Fears, doubts, anxiety, loneliness, and homesickness battled against my spirit this past week. As I serve Christ overseas this summer, great fear of what the future holds has been grabbing onto my ankles trying to pull me down. My Great Protector & Truth fought off this enemy through teaching me new attributes about Himself. My sister, Britney, sent several cards for me to open this summer with different names of God on them. God has used these cards tremendously in my life in the past 2 ½ weeks.
One particular day this week, I studied in my quiet times (from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young) that I am dwelling in the presence of a timeless God in which time is not allowed to be a tyrant in my life, ticking away relentlessly in my mind. Not the dread of what this next week holds, not the length of today, and not the FUTURE. Time is NOT my master. I serve a TIMELESS GOD who is & was & always will be. As I focus on His presence, the demands of time and tasks diminish.
Then I opened up Britney’s card. It said-
“YAHWEH YIREH- The Lord Will Provide --- Genesis 22:1-14
God sees the past, present, and future. He is able to anticipate and provide for your needs. In Abraham’s case, God provided a ram. John the Baptist calls Jesus ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ I’m praying that God will meet all of your needs according to the riches of His glory.”
God is ALREADY in every moment of our lives! He does not get there as we do and figure out what we need on the spot. He is TIMELESS, remember? He exists already in each chapter of our lives! THAT is how he anticipates our needs and meets them before we even get there.
Real life example- I had been anxious about this next week because I am house-sitting for the Dickersons while they are in Peru at a missionary conference. Well…as it turns out, my friend Elizabeth, from Tupigachi is going to come visit me for the week in Quito! The whole time I was worried about the week Ruby & Fletcher would be gone, God knew the whole time that I would not be alone! All that anxiety, for nothing! How silly it seems now to have been worried. So it is in all areas of our lives! That thing you are worried about, God is already there. He has anticipated and provided for your need already. Did I mention, God is spaceless too!?! He is everywhere at all times! So what does this say about my fear of the future of being far away when I serve a timeless and spaceless God? We do not even have human words to explain or imagine the greatness of our God. Allow that to absolutely submerge you in peace and hope!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Alleluia, Gloria a Dios- An update from Thursday’s requests
Let’s praise our God together for his work on Thursday! Thank you for responding to the call for prayer!
School in San Juan Loma- We spent 15 minutes in every class singing & sharing the story of Jesus! We left the school with an open invitation from the director for Sea Breeze teams to come back!
Anita- We decided to go by Anita’s house early to see if she was going to be home to study the Bible with us at 4, as planned. She was home & praise the Lord that we stopped by because she told us we could not come back at 4 because the Jehovah Witnesses were coming at that time. She allowed us to study with her for a few minutes while we were there. We shared God’s word with her and explained the differences between what we believe and what the Jehovah Witnesses teach. She was receptive and told us that she is not a Jehovah Witness but that she just wants to learn the Bible. PLEASE pray for Anita to recognize the truth & follow Christ and not fall into false teachings. Please pray for THE Gospel to spread quickly in this area. The Jehovah Witnesses know English, Spanish, and Quichua; this provokes interest and popularity among the people.
Elizabeth- My friend Elizabeth spent most of Thursday with us; this was a huge provision from God both at the school and at Anita’s house. Since we went earlier in the day than planned, I was the translator for this challenging situation. But, as usual, God provided incredibly by having Elizabeth, who currently studying theology, there to explain difficult topics, such as the Trinity. Praise God for Elizabeth!
Bible Study & Movie- Over 90 adults & children came to see the movie & about 10 adults came to the Bible study in Santa Monica. Several people expressed their interest in following Christ and studying the Bible! Please continue to pray for them! To study the Bible & follow Christ can bring conflict among those who live such close knit lives in the community. The cost to follow Christ rather than the ways of their families for generations can be a high price. Pray for the new believers to stand strong, to diligently read the Word of God, and to boldly share their testimonies.
