He Knoweth the Way that I take

"He knoweth the way that I take" (Job 23:10)

Believer! What a glorious assurance! This way of thine--this, it may be, a crooked, mysterious, tangled way--this way of trial and tears. "He knoweth it." The furnace seven times heated--He lighted it. There is an Almighty Guide knowing and directing our footsteps, whether it be to the bitter Marah pool, or to the joy and refreshment of Elim.

 

That way, dark to the Egyptians, has its pillar of cloud and fire for His own Israel. The furnace is hot; but not only can we trust the hand that kindles it, but we have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine; and that when the refining process is completed (no sooner--no later) He brings His people forth as gold.

 

When they think Him least near, He is often nearest. "When my spirit was overwhelmed, then thou knewest my path."

 

Do we know of ONE brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun, visiting our chamber with the first waking beam of the morning; an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following us throughout the day, knowing the way that we take?

 

The world, in its cold vocabulary in the hour of adversity, speaks of "Providence"--"the will of Providence"--"the strokes of Providence." PROVIDENCE! what is that?

 

Why dethrone a living, directing God from the sovereignty of His own earth? Why substitute an inanimate, death-like abstraction, in place of an acting, controlling, personal Jehovah?

 

How it would take the sting from many a goading trial, to see what Job saw (in his hour of aggravated woe, when every earthly hope lay prostrate at his feet)--no hand but the Divine. He saw that hand behind the gleaming swords of the Sabeans--he saw it behind the lightning flash--he saw it giving wings to the careening tempest--he saw it in the awful silence of his rifled home.

 

"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"

 

Thus seeing God in everything, his faith reached its climax when this once powerful prince of the desert, seated on his bed of ashes, could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." --Macduff

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What wonderful reassurance I found in this passage I read today. God has already planned out all of my tomorrows.  He has a plan for us, and no matter where we are or what happens He is always near, "A very present help in time of trouble."  What an awesome God we serve!

 

Oklahoma Breakdown

I know what you're thinking, "What a pitiful sight!" But this, my firneds, is a picture of God's goodness an mercy.

When we reached Oklahoma we were quite excited for several reasons.  1. It meant we were halfway home 2. We were going to be having dinner with the Hardings, who we hadn't seen in months! 3.  The first gas station we saw was selling gas at $2.79 a gallon!!!!!!!!  WHOO HOOO
So of course we stopped to get gas.  It was great to be able to FILL UP for $100.  We weren't totally empty...  AFter we got gas, CHad started up the engine and as we pulling out the engine cut off.  Chad started it again, and it cut off.  Instead of gttig back on the highway, Chad decided to try and drive down the road a ways to see what was going on.  We drove about 1/2 mile down and ever  minute or so, the engine would die.  We struggled to get the RV back to the gas station. Chad said, it must be the alternator.  It was a little discouragig, but I knew that an alternator was a quick fix.  We pulled into the gas station and called Good Sam.  They said we'd have to wait till the morning to get a tow.
So we settled in and I threw in our emergency frozen pizzas, and we played board games, and watched Brave!  We were thankful for the generator, but couldn't leave it running all night. 
The next morning the tow truck called and said they were on their way.  Chad asked if they were bringing an additional vehicle for the family.  They said, "No, we can transport one of you, the rest will have to stay".  Stay....Stay where???  At the gas station!!!   Oh, how the kids cried as they watched their daddy drive away with the tow truck...  
Windsor Hills was two hours down the road, so I called Christina Keister and she came to get us.  Praise the Lord, I like gas stations and all but sitting in them for hours with the kids was just not fun.  Jo Harding made arrangements for us to stay in the prophets chamber at WHBC.
Christina swung us by the grocery store and I picked up things to make the kids favorite dinner. 
The missions apartment was great, but we were all missing Chad.  It was Saturday Night, and we had to wait till Monday for repairs.  We went to WHBC, and Chad called a nearby church who picked him up for both services.
Monday morning, the mechanics were stumped as to what was wrong with the RV.  They decided to take the RV for a test drive.  While they drove it, the engine caught on fire!!!!  Yes, I said FIRE!!!  They towed the RV back to the garage.
Our RV has two sets of batteries.  The house-batteries, which are in the back and the engine battery in the front front.  There is a cable that connects the two and runs just under the floor of our RV.  The positive battery cable was shorting out against the body.  It melted the surrounding wires and the fuse box!  The entire RV could have caught on fire...but God was merciful and stranded us at a gas station instead!  He let the mechanics deal with the fire instead of our family.
As I sit here writing this from the comfort of my home (we're in MD), I am overwhelmed with God's goodness and mercy to us.  This little inconvienance saved our lives!

The Desires of our Heart

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."  Ps. 37:4

I love the 37th chapter of Psalms.  This chapter is so full of good advice, and comfort.  It gives you something you can really grab ahold of and put into practice. 
My favorite of these verses is usually verse 4.  An exhortation to DELIGHT in God. I believe Isaiah 58:13-14 gives us a pretty good definition of how to "Delight in the Lord".
"...and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord."
This particular passage is concerning the keeping of the sabbath day, but I think we can apply it to our lives today.  If we delight in something we enjoy it.  No one has to force me to enjoy a vanilla chai tea from Dunkin Donuts!  No one has to force me to enjoy vacations, or to enjoy Christmas!  To delight ourselves in the Lord is to delight in our time with Him in our Bibles, in prayer, in service, in worship, in giving, in ALL that we do.  And the Bible tells us that when we do this, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  I believe this is a two-fold giving of our desires. 

