Jun 12, 2012
Almost every day I go to work at Customer Service. Among other things it involves helping people with their questions, taking returns and keeping items tagged and ready to be sold. There are days when Customer Service is clean and organized. There are no piles of things to do and equally wonderful all the people are pleasant and easy to help.
Inevitably however there will come that day when disorder and chaos take over . Your once clean counter is collecting a pile of returned clothing, and the small back room becomes smaller because broken coffee makers are dangerously stacked. And guess what that same chaos has hit the rest of the store. No one can seem to keep up, so all your carts are full and there is no where else stick the stuff people keep returning. In addition to that bundle of “fun,” all those once happy customers have turned into angry people who are dissatisfied with the store.
To me it is like a mirror image of life. One day there is unity among family and friends, your health, job and house are all in tip top shape and your breathing easy. Then much like the chaos that erupts in the store you find out you have some painful health condition, your car brakes down, and there is drama and discord among you and your friends.
James 1:2 -4 says
“Dear bothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, let it be an opportunity for great joy. For when your faith is tested your endurance will have a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is full developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything “
James says “when” not “if.” We are assured that troubles will come and our faith will be tested. However we are also told that these are opportunities. Life here on earth as a believer was not meant to be some easy, pleasurable experience. We will face trials and pain.
Now our struggles here may not seem as massive as that of someone else, but they are our struggles. The enemy knows how to drag us down and make us useless, but more so our Heavenly Father knows how to use those same things for good. So next time troubles come your way, be joyful! and thank God for allowing you be refined. Then endure by the power of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of God’s Word and get ready to grow.
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Apr 23, 2012
Recently I heard a message from Auntie Gisela. She is K.P. Yohannan’s wife, and every third thursday of the month we have a Gospel For Asia ladies meeting where she will share a message with us. This month’s title was “The Gospel is Good News.” It’s good news for all who receive it. Even though times will get tough, God can handle it and will dust us off again. Nothing is too impossible for God.
God knows. So why worry? I’ve had struggles with depression off and on, and until just recently I’ve had a hard time combating it and refocusing on the Lord. It finally clicked during ladies meeting, that whatever I entertain in my thoughts, or in my heart will bear fruit. So if I dwell on those thoughts and feelings of depression, it will bear fruit and make me useless in reaching the lost in Asia. So in order to protect my call, I need to not think on those things. Just like in Philippians 4, where Paul says “whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.” (NKJV)
So if I immediately combat all those negative thoughts that I am worth nothing, that God doesn’t care about my desires, that there’s no point in me doing what I do because it’s all worthless, with the TRUTH that the Lord clearly lays out in His word for me, for this exact purpose, then I don’t have to worry.
Yes, it is hard to do. It’s so easy to entertain those thoughts. But I will NOT allow the enemy to get a foothold on my any longer. God loves me, He sent His Son to DIE for me, He rose again conquering death so that I may have a chance to live forever in His presence, and He is continuing to renew and transform me into His image. Who can be depressed when they can understand and grasp the depth of God’s unfailing love for them?
There is joy in the Lord. A Joy that will never fail. A Joy fed from His Spirit living in me. Even in times of trial and darkness, His joy is there to shine through me. And I’m happy about that. I am content in the Lord.
Anyway… that was my quick update of where my thoughts are at the moment. Hope it was a blessing to you! Remember that God knows what’s best for you. He knew it before you were born, and He knows how best to fulfill His plan in your life. So trust Him, and don’t worry. 🙂
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Mar 12, 2012
So I just recently had a revelation. An “ah-ha!” moment, I would normally say. You know the verse Philippians 4:4 where Paul writes “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice!”
Gospel for Asia is an organization born from prayer. Literally, it started as a Tuesday night prayer meeting in our founders house, and still to this day, we are a living breathing organism grounded in the greatest gift given to believers in Christ – Prayer. We have Monday, Thursday, and Friday morning prayer before we go to our ministry areas, we have Tuesday night prayer every week, we have a Friday night all night prayer on the first Friday of every month, as departments we have prayer once, twice, or even three times a week, and of course there is personal prayer time. I’m not saying this to brag or anything, but just to make a point. With our lives grounded in prayer, you can bet that we see the effects of those prayer requests every day, sometimes immediately after we’ve prayed. I don’t know about you, but for me, this is a cause to rejoice.
Some of the answers to prayer may include, healing for brothers and sisters, people coming to know the Lord through the various ministries we have on the field, people faithfully giving to further God’s work, etc. Aren’t these amazing things?! But what about those prayer requests that we don’t get the result we had been hoping for? Say, we pray for healing for a brother or sister in Asia who was brutally beaten for professing Christ our Savior, we pray and we pray and we pray, but then that brother or sister goes to be with the Lord. How is that a good thing for the family that they left behind, or for the believers he was discipling in a distant village, or even for those who persecuted him? Doesn’t Paul say Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS?