Pray for Fernando & Clementina who have been following Christ since October. We spent the whole week with Fernando because he supplied our transportation. This week they learned how to share their testimony and their faith with those who do not believe. Pray for them to speak boldly & to become leaders in the faith in their community, Santa Monica.
Alice- At the end of the day, we had a good visit with Alice! She asked good questions of how she could forgive others who have hurt her so badly and how she could have peace. We share with her the problem of sin and God’s gracious solution for that. She expressed interest in following Christ and reading her Bible. We encouraged her to begin in John. I was given a brief opportunity to spend a few minutes alone with Alice before she left that night. She asks questions about how to pray. We both prayed outloud together. This night was a huge step for Alice. She is broken and empty and frustrated. Today I wrote to her about my Daddy’s sermon on John 3:1-20 this morning (which I had the privilege of listening to). Jesus was the healer of Nicodemus’ emptiness, just as He is mine and yours and Alice’s. I hope to see her again, if she travels to Quito before I leave. Pray for Alice’s discipleship as she begins to read The Word and respond to the hurt she is experiencing.
School in San Juan Loma- We spent 15 minutes in every class singing & sharing the story of Jesus! We left the school with an open invitation from the director for Sea Breeze teams to come back!
Anita- We decided to go by Anita’s house early to see if she was going to be home to study the Bible with us at 4, as planned. She was home & praise the Lord that we stopped by because she told us we could not come back at 4 because the Jehovah Witnesses were coming at that time. She allowed us to study with her for a few minutes while we were there. We shared God’s word with her and explained the differences between what we believe and what the Jehovah Witnesses teach. She was receptive and told us that she is not a Jehovah Witness but that she just wants to learn the Bible. PLEASE pray for Anita to recognize the truth & follow Christ and not fall into false teachings. Please pray for THE Gospel to spread quickly in this area. The Jehovah Witnesses know English, Spanish, and Quichua; this provokes interest and popularity among the people.
Elizabeth- My friend Elizabeth spent most of Thursday with us; this was a huge provision from God both at the school and at Anita’s house. Since we went earlier in the day than planned, I was the translator for this challenging situation. But, as usual, God provided incredibly by having Elizabeth, who currently studying theology, there to explain difficult topics, such as the Trinity. Praise God for Elizabeth!
Bible Study & Movie- Over 90 adults & children came to see the movie & about 10 adults came to the Bible study in Santa Monica. Several people expressed their interest in following Christ and studying the Bible! Please continue to pray for them! To study the Bible & follow Christ can bring conflict among those who live such close knit lives in the community. The cost to follow Christ rather than the ways of their families for generations can be a high price. Pray for the new believers to stand strong, to diligently read the Word of God, and to boldly share their testimonies.
Pray for Fernando & Clementina who have been following Christ since October. We spent the whole week with Fernando because he supplied our transportation. This week they learned how to share their testimony and their faith with those who do not believe. Pray for them to speak boldly & to become leaders in the faith in their community, Santa Monica.
Alice- At the end of the day, we had a good visit with Alice! She asked good questions of how she could forgive others who have hurt her so badly and how she could have peace. We share with her the problem of sin and God’s gracious solution for that. She expressed interest in following Christ and reading her Bible. We encouraged her to begin in John. I was given a brief opportunity to spend a few minutes alone with Alice before she left that night. She asks questions about how to pray. We both prayed outloud together. This night was a huge step for Alice. She is broken and empty and frustrated. Today I wrote to her about my Daddy’s sermon on John 3:1-20 this morning (which I had the privilege of listening to). Jesus was the healer of Nicodemus’ emptiness, just as He is mine and yours and Alice’s. I hope to see her again, if she travels to Quito before I leave. Pray for Alice’s discipleship as she begins to read The Word and respond to the hurt she is experiencing.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A Call for Prayer
Today we begin our last full day of ministry in Tupigachi. This morning I visited with the host family that Brittany, Joy & I lived with for a few weeks in summer of 2009. Praise the Lord! Mami Marta and Papi Luis were baptized one month ago!