First, if we are in fact enjoying God and enjoying serving Him,  He will put HIS desires in our hearts.  We will want what He wants, we will love what He loves.  Really there is no other explanation for the abundant love I feel for a people that I have never met.  I feel overwhelmed with the desire to reach the Dominican people with the gospel, I carry them on my heart and think of them everyday.  I have a longing, yearning desire to be there and begin serving these people.  God has put those desires in my heart.

Secondly, if we are delighting ourselves in God, I believe He delights in answering our prayers and blessing us!  I believe God loves to answer the prayers of His children and give them those things that they want.  When I knew that we were going to be in California for Thanksgiving I began praying that the Lord would please provide a family to invite us over for Thanksgiving.  I know, it was such a dumb prayer request right?  But I guess you would just have to know me to understand that I LOVE spending the whole day cooking and being surrounded by a whole house-full of people!  For years our house was an open house to anyone who wanted to come for Thanksgiving. We always had tons of food and TONS of desserts!  I loved it, I enjoyed being a blessing and providing a place of sweet fellowship for others who didn't have anywhere else to celebrate the goodness of God.
 So I prayed earnestly, Lord please don't make us have Thanksgiving in the RV.  It would be soooo depressing not be able to cook a Thanksgiving dinner and all the fixin's and pie.  I know what you're thinking, "you're a missionary, get used to it".  But I have grand plans of cooking the biggest chicken I can find and making fixin's and pies in  the DR.  And I'm sure we'll have no problem finding someone to invite for dinner!  :-)

How good God was to answer this insignificant request.  A wonderful family invited us to dinner and though I had never met them before we had sweet fellowship centered around our Lord Jesus and His goodness.  It was wonderful, we had korean BBQ for dinner and wonderful sweets.  Isn't it amazing how God knits together the hearts of believers and makes us family.  I have every confidence that though we will be hundreds of miles away from home that God will give us this sweet fellowship in the DR.  The same God who puts His desires in our hearts will also grant us our desires just because He loves us.  Let us continue to pray for the small things and big things that our hearts desire. As we delight in serving our wonderful God we will find He delights in blessing us too!

 

God kept the tires on! Part II

This was our home for two days!  Isn't it beautful?  All kidding aside, it was HUGE blessing that the garage allowed us to stay in the RV on property while we waited for parts and while they did the repairs.  We didn't have hook-up, but the the generator ran perfectly to give us what we needed.
We arrived at the Truck Shop Tuesday around 7pm.  After they looked it over they told us they would order parts in the morning. 
The next morning we did school, had music lessons, played games and watched a movie while we waited and waited for the parts to come in.  Finally at 1:00pm the parts arrived.  Chad, thinking the RV would be in the shop for  a long while started calling around to see about getting a rental van so we could make it to our meeting.  There was NOTHING available!  How can a car rental buisiness not have anything available?????  When God is involved!  It quickly became obvious we were not going to make it to our conference.  We waited all afternoon for someone to come and work on the RV, but nothing....

Around 5pm Chad went out to ask if anyone was going to come do the work and they said they would move the RV in a few minutes.  So we walked across the street to get dinner, since we were totally out of food in the RV and there were no grocery stores in sight.  We got back around 6:30, and still no one had even looked at the RV, but at least they had towed into the garage.  The mechanic told us we could stay in it while they did the work.  We had a bible-study, sang songs, and had prayer.  The kids were still VERY disappointed that we missed out on going to church.  But we made it as fun as we could.

We kept the kids up till 10pm, thinkng that at any minute we would have to get out so they could put the RV on the lift, but nothing...  I put the kids to bed and fought the feeling of frustration and discouragement thinking that we would have to stay parked at this garage for another whole day.  Around 10:45pm I  felt the RV being lifted.  Chad went out to talk to the mechanic.  They were fnally working on the RV.  The noise and vibrating didn't bothe the kids one bit, they were soundly asleep.  I could hear Chad outside talking to the mechanic and trying to share the gospel with him.  I prayed that he would get saved, but he just wasn't interested. Chad gave him a tract, and we're trusting God to use His Word in his life. 

Collecting rain water so we could brush our teeth....

The mechanic finished working around midnight.  He told Chad that he was almost positive that the tires were not centered properly when they were installed and that's why we had a problem.  He said we were very fortunate not to have been in a major accident, but we know that God was holding our RV together and protecting our family and home!  There were many friends and family that were praying for us, specifically for safety and protection on the roads.  It is because of those prayers that we are well.

"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."James 5:16



Chad and I were happy that the RV was fixed, but wondered how we were going to pay for the repairs.  Chad was certan it would be a huge amount and we just didn't know how we were going to take care of it.  We prayed with the kids and begged God to provide for the need that to us was overwhelming; but we knew it was nothing for God.  Then the call came that our church had taken up an offering for us.  It was  exactly what we needed to cover the repairs and put gas in the RV!  Incredible.  We've never felt so loved and cared for, we felt so humbled and overwhelmed by the goodness and generosity of our friends, and felt so confident in God's ability to provide for our needs.  What an amazing God we serve!




