Finishing and Provision

THANK YOU so much for your prayers. The Lord gave us much grace as we finished up the internship. There were many tears as good-byes were said and then the Lord gave us much grace in traveling too. Sara and her sister traveled home through the windy blizzard that hit much of KS and OK. Danielle's flight got canceled, but a later direct flight was able to be scheduled. My sister Susan was down visiting, so we stayed with cousins Saturday evening before driving up to KS on Sunday.

The family enjoyed Christmas together, complete with my brother's last minute trip to KS. Snow, cattle chores with Daddy, caroling, the Christmas story, and Christmas dinner with grandmother have all been highlights so far.

I'll be heading to a friend's home for some focused time with the Lord next week. The Lord has shown himself faithful in so many ways recently. Special financial gifts have helped cover Christmas expenses, unexpected car repairs, trips to KS after mother's surgery, and much more. A friend even emailed me out of the blue and offered me the use of their truck for two weeks starting on the 5th. He had no clue that my car was going into the shop for two weeks starting the 7th!

I praise God for you!

Last week...

We're heading into the final five days of the internship! Please pray for us! Thank you!
Monday - last Bible Study/prayer time together.
Tuesday - regular prayer night
Wednesday - clean-the-house-and-pack-it-all-up-night
Thursday - Intern Graduation!!!
Friday - hangout and have final fun night? Packing.
Saturday - 4am trip to airport with two interns. Third intern leaves in afternoon. Evening - Dorinda and sister drive to KS for Christmas!

Pray for the Lord to be glorified this week! and for all of us to have his peace in the midst of change and busyness.

So great a cloud

Therefore, since we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us set aside every sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...

This evening's illustrations:

• The crowd in the movie Miracle. The 1980 USA Olympic hockey team was struggling, but the crowd in the stands was calling to them - encouraging them in their fight. But even with that crowd of witnesses, they still needed to fix their eyes on the the goal.
  
• Those who have passed on before us. The wife of our leader in Myanmar died today. She contracted hepatitis through a blood transfusion several years ago. After many years of faithful service alongside her husband, the she went to be with the Lord. Pray for her family to fix their eyes on the Lord.
  
• You. As I labor and work here in this office, cheering on the missionaries, you are cheering for me. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Pray that I would continue to fix my eyes on the Lord.
  

The Masterpiece

Pause. Take 11 minutes and watch The Masterpiece. It's a short film and well worth your time. You can watch it online or (if you have FIOS or some other really really fast connection) you can download it and play it with quicktime. Watch until the end of the credits.

Want to share it? Please do! Ed told me to pass it on.

Beauty comes from brokenness.

Five years!

Today marks my 5th anniversary in Texas. Can you believe it?!? One Monday morning, five years ago, we packed up the family van with all my stuff and moved me down to start working full-time for GFA. I've moved a few times and changed phone numbers a few time and even changed job descriptions a little bit. However, I'm still just as convinced that this is where God has called me to serve.

And I'm so thankful for each one of you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Caroling, Caroling...

We went caroling as an intern group this evening, visiting several friends, neighbors, and coworkers with the delightful sounds of our voices raised in praise to God. (It sounds really nice when I put that way, doesn't it? Much better than "the awful sounds of our off-key voices.") It was a really fun time. Travis's reindeer antlers with flashing lights certainly added to the fun as did the "men's ensemble" that kept holding the fermatas a little too long. We ended with a surprise visit to Auntie Gisela's home. I had called her earlier and asked when she would be home since I "had something I wanted to drop by." Boy, did we surprise her! Much fun!

I did get a few other things done today: deposit checks, pay bills, send in car registration, fix Jean's computer, purchase chocolate melts, make 4 dozen chocolates for vendor thank-yous, file all my health insurance and car maintenance papers... Between that and all-night prayer last night and caroling tonight, I'm ready to sleep!

Love you all!

Cyclone (hurricane) in Bangladesh

For those who have been praying for the thousands affected by the category 4 cyclone that hit Bangladesh last week, there's a short photoshow on the website with news on how GFA is ministering there. It takes less than 30 seconds -- stop by! http://www.gfa.org/reaching-out-to-cyclone-survivors

Confidence in the Lord

...confidence in the sovereignty of God and the triumph of His cause is essential in the prayers of God's people and the mission of the church.

-John Piper - Let the Nations be Glad

Pray while the video is loading

I noticed that the GFA video in the below post may take a minute or two to load. So here's some prayer requests while you wait. :)
1. Dee, Sara, and Steph (my interns) graduate in less than three weeks. Pray for peace and direction for what the Lord has next for them.
2. Pray that the Lord would guide our relationships and draw us closer together in prayer and encouragement for each other during these last few days.
3. Pray for us as we pack up this house -- they to turn home and me to move to a new rental house.
4. Pray that I would choose to believe and trust God and rejoice in him in the midst of difficult situations.
5. Pray that God would be honored and glorified in everything we do.

All praise to Him!

More critters!

We passed out 375 GFA Christmas Catalogs at Hope Fellowship on Saturday and Sunday. People were so excited about the idea of giving a Dalit family the gift of livestock for Christmas as a way of sharing Christ's love. I was thrilled at Pastor's support of the project and the response that the people had.

Here's the video that was shown: