Devouring of another kind

Greetings friends who bow with me...

"So humble yourselves under the mighty power of G0d, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to G0d, for He cares about you. 

Stay Alert! Watch our for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your f@ith. Remember that your Chr!sti@n brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 

In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal gl0ry by means of Chr!st J.s.s. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen.

1 Peter 5:6-11

These verses have become the theme for my time here in M since my return in July. I continue to go back to them for strength on what seems to be a regular basis these days. I guess you can say the honeymoon is over and now we are into the real day to day of discipleship, growing, learning, humbling ourselves, and giving all of our concerns to G0d for He cares for us. Daily I find myself preparing for the enemy and watching for him...knowing there will be pain, struggle, and sometimes even destruction. 

While all this hurt and struggle is going on and there are days I just want to run, I want you to know that your prayers and my f@ith in the One who has called me remain the things that give me what I need daily to stand firm and strong...to seek G0d's perspective ...not the perspective of my own selfishness, my own hurt, my own anything. Truly this work G0d calls us to do has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Him and His perspective and His purposes. 

I am learning the truths that we suffer, but He restores! We suffer, yet He supports! We suffer, HE STRENGTHENS! We suffer, and HE puts us on a FIRM foundation!! ALL POWER TO HIM FOREVER!!

Please pr@y these verses over us as often as G0d brings it to your mind!! Please pr@y for 0 and S0 as they are being taunted, tortured, and occasionally devoured bit by bit by the enemy. Our enemy is not happy with their interest and their pursuit of Jss. I ask you to especially pr@y for 0 as she is in a battle from many different sides. I have struggled to understand where she truly stands with G0d and I'm so glad G0d continues to remind me that it is not my job to know where someone stands with Him....it is my job to be His light in the darkness, to be His Presence to love, care for, and demonstrate His righteousness in my own life. I plead with you to pr@y earnestly for 0 as she is torn and twisted from so many directions...home, work, friends, family. It is not easy being the friend of a white person here and even less easy to be a f0ll0wer of Jss along with it. My heart breaks for her, yet I know that truly G0d alone can help her, can reveal truth to her, can RESTORE, SUPPORT, STRENGTHEN, AND PUR HER ON A FIRM FOUNDATION!! Those are the things I pr@y for her...and S0...

Will you join me?

The Big Feast

Greetings and Thanksgiving to you all!!

Thank you so much for your Pr@yers for our Big Feast M@lian Style! It was a great and fun day! I started early preparing my heart to share G0d's story, preparing the house for lots of visitors, and washing the dust off of all the dishes, cooking pots and bowls we would use to prepare the feast! Renting chairs, setting up the garage, then the fun begins. Friends begin to show up and the cooking starts.

So many times before I am busy picking people up and running here and there, getting this or that, but this time...this feast I was able to sit with my women friends who came early and prepare the meal beside them. It was the greatest joy, even though we cried a lot. We had to cut up 10 kilos of onions. So the onions are where we began...peeling them, cutting them in half, then in tiny slices. We were making an onion sauce called Yassa. It is so yummy and requires marinating the onions in mustard, Maggi (similar to bouillon cubes), garlic, and pepper. 

While some were cutting the mounds of onions, others were washing the 20 chicken legs and 20 chicken thighs, mincing the garlic, and preparing the pots for frying. Still others were cooking the couscous...8 packages of couscous. It was just fun! Each group was having a blast and we even had some outbursts of singing throughout our morning of cooking. Oh yea...and of course someone had to be making tea to keep us all going..3 rounds! And yes the day was like the tea...it got sweeter as the day went on!

 After the food was ready we ate...each one until we were stuffed....just as you should on Thanksgiving day! A group of children sitting together eating, a group of women gathered together around the common bowl, and the men sharing food together. A time I will not quickly forget and a time that I give GREAT THANKS to our G0d for allowing us to share together. Everyone was enjoying, laughing, and receiving the bountiful blessings G0d has given!