Had a beautiful drive today

 





Drove past the University of Notre Dame's Football Stadium





Prayer Requests:   *The suspension on the RV still needs some attention. 

                                *We need wisdom to decide what to do about our trip out west.

                                *Safety as we make the 3,100 mile trip out to California

                                *We need meetings

                                *God's favor to raise the last half of our support

God kept the tires on!

We left early yesterday morning for our first trip out west.  We planned to have an exciting trip, see new places, eat new foods, make new friends and visit some old ones!  Well, after the first day, I certainly can say we HAVE had an exciting trip, though not neccesarily the excitement we planned for!
The first leg of the trip was like every other:

Driving through Pennsylvania was beautiful.  The tapestry of color was amazing.  The trees were almost flourescent with color, even through the cloudy, gloomy day.  The kids were doing school and about every 15 minutes one o the kids would yell, "COOL!  Look out the window". 

After school the kids had music lessons, Steven did some gymnastics, we muched on Twizzlers and played alot of Tic-Tac-Toe!

We pulled in to get gas, and when Chad walked around the RV he said, the suspension had fallen again.  He said we very low on the right side.  I texted a few of our friends and asked them to please pray for us.  Chad wanted to make it to the church and then deal with the problem one we got there. 
So we pulled out and drove a little more cautiously, and prayed that God would keep everything going a few more hours.

Then around 6pm we started wobbling.  Chad pulled off the side of the road and found a blow out in the back.  There wasn't much shoulder on the road and the sun was going down.  Chad tried to drive to the service station just 5 miles down the road.  Amazing how far 5 miles can become!  We eeked allong till half-way there we heard some awful noises in the back.  We stopped.  It sounded like the whole back was breaking off.  I posted on FB trying to see if any of our friends knew of any churches/friends in the NW part of Ohio.  I texted our friends again to please pray for us.

Our friend Steve called us, reading btween the lines of my FB post and knowing that we had broken down.  I want to thank all of our friends/family who posted and texted and called to let us know that they were praying for us.  What a comfort to know that so many families were lifting up our family before the Lord!

We finally were able to get ahold of a towing company to come out and get us.

When the mechanic looked at our tires, he stood up and said, "Where are the lug nuts? The tire is falling off!"

Chad came and told me that all of the lugnuts had snapped completely off on the right side and the tires were about to fall off!  He said, God held those tires on.  This could have been disastrous!

So we all got to ride in the back of a tow truck!  Definitely NOT the mot comfortable ride I've ever had, but the boys liked ll the tools and the "mechanic" smell.  They identified all the tools in the truck and told me how daddy and Peepa had taught them all about cars!

As I think over what happend, and realize what "could-have" happend, I can't help but just thank the Lord for keeping His hand on what is most precious to us-our Family!  I thank God for our safety, and I want to thank all those who carried our family in prayer and have offered their help. 

PRAYER WORKS!  It is a priviledge to have God's people lifting your name up to God.  

Please continue to pray for our family.  Pray that the RV will be fixed PROPERLY, and also that God would be glorified through all the this.

The Exodus: Led by the Hand of God

Led by the hand of God

God lead the children of Israel by a cloud during the day.  A cloud that not only lead Israel in the way that they should go, and signaled them when to stop and rest, but it also provided them with some refreshing shade.  It kept the hot sun off of them.  Then at night, God had a pillar of fire over them.  The children of Israel could look up in the middle of the night, when it’s pitch black in the wilderness, and they could see that God was still with them.  The pillar of fire also provided them with light and warmth in the dark wilderness.  What a beautiful picture of the presence of God with the children of Israel. 

Going through the summer in the RV was ok.  The air conditioner worked well and kept us cool.  As long as it was less than 100 degrees outside, we were very comfortable and cool.  When the temperature was over 100, the air conditioner still kept it tolerable for us.  As fall rolled in and the weather became cool, we began to wonder how the RV would fare against cold, snow and ice.  We had meetings scheduled in Chicago in January.  When I goggled the weather in Chicago for January I found that they usually had high wind and temps around -10 degrees!  I thought, oh no…how are we going to stay warm in an un-insulated RV! As I was starting to fret a calming peace came over me.  I knew that God was able to take care of us, and more than able to take care of the weather for us.  That week I was reading in Exodus about how God took care of the children Israel and led them with a cloud and the pillar of fire.  I prayed just then and gave my worries to the Lord.

Also that week I talked to Lisa and she was also a little concerned about how the RV would weather through the winter.  She brought some very warm comforters, and bought the kids warm pajamas, and  winter gear!  They were ready to take on the snow.

