A Painful Lesson

One reason we have for writing this blog is for us to remember what the Lord does in our lives. I write this next entry in hope that I will never forget what He taught me last week.

Our first week here was good yet stressful because I knew this time at WEC would present many challenges and changes. I didn't want to share this with Gary because I thought I could cope with this by myself. I did (or at least I tried to) until last week when we went with the other people from our Candidate training group on a two day retreat.

On the first evening we were given this question:

Think about your recent reactions to various life stresses, small or large. Ask yourself "What might my reactions and actions to these stresses reveal about my inner health in Christ?"

So we discussed this in our small groups. I shared what some of my stresses were, but told the group that I didn't know why I reacted the way I did or what it showed about my inner health in Christ. A wise lady told me to ask the Lord 'why' - and I did. As we were praying I became aware of how strong I fight for my independence. I realized I wasn't depending on the Lord, I kept thinking I can do all things myself - if I work hard enough, try hard enough, apply myself etc. Later, that evening after repenting to the Lord and to Gary, I decided I was going to try to seek God first and depend on him.

I wish I could tell you things changed immediately - they didn't. Less than 48 hours later I was loading the van, preparing for our trip back to Fort Washington. I saw some boys around and thought they may ask to help me, but this is what went through my mind "I don't need their help - I can do this myself." On my next journey to the van I thought "Maybe I should get my own kids to help - no! I can do this myself." As I walked back to our room I then thought "Anyway my back is stronger than Gary's, I don't need any help."

After arriving back in our room I turned to see the next bag that needed to be loaded into the van and ... I froze, I had hurt my back. For a few moments I couldn't move but my previous thoughts came immediately to my mind "I don't need their help ... I can do this myself ... my back is stronger than Gary's" The thought that followed immediately after was "You are too independent, you try to do things without Me". I can't believe that less than 2 days after the Lord told me I was too independent I was back to boasting in my own strength and how I could do it myself!!! How foolish I was. I had to call Gary to help me move and then spent the next day in bed as it was so painful to move around.

Thankfully just 4 days later my back is almost completely healed, but I hope and pray I don't forget the lesson I have been taught and that God would show me what dependence on Him should look like and that I would not try to do things in my own strength.

Michelle

Following Christ!

I have just been thinking about what it means to follow Jesus and I have read this on another blog.
If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.-Amy Carmichael, "Calvary Love," from If

Jesus has said of His followers,
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it. Matthew 10:37-39 NASB

I know, the things of this world are calling, and they are appealing, but Jesus said to Satan in the wilderness:
Begone satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only. Matthew 4:10 NASB

Are we willing to give up eternity in Heaven with God our Father for the fleeting pleasures of this world or are we willing to step out of our comfort zone to be obedient and go wherever God may call to serve Him?

What difference has our salvation had on our lives if we can't say with the Apostle Paul:
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ..... Phillipians 3:8 NASB

Jesus said to the rich man:
One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow me. Mark 10:21 NASB

We are slaves, but what are we slaves to Jesus or this world?

What is it that Jesus has told us to do?
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness;

We are to dedicate our lives to Him. Wether we are in a foreign land or at home as a missionary, a Pastor, an evangelist, a construction worker, business owner, etc. We are to be about the Kingdom work not our own. How often are we looking or accepting a job because it will provide an income or increase our income for the provisions of our family? Our first and foremost reason for looking or accepting a job is to answer the questions; Is God at work here? And is He inviting me to join Him in His work here? If this is not the case then continue looking and waiting on Him. We should never take a position because of the money. I say this because of the rest of this verse which says:
and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NASB

We belong to God. We are His children. He will provide what we need. This should never be our focus. We are not the masters of our destiny God is. We can not change this no matter how hard we try. We stand at odds with God when we do this. And God says:
I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me.

God wants us completely. Not just on Sunday. He wants us to dedicate our lives to the Kingdom work. We tend to want to lean on everybody else for that which God wants to do for us. We look to the government to meet our needs. We look to our employer for the security. But God says:
For My people have committed 2 evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13 NASB

So, the question is; Are we going to follow God? Or, are we going to continue to be deceived by Satan?