There are lots of things to pray for today! I’ll follow up with these opportunities this weekend so you can hear how the Lord is working here in Tupigachi, Ecuador!
This morning we will be working in an elementary school in San Juan Loma, a community that Sea Breeze has not worked with before this week! Praise the Lord for this new contact! Elizabeth, my dearest Ecuadorian friend, is going to serve with us today! Also, I will be translating this morning. So PrAy FoR tHaT!?!
This afternoon, we are supposed to meet a lady, named Anita, for a Bible Study. Monday she was not there. Pray she will be home so we can share Truth with her. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been visiting Anita every week. Pray the spirit of Truth will prevail over the false teaching she has received.
Tonight we will be having a Bible study & showing a movie about Jesus in a community called Santa Monica. When I was here two years ago we worked in the elementary school & daycare in Santa Monica every week. Since then, Christ has saved the several of the teachers at the daycare!! However, the school has been less receptive to the teams coming. Pray tonight that many more will hear and receive Christ and begin to study the Word!
Finally tonight at 9pm (10pm your time) when we get back to the hosteria, we will be meeting with Alice to study the Bible. Alice’s family owns the hosteria. I met her two years ago. She says she reads the Bible sometimes, but it is very difficult for her to understand. At this point, she has not accepted Christ. Pray for our time with Alice tonight!
Thank you for your prayers!
Praise the Lord for HIS work in Tupigachi over the last two years!
There are lots of things to pray for today! I’ll follow up with these opportunities this weekend so you can hear how the Lord is working here in Tupigachi, Ecuador!
This morning we will be working in an elementary school in San Juan Loma, a community that Sea Breeze has not worked with before this week! Praise the Lord for this new contact! Elizabeth, my dearest Ecuadorian friend, is going to serve with us today! Also, I will be translating this morning. So PrAy FoR tHaT!?!
This afternoon, we are supposed to meet a lady, named Anita, for a Bible Study. Monday she was not there. Pray she will be home so we can share Truth with her. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been visiting Anita every week. Pray the spirit of Truth will prevail over the false teaching she has received.
Tonight we will be having a Bible study & showing a movie about Jesus in a community called Santa Monica. When I was here two years ago we worked in the elementary school & daycare in Santa Monica every week. Since then, Christ has saved the several of the teachers at the daycare!! However, the school has been less receptive to the teams coming. Pray tonight that many more will hear and receive Christ and begin to study the Word!
Finally tonight at 9pm (10pm your time) when we get back to the hosteria, we will be meeting with Alice to study the Bible. Alice’s family owns the hosteria. I met her two years ago. She says she reads the Bible sometimes, but it is very difficult for her to understand. At this point, she has not accepted Christ. Pray for our time with Alice tonight!
Thank you for your prayers!
Praise the Lord for HIS work in Tupigachi over the last two years!
Monday, June 20, 2011
A Week in Machachi
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think [or imagine] according to the power at work within us, to HIM be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
Amen! This week in Machachi God INDEED did more than we ask or imagined! Let me tell you a few of the ways so that you– the church –may give glory to Him, just like Ephesians says.
Here are a few of my highlights from the week-
Machachi Moms- The team held a free kids’ camp three days this week. While the kids heard a Bible story, played games, & did crafts, I got to talk with their moms! While working in an adopted area with REAP Ecuador, building long lasting relationships is key! I sat & talked with them one afternoon. I shared my story of how the Lord saved me, what my relationship with Him means to me, & how now Jesus is my life & my hope through the testimony of my Mom’s sickness. I shared my photo album with them, of course! ;-) These women were a blessing to me! Praise the Lord they shared contact info so FBC Camden can follow-up in September when they return to Machachi!
Juan Carlos- On our last afternoon in Machachi, a young man overheard us speaking English and began to talk to us! He had lived in Canada for four years and had recently returned to Machachi where he was born. As we told him why we were here- to teach the Bible- he eagerly asked WHEN & WHERE. Since it was our last day there, we invited him to join us that night for café y pan (coffee & bread) at the hosteria, where we’d planned to visit with our host family. This random coincidence was actually a divine appointment!
From Empanadas & Chocolate Bread to a Bible study with the lost- The last few hours of Friday, we planned to spend casually visiting with our host family, and now Juan Carlos. The Lord had much greater plans! Brief comments of why we are here & a few words about our love for the people of Machachi lead to questions and discussion about how the topic of God is so taboo & how we believe there is one way to One God. Juan Carlos, whom God divinely appointed for us to meet on the street a few hours before, asked, “How exactly is the correct way to pray?” So we studied verse by verse through The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. They continued to ask GREAT questions! The Lord gave us more opportunity to share HIS WORD than we’d ever imagined!!! We gave Bibles to Juan Carlos & the host family, which included their teenage niece, Bianca. We taught them how to read them. Early in the evening, Bianca stated that she believed all paths lead to the one God. Although by the end of the evening, she said, “I’ve never read the Bible before, but now I must. There’s no escaping it!” Praise the Lord that both Juan Carlos & Bianca are eager to read their first very copy of God’s Word!
I could go on and on with stories of people we met & ways our incredible Lord worked beyond our imaginations! The team worked in the daycare, showed Christian movies in the town theater, visited in people’s homes, prayed with people, smiled & talked to hundreds as we lived in Machachi for the week! God IS working beyond our own abilities because HE IS STRENGTH & HE IS SALVATION!
And finally, I cannot end without saying, what a JOY it was to work with my brothers & sisters from Camden this week! The friendships the Lord gave me in them also reflect Ephesians 3:20- more than I could have asked or imagined!
Pray for –
-Juan Carlos & Bianca as they read the Word of God for the first time.
-The Machachi Moms & their kids to grow hungry for the truth they heard this week so they will be EAGER to study the Bible when the team returns in September.
-First Baptist Church Camden, SC as they continue investing in Machachi, Ecuador. Pray for their continual obedience to however the Lord leads them to become more & more involved in this work of the Lord! What a blessing it is!
Amen! This week in Machachi God INDEED did more than we ask or imagined! Let me tell you a few of the ways so that you– the church –may give glory to Him, just like Ephesians says.
Here are a few of my highlights from the week-
Machachi Moms- The team held a free kids’ camp three days this week. While the kids heard a Bible story, played games, & did crafts, I got to talk with their moms! While working in an adopted area with REAP Ecuador, building long lasting relationships is key! I sat & talked with them one afternoon. I shared my story of how the Lord saved me, what my relationship with Him means to me, & how now Jesus is my life & my hope through the testimony of my Mom’s sickness. I shared my photo album with them, of course! ;-) These women were a blessing to me! Praise the Lord they shared contact info so FBC Camden can follow-up in September when they return to Machachi!
Juan Carlos- On our last afternoon in Machachi, a young man overheard us speaking English and began to talk to us! He had lived in Canada for four years and had recently returned to Machachi where he was born. As we told him why we were here- to teach the Bible- he eagerly asked WHEN & WHERE. Since it was our last day there, we invited him to join us that night for café y pan (coffee & bread) at the hosteria, where we’d planned to visit with our host family. This random coincidence was actually a divine appointment!
From Empanadas & Chocolate Bread to a Bible study with the lost- The last few hours of Friday, we planned to spend casually visiting with our host family, and now Juan Carlos. The Lord had much greater plans! Brief comments of why we are here & a few words about our love for the people of Machachi lead to questions and discussion about how the topic of God is so taboo & how we believe there is one way to One God. Juan Carlos, whom God divinely appointed for us to meet on the street a few hours before, asked, “How exactly is the correct way to pray?” So we studied verse by verse through The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. They continued to ask GREAT questions! The Lord gave us more opportunity to share HIS WORD than we’d ever imagined!!! We gave Bibles to Juan Carlos & the host family, which included their teenage niece, Bianca. We taught them how to read them. Early in the evening, Bianca stated that she believed all paths lead to the one God. Although by the end of the evening, she said, “I’ve never read the Bible before, but now I must. There’s no escaping it!” Praise the Lord that both Juan Carlos & Bianca are eager to read their first very copy of God’s Word!
