!! That means tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day ... for however many days He has numbered my life.

Second song up, "Because He Lives." Because He lives, I CAN face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know HE holds the future, life is worth living just because He lives. His promise to me is that because He lives and reigns in my heart and life, whatever tomorrow brings, I can face it because He will be in it and I have no need to fear. He holds all the my future in His hands and every breath that He gives me will be worth it, regardless of what it holds, because He lives in and through with me. WOW!! What a bargain.

Third song up, "Offering." You may not be too familiar with this one. I'd sung it a few times before but many years ago. The chorus goes like this, "I bring an offering of worship to my King. No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing. Jesus may You receive the honor that You're due. O Lord, I bring an offering to You." When you cling to the promises of God ... that He holds your future ... that you do not need to fear ... that He lives in the future with you - praises to Him just spill out everywhere - almost every orifice on the head for sure. If my ears could cry, I'd have a waterfall goin' on :)

Fourth song up, "Find Us Faithful." Oh my goodness - are there still tears left??!! "Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful." "After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone and our children sift through all we've left behind. May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light that leads them to the road we each must find." Even as I sit and type these words, I am overcome at the desire of my heart that this sentiment be true in my life. That not only my children, but my grandchildren see through our lives and the things left behind that are important to us, that being faithful to God was the hallmark of our life and inspire them to follow in those footsteps.

Last song, "It is Well with My Soul." God what are you trying to do with me, wring me dry!! The enormity of the words from this song still hang in the air. "Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control. That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed His own blood for my soul." "My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in PART but the WHOLE, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh my soul!!" That is the message in it's entirety!!! This is the message that the whole world needs to hear. This is the message I want to share to those who will listen!!

I'm not even sure how to conclude this missal. I guess I just needed to share my heart and I love that you understand it. Thanks for doing just that - listening. I just find that God continues to break me before Him. I think He's still trying to root out of me, Me!! So there's more room for Him. I know He wants to lay us bare before Him so that all we want - we thirst for and cling to - is more of Him. Oh I want that with every fiber of my being and I know He has to do a lot of "house keeping" to make that even possible.

If every fiber of our being could be saturated with Jesus! Isn't that our goal? To live is Christ and to die is gain? I often wonder if I am living my life as Christ would live it for me. I wonder what opportunities I have missed with my Savior due to business and distraction. I wonder what opportunities I have missed to share the Glory of the Lord with a person, who is dying and going to hell.

Jesus would have me be on purpose for Him. Giving my all to this loving savior. He would not have me think of all the what if's, but live as reckless abandon trusting in Him. I don't want to be safe, I want to risk it all. I want to live on the edge, following His lead, and be fully saturated with my Jesus.

Life! Will We Live It?...

Today was one of those days for me. Joyful on one hand and then before you know it SNATCH...the joy is gone.

Today was my daughter Meske's 15th birthday. We decided to surprise Meske and the other kids with taking them to an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch after church. Lately, I have been feeling filled to overflowing. Just that full feeling inside where we just know God is in control, and you just feel the natural joy that comes from knowing Jesus. Today was one of those days.

We drove to Tempe to eat at a wonderful restaurant called Lalibella's Cafe. We had Meske and Eyob help with ordering and we got served the most wonderful dishes of Ethiopian food. We were all hungry and it didn't take any time at all to down the wonderful foods. The children were so Happy to be eating familiar foods. The restaurant owners seemed just as happy. It was so fun to watch our kids interact with the other Ethiopian people. It brought me great joy.

We got out to the parking lot and Bryan had to change our tire. Our new Ethiopian friends followed us out to the parking lot where we continued conversation. We learned that our kids were from one of the same villages as some of them were. The kids had great talk in their own language. We learned of an Ethiopian church near by where the whole family attends. We found that we were believer's and that we shared other similarities, like one of the ladies actually attend a college class with my mother in law this last semester. All in all, the Lord blessed us with great conversation and a friendship worth pursuing.

The guys went inside to clean up and we were saying our goodbyes and promising to come back again soon, when the rug got pulled out from under us. One of the boys of the family at the restaurant decided to come running outside for his dad. We were all standing on the far side of the parking lot. The boy was in between two parked cars and was heading straight across the parking lot when he got hit by an oncoming car! We all saw it coming, but no one could stop it! The driver hit the young boy (3 years old) in the side. His head hit the car and then the pavement.

For those of you who follow our blog, you will know that this is twice in less than a year that we have been involved in an accident involving a car and a young boy. Our driver hit a boy while we were in Africa getting our 3 newest children. The accident was life altering. (To read about that story and Gods goodness click here). My two oldest were with us when it happened in Africa, and now they were with us again along with 7 other of my kids.

At first, it was terrifying. I even thought for a brief moment about how I was going to get away. After I got all my kids in our van, hoping that they didn't see any of it and really worried about Cade and Coral, I realized that I needed to check on the boy. There was loud waling and crying going on. The boys dad was out of control and wouldn't calm down. The boy was crying and looked considerably good for just getting hit. His head was swollen and his back and side several bruised. We called 911 quickly and tried to settle the crowd.

I really can't tell you what I was thinking at that moment, but I am going to try. First, I thought "Why God?" Why would we have to do this again. Like it was about me, it wasn't, it was all about the boy and his family. But why must we endure this again. I was worried about my children having to witness such a tragedy, again. I was worried about the little ones, who wouldn't understand, "Why?"

Secondly, I was thinking, "There is no way, I can help this kid." My stomach was instantly sick and I couldn't get in right frame of mind. If I could have, I would have just disappeared.

Thirdly, I thought, "How will we cope and deal with this? What if the boy is badly hurt or maybe dead, what will we do? These people are always going to equate this horrible tragedy with our coming to their restaurant, how will God be glorified?"