Is the word “always” subjected to only the happy answers to prayer? Shouldn’t we also rejoice in the answers to prayer that aren’t as happy? Praise the Lord that brother is no longer suffering, but he is forever in the eternal presence of our Lord Jesus! Praise the Lord I didn’t get the raise in my paycheck, because HE knows what I need more than I could ever imagine! Praise the Lord for _______ (you fill in the blank).
Often times working in ministry I will get caught up in the numbers of the results. No matter how hard I try not to focus on the numbers, it seems to always creep into mind. Recently we have been praying for big things to happen on the web, but what happens if we don’t see that prayer answer? Or if the numbers go down? Will we still be praising the Lord for the lives transformed by the prayers and gifts given by those who were perhaps sacrificing what someone might call the “widow’s mite”? I want to say I would rejoice in this situation. I want to say I would rejoice in every situation, whether it be death, or new life, or sickness, or health. I will definitely be praying for the Lord to make this transformation in my heart and mind.
I am praying for each of you. I may not know your name, or what you look like, but I do know that God loves you more than you could ever fathom. And I pray that if you know Him, that you would grow in Him. If you don’t know Him, I pray that you will come to know and love Him just as He knows and loves you (even before you were born!).
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Mar 1, 2012
My days are now full of family activities such as sledding, shoveling the snow from the driveway, and other things like raising my support to join staff at Gospel for Asia. Life is a roller coaster for sure. One moment I’m on the top of the world and the next I’m discouraged; wanting to climb in my bed and pull the covers over my head till the whole world dissolves. Today was actually a really good day till the afternoon but between lack of sleep and a few other stress factors I again got to the point where I wanted to hide from everyone. I cried a while and then looked through some pictures trying to find something that could help me not feel so gloomy. A picture of my family years ago… maybe just a goofy picture of my brothers and me. This is the one I found.
This is me the day I got the call saying I was accepted for the School of Discipleship. I was so excited that I ran outside in my socks to tell my brother who was taking pictures in the front yard. I’m not really fond of how I look in the photo but tonight it meant everything to me. It was remembering that God has specifically called me to do this job. He chose me to be in School of Discipleship and He chose me to keep serving by joining staff. I was more confident of God’s calling at this moment than I had ever been in my life and I felt a very similar (and maybe even greater) joy when I was sure God wanted me to join staff. So looking at the picture I had to ask myself what is different about life that makes me feel down in the dumps as opposed to skipping around in the dirt. Well it’s not God that’s changed and I’m sure that His call hasn’t changed either. The only thing that keeps changing are my emotions. But no matter what I do, or how I feel He is – and will always be – the same. That’s something I can bank on. He won’t let me down and He won’t let you down either.
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Feb 14, 2012
Today one in 200 American women suffers from anorexia. Simply put anorexia is someone who starves themselves.
In the same way the body of Christ is filled with millions of spiritually anorexic Christians.
There are many ways this happens.
1. By not reading and studying the Word of God daily.
2. By not spending time in Prayer (communion with God) daily.
3. By not fellow-shipping with our brothers and sisters regularly.
Unlike the eating disorder that is so obvious in the bodies of people today – Spiritual Anorexia is not something you can clearly see by looking in the mirror. However it is reflected in the words and actions of those who have it.
So many times we get caught up in work, ministry, school, and decide to condense or forgo the things of God.
Then one day we wake up and realize we are weary of life and wonder why God left us or where He is. When in reality the reason we are weary is because we haven’t gone to the Word for our nourishment, haven’t spent time with Jesus who said His yoke was light, have not met with brothers and sisters would encourage and edify us. We truly are a foolish bunch : D
This is a truly dangerous thing, it effects not only our own walk but also the body as a whole. When we don’t live all the things listed above we are
-easily deceived (there is a world of false teachers out there and a roaring lion ready to kill)
-easily discouraged and beaten down by life
-handicap in the minstry God has called us too
etc etc etc……
So I encourage you to spend time in the Word of God – IT IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE. It is like sitting down in front of God and listening to Him to speak to you!!!
Spend time in prayer both communing with God and interceding – YOU GET TO TALK TO THE CREATOR AND KING!! As well as being used by Him to change people and situations around you.
Spend time with believers – They have so much to teach you and vice-versa, they are so encouraging – and you might as well because you’ll be with them forever
May we not be Christians made up of only skin and bones – may we truly live life to the fullest in Christ, and for Christ.
Jermiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
LORD God Almighty.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”-
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