Sometimes
God's timing does not line up with ours. Okay, a LOT of times it
doesn't line up. For this, I am grateful. I am not a perfect person
and I am not claiming to be 100% okay when God is telling me to wait.
I feel like a child most times when I talk to God. "Are
we there yet?....How about now?... Now are we there? Aren't we there
yet? Are we close to being there?" The answer I received
as a child when those questions were asked was "Every
time the wheel goes 'round we get a little closer".
The answer I receive now is about the same. God has his timing and it
is always perfect. God recently brought to mind Habakkuk during this
present waiting period.
Habakkuk
2:3 says
"The
vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its
goal.
It
won't be a lie. If it's delayed, wait for it. It will certainly
happen.
It
won't be late."
God
does not make empty promises. He fulfills EVERYTHING
that is spoken. But, what about those times where you don't hear
anything? Do you try to do things on your own... in your timing? How
does that work out for you? Usually for me, it doesn't work out too
well.
I
am a waiting period in my life that is uncomfortable. Every day I
CHOOSE to find the JOY
in the waiting. I have been unemployed since September 20th.
I have been fully qualified for many positions that I have applied
for, but rarely hear anything back from the companies. I have had
'ins' within certain companies and still....nothing. The first couple
days of being unemployed, I was hurt. I didn't understand why the
temp position didn't want to hire me on. In my short time with the
company (3 months), I trained a few people, I moved to higher
positions and was getting prepared to move to another higher
position. So, when I received a call from the temp agency letting me
know that I would no longer be employed there, it hit hard. The
reasoning they gave didn't make sense. When the week started back,
people kept telling me not to let this get me down. I would tell them
that something better would come along and I would be ok. I told them
that I was actually ok with not being there. I convinced myself for
the first week that I really was ok. But, I
wasn't ok. I wasn't talking to God. I did not ask him for
a new job, I didn't ask for JOY
in the waiting. After doing that for a week, I couldn't do it
anymore. I couldn't hide behind the "Everything's ok" mask. I
wasn't asking for JOY... I
wasn't ASKING... period. We are told to ASK.
(Matt
7:7-8)
"Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock
and the door will be opened to you.
For
everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;
and
to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
Why
in the world am I not ASKING for JOY
EVERYDAY?! Such a simple thing to ask for. Why did I not think of
that before? Why am I sitting with pretend joy, when I could have the
real thing?
I
now have JOY
in the waiting. I may not have a lot of patience, but I serve
a God who has unlimited patience!
(1
Tim 1:16)
"But
for that very reason
I
was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners,
Christ
Jesus might display his immense
patience
as
an example for those who would believe in him
and
receive eternal life."
I
know that this time of being unemployed is preparing me for something
bigger. God has something BIG up his sleeve, and although I may not
know what that may be right now, I will ask and wait patiently and
CHOOSE JOY! There are many
things I am waiting patiently for... A job, a husband, a place to
live, a church I feel a part of... But, as I said, I will wait for
God's BIG plan and rejoice while I wait.
My dear roommates from Georgia are heading to Kenya soon, but some of them still need support in order to even purchase a ticket to get to Kenya. I would LOVE if you would be able to help them, even if only by prayer. Please read this blog posted by Kelli Miller, and be sure to watch the amazing video at the end. Lots of Love! Bekah
Posted in General Posts by Kelli Miller on 4/27/2011
Our
team is about to book flights to Kenya! This is so exciting... BUT one
of us needs more support in order for us to book our tickets. Matt Patch needs to raise $700 more in monthly support and/or have people give one-time donations. He wrote the following on his personal blog:
"I made this last night for YOU. Thank you for
reading my blogs, praying for me, my team, and the people of Kenya, and
supporting me."
"Because of you hope is being brought to Kenya."
"I am truly trusting in the Lord to
provide... I need another $700 pledged monthly by the end of the day in
order to purchase my ticket to Kenya... please pray and ask the Lord how
you can contribute. Thank you!"