 After we ate, everyone received a cold soda of their choice! We raised them high and shouted together..."Ala, I ni ce!! Matigi, I ni ce! An be barika da I ye, I ka nyuma koson!!" God, thank you! Lord, thank you! We thank you for your goodness!" The smiles on their faces and the joy we shared in those moments of pr@ise blessed my heart!

We also broke open 4 watermelons! There are no words for the joy Africans have eating watermelon...so let's just get this picture in our minds...we all had watermelon from ear to ear, from fingers to elbows, and probably some on our toes!!





The sweetest part of the day was our time of pr@ise and thanksgiving! We started with pr@yer then sharing together Psalm 136:1-9 to declare who G0d is and how His f@ithful love endures forever.
We had a time for each of us to share things we give thanks to G0d for and the ways He has blessed us this year. One said, "He helped us find out what was wrong with our son. He has been sick all of his life but we did not know what was wrong. We have been able to get help for him." Another said, "I wanted to begin a business selling things in the market, and G0d helped me do that." One said, "I cannot say all He has done for me because the tears come and I cannot speak." We continued on sharing the story of the 10 Lepers Jss healed and discussing all that we learn from this

story. Most could not believe there was only one who returned to give thanks and pr@ise to G0d. We all agreed that as humans, we most often do not give G0d thanks for the things He does for us. We ended with more singing and dancing and pr@ising and giving thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends in Am3rica!! We have celebrated M@lian style and everyone agreed that they want to share this celebration together every year...to join with Am3rica and give thanks to G0d!!

 

 Happy 

Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

American Thanksgiving M@lian Style...headed my way

Greetings and Thanksgiving to you all from M!

This is just a quick note to ask you to join me in pr@ying for tomorrow, Friday. I have invited my M@lian friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving with me M@lian style. I have no idea who will actually come, but no matter what the order of the day is to give thanks to G0d our Father for ALL He has done for us! I am looking forward to being together and enjoy fellowship with what I consider to be my family here in M and to spend time singing, sharing G0d's story, eating together, and just hanging out for the day away from the workplace.

We will be having a feast...chicken (complete with bones), couscous, yassa (a yummilicious onion sauce), brownies, tea and dah(hibiscus tea), and cold sodas. Then we will sing songs of pr@ise and w0rship before and after we feast on G0d's Word. We will talk about the story of Jss healing the 10 Lepers and the 1 who came back to give thanks to Jss.

Please pr@y for us as you read this email and in the morning. When you are waking up the party will be beginning to get into full swing!!

I'll let you know how it goes and how other things have been going this past week!! Love you all and you are on my BIG THANK YOU list to G0d!!

Be Still

"Be still, and know that I am G0d! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of Heavens Armies is here among us;  the G0d of Isr@el is our fortress."

Psalm 46:10-11

Greetings everyone!!

My heart is much lighter today and I wanted to thank you for your pr@yers, your f@ithfulness, and your responses to go to the Father on behalf of the people here. Walking with you through this has been a joy and a privilege and I cannot keep silent about how our Father is listening and answering!!

I want you to join me in giving pr@ise to our Father for His Presence, His Power, and His Wisdom! Pr@ise Him for the way He draws His people together in unity to pr@y and to seek His will and His purposes!! Pr@ise Him for being a G0d who listens and responds, who acts for the sake and glory of His name. 

I confess I did not sleep much last night. I got up around 2 am and sat still with Him, pr@ying and seeking Him alongside you. I confess I really could not even put into words what I wanted or needed to pr@y. I also confess I still do not know how our Father is going to work all of this out, what the road looks like that will walk as we follow Him, or how He will use this for His glory. These are the few things I know and saw Him do today:

