A child of God

Today this physical body of mine turns 42, but I I am still just a child.

A child of God

 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.  –Psalms 103:5

 

 

 

It has been an amazing year of God’s blessings. God is faithful to His word.

Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. – Galatians 3:8-9

 Our yearly Christmas letter is on its way and you can read about several of our blessings there, but in case you didn’t get our Christmas letter (give us your address we’d love to send you one), I wanted to share a few of those blessings with you today.

-It has been almost a year since Denver’s heart attack. Praise God for his healing and for the year that we have had together growing in our walk with Christ.

Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. – Psalms 30:2

-Sixteen years ago, I crushed a vertebrae in my back from a skydiving accident and have dealt with pain ever since, but God healed my back and I am pain free.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. – Proverbs 3:7-8

 

-Although the budget for the mission trip to South Sudan looked impossible in our eyes, God has provided everything that we need.  Praise God!!!

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.- Philippians 2:13

 

- Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 5:18-21

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. – Acts 2:4

 

-The love of our precious children and grandchildren, the love of wonderful parents, and the love and support of an amazing church family. I thank God for every member of His body because every one of you is important in my life even the thousands of members that I have never met but the spirit that is in me knows you well and loves you…..so much that He gave you his only son.

Have you ever been in love?

Today as I try to write what is in my heart, I find myself at a loss for words and as one singer said “It comes out I love you”. It means so much more and no matter what, it comes out I love you. Have you ever been in love? Have you ever felt the kind of love that makes you feel like a part of you is missing when that person isn’t around? Have you ever been that in love with someone that you’ve never met, someone that you don’t even know their name or what they look like?

When Denver and I heard God’s call for us to go to South Sudan, we were very excited to “look after orphans” – James 1:27. We tried to plan the time that we would go to be when the kids would not be in school so that we could love on them as much as we possibly could.  At the same time, we both felt God was calling Denver back into the ministry and we tried to figure out how all this fit together.  As plans began to come together, we learned that we would be going during a time the kids would be in school and although we will still get lots of time with them, it would not be our primary focus.

Currently, all of our communication is done through a gentleman in Texas who contacts South Sudan to determine what our mission will involve on this trip. One of the primary objectives is to spend some time with Pastor Dennis and Mama Lilly, who started Harvesters; this will help us in determining Gods call for us to long term missionaries in Africa. In addition to that, Denver will be working with the Pastors in Yei and have some teaching opportunities with the older boys at the chapel there. He will also be preaching while we are in Terakeka (Both are orphanages run by Harvesters; we are spending time at both locations).  When he is not preaching / teaching there is plenty of construction work and other things to be done.  (Maybe one of these days he can write a blog explain more in detail about the ministry work that he will be doing there. It is very exciting)

After it was determined what Denver would be doing, the question came from Harvesters of “what are your wife’s gifts and what are some of the things she would like to do”? At first the question seamed so simple: work with the children of course. Why else would I go to an orphanage? So I began to pray about what exactly to say and what were my gifts? It didn’t take long before I heard God say that I should work with the widows at the orphanage (the orphanage hires widows to help care for the children, to do laundry, cooking, etc.).  Hmmm…..there is the rest of the verse “to look after orphans and widows in there distress”.  I continued to pray and Gods voice was so clear that I began to get very excited – it’s always much more exciting when you walk in total faith than when you are doubting what you’ve heard.  In the same way that I will never forget the exact moment and details of hearing Gods call to South Sudan, I will never forget any detail to God’s call to work with the widows.  He gave me the message that I was to share with them in a bible study and also a quilting project that I was to do that would illustrate the message.

I contact the gentleman in Texas with what God had directed me to do and he passed that information on to the orphanage in Yei and I was left to wait for the response.  I would need them to be in agreement with what God had directed me to do.  I waited, and waited, and waited. I prayed that God would reveal this to Mama Lilly, because I did not doubt what He had called me to do.   I even thought, well if Mama Lilly doesn’t agree then I’m going to go with my message in hand because I know that is what God is saying to do – not that I intended to go against her but just to be prepared for when the door opened because I knew that it would.  Finally after 5 weeks, I received an email and at the very end it said something to the effect of: Oh and I can’t remember if I told you or not but mama Lilly said she thought that was a great idea. One of those moments when you feel that the answer was there all along and that your faith was being tested as you waited for the answers.  My excitement grew even more!!

