LET'S GET SET-APART!!!

    I hope this all finds you doing well and growing strongly in the Lord.  If not, I pray that He will reveal Himself to you more and more, strengthen you, and give you courage and desire to fight to know Him more intimately.  I love each and every one of you and have been missing the close relationships I have in America and even the not so close relationships!  Just to be around believers is so special and strengthening even if there is not a super close bond.

  I don't really know where to start.  God is speaking so much to me during this time...  I am just going to write as if I am speaking with you face to face.  I will start with the latest and throw in other things as it comes to mind.  I am walking through an extremely lonely place right now.  It is so good on one hand and on the other very difficult, but God is so super close to me, so I am not that lonely.  I probably should not have even typed that word.  To you, so that you will know my condition, lonely seems appropriate.  I am literally waking up, walking throughout the day, then evening, then night, calling on the name of Jesus!  It is so wonderful and I pray that when this season passes that I will have learned to call on His name continually like this for the rest of my life, even when on the mountains of life.  

  I am still milling over the fact that I have ultimately no one to please on earth other than Jesus, my Father and Lord.  Once I have pleased Him, I am pleasing to all.  That brings so much peace, I love it.

  I was skyping with a wonderful friend on Friday night.  She has just had her 5th child and we are always laughing together, crying together, and trying to get the hang of this life together.   What a blessing she is to my life.  She was filling me in on the political scene in America.  I was blown away by some of the things I heard.  Later that night, John and I were continuing to talk about these issues.  A side note:  also, my friend and I were acknowledging the fact that God has called us to raise these wonderful children, as difficult as it may seem at times.  John and I had talked for about an hour or two, I was still getting my spoken words in for the day, as he started to snore!  So, it quickly became God and I.  It was so awesome!  I picked up my Bible and my book light.  I began to flip and flip and flip.  Every page I turned to, was a word just for me, in every situation I am in at this present time.  God is so amazing like that!  I laid and prayed and read.  I was pondering this situation in America, having these large families, the challenges that we face at times, the loneliness I feel, the attacks of the enemy that seem to not cease, etc... my brain was going and going.  By the way, I have had it with the devil.  He is a liar, a thief, a pitiful, pitiful existence on the face of the earth.  We are victorious in Christ Jesus!!  Billboards, music, homosexuals, cross dressers, immodest clothing, idols ( not only in Thailand, I am talking about the American ones too), TV, entertainment, etc...What and Who are we living for?  Our own selfish pleasures?  Our needs, our wants, our desires?  It is not about us!!!  This is what the Lord kept showing me that night in bed.  Yes, this life can throw its challenges our way.  I can have, very easily, a stressful day, snap at my children, disrespect my husband, and stomp away mad.  But, is it really about me?  Is it really about how hard I have it, how challenging this lifestyle can be, how hard it is on the mission field?  Oh poor me?  Whatever!!  It is about the lost, His kingdom, raising our children to be warriors in this fallen world!!  I pondered and pondered and felt the Lord impressing that there is a family movement sweeping across the nation.  The Lord is raising up a generation that will fight the good fight and not give up, fight with all their might.  These children are going to be warriors, ready to stand up to their adversaries with confidence.  They are going to know the Bible, the word of the Lord, and have it hidden in their hearts and not be ashamed to speak it out.  It is a vision that the Lord is planting inside THIS generation, you and me, in order to fulfill His plans on the earth.  We must take hold of this vision in order to walk in the fruit!  God is on the THRONE!!  He sees our struggles, He sees our weaknesses and our desires!  Lord, help us to not be so concerned with ourselves, our agenda, our plan, our life, our show, our movie, our dinner, our hairstyle, our waistline that we miss the vision that YOU have called us to help YOU fulfill.  

