Labels

Monday, November 29, 2010

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever...

Well I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great and full of thanks!! As I was sitting in church yesterday listening to one of the awesome preachers from Cape Bible Chapel, he held my attention with a captivating sermon about giving thanks. I wanted to share with you some of the awesome things that he said as well as some of the scripture that we looked over yesterday.

The main theme of the message was that its not hard to give thanks when things are going great but how often do we give thanks when things are hard? It's a great question to examine ourselves over. I know for me as Brett and I have been sitting at 70% for our support total I rarely give thanks for that, but Im willing to bet if our support was finished last week I would be wanting to praise the Lord all day long! How contrary is that to what the Lord's word teaches us!? Well let's just see:
Nehemiah 9:24-26
Psalm 106:7
Psalm 106:13
Hosea 13:4-6
Romans 1:20-21
1 Cor. 4:7
James 1:17
Deut. 8:11-18
2 Cor. 4:15
Psalm 100:4
I definitely encourage you to look up theses verses and pray that the Lord will establish a heart of thankfulness at all times in you!

A big mistake that I think many people make that James taught on yesterday was that I don't need to view God's character in light of my circumstances rather I need to view my circumstances in light of God's character. Which basically means, how often when things are going bad do you sit and wonder if God is still good? Do you ever question it? If so then you are acting in the first way that I mentioned. But when we can view our circumstances in light of God's character then we are training our mind in the proper way. In a biblical way. When we can sit and praise God even when we don't understand him or see any good coming from what he is doing and simply trust that He is a good God because His word says He is, then that is pleasing to the Lord. Some of you might say, well that sounds like a blind trust, trusting something because it says so. And I would have to agree, but isn't that what faith is... the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. I am assured that the Lord is real and He is who he says He is and I'm trusting in the things that I cant see. That's what faith is. For we are nothing without faith.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17


Saturday, November 20, 2010

Settling in....


Well if you are a supporter I can safely assume that you got my last update. As I mentioned in the update I had sent two update letters this fall many people said that they had not received them. So Im sure what happened there but hopefully everyone received the last one!

Brett and I will be married for two weeks tomorrow!! We went to Mexico for our honeymoon after the wedding. We stayed in a beautiful resort in the Rivera Maya and had an awesome time. Apart from the food poisoning that is. Brett and I both got very sick on the honeymoon which helps with quick bonding and really laying it all out there when you have to hold your wife's hair back as she is throwing up.

Just in case you didn't receive my update and are wondering what is going on with Brett and I right now this paragraph is for you!
Brett and I are living in O'fallon Il at least until February 15 (which is when our lease ends in the apt we are in now). Brett is finishing our financial support for CO staff right now. As many of you know; since we work for a non-profit ministry and are classified as state side missionaries we have to raise our full income. Brett and I are at about 70% of our total goal right now with about $1,066 left to be raised to be exact! So Brett is working on our support at night and working at his step-dad's large equipment company in the day. While I recently got a job at the mall working seasonal hoping they will keep me on until we leave to help pay the bills for now. If you are still giving (which is what we encourage) then the money you are sending every month is going into like a savings account for Brett and I. See we have two different accounts working for CO. One is our regular monthly account where all our monthly support goes into and the other is like our saving account. Say one month a family is not able to give for various reasons, well in that case we would still get paid the same amount and then their support would be taken from the saving's account that month. Sometimes that can be confusing but I hope that helps clear any confusion up!

As many of you know as well we have been waiting to hear what campus we are going to be going to....and we found out! Drumroll please.........Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR!! It has been so wonderful to be able to have a plan and know for sure where we are going to be moving to! So as soon as our support is done we will be moving to AR and beginning sharing the Gospel with students on the campus of ASU. Please begin praying that the Lord will go before us and begin to soften men and women's hearts at that campus and that we will have many opportunities for relationships with students quickly when we get there!

So, this last week Brett and I got all moved into our new apt! We are so excited to have a little spot of our own and have had a lot of fun setting it up together! We cant believe that thanksgiving is already here and we will celebrating our fist holiday as a married couple. My family is coming in town next weekend and I am thrilled to see my nephews (Jackson 2 1/2 and Jared 13 mo) whom I have not seen in tooo long. So after I get off work from black Friday we will be heading down to Cape for a visit!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday and if you have any other questions or did not receive the last support update please let me know!!