Yes, Kenya Initiative is a team. However, we
have to raise individual support. If one of us is lacking, the others
are going to lift him/her up. We need people to come alongside of Matt
and support him SOON so that we can be a team of six that goes to Kenya.
Click here to donate online today or contact him to let him know you are planning to support him by mailing in a check.Thank you, we appreciate your help and prayers!
I
heard a great sermon today about being saved. Here is a brief overview and my opinions mixed in as well.
Pastor
Franklin started naming things that people save. Stamps, coins,
figurines, (restore) cars, etc.
In
those examples, the things saved are not used often. The car would
only be taken out on a sunny Sunday. The coins and stamps are only to
be shared with other collectors but still rarely seen. We are not to
be just 'SAVED' We are called to be spent (2
Corinthians 12:15), used up, pour everything we have out...but
we don't.
The
pastor then talked about how excited people are about being saved and
how we are cleansed from that point on as 'white as snow' "Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isa.
1:18
So
he gave the example of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
We
are Snow White... The Bride of Christ. We are beautiful, we are pure,
we are something to be desired. But, we have things in our life that
DWARF us, things that hold us back.
Dwarf
means- to prevent the development of.
Here is the list of what
is preventing our development to be the PURE, BEAUTIFUL Bride of
Christ...
Sleepy-
We want our weekend to sleep in. We want a day to ourselves, where
there aren't any plans in the morning. It is our last day before
getting back to work or school.
Doc-
We think we know it all. We don't feel challenged by the pastor or by
people because we think we are always right and don't care what the
others have to say.
Grumpy-
We hate our life, we hate the community, the world is against us,
nothing good ever happens to us.
Sneezy-
We stick our nose into everything, we love gossip, we love news of
peoples lives all around us to take away the pressure in our own
lives.
Happy-
We ONLY want to go to church when things make us happy. If we are in
a bad mood, we don't want to go to church. We can't deal with issues
in our lives, because people will see past the 'happy' and that is
too difficult to explain.
Dopey-
We are the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. We don't want to
educate ourselves enough to know the truth. We don't want to read the
bible for ourselves, we just go once a week to church and have a few
scriptures fed to us and continue through the week,
Bashful-
We don't share the Gospel because we are shy. We don't want others to
think we are weird because we love Jesus.
GIVE
IT UP!!
We
are not meant to have these dwarfs in our lives. We can't stay in our
tiny house any longer. WE have a BIG God that lives in us and HE
cannot be contained in such a small dwarfed house.
It
reminds me of the Aladdin quote
"Genie:
PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! Itty-bitty living space!"
How
can you contain the gift that God has given you? How can you dwarf
the bride? How can you JUST be saved?
All
I know is that I can't contain it.
In
the next blog, I will share with you about what God is calling me to.
He is bringing up past dreams and bringing them into fruition. So,
stay tuned!
My
teammates are going to laugh at this post if and when they read it.
All year
I told each person how much I don't like community. It isn't
really that I don't like it, but I just didn't like the extreme
we were taking community to. But, lets won't talk about that. What
I want to talk about is REAL COMMUNITY and
the community that I miss from the World Race.
I
miss having life spoken over me.
I
miss be charismatic and crazy.
I
miss people praying over everything (Even if it was a grocery list)
I
miss having the faith to pray over a generator with missing parts and
it starts to work.
I
miss people speaking scripture God has laid on their hearts.
I
miss worship that is from the heart and not a script.
I
miss knowing that people are praying for me each day, especially when
I am having a sucky day.
I
miss not being called a slob when I just want to wear stretchy pants
and no makeup for my job.
I
miss late night stories from random cheesy Christian romance novels
from the free table.
I
miss worshiping by a fire (sometimes while cooking dinner)
I
miss praying for a particular country for hours.
I
miss devotional times with my team.
I
miss being crazy with others who are just as crazy as me.
I
miss my community from my H squad.