• Soften the heart of my friend who had closed the door to communication with me yesterday
• Open that door of communication this morning
• Open the door for me to sit among my people today, to listen to their hurts, and walk with them in this difficulty
• Open the door for me to speak Truth about G0d, His ways, His plans, and His purposes
• Open the ears of my friend to consider that the Truth that G0d had the power to stop what is happening but He didn't, to consider that if He didn't stop it, then whatever He is doing will be better than what they had before yesterday, to consider that we need to seek G0d and His will and surrender to whatever He has planned for their work, to consider that G0d is for them and He will never throw them away.
• Opened the way for us to work through this together for the good of everyone on the street and for the glory of G0d

Please continue to seek G0d's face and pr@y for this situation. Many, if not all of these women, bear the responsibility of providing for their children and families with little to no help from their husbands. Most of them are asking themselves how will I take care of my family....it is about the day to day survival...not the luxuries of the life you and I experience. Please pr@y for wisdom and boldness as I walk with them through this. Pr@y G0d will reveal Himself, His Truth, and His Plan to them and especially that through this trial, they will come to understand the personal relationship our Father longs to have with them...to help them, to provide for them, to guide them, and to pour out His grace, mercy and salvation.
I also want to give thanks and pr@ise to our Father for my visit to the doctor. I am doing much better. She did some blood work today to check things out and I will get the results from that tomorrow. Her instructions today were to "go to the street and spend some time with your friends, drink tea, and enjoy being out of the house." That is just what I did and G0d showed His Power and Presence.
One other thing to give pr@ise to our Daddy G0d...He is the One who prepares us and orders the moments of our day, the steps of our feet. He does all of this without our understanding so much of the time. I say this because Sunday a week ago I felt compelled to BE STILL with Him, to know that He is G0d, and to claim the Truth that He WILL be honored among the nations and in all the earth. I had the sweetest time with Him that day and He did a major work in my heart, in my eyesight, and in my mind. So much changed that day and the battle with the enemy lifted in so many ways. It was that next Tuesday that the doctor ordered me not to work, to stay home and rest, to take my medicine, and recuperate. Talk about  BE STILL and KNOW....7 days of not going out, not running like a crazy woman, not coming home exhausted. In those 7 days, G0d showed me how He was being honored, how He was at work, how He chooses to use us...He doesn't need us, He chooses to use us. Sweet, sweet time of gentle reminders and remembering my place before G0d. Oh how He orchestrates every detail of our lives...He is Sovereign...He is worthy of our Pr@ise!
Give HIM all the pr@ise!

"Rain and snow fall from the sky.
But they don't return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.
That's how it is with my words. They don't return to me without doing everything I send them to do." 

Isaiah 55:10-11

Greetings to all of you, my friends and co-laborers!

Last week, my neighbor came to me to tell me he would be leaving to go to his father's village. He has been living next door to me studying with to be an Imam under the leadership of the Imam that lives beside me. G0d has allowed me to build a good relationship with these two men, their wives, and their children. We laugh together, we share food with each other, and we spend time talking together. Many times they have been sick and have allowed me to pr@y in the name of Jss. Our G0d responded with healing when they were embracing death. We walked together through the difficulty of losing the son of the Imam...a tough time for all of us, yet G0d's compassion and love was expressed in real ways. We have rejoiced over the arrival of a son in the life of this man who came to me last week.

When I went home, I told him that I was going to spend some time with my parents. I explained it had been a long time since I had seen them, and I told them their ages. He was so moved by the fact that my Father was almost 80 years old. From that day on and since my return, there has not been a morning or an evening that he did not greet me and ask about my father. He always gives me this blessing for my father... "May God give him good health and life until he is102."

We talked a lot about his going to the village, what he would be doing there, who was going with him, and when he would come back. I must admit my eyes filled with tears and still do as I think about it.  After I had expressed my sorrow in his leaving, my giving him the road to go, and after I had blessed his journey, an amazing thing happened. He knocked on my door again. When I opened the door, with tears in his eyes he placed a coin in my hand and asked me to give it to my father. I had the hardest time keeping it together in that moment. It was not the moment to cry but my eyes and emotions, even now, were difficult to control. I told him my father would receive it and I thanked him so much!! The coin was approximately $1 in monetary value, but its true worth is incomparable in this world. For some unknown reason at this point, G0d has connected this man to my father in a way that probably none of us can really know or understand. He has never seen him or met him, yet he considers him every time he sees me.