Maryland was thus far having a very mild winter, but we weren’t sure what awaited us in Chicago. We had a very uneventful drive until at 10:30 pm , in the middle of nowhere, we heard, “BANG”.  My heart sank as I contemplated how bad the timing was for a flat.  In the mist of all these farms, there weren’t even any street lights on the road.  We got out and none of the tires looked flat, but we noticed that the back of the RV was resting on the tires.  This was not good.  We couldn’t just stay there for the night because the generator wasn’t working.  There was nowhere in sight to pull into or ask for help. Chad decided we needed to just press on.  We had another 2 hours to drive, and we needed to get there so we could get help.  We had all the kids sit on the left side of the RV as we tried to take as much weight of that side as possible.  Chad drove very slowly, but every time we went around a turn or hit pothole we could feel the RV grinding into the tires.  I wondered if the RV would flip over if the tires popped…but when the fear wanted to creep in, I just gave it to the Lord.  I prayed with the kids and put them to bed.  Chad and I prayed and trusted that God would get us to where we needed to go.  We finally arrived at the church after 1am.  The pastor came out to greet us, and helped us get hooked up.  The next day the furnace went out, and we discovered two flat tires.  We had no heat, but the temps in Chicago were in the 60’s; and only in the 40’s a night.  Still cold, but with our blankets and space heaters we were comfortable.  As the pastor began to tell us about how strange this winter has been in Chicago I began to contemplate if God had adjusted the weather just for us.  Everyone agreed that they had NEVER seen a winter as warm as this one.

 A few hours after we left Chicago, a friend called from the church called us to see if we were ok driving through the snow.  We asked, “what snow?”  Apparently a big snow storm was coming through Chicago, and the temperature had dropped drastically after we left. What an amazing God we serve.  The mild weather followed us around all winter long.  My children were sad that they didn’t get to play in the snow, but God’s care was over us at every turn. 

We serve an amazing God who loves us and cares about us.  We are under His constant care!

The Exodus: The Bitter Waters of Marah

The Bitter Waters of Marah

“And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter…”     Ex. 15:23

Many would think that after the children of Israel had seen the mighty works that God did in Egypt and the great deliverance at the Red Sea that their faith had to be absolute in God.  How do you lose faith in a God that has done miracles for you?  Truly, human nature is the same everywhere, and how quickly we can forget the great and wonderful things God has done in our lives and allow the bitterness of our situation to overwhelm us…

In early August 2011, I noticed a small rash Steven had on his belly and arm.  Being as he had spent a great deal of time playing in the field at church I thought it was poison ivy.  I began treating him with calamine lotion.  It would help the itch for a little while, but it kept coming back and seemed to be spreading.  I took Steven to the doctor near the end of August because the rash was driving him crazy.  The doctor looked him over and said he had scarlet fever.  I told the doctor that he hadn’t had a fever, nor shown any signs of illness or a cold (We’ve dealt with scarlet fever before).  She said she was certain it was scarlet fever and gave me some antibiotics for Steve.  I asked her how long he’d be contagious and she said three days.  That was a blessing because we were leaving in five days to go stay with a friend in Connecticut. 

As the days went on Steve’s rash got worse and worse.  He seemed to be scratching all the time, and his skin was starting to get raw.  It was becoming so difficult to give him a shower because the soap burned him where he scratched himself raw. He legs and underwear area were the worst affected.  Steven began waking up several times in the middle of night screaming in frustration because of the itch.  I hated to be so far from home and our doctor.  A few days later I had the opportunity to give Steven a bath at a pastor’s house.  I bought some gentle oatmeal soap that I thought would soothe his skin.  He was excited about taking his first bath in weeks!  As soon as he stepped in the water he shrieked a blood curdling scream and said “it’s burning me, it’s burning me”.  The water was cool and I hadn’t put any soap in it yet.  My stomach turned as I saw how raw his skin was all over.  His skin wasn’t smooth anymore, but rough and scabbed.  I thought if I washed him with the oatmeal soap it would ease the itch and burn, but he just cried and screamed loader.  I began to cry as I realized something was very, very wrong.  I finished bathing him quickly and got him out of the tub and just sat with him wrapped in a towel on my lap and cried with him till he settled down.  I prayed and asked God to help him.  It hurt so much to see Stevie like this.  When he calmed down I dressed him and went out to the living room where Chad and the pastor were anxiously waiting for us to come out and tell them what happened.  When thy asked me, I cried and told them something was wrong with Steven.  I showed them his back and stomach and legs.  The pastor said that the ER would not be able to help with a rash, but said maybe I could take him to his daughters’ holistic doctor.  He called her and they got Steve an appointment for the very next morning. 

The next morning we went to this doctor and she told us Steven had Scabies, a parasite that is also known as ‘sand fleas’. She gave me some tea tree oil and told me to give him two baths a day with it, and also to give him two doses of it, in yogurt or fruit juice ,a day.  I prayed and asked God to please make bath tubs available for us at our next meetings in Maine, MA, and RI.  We followed the instructions very specifically.  God made provision and at each church that we went to, they had a bath tub or over-sized sink where I could bath Steven.  The medicine seemed to be helping very little.  It did relieve the itch enough for him to sleep through the night (Praise the Lord), but during the day he was constantly scratching.  When I would clip his nails short, he would find something to scratch with.  I didn’t think his skin would ever be soft again.

