It is starting to get hot... and I don't mean the sit in the sun and get a tan hot.. its the run from the sun or else your skin will burn off hot. haha.. maybe not to that extreme, but its almost 100 degrees everyday, and its so muggy. Some days its so hot I can barely think, but praise Jesus He gives me another sunrise to watch go up over the mountains and smiles that give me the fuel I need to get through the day. So much has happened in the past two weeks, sorry I haven't been updating this the way I should- I've been in over-drive since we started getting ready for the school concert on the 15th. It's been so rewarding to see the kids go from not knowing one of the dance steps-to learning and understanding it and enjoying the choreography me and my south african friend have put together for them. It reminds me of our walk with God. We must push through the hard things to get to the good things. For me, it's so hard to learn "suffering", but over the past three years God has been showing me how to push through and find joy in the midst of it all. Like the concert, where we will show off what the kids have learned on stage in front of their parents-When God teaches us something and we finally understand it, He shows us off and uses us to teach others what we learned.
On sunday Yesupadam got into a car accident. The man in the other car was furious because it was a new automobile-but he was in the wrong, and on top of that, he didn't have a drivers license or car insurance. Even though Yesupadam did nothing wrong, he paid half of the bill. He sat us down at breakfast this morning and told us the story I just shared with you, and how sometimes money looks most important, but it's not. He paid half of the guilty mans car costs( while trying to feed 150 hungry mouths at the ministry), because he knows what is priority. This man is going to go back to his family and friends and his testimony will affect Yesupadam's name and the ministry and Christianity. Sometimes we get into battles over the cost versus the cause, and we always make the cost most important. But if we see Jesus- the cost of Him going to the cross was His life. But the cause was salvation to the entire world. Which one was more important? One man's life or eternal salvation for everyone? Jesus knew the cost, but He paid it anyways for US. He bought us with His blood. Praise You, Lord!
Just a few thoughts for the week:
1. God doesn't let the righteous fall. My family is going through some difficult times right now, but God PROMISES to never leave or forsake us. He promises to give us hope and a future- and trusting that is important when bad things come our way. Listen to His voice, most of the time it comes in a whisper, and we must strain to hear it over what our friends and family are telling us to do. I've had abounding joy the past few weeks, where I should have had fear and anxiety because God has told me the end result and I have nothing to worry about. Sometimes too, God rejoices over a cry for help over a Hallelujah, so take your baggage to the throne. He is listening. Besides, if God is for us, nothing can ever stop us.
2. I am getting baptized on sunday! I wrote a friend to tell him the reasoning for this baptism, so I thought I would share it with you as well:
I truly believe I started a real relationship with Jesus two years ago. With that relationship came a union with Him that I can't really express in words. I know now that I have been crucified with Christ.. I used to go back into my old sin all the time because I didn't understand the cross. But now that I know what Jesus has done for me, I don't want to do the things I used to. I never truly believed His promises for me and I never really had faith that He was for me. This baptism is showing what happened spiritually when I accepted Christ as my Savior and gave Him the rights to my life.. my old self of unbelief and idolatry and rebellion died, and a new me of faith and obedience and treasuring Christ came into being. That is what I will confessing to the world and to heaven when I get baptized on sunday. Pray for me! It should be an incredible day.
Besides all of this, life is great. I cannot believe I will be returning to the US in 10 days. How did that happen? Have a great day! Enjoy God's Grace.