I
miss my coaches who dealt with me when I wanted to go away from this
community.
I
miss the community that stayed behind at the AIM base that prayed for
me before and during the Race.
I
miss (basically) having a revival at the end of every month with 50
people whom I love!
There is
so much I miss from the community I was a part of in 2009... Each day
I find something else I miss from the World Race. Each day I realize
that I need community. I search for it, but come up empty handed.
Maybe my idea of community is a bit different from the World Race,
but I still miss it.
Please
be praying for me as I am going through this next phase of transition
in my life. Pray that I would find the community that God wants me to
be a part of.
I spoke at a young adult group in Cedar Rapids called "Watershed" this past Thursday and I
wanted to share with you what I wrote.
Of course, a few things
changed in the 'live' version of this, but the spirit knew what he was
doing.
Enjoy!!
PRAYER:
God I pray that you would touch the lives in this room today. I
pray that you would open their hearts to the message you have prepared
for me to teach tonight. My prayer is that each person would leave
tonight with a better understanding of love and what that really means.
Speak through me tonight as I try to convey your message
This past year I went on an 11 month Mission trip around the
world called "The World Race". It is really hard to touch on each
country in just 20 minutes, so, I am going to kind of sum it together
with one MAIN thing that God used throughout the entire trip.
Each country brought new challenges, new disappointments, and
new loves. God taught me a lot of things, but everything that I learned
all had to do with love. Because ultimately, that is what this life is
about.
There were many language barriers, some places we had to have 2
or 3 translators just to talk to one group of people. Because there
were 52 people that did this trip, not everyone could have to luxury of
getting 2 or 3 translators at their disposal. One month, my team did
prostitution ministry, working in the bars, loving on the women, trying
to get them out of this line of work and into something else. Language
barrier was still there, but the language of love is what we used to
share with those around us. It doesn't matter if it was an orphan, a
handicapped individual, a prostitute, a leper, a gypsy, or just another
missionary. Love translates in every single language and it is SO easy.
This was the biggest thing I learned on this trip. I know it seems like
such an easy thing, but it is really complicated. So, lets talk a little about
love. We hear songs all of the
time talking about love. "All we need is love, what the world needs now
is love, I hate myself for loving you, I was made for loving you baby"
and so many more. But, what doesLOVE mean?
Can someone here give me a definition of Love?
Here is what Noah Webster says Love means:
1. Strong Affection for a relative, a warm attachment,
attraction based on sexual desire...
Now, here is what the bible says about love.:
There are 3 types of love, which I am sure that most of you
have heard these names before.
Eros- Romantic Love
Phileo- Brotherly Love
Agape- Deepest Love
A scripture that God has placed on my heart and in my life is
one that many of you have heard at weddings many times.
1 Corinthians 13 turn with me. (My team can attest to me being
in this sciprture for a majority of the Word Race)
Can someone read verses 4-13?
Out of this list, let me see a show of hands of those who have
loved like this today?
Were you patient with co-workers?
Kind to that person who cut you off while you were driving
here? (Or irritable because of that)
Rude to someone you can't really stand?
Envious or jealous of someone or something?
Yikes, that is a tough list to live up to. I really struggled
with this list this year.
Who am I kidding? I still struggle with this daily.
We have high expectations on what love is and how to live it
out daily. I am reminded every single day that I need to love those who
don't like me, love those who test my patience, love those who tick me
off, and love God during all of those times as well.
It is hard to love that driver that just flipped you the bird
on the interstate, or that co-worker who is doing the best they can to
get you fired.
But, we are called as Christians to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
This is a silly exercise, but I want you to turn to someone who
you may not know sitting behind you or in front of you and tell them
that you love them. You may have just met that person tonight or have
known them for years, but they now know that you are going to practice 1
Cor 13 with them.
This year, I really struggled with loving the team I was placed
with. I didn't think that I was supposed to be on my team because all
of our personalities were strong and we wanted to choke one another. We
were supposed to act like a family, but we acted like strangers. When
we were in South Africa, God shut some doors. Our transportation was
falling through every time we would try to make new plans, the door
would shut. After a couple days, a missionary heard that we were in town
and came to talk with us. She told us that God wanted us to stay and
become a family as a squad (all 52 of us). She said that God would open
the doors when we became a family. We took her message seriously and as a
squad we fasted from food and from speaking for 24 hours. During that
time, God really pressed on my heart that I needed to reconcile with
team and really show them love.
It was at that time that God pressed 1 Corinthians 13 in my
head. He had me comb through that scripture word by word. I was 'stuck'
in that passage for 7 months. But each time I read it, I found something
new in it. Each day, the love for my team and others around me grew.
God then asked me to give up sarcasm. Whoa. Sarcasm was my undefined
love language. But, I knew that in order to love more fully, I had to
give up something that was going to be difficult. It was hard at first,
but words of love started to replace the words of sarcasm. Love became
an everyday thing. I wasn't just giving words of love, but I was acting
out that love in any way that I could.
So,
my challenge to you is to ask God what he wants to show you through the
1 Corinthians passage. How does he want you to love? How can you love
everyone more deeply?
God
I want to thank you for sending your son as the ultimate sacrifice of
Love. Thank you for speaking through Paul in 1st Corinthians in a way
that we can still understand today. Let us love more like you. Let us
see people in the way you see them. Let the words that come out of our
mouth me words of love and not of rudeness or selfishness. Teach
us to love YOU more intimately. As our love for you grows, Lord, we
know that loving others will get easier. Thank you for loving us when we
are rude, and self serving, we don't deserve that love, but we accept
it and hold it close. Amen
My dear friend Stephanie Tyrna, who was on the World Race with me, just came back from Haiti on Thursday. Here is a story that she posted in her blog. Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers!
6:30am. Time to wake up. The ten of us
quietly shuffle around the orphanage getting ready to head into Haiti
for
another day of helping out. The smell of apple cinnamon and maple brown
sugar
oatmeal hit your nose as you step outside the church. These few minutes
in the
morning are really the only quiet times we ever have to ourselves. I
look
around as my teammates are quietly eating oatmeal, reading their bibles,
doing
devotionals, and preparing for the day.
We head out around 7am. As we cross the
DR and Haitian borders, we normally rent two security guards for the
day.
However, today the DR president is heading into Haiti and there is only
one
security guard that we can buy. His name is Alexia. He hops into the
back of
the truck with us as we continue on our way to Fond Parisien, the
hospital/church we have been helping out at.
As we are making our way to the
hospital, we notice that Alexia doesn't look too happy. Mind you, our
rides
crammed in the back of the truck together seem to bring out the fun and
laughter in our team. I believe this is when the nicknames started
coming as
well: Jacob the Social Cracker, Sara Choe the Asian Tiger and Me the
Dolphin
Whisperer. Oh fun times! So as we are joking around having a grand ol
time,
Alexia sits there very serious and looks kind of annoyed. None of us
really
thought too much of it at the time.
As we arrive to Fond Parisien, we are
all assigned different tasks. Sara Choe and I are placed in the hospital
helping the doctors with patients. There are over 100 patients that have
arrived today. Meanwhile, Ashley and Aaron have their own mission to
spend
around $5,000 to buy food and supplies that can be given away. So, off
they go
with Alexia in the truck to make some border runs to get rice, beans,
and
whatever else they can find.
When Ashley and Aaron return from their
mission around 4pm we come to find out the story of Alexia...
Aaron said that Alexia spoke English (which
none of us knew) and told Aaron that he looked sad. Aaron told Alexia
that he wasn't
sad, he was just tired. And then Aaron asked Alexia why he
seemed to
look upset. Alexia then replied and told Aaron that he had lost his
entire
family in the earthquake. He was the only one who survived and the only
thing
he has is the uniform on his back. He told Aaron that he did not know
what he
was going to do and what his future held. He said that he now feels
obligated
to go to school to become a doctor so he can help people.