When I shared this story with my father, he asked me if i could give this young man one of the mp3 radio players that has God's Word and songs of Truth on it. He wanted to give him a gift that would give him an opportunity to hear more about Jss and understand G0d's great gift to us through Jss.  I told him,"Yes, I can do that!" You have to know also that my dad is a Gideon and giving G0d's Word to someone is part of who he is.

After talking with my dad, I went the next day with D@n to give the mp3 player to him and to express my father's gratitude for his gift and his continual blessing of health and life until he was 102. He was so happy to receive it and he could not wait to begin listening. He went with a huge smile on his face into the house to listen with his teacher. I don't know how long they listened that night, but when I went out the next morning they were listening. His first words of greeting were "Thank your father for me! The words and songs on this radio taste so good!" He left that afternoon and I was not sure when I would see him again. To my surprise, this past Monday evening when I came home, my father's unknown son, Sole, was sitting outside my house along with about 10 other men, his teacher,
the 3 women of the house and all the children. He and his older brother had come back before heading to their father's village. They were listening to the radio and talking with one another. I don't know what G0d has planned for this gift from a father to an unknown son, but I know the words and songs he is listening to on that radio have power to bring life and salvation.

Please pr@y for Sole, his teacher, and all those who may listen to G0d's Words with him. Pr@y specifically for G0d's Sp!r!t to be poured out every time the radio is turned on and for understanding to be given to those who listen. Pr@y for The Truth to be revealed, for courage to walk in The Way, and for The Life to be place in the hearts of Sole, his teacher, and all who listen with them. Please pr@y for the s@lvat!on of these brothers and sisters of mine!!

Give Thanks

I want to first thank you all for your prayers and your personal involvement in my life and ministry!! You have been an encouragement to me in so many ways...many of you have taken the time to email, encourage, and cheer me on in the fight of f@ith and the struggles we all face in this world!! I am happy to say and to tell you that our G0d, our Father and our L0rd has heard all of our prayers and He has made Himself known is so many personal ways!!

This past Sunday I took the morning to just spend alone with Him! It was the sweetest time of honest confession and sincere surrender and His response was to draw me close and show Himself to me!! He helped me to see things I have not been able to see and He helped me to refocus my eyes on His perspective. I just love how personal and intimate our God is with us and how He leads us along His Best pathway. I love that He doesn't leave us out there wondering and wandering on our own...He beckons to us, calls to us, and draws us and at just the right moment He reveals Himself to us!! He shows us where we are going astray in our thinking, our actions, and our attitudes. He changes our perspective and suddenly His peace, His love, His joy flood in and the load of this life is lighter.

I want to thank you for pr@ying for me and for those with whom I am working. The enemy is in retreat mode...I know this may be for only a moment...but for this moment we give pr@ise to our G0d. He has been victorious and He has overcome the battles. Our G0d has used these struggles and battles to teach us and to show us how to fight the enemy.

Give thanks to Him today for the opportunities He has given us to grow and understand Him in greater ways. Thank Him for continuing to use songs to teach the women on the street. Monday morning as O and I were driving downtown we heard 2 new songs on the radio...songs that spoke to her heart. She began teaching me what they were saying. One was about Peter's words to beggar outside the temple..."Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jss get up and walk." The song simply talked about all the situations we may face...no money, no food, no clothing, no this or no that... Jss has come so get up and walk. Later in the day we were listening to the mp3 player while we were working. A new song she had not heard before came on. It was about the women of the Bible (Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Abigail, Hannah, Lydia, and others) who gave their best and their lives honored and glorified G0d. Needless to say, we listened only to that song all the way to the market and home. I watched as she processed that song and the reality that her life and her work could honor and glorify G0d. She is searching and seeking to understand this new walk of f@ith and life. Please continue to pr@y for her as she discovers the realness and personal intimacy that G0d desires with each of us. Give thanks to G0d for the ways in which He Himself is teaching and leading O to walk with Him. Please pr@y for O as she teaches what she learns with others on the street.