Once I got a grip, I determined that God is good, and I will do what I can to check the boy and his family. God gave me the strength to pull it together so I could assess the boy. The words from my sweet African brother, Pastor Cyrus, rung in my head, "Mom, we pray and then let God work." This time was different. I knew God was in control, we have done this once before and I was going to trust this time.

Now it is easy on the other side of the story to trust when you know all is well. It is a different story to trust when you are questioning what will be. The ambulance arrived and took the boy by stretcher to the nearest ER. We had the opportunity to pray with the dad of the boy and the mom. We prayed with the driver of the car and friends of the family of the boy. My kids were in the car crying out to Jesus, and shouting his name! We were asking God for a miracle, his healing hand.

After the police questioned us all and were wrapping up, I shakily crawled into a bus of crying children. My poor kids. Eyob almost passed out, Cade and Coral were so shook up and the rest of them were so worried for the boy. I got in the front seat of the car and this is what the Lord impressed on my spirit.

James 14:13 -14
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is you life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

I felt as if Christ had spoken right to me. "This is life! Life is just a mist, it is hear and then it is gone. It is not weather this boy lives or dies, we will all die one day. The real question is if he knows Jesus Christ." I understood. Our lives are hear today and gone tomorrow! Life is given and life is taken, it is short. All over the planet, people suffer these kinds of tragedies, and they die and go to hell! We don't have time to waste, because this is life! I felt as if the Lord was showing the Thiele's, that we have no time. I felt as if the Lord was saying, "Life! Are you going to live it?"

Although we didn't now if the boy was going to be okay or not, the picture became suddenly clear. We say we need to live our lives as if this was our last day, but how many of us do that? We need to live for Christ on purpose. We need to live as if we cared that there is a dying world going to hell. This accident showed me, that life is but a breath. We spend so much time wasting time, and now we were all crying over this boy wondering if he were going to live or die. The truth of the matter is, if we cared so much about him, then we would care about his eternal life, not the physical one. Granted this boy was just 3, but the overall message was one that rings clear.

Lets starting living the life we were given to glorify the Lord! Stop wasting time on self and other idolistic things and start doing what glorifies the Lord, LIVING our lives committed to serving Him. There are people dying today of starvation. There are people dying of disease today. Ther are people dying by their own hands to false Gods today. If we love Jesus, we can't wait until tomorrow!

I have called to check on the boy, he is doing fine. A full CT scan and x-rays, there is nothing wrong with him at all! We witnessed another miracle today. God is good! Our children are claiming the goodness of God! And the glory of the Lord was shown in Tempe TODAY!

I pray I do not soon forget. I pray that the Lord keeps it fresh on our minds that life is but a mist, here today and gone tomorrow. Are we willing to risk everything for the sake of the gospel to a lost and dying world? What will we do with life, will we live it?

Delighting to do Thy will...

Our family tends to draw attention. Either positive attention, negative attention, or just plain confused attention (when people try to figure out how Bryan and I made all these colorful children). People often look at us like we are crazy, or just plain called.

Our family also tends to draw a lot of questions like, "Are you done yet? or, How in the world do you do it?

Well today was a good reminder of "How in the world I do it." It is only by the strength of Jesus, that I even make it through the morning half the time. It is not me who does it, it is Jesus that does it all.

I was talking to a friend today about adoption. Adoption is a wonderful blessing, but it is not free from struggles. We tend to think of blessings in this light; smooth, fruitful, paved, or an opened door.

When we struggle, we often think of things in this light; this must be from Satan, the enemy is hitting us hard, or this isn't from God.

When Paul went from town to town, lead by the Spirit, Paul often encountered things like; stoning, beating, prison, and torture. Would we dare to say that Paul must not have been in Gods will if all things happened to him? Or would we say, Paul must have been ahead of God? No, we know that Paul's journeys were absolutely what the Lord wanted and allowed, even though most of the time Paul suffered a lot. However, through his sufferings Paul brought glory to the Name of the Lord.

Adoption is a wonderful blessing, one filled with pure joy and one that is filled challenges. Some days, I have sweet, beautiful, blissful days. Some days I don't. Some days, I am just tired. Not tired of being a Mom to my nine beautiful children, but mostly tired of talking (yes it is true). Some days, I just want to be...not that I don't want to be nurse, teacher, chef, etc.... but some days, I want to go to the bathroom with out talking through the door or breaking up another argument of who stole who's french fry, some days, I want to just be.

I bet that some days Paul would have loved to go into a town that didn't try and kill him. I bet some days he cried out to the Lord, "Lord, for real??"

The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. "I delight to do Thy will." Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same as His. The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word.
Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a center for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ. ~ Oswald Chambers

Not that I can compare my life to Paul's life. I have never been stoned, or even almost stoned. But the journey I am on, is one that is not free from trials and full of blessings. Honestly, I don't want a life free of trials. The more the Lord teaches me, the more I have come to understand that the best place to be is completely sacrificed and dependant on Him. In my trials, and fears, I am just that. We can't do what the Word of God tells us to do independent of Jesus Christ. We must have Christ and trust Christ living through us.

Because we are dead to self and realize, it is not I who live but Christ, then we are able to do the things he has laid out for us to do. We will face trials, struggles, doubts, we will have fears, and second thoughts, but we DO have Christ. And for that reason, it is all worth it!

Christ is what makes our life possible. Christ is the reason we can do this thing called adoption. Christ is what gives us the strength to carry on. Christ enables us to do the things we are commanded to do. Christ, Christ, Christ! May we bring glory to His name!

~ If you keep My commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy remain in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:11