During all this, Hurricane Irene had come through the area and brought with it 2 weeks of nonstop rain.  We found all the leaks in the RV!  The water was just pouring in and there were sheets of mold on our windows , ceiling and walls every morning.  I thought perhaps Steven was having an allergic reaction to the mold and maybe it wasn’t a parasite at all.  Every day I had to clean the mold off the walls, ceiling  and windows.  I hadn’t seen the sun in days; my little boy was miserable and I couldn’t help him; and the rest of us were developing similar rashes on our stomachs and arms. 

I became overwhelmed with our circumstances and just collapsed in our RV and starting sobbing, “God I can’t do this!  Steven is sick and we’re living in black mold.  Please help us?  Why won’t you heal Steven, he’s in so much pain and I can’t do anything to help him.  Please, please help us”

Chad came in and found me in the bedroom.  He wrapped his arms me and said, “It’s going to be ok”.  I asked, “How do you know?  How do you know Steven is going to be ok, he might have some horrible disease?” Satan put his magnifying glass on my situation, and stole my peace.  My trust in God was replaced with fear, and Satan had me firmly in his grasp as I let the discouragement take root.

Chad hugged me so tight and just prayed and asked God to give us strength.  He begged God to help our faith not to waver, but to keep trusting Him.  He asked God to help us to endure the bitterness of  the circumstances until he provided what we needed.  I knew that he was right and asked God to forgive me for despairing and losing faith in Him. I knew that God was in control and could trust Steven in His care.

The next day the sun came out.  It was so wonderful to see the sun again after two weeks.  We opened up the RV and aired it out.  It had gotten so mildewy and stuffy in there.  I pulled out all the mattresses and cushions and aired them out.  When I took off the covers to air them out we found they were saturated in black mold.  We went to the store and bought mold killer and plastic mattress covers.  The Pastor we were with let us stay in his home for a few days to get away from the mold.  I scrubbed the RV with bleach that day.  There was mold everywhere.  We sprayed all the cushions and mattresses with mold killer and left them out in the sun for several hours.  I treated each cushion and mattress three times.  We threw out all the clothes, books and toys that had mold on them.  It took all day, but at the end of the day we had scrubbed the RV top to bottom and treated all our cushions and mattresses.  We washed the covers several times then put plastic covers on the matresses. 

The day after  we started traveling again, it would be another three weeks before we returned to MD.  Steven improved very little over that time, but we were thankful that at least he was able to sleep through the night without waking up in agony. 

I already had an appointment for Steven scheduled for the day after we got home.  I took him to the doctor and told her all that had happened.  She said he did have scabies and gave us enough cream to treat our whole family.  She said all of us but Steve should be fine the next day.  Steven would require two treatments, but she said in three days his itch would be almost completely gone.  She said I needed to buy Steven an oatmeal lotion and lather him up daily for several weeks to help his skin return to normal.  We also had to treat our RV because we most likely had an infestation in our RV.  The treatment involved washing everything fabric in the RV we could: our entire wardrobe, all blankets, sheets, stuffed animals, pillows, etc.  Everything that could go in a washing machine needed to be washed.  We spent over $100 and several hours at the laundry mat. We also had to fumigate the entire RV.

But praise God, the day following, our itch was gone.  Steven’s rash was considerably better.  After the second treatment his itch was almost completely gone and by the third day he was back to normal.  It did take several weeks for his skin to completely heal and become soft again, but his misery was over! God had provided relief, He gave us what we needed, and with it a stronger resolve for our calling because we didn’t quit when it got hard.

Though at times we feel utterly forsaken by God, He is always there.  He hurts when we hurt, and though He could instantly deliver us from our trial, He sees great value in the lesson we are learning. Sometimes there is bitterness in our circumstances and we despair, but we must find strength in knowing that God is in control and He WILL give us what we need in His time.

The Exodus: The Deliverance of God

The Deliverance of God

“…and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry and, and the waters were divided” Ex. 14:21b

“And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” Ex. 14:31

The children of Israel were hemmed in by the Egyptian army on one side and the Red Sea on the other.  It seemed to them impossible to escape, and fear reigned in their heart though they had just seen the great miracles by which God had delivered them from Israel.

We had a couple local meetings in the area which we were able to travel to in our van.  Our RV was parked at Woodlawn and were adjusting to a new lifestyle.  At the end of July we had meetings scheduled in NJ, so we were going to be traveling in it for the first time.  We were so excited about our first “adventure”.  We packed up the RV and we were going to go by Chad’s mom’s house to  take "real" showers before we left.  On the way to Lisa’s, the RV began to smell like something was burning.  I got the kids going with their showers and Chad was out trying to figure out what was wrong.  After a while he came in and said he thought the brakes were just sticking from lack of use.  He said there was a free pump-out on 95 just 15 min. away.  He said we’ll drive there and pump-out and if there is a problem that will be a good place to head home from.  So we held our breath and drove out there.  Everything seemed fine, so we kept driving.  We had a 3 hour drive to the church we were going to be parking at.  After we’d been driving for about 30 minutes the smell returned and an intense fear came over me like we were going to die.  I felt like Satan was trying to kill us right then.  I didn’t say anything to Chad, I just got up and went to the bedroom to pray.  I got on my knees and begged God for our lives.  I was shaking and cringing in fear as if death was around the corner. I knew that Satan was not pleased that we wanted to go to the northern DR to spread the gospel.  I knew that Satan would kill us if he could.  I prayed for God’s protection.   It seemed to me that we had reached an impenetrable wall of difficulty.  I wasn’t sure what was making that burning smell.  I feared that the RV could explode since we were driving with a full tank of propane and I didn’t know if we were on fire.  I’m not sure how long I prayed, but I prayed until the fear lifted.  I still was a little worried, but I didn’t feel that intense desire to pray.  I texted some close friends and asked them to pray for us.  We finally arrived to the church and got hooked up.  Afterwards Chad came to me and said that he thought the brakes were going out.  He said the brakes were going to the floor while we drove but he didn’t want to tell me. 

