Three things I am doing as this year comes to a close and 2012 is upon us.
RENEW -
Taking time out to spend with my family, recharging and relaxing, and most of all renewing my mind with God's word.
REUSE -
Finding ways to repurpose some of my time - and belongings - purging the old and planting the new -could I be doing two things at once? Sure I can =)
RECYCLE -
All of Life is a Cycle - do not grow weary of doing good =) 2012 is going to be a banner year =)
Amanda
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Season of Giving
During the rest of the year we give to those around us - we give our time, our talents, our energy, our money, everything we have. We give abundantly without complaint and without expecting payment. We have taught our children this same attitude -you give. Christ gave us so much - how can I not also give to others. This isn't an attitude reserved for one month of the year - it is an attitude of daily living, daily practice - until it becomes habit - until it becomes so ingrained that you don't know how else to be.
And it occured to me that as a mom and wife I have been seriously neglecting giving much at all to 3 or 4 people in my life. So as this season comes to a close I will be focusing more on giving to those who have supported me the most, everyday, all year long Those 4 guys who have sacrificed long hours of caring for others, lugging stuff to co-op, caring for other's children, caring for the needs of all those around us. They are my blessing and my crown, and I adore them =)
Blessings,
Amanda
And it occured to me that as a mom and wife I have been seriously neglecting giving much at all to 3 or 4 people in my life. So as this season comes to a close I will be focusing more on giving to those who have supported me the most, everyday, all year long Those 4 guys who have sacrificed long hours of caring for others, lugging stuff to co-op, caring for other's children, caring for the needs of all those around us. They are my blessing and my crown, and I adore them =)
Blessings,
Amanda
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Amazing Missionaries
Being a missionary in Africa always seemed exotic and exciting to me - oh yeah, and you would be telling others about God too - so it would be all around GREAT. I have a cousin who is a missionary in Africa - and her stories sound sooo interesting and exotic and wonderful (except when she got malaria). I was able to go and BE a missionary a few years ago and it was very exotic and exciting and also kind of eye opening, perspective changing, revealing.
While I was in Africa we were able to go door to door a little bit and share the gospel, but for the most part we ministered to people who were already in the church - already connected with or seeking the Lord. We ran a VBS, we talked to a women's Bible study group, we went to baby dedications. We did normal stuff. And my cousin the missionary - the one with the exotic and exciting life - she homeschools 3 kids for a mission family - hmm - sounds sort of familiar - only she fights off large insects and butchers chickens while doing so. And the family there? They have jobs - they work in offices - they shuffle papers - they run administrative things.
More and more I realize that there isn't an exotic and exciting mission field that God has called me to - he has called me to THIS mission field - and it is just as good as any other! The problem is perspective.
Let's see if I can put this another way. When I was preparing to go to Kenya I wrote letters to my friends asking them to pray for me, asking them to pray God's protection over my life, asking them to pray that God would open doors for me to be able to share the Gospel, prayers all the time - that God would ordain the chance encounter, bless the ordinary, and reach the lost. I need those prayers as much today as I ever did in Kenya!! I need God to turn the odd circumstance into a blessing, I need God to bless the mundane in my life, to guide and affect the chance encounter.
I also put back a ton of money - I mean a TON! I wanted to make sure that if an emergency came up I would have everything I needed to handle it. It did not phase me in the least to pay dearly for a plane ticket, for shots, housing and food while I was there - heck I spent more on that trip than Drason earns in a month, and it didn't bother us at all - in fact we were HAPPY to spend it - because we knew it would be helping the kingdom. How is what I do today any different than what I did there? Shouldn't I be just as open to spending money now as I was then? If 50 bucks helps a support group operate more smoothly - should I cringe?
This is something that God has been saying to me a lot - this is my mission field. Do not disdain the ordinary or dread the everyday - your life is as exciting and exotic as you want it to be - you just need to see the fields that are before you rather than the ones half way around the world.
Goodnight,
Amanda
While I was in Africa we were able to go door to door a little bit and share the gospel, but for the most part we ministered to people who were already in the church - already connected with or seeking the Lord. We ran a VBS, we talked to a women's Bible study group, we went to baby dedications. We did normal stuff. And my cousin the missionary - the one with the exotic and exciting life - she homeschools 3 kids for a mission family - hmm - sounds sort of familiar - only she fights off large insects and butchers chickens while doing so. And the family there? They have jobs - they work in offices - they shuffle papers - they run administrative things.
More and more I realize that there isn't an exotic and exciting mission field that God has called me to - he has called me to THIS mission field - and it is just as good as any other! The problem is perspective.
Let's see if I can put this another way. When I was preparing to go to Kenya I wrote letters to my friends asking them to pray for me, asking them to pray God's protection over my life, asking them to pray that God would open doors for me to be able to share the Gospel, prayers all the time - that God would ordain the chance encounter, bless the ordinary, and reach the lost. I need those prayers as much today as I ever did in Kenya!! I need God to turn the odd circumstance into a blessing, I need God to bless the mundane in my life, to guide and affect the chance encounter.
I also put back a ton of money - I mean a TON! I wanted to make sure that if an emergency came up I would have everything I needed to handle it. It did not phase me in the least to pay dearly for a plane ticket, for shots, housing and food while I was there - heck I spent more on that trip than Drason earns in a month, and it didn't bother us at all - in fact we were HAPPY to spend it - because we knew it would be helping the kingdom. How is what I do today any different than what I did there? Shouldn't I be just as open to spending money now as I was then? If 50 bucks helps a support group operate more smoothly - should I cringe?
This is something that God has been saying to me a lot - this is my mission field. Do not disdain the ordinary or dread the everyday - your life is as exciting and exotic as you want it to be - you just need to see the fields that are before you rather than the ones half way around the world.
Goodnight,
Amanda
Friday, December 9, 2011
Our God is a devouring fire
I was really bummed. I hate being sick! I hate having troubles - they wear me out! Then this is what God had to say to me today =) I had never read this in quite the same way before.
Hebrews 12: 18-29
18 You have not come to a physical mountain,[h] to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[i] 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”[j]
22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.”[k] 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.
When I have fear instead of faith and doubt instead of hope, I need to remember this. I serve the risen Savior! He is all powerful, there is nothing too big for Him. God speaks and the earth crumbles - this is what I have heard from the heavenly messenger (the Holy Spirit) and from God's word. Let me not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.
Goodnight,
Amanda
Hebrews 12: 18-29
18 You have not come to a physical mountain,[h] to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[i] 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”[j]
22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.”[k] 27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29 For our God is a devouring fire.
When I have fear instead of faith and doubt instead of hope, I need to remember this. I serve the risen Savior! He is all powerful, there is nothing too big for Him. God speaks and the earth crumbles - this is what I have heard from the heavenly messenger (the Holy Spirit) and from God's word. Let me not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.
Goodnight,
Amanda
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