When I heard of this on our truck ride
home that evening, I was torn up. I slowly started to crumble inside. No
wonder
he wasn't laughing with us earlier. No wonder he was upset! Ugh.
I cannot even imagine. The thought of
losing my entire family, not knowing what my future holds and somehow
managing
to work all at the same time is just beyond me. What do you say to
someone like
this? There are simply just no words...
This is the story of Alexia.
He is not the only one with a story
like this. There are thousands upon thousands of Haitians without homes,
families, jobs, stability, a sense of security or a known future at
this
very moment.
Please keep these refugees in your
prayers. And when you pray, pray specifically for Alexia who is one of
the many
amidst the devastated and brokenhearted.
Lord, I lift up Alexia to you. I pray
for His mind and for his heart. I pray that You will protect his mind
and his
heart during this time. I pray that You will take captive every thought
of his.
I pray against all fear and against the things that he has seen in the
name of
Jesus Christ. I pray that Alexia finds YOU amidst his loss and
brokenness. I
pray that He realizes that You are the one true God and what may seem
like
complete devastation and brokenness, you can turn into greatness. I pray
that he
holds on to You. May he find security, hope, love, peace and joy in You
and
only You. Please pour Your favor onto Him. Bless him as he makes
decisions that
point to his future and what that may become. I thank You so much that
we were
able to meet Alexia and hear his story. And that we are now able to pray
specific prayers and intercede on his behalf. I thank You that we now
have
warriors warring on his behalf for his salvation and the rest of his
time here
on earth. Thank You Lord. We love You so much. In Your holy and
magnificent
name we pray. *Amen.*
I wanted to share this song
with you.
God woke me up this past weekend so that I could pray for Haiti. These are His words and not mine. I am not a
song writer, just obedient to what He tells me. I don't have a tune to this song yet, I will just wait for God to give me the song and I know He will.
That is something we learned in Haiti just under a year ago. HE is the Hope of all mankind. Right now HAITI needs your help. They are suffering from a huge 7.0 earthquake and you can help.
Here are a few ways you can do that.
Give to the Haiti Earthquake Relief fund
AIM is mobilizing teams in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake.
AIM Dominican Republic base director Miguel and Kristen Shaul live about four hours from Port-au-Prince and are coordinating immediate relief efforts. There are also alumni from the AIM World Race program traveling to Haiti soon to help prepare for short-term teams. Our mission teams have been to Haiti, have fallen in love with the people there, and are very anxious to help. See Ashley Musick's blog for an example of one broken heart for Haiti.
Donations go to earthquake relief efforts.
Our primary goal is to bring first-response relief to those in need with supplies such as food, blankets, shelters, basic health care, and more. Our secondary goal is to identify communities in which we can get involved in long-term rebuilding. We ask for prayers for God's favor in leading our efforts and for partnership in funding this response.
Adventures In Missions is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the Internal Revenue Service.
Gifts may be 100% tax-deductible; please consult a tax advisor
Here are a list of telephone numbers that can direct you to many other ways to give as well.
You may want to make a donation, send supplies and/or partner with another non-profit working in Haiti. Here is our list of organizations from the GNI Data Base. Obviously our list is incomplete. I am sure there are many other organizations besides those listed that are working in Haiti. We may be sending out another similar email to this one. If you work in Haiti and would like to be added to this list just send us your name and email.