A week later we had to drive back home and the brakes were smoking awful.  The burning smell was so strong, we kept looking out the window to see if something was on fire.  Chad said it seemed like the brakes were stuck and wouldn’t let go.  Chad called our church's mechanic and asked him to please meet us at church.  Though I didn’t have the same sense of fear as I did on the drive up, we still prayed the whole way home.  When we got to church the mechanic was there.  When he pulled the tires off the calipers and brakes just fell off!  The mechanic looked at us in utter disbelief and said, “How in the world are you still alive?  You’ve been driving without any brakes at all!”  I ran nside the RV, feeling so shaken by the danger that we were just in and overwhelmed by God’s protection of our family. I prayed and thanked God for the miracle.  Yes, Satan would have liked to have killed us before we ever got to the field, but our Mighty God intervened on our behalf.

"...I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord." Jer. 1:8

We serve a mighty God who is able to protect us from any danger that Satan may bring our way.  We need only to give ourselves to prayer and trust Him.



The Exodus: Singing or Sighing

The Exodus: Singing or Sighing

“…I will sing unto the Lord…”

No doubt when the children of Israel left Egypt it was with great rejoicing!  After so many years of praying for God’s deliverance, it was finally here.  Though they could hear the wailing in Egypt because of the Passaover, and though they had many unknowns in their future, they left Egypt with a triumphant shout, singing, and laughing.  Rejoicing in the Lord. 

Our family had gone through a few years in the emotional turmoil of trying to find the will of God for our lives.  It was a restless time for us as we waited on the Lord for clear direction.  And after two years of prayers the answer finally came.  There was much excitement and liberty in knowing God’s will, and it seemed that as soon as the decision was made God miraculously began opening doors.  Things got moving much faster than we ever imagined possible.  God was working everything into place and we began filling up our schedule right away.  What great comfort there was in knowing that it was God who was moving on our behalf.

Even in the midst of all the excitement I had to work at keeping myself singing and praising God.  It’s all too easy to become tired and start sighing as different unexpected circumstances that come our way. 

We were at our very first out of town meeting.  The church was HUGE and I felt so small and lost in the midst of so many people.  My husband was off talking to the church folk, our three oldest children were at the playground with friends and I was dutifully standing next to our table with Steven trying very hard not to look as intimidated as I felt.  I was talking with some ladies when I heard a child screaming, “PEOPLE, PEOPLE… WE NEED YOUR MONEY!”  I broke out into a cold sweat, and prayed that that wasn’t one of my kids.  I turned around to see Steven (3) holding a coffee cup and screaming again, “PEOPLE, PEOPLE… WE NEED YOUR MONEY!”  I know you’re laughing, but I wanted to melt into the ground.  Everyone in the foyer had stopped and were looking at this little missionary kid begging for money.  I grabbed him and held him and tried to chuckle off my embarrassment.  We had recently let the kids watch the Little Rascals, and there was scene in the movie after the kids clubhouse burned down that the kids were out begging for money.  Steven thought this was hilarious, so of course when he finds an empty coffee cup he knows what they are for!  When I relayed the story to my husband I was so red-faced from embarrassment, he put his hands on my shoulders and said, “Laugh before you start crying”.

After a year of deputation, I come to find more and more that this was really good advice.  There can be many stressful situations on deputation that can be alleviated by just laughing it off.  Deputation is a long journey and we just can’t take everything too seriously, we’ll lose our minds if we do! 

There was the time my boys were throwing the football around in the parking lot and almost decapitated the pastor!

Or the time when Steven told some people , at a church we were just visiting, that we didn’t have a house and we lived in our car.  Those poor people were sooo concerned!

Then on one occasion, someone gave Steven an etch-a-sketch.  He was completely convinced that it was an ipad!  This was all fine and good, until he went into a church one day and started telling the people there that he got an ipad.  By the time we got into church, people were whispering and staring.  Finally someone came and asked me if I really thought Steven was of age to have an ipad! 

One Sunday we stopped in to visit a church in the area, and as I was dropping the kids off to their Sunday school classes I see two lice run across Becca’s bangs.  We got the kids out of class and excused ourselves with the pastor and told him Becca wasn’t well.  Of course, Becca chimes in, I’m fine….

Recently, we were at a missions conference.  The international banquet spread was huge, and the dessert table looked wonderful!!  Steven inhaled his food so fast he gagged himself, stood up, and threw-up all over himself and the table.... when we he was done he loudly says, "I finished all my food, can I have dessert now?"