I could go on and on with stories of people we met & ways our incredible Lord worked beyond our imaginations! The team worked in the daycare, showed Christian movies in the town theater, visited in people’s homes, prayed with people, smiled & talked to hundreds as we lived in Machachi for the week! God IS working beyond our own abilities because HE IS STRENGTH & HE IS SALVATION!
And finally, I cannot end without saying, what a JOY it was to work with my brothers & sisters from Camden this week! The friendships the Lord gave me in them also reflect Ephesians 3:20- more than I could have asked or imagined!
Pray for –
-Juan Carlos & Bianca as they read the Word of God for the first time.
-The Machachi Moms & their kids to grow hungry for the truth they heard this week so they will be EAGER to study the Bible when the team returns in September.
-First Baptist Church Camden, SC as they continue investing in Machachi, Ecuador. Pray for their continual obedience to however the Lord leads them to become more & more involved in this work of the Lord! What a blessing it is!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Ultimate Priority
For the past week, I have been serving in Machachi with First Baptist Church Camden, SC. What a privilege it is to see God work through even the smallest details of the week! I look forward to sharing a few of the top stories with you, but let me first share a life changing concept that the Lord has been weaving deep into my heart this week.
God is to be my ultimate priority. “Priority” means “to prefer.” So, already knowing the answer and saddened by it, I asked myself, “Do I prefer Christ?” We usually use the word in the context of prefer over something else. In this case, it means prefer over EVERYTHING else.
So as I find myself longing to be able to answer –yes- to this question, but knowing I’m far from a genuine yes, I started asking myself about specific areas and praying for God to change my heart. Do I prefer time with Christ over time with my family? Do I prefer obedience to Christ even if that means long periods of distance from my family? Do I prefer to serve and invest in strangers rather than staying in my most comfortable circles?
Our faithful Lord graciously taught me all week to prefer Christ above anything else- that HE is the only one & that there is none but Christ that ultimately motivates and guides my life. I have been praying that this lesson will be imprinted into my life even if it is difficult or painful.
The Lord used a beautiful song that my dear friend, Jessica, gave me before I left. The song set the message of Christ as my ultimate priority even deeper into my heart. It says, “Lord when you show me who you are, you break into my heart. There is none but you. Forgive me for giving myself away to anything that calls my name. There is none but you.”
If I believe what I say I believe about eternity, about Christ’s promise of eternity, and about Christ’s promise of a future full redemption, then it WILL change the way I view my time here in Ecuador and the next two years of my life at home with my family & dear friends.
God is to be my ultimate priority. “Priority” means “to prefer.” So, already knowing the answer and saddened by it, I asked myself, “Do I prefer Christ?” We usually use the word in the context of prefer over something else. In this case, it means prefer over EVERYTHING else.
So as I find myself longing to be able to answer –yes- to this question, but knowing I’m far from a genuine yes, I started asking myself about specific areas and praying for God to change my heart. Do I prefer time with Christ over time with my family? Do I prefer obedience to Christ even if that means long periods of distance from my family? Do I prefer to serve and invest in strangers rather than staying in my most comfortable circles?
Our faithful Lord graciously taught me all week to prefer Christ above anything else- that HE is the only one & that there is none but Christ that ultimately motivates and guides my life. I have been praying that this lesson will be imprinted into my life even if it is difficult or painful.
The Lord used a beautiful song that my dear friend, Jessica, gave me before I left. The song set the message of Christ as my ultimate priority even deeper into my heart. It says, “Lord when you show me who you are, you break into my heart. There is none but you. Forgive me for giving myself away to anything that calls my name. There is none but you.”
If I believe what I say I believe about eternity, about Christ’s promise of eternity, and about Christ’s promise of a future full redemption, then it WILL change the way I view my time here in Ecuador and the next two years of my life at home with my family & dear friends.
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