There is so much to explain and so much that I probably can’t find the words for, but don’t get confused into thinking that I was excited because I just love the heart pounding effects of sitting with a group of woman that I don’t know and that really I know nothing about and delivering a message to them from God. It isn’t that I just love that leadership role and thrive for those very moments. No, I would rather find myself listening quietly in a corner; listening and learning from someone else, but God’s call that day was so clear that the excitement and joy inside was His; and the love inside is His as well.  At the same moment that I heard His message about what I would be doing with these amazing women in South Sudan, I instantly and completely fell in love with them.  

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ – 1 Corinthians 12:12

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. – Ephesians 2:22

 

God’s Holy Spirit dwells in me; that same Spirit dwells in each of those woman in South Sudan. Together we are members of Christ body.  God so loved the world (every person) that He sent His son.

That same spirit that dwells in me and loves me dwells in them and loves them. At that moment that God spoke to me about another part of the body of Christ and what they needed, I felt a deep love for a part of this spiritual body that I’ve never met, that until that moment, I had never even thought about; it flooded in my like a powerful tsunami and now no matter how I try to explain it, it just comes out

I love you

 

 

I am not strong enough to carry two water jugs

About six years ago we built our little cabin in the wilderness of Alaska. It is beautiful and peaceful, and I love it here.  Living here however, has meant that we do not have running water and we carry our water in 7 gallon jugs; that’s about 58 pounds per jug. Denver and our sixteen year old son can carry two jugs at a time without much trouble, but I always carry just one.  The other day there were only two jugs in the back of the truck; for a moment I forgot who I was and grabbed both jugs out of the back and headed for the house. I took about five steps before I remember that I’m not strong enough to carry two jugs.

This past week has been full of things that seemed impossible in our own sight; things heavier than what we are able to carry. Through this God has reminded us that we are not supposed to carry this heavy load and that He desires to carry it for us.

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens – Psalm 68:19

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. – Psalm 55:22

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. – John 14:27

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? – Luke 12:25-26

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. – Luke 12:29-30

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12:32

Like those water jugs, we are carrying around more than we can carry and we do not need to because Jesus wants to carry it for you.

 

 

Who are you?

Today the sky is a clear bright blue and the sun is gleaming off the snow that covers the landscape. It’s a beautiful day but for a moment we lost sight of all that was good and wonderful and allowed satan to bring us confusion and disharmony.

 

Through all of this I’m reminded of a message that God brought to me two nights ago. He woke me three different times to say: Do Not lose focus of what I have called you to do. Sometimes in the process of everyday life we allow satan to control our thinking and our emotions and so quickly we lose sight of who we are and what we have been called to do, so my message today is a reminder to myself and if you can gain anything from it, then I praise God for using me to bring this reminder to you as well.

Here is who I am:

A Son of Abraham

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God – Romans 4:16-17a

Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham – Galatians 3:7

 The temple for the Holy Spirit

You, however, are not in the realm of the fless but are in the realm of the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you….And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you . -Romans 8:9a &11

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. – Ephesians 2:22

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? – 1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; - 1 Corinthians 6:19

 A child of God

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry “Abba”, Father.” The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:14-16

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God - Galatians 3:26a

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! – 1 John 3:1a

 

An Heir of God

Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ   -  Romans 8:16a

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. – Galatians 4:7

 

And Oh there are so so many more.  I could continue to list them all for you and maybe you would take the time to read them and believe them but I would love it more if you would leave a comment and list Who you are. You can just add another supporting verse to what I’ve already listed or better yet, you can add to the list of Who you are.

 

For God does not show favoritism – Romans 2:11