Gary

Life at WEC

As you know we arrived here last Saturday and had a couple of days to settle in before classes started yesterday.

The people here are very friendly and we have been made to feel very welcome. On Sunday we attended a local baptist church which was good, but it was hard not to be with our own church family as we worshipped the Lord.

The accommodations they have provided us with are spacious. We do have one wing on the second floor of the castle. We have 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (now I'm getting spoiled), a school room and a dining/family room. You will notice we don't have a kitchen. I have been told I can use the main kitchen downstairs when it's not in use, but I don't think I will. Let me tell you why. Monday to Friday our meals are provided in the main dining room where all the people who live on 'the hill' meet together to eat. So far the meals have been excellent - even our picky eaters have enjoyed most of what has been served. We are also free to help ourselves to leftovers. Then on the weekend we were told of a place where we can get an extra large pizza, cooked to order, for $5. So, we might have leftovers Saturdays and pizza on Sundays and I get a 3 month break from cooking. Sounds good to me!!!

We finally started class yesterday with just general introductions and outline of the course. We have already been assigned (and completed) our first lot of homework - psychological tests. Today involved looking at the psychological tests to enable us to discover what type of personallity we have and how to recognize different personalities in others.

Our classes normally run from 8am to 12noon. Three afternoons a week Gary gets to help out in the maintenance department and the rest of the time is set aside for assignments to be completed.

We are extremely grateful for the help we have in taking care of the children. Cressia is from Brazil and Mark is from France. A lady called Lee is also helping at the moment. It is working out well as Mark and Cressia get to practice their English (which is already very good) and the kids get to learn about other cultures. There is another family here with kids who are 2 and 4 years old. So while Daniel, Elaina, Nicholas and Naomi do their school work, Jeremiah and Deanna have someone else to play with. I know the kids are having a great time while we are in class because today when I picked them up Deanna was quick to inform me that she did not want to go home with me!!

Another really nice idea they have here is training for the kids - the oldest four. Two hours a week they spend learning how to be a peacemaker and for another 2 they go to a class for missionary kids - to teach them what to expect with culture differences, how to serve others etc. This will be great for them.

Most of the kids aren't having any trouble settling in. Daniel is finding it hard and we have seen some of the old behaviors resurface. We were told this could happen when he is under stress. Thankfully today was a little easier. Nicholas is also finding it challenging. He doesn't like change and has already been asking when we can go home. Please pray for them. Thank you.

That's all I can think of for now - hopefully I'll have some pictures to post over the weekend.

Michelle

Our Journey to Fort Washington

I can finally tell you about our journey. We left around 3:30 pm on Friday 8th February. We were so grateful that we left in good weather, good attitudes and we were ready to drive for 3 hours before dinner. That was our plan - plans change! Within an hour we had 2 stops for the bathroom!! Thankfully we did get part way into Illinois before stopping for dinner. I knew I had packed Deanna's coat, but could I find it when we stopped in the cold and pouring rain - I think not! I wrapped her up as best as I could and RAN. An hour later we were back on the road.
Thankfully the next few hours were uneventful. We had one more bathroom stop in Indiana around 9pm before we hoped they would sleep. Finally around 10pm the eye lids were getting heavy and peace was filling our van. We were so grateful that most of the kids had 8 hours of sleep. (Daniel was awake by 5am - if not earlier). We reached our destination of WEC around 11:30 (ET). The kids were so excited to be able to get out, run around and see the castle.

Michelle

Unbelief!

Despite God working in our lives like we have been posting, I have unbelief. I am not trusting God completely. I am struggling to think on those things that are true. God has promised us that He will provide all of our needs and for me not to trust Him is a sin. He has truly blessed us and shown us that He is able to do just what He says He will do, but yet I still struggle.

Matthew 6:33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

This I have to believe. If I can't take God at His Word then I am in trouble. These next 3 months will be a time of stretching and learning as well as transition for all of us, but this will be the one thing that I will need to be in prayer about while constantly thinking on the truth.