  In the midst of all of this I received my weekly devotion from Above Rubies.  I couldn't believe my eyes...the title, something like 'Our Children as Speakers'.  There were scripture references after scripture references for 'speaking boldly', 'speaking with Kings and Rulers', and 'Always ready to speak to those who oppose'.  This is our children in the future!!!  They will be ready to speak to those who oppose!!!!  Yes, Lord... Thank you Jesus!!  They will be ready!  We are training them now!!  We may get tired, we may face battle after battle, but little David is bigger with God on his side!!  We will kill the giant!!  Our children will know the truth!!  And guess what, the truth WILL set them free!!  When this came to mind that night, I kept seeing the Israelites being set free!  Our nation and the whole world is in bondage!!  Our children are going to set them free, they will set the captives free!  We must plant seeds, we must teach them the scripture, they MUST know!!  Our children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, they have the word hidden in their hearts, bound around their necks, placed on the foreheads, talked about as they walk along the way.  We can't sit back and wait for bed time each night and add a quick story and prayer!!  NO!!  It has to be more!!!  It must be more!!!  It must be what our life is all about!  Forget our own agendas, the movie and the popcorn, the trip to get the latest game for the Xbox... you have got to be kidding?!  Look at our country!  We have got to stop being so consumed with our own lives!  

  Another note:  After my last post I was wondering... do I share too much of the truth about myself?  Am I wrong for sharing my weaknesses.  That same wonderful night with the Lord, 1 Corinthians 9:22 jumped off of my page!!  It says, 'to the weak, I became weak, to win the weak.'  Praise the Lord!!  I am weak, right now, I feel absolutely helpless, so vulnerable.  Seriously, the Lord is my all in all, He is the lifter of my head.  His joy is my strength.  I have always heard these scriptures, my whole life, and now, for the first time, I can say that literally days and days have gone by now that HE IS MY strength!  I am nothing without Him, I can do nothing without Him!  And guess what, if I have been brought all the way to the other side of the world to be lonely enough to grasp those things, that is worth it!  I have recently really been able to empathize with missionaries from years past.  I have been reading such a wonderful book called 'Set-Apart Femininity' and the author continually writes about Gladys Alward, Amy Carmichael, Elizabeth Fry, Vibia Perpetua, and Sabina Wurmbrand. If you don't know these women, they are much more interesting than the latest blockbuster or crime scene show. They will challenge you more than you thought you could be challenged.   You know what?!  If these women can make it, so can we!  

  Well, there is still so much I would love to share with my wonderful friends and family. I miss you all so much you just can't understand. I love you and wish that every time I had seen you all in the past that I would have embraced you for minutes and really poured out to you how I feel about each and every one of you!  You are all so special!  If I could only articulate what exactly I feel for you all!!  Thank you for all of you prayers!  You are wonderful, highly favored of the Lord!!  We are all in this race together!!    

**  We cut Gabe's hair off yesterday:( !!  I can't believe it, but you know it is time to cut a boy's hair when everyone thinks he is a girl!  

**He turned 3 on the 25th and we had a wonderful time at the zoo and swim park.  I will have to write about our zoo experience next post, I am out of time, but it was a GOD trip! 

** Madaline, Lake, and Moriah are wonderful!!  I have truly been blessed with awesome, awesome children.  They are the perfect match for me as a mommy! 

**John is working hard and doing well!  

UNTIL NEXT TIME...BE BLESSED!!

Standing Strong

Wow!  I guess you all could tell I was going through a rough time last post!  Praise God I feel much better!!  Thank you all for praying!  

  I am doing great!  God is so good and so faithful!  My mom's visit went really well, we went through some great things while she was here, prayed a lot and saw God move!  I miss her dearly and since she has been gone, I feel so strong and so encouraged in the Lord.  