Life is full of these kinds of embarrassing situation.  We can lose our minds if we take things too seriously.  We can choose to step back and find humor in our uncomfortable/awkward/embarassing situations.  Laughing is considerably better for our health and state of being.  “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Prov. 17:22

Let’s find opportunities to sing and laugh, and enjoy the wonderful life God has given us.

The Exodus: The journey begins

The Exodus

The Story of our Deputation Journey and the lessons we’ve learned

Introduction

As we travel on the deputation trail, I can’ help but think of the children of Israel and their journey to the Promised Land.  With each new experience my mind is drawn back to Exodus and how the children of Israel learned many of the same lessons God is teaching us.  It was a little over a year ago that we began our deputation journey, making our way to the Dominican Republic; our “Promised Land”.  The land that God has called us to! 

I hope these experiences aer an encouragement to you and that your faith might be strengthened by reading how many times my faith faltered just before God’s deliverance came.  Through these experiences my faith has grown day by day.  I remind myself of these experiences often to encourage myself to keep trusting the Lord.  We serve a most amazing God who sees great value in the trials he allows us to go through.  Each difficulty He allowed was in His plan and had a purpose.  His timing is perfect and He is always faithful. 

The Journey Begins

“And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required…”  Ex. 12:36

We returned from BIMI’s candidate school the second week of June.  The lease was going to be up on our house in August.  As excited as we were about this new calling in our lives, I was filled with anxiety about the unknowns.  I tried to push away the thoughts of “Where are we going to live?”, “How are we going to get meetings?”, “How can we afford deputation?”, “I don’t know how to be a missionary wife!”.  I just kept telling myself over and over, “If God called us, He’s going to provide.”  We started packing everything up.  We wanted to sell everything by the second week of July, in time for our first out-of-town meeting.  And so began a marathon of yard sales and open house sales.  It was exhausting, and emotionally draining to sell everything in our house.  Selling my beloved china tea sets, which had brought so many hours of pleasure to our family and friends, for pennies seemed a cruel torment.  Watching our furniture disappear out of the house while we were still living in it, and selling the kids toys and bikes was almost too much.  But my greatest heartbreak came when it became clear that no one wanted my antique piano.  This piano had been a direct answer to prayer and I loved it.  It was the centerpiece of my living room. When my husband told me he had to take it to the dump it broke my heart.  I cried as they loaded my beautiful piano knowing that in a few minutes it would be shattered to bits.  It seemed this process would never be over.  Through all this emotional whirlwind, I loved my Lord and I was so excited that he had something for us. And I knew that it would be better than anything I’d ever had before.

At the end of June we had our first meeting with Chesapeake Baptist Church.  After the morning service, a family took us out to lunch and told us the Lord had laid it on their hearts to give us their RV!  We were stunned, we really hadn’t told anyone we wanted an RV.  We had been talking to a friend and making plans to rent their RV, but this was completely unexpected.  This was the first concrete confirmation that God was going to take care of us.  The family brought the RV to Woodlawn and gave us the keys.  I was in utter disbelief, but in my heart I knew there was nothing to worry about because God was going to take care of everything.

It took 6 yard sales and numerous trips to the good-will and the dump to completely empty our 7 bedroom house.  We then packed up the RV with our essentials.

Our first out-of-town meeting was to be in West Virginia.  The pastor called and made arrangements for us to come and stay at a hotel for the weekend.  The weekend of that meeting was to be our last in the house.  I remember standing outside of our home as Chad locked it for the last time. What an strange feeling that was.   I was on the verge of tears, but I wanted to be “excited” for the kids’ sake.  I bit my bottom lip and fought back the tears as we drove away.  I thought, “What are we doing?  Are we crazy?  We just left our home, and everything we own, and a good job, and we’re leaving our friends and family!  We spent all our savings on our survey trip and for our missionary supplies! What are we doing?”  I felt a panic start to creep in, but just when the tears were about to flow, I felt the gentle whisper of the Lord say to me, everything is going to be fine.  I took a deep breath, and I felt Chad reach over and hold my hand.  I looked over at him and he said, “Thank you for all you’ve done!”.  The look in his eyes reminded me of why we were doing what we were doing.  I wanted to go to the D.R. and share with the people there God’s salvation.  My heart settled down and we drove to WV.  When we got to the hotel, I felt emotionally exhausted from the day.  When we walked into our room, there was a HUGE container overflowing with cookies, candy, chips, drinks, books, anything a kid could ever want!  The kids were screaming in excitement as they looked through the container.  I could hold back the tears no longer.  They flowed down my face as I looked upon my children squealing in delight.  Then Chad found an envelope with our names on it.  It was a letter from the pastor along with a check for $500! Then I just melted and began to weep uncontrollably.  I began to thank God for His goodness and faithfulness to us.  I asked God to forgive me for my lack of faith, worry and doubts.  I knew there were exciting days ahead of us, and that this was a journey God would make with us.  From here on out we would be on the road with God. 

When God calls you to do something, He WILL provide everything you need to accomplish His will!

Happy Birthday to a lovely young lady

  

 I look at her and can hardly believe that my little Becca is now 12 years old!  I don't know where the years went, or how she came to become such a beautiful, bright young lady.

I'm so very proud of her, and so grateful that God would give me a daughter.  She has been such a wonderful companion in the midst of all these boys during deputation.  She has grown to be my right hand, and greatest helper.