Gary

The Children's Thoughts

Today for school I asked the children the following quesiton "What would you like to tell your Sunday School class at home about WEC and living in a castle?" This is what they wrote:

Daniel - There is lots of concrete and I like to skateboard.

Elaina - It's fun to live in a castle and there's lots of towers. There's a big playground, and a basketball hoop. We like to play basketball with Mark, a guy who takes care of us, and the other people taking care of us. It's not actually bad here. Adios amigos!

Nicholas - I like the dog and the dog's name is Percy and the playground and I like Mark.

Naomi - I like to sleep in the van. I like GPS. I like to go to the dining room. I like the chinese dolls on the book shelf.

Now this is tough - but worth it!

I wrote the first part of this post on 1/28/08, a day I was really struggling, but I publish it now to show how faithful God is and how He has provided for us.

There are times

..... when I really would like a normal life.
..... when I wish Gary had a paying job when I knew what income would be coming in
..... when I would like to have the money to impliment our budget
..... when I wish I had savings to rely on when emergencies arose
..... when I wish I had money to put gas in the van this week
..... when I wish I had enough food until we leave next week.
..... when I wish I had the money so bills coming out of our account next week won't bounce

BUT this is the time that God has called us to

.... trust in Him for our life
.... trust Him that the plans He has for us are good and perfect
.... trust in Him for the things we need (Matt 6:33)
.... trust Him as He refines us through this fire
.... trust Him instead of money
.... love Him with all our heart, soul and mind
.... obey Him in what we know He has called us to

I know my doubt is a sin and how I struggle with it. We have been living this way for 3 months now and the Lord has provided. I've struggled with it before (Oh me of little faith). But, it doesn't seem to get easier. When I have seen the Lord's provision for us and for others why do I still doubt?

Now let me fill you in on how the Lord provided. Firstly, after taking our needs to Him, confessing my sin, He so graciously gave me a peace that He would provide what we need.

One of my concerns was the amount of food we had left - I did not need to worry - Over the last week we have been invited out for dinner 4 times!! - I certainly won't complain about how the Lord met that need. Not only did He provide us with excellent meals, but accompanied it with incredible fellowship.

One of our main concerns last week was financial. We know that God is leading us to serve Him, but as of last Wednesday (just 2 days before we left) we had only enough money for 1 tank of gas which would not get us all the way to Pennsylvania. Then we went to church and the Lord had stirred the hearts of His people to provide what we needed. Two of the Sunday School classes took a collection for us and others handed us some money. When we left church that night we had over $550. Not only did God provide for the gas, He gave us money to pay most of our bills. Then on Thursday I received a call from someone who wants to give us $2,500. This money will become available in March - which is just the time that we have to pay for our training, and room and board expenses here at WEC - which, you guessed it, will be about $2,500. Finally on Friday we were given another $100 for our trip here.

Oh and on top of all that we have been lent a GPS system to help us navigate our way around Pennsylvania. This had already proved very useful as we used it to find our way here, to church on Sunday and plan to use it for a run to Walmart tomorrow. And to top it off we were given 8 tickets to Sesame Street World for us to enjoy when training is finished. I can certainly say my Father knows how to give good gifts to his children.

We thank God and you for your gifts, whether it was a meal, $5 or $2,500 we are truly grateful. Thank you also for your prayers.

So I guess over the last 2 weeks I have felt the challenges of the life God has called us to and have experienced God's provisions and blessings and my conclusion is this - this is tough, but worth it.

Michelle

Prayer

We would really appreciate your prayers for the following:
-
- For the sale of our house. - answered 6/12/08
- For speedy processing of the children's British passports
- For approval of Gary's and the children's visas. - answered Jan 12, 2009
- For wisdom in knowing when to purchase flights - purchased for Feb 3, 2009
- For the children as they prepare for the move (including helping them to sort through all their things and deciding what to take and what to give away)
- For peace among the family during the moving process
- For safety during our journey on Feb 3rd and 4th.
- For everyone at Radio Worldwide in England as they prepare for us to come.

THANK YOU

Note: This will always be under "Our Ministry Information" to the left.