  We had another visitor, my midwife's daughter, from America (the lady that delivered Gabe).  What an amazing visit!  I was again so encouraged and just felt the spurring on of the Lord as she was here.  I think that moving to Thailand has been wonderful for our family, of course it has, because it is the Lord's plan.  However, things have been harder, and it takes constant communion with the Lord and those serving Him to stay focused and on task (anywhere!).  I am speaking, right now, of raising children, not of ministry to the thai people.  I feel that sometimes we get so anxious in life to 'minister' to others, but our first ministry is and should be our own family.  I have been able to see weak walls around our home, God has opened them up and brought the plan of the enemy into the light for me.  We have to stay in constant prayer for our families or the enemy will sneak in.  Let's get in this together and not let the enemy steal what the Lord is trying to do in our families.  The first and greatest ministry to non-christians around the globe is an 'On Fire, Jesus loving, Holy Ghost family'.  We cannot get too busy to recognize the needs around us, in our family.  We need to think, where is our Passion?  Is it in the right place?  Where our passion is there our heart will be also. 'Be on guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position'.  (2 Pet 3:17)  Are we meeting all of our families needs, not just physical and spiritual, but what about emotional needs?   Sometimes we can get so preoccupied with making sure everyone is having fun and being bathed, fed, educated... but what about their emotions?  Let's slow down a little and sit back and observe.

  I am just spilling beans here...what God is doing here...so take it if you need it.  There are 5 primary ways of communication:  1. Righteously responding in a timely manner. (Eph. 4)

2.  Receive Hurt, but hide it--an Enabler (not good!  produces passive/aggressive behavior)  3.  Eye for an Eye/Tooth for Tooth  (If you fight fire with fire, don't be surprised if you get a bigger fire)  4.  Revenge says 'I will train you to never do that again  5.  Redeeming!!!  The greatest!!  We are all called to be a redeemer in every relationship that causes us pain/frustration.  LET'S DO IT!!

This is so easy to read and understand, but so difficult for so many of us to act out!  Lord, help us all to be better communicators in every relationship that we are in. 

  Around the house--- I fried my bread machine a couple of weeks ago, big bummer for me!  I plugged it in to the outlet, wrong wattage--why???  I forgot!  So, Carolyn taught me to make some yummy bread by hand, and believe it or not, I am not sore afterwards!!  It is actually quite simple.  I made some really nasty cream cheese last week, I think I will try to use it in something?!  It was fun though, just to try it.  Also, tried to make some ginger ale --- yuck!  I had the children all psyched up for it, then it was another bummer- oh well, fun anyway.  There is an extra lot beside the house and we are about to clean it off, granted permission today, but still unsure if we can grow a garden on it-- heading that direction though.  We really want the children to learn to work outside.  We found some bee hives only 2 hours away, so we are going to try and get those in a couple of weeks, then teach myself and the children to care for them... can't wait.  Please pray that this works out, they are really excited about it.

  Homeschooling-- going great!  Trying to keep it up for a while longer, until Thanksgiving.  Reporting grades this week.  I still can't believe I have a 5th and 1st grader!!  My goodness, we are all getting old!!!  I am sitting here listening to Christmas music and it soooo makes me miss America!!  I love you all and can't wait until we meet again-- face-to-face!!! Until next time--- Blessings to you all!!!

Prayer Request:

  Please pray for a lady I met at ballet.  I have taken her a Bible for her 14 yo son who has been reading it daily.  She says she doesn't understand why he likes the Bible so much.  He reads, then prays, then reads, then prays!! :)  He became interested in the 'Good Book' after watching 'Fiddler on the Roof!'  She tells me she is buddhists and doesn't understand why this book makes him so happy!!  Praise the Lord!!  

  Please pray for my house helper (Pee Nee)  and her family, who have seeked our knowledge concerning black magic that they practice, but were unwilling for us to pray for them!  

 Peter and his wife Noi continue to come over to our house!!  

Pee Mon, our 1st thai teacher, came for prayer last week for her mother who is in the hospital in Bangkok!  

Pray for our family that we would continue to be strong and fight the good fight, withstanding the enemy and his tactics, not letting darkness creep in, but continuing to stand in the light of our Father!!  

John goes to meet with pastors of Korat in the morning.  

Blessings and Fire to you all again!!!