She's has been such a blessing, not only to our family, but to others around er as well.  It has been such a joy to watch her be so generous to others.  She gave away her DS and games to a child that was in the hospital so he wouldn't be bored, and has given away her favorite books to other girls who love horses! She gives her money to other missionary children and preachers!  I've also seen her grow in her relationship with the Lord.  She has seen God answer some amazing prayers for her.  She is learning to love reading her Bible and loves to sit and talk about what she read, and about how to apply it.  The best advice on parenting I ever got was from another missionary who encouraged me to read the Bible with Becca daily, and pray.  I can't put into words how that time together everyday greatly impacted our relationship.  The Lord has used that time to knit our hearts together like never before.  I greatly encourage  all parents to try to do this.
Becca has such a tender heart to other children in need, and looks for ways to help them and encourage them.  I pray that the Lord would continue to mold her and use her.  I love my girl!  I read this poem and just loved it. 

As I watch grow by    Kay Theese                                  
 Do you know how much you mean to me?
As you grow into what you will be.
You came from within, from just beneath my heart
it's there you'll always be though your own life will now start.
You're growing so fast it sends me awhirl,
With misty eyes I ask, Where's my little girl?
I know sometimes to you I seem harsh and so unfair,
But one day you will see, I taught you well because I care.
The next few years will so quickly fly,
With laughter and joy, mixed with a few tears to cry.
As you begin your growth to womanhood, this fact you must know,
You'll always be my source of pride, no matter where you go.
You must stand up tall and proud, within you feel no fear,
For all you dreams and goals, sit before you very near.
With god's love in your heart and the world by its tail,
You'll always be my winner, and victory will prevail.
For you this poem was written, with help from above,
To tell you in a rhythm of your Mother's heartfelt Love!

Wait on the Lord

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage , and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait , I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14

Two months ago I was all discouraged when I realized that we had 3 weeks in August that were blank.  3 WEEKS!  3 weeks without meetings, without conferences…NOT getting any closer to our goal.  The Dominican felt soooo far away. I couldn’t understand why we hadn’t been able to get meetings during that time, but the Lord gave us some things we needed more than meetings.

God's perfect timing
Not long ago we took Jonathan to the dentist and found out all his molars were rotting out of his mouth.  He was going to need to have all his molars pulled.  The dentist told us that this work would take four weeks to do.  Guess what weeks she had available to do the work!  We were able to get all his dental work done.  He’s now minus 5 molars and has two spacers he has to wear until his adult molars grow in.  We thank the Lord that even during the craziness of deputation were able to get all his work done.

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In time to lend a hand
When we pulled into Chesapeake, the pastor came out to greet us and see how things were coming along for us.  Chad told him of our adventures and told him we’d be around for a little over 3 weeks.  He asked the pastor if there was anything we could help with.  The pastor let us know that he was needing to go out of town for a few weeks and needed someone to fill the pulpit.  He asked Chad if he could do it.  This church has been a tremendous blessing to us over the years, and we were thrilled to have an opportunity to be a help and a blessing to them.  This also meant that we would be able to attend the same church for 3 weeks straight!  Something we hadn’t done in over a year.  It was such a blessing to get to know the families better at this church, and to work amongst the people. The kids loved going to Sunday school and actually being able to turn in their homework and do their projects with the other kids.  Not to mention, there are horses at this church.  Our daughter was in heaven being able to help out with the horses-feeding, watering, brushing, and even catching them!  It was time of refreshment; A time to remember what it was like to be part of a church family again.

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Strengthened and Encouraged by loving family and friends
During these three weeks, we also had ample opportunities to see our family and friends again.  What a blessing they were.  We had several lunch and dinner engagements.  It’s incredible how out of touch you can feel with everyone after being on the road for a year, but then how quickly we can bond together again.  I’m thankful for the wonderful family and friends that God has given us.  Though at times we feel forgotten by all our loved ones, it is obvious when we are together that we are not forgotten but near and dear to their hearts.  They carry us on their hearts and pray for us daily.  What a wonderful feeling to know that we have such a prayer base amongst our family and friends.  Being reminded of this made our 3 weeks home, worth it.

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I also took advantage of the time we had to get some projects done on the RV.  Some special friends of ours came a built some shelves and drawers in the RV, which made travel much less hazardous for us.  No toys, or instruments falling on heads this time!  We also were able to relace a torn curtain with a very cute and stylish one!  I was able to clean out and rearrange our outside storage compartments.  I cleaned out our closets and cabinets too.  This was also a perfect opportunity for us to start school.  We had a few weeks of stability and quiet.  What a great start we've had to our school year.  We have a good schedule going, we'll see how much our deputation travels affect it  LOL.

Now we are on the road again, refreshed and stregthened.  On the agenda, Massachusetts, Ohio, Southern Maryland, Illonois, Wyoming, and California!  It's going to be a busy fall.  lease pray for us as we travel such great distances in the RV.  Please pray that our promised support will come in soon, that will put at 50% or above when it does.  Please pray that God would use us at these next meetings/conferences to be an encouragement to the churches and pastors, also that God would use us to impact lives for missions.