Thank you again for holding us up in the challenges and the struggles of this life!

Praising

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, I found myself wide awake and unable to sleep. There was a heaviness in my heart. So I believe G0d revealed to me that I needed to get up and just pr@ise Him...to stop pondering so much and start pr@ising. So I did...and I realized really how long it had been since I just stopped to pr@ise and give thanks to Him. It was a sweet, sweet time of fellowship with Him, and I realized how much I needed to share with you all that He has been doing. Its not that it is BIG, HUGE, life changing things...but the sweetness and tenderness of His Presence at work...again small glimpses of His Glory in the sometimes difficult days of adjustments and changes.

G0d continues to use the small solar powered radios to reveal Himself, to teach His ways, and to fill the hearts and minds of the people on the street with His truth. I want to personally thank each of you, your churches, and your workplaces that have donated these radios...God is using them for HIS GLORY! Let me tell you how....

Ladies on the street...

A group of ladies all working side by side on the street...on their stand sits a radio playing songs about Jss. One lady says, "That is a great song!" They begin to talk about it and what it means. Each lady adding her thoughts. I love that the Old Woman among them who follows a different road sings and shares her thoughts...taking in the TRUTHS as well.

A young woman...around 18 years, with 2 small children...she is working with one of the ladies and you can see that she looks up to her as a role model and mentor. A song is playing and "the mentor" picks the radio up. She calls the young woman to lean closer to her. She begins quietly asking her to listen and then asking if she understands. She quietly explains the meaning of the song to the young woman.

After a difficult few days of spiritual warfare and a confrontation early in the morning, this same lady pulls out the radio and sits it on the table. She begins listening and a song comes on that speaks to her. She turns to her friend and says, "Did you hear that?" She explains to her friend that the song is saying "If you have a trouble or a problem comes between you and someone else, be careful. Satan will come and sit with you and lead you down the wrong road." Then she looks at me and says, "Did you change this song so that it would be the next song I would hear?" You see, we had just had this discussion, this same battle of Satan trying to destroy, lead astray, and cause division. Of course I had not changed the song and my language is not good enough to even know that the song was on there. It was my first time to hear the song. G0d knew it was there, and I love how He used it at just the right moment to teach, affirm, and solidify a truth that is vital in our walk with Him.

Men on the Street...

Shortly after we returned from a conference, one of the young guys (Amad) on the street asked me for one of the radios. My translator had gone to the village and I do not like to give the radios out without someone talking with them about what is on the radio and finding out a little about why they are asking for one...are they really seeking G0d or do they just want a cool radio... So I asked him to wait until the translator got back from the village and we would talk about it. A few days later the brother of our friend who died was standing talking to one of the women about the radio and about how he had been listening every Saturday and Sunday to the teaching of Good News on the radio station in the city. He was asking about the radio she was listening to and what was on it. Later, he came and asked about getting one. Again, I asked him to wait for the translator to return from the village. So when he returned, he sat with the two of them and talked. He sensed a great interest and a great opportunity for G0d's Words to penetrate their hearts and lives. We gave each of them one of the radios. This week we talked to one of them about what he has been listening to on the radio and what he remembers about it. He said really the words in the radio are hard. He has realized really that he is not living like those words. We had a chance to talk with him about the importance of honesty and recognizing that we are all sinners. He shared with him how he too was a sinner but there was one difference between them. Jss has forgiven him and has given him eternal life. They continued to talk and he continues to listen. Pr@y for his salvation and his acceptance of the gift of forgiveness through Jss. Pr@y for the opportunity to talk to the other man about what He is hearing and how it is impacting him.

Pr@ise G0d for the sound of His Word and the Songs of His Truth being played everyday on a street corner!

more pr@ising to follow....