Agape Flights - 941/488-0990
Children's Medical Missions of Haiti - 201/506-5649
Colorado Haiti Project - 303/938-0163
Community Coalition for Haiti - 703/880-4160
Crossworlds - (610)667-7660
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti - 615/478-6773
For Haiti with Love Inc. - 727/938-3245
Foundation for Children of Haiti - 011/509-510-4720
Good Shepherd Ministries - 321/752-0072
HAFF (Haitian Friendship Foundation) - 239/565-1196
Haiti Charity Hope Foundation - 401/723-3404
Haiti Medical Mission - 701/241-5317
Haiti Medical Missions of Memphis - 901/761-9097
Haiti Medical Teams International - 509/966-5422
Haiti Outreach Ministries - 800/231-9462
Haiti Vision & Services - 405/478-5743
Haitian Christian Outreach - 217/778-6023
Haitian Health Foundation - 860/886-4357
Harvest Foundations - (602)258-1083
Healing Hands for Haiti - 866/482-0763
Hopital Albert Schweitzer - (412)361-5200
Love a Child Ministries - 813/621-7263
New Life Advance International - 011/509/246-3009
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission - 214/554-3218
Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, Haiti - 312/386-7499
St. Boniface Haiti Foundation - 781/963-7243
Vision of Hope Ministries - 954/928-3704
God Bless and THANK you for helping out this BEAUTIFUL Country.
To check out my pictures from Haiti, please go HERE
That is something we learned in Haiti just under a year ago. HE is the Hope of all mankind. Right now HAITI needs your help. They are suffering from a huge 7.0 earthquake and you can help.
Here are a few ways you can do that.
Give to the Haiti Earthquake Relief fund
AIM is mobilizing teams in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake.
AIM Dominican Republic base director Miguel and Kristen Shaul live about four hours from Port-au-Prince and are coordinating immediate relief efforts. There are also alumni from the AIM World Race program traveling to Haiti soon to help prepare for short-term teams. Our mission teams have been to Haiti, have fallen in love with the people there, and are very anxious to help. See Ashley Musick's blog for an example of one broken heart for Haiti.
Donations go to earthquake relief efforts.
Our primary goal is to bring first-response relief to those in need with supplies such as food, blankets, shelters, basic health care, and more. Our secondary goal is to identify communities in which we can get involved in long-term rebuilding. We ask for prayers for God's favor in leading our efforts and for partnership in funding this response.
Adventures In Missions is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the Internal Revenue Service.
Gifts may be 100% tax-deductible; please consult a tax advisor
Here are a list of telephone numbers that can direct you to many other ways to give as well.
You may want to make a donation, send supplies and/or partner with another non-profit working in Haiti. Here is our list of organizations from the GNI Data Base. Obviously our list is incomplete. I am sure there are many other organizations besides those listed that are working in Haiti. We may be sending out another similar email to this one. If you work in Haiti and would like to be added to this list just send us your name and email.
Agape Flights - 941/488-0990
Children's Medical Missions of Haiti - 201/506-5649
Colorado Haiti Project - 303/938-0163
Community Coalition for Haiti - 703/880-4160
Crossworlds - (610)667-7660
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti - 615/478-6773
For Haiti with Love Inc. - 727/938-3245
Foundation for Children of Haiti - 011/509-510-4720
Good Shepherd Ministries - 321/752-0072
HAFF (Haitian Friendship Foundation) - 239/565-1196
Haiti Charity Hope Foundation - 401/723-3404
Haiti Medical Mission - 701/241-5317
Haiti Medical Missions of Memphis - 901/761-9097
Haiti Medical Teams International - 509/966-5422
Haiti Outreach Ministries - 800/231-9462
Haiti Vision & Services - 405/478-5743
Haitian Christian Outreach - 217/778-6023
Haitian Health Foundation - 860/886-4357
Harvest Foundations - (602)258-1083
Healing Hands for Haiti - 866/482-0763
Hopital Albert Schweitzer - (412)361-5200
Love a Child Ministries - 813/621-7263
New Life Advance International - 011/509/246-3009
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission - 214/554-3218
Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, Haiti - 312/386-7499
St. Boniface Haiti Foundation - 781/963-7243
Vision of Hope Ministries - 954/928-3704
God Bless and THANK you for helping out this BEAUTIFUL Country.
To check out my pictures from Haiti, please go HERE
